Chapter 3:

After going on so many D-rank missions, Naruto's team was finally given a C-rank mission that turned out to be a lot more dangerous than they anticipated.

While he was off traveling to another country as an escort, Hinata was left behind in the village, taking on some missions that she always somehow messed up on. Most times, it wasn't her fault. Certain circumstances would change the course of the mission without her control.

Feeling as though she was the one to blame, Hinata most of her time outside of missions training to grow stronger. Sometimes, her teammates would find her asleep at the training field with the mat covered tree showing definite signs of blood. No matter how many times they scolded her for training so hard, Hinata could always be found at the training field.

Then Naruto finally returned home.

As soon as they returned from the Land of Waves, Naruto asked if he could ahead of them into the village first. There was someone he wanted to surprise with his arrival. Sasuke and Sakura assumed he was talking about Iruka-sensei—

But Kakashi-sensei knew he was talking about Hinata.

Once permission was granted, Naruto bolted ahead of the trio, running the fastest he has the entire trip. Within a few minutes, Naruto managed to navigate to the Hyuga compound, standing outside the main gates with heavy breathing. Taking a moment to calm down—since he knew most clan members didn't care for his over-hyperness—Naruto slipped through the gates and calmly walked to where he thought Hinata would be:

Her special flower garden.

When they were about eight or nine years old, Hinata and Naruto were walking through the compound when they noticed an open clearing, with so many empty flower beds of all different shapes and sizes. Since then, Hinata used whatever spare money she had to buy the seeds or soil needed to make the place look beautiful.

After working on it for four years, only half of the flower beds were completed enough to her liking.

As expected, Naruto found Hinata deweeding the massive flower bed at the center of the clearing. Instead of greeting her with words, Naruto actually made her jump in fright when he started picking weeds next to her. Snickering at her reaction, Naruto apologized insincerely before promising he would try not to do anything like that again.

While they worked on the flower garden, both took turns telling about everything they did while they were apart from one another. Hinata's story was very basic: training, missions, gardening, repeat. Naruto took a little longer to describe his mission.

It turned out the bridge builder they were escorting to the Land of Waves had a bounty on him by people who didn't want the bridge finished. While Kakashi was busy with the man with an enormous sword and Sakura protected the bridge builder, Naruto and Sasuke had to fight a guy that trapped them in an ice dome, attacking with ice needles. Somehow, the two actually lived and the hired killer actually killed who hired him.

It was an unexpected plot twist.

Once she heard the full story, Hinata scolded Naruto for coming to the Hyuga compound first instead of the hospital to be checked out. Seeing her could have waited a few more hours if it meant getting a clean bill of health and confirming that there was no side effects from the battle.

After a few more hours of simply talking to one another, Naruto decided he had over-stayed his welcome for the day. He needed to return to his apartment for some rest before tomorrow's meeting with his team. Kakashi claimed he had an important announcement for them.

The announcement turned out to be information about the upcoming Chunin Exam that Kakashi signed them up for. Although it was earlier than expected, Kakashi believed they were ready for it. The week leading to the exams will be used to get in any last minute training they needed—

Which meant Naruto used every last minute of the week on the training field.

It took an hour of arguing, then tying up the blonde hair boy before Naruto allowed himself to be dragged away to rest at his apartment.

The next morning, after arriving early at the Ninja Academy, the trio noticed a large group gathering on what was believed to be the third floor, where the exam was supposed to take place. Two ninja—both who look like chunin—blocked the doors. They were going on and on about how those who don't think they can handle it need to turn away now and that they were only trying to lose the weak links out of them.

After Sasuke and Sakura revealed the genjutsu on the floor—the second floor—one of the guys tried to attack Sasuke while he tried retaliating—

But then some genin wearing a ridiculous green jumpsuit with bow-cut hair stopped both attacks before they connected. After that, the large crowd dispersed to go to the actual testing floor. The genin that stopped the attack introduced himself as Lee and obnoxiously flirted with Sakura until she was creeped out. Lee's teammates came over to scold him for being so reckless.

That's when Naruto noticed a familiar face.

Tensing up, since he knew there would be negative reaction, he greeted monotonely, "Hi, Neji."

Heading his name and the recognizable voice, Neji glared at the one who spoke. "I heard there were rookie teams competing this year, but I didn't think you would be one of them."

"Why?" Naruto challenged. "You know I always want to get stronger, so I can become Hokage."

Neji scoffed at the claim. "You want to be Hokage, yet Uncle Hiashi had to vouch for you so you could get a fourth try at the graduation exam. Let's face it, the Hyuga clan is the only reason you made it this far in life."

"I get that you hate me," Naruto insisted. "I do. But you need to talk to your uncle. What happened that night didn't happen the way that you think. And you need to stop hating Hinata for it. It's not her fault and there was nothing she could do about it. We were three!"

"And you need to stop being involved with clan business," Neji retorted bitterly. "Just because you have your own room, are allowed to visit on certain days, and are allowed to sleep over once a week doesn't mean that you are a Hyuga."

"I know that!" Naruto claimed angrily. "Most of the clan's rules and traditions and rules are ridiculous and I plan on changing it after I become Hokage!"

Neji scoffed one more. "You will never become Hokage, because you are a failure."

With his final retort, Neji turned on his heels before heading toward the exam floor with his teammates following close behind him. Once they were out of sight, Sakura quickly turned her head toward Naruto with a raised eyebrow. "What was that about? How do you know him?"

"He's Hinata's older cousin," Naruto partially answered. "And . . . I don't want to talk about him anymore. We have the Chunin Exams to worry about."