Chapter 6:

The 'alliance' Hinata and Naruto accidentally formed with Gaara was probably one of the best decisions they ever made.

After miraculously making it through to the second round, Naruto thought the perfect celebration was to eat at his favorite restaurant in the village. Amused by his eagerness and love for such simple food, Hinata offered to pay for one bowl each for him and Gaara, who they managed to convince to join them. They offered the remaining Rookie Nine and Gaara's siblings to join them, but they all said no, for they wanted to prepare for whatever they might face in the second part of the exam.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Hinata learned that it takes quite a bit of effort to get Gaara to speak more than one worded answers. After trying to get some answers to what all Gaara liked or enjoyed doing, the two asked if there was anything he wanted to know about them.

Upon his request, Naruto and Hinata retold the story of how they met so many years ago. They went into detail about Naruto leading Hinata back home—

And the awful night where Naruto lost his temper, almost allowing the fox to become free.

Naruto didn't bother hiding the fact that he had the Nine-Tailed Fox hiding inside of him. Nearly everyone in the village knew, so he saw no point in hiding it from someone he's trying to be friends with. Gaara didn't seem surprised.

Maybe . . .there was a reason for it.

Nonetheless, by the time they all finished their bowl of ramen—which Gaara admitted was delicious—the boys kindly walked Hinata to her home before Naruto led Gaara to his hotel. The Uzumaki boy offered to have the sand ninja stay over in his apartment, but was firmly declined, as expected.

The next morning, all those who made it on to the second round arrived at the Forest of Death by dawn. Anko Mitarashi—proctor of the second round—briefed everyone on their objective. Before entering the forest, all teams were given either a heaven or an earth scroll. Once inside, the genin must take the other scroll from another team. Only those that make it to the tower in the center of the forest with both scrolls will advance to the next stage of the exams.

After nearly an hour of scrounging around in the forest, Hinata and her team-mates managed to get the scroll they needed without any major confrontations from any teams. Kiba had the idea of trapping a team to get their scroll to avoid any fights. Miraculously, the plan worked and they were on their way to the tower with amazing speed and timing—

But then a very powerful and angry chakra scared Akamaru.

Kiba's ninja dog, which was no bigger than a puppy, stopped in his determined tracks and began shaking in fear. Just as they were trying to figure out what scared him so bad, the trio could hear a group of ninja talking to one another, as though they were more than prepared to fight.

Watching from nearby bushes, Hinata actually perked up when she recognized Gaara and his siblings preparing to fight some people from the Hidden Rain Village.

Well . . . Gaara was the one preparing to fight, not that he really needed to. When the Rain ninja attempted to strike, each one was blocked by Gaara's chakra-infused sand. They way the sand moved looked as though it had a mind of its own. Just as the sand surrounded the Rain shinobi like it was about to suffocate them to death.

But then Gaara paused.

Barely adverting his gaze to the side, Gaara commented, "You are lucky. He doesn't want her to see us kill."

Instead of killing them like originally planned, the sand only choked them until they lost their breath, making them unconscious, not dead. Waiting a moment just to be sure, Gaara called out, "Byakugan Princess, you and your team-mates may come out now. No harm will come to any of you."

Although Kiba and Shino tried their hardest to convince her, Hinata still emerged from the bushes with her famous smile on her lips, acting as though she didn't witness anything horrific. "Hi, Gaara," she greeted. "I'm glad that you're safe."

Watching as his sand gathered the Rain shinobi's scroll, Gaara wondered, "Do you need this one? I can find another one if needed."

"My team has the scrolls we need," Hinata reassured kindly. "We're traveling to the tower now, same as you."

Hesitating once more, as though he was debating his own words, Gaara offered, "Do you and your team want to join us?"

"Gaara—"

Stifling the protest with a simple glare, Gaara adverted his attention back to the Hyuga girl. "If you lead my team to the tower," he negotiated, "I'll protect your team from any harm that may come our way."

Pretending to think about it for just a second, Hinata nodded eagerly. "Sounds like a fair trade," she agreed. "Follow me."