The Chunin Exam Preliminaries

"Next up - Hinata Hyuga - "

Hinata gulped.

" - versus Tenten. Please, come down to the front."

Nervously, she descended the steps. Hinata did not want to disappoint. She already got enough hell from her father for being a failure at home. When they were attacked by the snake in the maze, she had to wait for Team 7 to come and save her. Sasuke, her own teammate, treated her like dead weight – justified, in that she really didn't do anything that useful most of the time. Asuma-sensei and Choji were at a loss at how to deal with her, too. Oh, they never said anything, but she could tell. Every time they told her to try harder...that just meant she was weak.

And she didn't even want to think of Naruto, who wouldn't even notice her back in the Academy, seeing her lose here.

All her life she had been regarded as powerless, so much that even she felt like believing it. Hinata couldn't understand why it was her, and just her, who could never seem to go anywhere in life. All the people here seemed to be so strong – even the other girls and the rest of the rookies, so she had no excuse there. Neji had been cruel to his opponent during their fight, but there was no doubt that he was good at what he did. He had easily run circles around Kiba, and Hinata knew that Kiba was stronger than she was.

And then Ino had managed to defeat Lee, and Hinata had seen Lee fight Sasuke before the exams. Lee had wiped the floor with him, and Sasuke could wipe the floor with her. Of course, Hinata didn't know if Ino could beat Lee in a taijutsu-only fight, or if Lee could have finished off her teammate if he had been unwilling to use fire jutsu indoors (he was strangely considerate in certain regards, and not setting wooden buildings on fire with his breath was one of them). But the point was, she had beaten him, and that was all that mattered. Ino would be advancing to the finals, and Lee would not.

Sakura hadn't fought yet, but if her team had made it here so early then she must have been strong as well.

And then, Tenten. Standing in front of her. She was Neji's teammate, and she didn't seem like she was going to give in, either, just because Hinata was younger and less experienced. On the contrary, Tenten looked like she was going to use it to her advantage, and maybe even make it worse for her, because she had probably already known Neji for a while, and she would know that he was a strong person to be taken seriously. Maybe she would regard Hinata with the same wariness. Something that Hinata didn't really deserve; she knew she would never catch up to Neji.

Nonetheless, she had to try.

Although, admittedly, she didn't try very hard.

After the first few strikes, it was clear that she couldn't beat Tenten. Tenten was stronger and faster than she was, and besides, she was used to defending against the Gentle Fist. She was Neji's teammate; thus she had probably sparred with Neji many times in the past. She knew all the standard points Hinata was taught to strike; she knew all the counters to the various stances.

Most importantly, she understood that the Gentle Fist was a short-range collection of techniques. Every single time Hinata saw an opening and went for it, Tenten would just move backwards, out of the way. And then, when she got too far away for Hinata to reach, she started throwing her weapons – and all of a sudden Hinata was on the defensive, trying to dodge and slap away the barrage of kunai and shuriken raining down upon her.

Tenten had amazing skill in judging distances, probably as a result of her extensive weapons training. She knew exactly where to stand to optimize her own range of damage while at the same time just barely staying out of Hinata's way.

It was the part that Hinata had always had the most trouble with – getting close to people. When others dodged, and she couldn't reach, she was admonished for not being skilled enough to strike them down. And when she tried to defend herself by getting out of range instead of blocking – which was very highly logical in her opinion – she was admonished again, for being cowardly, for being too passive, for being lazy, for not attacking.

No matter what she did, she was never good enough.

She…couldn't do it.

Her father was right. Neji was right. And, even though Sasuke never said it out loud, he was right every time he looked at her with those condescending eyes. He wasn't looking at her like that right now, but she was sure he was still judging her. She was weak. She was a loser. As she fell, she looked up and caught a glimpse of Naruto.

Only, he wasn't even looking at her. He and Ino and Shikamaru had their heads bowed together – they were sitting in their own little circle, talking about something. Maybe it was her – they were talking about how quick and pathetic that fight had been, how she was such a loser. Or maybe they didn't even regard her as important enough to discuss. They were talking to each other, not even sparing her a glance. She wasn't important enough to join their private little circle. They were in their own little world.

Ino and Naruto seemed more serious now, with their dark clothes and solemn faces and determined eyes – but there was still that tiniest spark of cheery self-confidence and mischief present around Naruto, for which she was glad. It seemed less pronounced than before, however, and that was what made Hinata worry. She didn't want to see him lose that spark altogether. Naruto would no longer be himself if that happened.

Sasuke had improved in leaps and bounds under Asuma-sensei's tutelage. Choji, too, was advancing extremely quickly; his family's special jutsu made him stronger than most people could dream of being. Kiba had lost to Neji, but he was so much stronger and faster than when she had seen him last. Sakura and Shino hadn't fought yet, but from the way they carried themselves, they seemed so much better than she was.

Something had happened between their graduation and now, but they had all changed so much. Everyone. Everyone except her. Hinata was still stuck in the same little rut she had always been in, and nothing she ever did was going to get her out of that.

"Tenten, winner."

I can't do it. I'm a failure.

She tried to hold back the tears in her eyes as she ascended the stairs again. Everyone was quietly staring at her. Staring at her and judging her, just like her father did. Neji, with that look of disgust. The others, with their looks of pity. No one talked to her. No one said anything to her.

No one except for the person she had just fought.

"Hey! Hinata, right? Can I talk to you? Outside?"

Hinata looked up. Tenten was in front of her face. Over to the side, Neji was still glaring at her.

What is she going to do? Mock me? Make fun of me? Rub it in my face?

I'd deserve it. That match really was pathetic.

The next fight had begun. Sakura Haruno had been called up…to face Sasuke Uchiha. Hinata felt really bad for her. If she had been put in the same situation…She didn't think she'd be able to even lift a finger to fight Naruto. At least with Tenten, she had tried. A little.

But as soon as Hayate-san had given the start signal, Sakura had bravely jumped into the fray, and was now resisting with all her might. The way she looked at Sasuke, you could tell that she still admired him, but that didn't mean she was just going to bend over and hand him the spot in the finals. Hinata wished she could be like Sakura.

"Hn. You've gotten better."

If only Naruto-kun would acknowledge her like that.

"I'm a ninja, too, Sasuke! Outside of these exams are a different story, but while we're here…!"

Sasuke smirked at her, and Sakura smiled back at him, before pulling out a kunai and charging.

"Watch me, Kurenai-sensei! I'll make you proud!"

She was so brave. Even if she lost here, she would still be so brave in Hinata's eyes. Sasuke was a very strong ninja. Being able to stand up for him as long as Sakura had already was a feat that Hinata could only ever dream of.

"Ummm…sure?" Hinata really didn't want to miss the fight, but Tenten looked impatient.

Almost immediately after they had left the room, Tenten cornered her. Hinata bit back a shriek, hoping that Tenten wasn't here to finish what she had started.

"Why'd you let me win?" Tenten demanded.

"…W-What?"

"Why'd you let me win?" she asked again. "You're Neji's cousin. There's no way you should have lost so easily."

Hinata let her head drop. "But I'm not Neji."

"Doesn't matter," Tenten snapped. "I know you were holding back, back there. All of your hits were pretty much on point. You dodged all of my weapons and you smacked them away all perfectly. You weren't making any mistakes. I was about to pull out my Twin Dragon scrolls on you, actually. And then you just let your arms drop to your sides, and you took that hammer right to the head! You didn't even try to block it!"

Tenten was angry at her for losing. That was another person to add to the list, she supposed.

"…I mean, Lee was taking Ino seriously during their fight! Why didn't you take me seriously? If you had tried to block and missed, or turned the wrong way, I might have believed you, but you didn't even mess up once! Not once! You just – quit!" Tenten was still ranting at her. "Why? You didn't even try to fight; you just tossed the victory right into my lap! Not that I don't appreciate you saving me the trouble, but why would you do that? Am I not good enough for you to take seriously? Why?"

"I'm sorry. I know I'm weak," Hinata mumbled in apology, more out of habit than anything else..

"What are you talking about?" Tenten asked. "Hey, are you even listening to me?"

"Yes…"

Tenten put her hands on her hips and glared at her. Hinata shrunk in apology. The older girl had won, but she still hated her for it. I can't even lose properly.

"For god's sake, don't pull that crap on me, girl. I know you're not weak. Why are you pretending that you are? Is there some reason you don't want to advance? I want to know," Tenten pressed.

"I'm sorry – " Wait, what?

Tenten raised an eyebrow. "For what? I'm not asking you to say sorry. I just want to know why you did what you did back there – "

"I didn't hear you," Hinata said quickly. "What did you say before?"

"I want to know why you let me win."

"No, I mean – before that – "

"You mean that stuff about pretending you're weak?"

There was a loud cheer, and Hayate-san's voice called, "Sasuke Uchiha, winner."

She heard everyone clapping. For both Sasuke and Sakura. They had admired her fight, too. Not like her. She was boring. No one paid any attention to her.

"Aw, man, that was a really good fight!" she heard Lee exclaim.

"Yeah, Sakura-chan sure gave Sasuke-teme a run for his money!" Naruto said.

Choji agreed with him. "She was actually really good. Too bad she got Sasuke for her opponent, though. If it had been anyone else, her genjutsu would have kicked their butt."

"Yeah, the Sharingan really isn't fair, is it?"

"Next match!" Hayate-san called. "Choji Akimichi vs. Naruto Uzumaki! This means that Shino Aburame will be getting a bye this round. We will see you in the finals, Shino. Congratulations."

"Hinata! Pay attention when I'm talking to you!" Tenten said, snapping her fingers around Hinata's head. "Why are you pretending you're weak?"

Hinata sighed in defeat. "I'm not pretending, Tenten. I just am. Please, let me go back inside – "

But the older girl blocked her way, slamming her palm against the wall before Hinata could worm around her. "Is that really it? You really do think you're that weak? That's why you gave up? Not because you were going easy on me or something?"

Hinata nodded shamefully.

Tenten snorted. "Well, if that's the case, then that's sadder than a depressed onion cutting itself."

Hinata felt the tears build up in her eyes. "I know."

"Are you crying?" Tenten stared at her. "Oh, god, you're crying. You're seriously crying."

"I'm sorry," Hinata whispered.

"No! Stop apologizing, dammit! That wasn't supposed to be an insult; that was supposed to be a joke! It was supposed to be funny!" Tenten grabbed her head and groaned dramatically. "Come on! I worked so hard on that line! 'A depressed onion cutting itself' - don't you see how that's so many layers of funny? Do you know how long I've been wanting to say that? Of my three teammates, two of them are demented, oversized frogs and one of them wouldn't know what a sense of humor was if it danced in front of him in a bikini seashell swimsuit!"

Well, that was a creative way to refer to her cousin…

Tenten continued to gesticulate wildly. "And here I am, finally meeting someone who might appreciate that humor, and I end up making her cry instead! I'm cursed. I must be cursed."

That…

Hinata had no idea how to respond to that, but she no longer felt like crying, that was for sure. She opted for an incredulous stare instead.

Tenten shook her head. "Why the heck are you even here, Hinata?"

Before Hinata could answer, they were interrupted with Naruto's scream of "FUUTON: WIND CYCLONE!" There was a ripple in the air, and suddenly, the entire building was trembling in its foundations as the force of Naruto's ninjutsu ripped it apart from the inside. From the crack in the door, Hinata could see everyone on the balconies holding on for dear life before they got blown away into the wall.

"MULTI-SIZE JUTSU!"

"SHADOW CLONES, ASSEMBLE! WIND STYLE: GIANT WIND SCYTHE!"

It took all of Hinata's will to tear her eyes away from the fight back to Tenten.

"Well?" Tenten asked, prodding her in the chest. "Why the heck are you even here?"

To her mortification, she had no response to that. "I…I don't know."

"How about an easier question, then: Why do you want to become a shinobi?"

"I…I don't know, either," she confessed. "I'm sorry."

"No you're not, Hinata. You're a shinobi for a reason. So stop thinking you're so weak. If you really were that way, they wouldn't have given you the hitai-ate in the first place." Tenten flicked the metal on her forehead protector, to make her point. "We all have a purpose, Hinata. You're just having trouble finding yours."

"Winner, Naruto Uzumaki. And this concludes our rounds. Winners of previous rounds, please make your way down to the floor."

Tenten turned away to heed the call, but not before she craned her neck back at Hinata and said, "You are strong, Hinata. You just have no direction. Go home and think about it, Hinata, and don't start training again until you can answer this question truthfully: what the heck are you fighting for?"

Hinata watched her leave, but not really. Her mind was still stuck on everything Tenten had said to her.

Someone thinks I'm…strong?

UDC (Underground Detainment Complex)

Interrogation Wing, Cell #19: Kabuto Yakushi

"So you're not directly affiliated with Sand. You're affiliated with Orochimaru, who is working with Sand. Is this correct?"

There was a whimper, and Ibiki rolled his eyes. He signaled to one of the other interrogators in the room, who held up a pair of rounded glasses in front of their restrained victim. In his other hand, he had a tiny screwdriver. Slowly, he began to work at the little knob on the arms. The frame started to pop open, and the lens came loose.

The victim leaned forward in the chair, screaming, "NO! DON'T!"

"Answer my question, or else we will take apart this thing and grind it down to sand before your eyes. Are you working with Orochimaru?"

"Yes, yes, now please stop, please – "

Ibiki ignored him, and continued barraging him with questions. The pair of glasses remained loose, but so far undamaged. "And you say that as long as you have some DNA, you can revive them. And that this DNA has been hidden within all of Orochimaru's victims, but that most of the samples are in his secret base in Sound," Ibiki confirmed, ignoring his pleas.

And it went on like that. Every time the prisoner looked like he was about to balk, his precious glasses came under scrutiny. It was interesting, to Ibiki, the sorts of things that mattered to people. Shinobi were trained so very well in resisting physical pain. Their psyches, on the other hand, were less well-protected.

All of this – it was all in his head. The glasses themselves had little value other than an optical tool, and he could easily get himself new ones, better ones. Their sentimental value, however, was something the boy could not seem to let go of.

This was fully understandable to Ibiki. Objects were powerful because of the human brain's ability to associate them with more powerful, meaningful memories. He was not a completely unsympathetic person, as many other torturers – ahem, interrogators – were. Rather, he understood all too well. It was this ability to pick out just exactly what people cared about, and not just the fact that he held nearly no guilt over using those things against them, that made him such a successful interrogator.

"Yes. Yes, that's right. Please, please – stop it – "

Ibiki sighed, and finally decided to acquiese to his request. "Nono-san would have been proud of you – whoever you are at the moment. You know she still loved you very much. She would have died for you."

Kabuto was sobbing. "BUT I DON'T KNOW WHO I AM!"

And now you'll never know, Ibiki thought, semi-sadly, but not really, because the kid, while being just that – nothing more than a misguided, lost little kid – was still an enemy of Konoha, and therefore he had to be eliminated. Even more so, because of his vast and highly dangerous medical knowledge. It wouldn't do spend so much time finding and killing someone, only to have them revived like nothing had ever happened.

Now, Ibiki was very aware that Orochimaru most likely had some other secret plans that didn't completely rely on his latest victim, but from the intelligence he had gathered from all the Sound people they had rounded up, it seemed like Kabuto was still one of the more important ones. Without Kabuto, Orochimaru would definitely have a much harder time trying to come back to life. And every single backup they thwarted was another second they bought.

In the world of shinobi, one second was a lot of time. One second was the difference between life or death. One death was the difference between victory or defeat.

"Dispatch Team 2. Over."

Affirmative.

"And bring a chemical waste disposal team down here with you, too. Sodium hydroxide is a bitch to clean up."

Yes, sir.

Ibiki then stoically watched as Kabuto's dead body was taken away to the incinerator while the entire area was scrubbed down for any traces of himself he might have left behind. Strong acids and bases did wonders to breaking down DNA. Good luck cloning this guy back to life, now.

Need someone deleted off the face of the earth? Just contact Konoha ANBU T&I! Only one of many services we offer!

The boy had been well-trained; that was for sure. As expected of a former Konoha ROOT ANBU now disguised as a hapless Genin. He hadn't cracked even a tiny bit for the first few hours Ibiki had had him. It was only when he brought up his deceased mother figure that Kabuto had finally snapped – and quite spectacularly, too.

Sometimes, it was the little memories you had to watch out for.

He'd have to thank Inoichi later for managing to scrounge up that data on the orphanage that Kabuto had come from. Inoichi never told him where he got it, though. Oh, well. He wasn't going to ask. As long as his methods worked, he didn't care how they were implemented. There were a lot of blind eyes turned, in their world. Ibiki had several himself.

Inoichi Yamanaka had his agenda; it lined up with Ibiki Morino's. Therefore it followed that Ibiki Morino and Inoichi Yamanaka would work together. Simple as that.

The Yamanaka Clan Compound

"Oh, god," Inoichi whispered. "If Danzo ever finds out, he's going to kill me."

"Don't let him find out, then," said Shikaku. "He's already trying to kill us, isn't he? One more slight against him isn't going to change his mind. Unless you were monumentally careless in your snooping – in which case you would have already killed yourself like they taught you in ANBU, to prevent the information from being tortured out of you – you should really stop pulling out your own hair, because that's not going to help Ino or Shikamaru. Or their teammates and friends."

"But do you know what they made them do?" Inoichi asked, voice rising, and Shikaku had to stand up to calm him down before something bad happened. You never knew what privacy seals might malfunction at the exact inopportune time. "What they probably still make them do?"

"No, but seeing your freaked-out reaction, I'm pretty glad I don't. And I'm very glad Shikamaru doesn't know, either," Shikaku said, mind racing at just what exactly could make his friend, a man who often worked alongside Ibiki Morino because of his specialty, lose his composure like so. Oh, Inoichi tended get emotional a lot – he'd once gone into overdrive when Ino was two and was first learning how to walk (and fall over) – but those cases were always superficial. Silly, just like their causes. This meltdown, however…this was serious.

An emotional Inoichi was an unstable one, and an unstable Inoichi was a dangerous one.

"I should have never let them take Fuu away. I should have just spat in his face and taken the consequences. I should have…" Inoichi shook his head. "I changed my mind. I don't think we should kill Danzo."

"No?"

"Death is too kind for that bastard, Shikaku. I'm not going to fight him. I want to make him suffer."

"Or we could not, but do go on," Shikaku muttered, but Inoichi wasn't listening.

"You know that eternal Genin guy, Kabuto? We had to kill him today. I was having so much fun running betting pools with the other Jonin on just how long he was going to take to finally make Chunin and now that will never happen because we had to kill him. We had to kill him, because of Danzo, because of Orochimaru, because of all these shitty chess players playing shitty chess with the lives of other people."

Shikaku sighed. "You're talking to one of those chess players, Inoichi."

"Yes, I know, but you're not a shitty chess player, and that makes all the difference."

"Does it?"

"…No, not really."

No, for all they did to fight those men, they weren't so different themselves. Sometimes, Shikaku wondered why he and Danzo Shimura hated each other so much. In another world, they might have even gotten along.

And yet, Shikaku still fought for his own side. It was a simple matter of interest, after all, and the methods, no matter how similar, wouldn't matter, if the interests didn't coincide.

But maybe that was why they hated each other. After all, men tended to hate those who were most like themselves, for they were a reflection of their own faults. Shikaku blamed Danzo for a lot of things, but if he was going to be truthful with himself, he would have done the same, if it meant keeping his family alive. As for Danzo Shimura, well, he worked for "the greater good of Konoha". Except that, he neglected to consider the people in Konoha as a part of it.

And then there was the Sandaime, who needed both the clans and Danzo around. The Sandaime was the biggest obstacle to their elimination of Danzo, no matter how much he pretended otherwise. To make a move against Danzo was to go against the Hokage, and that would not do, because, well, treason. For all his faults, there were few others in the village more fit for the position than Hiruzen Sarutobi. Were the Sandaime to step down right now, it would be a toss-up as to whether the next one would befriend the clans or be Danzo himself.

The three of them really weren't so different. Except for, of course, the whole deal with the child soldiers. This was the one thing that separated them, the one thing they used as an excuse to put themselves on a pedestal higher than his and rain judgment down on everyone else below. And when you thought about it in that way, it was pretty damn funny, to be honest.

The Chunin Exam Preliminaries

"Because the final round will be in a single-elimination bracket format, we need eight people. Six of you are currently here; that means two of you who lost in the preliminaries will actually get to compete in the final rounds anyway. Based on your performances, as well as the performances of those you went up against: Sakura Haruno and Rock Lee, please join the winners on the floor."

"YOSH! THE POWER OF YOUTH HAS PREVAILED! WATCH ME, GAI-SENSEI! I SHALL PERFORM WITH ALL THE VIGOR OF YOUTH AND – "

"Wait," Shikamaru tried to ask, "what about the Sand kids? There were three of them – "

"FOR THE FINAL ROUNDS," Hayate announced over Lee, "you will be drawing numbered slips of paper from a hat to randomly decide who you will go up against in the finals, one month from now."

Naruto drew an eight. He groaned. "Ugh. Last again!"

Then Neji. Two.

Tenten, seven.

Ino, three.

Lee, six.

Sakura, one.

Sasuke, five.

Which left Shino with four.

"Excellent," Hayate announced. "The final matches will be as follows: Sakura Haruno vs. Neji Hyuga, for match one, Ino Yamanaka vs. Shino Aburame, for match two, Sasuke Uchiha vs. Rock Lee, for match three, and Tenten vs. Naruto Uzumaki, for match four. You are dismissed to all of your respective sensei until further notice."

"Wait, what about the Sand guys?" Naruto asked.

"Don't worry about them," Hayate said.

"Will they be competing, though?"

"Like I said, don't worry about them."

Ino, though, wasn't really thinking about any of that. Her mind had stopped at Ino Yamanaka vs. Shino Aburame..

Shino Aburame, as in the bugs guy.

Bugs.

Insects.

Kikaichu.

Beetle things that could suck your chakra dry.

All the way home, that was all she could think of.

(That, and Kakashi-sensei.)

She screamed.

BONUS #12

Kabuto

Commentary posted on forum.

A/N: For those of you hoping to see Naruto fight, sorry to disappoint. But let's face it - the kid's OP; we all knew he was going to curbstomp whoever went up against him. And I didn't want two straight chapters of Team 7 being sad about Kakashi, so...fresh change of perspective.

I was debating on whether to use Hinata or Sakura. I ultimately picked Hinata because her character development might be *cough* important *cough* soon. Creds to Bo Burnham for Tenten's onion joke.

Sakura will have her moments, too, but not yet.

I'll return to Shikamaru and Kakashi next chapter, I promise.