Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Blank Period
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or it would never end.
Playing the Role of the Byakugan Princess
Blank Period
Chapter sixteen
I rush to my father's study and sling the door open. He doesn't so much as jump at the abrupt noise nor does he even look up from his writing.
"Oh, you are back from your mission?" he calmly asks , he is not scolding me for my bad manners and barging in on him. He must have sensed I was coming and knew what I was coming to him for.
I just stare at him as I struggle to find the right question to ask to start off the conversation. I do not want to come off as too direct, because what if he didn't do anything? I also do not want to word it to seem that Neji is pissed at him and talked bad about him to me.
"Did something happen while I was gone?" I ask.
Hiashi flickers his eyes up at me. "Many things happened while you were gone, Hinata-chan."
I cannot tell if he is being serious or a smartass right now. "Did anything bad happen while I was gone?"
Hiashi raises an eyebrow. "What would make you think that?"
I resist the urge to sigh. This tiptoeing around shit that we are doing isn't going to get us anywhere. "I...I just passed Neji on my way here and he seemed upset about something. When we saw one another, we greeted each other and I asked him what was wrong. He just told me that he does not know if he is allowed to talk about it and is probably best to ask you."
Okay, big lie. But, I think this is the best way to word it without getting Neji brought in or in trouble.
Hiashi closes his eyes for a moment, as if he is conflicted to tell me something or not. He opens them. "Hinata," he beings. He didn't use my honourific. He only does that when he is super angry or serious with me. "You know from witnessing over the years that being the Head of the Hyūga Clan is not the easiest position to be in. Sometimes you have to do things that you do not want to do, but you have to because it is best for the clan."
My heart drops. "Did you do something to Neji?"
"I had to do something," Hiashi tells me. He takes a deep breathe. He really doesn't want to tell me what he did. Does he regret what he did or does he not want to deal with my reaction? "Neji was caught stealing scrolls from the Main House."
I froze. "No." Did my father…?
"I have been very lenient with him since he is my nephew and you two are close," Hiashi begins. "However, he crossed the line with his actions and he needed to be punished accordingly to remind him of his place in this clan."
He did. He activated Neji's Cursed Seal.
My body seems to turn around on its on as I run out of the room, ignoring my father callings.
I can't believe Hiashi would do that to his own family member. His own nephew. His brother's son. What does Hizashi think about all of this? I bet he hates us even more now.
I blink away tears of anger that are threatening to spill over.
I need to find Neji.
I sprint through the main courtyard and over to the Branch's. I find Neji's bedroom door and start to rapidly knock on it. Nobody answers so I break the rules by activating my Byakugan to see if he is in there. He is.
I slid open the door without his consent and step on in, closing it behind me. Neji sits up from his bed and frowns. "Can I help you?" he questions, obviously annoyed.
I narrow my eyes in response, but then I take in the situation. I just barged into his room with my Byakugan on, which is against the clan's rules unless you are training. He just broke some major rules and got punished yet I, a Main House member and the heiress, am breaking some as well and will never get in trouble for it. I relax my features and turn off my visual powers.
"Can we talk in private?" I ask.
"Is this not private enough for you?"
I shake my head. "I would rather not take the risk of being overheard."
Neji does not budge from his bed. "Where would you like to go?"
I pull my mouth into a tight line. I do not like how guarded he is acting around me right now. He is responding more as my servant than as my cousin.
"Follow me," I softly tell him.
He gets up and I head outside and towards my mother's garden.
"I do not feel comfortable coming over to your side right now," Neji admits to me as he stands next to me.
I bend down to caress a tomato plant that my sister is currently growing. "This is a peaceful place that only my sister and I visit. Nobody is going to bother us." I know this is not what he meant, but it is better to try and ease his mind.
I face Neji and find that he doesn't seem to convinced. I sigh and decide to just start the conversation that I want to have with him.
"Why?" I say to him. "What compelled you to go and take something forbidden from the Main House?"
This probably isn't the best way to start off our talk, but I am curious to know. If he wanted to learn Rotation or Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms, he could've just asked me and I could have copied the scroll down for him so it wouldn't have gone missing. And, there is no reason for me to start off by coddling him and asking if he's okay because I know he isn't.
Neji stiffens up. "Why should I tell you?"
"Well, it must've been an important enough reason if you took the chance to steal."
Neji bores his eyes into mine. "Not to be rude, but it is not any of your concern, Hinata-sama."
Oh, he did not just call me that.
I cross my arms. "First off, you know better then to call me that so do not ever do that again. Second, why are you acting this way towards me? I have not done anything wrong. I am always on your side when it comes to conflict between you and my father."
Neji appears unfazed by my words. "I am just starting to think that maybe our relationship shouldn't be so casual."
I drop my arms. "What do you mean?"
He sighs. "I should just strictly act as my part as your protector and serve you without being so friendly towards one another. It is not destined for us to remain close like this because of our roles in life."
I wave my hands back and forth. "No. No way. You are not pulling that shit on me!" Neji looks surprised at my cursing since that is more of an internal habit of mine. But, I'm pissed now so I don't care. I ignore him and continue by pointing my finger at his chest. "I will never just treat you as a servant! You are my cousin. You are one of my best friends. Why the hell would I ever do that?"
Neji is speechless. I take advantage of that moment by composing myself. There is no need to get worked up and alarm someone of our whereabouts.
"Today made me realize how your future is going to play out," Neji finally says. "When you replace your father and become the Head, you are going to be forced to do stuff that I know you will never want to do. You will be too kind hearted to activate someone's Curse Seal, even when they deserve it. You care to much about other people to get involved with the unspoken feud between the two Houses. The council of our clan will end up using you in someway and end up making the decisions from behind the scenes while you take the heat for it. Nobody will ever approve of us being close and our status in this clan will cause us to grow distant anyways as we grow older. I am just being realistic and deciding to cut our ties now before we get too hurt."
I absorb everything Neji just said to me and something clicks in my head. Is my father really being controlled by our clan's council or does he actually value the traditional ways and his actions are of his own? Does he not feel anything when he had to activate the Curse Seal? He always wears that cold, strict expression on his face that would make anyone believe he's an asshole of a leader. But, in my eyes, he is not. He does not go out of his way to make the members of the Branch House miserable, but he isn't cordial ethier. He just acts very neutral around them. Is that just a front for the council and his own father, who always seems to be hassling him about something?
I recall a few times where my father has allowed me to do things, like hang out with Naruto before we became Shinobi or let anyone know that I know about the demon living inside of him, but always warned me to not let the council find out. What could they possibly do to him or me anyways?
And, what does my father even do all day in that office of his? He's always writing about something every time I go in there. Is that another council related ploy?
I do not believe I have ever met the members of this council, but I know that I do not like them. I hope they are super old and are long gone before I come into power and can hopefully choose my own council. Neji would definitely be on it.
Overall, if Neji is already coming to this realization then I need to tell him about my plans of changing this clan. I was going to wait until we were a little older, but he is already thinking about pushing me away and I will not allow that to happen. Will he comply with me? I would think he would, but he might be afraid now to go against the council and the Main House since he just received punishment from my father earlier.
Which, even though I hate to admit, was probably a little deserved. I mean, he stole from the Main House. Stealing itself is a major crime anyways, but this a Branch member stealing secrets that they are not supposed to know from the Main House. It is a ballsy move and I believe Neji got off easy, if you call getting your brain cells fried to bits a light punishment.
I wonder if the council knows about Neji's actions. I really hope not.
"Neji," I begin. "When I become the Head of this clan, I plan on changing it for the better."
Neji arches his eyebrows with interest. "How so?"
"I really do not know have a clear cut idea yet," I admit to him. "However, I plan on developing one once I get a little older and start learning about the duties as a Head. From there, I hope to have access to certain things so I can find out some information such as these forbidden secrets that my father is always talking about and this clan's history. I just want to somehow unite the Main and Branch House as one and do something about these Curse Marks. I understand why our clan is set up the way it is, it makes sense. But, I believe there is a better way to run things than to already have a person's life planned out if they are born into the Branch House."
"I like this goal of yours a lot, but do you think it is realistic?" Neji asks. "I mean, do you think you are the first heir/heiress to want to change this clan?"
I shrug. "I would like to think not and that some prior Heads tried to change our clan's ways, but failed.." I raise my chin up and give my cousin a more determined look. "This has been my goal since I was young and I plan on making my goal a reality. However, I do not think I can without your help."
Neji blinks. "You want my help?"
I give him an encouraging smile and nod. "Yes. If I plan on uniting the two Houses, I obviously need someone from the Branch to be a representative. You surpass me greatly and you are a genius. You have great leadership skills and I think you would be a great choice to convince the members of your House to agree with my future plans. They can relate to you. In my opinion, though, you should have been born into the Main House, not I. You are more suited to be the Head of this clan than I will ever be."
Neji appears smug at my compliments. "Do not say such things, Hinata. After hearing of your plan, a kindhearted and caring leader is what this clan needs if you want to unify everyone as equals." He gives me a warm smile. "I would love to be part of this plan of yours."
I grin. "Awesome!" I cheer. "While it is not going to go into effect until we are a little older, I am still retaining everything my father tells me and keeping myself aware to how the Branch reacts to things the Main House does."
Neji frowns. "Yes, the Branch is not very happy with your father, though we are not allowed to express such thoughts outloud."
I frown with him. I am surprised this clan has not broken out into some type of civil war yet. Perhaps if the Branch did not have those Curse Seals, they would have rebelled a long time ago.
"I have already came to that conclusion a while back," I tell him. "Does anyone have any ill feelings towards me?" I would like to know for future references so I can start making amends. I do not want anyone hating me when I become the Head, AKA Hizashi.
Neji thinks for a moment. "Not that I recall. You are not brought up much. Whenever you are, I hear nothing but positive things about you. They know you are different. They are very fond of you and like how you are always polite and friendly towards them."
He didn't mention his father so either Hizashi really doesn't hate me or he is just protecting his father and sparing my feelings.
I sigh in relief. "That is good to hear."
I glad, for now, no one seems to dislike and that Neji wants to help me make my plans for the Hyūga clan.
"Your plans actually kind of go along with what I was searching for," Neji tells me. "I was trying to learn more about my Curse Seal."
Wait, so he wasn't trying to learn any techniques?
"Why?" I ask.
"I wanted to know who created the seal, how it is able to seal the Byakugan after death, how the caster learns the technique, and so on. Basically, I just want to know everything about it and how to either remove it or prevent it from being activated. Ironic since my punishment for getting caught was having my own seal activated."
I give him a sympathetic glance. "I am sorry my father did that. I never wanted that to happen to you."
Neji flicks his hand. "Let's not worry about it. What is done is done."
"Okay…" I say, knowing that he really doesn't mean that. "What made you suddenly want to learn about the Curse Mark?"
"It was not all of a sudden," Neji corrects me. "I have always wanted to know more ever since I witness Hiashi-sama trigger my father's seal with just two fingers. It makes me wonder if he is the only one who can activate it or can anyone who learns how to? Is he able to control the seal because his own chakra is mixed in with it or is it just a clan thing and any Hyūga can use it? I have so many questions that I want to know the answers to. Like I said, it was not sudden. I just decided to take the risk and hoped that I would not get caught. I have not gotten caught before."
I raise an eyebrow. "Before?"
Neji nods. "Yes. I have snuck in before on two separate occasions to memorize a scroll and return before anyone noticed that it was missing."
"I am a little surprised that you are telling me this," I admit. While we are close, does he not have some doubt that I will become horrified that he is learning our secrets and go inform my father?
"You should not be. I trust you," Neji replied. "That is why I am telling you."
"Thank you," I say. "If you do not mind me asking, what have you memorized?"
Neji looks away. "I hope you are not offended, but I have learned and mastered the Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms and I currently teaching myself Rotation."
My pride is slightly hurt from him learning moves so quickly that I should already know, but I am not offended.
I give him a reassuring smile. "See, I told you that you are a genius. You are learning very difficult moves without any guidance."
Neji smiles at my words. He knows himself that he deserves to be apart of the Main House. "Thank you, Hinata. That means a lot."
I am about to say something back when I hear something in the distance. "Nee-san! Otou-san wants to see you!"
It seems like my little sister is following the rules and not using her Byakugan to find me so I better come out of hiding.
"I guess I should see what he wants," I say to Neji.
"Sounds good," Neji says back. "I will see you later."
We go our separate ways and I make over to Hanabi. She instantly spins around and puts her hands on her hips. "I did not enjoy spending the last half hour playing hide and seek with you."
I laugh and pat her head. "I am sorry for causing you any trouble."
She frowns in response. "What does our father want with you anyways? He does not seem very happy with you."
I sigh. "I tend to have this bad habit of running away from him when he tells me things that I do not like to hear."
Hanabi rolls her eyes. "I already know that about you, but that does not answer my question."
Humph. Smarty pants. "It is between me and him."
"I think I should be able to know since I had to search for you," Hanabi mumbles underneath her breathe.
I run a hand through my hair. This girl is a handful sometimes. "You seem to be in a bad mood. Why don't you go train or something to let off some steam?"
"I have already trained today," my sister informs me. "I haven't seen you in awhile. I want to be with you!" She gives me sad puppy dog eyes that would pull at anybody's heartstrings.
I smooth down her hair. "I think my talk with Otou-san is going to take awhile and it is almost dinnertime. After that, you will have to do your evening studies and then go to bed. I have the day off tomorrow. I promise to spend the whole day with you! Does that sound like a deal?"
Hanabi's face brightens up and her bad mood melts away. "Deal!" she says and gives me a hug.
Ugh. She is so cute.
Hanabi lets go of me and wanders off as I head back towards my father's office. I open the door without permission and close it behind me. "I have been summoned?" I tease, trying to break the uncomfortable tension in the air.
Hiashi rubs his temples. "Don't start. Just take a seat."
I obey and sit down in the seat that sits in front of his desk. "I am sorry for running off like that," I tell my father. "I was just surprised and upset from what I heard."
Hiashi sighs. "You really need to not react that way everything you hear something that you do not like." Hey, I only do that with you so you should feel special. "I assume that you went to find Neji?"
I nod. There is no need to lie. "I just wanted to know why would he do such a thing."
"And, what did he say?" Hiashi asks.
Pssh, like I am telling you that. "He would not give me an answer so I just asked about his well-being instead."
"Hinata, you should not feel sorry for him, no matter how close the two of you are," Hiashi tells me. "His punishment fit the crime that he committed. I actually went easy on him. If it had been my own father or anybody from the council, it would have been more severe."
So, my father and I are the only people that know about this. But… "Are you going to let them know what Neji did?"
Hiashi shakes his head. "I will not. He was only caught in our library with a scroll in hand. It did not appear that he had opened any of the scrolls."
That is a relief. "Who caught him?"
"Hanabi. She was going in there to grab something and found him."
Hanabi caught him? I am surprised Neji didn't sense her coming. He must've have been too engrossed into what he was doing at the time. I would think he would want to be more aware of his surroundings and have his Byakugan activated or something.
"I am surprised she caught him without him noticing," I admit to my father.
"Unlike you growing up, Hanabi is more quiet and obedient. Sometimes, I forget she is even there."
Hmm. Sneaky little girl. I should keep an eye on her.
"However, you should not get upset with her for telling on Neji," my father says a little sternly.
"No, I am not upset with her," I let him know. "She was only doing what she knows is the right thing to do."
Hiashi pauses in surprise for a moment because I am not defending Neji's actions and then nods. "I am glad you can understand that."
"I just wish that Neji was not put into the position to where he has to steal from us for knowledge about our own clan. The Branch House should have equal access to what we have."
Hiashi narrows his eyes. "We are not having this discussion right now."
You never want to.
"Yes, sir," I reply.
Hiashi relaxes his demeanor. "So, how did your mission go? Was it a success?"
I roll with the topic change and tell him everything that happened on my most recent mission. As I had hope, Hiashi is proud of me.
"Completing an A-rank mission this early on in your Shinobi career is very impressive," he tells me. "Keep this up, Hinata-chan. You are keeping our clan's name good by doing so."
I bow. "Thank you."
"When do you have to hand in your mission report?"
"In three days from now."
"Whenever everything is processed, I would like for you to request a copy of the official report on my behalf. I would like to look over it."
"I will do that for you.
Hiashi nods. "Good. Is there anything else you want to discussion?" I shake my head. "Let's get ready for dinner then."
As promised, I spent the next day with my sister. Since it is the weekend, she does not have class today so I started off the day by watching her morning training session with our father. I must say, I am pretty impressed with her. She is far more advanced than I was at seven years old. She puts in a lot of power into her strikes and is very quick and silent on her feet. I can see why Neji didn't notice her.
Creepy thought, but Hanabi would make a great assassinator.
After her training session, we spent the rest of the morning tending to our mother's garden and taking a walk around the village while rehashing my mission to her and any other story she wants to hear. Around lunchtime, our stomachs were rumbling.
"I am hungry," Hanabi complains as we stroll through the outdoor market.
I pull out my wallet and count the cash inside. "What are you in the mood for?"
"Ramen!" Wait, that isn't Hanabi's voice.
I turn around and see Naruto standing with Sasuke and Ino on the other side of the street. They seem to be arguing about something.
Ino places her hands on her hips. "We always eat there! I'm sick of it!"
Naruto's scowls. "What do you mean you're sick of it? We have been without it for two weeks and we are eating some!"
Sasuke crosses his arms. "Shut up, dobe. You are causing a scene."
Naruto gives him an annoyed look. "Don't only fuss at me, teme! Ino is yelling as well!"
"Because you are being so annoying right now!" Ino yells, proving Naruto's point.
Sasuke grunts and looks away, widening his eyes when he spots me. Leaving his two teammates behind, he walks over towards me.
"I didn't you know you guys were back," I say to Sasuke as he approaches me.
"We just got back this morning and these two are already fighting," Sasuke tells me with mild annoyance. "I wanted to get away from them for awhile, but they both dragged me to lunch with them and now they are being indecisive."
I giggle. "It seems to me that Naruto-kun already has his mind made up."
As if he heard me talking about him, Naruto stops arguing with Ino and averts his eyes over to me. His face brightens up as he runs over towards me, madly waving his hands. "Hey! Hinata-chan! How's it going?" Ino groans and jogs after him.
"I'm about to grab some lunch with my sister, Hanabi-chan," I said, pointing at her. I look down at her. "Hanabi-chan, this is my friends Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun and their teammate Ino."
Hanabi bows. "It is nice to meet you three." She looks at me. "Why is she not your friend?"
Naruto snorts at my sister's innocent comment as Sasuke hides a smirk and Ino's eyebrow twitches. Damn. I didn't mean to throw any shade.
"We are just acquaintances," I reply. "We do not hate each other or anything." Okay, that is a little white lie because Ino and I have never cared for one another.
"I like your sister! She's funny!" Naruto makes known to me as Hanabi slightly blushes.
"She's something," I say back. "How did your mission go?"
Ino opens her mouth to say something, but Naruto beats her to it. "It was so cool! We kicked some ass! Okay, so- OW! What the hell was that for-OW!"
Naruto frantically rubs his head as Ino seethes with her fist raised. "You're not suppose to be cussing in front of little kids like that, idiot!"
"What's the big deal?" Naruto whines. "I curse in front of Konohamaru all the time!"
"Which you shouldn't do because it makes you a bad influence!"
"Knock it off," Sasuke snaps as I scratch the back of my head. Hanabi just blinks at them in confusion.
An idea pops in my head. "Why don't we all have lunch together and I can hear all about your mission in a more civilized manner and then I can tell you guys about mine?"
Naruto and Ino stop bickering and stare at me. "Why would you want to tell us about your D-rank mission?" Naruto asks. Ino bonks him over the head again for his impoliteness. "STOP THAT!"
I smile. "Actually, my team and I went on a mission outside of the village just like you all did."
I catch Sasuke's interest. "Where did you go?"
"I will tell you guys after you tell me how your mission went first," I tell him, even though I pretty much know what happened unless Ino being there changed anything.
"Alright!" Naruto cheers, pumping his fist into the air. "We can talk it over some ramen!" He runs away towards the direction of Ichiraku before anybody could protest.
Ino sighs as we slowly start walking behind him. Hanabi taps my shoulder and I lean down as she whispers into my ear. "You have some strange friends."
I shrug. "Life would be boring if everybody was normal."
Hanabi rolls her eyes. "He is not even abnormal. He is a definition of his own."
After ordering our food, Team Seven took turns in telling the story about their most recent mission. As I had expected, everything pretty much went the same (Rest in peace Haku and Zabuza even though I never met you in person). One thing I picked up on is that Naruto did not reveal that he had channeled some of the Kyuubi's chakra when he attacked Haku after he thought Sasuke was dead, which makes sense because that is still a secret he is keeping from the Rookie Nine for now.
A minor difference that happened during their mission is that they convinced Kakashi to teach them a jutsu while they were waiting around for the bridge to be built. Since Sasuke and Naruto learnt how to climb up trees and walk on water from me, and Ino learnt from them so she could catch up and attempt to impress Sasuke, they had begged Kakashi to teach them something new until he gave in. He taught them a Water based jutsu called Water Style: Gunshot because since they were around bodies of water it would be easy for them to practice. However, the jutsu can be performed without water. It seems that Ino ended up perfected it before Sasuke and Naruto did which makes me wonder if Ino has an affinity for the element of Water.
I am just glad Kakashi taught them anything at all besides teamwork and the Genin basics.
After I told my mission to them, they were stunned. Though, I left out the parts about Hidan's religion and putting me under a genjutsu because those two things are still under investigation and I don't know if I am allowed to speak about it or not.
"Wow! I can't believe you fought and immortal!" Naruto exclaims with awe as he slurps up his fifth bowl of ramen.
Ino shivers. "I can't believe you chopped his head off."
"Yes, well I did not have any other choice," I say to her. "You know how immortals are. That is the only way to deal with them."
Ino ignores my joke. "I can't believe Sakura actually saved Shikamaru. She's better than I thought."
"Sakura-chan is amazing!" Naruto tells Ino. "You better step up your game if you want to catch up with her!"
Ino crosses her arms. "Pfft. I am already ten times better than Billboard Brow."
I have to admit, from what I have heard from Naruto, Ino is pretty talented. Not only does she know her Ninja Art: Mind Transfer Jutsu, but now she has a Water Style jutsu under her belt, she has average taijutsu skills now, and she's pretty smart. I do not know if it is because she came from a Shinobi family and Sakura did not, but she seems more dedicated to her training than Sakura did when she was on Team Seven in the anime/manga. Don't get me wrong, Ino is obsessed with Sasuke. She just tries to spend more time impressing him than hanging all over him, which I guess is not a bad thing if she is improving. Though, I think Sakura is better, in my opinion. She just needs more self-confidence in her skills.
"It sounds like you have gotten stronger since you have become a Genin," Sasuke says to me.
I smile. "Thank you! I have been training a lot."
Sasuke nods. "We should have a spar sometime."
Fight with Sasuke? Hell, no! He will kick my ass! Ugh, but it is Sasuke. I can't chicken out in front of him!
I nod back. "I'm up for that whenever."
Naruto points at Sasuke. "Hey! I always want to fight you, but you never want to!"
Sasuke shift his eyes over towards his teammate. "That's because I know I can beat you, dobe. I haven't seen Hinata's skills in a while."
"Humph," Naruto grunts. He looks over at me and smirks. "Well, whenever you are done playing around with Sasuke, come find me and I will give you a real match!"
"Okay, okay," I chuckle, waving my hands before an argument breaks out.
After our short lunch break, we all parted ways and Hanabi and I make our way back home.
"I am sorry we ate lunch with my friends instead of just the two of us," I apologize to Hanabi. "You must have been bored."
Hanabi shakes her head. "I actually found the conversations pretty interesting and amusing. I like to observe and listen more than talking anyways."
I raise my eyebrows. "Are you hinting to me that you noticed something during our talks?"
Hanabi nods. "Yes. I think Naruto-san has a crush on this Sakura girl, Sasuke-san seems to think he is better than his teammates though holds you on a higher pedestal, and Ino-san is jealous that you are so close to Sasuke."
I just stare at her. "You got all of that from just listening and watching?"
Hanabi smiles proudly. "Yes." Damn, she's good. "Was I correct?"
I dramatically sigh and shrug. "I don't know. Can you guess the answer from observing me?"
Hanabi frowns. "That's not even fair. You know I will be watching and will know to hide certain body language." However, she still thinks for moment. "I believe I am right, however."
I give in. "Yes, you are."
Thought, I don't know if she is right about Sasuke or not. Does he really think that highly of me over Naruto? Those two have been friends longer than he and I have. She must be mistaken.
When we all met up with Asuma a couple of days later, we all handed in our mission reports and decide to ask about the investigation. He informs us that he has not found out anything yet and I cannot tell if he is lying and is not allowed to tell us or he really does not know. Either way we accept his answer and do not press any further.
We spend most of the morning training on our own accord with Asuma and two of his Shadow Clones. Shikamaru is working all the new jutsu that Norio gave him, Sakura is working on her taijutsu and building up her strength since she needs to learn some offensive tactics, and I am working on my speed and Substitution Jutsu. My goal for the Substitution Jutsu is to be able to use it so quickly that it looks like I am teleporting and I will be able to confuse my opponent. I have also decided to start carrying around straw scarecrow dummies in my storage scrolls so I can use them as a replacement to switch with. The point in having them is so I can set them up before or during a battle so if I need to get away to a certain position, or if I am trying to lure enemies into a pre-planned trap, I can just switch with the dummy instead of a random log. After training, we went on a D-rank mission.
This is how the next three weeks went: we worked on these areas during training and then we would go on a D-rank mission if scheduled to do so. Shikamaru learnt his new jutsu, though now he needs to find the motivation to actually practice it in order to master it. Sakura's taijutsu is coming along just fine though someone like Ino is still more advanced than her and mine evasive skills and agility has increased greatly.
Also during these three weeks, I have not seen much of Neji. Ever since his punishment, he has been avoiding the Main House and has been strictly hanging around the Branch House. I have only seen him a couple of times, but it has been in passing and we do not talk for long. I hope he does not feel weird around me now for what my father did to me, even though he seemed fine with me during our talk. I am just hoping that he is just using this time to train or something and not getting into anymore trouble. I can't really keep worrying about him though. He will come back around and be his old self again soon. Until then, I will just keep focusing on my training.
One random morning after a few hours of training, Asuma gives us a surprise before heading off for our mission of the day.
"What are these?" Sakura asks as he hands us each a piece of paper.
He smiles. "I have recommended you three for the Chunin Exams."
"The Chunin Exams?" Sakura repeats. "What is that?"
As Asuma launches into an explanation for her, my mind begins to race.
The Chunin Exams?! Seriously?!
The Chunin Exams means Orochimaru and that means he goes after Sasuke and gives him the Cursed Mark. Orochimaru also means the invasion of Konoha, which means the death of the Third Hokage and many other people. The invasion involves the Sand Siblings, which includes Gaara who introduces his inner demon beast to the world during the invasion.
And, the start of all this begins in five days.
I totally forgot all about the Chunin Exams.
Shit.
Author's Note: So, it seems like OC Hinata has forgotten all about the Chunin Exams! What kind of plan can she come up with in less than a week to save Sasuke and stop Orochimaru, if she even can? Dunnnn dunnn dunnnnnnnnnn!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone