Disclaimer: I will say it like I've said it before… I don't own Naruto or any cannon ideas in this story. Anything farfetched you can blame on me, but I take no responsibility for any misuse of this material. This is an update and partial rewrite of this story. I've done some simple edits and some grammar correction to the story. There might be some subtle changes along the way, but I hope it meets with your enjoyment. I'll be working on this story and my others as time permits.

Chapter 1 – Revelations…

Naruto looked down at the test and could not understand why the test was so difficult. 'Why are they asking about how I should act towards a Kage delegate when guarding the Hokage? That was never covered even when I was sleeping, I'm sure of it. Why do they want to know the economic impact of a war upon a village as opposed to general skirmishes? Why do they want the battle order for a pincer maneuver when you have inferior forces but superior terrain? These are not genin questions. What is going on?' Naruto thought to himself as he overviewed his test.

Hinata looked over at a very frustrated Naruto. 'What is wrong with Naruto-kun?' Hinata thought to herself, as she looked at his test. Her eyes opened wide as she saw the questions on his paper. She looked quickly at her own then towards several others. Every test in the room was exactly the same except for Naruto's. Naruto's was different, she slipped her hands below the desk and did several hand signs and activated her Byakugan and then she examined Naruto's paper, it was the same test as everyone else had. 'A genjutsu had been placed on his test? Why would they do that? Are they trying to get him to fail?'

"Hinata Hyuuga, please deactivate your doujustu, since we do not want you to cheat." Iruka commented as the thought crossed his mind. 'Why is she looking at Naruto's test?' Hinata worried so much about how Naruto was doing that she forgot to answer most of the questions on her test.

"Please put down your pencils, since we need you to go out to the training field for your practical skills test. Mizuki-sensei will do the grading for that while I correct your tests. Good luck and I'll see you when you come back here. I should be finished grading your tests by then and then we can do the ninjutsu portion of the exam." Iruka happily explained.

Out in the courtyard everyone was given a set of Kunai, shuriken and senbon. Hinata at this point was livid about what had been happening. Either Iruka was too busy or didn't care that Naruto was being singled out to fail. She used her Byakugan to quickly inspect all of the weapons that the students were given. Sasuke Uchiha was given the mint condition equipment for his round of the test. Hinata noticed that her equipment along with Naruto's, were at the bottom of the quality list with Naruto's not even good enough to be melted down for replacement equipment. Hers were better, but the others had better equipment. It was as if both she and Naruto were being setup to fail. She decided to speak up and stand up for her and Naruto's rights. "Excuse me Mizuki-sensei, why did Naruto-kun and I get equipment of such inferior quality?" Hinata asked, a bit of anger evident in her tone.

Mizuki looked annoyed for an instant before he put a smile on his face. "I am sorry Hinata-sama, but I gave out the equipment in a random fashion. If you would like you could take ten points off your grade and get some new equipment, and possibly lose your place as you can't be late when I call your name for your test." Mizuki answered authoritatively.

Naruto became angry for a second, but then calmed down, as did Hinata. 'Why is she trying to help me, I knew this would be an uphill battle for me, but why would she jeopardize her chances to help me? Could it be that she likes me?' Naruto thought to himself. Naruto inspected his equipment and found all the equipment dull and rusty. Even the senbon were bent. Naruto took the time to bend the senbon back as straight as possible. He noticed Hinata had similar equipment, but not as bad as his. At least her senbon were straight.

Mizuki called each of the students for their turn. Sasuke got the best score while Hinata and Naruto placed at the bottom. Mizuki hid his anger that the 'demon' had made a passable grade on the weapons test, even with such bad equipment. He didn't notice that all of the kunai and shuriken that Sasuke had used were now missing. With no stealth or speed tests the students then moved to the taijutsu portion of the test. Naruto was pitted against Sasuke and lost miserably. He was hit just before Mizuki had said start and Mizuki didn't even lower Sasuke's score for cheating. Hinata ran into a similar problem with Ame who was the top-ranked female student in the taijutsu area. Hinata was so angry at what was happening that she sat down next to Naruto and didn't even notice until he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, I guess I'm not the only one who is being singled out for failure, sorry." Naruto said, as his eyes showed a deep hurt and compassion.

Hinata, in a move that surprised even her, put her hand on Naruto's, only wearing a slight blush. "Thank you Naruto-kun, it means a lot to me that you would try to comfort me," she replied, then leaned her head on his hand.

Naruto was confused now. 'Wait I have only seen this when couples like each other. Does she really like me, but what about Sakura-chan?' Naruto thought to himself, he then looked at Sakura only to see the most evil and angry look the girl had ever given him. Her clenched fist promised pain if she came close to him. 'Either she doesn't like me or she is jealous.' Naruto then thought back to how she had treated him in the past. Naruto had tried to comfort her the way he did Hinata, but was only beaten for his trouble and had been given the very same look. 'Oh my god, she really does hate me!' Naruto panicked in his mind and then looked down in despair.

Hinata noticed the look Sakura gave to Naruto, and knew exactly what it meant. When she felt Naruto's arm slacken Hinata looked worriedly at him. Gone was the smile, fear and desperation were all over his face. Hinata gently squeezed his hand and smiled kindly at Naruto in an effort to cheer him up. 'I hope I can help him to pass the exams. We are not doing so well, Kurenai will not be happy. Neither will father,' Hinata thought to herself.

Naruto felt the squeeze of his hand. He looked up to see a kind smile from the indigo-haired girl. 'Is she trying to ease my pain?' Naruto became excited at the prospect that someone actually liked him. He returned the smile only to get another gentle squeeze of his hand and a bigger smile.

The class moved back into the classroom for the final part of the test, ninjutsu. Naruto was worried that he might not be able to pass this part and wanted to make sure he could do it right. Several students were called into the room with Mizuki and Iruka as they were asked to perform a clone jutsu for the ninjutsu part of the exam. Naruto entered and began to build up an immense amount of chakra, Hinata noticed the building chakra. 'That is too much for even forty clones. What is Naruto-kun thinking?' She thought to herself, and then activated her Byakugan to watch. She saw Naruto engulfed in a huge amount of chakra and then he attempted to perform the clone jutsu. This created a single clone that was totally pathetic. She read Iruka's lips only to see him yell that Naruto had failed. She also read the two teachers' lips to see that they were arguing about whether or not they should pass Naruto. In the end they did not pass him. Hinata was shaken by what she had seen and was called next. She couldn't calm her nerves enough to create a clone either and was also failed.

Naruto found the tree swing and watched as other students celebrated their graduation from the academy with their parents. He then noticed a shadow standing next to him. It was Hinata and she wore the same dejected look he did. "Hinata-chan? Why are you not celebrating with the others?" Naruto asked, not even realizing that he had added the 'chan' suffix to her name.

Hinata fought back tears as she pointed to the swing. "Can I sit with you please?" She asked, as she sounded a bit depressed.

Naruto nodded as he heard an offhanded comment about him not graduating. "Sure, what's wrong?" He asked in a kind and gentle voice.

Hinata sat next to Naruto, then slumped into his shoulder and began to cry. "I failed. I failed! My father is going to kill me!" Hinata cried as she sobbed into his shoulder.

Naruto didn't know what to do, as he was used to failing, but he had no idea how to help other people deal with their failures. "I failed too. Maybe I can get your dad to go easy on you?" Naruto offered.

Hinata's sobs lessened. "I don't think you could help with him, thank you though Naruto-kun." Hinata replied and then hugged Naruto as a thank you.

Both children broke the embrace as they felt someone standing over them. Mizuki had only planned to have Naruto to fail but if he could take the scroll and bring a Hyuuga along for experimentation then all the better for him. "You got a minute, kids?" Mizuki asked with a kind smile.

Naruto and Hinata looked up at Mizuki and nodded. The Hokage, Iruka and Hiashi all saw the scene, all scowled. Naruto, Hinata and Mizuki were gone a moment later.

"Iruka means well guys. He just wants you to be prepared and not be hurt when you become genin. I probably shouldn't mention this, but there is another way to become a genin." Mizuki stated with a smile as both children listened intently.

Hinata could not believe how much stealth and speed Naruto had as they moved through the Hokage tower. They quickly found the vault and searched for the scroll that Mizuki-sensei had told them to bring. Naruto saw a few scrolls that caught his eye, two were labeled with his name and one with Hinata's name, and he quickly pocketed them. He then found the scroll they needed. As they left with the scroll strapped to Naruto's back, Sarutobi appeared. "Oh no, it's the old man!" Naruto quietly exclaimed.

Hinata looked worried. "Oh no Naruto-kun, what do we do?" She asked, as she started to panic. Her eyes widened even more as she saw the grin on Naruto's face, the one that she knew meant that he was going to pull a prank on someone.

"Naruto-kun, Hinata-chan, what are you doing in the tower at this late hour?" Sarutobi asked as he looked back and forth between the two children. He then noticed Naruto's smile a little too late.

Naruto moved his hands to make the ram hand sign. "Transform!" Naruto exclaimed, as he turned into a beautiful young woman with blonde ponytails and no clothes. The Hokage immediately flew backwards from the blood that gushed from his nose. Hinata giggled, since she had seen this before. Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand and began to run towards the exit. "We need to get out of here and train, so we can pass the exam. The rules were not to get caught. Luckily he didn't say anything about not being seen."

Naruto was panting, as Hinata lay near him, nearly unconscious. "We got the first one. I know it's taxing, but we did it. How about we try this one? Corpse spirit sealing method, nah, sounds creepy and we don't have a dead body to seal," he stated, and then moved to another jutsu in the scroll.

Hinata sat up, looked at the explanation and paled. "Naruto-kun, that one requires you to die so you can take someone else with you in to the belly of the Shinigami. It's a suicidal jutsu, so we won't try that one. I don't get it, Naruto-kun! All of the jutsu in this scroll are forbidden, and the explanations are quite explicit. The shadow clone jutsu we just learned is forbidden because it takes a lot of chakra and then will divide what you have left between you and your clones. You have a lot of chakra, but I don't have that much. My chakra control is all that kept me from dying from using that jutsu, and I even took a soldier pill! I can make one clone and you can make a lot more than that and only be winded. If I were to use this jutsu I would not be able to fight at all, since I would have nearly exhausted my chakra supply. I see only two more we could learn safely. They are 'Eagle eye' and 'Shadow clone shuriken'. Both have better requirements, but should not be used a lot. The drawbacks to the 'Eagle eye' jutsu are that you will have enhanced sight, but your close range vision is nearly gone. The 'Shadow clone shuriken' jutsu will allow us to make one shuriken into many, but if used too often you will again exhaust your chakra supply." Hinata explained in a way Naruto could actually understand.

"Are there any more benefits to the 'Shadow clone' jutsu other than creating lots of clones of myself and filling up an area with them? Lots of useless fighters would still equal close to almost nothing if I can't fight worth beans." Naruto stated in recognition of his own poor taijutsu skills.

"Yes. Anything the clone learns is transferred back to the caster. Also the mental fatigue will be transferred back to you, so if you have say fifty 'shadow clones' and dismiss them all at once you might suffer from overload from the feedback," Hinata explained. "Now let's learn these two other techniques, so that we can pass this test," Hinata said, as she put her hand on Naruto's to trying to reassure him. He noticed the blush on both of their faces as they touched.

They said each other's name at the same time, turned away and then they looked at each other only to see a blush on the other's face. Naruto recovered first. "Hinata-chan, we need to get to these techniques down first, and then we can talk," he stated, as he smiled warmly at her, while the blush threatened to return.

Hinata nodded and turned her attention to the scroll. "Now memorize the hand seals first and then memorize the release seal for the 'Eagle eye' jutsu. This way you can release it, so we won't be hampered by it for any length of time," she explained.

Naruto shook his head. "First we should do the 'Shadow clone shuriken'. It does have a higher chakra requirement, but it has less hand seals, so it would be easier to memorize. Then we can then do the 'Eagle's eye' technique," he argued.

Hinata sighed, as she relented and positioned the scroll on both of their laps and they began to study the jutsu. Five minutes later several of the trees were embedded with hundreds of shuriken and kunai. Naruto was so happy he kissed Hinata on the cheek. She turned cherry red and looked at Naruto in a daze. "Naruto-kun, kissed me… he likes me like I like him…" Hinata whispered happily in her dazed state.

Naruto wore a confused look on his face. 'Hinata-chan likes me? If Hinata-chan likes me, what about Sakura-chan? She could be cuter than Sakura-chan, and her treatment towards me so far is much better than the beatings I keep getting when I am nice to Sakura! Man I am so confused! What should I do? I like Hinata-chan, but…' Naruto was brought out of his thoughts, when Hinata's hand touched his face with a worried look.

"You do like me don't you Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, her eye almost begged him to say yes.

Naruto's face turned from confused and concerned to a warm smile she had only seen on a few occasions. "Yes, Hinata-chan, I do like you," he replied, more sure of himself than he'd ever been in his life.

Hinata smiled and as she felt a comforting warmth growing in her. 'He likes me! I must prove that he we can be a good team!' She thought to herself. "Naruto-kun, we need to get this last jutsu down before Mizuki-sensei arrives!" Hinata exclaimed.

Naruto nodded, as they both learned both the engagement and release hand signs. A few minutes later both were smiling and embraced in a hug, as they awaited both Iruka and Mizuki to arrive. They had seen Iruka and Mizuki with the Eagle eye jutsu, Iruka was a few minutes closer, but they were worried as Mizuki appeared to be decked out for war not for a test!

Iruka jumped down ready to tell the children that they had been caught when both smiled at him and said, "Hi, Iruka-sensei! Are you going to administer the test when Mizuki-sensei also arrives?" The question asked in unison by the children confused Iruka for a minute.

"Test! What test?" Iruka questioned in his confusion.

"The special genin test, where we steal this scroll and learn two jutsu from it to pass, Mizuki-sensei told us about it," Naruto explained.

Iruka looked at Naruto as if he had eaten a psychedelic mushroom. "There is no test like that!" Iruka exclaimed.

"Then Mizuki-sensei is coming to kill us and take the scroll then," Hinata explained with a dejected look on her face. Iruka pushed the children out of the way just as a dozen kunai embedded themselves into either Iruka or the shack that he was now pinned to.

"Well you got part of that right little girl. I did plan on killing the brat and taking you and the scroll as prizes, but it looks like I need to take out the trash first," Mizuki exclaimed.

"Mizuki, why would you have them steal… you were planning to take the scroll for yourself and kill them weren't you?" Iruka said in an accusatory tone. The pieces were beginning to add up.

"No, the demon brat and thanks to your arrival, your being added to the trash list, I was planning to take little Hinata here with me to Orochimaru, so that he could experiment on her," Mizuki explained, as he began to laugh. He then continued, "Both of you are idiots, and now I am going to finish you off! But first, Naruto… don't you want to know why everyone in the village hates you?"

Iruka shook his head, but he was pinned to the side of the shack that was nearby and could only exclaim, "No, Mizuki it's forbidden!"

Hinata looked at Naruto, while his expression changed several times, first from anger to worry, then to fear and finally to curiosity, as he finally nodded. Mizuki laughed and explained, "The Fourth Hokage didn't kill the Nine-tails all those years ago, it's sealed within you! You are the demon fox, Naruto!"

Hinata watched Naruto's face change again from fear to frustration to anguish. Naruto clutched the scroll as he was suddenly hit by two bodies. He felt something warm drip on his face. As he opened his eyes he saw Iruka looking down on him with tears in his eyes and blood seeping from his mouth. He also saw Hinata clutched on to him tightly. He looked back between the two of them as Iruka spoke. "I am sorry, Naruto, that I wasn't there for you. I knew you were all alone but I didn't reach out to you until now. We are a lot alike, you and I. We were both alone for a lot of our lives. I know what it is like to be alone. Maybe Hinata here will help you not to be so alone. Now take the scroll and don't let Mizuki get it."

Naruto looked down at Hinata, as she nodded and helped him turn over to begin to run away. Hinata was in quick pursuit. Iruka pulled the fuuma shuriken from his back and threw it haphazardly at Mizuki only to miss miserably. Mizuki laughed as he jumped past Iruka and said, "I'll deal with you later."

Naruto was leaping from tree to tree as Iruka pulled up beside him. "Mizuki was lying to you, don't believe anything he says. Hand me the scroll," Iruka exclaimed, as Naruto changed his direction and kneed Iruka in the stomach. Both landed hard and rolled to a stop. "How did you know that I wasn't Iruka?" Iruka asked, as he transformed back into Mizuki.

Naruto lay against the tree and took a deep breath and he changed into Iruka. He then explained, "Because, I'm Iruka."

"Why are you defending him? He's a monster! He will take all of his anger and hatred and pour it into the scroll and destroy the village," Mizuki exclaimed.

Naruto heard this from behind a near tree and began to cry only to feel a hand on his shoulder, it was Hinata who reached down and hugged him gently. "You will never be a monster to me," she whispered gently. "You will always be Naruto-kun."

"You're right that is what a monster would do," Iruka explained, as both Naruto and Hinata froze. He then continued, "But that isn't what Naruto would do. He is Naruto Uzumaki from the village hidden in the leaves and he is not the Kyuubi, he is its jailer!" Iruka exclaimed.

Naruto looked up at Hinata who smiled and nodded to him. "He does care…" Naruto whispered, as Hinata again smiled and nodded.

"You know I was going to kill you last, but now you are just in the way," Mizuki explained emphatically, as he pulled the second shuriken off of his back and began to spin it. Iruka smiled, as he felt his impending death. Suddenly a shuriken flew past him as well as an orange object, the shuriken turned into ten as several tore into Mizuki, and the orange object then slammed into Mizuki, thus it caused him to lose control of the large shuriken, which flew off behind him.

Naruto stood over the bloody and injured Mizuki holding the scroll beside him. "If you lay a finger on our sensei again, we'll kill you!" Naruto exclaimed threateningly.

"You and that loser of a Hyuuga tramp? Right, bring it on, I can beat you in one move, give me your best shot," Mizuki replied boastfully, as he stood up.

Naruto crossed his hands with middle and index fingers extended in a half Ram and half Ox seal while he shouted, "Shadow clone technique!" Suddenly the clearing was filled with hundreds of Naruto clones. "So are you going to fight me or are you going to just stand there?" The Naruto clones asked, as Mizuki stood there, terrified by the sheer number of clones Naruto had created. "Okay, here we come!" Naruto exclaimed, as he proceeded to beat Mizuki into a living pulp.

Hinata stepped out next to Iruka panting. "Naruto-kun, looks like we both got one of the 'Shadow' techniques to work," She happily explained.

Iruka looked at Naruto then to Hinata. "Did you use 'Shadow clone shuriken', Hinata-chan?" Iruka asked, as Hinata nodded. Iruka shakily stood as Naruto dragged Mizuki and the scroll towards the two. "I am very proud of both of you. I hereby pass you both, so you are now both genin of the leaf."

Naruto, Hinata and Iruka were in the Hokage's office all with smiles. The Hokage on the other hand was not smiling. "Did I hear you correctly Iruka? You passed them for bringing back a scroll that they both stole from this very tower?" Sarutobi asked angrily.

Iruka swallowed hard, but remained firm and replied, "Yes Hokage-sama, I passed them on the grounds that they learned a jonin level a genin level and a chunin level technique from the scroll of sealing. They used all three to defeat a traitorous chuunin."

"So you defend them in stealing their act of stealing the sacred sealing scroll?" Sarutobi asked wearily.

"No, of course not Hokage-sama, but they were tricked by a trusted figure of authority," Iruka replied in an attempt to counter the Hokage's argument.

"They should have thought it through and then asked you if there was such a test. As shinobi they should be able to discern fact from fiction, they cannot at this time do that," Sarutobi said in an angrily retort.

"So you are saying they should have known better?" Iruka asked furiously.

"Yes," Sarutobi's one word reply took all the wind out of Iruka's sails.

Hinata was angry, really angry and her dam finally burst, she then activated her Byakugan without thinking. "Hokage-sama, I can understand if you deny me the chance to be a shinobi, but Naruto-kun was not given the appropriate tests, and neither was I for that matter! His test had a genjutsu placed upon it. Our weapons were rusty, blunted and bent! If you do this you show that you are showing favoritism rules here in Konoha and would prefer to have those that are showed favor as the preferred ninja in this village. Naruto-kun was failed by a test that was slated for him to fail, and for certain others to breeze by!" Hinata said accusatorily.

"You are saying that I would sanction that one genin candidate would be favored over another? What evidence do you have?" Sarutobi asked.

Hinata and Naruto removed the weapons they were given for the exams out of their pockets. Iruka was stunned at the appalling condition of the weapons. "Were these the weapons you were given for the exam?" Iruka questioned, as the children just nodded.

"I'm sorry, but this is irrelevant. I'm sorry that you didn't pass but you must understand that I can't show favoritism to either of you," Sarutobi replied with a sigh.

"Then you will have to strip Sasuke of his rookie-of-the-year status," Naruto stated without emotion.

"And why should I?" Sarutobi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You said you would not show favoritism. He was allowed to use superior weapons in the weapons test along with a dummy that had magnets in it! He was also allowed to attack me before the signal was given during the taijutsu evaluation. I know he is better than I am at taijutsu, but if he is allowed to cheat like that then you would be within your rights to allow our passage! His test was also already filled out!" Naruto angrily replied.

"Look Naruto-kun, I know you are angry and do not like Sasuke Uchiha…" Sarutobi began, but was interrupted.

"Like? It does not matter if I like him or hate his guts, he was unfairly helped to pass, and I wouldn't put it past Mizuki-teme to be the one who answered Sasuke-teme's test for him! I don't know why the village treats him like they all want to want to wipe his ass, and even worse than that, he expects it! While I, the one who protects this village from a ravaging nature demon, am treated like dirt! Why is it that I'm treated like a demon? I am not one, damn it! I thought of you like a grandfather, now I… I don't know…" Naruto trailed off after having yelled at the Hokage. Hinata moved to his side, cupped his arm and then rubbed his back to try to soothe him. "I don't get it. You say that everyone in the village is precious, but you let me be treated like shit. You allow that ass, Sasuke to walk all over everything and do nothing."

"Silence! I have given you a lot of leeway Naruto. The stunt with the monument the other day, all you got for it was a warning. Now I will allow you both to attend the academy for another year to try to take the exam again next year, otherwise you are now both now civilians," Sarutobi said, as he pressed his fingers onto the bridge of his nose.

"I was going to stop pranks when I passed the exams. I don't know, let me think about it old man. I have a lot to think about," Naruto angrily replied, as his eyes showed his anger towards the man.

"I agree, Hokage-sama…" Hinata said, as her voice seethed with venom when she said the word 'sama'.

This hurt the old Hokage, but he knew the rules set down by the Second Hokage. 'In times of war you can pass all genin you need, in times of peace you must only pass those that can pass the tests put forth by the academy.' "Very well I will await your decisions. Iruka I will talk to you tomorrow about team assignments. Also let Kurenai in as you leave, since she needs to hear about this from me and the children."

"Yes Hokage-sama. I'm sorry, kids. I tried," Iruka said weakly apologized, as he left and a woman entered the room.

"Kurenai-sensei," Hinata whispered and lowered her head. This time Naruto rubbed her back to comfort Hinata.

"Ah, Kurenai-chan, come in," Sarutobi said to the woman, now appearing to be in a happier mood. "We have a couple things to discuss regarding your charge, Hinata Hyuuga," Sarutobi explained, as Kurenai nodded. "Well both of these students failed the genin exams. They also both know about Naruto's condition." Sarutobi's statement immediately put Kurenai on guard, as she eyed Naruto. Hinata grabbed Naruto's hand for support and squeezed. He then continued, "You see they broke into the tower, sneaked past several ANBU, took the scroll of sealing and sneaked past me. They then proceeded to take the scroll to a secluded place in the woods and learn from it." Naruto and Hinata were surprised that Kurenai's eyes opened even wider then they even thought possible. She turned to them with an angry glare.

"Is this true, Hinata-chan, Naruto?" Kurenai asked in an angry voice, as both nodded. "Continue Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi nodded and continued, "You see they learned three techniques, 'Shadow clone', 'Shadow clone shuriken', and 'Eagle eye' from the scroll." Kurenai gasped. "Yes, I know all are forbidden for a reason. They were supposed to turn the scroll over to Mizuki and show him what they learned." Kurenai eyed them questioningly. "They apparently didn't have any common sense. The scroll was guarded for a reason and chuunin are usually not allowed to view it. So why would a chunin want you to get the scroll and demonstrate that you can use forbidden jutsu?" Sarutobi asked.

"How should we know? We didn't even know it existed before Mizuki-teme told us to get it and where to get it. We thought that it being guarded was part of the test. I swear this day couldn't get anymore screwed up!" Naruto yelled in frustration, as Hinata squeezed his hand.

Kurenai scowled at Naruto, but showed some sympathy in her eyes, as Sarutobi continued, "I am giving them a chance to go back to the academy for another year and try to become genin next year. I know that you wanted Hinata on your team. Are you going to pull yourself out and wait for her or go ahead and take the team we assemble?" Sarutobi asked.

"One question first, if I may?" Kurenai asked, as Sarutobi nodded. "Naruto, Hinata-chan, can you both do all three of the jutsu the Hokage stated?" Both nodded in response. "Describe each jutsu and how well you can use them, Hinata-chan first."

Hinata squeezed Naruto's hand even tighter and swallowed hard. "Well Kurenai-sensei, I can make one 'Shadow clone' the infiltration and information gathering solid clone jutsu. I can make ten 'Shadow shuriken' at a time. 'Eagle eye' is a jutsu similar, but different from my Byakugan in that I can see distance, the drawback is that you lose close up vision unlike the Byakugan." Hinata explained, as Kurenai nodded.

"Okay Naruto, your turn." Kurenai prodded.

Naruto squeezed Hinata's hand and swallowed deeply. He then began to explain, "Well Kurenai-sensei, I can make hundreds if not a thousand shadow clones. The drawback to this jutsu is that my chakra is spread evenly between all of the clones. Using as much chakra as I do for my 'Transformation' jutsu I can make fifty 'Shadow shuriken' and I could do it all day. As Hinata-chan here explained the 'Eagle eye' jutsu can allow me to see about fifteen miles away, but I have real problems with seeing what is around me up to two hundred feet away using that technique."

Kurenai put her hands on her hips, turned to the Hokage and asked, "And you failed these two, why?"

"They failed the exam given by the academy," Sarutobi replied contritely.

"Yeah, after we had been sabotaged!" Naruto angrily replied, while he again fished out the ruined weapons and threw them on the Hokage's desk. "I was pulled out of class so often it is a wonder that I learned anything. With the use of my 'Transformation' jutsu I could go to the library and actually learn. The teachers gave everyone but me a book when I know damn well there were enough for me to take one home. The questions I got with genjutsu were of at least chunin level, heck you might not even have been able to answer some of them, old man!" Naruto stressed the 'old man' part.

"Given that you should have been able to overcome it," Sarutobi replied in a argumentative tone.

"I am terrible with chakra control and genjutsu. So how could I break a strong genjutsu without disrupting the class and getting kicked out of the test? Subtly is not always my strong suit, sure I can sneak around, but being subtle?" Naruto questioned.

"He does have a point Hokage-sama. If they want to wait another year I will take them on as their jounin sensei," Kurenai said.

Naruto and Hinata took heart from this revelation. "Very well Kurenai, you may go. Naruto and Hinata will you take my offer of another year at the academy?" Sarutobi asked, as both looked at each other and nodded to the Hokage. "Very well, I will make room for the two of you to attend again. Please go home and do not speak of the Kyuubi to anyone other than each other. Do I make myself clear?" He asked. Both children nodded as they left.

Naruto walked Hinata home, as it was very late and offered to meet her the next day for lunch at Ichiraku ramen shop. Hinata agreed quickly and entered the Hyuuga complex only to find her father and several elders waiting for her.

Naruto walked home feeling depressed, but also happy in the fact that he could still become a shinobi and that there was actually a girl out there that liked him and accepted him for holding the Kyuubi. Naruto had made it to the block he lived on when he was surrounded by several chunin. He was suddenly hit in the gut and across the face.

"Demon-brat, you caused a lot of problems tonight. Now we need to teach you a lesson," A chunin explained, as Naruto attempted to pick himself up off the ground only to be kicked in the gut. "Oh, no you don't get away that easily!" One of the brutes exclaimed.

Naruto was beaten for the next twenty minutes. He was left bleeding and broken, barely able to move, as he began to crawl to his apartment.

Hinata's happiness was shattered by the sight of her father and the elders. "Why are you returning so late and also why did you fail to pass the genin exams?" Her father asked coldly.

"Hinata-sama, did you not pass the academy exams?" One of the elders asked.

Hinata's head drooped. "No sir, I did not pass the exams," she replied sadly. She then looked up to see a tear fall from her father's eye.

"There is nothing you can do to save her now Hiashi. Take her to the chamber," the elder ordered, as a couple branch members sadly grabbed Hinata by the arms and dragged her away.

'I am sorry I could not save you Hinata-chan,' Hiashi thought, as he turned to go to his office, tears running down his face.

Screams were heard for an hour before they finally died down and an apparent quiet moved over the Hyuuga compound.

A/N: I know that some of you will not be able to comment because I am replacing a chapter instead of starting over.

Saru-chibi: While you may be right on her being able to live with only one-fourth of her chakra, there is also the chakra price for the technique itself. It would require more chakra than an academy student would more than likely have. Chuunin would have enough, but they wouldn't have enough left to be effective after the first clone. As for the actual cost of the technique, Kishmoto really didn't get too involved in giving us a real idea what techniques (Jutsu) cost for initializing and then maintaining them. There is the idea that using the hand seals is a way of weaving the chakra form and then there is the initial cost in chakra, type requirements included, and then maintenance requirements of said technique. I did like how one story (forgot which one, but would like to give the writer just rewards for thinking of this idea) where you break chakra down into units, each technique requires you to use said number of units, but to break it down to said number of units requires a certain level of control.

Lpride21: you said that Kakashi's students were the best trained because two made it to finals. I say you're comparing apples and oranges. Naruto and Sasuke made it there on pure luck. Here is the run down, Naruto on being able to fart at the right time and Sasuke, because he had a run in with Rock Lee before taking the first test. Look at Sakura, she knew only how to cancel a genjutsu, but not how to do an actual genjutsu and her fight was on par with Ino who had an admitted lazy sensei. Sure we don't know what exactly he taught them, but it wasn't that much. For all we know he spent most of his time reading a book and telling his 'students' to meditate, but not actually how to meditate. He may be a good teacher to those who are experienced, say a chuunin or higher, but fresh genin? I think not. While I do give Jiraiya some marks for improving Naruto, he could have done better, but also Naruto is a hard person to train, mostly because he has personal issues. Naruto had to deal with rejection all his life, thus the reason he latched on to Sakura and even with her pounding him, he refused to let her go, so in his mind she IS his girlfriend, no matter what she says. Also being so social inept, not his fault, he really doesn't know how to treat people. I blame the Hokage first and the village second. I hey, if they think he is the demon then treat him like a god or worry about suffering his wrath, AKA Gaara. So your idea that Kakashi was a good teacher because his students made the finals is a misnomer. He took, the easy way out, and relied on the natural skills and aptitude of his students. I mean look at Sakura, for a genius she is really an idiot, as are Sasuke and Neji. Heck most of the characters aren't all that smart. I mean Kakashi and Zabuza for all their touting being elite jounin, really didn't fight like you would expect an expert in silent killing technique (Zabuza), he talked way too much, and the man with a thousand jutsu (Kakashi), why not pull out some Earth jutsu to counter the water jutsu, and a Wind jutsu to blow the mist away. I mean come on… I will admit the fight was entertaining, but true masters would be better at killing off their opponents. The true downfall of a villain, his monologue…

Amadeus: I would agree with you about dropping the anvil, but also understand that this was one of my first stories and didn't think too much into the romance thing, sorry for chasing you away if I did. I didn't really fix it, but also have a real bad dislike of Sakura. Don't expect me to write a NaruSaku story… ever… lol, but I do try to follow her cannon to some extent. She at the time is a little girl and doesn't hide her emotions well especially with Naruto.

I included my old author's notes just for fun. Enjoy. Will be updated chapters as time permits.

Old A/N: I know kind of angsty, but hey I'm mad at Sarutobi for not doing more for Naruto and bringing in the favorite girl for Naruto is a bonus. It will get better in later chapters. This is just laying the ground work. Also for those who say Naruto was never beaten as a child, I didn't say that I'm just having the chuunin release some pent up anger at Naruto for having them search for him most of the night. Oh, yes Hinata is getting the caged bird seal, but there is a catch you will see later and the Hyuuga council will pay for their transgression later, you can count on it.

No there will be no team 7 until later and I'm still working out who will be with the pink banshee and emo king. Other teams will be set as I figure them out. Team 8 will have Kiba and Shino but another instructor and another teammate. Please judge on content and not how far this story strays from cannon as I'm not pleased with how any of the main characters have acted towards Naruto.

We can start with Sarutobi's total lack of finding real companionship for Naruto for whatever reason. Sakura for abusing him, yes she abused him and still does. Then we have Sasuke, who is only focusing on himself when he didn't take Kakashi's words to heart, but hey he is just a real jerk. Now we get to the lazy bastard of a teacher who doesn't even practice what he preaches. All the training he has done up to the point of his death was not as good as he could have done and early on seemed to be team focused but looking back it was not. If it was he would have spent more time developing Sakura's genjutsu and Naruto's ninjutsu and taijutsu. Naruto started at the bottom but worked his way to the top through his own with a little help from Jiraiya who should have looked over Naruto as his godfather. I know I'm rating about cannon but hey, there are too many incongruities.

Naruto suffers from 'battered wife's syndrome' and either ADD (Attention Deficient Disorder) or ADHD (Attention Deficient Hyper-active Disorder) by the way he accepts what Sakura, the village and other throw at him. He shows all the signs of ADHD, lots of energy and no focus, along with the extreme focus in certain areas with high intelligence. He is not wise mind you, but I'm sure his learning was sabotaged from an early age.

Sasuke suffers from another couple syndromes, first being 'shell shock', the murder of your entire clan could do that to you. Second is megalomania, his isn't mild. The real funny thing is that he comes off as a male who has no interest in women at all other than what they will do for him, and not in the way of continuing his clan. For all his proclamations of wanting to rebuild his clan, he instead goes from one target to another as his revenge kick keep going. Sure I'm sure Sakura and Karin would love to share him, but I'm not so sure about Ino. The funny thing is that Sasuke makes himself such an easy target for those of us writers in fan fiction.

Sorry for going on so long on this author's notes but hey either you like it or hate it no in between, okay maybe you might love it. The first chapter is specific about what I had the next chapter has the fall out. And what will happen with the extra scrolls Naruto pocketed? Find out in next chapter. Some are surprises others will be thought as predictable. Hey shoot me for having my muse write another story. Maybe you should shoot my muse. Hehehe….

The next chapter will be a little less agnsty and others afterwards should run the gamut.