"Alright, everyone but the first two competitors, please leave the arena!" The proctor pointed towards the entrance.

Neji didn't move, scowl firmly in place as he absently stared down the proctor.

Ino twisted this way and that, trying to spot her childhood friend. She hadn't seen Sakura while they'd all been waiting, and was concerned she was going to miss her match. "Where is she?" she hissed, sharply poking Shikamaru in the side.

Shikamaru grunted and shot her a dark look. Because he was looking at Ino, he completely missed the person who hadn't moved as they approached, causing the dark haired boy to run into them by accident. "Tch!" Shikamaru stumbled back a step, secretly startled when it felt like he'd run into an immovable object. The other person didn't budge an inch.

"SAKURA?!" screeched Ino, pointing dramatically at the person Shikamaru had just run into.

Shikamaru couldn't quite stop the instant reaction of his eyes widening slightly.

Her pink hair was currently mostly hidden beneath a black bandana that had a forehead protector sewn on the front. The teen was in an oddly familiar slouch, nose buried in a bright fluorescent pink book. She was dressed in an outfit eerily similar to her jounin instructor; anbu pants taped at the lower calf to her ankles, long sleeve form fitting anbu shirt and plated fingerless gloves, and she even had her weapons punch strapped to her thigh. The differences were the fact that she wasn't wearing a facemask, her belt had several more pouches that a medic would carry, she had kept her arm guards, and her vest was a collarless short dark red trimmed with silver and Kakashi's henohenomoheji in silver on the back.

She looked so completely different that none of the Konoha ninja in the exam had recognized her.

"Hmm? Did you say something?" remarked Sakura absently as she turned a page.

Everyone who knew Kakashi shot him horrified looks, and all the genin who knew Sakura gawked at her in disbelief.

"You're stealing my thunder!" boomed Gai up in the stands, crying manly tears.

"Hmm? You say something?" Kakashi glanced at Gai with a distracted air.

Asuma nearly inhaled his cigarette when he snorted out a suppressed laugh. Kurenai rolled her eyes in exasperation.

Hayate coughed before he sighed and waved at the stunned genin who had stopped in their tracks. "Hey, move it. I told all of you to get out of here." He shot them all a pointed look, a clear note of warning in his voice.

Neji sneered, not impressed in the least.

Once the arena was clear, Hayate motioned Neji to move across from Sakura, who was clearly still reading and ignoring everything else around her.

"Are you ready?" asked Hayate after he went over the rules. He sweatdropped when Sakura just turned another page. "Begin!" He cut his hand through the air and lept back.

…And everyone watched in silence as Sakura continued to read and not pay a lick of attention to Neji's stiff form.

"SAKURA! WHAT THE HELL?!" bellowed Ino, half hanging over the railing as Shikamaru and Choji clung to her to keep her from falling. "You're supposed to be fighting!"

"Hmm?" Sakura took a slow blink and lifted her head to spot Ino waving her arms in fury.

"QUIT GOOFING OFF!" yelled Ino, a tick mark on her head throbbing.

"...Oh." Sakura closed the book with a small *pamf* and put it in one of her pouches (it was actually put into a seal hidden on the inside flap of said pouch, so it didn't take up extra room and was further protected than just the pouch could give). She glanced around at the empty arena and then seemed to notice Neji glaring at her. She listlessly lifted a hand in belated greeting. "Yo."

Kakashi was absolutely preening on the inside as Neji looked ready to spontaneously combust at the blatant disregard. The jonin was totally giving her a cookie after this!

Rather than the fight starting immediately after said greeting, Sakura once again started looking around. She paused when she caught sight of a head of familiar silver hair in the stands. He did a fantastic job pretending to read, even as he giggled aloud at the perfect drama his student was stirring.

"Kakashi-Sensei." Sakura stared at him, once again ignoring Neji. "Kakashi-Sensei!"

"Aren't you going to answer your student?" Kurenai raised an eyebrow at him.

"Hmm?" He lifted his head and gave her a flat stare.

"Your student is calling you," remarked Kurenai, eyebrow twitching as all of them could hear Sakura still calling up to her sensei.

Kakashi stared for a loooong tense moment, to the point Kurenai was struggling not to squirm under his unblinking gaze.

"Which one?"

Kurenai blanched. Everyone could hear Sakura still shouting his name from below (not to mention neither of the boys on the team were present). "Are you...are you serious?"

"Mah mah, I'm Kakashi, not Sirius." The silver haired jonin waved his hand airily.

Azuma quickly stepped between the two when Kurenai started reaching for her shuriken. "A-hem! Your female student seems to want your attention." He pointed at said student.

Kakashi flopped his head to the side, as if considering Azuma's words. Finally, he turned and stepped towards the railing. "Pinky?"

A kunai whizzed by his ear, courtesy of said student.

"Ah! You noticed." Sakura gave a slow nod. She stuffed her hands in her pockets with a bored expression. "Gloves off?" Neither spoke loudly, but their voices seemed to carry clearly throughout the arena.

Kakashi blinked. Hadn't he told them yesterday…? A hidden smile crept across his face. He gave an exaggerated sigh. "Mah, I supposed you should, shouldn't you? Don't want Sasuke stealing all the thunder after all." He flicked his wrist at her in a shooing motion. "Gloves off."

A tense beat of silence followed as student and sensei locked eyes.

Kakashi folded his arms and leaned back, and Sakura shifted to finally acknowledge the Hyuga glaring murderously at her.

Gai was shooting his rival tense looks, debating what his comments really entailed. Azuma was still trying to keep Kurenai from stabbing Kakashi.

A blur of movement expressed Neji's sudden lack of patience. He crossed the gap between the pink haired genin and himself in a heartbeat, hands flying forward with swift intent.

*Whiff!*

Neji's head turned slightly to his left.

Sakura was standing five feet to the left of where she had been.

She languidly began stretching. "I suppose that means I have to put in some effort," she remarked blithely.

Neji was so enraged he tried to strike her again while she was mid stretch to touch her toes.

"That's rather rude," called a voice behind him.

Neji whirled to find the pink haired genin standing calmly behind him, shading her eyes as she stared up at the sky. Kakashi had to hide more giggles behind his book. His student was glorious!

Neji was predictably...seething. The veins around his eyes were bulging and his posture was so rigid he looked constipated.

"You're not fit-!" began Neji.

*poof!*

Sakura was standing right in front of him!

The back of her hand made contact with his face before he even finished wondering how the hell she knew shunshin, and how she seemed to have mastered it.

He could feel his cheek already swelling due to the metal plating on her glove.

He had walked in here expecting a civilian shinobi to be little better than an academy student. He wasn't prepared for a clanless insignificant nobody to immediately land a blow without even seemingly trying.

"Change is inevitable," she murmured, eyes suddenly intensely focused on his. "If you want to cage yourself, to clip your own wings, be my guest." She flicked her forehead protector. "The rest of us are going to soar."

Neji grit his teeth, lip curling back in a snarl. "You know nothing about-"

"Your seal?" she interrupted calmly. "I know someone who has it worse than you, and they're ten times the shinobi you'll ever be."

The passion in her eyes caught Neji completely off guard. Who was she talking about? How could anyone have it worse? And how could she know them?

"Then you know I'm trapped-" he began, fists clenched.

She snorted. "Yeah right." She smirked. "I'll even prove it to you." A grin of absolute delight flooded across her face. "After all, Kakashi-sensei gave me permission and everything!" She flicked a kunai into a reverse grip (where the hell had she even pulled it from?!), eyes practically glowing with excitement. "I'd tell you not to blink," she teased, "but being a Hyuga kinda makes that pointless." She winked at him as he blustered under her sheer nerve.

"I-"

*shhink!*

Neji flinched to the side.

"Tag!" came Sakura's singsong voice, once again standing ten feet away after slicing open part of Neji's sleeve.

The next several breathless moments were filled with Neji attempting to strike Sakura and her cutting up his clothes in different spots. It didn't take genius to see that all the cuts were above important locations that would debilitate him if she struck any deeper.

But, to his secret relief, she was starting to slow down. Her breathing was coming faster and her movements were a bit slower. If he pushed himself, he would be able to catch her! He knew he could! After all, no member of Team Gai lacked endurance. Also, her shunshin seemed to be sucking her chakra dry.

He smirked. He had this in the bag.

He charged once more, and to his glee, he indeed landed several blows to Sakura's right arm. She cursed silently to herself, having not expected him to get such a boost in speed. But then again, he was prideful enough he probably hadn't been attacking her with everything he had. Which really was a big mistake for anyone trying to take the chunin exams. After all, you never knew what kind of tricks people were hiding up their sleeves.

They broke apart, the kunai she'd been using flying through the air to land with a small thud several meters away. Sakura winced as she quickly used her left hand to start opening up her tenketsu.

Neji's eyes widened, startled the pinkette had such skill in the medic field already. There were several gasps in the stands when others cottoned on to what she was doing as well.

Kurenai's head snapped to Kakashi in surprise. "She's already that far advanced? How did she have time for it between ninja training and missions?"

Kakashi blatantly ignored her as he peered at his Precious, "Oh, Susa-chan! Don't be fooled! He's got a snake hidden in there!"

Asuma quickly redirected Kurenai's attention to the arena. "Look! Neji's not letting her heal herself!" The bearded jonin was getting tired of Kakashi tempting fate. Kurenai had no patience for such foolery, and the perverse book always tended to make her temper even more explosive. He flicked a moody glare at the silver haired jonin, only to gape when Kakashi winked at him! The bastard!

"Oooh!"

The crowd's loud combined cheer drew his attention back to the arena instead of ways to eviscerate his fellow jonin.

Neji was lunging towards Sakura, trying to stop her from completing her task. She managed to duck out of the way, but it was still enough that she had to stop healing her arm. Neji pivoted sharply, keeping up the attack and landing quite a number of blows on both arms. He leapt back with a confident sneer.

"Can't heal yourself now, can you?"

Sakura was slumped forward, wincing because indeed, both of her arms were useless. To free her arms, she would have to split her focus in order to slowly flood her tenketsu with medical chakra. That would take a lot longer than being able to use one of her hands to directly focus on the damaged area.

Good thing she'd prepared for exactly this scenario, hoped for it, actually. Time to humble this fool.

Kakashi's smirk went unnoticed, pride in his student making his chest swell. This was about to get good.

"You should forfeit now," said Neji, still loosely in his stance. "After all, a ninja is useless without their arms."

Sakura blinked, stared at him, and then threw her head back and laughed.

Neji wasn't the only one to be a bit unnerved by the unexpected response.

Sakura's chuckles died out and she smirked at the black haired teen across from her. "How silly. Let me disabuse you of that notion." She snapped her left leg up into the air until it was completely vertical and pressed against her torso.

Neji nearly missed the object flying at him, dodging at the last moment and only getting a cut to his cheek instead of missing an eye. The kunai hit a tree behind him with a solid thunk, and nearly everyone leaned forward in excitement.

Sakura was already moving as Neji looked back at her in disbelief. She shifted, lifting her foot to show off the kunai clinging to the bottom. Neji balked as Sakura flitted forward, quickly put on the retreat as Sakura's feet struck uncomfortably close. Those watching were startled, awed as the pink haired girl seemed to dance across the arena, chasing Neji in a spiraling pattern.

It took more time than he wanted to finally reach a stable enough stance to start fighting back. He tried to attack her legs, but she always twisted and ducked out of reach at the last moment. It was quite infuriating. Finally, he thought he'd be clever and attack the bottom of her feet, kunai or not.

His strike landed true, to the left of the kunai handle and right in the middle of her foot!

Only, instead of his chakra pushing into the limb and closing off the tenketsu, a jolt of chakra shot out of her foot and exploded in his hand. His entire hand was instantly numb while the kunai went spinning off past his head. He jumped away with a pained hiss, hand pulled close. He tried flexing his hand, but it was responding oddly.

She had stopped as soon as he leapt away, a cocky smirk still in place. "What's the matter? Something wrong with your hand?"

"What did you do?" He glared at her, clenching his hand in a fist, wincing as pain lanced through it and up his arm.

Sakura shook her head back and forth. "Tsk, tsk! That would be se-cret!"

Furious, he tried to attack her again, more cautious even though he still committed himself to his actions.

She easily danced around his attacks, especially as his left hand was still not functioning properly. He was pretty sure he wasn't pushing any of his chakra out of the fingers of his left hand like normal, either, after he actually managed to land a blow to her calf and she didn't even stumble. What had she done?!

She gracefully leaped out of reach, giving them both a short pause. "Let's amp things up a bit, yeah?" Without preamble, she hopped up into the air and spun.

Neji's eyes widened, his brain screaming at him that she shouldn't be this talented! He ducked and weaved around the four kunai that had been launched at him, startled at how accurate the attack was.

She landed and paused once more. "Ready?" Her grin was half mad. "That was just the intro."

The pinkette was in the air and her legs were a blur. Neji also became a blur, struggling to dodge or deflect a ridiculous amount of kunai. Where in Kami-sama's name was she getting them from?! The only reason he hadn't been tagged yet was due to the intense training sessions he had with Tenten. The problem was, she was able to fire off three to five kunai during a single kick, each coming at him from different angles. Tenten only threw weapons from her hands, so they all tended to come in at the same trajectory.

Up in the stands, said bun haired girl was practically drooling. "I never thought of doing it that way! I can't wait for training!" Her aura flared in determined excitement.

"Yosh! That's the spirit!" cheered Lee.

Tenten's eyes snapped to him with a burning intensity. "You'll be my first target!" She started cackling madly, causing Lee's smile to wobble a moment in uncertainty. After all, Tenten was already incredibly skilled with her weapons. Amplifying it to this degree...it actually made Lee a little nervous.

Down below, Neji was not ready for Sakura to perform an aerial set of cartwheels to the side, still flinging a horrifying number of deadly projectiles at him as she went. The new angle of attacks was not good for defending against, and he was struggling to keep up. His hand was quite a hindrance at this point, whereas Sakura seemed to be completely at ease without either of her arms working. She used chakra to jump even higher, and the sheer number of kunai she started kicking at him pushed him to pull out his trump card.

"Eight trigrams palms, revolving heaven!"

The stands were filled with awed gasps as the defensive flare of rotating chakra flung all of the attacking kunai wide, making Sakura yelp as she was forced to dodge her own kunai.

Sakura landed and Neji's rotation stopped. Both combatants looked at each other with calculated stares. Both were a little winded now, and both were clearly a bit roughed up.

"Impressive," complimented Sakura. "It seems you're a sneaky little Hyuga, using a Main Branch technique."

Neji scowled, frustrated she seemed to have so much information about him and his clan. "Try as you might, you are still Fated to fail this day."

Sakura shrugged. "Well, I am out of kunai. That last attack was supposed to be more effective." Her grin returned. "But, I'm not quite done yet."

They both barreled forward. Just as they were about to close, Sakura dipped low and kicked dirt right into Neji's eyes. He shouted in alarm, attempting to attack where he'd last seen her to push her back so he could try and clear the dirt from his eyes.

She was already moving, however, rolling easily to the side and dodging the deadly attack that would have hit her heart had she not moved. The empty attack caused him to stumble, and she hopped to her feet and began a series of lashing kicks, all of which were laced with focused spikes of chakra. Neji grunted, startled when he felt the chakra invade his limbs, making them go numb. It was very similar to the Hyuga attacks! What was going on?!

Really, being blind and injured, it didn't take long before Neji wavered and fell to his knees.

He finally managed to clear the dirt from his eyes, blinking up at Sakura towering over him. She smiled and lifted an arm to wave. Her short pink hair was blowing freely in the wind, her bandana having been lost at some point during all of her acrobatics.

He gaped. "H-how?"

She shrugged. "To be honest, the Hyuga are quite formidable. But, sadly, instead of trying to find ways to improve, it seems they're blinding themselves to their own weaknesses. I understand the sheer impressive effort it takes to hit the tenketsu with the accuracy you do, even with the aid of the Byakugan. But, why not incorporate the feet? Why not add weapons? Why not use that impressively honed chakra control for more than just your Gentle Fist? Really, I'm sad that you're limiting yourself so much. You're obviously very talented and dedicated. You could do so much more." She shook her head sadly.

Neji was too baffled to formulate a sentence. The first retort that it was 'against tradition' died before it even reached his lips. After all, had he not broken tradition to learn the Heavenly Rotation?

"Also!" chirped Sakura, holding up her hands in a seal. "Just to be sure that you acknowledge your defeat and forfeit, an example of what I could have done had you continued." She sent out her chakra and the kunai littered around Neji all lit up in a small glow. "If I wanted, these could have been the explosive tags instead of just small light inducing ones." She winked. "But I really don't like the idea of using such extreme measures against fellow Konoha ninja for a test."

Neji gaped at her. Not only was she freely using her arms and channeling chakra to them without needing to visit a medical nin, she had also hidden seals on her kunai that he had completely missed. If she had been an enemy and had cause to want him dead, he would be right now. It was unsettling and humbling, especially since she was from a civilian family. Usually he dismissed anyone that was not of the proper lineage or background. The world played into the hands of the favored, and Neji was obviously bitter about it... But, he was also so prideful he still held the belief that he also had that superiority, even if there were things out of his reach.

"Your arms…" he muttered.

Sakura put a finger to her lips in a mock secretive fashion. "If your chakra control and experience permits it, medical jutsu are very versatile." She winked. "You just have to be creative." She looked down at her hand as she clenched it into a fist. "Also, they've been good to go since you revealed your Rotation." She giggled. "I just thought it would be more fun this way."

Ino was spluttering up in the stands, too indignant for words. When had Sakura gotten this cool?!

"Oh!" Sakura thumped her fist into her palm. She briskly moved to stand in front of Neji, who tensed but couldn't summon any sort of defense. "This is a really shoddy seal," she remarked, twirling a paintbrush in one hand and holding a bottle of ink in the other.

When had she even pulled those out? And from where?! Neji stared in mute disbelief as she confidently pushed his headband aside and painted something on his forehead.

Hiashi was on his feet in the stands, barreling towards Kakashi who had lowered his book and lifted his own headband.

When she was done, the brush and ink disappeared into seeming thin air. She smiled down at him gently, and for a moment, Neji thought she looked angelic.

"A gift from Team 7." Her smile was a little brittle, eyes full of shadows. "There are enough of us chained by Destiny. Don't let it chain you."

She placed her palm on his forehead and filled the seal with chakra.

Neji screamed.

Hinata grasped the rail, looking torn about jumping down or trusting that Sakura didn't mean Neji harm. After all, Team 7 had come to her to get a look at the seal about four months ago, insisting that they only wanted to help. As the future head, Hinata wanted to know as much as she could about the seal to find a way to finally be rid of it.

Neji gasped, wavering on his knees. Sakura grasped his shoulder to steady him.

"Wh-what did you do?" he rasped, voice raw.

"No one can control you," Sakura said firmly, making sure to make eye contact with him so he could see how serious she was. "The seal now performs the way it was supposed to upon its inception. If you are captured, you can activate it yourself, or it activates automatically upon your death. Your dojutsu will be safe. Have Hinata test it, to be sure, as she can be trusted to have your safety in mind." She tightened her grip, murmuring the last bit so only he could hear. "Other than that, you're free."

The Hokage's pipe clattered to the floor. He knew exactly what this meant as Hiashi came storming towards the Hokages' box. He groaned and dropped his face in his hands.

More paperwork! Team 7 was going to be the death of him!

"Hokage-sama!" seethed Hiashi. A part of him was secretly relieved his nephew might actually be free. The problem, however, lay in the fact that the Elders would be furious if the pinkette's words were true. It was supposed to be impossible for anyone to tamper with the seal! It was why it was so carefully designed!

"Hyuga-sama," interrupted Kakashi, having somehow sidled up beside Hiruzen before Hiashi could even start formulating the beginnings of his vitriol. "I'm so relieved my students were able to help your clan. That faulty seal was especially dangerous, and I'm glad they were able to rectify the problem before it became a detriment to both the Hyuga and Konoha." Kami-sama, they'd spent months working on the damned thing! It was one of the reasons the hot springs now had an extra large pool and an odd surplus of fish at Ichiraku's (sans heads of course. Couldn't have any Hyuga noticing the familiar seal that had been placed on them).

Hiashi bristled, barely managing to keep his visage frozen in only faint contempt instead of outright fury. "Faulty seal?" he asked.

The silver haired jounin hummed the affirmative. "It is quite a hole in Konoha's and the Hyuga's defenses if an enemy need only capture one Main Branch member and have them activate the seal against their own kin. Over half of the Hyuga would be wiped out in one fell swoop and Kohonha would lose a formidable part of their shinobi forces. We can't afford that, not after one clan has already been taken so brutally from us. After all, the Hyuga heiress is a newly minted ninja and is actively leaving Konoha's walls." He gave them an eye smile. "Once their work is confirmed, this is a very valuable asset for Konoha and the Hyuga, and I hope that my team will be compensated accordingly."

Hiashi barely kept his jaw from dropping. The audacity!

Hiruzen was stuck between wanting to smirk at Kakashi's sound argument and Hiashi's obvious indignant fury at being outmaneuvered, or...crying over the fact this meant lots of paperwork… AGAIN.

"Kakashi-san," interrupted a third voice.

All four men turned to find Hinata respectfully waiting just behind her father's shoulder.

Kakashi eye smiled. "Yes?"

"Compensation for Team 7's work will be forthcoming once the Hyuga clan can properly assess the real value of their work. I am pleased that they took such initiative and already have results." She gave Kakashi a small bow.

Hiashi's eye was twitching as he struggled to keep himself in check. He honestly didn't think she approached Team 7. However, she was showing impressive backbone for inserting herself as she had, ready to take full blame from the Elders instead of allowing Team 7 to be the target of their ire. That she did it in front of two Hokages was also of note, and not a single stutter or hesitance in her person either!

He was getting a migraine. He was both elated and terrified. The Elders would not be pleased, especially if the seal worked as the genin claimed. With Hinata sticking her neck out, it implied she had been involved in some manner, and that could be very dangerous for her. But...on the plus side, she was taking her position as Heiress seriously, and what Kakashi said was worth the possible danger if it was enough to sway the Elders. After all, Hiashi could possibly argue this in his favor and save his youngest from ever getting branded.

But damned if it wasn't going to be a nightmare to get through.

"Father." Hinata was looking at him... and Kami-sama, did she look like her mother.

Hiashi tipped his head in a small bow towards Hiruzen. "I am all too eager to express our hopeful success in this regard. I will schedule a meeting when further results arise."

He turned and grasped Hinata's shoulder, gently guiding her away from the Hokages and towards his original seat with Hanabi. He could feel the tension in her, and despite himself, he allowed a small smirk to escape his iron control. "Brave words."

Hinata's eyes drifted to Neji, who was being picked up by the medic nin. "It is worth it."

Neji sneezed explosively, blinking owlishly at the medic nin who were giving him bemused looks.

Hiashi gently squeezed Hinata's shoulder before he removed his hand. "You've got guts." He stepped away as she moved back to the rest of the genin in the Third Exam. He let his smirk last for another three seconds before he reclaimed his stoic visage.

And then Hanabi glomped him and started babbling an endless amount of questions.

It was really hard to look dignified with a child dangling from your neck like a monkey and bombarding you with so many questions it was impossible to actually distinguish what was being asked.

Ugh...what made him think Hanabi was the disciplined one?

He totally missed her slipping a timed storage seal down the back of his kimono.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I've rewritten this chapter like, four or five times now ^^: Pretty satisfied with this one, so this one is getting posted. This has a bit more of a solemn tone, but still splashed with humor. Hope you enjoy! (also, totally started the next chapter too. I think you'll find it a hoot :D)

Toodles!