Alright, another chapter! Hope ya'll didn't have to wait too long. Life has been busy, but writing is still fun. My wife being sick today, however...not so fun. If you could send my HimeFlye your best wishes on a swift recovery, that would be fantastic. I think it will put a smile on her face.

So, recap- Naruto was worried about the effects of his bloodline on other people, so Kakashi tricked him into using it on him, proving that a freak accident happened in Haku's case and the soul of the people invovled are usually preserved in tact. Also, due to monting pressures, Naruto and Hinata decided to agree to the engagement, but it isn't official yet since they need Jiriaya to actually do so, and they are worried about the Hyuuga finding out that 'Haku' is actually Naruto. We now wake up with Kakashi and Naruto in the hospital as Kakashi is finally recovered the next morning. Hope you enjoy!

***Generic Disclaimer***

"Well, I hope you're ready for more training," Kakashi drawled as he looked over to his next-bed-neighbor. "I've been thinking about what else we can do to get ready for the Chuunin exams, and I may have thought of something."

"Whu-whoo-eh?" Naruto slowly blinked from his seated position. It had been late enough, and emotionally draining enough, that he had opted to stay at the hospital. Not to mention he'd wanted to make sure his sensei revived more fully recovered.

"I said: I have some plans to keep getting you three ready for the exams next week. Particularly yourself."

"Eh? Really," he asked. Kakashi nodded patiently as Naruto woke up.

"Yup. Now, I have an errand or two to run, so I'll meet you at our usual team meeting spot, we'll do a mission, and from there we'll discuss training."

Naruto grinned sleepily. "K, sensei," he mumbled before falling back on the bed. Kakashi rose up, beginning to exit before Naruto's voice floated through the open room again.

"Mmmm…kaa-san says not to visit with…your friends too long…or she'll….whatever…zzzz…."

Kakashi paled. "R-r-right." Sorry Obito, Rin…it will be a short visit today. Even with a short threat, she's still too scary!

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"So, we'll be in the chuunin exams after all," Sasuke mused from his perch on the railing. "Good. It will be a good test for us."

"Are, are you sure," Sakura asked hesitantly. "I'm not sure I'm ready for this," she said, pulling at her hair nervously.

"Well hey, sensei says we are, and that he's gonna give us more training, too, so why not?! Besides, you are the smartest of us, right?" Sakura mumbled incoherently in response as Sasuke nodded.

"Yes, it should be a good opportunity." The three turned in shock to see their sensei on time again. "What?" He asked, as though nothing were unusual. Inwardly he sweated at the idea that Kushina might find out he'd been a couple minutes late.

"Sensei! You're…"

"Getting you ready for the chuunin exams. Not that you aren't already capable, of course, but with Naruto's…special jutsu, I think this warrants a little different kind of training." Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"I thought we were keeping that a secret?"

"We are," Kakashi replied, nodding. "But we think we've come up with an explanation that might work."

"Really, sensei? What is it?"

Kakashi eye smiled mysteriously. "Well, wouldn't you like to know?"

The whole team face faulted.

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Little change occurred in the following week over how 'Haku' and Hinata interacted, though Kurenai continued to drop hints to the girl that Naruto might be a better companion. Hinata would blush and turn her face while Naruto would just shrug and say again that Haku was a good guy and to let Hinata like him. It was very frustrating for the woman. Meanwhile, Naruto was coming home to a home cooked meal.

"How was your date," came Kushina's voice. HakuNaru grinned.

"It was fun, actually. Hinata took me around to some places she likes to gather flowers for flower pressing. I never thought flowers could be that cool!" His mother laughed at his enthusiasm.

"Yes, well, some of us do like that. I was never really into it myself. Too much of a tomboy. What I liked to do best," she said, tilting her head as she fondly recalled other days, "What I liked to do best, was spar with your father. He was always so skilled, so quick, and he was always wearing that same beautiful smile the whole time we fought…" She drifted off into her memories until HakuNaru spoke up again.

"Uuummmm, mom? Is it supposed to be that color?"

"What? AUGH! No no no no no!" She began to furiously battle the stove when she'd let her food rest for too long. It was a rather embarrassed mother who served her son dinner that night, though he continued to reassure her that it was great. He was back in his own body at this point while Kushina continued working as a shadow clone so he could enjoy the food with his own body and talk with his mother. Besides, HakuNaru had had dinner with Hinata already.

As Naruto finished eating, he began to pick at his food. Kushina peered over at him to see a strangely pensive gaze coming from his eyes.

"Naruto, is there something wrong?"

"Oh! Sorry kaa-san. No, not really," he replied shaking his head. "Just thinking about the whole thing with Hinata."

"Oh." Kushina blushed. "I guess I shouldn't have rushed so much to agree, but just seemed to make you so happy, and I missed 12 years of my son's life. I guess I got a little over excited."

"It, it's okay mom, really. After all, I did agree. It's just that, the idea scares me, you know. I know I agreed, but knowing that I could get married at any time?" He shook his head. "A few weeks ago I barely passed the graduation exam. I was dead last in my class, no real friends, no family. All I wanted to become Hokage and eat ramen. This is crazy different from where I thought I'd be those few weeks ago!"

"I know son, I know," she said, moving to sit beside him and wrap an arm around his shoulders. "But remember, everything that has happened his because you chose to do it, and for good reasons, too. You could have decided not to help your girlfriend. You could have to not give love a chance to blossom. But you are giving it, and her, that chance. I don't think I've ever seen a happier girl. Well, besides myself when your father proposed," she added, giggling.

"Moooom! I-" He sighed. "Thanks, mom." He hugged her. Kushina's eyes widened a little; a common thing for her. She hadn't expected to be getting hugs from her son for a little while longer when she was sealed, but now here he was. Early teens, a gennin, and making decisions that would impact his life forever. She hugged him back. At least he's making good ones, she thought. He may be as knuckleheaded as me, but he's as smart as his father anyway. Yes…he's going to be alright.

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As there were still a couple of days before the Chuunin exams, Kushina managed to convince Naruto that they needed to find a way for the two of them to be out in town together. Sure, it was unlikely for people to connect that Naruto and Haku were never seen at the same time, even though they said they were good friends, but why take that chance? They needed to have sources outside the group that knew. Sources in public with witnesses to testify, should anyone happen upon the correct conclusion: that Haku was Naruto. He still didn't like it, but his mother reminded him what the Hokage had told them about when he first managed to get out of Haku's body: the Hyuuga had been watching. Even though Hiashi had apparently called them off, there was no garuntee that someone in the Hyuuga wasn't still watching.

Thus it became important to not give them the chance to see them both in public together, and there was no better place that Ichiraku's!

"Hey, old man! I want a miso ramen as soon as you can get it," called out KushiNaru as they walked in, doing her best to imitate her son given her own observations and how he said he usually acted.

"Hey, Naruto. Give me just a moment- And Haku-san! We haven't seen you in a while. We were starting to get worried that you didn't like our food after all." HakuNaru bowed.

"I apologize for distressing you," he said. "I just happen to treat good food differently than Naruto," he said as they took their seats. "Naruto tells me it's best to get all you can of the best so you can savor it more often. I tend to believe that you treat yourself on occasion only, so as to never let the taste dull on your tongue."

"Eeeehhh, too many big words, Haku. Just sit down and eat!" Teuchi laughed at the boys antics.

"Of course, both philosophies have their places, but I think my wallet likes Naruto's best."

"Of course, Teuchi-san," HakuNaru replied, nodding. He looked around in confusion. "Teuchi-san, why does your daughter seem to be missing?" KushiNaru almost chocked. Now, why didn't I notice that? Darn it Kushina!

Despite her temporary panic, Teuchi didn't seem to think anything was out of place as he prepared their meals, along with a bit extra for the additional helpings he knew Naruto would order.

"Ayame? Well, believe it or not, she's on a date right now."

"Eh?! Ayame-chan's on a date! With who!?"

"Iruka-san." The costumers sat in shocked silence.

"Iruka-sensei," HakuNaru said slowly. "With Ayame-ch-san?" Teuchi nodded as flies seemed to collect in KushiNaru's mouth. She hoped she was playing her part well.

"Yeah, their second, actually. I always wondered if he was coming here for more than just the food," the man mused. "I guess you being out of it for a while and coming back made him decide that it was now or never," he said to KushiNaru. "You'd think a shinobi would have the guts to ask a girl you, though." He chuckled as he handed them their bowls. KushiNaru's eyes lit up as 'he' dug into the bowl, managing to mumble out a sentence.

"Well, if its-Iruka se-sei then-that-'s fine."

"Yeah," HakuNaru nodded dumbly. "I guess so." He smiled. "Well, I suppose I should congratulate him later. What time will they be done with their date?" Teuchi shrugged.

"Before the dinner rush, I hope. I suppose I should just be glad he has the day off to take her out in the afternoon instead of evening in the first place."

"Yes, that is good fortune," HakuNaru nodded as his lifted his bowl. "To Iruka and Ayame. May they enjoy their date and be back in time for dinner," he said and took a sip of the broth. KushiNaru spluttered with laughter before sharing the 'toast' and they went back to eating.

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"Alright, are you ready, Naruto."

"Yes mom."

"You have all the scrolls you need?"

"Yes mom."

"You have that extra shuriken I got you?"

"Yes mom."

"You-"

"MOM!" Kushina paused in her rundown of Naruto's pack and blushed.

"Sorry. Guess I'm just a little nervous." She sighed. "I always dreamed of sending you to the academy, and now you've already been through, and I'm sending you to the Chuunin exams."

"It's cool, mom, it's cool. I'll be fine. I've got Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme with me. We'll be good." He scratched at the back of his head. "Honestly, we will. Still kinda wish you hadn't told me about the written test, though. The survival portion will probably be easier."

"Maybe," Kushina said, shrugging. "It depends on who's in charge of that portion of the exams. In fact, when Minato was in charge that one time, he had Hokage-sama do the written test, and he all these questions about shinobi history and famous battles and-"

"I'm going now! Bye mom!"

"Ah! Wait I-" She dropped her outstretched arm as her son ran out. Guess I over did it. Too excited, ya know. The mother raised her eyes to look out the open door again. Well, guess I need to make a couple appearances as Haku around the village after the next exam starts. That should really help with Naruto cover. Still, I wish he'd-

"Love you mom, bye for real now!"

Kushina started out the open doorway in surprise, a smile slowly working its way onto her face, her eyes wet. "I love you, too," she whispered. "Good luck."

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At the exam Naruto and Hinata treated each other as normal as possible. Naruto's teammates also did not let on any hints of the two's new relationship. Even so, Kiba mentioned that Hinata had been spending a lot of time with this 'new' shinobi, Haku. He tried to get team 7 to tell him more about him, but they deflected his questions.

"Aw, come on. The guy's dating my teammates. Why can't you tell me anything?"

"Haku's a private person," Sasuke said. "He doesn't like to be talked about."

"Yeah yeah, whatever. What about you, Naruto? You've been around him a lot."

"Eh? What makes you say that?" Naruto began to sweat a little.

"Well, besides seeing you guys having ramen the other night, Akamaru and I can smell him on ya."

"Um, well, yeah, I was the, the first guy he met here, so we hang out and I show him around. But why not ask Hinata?"

"Ask Hinata?" Kiba raised his eyebrows. "As bad as she was around you before Haku came around, I'd rather not put her through that."

"Eh?"

"Kiba is referring to Hinata's crush on you, Naruto, before she began to date Haku. Though it seems to me that she still likes you…and you here."

"Eh?! But, but they don't smell like-"

"I don't smell like you do, Kiba," Shino said. "I watch. They are avoiding each other, but they keep looking. Is this going to be a problem," the Aburame demanded as Naruto began to bristle up before Sakura came to his defense.

"Shino, come on, Naruto supports Haku and Hinata's relationship. It's just a little awkward because of Kurenai telling Naruto about Hinata's crush. Naruto isn't going to hurt Hinata, and I think you both should talk to Hinata before asking questions behind her back. You're teammates, right? Then you should keep things like that out in the open instead of trying to hide it. She deserves that much, don't you think."

"Errrr…" Kiba looked to Shino as his teammates contemplated Sakura.

"I see. I will think on it and perhaps pose the question to her after the exams. No, Kiba," he said firmly. "We let it lie till after the exams. Hinata can take care of herself, but she doesn't need the distraction of us nosing in her business to distract her. She's our teammate, so we will trust her judgment."

"Fine," Kiba growled as they stalked off to join Hinata where she was chatting with/listening to Ino talk.

"Thanks," Naruto whispered.

"No problem," Sakura replied just before the examiner announced the start of the test. The two boys from team 8 cornering Naruto had precluded any other talking, though Naruto took note of the trio from Suna that he had run into the other day. With everything else going on he had neglected spending time with Konohamaru and the boy and his friends had tracked him down yesterday before they all ran into those three.

Naruto shivered again at the cold gaze of the short, red-haired one. He brightened up when he was assigned to sit next to Hinata. She smiled warmly at him before turning her gaze forward again, light blush covering her cheeks. He smiled back and turned to listen to the head examiner explain the rules and begin the test.

As the time went on, Naruto's panic got worse. These questions were outside his knowledge. He had hoped his mom exaggerated the difficulty of the written portion, but this was even worse than he had thought. He glanced at Hinata and steeled his resolve. No, he had to figure it out, for her.

Hinata, meanwhile, had gleaned the truth of the test and obtained the correct answers from an examinee nearby who seemed to answering the questions with ease. Indeed, he finished will within the time limit and relaxed. His posture indicated he was leaving himself open to copy, so she did, with her byakugan. As she finished copying she spied a glance at Naruto and realized he hadn't answered a single question.

Thanks to their time together, she spotted the signs of panic and began to worry. She wanted him to do well so badly, and knew he would hate himself if he didn't manage to keep going. She also knew he wouldn't want to accept help in the end. She bit her lip, thinking. A few moments later, Hinata calmly reached over and took Naruto's test, laying hers down in its place.

"Eh? Hinata, you can't-"

"Indeed. You and your team are out, miss."

"Eh?! But, but she didn't-"

"She gave you all the answers. That's cheating, so she's out."

"Now wait just a second," Naruto began, standing up to stare the examiner who had walked over in the eye.

"N, Naruto, it's okay," she said quietly. "I'm s, still in the test."

"Oh? What makes you say that? I believe I just told you to get up and leave."

"Bu, but you, you aren't, that is-" She began to breathe more quickly as she tried to explain, but her breath caught as the man stared at her unmercifully. Then she saw Naruto. He had looked at her test she had given him and his eyes widened. Good, Naruto would explain. That would take care of- But then she saw Naruto look up and just smile, waving at her to go on. She gulped and tried again, faltering once more.

"Last time, miss. Get up and out, or you will be escorted out."

"Come on Hinata, let's just get out," Kiba said gruffly, perturbed at the situation and maddened even more that Shino was keeping him from asking more about what was going on with those two and Haku.

"No, I think Hinata has something to say," Naruto said over him, "I and think you should listen!" He said the last pointing at Ibiki, who had been watching in mild amusement as the final minutes ticked away to the 10th question.

"Alright, explain then, Hyuuga Hinata. Why should I not let my assistant throw you out of my exam?" Hinata looked once more at Naruto's encouraging look, took a deep breath, and spoke.

"No, no matter how you l, look at it, there was only o, one cheat." Ibiki continued to gaze at her, waiting for the full explanation. She gulped. "U, Uzumaki Naruto took no part in cheating, and the paper with his name on it has all the answers," she said. "And, and I, also, have all the correct answers on the test w, with my name. It was only one in, incident, so only one cheat, no, no matter how you look at it, and it takes 3 to be th, thrown out." The Chuunin assistant growled.

"It doesn't matter, you were-"

"That's enough," Ibiki said, standing, directing his firmness at the Chuunin. Said Chuunin, cowed, backed off. Ibiki focused his attention on the two Konoha gennin. "That is some…fantastic reasoning, gennin. However, you must understand the purpose of this test. I cannot allow anyone else to do what you did and get away with it. So I have no choice…" Hinata clenched her eyes. She had been so sure that the rules would be upheld exactly, that it would work, but now, like so many other times, she was only proving that- "but to overlook it in light of your logic, though I want to impress on you that such tactics are one offs and will only work once. Do you understand?" Hinata, eyes wide, nodded as Kiba breathed a sigh of relief and he and Shino returned to their seats.

"But if any of the rest of you maggots," Ibiki said fiercely, "tries that stunt, you will be thrown out. Got it? Good. Now, onto the 10th question…"

"Thanks," Naruto said. "Guess I'm just a stupid idiot after all, not to figure out about the cheating.

"No," Hinata whispered back. "You're just too honest." She suppressed a giggle at her tease as her boyfriend rolled his eyes.

"Still, Kiba and Shino are going to get after you for that."

"I know," she said, her brow creasing. "I don't want to lie, though…"

"Maybe you can-"

They continued to discuss quietly what they would do, tuning out the rest of the test. It wasn't until Temari, the girl member of the sand trio shouted out that they realized they had forgotten the test wasn't over, and were much relieved they hadn't actually missed anything important. Sakura took the opportunity to move up to them.

"Guys, while that pretty cool, Kiba and Shino are already talking about questioning you, but I came up with an idea," she whispered, as the others continued to talk loudly about how hard the test was and Ibiki explained the second true purpose. "It might work if you tell them that you both promised Haku to help each other out, Naruto as his best friend, and Hinata as his girlfriend. What do you think?"

"Well," Hinata said when Naruto looked to her, "I think it should work. Shino respects my privacy and will keep Kiba from, from asking more questions, but only if I say it firmly."

"Okay," Naruto nodded. "Then that's what we'll do. And since they won't run into 'Haku' anytime soon, I can be ready to back the story up next time they see 'Haku'. Right, Hinata-chan?" Hinata nodded.

"Yes, I agree."

"Great, that's figured out. Now we just need to get to the next-" She was interrupted by the shattering of glass as a new figure shot into the room and unfurled a huge banner.

"AaaaaRIVING!" The woman called out. "Mitarashi Anko, the second examiner! Who's ready for the 2nd exam, twerps!" The gennin sweat dropped. "Hey, what's up with you guys?" Ibiki's voice calmed called out the answer to her question.

"You're early."

Personally, my favorite part was the exam. I was just sitting there, not even writing, and I had this idea pop into my head. I hope to execution is on par with your expectations, and that you found it as funny and as clever as I did. Of course, I could just be kidding myself.

Also hope you all like the IrukaAyame pairing I've been doing. Its one of my favorite pairs to do for him (the other being Anko). It was fun to through that in there.

Again, hope you guys liked it, please review, and also please make sure to send best wishes to Himeflye for her recovery.

Enjoy the week everyone!