From the very day I was born, I was content with having nothing and no one. It was a lot easier after all. I had lost my parents and because my mother had married outside the clan and against the clan leaders' wishes, I was considered a bastard child to the clan.

So when my mother died at childbirth and my father, a regular man from the hidden Sand village died trying to protect me from a bunch of rogue nin who wanted my Byakugan, I had literally no one.

Of course, the Third Hokage being, well... himself, Lord Hiruzen begged the Hyuga clan leaders to take me in and raise me as one of their own as was my mother.

Obviously, the old man forgot the part where those stuck-up clan leaders considered me a bastard child.

However, I did get accepted upon the request of the clan leader's brother, Hizashi-sama. Perhaps he understood me, I don't know. Lord Hizashi took me in and raised me as a daughter and was even there for me emotionally when it was decided that my Byakugan would be sealed so I could never use it again.

In their defense it was a mechanism to make sure no other clan or rogue nin could take the clan's dojutsu for themselves but all that was a cover for the main reason. They didn't consider me a true member of the clan and hence I wasn't worthy of wielding its special eyes.

It was all fine for the first year I lived with Hizashi-sama. He trained me alongside his son, Neji, and the two of us became very close in that short time. I even met Lady Hinata who was very kind to me much to the other main family members' concerns.

All of that changed the day Hizashi-sama died.

☯️☯️☯️

It's been peaceful the past few weeks. As I kneeled by the grave and placed hyacinths onto the grave in front of me I couldn't help but bask in the moment of absolute peace.

"Please look out for me. My team and I are participating in the Chunin exams and we are surely going to be up against some really strong ninja but I promise you I will not fail!"

I stood up carefully after saying a prayer for blessing. The wind blew the black strands of my hair all around me. My bubblegum green kimono flowed around my small form, bound by a simple white orbi sash.

Underneath this simple outfit, I had on a pair of white pants and ninja sandals.

One would think I was a weak ninja from my choice of clothing. No one could possibly think it was strategical and was done so to help with my jutsu. Within the super long sleeves of my kimono were hidden pockets I used to store my greatest weapon. It was this weapon that made me such a famous person despite my young age. I'm pretty sure I'm in the bingo book because of it.

"Hey, Honoka! Get your head out the gutter and wipe that gloomy look off your face!" Came the voice of the regular playboy of our three man squad, Maki.

"Oh hey Maki!" I replied as I gave him a smile.

He was a member of the Inuzuka clan and together with his cousin Kiba, Maki also made it to the chunin exams. The two were complete opposites. Where Kiba was a complete dunce, Maki could actually use his head. He wore his brown hair in a simple buzz cut. His partner, Akira, was a sweet little thing who loved belly rubs and all manner of treats until they decided to pull off their combo attacks.

Maki was the complete opposite of the third member of our squad, Kenshi. Kenshi was our strategist. As a member of the Sarutobi clan, he was Konohamaru's older brother. Another one of Lord Third's grandsons. He had the trademark dark hair and brown eyes of the Sarutobi clan although he wore his hair chin length on one side with a shaved right side.

Where Maki was loud and obnoxious, Kenshi was cold, calm and calculating. His weapon mastery was brilliant plus he had a knack for using chakra blades like Asuma although he preferred a short sword. His proficiency of fire style jutsu was chunin level. His obvious skill and talent made him a little over confident at times.

He was like a maestro during missions, always knowing how best to coordinate with the team. He often left Shikaku-sensei feeling dumb and completely useless at times.

In other words, it was up to me to balance things out in our squad and keep the boys from being at each other's throats all the time.

"Have you filled out your forms yet? We should get going now." Kenshi cut in as he suddenly appeared. "We don't want to be late."

"And we won't be." I reassured him with a knowing smile as I turned to follow the two of them towards the building where we were to submit our forms.

"Honoka..." He called out to me, causing me to turn and face him. "He would be proud of you."

This warmed my heart greatly for I knew he was talking about Hizashi-sama. Kenshi was a jerk to everyone but he was quite considerate of the feelings of his teammates for the most part.

"Thank you, Kenshi-kun. I know we'll all do good in the chunin exams!" I said to him.

"You know it!" Maki exclaimed as he pulled the two of us for a group hug, much to Kenshi's annoyance.

We went to find Shikaku-sensei who was his usual lazy self.

"So you three all came? What a drag..."

"Huh?!?! You say that as if you didn't expect us to show up, old man!" Maki exclaimed.

"Well, it would have been less troublesome..."

"Well tough luck, old man! I still would have come even if I had to come by myself!"

"Shut up, loser. You're being obnoxious." Kenshi interrupted. "Besides, they wouldn't have let you take the exam by yourself. Isn't that right, sensei?"

"Oh what a drag, I'm the one who's supposed to tell them all about it..."

I was left in the background laughing at the scene. Sure we were an odd bunch but we could get by anything.

After our short run in with our sensei, we were ready to head to the main venue.

There were a lot of people on the second floor which was thanks to Izumo and Kotetsu who had cast a genjutsu and made everyone think we were on the right floor.

Thanks to my resistance to regular genjutsu, I saw through the illusion right away.

That's when I saw his team.

I don't know what their game plan was but I don't understand why Team Guy was letting themselves get beaten up when they obviously had the strength to dodge those lame attacks Izumo and Kotetsu were throwing at them. I knew for a certainty that he had seen straight through the illusion like I had.

Of course as I was trying to figure it out, Team Kakashi had to show up and boisterously announce to everyone that they could see straight through the illusion.

"Well look at that, a stuck up jerk and a stuck up jerk. I bet a whole bento that Kenshi can fit right in with them." Maki said with a laugh as he watched Neji Hyuga and Sasuke Uchiha measure each other up.

"Please, I'm nothing like those two airheads." Kenshi said, clearly pissed off with the comparison.

"Hey, I have an idea!" Maki announced whilst completely ignoring Kenshi.

The two of us watched as he walked right up to Neji and Sasuke.

"Excuse me, ladies! You're being ridiculously loud." He said.

I could see the two boys grow irked at him addressing them as ladies but Maki didn't have a single care in the world.

"You ever heard of the proverb, Empty vessels make the most noise? Atleast I think that's what it says." He went on whilst rubbing his head." So, you both are obviously stupid so let me spell it out for you: You aren't the alpha males here so just walk on off to your squad mates and stop being dramatic. Seriously, you'd think this was a reality show or a soap opera or something the way everyone be acting all dramatic."

By now I was barely keeping my laughter in. I knew I should be mad at Maki for his behavior but it was hilarious.

It didn't help that Naruto was already laughing out loud at them making them even more angry.

"Maki, knock it off. They are obviously too dumb to realize you are telling them the truth." Kenshi cut in as he went and dragged Maki out of there before absolute chaos ensured.

Which didn't help because his statement added fuel to the fire.

"Not you too, Kenshi." I said with a sigh as I stepped forward to diffuse the situation before it got out of hand.

"Please stop it, all of you. Do you want to get disqualified before the exam begins? You want to measure each other's strength, fine like I could care but maybe wait until you get the exam proctor's go ahead . Doesn't that sound like a good idea, boys?"

Mako obviously didn't like the idea of not fighting him. Kenshi simply looked away in disinterest but not before I saw him clench his teeth in annoyance. I know my boys would do everything to hurt him for the shitty way he treated me but the last thing I needed was a spectacle.

"Hn, it's not like they could back their words anyway. Idiots." Sasuke Uchiha said as he turned around to walk away.

"What was that, Uchiha? Do you want me to wipe the floor with you?!?!" Mako said as he tried to break free of my grip.

"Knock it off, Mako!" I shrieked at the idiot.

"Interesting, Sasuke Uchiha actually has a point. We shouldn't bother with talentless fools." Neji said to his teammates before urging them to continue.

His words felt like someone had thrown ice cold water all over me. I was usually the rational one but at that moment all I could feel was my rage. I wanted to wipe that arrogant look right off his face.

I felt the chakra stir inside of me as I felt the iron sand crawl up my sleeves and form around my clenched fist.

Before I could react, however, Lee went up to Sasuke and challenged him to a fight.

At that particular moment I felt Kenshi's hand on my shoulder.

"Breathe ." He told me. "He's not worth it. Do let let him see his words affect you."

"Ah damnit!" I let out as I breathed out and felt myself relax.

"Good girl." Kenshi said with a smile.

"I swear I'm gonna wipe that arrogant smirk off his face one day!" I continued with my venting.

"And I believe you. Of course I want to get that honor first so until then you can't kill the Hyuga brat." He said with a creepy smile.

"You know, that's not fair, Kenshi-kun." I said as I let out a short laugh. "If you weren't my precious teammate I would think you are a psycho sometimes the way you use that creepy smile."

"Come on now, you don't want to miss the once in a lifetime opportunity of seeing Sasuke get his ass handed to him, now do you?" He asked as he pulled me along.

"Yeah whatever." I said with disinterest as I let him lead me towards where the fighting would ensure. "I guess we don't have anything better to do at the moment."