This chapter will be longer, as an apology for getting the last one out late. I'll at least go to 2000 words.

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I was sleeping peacefully until my stupid alarm clock decided to start beeping at six in the morning.

I groaned and opened my eyes to glare at the evil demon in front of me. "Stupid time,"

I tried to go back to sleep, but then my eyes landed on my calendar from across the room. I widened my eyes and quickly sat up.

Oh no! I almost forgot that today is the Chunin Exams! I'll be late!

I threw the covers off and tried to rush over to my closet. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that my foot was caught in the comforter and I fell forward, making a huge crashing sound.

"Damnit!" I yelled and the door opened.

"Hana?" I heard Kushina ask. "Are you alright?"

My light turned on and Kushina was probably confused. I was lying down and had my face on my floor with a comforter wrapped around my ankles. I probably looked stupid right now.

"Yeah," I replied and sat up. "I realized I almost went back to sleep and forgot that the Chunin Exams are today,"

I put the comforter back on my bed and she nodded. "Okay, I'll go make you some breakfast. You can't compete on an empty stomach,"

She closed the door behind her and I grabbed my ninja clothes and then went to the bathroom to shower and brush my teeth.

I brushed my hair and tried to tie up, but every time I put it up the ponytail would never look right.

I gave up on trying to tie it up and just let it down for today. This was probably the first time in a long time that I ever wore my hair down.

I was nervous because I remembered that people from different nations would be watching today. I can't humiliate myself, especially when I'm going against Nozomi.

I exited the bathroom and I saw Minato at the couch, looking really stressed out. He had dark circles, his hair was a mess, and he had his jaw clenched as he read over some papers.

"Uncle?" I ask walking over to the table. "Is everything okay?"

He looked up and gave me a smile, but it wasn't real. "Yeah, everything is fine,"

I wasn't convinced, but I didn't press any further since he's not telling me right now.

"Okay," I nodded. "Where do I meet Obito, Rin, and Kakashi?"

"Meet them at the academy to get signed up and then Kakashi will show you where to go from there," Minato said.

Kushina set the food down and Minato walked over to eat because she insisted that he eats with us.

"Are you excited, Hana? If you win, you'll become chunin," She said.

I was excited and nervous at the same time.

"Kind of," I replied and took a bite of my breakfast. "I'm also very nervous because I can't lose against Nozomi,"

Kushina looked a little worried. "Oh, well I'm sure you'll do just fine. Minato told me about your training and it sounds like you've improved. Also, just be very careful with her,"

I didn't reply and just ate my food.

She looked over at Minato, who was still lost in his own world. "Minato? Why are you so quiet? Is something going on?"

Something wasn't right. He's really stressed out and he doesn't just stare off into space like that.

Minato looked up at her and gave her the same smile he gave me. "Everything is fine. It's just the Hokage and I are very worried about something right now,"

"What did he say?" Kushina asked.

He shook his head, telling her that he didn't want to talk about it right now.

Kushina sighed and took our dishes when we were done eating. I stood up so I could leave to go meet up with my team. Before I left, Minato gave me some encouragement.

"Good luck Hana and wish the others luck for me too."

"I will," I said and walked over to the door to slip my shoes on.

Kushina walked over and gave me a worried look.

"Just make sure you don't lose your temper, okay?" She urged.

I couldn't guarantee that I wouldn't lose it again.

"I'll try," I said.

"Good luck Hana!" She called after I walked out the door.

I walked onto the porch and I saw Obito was sitting on the step, waiting on me.

He heard me and he turned around. He started staring at me without a word.

"Your hair is down," He remarked. "I forgot how curly your hair is,"

"Yeah, uh, I couldn't get it to cooperate this morning," I replied.

"You should keep it down more often. It looks nice," He said, with a bit of pink dusting his cheeks.

"So, are you ready?" I ask to change the subject and we started heading over to the academy.

"Yeah," He grinned confidently. "Now I can show stupid Kakashi that I am way better than him!"

"More like this is where I show that I am better than the both of you," I smirked.

Obito rolled his eyes. "I bet beating Guy will be easy! He doesn't even know ninjutsu and I do!"

"I wouldn't underestimate him, Obito," I looked over at him. "He's very skilled in taijutsu and he trains almost every day,"

"I'll be fine," Obito said. "Anyway Rin was trying to ask Kakashi if he would go to the festival with her and he just rejected her. I don't understand why he'd reject her,"

Well, I obviously know the reason. I don't know how I feel about Rin asking Kakashi though. 

I looked over at him. "Do you still have a crush on her?"

He gave me a questioning look since I just asked him out of the blue.

"Not anymore," he said. "It took me a while to realize she only has eyes for Kakashi. There's someone else I have an eye on though,"

I rose an eyebrow. "Who?"

"No one," he said quickly. "Why are you asking?"

"N-No reason," I looked away and changed the subject. "So we're going to be meeting them at the academy, right?"

I didn't want to get into this conversation right now.

"Yeah, I think Kakashi and Rin are already there. I just wanted to walk with you in case you forgot or something," Obito said.

We made it to the academy and saw Rin and Kakashi waiting on campus for us. Kakashi was leaning against the tree with his arms crossed and Rin sat down on the grass next to him. I swear I saw Kakashi's eyes narrowing slightly when he noticed Obito and I were walking together.

"You're late," Kakashi stated.

I gave him a smirk. "Sorry, a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the safe way,"

Kakashi rolled his eyes at my sarcasm. "Right, a black cat,"

Rin chuckled and stood up. "At least she didn't say she got lost on the path of life this time,"

"Well, let's get going because we have to sign in and head over to the arena," Kakashi said and we followed him inside of the academy.

I was still nervous. I didn't want to lose to Nozomi or disappoint Jiraiya. I knew he was going to be watching me fight. In fact, I think a lot of people were wanting to see me fight because I'm the Yellow Flash's niece. 

They expect a good fight from me and expect me to win.

"Are you nervous? Rin asked as we signed in.

"Kind of," I replied. "I don't want to lose to Nozomi and Uncle Minato was acting kind of weird this morning,"

"I don't blame you," Rin said. "I'd be worried too if Nozomi was my opponent, but I'm sure you'll do just fine. You did win when Kuroshi targeted us and you won the first time you encountered her,"

She was making it hard for me to hate her. Why did she have to be so nice? I did care about her, even if I didn't want to admit it. 

After we all signed up, we started walking over to the arena. I overheard some people talking about how they wanted to see the White Fang's son and the Yellow Flash's niece. Some even said they wanted us to face each other.

Even though I trained under Jiraiya I don't think I'd be able to win against Kakashi, so good thing he wasn't my opponent. 

"We're here," Kakashi said.

I looked up seeing the stadium. I took a deep breath.

This was it. This is where I was either going to humiliate or get humiliated.

We followed Kakashi inside and saw a few other ninjas walking in the same direction as us.

I looked around once we walked through the double doors and saw a bunch of people sitting in the crowd already. I scanned the crowd to see if I could find Jiraiya, but I couldn't. I was a bit disappointed not seeing him here.

I looked around to see the genin around us. Naomi and her team were discussing something, Guy was shouting about youth, Asuma and Genma were shaking their heads at him, Nozomi was in the corner glaring to her left, and to her left was Kuroshi who was leaning against the rail.

We picked a spot by the rail and I started walking over to him. My team were probably surprised that I went go talk to him.

"Hey," I said, getting his attention.

I leaned my back against the rail and looked at him.

He turned his head. "How have you been?"

"Good," I said. "I've been training a lot and I've been dealing with uh...a small dilemma,"

"What's the dilemma?" He asked while quirking an eyebrow.

"It's nothing, just a personal issue. You know?" I blushed slightly.

He gave me a small smirk. "I see,"

Aunt Kushina's way of talking was starting to rub off on me.

"Uh," I cleared my throat. "So how have you been?"

I could tell Kuroshi was ignoring the silver glare that was still on him. "Pretty much the same as you, training a lot and I've been preparing myself for...you know,"

He looked down after he said that. 

"I've actually been meaning to ask you about that," I said. "I want you to tell me everything,"

He looked away. "I already told you, there's-"

"Kuroshi," I started. "That's not what I meant. I meant I want you to tell me everything about you and Nozomi without hiding things and being dismissive. I deserve to know, considering you snuck in my room at ten o' clock at night to ask me to kill her,"

I was more forceful with my sentence this time.

He just sighed with defeat. "Fine, no holding back. But only after the exams, okay?"

"Alright," I nodded. "I will meet up with you later so we can continue our discussion,"

"Alright," he said. "You should head back to your team now, I think they're getting kind of suspicious. Good luck on your match, Hana."

He gave me a genuine smile and I smiled back at him.

"Thanks, Kuroshi. Good luck to you as well,"

I walked back over to my team and Obito was giving me a look.

"Isn't that the guy who attacked you and Rin?" Obito asked.

"Yeah, it is," Kakashi added. "Why were you talking to him?"

"Guys, relax. I had to ask him something about Nozomi. I know it's hard to believe, but he's not an enemy," I replied.

I could tell that they didn't believe me. I didn't have the time to explain everything to them either.

I looked around the stadium, seeing the five Kages sitting at the top. 

I then looked over at the crowd, seeing that it was a lot bigger than when we first got here. They all wanted to see me and Kakashi fight since we are related to well-known ninjas. 

The proctor started speaking and it got silent.

"My name is Inoichi Yamanaka and I'll be the proctor for the final rounds," he introduced. 

He went over how he's going to run these final rounds and all of that. 

"Now, the first match will be," Inoichi said. "Kakashi Hatake of the Leaf and Hajime Inoue of the Cloud."

I widened my eyes at that name. Hajime was one of the best students in our class back at the Cloud Village and he was envied by almost all of us. He was always praised by our instructors since he was so skilled. 

I tugged on Kakashi's wrist before he walked down.

"Hm?" 

"Please be careful Kakashi. I know this guy and he's strong. I haven't seen him in years and there's no doubt that he got better." I warned.

"You don't have to worry about me, Hana," Kakashi replied confidently. "I can handle him."

Kakashi and Hajime both walked down to the battlefield, ready to start their fight.

The crowd was cheering loudly, wanting Kakashi to win.