Ambivalent

                                    

                                          
She was completely uncomfortable when she had to be alone with the Hyūga in the middle of the forest, that's why she had managed to mark as much distance as possible between them and not to be careless when it seemed to her that he was getting too close. Besides that she had felt his white eyes riveted on her person analyzing her completely, and then he had pronounced that he saw something strange about her, to which she didn't answer anything. Time was moving too slowly for her liking and she had barely put in two sensors when he grabbed her arm and pulled her close.
                          
He didn't say anything to her, just held her against a tree while she again internally reproached herself for her inability to react at once and push him away as she should have, not to remain motionless almost at his mercy and then try to excuse herself that even if she had tried it wouldn't have done much good as Neji outstripped her in strength. The seconds passed one after another slowly as she felt his nose run down her neck at the same time her skin bristled, to say she hated herself more than she hated him at that moment was an understatement. And like an answer to a prayer she hadn't made, footsteps were heard, so he turned away and scowled all at once at the newcomers.
                          
"Who gave this order?" Neji asked them in annoyance when they explained why they were there.
                          
"It's a strategy from the intelligence squad," a 'damn Nara' was uttered in a hiss that the others didn't hear, she didn't care who had thought of that, she was just thankful that they would be accompanied for the rest of the day.
                          
"Well, quickly show them the ones that are already in place and let's move on."
                          
From there at least the clock deigned to hurry and when the sun was setting they all left the forest, because the two additional shinobi didn't leave her side for a moment and were writing down many things regarding the different places she chose. So she was satisfied that she had survived for the day. The next day she technically had it free as it would be the written exam, she wouldn't stay in the apartment, even if she wasn't from the village surveillance squad, they all had to keep an eye out for any possible news or mishaps that might occur given the amount of people swarming everywhere. While these were peaceful times and the whole continent seemed to be mostly in harmony, one could never be too cautious.
                          
She stood at the entrance of the academy waiting for all the participants to enter, again teams of three would be divided into different classrooms. The halls were a hive of shinobi of all ages throwing in each other's faces which village was better and similar nonsense, she was definitely thankful that in her day to day life she didn't have to surround herself with teenagers or such immature people, because it would make her job a thousand times worse. With a click of her tongue she entered the observation room where Shikamaru was already listlessly watching the screens and pointed to the empty chair next to him.
                          
Memories of the previous exams where they had the same function came back, especially when she heard him activate the microphone to tell the jōnin who would be watching each room that they could start handing out the sheets and gave some basic indications regarding the rules. The amount of points that each of the questions gave, the way in which some could add or subtract and that there was a minimum to be obtained by each team if they wanted to move on to the next round, in addition to an individual minimum and roughly how the system was for those who decided to try the double promotion.
                          
They had eaten lunch inside the classroom as the test was still going on and when it was finally over all the sheets were handed to them to be scored. They would only be in charge of scoring the answers and others to compute if the minimum required was met and then contact those who would go on to the next part to report to the forest the next day. They finished a little later than initially planned, but at least that part was ready, and at home they had dinner alone since Shikaku and Yoshino had gone out.