Hnh.

By the end of the loop Sakura had learnt how to run properly, Naruto had managed to stick a leaf to himself without destroying it completely, and Hinata had spent a month either beating the living shit out of Naruto clones or having the living shit fucked out of her by Naruto clones.

Come the start of the next loop the three found themselves, as always, in Naruto's apartment. Naruto was fixing up what he could with the F-ranks he'd learnt. Sakura was reading over the scroll they came from, having dropped by the library to grab both it and the next batch of D-rank scrolls she wanted to run through.

Hinata was staring intently at a cup of instant ramen. "I've never eaten such a thing before. It's most odd."

"It's actually pretty good if you spice it up a little. Some spring onion, a fried egg, and vegetables go a long way." Sakura said mildly, not bothering to look up from her scroll.

Naruto, on the other hand, was aghast. "You've had ramen before Hinata! I know you have!"

"Not this instant concoction. Father always said it was for those who couldn't afford better." She slurped down a gulp of the noodles. "It certainly has its own charm, though."

The three lapsed into comfortable silence for a short moment. Naruto was the one who broke it. "I really want to punch Orochimaru. Right in his snakey face."

Hinata frowned. "I'm sorry, the Snake Sage? The one who was exiled?"

"He keeps coming after Sasuke in the forest of ****. It gets very annoying running from his AoE techniques." Sakura finally looked up. "And while I agree with the sentiment, Naruto, Orochimaru is a Sage. It'll take years before we'll have a chance of beating him, even teaming up."

"Not beat, just land a hit. It'll be a good yardstick thingy that the teachers always talk about."

"An easily definable goal that allows us to measure our progress as ninja by acting as a fixed yardstick." Sakura still had the sayings of all the academy teachers memorised. "That doesn't sound like such a bad idea framed like that, actually."

"Exactly. And we're fixing that yardstick right in the middle of Orochimaru's slimy face."

Sakura let out a snort halfway between exasperation and laughter. "We'll need bigger attacks if we want to do that. D-ranks and your shadow clones just won't cut it against a sage."

"The water balloon thing the Pervy Sage had me doing was meant to lead into an S-rank attack. I could spend loops with him until I get it down."

"And I could train with Gai until he teaches me that heavenly gates technique that Lee used. The sudden burst of speed might catch Orochimaru by surprise."

The two of them turned to look at Hinata expectantly. She froze, a trail of noodles leading from her mouth to the instant ramen cup in her hands. After a moment, she sucked them down, swallowed, and cleared her throat. "I actually want to keep focusing on the Byakugan. I'm the Heiress, after all."

Sakura sighed. "You don't have to do what Hiashi wants any more, Hinata. You're your ow-"

"It's not that, Sakura." Hinata's voice was uncharacteristically confident. "The Byakugan has other techniques, ones beyond the trigram palms. One that allows for incredibly accurate analysis, which we'll need once we start looking to copy other clan's techniques. One lets you dispel ninjutsu as they're flung at you, so precise is the observation and control of the user. With enough power, the Byakugan is able to let you see through time itself, anticipating an opponent's moves before they even know what they're going to do. There's even rumors of an evolution of the eye that is comparable to the Rinnegan itself. There's no records on how to achieve it, or who it was that managed to in the past, but we have forever to find out." Hinata looked up at the two of them, gaze full of steel. "I am going to become the greatest Byakugan user this world has ever seen. When we leave this loop I am going to stand before my father and show him power that surpasses his wildest imagination. And in that moment, that moment when he finally shows me some pride, I will leave. I will show him how little he truly matters to me. I won't do that from a position of rebellion or weakness, I will do it from atop a throne of my own making." Her eyes shifted to focus purely on Sakura. "That match your ambition enough?"

Sakura smirked. "Yes ma'am. Most definitely. I've got to ask though, where was this attitude when we took your virginity?"

The steel melted from Hinata's gaze as she began to blush. "That's not fair, Sakura, you know talking about sex embarrases me. I had that whole badass moment, and you ruined it!"

Sakura laughed outright. "Think of it as exposure therapy. I'm sure if we keep going, you'll be fucking on top of the Hokage monument in no time."

"That's meant to be encouraging?" Hinata muttered.

That loop was a short one. Hinata's team met with Naruto's midway between their entrances to the forest of ****, having organised to team up should any events allow that. When Orochimaru attacked, Shino and Kiba grabbed Sasuke's comatose body and ran. They barely even hesitated, as Naruto had very solemnly told them that "if a giant snake attacks, and a weird-eyed pervert gives Sasuke a hickey that knocks him out" they should grab the Uchiha and run. The fact that exactly that had come to pass convinced Kiba that Naruto was clairvoyant, and convinced Shino that Naruto was a spy. Or at least Hinata was fairly sure he did, considering the amount of bugs The Aburame boy left behind.

Naruto had a clone attack Orochimaru, wanting to see how the sage fought. Instead of bothering with the clone, however, Orochimaru spun around to face the hidden Naruto and threw a single kunai. It was only thanks to Hinata and her eyes that they even knew what it was, given that Naruto was killed instantly. The three woke in their beds on the first day of the exam.

"A KUNAI? I wasn't even worth an actual attack?" Naruto was fuming.

"That was utterly insane." Sakura was whispering, still shocked. "He may as well have killed us with a single breath."

"I WAS TAKEN OUT BY A THROWING KNIFE!"

"It is a little ironic that a prankster such as yourself was taken out by a nuisance." Hinata was remarkably calmer than the other two, having spent much less time training in the loop, she still saw herself as securely pre-chunin. "How do you normally survive his attack?"

"Leave Sasuke behind and run. Orochimaru wants him alive, so as long as Naruto and I get out of the way, he tends to ignore us."

"I'll teach him!" Naruto stormed out of the apartment.

"Wait, Naruto!" Hinata called after him."Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna find Jirayia and **** him to teach me a cool attack!"

Sakura and Hinata shared a look. "Should you tell him or..."

Sakura shrugged. "He'll remember he was meant to go to the exam when he wakes up and it's this morning again. We should probably go over what we remember of how Orochimaru fights while it's still fresh."

"Well, we know he's fast."

"..."

"..."

"Yeah, you might need to get a little better at the Byakugan to be able to make anything out."

"It'd also help if we could stay alive long enough to see him do anything more than throw a knife."

"Fair point." Sakura fell back on the bed. "May as well just fuck then."

Hinata's eyes went wide, beginning to blush furiously. "W-w-wh-what?"

"Well, this whole thing's meant to be a polycule, right? And I don't know about you, but Naruto being the only one who has sex with multiple people sounds more like a harem than a poly relationship." Sakura looked out from under her lashes at the Hyuga Heiress. "I think you're very attractive Hinata. And given how you were acting during the threesome, the feeling's mutual."

"That's... not inaccurate."

"So," Sakura started undoing her dress. "We doing this, or what?"

None of the three loopers made it to the exam centre that day.