Neji Hyuga woke up the morning of his first chunin exam test, got ready and got dressed in his typical attire of medium-sleeve light grey jacket with the high collar and black knee length shorts. The only spots of color were his blue ninja sandals and the Konoha headband he wore to cover the cursed seal on his forehead.
All functional. His long, straight black hair grown out to about mid-back was his one concession to pride.
So wrapped up was Neji in his contemplations of the upcoming chunin tests that he did not note Hinata when she passed by him on his way out of the Hyuga compound to meet his team. For one thing, she hardly acted like his Main Branch cousin in the slightest, moving and holding herself with a level of confidence that her father couldn't match. The Hyuga Clan Head had too much of a chip on his shoulder to act that confident and sure of himself.
For another, she wasn't dressed as he'd grown accustomed to Hinata being dressed, in a thick jacket and blue calf-length pants.
No, for some strange reason she was wearing a medium-sleeve light grey jacket with high collar and black knee length shorts. Although she'd retained her standard blue ninja sandals, her headband was worn around her forehead instead of around her neck.
Her blue hair was also grown long, to about her mid-back.
So, preoccupied as he was, Neji didn't recognize her. Instead, the poor genin was busy bracing himself for the standard, expected reaction when he met his team, psyching himself up against the spandex wearing duo with those ridiculous haircuts and oversize eyebrows shouting about the 'Power of YOUTH!' And in all other ways being annoying obstacles to his progress.
Instead, the Hyuga prodigy came to a shocked halt as he spotted the 'Green Beast of Konoha' and Lee, who was practically his clone.
Both of them looked up at him from where they'd been waiting, hands in the pockets of their medium-sleeve light grey jacket with high collars. He couldn't help but notice the black knee length shorts, blue ninja sandals, or that each had somehow, miraculously grown their hair out of those horrid bowl cuts into long, straight styles that reached about their mid-backs.
Gone were the green spandex, orange legwarmers and wristbands, bowl cuts and everything that made the freaks stand out so horribly. Even the stupid grins were missing, replaced by copies of his own blank, stoic expression!
Startled for a moment, Neji calmed himself, the opinion he had of the duo dropping at this obvious prank on him.
But he wouldn't give him the satisfaction!
"Hi Neji!"
Then Tenten trotted up, and gone were the Chinese silks or buns in her hair. Instead, for some strange reason she was wearing the same light grey jacket with high collar, black shorts, and hairstyle as everyone else!
Correcting his battle stance, assumed in the shock of their meeting, Neji nodded to her stiffly and tried to pretend everything was normal.
"Remember," Gai turned a stiff and stoic gaze upon his students. "Hard work is meaningless. Either you are fated to become chunin, or you are not. Bow to the whims of Fate, and accept its inevitability."
"It is pointless to fight against ones Destiny," Lee nodded soberly, with an utterly straight face.
Neji's hands were clenched into fists by the time their teacher Body Flickered away.
Glowering at his teammates, but relieved their prank was over, Neji walked away in something of an angry huff, only to get practically run over by a pink haired girl who...
... he noted was wearing another set of copies of his clothes, and her pink hair was worn long, straight, and to her mid-back.
Eye twitching, the Hyuga genius plodded on angrily to the test center, only to stop and stare as Kurenai's Team 8 crossed his path, and every member of it, from the jonin sensei on down to Kiba's dog, were all wearing identical copies of his own signature attire.
Funny, but he'd never noticed before how much Shino's coat and pants resembled his own.
Veins were popping on Neji's forehead as they walked on, only for a call out of a ramen shop to distract his attention, causing him to notice the waitress and chef were ALSO wearing medium-sleeve light grey jackets with high collar and black knee length shorts, their hair worn long and straight, down to their mid-backs.
The boy's eyebrows both started twitching as they began passing other teams from other villages, and one of those FOREIGN NINJA had the kunoichi on their team wearing practically an identical copy of his own attire!
This went beyond a joke. He couldn't imagine how anyone could get a maiden of Sound, who'd never been to Konoha before, wearing HIS CLOTHES??
The Hyuga prodigy activated his White Eyes, but couldn't detect an illusion.
Then he practically got run over by the team from Sand, and the girl made his outfit look so good he could almost forget about her two brothers, one with a puppet strapped over his back, wearing the same medium-sleeve light grey jacket with high collar and black knee length shorts as the boy carrying it, and the other wearing a great big gourd over his medium-sleeve light grey jacket with high collar and black knee length shorts.
All of their hair was long, straight, and hanging down to their mid-backs.
Neji was standing in the middle of the street, fists clenched and fuming, when Lee came up on his elbow and declared, in his OWN sober, straight-laced and dangerous monotone, "Come inside. We are not fated to miss this chunin test. It is our Destiny to be on time."
Neji almost slugged him for that.
The Hyuga prodigy stormed angrily in the front doors of the test center, and THIS TIME he noticed his cousin Hinata hanging out with her team, all of them wearing his outfits.
It was only the third time he'd seen her that morning.
Neji could have stopped and said something, but he got cut off by a tide of orange clones streaming past, all of them wearing medium-sleeve jackets with high collars and black knee length shorts, blond hair worn straight and down to their mid-backs - only the jackets this time were orange!
The orange clones met up with the pink haired girl and a boy, the Uchiha prodigy, who was thankfully NOT dressed up as a Neji-clone! Then that team all streamed inside rather quickly.
But somehow in the press, Hinata's team had also vanished, and he'd missed his opportunity to confront her.
There were chunin guarding the door, and Neji noted with a small amount of wonder that someone had also gotten THEM wearing copies of his signature attire! Storming in passed them, the boy rammed his way past other people dressed like him and shoved open the doors to the test area.
Where every single face turned up to look at him, and from the proctors on down, every single person was wearing copies of his clothes.
The head examiner nodded to him. "It's good to see you in regulation attire. Now sit! Those of you who are Destined to pass will pass. Those who are Destined to fail will fail. Be still, and contemplate Fate."
The Hyuga prodigy's head was hurting as he sat, and looked out the window, only to fall down in shock on noticing the Hokage monument had been changed so Every Single Face there was looking down at him over his own style of high collar, long hair, and headbands worn as if concealing cursed marks.
"Neji Hyuga! Fail!" the Head examiner called, hands stuffed deeply into the pockets of the medium-sleeve, light grey jacket he was wearing over his black, knee length shorts. "It is obviously not your Fate to become chunin! Take away his uniform!"
The shocked Hyuga was picked up off the floor by two chunin proctors dressed in identical clothes to his, and carried away stunned amid mutters about how obviously he was weaker than his cousin, Hinata.
Neji found himself standing outside the test center dressed in a ridiculous giant rubber purple chicken costume wondering what happened.
So if the link does not work, I'm sorry.
