Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Naruto of the Mirage ❯ Chapter 16 ( Chapter 16 )

Naruto and Hinata were in awe at the number of people who had come to see the final matches. The stadium was packed to the gills with people. Everyone, from various feudal lords to the lowliest peasant were in attendance to see who among the genin, if any, would achieve the rank of chuunin. Naruto noticed Tsunade and Jiraiya standing by the Sandaime along with his usual honor guard. There was another seat, and rumor had it that the Kazekage would be in attendance.

 

“Put on a good show, right now, you guys are the stars.” Naruto looked at the speaker and noticed that it was Shiranui Genma, a tokubetsu jounin.

 

“What h-happened to Hayate-san?” Hinata asked

 

“He's around; you didn't expect him to referee the prelims and the finals did you?” Genma responded. “Anyway, before we start, here are the ground rules. They're the same as the prelims. Anything goes, but if I think there's a winner I will stop the matches and my decisions are final.”

 

As the gravity of the situation started to ware off, Naruto realized for the first time that Sasuke and Kakashi hadn't shown up. His inquisitive eyes met Genma who simply shrugged his shoulders in understanding before instructing Hinata and Shikamaru to remain behind.

 

The Hokage greeted the Kazekage, who didn't say anything, merely nodded his head in acknowledgment. Sarutobi motioned to Genma to start the matches.

 

“Ladies and Gentlemen, shinobi of all ages, I am proud to begin the final round of the Chuunin exam. Our first fight will be between Hyuuga Hinata and Nara Shikamaru.” Genma announced.

 

The two opponents faced each other without saying a word and waited for the match to begin. Genma dropped his arm signaling the fight to begin and in a flurry of activity…nothing happened.

 

Shikamaru was mentally sorting through the reasons that it was too troublesome for him to fight Hinata, while Hinata was going over the strategy she had devised and waited for Shikamaru to make the first move.

 

“Um, if neither of you move, I'll disqualify you both.” Genma sweat dropped at the lack of motion from the two competitors.

 

With that, Hinata launched a kunai from her right hand and a pair of senbon needles from her left. Haku had shown her the value of the small metal needles when used in conjunction with her byakugan.

 

Shikamaru lazily moved to his right, avoiding all of the projectiles and quickly formed the seal for his Kagemane no jutsu. (Shadow imitation technique) His shadow raced toward the Hyuuga. Shikamaru would have smirked, but something felt off. He knew Hinata was smart and she had already seen his technique once, it shouldn't work twice, but it looked like it would…until Hinata did something that hadn't been done before. She halted the movement of his shadow.

 

To say that Shikamaru was surprised was an understatement, sure he had heard of people being able to overpower the Kagemane, but that was once it was attached to them, not a foot and a half before it even touched them!

 

Without wasting a breath, Hinata charged at Shikamaru in a basic jyuken stance. Shikamaru was taken back by the seer amount of determination that shone in the girl's eyes. Shikamaru made to dodge her attack, but only partially succeeded, earning him a few closed tenketsu on his arm and shoulder for his troubles. Hinata simply kept up her assault, eventually cornering Shikamaru and closing more tenketsu, before the lazy boy escaped using a flash bomb.

 

`Damn, what is she doing to stop the kagemane?' Shikamaru thought. He wasn't given the time to find a suitable answer, as Hinata's byakugan was able to find him almost instantly. She wrapped an exploding note to the handle of a kunai, and threw it above Shikamaru's head. The note detonated and blew off a section of tree branch, forcing Shikamaru to abandon his position on a low branch. When he landed, he immediately tried kagemane once more, only to find that Hinata cast no shadow for his to attach to.

 

`Bunshin!' He realized, before a pair of hands grabbed his ankles and pulled him into the ground up to his head.

 

“That's Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu, (Earth type: Inner Decapitation technique) Shikamaru-san, I'd suggest that you give up.” Hinata quietly stated, leveling a kunai at the lazy genius's throat.

 

Shikamaru closed his eyes, and although he couldn't move his hands to form his `thinking pose' he quickly began calculating any chances he had to escape.

 

“Tell me” he asked, eyes still shut tight, “how were you able to halt the kagemane? I've never heard of anyone doing that before.”

 

Hinata blushed at the compliment before she whispered into his ear, for fear of exposing the secret of his clan's technique.

 

“I assumed that your technique operated on the same principles as the jyuken, you contort your shadow with chakra, and use that chakra to enter your opponent's body, making them mimic you. To stop the effect, I modified the jyuken, and used an incomplete kaiten as a shield to protect me. I changed the nature of my clan's taijutsu from offensive to defensive.”

 

Shikamaru was impressed that Hinata had worked out the kagemane to such a degree that she had been able to counter it effectively. He opened his eyes and was about to admit defeat, when he noticed that Hinata had deactivated her byakugan.

 

`I have one shot at this, but it will be worth it.'

 

Hinata was waiting for Shikamaru to admit defeat, when suddenly she got the feeling that something was wrong. She felt a spike in Shikamaru's chakra, and activated her byakugan quickly, but before she could do anything, she felt control of her body slipping away.

 

Her eyes showed her that a trail of chakra led from the hole that she had created for Shinjuu Zanshu and led back up to Shikamaru.

 

“Finally, Kagemane no jutsu, success.” He drawled

 

Hinata faulted a bit, her big victory, and now she was about to loose.

 

“I give up.”

 

Hinata looked at him, eyes wide in shock.

 

“I have no way of forcing you to do anything, I am trapped in the earth and can't move an inch, and while I might have been able to catch you in the kagemane, I have no further moves to make.”

 

“Winner, Hyuuga Hinata!” Genma announced to the crowd, who cheered at the completion of a great match.

 

The kagemane receded and Hinata held out her hand to help Shikamaru out of his grave. The two returned to the platform where the other finalists were standing and the Konoha genin congratulated Hinata on her victory, with one noticeable exception. Hyuuga Neji found his cousin's performance to be poor and underachieving. She had to resort to outside techniques to defeat the laziest person in the village. He hadn't even moved at the beginning of the match!

 

“Great job, Hinata-chan!” Sakura congratulated the shy girl with a friendly pat on the back.

 

“Why do you try and clean up trash?” Neji scowled at his pink haired opponent.

 

“What!?” Sakura yelled at the other Hyuuga, while Hinata's eyes dropped to the ground, avoiding all contact with her older sibling.

 

“For the heiress of the strongest clan in Konoha to have to resort to outside help, is despicable, and shames everyone who bares the name of Hyuuga.” Neji lashed out.

 

Sakura glared at Neji so hard the other combatants, including the two remaining sand siblings, thought she was going to bore a hole in Neji's head.

 

“Why are you trying to put Hinata-chan down so much?” Naruto asked, just a hint of rage flying off his tongue.

 

Hinata could barely believe her ears. Not only had Naruto defended her performance, he had called her `Hinata-chan'! She felt a familiar heat rise to her cheeks, and decided that if she died now, she would do it with a smile on her face. Only the voice of the announcer brought her out of her fantasy land.

 

“Since Uchiha Sasuke is not here, his match will be postponed until the end of the first round matches, at the request of the Kazekage. So our second match will be Rock Lee vs. Aburame Shino.”

 

The two walked to the ring and waited for the signal, but before the fight began, Lee addressed his opponent.

 

“Yosh, it will be an honor to fight you, Shino-san, it is said that the Aburame taijutsu is the strongest in the village, on par with the jyuken even!”

 

Shino raised an eyebrow at the boy. It was an unknown fact that the only people who had a chance at defeating an Aburame in an all taijutsu fight dedicated their lives to the art. Shino's father was more than a match, even for a master like Maito Gai.

 

“Begin!”

 

Lee raced at Shino at an unbelievable speed, only for the stoic boy to easily block the kick that Lee had aimed for his head by catching Lee's left foot. Lee quickly broke Shino's hold and attacked again, aiming a hard right foot for Shino's side. Shino once more easily blocked the blow, this time with his forearm. Lee flew into a back handspring to distance himself.

 

In the contestant's box, everyone was surprised to see Shino hold his own against the taijutsu specialist. Shikamaru was sure that Shino would forfeit because his kikaichu (destruction bugs) wouldn't work against the chakra-less Lee.

 

“Is that true, that the Aburame taijutsu rivals the jyuken?” Sakura asked Hinata, who quietly nodded her head.

 

“I've spared against Shino-kun many times, but I haven't beaten him once.” She confirmed.

 

“Hn, that's just because you are a weakling.” Neji scoffed.

 

“What is so special about this style of taijutsu?” Kankuro asked “It doesn't look like much to me.”

 

“The Aburame clan has risen to prominence because they offer a check against the two strongest clans in Konoha, the Uchiha and to a lesser extent the Hyuuga.” Naruto supplied, history was one of his strongest subjects in the academy. “The Aburame clan is well known and feared because of the kikaichu they harbor within their own bodies since their birth. Kikaichu feast on chakra, any type of chakra they can get, including that of their host. As such, the Aburame clan is completely incapable of using outside techniques, just clan techniques and taijutsu. The Uchiha clan was notorious for harboring a grudge against the Aburame, because of the bug clan's success against Uchiha in the Chuunin and Jounin exams. Since the Kikaichu eat their host's chakra, the sharingan cannot sense the chakra signature of an Aburame. The Kikaichu would quickly deplete the chakra of their opponent and since the Uchiha were almost completely reliant on their katon jutsu, they would quickly fall. One theory on why the Uchiha became so proficient in fire techniques is because of the Aburame. The fire will scare away or kill the bugs.

 

With the Hyuuga, the jyuken is rendered nearly useless because, once again, the Aburame have no chakra system. Yes, the jyuken can still attack other organs and body systems, but the kikaichu have a symbiotic relationship with their hosts and make the organs highly resistant to physical damage.”

 

Shikamaru and Sakura were in awe of Naruto's speech, not to mention the sand shinobi. Hinata smiled at Naruto, knowing that he was well versed when it came to the history of the village.

 

Back in the arena, Lee had charged Shino a number of times, only to meet with the same result. The whispers about the Aburame taijutsu weren't over exaggerated. Lee withdrew a pair of kunai and charged once more, receiving a raised eye brow from his opponent. Shino dodged the first couple strikes easily enough, but Lee didn't let up and soon Shino's jacket was slashed to ribbons. Although he didn't discard the tattered coat, it did little to hide his body, and what a body it was. Shino was, for lack of a better term, ripped. There were a number of females in the stadium who straight away fainted from seeing the physique of the boy for the first time. Under the cream colored jacket, Shino wore a black tank-top that, according to a number of women in attendance “clung to his body like Sakura clings to Sasuke.” In other words, it hugged his muscles very tightly.

 

Now Shino was as close to angry as an Aburame can get, this was his favorite jacket out of the thirty four he owned. Lee was in for it. The resulting battle was fierce and for the most part, invisible to the general public. Lee and Shino redefined the word fast as they traded blows with each other. The contest was even and heated, until Lee was able to land a sharp kick to Shino's gut, and kept kicking away, launching the boy into the air. Or he would have, if Shino hadn't suddenly dissolved into a swarming mass of kikai bugs.

 

Lee felt a number of pinching sensations as the bugs swarmed over him, but he ignored the sensation and performed a very vast spinning kick, successfully separating himself from the insects like a centrifuge.

 

“You have been bitten by some of my newest tenants. They have a moderately venomous bite, that won't kill you, but it will result in unconsciousness. You had best concede the fight, you will need medical attention.”

 

Lee could feel something was wrong with him, and figured that it must be the venom.

 

`I have a short time to finish this fight…I'm sorry Gai-sensei, but I'm afraid I might have to give up. I cannot beat him without breaking my promise.' Lee apologized to his mentor.

 

Over the boisterous crowd, a voice rang out.

 

“Lee, it is alright, I give you permission to take them off!” The voice of the Green-Beast of Konoha rang out.

 

Lee didn't need to look at who the voice belonged to. He crouched low to the ground and lowered the orange leg warmers he wore to reveal a set of black weights. He unsnapped the weights and dropped them to the ground where they made a deep crater. Shino's eyes rose once more, but he couldn't do anything as Lee made his attack. Lee disappeared in a blur of green that many trained shinobi couldn't follow with their eyes. This time, when Lee's foot impacted Shino's chin, the Aburame couldn't do anything but fly into the air. Lee appeared underneath Shino and whispered 'Sorry' to the boy, before launching into a series of punches that targeted his kidneys and side, before redirecting the now injured boy towards the ground with a hard chop to the stomach. But Lee was not finished. He followed Shino downwards and grabbed his ankles with his hands and wrapped his feet around Shino's neck, shifted his center of gravity and readjusted their trajectory into a Peregrine Falcon drop. Shino's head hit the ground with a smack before his body collapsed face down. Lee rolled off his opponent panting heavily.

 

Genma walked over to the two and checked them for injuries. Shino was unconscious and unmoving; his sunglasses had shattered upon impact with the ground. Lee too was unconscious, but Genma figured that it was due to the poison and strain that his body went through.

 

“This match is a double knock-out!” Genma announced to the crowd who had gone silent. They erupted into cheers as the two boys were stretchered off the field.

 

In the observation deck, the Konoha ninja were in awe of the fight before them. Even the stoic Neji had admitted that it would be interesting to fight the two taijutsu enthusiasts. The Suna shinobi were engrossed in a different topic.

 

“Kankuro, I sense that something is off with the Kazekage.” Gaara stated as if it were something that should have been obvious. The youngest of the Kazekage's sons hadn't called the Wind leader 'father' since an incident involving an assassin years ago.

 

“W-what do you mean?” Kankuro asked, obviously he hadn't gotten the same vibe from his father.

 

Gaara stared at the blue robed kage intently for a minute before he answered.

 

“I do not trust the Kazekage, and I will not participate in the attack against Konoha. If you or Temari injure one Konoha citizen...I will kill you both. Something seems off about him...he is too strong.”

 

“Are you saying that someone killed and is impersonating our father?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Kankuro was in shock. Never had he seen his father loose in battle, but here his youngest brother was suggesting that exact scenario.

 

“Mitarashi Naruto vs. Sabaku no Kankuro” Genma called for the next pair of fighters, but Kankuro didn't want to move ...until Gaara whispered something in his ear.

 

“If you don't wish to die very slowly, you must keep up the appearance that nothing is wrong. So fight this match. I am interested in how strong Naruto could be.”

 

Partly out of fear for his life, and partly because Gaara had never shown an interest in anything other than killing people, Kankuro complied with the request. Sadly, the fight was much less interesting than the talk between the brothers.

 

As soon as the fight began, Naruto let some of his satetsu flow from the confines of his sleeves and formed them into an amorphous cloud. Kankuro just stared at the sight; there was the Sandaime's greatest weapon, the iron sand, being controlled by some genin that his brother was interested in. But Kankuro decided that even against the iron sand, he would continue this fight, just to appease his homicidal younger brother.

 

'As long as he can't tell which body is Karasu and which one is me, than I'll be fine.' Strategy and stealth were essential for a puppeteer, and Kankuro prided himself on the later, which was a mistake. He manipulated the chakra strings that lead to his puppet and made to position Karasu in a defensive position. But the puppet didn't move.

 

“I've flooded the joints of your puppet with satetsu.” Naruto voice came from in front of the real Kankuro, who had hidden himself as a bundle on the back of his puppet. Naruto leveled a kunai at the bandages and slit them off, revealing his true opponent.

 

“You've used that trick already; you should try a new one.” He said coldly, the kunai pressing against the shocked genin's neck. “You should give up.”

 

Kankuro just nodded his head and Genma declared Naruto the victor.

 

Naruto returned to the observation deck, while a visibly uneasy Kankuro slowly ascended the stairs, afraid of the wrath his brother was going to bestow on him. But when he made it up to the deck, Gaara was just staring at the two combatants. Kankuro tried to slide behind Naruto, but Gaara noticed him and gave him a stare that drew the puppet master in.

 

“Good job, if you had put up a fight, someone might have noticed my conversation with Temari. As it happened, everyone was watching Naruto defeat you, so no one noticed.” Kankuro was stunned. He had failed Gaara, but instead of death, he received praise for it. It must have been a first for the world, Gaara praising someone.

 

“Hyuuga Neji vs. Haruno Sakura...begin!” Genma's voice rang out over the crowd and brought everyone's attention back to the arena.

 

Sakura started off by throwing a kunai at her opponent and then created a trio of bunshin and rushed the Hyuuga prodigy. Neji just stood their, byakugan on, and stared down Sakura the entire time she attacked. Just as she was about to reach her target, Sakura smirked as she saw the explosive note that she had wrapped around the handle of her kunai begin to burn down. Her training with Anko over the past month was nothing like she had imagined. While Sakura was best suited for a medical career or as a genjutsu specialist, Anko had taken the month to train her in the art of demolition. An entire month on expanding her chakra capacity and work on creating her own explosive notes and various other incendiary devices. The kunai had embedded itself in the ground behind Neji and was about twenty feet from the boy. Her joy was short lived, however as Neji simply slid into a sweep kick and took Sakura's legs out form underneath her, sending her towards her own explosive.

 

Sakura quickly concentrated on the chakra she had embedded in the note and stopped it. She had been partially successful during her training in creating an explosive note that the user could start or stop at will. The note stopped, and she was able to pluck it from the ground and throw it at Neji's unprotected back, restarting the detonation in the process.

 

In the stands, Hyuuga Hanabi and Hyuuga Hiashi, Hinata's sister and father, were watching the match with no interest.

 

“Hanabi, watch closely. He is the one, in which the Hyuuga blood flows thickest, though it is wasted against such an inferior opponent.”

 

Neji began to emit chakra from the tenketsu all over his body and began to spin. A dome of chakra formed around him and the spin reflected the kunai back towards Sakura, who quickly performs a kawarimi and switches place with a stone.

 

“Kaiten!” (Heavenly Spin) Hanabi gasps.

 

“That is the Hakkeshou Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin), the absolute defense of the main branch of the Hyuuga clan. For someone to have learned that attack that is not a part of the Main family...he is truly the prodigy of our clan.” Hiashi intoned.

 

This time it was Neji who took the offensive and rushed at Sakura before she could get set. Sakura was forced to create a Chakra Enjintou (Chakra scalpel) to block Neji's palm strike that was aimed for her heart. Luckily for Neji the Enjintou takes a lot of control to perform, and Sakura just didn't have enough. Instead of a sharp scalpel, what Neji felt was more like a steak knife, and while it hurt, the damage to his palm was minimal. However, instead of leaping away like Sakura had intended, Neji just slid to his right and made to close the tenketsu on her arm, but Sakura had a surprise in store for the genius. She replaced herself with a flash note and while Neji was blind, threw a pair of kunai at him, which he was able to block by doing a blind Kaiten. As the move was slowing down, Sakura rushed Neji with a kunai in each hand, another skill she had picked up from Anko. He dodged the kunai she held in her right hand, albeit sloppily, and made to close some tenketsu on her left arm. But, to add insult to injury, Sakura was able to place a kunai strike to Neji's arm, which knocked the wind out of his sails, causing the genius to gasp in surprise. The cut was shallow but traveled the length of his arm, spilling a good amount of blood onto the ground.

 

“Neji, I may dislike you for what you said to Hinata, but if you don't get that checked out soon, you may die.” Sakura stated. The crowd was in awe, a shinobi without a clan had seemingly defeated the greatest prodigy to come from the Hyuuga clan in the past century. But Neji wasn't done yet. Neji emitted a pulse of chakra which acted like a puff of compressed air from a can, and knocked Sakura off balance. He then quickly took his stance before beginning his attack.

 

“You are in my field of divination!” He called, before his hands began to move at a speed that couldn't be seen by many.

 

“Two strikes, four strikes, eight strikes, sixteen strikes, thirty-two strikes, sixty-four strikes!” He chanted. “Hakkeshou: Rokujuu Yonshou!” (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms) Sakura fell to the ground, nearly unconscious and drained of her chakra. She tried to get up, but her body didn't want to let her.

 

“Do you give up?” He asked, with an evil smirk on his lips. “I didn't hear anything, must be my weak cousin rubbing off on you, I'll say it once, trash attracts more trash.” His right arm recoiled and was about to land a devastating blow to Sakura's internal organs, but Genma's arm stopped him.

 

“This match is over, if you wish to retain your ninja status, as well as your head, you had better quit now.”

 

Neji just walked away, but was stopped in his tracks by Naruto. The two locked eyes but didn't say a word as Sakura slowly regained her breath and walked off to receive medical attention.

 

“Genma-san, since Sasuke isn't here yet, why don't you let me and Neji fight now? I owe him for what he has done to my teammate.” Naruto's voice was cold as he challenged the previous rookie of the year.

 

Genma looked up to the Hokage who sighed. He should have seen this coming from Naruto. He would stall so that his brother could arrive and not be disqualified. Looking over at the Kazekage he asked for the man's opinion.

 

“I think it would be an excellent fight, while we wait for my son to fight the Uchiha.” The Kazekage replied.

 

Sarutobi sighed again and nodded to Genma. The fight would go on.

 

“There will be a fifteen minute intermission, before the next fight, which will be Mitarashi Naruto vs. Hyuuga Neji.” Genma announced and the crowd began to mutter amongst themselves. 'Why hasn't Sasuke fought yet?' one member would ask the other. No one seemed to know, but that didn't mean they weren't looking forward to the next round of matches. Some because it was bound to be an interesting match up, what with a Hyuuga against someone who could use one of the most famous bloodline abilities to grace the shinobi nations, and others because they wanted to see Neji demolish 'the demon brat'. Alas some things never change. When the break was over, the two boys hadn't moved a muscle, despite Neji receiving treatment for his wound, and were staring each other down, in a way that was reminiscent of Sasuke and Neji before this entire exam began.

 

“Begin!” Genma's arm dropped and the action was on.

 

Almost instantly Naruto and Neji went on the offensive. Naruto created a number of Kage Bunshins and they circled around Neji, who was finding it impossible to distinguish between the real Naruto and the clones.

 

'Damn, these clones...they have their own chakra circulatory system, so it is impossible for me to pick out the real one.'

 

Rushing forward, Neji started to strike as many clones as he could, but for every clone that seemed to be destroyed, two more would poof into existence.

 

'What is this, I've never heard of a self sustaining cloning technique.' Neji was becoming annoyed, if he didn't figure out some way to defeat the blond nuisance, than he would have to reveal his final trump card. His byakugan didn't show anything different with the landscape or with Naruto's chakra flow, so how was he making so many clones? It wasn't until Neji felt himself be tripped up by the staggering number of clones that he noticed something was wrong. The chakra flow in his own body was the problem. He had been caught in a genjutsu and didn't even realize it. He took a number of deep breaths and regulated the flow of chakra within his own body.

 

Now there weren't any clones in the area, but that hadn't meant that Naruto had been idle while Neji was fighting a log. He had strategically placed a number of explosive notes and flash tags around the boy and set them off in a large explosion of light and heat.

 

But Neji had replaced himself with a rock and was glaring angrily at Naruto.

 

“What happened to 'those who rely on outside help are weak?” Naruto taunted.

 

“Shut up! It is my destiny to defeat you anyway!” Neji growled and charged at Naruto, who simply ducked under the incoming palm and landed a solid uppercut to Neji's stomach before the Hyuuga branch member could do anything about it.

 

“You and that fate kick again, I don't get it, what makes you so special that fate would grant you victory?” Naruto was playing twenty questions with him, in the middle of a fight! Neji became very angry. Launching another attack, Neji was unsuccessful in his attempt at closing any tenketsu on his opponent. Naruto performed the seals for Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (Fire type: Mythical Phoenix Flower) forcing Neji to leap out of the way. For a second nothing happened, but then Neji decided to go off on one of his rants.

 

“You obviously don't know about the Hyuuga's destiny of hatred. You couldn't possibly know what it feels like, to know that someone could end your life on a whim. You cannot possibly know what it feels like to be branded as inferior, with a seal that could destroy your mind. You know nothing.”

 

“Wow, sounds like someone is carrying around a lot of emotional baggage.” Naruto quipped. “You should really see a shrink or someone about those feelings you are having.”

 

Neji growled like an animal and proceeded to charge Naruto once more, only to find that the blond had ended up behind him.

 

“They Hyuuga clan will do anything in order to protect the main family, those who were born privileged, including offering up branch members as sacrificial lambs.”

 

“I don't really care too much, all I know is that you have problems with the main house and you choose to centralize those issue onto Hinata-chan and all the other people around you. I may not have a seal that can kill me, but I've got more stigma attached to me than you could gather in a life time. But I press through any problems I have, fate doesn't decide the outcomes of minor struggles like ours, but fate helps those who help themselves, which is why I'm going to kick your ass, for all the people who have adversity and work their way through it. I think your teammate Lee calls it, 'the geniuses of hard work'. Hinata-chan has all the pressures of being the heiress of the 'most prestigious clan in Konoha', Sakura worked her butt of this past month to get where she is, and I've got a good portion of the citizens of this village rooting against me, just because Anko is my Kaa-chan. For these reasons I will defeat you!”

 

The two combatants, finally tired of each other talking instead of fighting, charged at each other, Neji in his Hakkeshou: Rokujuu Yonshou stance, and Naruto with a Koori no Yaiba (Blade of Ice) formed around his right arm, while his sharingan spun wildly in his eyes, momentarily shocking the stoic Hyuuga. This time, it was Neji who came off the better of the two, managing to shut off sixty-four of Naruto's tenketsu, while Naruto was only able to put a slash across Neji's chest that traveled from his right hip up to his chest, before Neji was able to lean his head back enough to dodge a near fatal strike. But Naruto had managed to cut the cloth of Neji's headband, showing the entire stadium the branch family seal that marred his forehead.

 

“I have sealed off your chakra, you have no way to defeat me. You should have known that fate would decide against you, the dead last of your class, you had no chance to defeat me.” Neji gloated.

 

'He's right, I feel as strong as a new born...I suppose I have no choice. Jiraiya-jiisan, thanks for the help with this one.' As Neji was gloating, Naruto placed his hands into the ram seal, most commonly used to focus and gather chakra. He concentrated on doing something that he didn't want to do again in his life time, but the feeling of belonging occurred once more, as he called upon the chakra of the Kyuubi.

 

It was Jiraiya's idea to learn to call upon the Kyuubi's chakra when needed. Especially with a Hyuuga in his section of the draw and a fellow demon container in the other half, the need was great. The process itself had turned out much easier than Naruto had thought it would be. Although chakra is both physical and spiritual, a demon's chakra is nearly all spiritual, and thus, when the Kyuubi was sealed inside of him, almost all of its power was added to his own. However, the Kyuubi had little control over his chakra now that he was sealed. In truth, it was Naruto's chakra to call upon and use when he felt fit, the bonus of the current arrangement was that if his normal chakra pathway was shut down, the Kyuubi chakra could open it back up as if it were a different source of energy.

 

Which was why Neji was surprised to see an orange/red chakra begin to seep into Naruto's system, only moments after he had shut it down. The chakra was so intense that it blinded Neji when he tried to look directly at it. As a demonstration of his new power, Naruto used his satetsu to hold onto Neji's hands and feet, while a layer of ice crept over his entire body. Naruto had spent a good amount of time learning how to draw water out of the air and funnel it into his hyoton techniques.

 

Neji was in shock, 'Am I actually going to loose to the dobe? No, I can't, fate...'fate helps those who help themselves'. Naruto's words floated through Neji's mind, as his frozen/petrified body was pulled into the ground.

 

“Neji,” Naruto's voice was a whisper so low that the Hyuuga doubted that someone could hear it if they were standing next to them. “You think that you've lead a hard life, at least you've had love. Growing up, I was not shown love until after I was shown death...even afterwards, my nightmares were rife with thoughts that it might just be a hoax, that at any moment, someone would come along and say 'Gotcha'. You think that I don't know what it feels like to have my life controlled by a seal...your wrong...my life has been controlled by three.”

 

With that the 'loudmouth dobe' walked off to the deck to receive congratulations from all, including a blushing Hinata, who had nearly fainted when her crush said he would win for her. Neji just stood in the ground, while Genma sauntered over to him.

 

“You know, a bird, even one that was raised in captivity will instinctually try and open the latch of its cage.” The laid back man reprimanded the youth as he lifted him out of his hole.

 

“Winner, Mitarashi Naruto!”

 

Just as Neji was making his way off the arena floor, one chronically tardy jounin appeared in a swirl of leaves, with one annoyed genin.

 

“Sorry, we're late, you see there was this old lady doing her shopping, when a bunch of Sasuke's fan club, who were chasing us, crashed into her and broker he hip. Sasuke felt so bad for her that he finished her shopping for her.” Kakashi apologized, once again lying out his mouth.

 

“Yes, well, you should talk with the Hokage about getting something done about those fan girls.” Genma retorted, not being able to hide his smile. “The next match will be Uchiha Sasuke vs. Sabaku no Gaara.”

 

Gaara descended the stairs to the stadium and faced Sasuke. Genma quickly began the most anticipated fight in the history of the chunnin exams. But Gaara didn't move to fight Sasuke. Instead he turned to Genma and plainly spoke.

 

“Suna has allied with Oto to invade Konoha during this match. I refuse to fight, because that,” he turned to the seats where the Kage's were sitting, “isn't the Kazekage.”

 

Almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, an explosion rang out from the area of the front gates of the village. A giant brown three headed snake crashed through the walls. The fight for Konoha was on!

 

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