….I normally despise the Naruto anime, since I'm a firm believer in ninjas not wearing bright orange during recon missions. But hey, that's coming from a Ninjutsu practitioner, so I guess I'm a bit bias.

I love the fanfics though, mainly because I can indulge in the awesomeness of NaruHina fluff.

I know, I'm odd.

I took a few liberties in the battle as well, but I think this worked out a lot better than what they did.

Anyways, here's another one for the archives.

Get up.

The once roaring stadium was silent.

It didn't matter they were only Genin. The sheer power from the clash of Kunai, did not matter. All that mattered was the one man left standing.

Neji Hyuuga was in shock. Never did he expect the loudmouth-brat, the incompetent shinobi, to last this long. Not only did he persist, he nearly beat him, a sudden surge of unexplainable chakra. It was a miracle that he was on his feet.

But in the end, it didn't matter. He was standing, and Naruto, the orange-clad shinobi, was not.

Striding forward to his defeated opponent, Neji could only put on what others would describe as an arrogant smirk. Fighting the urge to spit near the body of his fallen opponent, he could only snort in disgust.

"You're weak. No matter how many times you get up, you simply cannot defeat me."

Striding towards Naruto's body, he continued. "You're weak. You're powerless. You're foolish." Each statement was punctuated with a powerful stomp to the base of Naruto's back. "Your dreams are worthless. Where are you going to get, lying on the ground?" Giving one final, powerful stomp to the base of his back, he laughed. "Well? Come on, oh great "future Hokage." Get up."

Neji laughed again, his voice loud and clear over the open areas of the stadium. "That's it? The great "Hokage" can't become a Chuunin? You're weak!" Neji went from amused to seemingly furious in a heartbeat. "Just like Hinata! Just like my worthless bitch of a cousin!"

It was then that Neji heard a voice form the stands. It was barely audible, given the massive size of the arena, but he could hear the words clearly. And with his Byakugan, he could see exactly who was saying them.

"Naruto! You can do it!"

"Bitch..." Neji couldn't help but laugh at the futility of the situation. Starting towards the proctor, his eyes returned to their impassive state. "I have won. Call the ma-"

Before he could continue, Neji was cut off as the very earth around him began to tremble.

"Naruto..."

Seeing him lying there, motionless, seemingly dead was the worst feeling that Hinata had ever felt. Her heart was ripped asunder, moreso than when her cousin physically did that during the preliminary exams. And now she could do nothing but stare at the motionless body of her crush, praying that somehow, someway, he'd have a trick up his sleeve, that he'd pop out and say everything was alright.

Kiba and Shino were right beside her throughout the entire battle, quietly whispering between one another as the fight progressed. She didn't pay much attention, focusing more on the match than her teammates talking.

"There's no way he's given up, Shino. Something's wrong down there." Kiba looked just as worried as the rest of the Rookie Nine, who had all come to respect Naruto to a certain degree after the preliminary exams. Even Kiba himself, who suffered a humiliating defeat from the persistent ninja, found a begrudging respect for the loudmouth.

"True." Shino was as impassive as ever. "Its not like Naruto to give up. Especially now, since he's fighting under a vow."

That caught Hinata's attention. "Why would he make a vow against Neji...?"

"Uh...What vow, Shino?" Hinata asked, turning towards her teammates.

Kiba was about to reply, but Shino interrupted him. "Ah...you were at the hospital when it happened. It was just after your fight with Neji."

Seeing that Hinata still wasn't quite following, he continued. "After you were rushed away, Naruto was furious. I don't know where he found the self control not to attack Neji right there, but boy did he give him a piece of his mind."

"But why?"

Kiba dramatically sighed, irritated with Hinata's innocent cluelessness. "The way he treated you, Hinata. The way Neji beat you, damn near tortured you during that battle!"

Hinata gasped, finally starting to fit the pieces together. "Then...then the v-vow he made was for..."

Shino nodded, showing the trace of a rare smile. "Yes Hinata...he vowed to defeat Neji. He vowed to avenge your defeat, to prove that you, and he, are strong.

"And more importantly..." he smirked. "It was a blood vow."

Hinata's face immediately turned twenty different shades of red. She could do nothing but stammer and stutter incoherently before Kiba interrupted her.

"Like it or not, Hinata, he likes you. He cares about all of his friends, even when they...when we didn't treat him right. But I've never seen him that angry. Never."

Despite herself, Hinata thought back to the time she spent with Naruto at the training posts. She remembered the words he told her, the tone, everything about them.

"I like people like you...!"

Summoning all her courage, she leaned over the railing of the stadium and shouted "Naruto! You can do it! I...I b-believe in you!"

Despite the eyes on her in the stadium, despite her face being red as a tomato, she held her ground, defiant and triumphant. "Just like you, Naruto..."

It was then that she felt the earth begin to tremble with the force of a great earthquake. Though this was nothing natural. Activating her bloodline, Hinata immediately saw what Naruto was doing. Fighting the urge to scream, she crossed her fingers and prayed for the best.

Naruto, hidden underneath the ground, was barely able to hear the words shouted from the stands. It took him a moment to realize who shouted them, but the moment he did he smiled in utter happiness for the first time in ages.

"Looks like I'm not quite done yet...Alright. Let's do this."

Reading the last of his stamina, he forced his chakra upwards, drilling straight through the rocky terrain up towards his unsuspecting opponent.

"This one's for you, Hinata."

The force of the attack, the killing intent, and the very person that Neji had thought defeated burst from the ground with the force of a thousand earthquakes. The Hyuuga had no time to react as a rage-fueled fist was propelled straight into his chin. He heard the resounding snap as his jawbone was cracked in two, felt the splintering of bones as his teeth shattered, and saw nothing but the sky as he fell to the earth below him.

There stood Naruto, battered, bruised, and bleeding heavily, but still standing. The motionless Naruto lying five feet away disappeared in a puff of smoke, uncovering the very hole he tunneled to escape his opponent.

Turning to look into the crowd, he spotted Hinata, who had shouted the words that made his attack possible. Finding her, he gently smiled and winked in her direction, sending his thanks and noting he could see her blush from twenty stories up. "That's Hinata all right..."

Finally, his gaze fell upon the motionless Hyuuga before him. Naruto's gaze immediately took on a dark look, one that screamed bloody vengeance to all those in the stadium. Normally Naruto was a master of concealing his emotion, but now, he wasn't even trying to contain his anger.

Striding towards Neji, he readied three Shadow Clones, each one taking a place beside him. For a while, they stood silent and motionless, pondering what to do with the fallen prodigy.

Without warning, the first clone struck, darting forward and embedding the bare tip of a Kunai in Neji's knee, just below the kneecap. He could do nothing but wince in pain, but the sound was amplified tenfold by his broken jaw.

The attack complete, the clone vanished in a puff of smoke. Two others stood by, waiting for their orders. It was only then that Naruto finally spoke.

"First to the knee..."

The second clone shot forward, this time aiming high, repeating the process.

"Then the shoulder..."

Another strike, this time to the base of his chin. Neji could barely feel the kunai's tip from the numbness in his mouth

"Then the jaw..."

With all the clones gone, Naruto himself charged, driving a Kunai straight down where Neji's heart was. The fallen Hyuuga winced, waiting for the killing blow.

It never came.

Burying a mere eighth of the blade in his chest, where his heart was, Naruto stood, flinging the weapon into the nearby wall. Only then did he look directly into Neji's eyes.

"And then her heart."

Instantly, Neji knew what he was talking about. "How dare he...!"

"You nearly killed her. Because you thought you were stronger, better, more supreme than Hinata, you tried to kill her."

Naruto turned away, looking up into the stands. "But...you were never stronger. You were never better. Every time she was hit, she got up. When you tore her leg in two, she got up. When you broke her shoulder, she got up. When you..." Naruto choked a bit, but held his resolution and continued. "When you stopped her heart, stopped her life...Only then did she finally lose. And now I see why."

"-eaker..." Was all Neji could get out.

"No." The fire in his blue eyes was back. "Look at you, Neji. One punch, and you're down. Take five more, getting up each time...and then talk to me about strength.

Naruto finally faced Neji fully, raising his fist horizontally from the base of his body. "She is stronger, Neji. Stronger than you, stronger than me. You're just too arrogant to realize it.

"My vow was to defeat you, Neji Hyuuga. For Hinata. And now, my vow is done."

With that, he delivered a quick strike to the base of his neck, and the Hyuuga finally succumbed to darkness.

The stadium was silent. No noise was heard, for even the birds had stopped their song. Naruto standing, bleeding heavily, and Neji, the Hyuuga prodigy, out cold.

Silently, the proctor walked over to Naruto and grasped his wrist, raising his entire arm high into the air.

"WINNER, NARUTO UZUMAKI!"

Immediately the stadium roared in applause. The sound was deafening, cheers being heard from everywhere at once. Naruto could do nothing but use his other arm to wave. "About time they saw me...

"And yet..." His eyes shifted to the one person in the stands that cheered for him all along. The one who truly cared.

Once his hand was released, Naruto immediately leaped up to the stands, easily clearing the twenty-story high jump and landing three seats down from the person he wanted to talk to most. Easily clearing the last of the stands with a second jump, he quickly engulfed the surprised Hyuuga in a crushing hug.

"Hinata...thank you."

She said nothing, still overcome with the shock and embarrassment of the situation. Finally, she tentatively wrapped her arms around his back, stammering out an "O-of course..."

Releasing her from the hug, he looked into her face. Seeing that she was red as a tomato and beginning to sway a bit, he wrapped an arm around her, effectively preventing her from falling backwards.

"Hey." He brushed his fingers against her cheek. "Stay up. You can do it."

Blushing furiously, Hinata couldn't help but smile.

Because she would get up, time and time again. Just for him.

Story End.