In the village of Konahamaru, Naruto and Neji were practicing their chakra control so they can race each other atop trees, and around the village, to see who was the fastest. Now they are meditating to gain full power over their chakra.
5 minutes later…
"Alright. I think I'm ready." said Neji as he started to stand up.
"Alright! Let's start this race so you can watch me as I beat you! BELIEVE IT!"
"Don't get so cocky Naruto, I have a higher chance of winning then you will ever have"
"Yea… keep saying that, even though I beat you in the Chunin exams! So stop saying you're gonna win, when I AM!"
Neji slapped his head to his face and said "oh brother…" After this the conversation ended and they both got into sprinting position.
While they were in sprinting position, Neji turned on his Byakugan to full power, Naruto on the other hand knew he had a slim chance of winning, so he is currently devising a short and effective plan. Naruto then had a big smile grow over his whole face, while Neji just smirked.
"Ready…" Neji.
"Set…" Naruto.
"GO!" Both.
They both leapt through the air like a bunch of hyperactive squirrels, desperately trying to get to the branch so they can boost themselves up for a head start. Neji gets there first and summons all of his chakra to his feet and pounced three times farther than Naruto did. Naruto however, had to stop short so he wouldn't ram into Neji's back and fall down to the forest floor. Naruto grunts angrily as he pounced along on the tree tops. He finally spots Neji.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" screams Naruto as he jumps up and halts at the next branch.
On that branch, a giant cloud of smoke appears and another Naruto pops out of nowhere. They both grab hands, and the clone Naruto swings the real one around. After a few more circles, the clone Naruto lets go of the real Naruto and Naruto soars through the air past Neji. Now Neji was really angry, so he sped after Naruto even faster.
"Hah! You'll never catch me now!" screeched Naruto enthusiastically. "I'm gonna be the champ! HEE HEE"
Neji, out of nowhere, comes up beside him and hits him in the stomach. "Gentle Fist!" says Neji. After that happened, Naruto flew back ten feet and started plummeting into the ground. Aw Man! Thought Naruto as he hit a tree hard in the back.
"Okay, you want to play like that, I guess I'll play too…" mumbled Naruto under his breath "Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Three clones then appeared and sped on to Neji. Their plan was to all go up at Neji all at once and try to fool Neji's Byakugan, while the real Naruto was to speed ahead of the occupied Neji. It was the perfect plan to win this race, and very simple to make, since he used something similar on Iruka to escape getting caught (since he was playing hooky). The three clones were now in action as they closed in on Neji.
"Hay! White eyes! Over here Hahahaha!" laughed the clone Naruto.
"NARUTO! I'M GOING TO RIP YOU TO PIECES!" screamed Neji with fury as he dashed over to Naruto. "Gentle Fist" he hit the clone square in the heart and the clone poofed into white smoke. "What? A clone! But it looked exactly like a real human body, with the chakra flow and everything!"
"Hey punk, take some of this!" said another clone Naruto as it flew at Neji with a fist.
Neji had already seen him coming, so he smacked the clone's hand downward and strikes him across the face with a big fist. The clone flies backwards and falls to the forest floor, and at this time, Neji finally noticed he was not moving. He looked down at his feet to see Naruto's grimy hands clutching his ankle with tremendous force. The reason why he didn't see him was left unanswered.
"What the heck! Wait what! How did you! Grrrrr…" said Neji as he launches his hands towards the grimy hands "Gentle Fist!"
That type of power launched at hands would have probably took off the clones fingers, if it didn't disappear first. More questions filled his mind and then he looked up to see that Naruto is thirty meters ahead of him. Neji finally realized it was a trick, only plans to stall him for long enough to get a head start.
"I didn't think it was going to be this easy! But now I see that you got to cocky!" Naruto screamed to Neji.
"Is that so?"
Naruto looked up ahead to see… Neji! But how? He was right back there? I could have sworn… But, it seems that Naruto has been tricked. Neji must have cloned himself when he wasn't looking and snuck through Naruto's attack. It was obvious, since clones only have a ¼ of the regular power of the host, which was why Naruto's clone was able to grab onto Neji's ankle.
"So, since I won the race, you have to treat me to as much ramen as I want." said Neji with triumph.
"AW MAN!" whined Naruto "This is so not cool!"
After a while, both of them just smiled as they were walking down the roads of Konahamaru, to get to the great Noodle Bar!
And all this time, Kabuto was progressing across the continent to get to the Huga house…
