Chapter 4: The Conviction of Following your Dream

Naruto made his way upstairs as he kept his eye's trained on the fight below. Something felt off, the tension in the room was suffocating.

"Give up Hinata, no matter what you do, no matter how much you try. You can't defy fate. My eye's see everything and you are simply too weak to fight me." Hinata just stood there as more tears slid down her face. She was about to raise her hand when a voice she knew all too well sounded through the room in the form of a loud scoff. Neji Turned to look at the Blond with a glare. "Do you wish to say something."

"Our fates are in our own hands Neji, and Hinata has more strength than you could ever imagine." Naruto spoke in an even tone, he had not intended to speak up but Neji's talk of fate had really rubbed him the wrong way. Whenever he looked at Hinata he saw past the shy exterior and saw the same look that Haku had. A look saying they would sacrifice everything for their loved ones, a look he saw in himself.

"Our fates were decided from the moment we were born." Neji had a very cold look on his face as he was angered by the blonds words.

"If you truly believe that then you're an idiot." Naruto let some of his own anger slip into his tone as the rest of the contestants looked at the exchange with intrigue.

Neji sneered at the blond and turned to Hinata to continue his tirade of insults when he saw the look of determination she now held. "A few words from a fool won't change anything, give up."

Hinata took a breath as she activated her byakugan got into her stance. "I-I won't gi-give up without a-at least trying." Neji looked furious as he ran at Hinata and the two started a fight that was more akin to a dance than anything else.

"Wow! look at how they move, it's incredible." Said Ino

"Yes! That is the Hyuga style taijutsu, it's one of the most dangerous taijutsu styles in the world. They can injure you with a single touch of a finger. The style relies on shutting down the chakra system in the body by closing tenketsu points one can only see with their bloodline." Guy told all the genin nearby when he heard Ino's remark.

"There evenly matched." Sakura said as she looked at the two combatants as they stood still and traded palm strikes and finger jabs. Each blow was being slapped away and countered with a strike from the other.

Naruto let out a small frown. "No." Sakura and Ino turned their heads to him. "Neji has the upper hand, he's managed to land several blows to her arm." Everyone turned back to the fight in time to see Hinata land a blow Neji's shoulder only to make a horrified face.

"I see you finally noticed." Neji grabbed Hinata's arm and rolled up her beige jacket to show her arm littered with red dots where he had struck her. "As I told you, it was your fate to lose." Neji used her distraction and hit her several times all over her body before landing a blow to her chest that launched her across the room. Hinata stood back up on shaky legs and the proctor seeing the fight was over called the match. "Why did you stand back up?" Neji questioned the beaten kunoichi.

"I." Hinata coughed up blood before continuing. "I can't just give up, I know how much you hurt because of the clan elders, just like I do." Neji looked absolutely livid and rushed Hinata everyone looked on with widened eye's. Before anyone could react Naruto channeled chakra all over his body and moved at an incredible speed, he kicked Neji away from Hinata and stood in front of her. Neji slammed his hand on the ground, flipped mid-air and landed on his feet. The two genins dashed at each other but they were restrained by both their respective jonin senseis along with the proctor and the senseis of team 8 and 10.

The other rookies looked stunned at the speed Naruto had moved faster than any of them could see. "When did Naruto get so fast! What's your sensei teaching your team? " Ino looked over at Sakura and she looked just as stunned as everyone any further thoughts were cut short.

"ENOUGH!" The thirds voice boomed across the hall as he unleashed a massive amount of killing intent that brought most of the genin to their knees. As this was happening the medical team had taken Hinata away. "This is your first and ONLY warning! Do not fight in here unsupervised or you'll both be disqualified! That goes for everyone else too." Both Naruto and Neji nodded but the blond had not stopped glaring at the older Hyuga. Soon the two were brought back upstairs but kept separated with teams 8 and 10 between them. The proctor waited for everyone to calm down and called the next match.

"Would Gaara and Rock Lee please come down." Lee looked who had been quiet since his teammate had been called exploded in a loud cheer.

"Yes! I'll finally show everyone my flames of youth!" Lee somersaulted over the rail as Gaara appeared in a body flicker of sand.

"GO LEE! Show everyone the fruits of your hard work!" Guy's voice was even louder than Lee's.

Gaara looked on emotionlessly as his opponent stood at the ready with pure determination shining in his eyes.

"If both fighters are ready, Begin!" Gaara looked on with his face as calm as ever as his opponent sprinted at him and tried to punch him only for the lid on the gourd on Gaara's back to shoot off as sand came out and blocked the green-clad genin. Lee quickly backed up circled around him before trying again as he jumped in the air and did a spin kick.

"Leaf Hurricane!" The kick was blocked once again as the sand jumped up by itself to protect Gaara and Lee was forced back. Lee continued to try different angles but nothing was working, his every attempt being stopped by the sand. Gaara looked up for the first time in the match and the sand shot up and slammed into Lee. The green-clad ninja crossed his arms as the sand pushed him away from Gaara and towards the wall. Lee quickly regained his footing as he rushed Gaara again and tried a variety of different combination moves but it was all futile.

"Why doesn't Lee try some ninjutsu or genjutsu?" Sakura's inquiry was answered by Guy.

"That's because he can't. Lee can only use taijutsu." Sakura looked perplexed.

"You see Lee was born with chakra coils too small to properly channel chakra for anything other than taijutsu. Lee is not talented at all, but it was through his pure work ethic that he has reached this level! Lee's dream is to become a great ninja despite his inability to use gen or ninjutsu!" Sakura was about to question Guy once more but was stopped by the man's shout. "Take them off Lee! You have my permission!" Guy posed with teeth sparkling as he gave Lee a thumbs up.

Lee who was dodging sand let loose a million-watt smile as he jumped from the floor to the top of the statue. "Are you sure Guy-sensei!?"

"Yes! Go, it's time to show your blazing flames of youth!"

"Of course Guy-sensei!." Lee pulled up his leg warmers to show ankle weights. Lee unstrapped the weights and held them at his sides.

"Please, as if some measly weights will do anything against Gaara." Naruto heard the Sand kunoichi speak to her makeup wearing teammate. who nodded along. His attention was brought back to his own team sensei.

"A bit antiquated don't you think Guy." Kakashi questioned Guy who said nothing, his sole focus on his student down below. Lee let go of the weights and as they hit the ground they made huge impact craters. All around yells of disbelief rang out. Naruto's own eyes widened with awe and respect as he watched Lee blur away.

'He's so fast! I can barely see him moving down there!' Thought Naruto.

Lee appeared beside Gaara and aimed a punch his face. The sand reacted just in time but Gaara himself didn't seem to notice Lee at all. Lee then circled around and delivered a kick to Gaara's mid-section and once again the sand just barely made it. Lee stepped back and jumped before delivering a double axe kick. The first was met with Gaara's sand but the second one broke through and Gaara's head snapped down from the force of the kick. Lee not wasting the opportunity landed on his feet before launching a punch to Gaara's face that sent him flying. Naruto heard the blond from the sand team yell in shock. "HE HIT GAARA!" He also noticed that her teammate also looked just as shocked.

"GO LEE!" Guy's cheering was easily the loudest anyone had cheered during the preliminaries.

Gaara stood back up his face had cracks running all over where Lee had hit. Pieces of his face fell to the ground and it was shown that he was wearing sand armor. Gaara's face contorted into an absolutely bloodthirsty grin as his killing intent skyrocketed. "YES! You are worthy. By Killing you I shall prove my EXISTENCE!" Gaara raised his hands and the sand followed his movement, the sand started moving faster than any previous time it had moved before.

Naruto narrowed his eyes as Lee jumped back to avoid the sand. 'What a troublesome opponent.' Lee continued dodging before blurring forward and once again punching his way through Gaara's automatic defense, Lee then dropped low and kicked Gaara up with all his might and Gaara flew up. Lee followed Gaara and delivered more and more kicks pushing him higher and higher, Naruto saw Lee wince and as he closed his eyes he noticed Gaara had taken the opening to substitute himself with a sand clone. 'that's not good.' Naruto thought grimly. As Lee reached his apex he wrapped his bandages around the clone and started spinning them as they started falling head first.

"Primary Lotus!" Lee jumped away just before they hit the ground and the sand lone cratered the ground.

"Yes! He got him!" Sakura cheered and most of the genin and Guy celebrated.

"No, he didn't" Sakura looked at Naruto in disbelieve as Guy took a closer look to the combatants as his face fell.

"Yes he did!" screamed Sakura.

"Naruto's right Sakura, Gaara substituted himself when Lee closed his eyes because of the pain. I'm surprised you caught that Naruto." Naruto ignored Kakashi's backhanded compliment as he never looked away from the fight below. Lee looked worn out and he had a face of grim realization as he saw his Gaara break apart into sand. He was suddenly being thrown around by Gaara's sand. He was barely able to block and he withstood the punishment as best as possible. It was 5 minutes of torture as Lee took hit after hit before Lee started dodging again.

Naruto heard Kakashi speak to Guy in a worried tone. "Guy, you didn't." He turned to look at the jonin and saw Guy had a face of determination.

"I did."

"How many gates can he open Guy?" Questioned Kakashi.

"Lee can open 5 gates." Kakashi's eye widened.

"Guy how could you teach that technique to a genin." Naruto was very annoyed at Kakashi. He understood perfectly why Guy taught Lee. It was to help him achieve his dream, Naruto himself never received any acknowledgment or support for his dream. The only two people who had never made fun of him were Iruka-sensei and old man Hokage himself, He wanted to prove them right.

"It was completely irresponsible of you to-" Naruto had finally had enough.

"Shut your mouth Kakashi!" Jonin and genin alike looked at the blond in shock. "Who the hell do you think you are blaming Guy for helping his student try and reach his dream! That's what a good sensei is supposed to do." Naruto was glaring at his team sensei. Kakashi looked flabbergasted at his blond student's sudden outburst and before he could respond everyone's attention was brought back to the fight.

"Gate of Life: Open!" Lee's body exploded in chakra as his skin turned a pinkish hue and his hair started to raise.

"Gate of Pain: Open!" Lee moved faster than Naruto could follow and Gaara was sent flying up onto the air his sand unable to keep up as Lee kept batting Gaara around the room.

"This is crazy! I can't even see them move!" Ino's shout was met with dumbfounded stares of her fellow rookies who couldn't follow the action.

Lee kicked Gaara high into the air and wrapped his bandages around his waist. As he hits him down Lee screams again. "Gate of Limit: Open" Lee jerked his hand up and Gaara was pulled up to Lee who had his hand cocked back. "This is it! HIDDEN LOTUS!" Lee hit Gaara so hard it caused a giant shockwave and Gaara's body slammed so hard into the ground it left a giant crater and a dust cloud formed on the floor below. Guy let out a yell as he watched his student hit the ground his body looking normal after the attack. The smoke around Gaara dissipated and a very injured Gaara lifted his hand as the sand followed his movement.

"No way! How is he still up after THAT!" Sakura was not the only one to yell in shock. Naruto let out a frustrated sigh at the sight of Gaara as Kakashi spoke up. "Gaara shifted the gourd on his back into sand before he hit the ground. No one said anything after that.

'I barely saw it when it happened. Gaara's monstrously strong.' Thought Naruto

Gaara watched his opponent stand on shaky legs as his sand wrapped around his right arm and leg. "Mother wants your blood." Gaara clenched his fist and crunching could be heard as Lee's appendages exploded in a shower of blood, he fell to the ground unconscious. The proctor was about to declare Gaara the winner when he sent another wave of sand at Lee, Naruto was about to jump down himself only for it to be batted away by Guy. Hayate seeing the interference by a jonin quickly called the match for Gaara.

"Why did you save him! He lost, he no longer has any worth!" Guy looked at the deranged looking Sand ninja.

"I saved him because he's my precious student." Guy turned to take Lee to the infirmary only to see him already standing up. "Lee, it's ok I-" Guy started crying when he noticed Lee was unconscious. He quickly got him to lay down as the medics took him and Gaara away to treat their wounds.

"Would Choji Akimichi and Dosu Kinuta Please make their way down." The Proctor announces.

"GO Choji, if you win we'll have two members of team 10 in the finals." Ino's remark brought the attention of Naruto.

'I guess Shikamaru fought while I was talking to the old man.' Naruto's musing was cut short by the sound of the proctor starting the match.

"You can't win, just give up." The one-eyed sound ninja made no move to attack Choji who just glared back.

"I have to win! Sensei will take us to an all you can eat buffet if I do." Choji had fire in his eyes as he spoke.

"Feh, no matter then." Dosu charged Choji and hit him with his gauntlet, Choji who had dodged the punch fell over and vomited.

"What? I dodged that attack." Choji's voice was full of confusion.

"My gauntlet emits a silent sound wave that attacks the human ear."

Choji grinned. "Then let's see you hit me now! Expansion Jutsu!" Choji's stomach inflated and he hid his arms, legs, and head in his torso. Choji stated to spin in place as he shot off towards Dosu. The sound ninja dodged easily to the right as Choji slammed into the wall. Dosu rushed him and slammed his fist into him letting his melody arm do its work. Seconds later Choji was back to normal and the Proctor called the match. Gaara had made his way back and was covered in bandages.

"Would each match winner please make their way down." The genins made their way and lined up in front of the proctor. Hayate stepped back as the third moved to speak to the genin.

"Congratulations for making it to the finals, as you know there are three parts to the chuunin exams and the finals will be a series of one on one fights tournaments style." This caused Temari to speak up.

"Are you saying only one person gets to be promoted?" The third inhaled a deep breath from his pipe.

"No you could win every fight and not be promoted at the same time you could lose in the first match and be promoted. There will be a panel of judges that will be evaluating you during the matches. The farther you make it the better chance you have of impressing the judges and getting promoted." The Third took a pause before continuing. "You will now draw lots to determine who fights who." The third motioned to a box and one by one they pulled lots until everyone had one. "Please show me your numbers. Naruto looked at his number, he had 6. He looked at the others. Neji had 7, Gaara had 5, Shino had 2, Kankuro had 4, Shikamaru had 3, Dosu had 1, and Temari had 8. That meant Sasuke would have number 9 as he had never come back when he had left with Kakashi. 'Looks like sensei already left' Thought Naruto as he saw Kakashi was no longer in the room.

"The matches will be Dosu VS Shino, Shikamaru VS Kankuro, Gaara VS Naruto, Neji VS Temari. The winner of the final fight will go against Sasuke to see who moves on to the next round." The thirds statement made both Temari and Neji look angry as they had to potentially fight one more opponent to reach the first round. "You have a month to train do not waste the opportunity." The Third left and soon the ANBU led them all out of the forest and in two hours everyone made it out and went their own way. Ino ran towards Naruto who was already leaving.

"Hey, Naruto! Don't you remember, you promised to tell me what happened." Naruto cursed inwardly as he was already tired and just wanted to go home and rest.

"Fine." Ino looked happy. "But not here." Ino's faced dropped.

"If not here than where?" Her voice was irritated.

"My house." Ino's face was red, though Naruto couldn't tell if it was because of anger or embarrassment.

"There is no way I'm going to your house!" Naruto looked calmly at Ino.

"Then I guess you don't want to know what happened." Ino bit her lip and sighed.

"Fine, but no funny business Naruto!" Naruto rolled his eyes and made his way to his favorite food stand with Ino on his heels. Ino noticed how some of the villagers would glare at Naruto behind his back. "Wait, what are we doing here?''

"I haven't eaten a decent meal in a week and I'm taking some home. I don't feel like cooking tonight." Naruto's response completely floored Ino.

"You can cook?" Naruto stopped and looked at his fellow blond.

"Ino, I've been living by myself since I was six. Of course I know how to cook." Ino stopped walking for a second before following the other blond. "Do you want something Ino?" Ino snapped out of her thoughts and she noticed they had made it to their destination. Ino stopped her instant refusal, she like Naruto hadn't eaten in a week so she said yes before remembering she didn't have any money. Naruto just shook his head. "Don't worry about it I got it covered. I'll be back soon." Naruto walked into the stand and soon came out with two containers. It took another 20 minutes of walking before making it to Naruto's apartment. Ino noticed he lived in one of the more run-down parts of town. "Well, here we are." Naruto said as he opened the door. Ino looked around and saw a kitchen living room combo and two doors ones she was assuming was to the bathroom and his bedroom. The apartment was sparsely decorated with a single worn coach in front of an older TV. There was a table with two chairs in the kitchen area.

"You only have two chairs?" Ino's question had come out before she could stop herself. Naruto had set the containers down on the table as he pulled out bowls and chopsticks.

"I don't really need more than that. Your actually the first person to come in here who isn't old man Hokage." Ino always forgot the close relation her fellow blond had with their Hokage. Ino sat in one of the chairs and they ate dinner in silence when they were done Ino finally asked Naruto what happened. The whiskered blond took a deep breath before answering.

"We were attacked by Orochimaru." Ino let out a gasp. "He blew me away with a massive wind jutsu and I had to deal with a snake summon before I could make my way back to help the others. He just toyed with us until he placed a seal on me that messed with my chakra. Then he brought out this weird sword and was about to hit Sasuke with it when he substituted with me." Ino spoke out in defense of the Uchiha.

"There's no way Sasuke would do that!"

"Why would I lie Ino." Naruto's even tone caught her flat footed and she involuntarily glanced at his chest where she knew his scar lay. Ino sat quietly unable to comprehend how someone could use a comrade like that.

"He bit Sasuke and left, I'm pretty sure those weird markings are his doing. He has a mark where he bit him. Then Sakura abandoned me in the forest, where I bleed out for a while until I managed to close the wound." Both blonds sat in the kitchen the street lights outside already on as the sun had gone out. "C'mon Ino, I'll walk you home it's already late." Ino looked up and simply nodded.

"Wait, what about the seal on your stomach? Did you get it removed?" Said Ino.

"I got the seal he placed on me removed. The third took care of it when I went to go get treated after my match" The two blonds left and Ino once again noticed some people who glared at her fellow blond, they all looked away when Naruto glared back.

"Why do they glare at you, did you pull a prank on all of them?" Naruto looked at Ino.

"I might tell you some other day, I've reached my limit for sharing for a day." Soon the two blonds reached the Yamanaka Flower shop as it acted as the front entrance to their clan compound.

"I'll see you around Ino." Naruto turned and walked back to his home but he heard Ino mutter.

"Thanks for walking me home Naruto." The blond quickly took to the roofs and made his way home where he showered and got in bed.

'I need to talk to Kakashi to see if he's actually going to train me.' Naruto let out a small snort. 'Probably not, I need to go to the old man and see if he has anything that could help with my training. I need to work on my jutsu arsenal and my fighting style the shadow clones will help speed things up. I need to really step up my training to deal with Gaara.' He then put a hand on his stomach. 'I need to get stronger.' With that final thought, Naruto went to sleep.