"The thing that will determine your opponent…" He turned to Anko, who muttered something into a mike.

A low rumbling could be heard as a screen was lifted to reveal a large, rectangular screen embedded into the wall behind the statue of a hand seal at the front of the room.

"…will be this," finished Hayate. "This electric bulletin board will randomly display the names of two fighters for each match. Without further ado, I will now display the names for the first match…"

------------------------------

4: Eye to Eye! It's Genkai vs Genkai

Symbols flickered to life on the screen, then began to shimmer as the names of various Genin rapidly flashed on to and off the screen. Finally, the machine decided upon two names:

"HYUUGA NEJI
VS
UCHIHA SASUKE"

"The fighters for the first match are Hyuuga Neji and Uchiha Sasuke. Are there any objections?"

Sakura glanced at Sasuke. His obsidian eyes seemed determined to get the match over with, despite the throbbing from Orochimaru's bite. Tch… pigheaded moron. Looks like he's not going to back down anytime soon. Ah well, small loss. She mentally scoffed. Boys always go to the extreme doing such pointless things.

"Alright. Everyone, except the two Genin whose names are on the bulletin board, please leave the arena. The match will begin now," Hayate announced.

The spectating nin migrated to the balconies lining the sides of the grand room, some jumping, some actually taking the stairs like normal people, and some using their special abilities to transport themselves. By the time everyone had left the area and prepared themselves for the fight to come, Neji and Sasuke were in their stances, facing each other, Hayate standing somewhat between the two.

"A Hyuuga, eh?" Kakashi remarked.

"Hyuuga…?" Naruto furrowed his brows, thinking hard. "Hmm… Hyuuga… Hyuuga… I know I've heard that name somewhere…"

Sakura, who stood nearby resisted the urge to introduce her forehead to the railing, and sighed to herself.

"AHA! It's that new clothing store, right?! Hyuuga Boutique! Near Ichiraku's!"

IDIOT! It's the name of the girl who's been crushing on you for literally years! How could you not remember?!

"Ah…yie, Naruto," Kakashi smiled behind his mask, mentally slapping himself at the stupidity of his student. "The Hyuuga Clan is one of Konoha's oldest noble families. They most certainly rival the Uchiha's in political power, physical strength, and money. Hm…" He chuckled, "This battle feels more like between the two family clans than a mere clash between Genin." Byakugan against Sharingan, eh? Ah, gomen, Sasuke, but it doesn't look good for you…

"They say the Sharingan evolved from the Byakugan…" Sakura muttered to herself. …that Hyuuga probably knows many of his clan's numerous powerful abilities as well… Sasuke doesn't stand a chance. He should have backed down when he had the chance to. Hm. The other one looks like an arrogant snob, too. Although I must admit... this could prove to be quite entertaining…

"Genin, get into position. At my command now… Begin!" Hayate stepped back, and the two boys leapt away from one another.

They stayed a good distance from each other, poised for either attack or defence, each observing and analyzing the other's stance, body, and, specifically, eyes. Sasuke had activated his Sharingan—and Neji wasn't far behind, his white irises carefully deducing the whereabouts of the Uchiha's chakra points. From the balconies, though, Hyuuga Hinata gasped as she saw her cousin's stance. Kurenai, her sensei, standing somewhat behind her, started as well. That's…

"Eh? Kakashi-sensei, why does the Hyuuga have such a weird stance?" Naruto asked.

"It's the common starting pose for all Hyuugas when they're preparing to use Juuken."

"…Juu….ken…?"

Sakura groaned. "Naruto, Juuken is a taijutsu style used solely by the members of the Hyuuga clan. It's used to disrupt the chakra flow of the opponent by emitting a sharp burst of chakra when the user hits the opponent. It can also be used against the internal organs of the opponent, making it a very useful technique against physically stronger opponents since it's impossible to train your internal organs. Since the user must be able to see the chakra circulatory system of the opponent, Juuken can only be used by shinobi with the Hyuugas' Kekkei Genkai. What makes this jutsu unique and invaluable is that even the lightest tap could result in severe internal wounds for the victim. That's why it's called Juuken." ((Juuken - Gentle Fist; Kekkei Genkai - Bloodline Limit))

"Oh…"

I don't think any of that penetrated his skull… Sakura sighed. "Whatever. Just watch the match, it's started."

The two Team Seven Genin returned their attention to the match at hand. Sasuke, by now was at the far left side of the arena, and Neji was standing a few metres or so away from him. Sasuke had red, swollen spots along his arm, and the arena's floor had burnt, blackened pockmarks, as well as a moderately-sized crater at the far right side of it.

Kuso… The Uchiha heir cursed. He'd used up a sizeable chunk of his chakra trying to hit Neji with the Uchiha Clan's Katon: Housenka no Jutsu, whilst trying to avoid the dammed tensai's Juuken. Unfortunately, Neji was called the Hyuuga prodigy for a reason… dodging his Juuken was a helluva lot harder than dodging kunai during practices… ((Katon: Housenka no Jutsu - Fire Element: Pheonix Immortal Fire; Kuso - Damn; Tensai - Genius/Prodigy))

"Begin!"

As always, his onyx eyes became red, extra comma-shaped pupils dotting his irises. He could see the other's eyes moving about, probably scrutinizing his every move, every twitch, every blink. Keeping his heart rate steady, Sasuke quickly formed the seals 'Rat', 'Tiger', 'Dog', 'Ox', 'Rabbit', and finally, 'Tiger'. Sasuke shaped his right hand into a cup, the thumb and index finger creating a ring, and brought it up to his lips. He blew three quick, fleeting times, whilst leaping into the air. Three bursts of fire blossomed forth from the Uchiha, each aimed precisely at the Hyuuga.

Amateur. The mental scoff flitted through Neji's mind as he formed a simple replacement jutsu seconds before the flames hit. As he leapt away from his replacement, he dashed underneath Sasuke and leapt up, appearing behind him. Sasuke wasn't distracted—he'd managed to slice Neji's arms and legs with shuriken a kunai whilst the other boy was on his way up. He pulled out another kunai and prepared himself for the beating he knew the Hyuuga could give—he wasn't the best rookie last year for nothing.

Neji gathered small amounts of chakra in his palms and focused his eyes upon the chakra points on Sasuke's arms. Those kunai wouldn't be able to block many of Neji's hits—and the genius knew it. Within seconds of heated hand-to-kunai mêlée, Sasuke retreated, arms looking like they'd been hit with a nasty case of Chicken Pox.

The Hyuuga landed on the ground and took up his stance. The Uchiha landed some distance away from him and prepared another attack. Sasuke attached tags to the handle part of about a dozen or so kunai, and tied thin, strong wire to each of them. Leaping into the air once more, he launched the numerous kunai at the Hyuuga, pulling and tugging here and there at the strings until he saw that the Hyuuga showed no signs of moving. Suppressing chakra in the soles of his feet, Sasuke hopped off a nearby wall, pushing the chakra out from his feet, and propelling himself higher. His target in clear view, he performed the necessary seals ('Snake', 'Tiger', 'Dragon', 'Rabbit', 'Tiger'), and blew a sure stream of fire with the kunai-attached strings in his hand. The jets of flame coursed along the strings towards the kunai aimed at Neji. Before the fire could reach the explosive tags attached the the kunai and before the exploding kunai could hit the tensai, Neji began to spin…

Some of the watching nin in the balconies above winced as the kunai exploded and were flung every which way. Combined, the explosions were blinding. When the smoke cleared and vision returned, Sasuke was at the far right of the arena, the floor was pockmarked, and Neji was standing in a crater.

"Sasuke-teme!" Naruto shouted. His bastard rival better not lose…

Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin…such a long name for such a simple, yet effective move. A creative tensai now, is it? Interesting… Sakura grinned.

Back on the battlefield, Sasuke winced. The wounds the tensai had inflicted upon him hurt like hell.

On the other side of the arena, Neji grinned.

Sasuke swayed and his stance wavered. Neji took the opportunity and leapt forward, hitting Sasuke's chest with his Juuken. With a barely audible thump, and the Uchiha slid to the ground. There is blood on the upturned color of his shirt.

"SASUKE!" Naruto hopped from the balcony to the floor of the arena and ran to his fallen teammate. "Teme! You're not supposed to lose!"

"As the Uchiha is unconscious," Hayate spoke, "I will—"

Naruto shook the Uchiha, "Sasuke-teme, WAKE UP! If you don't get up and stop being lazy, you're gonna lose! SASUKE!"

Sakura sighed. That idiot never learns, does he? Sasuke was gonna lose anyway. She climbed gingerly over the rail lining the balcony and slipped off the platform, letting herself drop onto the arena. "Naruto."

"Sakura?" Naruto looked up.

"The match is over. Let the nurses take care of him."

"B-b-Sakura-chan!" A sliver of Naruto's usual whine crept into his voice.

Sakura glared. "Naruto. You're disrupting the Exams and delaying the start of the next match. Get off the arena."

Naruto sighed and gave in. Sakura led him to the stairs and the two made their way back to the balcony and their team leader.

"Sakura-chan, you and Kakashi-sensei both knew he was going to lose anyay, huh?"

Sakura nodded, almost shamefully. Kakashi replied, "Yeah."

"But how did Neji win?"

It was the Juuken wasn't it? Sakura tried to take the fight apart piece by piece. The explosive tags Sasuke used… it must've been a combination of flash tags and fire tags… that made the smoke and the brilliant flash of light… but the flash couldn't have worked… Neji has Byakugan… Although I doubt even his eyes could have resisted the flash… it's true that they say Hyuugas have near-perfect 360 degree vision… well, short by one degree. But isn't one of Byakugan's features x-ray-like vision…?

"Neji closed his eyes."

"Eh?! Kakashi-sensei, explain!"

Ah… Sakura continued for Kakashi, "The Hyuugan family members have Byakugan, of which x-ray vision is a skill. So Neji simply closed his eyes to protect them against the blast of light, and used the x-ray ability to seek out Sasuke and perform Juuken on him. He must have hit Sasuke in a vital part of his body in order to render him unconscious—probably one of the vital organs, and most likely Sasuke's heart."

"And that second hit after the blast is the second part of the deuce that ended this match," Kakashi finished.

"Sasuke…" Naruto whispered to himself. The Uchiha would be mad as hell when he recovered. Naruto grinned. He could easily imagine Sasuke yelling "I'M AN AVENGER!" and chasing after Neji with a giant club or some other weapon of the sort.

"Naruto!" Kakashi's voice jerked him from his thoughts. "The next match has begun."

And, indeed, in the centre of the arena, stood, well, Sakura!