Naruto was somewhat surprised by the eagerness of Neji as he quickly came of the offensive, but it was not the sort of thing that would catch him with his guard down. He kept his eye on him as he closed the distance between the two, and was sure to dodge the first strike aimed at his shoulder. And the second that was aimed for his kidney. And the third that was aimed for his solar plexus. And the fourth aimed at his other shoulder.

On the sidelines, Suigetsu and Hinata watched in awe as the two seemed to dance with one another and Neji was leading. Ten, fifteen, twenty opening strikes all failed to hit their mark or were directed away from Naruto's body. Hinata was depressed to realize that she would most likely have taken a hit by now, but Suigetsu had a different line of thinking.

"Man, sparring with you for the last few years have given Naruto-san the reflexes of a chunin at least, maybe even low jonin." Suigetsu let out a half cackle. "The new way to teach dodging in the academy. Make your prospective shinobi learn how to avoid getting poked or hit by senbon." This comment also made Suigetsu hope even further that the three of them would be on a team together, because he would be able to practice dodging more extensively with Hinata-sama, a useful task with some of his tougher battles against the Seven Swordsman in the future.

Strike twenty-three was an attack at the head to Naruto, which Neji expected to be avoided by a headshift to the right. So when he bended backwards to avoid the hit, he was a bit surprised. Naruto bended fully into a crab position, before bringing his feet up in a way Neji expertly dodged and performing a double backflip away from Neji.

Dammit that was tough. Naruto thought to himself, taking a moment to catch his breath. I am wasting all this time dodging him instead of attacking. But going against him with pure taijutsu might as well be career suicide, he would still probably destroy me. Guess I need to expand this battle.

"Hey Neji-soonin! I know you can do better than that! I have been sparring Hinata for years, and she doesn't take as long to hit me even once. Can't you do any better than that?" He taunted as he slipped his hand into his kunai pouch.

Neji grunted in frustration, annoyed by what Uzumaki boasted if it was true. How could a weakling such as Hinata hit him while a chunin such as himself failed to land one blow. Not wanting to use it against him because he wasn't worth it, Neji decided it was time to activate his Byakugan and take this battle to the next level. He quickly activated it, which allowed him to see Naruto launch a kunai straight for him. He began to run towards Naruto, easily dodging the kunai, as he went in with a new intensity to defeat his opponent.

"I know he can dodge well, but why isn't Naruto-san spamming ninjutsu and beating Neji to the ground and is letting Neji play his game?" Suigetsu asked aloud as he watched Neji near.

Hinata took a moment to think before answering. "He wants to humiliate Neji-kun, but in a nice way. Naruto-kun has… problems with Neji-kun and wants to humiliate him to attack his arrogance. He wants to defeat him at his own game to prove himself to Neji-kun and show him that he is wrong about many things." Suigetsu listened to the statement and found himself nodding in understanding what Hinata-sama was saying. He could understand the feeling. That was a part of why he wanted to defeat the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.

Neji made the first strike in this second dance, but this time Naruto took a strike of his own that Neji instinctively dodged as something more than a punch. The glint of steel as he stepped back to avoid it made it clear. Two strike later, he saw the same glint in the other hand of Naruto's as he made his attack. It took a moment to process what was going on, but he couldn't help but smile.

"Are you trying to be clever? Palming two kunai when my attention was focused on a third, and trying to attack me in a manner similar to Jyuken. You are very foolish, academy student, very foolish indeed." Neji had to avoid another strike combination, but was surprised to see one of the kunai suddenly drop from Naruto's hand. This split moment gave Naruto the opening he needed as he punched Neji directly in the face with his now free hand.

"Not really, I'm just looking for a way to kick your ass." Naruto looked at Neji who had staggered a few steps back, and decided not to attack. That would most likely leave him open for retaliation, something he did not want to feel. It had happened more than once in his spars with Hinata.

Neji looked up, his eyes a combination of seriousness and a hint of admiration. "You are very brave, Naruto-san, to attack a Hyuga head on and either skilled or very lucky to come out of an exchange on top. I'd wager the later."

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe it is. Maybe it is because I'm just that good. Maybe it is both." He prepared himself for the next dance he figured was coming.

"It does not matter honestly, as your luck has run out. I had not planned on testing this on you, but I will allow you to see the next evolution of Jyuken firsthand." The judge and the three academy students were surprised. What could Neji possibly mean by an evolution of Jyuken? This especially interested Hinata. Neji soon flashed through a few hand signs before ending in the ram formation, his eyes closed. "Jyuken Style," he began as he letting his hands dangle to his sides and he slowly opened his eyes, "Kami's Tenohira." With that statement, electricity began to run down his hands and fingers, none of it seeming to bother him. Without a word, he quickly made a strike in the air which Naruto tried to dodge out of pure instinct but it was no luck. A small bolt of lightning flew from Neji's hand and hit Naruto in his left arm, leading Naruto to grab it out of shock. Flexing his left hand, he looked up in shock.

"This feels exactly like when Hinata-chan hits me with Jyuken." He said his eyes drifting to his Hyuga friend.

Neji smiled. "That is what I call Kami's Tenohira. I have mastered chakra manipulation of my element, electricity, and have found a way to use it to deliver Jyuken blows from up to twenty feet away from my target. It is a weapon those fools in the main branch only ever dreamed of, but I have shaped into reality!" He spoke triumphantly.

Hinata looked on in shock. This ability, this power, it would truly change everything. Elemental Composition in allowing long range delivery of Jyuken blows? The Hyuga clan was already known as the greatest collective taijutsu clan in the Five Nations, but this ability would make their strongest fighters near invincible in combat. There had been the advanced techniques which the Main Branch had formerly kept to themselves for over a century, but this was beyond that. Neji-kun, she thought to herself, how great of a prodigy are you?

Naruto decided that attacking in close was not an option, so he decided to take a ranged approach and throw a few shuriken at him. Neji was not having any of that as he dodged all of the shuriken while moving in on Naruto before continuing his strikes. Stopping about twenty feet away from Naruto, he performed a connected two hand palm thrust towards Naruto. "Arashi Burasuto!" He called as he sent a multitude of arcs towards Naruto who dodged to the side of them. One hit his leg despite his effort, leading to an awkward landing that made him limp.

"Give it up, Uzumaki. You are but a brawler who can't brawl with the likes of me. Take your defeat like a shinobi." Neji mocked him.

Naruto's eye twitched. "You think you know me, don't you Neji-chan?" He insulted the chunin. "You think all I can do is punch and kick and throw steel but I can do much more than that. So you be prepared to take your defeat like a shinobi." He began flashing handsigns before taking aim. "Futon: Kukidan!" He called out sending the flying bullet at Neji who had to dodge to avoid the strike. Before he landed, he saw Naruto trying to close the distance between them to make an attack.

"Foolish aren't we?" He said as he sent out a few arcs to teach Naruto a lesson. But instead of trying to dodge, Naruto lifted his hands up which were covered in chakra. And not normal chakra but elemental chakra. Wind chakra. The arcs dissipated by the force of its natural foe.

"You said you were a lightning type, right? That's how you got your move? Well, I'm a wind type. And if I remember the old perv right, wind beats electricity, doesn't it?" Naruto's grin told him he had the advantage. He closed the distance between Neji and himself aiming punches at the chunin, leaving glancing blows and cuts as Neji wasn't able to dodge far enough away. He noticed the cuts forming on Naruto's hands.

"It looks like your technique won't last you long." He said between dodges. "Your hand will be nothing but cuts in a minute." He decided to counter strike with normal Jyuken.

Naruto dropped the wind chakra from his hands and began to dodge. "Perhaps." He admitted, as he attempted to avoid the punishing blows only made tougher by his slight pain in his leg. "But then again, it will only take a minute to kick your ass." With that comment, he suddenly attempted to drop kick Neji in mid air, forcing him to fall back. Naruto landed on one hand and sprang backwards. In mid air he began flashing through a signal sequence that looked familiar to Neji but was a bit longer then last time. "Futon: Kikudan Danmaku" With that, Neji knew he had to run as a chain of six vicious air bullets chased him down, the final managing to be a direct hit as Naruto had accurately predicted where Neji would land after he dodged the fifth. Neji tumbled onto the ground, momentarily stunned by the pain. However, he didn't want the instructor to think the match was over so he stood up.

Neji coughed and was thankful that no blood appeared. "Uzumaki, it looks like you will become a Genin. Getting a hit like that on me, even if it was luck, will ensure your passing. So now that we don't have to worry about that, how about we kick it up a notch?"

Naruto couldn't help but give a gleeful grin. "Now you are talking my language!"

Hinata couldn't help but look at Suigetsu. "You don't think one of them will get seriously hurt, do you?"

Suigetsu let out a sigh. "Well it depends."

"On what?" Hinata was hesitant to ask.

"If Neji has the ability to turn into water when hit." Suigetsu stated, leading Hinata to worry about her cousin. But then again, she didn't know the extent of her cousins abilities. This match was putting her on edge. On the flip side, this match had Suigetsu's blood pumping. This was a true fight between shinobi, and it made him wish he had to qualify for genin in a match.

The two in the ring took a moment to stare each other down, before Neji closed the distance between them. Deciding to mix it up, he cast the only earth jutsu that he knew. "Doton: Sekichu." With that, a handful of pillars erupted from the ground right at Neji's feet. However it did not impede his progress as he managed to stay on balance of the pillars that had lifted him into the air and he jumped from one to the next, eventually leaping into the air aiming towards Naruto. Instead of any jumping out of the way, Naruto decided to lay in wait. Everyone was confused for a moment, but Neji delivered the attack anyway. However, just as he was a few feet away from Naruto, he shot into the air on a pillar that appeared beneath him. The blow Neji had prepared to deliver ended up striking the pillar and managed to destroy it at its base, but it allowed for Naruto to rocket into the air and land on one of the stone pillars Neji had used to attack. Quickly turning around, Naruto smirked as he began running down the pillar, his hands slowly becoming more and more infused with Wind Chakra. It had been an idea he had since he started learning how to manipulate wind chakra, and on how the potency of wind chakra is based, in part, to its speed. With that in mind, he had tried a few times in practice a technique that worked, but it was a real double-edged sword. He hoped it wouldn't screw him over this time. He returned to a horizontal plane as he charged Neji, who was trying to determine what Naruto was going to do with the wind. He suddenly stopped, but not before letting his arms swing forward until the fingertips touched. At that moment, three, for a lack of a better word, beams of wind chakra shot out of hand. The first two were more wide arcs that were aimed at the direction there arms were stinging towards. However, the third beam was much more narrow and directed directly in front of where they met, which was aimed at Neji. "Futon: Kaze No Yari!" Naruto called out as the energy left his body.

Neji couldn't help but be impressed. This was going to hurt, unless he did something quick. He couldn't dodge by going left or right, or he would be hit by the secondary beams. It would hurt less, but it would hurt. He didn't know a technique to drop below ground level, since Kakashi-sensei had never taught him that. So the only way to deflect that attack was to block. And he only had one move that could do so, one move he was hesitant to show he could use, despite the fact the rules against him learning it had been lifted.

But, alas, he wasn't going to let the Hokage's dog beat him.

"Kaiten!" He announced as he began to spin rapidly with his arms extending out, creating a giant dome of protective chakra that was just able to prevent the spear from penetrating. Neji was just lucky the excess chakra of the attack went into trapping the opponent, leaving the spear itself to be a B-level attack. Had it been stronger, it would have torn through the still stabilizing Kaiten. But then again, had he done the Kaiten earlier, he would have had no fears of such an event occurring. He knew he had to keep it on standby for however long this bout would be. He quickly put that in the back of his mind as he charged to attack. The move had clearly wiped out some portion of Naruto's chakra, and he was foolishly taking a breather within striking distance of Neji.

Before Naruto could realize it, he was hit twice in his left side, one in his right arm. Before he could move, he was tapped in his left thigh and three times near his left elbow. As he moved out of the area, his collarbone was hit once and his right arm again was struck, this time near the wrist. In a manner of a few seconds, Neji had turned the fight around with 9 small strikes, none of which would leave a bruise by themselves but, with chakra, had reduced Naruto's mobility by a third and the amount of chakra he could pull out to a quarter of his maximum potential. Which, Neji was forced to admit, more than he could use on his best day. He would have to speak to Kakashi-sensei about how to improve his chakra reserves later today. But hopefully it would be enough.

"Face it Uzumaki, you have barely been hanging on in this match, and now I have cut your abilities in half, at least. Why don't you take your genin acceptance and go home."

Uzumaki looked down for a second, as if to contemplate this option. If he fought, this would end poorly for him in this state. His elemental manipulation, average at best, was now shot to all hell. He wouldn't be able to dodge Jyuken very efficiently. He had already gotten the moral victory. What else did he have to prove?

So of course, he let out a breath and began to be encircled by faint amounts of red chakra, which confused Neji. The fact that this chakra was undoing the gains he had made during the match only made him even more confused, and suddenly angry.

Flashback:

Naruto grunted in frustration. He and Hinata had just sparred, and she kicked his ass again. It had been a year since they first started sparring, you think he would be able to avoid the attacks. It was worse this time, because his perverted sensei was there. He was only standing around mocking him instead of teaching him how to get better. He couldn't wait for the day he was stronger than the old man so he could knock him out and throw him into the hot springs. Ero-sannin would get his comeuppance then.

This same Ero-sannin was watching his student and trying to figure out how to best approach improving his taijutsu, which was garbage for the most part. Defensively he was actually a bit better than average, but all in all was pitiful. He watched as the Hokage heiress went to open the tenketsu she had closed, but he had decided to stop her.

"Hold it there, Hyuga-chan. I want Mister Hokage to fix it himself. He won't always have you holding his hand.

"B-but Jiraiya-sensei, only a Hy- Hyuga can open-" Hinata stuttered slightly in a halted explanation.

Jiraiya shook his head. "No. I already taught him how to access the other chakra, even if it is a small bit. He should be able to use that to open up those tenketsu. Up to the challenge, gaki?"

Naruto replied with a determined look. "I do this, and you better teach me that elemental manipulation crap you were talking about yesterday. It sounds awesome!"

Jiraiya raised his eyebrows, he didn't think the kid had been listening. That was jounin level stuff, but it wasn't like the kid would actually do it on his first try, right?"

Flashback Ends

Naruto had managed to do it on the first try, and whenever he needed to since then. At his beck and call was a sliver of chakra capable of undoing any damage a Hyuga or many other shinobi could do to him. It was an awesome power, but it came at an awesome cost.

Fully healed, Naruto just smirked. "Think I haven't figured out a way to heal myself after all the times Hinata has closed them? Well, you would be wrong soonin."

Neji simply grunted not believing it but accepting it. "Fine, I will just keep closing them until you can't heal yourself anymore!" He went on the offensive, but Naruto was not going to go through that again.

Displaying the last of his wind techniques, he flashed through a few hand signs and brought his hands to his mouth, reshaping the bird sign to have a hole in the middle. Then he began to blow, and Neji was forced to halt. Four small tornadoes of some power appeared in front of Naruto, creating a mighty barrier between the two. "Futon: Torunedo Shoheki" He called out from behind the wall. This move only got Neji even more frustrated. He had no clue what Naruto was doing, and his defense would not allow him to attack with Kami's Tenohira. He needed a new plan quick.

That time, however, was not afforded to him because of the shuriken that were randomly flying out of the tornado. Meant to be a stall tactic, it ended up being fairly dangerous. Suigetsu took one to the head, but he will live. It managed to skip between the feet of the instructor, and bounce into the rear of Shikamaru, who leapt up with a screech. It accidentally helped one stuggling genin candidate as it forced his chunin to fall back, allowing him to think. The others were all aimed at Neji, who tried to formulate a plot as he dodged the occasional missile that came towards him. He had to close the distance between him and Naruto, and go through the barriers. He wanted to avoid getting hurt, but it had to be done.

Well, it did have to be done, until Neji caught sight of Naruto riding one of the tornadoes, getting more intense as he looped around it, a ball of chakra forming in his hand, as if he was on some carnival ride to hell. Neji realized the power held within that ball of chakra, which far outpaced the Kaze Spear, and knew he only had one course of action. At that moment, Naruto came around in sight and leapt from the tornado, his clothes ripped but a determined look on his face. Neji started spinning.

"RASENGAN!"

"KAITEN!"

Suigetsu and Hinata looked on in an odd mix of fascination and horror as these two ultimate technique meted and meshed, both at full intensity. For a few breathless seconds, the two chakras collided. Then, with a force of an explosion tag, the two chakra rebounded off of each other, sending their users flying in different directions. Both took a bounce or two, but managed to stop themselves from becoming basketballs. Neji was standing, haggardly, but his eyes aimed at Naruto. Naruto was on one knee, the force of the blast much harder on him. His hair hung over his face as he tried to catch his breath. Before he could look up at Neji, a voice caught his attention from the sidelines.

"This match is over."

…

"The boy may have passed this year, but I want you to be the sensei of the Ino-shika-Cho team, Gai-san." Hiashi tried to reason with the man.

Gai shook his head. "I must refuse that request, Hokage-sama. When Rock Lee failed last year, it nearly broke him. It was only with my help and tutelage that he was able to embrace the Power of Youth and succeed this year. I believe that, if you let me continue training him, he will become a truly proud shinobi of Konoha. However, if you force him upon someone else, I believe his passion of youth will dwindle and he will only remain a genin for the rest of his life, much like my father did."

Hiashi now understood where Gai was coming from. And for the life of him, he could not find a fault in his argument. "Alright then, Gai-san, you have convinced me. You and Lee-san will fill the roles left vacant in Team Nine after their tragic ordeals. Make sure to take good care of your other students, Gai, both Tenten and Yakumo Kurama."

Gai nodded. "Of course, Hokage-sama. I will do my best."

Hiashi let out a sigh. He had planned for Shizune to take over team, but now it appeared like he would have her in charge of the Ino-Shika-Cho kids. Their teamwork was obvious enough, and her skills would no doubt help the kunoichi and perhaps the Nara as well. Swapping the original addition of Team 9 to Rock Lee's Team 14 was no big ordeal. Which left Team 7 and Team 8. He knew Kurenai really wanted Hinata on her team, but she worked too well with Naruto and Suigetsu to let that pass up. And Asuma was a much better sensei to teach them as well. He hoped her replacement, Taiga Suzuki, the daughter of his secretary, would be suitable. She had some skill with ninjutsu and tracking according to reports, both areas that Team 8 needed and wanted.

His eyes drifted to the scroll he had received a mere hour beforehand. It was the agreement he had been hoping to acquire, but also a reminder that a formal alliance needed to be established in person. He could not leave as he was still cleaning up the mess the Uchiha had left, However, there was a certain team that would do the job wonderfully. While skipping protocol and allowing them to take a B-Rank immediately might reek of favoritism, it would have to be done. Team 7's first mission would be establishing formal diplomatic relations with the new leadership in Kirigakure.

…..

So, this is an update. I have remembered how to do them, so expect more. This was the big Neji vs Naruto battle, and I had a few moves up my sleeve. If you are wondering about the Kami's Tenohira (God's Palm) technique, it was inspired by Life Starts At Sixteen by AnotherReader, where he had a lightning jutsu for Sasuke similar to sith lightning. However, if you noticed, there was a cost for him learning this technique which should be obvious.

I am aware my translations for jutsu's may suck as I am turning them into Japenglish, but I cast my grave when I put the jutsu in Japanese form in the first place. I may go back and turn them all English, but that day is not today.

I also explained what happened to Team 9 with Neji becoming a genin early and all, so I hope you are happy with that. And finally, I hope you like my set up for the next chapter. It will let me skip the waiting game of whom is on whose team, and skip right to the important stuff. So, I hope you enjoyed, and remember to leave a review. Even if it is to say "This is awesome" or "You look like shit", I always like one.