Welcome back to the next chapter of Revived at Birth, New and Improved! Now, I apologize for the MAJOR delay in this but when I was first done with this chapter, the SD card it was saved into somehow jumped off from inside my phone and completely vanished off of the face of the Earth... surprising, since it was in MY ROOM and this room is rather small. Not many places it could hide. Anyways, I had to re-do it and it was annoying for me so it took me a while. Anyways, here's some review answers!

kenking: If you're talking about Sasuke, I agree. Too many of those around.

Matalvis: The only difference is that Sakura is usually always protected by Naruto, Sasuke, or worse yet for snakey, both. And he doesn't know about her Sharingan... yet anyways.

Shadow Phoenix 16: Don't remember that movie much, so I apologize if it's a ripoff! ^.^;

FFDeglore: Haha, calm down buddy, I'll pick it up!

bcsclaymore: While most genjutsu do that, there are some that instead change the area around the user, or are simply in the user or the victim's mind, like Itachi's Tsukuyomi. If it's a genjutsu that alters the victim's chakra, then no, it won't work on him, since he has no chakra and Kurama's chakra is too dense for a normal human to alter. If it's a genjutsu done on his surroundings, however, it's unlikely he would be able to break it, although Kurama would be able to break it for him by shooting his own chakra into Naruto.

Ryun the Green Dragon: 1) I will when the Finals come around. 2)Yes, yes they will have. 3)Yeah, he will. Never been a big fan of Sasuke the Asshole Lord. 4) Read this chapter to find out!

And now, on to the chapter!

Konohagakure, tower in the middle of the Forest of Death, Preliminaries Arena...

Naruto looked around at the assembled Genin. With the hood of his jacket up, he noted that all of the Konoha teams had passed, including Kabuto's team. There was also a team from Otogakure and the Suna team. Naruto looked back at the front and made some small talk with his teammates.

During the entire stay at the tower, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke had gone back to the Namikaze Estate. They then trained more and more during the remaining four days there. Naruto made quite a headway in Fuinjutsu when he found out that he could use Kurama's chakra to create chakra seals, and since Kurama's chakra was a dense, visible chakra, he could basically draw it on whatever surface he wanted, even in mid-air.

Sasuke, meanwhile, trained on using his Swift Style bloodline. Now he could precisely move wherever he'd like with about three-quarters of the speed of the Flying Raijin Jutsu. He also worked on going from the Sharingan to the Eternal Mangekyo and then to the Rinnegan with the shortest time possible. Now he could change between them almost instantaneously. Adding to that, he was able to use both Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu with deadly results, as well as unlocking the Deva Path's gravity abilities. The Susano'o however was still out of his reach, as were the other five paths.

Sakura had also developed rather well. She had matured her Sharingan and was working on the Mangekyo. Her ability with the Corrosion Style kekkei genkai had increased so much that she was able to control the lava she used with maximum efficiency, although, due to her still small reserves, she couldn't use it for long. She had also worked on her strength, using her inhuman control to emulate Senju Tsunade, the Sannin and Slug Princess, in using chakra bursts to increase her strength massively.

All in all, they were more than ready for the exams. Naruto looked back to the front of the room, where a statue of two hands on the Ram hand seal was, just in time to notice the Hokage and a couple of Chunnin and Jounin appear, including the Jounin sensei for each team. He caught Kakashi's eye and gave him a thumbs up, to which Kakashi responded with an eye smile. Looking at the rest, he saw the sensei of the Suna team and the Oto team. The Sunagakure Jounin sensei was a simple man with a veil covering the left side of his face. The Otogakure team's sensei, though, was staring at him at his team with what seemed to be a conflicted aura. He was getting a weird vibe from him.

The Hokage then started speaking. "Congratulations on passing the second part of the Chunnin Exams. Due to the large number of participants that passed, however, we must have a preliminary round to cut the number down. This board behind me... *cue board coming out* ... will show who will be fighting who. The proctor for this part of the Exams will be Gekko Hayate." Hayate stepped up at this. He was a sickly looking man that had a pronounced cough. Naruto wondered what he had and why it wasn't cured.

Hayate stepped up and said, "Is there anyone that would like to drop out at this point? Since these are individual fights, your choice will not affect your team."

Kabuto almost immediately raised his hand and left, although once past the doorway he stumbled slightly. He turned around quickly, but found no one there. Shrugging, he continued on to his destination.

Back at the arena, Sasuke gave Naruto a hidden thumbs up, which Naruto acknowledged with a nod as Hayate continued, "The fights will go until one person is *cough* unconscious, dead, or if I call it. My word is final, if I stop the match *cough*, you must stop. Understood?" Everyone nodded, except for Gaara who scowled. "Alright *cough*. The first battle will be... *the board flashes through names until...* Akado Yoroi against Uchiha Sasuke. Everyone else, *cough* up to the balconies you go."

Sasuke walked up to the center of the arena, a few feet away from Yoroi. At Hayate's command, the battle started, and Yoroi immediately dashed forward and shot a punch at Sasuke, who was hit. The punch made his head snap back slightly.

Yoroi was smirking... that is, until Sasuke brought his head back forward to face Yoroi with a smirk and said, "Oh boy, you just started your self-destruct sequence. Let me give your a countdown... Five!" With that, Sasuke dashed forward at inhuman speeds and kicked Yoroi deep in his stomach, so deep that the outline of his foot showed on Yoroi's back.

'Did I just see his foot?!' was the thought of most people on the balconies.

Sasuke walked forward to the downed form of Yoroi and asked, "You done already?" Yoroi sprang forward and attempted to grab Sasuke, but Sasuke bent backwards and kicked Yoroi up to the ceiling while yelling, "Four!"

Yoroi stuck to the ceiling with chakra and growled. He looked down towards Sasuke, but the Uchiha was no longer there. Yoroi suddenly noticed that something was behind him only to look up and see Sasuke there with his hands together, ready to hit him. He was only able to wonder how the hell the Genin was able to move so fast before Sasuke slammed his joined hands against Yoroi's back, sending him plummeting against the ground while yelling, "Three!"

While the audience, minus Naruto and Sakura, watched with open mouths, Sasuke landed lightly on the ground next to Yoroi, who was laying on the ground. Sasuke smirked and said, "You know, I'm sure there was an upside to having a slow ninja like you but... for the life of me... I can't seem to figure it out." He was unable to say more since Yoroi suddenly sat up and grabbed on to Sasuke's wrists, tightly holding on.

"Ha!" Yoroi exclaimed. "Now that I've got you, I'll take all your chakra. I'll suck your chakra until you're a dry husk! I'm holding on as hard as I can!"

"Holding on as hard as you can, eh?" Sasuke said offhandedly. "Alrighty..." Sasuke suddenly brought his feet up and put them against Yoroi's face, although Yoroi did not let go. "Then how about I get a workout in?"

Everyone gaped and some laughed as Sasuke said, "That's right! I'm gonna do squats all over your face!"

Yoroi struggled and forced out, "I'll... take... all your... chakra!"

Sasuke could feel his chakra leaving, but he simply smirked and said, "Aww, so you want my chakra then? Take it! Take as much as you'd like! In return..." Sasuke's grin turned downright evil as he yelled out, "I'll take your hands! Two!" With that, Sasuke, grabbed Yoroi's wrists tightly and shot a localized Almighty Push on Yoroi's torso. The force was enough so that Yoroi was blasted against the arena's wall. However, his bleeding wrists remained in Sasuke's hands.

Yoroi's scream of pain was something most of the Genin had never heard, and so they shivered when they saw the ruthlessness Sasuke displayed, except for Gaara who licked his lips at the sight of Yoroi's blood, and Naruto who merely shook his head and said, "There he goes, showing off."

"Now then..." Sasuke said, walking up to Yoroi's downed form. "Shall we put a traitor to bed?" Yoroi looked at Sasuke's imposing form with fear. That is, until Sasuke signaled the shocked proctor, telling him to call the match.

Hayate came down from his shock enough to say, "Winner, Uchiha Sasuke."

"One," Sasuke simply said as Yoroi passed out from blood loss and was carted away by the medics, along with his hands.

Everyone looked at Sasuke with some sort of fear, minus Gaara and Sasuke's teammates. The fear turned to shock when Sasuke's form suddenly split into a number of crows, which then reformed next to Naruto into the black haired Genin.

"Itachi's Shunshin?" Naruto asked offhandedly. Sasuke simply nodded.

(A/N: From now on, I'll be summarizing the matches until I get to an important one.)

Aburame Shino vs Abumi Zaku: This match was won by Shino after tricking Zaku with a bug clone, which surreptitiously left a number of Kikaichu on Zaku and made his arms explode from the inside after the Oto Genin tried to use his Extreme Decapitating Air Waves.

Sabaku no Kankuro vs Tsurugi Misumi: This was a quick match that ended in Kankuro's favor after Misumi tried to strangle him but instead got his puppet, which broke his arms and legs.

Haruno Sakura vs Yamanaka Ino.

Sakura looked at Ino, who looked back at the pinkette. Both smirked at each other, already planning how to win. That is, until each girl's respective boyfriend walked up to them.

Naruto smirked as he got close to Ino while sliding his hand up her body, causing her to shiver in pleasure. He then whispered in a husky voice, "Do your best out there, and I'll please you however you want, Ino-chan."

Sasuke did something similar, except that he instead ran a few kisses up Sakura's collarbone and then whispered in a similar voice, "Win this one, and I'll give you anything you want, Sakura-hime."

Everyone else looked on, flabbergasted, until a cough from Hayate brought them back to reality. Sakura and Ino quickly made their way down and stood in front of each other, both fighting down blushes.

"Fighters ready?" The girls nodded. "Hajime!"

Immediately, both girls dashed towards each other, met at the middle and, to the shock of everyone present, grabbed each other's right fist, causing a powerful shockwave to blast out from their position, which was powerful enough to uproot the ground they were battling on and push Hayate back a couple of steps.

"Well, this won't be as easy as I first thought, will it, Forehead?" Ino remarked.

"You bet, Ino-pig!" Sakura replied, "I'm gonna give it my all!"

With that declaration, both girls started trading punches and kicks. At first, it seemed they were evened out, but slowly Sakura started gaining ground when she started using some of her monstrous strength. Ino was put on the defensive as she dodged most attacks and did some hit-and-run attacks instead.

Moments later, the girls separated and skidded to a stop a few metres away from each other. Both were breathing moderately heavy, but neither was planning on giving in. Sakura decided to use her first trump card and did some hand seals.

"Corrosion Style, Lava Globs!" Drawing in some air, Sakura shocked most people watching when she spit out a number of globs of lava that flew at Ino, whose eyes widened slightly as she dodged them. After dodging the last one, she looked back to see the lava intact and plastered onto the wall a few feet behind her.

Looking back at Sakura, Ino said, "So you're pulling out all the stops, eh, Forehead? Well, sorry to say this to you but..." Ino suddenly disappeared from Sakura's view and, a split second later, the pinkette heard a voice next to her ear. "You're not the only one with a given kekkei genkai."

Sakura almost jumped out of her skin but managed to control it and instead sent a backwards punch to Ino, who caught the fist and, using its momentum, twisted around, throwing Sakura away from her.

Sakura righted herself in mid-air, but when she looked back, Ino wasn't there anymore. The pinkette then yelled out as Ino gave her a strong kick to her back, sending her flying to the ceiling.

On the balconies, Sasuke looked at Naruto and asked, "You gave her the Swift Style?"

"Yeah," Naruto nodded, "She asked for it herself. She's a beast with it, even more advanced than you if I say so myself. So be glad she's not one of your fangirls, otherwise you'd never be able to escape her."

Sasuke shivered at the mental image and said, "Don't even joke about that, dobe."

Naruto merely laughed.

Back to the fight, Sakura stuck to the ceiling using chakra and looked down at Ino, who merely smirked up at her. Seeking to wipe that smirk off of her face, Sakura quickly made a hand seal and molded her chakra while Ino watched, waiting to see what she would do.

Moments later, that became apparent when a large portion of the lava that remained around the arena suddenly flew at one spot in mid-air and joined together to form a ball of lava, shocking mostly everyone with Sakura's control over the sub-element. Without further ado, the pinkette thrust her arm forward, the lava obeying her command and shooting towards the blonde, who immediately did the logical thing and dodged, using Swift Style to quickly appear, and stick to, a wall. She was forced to dodge again almost immediately as another part of the lava ball came out and attempted to strike her.

And so, the dance went on. Sakura attempted to strike at Ino, who in turn would dodge. Ino would try to attack once or twice, but lava from the ball near the pinkette would rush and block the attack, making the blonde have to dodge, else she burn her hand off.

After a few seconds of this game of cat and mouse, both girls seemed to be nearing their end. Ino's breathing was ragged, as was Sakura's. Ino's jumps were getting shorter and shorter, while the speed and reach of Sakura's lava was also shortening.

'I need to end this now!' thought Ino. Gathering some of her remaining chakra, she looked up and focused on a spot right in front of Sakura. The blonde jumped to that spot and feinted an attack. Predictably, lava came up and made a wall between her and Sakura. Ino smirked and disappeared again just as the lava wall settled, appearing behind Sakura and leaving her with no time to block. Ino's punch then came in contact with Sakura's back and sent her flying right towards her own lava ball. Sakura, seeing the danger, opened a hole in the ball so she could pass through safely. Landing back on the ground, she was forced to dispel the lava ball jutsu she was using, or else she'd faint from chakra exhaustion. Ino landed a bit away from her, looking just as ragged as Sakura did. Ino, not willing to give up, used her final attack. Putting her thumb, index, and middle fingers together into a circle, she centered it on Sakura and called out, "Ninja Art: Mind Transfer Jutsu!"

Inside Sakura's Mind...

Ino found herself in a sea of darkness. Looking around, she could see nothing noteworthy in Sakura's mind.

"Where the devil am I?" she asked herself. She did not expect a voice to answer her.

"My territory..."

Ino immediately turned and paled when she saw what it was.

There in front of her was a black and white Sakura, almost like an outline of the real one. This one had large, circle eyes with fully white pupils and sclera, although right now they were in a double eye smile, which unnerved Ino. On her forehead, there seemed to be some kanji written.

"S-Sakura?" Ino asked hesitantly.

The Sakura lookalike's eye smile widened as she said in a chirpy voice, "Nope!"

This did not reassure Ino, and rightly so, as the inner Sakura's face was suddenly filled with an evil grin. The inner Sakura then yelled out, "I'm her inner self! Now get out!"

And with that, a large black and white fist came and punched Ino right out of the mindscape...

Back to the real world...

Everyone watched as both Ino and Sakura slumped to the floor after Ino called out her jutsu.

"Well, your Genin's done for, Kakashi." Asuma Sarutobi, Team 10's Jounin-sensei, commented. Kakashi glanced at him, but it was Sasuke who answered, "Don't count Sakura-hime out yet, Asuma-sensei. She's not one to be brought down by something like mind possession."

A moment later, he was proven right as Ino suddenly flinched and fell back in shock while Sakura stood up on shaky legs. Seeing Ino's distraction after what happened in her mind, she dashed forward as fast as she could and, focusing what little chakra she had left inside her, punched Ino powerfully on her stomach, making the blonde double over in pain. A kick later, Ino found herself crashing against a wall and losing consciousness slowly.

Everyone watched with bated breath as Ino crashed against the wall and Sakura slumped down to her hands and knees. The latter looked at Hayate meaningfully, who nodded and checked on Ino. He then stood up and said, "Yamanaka Ino is unable to go on. The winner is Haruno Sakura!"

The moment the announcement was over, both Naruto and Sasuke jumped over the railing and dashed towards their respective girlfriends. Naruto picked Ino up bridal style and nodded when Hayate reminded him to come back soon or else he'd be disqualified. Sasuke picked up Sakura, bridal style as well. Both pairs walked out calmly towards the Medical Ward.

Halfway there, Ino groggily woke up and looked up to see Naruto's smiling face.

"Naruto-kun..." Ino breathed out in relief.

"Hey, Ino-chan. How are you feeling?" Naruto asked warmly.

"I feel like I was run over by a boss summon, that's how." Ino snorted, then winced as her bruised ribs complained. She looked back up at Naruto with a slightly accusatory look. "You gave Forehead the Corrosion Style?"

Naruto had the decency to look sheepish and explained how he had explained to his teammates his abilities and that he could give out the kekkei genkai he had. He left out Sakura's Sharingan and Sasuke's Eternal Mangekyo/Rinnegan combo.

Ino nodded at the end of the explanation. "It's ok, I'm not mad, just surprised."

Naruto nodded, smiled, and kissed Ino's nose lightly, making her giggle. "I'm proud of you Ino-chan, and as I promised," his voice dropped to a husky whisper, "I'll please you however you want after this."

Ino shivered in excitement, but then frowned. "But Naruto-kun, I lost."

"I don't care about that," Naruto assured her, "I promised to give you whatever pleasure you want if you did your best, not if you won. And what I saw out there was a great Kunoichi who did her best to win."

Ino smiled warmly at Naruto and was once again glad at his caring attitude. She then noticed that he was lying her down on a soft bed and that he kissed her lips lightly. "I gotta go, Ino-chan, see ya later."

Ino nodded with a frown and laid back down, deciding to take a nap.

Naruto, meanwhile, met up with Sasuke at the hallway leading to the arena. Just before entering however, they watched as Rock Lee ran by them, with a heavily bleeding and unconscious Tenten in his arms. Naruto shrugged and walked ahead, Sasuke following.

Finally reaching the room, they watched from the doorway as Hayate announced Nara Shikamaru the winner of his match against Tsuchi Kin, who was being carted away. They walked up to the balcony just as the next fighters were announced.

Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto vs Inuzuka Kiba.

"Oh yeah, this'll be an easy fight! Let's go Akamaru!" Kiba exclaimed.

"Ah, damnit. I have to fight Lil Kibble... how quaint." Naruto groaned as he walked down.

Once in front of each other, Hayate began the fight and Kiba immediately went on the offensive, looking to pay Naruto back for that nickname. Naruto, however, merely dodged his attacks, sometimes just barely. He wanted to test the pair out, but Akamaru had yet to join the fight.

"Fight back, dobe!" Kiba yelled angrily, jumping back.

"Make me have to, kibble." Naruto smirked, holding out two fingers and signaling for Kiba to 'come hither'.

Growling, Kiba took out a small pill and tossed it to Akamaru, who swallowed it. The little ninken's fur became red and, once Kiba yelled out, "Man-Beast Clone!" a poof of smoke covered him. Everyone watched as the smoke dispersed and there stood a perfect replica of Kiba, who then jumped on the back of the original one. Chakra surrounded both ninja and ninken, making their features more feral.

With a cry of "Fang Over Fang!", the two shot at Naruto, twisting until they became two tornadoes of fangs and claws. Naruto watched calmly as they approached, and at the last moment, he jumped high in the air, deftly avoiding both tornadoes, which then changed direction and aimed towards him again. Quickly activating and unfurling his wings, he dodged them again, waiting to see what they'd do. Yet again, they flew at him, so he flew down and landed on the ground. Once the tornadoes turned towards him again, he waited until they were uncomfortably close before activating Nine-Tails Chakra Modeand flashing away, leaving the two Inuzuka to crash against the ground, sending rubble and dust flying everywhere.

As the dust in the air cleared, most people gasped at the change Naruto went through. Instead of the leather jacket, black shirt, and black cargo shorts he had been previously wearing, he was now surrounded by a yellow, powerful aura. He seemed to be wearing long pants, and on his torso, he seemed to have a bright trench coat over a black shirt that had a swirl on it. Around his neck was a necklace composed of six magatama; his arms, hands, and legs had black markings; his six whiskers had become full black bars; and two spikes on his head elongated to look like horns of some sort.

Kiba got up groggily and stared at Naruto's form, with Akamaru doing the same. Ninja and ninken looked at each other, nodded, and got into their signature fighting styles. However, before they both could move, they were barely aware of Naruto's form flashing towards where they were and suddenly stopping in between them. Grabbing both of them by their wrists, Naruto spun around and threw them up towards the ceiling, whereupon he flashed behind both of them and slammed them both to the ground. The two didn't give up, however, and immediately chased after the flaming blonde once he landed on the ground. Sighing, Naruto once again grabbed both by their wrists, but instead of throwing them upwards, he slammed them against each other, making Akamaru lose his transformation and fall to the floor unconscious. Kiba fared no better.

Hayate checked on them both and announced, "The winner is Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto!"

Naruto sighed and released his Chakra Mode state, then helped the medics get Kiba and his partner on the stretchers. He then walked up to the balcony, hearing tenant ask, "Did you really have to use my chakra to beat him?"

'Well, no, but it was a lot of fun shocking the hell out of everyone'

Kurama shook his head at his partner's antics and decided to take a nap.

Meanwhile, the board began flashing through more names until it ended at-

Hyuuga Neji vs Hinata:

The two Byakuganusers looked at each other, one with cold arrogance, the other with determination. At the same pace, they walked down to the arena, never taking their eyes off of each other.

"Are both fighters ready?" Hayate asked. Both nodded. "Hajime!"

Neji glared at Hinata and said, "Before we begin, I'd like to give you a little advice, Hinata-sama. Forfeit now. You're a complete weakling who couldn't even learn our family's style of Taijutsu, and you've always been fated to be a loser, always protected by the Main House of the Hyuuga, while I have become a prodigy. You were fated to lose this match from the moment you were chosen to be my opponent."

At this, both Naruto and Hinata were seeing red, Naruto more so than Hinata. Insults to himself he could stand, but when someone insulted those he cared for, he would get pissed. It was taking the combined might of Sakura and Sasuke to hold him back from doing something excessive.

"Shut the fuck up, Neji," Hinata hissed at him, with such venom, anger, and determination that Neji unconsciously took a step back. "Spare me your fate nonsense. The ability to win is determined by your hard work, not by whatever ridiculous notion of fate is in that close minded head of yours."

Neji, by this point, was seeing red, and yelled out, "How dare you!" In a quick dash, he jumped forward, activating his Byakugan and aiming an attack directly at Hinata's heart. To his and most people's shock, however, Hinata effortlessly dodged the strike as though he were moving in slow motion, instead sticking her leg out and making him trip and fall face first against the floor.

Neji carefully picked himself off of the floor, glaring at the Hyuuga girl in front of him. Hinata was looking at him with indifference. "As for the Main House protection, Neji, I don't have to bother with that anymore. I do not belong to the Hyuuga."

The shock around the room was deafening. The only ones who didn't seem shocked were, of course, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, due to the fact that they already knew why.

"What do you mean?" Neji asked shakily.

Hinata shook her head and told him and everyone else the tale...

Flashback, the day before Naruto's heritage was announced...

Hinata was currently walking towards her father's study. She had been summoned halfway through her daily training.

Once reaching the room, she went in and bowed respectfully to her father, with a mutter of, "Father."

"Sit, Hinata," Hyuuga Hiashi commanded coldly.

'Oh boy, what did I do this time?' Hinata asked herself, but followed the order nevertheless.

"Why have I been called, Father? I was training," Hinata said, with some contempt to her voice.

Hiashi narrowed her eyes and looked at her. "I have been receiving numerous reports that you have been seen with the Uzumaki boy. They said that you have been seen holding hands, kissing, and even training with him outside of the Gentle Fist style with the miscreant. Is this true?"

Hinata had at first been shocked that her father knew so much of her personal life. But after hearing the contempt with which he said Naruto's surname and the way he referred to him at the end, she got angry relatively quickly. "Don't you dare call him a miscreant!" Hinata yelled at her father, shocking him. "Naruto-kun is nothing but a greatly sweet boy who has seen me for who I am, unlike you!"

"So it's true then!" Hiashi yelled at her. "Then, from this moment on, Hyuuga Hinata, I, as the Hyuuga clan head at your father, command you to cut off all connection to that demon container!"

Hinata was shocked to the core at her father's command. "W-What?! But why?!"

"Your affiliation to that demon is painting a bad name on the Hyuuga Clan. Letting you, the future heiress, associate with him only mars the Hyuuga name even more. Hence, my order to you. Now go to your room, and don't you ever let me catch you with that demon again!" Hiashi yelled.

Hinata, however, looked back at him defiantly and said, "Never! He has showed me something that you, being my father, have neglected, and that is true love!"

Hiashi sat back down and shook his head in disgust. "Then you leave me no choice. And here I thought you could sink no lower." With a snap of his fingers, two Branch House guards appeared. "Take her away and give her the Caged Bird Seal. Hinata, you are henceforth demoted to the Branch House and Hanabi will be taking your place as heiress."

Hinata, shocked to the core at the declaration, could do nothing as the guards dragged her out of the room. However, just before the door to the room closed, she narrowed her eyes at her supposed father and said, "Mother would be ashamed of what you've become, Hiashi."

Hiashi flinched at the the reminder of his late wife, but before he could respond, the door closed and he was left to his thoughts.

'Did I do the right thing...? No, of course I did. It's for the betterment of the Hyuuga Clan...' Despite his inner reassurance, he couldn't help but to look at a picture of Hinata and Hanabi's mother, whose eyes seemed to bore into his with accusation.

Hinata, meanwhile, was struggling as hard as she could to get free from the guards, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't. She resigned herself to her fate when she saw the room in which they applied the Caged Bird Seal, but right before they entered she remembered a small seal that Naruto had applied the day before on her body, more specifically the middle of her chest so no one would notice it. It was powered by Hinata's chakra and had been applied with some of Naruto's blood so that it would alert him whenever she focused chakra on it. At this moment, she pushed as much chakra as she could into it without damaging or destroying it, basically activating a red alert. The guards, however, noticed the influx of chakra and quickly disabled her with a chakra draining seal, which abruptly stopped the chakra flow.

Once inside the room, Hinata had been strapped down and the drawing of the seal had been done. The sealer was just about to apply chakra and activate it when a resonating BANG was heard from the doors. Hinata looked up with a hopeful aura as this happened another two times and finally, on the fourth, the door was blasted off of its hinges, catching one of the guards and knocking him unconscious. The other was to slow to react, and before he knew it, he had been punched with incredible force against a wall, knocking him out as well.

Both the sealer and Hinata looked at the newcomer, who turned out to be Naruto himself. The sun-kissed blonde looked at the sealer with red eyes and growled out, "If you want to continue living, you'll get away from her."

The sealer sneered, obviously not learning from what Naruto did to the guards, and said, "I don't care what a snot-nosed brat like you wants. I have been given orders from Hiashi-sama himself."

"Wrong Answer..." Naruto whispered. He changed his hands into claws and disappeared. A moment later, the sealer's head slid off of his body, and Naruto reappeared behind him. Quickly shifting his hands back to normal, He quickly rushed to the table and took off the straps holding down Hinata, who promptly collapsed against him and began to cry and hurriedly explain to him what had transpired.

Flashback End...

"Naruto-kun was just about ready to go on a Hyuuga killing spree, but I convinced him that it was a waste of time. We went to the Hokage and he allowed me to defect from the Hyuuga, and from that day on I was a free kunoichi and I started living with Naruto-kun. Should've seen Hiashi's face when he found out he couldn't simply claim me back from Naruto-kun or marry me to another Hyuuga." Hinata finished with a chuckle.

Many people were shocked at this revelation and couldn't help but feel anger towards Hiashi for his cruel treatment of his own daughter.

"It does not matter, Hinata!" Neji exclaimed, glad to finally not need to call her by the '-sama' suffix. "I will still come out as the victor of this match. Fate has decreed it."

Hinata shook her head and said, "Your belief in fate can kiss my pretty little ass, that's my decree." In the stands, many people laughed out loud at this. Naruto couldn't help but blush. "Anyways, let's finish this, Neji. I'm tired of your senseless talking."

The ex-Hyuuga went through a couple of hand seals and yelled out, "Water Style: Exploding Water Wave!" With that, she shot out a torrent of water from her mouth which Neji barely avoided.

"Foolish," Neji sneered, "Your aim was terrible!"

"Who said I was aiming for you?" Hinata asked cheekily. Forming a strange hand seal, she said, "This was my true goal. Ice Style: Demonic Ice Mirrors!"

To the shock of almost everyone, a number of mirrors formed from the water around the two combatants and surrounded Neji. There were ten mirrors standing up straight in a circle; Over these were five more that were angled at 45 degrees, leaning down towards their target; and finally, one mirror, parallel to the ground, was at the top, preventing escape from the hemisphere of ice.

"Wh... What is this?!" asked Neji, fear evident in his voice.

Hinata walked forward and 'melted' into one if the mirrors. All of a sudden, her image appeared on all of the mirrors surrounding Neji, and all of the reflections took a familiar stance.

"I think it's time I show off one of my original attacks, Neji..." All of the Hinatas said simultaneously.

"Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Ice Blasts!"

Out of the mirror in front of Neji, Hinata flew out at untraceable speeds, Byakugan activated, and slammed into Neji, hitting two of his tenketsu with her hands. "Two Palms!" Neji was sent flying back by the attack, while the Hinata that had attacked him used the momentum to jump back into her mirror. Neji could feel the points where she had attacked him grow freezing cold, but before he could ponder more, he was hit from the side by another Hinata that yelled out, "Four Palms!" Neji was once again sent flying in a different direction until he was hit yet again, this Hinata saying, "Six Palms!" This continued on, with Neji emulating a beach ball, bouncing around with every hit, until all ten Hinatas in the standing mirrors had hit him twice each, which measured up to forty of his tenketsu having been closed.

Then, the five Hinatas inside the five angled mirrors repeated this, each hit slamming him down to the ground. One Hinata came down, slammed into him, closing his tenketsu, and then used his body as a spring to jump back into her mirror while he slammed into the ground and bounced back up, only for another Hinata to do the same. With the added attacks, that was sixty of his tenketsu that were now closed.

Neji finally slammed hard into the ground and came back up to come face to face with the last Hinata, who was in the last mirror up top. She slammed him yet again against the ground while yelling out, "Sixty-Two!"

Neji by this point was a mass of pain. He was pretty sure one of his arms was dislocated, his torso hurt like hell and felt frozen solid, and his head was throbbing. But Hinata wasn't done, for as he slammed down against the floor, she landed on the top mirror but did not go into it, As he came back up, she jumped off of the mirror and slammed both of her feet into his stomach, yelling out "Sixty-Four!" and going all the way to the ground with him, making a crater on the ground just as the mirrors above shattered. Neji coughed up a large amount of blood. All of his injuries made themselves known, and it was practically impossible to mold any chakra. Hell, it was a surprise that he was still alive.

Hinata came out of the crater, looking down at Neji in pity. "I wish you good luck, Neji-niisan. Despite how angry at me you may be, I will still consider you family and I hope this teaches you that we make our own paths in life."

With those words, she walked away just as a flabbergasted Hayate announced Hinata the winner, not that anyone but Naruto could clap seeing as they were just as flabbergasted as the proctor.

Finally, everyone broke out of their stupor when the board flashed to the next two names.

Rock Lee vs Sabaku no Gaara

This fight started off badly for Lee since all his attacks were blocked by Gaara's automatic sand defense. However, after he took off his leg weights and trench coat, which also had some weights, at Gai's permission, he proved to be too fast for even that. Lee attempted to use his Frontal Lotuson Gaara, but it turned out to be a Sand Clone. Slightly out of steam already, Lee, with Gai's permission, opened five of the eight Inner Chakra Gates. With his speed and strength multiplied for a short time, but with damage being done to his muscles, Lee proceeded to beat Gaara around using his Reverse Lotus. At the end of the attack, however, Gaara dispersed his gourd and used it as a cushion. Afterwards, Gaara surrounded Lee's left arm and leg with sand and tried to crush them. Naruto, however, intervened and dispersed the sand before he could do it. When asked why he would interfere, knowing this would mean Lee is eliminated and Naruto could very well be, he explained that, had Gaara's attack worked, Lee could have very well ended up crippled and out of his career as a ninja, something he had worked very hard for. For this, Naruto received an exuberant thank you from Gai, who took Lee to the infirmary to be treated for his muscle injuries.

Akimichi Choji vs Kinuta Dosu: Choji was at first reluctant to fight, but after Asuma promised him barbecue if he won, he was all for it. Knowing of Dosu's sound attack, he used his Human Tank Bullet attack to plug his ears. Dosu, however, cleverly overcame this by dodging the attack and shooting his sound waves through the water inside Choji's large body. This made Choji become dizzy and ultimately lose control of his technique, which led him to crash against the arena wall and knock himself out.

"Alright..." Anko came up, holding a box. "All the winners, gather 'round and grab a number."

After that was done...

"All even numbers, call 'em out!"

"Two," Hinata.

"Four," Shikamaru.

"Six," Gaara.

"Eight," Shino.

"Ten," Sakura.

"Odd numbers now!"

"One," Temari.

"Three," Kankuro.

"Five," Naruto.

"Seven," Dosu.

"Nine," Sasuke.

"Alright so, the matches are...!"

Match One: Sabaku no Temari vs Hinata.

Match Two: Sabaku Kankuro vs Nara Shikamaru.

Match Three: Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto vs Sabaku no Gaara.

Match Four: Kinuta Dosu vs Aburame Shino.

Match Five: Uchiha Sasuke vs Haruno Sakura.

'The Wind Mistress of Suna, huh? This should be challenging,' thought Hinata.

'So I'm fighting a Hyuuga... or ex-Hyuuga, if her tale is true. Got to find a way around her eyes and those ice attacks.' Temari thought.

'Heh, I'm fighting a lazy bum. This should be easy,' thought Kankuro.

'Man, I'm fighting a puppet user. This is so troublesome. Well, at least I'm not fighting a girl, especially that wind user,' were Shikamaru's thoughts.

'So, I'm fighting my fellow jinchuriki, huh? This should be fun. Gotta watch out for those sand attacks. He also looks kinda unstable, so I should prepare for dealing with Shukaku, just in case,' thought Naruto.

'Mother... if I can beat him, I will make you happy... he'll prove my existence for a long time to come...' thought Gaara, despite his "mother's" voice being oddly quiet.

'An Aburame, eh? Gotta watch out for those bugs of his... would my sound waves work on them?' thought Dosu.

'I must be careful with my opponent's sound waves. I am not sure if my Kikaichu could be affected by them. Perhaps I should look for sound-proof queens to add to my hives,' thought Shino, studying his opponent.

'So I'm fighting Sakura-hime, huh? Maybe I should use this match to help train her Sharingan... how could I upgrade hers to the Mangekyo?' thought Sasuke.

'Oh Kami, I'm fighting Sasuke-kun! Could I possibly win against him? I'll need to ask Naruto for some help!' thought Sakura.

"Alright, the finals will be in a month. Use this time to train and upgrade your skills." boomed Anko.

"Why a month?" asked Naruto.

"We're going to have many people from out of Konoha come visit to watch the matches," explained Hiruzen. "We need to give them enough time to get here."

Everyone nodded and walked outside.

"This was a rather eventful Preliminary, eh, Hokage-sama?" asked Hayate.

Hiruzen chuckled and said, "When Naruto-kun is involved, it will almost always be, my friend."

And with a number of leaf Shunshin,everyone was gone but Anko, who happily went to get some dango from her stash.

And outside, a seal glowed red on Kabuto's back for a moment before disappearing, with Kabuto none the wiser...

End of chapter!