WOO! I'VE BEEN WAITING MONTHS TO WRITE THIS CHAPTER! HELL YEAH! All the build up has finally paid off, I'm pretty damn excited myself. A lot of you may be able to guess what this means, but to those of you who don't... well, surprise for you huh? I put all my efforts into this chapter, I was damn near hyperactive throughout the whole thing. Please, I beg of you, let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: Not long till we see just how in control Naruto is. I reckon if the seal was as bad as it was during the pain fight, Naruto would have gone six tails and tore Sasuke's heart out in an instant.


Confrontation at the end

The midday sun shone brightly today, the clear sky allowing its light to be cast across the green grass and trees below. The passive warmth it gave would inspire a day of comfort and ease, in the case of those with simple lives. The sound of birds beating wings and chirping calls filled the air as they flew through the air, their swooping and circling dance a sight for anyone to see. There were also the sounds of the river, a long waterway coursing through the deep stone valley, swishes and whispers floating around as the cool stream drifted off to the west. It was up above this river, along the grassy land heading to the east, where Naruto and Gaara ran.

"Damn it Kisame-sensei!" Naruto thought, as the pups strapped onto his chest squirmed. He and Gaara had been moving at top speed all day, since Naruto had woken up to the knowledge their sensei was gone. Gaara, who had been training for most of the night, discovered the note that Kisame had left embedded to a tree.

"Follow me when the idiot gets up." the note had read, "I gotta take care of some things. Meet me up at the Valley of the End by noon."

It hadn't been the ditching them that had annoyed Naruto, he was more than familiar with Kisame going off to do his own thing. It wasn't leaving them to figure out how to get rid of the tree or escape that place either. But after looking at his map and realising just where this valley was, that was what pissed him off. What would have normally been a days journey, they'd have to cover in at most half that. To that end, they had barely enough time to get breakfast.

"Does he often do things like this?" Gaara asked, gripping the small block of wood he'd taken from the tree tight. He had been annoyed at first that Kisame had managed to slip away without him noticing, considering that Gaara had been awake through the whole thing. His focus on the training had been absolute, he had sat still all night and not checked his results until the next morning. Though he had managed to form a minute cut to the leaf, he was far from pleased.

"Yeah, I'd get used to it if I were you." Naruto replied, as Akira turned around and barked up at him. It had been a common habit of Kisame's to disappear just before they had to leave. There were few good occasions were he stuck around until the end, but it was much more expected for him to just show up from nowhere and tell Naruto that they were leaving immediately.

Up ahead, something was slowly coming into view. It hadn't been too clear at first, but now that they drew nearer they got a better idea. At the end of valley, there was a large waterfall coursing down to the river, a white mist of water hovering at the bottom. But what drew their attention was not the falls, but that which stood on either side of them.

Two giant stone statues, both etched from the solid rock, face each other. Both of them wore heavy armour over their bodies, like that of old samurai. They each had their hands raised in the ram seal, apparently both were Shinobi. The only most noticeable difference between them were their faces, on of which Naruto was very familiar with. The long, dark hair and strong features were identical to those of the Shodai Hokage's face on the monument in Konoha. The other one however, was unfamiliar to him. A smooth, pointed face with long spiky hair, belonging to none of the Hokage Naruto knew of. But from the looks of things, this appeared to be the monument to a battle. It made Naruto wonder why Kisame would choose for them to meet here, did he know of that fight?

"There's someone up there."

Naruto blinked in surprise, as he realised Eko was right. Over there, atop the head of the unknown statue, two people stood close together. Neither of them was recognisable, the distance was still much too great. But certainly, neither of them remotely resembled Kisame.

"You see them?" he asked, glancing to his left. Gaara looked at him with a frown, before looking ahead again. He narrowed his eyes, squinting as he tried to make out the people Naruto was referring to. He seemed to be having difficulty, though was unwilling to admit it.

"Looks like the eyes of an insomniac desert boy aren't the strongest."

"It looks like two people, on top of that statue on the left." Naruto said, deciding to help Gaara despite not being asked to, "They're just standing there though. Looks like they're talking."

"Think maybe we should take a detour?"

It certainly seemed like the best idea, since they didn't know who these two were. But from the glance Naruto gave Gaara, it seemed the other boy had no intention of taking another route. Too often had he openly faced combat for Naruto to have any doubt. And besides, this was where they were supposed to meet Kisame, going on ahead would only cause problems.

"Let's stop here." Naruto said, slowing down. Gaara cast him a glance and did the same, soon coming to a complete stop. They stood now just a hundred rough yards from the other two, both of whom still hadn't seemed to have noticed them. That was good, Naruto wasn't in any rush to make new acquaintances.

As Naruto crouched down to the ground, intending to release the pups, Gaara took a step forward, squinting again to the pair on the statue. He ignored the sounds of the pups yelping as he watched them closely, "They know we're here."

"What?" Naruto asked, as he let Daisuke down onto the ground. He looked past Gaara, his stronger eyes spotting the pair looking at them. He quickly turned his head away, reaching up and lifting Kunimei out, "It's fine as long as we keep distance, right?"

Kunimei yipped up at him as he joined the others, tail wagging as much as the rest. They seemed somewhat excited about this place, perhaps the sound of the waterfall was nostalgic for them?

"That would be the case." Gaara replied, folding his arms. Naruto paused, with Shinmaru halfway to the ground. Slowly, he raised his head, looking to the right. Those two were walking towards them.

"Fuck." Naruto thought, as he lowered Shinmaru onto the ground, "Go on."

With an encouraging push, he persuaded the pups to disappear into the bushes. When they were out of sight, he straightened up and turned to face the approaching duo.

Gaara's grip on his arms tightened and loosened with anticipation. He watched the newcomers closely, his impatience known only to Naruto. Both of them watched the other two, who were now slowly coming into view. One of them was dressed in a blue short sleeved shirt with a tall collar and white shorts. His hair was dark and hung on either side of his face, a gleaming Konoha headband keeping his fringe out of his eyes. The rest of it spiked out behind him, an unusual style indeed. He had pale skin and dark, weary looking eyes, and a fixed scowl on his face. Beside him was a different boy entirely, one with long, brown hair and a forehead protector with hanging straps on either side of his also pale face. He however, dressed in pale clothing, a beige shirt with several straps on it and dark brown shorts. Also, for some reason, his left arm and leg were wrapped in bandages. He seemed to be the inverse of the other boy, with his expression being relaxed and even his eyes pale and seemingly without pupils.

Naruto looked between the two of them, getting a sense of growing déjà vu. He felt like he had met this pair, but at the same time they both seemed strange to him. The first came to a stop several metres away from them, while the second moved a little closer, a cool smile on his face.

"As I thought." he said, with a strangely pleased expression, "So it really is you, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto's brow creased in confusion, he was now fairly certain he had met this person somewhere before, but still couldn't quite place it. He knew he recognised those eyes, how often do you meet someone without pupils? Other than the person to his right of course.

"Uzumaki?!" the dark haired boy repeated, his eyes narrowing at Naruto, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Naruto's brow creased further as he gave the dark haired boy a dumb look, squinting with his eyes as his mouth opened wordlessly. But suddenly, and animatedly, his eyes widened in shock and he stepped back.

"Uchiha Sasuke?!" he exclaimed, finally recognising his old classmate, "What are you doing here?!"

"Baka, that's what I just asked you!" Sasuke heatedly replied. To his right, Gaara looked at Naruto, catching his partner's attention. Naruto looked at him blankly, though without the stupid look he'd been giving Sasuke.

"Uchiha?" Gaara repeated, looking Sasuke over. He then locked eyes with him, a courtesy Sasuke returned, "You have business with him?"

"Huh, not really." Naruto replied, with a shrug, "Just a surprise is all."

Gaara nodded, his eyes remaining on Sasuke for a while longer. He then moved onto the other person, his green orbs landing on the other's white.

"I take it you are Hyuga?" he asked. Naruto noticed he was being unusually talkative right now. That was never a good thing.

Suddenly, something snapped in Naruto's memory. Hyuga… that name, it definitely rung a bell in his mind. And that bell was steadily ringing louder. Up at Naomi's home… inside the house… through a secret panel in the floor… out into the woods behind…

"AH!" Naruto cried out, stepping back again. He raised an accusing finger to the only remaining stranger, a nervous sweat forming on his brow, "Hyuga Neji!"

"Better late than never I suppose." Neji sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He then folded his arms again, smiling at Naruto, "Though it certainly offends me that the only person in my age group to ever defeat me can't even bother to recall my name."

Once more all eyes fell on Naruto, who remained with a sense of bewilderment. Despite his shock though, he still felt pissed by the taken aback looks on both Gaara and Sasuke's faces. It would seem that neither of them could believe that to be the case, that Naruto could defeat someone like Neji. Though that only made him feel even more annoyed, since Gaara had only just met Neji.

"I'm being underestimated." he thought, his expression turning to irritated disdain. Sasuke regarded him for a moment longer, before looking to Neji.

"C'mon, let's go." he said, turning away.

"Now hold on Sasuke." Neji replied, keeping his eyes on Naruto, "Doesn't this seem like a good opportunity?"

Sasuke came to a stop, turning his head just enough to look at Neji. Though he only saw the back of Neji's head, he seemed to understand his comrade's meaning. However, agreeing with it was apparently a different manner, judging by his narrow eyes.

"You wanna fight these guys?" he asked, his eyes flickering to Naruto, "Why?"

"As you know, Naruto over here defeated me once." Neji replied, maintaining his calm, "I wish for a rematch with him."

Naruto jerked his head from Sasuke to Neji, suddenly realising just what was going on. It was no good, it looked like it had already been decided that they were going to fight. He looked Neji in the eyes, and saw that same superior look that had once infuriated him into a stupor. The look still pissed him off, and when merged with the annoyance he'd already gathered from this meeting, he wasn't too opposed to a fight.

"You wish to fight Naruto then?" Gaara asked, before looking to Sasuke, "Then that would make you my opponent."

"Wa- hey Gaara?" Naruto said, earning Gaara's attention. But now that he had it, Naruto didn't really know what to say. He looked over to Sasuke, who had completely disregarded him and gave Gaara his full attention. In a moment, he recalled his opinion of this person all through his time at the academy. He whipped his head round to Gaara, a serious expression on his face. Slowly, he raised a closed fist, the thumb quickly springing to attention, "Kick his ass."

"You strong?" Sasuke asked, as an arrogant smile spread across his lips.

Gaara looked at him blankly, the fidgeting of his fingers ceasing. It seemed that in that moment all four of them were caught in a visual deadlock, none of them breaking eye contact from their now decided opponents. However, though Gaara had been the one to initiate this state, he was also the one to break it, as the cork from his gourd shot out with a cracking sound.

"AGH!" Naruto cried out, grabbing his cheek. He glared at Gaara, a livid look on his face, "WATCH IT!"

But his words were ignored as suddenly, sand blasted out from the gourd, whipping out at both Neji and Sasuke. Despite their surprise of this strange kind of attack however, both easily managed to avoid it, disappearing into thin air.

"Shit!" Naruto thought, as he turned to his left. In the air, barely two metres away from him, Neji reappeared, his arms outstretched as he turned mid-air.

"Hakkesho-" Neji began, as his spins increased in speed. Naruto cursed again as he saw the chakra stream from Neji's body, "Kaiten!"

Naruto barely managed to leap back in time as the giant spiralling sphere took up the close area in a torrent of wind. He flipped in the air as he fell down the valley, watching the water below. Soon after that, he flipped again, landing neatly on the water's surface. He looked up above, Neji watched him from the valley, alone. Gaara and Sasuke were nowhere to be seen, and from this distance any clues of sound would be hidden.

"This guy's stronger than before."

"Yeah." Naruto agreed, reaching up for his chest, "I'm not taking any chances."

He smirked as he heard Eko's faint chuckle. He undid the straps attached to the sheath of the katana from his back, as Neji slid down the wall at a leisurely pace. He then took the katana and placed it to his side, where he tied it to his waist. Then, as he waited for Neji to reach his level, he placed his left hand on the base of the hilt and the right gripping the sheath with his thumb pressed against the guard.

"My my, it looks like you really have learned to use that blade." Neji commented, as he landed on the water's surface. Small ripples cast out from his feet from the chakra he released, breaking Naruto's own, "The last time we thought you flailed that thing around as if it were a club."

"You wanna see what we can do?" Naruto asked, his face set and determined, "Then come on, we'll kick your ass!"

Neji's smile widened in an annoyingly condescending manner, making Naruto's blood boil. It was hard to believe it, but right now felt almost the same as the last time. He greatly disliked that, feeling as if things were the same as back then. He had gotten through just barely, and only because of a strange situation.

"Well, I can't let it happen like that again." he thought, pushing the wedge from the katana out of the sheath wit a click. Neji spotted the movement and smirked, raising his hand in a single seal. Naruto watched as the veins crawled across his temples, just like last time. And then, without warning, he ran at Naruto, "Damn it!"

With a swipe he pulled out Eko, cutting through the air in front of him in the same motion. Neji ducked under the slash however, reaching up under Naruto's guard with a ready palm. Naruto saw the attack, and was fortunately quick enough to react. He turned to his left and leant over in that direction, placing his hand on the water as Neji's attack passed overhead. He then took the hilt of Eko and forced it upwards, aiming to strike Neji in the stomach. The Hyuga however was not so easily countered, he turned in the air and knocked the attack away with his hand. He then regained his footing and completed the turn, opening another attack on Naruto.

Naruto stepped back, dodging and blocking Neji's waves of palms and strikes. With each new attack he took a further step back, a disgruntled look on his face while Neji seemed to be enjoying himself.

"Damn it!" Naruto yelled, as Neji aimed a strike for his neck, fingers outstretched, "GET THE HELL OFF!"

With a harsh elbow he knocked Neji's arm aside, and threw his other hand straight at Neji's face. The Hyuga raised both his arms in a cross to defend, but was knocked back several metres by the force. When he came to a stop, he looked over his defence with a smirk, already aware that Naruto was gone.

He crouched down low, channelling his chakra to his feet in the process. Then, in one quick movement, he leapt high into the air. With a twist, he reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out both a kunai and an explosive tag. Stabbing the tag with the kunai, he threw them both straight down to the water below.

Throoom!

The water exploded in a rising burst, scattering white mist into the air. Neji watched this fountain with a smile, as Naruto leapt from it, weaponless. The two met in the air, where they both exchanged strikes and punches, Neji's precise attacks having much more effect than Naruto's blunt punches. Neji threw his palm into Naruto's chest, not even flinching as his opponent disappeared completely, leaving nothing but smoke in his place. He landed back on the fluctuating surface of the water, just as the mist began to settle. He watched confidently as from that mist, eight Naruto's revealed themselves, all standing around him.

"The Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Neji stated, casually, "A Kinjutsu of Konoha, if I'm not mistaken."

"Knowing that's not gonna help you!" one of the Naruto's replied, as they all leant forward with their katana's held at eye level. They all ran around Neji, circling him and getting closer. The Hyuga responded by lowering his stance, as sure as ever. Four of the Naruto's leapt into the air, each holding their blades behind them. All of the Naruto's still on the water did the same, but in a slower motion. Then, as one, they all fell upon Neji with brutal slashes.

"Kaiten!" Neji called. The resulting rotation of chakra formed the perfectly spherical barrier around him, to which all the Naruto's struck hard. But to Neji's surprise, all of them disappeared, smoke spiralling around his Jutsu. That wasn't the only thing that shook him though. He was soon to discover that the Hakkesho Kaiten wasn't the wisest Jutsu to use atop the surface of water. His footing had completely disappeared from his technique, and he fell down a few feet as the water was thrown aside. Then, once the sphere had dissipated, it all came crashing back, soaking him as it struck his body, "How annoy-"

His eyes suddenly whipped up to the sky as from above, Naruto feel down towards him, his katana held over his head. The blond boy glared down at him, his teeth bared as he turned.

"EAT THIS!" he yelled, as he began spinning like a wheel, "NARUTO GYRATION!"

Neji's eyes narrowed as he saw the trail of chakra coming from the blade's tip. It formed a wheel against the spinning boy, razor thin and sharp. It was clear that should that attack connect, he would be split in half. However, there was one possible escape.

He stepped aside.

"Foolish." he said, as Naruto passed him.

"I win." Naruto replied, with a grin. Neji's eyes widened in shock as he saw the explosive tags littered over Naruto's body. As one, they ignited, giving him no time to escape.

The resulting explosion blew a hole in the river greater than anything Neji had done. Water flew high up into the sky, a fountain of vapour casting high and falling hard. As this ephemeral rain cast back down, it struck Neji's sphere of chakra, a Hakkesho Kaiten triggered at the last possible second. Once more it dissipated and once more he was drenched with water, but now his breathing was heavier. Though he wasn't exactly gasping for breath, the strain of using that Jutsu so fast had had its effect.

"It seems… you're quite the cunning one." he said, as his breathing slowed, "Then I'll have to watch closer from here on out."

He turned around as Naruto appeared behind him, slicing the air with his blade. He dodged back from it, grabbing a kunai from his weapons holster in the process. The moment his feet touched the water, he changed direction and pushed forward, striking out with the short blade. He hit the katana as it came back for a second swipe, using both his hands to grip his kunai and restrain the force of the larger weapon. The two of them struggled for the upper hand, Naruto trying to bring Eko's blade to Neji's waist as the other one pushed his kunai to the left in resistance.

Both of them cast their eyes to the north wall of the valley as a loud crash emitted somewhere above. They watched as a large cloud of dust settled on the wall, Sasuke leaping out of it. The dark haired boy skidded across the rock face, his eyes fixed on the growing cloud. But there was something different about him, scattered black markings had appeared across his skin.

"Already?" Neji muttered, bemusedly. He and Naruto then cast their eyes over to the cloud as it dispersed, revealing that which Sasuke was so interested in.

"Damn, already?" Naruto said, emulating Neji. Though he had been expecting to see Gaara there, he gained a feeling of unease as he instead saw a large sphere of sand.

"Things are gonna get messy."

"An interesting companion you have there." Neji said, his attention returning to Naruto. He used the momentary distraction to push the katana away and reach in, slamming his palm into Naruto's chest.

"GUWAH!" Naruto exhaled, as his heart beat out of turn. He was knocked back by the attack, and left with a strange sensation running across his ribs. He didn't have time to stay disoriented though, as Neji was closing in for a follow up attack. With a quick movement, he slid Eko into his sheath and clasped his hands.

The wind pulsed from his palms, hitting Neji full on in his chest. He was immediately knocked off of his feet, sent flying back a considerable distance. He hit the water and fell straight through the surface, disappearing with a splash. Naruto used this chance to settle himself, a light buzzing sound was ringing in his ears. But he didn't take his eyes from the spot Neji had disappeared from. Though that attack would most likely have winded him and possibly broken a few ribs, he didn't want to discount anything. It seemed his suspicion was correct, for moments later Neji leapt back out of the water, clutching his chest and wincing.

"I'll admit… that was careless of me." he said, breathing hard. Naruto watched him warily, just how much could this guy take?! However, after looking for a few seconds, such a question slipped his mind.

The tie of Neji's forehead protector came loose, and it fell to the water dully. Naruto stared at the mark on Neji's forehead, three black tomoe spinning around in a circle. As they did so, more markings began to grow out of them, strange shapes like flickering flames or falling leaves. They descended down Neji's face, spreading out and filling up a lot of his skin. It passed down his neck, arms and even his legs, until his entire body looked like it was covered in the shadow of fire. As this happened, a smile spread across his lips, which slowly split apart into a wide and cunning grin.

"It looks like you too have grown stronger since our last match." he said, as he raised his hands into the bird seal, "Though I have only used this against two other opponents, I feel like I have finally found someone worth testing this out against."

Naruto tensed, trying his best to ignore the cracking sounds coming from Gaara's sphere of sand. He kept his focus fully on Neji, whose eyes slowly closed. He watched as the veins on the Hyuga's face slipped away, disappearing from view. Once more his face was smooth, his grin the only thing causing his muscles to tighten.

"Genwaku Byakugan." Neji said, before slowly opening his eyes.