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Time for chapter 21

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"What on earth is he made of? No human being could have survived such an impact" Hinata said with wide eyes as Gaara staggered to his feet. The redhead's sand armour, which he had applied earlier in his battle with Rock Lee, was badly cracked and splintered. A stream of blood was dripping from the corner of his mouth, but he appeared to be physically fine despite the aesthetic horror of his appearance.

However, in sharp contrast to the seeming lack of physical damage, Gaara's mental state appeared to have been badly shaken by the Hidden Lotus. For the most part, his demeanor was as calm as it always was, but there were visible gaps in his metaphorical armour now. His eyes twitched periodically, and his hands were shaking.

"If Lee can muster anything more, he might still be able to win this" Naruto said hopefully as his fellow Konoha genin coughed painfully and tried to get to his hands and knees.

"He's done. This fight is over" Kakashi said bluntly. The blonde opened his mouth to refute the statement, but shut it again as he watched Lee continue to writhe in pain.

"His muscular structure has been ravaged, and the majority of his bones are broken in some capacity. I would be amazed if he could stand again within a month, let alone this match" Hinata said grimly. Naruto's hands curled into fists as Gaara slowly approached the fallen genin.

"That...was...far too close for comfort" Gaara hissed as his sand wrapped around Lee's battered body. Despite the large distance between the combatants and observers, the silence in the room allowed for the redhead's voice to be heard by all. Gaara then flung his foe into the nearby wall with his sand, resulting in a sickening 'thud' as Lee hit the concrete.

"Stop the fight! Please! He's going to kill him!" Tenten, one of Lee's teammates, yelled desperately from the observation deck. When no stoppage came, Gaara resumed his assault of Lee, tossing him about the room viciously. The beating continued for roughly forty-five seconds before action was taken. Said action occurred when just as Gaara was about to crush Lee's already-broken limbs.

As the tendrils of sand crashed down toward the jumpsuit-wearing ninja, it hit a wall. That wall was Guy, who had leapt down from his position in the observation area to save his clearly finished student. Gaara narrowed his eyes at the sudden interruption.

"Why are you interrupting? This fight isn't finished yet" he asked dangerously. Guy glanced back at Lee, who had lost consciousness soon after his intervention.

"He is my beloved student, and I refuse to let you kill him" he replied firmly. Gaara stared at him blankly for a moment before shaking his head beginning to walk away in the opposite direction.

"I quit" he said bluntly as he strode away. As he made his way back to the observation deck, quiet crackling sound could be heard, prompting both he and Guy to turn around to view its source.

"Dear god…" Hinata whispered with a hand covering her mouth. Naruto, who stood beside her, shook his head in disbelief at the sight below.

"After all of that punishment, he's still…" he said, finding himself unable to finish his sentence as he marveled at the tragic scenario.

"...conscious?" Hayate, who had been preparing to declare Gaara the winner due to Guy's illegal intervention, said. The thing that had shaken the composure of all those observing the match was none other than Rock Lee, who had somehow risen to his feet once more. Guy slowly made his way to his battered pupil and put his hands on his shoulders.

"You don't need to fight anymore, Lee. You've proven your point. The fight is-" he began. Before he could finish the statement, the truth of the situation at hand dawned on him. Lee was completely unconscious, having only risen to his feet through an admirable mix of muscle memory and willpower.

"Lee...what have I done? Look at you, beaten to pieces, and still trying to achieve your goals…" Guy said as he broke down into tears. Hayate swallowed the second hand emotion that had built itself into a lump in his throat and pointed towards the retreating Gaara.

"Due to an illegal interference, Gaara is the winner!" he announced. Guy then begrudgingly surrendered Lee to the medical staff who had been waiting to make their way onto the battlefield. As he was carried away, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Hinata all bowed in his direction as a show of appreciation for his herculean effort against his monstrous foe.

"What an incredible fight. Difficult to watch for stretches, but still about as brutal and back-and-forth as a battle can be" Shikamaru said as Gaara silently returned to his viewing position. Hayate then called for a five minute intermission, much to the relief of all ninja present.

"To think that Neji-san dominates that boy in training. I find that a bit hard to believe after having seen this fight" Hinata muttered more to herself than to her team.

"I doubt that he uses the Eight Gates in sparring. Baseline strength probably favors your cousin quite a bit, if I had to guess" Shikamaru said. The Hyuga girl nodded in agreement.

"Good point. Lee-san's sensei did imply that the Eight Gates Technique was a last resort of sorts" she said. Team Seven continued to discuss the incredible encounter they had just witness until Hayate called them to attention.

"Alright, I need you all to look to the monitor again" he called out to them. For the third time that day, the genin all looked to the screen. After the now-mundane roulette, two names slotted into place. To some, the pairing was shocking. To others, it was as regular as any other. To the few who truly understood, it was begrudgingly perfect.

"Naruto Uzumaki of Konohagakure will now face Hinata Hyuga, also of Konohagakure. Both combatants, please step forward"

Neji's posture immediately became rigid at the sound of his cousin's name alongside Naruto's. It was as though the powers that be had been in a foul mood.

"Just as I was beginning to think that this day couldn't become any more stressful…" he muttered under his breath. Despite his hushed tone, Tenten heard him speak.

"First our teammate, and now your cousin. It must really suck to have a dog in every race" she said sympathetically. The Hyuga shook his head and sighed.

"It isn't as simple as me wishing for Hinata-sama's victory. In fact, I'm not sure if this is a fight I think, or even hope, she wins" he said, earning a look of confusion from the weapon specialist.

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't you want her to win? I know you two have had your differences, but you've spoken pretty favorably of her for the most part" she asked skeptically. Neji chewed his lip absently as Naruto and Hinata made their ways to opposite sides of the room to face one another from.

"For all of the good qualities she has buried beneath her insufferable superiority complex, that complex is exactly that. Insufferable. I feel that she may need to be knocked down a peg or two. My fear regarding this match is just how emotional it is bound to become. Emotion leads to impulse, and impulse leads to foolish, regrettable decision-making" he explained. Tenten nodded and leaned on the railing.

"You did tell me something about her being all hung up over something. That something is Naruto, isn't it?" she asked. The Hyuga nodded and braced himself for the beginning of the match.

"Indeed he is. And he has no idea. By the end of this, he'll be shocked and confused, but I trust him to work around it" he said. Tenten chuckled at his response.

"You have quite a lot of confidence in him despite having never had a conversation with him" she commented. Neji shrugged.

"Call it a leap of faith"

Naruto stretched extensively as he settled into his position opposite Hinata in the enormous room of concrete. The announcement of his opponent had been surprising, but not overly jarring.

'I would have rather fought somebody else, but I guess I can work with this. She'll bring the best out of me' he thought to himself as he studied his teammate from afar. She appeared to be stretching as well.

'She looks a little...intense. Guess she's just raring to go' he thought as he noticed a defined scowl on Hinata's face. The pair was then given a signal by Hayate.

"Now, if you are both ready, you may begin" he called out to them. The split second after the proctor had given the metaphorical green light, Naruto was struck with a hard palm strike to his stomach, forcing to back up several steps and cough raggedly.

"That was cheap!" he exclaimed as he weaved his way around Hinata's follow-up strikes. Once he had recreated a bit of space, he focused his vision on the oncoming Hyuga and stepped to his left, creating a space for her to blitz her way through. As Hinata flew past him, Naruto cracked her across the left side of her jaw with a hard, right handed punch. The strike caused the heiress to stagger, forcing her to regain her balance.

"Sharp counter. Not bad at all, Naruto-san" she said as she rubbed her face. She then leapt forward and engaged him again, forcing the blonde to block and parry a variety of palm strikes before changing her tactics and planting her shin across the right side of his ribcage. Naruto winced at the debilitating kick to his body, but forced himself to endure the pain and seize the leg that had kicked him.

Naruto spun Hinata around several times before flinging her away. The heiress effortlessly landed on her feet and assumed her stance once more. The Jinchuuriki then made a hand sign and widened his stance.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu" he muttered as twenty duplicates of himself appeared around him. Hinata raised an eyebrow at the development, but did not react further. Naruto then directed the clones towards his opponent. The Hyuga girl charged forward to meet them, dispersing four of them on impact. From there, each clone was succinctly destroyed by the superior prowess of Hinata's taijutsu. Once every clone was gone, Naruto entered the fray once more, leading with a driving knee to Hinata's midsection.

The strike landed cleanly to her chest and halted her forward charge. Despite the disruption of her momentum, Hinata still drew first blood in the exchange with a hard punch to the Jinchuuriki's nose that snapped his head back. Naruto grimaced as his nose stung. Fortunately, he was able to regain his bearings just in time to duck under a kick aimed for the side of his head. As the shin bone sailed over his head, Naruto whipped his head upwards, slamming the back of his head into Hinata's chin.

Both ninja staggered back from the impact, but it was the Hyuga heiress who wore a scowl once they had become stable once again. Naruto stepped forward to re-engage, but was launched backwards well-times palm strike to his upper chest. Just as his feet touched the ground, Hinata jumped forward to capitalize on her success. This time, however, the blonde had expected the blitz.

As Hinata crashed towards him, Naruto ducked down and threw an arcing, short-range elbow that the Hyuga girl ran forehead-first into. The strike immediately split her open, sending a small spray of blood from her face. Hinata was forced to take a knee from the impact, allowing Naruto to seize her by the front of her shirt and throw her back.

'She's timable. She enters and exits exchanges on straight lines. All I need to do is punish her for it' he thought to himself as Hinata wiped the blood from her forehead. Instead of foolishly rushing forward again, she widened her stance and opened her eyes wide.

"Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms" she said calmly before vanishing from sight. The blonde took a step backwards to begin his retreat, but was struck hard in the chest with a palm strike before he could move more than a few feet. As he staggered back he was struck two more times. Then four, then eight, then sixteen, then thirty-two, and finally sixty four times. He was sent flying backwards to the floor, colliding with the concrete hard.

"Hayate-san, I believe this match is over. He won't be getting up any time soon" she said, glancing over her shoulder at the proctor. Hayate raised an eyebrow at the statement.

"That so? You might want to look back over at him once" he suggested. Hinata frowned and turned her attention back towards Naruto, who had risen to his feet.

"You know, I thought I was prepared for the pain of getting hit by the gentle fist, but I wasn't. That hurt like hell" the blonde said as he wiped a trail of blood from his lips. The Hyuga girl stared at him in shock as he cracked his neck and dusted himself off.

"Before you ask, the reason that didn't knock me out is because I did some specific conditioning to toughen my body up in the event that I was paired up with your cousin. I didn't know that we could be matched against teammates, but it also comes in handy against you" he explained as he assumed a taijutsu stance. Hinata clenched her jaw and began to inch forward.

"The next time I hit you like that, you'll be twitching on the floor. I promise" she said before charging in and engaging the Jinchuuriki. As she entered striking range, Naruto intercepted her with a sharp punch to the left side of her skull that turned her head and buckled her knees. Capitalizing on the momentary lapse in defense from his foe, Naruto followed up with a hard kick to the stomach that pushed Hinata back several feet and doubled her over.

The Hyuga girl gritted her teeth and scowled at her teammate as she straightened her posture and prepared herself to continue fighting.

'This must change. I need to alter my approach' she thought to herself as she pushed down her growing frustration. She narrowed her eyes as she studied the blonde.

'I'll break you, Naruto-kun'

Neji took a sip from his canteen of water as he observed the match between Hinata and Naruto with great interest. The match had been fascinating throughout, and quite enlightening on several levels.

"Who's winning, Neji? I can't keep up with these exchanges" Tenten asked as she tried and failed to properly read the leads and counters of the combatants waging metaphorical war down below. The Hyuga glanced back at her for a moment before returning his attention to the match.

"As of right now, Naruto-san is well ahead. It is quite clear that he prepared specific things for me. The defensive stance, the backstepping counters, the willingness to throw more than one strike at a time, he's fighting the perfect fight to bring down a member of the Hyuga clan. He's forcing Hinata-sama to come to him, and it's working" he explained as Naruto snapped the heiress' head back with a sharp punch. Tenten nodded.

"I figured he was ahead. He also looks like the much harder hitter of the two. Every time Hinata steps in, she gets clocked with something that makes her back up. Every time Naruto steps in, he either blocks the strike coming back at him, or he just eats it. She's struggling big time" she said. Neji then flinched as Hinata was staggered with a crushing counter from Naruto that sent her reeling back.

"The power difference is monumental, and it's wearing on her. Unless she dynamically changes her tactics, I don't like her chances down the stretch" he said. Just as the sentence left his mouth, Hinata caught Naruto ducking to his right with a left-legged kick to the side of his head. The strike opened a cut over his right eye and buckled his knees momentarily.

"I was wondering when she would finally throw a high kick. Naruto-san always, always leans to his right when entering range" he said. As though on cue, Hinata slammed her left shin into his head again, having finally found an exploitable opening. Naruto took another backwards step to regain his bearings, barely managing to dodge the follow up palm strike from Hinata.

"Why was he preparing tactics for you, Neji? These matches are random" Tenten asked as Naruto and Hinata engaged again.

"I don't know for sure, but I think he was confident in his ability to defeat any other genin without specialized preparation. He was smart enough to know that facing a member of the Hyuga clan requires planning" Neji replied. Both he and the weapon specialist then gasped as Naruto knocked Hinata flat with an enormous counter punch to the left side of her jaw.

"Her durability is beginning to fail her in these exchanges" Neji said, his tone conflicted. Tenten bit her lip as Hinata staggered to her feet.

"This fight is almost over" she said.

Little did they know, the battle had only begun, and had yet to reach the pique of its horrific violence.

Naruto took a deep breath as he side-stepped Hinata's forward charge. Despite having taken control of the match several minutes previously, his self-chosen tactic of fighting defensively was taxing, as Hinata refused to give him room to breathe.

'She's insanely durable. I've been hitting her about as hard as I can, and she just keeps coming' he thought to himself as he kicked out one of her legs and sent her crashing to the floor. For the third time that match, he patiently waited for the Hyuga girl to rise to her feet. As she climbed into an upright stance, she locked eyes with him and scowled.

"I'm...done...with this" she said vaguely. She then allowed herself to relax and leaned her head back. Naruto furrowed his eyebrows as his teammate stood silently before him.

"What do you mean?" he asked skeptically. Hinata did not respond. Instead, she convulsed momentarily before dropping to her knees.

"What the hell is going on?" Naruto demanded as the Hyuga heiress breathed deeply and rose to her feet for a second time. For several moments, Hinata's eyes were downcast, hiding her face behind her bangs. Eventually, she turned her gaze up to Naruto.

"Shall we continue now, Naruto-kun?" she asked. The unusually-timed, affectionate honorific caught the Jinchuuriki's attention immediately, but that was not the detail that caused his blood to run cold.

It was the strange markings that had made their way up Hinata's neck and onto her face.

A/N: I know a lot of you are going to be disappointed that I didn't show Gaara vs Lee, but you have to understand, that fight is unquestionably the best of the whole series, and I don't think I could have done it justice.

Hope you aren't too angry at me for that :(

See you next chapter! Read and Review!