Chapter 31 Round One Days

Kiba tapped his foot impatiently as he stood in the line of tournament participants in the middle of the large arena. The day of the tournament was here. The applicants for the Chuunin exams had gathered in Konoha's fighting arena in front of hundreds of spectators. The arena was sparsely wooded and mostly open ground for easy spectating. There was also a small pond of water in the corner for Suiton users.

There were quite a few people missing from the list of participants. He turned glanced around nervously. Where the hell were Naruto and Sasuke? They were late! This wasn't like them at all. Naruto was usually a stickler for being on time and Sasuke liked to be early to everything.

The proctor for the finals, Shiranui Genma, who was brown haired, wore a bandanna hitai-ate and had a senbon in his mouth, turned to Kiba and said,

"Stop fidgeting! Stand still and face the guests properly!"

"Ah. Sorry" Kiba sheepishly rubbed his head. "But what happens if people don't get here on time?" Kiba asked.

"They'll probably be disqualified or lose their chance to become Chuunin."

Suddenly a harsh gust of wind blew across the arena. A twister of wind formed in the arena a floor blowing up clouds of dust, causing everyone to cover their eyes. As the dust cleared they saw Naruto standing there nonchalantly. The boy now wore a red haori with black flames along the bottom. His hair was longer than usual and several people noted his striking resemblance to a certain blonde Hokage. He calmly walked over to the line up and bowed to the proctor.

"I'm sorry I'm late, something came up."

Genma shrugged. "Eh. Whatever, you got here just in time. Any idea where your teammate is?"

Naruto looked over the line and smirked. "I'm sure he'll be here soon. He won't keep Kiba waiting for long."

"Damn right! He better not!" Kiba yelled. Akamaru barked from within his coat.

Another harsh gust of wind blew across the arena floor kicking up dust. Sasuke and Kakashi arrived back to back in a flurry of leaves.

"Maa… I hope we're not too late?" Kakashi asked sheepishly.

"Hn. I told you we would be late." Sasuke grunted.

Genma just sighed. Kakashi was rubbing off on his students too much. "No, no. Just in time. Get in line."

Sasuke casually trotted over to the line and smirked at a scowling Kiba. "Ready to go down dobe?"

"Watch your mouth Sasuke! Because you'll be the one going down today bastard!"

"Right. No fighting just yet. Save that for the tournament." Said Genma. "Its starting so get ready" The Kazekage had finally arrived.

"Ahem." The Hokage stood and enhanced his voice with chakra. "Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed guests. Welcome and heartfelt thanks for gathering here in Konohagakure for the Chuunin exams! We will now begin the matches of the final round between the nine candidate who advanced in the preliminaries. Please sit back and enjoy!"

"Nine candidates? Weren't there ten? What happened to that Dosu guy?" Kiba asked curiously.

Genma did not respond. He merely held up a sheet of paper with the tournament brackets drawn on it. "Before we begin, I have a few announcements. There have been a few last minute changes, so look again and confirm your assigned opponent."

It appeared that Dosu had withdrawn… The only change now was that Lee and Shino no longer had to fight an extra match and Tenten was up against Gaara.

"Listen up, all of you." Genma continued. "This is the final exam. The landscape may be different but just as with the preliminaries there are no set rules. You fight until one of you dies or admits defeat. Unless I determine that a clear winner has already been decided, in which case I'll stop the match before anyone is killed. Understand?"

The genin stared resolutely at Genma. He nodded, "Alright then. Match one Uzumaki Naruto… and Hyuga Neji. You two stay down here. The rest of you proceed to the waiting room outside the arena."

The genin shuffled off the arena floor and made their way to the designated waiting room. Leaving Neji and Naruto standing in the arena with the proctor.

The two genin assessed each other calmly. Neji activated his Byakugan and glared at Naruto. Naruto tilted his head back and put his hand in his pockets.

"Now then. Match one. Begin!" Genma called backing up a few steps.

"Hmph. I acknowledge you as strong, Naruto. But it is your destiny to lose to me today." Neji declared taking up the standard juuken stance.

"Hm… That's rather arrogant of you wouldn't you say? Who's to say destiny can't be changed?" Naruto asked casually.

"Because destiny is set in stone. There is no changing your predetermined fate. Abilities and talent are determined at birth. Your entire destiny is set from the moment you are born. You are merely an above average genin who shall fall to the might of the Hyuga clan.

'Ah. So I'll be changing this boy's mind by literally beating this thought process out of him then. No one knows that I'm the Yellow Flash's son just yet. If I go from an underdog to beating Neji, it should at least shake his world view.' Naruto thought.

Naruto shifted his weight to his right leg, "If destiny is so set in stone, why would you still try? Why would one still train and struggle in life if everything has been predetermined? You could simply stand there and do nothing and win, no? But you will fight me because neither of us knows who will win just yet."

"Pretty words. But it does not change the fact that you will fall before me today!" With those words Neji charged at Naruto, arms readied for a devastating juuken strike.

Naruto smoothly dodged a strike to his shoulder and retaliated with a high kick. Neji made to catch his leg and then disable it by pressing Naruto's tenketsu when Naruto abruptly disappeared. Neji's eyes widened, he turned quickly and ducked under a kick to the back of his head.

"Tch!" Neji leaped backwards to avoid a spinning kick from Naruto's other leg. Naruto disappeared again and Neji had to dodge a punch to his side from the other direction. In an instant Naruto was gone again, giving Neji no opportunity to attack. Neji was confused. What was that speed burst just now? It was almost like fighting Lee!

Unknown to Neji, Naruto had released his resistance seals to level 5 just then. Naruto formed five shadow clones that approached Neji quickly from all directions. Neji was hard pressed to avoid the omnidirectional attacks but he managed somehow. He reached out and struck a clone in the chest, causing the clone to explode in a great burst of chakra. Neji immediately exuded a large amount of chakra and spun in place. A dome of chakra formed around Neji and dispersed the backlash of the explosion.

Minato smirked.

"What was that about not fighting fate? I can see that you are fighting on your own as well. Isn't that a technique reserved for the main house? If you truly believed what you espoused, why bother learning such a technique?"

"Feh it was merely a useful technique after all."

Naruto smiled beautifically at Neji. He dispelled his clones and pulled out a single kunai. "Seems you are rebelling against your destiny after all, hm?

"My destiny has already been determined by my birth! It matters not what I do!"

Naruto threw his kunai at Neji who scoffed and raised his own kunai to deflect it. Then Naruto made a half ram sign. The single kunai multiplied into a veritable storm of metal. Neji's eyes widened and he frantically spun in place again and blocked the hailstorm of kunai from hitting him.

"Destiny is not determined at birth! The fourth Hokage was a nameless orphan who rose to greatness by the virtue of his own hard work!" Naruto pulled out another kunai. "Now let's see how many times you can use that move!"

"Then he was one of a select few individuals who was chosen for greatness!" Neji shouted as he deflected another rain of sharp kunai.

"No!" Naruto relentlessly bombarded Neji with a never ending rain of solid kunai bunshins. "He made it to the position of Kage through hard work and determination! There was no such circumstances at birth which would have allowed him to coast to the position of Kage without trying!"

"I hate brats who try to lecture others without knowing anything." Neji spat. Sending away the kunai. He paused and panted for breath. The ground around him was covered in metal except for a small circle around him.

Naruto laughed incredulously at the statement.

"You know nothing of the fate of the branch family of the Hyuga." Neji said angrily.

"If you're talking about the curse mark I know all about it. You are not the only one to be marked while young for a seemingly inescapable fate! It is not proof that you cannot escape your destiny!" Naruto retorted.

Neji grinned. It was not a pretty expression. "Heh. Then do you know of the incident?"

Naruto paused. "What incident?"

"The incident where my father was murdered by the main branch!"

"What!?"

'Hizashi is dead? Murdered by the head family?' Minato thought in surprise. 'That can't be right!'

"One night someone tried to kidnap Hinata-sama. Hiashi-sama rushed to the scene and killed the perpetrator. But who do you think was the kidnapper?" Neji smirked. "It was a Kumo nin with whom we had just signed an alliance! Kumo claimed that Konoha had violated the treaty and demanded Hiashi's head. War nearly broke out. But war was averted. Thanks to my father, who was sacrificed to protect the main branch… He was murdered to serve as Hiashi's body double!" Neji titled head head back arrogantly, "Even though they were identical twins with practically equivalent strength. The difference between being born first and being born second… Sealed their fates forever. And so too in this match the moment I was selected as your opponent your fate was sealed."

Minato stood there. He didn't believe that that was all there was to Hizashi's death. The Hiashi he knew would have ever allowed such a thing to happen to his brother. He stared determinedly at Neji. "You're still wrong to believe that everyone's destinies are predetermined! I'll change the Hyuga myself!"

"Hmph. It seems not everyone can see sense. No matter. You are now within the range of my divination!" Neji said taking a low stance with his left arm outstretched in front of him and this right arm extended behind him.

Naruto's eyes widened. That stance! This boy! He truly was a genius if he had recreated that move by himself!

"Gentle fist… Eight trigrams sixty four palms!" Neji spun and advanced upon Naruto, hands darting out and reaching for Naruto's tenketsu.

"Eight trigrams two palms!" But just as he was about to land a hit on Naruto his hands were smoothly redirected with incredibly sure movements. Neji grit his teeth tightly and increased the speed of his strikes.

"Four palms!" Naruto easily brushed away each of his strikes.

"Eight palms!" Naruto weaved around him like water.

"Sixteen palms!" Each hit was sent to the side and rendered useless.

"Thirty two palms!" Naruto blurred and Neji could no longer track how he was dodging him.

"Sixty four palms!" Naruto disappeared from sight and Neji was hitting air.

Up in the stands Hiashi stood. First Neji had shocked him by using techniques limited to the head family and then Naruto recreated the Fourth's moves in dodging the Sixty four palms that the Hokage had created when sparring with him. Would Naruto be…? The resemblance was there after all…

Naruto reappeared on the walls of the arena as Neji gasped for breath and rested within the circle of kunai he had cleared.

Naruto grinned at Neji. Neji felt a foreboding feeling go down his spine.

Naruto made a ram seal. Neji fell to his knees crushed under the weight of a gravity increasing seal. The original kunai that Naruto had thrown were glowing with fuinjutsu markings.

Neji cursed himself as he fell forward under the heavy pressure. No! He would not lose like this! This wasn't his fate! He was destined to win! He placed a hand forwards and shakily pushed himself up. He slowly, inch by inch, crawled out of the circle of kunai.

Naruto watched with a wry smile. Neji was one stubborn bastard. Most people in that gravity trap would have given up already. But Neji was still fighting. The boy was really a hypocrite.

Naruto hopped off the wall and walked over to Neji who was wheezing for breath on the ground. "I thought you said destiny couldn't be changed. Then why are you fighting so hard?" Neji glared up at him and pushed himself to his feet. He wobbled in place for a bit and set a determined gaze on Naruto. He stretched his right arm out and made a 'come on' gesture, too tired for words.

Naruto indulged him. He charged forwards forming a Rasengan in his left palm as Neji spun in a kaiten. The two forces clashed in a huge explosion. The proctor was nearly blown out of the arena, just barely holding on by applying chakra to his feet.

When the dust had settled Naruto was standing without a single hair out of place while Neji was deep in a trench carved by his own body. Genma looked back and forth between the two and took a deep breath. He raised his right arm,

"Winner of the first match! Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto followed the med nins as they carried Neji out of the arena. He had to see if Neji was alright after that last clash. It seemed the boy was suffering from a serious case of chakra exhaustion due to using the Kaiten one too many times.

He was surprised to see Hiashi approaching the med bay. Naruto nodded respectfully at the man. Hiashi paused briefly upon seeing Naruto there.

"Excellent match Uzumaki-San. Do you by any chance know of your parentage?" He asked.

Naruto stared at Hiashi calmly. "Yes. I do."

"I see… May I ask what your father's name was?"

Naruto tilted his head at Hiashi. He didn't know? "His name is withheld for my own safety, you understand Hiashi-san."

"I understand. Thank you for your time. Now if you'll excuse me." Hiashi inclined his head towards Naruto and knocked on the door to the med bay. He entered after he was given permission and closed the door behind him. Soon the med nins left the room and Hiashi was left in the med bay with only Neji.

Naruto leaned against the door and listened quietly as Hiashi explained to Neji the truth of his father's death.

So in the end Hizashi had gained his freedom huh? That was good to know. Though if he were Hokage he would have ensured that this incident wouldn't have needed a body to resolve. His relationship with A had been good enough that he was confident he could have solved the issue in a different manner.

It seemed that every time he learned more about how Hiruzen handled things after his death, the more he was disappointed.

He knocked on the door to the med bay.

"Come in."

Naruto opened the door to find a teary eyed but stoic Neji and a solemn Hiashi.

"Hiashi-sama," Naruto bowed to the man "I believe I may have a solution for the rift that has formed between the Hyuga."

Hiashi assessed Naruto curiously. "What?" He asked, confused by this turn of events.

"I recently returned from a training trip to Uzushio and I have mastered the arts of Uzumaki sealing. I can create a new seal that is universal among the Hyuga that would seal the Byakugan but would lack the control aspect of the old seal. I can also remove the old Hyuga curse seal." Said Naruto.

"What!? That's impossible! Trying to remove the curse seal results in the death of the Hyuga! This has been tested many times in the past by our enemies!" Hiashi exclaimed.

"I can prove it right now with Neji if you wish." Naruto said calmly.

"Eh?" Asked Neji.

"Huh? N-Naruto-san you are going too fast please explain further!" Hiashi stammered.

"I've learned Uzumaki seal manipulation techniques. I believe I will be able to successfully alter the seal enough so that it does not immediately kill the bearer and then remove it entirely."

"But this new seal you speak of among the Hyuga. How soon can you create it and what would its effects be?"

Truthfully Minato had this seal prepared during his first year in office as Hokage. Except he couldn't really do anything for the older generation of branch Hyuga. Since he could only slightly modify existing seals back then. He wanted to make it so that the Hyuga were less divided in future generations. He just never had the opportunity to suggest it to the clan. It would have also been seen as a naive Hokage attempting to meddle in clan affairs so he hadn't been sure how to bring it up until later in his tenure.

"I can make it right this instant if need be. It would seal the Byakugan upon extraction as the old seal did not prevent the Byakugan from being extracted while the Hyuga were alive, yes?" Naruto didn't wait for a response and barreled on, "Generally the seal would have the same functions as the old one except this seal won't allow for the same pain inflicting functions. It would make everyone in the Hyuga clan equal."

Hiashi and Neji both gaped at Naruto. Hiashi glanced at Neji who stared back at him with wide eyes. "The elders would never allow this." Neji whispered.

Hiashi nodded dumbly, the elders of the clan would throw a riot if this were to happen. "Naruto-san, what would this seal look like and may we inspect a copy of it before we discuss this further?"

Naruto nodded. He pulled the fuinjutsu supplies he had liberated from the ruins of Uzushio and quickly drew up a seal. Visually it looked no different from the cross on Neji's forehead but its functions were drastically different.

"How can we be sure that this seal works?" Hiashi said, examining the seal closely.

Naruto shrugged. "I suppose you could submit it to T&I for testing. The seal should lock the eyesight of any eye that it seals, in theory the Uchiha could use it as well."

"I see. There will be a long meeting with the elders in the Hyuga clan at some point. You must be present, Naruto-san, to defend your seal. I will send you a notification, where do you live may I ask?"

Naruto smiled cheekily at Hiashi, "The Namikaze compound."

Hiashi's eyes widened further. "I-indeed? As I suspected… You do your father proud…"

"Thank you Hiashi-san." Naruto said proudly. "I'll leave you to think over my proposal for now, I have a few matches to spectate after all."

"A-ah. Of course. Best of luck to you in this tournament Naruto-san." Said Neji.

"Thank you Neji-san that was a good match."

"Don't patronize me Naruto-san, you barely went all out didn't you?" Neji asked, smiling ruefully.

"Ah, well what can I say? Perhaps it was my fate after all?" Naruto teased.

Neji snorted and shooed Naruto out of the room. Naruto grinned and walked out to the roaring crowd.


Kiba and Sasuke's match had started and they were in the middle of a furious taijutsu bout. The ground was marked with trenches from Kiba's Gatsuga use and several trees were on fire. Akamaru darted in and out between their legs biting at Sasuke while he fended the dog off with a kick every now and then. Kiba and Sasuke's taijutsu had obviously improved greatly. They were both faster than ever. To most civilian spectators they were just blurs that moved across the arena floor in between blinks.

Both boys were grinning wildly as they clashed. Sasuke dropped low and swept a leg out making Kiba jump into the air. He threw shuriken into the air after Kiba but Kiba kawarimied with Sasuke, swapping places and putting him in the line of fire instead. Sasuke deflected his own shuriken, landed and threw himself back at Kiba. Kiba laughed and clawed Sasuke's face and then jumped backwards to make space. Sasuke wiped his cheek and flipped through hand signs. He released a wave of fire at Kiba who dodged easily. Akamaru returned to Kiba's side and Kiba tossed a food pill at the dog. Akamaru chomped down on the pill and growled, turning a bright red color.

"Let's go Akamaru!"

"Bark!"

Akamaru jumped onto a crouched Kiba's back and transformed into a second Kiba.

Kiba then formed several earth clones and rushed at Sasuke with a small army.

Sasuke's Sharingan flashed and he set about dispatching the clones with a pair of kunai. Earth flew in great arcs as he slashed through the clone army.

A hand shot out of the earth from below him and Sasuke yelped as he was pulled underneath the ground.

Sasuke released a wave of lightning loosening the earth around him. He crawled out of the hole he made and yelled, "That won't work on me ever again!"

Kiba snickered as he emerged from the ground, "But I gotcha didn't I? And I'll get you again!" Another hand shot out of the ground reaching for Sasuke's leg. But Sasuke jumped away throwing shuriken down as he did. Akamaru growled at Sasuke for dodging and tunneled under again. Sasuke landed, cautiously eyeing the ground for any indication of where Akamaru would appear next.

Kiba capitalized on the moment of inattention and tackled Sasuke. Akamaru burst from the ground behind Sasuke and jumped on top of Sasuke as well. They were unceremoniously shocked off by a wave of lightning that exploded from around Sasuke's body.

They both lay twitching on the ground as Sasuke pushed himself to his feet.

"Heh. Had enough yet, dobe?" Sasuke asked, brushing some dirt off his clothes casually.

Kiba groaned and rolled over to face Sasuke. "Hell no! Watch this! Akamaru!"

Akamaru barked and jumped into the air. He spun, splashing Sasuke with his dynamic marking technique. Sasuke recoiled in horror. Kiba laughed and jumped into the air after Akamaru with a ram seal.

They both disappeared into a large cloud of chakra smoke. As the smoke slowly cleared a large hulking figure loomed over the arena. A giant feral looking two headed white dog menacingly growled at Sasuke. It filled up a fifth of the large arena by itself and its fangs were the size of Sasuke's arm. Sasuke flinched as the beast bared its teeth.

The giant dog howled and charged at Sasuke, shaking the ground with its heavy footsteps. Sasuke dived out of the way as the Beast ran past him, the two headed dog quickly pivoted and spun into a white high speed drill, a Garouga. Sasuke's eyes widened at the sheer speed of the attack and he shunshined out of the way. Kiba and Akamaru tore a huge trench into the ground and bore a huge dent into the arena walls as they missed.

Sasuke sweat a bit as he examined the damage from the attack, he could not afford to get hit by that.

The next few minutes consisted of a high speed cat and dog chase where Kiba and Akamaru relentlessly pursued Sasuke while Sasuke ran for his life. A long cat and mouse chase ensued. Only with a giant dog and a Sasuke. Sasuke nimbly bounced off the walls as Kiba and Akamaru drilled after him relentlessly.

When the ground was covered in trenches from Kiba's continual misses, the giant dog paused to pant for breath. Both heads slobbered in exhaustion, drooping down to the ground tiredly while Sasuke was breathing heavily. Sasuke formed a few hand signs and inhaled deeply. A large wave of lightning burst from his mouth.

Having exhausted themselves with their continual attacks, Kiba and Akamaru were in no state to dodge. They could only tank the hit with gritted teeth. The huge dog trembled under the force of the attack and collapsed to the ground. It disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Once the smoke had cleared, Kiba and Akamaru were sprawled out on the ground breathing heavily.

Genma walked over to Kiba and kneeled down besides him. He looked over Kiba and then raised his right arm and declared, "Inuzuka Kiba is unable to continue. Winner, Uchiha Sasuke."

The crowd roared in approval. The match had been flashy and exciting with many nail biting moments. They were thoroughly impressed with the genin that Kakashi had raised.

Naruto smiled softly as Sasuke stumbled over to Kiba and offered a hand to Kiba; pulling him up from the ground. Both boys wore satisfied grins on their faces. Kiba aimed a weak punch at Sasuke and went to pick up Akamaru. They threw mild verbal jabs at each other as they slowly made their way out of the arena.

Lee and Shino were slated for the next fight and Naruto figured that Sasuke and Kiba would be returning soon. He leaned against the arena railings and settled in to watch


A/N: Sorry for disappearing! Im really busy with school and my depression has been pretty bad so updates will be slow! Im only posting this because of the corona virus quarantine haha...