To recap the Chuunin Exam finals so far...
Neji Hyuuga def. Kongou no Karui via knockout
Naruto Uzumaki def. Haku Yuki via forfeit
Mikazuki no Omoi and Rock Lee fought to a draw
Shino Aburame def. Shikamaru Nara via forfeit
Sabaku no Gaara def. Karasu no Kankuro via forfeit
Fifteen minutes later, the intermission ended, and Genma called for the next two contestants. "Neji Hyuuga, Naruto Uzumaki, please come to the ring" the senbon-chewing Jonin shouted, as the blonde Genin perked up. Neji slowly descended down the stairs, while Naruto did what Naruto does and simply launched himself over the balcony, landing in what would be recognized in another universe as absolutely being a goddamn Power Rangers/Super Sentai pose.
Neji finally made it down to the ring a few moments later, and eyed Nauto, a cocky smirk slowly spreading on his face. "You look like you have something to say" the Hyuuga said confidently. Naruto snorted.
"I'll save all the talk for when I finish kicking your ass, Hyuuga" the blonde growled, dropping into a taijutsu stance.
Neji's smirk did not waver in the slightest. "Very well then, Uzumaki...I'll show you why it is useless to try to defy fate."
"BEGIN!" Genma shouted, leaping back as the action began.
Naruto, predictably, charged in headfirst, throwing several quick jabs at Neji, who dodged effortlessly before hitting a quick strike to the blonde's shoulder, forcing him back. "You really are as much of an idiot as the rumors have said" Neji said condescendingly. "Have you not heard the saying that 'Fighting a Hyuuga in taijutsu is lunacy'?"
Naruto grinned, which Neji found slightly unsettling. "Duh. I wanted to get a feel for your strengths, that's all. Now that I know what getting hit by you feels like, I can go all-out!" the blonde exclaimed, crossing his fingers to form a distinctive hand seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Five other Narutos popped into existence, while Neji scanned them with his Byakugan. "Every single one is perfectly identical, right down to their chakra network. I cannot tell the difference between them...not that it matters."
The first two clones charged forward, while the remaining four Narutos tossed kunai and shuriken at Neji. The Hyuuga sidestepped his two close-range opponents, before delivering two quick Gentle Fist strikes, dispelling them, before catching one of the flying kunai and using it to casually deflect the other projectiles. "Is that really the best you can do, failure?" he asked, smirking.
Naruto snorted. "Calling me a failure? Real original, Hyuuga" he said, rolling his eyes, before realizing his mistake as Neji raced towards the real him. "This is definitely not my proudest moment. Shadow Clone Jutsu!" the blonde muttered, kicking himself for his lack of situational awareness as he conjured up six more clones.
"More clones? Is that the best you can do, Uzumaki?" Neji asked, before his visage sharpened. "Not that it matters...ten times zero is still zero!"
All of Naruto's clones lunged forwards, but Neji sidestepped and raced towards the one in back, believing it to be the real deal. "EIGHT TRIGRAMS STYLE...TWO PALMS!" he began, before driving two chakra-coated fists into the blonde...only for the Shadow Clone to disperse in a puff of smoke. "How?! How could a failure like him have anticipated how I'd focus on the one in back?!" Neji thought, panicking for a brief moment, before snapping out of it and sharpening his gaze on the damn Kumo-loving traitor.
"Lie down and accept your damn fate already!" Neji shouted, losing his cool as he charged forward, dispelling several more clones.
Three more clones leapt forwards and bounced off a whirling chakra barrier that shocked the Hyuuga clan members present. "Kaiten?!" they all exclaimed. Several more clones leapt forwards, revealing explosive tags inside their jackets, forcing Neji to use a full Kaiten to disperse the force of the explosion upwards.
"Not a chance!" another Naruto, presumably the real one, shouted from one of the nearby treetops. "Fuuton: Great Breakthrough!" A gust of wind tore forward from the Naruto's mouth, forcing Neji back and briefly distracting him for a few crucial moments. "What don't you get about your idea of fate being bullshit?!" another Naruto shouted from Neji's left, driving a kunai towards the Hyuuga.
Naji grabbed the blonde's arm and redirected it towards the ground. "If you really have to know...then let me tell you about the Hyuuga clan's legacy of hatred" he began, dispelling the clone with a quick palm strike, before removing his headband and undoing the bandages around his forehead. As the last fell away, a seal shaped vaguely like an "X" with small hooks on the ends was shown on the boy's forehead.
"It all began when I was four years old, on Hinata-sama's third birthday, when my grandfather branded me with this accursed seal - not that you'd know how that feels" Neji began, as the audience began to turn towards the Hyuuga representatives - clan head Hiashi Hyuuga, his younger daughter Hanabi, and five elders of the Main House - with nearly unanimous looks of revulsion, from nobles, shinobi and civilians alike.
"On the same day, Konoha was celebrating a treaty with Kumo, but the Hyuuga clan was upholding this tradition. Because my father was born less than two minutes after Hiashi-sama, he was branded with this seal, and so was I. It not only seals the Byakugan on our deaths, but allows the Main House to punish any member of the Branch House as they see fit."
The looks of disgust quadrupled towards the Hyuuga elders, who only glared back, as if to say "keep your nose out of our traditions, peasants."
"That night, however, the Head Ninja from Kumo abducted Hinata-sama, and before he could get away, Hiashi-sama killed him. Kumo demanded his dead body in exchange for not going back to war with Konoha, but Hiashi-sama was too much of a coward to oblige...so he killed my father and sent him in his place!"
The crowd gasped, Hiashi wore an indescribable look of regret, and in the Kage's Box, A sighed. "Not my village's or my own proudest moment" the blonde grumbled. "Fucking Council of Elders...I really should have kicked them into the path of a lightning bolt years ago" he continued, rubbing his forehead.
"Now do you see? My father was fated to serve and die for his brother, I was fated to be a slave in my own home, and you are fated to always remain a loser...and never become Hokage. The one fate we all share equally...is death" Neji said, before refocusing on Naruto. "And now, you are within my range of divination. EIGHT TRIGRAMS STYLE" The blonde let out a slight curse at allowing Neji to monologue him into dropping his guard, as two chakra-enhanced strikes hammered into him. "TWO PALMS! FOUR PALMS! EIGHT PALMS! SIXTEEN PALMS! THIRTY-TWO PALMS! SIXTY FOUR PALMS!"
Naruto groaned in agony as he soared through the air, his sixty-four main tenketsu points sealed by Neji's assault. The Hyuuga walked to Naruto, and stood over his prone form. "Only an early demise awaits those who attempt to defy fate" he said coldly, before turning to Genma. "Proctor, the match is over" he said, walking away.
But before Genma could call the match, Naruto clambered back to his feet. "Not yet" he hissed, as red chakra began to pour from the seal on his stomach. Something in the blonde had, at that moment, just fucking snapped.
Every hair on the back of Neji's neck stood on end as he felt angry, raw, malicious intent pouring out of the boy who should have been incapacitated. "Wh-what the hell is that?!" he demanded, as he turned to see the red chakra of Kurama flowing around Naruto. "His tenketsu have all been forced open! Can...can this stuff even be called chakra? It feels more like pure hatred..."
The blonde started forward, looking like a man possessed. "Neji Hyuuga...I've just about had enough of your bullshit for one day" Naruto growled angrily. "I don't know what it's like to have a permanent accursed marking on my body eh? Tell me, what do you see over my stomach with that oh-so-amazing Byakugan of yours?" Neji peered at the strange seal on Naruto's stomach.
"I'll tell you what that thing is, what it's really like to have a seal that defines your very existence..." Unzipping his jacket, the blonde pulled up his shirt to reveal the black fuinjutsu markings of the Eight Trigrams Seal on his stomach. "This seal, which has been on me since the day I was born, holds in the goddamn Nine-Tailed Fox!"
The audience gasped, Hiruzen stared sadly, and the civilians looked on with a mix of their lingering hatred for the "Fox Brat" and a deep regret that none of them anticipated. Each of the Genin reacted differently to this news. Satsuki and Sakura remained largely impassive, since they already knew.
Hinata looked on the verge of tears, and Ino's jaw had dropped as the guilt from how she'd treated the boy in the Academy caught up with her. Kiba just kept muttering "holy shit" over and over again, while Shino remained neutral. Shikamaru facepalmed for not figuring it out sooner, and Choji munched his chips sadly.
Temari and Kankuro's jaws had dropped, and they kept looking back and forth between the boy in the arena and their brother, whose normally impassive expression had turned oddly thoughtful. Suigetsu and Chojuro both gaped, while Haku's permanent cheery expression had melted off her face like snow in the springtime. The three Kumo Genin had already known, so they just nodded at Naruto's plight. "Just like Bee-sensei and Yugito-sensei."
"Every goddamn day of my life, I have been ostracized by this village for what I contain. I've been scorned, derided and in some cases outright attacked. If I had your fatalistic mindset, Hyuuga, I'd have given up long ago!" Naruto shouted, before his angered and anguished look turned to one of confidence and hope.
"But you know what...I'm not like you...which is why I will prove myself to those who scorned me, I will make myself into a shinobi that Konoha will be proud of...and someday, I'll become the greatest Hokage in history, dattebayo!" With that, Naruto rushed forward, catching Neji off guard with his speed. "So fast!" A handful of shuriken heralded the blonde's arrival, as Neji deflected the projectiles with another Kaiten. Naruto raised his fist and punched at the Kaiten, the red chakra of the Kyuubi clashing with and neutralizing Neji's barrier.
Neji immediately lashed out at Naruto with several rapid-fire Gentle Fist strikes...only for the blonde to suddenly vanish, replaced by a log. "Kawarimi? When did he make the seals for it?!" Three clones rushed out of the trees and engaged Neji, their enhanced strength and speed forcing the Hyuuga to focus all his attention on them. This was his first mistake...never let the real Naruto Uzumaki get out of your sight.
A kunai flew from the bushes as all three of the clones popped from quick and merciless Gentle Fist strikes. Neji avoided the metallic projectile, which narrowly cut past his luscious hair...only to realize at the last possible moment that he had been duped.
The kunai vanished in a puff of smoke, replaced by the real Naruto, who was holding something that truly terrified the Hyuuga. A ball of whirling, tearing, spinning chakra was clutched in Naruto's right hand, as he soared over Neji's head.
"Crap! Kaiten!" the Hyuuga shouted, beginning to erect the protective dome of chakra around him. In the stands, many of the adults in the audience gaped in awe at the sight of the familiar jutsu, which pierced the incomplete Kaiten like it wasn't even there, before slamming into the Hyuuga's back.
"RASENGAN!"
The Fourth's signature jutsu drilled into Neji's back, driving him face-first into the ground as the audience gasped in surprised, then roared in awe. As Neji lost consciousness, the last thing he thought he saw was a bird escaping a cage and flying free, its' fate now as free as the winds upon which it flew.
Genma rushed over, took one look at Neji, and raised his hand. "Neji Hyuuga has been incapacitated...Naruto Uzumaki wins!"
And as the blonde walked off the field, the crowd roared non-stop at his victory, giving the boy the first round of applause he had been waiting years for...and it certainly wouldn't be the last.