A/N: Woo! Chapter 20! A milestone! And the big fight is here!

The audience was dead silent as they anticipated the first move of the first match. Hinata gripped the hem of her blue shirt, which Naruto complimented earlier, as she watched her cousin stare motionlessly at her boyfriend.

Naruto stared back at him while a drop of sweat slowly made its way down each of his three whiskers. The proctor didn't give them a sign to begin yet so Naruto seized the opportunity to speak his mind.

"Before we begin, I want you to tell me something." He said seriously, his eyes not leaving Neji's.

Neji raised a brow. "What?"

"Why did you hurt Hinata like that?"

Neji was still focused but puzzled. "Tell me you're joking… That's what you're supposed to do in a match if you hadn't known that before."

"Don't act like you're the smartest freaking guy on the planet, you know what I meant!" Naruto yelled in anger, his fists tightening. "You two are family, you didn't fight like you're in a match against a family member, you would have killed her if the others hadn't stopped you!"

"Are you blaming me for her weakness? You're her boyfriend, you should know better than anyone how pathetic she is." Neji smirked slightly.

Naruto bared his canines in anger. "What did you say?"

Up in the audience someone else's anger was slowly building up. Hiashi's cold eyes widened in shock. "He's her what?"

Hanabi turned to him in surprise. "Father, those two are together?"

"Seems like I haven't been informed about that either…" He glanced several rows above and his eyes met his daughter's worried expression.

"She's most definitely not pathetic or weak! She's stronger than you think and she's not afraid to fight and train until she drops. That's what kind of person she is, she never gives up! And neither do I! That's my nindo, my ninja way and imma beat you to a bloody pulp!" Naruto took his stance, his anger building up.

"Heh…I've heard that before…" Neji smirked. "It is not a strong commitment nor a goal, it doesn't mean anything. It is your destiny to lose and it was hers as well."

"Why do you hate her so much? What did she ever do to you?! The way you're talking about her I can tell that she didn't hurt you physically and I know that she'd never insult you. So why do you hold a grudge against her?!"

"I do not expect you to understand, Uzumaki. What's between us is clan business, but if you must know I will tell you about the cruel fate of the former heiress of the Hyuga clan."

"Huh?" Naruto dropped out of his stance.

Neji slowly raised his hands behind his head and started untying his headband. Naruto's eyes widened as the green mark on Neji's forehead became apparent.

"This is the caged bird seal. The curse of the branch house of the Hyuga clan." Neji began explaining. "The Hyugas are the most powerful clan in all of Konoha, so naturally our prized kekkei genkai must be protected from anyone who tries to take its power. The Hyuga clan is divided into two houses: the main house and the branch house. The branch houses serve the main house, but to make sure the byakugan is not misused by anyone in or outside the branch house every member of the branch house is marked with this cursed seal. That is how the fate of our lives is ultimately decided. But you see, Lady Hinata's and my own lives could have been reversed if her father had not been born mere minutes before my father, his identical twin. That automatically meant that her father Hiashi was to be in the main house while my father Hizashi was to be in the branch house to serve his twin brother."

Naruto listened silently, but the more his opponent talked the more uneasy he felt. He knew about the houses but Hinata hadn't told him any of this…the worse part, he could understand why.

The audience was astounded by the revelation as well. Hinata had gotten pail and uncomfortable. She hated how the things in hr clan were, but there wasn't anything she could do about it. She didn't want to listen to all of this again.

"We were free of the seal up until Lady Hinata's third birthday, that's when all members of the branch house were marked…including myself."Neji continued. "On her third birthday we also celebrated peace between our allies, one of them was the Village hidden in the Clouds. But that faithful night someone attempted to kidnap Lady Hinata while she was asleep in the hopes of stealing the power of the byakugan. Her father caught and killed the kidnapper only to find out it was the Cloud ninja we just signed the peace offering with."

Naruto's jaw audibly dropped. "What?!"

"When the Cloud got word of their ninja getting killed they demanded the life of the murderer. But…if Hiashi were to die, the Hyuga clan would be left without their leader and they couldn't let that happen…" Neji visibly started to shake, his hand gripping his headband. "So instead of turning over his body…as the main role of the branch house is to protect the main house…they gave them the body of my father…"

Naruto stared at him in shock. Gasps could be heard from the audience. Hiashi and Hanabi both closed their eyes, they didn't want to be reminded of that horrible event either.

"Do you see what this destiny did to me? The main house has complete control over me. All that is required to activate this curse mark and give me incredible pain is one simple hand sign which if held for too long could be fatal. I am destined to die protecting the people who didn't deserve to be protected and they could get rid of me any time they wish!"

Neji glared at Naruto as the proctor backed away.

"That sill doesn't answer my question." Naruto finally said.

"What?!"

"So you're telling me that you hate Hinata because her dad was born before yours?! How can that possibly be her fault?! There is nothing she can do about it! Yet you insult her, you disrespect her and you leash out your anger on her like it was her fault that she was even born!"

"You will never understand, I will not waste my breath explaining it to you." Neji tied his headband around his forehead again.

"Well, you don't even have to!"

"What?" Neji raised his brow.

"I hate to break it to you, but you're not the only special one around here… to be marked against your will…to live a life surrounded by hate for something that is not your fault…I know exactly what that feels like." He put his hand on his stomach, only some people in the audience knew what that gesture meant.

"And so what? Who cares!"

Neji's byakugan activated against his will. "You…little…" He gritted his teeth in rage.

"Even though it was rough I never gave up, I made friends and my life is getting better because I don't hold a grudge against anyone anymore…and someday I'm gonna become the Hokage! And when I do I'll change the way of the Hyuga!"

All pairs of white pearly eyes in the audience widened.

"But first…I need to beat you, so enough talking let's get it on!"

They both got in their stances and the proctor gave the sign before backing out of the battle field.

Up in the viewing area where the five Kages sat, a bloody and badly winded Hayate limped his way towards them. Earlier that day, no one could find him and as he was supposed to be the proctor of the final exams he was replaced by Genma who just gave the sign for the two to begin the match still chewing on the piece of straw that always seemed to be in his mouth. It was like cigarettes to Asuma.

As he slowly approached the area a jonin with a scar on his face Raido Namiashi, saw him but just as he was about to shout at him, Hayate put his bloody finger over his bruised lips giving him a sign to be quiet.

Raido approached him in concern. "What happened to you? We've been looking for you all day." He whispered.

"I need to talk to Lord Hokage immediately. It's an emergency." Hayate said breathlessly.

"You need to go to the hospital!" Raido whispered back. "And Lord Hokage can't just step out, the first match just began and not to mention that it's his favorite genin that's fighting."

Hayate panted. "Then tell him this… the Kazekage and his team are involved with the Sound and their team, including that guy Kabuto. He's a spy from the Sound and he's the one who did this to me. They are planning on destroying the village using the power of their Jinchuuriki, Gaara."

"What?!" Raido glanced at the Kazekage in shock. It seems that he hasn't noticed that their plan to murder Hayate failed, and even if he did there is nothing he can do about it now, he's in a public place, crowded, where every move is being watched.

"Ok, I will tell him. I'll send Raven with you to the hospital to make sure nothing happens to you."

"One more thing." Hayate whispered as Raido discreetly called over the ANBU with the raven mask. "The ANBU in the upper left corner of the stadium with the monkey mask… that's Kabuto."

Raido nodded and hurried towards the Hokage as Raven led Hayate away.

"Lord Hokage."

"What is it?" He responded, his eyes were still fixed to the battle field where Neji was currently destroying Naruto's clones.

Raido approached him on the right as the Kazekage sat to his left and whispered the shocking discovery in his ear, watching as the Hokage's eyes became wider and wider.

"What is the plan of action?" Raido asked quietly.

"The exams will proceed as planned until we notice any trace of disturbance while you arrest Kabuto and hand him over to Ibiki." Hokage replied quietly, his eyes still focused on the fight.

Kazekage glanced at Hiruzen and raised a brow then focused his attention back on the fight not knowing that his disastrous plan was about to become… a disaster.

As soon as Genma shouted "Begin!" Naruto made his signature hand sign and sent a bunch of clones onto Neji knowing that he couldn't get too close to him as he would shut of his chakra points.

Neji activated his byakugan and was surprised at the fact that he could not distinguish the real one from the clones as Naruto had dispersed his chakra evenly among the clones. As he kept destroying the clones Naruto just kept making more of them trying to get close to Neji.

"It is an impressive technique…" Neji commented as he hit a clone in the stomach. "But you will not be able to rely on it for much longer as you will run out of chakra."

"We'll just see about that." The clone muttered before dispersing. He tried using the smoke cloud as a cover up for the last remaining clone who was running towards Neji with a kunai, but of course that plan failed as the byakugan can see through smoke as well. Neji caught the clone's hand, the kunai mere inches from his face, and twisted his arm while his other hand with two fingers out prepared to blow up the clone. But just as his fingers touched the fabric of Naruto's jacket his all seeing eyes noticed an evil smirk on the clone's face and his fingers froze. "It's a trick." Neji thought as he grabbed the clones other hand with his free one and twisted it as well as the other one making the clone hiss in discomfort before he used his foot to kick the clone away from him, snatching the kunai from his hand. As the clone toppled way from him, Neji threw the kunai at him but instead of smoke the clone burst in a loud explosion nearly reaching his opponent. "The clone was hiding a paper bomb." Neji looked back towards the scowling Naruto.

"Hn. It might have worked if you hadn't gotten cocky at the last second." Neji mocked.

"Damn it." Naruto growled. "What now?"

His blue eyes scouted the surroundings for a second before his gaze went back to his opponent. "I can't summon a toad now, I don't know how that could help me with this guy! And what if it doesn't work? I'll be wasting my chakra for nothing! Think! Come on, think!"

Neji took his stance again. "Giving up already?"

"In your dreams! Shadow clone jutsu!" And with that a dozen more Narutos attacked Neji who proceeded to once again turn them into smoke.

"This is getting ridiculous. You know these clones won't work against me." Neji said. "It does not matter that I cannot distinguish the real one, I'll gladly turn you into smoke as well."

Naruto looked on nervously until his eyes widened as the clones gave him an idea. He used the opportunity to take out a shuriken from his pouch and wrap a paper bomb around it. As the last clone puffed into smoke, Neji looked at him before Naruto threw the shuriken towards him. Neji looked at the shuriken heading towards him. "You're kidding?" But not a second later the shuriken multiplied by eight in the air as Naruto roared: "Shurikenjutsu: Replication!" Neji got ready to dodge the shuriken but as the paper bombs multiplied with the shuriken they exploded before they even reached him.

Neji shielded his eyes with his arms as the explosion blew him away knocking him into the wall behind him.

Hiashi's eyes widened. "Hmmm…"

Hinata rose from her seat. "Yes!"

"No way! He got him! I never even managed to do so!" Lee added in astonishment, his hands gripping his crutch.

Naruto smirked happily. "Finally, it worked."

Neji groaned as he rose back onto his feet and walked towards the middle of the field. Naruto's smile dropped as Neji activated his byakugan again and put his hand out. "Is that all you've got?"

"You've got to be kidding…" Naruto muttered.

Not knowing what else to do, Naruto proceeded to use his clones and weapons again to try to get close to him but the fight continued for 15 more minutes to no avail. Knowing that his shuriken trick worked earlier Naruto decided to attempt it again. It all went as planned until Neji once again spotted the shuriken but this time he was not to be fooled. Neji spun around with a wave of thick chakra surrounding him as he yelled: "Eight Trigrams Sixty four Palms: Evolving Heavenly Rotation!" All the shuriken did not even get close to him as they were all whipped in all directions, some ending up in the wall other in the ground.

Naruto watched in disbelief. "What the hell is that?!"

Hiashi gripped his robes. "How did he…? That jutsu is forbidden for the branch house."

"Father, is that…?" Hanabi looked at her father who nodded in affirmation.

Tenten smiled confidently at her teammate. "Sorry Naruto, but you don't stand a chance."

"I'm sorry to tell you, but that move will not work on me anymore." Neji smirked.

Naruto growled as a knot appeared in his stomach. In pure rage he whipped out a kunai from the holster wrapped around his right leg and ran towards Neji. Neji took his stance as he watched his opponent angrily run towards him. "What a fool."

Kiba gripped his hair with his hands as Akamaru whined. "What is he doing? Don't get close to him you idiot!"

"No, Naruto!" All Hinata could do at that point was watch as her boyfriend kept striking at her cousin who kept dodging his every move.

Naruto couldn't get the kunai close to him, he couldn't even give him a scratch. And then the words that everyone had feared left Neji's mouth as his two fingers landed on Naruto's wrist causing him to drop the kunai he was holding in his hand. "Eight trigrams sixty four palm!"

"No!" Hinata paled as she fell back in her seat. "No, Naruto…"

Naruto groaned. "What? I can't… feel…my arm…"

Neji's fingers struck both of his shoulders. "Two palm!" Then both of his thighs. "Four palm!"Naruto yelped in pain as Neji continued to strike various parts of his body. "Eight palm!"

"Not good." Kakashi frowned under his mask.

"Sixteen palm!"

"It was bound to happen."TenTen smiled.

"Thirty two palm!"

"This match is finished." Gai added.

"Sixty four palm!"

With that final roar Neji finished his jutsu as Naruto screamed in pain and was send flying and toppling through the dirt before finally landing onto his stomach, motionless.

Hinata's breath caught in her throat. There was no recovering from that move.

"Wha… what happened?" Ino watched the stadium in disbelief.

"He just hit all of Naruto's chakra points…he shut off his chakra, it's over." Kiba petted his whining partner.

Ino and Sakura looked at him in shock then they turned to Hinata. "Is there anything he can do?"

Hinata slowly shook her head, her watery eyes were fixed on her roommate's still body. "No…he cannot use h-his c-chakra a-anymore…"

And then she blinked away the tears as a realization struck her. "Wait…if he can't use his normal chakra anymore then…could he use the Fox's chakra?" Hope leaked in her heart as she looked at her sensei. By the look in her eyes and her placing her hand on her stomach, Kakashi could tell exactlywhat she was thinking so he gave her a nod letting her know that it was possible. Her eyes lit up and she focused on the battlefield again.

Neji slowly walked a bit closer to Naruto's limp body. "I told you your dream is foolish. What made you think someone like you could become the Hokage? Like I said… once a failure… always a failure."

Neji started walking away and then looked at Genma. "Proctor, call the match."

"No."

Neji's eyes widened as his head snapped towards his opponent as the crowd started gasping and yelling.

Naruto was slowly getting back up on his feet. He panted and swallowed wiping blood from his chin and looked at Neji. "I'm not done yet."

"Impossible! How can you even move after that?!" Neji yelled in disbelief.

Hinata gripped the hem of her shirt as a smile split her face. "Naruto…Yes!"

"How is that possible?" TenTen stared at the blonde in shock. "There's just no way!"

Even the four Kage were surprised, but Hiruzen just smiled at his favorite genin and nodded in approval.

Naruto looked at Neji with determination before making a hand sign and closing his eyes in concentration. He roared as he tried to gather up chakra.

"What do you even think you're doing? You cannot use your chakra!" Neji asked in anger. "Do you want to kill yourself? Why don't you just give up?"

Neji's cold glare met Naruto's , this time just as cold. "Because you called me failure…I'll prove you wrong!"

He yelled out as the small rocks around his feet began to shake and waves of red chakra began appearing around him as the scratches and bruises on him started disappearing.

Neji activated his byakugan and looked in shock as his chakra points began re-activating. "What is that chakra?! It's visible even without my byakugan!" His thoughts were interrupted as his eyes moved to his stomach as a menacing grin and two evil eyes formed in the chakra causing Neji to back away from him. "Is that even chakra at all?!"

The chakra was now out of sight as was Naruto who moved in a flash surprising Neji. Taking out a kunai himself he blocked Naruto's which was, unlike earlier, just an inch away from his face. "What are you?!"

The strikes kept coming as Naruto finally managed to get close enough to Neji to fight him hand to hand.

Naruto disappeared again and appeared a few feet away from him. "How did he get so fast?"

"Let's end this already!" The chakra around Naruto increased.

The members of the audience who had the unfortunate chance of feeling the chakra on that faithful night thirteen years ago were stunned as that grizzly feeling washed over them again, but this time it felt less evil and it seemed as it wasn't aimed at anybody, it was simply there at that one point which was Naruto, not trying to escape.

Naruto surged towards Neji who yelled: "Evolving Heavenly Rotation!" Blue chakra burst around his as their kunais and clashing chakras met in a large explosion. The wave from the blast washed over the audience and thick smoke covered the battlefield.

"What happened?" Kiba squinted as he tried to see through the smoke.

Finally, the smoke cleared but all that was visible were the proctor who was getting back on his feet and wiping the dirt off of his vest, and two holes in the ground.

"Which one's which?" Ino's eyes went from one hole to the other.

"Did they both lose? What happened?" Sakura gulped.

Suddenly, the dirt in one of the holes started moving and a hand popped out. Hinata quickly activated her byakugan and gasped. Everyone knew what that meant.

Their suspicions were confirmed as an exhausted Neji slowly crawled out of the hole. He limped towards the other hole and looked at Naruto's unconscious figure. "Sorry…" He panted. "But this is reality…you're a-"

He was interrupted by movement under his feet…and a fist bursting out of the ground and nailing him in the jaw.

Neji spat out blood and collapsed on the ground. "Can't…move…" He groaned unsuccessfully trying to get up. He looked forward as Naruto approached him equally exhausted, blood dripping from his broken nails.

Silence prevailed for a few second before Genma's voice rang through the arena.

"The winner of the first match: Naruto Uzumaki!"