A/N: So I'm back finally and I must apologize for taking so long but I lost my original beta due to life and just recently found a new one who is just as awesome and very fast. I hope you all enjoy this newest chapter and since the next is done already and awaiting edits I should have it up in the next day or so.

Beta: Angelslaugh

Chapter 11

The night before the finals Naruto stayed at Haku's. Zabuza was there this time since he was part of security for the arena. They stayed up most of the night talking, neither able to forget what happened in the hospital; both too nervous to sleep. The next morning was rough and both of them fought to keep awake after a long night. Both boys were grateful to Zabuza who had made breakfast for them before he left for work.

They walked to the stadium together and were awestruck at the enormous structure that was filled to maximum capacity. They took their place in line with the other competitors and waited patiently for the matches to start. Naruto and Sakura were starting to worry when there was no sign of Kakashi and Sasuke.

"Thank you everyone for coming to the Chuunin Selection Exam." The Third Hokage's voice boomed out over the crowd. "We will now start the main tournament matches between the 9 participants who made it through the preliminaries. Please stay and watch until the end." He finished and sat down once more.

Genma turn to them and, holding up a piece of paper outlining the first of the matches, told them how things would proceed and the rules. "Now the first fight, Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuuga, you two stay; the rest of you go to the waiting area." Haku, Shikamaru, Sakura and surprisingly Shino all wished Naruto 'good luck' as they left the area.

…

They faced each other; Naruto scowling at the arrogant Hyuuga and Neji outwardly indifferent. "You look like you have something to say," Neji drawled out.

"The day has come; the only difference is I will not be watching, I will be the one to knock you on your ass." Complete determination and confidence colored his voice.

"What makes this worthwhile is that I will be here to see you fail like the undeniable loser you are and I will be the one to wake you up to reality."

Naruto scoffed at the over confident tone. "Enough talking, it's time to fight."

There was only a moment's pause where Naruto thought back on Hinata and Neji's fight. He pushed himself back, farther away from his opponent and created four clones.

Long range for now; test his speed and see what else he's capable of, Naruto thought to himself. He sent them all in, each holding a kunai. Naruto had each clone stay at a speed he was known for and only stepped it up slightly each time he was dodged. In a matter of moments all four close had been dispatched and he hadn't even gotten to full speed.

Every word out of Neji's mouth made Naruto want to tear his hair out. He just kept breathing, though. He wouldn't let someone like Neji get into his head, not when every word out of his mouth was bullshit. Naruto did not believe in fate or destiny; he would live his own life, walk his own path and no one would dictate that for him. He raised his hands and summoned twenty more clones. Another step up in speed and Neji was still keeping up with him, still taking down his clones like they barely phased him. He took out all but one of Naruto's clones before going for the one he'd left in the back purposely and let a small smile grace his face for a second. He had given that clone just a tiny bit more chakra than the others and, when triumph turned to shock, Naruto grinned internally.

The real Naruto and another clone flew at Neji from the back and when he turned to look over his shoulder Naruto allowed that grin to grace his face. Unfortunately it was short lived. He came so close to landing a hit on Neji only for him to use a move Naruto had no knowledge of, and was knocked back by it. Naruto forced himself up grimacing in pain as he did. As pissed as he was at Neji, Naruto couldn't help but be in awe at how powerful he was and it was a challenge he couldn't back down from even if he had wanted to.

Naruto finally got to both feet as Neji took an unrecognizable fighting stance. Naruto wasn't sure if it looked awkward or suited him but he had no chance to dwell on the thought. Neji moved like lightening. If it weren't for Haku's training Naruto would never had even seen him move, but the pain coursing through his body slowed him down too much and he was unable to dodge Neji.

Each jab of his fingers felt like a knife was being driven into his flesh. Naruto couldn't hold back the cries of pain. Each hit knocked him back a little; 64 hits and each felt like a single stab wound. When it was all over Naruto found himself on his knees, gasping for breath and his arms wrapped around the middle of his body.

Neji was kind enough to inform him of the fact that Naruto could no longer use chakra since he'd hit all 64 points. Naruto took a moment to 'feel' around and realized that this was how it felt when Jiraiya pushed him off that cliff. It was time, He had only managed to tap into the Kyuubi's chakra once but he remembered how to do it and what it felt like.

Naruto could hear Neji's mocking voice but not the words. He slowly, painfully, pushed himself to his feet once again and kept his head down. "If you are this strong, if your eyes can see everything as you claim; why can't you see how hard both Hinata and I try? Who are you to tell us that we are losers; you are not a god and you are not better than us so what makes you think you are? I keep hearing you run your mouth about the main family and branch family but I don't get what your family has to do with our status." He stood, wobbling on shaky legs.

Naruto listened to Neji as patiently as he could but the moment Cursed Seal was mentioned his full attention was on his opponent. Another person he knew with a seal forced on them and Neji had no idea that Naruto knew just how it felt. However just because Naruto sympathized with Neji, didn't mean he was going to allow him to get away with the way he treated people he viewed as lesser than himself.

Neji removed his Hitai Ate to show the Seal as he told his story. Naruto closed his eyes against the tears that threatened. He knew all too well now the loss of family and the curse of a seal. His seal was for a greater purpose though, it was to keep the village safe and he may not like having it or the Kyuubi sealed within him, but he understood why it was necessary. Neji's seal was nothing like his own and only served a purpose for the main branch of his family and he felt that it was just barbaric. He felt sorry for Hinata and Neji and slightly ashamed that his village allowed something like that to happen. But that was no excuse for Neji to treat people like shit just because of how or when they were born. Naruto understood all too well Neji's situation and feelings on the matter; his situation being neither better nor worse, it just was.

Neji re-tied his Hitai Ate and gave no indication he was resuming the fight. He took advantage of Naruto's distraction and hit his chest with the flat of his palm, pushing chakra into that one major chakra point. Naruto had no time to move, one moment Neji was a few feet away and the next he was hitting Naruto. He flew backward, slamming down on the ground and sliding along dirt and gravel.

He came to a sudden stop on his side, gasping for breath and feeling like his heart would explode. Naruto wasted no time in trying to catch his breath, just pushed himself to his hands and knees. He wanted to laugh at himself, this fight was not going like he hoped but it wasn't over yet.

Neji had started walking away thinking that the fight was over. "You shouldn't turn your back on an enemy." Neji halted mid step when he heard Naruto's raspy voice. He looked back at the blonde now shakily trying to get to his feet. "I gave my word I was going to knock you on your ass and that's what I plan to do." Naruto stopped to cough, blood flying from his mouth to land on the dust ground beneath him. "I don't go back on my word. Ever." He managed to growl out the last word despite the pain and breathlessness.

Neji smirked that cold arrogant not smile of his, clearly thinking Naruto was just talking to hear himself talk. "I've heard that before."

Naruto stood, barely; he fought his body's fatigue from having all his chakra points closed, fought not to clutch at his chest. He looked up, blood trickling down his chin and his face covered in dirt. "I refuse to lose to a coward who does nothing but whine about his destiny." Neji opened his mouth to retaliate but Naruto cut him off, not wanting to hear anything else from him. "Have you ever thought, just considered for one moment that you are not the only one who's been forced into a situation they had no control over? You are blaming someone younger than you, someone who wasn't even born when you received that seal, for what was done to you. She is essentially in the same situation you are in."

Naruto paused to cough once again. Neji took the opportunity to yell at Naruto. "You could never understand what it's like to be burdened with a symbol you could never rid yourself of."

Naruto stilled at those words and started chuckling. It was actually quite funny and Naruto didn't bother to stop himself. He wanted so back to correct his misconception but he couldn't, not here, not yet. He straightened and closed his eyes splitting his focus between Neji and the Fox. "I can understand, you're not that special Neji. You know you call me a brat, but you're the only brat I see here. Instead of doing something to better your situation you're acting like a child and throwing a temper tantrum. If you hate it that much do something about it."

"Enough," Neji scoffed at Naruto. "You might as well just give up now; all of your chakra points have been closed."

Naruto ignored the taunt and closed his eyes. It was time; this was why Jiraiya taught him how to access the Kyuubi's chakra. Granted, he'd only managed to do it once but now that he knew what it felt like he would do it again.

It only took a fraction of a second to find that bright flare of malevolence buried deep down. He pulled just a thread of it, this chakra was twice as powerful as his own and he had no desire to kill Neji, just knock some sense into him. Since he pulled so little the physical changes were diminished as well; all his scrapes and bruises healed, and he felt completely energized.

Neji watched with wide eyes when he could actually see every chakra point on his opponent heal. It happened so fast and it shouldn't have been possible. The chakra itself was unlike any he'd ever encountered and when the last chakra point opened it was like opening a floodgate, the very air around Naruto shimmering a murderous red and the silhouette of a beast, a monster appearing from within the chakra.

Neji wanted to take a step back from the look in Naruto's eyes when he finally opened them. He only got enough notice to put up his guard before Naruto was in the air and multiple shuriken were sailing his way. Neji caught what he could and spun the rest away with his jutsu. He threw the ones he had caught at Naruto but the blonde was gone before the weapons landed. Neji didn't want to believe the amount of skill and speed Naruto was displaying, but he had no choice to accept it. In the blink of an eye Naruto was in front of him holding a kunai and flying at Neji. He had enough time to palm one of his own and start the spin of his jutsu before they collided in a mass of chakra and steel, kicking up a massive amount of dust and debris.

When the dust cloud finally cleared Naruto was left standing, he had managed to knock the kunai out of Neji's hand and push through the weakening barrier of chakra to punch him in the face and knock him flat on his back.

Naruto walk slowly over to the unmoving Hyuuga to look down on him. Neji stared back up at him with disbelief. "What was that?" Neji whispered.

Naruto cocked his head to the side, "What did you see?"

"A monster."

The blonde nodded in recognition. "That is a secret, but one day if we become friends than I will tell you the story of how you are not the only one burdened with a curse seal." Naruto vaguely heard the moderator announce him as winner and the roar of cheers from the crowd. He held out his hand for the older boy to take.

Neji eyed the offer slightly surprised but took Naruto's hand anyway. "Thanks Naruto." He said as he stood and squeezed the hand in his lightly before releasing it.

Naruto wasn't sure if he was being thanked for the hand up or being beat down but decided not to question it and just nodded. A medic came out to help and exhausted Neji out of the arena and Naruto followed behind to go up to the observation deck. He was met at the top by Shikamaru, Shino, Sakura and Haku; excitement and happiness radiating from every pore as he received congratulations from them.

Shikamaru was truly happy for Naruto but behind the mask of congratulations he wore, he was a little freaked out by the puzzle he had solved. It was a lot to figure out his close friend was the carrier of a demon that everyone had been told was dead. Shikamaru's eyes darted to the Sand Ninja before landing back on Naruto; he was just like Naruto but without a conscience and that made him very dangerous. His eyes shifted back to Gaara, there wasn't anything he could do now but watch him.

The next match should have been Sasuke and Gaara but the three Leaf ninja watched as a postponement for their match was announced. Naruto and Shikamaru were angry and Shino made a comment about Sasuke being wise not to fight the Sand ninja; Haku stood by silently.

The next match was announced; Shino Aburame and Haku Momochi. Naruto wished them both good luck and watched them depart for the arena floor.

Naruto wrapped both his hands around the metal railing and looked down at his comrades. They faced each other impassive and unreadable; neither moved for a long moment as they tried to see some invisible weakness.

Haku made the first move and it was so fast that no one saw what happened until Shino dodged a series of senbon. Haku threw more and more, each faster than the last and Shino managed to dodge every one of them; the whole time he moved insects seemed to overflow from the neck and sleeves of his oversized coat.

Haku paused and started hand signs for a jutsu. He spoke the jutsu so softly that none of the surrounding spectators could hear what it was. Naruto had never seen the jutsu in action but had heard about it from Sasuke. So when he saw the water shaped needles suspended in midair and point in Shino's direction he knew immediately what it was. Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death.

Naruto watched in open mouthed awe and the water needles began their rapid descent in Shino's direction. The resulting clash kicked up a large cloud of dirt and dust that cleared rapidly to show Shino standing immobile, pierced by so many of the needles.

Naruto tightened his grip in the metal railing and held himself in place. Shino's form melted into hundreds of insects and Naruto breathed a sigh of relief; it was just a clone.

Somehow Shino managed to get behind Haku and attacked with Taijutsu. Naruto smiled down at the two battling Ninja. He couldn't be sure about Shino, but judging by the glint in Haku's eyes, he was enjoying the challenge that Shino was providing. While Haku had the advantage in hand to hand combat, Shino could do nothing but defend but he was keeping up with his opponent's speed admirably. That was until Haku found an opening and one good kick to Shino's chest sent him flying back.

Haku took notice of the insects Shino planted on him over the course of their fight so far and made a few hand sign to drench himself and get rid of them. He shook his head to disperse the water and looked up in time to see Shino come at him once again. Haku put up his arm to block the first swing but was surprised when instead of the hit connecting; he was swarmed by more insects. Haku quickly did few hand signs and touched the ground and then did a few more to form an ice shield. Shino directed his bugs to break down the shield.

While Shino was distracted with the shield, ice was slowly creeping along his feet to pin him in place, but by the time Shino realized his mistake Haku was already on him and he had just enough time to redirect his insects to form a shield between him and Haku. It gave Shino enough time to break the ice and then he and Haku were once again engaged in hand to hand combat.

Naruto watched the two with bated breath. It seemed that Shino had managed to slow Haku some because now he was keeping up much better than he had been. But this time Shino was using bugs to block Haku's attacks and Haku was using ice to punch through those blocks and it was slowing them both down.

Haku formed a senbon out of ice to push through Shino's bug shield and pushed through, which was expected; what wasn't expected was when Shino went to step back his foot landed on a sheet of ice and he lost traction. His other foot kicked out and tripped Haku causing him to fall forward and land on top of Shino. Haku caught himself on his knees and one hand; he brought the other hand up quickly put the sharp point of the senbon to Shino's neck and stared down into his black lenses.

The whole arena held their breath. Shino raised his arm and clearly called out, "I, Shino Aburame, surrender."

Haku paid no attention to the proctor as he pushed himself up and held a hand down to Shino. Shino grabbed the offered hand but made sure not to pull too hard; it was obvious Haku was exhausted. They made their way back to the stairs. When Haku's steps faltered Shino pulled the older boy's arm over his shoulder and helped him the rest of the way.

They stopped to catch their breath at the bottom of the stairs. "You are very good, if you hadn't slipped you probably could have won." Haku told Shino honestly.

"I must admit that was an interesting way to lose." Shino commented back and while it wasn't all that funny, he said it so seriously that it set Haku off into laughter which made Shino laugh. They were still laughing when they reached the top of the stairs.

Naruto waited long enough for them to clear the door way and tackled them both. Shino stumbled and fought to keep himself and Haku standing against Naruto's attack. When Shino finally regained his balance he realized Naruto had his arms wrapped around both he and Haku; he tucked his head further down into his coat and blushed furiously behind his collar. Casual contact from his clan was one thing but Shino was all too often forgotten by his classmates so this was not something he was at all used to.

Haku, who, for the most part was used to this type of reception from Naruto, just patted the blonde on the back and nodded along with his excited chatter. Soon enough Naruto released them both with an apologetic glance sent Shino's way when he noticed his stiff posture.

Shikamaru's match was called next and everyone called well wishes to his back as he sauntered down the stairs throwing a lazy wave over his shoulder as he did so.

…

About halfway down the stairs, Shikamaru spotted Neji making his way up distractedly. "Don't feel too bad about losing to him." Shikamaru commented when Neji was close enough to hear.

Neji jerked his head up, startled, to stare at Shikamaru a few steps above him. "Huh?"

Shikamaru smirked at the less than elegant response. "Don't feel bad about losing to Naruto. I have a feeling only one other in this competition would even come close to being able to beat him." He explained.

"Do you know…?" Neji left the sentence hanging not exactly sure how to put it.

"I'm pretty sure but it's not my secret to tell. Just know that you did well even if you didn't win and you might want to take the time to get to know Naruto, he understands better than you think he does." Shikamaru didn't wait for Neji to replay just continued down as if he hadn't said anything at all.

"Hey, Nara."

Shikamaru paused and looked up over his shoulder. "Good luck."

Shikamaru nodded his head, replied with "Troublesome women" and started walking again.

…

His match was against Temari from the Sand Village who was already waiting in the center of the arena with her giant fan. Shikamaru stopped a few steps from the doorway and tipped his head back to look at the sky. He could hear the jeers from the crowd and his opponent's impatient shouts. He sighed wistfully at the perfect cloud watching sky when she finally became fed up and charged him.

…

Naruto caught sight of Neji from the corner of his eye and turned to give him a small smile before looking back down at Shikamaru who seemed to be wishing he were elsewhere. He knew that Shikamaru was extremely smart but very lazy and he wondered what exactly the Nara could do if he was motivated.

To Naruto, Temari and Shikamaru seemed to be pretty evenly matched; Temari's wind was powerful and though Shikamaru's Shadow Jutsu wasn't offensive, his brilliance more than made up for that.

Unfortunately in the end it came down to the fact that Shikamaru just didn't have the chakra reserves to continue the match and gave up knowing that to keep going would be a pointless endeavor.

Shikamaru made it back to the top with the rest of his classmates and was greeted with amused smiles and congratulations on a good match.

…

Naruto's frustration mounted with every minute. Everyone was anticipating Sasuke's match, which was next and while yes he was excited to see how his teammate progressed in his training, Naruto was also angry about the fact that he and Kakashi were late and the Hokage was making exceptions for him. He was also a little hurt that Kakashi hadn't been there to see his match.

When Shikamaru started to make his way from the arena slower than normal, Naruto went to meet him on the stairs to see if he needed any help. Naruto encountered Shikamaru on the landing at the top of the stairs; he looked exhausted but otherwise fine. He opened his mouth to say something but before he could a noise came from the tunnel leading to the other side of the arena.

Their heads whipped to the side and their breath caught in their throat when Gaara emerged from the dimly lit tunnel. The Sand ninja passed them both by seemingly unnoticed, with a crazed look on his face.

When Gaara was out of their sight they finally relaxed. Shikamaru sagged a bit before just letting himself sit down heavily on the stair below him, Naruto sat down next to him a moment later.

It was another minute before Shikamaru broke the tense silence. "I've never seen a guy that could kill with so little hesitation. As good as Sasuke is, I don't think he has a chance against him."

Naruto listened to the sounds of the fight and it's onlookers as he thought back to the day in the hospital. Gaara was just like him but with an extreme bloodlust. He thought on the possibilities and what he could do; he jumped up and informed Shikamaru he was going to talk to Kakashi. Naruto ran with Shikamaru trying to keep up with him.

…

The two found Kakashi watching from the top of the stands with the other Sensei's and team members who hadn't won the first round.

Shikamaru slumped to the floor tiredly beside Naruto as Naruto got Kakashi's attention and gestured for him to go up. When Kakashi was close enough Naruto started murmuring to him quietly but quickly. "You have to find a way to stop this match."

Kakashi's visible eye widened in inquiry. "Gaara is like me but not, he lives to kill others."

A silver brow disappeared up behind the band of his forehead protector at this new information. He seemed to think over what Naruto told him then schooled his face back into passivity. "Don't worry. We weren't late for nothing you know."

Naruto gaped at his Sensei's placating tone. Naruto opened his mouth to argue his point and Kakashi cut him off before he had even started. "Be quiet and watch." His tone was soft and cool.

Naruto watched apprehensively while listening to Gai and Kakashi talk. Sasuke's new jutsu, the Chidori, was intimidating, awe-inspiring and enviable. Naruto had hope with this new skill Sasuke had a chance to win but something kept him from believing everything would be fine.

And the fear on Sasuke's face told him that he had been right to worry. The last thing Naruto saw was the sand shell around Gaara splintering and falling to reveal him, before everything went dark.