Failure and Success

The Chunin exams were finally under-way. The stadium were full of people from all corners of the world. High ranking VIPs were seated in private stands with the best view of the most notorious exams in the Elemental Nations. Hinata opted to sit near Kiba and Sakura, avoiding her father's piercing gaze across the stadium, young Hanabi by his side.

The first match was Naruto versus Neji. Naruto was early for once, unable to sleep as the frantic excitement refused to let him slumber for a few hours. A new-found determination washed away the lethargy as Neji stood opposite him. His azure eyes flicked towards the audience, finding Hinata immediately in the midst of countless faces. There eyes met and Hinata gave a wide smile. He promised her that he'd beat Neji for humiliating her for no reason, and Naruto intended to keep his promise.

He had trained with Hinata long enough to know the deadly touch of the Hyugas. She left him paralysed, mumbling an apology everytime she made him yelp in pain. It was a strange irony, for someone gentle like Hinata to be deadly. The Hyuga excelled in close combat, but that was also Naruto's style, he realised dismally. Hinata advised him to avoid close-range attacks. Neji was faster than her and much more ruthless; he wouldn't hesitate hitting several chakra points in one attack. The fear in her voice when she talked about her own blood cousin didn't sit well with Naruto, motivating him to push aside his own reservations of the so-called genius. Still, Naruto wanted to gauge his opponent's skill up close before changing his usual method.

It was his nindo that kept him going when Neji's retaliated, hitting each of his numerous clones effortlessly. Though his Bykagan couldn't pinpoint the real Naruto from the clones due to the even chakra distribution, he managed to turn each one into a cloud of puff. Naruto landed on his feet, barely dodging Neji's sharp attack, clutching his shoulder.

Sakura sprung off her seat in shock. How could Neji easily deflected so many shadow clones! Kiba's own face went white with disbelief. Ino was beside her, frozen and speechless. Hinata gritted her teeth, dread rising to her throat. Neji was the more skilled from the Hyuga clan, but her belief in Naruto was unwavering despite it.

He stood up, chest heaving rapidly with each exhausted pant.

"You thought you could be hokage? How absurd," Neji mused, a mocking smirk. His Byakugan distorting his calm expression into a look of rage. "My eyes show me that people's limitation are set; unchangeable and fixed. Only a fool wastes time trying to be something he can never be."

"A fool, eh? Who are you to judge what a person can or can't be?" Naruto grinded out, his fists shaking with fury. He had with Neji's speeches of fate.

"Do you think that it takes just hard work open your eyes. Out of all th shiboi thin the world Think of how few have ever become hokage. They were born and destined. They were chosen. Each person is given a path sand they must follow it obediently... till the end. There's only one destiny we share equally: death.

Hiashi watched his hate-filled nephew in strained silence, and Hinata wringed her hands at his callous words, wincing as if Neji hurled it towards her.

"So what? People tell me that I just don't know when to give up."

True to his word, Naruto formed several more shadow clones, only for Neji to fling them all away in a whirl of blue chakra, the Hyuga's ultimate defense: Rotation. Naruto's resilience was on full display as she stood back up. The crowd cheered his name louder than before, but Neji did not care in the least. His 8 Trigrams: 64 Palms attack would finish this pathetic match. The flurry of attack was impossible to dodge, and Naruto could feel his chakra flow cutting off instantly as each tenketsu closed.

"Stop this now. I don't have anything against you personally."

"Touching," Naruto growled. "Well I have plenty against you. Remember Hinata? How you played your mind games on her? Tearing her down when she tries so hard to do her best?" Naruto voice grew louder and angrier, a flash of red in his blue depths. The pain of Hinata's beating was still raw in Naruto's mind, and without realising, his elongated nails clawed his palms, blood dripping from his clenched hands. "How dare you mock her like that!"

Hinata's heart almost leapt out of her chest as Naruto defended her, a small grin splitting her face as her eyes widened in gratitude. Her joy was short-lived as a sudden pulse shot through her temples, the dull, throbbing striking her again. An agonised groan slipped out her mouth as she clutched her head, catching the attention of Kiba.

"Hinata, are you alright?" he asked worriedly as Hinata squeezed her eyes tightly, grasping her head. After a moment, she looked at him with a weak smile.

"I'm okay. It was just a headache." They turned their attention back to the match, although Kiba's worry didn't wane as Hinata winced again as a burning pain shot through her again.

"That's none of your business-" Neji stated dismissively.

"You called her a failure, all that stuff about the great Hyuga, main family, branch family- who cares! It doesn't give you the right to decide who's a failure!"

Neji' jaw clenched in hidden ire. It seemed Hinata educated the boy on the clan, clearly a one-sided perspective from the main family's first-born. "You think you know it all about the Hyuga clan?"

Neji untied his forehead protector, revealing an emerald cross and lines across his forehead.

"For centuries, the main family practice a secret fuinjutsu. It's a seal that binds a branch member to fate that they cannot escape. Did Hinata also tell you that at any given moment they can trigger the wretched mark and cause of brain to disintegrate with unimaginable pain? Fear: that is what we live with everyday and so we must obey the main family and without question for eternity. Her father Lord Hiashi and my father, Hizashi, were twins, but he was born first so my father was banished to a lesser branch. They were so alike but their destinies predetermined because one was born a few seconds after the other. I too was branded with the curse mark when I was four years old by my own uncle."

"Hinata can get rid of it when he's the leader!" Naruto argued.

"Hinata lost her status as heiress a long time ago. She can't do anything to the tradition of the Hyuga clan."

"Well, I'll get rid of it when I'm hokage!"

Neji shook his head, tying the forehead protector back on. "You don't know what it's like to be branded with a mark that sets you apart from the rest!"

"I know what that's like. Who cares? I've got news for you, you're not the only special one here. It's not her fault that her father's was born first. All she ever wanted was your respect, but you hate her because of her father, disrespecting her when he was trying her best- you almost killed her!"

"I've blocked all points. How do you plan on fighting me? It's fitting you feel sympathy for Hinata because you will share her fate soon enough. Your loss was decided the moment our names were announced, but if you want to prove me wrong, be my guest."

"You got it. I'm gonna show you your wrong about a lot of things! I'll prove you wrong," Naruto cried, closing his eyes. "And others that called me a failure, I'll prove them wrong too."

'Hey, scary fox locked inside me, how 'bout a little help?'

The tailed beast looked at the diminutive host glancing up at his with that stupid grin. The fox watched with amusement from behind the bars of his prison.

'How much hatred do you against the boy?'

Naruto shrugged. It was a little odd to meet the creature than haunted his dreams in his concious, but Naruto warmed up quickly to it. This was the second time he saw the collosal monster, the first being during his training with Jiraiya where the pervy man literally tossed him off a cliff.

'Look, my chakra blocked, so I kinda need to borrow yours. Come'on you don't wanna lose to this jerk, do you?'

Waves of amber chakra radiated around Naruto, wrapping and twisting around him. Neji braced himself for the explosion of foreign chakra, gritting his teeth.

First Hinata, and now Naruto? Where the hell did they get such powerful chakra from?

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I took annual leave recently got married, went on a honeymoon and found a new job! So been pretty busy- still am! But I hope to finish this story.

The dynamic between the two was one of the most interesting and the fight was something that was great. Didn't add much to the overall plot, but I loved the character interactions.

It is extremely bizarre that someone complained about the story's plot when it clearly written AU in the blurb? It's an alternative take on the plot and the characters- a "what-if?" scenario in a different timeline. It's not even canon divergence because the events were altered from the very first chapter. If you find it extemely OOC then explain without using ableist slurs, the strawman fallacy which clearly indicate your lack of writing skills and general social awareness. It is ridicuously arrogant and beyond absurd to assume and demand that all stories to be written in a certain way; that defeats the purpose of creativity, the very essence of storytelling.

Thank you all who have written really motivating reviews. Expect shorter chapters as I really want to push the story ahead faster.

This chapter will be edited again later only because I haven't proofread properly. It's been sitting here was three months so at this point I really want to just post it.

Please review!