Hey again everyone. Before I start I'd like to thank Swr-angel-babi3 for my 300th review on this story. Thank you babi and thank you all for helping make this such a great experience. I never imagined I'd get this many reviews. Thank you for supporting me and adding another wonderful reason for me to continue writing.

Moving on, this chapter is a little short, not that they're ever very long. It's just the way I write things. I know lots of people are saying to make the chapters longer. If I have the time I will make them longer but for now there is already enough time between my posts. So here's the next chapter.

Sasuke was glancing over his shoulder in a disturbed sort of way when he reached his team on the second level. Naruto and Sakura peeped downrange at what Sasuke was looking at and ran smack dab into two of the scariest smiles they'd ever seen. The two beautiful green beasts of Konoha were giving Sasuke a dazzling display of their teeth, eyebrows, and thumbs. An unrepressed shiver ran through both Sakura and Naruto as they saw it and realized that Sasuke had had to pass within inches of that display.

Sasuke turned away from the display with almost no expression. The only thing that revealed his disgust was a minuscule tick in his cheek. But that quickly vanished as he saw the expressions on his teammates faces. A small lopsided smile spread without his knowledge on his face as he saw that they too had caught a portion of that display and were just as disgusted as he was.

The moment passed however and the two green beasts were put out of memory as fast as possible. Sakura smiled sweetly at Sasuke and offered her congratulations while Naruto pounded Sasuke a couple of times on the back and grinned outrageously.

"I really wanted to be the one that pounded that flea brain into the concrete but seeing you do it was almost as good," Naruto said as they stepped towards their teacher. Sasuke didn't exactly like the thumps on the back but he did smile slightly at Naruto's statement. In all honesty he hadn't liked the loud mouth Kiba much either and he had had to endure him longer then Naruto had.

Kakashi's eye curled upward in a smile as they stepped up next to him. "Well done Sasuke," he said simply. It was all he needed to say. Praise from their teacher was sparse as it was so a 'well done' really meant a lot when he said it.

As Kiba was taken off the field by stretcher Sakura voiced a question that had been bothering her. "How did you do it Sasuke-kun? What exactly did you do to Kiba?"

Instead of Sasuke answering however, Kakashi spoke up. "Sasuke used a combination of his Sharingan and his fire jutsu to figure out exactly what Kiba and Akamaru were doing. Their spins are dangerous in an of themselves but adding in their claws is what makes their attack truly dangerous. Their spin negates most ninjutsu so Sasuke had to fight Kiba-kun on his terms, meaning close combat. That clang you heard when they came together was Kiba and Akamaru's claws hitting Sasuke's kunai."

Sakura and several other people close enough to hear the explanation winced at the thought of ramming their fingers into hard steel at such great speed. Naruto only grimaced slightly yet somehow retained his smile too.

But behind the smile Naruto was worried. 'I couldn't have pulled that trick even if I had thought of it. That required speed, accuracy, and timing, all of which I don't have enough of. That sharingan eye is a lot better then I thought. Damn!'

Sakura shook her head in wonder. 'Sasuke-kun is incredible. I've only seen him use his sharingan a couple of times before but never to this extent. He figured out Kiba-kun's attack after just one pass! It took him most of the night to figure out how the Kage Bunshin worked but he beat Kiba in seconds!'

Her eyes glanced away from the boy she admired and loved as the familiar feeling of despair fell upon her. It had been bad enough when it was just the two of them with Kakashi-sensei. Their skill gap was apparent from the start and it had only seemed to widen as the months passed. And then Naruto had shown up. Sakura had been sorely tempted to just let herself slide into that pit of black tar of failure and self loathing that lurked, bubbling and churning, at the back of her mind.

But she hadn't. For some reason Naruto's distaste for her and abilities coupled with his constant work on Sasuke's social mannerisms drove her to forge ahead and leave the tar pit behind. She hadn't understood at the time why it was she was doing this. She had passed it off as wanting to punish Naruto and show him how good girls really were. But by the end of the training week she couldn't use that excuse any more.

She could see the changes Naruto was bringing about in her beloved Sasuke. She could see the changes he was making in Kakashi-sensei, however slight they might be. And she eventually saw the changes the boy was making in her and the rest of the people around her. It was as if his arrival had opened up their little segment of Konoha to the sunlight. He was a breath of fresh air but unlike any air they had tasted before.

He was...well he was something new, something special. By the end of the week she had not only accepted him as a teammate and friend but as something else, something less tangible. She had finally nailed it down on their walk to the first exam. The result had surprised her but there was no denying it. He was cute, friendly, at least once you got passed the rough exterior, he knew his business as a ninja, and, amazingly enough, was willing to change for others. All of it added up to someone that deserved her respect, admiration, and even to her astonishment and partial disgust...her 'girl to guy' attention.

Inner Sakura had raged at her, and still did occasionally, that she was betraying Sasuke-kun. She agreed with her inner self to a degree but Naruto somehow managed to make an impression on her that wouldn't go away.

Oh she wasn't about to give up her goal of getting Sasuke for herself, especially now that Naruto had shown progress could be made on the human glacier, but she had to admit now that there was at least one other guy out there worthy of attention. And if Sakura thought a boy was worthy of partaking of her more feminine side then surely other girls would notice the same thing.

As Sakura pondered on this topic Sasuke's eyes passed over his sole female teammate for the barest of moments as he turned to the handrail. What he saw made his mental eyebrows rise and his eyes make another quick pass just to make sure he hadn't been mistaken. But there was no mistaking that look in Sakura's eyes. Sasuke had seen it countless times from dozens of girls. They had been directed at him and, despite his attempts to ignore them, he had noticed. But for the first time he was seeing Sakura, one of the people who had given him the look the most, giving it to someone else.

The raven haired Uchiha risked a glance in the same direction she was looking and ended up looking at a black jacketed back. He blinked once, then did it again. He wasn't seeing thing. Sakura was giving Naruto "the eye".

Something, a big something, began jumping up and down in Sasuke's head and yelling praises to the gods for this small sign, this small hope, that the nightmares would end and he would finally be able to walk down the streets without some girl jumping him ever two blocks. There was also another voice, a tiny but spirited voice, that was announcing it's discontent.

But Sasuke had neither the time nor the interest in listening to either for very long. He shut them out with a small shake of his head and gave Naruto another quick glance. 'You've earned a star in my book Naruto,' Sasuke thought with an inner smirk. 'Just keep it up, whatever you're doing.'

Everyone's attention came back to the score board as names reappeared on the screen. The randomizer whisked through the names for a few seconds before displaying the next two combatants.

Hyuuga Neji Vs. Kankurou

The two young men in question spitted each other with quick glances before heading down towards the arena.

Naruto watched Neji go. He recalled his one experience with the Hyuuga boy, before the first exam, in the hall of the school. He hadn't been able to form a really good opinion of him there but what he had seen hadn't endeared him to the blond. His nosiness combined with his ultra thick eyebrowed teammate made Naruto want to avoid him if at all possible simply out of dislike.

Naruto wouldn't have noticed her if he hadn't been looking at Neji. She was the only one not looking at the white eyed boy. As Neji passed her Naruto's interest grew as he saw her finch away and lower her head even further. He scratched his head in confusion. He'd seen her before, with that dog boy and guy who looked kinda like Sasuke, but hadn't caught her name. One thing he did remember though was that she had had some pretty weird eyes.

The blond jerked slightly as it hit him. 'They have the same eyes. So then are they related or something? If they are why isn't she watching him. Why did she flinch as he passed her?'

He shook his head. He couldn't answer those questions by himself. Besides, there were too many and he might forget some of them if he settled down to figure them out one by one. So instead he turned and nudged Kakashi.

"Hey sensei, are those two related?" he asked quietly while pointing at Neji and the purple haired girl.

Kakashi looked where Naruto was pointing and then nodded slightly. "Yeah. They're cousins. Why do you ask?"

Naruto leaned in a bit closer. "Cause she's acting kinda strange. She flinched as that Neji guy walked by her. Does she not like him or something?"

Kakashi's eye hardened slightly at Naruto's observations and he didn't answer for a moment. When he did it wasn't what Naruto wanted to hear. "I'll explain it to you later. Just focus on the match."

Naruto 'humphed', crossed his arms, and turned back towards the floor where the two combatants were now facing off.

Hayate glanced between the two of them before speaking. "The second match will now start. Hyuuga Neji versus Kankurou." He stepped back and nodded sharply. "Begin."

Kankurou grinned as he unslung the strange wrapped item on his back and brought it thudding down next to him. "You ready you white eyed freak? I'm not about to hold back on you," Kankurou said in a mocking tone.

Neji smirked evilly and closed his eyes. Those who knew what to expect smiled secret smiles or shook their heads slightly. The Sand boy was taking Neji far to lightly.

Veins throbbed and chakra flowed as Neji activated his Byakugan eyes and glared back at his opponent. Kankurou twitched slightly as the eyes centered themselves on him. He suddenly felt totally naked, like he was being examined under a magnifying glass. Shoving the disturbing thought away the sand nin gave Neji a confident smile while tilting his head at a jaunty angle.

"Heh, think you can scare me with those freak eyes of yours? Guess again."

Neji continued to glare at him, seemingly unaware that he had been spoken to. Without a word the Hyuuga boy charged straight in.

Kankurou smirked in triumph as Neji approached, thinking he had managed to lure his opponent in. But that smile faltered when he saw the disgusted smirk of a victor appear on Neji's face.

With speed that only half the people in the room could follow Neji swerved and attacked the bundle next to the sand ninja. A lightning fast strike to the center of the bundle and it was done. Neji stepped away and simply stared as his opponent fell forward in a confused heap that sounded decidedly wooden. People gawked as Kankurou's legs, arms, and head twisted in ways no normal human could ever achieve.

Jaws dropped all over the room. Naruto pointed an accusing finger at the Hyuuga boy and yelled a question at his sensei. "What the hell? He didn't even hit him! How'd he do that?"

Naruto's question was partly answered as an arm ripped through the fabric wrappings of the package Neji had struck. Eyebrows quirked as the wrappings fell apart to reveal...Kankurou?!

The sand boy was clutching at his chest in agony as he rolled out of the cloth. He wheezed a couple times before looking up at his opponent. "How did you...wheeze...how did you see through...wheeze cough...Karasu?"

"Karasu? A puppet?" Sakura wondered out loud. She squinted, trying to get a better look at the 'thing' that was lying in a heap. A startled gasp escaped the pink haired girl's lips as she saw that it was indeed a puppet. Paint was beginning to chip away all over the thing and it's eyes and mouth looked really strange now for some reason.

Kakashi grunted. "Hmm. So he's a puppeteer. Unfortunately that didn't help him."

Team Seven looked up at their sensei for an explanation. The Jounin nodded towards Neji. "That boy's eyes, the Byakugan, can see through just about anything. They're another type of blood limit, much like the Sharingan." Sasuke glanced down in new interest at the pale eyed boy below. "The Byakugan can also see the chakra pathways within an opponent's body, something even the Sharingan can't do. He used that along with his families fighting style to cut off the chakra flow to Kankurou's arms. Without his arms a puppeteer is useless."

Naruto and Sakura opened their mouths to ask for clarification but Kakashi cut them off. "I'll explain more later." Both of the genin glared at their teacher and turned back to catch the last of Neji's short explanation he was giving to his fallen opponent.

"It was meant to be this way. The moment you were chosen as my opponent your fate was decided. You could not win." Neji turned to the judge. "It's over."

Hayate looked at Kankurou for a moment, saw the defeat and resignation in his eyes, and nodded his approval.

"Winner, Hyuuga Neji."

I know I changed things in a major way here. Hinata and Neji's fight was one of the three big ones and one that also affected the storyline quite a bit but I've got other things planned for Hinata. Plus I've never liked neji's attitude so I decided to give the jerk a short, sweet battle to get him out of the way. Actually both Kankurou and Neji have pretty foul dispositions. Thus the title