A/N: Sorry this took long, guys. Here it is: The Neji fight scene.

Chapter Ten – Pure Power! Hyuuga Neji!
(Ultimate Secrets by: Toshiro Masuda)

It was a barren landscape full of pocks and rock pillars. The weather had managed to worsen, bringing rain and lightning in only the last few moments. Down below sat Konoha, oblivious to the both of us, who were about to fight, high above them.

Evening had finally arrived.

This was it.

Thunder rolled across the horizon.

"Naruto, I will give you one chance," Neji said, gleaming with chakra.

I looked at him, felt the rain seeping through my clothes.

"If you can land one clean blow on me before the thunder rolls thrice, I will surrender. If you fail in that time, I will begin to retaliate. Come!"

At that, I charged at him at once, drawing two kunai from the holder behind me. I held a blade in each hand, one poised above my head, the other across my face to defend.

When I was close, I issued my first strike, swiping sideways at his face from the front. I saw his head move instantly, missing my blade by an inch, where then I tried to stab him down with the other kunai. He dodged my attack again with a clean sidestep, allowing my blade to strike at the rock pillar behind him, shattering it into a thousand pieces.

"Come on, Naruto! Is that all you got?" Neji cried defiantly.

I charged at him again, striking with both hands at the same time in a clapping-motion. He ducked the attack and spun around, faced a rock pillar behind him and ran sideways up the pole, dodging my next stab by another swift second, splitting the stone he was running on in half by the time had had landed his back flip.

"Come!" Neji cried again.

Thunder struck for the first time since he had issued the challenge.

I spun around with a sickle-stab with my right and followed through with a thrust with my left, but he was too quick. He ducked and weaved through my two blades like he was water. I drew both blades back and aimed a double-thrust with both hands at his belly. He also saw this attack before it happened, jumping high into the air in time to hold himself above the two blades with both of his legs in the splits, pushed firmly against two opposite stone pillars around him. I swung my two blades, now directly below his exposed crotch, to the pillars on either side, destroying each in a flurry of smoke and pebbles. Without their support, he drew both legs back and tried to land on the ground.

Thunder rolled for the second time.

I anticipated where he would fall, coming in underneath him and, with my right hand, struck at his falling body with an uppercut motion. Before my blade could meet his chest, he grabbed my attacking wrist with one of his hands, holding himself in the air by just one hand. When my other wrist came up to attack him, he grabbed it in similar fashion, holding both of my blades inches from his face, as he held himself up from the floor by his two hands, his feet held still stoically in the air. He stared into my eyes.

"Nearly, Naruto, but not fast enough."

I saw the veins around his eyes throbbing with menace.

Thunder rolled for the third time.

"Your time is up," Neji growled.

He knocked both of my arms in his grip back, twisting them backwards and bringing himself to the position directly behind me. I heard him land as I ducked down and spun to prevent my shoulders from twisting.

"I'm fighting back," Neji announced, his two-kunai thrust already having missed my back when I ducked. I saw them hanging there in the air for a second.

"Let's go," I whispered.

I came up with a vengeance, driving both of my kunai upwards into the sky. Neji stepped back at my attack and, in response, swiped at me with one high blade and one low. In less than a second, I spun out of the way and brought my own kunai to block and hold his knives. Our weapons clashed with a metallic clang, rivaled only in volume by the thunder echoing across the cliffs. Lightning and rain poured down on my eyes, making it difficult for me to see the expression on Neji's hair-matted face, as he spoke.

"You put Lee in hospital, you monster," Neji cried between gritted teeth.

"Lee took Hinata," I replied.

We were both holding each other's blades down, the moisture in the raindrops threatening to make us slip and slice the other open in the blink of an eye.

"Lee is sick, you should've been able to tell: he's not himself," Neji said again.

He began to cry out, his fists beginning to glow blue with forceful chakra and his strength beginning to overpower my hands.

"Lee took Hinata."

I cried out similarly and my hands began to fight off his progress, but strength came irregularly, as Neji's push was growing stronger and harder.

"He never would've hurt her," Neji yelled in Lee's defense.

"He drugged her, didn't he? It wasn't just me. She couldn't wake up… this morning."

My hands began to win, my blades pushing his hands further apart and away from my body. I saw his eyes tighten with concentration as he fought to keep his blades near.

"This whole damn town… how can I trust any of you now? Why has everyone had to change so much?" I asked him, not expecting an answer.

I shucked off both of his blades and struck back with a double-stab. He back flipped out of the way again, placing a few meters between us as he landed.

"You're the one who's the criminal!" Neji cried.

The lightning cast an eerie shadow over his distant face.

"What has corrupted you all?" I whispered.

The thunder followed and drowned out my voice.

Then, all of a sudden, he brought his hands up and threw both of his kunai at me at the same time. I ducked underneath both and spun around for momentum, bringing both of my arms up and throwing my own kunai at his face. He dodged both similarly.

"I'm going to take you in, Naruto."

And, before I could think of a reply, Neji's fists glowed blue with a distinguishable rhythm of chakra. At once, I knew what it was: Konoha's most advanced Taijutsu.

Gentle-Fist Style (Juken).

He raised his fists into the air, stared into my eyes for a second, and then brought them down into the ground. He kept his hands on the ground for a second, not moving at all.

Then I heard the ground beneath us begin to rumble menacingly.

I looked down with alarm and saw a small crack forming between my feet. As the crack began to grow wider, I jumped into the air, knowing the dirt was becoming lighter and lighter. The raindrops rushed to meet my rising face with pitiless resistance.

Neji had jumped into the air to meet me, and, within moments, we clashed in the sky above the cliff. He flew between my kicks and tried to throw an elbow at my gut, but I grabbed him and flew above the strike, pushing off him with my hands.

As we met in mid-air, the crack down below had widened into a huge gash that split open into the caves hiding inside the cliffs. At first, I thought they were the evacuation chambers used for housing civilians during village attacks.

When we fell through the gap, still struggling to beat each other, I realized when we landed that I was wrong. It was a chamber that I had never seen before.

We hit the ground with a thud, pushing off each other immediately for enough to distance to familiarize ourselves with the new fighting ground. I looked around at the walls: they were lined with rectangular blocks and epitaphs, immediately pointing out that we were in the presence of graves. Of the many carved blocks in the stone, four stood out and were decorated most intricately. I looked up at the hole we had entered through and saw the moon glaring back at us with some sort of mocking smile.

'Where are we?' I whispered inside.

Suddenly, the unlit torches held around the walls surrounding us came to light all at once. Flames brimmed up from their cold, unused husks with supernatural puffs of smoke. Nothing else had moved, except the flames, illuminating the catacombs hidden deep inside the Hokage cliffs with dank, eerie shadows that danced at our feet.

"The Konoha Grand Catacombs," Neji muttered with disgust, "I had heard rumors about it from my father, but had no idea that the tunnels were hidden inside here."

"The torches…?" I replied with some confusion.

Neji wiped his lip and smiled evilly at me, "The Hokages are watching us."

Then he charged at me with a deafening war cry, bringing both of his fists up and throwing a swift jab at my face. I quickly ducked out of the way and punched him cleanly in the gut. It was the first clean blow that had been landed since the match started.

Neji recoiled for a second, then smiled at me again, the bloodlust in his huge eyes swelling to an insane amount.

"Why do you want to fight me so badly? For Lee?"

"Not just for him, Naruto."

He threw a right hook and a left uppercut, the blue whirls of chakra emanating from his hands clearly visible in the misty air of the tomb.

"Then… why?" I asked him, dodging his punches, spinning around to his side, and kneeing him in the ribs.

"I fight for the past!" He cried, grabbing my wrist as I tried to punch him.

Then, he yelled, growled with a superhuman strength, and picked me up off the floor, his other hand grabbing my by one of my knees. He hoisted me up over his head and threw me across the room, sending my body reeling into a huge stone figure set into the wall on the other side. I got up immediately, my back still sore from the impact.

As I got up, my back caught a strange bump in the wall. I turned around and felt what it was: the stone hilt of a sword. The feeling of the grip was clearly discernible.

I pulled at it with both hands and felt the metallic blade housed inside the stone guard's holder slide out cleanly. The ornamental sword seemed to be as functional as a real one. I held the blade in front of me and regained my feet, always staring at Neji.

"I fight for the future," I muttered bitterly.

Neji, noticing my new weapon, turns around to find another stone statue set into an alcove in the wall behind him. He noticed the same hilt and drew the same blade, the steel on its edge gleaming in the candlelight of the cold, lifeless tomb.

We were in a small chamber and nothing stood on the ground between us except dirt. That meant that, with swords, the first person to become cornered would be the loser.

"En guarde!" Neji cried out with anger, charging across the room, his two hands strapped firmly on to the hilt of the sword and holding it willfully above his head.

I stood ready for his blow and deflected his overhead swipe with a clanging noise that echoed across the walls and up into the hole that sent rain into the undisturbed chamber.

Within seconds, I noticed something different about Neji's blade: it was beginning to glow with a blue fire that tongued around it.

Neji's chakra was transferring to his sword.

With that, he lifted his blade up again and swiped diagonally at my body, grazing my shoulder at the slightest. I was pushed back for a moment, but found an opening to strike back with a sweep to his knees. He dodged me again with a step backwards.

Neji struck with fierce brutality. He was determined to beat me.

At a sudden thought, I felt the hilt of my blade warm up, as tongues of red chakra coated the steel and made it burn with a passionate light that joined the flames on the torches.

I swiped at him again, he struck back, and, in a matter of seconds, I've lost count of how many swings we've made at each other, as each high-speed blow parried another in a tournament of the reflexes. Red and blue collided with a might and explosion that was unlike anything I had ever seen before. His force was undeniable.

But mine was slightly better.

Finally, I knocked his blue sword from his hands and cornered him into the wall behind him, bringing my blade to his throat. We were both panting with hate for each other, my limbs ready to drop cleanly off my shoulders.

For once, I was grateful I hadn't had to transform. I had hoped that I could talk Neji into surrendering and walking away without any severe injuries.

"You're mine, Neji… I win."

"Even if you kill me, someone else will come."

"I'm not going to kill you. Drop your weapon."

Neji complied.

"Besides," I rasped, "Hinata wouldn't want that to happen."

I threw my blade backwards and stared into his eyes. They widened in rage at the sound of his cousin's name.

"Then die for your weakness, love-struck fool!" And Neji raised himself up and head-butted me in the nose, sending me reeling backwards, with blood dripping down my face.

"Bastard!" I cried.

I brought my fists to his face and looked back at him.

"I was going to let you surrender now, without so much as a scratch," I cried out harshly, "But now, I'm going to have to get you back."

I threw my sword behind me, wound up my right fist and threw it like a rock, into the middle of his face with as much force as I could muster.

"A-e!" Neji cried in pain, as the wall behind him suddenly gave out underneath the force of the blow, cracking through and pushing the both of us outside of the tomb and…

Lightning seared through the sky and thunder and rain fell back down on us both.

We were outside again, but not on top of the mountain. This time, we were perched somewhere on its side. I looked down and saw the carvings of the massive faces of the Hokages etched into the stone. My mind's eye placed us squarely on the nose of the Second Hokage. His gigantic eyes staring back at us from behind. His right eye had been marred with the hole from my punch from the inside.

I was familiar with my surroundings as this was a place I had come climbed often to vandalize, when I was younger.

I looked down at the small slip of rock we had both been given. Neji was on his back, on the ground, leaving barely any room for both of my feet to stand. The arena had shrunk back down exponentially, suspended hundreds of yards over the rooftops of Konoha.

Neji got back on to his feet and spat blood at the ground, staring at me with eyes that could curse. We were both disarmed and had to rely on our bare fists once more.

Well, not exactly bare…

"Thunder Fist Style! Die, Naruto!" Neji rasped between clenched teeth.

And Neji punched me in the chest as bolts of his chakra slipped out of his knuckles and manifested themselves as bolts of electrical energy. Pain racked through where he had hit me and the electric shock had burned my clothes. I ducked the next few blows he threw at me, noticing more and more that the lightning in the air seemed to strike with every punch he made, as if his fists were acting like miniature lightning rods.

Then another blow hit me, and another, and another…

I fell to the ground, burning in several places. I realized then that I would have to bring out something that would put him down for a while- at least enough time for me to catch my breath. I picked myself up, glancing at the long drop underneath the statue's nose.

"Ra- sen- gan!" I cried.

Nothing happened.

"Ra- sen- gan!" I cried again.

Again, nothing.

"Your Tenketsu have been blocked by my attacks, Naruto. Or have you forgotten?" I heard Neji mention behind me. I could picture the sick, evil smile on his face as he said that.

'Thunder Fist Style is just an upgraded, electric form of his Juken?' I wondered.

"You're finished, Naruto."

'No, I'm not.'

"Nine-Tailed Naruto! First Form!" I yelled.

I heard the his body fall into a crumple as the breeze that blew out from my body pushed him away from me, back towards the edge.

The transformation was complete in a few seconds.

I charged back at him just he was getting up on to his feet and punched him in the gut, sending small flames licking at the edges on his clothes where I had hit him.

'His blows could manifest electricity. Mine, fire.'

I grinned at him and sent more uppercuts into his belly, occasionally hooking him across the face. His lips pouted with an unbelievable fear, as his eyes struggled to remain open and focused on his new enemy. I couldn't pause if I wanted too, as I continued to strike at his face and body with my arms and legs.

Then, I picked him up by the throat and held him over the edge of the small, stone platform. I growled at him with an anger that made him shake for a few seconds.

"You really are a monster," Neji yelled back at me.

"Maybe," I replied.

Suddenly, I felt Neji's body powering up for a new attack.

"Eight Trigrams: Heavenly Punishment…!"

And with that, Neji's body rose into the air, coming free of my chokehold. Mid-air, he began to spin uncontrollably, as if he were performing the Eight Trigrams: Palms Heavenly Spin (Hakkesho Kaiten), the same move from the Chuunin exams, but then, I suddenly felt the air tighten as he stopped spinning and charged right at me, slicing through my body with his own.

The feeling was indescribable, as his whole body flew right at me, then through me.

As he regained his feet, the pain that radiated from the center of my body couldn't allow me to remain standing on my feet. I dropped to my knees, gaping in a silent scream.

But, Neji was far from finished.

As he landed behind me, I heard him prepare his final attack.

"Naruto! Feel the justice of fate!" He cried as he charged at me, picking me up and taking me with him off the surface of the stone and into the air that blew across the cliff face.

We remained in the air, frozen, for a second, then, just as we began to fall back down…

"Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms (Hakke Rokujuuyon Shoo)!"

What happened next was a blur, as Neji unleashed a fearsome combo of the gods, hitting me at too many points on my body to mention.

I knew that they were specifically aimed at my Tenketsu and also that they would be useless, because the red chakra knew no limiters, imposed or otherwise. Still, it didn't stop Neji's strikes from inflicting pain.

"Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms (Hakke Rokujuuyon Shoo)… again!"

When Neji completed his first technique, he repeated it, eager to solidify his standings. He was one crazy son of a…

'At this rate, we're going to die,' I heard a deep, demonic voice growl inside me.

The fox was right- the ground was coming to meet us at a phenomenal rate. Neji was eager to prove to himself that he was better than me, even if it meant that both of us would die.

'Do something, idiot! Do something now! We'll die!' The fox cried again.

'What the hell can I do? We're falling off a cliff!' I replied in my head.

'Then I'll do something…' The voice replied.

Neji continued to strike me, caught in his world and focused on striking me with pinprick effect and precision.

And then, I felt my limbs begin to move on their own. My mouth also said something beyond my control in a voice I couldn't recognize.

"Nine-Tailed Naruto Technique: Uzumaki REBIRTH Combo!"

Lightning growled and Neji paused in his attack to see what I would do next.

'I'm going to take this guy down so you can focus on keeping us alive.'

"First Tail: Pain!" I screamed, punching him in the face.

And a tail of fire lashed out from behind me and lashed at Neji's body as it fell through the air, whipping him countless times all over his body. Neji cried out in rage.

"Second Tail: Grief!" I called, kicking him in the gut.

And another tail of fire came from behind me, wrapping around Neji's body in one long, winding spiral and snaking around his ankles. Suddenly, the rope of fire tightened and constricted his body, burning him in several places.

"Third Tail: Sorrow!" I announced, punching him in the face again.

And a similar tail of fire snaked out from behind me and separated in the air, becoming multiple small balls of fire. Then, within a moment, they homed in on Neji's falling body and crashed into his face and chest.

"Fourth Tail: Anguish!" I cried, kicking him again in the midsection.

Once again, the tail of fire formed from behind me, and the long strip became several smaller strips that positioned themselves across Neji's body. Once they were floating over his body, they criss-crossed in and out of his skin, burning him inside.

"Fifth Tail: Misery!" I yelled, punching him across the jaw another time.

The next stream of fire flew out from behind me and became like a wall of flame, a blanket of fire. Wrapping Neji's body entirely in fire and remaining on his body for a second before disappearing back into the air.

"Sixth Tail: Angst!" I roared, kicking him again at the belly.

The next tail of fire became small orbs of fire that flew underneath Neji's feet and blew pillars of fire upwards, scorching Neji legs and rasping smoke at his belly.

"Seventh Tail: Regret!" I snarled, punching him at the nose again.

The next tail hovered in front of us for some time as it coalesced itself into one solid, humongous ball, then threw itself full on, into Neji's chest.

"Eight Tail: Death!" I bellowed, kneeing him in the gut.

The eighth tail came out from underneath and, like a blade of flame, poised itself straight and rigid, pointed itself at Neji's chest, and seared through the air and stabbed into him. Neji cried out in pain again for the final time, becoming strangely quiet afterwards.

"Ninth Tail: Rebirth!"

And the ninth tail came in and brushed itself against Neji's face, bringing him back to gasping, coughing life. The pain on his body was his to bear once more.

Since the combo had started, only three seconds had passed, but the ground was readily falling towards us. I saw Neji pass out again as his body struggled to hold itself under the onslaught, but at least he was still alive.

'There, now the boy is incapacitated.' The voice cried, relieved.

Suddenly, I felt the fox's presence leave my body, and then, I was Naruto again.

I caught Neji in mid-air and felt my fall beginning to slow down as a swarm of insects crowded beneath my feet.

The ground was coming fast… I wasn't sure if the bugs would be enough to slow our fall…