This chapter's rather short, and there are reasons for that; the main one being because I was too lazy and because I wanted to post one as soon as possible after such a long time out of the game (of writing fan fiction). Oh, and there's also the one that involves my friends and I trying to get our indie comic off the ground over the last few months, but we were unsuccessful because we live in a backwater country that believes that burning fellow Africans is justice.

What a bunch of stupid pricks South Africans are…and it isn't even the educated ones. It is the uneducated lot that are making us look bad internationally. How's a guy supposed to work as a comic book writer if these fuckers are busy killing potential clients. Idiots!

Sorry about the rant…anyway, here's the third chapter.

Chapter Three: Battle

The sound inside the stadium resembled that of a lion's roar; wild, untamed and dominant. The people that had come to witness this spectacular event were showing their appreciation in more ways than one. There were chants for the Hyūga prodigy who stood in all of his glory in the blazing sun, looking undeterred as he stared down his opponent for the evening. His long abyss-like locks that were held in a low ponytail fluttered in the wind like a sail on a ship, while his cream white coloured face had a stoic feature to it.

His opponent seemed to mirror some of his qualities right now, keeping his face stoic and letting his soft hair flutter in the small gust that blew over. Nature could sense the tension building up between the two fighters from the most powerful hidden village, and it was responding accordingly. Naruto's facial expression changed into a serious one the moment the fight was given the green light. He seemed focused, dedicated and above all else, he seemed like he believed that he could win.

His opponent seemed to notice Naruto's burning desire to win and called him out on it, "You believe that you can win this fight."

"Yes." Naruto replied in a slightly toneless manner.

"Then you are a fool." His opponent argued softly, yet firmly.

"Says the guy who tried to kill his own family member." Naruto said, and he got an immediate rise out of his normally stoic opponent.

Neji's calm demeanour broke for a second at the mention of what he did to his own cousin, but it was quickly masked with indifference, "What happened to Hinata-sama is what happens to those who are weak. They pick the wrong fights and get put down like the dogs that they are."

Now it was Naruto's turn to have a broken stoicism, with his hands balling into fists and his right fist being raised into the air "How dare you call her a dog?!"

"I said no such thing." Neji replied smoothly, "I simply said that she was put down like a dog."

Faster than anyone had expected out of Naruto, he blasted off from his position and was in front of Neji within two seconds, before swinging his right fist at the Hyūga, but he simply side stepped the punch before he retaliated with a palm thrust to Naruto's stomach, making saliva fly out of the blonde's mouth, before he received a spinning kick that knocked him back a few feet.

"Foolish." was all Neji said as he stood still with his arms at the side and watched as Naruto got up, "I won't even have to use my Byakugan on you."

Naruto silently cursed himself for not having the foresight to remember that Neji was a taijutsu specialist, and as such the two seconds it took to reach him were too slow for a guy that could beat Bushy Brows. Naruto stood onto his feet and dusted himself a little, before his eyes focused on his opponent once more.

"You won't have to use the Byakugan, you say?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

Neji simply looked at the blonde boy, not the least bit intimidated by him.

"Big Mistake." Naruto declared as he drew on all of his previous life's experience and shifted his foot slightly inward. The ground Neji stood on shook for a second, before he was suddenly shot into the air by a rising piece of earth that he stood on top of. Neji felt the wind kiss his face as he flew higher and higher while his hair got ruffled by the pressure, but just as he reached his apex, the rock he stood on flipped him over so that he was now falling to the ground at a very high speed, face first.

Quickly thinking on his feet, or lack off, he turned on his Byakugan and saw the rock he was on before was following the same flight plan as him. Neji felt like cursing. He had underestimated his opponent and now he was about to get a lesson in the literal understanding of between a rock and a hard place.

Neji cursed again because now he was going to be forced to use one of the techniques he had saved for later on in the tournament. Spinning like a top as he approached his demise, Neji spread his chakra throughout his body until he was surrounded by a large, blue coloured sphere.

"Kaiten!"

The sphere crashed into the ground and dug a hole in it, but while that was happening, the rock came down on the sphere, smashing itself against it, before it got launched off into a random direction. As soon as the rock was out of the way, Neji stopped spinning, and when the dome disappeared, he used his hands to balance while spinning, before he jumped out of the crater he just made and righted himself onto his own feet.

The audience, who had been stunned into silence by the display they just saw, quickly got over their stupor and roared to life. The noise they emitted drowned out any of the previous chanting that was made before. Somewhere in the stands, one Hyūga kunoichi looked on with astonishment and hope for the person she secretly supported. Hinata could not believe what she had just bared witness to, as the skill levels Naruto and Neji had just displayed were simply astounding.

Hinata was not the only one that was shocked. Those that knew Naruto, like Sakura and the rest of her graduating class, had their eyebrows raised; some had hanging jaws and others simply looked apathetic. Sakura turned in her seat and looked at the blonde haired girl next to her with shock evident on her face. Looking at her friend she was able to see a slightly gaping mouth and she realised that she was not the only one who was shocked.

"What the heck was that?!" Sakura shouted in incredulity. She had never seen Naruto display skill of that nature before.

"I don't know, Forehead…" Ino replied, turning to look at her astonished friend, "I was hoping you could tell me since he's your teammate."

Ino had graduated with Naruto, and he was the dead last of the class. She came here today expecting him to put up a brave effort, but ultimately get creamed by the Hyūga prodigy, but it seemed like Naruto did not get the memo because he was taking the fight to Neji.

"I've never seen anything like that." Sakura admitted. Was this a result of the one month training period? Sakura actually considered it, but quickly shot it down because she knew that no one was so skilled that they could harness the power of an element within a month, let alone bend it to their will like Naruto had just done. She kept playing the image of Naruto flailing his arms about, and the rock following his command.

"Well it seems as if there are some secrets in your team." Ino rationally deduced.

Sakura looked away from her friend and focused on the arena floor where Neji and Naruto were about to resume their fight.

"I think you're right." Sakura said in a whispered tone that Ino did not pick up, "It seems as if there are secrets among my teammates."

xxXXxx

The fight between the two boys remained stagnant for a few moments, neither boy refusing to give the other an advantage by acting too hastily. They each had things they deduced from their first round about each other. For Naruto, it was mainly focused on Neji's quick agility. It seemed as if Neji's title of genius was not something that was just picked out of a lottery hat. He was that good.

For Neji, It was Naruto's unexpected mastery over Doton.

Naruto felt Neji's chakra spike slightly before the dust around the Hyūga genius' feet kicked off the ground and Neji made a dash right at him. Naruto knew the dangers of close quarters combat with the Hyūga clan; after all he saw how Neji nearly killed Hinata with pure taijutsu. Now he was forced to defend against said deadly art. He could use some of Asura's more powerful techniques and end the fight right now, but that would raise a lot more eyebrows than necessary.

It was Ero-Sennin's plan…he was just supposed to use the basics, and just the basics of what he had gained from Asura; but the way he had just used the earth against Neji earlier put a serious dent to Ero-Sennin's plan. Oh well, if the cat's already out of the bag, then there's no need to keep holding it back.

Neji was close to Naruto when the blonde boy shifted his right foot to the left and watched as a piece of earth acted like a whip and tried to trip Neji's feet. The operative word being tried. Neji saw the chakra laced into the ground thanks to his Byakugan and was able to act accordingly when an earth-like whip tried to trip him. He jumped over the earth construct and was able to keep in direct course for Naruto. He drew his hand back and sent it forward, looking to palm strike the blonde boy in the chest.

Neji's palm did strike something, although that something wasn't his original target. Neji had struck a stone wall that sprung up wordlessly in front of both boys. The wall buckled under Neji's palm thrust but remained sturdy.

The sudden stop caused for Neji to momentarily lose concentration, a lapse which Naruto wanted to catapult at and use to his advantage. Naruto pushed the wall towards Neji with a lot of power behind it. Neji, despite having momentarily lost concentration, was able to ingeniously run up the wall while it moved back, before jumping over it and throwing three kunai at its creator.

Naruto saw the knives headed at him and systemically dodged them by side stepping out of their range. He looked up just in time to see two finger tips hit his shoulder, before they were joined by another two hits to his other shoulder and his right thigh. Naruto managed to jump out of Neji's range just as the Hyūga was about to hit him again. He landed on the ground and looked back up at the sky and saw the Neji that had run up the wall and had thrown the diversionary kunai at him blur out of sight, signalling that he was just a clone that Neji had used as a distraction.

'Darn it…this guy is fast.' Naruto thought to himself while also trying to get a feel from the parts Neji hit, but found them to be immobile.

Neji wordlessly continued his assault on Naruto, trying to get within the blonde's range, but Naruto had forced himself to increase his own speed so as to be able to keep up with Neji. Neji would attack, while Naruto would dodge the attacks of the Hyūga boy. A palm thrust to the face was evaded by a simple tilting of the head, a two finger jab at Naruto's chest was evaded by simply sidestepping left or right, and the occasional kick thrown in by Neji was either jumped over or ducked low.

The duo continued this game of cat and mouse for a few minutes. Those watching could only keep their attention on the battle as it heated up. They watched in rapt attention as Naruto dodged Neji's deadly strikes.

"Who knew Naruto-kun could actually have such great reaction timing?" said a voice behind Sakura and Ino, one they recognised instantly.

"Lee!" they both shouted at the same time upon seeing the bowl headed boy in crutches and green spandex standing next to his sensei.

"How are you, Sakura-san, Ino-san?" Lee asked the duo calmly, which was a far cry to how he usually acted. His fight against Gaara had left him nearly completely broken physically, but it also seemed to have done a number on him mentally as well.

"We're okay Lee…what about you?" Sakura answered for both Ino and her.

"I am alright, Sakura-san…Gai-sensei picked me up from the hospital so that I could watch the tournament." Lee continued in his unusually calm manner.

"O-okay." was all Sakura could say to the boy. She couldn't say much else to the obviously downtrodden boy.

There was a loud boom that drew everyone's attention back to the fight at hand.

xxXXxx

While some of the audience had been conversing amongst themselves, Naruto and Neji had continued their fierce fight. Neji's attacks had been getting dodged continuously by the blonde Uzumaki, and it was getting on his nerves.

"Hold still!" Neji shouted, thrusting his palm out, before he suddenly tripped over an uneven piece of earth, a piece which Naruto had dislodged on purpose as he continuously moved backwards. Neji lost his balance for the first time in a while and he could only watch as he fell face-first into a chakra laced kick to the face. Luckily for him though, Neji was able to produce a thin veil of chakra around his face thanks to his mastery of the Kaiten.

The second the kick made contact with his face, Neji felt like he had been the luckiest guy in the world for thinking up of placing a veil of chakra around his face because the kick Naruto had just dished out to him was so powerful that there was a loud boom and he was flung backwards. Neji flew through the air at a fast rate before he came into contact with the ground and suddenly found himself in rolling on the dirt a few times before coming to a complete stop.

Naruto meanwhile, was busy shaking the effects of Neji's three quick strikes off of himself. It took him longer than expected to do so since he was holding back greatly. The kick that he delivered should be enough to force the Hyūga to stay down Naruto wagered. Too bad Neji didn't get that memo.

Naruto watched as the Hyūga boy slowly picked himself up off the ground and stagger to his feet. There was blood dripping down Neji's face thanks to a busted nose and a slightly cracked skull.

"W-why?" Neji asked in a tired and blocked nose-like manner, "Why can't I beat you?"

"Huh?" was Naruto's intelligent reply with a slight tilting of his head to the side.

"Why is it that a talentless loser like you can defy fate?" Neji asked.

Naruto had no idea what Neji was trying to get out of him, so he simply said what he felt was the right answer, "Fate isn't something that I believe in. If it was, then I wouldn't be kicking your ass, now would I?"

Neji looked angered by Naruto's words and he voiced his anger, "Don't you dare! Don't you dare say that fate isn't set in stone because if that's true then I wouldn't be cursed to be a branch member of the Hyūga clan!"

Naruto could feel the emotion coming from the Hyūga boy, but chose to ignore it because he just couldn't understand half the things Neji said, "Whatever dude. I have no idea what this whole branch member bullshit is, but I will tell you this…if I were you, I would stop believing in things like fate because that won't get you anywhere in life. Every time you fail, you will blame something that's inexistent, and when you do succeed you'll just chalk it up to fate. I believe that a person makes the path they lead in life…they don't follow some preordained manuscript. I'm living proof of that."

Neji looked at Naruto for a few seconds, not sure about how he ought to process everything he just heard, before he finally succumbed to his injuries and blacked out. His body fell face first onto the ground.

Naruto watched Neji fall unceremoniously and decided to rush towards him, to try and help him, but he had barely taken ten steps before he felt a hand rest on his shoulder.

"Relax kid," the person, whose voice Naruto immediately recognised as Shiranui Genma's, said, "the medic's will take care of him."

Naruto looked up at the proctor and smiled gratefully. Neji may have been a bastard, but it seemed as if he had a few skeletons in his closet that he tried to repress but he couldn't. It was these skeletons that made Neji who he was today, and if there was anyone who ought to know anything about skeletons, then it was him (Naruto). He hoped that talking with him helped Neji clear the air.

While Naruto's attention was on the Hyūga clan member being whisked away by a gurney, Genma's was on Naruto.

'The kid is an excellent fighter. Those moves he pulled should have made any genin tired and out of breath, but he's standing tall without even a bead of sweat on him. Kid's scary that's for sure.' Genma thought, 'His skill level with Doton is something I've never seen before, not even with Iwagakure shinobi. He wasn't just casting techniques that involved the earth, but he was actually bending the earth to his will. I wonder who taught him that in the space of a month.'

"The winner of this match, Uzumaki Naruto!" Genma shouted for the audience after he realised he hadn't declared a winner yet.

There was a huge applause among those watching, which caught Naruto off-guard for a few seconds, before he quickly ran around the arena, acting like an idiot in the process, and blowing kisses at the audience.

Up in the stands his friends cheered for him while those that were going to possibly be competing against him watched him with careful looks on their eyes. The blonde Uzumaki had just knocked himself up a notch or two in their dangerous opponent rankings.

Anyone who had seen that fight and not be a bit wearier of Naruto would have been the biggest idiot ever. Too bad there was one contestant who didn't get the memo, as he looked at Naruto with a blood lusted look in his eyes instead of weariness.

"Uzumaki…Naruto…"

Chapter End

Once again, sorry for the relatively short chapter, but I wanted to post something as soon as I could. I won't make any promises, but I do want to try and post 10k+ chapters as much as possible.

Anyway, I hope the fight wasn't a disappointment. I didn't want Naruto to overpower Neji in one move. It needed to seem like more of a fight because this was a turning point for Neji in canon, and I couldn't take that away from him.

Anyway I've recently come to a perplexing point in my life. I have 7 women, that's right, 7 women, that want me and I want them too…but it's getting in the way of my comic book aspirations. While I want to be involved with at least one of them, I realise that they'll shift my focus away from the comic book. Can you guys help me out? What do I do? Do I chase after the women, or do I chase the dream?

Alright, A/N over…Thabane has left the building.