Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other anime or movie referenced here.

NOTE: PLEASE TELL ME IN THE REVIEWS AS THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER BEFORE I PROCEED WITH WHAT I THINK BEST. Do I make Naruto's parents alive or do I keep them dead. I can work around either view as I had these ideas in my head I couldn't choose one. I will wait a week before i continue with what you decided.

Hey guys thanks for the reviews and the support you give to this story.

Anyway let's get going with the show.

Chapter 22

Previously

Next fight Rock Lee vs Gaara winner Gaara

Now that was a fight. He saw Gaara's jutsu and fighting style and was already preparing counters. He was impressed by Lee's skill and determination. He might have lost but he did put on a show. What he did warranted a promotion. Too bad these exams were too stupid to consider this. I mean this was chunin material and it all goes to waste. At least he got out with a few injuries. Gai intervened before things got crazy which got Lee disqualified. Now that's a sensei not the thing they got stuck with.

Next Fight Neji vs Hinata

Hinata already knew it was going to happen when Naruto fought Kiba. She was glad she didn't fight Lee or Gaara otherwise she was going to be forced to reveal things that could get her in trouble. She slowly strode into the arena and came face to face with her cousin Neji who was wearing a stoic face more than usual. She could detect a lot of anger and hate from him. Oh boy this was going to be a pain.

Now

D Naruto residence

Zabuza was sitting on the couch with a bucket of popcorn with his daughter besides him. D Naruto and his girls were on the other one enjoying the show. Alright not enjoy per say because there was nothing worth enjoying except for a few moments. They were watching the chunin exams on an ice mirror D Naruto made. So far they were not impressed by what they were seeing.

As for Shiro he wasn't around to watch with everyone. Come to think of it he hasn't been seen for two days now. Where could that little fur ball have gone to?

"This is a waste of good pop-corn" Zabuza commented. Honestly the fights were pitiful. During his time all these kids would have been killed in a matter of seconds. And they say these were the future of the shinobi world. Well that future is very much doomed.

"You can say that again. In my dimension our chunin had a lot of bad ass fights I mean all villages and some we didn't know existed were there" D Naruto agreed reminiscing the time he took part in these exams. Man those were the days.

"At least Naruto-kun put on a show" Haku commented as she enjoyed her boyfriend's match if you can call it that.

"That's the only good part about this exam. Hehehe the kid sure knows how to entertain people" Zabuza laughed. The only fight left was between Hinata and Neji. Everyone knew that Hinata had this in the bag. I mean she was trained but three of the scariest women on the planet and she became crazy strong for her age. D Naruto on the other hand looked worried.

"I have a bad feeling about this"

"Why is that?" Miya asked.

"I have seen how every match played out. This is the only match that I didn't see. It was blocked which means something is going to happen" everyone tensed at this. For D Naruto to not see an event means that it's either crucial or it's an event they are not supposed to interfere in. Either way they have to prepare for the worst case scenario.

As everyone contemplated on what might happen during this match, our favourite rabbit came into the room looking worse for wear. His snow white fur was covered in scorch marks from what seemed to be fire jutsu. Oh did I also mention that he smelled like roast rabbit hehehe.

"And what happened to you?" asked Zabuza with hind of amusement.

"I walked in on my target while she was taking a bath. Let's just say it didn't end well for me. That woman is crazy I tell yah" answered Shiro as he threw himself on the carpet and Haku came in to heal him not that he needed it.

"So did they accept my offer" D Naruto asked.

"Yah they did. They have gone into hiding until the time is right"

"Good wouldn't want them to get wiped out while we training our little heroes hehehe. Anyway good job I owe you one."

"A life time supply of carrots?" Shiro asked with hope in his eyes.

"Not a chance you eat those things almost as fast as I inhale my ramen" D Naruto said dryly getting a pout from Shiro. With that they went back to watching the match all the while that bad feeling increasing in D Naruto's gut.
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Back to the fight

The stadium was tense as they saw the two former clansmen facing each other. Neji was radiating such hatred for Hinata that even the proctor felt unnerved by it. Hinata didn't look affected by it not in the least. She kept a blank face as she looked at Neji but on the inside she felt pity for him.

He wanted to project his hatred on her for something that she had no control over. Was it her fault that his father died? Was it her fault that his father CHOSE to sacrifice himself so her 'father' could live (D Naruto spilled a lot of the village's secrets including this one)? No it wasn't. So why blame her for his misfortune? It's just like how people blame Naruto for the loss of their loved ones during the Kyuubi's attack. And this is one of the reasons why she wanted to leave this stupid place. She also wanted to help the Branch family but it seems she also fell victim to the Main House's ploys. Not that she complained.

"So the failure has graced us with her presence. Honestly you are a disgrace to the Hyuuga clan. You are a weakling and that's why you were kicked out of the clan. Give up now and save yourself the embarrassment for fate has declared that you lose today" Neji spoke with a smug look on his face. He expected this weak girl to cower in fear and forfeit the match but what he got surprised him. Hinata just looked at him with a blank face which infuriated him.

Up in the stands

"Damn what crawled up his ass and died a very horrible death" Naruto said with a frown on his face. What's with this guy and trying to bully Hinata for something that she didn't do?

"Hey you might be smart but you don't know what Neji has been through" Tenten tried to defend Neji.

"And whatever it is gives him the right to bully others? He is not the only one that suffered a tragic event in his life. There are plenty of people who suffered worse than him but they don't take it out on others. I think this is a disease that runs in male doujutsu users. Example Sasuke" yah that could be it. 'We can also add Madara, fake Madara and that idiot Nagato to that list' this one he added in his head.

Gai just nodded at the logic provided by the youthful (shiver) Naruto. He tried to break Neji out of this character of his but it seems he is getting even worse. He is especially ruthless to his teammate during sparring matches when he takes out his frustrations on them or belittles them. Lee just keeps quiet but he can tell he is affected by it and there was a time he almost lashed out at Neji. Tenten Gai has no idea what's going on in that head of hers. Maybe she is one of these girls who go off on being belittled and beaten.

The other jounin who listened had to agree although they did not voice their opinions. Just because someone is inferior to you doesn't mean to can just go and step on them. It's just wrong on so many levels and that kid really needs a reality check or he might just get worse in the future (que shiver).

A few genin who knew the prick agreed that Neji was being a prick. This is the reason why he didn't have any friends because he was busy chasing everyone away with his 'I am superior to you because you don't have the Byakugan ' complex. Other genin who were narrow-minded did side with Neji though but their arguments were pointless.

Naruto just hoped that Hinata doesn't develop a soft spot for this idiot. She might consider him her older brother but this guy seriously needs an ass whooping to straighten him up. There are people who can be straightened out just by talking to them while others need drastic measures. Neji was one of those who needed drastic measures together with Sasuke. He noted that the guy selling refreshments was gone which bummed him out but then he spotted the drink Hinata left. Maybe a few seeps wouldn't hurt unless Hinata hurts him. Zabuza accidentally ate her cinnamon buns. Demon of the mist my ass the dude screamed like a little girl when he was being chased and beaten by a little girl.

Back to the fight

Hinata didn't look intimidated at all. The words did hurt her a little though. She loved Neji like a brother and to hear him say that to her hurt. But that's not going to get her down though. She tried talking to him but words seem to not reach him. So like aunt Kurama always say if words can't reach knock some sense into them, some good old fisting will do the trick. So time for talk is over time for some fisting.

She took the traditional Gentle Fist stance while looking intently at Neji who just shook his head in disappointment. The proctor gave the signal and the two sped at each other and met in the middle. The stadium was quite. All you can hear were the two fighters ducking it out and Naruto cheering for his girlfriend.

The two fighters tried to poke each other or deliver palm strikes to each other but all they did was counter each other. Well Hinata was just countering while Neji tried to hit her. They were evenly matched in skill and speed. This surprised everyone greatly including Neji who thought that this fight would be one sided.

Both parties separated from each other after feeling each other out. Neji just snorted. Okay she may have improved but he was holding back way too much. So time to change that.

He activated his Byakugan then sped at Hinata with even greater speed than the one he initially used. To most of the genin Neji was just a blur to them only a few could see what was going on. It was a surprise to see Neji rolling on the floor with a bruise his face. Hinata could be seen with a fist extended and an impassive face.

What happened was since Hinata didn't have her doujutsu activated Neji figured it was a good idea to come at her from her blind spot so he came from behind her. What he didn't expect was for Hinata to quickly turn around and deliver a wicked haymaker which had enough power to launch him a few feet across the ring.

Hinata had to thank her senseis for the training that she got and the few surprises that she awoke during their training. Having three sadistic, super scary and super strong senseis can do wonders to a girl. Especially when using the Sealed Room and bees. Now she knew how Naruto developed hyper awareness to danger, those bees can really party on you if you are too slow.

Neji on the other hand was fuming. He had her in his sight so how did she do that and did she use a fist? This isn't the Hyuuga way to fight.

"MMH so you have improved a little but at the same time you have degraded. Hyuuga don't use fists. What you did was an abomination!" Neji accused while nursing his bruised cheek.

"Firstly Neji I am no longer a Hyuuga so that stupid law doesn't apply to me. And even if you say a former Hyuuga can't use the Gentle Fist the circumstances around my removal from the clan allow me to if you look at the contract. Also you have to admit my fist wasn't that gentle was it" Hinata finished her reasoning with an amused expressing on her face.

The Gentle Fist while it is a good style has got its own plethora of weaknesses that her senseis removed. I mean why limit yourself to just poking and palm strikes when you could use fists and kicks too. Also that style way too predictable and straight forward its easy counter. Why Gai didn't tell Neji is way beyond her.

Neji quickly composed himself and attacked Hinata again. This time with much vigour than before. He sped in front of her, no need to repeat the same mistake twice, and started a battle of style. His aim was to force her to make a mistake so that he can capitalise. What he failed to realise was that Hinata had other plans. While they were busy trying to block each other's pathways Hinata snuck in a kick on Neji's overextended leg and kicked the inside of it right on the knee joint.

This caused Neji to loss balance and kneel with one knee. Big mistake. For the second time during this match Neji found himself rolling on the ground again. Oh and he was also spotting a cool black eye hehehehe.

Up in the stands

"Neji is losing?" Tenten asked her sensei in shock. Never had she seen Neji get beat to the ground, twice at that, without dishing his own deal of damage. No even Lee could do that (although she didn't know Lee was holding back until a few minutes ago).

"It seems the youthful Hinata has figured out the weakness of the Gentle fist" Gai stated while he analysed the fight. Hinata seemed to be switching from that style to using plain fists when she gets the chance. She calculates Neji's strikes then creates an opening to deliver her attack. Whoever trained her really did a good job.

"Yah go Hinata give him another black eye" guess who.

The other genin were surprised by Hinata's skill. The fan girls more so. It was widely known that Hinata was shy and could never hurt a fly but this Hinata was awesome. It made some genin re-evaluate themselves. What they were seeing was a tiger that has just woken up from her slumber.

"Kurenai I didn't know that you were into taijutsu as well. You really did a good job" Kakashi commented as once again he had pocketed his porn in favour of the match. He tried to copy Hinata's style but from what he could tell she was using the Gentle fist then alternate when she creates a chance. So copying that is useless.

"I didn't teach her that. She has been like that after her disappearance. You have to ask you student that since they are leaving together" Kurenai replied.

She was bummed out when she saw that Hinata improved this much and she didn't have a hand in it. When Hinata told her that she was living with her boyfriend and her senseis she tried to forbid her but it didn't end well. She tried to get infor on her senseis as well but that just strained their relationship even further which saddened Kurenai. She loved Hinata like a little sister and she wanted to take care of her. To hear that someone was doing what she was supposed to do didn't seat well with her.

She just sighed as she now had to try mend the broken relationship. Hinata was cautious around her like Kurenai was the enemy or something. She only hoped it's not too late to fix the damage. Kakashi tried to ask his student who trained Hinata and all he got was 'My aunts' and that's it.

Back to the fight

Neji quickly got up and glared at Hinata. How is she doing that? She was weak a few months ago and now she is mopping the floor with him. And she hasn't even activated her Byakugan at that. There has to be a trick to it. So no more holding back.

Neji quickly used all his speed to rush at Hinata again. This time Hinata seemed to be having trouble blocking his strikes. She jumped back to get some distance but Neji was upon her as soon as she landed and delivered a palm strike to her chest. She used her hands to block but the force of the strike pushed her back a few feet. She still landed on her feet and flexed her arms to remove the numbness in them. So Neji was getting serious then. Well so was she.

She discretely removed the Gravity Seals she had but she knew Neji could see them but didn't know what they were. She than activated her Byakugan and attacked Neji with her new speed. Neji never stood a chance. He tried everything but it didn't work. She seemed to be using a new form of Gentle Fist in which she used her flexibility to slip past his attacks and beat the crap out of him. To make it worse he used a main branch technique the 8 Trigram 64 Palm technique but she matched his strikes and blocked all of his strikes.

Everything was going well for Hinata. She had Neji on the ropes. All that was needed was to finish him off and the match would be done. That was until she started to feel sluggish and her chakra control was whack. Worse her chakra coils started to burn and it hurt but she ignored the pain. But what the hell was going on?

Up in the stands

Naruto was watching everything going well for Hinata looks like she has this in the bag. He was about to take a sip from her drink when

"You do know you are drinking poison right" came the voice of his partner. Naruto froze as he stopped the bottle from reaching his lips. He took a whiff of the liquid trying to identify the components in the drink. There it is. It seems his partner was right. The only reason he knew of the poison was because Naruto was ate it in his food before. He is immune to it now but back then it was a pain literally.

This poison messes with your chakra coils and chakra control. It makes the coils burn and its very painful. Worse the victim's movements become sluggish until the victim is paralyses so not defending himself what so ever. It doesn't kill but it's good for immobilising victims

If it affected him greatly and he is a jinchuuriki what more a normal Shinobi. Shit this isn't good.

"STOP THE MATCH NOW!" Naruto shouted with panic evident in his voice. This caught everyone by surprise. What was he saying Hinata was winning so why stop the match?

"Why, Hinata is winning!" shouted a certain harpy.

"She has been poisoned and she is running out of time!" shouted Naruto as he made a few clones and instructed them to find the guy who was selling drinks. That guys was going to pay big time if he thinks he can get away with this.

The others were surprised especially Kurenai. But since there was no way to confirm this they all downplayed this as a delusional boy trying to pull another prank. Well that was until Shino noticed something wrong with his team mate.

"Sensei something is wrong with Hinata. She seems tired and her movements are sluggish!" Shino alerted everyone as he discreetly send some of his bugs to Hinata.

"Sluggish movement, bad chakra control and chakra coils overheating. So it's started already. HINATA FORFEIT THE MATCH YOU HAVE BEEN POISONED!" Naruto shouted to Hinata who was now in trouble when Neji noticed what was happening to her. Shino confirmed what Naruto said prompting them to ask how he knew. All he said was he was once on the receiving end of the poison. The other genin wondered when he had ever been poisoned and by who.

In the arena Hinata was trying to defend herself from Neji's ruthless onslaught. She was wondering what was happening to her. She was fine when she came in and now she was in a lot of pain and her chakra was fighting against her. That's when she heard what Naruto said. But when had she been poisoned? Oh the drinks! But the others are fine so was she the target?

She only had moments to think. She quickly separated from her opponent and forfeited. As soon as she did a huge wave of pain shot through her body prompting her to fall down. At least the match was over and the medics can do something about the poison. But it seemed Neji didn't get the memo.

He shot forward with intend to kill. The proctor was taken by surprise by the action to react in time. Fortunately someone was already at her side when she forfeited. That same person grabbed the offending appendage which was poised to kill her.

Naruto was officially pissed off when he stopped Neji. This jackass just tried to kill his Hinata in front of him. This won't go unpunished. Pissed of red eyes with slits met anger Byakuugan eyes. Neither looked away as jounin flooded the arena to stop the two boys.

In one quick movement, Naruto jacked Neji's hand forward then delivered a devastating right hook. It was so fast that Neji didn't even register it until it was stopped by his sensei. Said man winced at the power behind the punch and that was saying something. You could feel the shock waves from when the punch was blocked and right now Gai was glad he blocked the punch otherwise Neji would have lost his head. But at the same time he regretted it because he would have to see the medics to have his hand fixed. He didn't expect that much power behind the punch.

The jounin made sure that the two boys didn't have enough room to move otherwise they would fight again. Gai was chastening his student about how shameful (oh now that's serous if he didn't use unyouthful) of Neji to do something like that. The proctor also threatened with disqualification but both were ignored.

Naruto after being stopped came back to his senses and he went back to Hinata was about to be attended to by the medics. He created a few clones who circled her threatening them not to come closer. The others were surprise by this but Naruto told them that he doesn't trust them with the safety of Hinata if something like this could happen under their watch and caused by one of their own.

Orochimaru was just enjoying the show. Sure the boy didn't show much but he was strong judging by how strong the genjutsu he used was. This drama also gave him an idea of how to get Naruto and also created an opportunity to escape. Time to bail.

The Hokage appeared in the arena and tried to control the situation. He promised Naruto that he would personally take care of her but Naruto declined. Naruto then made a knocking motion in the air like he was knocking on a door. Suddenly the air distorted and a black portal appeared. From the portal a pair of smooth pale hands appeared and received Hinata. Before the portal closed a feminine voice told him not to worry about Hinata and that they found the person how poisoned her. Then the portal closed.

Naruto then relaxed as he knew that she was in good hands. Everyone was looking at Naruto with a lot of question.

"Naruto what was that and who was that" the 3rd asked.

"That was my aunt and as for your first question it's classified" Naruto answered. He noticed that Kakashi had his sharingan uncovered meaning he could have figured out what technique it was but that's not a problem.

Looking at Neji Naruto got serious. "Neji pray to whatever deity you Hyuuga pray to because if we meet in the finals I am going to destroy you and that's a promise" Neji just snorted at this forgetting that he almost got his head knocked off his shoulders.

Since Hinata forfeited the last match of the preliminaries ended. So all those who won were called to the arena where they were instructed to pick pieces of paper from a box with numbers on them these were to determine the match up for the finals. Kakashi was there to represent Sasuke since his favourite student was in hospital.

[The matchups occurred as in the canon]

With the matches selected Kakashi quickly left to tend to his student while the other students filed out. Those that were left were the Konoha senseis and the Hokage. The 3rd was curious as to why Naruto decided to still talk to the senseis instead of being with his girlfriend. Naruto on the other hand had taken this time to calm down and steady his thoughts. He had a lot of things to do before he went home so he had to cut this short.

"Okay now that you are here I have a few things to get off my chest. Firstly you people are idiots except for Gai-sensei. What possessed you to nominate us, green genin, to participate in the chunin exams? We survived by luck that's what happened so be thankful for that. Gai-sensei waited a year until his team had experience but you put our lives at risk for what, prestige or pride. You gambled with our lives that's what"

Before they could even decide to reason Naruto continued. "Secondly you are horrible senseis. Kakashi just taught us team work and chakra control exercises and I bet you did the same. Sakura and Ino are still as pitiful as ever and from what I can tell the other genin haven't improved on anything well except for Sasuke for obvious reasons. The only sensei I can somewhat respect is Gai. I mean look at Lee he is now badass from being deadlast. His performance is clearly worth the rank of chunin. Too bad this stupid exam doesn't see it that way."

"You guys are lazy. Just because you got clan heirs doesn't mean you just teach them there bare minimum. What sort of legacy are you going leave your students? Kakashi is trying to create a mini me that's okay, Gai's team is good at taijutsu which is okay. Kurenai-sensei you mother your students too much they don't grow and you Death Stick-sensei shoji isn't the proper way to train a genius. In the shinobi world there are full of surprises that even shogi can't simulate. Gai you team is the best so far but try to go for diversity."

"Lastly your teams are too predictable. A tracker team, the Ino-Shika-Cho, a taijutsu team and team 7 which is a bit balanced if we were trained properly. By putting your teams in such groups you are giving the enemy all the information they need to defeat you. Try to incorporate secondary skills into your teams so they don't get themselves killed. And you are team senseis so clan laws don't apply to you. The moment those students became genin they belong to the Hokage and as such you train them to the best of the village's ability not according to the dictate of the clan."

And with that Naruto took a deep breath as he finished his rant. He felt lighter now that he said all of this. What's left is for these people to change their ways and maybe they may produce better shinobi in the future. He could see all of them were contemplating on his words more so the 3rd who was nodding at what the boy said. So Naruto left them to do some thinking.

"Okay after the exams are over we need to re-evaluate our training methods. You will train you students and in three months we will be evaluating their progress. Does that sound good?" came the suggestion from the Hokage. The boy has revealed certain things that have been reducing the quality of their ninja. Starting after the exams things were going to change.

Naruto then headed to the hospital where he felt Kakashi was. When he found him the guy had already made plans to train Sasuke exclusively for his match against Gaara. Naruto just snorted at this. This is clearly Kakashi kissing Uchiha ass. Kakashi then showed Naruto his sensei who happened to be Ebuse. Okay Kakashi clearly has a few screws loose in his head. He can't even find Naruto a good sensei. Anyway he didn't need one anyway he just wanted to test the Kakashi and he clearly failed.

"Whatever I don't need your help. And thanks for coming Ebuse but you are clearly not needed. Both of you can't teach me anything I need so bye" and with that Naruto quickly left the hospital leaving two gaping jounin. Time to head home.

As he was going to the shrine at the village gates a man had just arrived. He had long white hair and was wearing clothing that made him look like a Kabuki dancer. This man was Jiraiya one of the three Sanin and the only one who was still loyal to the village. He had received his sensei's message but he didn't pay that much thought to it until he saw the frequency of the messages. If what his sensei told him was true then it meant that the kid would become a threat to the village. Well he was going to have to fix that by giving him personal training. Who would refuse training from a Sanin. At the same time he was also looking to spending some time with his godson.

D Naruto residence

In a dark room in the basement of D Naruto's house a certain man woke up to find himself tied to a chair. He tried to use chakra only to find that he can't access it. He saw seals glowing on the ground which were probably the cause of his problem. He tried to remember what happened after he poisoned his target. He was about to leave the stadium when a black void opened in front of him and everything went black. It seems he was captured but by who.

From the other side of the room he could make out faint outlines of three people who were in a heated debate about something. Oh it was about who gets to torture him. Two of them played Rock, Paper, Scissors and from what he could hear the woman won. It's not like they would get information out of him anyway. He is a veteran shinobi after all.

"Okay mister please tell us who send you and we won't have to do the fun stuff" came the cheery voice of the red head who came into view when they turn on the light. He could also see Zabuza there and he was pouting, so he lost the game.

"I won't tell you a thing. Do your worst" declared the man.

"Okay suit yourself. Bring the rusty pipe, the hot sauce and the hammer. Now we have this pipe here, we found in the sewers, we are going to lubricate it with hot sauce so it can slide in your ass easy. Since man's asses are tight we are forcing our way in using the hammer hehehe. You might be walking funny with a burning sensation in your ass for a few weeks. Not to mention the various diseases you will surely get from the pipe. You should have seen where we got the thing from. It was so disgusting. Now boys bend him over!" came the cheery but dangerous voice of the red head.

The man started to panic as he was being bend over by these strong men. What the hell was she planning to do with the pipe and hammer? He felt the pipe being lined up with his ass…. Oh shit. Is it too late too late for a confession.

"Hey lady just stop I will tell you everything just don't do that okay" the man begged as he started to sweat profusely.

"Oh you are that's great" shouted the woman before SMASH as she smashed the hammer into the pipe which was pushed into the place it clearly should not be in. Oh the man screamed big time. I mean did he really think he was going to come out unscathed for what he did to Hinata.

"OOPs sorry my hand slipped" SMASH

"You know I can take Kiri torture any time of the day not this. I almost feel sorry for him" shivered Zabuza as he and D Naruto instinctively put their hand on their behinds as they watched the bastard being violated by hot sauce lubricated rusty pipe. Ouch.

And Done

Sorry for the sucky fight scene I am not good at writing stuff like that. Comedy I can do but fight scenes I suck. Next chapter we will see a number of events including a meeting with Jiraiya.

See you guys next time.