Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!

"Trouble sleeping?"

"... Just nervous is all." Naruto stated to Erza as he laid in bed. The night before the tournament was making a big mess of his emotions and his sleep, not to mention the shocking news that he had gotten yesterday from a combination of Erza and Tenten.

He only hoped they were wrong about that, and when he had the chance he was going to go to a doctor who knew what they were doing and could confirm or deny it for him. Until then he would rather stubbornly try and deny it mentally. It didn't matter if either Erza or Tenten pushed for him to accept this change.

It was a big and scary change to his life.

"Yes, that is a good thing to feel before a fight. It shows you will take your opponent seriously. That's not the only thing you're nervous about though, is it?" Erza asked him as she saw him sit up. He was visibly nervous and uncomfortable with the way the entire day had gone, to the point that he wasn't able to sleep properly.

He was a naturally heavy sleeper too, and could fall asleep easy, so trouble sleeping was different for him.

"What is on your mind?"

"I'm nervous for me and Sasuke... tomorrow I have to fight Neji, and Sasuke has to fight that monster Gaara. That guy is a murderous freak... he's real scary, and I don't think Sasuke has a chance to beat him." Naruto admitted not only his doubts about himself, but his doubts over his friend as well. While he had to fight Neji, at least he and Neji were part of the same village, and Neji wasn't super murderous, only slightly murderous.

Gaara was a real monster, and his friend was going to be facing off against that monster with his own life on the line.

Naruto laid back down and closed his eyes.

"Sleep is important to fighting at your best, so you should try to sleep. I'm sure that your friend will do just fine! Just believe in your friend!" Erza was a constant source of encouragement, but sadly it wasn't always effective.

Naruto just frowned.

He was good at judging people's power after getting his ass kicked by enough high level ninja, and usually he didn't care how strong a person was. He was willing to put his own life on the line to protect his friends, but this wasn't that situation. He was judging Gaara to be much stronger than Sasuke was, and he didn't think that 30 days would be nearly enough for Sasuke to cover the gap between them.

'No... Sasuke just won't win, I hope Sasuke will surrender tomorrow. I want to fight him, and I can't do that if he dies tomorrow.' Naruto took a deep breath. He had to believe that Sasuke would know his own limits, and wouldn't put his life on the line against Gaara. 'I don't think I'm strong enough to help Sasuke if Gaara goes overboard.' Naruto had that self-doubt in him as well.

Didn't mean he wouldn't try to help.

Even if it got him and Sasuke disqualified and punished, he wasn't going to let Gaara kill even one of his friends no matter the cost.

He refused to allow any of them to die.

-The Next Day-

"Wow...so many young soilders." Erza was a little saddened by the sight of so many young children being forced to become warriors for their nation. None of them were even out of their teen years yet, the oldest being the only girl among the fighters.

"Sasuke and that sound douchebag aren't here." Naruto muttered when he noticed two people missing from the line up.

He had managed to fall asleep eventually, and Erza forced him to wake up in time to get a decent breakfast in so he would have more energy for his fights. Naruto was standing between Shikamaru and Neji, with Neji sending him a glare. Naruto sighed in relief that Sasuke wasn't present for any fights, so he returned Neji's glare with equal passion.

"A lot of ninja are quite handsome in uniform I'm noticing." Erza tried to lighten the mood with an off handed comment about the exam proctor.

Genma Shiranui, a Tokubetsu Jonin who specialized in his skill, was going to be watching over this portion of the exams instead of the last guy.

"Okay, only Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga stay down here, the rest of the contestants will go into the fighter's box and wait." Genma glanced towards Naruto with a raised eyebrow when he saw a the changes to his appearance. Their local Kyuubi holder having a difference appearance to what he was used to was enough to throw him a little off his usual game.

Not that he was against Naruto personally, but a Jinchuriki undergoing physical changes was a startling development.

"Good luck Naruto, you're going to need it." Shikamaru pat Naruto on the shoulder with a disinterested look towards him. He was the only person to speak to Naruto as he left the area, leaving only Naruto and Neji to stand in the arena.

There were thousands of people in the stands watching them.

Not a single civilian was betting on Naruto to win.

"You're fate hasn't changed, no matter what information you might have. You're a failure, just like Hinata-sama, and I'll prove that to you today." Neji walked away from Naruto and raised his hands up to fight. The veins around his eyes bulged, and his white eyes gained more definition to them.

Naruto glared.

"... A person who understands discrimination like you shouldn't hate Hinata for trying to change herself for the better... even until the moment she lost, she never once hated you. I'm going to beat you right here and now, and show you even a failure can beat a genius." Naruto crossed his fingers together, and he started to mold chakra.

Both he and Neji were ready.

'The fire in these two to start is intense... they've got a lot to prove.' Genma grinned as he raised his hand up.

"The match between Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga will begin NOW!"

"I'm ending this now!" Neji flew at Naruto, and Naruto jumped backwards.

"Shadow Clone jutsu!" Naruto called out as he created a Shadow Clone underneath each of his feet, and he kicked off of them to even more quickly get distance between himself and Neji. Naruto kept his hands together and kept molding chakra.

Erza floated next to him.

"Remember, the base of his neck is where his blind spot is. Try to get either yourself or a Shadow Clone in a position to strike that spoke." Erza reminded him of the weakness they learned. Naruto saw Neji quickly and easily defeat both of the clones and continue his charge, so Naruto created another three clones in front of himself when he landed on the ground.

"Shadow Clone jutsu-" Naruto quickly changed his handsign while he was still covered in smoke, and all three of his clones copied the same sign. "-and Replacement!" Naruto and his clones all vanished in puffs of smoke and switched among each other, replacing themselves with themselves.

Neji saw through the smoke, but now that the Narutos were all switched up, he didn't know which was Naruto and which wasn't.

'I see, he's going to try and get in my blind spot... I just need to keep an eye on any Naruto who tries to get behind me.' Neji though as he used his Byakugan to keep an eye on each of the few Narutos that he was facing.

"Scatter!" Naruto shouted out as he and his clones broke formation, and all of them drew kunai and put them in their mouths as they rushed in different directions away from Neji.

Neji just smirked.

'I'll wait to see which one of them tries to attack my blind spot, that one will be the real Naruto. Nobody would trust a clone to attack a highly vital spot.' Neji caught a kunai thrown at him by one of the clones, and used the tip of it to catch the handle of the second one thrown. He spun the kunai he caught around, and blocked the third kunai. When the fourth Naruto threw the kunai, he didn't even bother dodging or blocking it.

Naruto had jumped up and thrown it from the air, and his aim was off, so instead of even getting close to hitting, it stabbed into the dirt.

"Your aim was off... oh..." Erza felt a flare of confidence from Naruto when she said that, and she got a vision of what he was planning. With an understanding of his plan, she looked at him with surprised eyes. "That might work... you're more clever than you act!" Erza proposed with a proud grin.

Naruto pulled out a second kunai, and an explosive note.

He wrapped the handle with the note while constantly moving, running around to keep Neji's all seeing eyes on him and his clones. He and all of them were doing the same tactics, and they all crossed their fingers in unison.

Neji frowned.

'The Shadow Clone jutsu didn't just replicate him, it replicates whatever is on him as well. Each and every one of those Explosive notes will explode.' Neji saw 4 Naruto multuply into 24 Naruto, each Naruto summoning 5 more clones. He saw that he was surrounded, with each Naruto standing at least 30 feet away from him. He was surrounded in a perfect circle from all sides. "Too cowardly to fight me in Taijutsu then? Too afraid of the Gentle Fist, and here I thought that Kekkei Genkai you awakened was suppose to not need chakra?" Neji taunted Naruto as he got into position.

"When I beat you, I would rather be able to use my chakra against my next opponent Genius." Naruto, or one of his clones, taunted Neji as they all pulled their arms back and prepared to throw their kunai.

Neji smirked.

He threw the kunai in his hands at two of the clones in front of him, piercing them and popping them as he kicked the kunai on the ground up into the air. Catching it in his hand, he turned around and looked towards the Naruto standing near where his blind spot was.

"What!?" Naruto shouted as Neji cleared the distance between them quickly.

He stabbed threw the kunai at one of the Narutos who rushed in front of the original to protect him, and he got all the confirmation that he needed when the clone popped. The nearest clones rushed to protect the original as well, and the Naruto rushed to the left, the original Naruto. Neji caught an explosive kunai and threw it back towards the clones and blew up a large amount of them.

"Shit!" Naruto shouted when all of his clones were defeated, and Neji got within striking range of him.

"You targetted my weakness like the coward I knew you were, you were too predictable!" Neji claimed as he slammed his hand into Naruto's chest.

Naruto coughed out blood, and he grabbed onto Neji's hand with a bloody grin.

*POOF*

"GUH!?" Neji was shocked when a kunai landed perfectly to hit him in his blind spot, and he looked towards the source of it and saw the kunai that Naruto had missed with earlier had transformed back into a clone. Glaring at Naruto in front of him, he saw the Naruto he landed a hit on poofed in a puff of smoke as well. "What!? A clone?" Neji asked as he reached behind him and pulled the kunai from his body.

He had been stabbed, first blood went to Naruto, and in front of the entire audience.

"I realized how stupid it was to tell you I knew your weakness yesterday, but I figured you were on guard now for attacks against it. I knew if I had one of my clones go behind your back, you would assume it was me... so I had my other clones protect that clone to make you think you guessed right." Naruto pointed at Neji with a grin on his face. "Also, remember the make-up wearing puppet dude... how he switched himself with his puppet before his match even started in the prelims? Well, I switched myself with a clone before the match ever started! The kunai I threw that missed was just my real body the entire time!" Naruto shouted as Neji started to run towards him.

*POOF*

"By the way, Naruto's a tricky little bastard!" Erza gave a cocky smile as the kunai in Neji's hand turned back into Naruto, and punched him in the face, right in the chin, and sent him flying into the wall. Neji's head slammed into the wall, and he collapsed on the ground, unable to move and bleeding from the lip and nose.

Naruto landed on his feet.

"Since I was hidden on the clone, I used a Shadow Clone jutsu and every kunai that was thrown at you today was actually a clone of me too. I told you Neji, you were going down for what you did to your family... don't ever talk down to failures again! Hinata, Rock Lee, and especially me! Failures like us will eventually beat Geniuses like you every time!" Naruto shouted at Neji as he stared down at him.

Neji glared at Naruto, but he was unable to turn away as he stared into Naruto's mismatched eyes, and saw only raw determination in those eyes.

"That was a good job Naruto. I knew you switched with a clone at the start of the fight, but I didn't know you were going to have yourself become the kunai that stabbed him... what made you think of that idea?" Erza asked Naruto as she floated next to him, an impressed glance at the loser of the fight.

"VICTOR Naruto Uzumaki!"

"I wouldn't be happy if it was a clone that beat Neji, I wanted to beat you-" Naruto told Neji, changing who he was talking to mid-sentence. "-with my own fist." Naruto explained as he sighed to himself.

That didn't feel good.

He was still angry.

'I got revenge for Hinata, but I don't feel any better about beating Neji... revenge doesn't feel good at all.' Naruto thought and he looked down at Neji, his eyes filled with a little more pity. Getting revenge for Hinata and failures in general, against Neji, didn't fill him with any feelings of satisfaction. "... Neji... Hinata loves you a lot, you're important to her. Beating you doesn't make me happy, because it won't erase what you did to Hinata. Just like how killing Hinata wouldn't have made you feel any better about your father... you need to apologize to Hinata... and then we can fight again if you need somebody to take your anger out on." Naruto offered Neji his words of advice.

Neji looked at the conviction in Naruto's eyes, and he looked away.

"Fine... but I won't forgive what happened to my father."

"Then don't... but don't blame and hurt those who aren't involved. Don't hurt the people who love you, and save your anger for somebody who can take it. I'll take all your hatred, and I'll change the Hyuga clan when I become Hokage... one day, there won't be anymore Hyuga who will need to suffer like you." Naruto offered his hand down to Neji, an offer for him to take.

Neji was still unable to move his body as the medical ninja came to take him away, but Neji looked at Naruto and closed his eyes with a thoughtful expression.

Naruto started to walk away.

He felt oddly calm.

Chapter End!
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Note: Remember this, no hole in the ground from Naruto and Neji's fight, means that Shikamaru is at even more of a disadvantage against Temari.