FR: Prepare the fortress! Block those windows and make sure to fortify the doors

FR clone: Sir! The food supply is ready for when the time comes

FR: how's the water supply?

FR clone 2: enough to last the coming army ...hopefully

FR: we will survive the coming attack

FR clone 3: sir how long till they come

FR: *looks to the horizon* soon. Once they come we just have to hold them off

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"Demon/Summon speech"

'Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts'

Jutsu name

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

You all seem to think Neji is going to get destroyed. Sadly…..your just going to have to find out

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, it's owned by one wiser than me

Chapter 30: It's Fate

Naruto was making his way towards the stadium as he mentally prepared himself for his fight as well as complaining about his last shift. 'After this I'm taking a vacation. No missions. No training. Just me, my bed and ramen!'. Naruto's last shift was the first one since the removal of the seal and it hurt a lot more than last time. Naruto figured that it hurt more because his fox form is now bigger than it was before and he had to shrink a bit. Safe to say he hated it.

Naruto looked up to the sky to see that grey clouds covered the sky, he also took a whiff of the air and could smell the moisture in the air. "Looks like it might rain. Oh well it's always nice when it rains."

"It's one of those rare times anyway. You don't see rain that often in Konoha"

Naruto felt something land on the top of his head and looked up to see Gamakichi eating from a bag of candy "hey did you take that out of my pantry?"

Gamakichi shrugged his shoulders as he popped another in his mouth "maybe"

Naruto sighed and slumped a bit "you could have just asked me. I would have just given you the bag instead of you stealing it from me"

"Arguing with a frog over a bag of candy? And here I thought you couldn't get any odd gaki"

Naruto recognized that gruff voice. He remembers talking to the man that owned it back in Wave. Turning around he saw that he was right, standing behind him was Zabuza and next to the man was Haku who had a smile on his face "Zabuza! What are you doing here!"

Zabuza chuckled at Naruto's reaction "I'm here on security detail for my kage. She wanted to watch these chunin exam finals even if the teams she sent here didn't make it to the finals. Right now we are heading to the arena, but why are you heading there?"

Naruto straightened up "I'm in the finals"

Zabuza burst out laughing "you?! In the finals?! Yeah right. There is no way you could be in the chunin exams, your not ready for it"

Naruto grew a tick mark on his head "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?! I'm so ready to be a chunin!"

Zabuza caught his breath from the laughing "yeah right. Keep telling yourself that gaki"

Naruto began to throw a tantrum with Gamakichi hanging on to his hair "I'll show you that I can be a chunin! Just wait! I'll be the one to win the whole thing!"

Zabuza crossed his arms "you better. I'm betting a lot of money on your matches"

Naruto stopped as he processed this "...you made a bet that I would win?"

Zabuza couldn't help but smile, even though no one could see it under his bandages "you were able to give me a challenge when we met and Haku here has told me that you have gotten much stronger so yeah. Good way to get some extra spending money so you better not lose. I can only bet one match at a time so you better show me what you got in the first match"

Haku stepped forward "it's his way of saying good luck Naruto-san and we believe in you"

Naruto smiled "I plan on going all out on this one. It's a little personal for me"

Zabuza smirked "heh good. Than it means that I'll get my money's worth. Anyway, I gotta get to my post, later". He then started jumped away to make it to the stadium

Haku watched as Zabuza left before turning to Naruto "shall we go Naruto-san, since we are going the same direction."

Naruto nodded and both began to make their way to the arena along with the crowd of people heading the same way

Both of them gave some small talk but Haku had a question he had in his mind when he saw Naruto "Naruto-san why did you change your outfit?"

Naruto's outfit was mostly the same as his outfit from before but with some small changes. He still wore his mesh undershirt and black shirt over it. He kept his orange sash around his waist but his anbu style pants now had orange stripes going down the side of the legs. His anbu boots now had silver metal greaves strapped over them. He wore steel arm bracers the same color of the greaves. The last change was his jacket, he wore a jacket similar to his father's but instead of white, it was the same color orange as his sash. The edge of the collar was black and from the center of the back was a thick black line that went from the collar all the way to the bottom of the jacket until it splashed into 9 flames that spread out at the bottom. The inside of the jacket was a dark grey color

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders "I wanted to try something new for the finals. It's only for the finals, after it's done I'm going back to my old jacket. I like this but I don't think I'm ready for this look"

Haku was confused with that last statement but could tell that it was more of a personal matter so he let it go

~Konoha stadium, Kage booth~

Hiruzen was sitting in his seat waiting for the other kage to arrive as he was early to make sure all security details were set. He had to not only place Anbu guards in the normal posts but he also had placed some Anbu guards in disguise in the general audience. He was fortunate that he had an Anbu team trail Kabuto as the proctor Hayate had almost met his death when he was witness to a meeting between Kabuto and Baki, the sensei of the Suna team. The anbu team were able to place a powerful genjutsu on the two making it seem that Hayate was killed but he was taken away and hidden in Anbu headquarters until further notice. Unfortunately he should have had a team watching the Suna Jinchuuriki as he was discovered that Dosu was killed. Though no one witnessed it, the particles found on the mangled body point to him.

Hiruzen could see the villagers piling in the sitting area and took a deep breath as he kept his eyes open for any sign of Orochimaru

"In your old age, being this stressed will kill you"

Hiruzen felt his body freeze from the voice. Although he did not recognize it, his years of experience told him that whoever this voice belonged to was someone to be wary of. He felt something crawl up his robe until it curled around his shoulders. Turning his head he saw a fox looking at him. His heart stopped when he saw the eyes, the same eyes that he saw during that fateful day 12 years ago. His voice came out strained "K….Kyuubi?"

The fox smirked at this as he reveled in the fear he could feel off the man "you fear me…..good"

Hiruzen felt a bit of sweat at this as he was extremely close to a beast that is far more powerful than he is "b...but how are you ...?"

Kurama couldn't hold it anymore and gave a barking laugh. Thankfully no one was close by to hear their conversation "hahaha I have done what you have always feared ningen. I have taken over"

Hiruzen's eyes widened as anger began to replace the fear "you dare ...!"

Kurama laughed more "hahaha calm yourself ningen. This is merely a temporary vessel for me to use. A Kage bunshin"

The gears in Hiruzen's head were working over time until he came to the conclusion "you have taken control of a bunshin of Naruto-kun's. …..why?"

Kurama turned to the fighting grounds "to better watch my kit fight. Watching through his eyes is not as entertaining as watching from the sidelines. I chose here as I assumed that you kage would have the best seats. Too bad there are no snacks here"

Hiruzen sweatdropped at this. The Kyuubi, the strongest of the nine Bijuu…..was sitting on his shoulder acting like a simple audience member " *ahem* well, the fights won't be starting yet as the delegates are not in the stadium yet and some of the contestants are on their way."

Kurama lifted his head, tilting the hokage hat on Hiruzen's head "mmm my kit is almost here. He was eager to get to his fight so it's no surprise that he is early."

Hiruzen remembered what Naruto declared at the prelims. He was left in the dark when it came to his training and could only hope that he wouldn't do anything drastic "I just pray that he holds in his anger"

Kurama gave a dark chuckle to this "you ask for too much. That hyuga boy had attempted to kill one of the few that he cares about. He will make it hurt"

After waiting for twenty minutes, the Mizukage arrived and took her seat to Hiruzen's left "I am pleased that you were able to join me in watching these potential chunin, Terumi-san"

Mei terumi smiled to the hokage as her guard Ao took his position behind her seat "It was difficult to get some of the elders from my village to allow me to come here. They continued to berate me as I left to come here"

Ao gave a small scowl on his face as he also didn't agree with coming to konoha. He felt that Konoha would stab them in the back when they get the chance but he chose to keep this to himself as the hokage was there with them

Hiruzen gave a dry chuckle at the Mizukage's comment "well the elders seem to always have their own agenda"

Mei gave an understanding nod as she learned that the elders were a pain to deal with. Looking towards the hokage, she then noticed the fox on his shoulder "May I ask Hokage, is that fox on your shoulders yours?"

Hiruzen looked to the kyuubi and shook his head "no. this is a pet ack owned by one of the contestants" he winced when he said the word pet as he felt the kyuubi dig his claws into his shoulder and strained himself to say the rest

Kurama got some satisfaction in causing the old man pain for calling him a pet 'I am no one's pet!'

Mei smiled at what she saw 'must not like being called a pet'. "Well who does he belong to?" she noticed the hokage wince again "he must trust you a lot if he allows you to watch over his pet" the hokage winced once more. She couldn't help herself in this little bit of messing with the hokage

Hiruzen was glaring at the kyuubi, even though he knew that he was no match in facing the bijuu but right now it was merely a kage bunshin that if he was lucky enough, he could dispel it. He looked over the the Mizukage and smiled the best he can "I would like to think so, as I see him as a surrogate grandson. He felt the claws that were digging into his flesh stop and gave a mental sigh of relief 'he must really care for the boy. I must speak with the kyuubi with Naruto-kun to learn more about the bijuu'

Kurama's head shot up and turned to his left, past Hiruzen's head and beyond Mei 'that snake is here!'

A few minutes later the Kazekage walked up to the two other kage.

Hiruzen looked over with a critical eye. After Hayate informed him that Baki was having a secret meeting with Kabuto, he figured that Suna was working with Orochimaru. He didn't know what his plan was but if Orochimaru is getting help from Suna, than it could mean trouble on a massive scale. He had noticed that the Kazekage was limping heavily 'interesting'. Hiruzen put on a smile as he greeted the Kazekage "Welcome Rasa. it is a pleasure to see you again"

Rasa gave a nod as his face was covered up "the pleasure is mine Hiruzen". He then sat down to Hiruzen's right

Nothing more was said as they waited for the contestants to arrive

~with the non-participating genin~

Choji, Kiba, Sakura, Tenten, Karin, Ino and Hinata were sitting (in that order, facing them, from left to right) in the front row of the seating area waiting for the whole thing to begin.

Hinata would have sat with her family and the hyuga clan but her mother had allowed her to sit with her friends. She kept fidgeting as she was nervous about Naruto facing her cousin. She knew that Naruto was strong but Neji was the one that the entire hyuga clan praised for being a prodigy and they all believed that he would win the fight between the two

Kiba had pulled out a bag of popcorn as he tossed one in the air for Akamaru to catch "man I wish I was down there, kicking ass"

Sakura turned to Kiba "you came close to winning your fight but that Suna girl Temari, pulled out the win"

Kiba slumped a bit as Akamaru jumped into his lap "yeah. I was soooo close too. Naruto told me to go all out and I still lost"

Hinata spoke up next "you did your best Kiba. you should be proud of that"

Kiba gave a thankful nod

Choji took a bite out of one of his hotdogs as the seat to his right was filled with different kinds of snacks "mmf yoof shtill gaw closhh"

Ino looked a bit disgusted at this "you shouldn't talk with your mouth full Choji". She then looked towards Tenten "your Neji's teammate right? Who do you think will win?"

Tenten crossed her arms as she thought about it "I think that Neji will win this one" she said sourly

Karin looked towards Tenten with a tilt of her head "you seem to not want him to win. Isn't he your teammate? Shouldn't you be excited by that?"

Tenten had a sour look on her face, "If I had to choose who to cheer for, I would have to cheer for Naruto. Neji may be my teammate but he has this pessimistic view on things that it's hard to be friends with him. Naruto is more likable and I kinda want him to beat some sense into Neji but I also know Neji's skills and I can only say that Neji will most likely win, hands down"

"We should not doubt Naruto's flames of youth. I am sure he will give us a most youthful battle"

They all turned to their left to see Lee making his way down the stairs slowly, as he was using crutches

Tenten stood up and glared at Lee "Lee! Shouldn't you be in bed resting?!"

Lee gave a nervous chuckle at his teammates fury "it would be unyouthful of me if I was not here to witness my friends battle each other"

Tenten slumped and groaned as she knew that Lee would not budge on this. She only hoped that his actions don't cause him any more problems

Karin glared at Lee "you should be resting and staying off your feet. You were injured badly from that fight and you still haven't recovered"

Lee bowed his head slightly "thank you for your concern Karin-san but I must bear witness to this"

Tenten sat down and placed a hand on Karin's shoulder "trust me, you won't be able to convince him to leave"

Karin huffed and faced forward before she turned to Choji "hey where's my soda?"

Choji stopped munching for a second before he said "oops". He had forgotten to pass out the snacks to the others.

Kiba had a couple shishkabobs so he could share with Akamaru

Ino had a bag of chocolates

Hinata had some cinnamon buns

Karin had some Nachos with her drink

Sakura had a few sandwiches with some canned tea

Choji had all that and a few more

Lee who took a seat next to Hinata graciously accepted a bottle of water that Choji had

~with the Jonin Senseis~

The jonin were all seated and awaiting for the matches to begin

Asuma took a drag of his cigarette "wonder how the first match will go?"

Guy spoke out in his usual bravado "oh yes! I cannot wait to see Kakashi's student face my own. It will be a most youthful battle!"

Kurenai heard this and looked around "speaking of which, where is Kakashi?"

Asuma shrugged his shoulders "knowing him he will most likely be late. The only time we've seen him on time is when dad tricked him"

Guy was brought to anime tears "oh my eternal rival. It is most unyouthful of you to be late to such a most youthful event"

The jonin around him as well as the other senseis, sweatdropped at the man

"You guys should be used to his stupid antics already. Although the gaki had succeeded in making the scarecrow punctual a few times"

The Jonin looked back to see Anko sitting down with two plates of Dango in her hands

Kurenai smiled as she saw her friend "I thought you wouldn't make it. You once told me that watching snot nosed kids slap each other around was boring"

Anko took a bite out of her dango stick as she spoke "there was no way I would miss the gaki kicking ass and taking names. Even placed a major bet on him winning"

Kurenai scowled as she didn't like the idea of gambling on this test of worthiness.

Asuma smiled as he thought to himself 'maybe I should've put a bet on my genin.' He looked up to see his father stand from his seat "looks like they are about to begin

~with Hiruzen~

Hiruzen stood up from his seat to address everyone.

Kurama leapt off his shoulders and sat down in his chair

(they are using chakra to make their voices loud enough for everyone. So he is not yelling)

"AS LEADER OF KONOHA, I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU ALL FOR ATTENDING THIS YEARS CHUNIN EXAMS" a loud applause was heard from everyone. "I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO THANK THE MIZUKAGE AND KAZEKAGE FOR ATTENDING AS WELL" both the Mizukage and Kazekage stood up and stood next to the Hokage

Mei began to speak next "THANK YOU KONOHA FOR ALLOWING ME TO ATTEND AND I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO SEE WHAT NEW POTENTIAL THESE GENIN WILL BRING. I HOPE TO SEE SOME OF THEM SHOW US, THAT THEY ARE WORTHY OF BECOMING CHUNIN FOR THEIR RESPECTIVE VILLAGE"

After another round of applause Rasa spoke "WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING THEM WHAT THEY ARE CAPABLE OF"

Hiruzen chose to end it here "IT IS WITH GREAT PLEASURE THAT I ANNOUNCE THAT THE FINALS OF THE CHUNIN EXAMS WILL NOW BEGIN!

A louder set of applause was heard from everyone in the audience

Mei and Rasa took their seats again as Hiruzen waited for the applause to stop. Once it did he spoke one last time "NOW PLEASE WELCOME THE FINALISTS"

With that Temari, Kankuro, Gaara, Neji, Shikamaru, Shino and Naruto made their way to the center of the arena. Already standing there was Genma Shiranui

~non-participating genin~

The genin had noticed Naruto's new look and were impressed that a change in jacket could make such a difference

Kiba gave a low whistle "damn. I think I should get a new look. Naruto's gone from that orange jumpsuit, to that short orange jacket, to this"

Both Hinata and Ino liked the new look. They thought that he looked much more mature now

Sakura gave a tilt of her head "why does he look familiar"

Kiba laughed at this "come one Sakura! It's Naruto! Don't tell me you forgot your own teammate?" he asked in a teasing manner

Sakura glared at Kiba "that's not it! He looks like someone else, I just can't remember who"

Ino nodded as she also had the feeling that Naruto looked like someone "she is right but either way he looks good"

"Heheh don't tell Naruto-nii that. He already has a fat head"

The genin jumped at the voice and turned around to see Haku sitting behind Sakura holding a toad in his lap. The toad lifted his hand and waved "how's it going?"

They all jumped at seeing the toad talking

Gamakichi crossed his arms "hey don't act like I'm the weirdest thing you've seen"

Sakura looked up to Haku and gave him a quizzical look

Haku smiled "this is Gamakichi. One of Naruto-kuns summons"

Tenten's eyes grew wide "Naruto has a summons?!"

Gamakichi gave a smug look as he reached behind him "yep, he sure does" he pulled out a bag of candy and took one out to eat

Sakura looked back to the arena and noticed "hey Sasuke-san and that Dosu guy is missing"

They all noticed now that it had been said and Hinata asked the question they all had "I wonder where they are?"

~arena floor~

Genma looked over the finalists in front of them and made the announcement "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN DUE TO AN UNFORESEEN ACCIDENT. DOSU WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE FINALS. THEREFORE, THE WINNER OF THE FIRST MATCH WILL FACE THE WINNER OF THE SECOND MATCH"

The finalist all looked confused but they just accepted this

Genma looked to the group of genin in front of them "now will everyone but the fighters of the first match please head to the contestants box"

Everyone but Naruto and Neji began to make their way to the stairs to walk up to the contestants box. Shikamaru gave Naruto a nod before leaving

Once it was just the three, Naruto could feel the anger and hatred coming from all around, aimed at him but his focus was on the other genin on the field 'let's see how the prodigy of the hyuga clan handles me' he thought as he glared at Neji

Both genin took their positions and were both glaring. One with anger and another with a bit of a smug glint in his eye

~Kage box~

Zabuza made his way to the Mizukage and stood next to Ao behind Mei "looks like I made it just in time"

Ao looked at Zabuza "and where were you Zabuza-san?"

"Changing my bet"

Mei looked behind her to her left at Zabuza "oh? I thought that you would stick with betting on the blonde boy there. What changed your mind to bet on the Hyuga?"

Zabuza chuckled "I didn't switch from who I bet on. I changed the amount I placed on the gaki. I doubled it"

Kurama smiled internally at this as he would have placed a bet too. If he had any need for money but it's more for the amount of faith he has in his kit

Mei looked a bit taken aback from this "you seem to think that it is a guarantee that he will win. Hope you don't regret it if he loses"

Zabuza laughed "from what Haku has told me, he has a grudge against the Hyuga so there is no way he will lose"

Hiruzen grimaced at this 'I hope you don't go overboard Naruto-kun'. He looked up as he heard a small bit of thunder. Now he had a bad feeling at what might happen

~seating area for the Hyugas~

Hiashi, Hanabi and Hitomi sat in front of a group of Hyuga as they all kept their gaze on Neji. Hiashi spoke without taking his eyes off the boy "observe this well Hanabi. Neji is considered one of the most talented Hyuga when it comes to the gentle fist and his eyes have could be better than even your sisters"

Hanabi heard what her father said but her mind was thinking other things 'be careful Naruto-nii". Hanabi and Naruto had met several times before and Hanabi began to let the inner child she buried away to come back out out thanks to him. Now she sees him as an older brother figure

Hitomi knew how talented Neji was and she wanted Naruto to get out of this fight without being hurt so much. 'Good luck Naruto-kun'

The Hyuga elders behind the three vocalized their thoughts

"Neji will make quick work of that uncouth brat" spoke one of the make elders

"Indeed. There is no possible way for that ….child to win this battle" responded a female Hyuga elder

"They should have disqualified it immediately. It has no place among our shinobi" said another male elder

Hitomi did her best to hold in her displeasure as she heard the elders continue to speak ill of a boy that never asked for his burden

~Arena floor~

Genma looked at the two as he chewed on the senbon in his mouth "are both contestants ready?"

Neji nodded as Naruto just glared

Genma nodded and brought his hand up "then the first match: Naruto Uzumaki vs Neji Hyuga" before bringing it down "Hajime!" and he jumped away to let them begin

~Naruto vs Neji~ (choose your battle music :P )

Neji got into his gentle fist stance eyeing the blonde in front of him

Naruto didn't even get into a stance. He just stood there glaring at Neji

Neji felt insulted at the lack of movement from the blonde "have you accepted your fight and chosen not to fight?"

Naruto's scowl grew but he said nothing

"Understandable. It is your fate to lose to me, much like Hinata-Sama"

Naruto felt his anger increase at how this fate loving fool could act like Hinata was a plague that no one should be around. "What the hell is your problem with Hinata-chan anyway?"

Neji gained a cocky smirk "hmph she is part of the main house" he said as if that explained everything

Naruto lowered himself a bit as he reached for his kunai pouch on his leg "if that's all you have to say than your an idiot!" in an upward motion he tossed three kunai towards Neji

Neji smirked as the throw was nothing major. He leaned to his right, reached out to grab the handle of the first kunai and used it to deflect the other two, one flying in the air and the other sticking into the ground. He looked back to see Naruto smile before he disappeared and in his place was a kunai. His eyes widened as he quickly realized what had happened 'Kawarimi?!'. Looking up he saw Naruto was in the air swinging a kick at his head. He lifted his arms to block the kick but once the foot hit his arms he felt immense force push him off his feet and flying away

Once Naruto's feet hit the ground he quickly picked up the kunai stuck in the ground and launched himself towards Neji

Neji flipped while in the air and skidded his feet in the ground. Once he stopped he also launched towards Naruto

Once they reached each other, they slammed their kunai into the other. They stared into each others eyes, Neji looking like he was struggling a bit as the kunai shook in his hand as he pushed against Naruto's kunai. Naruto just had a glare in his eyes and his kunai was still and steady.

After a minute Naruto shifted his kunai to push Neji's hand back but Neji brought it back to parry Naruto's next strike. They continued parrying each others strikes for another minute before they jumped back to get some distance from each other

Neji glared at Naruto as he thought that it would be an easy fight, as he heard that the blonde was the dobe of his class. Someone who wouldn't be able to measure up to him. That was why he hasn't activated his Byakugan yet. But now he knew he couldn't hold back now as he brought up his hand into a hand sign

Naruto stood up straight as he had an angry look on his face "finally bringing that out huh. Too bad it won't do you any good"

Neji scowled "and what makes you think that you will be able to beat a user of the Byakugan?"

Naruto smiled a bit but kept his eyebrows furrowed "because I trained with Hinata-chan and we found out that it doesn't work on me much"

"hmph , just shows that she is unworthy of being a Hyuga ...BYAKUGAN!"

Naruto smirked as he stood still

Neji mentally prepared himself to target Naruto's tenketsu points but when he looked to the blond his eyes opened in shock. 'He has no tenketsu points! How is that possible?!' it was also noticed that instead of a network of chakra veins running through Naruto's body it was more like his entire body was just filled with chakra

Naruto saw the look of shock on Neji's face "what's wrong Neji-san. Can't find what you're looking for?"

Neji scowled at Naruto and ignored the glaring problem that he has. He just chose to use his memory on where the tenketsu points should be on the body to strike him down. He charged at Naruto and began his assault

Naruto didn't move at Neji's charge but once Neji began to strike at him, he began to dodge the strikes. He made sure to keep his focus on dodging as Neji was moving fast enough that Naruto was beginning to worry that he would be struck by one of the finger strikes

Neji was getting frustrated. Naruto kept dodging Neji's strikes and it wasn't due to speed. It was due to flexibility.

Naruto gained a bit more free room between the strikes and saw an opening. Ducking under a strike aimed for his shoulder, Naruto channeled a bit of chakra into his hand and thrusted forward at Neji's chest. The impact was not as strong as it could be but it was enough as after he hit Neji, a small burst of wind blew out of his hand and pushed Neji back. Naruto leapt back to gain some more room. Once he was a distance away he began to channel wind chakra into his nails, which he left as claws. After gaining the amount he needed he smiled darkly at Neji

Neji flipped in the air and landed on his and prepared to launch again at Naruto but his Byakugan picked up an increase of chakra in his left hand. Lifting his head he saw Naruto pull back his hand

Naruto aimed at his target and swiped his hand in a horizontal attack which sent four blades of wind towards Neji

Neji could see the blades of wind heading his way and was shocked to see such an attack come from the dobe. The blades were coming close fast and in a quick decision he jumped into the air, positioning his body to be horizontal and was able to slip in between the two top blades. The blade below Neji was able to cut on of the straps that fell from his headband. After slipping through the blades, he landed on his feet and his eyes were wide at such a move. From what he could tell, there were no hand signs or call for the jutsu name "what jutsu was that?!"

Naruto dropped his hand to his side "that wasn't a jutsu. It was pure chakra manipulation. But if I could give it a name maybe Kaze no ha"

Neji took a sudden step back "what?" 'how is he able to do that? That takes massive amounts of control'

Naruto could tell what Neji was thinking "it isn't fine chakra control. It is merely channeling enough chakra into points. In fact it takes a lot of chakra to do what I just did"

Neji look behind him to see that the blades had left big gashes in the wall, not too deep but he knew that if he was hit with that, it would hurt a lot 'I can't let him have a chance at long distance'. Turning back to Naruto, he charged again for a taijutsu fight as it was his advantage

Naruto met Neji halfway and when Neji was a few feet away, Naruto leapt up and flipped over Neji

Neji moved his head to follow Naruto and was about to strike him but instead he ducked down to avoid a punch aimed at the back of his head. Putting his hands on the ground Neji launched his two feet to the clone behind him. He then spun on his hands to spin kick two clones that jumped him. Once those clones were dispelled, he pushed off the ground to land on his feet in a crouched position and jumped to the side to dodge the Naruto above him that kicked the ground where Neji was. The kick shook the ground and brought up a cloud of dust which blocked everyone's view of the fighters

~non participating genin~

They all were watching wide eyed at the level that the two fighters were going at

Lee wanted to jump up in the air and cheer

Karin was the same as Tenten

Choji stopped eating for a second before munching again

Sakura was in aw at the skill shown

Kiba was the most excited "YEAH! Kick his ass Naruto!"

Tenten still had a worried look on her face 'your doing great Naruto but Neji hasn't used his ultimate move yet.' she heard some thunder and looked up to see that the clouds looked bad as if something was about to happen

Haku just smiled at how Naruto was showing of

Gamakichi just tossed another candy in his mouth

Hinata and Ino looked up as well as pain in their heart told them that something was about to happen and they both had the same thought

'Please be safe Naruto/Naruto-kun'

~Kage booth~

Hiruzen was impressed at the skill his surrogate grandson was showing 'you've come far my boy'

Kurama smiled at the fight as he was enjoying it. He also kept his eye on the Kazekage as he could feel hatred aimed at his kit 'try something you snake! You do anything to my kit, then there will be no place you can hide from me'

Mei was impressed 'these kids have some good skills. Could give some of my genin a run for their money'

The Kazekage glared from under his had as he had dark thoughts 'keep tiring yourself out. You will die soon enough'

~with the Jonin~

Anko's eyes were now coins as she could feel her wallet become fat from the major bet she made on Naruto 'oooh Gaki! I am so treating you to Ramen after this. After the amount I win, I might just buy the stand and give it to you'

Guy was shouting his lungs out at how "YOUTHFUL" the fight was

Asuma was impressed 'glad I'm recording this at home' (I'm just assuming the level of tech they reached as it's hard to tell)

Kurenai was speechless as she also doubted that Naruto would be able to show this level of skill

~participants box~

Most of the other participants were just staring in awe.

Gaara was the only one that was smiling but his smile was sadistic 'he will prove my existence and his blood will satisfy mother'

~at the Academy~

Iruka was smiling at how Naruto was handling the fight as his class was cheering but no one was louder than Konohamaru

"YEAH! Way to go Naruto-nii!"

"Keep it up" muttered Udon

"He's got this!" Squealed Moegi

The rest of the class were all cheering for the blond which made Iruka smile wider

~back in the arena, with the Hyugas~

They were all surprised that Naruto was pushing Neji back. They all expected Neji to wipe the floor with the blond but it was the complete opposite.

The elders were all giving out ridiculous excuses

"He must be cheating!"

"There is no way that thing could be winning against the pride of the Hyuga clan"

"Neji-kun must be holding back. Toying with the brat"

Hiashi had similar thoughts as he was finding it hard to believe that Neji would be losing. As he looked on he activated his Byakugan to see what was happening in the cloud and his eyes widened as he saw what happened next.

~back in the fight~

While the dust cloud was still up Naruto launched himself at Neji as he sensed where the anger was coming from. Jumping in the air, he pulled back his fist and aimed for his head but when he got closer Neji began to spin and a dome of chakra spun around Neji

"ROTATION!"

Naruto was launched out of the dust cloud and landed hard enough into the ground that cracks appeared "ow. What the hell was that?"

The move had blasted to cloud away and everyone could see Neji standing strong "that…..was the ultimate defense of the Hyuga clan. A move that takes a very long time to master and only a few in the main house know how to use it"

Naruto notice how there was a spike of hatred when he said "Main house" and he felt the need to know what the story was "What's your problem with the Main house anyway. From what Hinata-chan told me, the branch family is meant to protect the main house". What Naruto didn't say was that Hinata had told him about the restraining seal placed on all the branch members. Hinata hated it as it was basicly slavery to family members and Naruto agreed with with Hinata. It needed to go. But the way Neji seemed to hate the main house, it seemed more personal

Neji sneered at Naruto "we are slaves to the main house. We're forced to obey them as fate had deemed it that way"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow "How does fate decide that"

"Fate chooses the way people's lives are. There is no way to fight it. Everyone's path is decided long before we are even born:"

Naruto scowled at this as he felt offended at that "no it doesn't. I don't believe in stuff like that"

Neji felt his anger rise but he decided that the blonde should know how fate has decided the lives of others. Neji untied his hitai-ate as he began to tell his story

~in the audience~

Hiashi felt regret as he heard the tale Neji was giving. He hated the fact that his brother took his place when it was supposed to be him to die.

The elders held no remorse on the event as they all thought it was the branch family's duty to die for the main house

Hanabi looked up at her father with a look of shock, as she had never heard this story before

Hitomi felt sadness at the story of her brother

Hinata felt sad at how her cousin felt about her and the main house

~back in the arena~

Neji finished his story and re-tied his hitai-ate to his head "now you understand. Fate decides everyone's path, much like yours. I had heard that you dreamed of being Hokage but you should know that it is impossible for you to become hokage. The previous four were destined to be hokage. You shouldn't strive for something fate says you are unworthy of the title"

Naruto held his head down as his hair shadowed his eyes

Neji smiled as he believed that he made his point but it was short lived

"Your an idiot" Naruto muttered as a bit of thunder was heard overhead. Naruto lifted his head to show that Naruto was furious "you say that it is the fate of the branch family to protect the main house. Yet you attempt to kill one of its members because you don't like the way your life is." Naruto's tried his hardest to reign in his anger "you are considered the prodigy and hope of your clan yet you act as if you are a pariah. You act like you suffer but you don't know a damn thing about it" Naruto turned around to face the main audience. He turned his head to look back on Neji "you have no clue on what you have". He then looked up at the audience and lifted his arms up as he yelled out

"WHO WANTS THE HYUGA WIN?! WHO WANTS TO SEE HIM BEAT ME MERCILESSLY?! WHAT DO YOU WANT HIM TO DO?!"

Neji was confused on what the boy was doing and would have struck while the blondes back was turned but he was stopped by what happened next

~with the non participating genin~

They were all confused on what Naruto was doing. Why would he just start asking the audience what they wanted from the fight

Hinata and Ino were the most confused but before they could think anything more of this they heard someone talk a few seats away

"Beat the brat" muttered someone

They turned to their right to see some civilian man stand from his seat and start yelling

"Beat the brat into the ground!" he yelled as he lifted his hand in the air

Haku could see more and more people joining and understood now why Naruto had a solemn look on his face when they talked about his village back when they met in Wave

Gamakichi stopped his eating and slumped on Haku's lap

~Kage booth~

Hiruzen felt dread at what he could see was about to start. He would have gotten up but feeling the kyuubi's claws dig into his shoulder, he turned to see the kyuubi giving him a sad look and shook his head. He wanted to ask why but the kyuubi turned his gaze back to Naruto

'Why do you have to do this kit? This hurts more than just you, you know'

~Back in the arena~

Naruto stood there and waited for what he did to start to snowball and he wasn't disappointed as more and more people joined in

"Beat the brat"

"Beat the evil monster"

"Kill him!"

"Kill the demon!"

"KILL THE DEMON!"

"KILL THE MONSTER!"

"KILL THE DEMON!"

"KILL THE MONSTER!"

What started as only a few people soon became groups and then it was the majority of the konoha civilian audience

Neji didn't know what to make of this. So many people were all chanting that he kill Naruto. He looked back at Naruto who was now facing him. He saw a drop of water fall on the side of his face, then another drop landed on the other side. For a split second the drops looked like tears coming from the boy but more drops began to all and soon it began to rain "what did you do to cause so much hatred towards you?"

For a few seconds Naruto said nothing as the rain began to fall and the chants continued. After that he lifted both his hands and started to undo the buckles of his bracers "that's the thing Neji." he removed his right bracer "I didn't do anything to them. They hate me because I was born." he removed his let bracer and bent down to undo his greaves while still looking at Neji "if what you said is true than fate made it so they all hated me." right leg greave removed "fate made it so everyone was against me." left leg greave removed. He now held his bracers in his right hand and his leg greaves in his left "you had heard that I dreamed of being hokage…...and that was true, but it is no longer my dream. I still want to be hokage and if I do become hokage I will protect the village with everything I have"

Neji was stunned "why? Why fight to protect the people that hate you?"

Naruto smiled darkly at Neji "I'm not fighting for them." he tossed the bracers and greaves behind him, causing them to separate and once they landed on the ground, four ;arge plumes of dust was picked up and a loud *boom* was heard by everyone, which silenced everyone in the audience.

Genma who was attached to the wall in a crouched position, started to chew his needle a bit harder "kid is about to go all out. I almost feel sorry for the Hyuga"

Naruto moved his arms around to get the feeling back in them. Before he crouched a bit ready to move

Neji got into his fighting stance as he knew from experience that removing weights increases the speed of the wearing. What he didn't expect was once he got into his position he felt a hand on his face and everything went into slow motion. Naruto was no longer standing where he was, he was at Neji's right, facing the opposite direction. Naruto's hand was pulled back as it was on Neji's face and Neji barely saw the blonde move

Naruto knew he shouldn't put all his strength in what he was about to do but he also wanted to hurt Neji for what he said. He thrusted his hand forward launching Neji away.

Neji skipped on the ground four times before correcting himself as he dug his feet into the ground to stop. Thanks to his instincts, he shifted to his right to avoid a claw strike from Naruto but he winced when he was still cut on his arm. He then noticed that he was surrounded by clones and each clone's hands had wind chakra in the nails 'oh no'. Neji began to dodge as best he could as clone after clone charged at him, attempting to strike. He was able to dodge them at the start but the wind chakra added to the clones' nails were starting to cut him up. He was pushed into a corner and he had no way out as they were too fast for him to throw a solid hit without being struck himself. He made a quick decision, it would cost him a few hits but it would allow him to take out the clones. He stopped dodging for a second which gained him cuts all over his body. Getting his footing he began to spin in a counterclockwise motion "ROTATION!" the dome of chakra wiped out most of the clones that were close by and pushed Naruto back.

Naruto felt a bit of his arms burn from the move Neji used but it was already healing. Naruto stood a distance away from Neji and could tell that Neji was on his last leg, not only from all the wounds he has but the dome of chakra must use a lot of chakra in order to create a protective barrier. He sent his remaining clones at Neji but Neji got into a stance as he quickly executed his move

"Eight Trigrams 64 Palms" Neji launched a flurry of strikes aimed at the charging clones and he was able to dispel them all but the move left neji breathing hard as he barely finished them all

Naruto could tell that Neji was on his last leg and Naruto wanted to finish this "you said it was my fate to lose against you but I still don't believe that. Let's end this!" Naruto said as he got onto all fours and channeled wind chakra into his claws

Neji prepared to use Rotation once more to deflect whatever Naruto was going to use. He remained focused on the boy as he now knew not to underestimate him. 'I don't have much left in me. I need him to charge me in order to hit him with the Rotation.' he could feel the blood coming out of all the cuts he received from the last assault and the rain wiping it away

Naruto took a step forward, then another, and another and then he began to charge at Neji, running low for some speed and pulled his hand back. He glared into the eyes of the Hyuga and both knew that this was it. Once Naruto was close enough he stomped his feet into the ground and brought his two hands up to do a double claw strike in a left horizontal strike

Neji immediately spun in his counterclockwise motion "ROTATION!" the dome of chakra appeared around him just in time to block the strike

Both attacks clashed against each other and neither were going to stop until they win this

Naruto's claws hit the dome but Naruto kept pushing his claws to go against the dome's rotation. The clash was burning his arms the longer it was going but right now he didn't care, he wanted to win against the one who nearly killed someone he cared about

Neji kept spinning, keeping the Rotation going. He felt his chakra levels dropping rapidly just keeping it going but he also saw that Naruto was taking the backlash from clashing against it. He felt the need to finish this so he charged the dome with a burst of his chakra

Naruto saw the burst coming and he pushed even more "AAARRRGGGHHHHHHHH"

The push from both caused an explosion that brought up another dust cloud

The audience was silent and starred in anticipation to see who won the clash. A figure was launched out of the cloud and crashed into the ground bringing another smaller dust cloud to block out who it was. They all looked to the bigger cloud and saw a silhouette walking in the direction of the one that flew away

The silhouette walked out of the could and everyone could see it was Naruto. He had burns all over his forearms, there were rips in his shirt and the sleeves of his jacket but Naruto's look of determination showed that he didn't care. He didn't even seem to care about the wounds as he walked to where Neji crashed as the rain cleared the dust away

Neji was laying on his back, coughing up blood and unable to move "*cough* damn…..it. I can't…..move"

Naruto stood above Neji as he scowled at Neji "so….do you still believe fate determined you would be the winner?"

Neji tried to respond but all he could do was grit his teeth

"You hate Hinata-chan because she is in the main branch. She didn't ask for it, she didn't like it, and she hates the 'Caged bird seal'. She told me that since she is the next head to the clan, she would abolish the seal. Permanently and you are just making it harder for her to do that. You hate that seal yet you go against the ONE person who can get rid of it for you. Stop whining about fate being unfair and do something about it. I've been doing it and I'm the dobe of my class but your the prodigy of your class and your clan so do something!." he turned around and began to walk away but when he was a few feet away, he turned his head to look over his shoulder "you asked me why I'm fighting for the people who hate me but to tell you the truth ...I'm not fighting for them, I'm fighting for the few people I care about that live in this village. I fight for their dreams and their home but I will also protect the people because if I just leave them be, than I am no better than the ones that want me dead".

Genma landed in between the two as he looked at the back of the retreating Uzumaki 'kid has the strongest will I've ever seen'. "WINNER OF THE FIRST MATCH: NARUTO UZUMAKI"

The crowd began to cheer out as Naruto made his way to his greaves and bracers.

Naruto picked up his equipment, ignoring the cheers. He did feel a bit happy at hearing it. He knew that a lot of those people didn't hate him and some of the shinobi of his village didn't have anything against him but right now he was still mad. He turned his head to the left and up towards where the Hyuga were sitting. In a burst of speed he ran towards the wall, than up it until he reached the railing.

Sitting in a crouched position on the rail, he looked directly into the eyes of Hiashi Hyuga

Hiashi didn't react to the action but after a flash of lighting, his eyes widened ever so slightly as Hiashi could swear that Minato switched places with Naruto's for a second

Neither of them said anything for a second and the Hyuga guards were about to move in until Naruto spoke "it's because of your traditions, your rules, your stupid ideas that made Neji the way he is. It's because of you…." he pointed directly at Hiashi's face "keeping these strict rules that nearly cost you your own daughter! Live with the thought that you and your traditions were almost responsible in killing Hinata just because she isn't up to your damn standards." he then stood on the rails and looked down at Hiashi "and just to let you know, during the fight between Hinata and Neji….she held back" he than leapt up to flip over onto the roof before running over to the participants side and sit down on the roof

Hiashi sat there, not knowing what to think anymore. Everything the boy said was true and that hit him hard. He looked down as the medical team took Neji away. He felt that he needed to try and mend a misunderstanding Neji had before he did anything to try and mend the relations between himself and his first born. He got up and left towards the medical wing

Hitomi and Hanabi watched as Hiashi left but they chose to let him go do what he felt he needed to do. They looked back to the arena when an announcement was heard

"WE WILL HAVE A 20 MINUTE RECESS UNTIL THE NEXT MATCH. PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEATS BY THEN"

Naruto sat on the roof and placed his greaves on first while his arms heal and waited for the next match, not caring about the rain

~kage booth~

Hiruzen had his hat tilted to cover his eyes, not looking at the other two Kage

Mei leaned back in her seat as she took a deep breath "he's your jinchuuriki isn't he?"

Hiruzen just remained silent

"He has a strong will if he can take all that and not lash out"

Hiruzen gained a small sad smile "that he does"

Zabuza now had greater respect for the blonde for putting up with this

Kurama hated this village. He hated that his kit had to deal with this hatred directed at him. He knew that it was in both their natures to feel the negative emotions but Kurama had centuries in dealing with it but Naruto barely had over a decade of a constant flow. It was something that he would have to teach him after this whole event so it wouldn't consume him and take over.

End of chapter

And there is the fight

Neji got a beatdown and not a lot of Naruto's new skills were shown.

Kaze no ha: literally just means blades of wind

I wanted to show that Naruto, although still wants to be hokage, he is not so hooked on it. He will still aim for it but ….you get the idea

The rain thing I wanted to do more for atmosphere since no one has ever done a match in the rain before. At least not that I have found

As for the recording this. I don't know the level of tech the Narutoverse is at so I just assumed that they have VCRs. I know they have movie theaters and tvs and all that but yeah. I don't know if they use disks or not so tapes for now

Naruto is not as fast as Lee, not even close but he has speed enough to shock Neji and that's without using his demon chakra