Like the last chapter, I had to do a bit of research. Since this chapter focuses on taijutsu, I researched several martial arts styles, something that roughly translates as "I watched a lot of martial arts movies." Best research ever. Well, second to Jiraiya's.

Oh, and I took some liberties with the scene with Gaara trying to kill Lee in the hospital. In the actual storyline, it takes place the day before the final, here, about a week before. Since most people just skip the entire scene entirely, I see no problem with this.

Chapter IV- Fist of the Thunder God

"Carefully, carefully," Naruto said, focusing upon the winds that were gathering upon the water.

He had decided to build off other Wind techniques in order to gather the winds. Of course, unlike other techniques, this required the presence of clouds, but that could simply be done by using fireballs or even simpler, gathering and manifesting his chakra.

Slowly, the winds began to spin.

The only problem was that he had to remain standing to manipulate the spinning, using his fingers to distribute chakra evenly and across the still-building tornado. The lack of speed shown was no concern, he was deliberately being slow so he could control it with more ease and see any problems in this first test run.

"Now, fast."

He waved his hands horizontally and continuously, his fingers clawed, before he waved them vertically.

The winds began to spin violently, and the funnel cloud formed, turning a light shade of blue as a result of the water the tornado was over. It was hardly that powerful, but he had actually done it.

"And now-"

He began to let the tornado dissipate, not trusting that left alone to its own devices, it would end immediately. The tornado roped out, the funnel cloud twisting and lengthening, but eventually, the winds died.

Naruto sat down by the water's edge, filled with glee at the creation of his first jutsu. Admittedly, he still had to give it a lot of work, and he was hoping to replace the manipulation of chakra with simple hand seals, and do something about the lengthy ending process- but still, it worked.

He lay on his back, laughing.

And the laughter immediately died as he found himself having to do something that Minato had often had to do after he created a new jutsu.

Figure out what practical use it has.

Naruto wasn't exactly going to get much use out of it in the Chuunin Exam, and would probably just end up wrecking the stadium that was used for the battles. Tornadoes take out entire towns, not one measly genin.

"Aw crap, this is like that stupid water jutsu that cleans behind your ears all over again."

With no real practical use for the first version of his tornado jutsu, Naruto decided to put it on hold for the next few days. He thought maybe a good idea might be to shrink it down, but he was worried that if that was the case, what was the problem with just using an already made Wind jutsu?

For now, he'd focus on how he was going to defeat Neji, and the first step had been to spend time going through flashbacks of Minato having "friendly" spars with Hyuuga members.

He sat cross legged upon the water, lost in memories, but slowly, his mind began to piece together the answers.

The Hyuuga's Byakugan makes them immune to most genjutsu and aware of just about everything around them. Their Kaiten technique can serve to deflect projectiles, shield from ninjutsu, and even knock away enemies in a whirlwind. Their taijutsu style hits the tenketsu with deadly accuracy, resulting in their opponents being unable to use chakra, as well as generally being powerful and being able to beat down an opponent through sheer force.

But even so, Naruto could hear his father's voice in his head, observing the weaknesses he'd seen across his spars with the Hyuuga members.

The Byakugan has a blind spot, but it's so small aiming for it can be a waste of time. Being underground helps, and Earth jutsu are also useful.

The Kaiten is powerful, but spinning around like a maniac is going to end up damaging to them. Stay away when they do it, but if you force them to keep having to do so, they burn through their chakra and start feeling dizzy.

Their taijutsu was strong, but the Hyuuga's reluctance to learn and add more to their style was their greatest weakness. It made their taijutsu too inflexible and rigid, while Minato had believed that a shinobi should do whatever necessary to defend himself regardless of what style it came from, and when he had fought Hyuuga, he had revealed a ruthless streak to try and beat this point into them.

And finally, there was one real technique the Hyuuga were helpless against. Minato had only used it once because he had never been pushed as far as that one Hyuuga did, but when he did, it absolutely left the Byakugan reeling.

But at any rate, Naruto would not get far against Neji if he didn't improve his taijutsu. Most of what he called his current style was a mixture of the basic academy style to things he'd seen, in movies, thugs beating each other up on the street, and moves he'd seen Sasuke do (although he'd never admit to that).

Minato had learnt many styles before ultimately concluding that it was pointless to know each style inside out, and chose to discard what didn't actually help him. He'd never perfected his taijutsu style that he'd intended to name the Fist of the Thunder God, which Naruto thought was quite frankly the coolest name he'd ever heard.

Still, he wouldn't complete it, he'd come up with his own style. Fist of Naruto.

…no, that sounded stupid. Well, he'd have plenty of time to develop a taijutsu style, he wasn't going to delude himself to think that it'd take anything less than years anyway.

Fist of Uzumaki?

…still no.

Eventually, Naruto decided to just try and follow his father's philosophies and just learn what was useful. There were plenty of styles to choose from in his father's memories, and not for the first time, he felt a mixture of wonder and horror.

It was amazing how much Minato had learnt in such a short time, but the horror stemmed from the amount of pain he went through. The history books remembered the Fourth as some godlike figure, valiant and heroic in his battles against first the forces of Iwa then the Kyuubi.

No one remembered the boy who'd torn every muscle in his arms trying to get another taijutsu style down, or how he'd once even shattered all the bones in his hand after a failed palm strike. No one else knew that even Minato had doubted himself sometimes, questioning why he went through such pains, was it even worth it? And the doubts still stayed with him throughout his life.

Naruto had been interested in a great deal of styles all the same, often just picking them out because of their names: Rising Thunder. Touch of Death. Fistful of Lightning. Dragon Slaying Palm. Way of the Interceptor.

They were the first of the styles Naruto hit upon, but eventually he turned them down. They were simply too orientated to killing the opponent, and Naruto was not out to kill a fellow Leaf ninja.

He thought about trying to study the taijutsu style that attacked pressure points, but then decided it'd take too much time. He might give it a brief overview, but with his muscle memory still screwed up, there was no way he could possibly pick out the pressure points quickly enough when fighting an opponent, unless he was frozen or something.

His best bet was to just more or less do what Minato had done and just take the techniques and moves he needed. He could select killing techniques if he had to, but he'd keep that to a minimum for now, seeing as he'd be able to learn any he needed after the exam.

It was decided then. He'd practise a few techniques for now, but soon he'd need an opponent to train his taijutsu with. A Shadow Clone wouldn't cut it, because it'd also be using the same jumble of moves he would be using. He needed someone who was superior to him in taijutsu- of course.

"Excuse me; can you help me find a patient's room?" Naruto asked the woman behind the desk at the hospital.

She looked up briefly. "Of course, what's his name?"

"Rock Lee."

"…what? Is that even an actual name?"

"Just look it up, would you?"

The woman did so, shaking her head. But a few moments, she turned back to him, surprised. "Sorry, it turns out we do have a patient registered under that name. Well, I've seen some strange-"

"Yeah, where's his room then?" Naruto interrupted.

Once he got the directions, he headed up to the right ward. Like most ninja when they were hospitalised, Lee had been given a private room rather than be put into a shared ward.

Lee was still sleeping when Naruto arrived. Deciding to not wake him, Naruto pulled up a chair, trying to supress the pity he knew the fellow genin wouldn't appreciate. Lee had some horrific injuries, and Minato's memories told him it was most likely he would never be a ninja again.

Naruto sat there, eyes closed. He now had a lot more respect for Lee, when earlier his immediate thought upon seeing him was "Eyebrows!" Lee deserved to be in the finals. He would've beaten anyone he faced in the preliminary round hands-down except the one he'd been given.

He'd actually been looking for Gai, but had decided to ask Lee for the man's usual whereabouts.

The door opened, and Naruto opened his eyes. "Shikamaru? What are you doing here?" Naruto said."

Shikamaru frowned as he entered the room. "I was visiting Chouji. Heard the woman downstairs talk about how Rock was a silly name before she went out to lunch, so I figured someone must've asked about Lee and I decided to see if someone I knew was up here."

"Why's Chouji in the hospital? I didn't think he got that beaten up in the preliminaries," Naruto said.

"Indigestion," Shikamaru said. "I got him a fruit basket and everything and it turns out he's put on a strict diet."

"Oh, well if he can't have any, let's not waste good food," said Naruto. "Pass me a banana-"

Naruto stopped. The air felt strange all of a sudden, and for some reason, he could feel malevolence directed at him. And Shikamaru seemed to feel it too. He looked over to the open window, and approached it.

Sand trickled in, and then, more. A boy materialised out of the sand, but his sunken eyes were focused only on Lee, and he gave no hint to if he had even noticed them.

"You know, most people use the door," said Naruto.

"What are you doing here?" Shikamaru asked.

Gaara tilted his head, slowly looking over at him. "I'm here to kill him."

Naruto raised his fists, but only for Shikamaru to seize Gaara with his shadow technique. "What the hell?" Shikamaru asked finally. "You have some sort of grudge with him?"

"No," said Gaara. "I just want to kill him. And if you get in my way, I'll kill you too."

"I'd like to see you try," Naruto said.

"What the hell, Naruto? Did you see the way he fought Lee? He's like a demon or something!"

"A demon?" Naruto grinned. "I've got one of my own. No problem."

"Oh? Then we are the same," said Gaara. "When I was but a new born, my father-"

"I'm not in the mood to hear your tragic past," said Naruto. "As I said, I've got one of my own. If you want to kill me, go ahead and try."

Shikamaru released his shadow technique as he turned to Naruto in shock. "Are you out of your goddamned mind-?"

"Tornado Fist!" Naruto shouted, punching the air ahead of him.

The next thing Shikamaru saw was a great rush of spinning wind that resembled a horizontal tornado that launched Gaara out of the window. "What the crap?" He said dumbly.

Naruto didn't appear to notice him as he danced around the room, doing a little jig. "Haha, it actually worked! I found a practical use out of it just by shrinking it down! I am a genius!"

"You're a moron," said Shikamaru, slapping his forehead with his palm. "You realise now you've probably just made him really angry rather than actually hurting him?"

Naruto froze. "Shit."

A torrent of sand flew in through and the two jumped out of the way, only for it to twist and go after them. Naruto picked up the chair, trying to fend it off like an animal tamer fighting off a lion, only for the sand to grab the chair and rip it apart.

With the amount of free space in the room rapidly decreasing, the two were forced to follow Gaara out of the window, jumping down to the ground outside where he awaited them.

"Okay, now if we want to get out of this alive-" Shikamaru started, but Naruto only outstretched his hands. It was already a cloudy day, so he didn't have to worry about the setup Fire technique.

"Hey Gaara, tell me if the sky looks nice up there," said Naruto.

He ran through some seals to set up part of the technique, and the winds began to gather. Gaara frowned, his own sand rising-

"What are you kids doing?"

The winds and sand fell, as all three genin looked up to see Gai standing above them on a post. "That's enough. If you've got any pent-up rage, settle it in the stadium next week. I understand that short tempers are a sign of youth, but now is not the time."

Gaara hissed, and disappeared into sand.

"Don't think we'll be seeing him again," said Gai. "Is Lee okay?"

"Yeah," said Naruto, looking back to the window. "Huh, is that Sakura-chan? Giving Lee flowers? What?"

Gai turned to face Lee's room and gave it a thumbs up. "Good work my boy, pulling them in even when you're asleep. Didn't I tell you that bowl cut works wonders? You'll have to run at least two hundred laps to atone for doubting me when you're recovered."

"Yeah, uh, I'm just gonna go back inside now," said Shikamaru. "And thanks, Gai-sensei. You really helped us out."

"Yeah, thanks," said Naruto, as Shikamaru entered the hospital doors. "But Gai-sensei, I was wondering if you could help me out with my taijutsu."

Gai looked curious, even if somewhat reluctant. "You want to learn Iron Fist?"

"No, I just wanted a sparring partner," said Naruto.

"Me?" Gai laughed. "The flames of your youth burn brightly indeed, but do you realise what you're getting into here? I'm the best in the village when it comes to taijutsu, just as my eternal rival is the best when it comes to ninjutsu."

"I need a sparring partner," said Naruto. "Practising taijutsu without being in a fight is like trying to learn how to swim on dry land. And I can't get any better unless I'm fighting a tougher opponent."

Gai looked surprised for a moment, and then his eyes were brimming with tears. "Naruto-kun! You will truly make a great shinobi one day! I will be honoured to become your new sparring partner!"

Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but couldn't as Gai pounced down from the post and seized him in a bone breaking hug.

"And that makes fifty-nine wins for me and zero wins for you," said Gai cheerfully, as Naruto finally regained consciousness after having been beaten soundly for the fifty ninth time that week.

They'd had a week. Gai had insisted that Naruto spend the last day resting and recuperating so he would be in peak condition for his fight against Neji, and so they would have ten spars on each of the six days they had left.

Those spars typically just consisted of Naruto getting his arse kicked.

Still, he knew he was improving. The time Gai took to kick his arse had been steadily increasing throughout the week, and he'd actually started getting hits in on him halfway through the fifth day.

Although that didn't stop how embarrassing it was.

Naruto lay there flat on his back, rubbing one of the bruises on his face. Although Gai pulled his punches and held back to avoid killing him, Gai was still strong as hell. On the first spar (how long ago that seemed), Gai had actually one hit KO'd him, and nearly dislocated his jaw in the process.

"Come on Naruto-kun, up! Time is threatening to cut into our final spar!"

Naruto groaned as he managed to climb to his feet. If Neji was even a tenth as good as Gai, he was screwed.

"Now now, where's that youthful spirit of yours? If you face me like that, I've already won, Naruto-kun!"

In response, Naruto gave an incredibly forced, painful smile that actually succeeding in wiping the smile from Gai's face.

Both of them took up their stances, Gai taking his standard Iron Fist stance with a hand behind his back, and Naruto simply taking a guard stance, both hands raised, his right hand ahead of his left.

Gai attacked, delivering a quick set of punches that broke through Naruto's guard and hit him several times in the chest. Instead of pressing his advantage, he stepped back, jogging on the spot.

"Come on Naruto-kun, another time like that and it's over!"

Naruto took up his stance again, and as Gai approached, still bouncing up and down on the spot, he quickly realised what Gai was planning.

He ducked under the first kick that would've smashed into his face, but he continued moving even as Gai's leg was just above him, ready to counter.

Gai screamed in pain as Naruto punched him in the groin.

"Crap- sorry Gai-sensei," said Naruto, realising that completely overdid it. He could almost feel his father's disapproval on him. Punching another man in the groin was never okay.

"It's- it's alright!" said Gai, rolling on the ground, his eyes screwed up in pain.

Naruto chose to not try and hit the man now, and waited for the jounin to recover. When Gai did a few moments later, he had stopped jogging, but neither had he taken up his usual stance. Crap, he was about to try and end it with his Dynamic Entry.

"Okay, let's resume, shall we?" Gai said. "Dynamic Entry!"

Naruto knew how to stop it, but he'd never been able to get the timing right. And then an idea came to him- the orange legwarmers. What if he tried to focus on those? Once they were past him, they marked the right spot-

As Gai came with his flying kick, he stepped to the side, and raised his arm, striking the leg on the underside, around the knee. He struggled with Gai's weight, but managed to use it against him, and using his arm as a lever, Gai toppled to the ground.

He stooped, and struck Gai on the forehead.

Gai smiled. "Excellent! One win to you! That brings the tally to fifty nine wins to me and one win to you!"

Naruto blinked, before helping the eccentric man up. Gai straightened with an unnecessary flourish and a jump, before standing upright with his hands on his hips.

"Well, I'm off to run a hundred laps around the town and do a hundred sit ups as penance for beating a genin up fifty-nine times and also for losing to a genin. Good luck in your fight Naruto-kun!"

"Yeah, thanks for helping-"

Gai slapped himself. "What was I thinking? I just wished the student of Kakashi good luck in his fight against my student! A hundred push ups must be added to my list! Well, remember what I said, Naruto. Only a light workout tomorrow to avoid injuring yourself before the tournament, understand?"

Naruto nodded and Gai laughed heartily. "Excellent! You'll do well, Naruto-kun!"

A day later saw Naruto relaxing in the bathhouse. "Aw, that's good," he said, as he fell back into the warm waters, his eyes closed.

"Oi, what are you doing there?" said a familiar voice.

Naruto opened his eyes to see Jiraiya perched on the roof of the bathhouse. "So you were messing around here for the whole month instead of training me?"

"I wasn't just here, I have many things to do with my time," Jiraiya replied. "So Naruto, shouldn't you be getting ready for that fight or whatever you're doing tomorrow?"

"I'm taking a day off to relax," Naruto said. "Now shove off or I'm gonna tell the women you've been spying on them."

Jiraiya grinned, unfazed by the threat. "A day off to relax? Kid, you've come to the right place."

Already knowing what Jiraiya's plans were when it came to relaxing, Naruto scowled. "I'm not in the mood to get liquored up and dropped off at a brothel. I've got a fight tomorrow."

"I just don't understand what's with you kids these days," Jiraiya said.

"Nothing's more boring than an old man talking about the days of his youth," said Naruto, stretching his arms above his head.

Jiraiya scratched his chin. "Huh, I'll have to give you that one. Anyway, come on kid. I'm not saying you have to get wasted. How about you show me what you've learnt, I give you a helping hand and then we go have a couple of drinks? Unless you decide you want a drinking contest, we'll be fine; no one gets drunk after a couple of beers."

"Well…" Naruto actually paused. Having Jiraiya help a little with his Tornado Fist wouldn't be too bad an idea. And frankly, the only danger he could see would be if Jiraiya ran off and left him to cover the bill- something he probably would do, actually.

Next morning, Naruto awoke with his head feeling like it was being pounded by a jackhammer. He groaned, and then his eye looked over at the alarm clock.

His scream was heard through all of Konoha.

Naruto ran through the streets, heading to the stadium. He was going to murder Jiraiya next time he saw him.

Fortunately enough, he was still in his clothes, but he hadn't had enough time to shower or brush his teeth. He'd eaten half a packet of mints, which at least fixed the problem of his breath, but there was still a stench of alcohol clinging to him.

Plus his hangover. Minato's memories did the liberty of telling him that moulding chakra while suffering from a hangover was a real bitch. He groaned, Neji wouldn't even need to hit his tenketsu points if he wanted to stop him using chakra.

The stadium loomed ahead of him, and he continued running. There were thankfully few people around, but that meant all the spectators were already in, so the fights were about to begin. And his and Neji's fight was supposed to be first.

He entered the passage that led inside the stadium, and just as his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, he had run all the way through, blinking like a mole as a result of the sun in his face.

The other genin were still lined up, with a jounin standing by them, evidently the referee. He sighed with relief, he wasn't late. It was only as he walked over to the others when he realised that there were others missing.

"Hey Shikamaru," said Naruto. "Has Sasuke not shown up?"

"Nope," Shikamaru replied. "Neither has that Dosu guy I was supposed to be fighting. This is oddly troublesome."

Naruto looked over at Gaara, and Shikamaru followed his gaze. "Anyway, Sasuke had better learnt something special if he wants to stand a chance against that guy," Shikamaru muttered.

The jounin Genma picked at his teeth with his senbon. "Have you been drinking?" He asked Naruto, and all the other genin looked around at him, having wondered where that smell was coming from. "You're underage, aren't you?"

"Look, can we just start the fights?" Naruto asked.

Genma tilted his head. "Yeah, might as well. Crowd are getting impatient. Alright, everyone except Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji up to the competitor's box."

A cheer awoke in the audience as they realised the fights were finally starting. Naruto and Neji separated, walking away from each other to give them both some distance before they turned around.

"Accept your fate to lose at my hands," said Neji.

"I'm just gonna beat some sense into you," Naruto replied, cracking the knuckles in his right hand.

"Good, good, pre-match taunts," Genma said lazily. "Well, put on a good show."

"If a good show is beating him with a single move," Neji said.

"Not quite."

Naruto raised his fists, his right hand ahead of his left. Neji activated his Byakugan, before slipping into offensive stance one of the Hyuuga taijutsu. He intended to do exactly what he said and end it with a single move.

Perfect.

"Begin!"

Neji shot forwards like a cork out of a bottle, his right hand being brought back to deliver his palm strike.

It was all about the timing.

Naruto's right hand grabbed Neji's arm. He spun around into Neji, slamming his left elbow into the older boy's side before he could strike with his other hand. With both hands, Naruto took hold of Neji's arm and flipped him over his shoulder.

The Hyuuga landed on his back, but Naruto didn't wait for him to get up. He crouched, and started pummelling Neji's face with both hands, but only for the Hyuuga to quickly cover his head. Naruto moved on to start punching his chest, but Neji countered quickly enough, swinging his legs and kicking Naruto away.

Naruto staggered back, but quickly shifted back into his stance as Neji rose, with an ugly look on his face. There was a bruise starting to form on the side of his face, very noticeable due to his pale skin.

"What happened to that single move stuff Neji?" Naruto asked. "I don't think getting flipped onto your arse was what fate told you."

Neji rubbed his bruise with a knuckle, before he took up a different stance. He said nothing, choosing to silently glare at Naruto. This time, he was going to be serious.

AN:

Expect to see a faster update than before, I've got most of the next chapter sketched out this time.

Oh, and Reaper of Death and Elementary are going to be updated soon, keep an eye out.