I was standing in the middle of the stadium surrounded by hundreds of people, all of them cheering, which I'll just pretend was all for me.
Konoha's most disliked individual into the ground.
From my month of training with Yugao-sensei I learned one thing about myself: I was still weak.
There was also the issue that's my opponent, who was in one word, strong.
So here I stand, in the chunin exam finals and in one of the most broken match-ups.
...This would have been different if Kakashi just trained us seriously instead of slacking.
'On that thought, where the hell is Kakashi anyway, better yet. where the hell is Sasuke... he didn't even show up for the roll call.'
Not that I had time to worry about him, for now, I have my own problem to deal with, such as the opening match of the exams.
Sizing up my opponent who already has dropped into the gentle fist stance, I recalled things about his bloodline that Yugao-sensei has told me about, so that I was not completely sent as a lamb to the slaughter.
'So how the hell do I fight someone that has threehundred and sixty degrees of vision, can see through objects and see my chakra pathways.'
While studying my opponent I vaguely heard the proctor give the signal to begin.
If there was one thing I have learned in the past month, it would be not to rush in, which would only reward me with pain...sensei made sure of that.
So patiently waited for him to make a move, I think I heard him talking about 'fate' or something, but I didn't want to lose my focus and thus did not pay much mind to it.
Well I didn't have to wait long, for whatever reason he seems to be pissed off about something and charged towards me.
Normally it would a no-brainer who would win in a one-on-one match between fists and swords, but at this very moment, the sword would most probably lose.
The most important factor being: experience.
I was just too inexperienced to fight with him, after all, I have only been training seriously for the last month and he's been at it for god knows how long, there was also the issue of field experience, him being a year older definitely had that advantage too.
'When all fails... it's down to luck.'
My chances of winning were grim indeed.
'Let's see if he got a weak side...'
Breaking off contact I jumped back a few yards and started to collect chakra within me.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"
The stadium was covered with smoke and when it cleared, I had surrounded Neji with my clones.
Without pause they charged forward one by one from multiple directions.
As quickly as they attacked, they were beaten even faster.
So we're back at where we started, only I had lost a huge chunk of chakra.
But they served their purpose, I had found my chance to winning, he seemed to react slower at a particular angle behind him.
When the last clone was destroyed I waited for him to make a move again, only this time he seemed much calmer and it never came.
Deciding it was all or nothing I launched forward to initiate a assault.
Left, Right, Above, Right, Thrust, kick.
He seemed to have no problems dodging my attacks and commenced counterattack, so now I found myself on the defensive.
His strikes were quick and unrelenting, it took all I had for just not getting hit too much, never mind retaliating.
But then I saw it, there was a opening, deciding to gamble all on it, I launched my attack.
"Dance of the Crescent Moon!"
The first strike was knocked away, The second one was stopped by his hands just above his head, but it wasn't over yet, my final clone had approached him in his blind spot and was about to deliver the final strike.
There was no time left for him to dodge it, victory was mine.
A smirk appeared on my face, but before I knew what was happening, my world was engulfed in pain.
I only briefly heard something that sounded like 'Rotation' before I smacked painfully against something hard, probably the stadium walls.
Landing on the ground I coughed up some blood, I tried to move my left arm, which responded, albeit painfully.
'Good, it isn't broken yet...'
I slowly got up, when I raised my head I came face to face with Neji who was ready to finish me off.
"You are within range of my divination."
With that said he launched forward.
"Two palms!"
I got hit square in the chest.
"Four palms!"
This time I hardly felt anything, probably because I already was hurting badly.
"Eight palms!"
My vision started blurring.
"Sixteen palms!"
I lost control of my arms and my katana dropped out of my hands.
"Thrity two palms!"
My legs gave out under me.
"Eight Trigrams...Sixty-four palms!"
With that I embraced the unconsciousness.
When I woke up, I wasn't in a hospital bed like I expected I would be, but I was in a sewer instead.
Deep, dark laughter could be heard from the end of the hallway.
Having nowhere else to turn to, I followed it.
This would be my first real meeting with the nine-tails.
Arriving in the final room, I saw a giant cage in front of me, but it's not the cage that had my attention, it's the eyes that lit up behind it.
Before I could ponder more on it, a deep voice filled up the room.
"So you finally decided to pay a visit..."
Deciding that it would be best to be silent and observe for now, I stared back at those eyes.
Oh, I was scared always, in fact, I think I could piss in my pants at any given moment, but not that I would let him know that.
After a moment of silence, I realized that we were getting nowhere and so I took the initiative.
"You must be...the nine-tails?"
"My such great deductive abilities." The sarcasm was dripping from his voice. "Is it the teeth?" A giant smile with razorsharp teeth came in sight. "Or would it be my tails?" It stepped forward and came into sight, there it stood, a giant fox with nine tails flowing behind.
"...where am I?" I had a pretty good idea where I am, but just to be sure. "Or better yet, why am I here?"
A snort could be heard from the giant creature in front of me.
"And here I thought you finally developed a brain that actually works..." Seeing I wasn't taking the bait he continued speaking.
"As for where we were...welcome to the inside of yourself!"
That did shock me 'What? My inner world is a sewer? ...Damn that sucks!'
"And as for why your here, your unconscious."
'Oh yeah, Neji practically annihilated me...' Suddenly a idea hit me.
"Hey fox! Lend me your chakra! I'm pretty sure that if I that, that you die and you probably know what happens to someone who had all his chakra pathways sealed."
It merely stared at me, while I may have been putting on a brave facade, the cold sweat was breaking out on my back and a few moments longer I would have caved in, had he kept staring at me.
But he suddenly started laughing, it wasn't the pleasant, but a deep and evil laughter.
When it ended, he started speaking again.
"You have guts, little human, threatening me with death, but I will humor you for now, take it and leave this place."
A red and malevolent chakra started to engulf me, but the power that it brought with it was almost addicting.
My eyes snapped open, I was in the stadium again, the proctor was ready to call the match, but stopped when the stadium broke out in murmurs.
He turned around and looked at me with wide eyes, but something seems off.
'Is that fear in his eyes?'
Fear? Of me? Slowly standing up I realized that I no longer felt any pain in my body, in fact, I never felt this well before, glancing at my left arm, I saw that red chakra enveloped it.
Then it hit me, the nine-tails' chakra, they were fearing the nine-tails.
But the chakra was already dissipating, it was already retreating back into me and the pain was there once more, I felt the fatigue kick in, I was probably good for one more attack, so I chanced it all in one final attack.
"Hey Neji! Let's finish this with a final move!"
I sure hope he didn't see through my bluff, after this move I would be down for the count.
But I think he took it, as he dropped into the gentle fist stance.
A smirk was on my face as I launched at him, chakra swirled in my hand, my newest technique, taught to me by that pervert that substituted for Yugao-sensei.
"Rasengan!"
As I approached him, he crouched down and started his own technique.
"Eight Trigrams...Palm Rotation!"
Our attacks collided, they fought for dominance, neither giving a inch and finally exploded, throwing both of us back.
This time I knew that I would not be able to get back up.
But I gave it my all and started to slip into the unconsciousness.
'Heh... Hope your hurting as bad as me... Serves you right for treating Hinata like that..."
Finally darkness engulfed me and my world went black.