"Let it burn. Let it burn. Let my fires burn evermore." ~ Naruto
The village of Konoha was in a mass hysteria due to today's events, the Chunnin Finals. In some people's opinions, *cough, Naruto *cough, it truly showed just how deplorable the village was that they would flock to the Arena, abandoning their shops and duties to watch some kids beating the stuffing out of each other. If he was a thief, this would be when he struck. This was why a third of the available shinobi were tasked with patrolling the village and wall. Normally, it would've only been a fifth, but after Naruto had interrupted the attack on his partial sensei, Hayate Gecko, the Third had stepped up security. Hayate was still in the hospital, but he would survive, after having reported that the Sand and Sound were planning something during the Finals.
As Naruto looked at the practical parade of people advancing towards the Stadium, his mind drifted back to the day the finalists were paired off. His match against Neji was first, and he was looking forward to beating that superior look off the egotistical Hyuuga's face. But first, he had one last thing to do before the butt-kicking could commence.
Lined across the floor of the stadium were 8 Genin, 3 from Sand, the other five from Leaf. Each and every contestant was standing still awaiting the Finals to begin. Hearing footsteps, several turned to view the newest contestant to enter. Eyebrows rose as they took in Hinata's appearance, as well as the self-assured look on her face as she strode over to Genma, the referee for the Finals, introducing herself as she was pointed to her place in the line-up.
Now, there were only three empty spots left, and the nine Genin awaited their arrival, the minutes ticking down until show time.
As 9:00 rolled around, no new contestants had shown up, leading to a certain Hyuuga to sweat slightly, wondering where Naruto was. He was a punctual person by nature, and it just didn't make sense for him to be late to such a big event, especially when he'd been bragging all week about how he was going to beat Neji.
"It is time to begin. If all the finalists except Neji Hyuuga and Naruto Uzumaki would make their way to our specially prepared viewing box." Genma said, herding the assembled Genin up the stairs as they awaited the match to commence.
Using chakra to project his voice outwards, Genma began the introductions. "The first match, Neji Hyuuga vs. Naruto Uzumaki will commence in 5 minutes. If either contestant is not present at the time, they will be forcibly forfeit from the tournament!" Hinata began nervously pressing her index fingers together. While she had psyched herself up for this day, it had ultimately been Naruto's promise that he would be right there beside her that had won her over.
Five minutes passed in a flash with only a few stragglers finding seats in the arena. When Naruto did not appear, Genma shrugged his shoulders, channeling chakra to his vocal chords to project his voice outwards once more. "Naruto Uzumaki is not here, and as such, I am forced to acknowledge the winner as-"
"OI!" A loud voice yelled as Genma was startled out of his speech as he looked around for the source of the voice, only to find it on the roof, a shadowed figure pointing accusingly at him. "THE HERO… ALWAYS ARRIVES AT THE LAST SECOND!" The figure shouted; leaping from the roof three stories up, landing without a sound as a broad smile was visible. Across the figures back, a second body was seen.
"Sorry, had to pick up a friend for festivities." Naruto apologized, tensing up his legs as he leapt up easily, using chakra to run straight up the wall, stopping beside Tenten, who was surprised to see him. Although she quickly cleared the side beside her of all the snacks she had, allowing her third teammate to sit down.
"Watch closely Lee, and see how a genius of hard work thrives." Naruto smiled kindly, and started to jump back down, only to give a thumbs-up, a glint shining in his teeth. He then leapt back down to face Neji.
"I don't know why you even bothered to show up, Uzumaki. You are destined to lose to me today, my eyes have seen it." Neji said, crossing his arms over his chest, but instead of growling at the infuriating Hyuuga, Naruto smirked.
"You seem awful confident in those eyes; I almost pity you for just how blind you are." Naruto said it as if he were stating the weather forecast for the day. Neji froze up, glaring at Naruto, who didn't seem to notice. He was more concerned with looking around for Hinata, but he couldn't spot her anywhere. Oh well, he'd find her after he beat this prick at his own game.
"Well, it seems we have a match yet. If both contestants are ready, if you're not, too bad. Hajime!" Genma shouted, leaping back, using his chakra to cling to the wall as he climbed up to a small overhang where he sat perched like a hawk.
"I'll forgive you Uzumaki, if you forfeit now. I take no pleasure in destroying such a feeble fighter. Go back; train some more, come back next year and maybe you'll have a chance against me then. But for now, a failure like you can have no hope against me, a prodigy." Neji said, only for Naruto to stare wistfully at him.
"Always a bridesmaid, never a bride." Naruto said evenly, and his body seemed to quiver slightly as suddenly two clones appeared by his side as the trio charged Neji, who weaved around their weak attacks, striking at their exposed parts. However, for every one he destroyed, another two took its place.
"What did that comment mean?" Neji asked, actually escape the superior number of clones by using one to push himself away, throwing kunai at the advancing horde. As more replaced the ones taken down, he was forced to start using the Jyuuken to quickly and efficiently take down the clones, none taking their place this time.
"I mean, you're always able to see the flaws in everyone else, but you can't see just how utterly broken you are, all the cracks in your façade. It's like looking at a bird with its wings broken, only able to complain and annoy, but unable to escape its cage. Tell me when I've hit a nerve, Bird Boy." Naruto taunted, and faster than he had expected, Neji appeared in front of him, his open palm coming straight at his heart. Luckily, Naruto managed to barely twist out of the way, the attack hitting his left shoulder as he flipped backwards, landing on his feet as he slid to a stop, a grin on his face.
"I think that answered my question. Now, how about you actually try to beat me, Bird Boy?" Naruto taunted once again, and once again, Neji retaliated, only this time, Naruto was ready as he barrel-rolled under Neji's attack, getting behind the Hyuuga as he attacked his exposed back. However, Neji managed to send a kunai at him, forcing Naruto to retreat long enough for Neji to face him once again.
"You can't hide from these eyes, Uzumaki!" Neji yelled, his clan's Dojutsu activated as he tracked Naruto perfectly, deflecting the numerous kunai thrown at him. When this failed, Naruto paused momentarily as several clones poofed into existence around him, confusing Neji as he couldn't tell the difference between the clones and the real Naruto.
Once again, Neji was forced to contend with a horde of Naruto clones as they soon surrounded him, jumping at him from every direction. However, Neji simply smirked, extending his palms as he began to spin, a blue shield surrounding him as the clones crashed into it, dispelling on contact.
"8 Trigrams: Kaiten." Neji called out the name of his technique as Naruto watched him carefully, looking for the opening he needed. Spotting it, he raced at Neji, who stopped spinning due to dizziness, only for Naruto appear in his face a split-second later, not giving the supposed Hyuuga prodigy anytime to react as Naruto clubbed him in the face, sending the arrogant Hyuuga rolling backwards. Naruto glanced down at his bloody knuckles, and a quick flash of flame shot across them, cauterizing them instantly.
"I thought you said I couldn't hide. Apparently, I don't need to hide if I can just walk up to you and punch you in the face." Naruto said matter-of-factly. Neji pushed himself to his feet, glaring at Naruto who crouched down, racing at the Hyuuga once again.
Neji had an idea seconds before Naruto reached him as he focused a large amount of chakra into his palm as he thrust it forwards, right where Naruto's chest should be, only for the blonde to rotate his body in mid-air, getting under his guard as he leaned back on his hands, supporting his body as his leg shot straight up to catch Neji under the chin.
However, Neji had seen it coming, recognizing the maneuver from his spars with Lee, and so went with the momentum, leaning back as Naruto heel barely missed his chin by centimeters. However, his eyes went wide as instead of bringing his heel down in an axe-kick like the move finished, a jet of flame shot out of Naruto's foot.
It was close enough to his face that Neji had to hold his breath to avoid sucking in any flames. He was forced to roll backwards as Naruto went into a spinning headstand, a wave of fire coming from his foot as it flew over the Hyuuga's head. In perfect unison, both fighters used a back handspring to put some distance between there opponent.
"How-How did you do that. You, a failure shouldn't be able to push me this far?!" Neji exclaimed, and Naruto smirked, as he glanced up into the crowd, 'coincidently' exactly where Hiashi Hyuuga was sitting with Hanabi.
As he did this, Neji struck at Naruto, who seemed to contort his body impossibly around the strike, only to send three precise two-fingered attacks at Neji, who was forced to take them as he leap back.
"Silly Neji, you may be a genius, but Hinata-chan is a prodigy among geniuses! The only reason you won was because Hinata is too compassionate for you Hyuugas, however, I am not Hinata!" Naruto cried, not taking his eyes off Hiashi as he chuckled darkly.
Neji didn't know how to take that answer, and so prepared for an actual fight by taking the Jyuuken stance. "Oh, you want to make this a Taijutsu fight, well by all means, allow me to show you just how far the gap is in your Taijutsu, and Hinata-chan's. She beat me 102 times before I got this down." Naruto said, taking a familiar Taijutsu stance. Not believing what he was seeing, Neji charged the blonde jinchuuriki, striking at him in complicated Jyuuken patterns, but Naruto evenly dodged and returned fire.
"How did you learn that style?!" Neji yelled, overextending himself as Naruto ducked, only to rapidly strike points down his arm. When Neji felt a blazing pain down his arm, he howled in pain, only for Naruto to bend backwards, planting both hands on the ground as he sent a mule kick into Neji's chest, throwing the older Genin several yards away, although everyone could easily see the damage down to him.
In the exact place where Naruto had kicked him, twin black scorch marks were visible where his jacket and undershirt and been burnt off. That wasn't the only damage as someone cried out, pointing at Neji's visible arm, the one he hadn't caught himself with. Down the entire length, from wrist to mid-bicep, a red blister was visible at each point Naruto had struck.
"I told you, Neji, from Hinata. We sparred for two days straight until I was able to copy her Jyuuken perfectly. However, that is only half of my style. As you most likely recognized, only my upper body mirrors the Jyuuken, while my lower body…" Naruto demonstrated what he meant by jumping and swinging his leg out in a circle around him, a trail of fire following.
"Leaf Firestorm." Naruto called out, landing perfectly as Neji forced himself up, nursing his arms as he pulled out a container of salve to treat burns.
"Lee's, Gai-sensei's…" Neji hissed out, coating his arm in the salve as the blisters began to vanish. Naruto apparently confident enough to let Neji keep repairing the damage done to his body.
"Goken, that's right. I started to call it the Flame Fist, but I felt that just didn't fully cover it. So, I titled it, Dance of the Flickering Flames, or Flame Dance for short. So, are you ready to continue? OI, what are you doing?" Naruto asked incredulously as Neji retook his Jyuuken stance, this time with a determined look on his face.
"You want to keep going? Do you like being served up, extra-crispy, or do you just get your jollies from playing with matches in general?" Naruto asked as he took his stance as well, although Neji didn't answer as he charged at Naruto, who sighed, dancing around Neji's numerous attacks, albeit precise.
Just the same, Naruto couldn't manage to strike back at Neji, who seemed to notice this. He smirked, coming in from the side as Naruto ducked under the reckless swing, only to realize his mistake seconds too late as Neji went into his new favorite jutsu.
"Kaiten!" The swirling blue dome surrounded him, tearing into Naruto as he was thrown back, skidding across the ground. He groaned as he pushed himself upwards.
"Ugh, what hit me, that felt like one of Gamasai's drunken punches." Naruto hissed as he got up, only to be set upon by Neji, who seemed to take advantage of his momentary opening, pummeling the blonde with as many attacks as he could manage.
However, Naruto still managed to get away, groaning as his body protested the movement. Looking around for a way to turn this to his advantage, Naruto spotted his target, racing at him. Going for broke, he raced through hand seals, pouring chakra into the jutsu, having just enough energy left to mutter, "Grand Fireball Jutsu" as he exhaled, a massive fireball blocking Neji from finishing him off, only for the crafty Hyuuga to slid across the ground, spinning on his knees as the familiar blue dome surrounded him, shielding him from the fire as he crashed into Naruto battering the blonde's body as he got trapped between the wall and Neji's Kaiten before finally falling to the ground.
"Hahaha, I told you, Uzumaki, you were destined to lose to me today. No amount of hard work can change your destiny, remember that!" Neji breathed heavily, trying to stand up straight as he gave Naruto's body a sharp kick just to make sure he was down for the count.
"Very well done, Neji, I have to say, I'm impressed you managed to best him." Neji turned slowly, as quickly as his body allowed to face the person who was clapping for him. As he turned to face them, however, his eyes shot open wide as he fell to his knees.
A/N: So, my one month hiatus turned into a two month one, sorry. But in other news, I've finished the first round of the Chunnin Finals, although I was rather disappointed in some of the fights, you can guess which ones, but they were all done the way they are for a reason, so don't hate. One other thing, since I've been using Mondays for my two OUaT FFs, Friday will be the new day for this story.
P.S. I've received comments that the Scorch Release doesn't work the way I've been using it, I'm aware of that, but this is my FF, s I'll depict it how I please.