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Last time: Gohan gets marked with a Cursed Seal.

This time: The Third Exam begins!

The day of the exam dawned bright, crisp and clear, and there was an unmistakable air of anticipation in the village as foreigners, shinobi, and civilian alike, moved through the streets of the suddenly filled to bursting Konohagakure. Gohan and Naruto had been up since the sun had risen, getting ready, showering, eating, checking equipment and getting set for the Third Exam. The exam wasn't going to start until noon, so they spent the morning wandering around the village, talking about random things like what training they'd been doing for the last month.

Gohan had been most intrigued to hear Naruto hint about some new power of his that would hopefully put the blond on par with him. Gohan didn't believe it at first, but after a while of thinking about it, he realized that Naruto was unpredictable enough for the claim to be perfectly plausible.

All too soon, the morning was gone and the contestants were gathering at the entrance to the arena where they would be fighting. It was an enormous coliseum, with enough seats for thousands of people, huge walls to contain any sort of jutsu a genin might be able to field, a special deck for the Kages themselves and a box inset into one of the walls around halfway up for the participants in the exam. The floor was just as impressive. It was like a training ground had been built in the center of Konoha, with vegetation for concealment ringing the oval floor, which was just dirt. If one had felt so inclined, a few taps would've revealed that it was indeed the real ground and not something covered by a thin layer of soil.

Gohan glanced around at the other participants in the exam. Neji was looking bored with the whole affair, as if the entire thing was beneath his notice. Naruto was standing right next to the saiyan warrior and it was oblivious that he was thinking about the prelims and what Neji had done to Hinata by the way his clear cerulean eyes kept wandering over to the stoic genius and his right fist kept clenching and unclenching.

Next to Neji was Lee, and the spandex-clad shinobi looked eager to get on with the show, since he was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet and every now and again he made some weird movements with his hands that Gohan recognized as muted rehearsals of various blocks, strikes, and deflections. Next to Lee was Naruto, then Gohan, who was actually looking forwards to his match with Lee, and he was doing some basic stretches to warm up for the match.

Sakura was next to Gohan on his right and she didn't look so good. As per her promise, her weights were still on, but she kept plucking at the top clasp of the vest as if she wanted to take it off, her emerald eyes on the ground and her face pale, making her light hair seem dark by comparison.

Temari, Kankuro, Shino, and Shikamaru all seemed to be rather unruffled by the whole affair.

"Hey, isn't there supposed to be someone else here?" Gohan asked at large.

"Yeah, what happened to that sound guy?" Sakura replied.

The new proctor, Genma, cleared his throat, the senbon in his mouth wobbling dangerously. "Abumi Zaku has been disqualified for attempting to kill Nara Shikamaru in an effort to make the exam easier for himself. The ANBU apprehended Abumi after Nara's father trapped him with the Kage Mane no Jutsu. As such, Abumi is in the hands of ANBU and Nara Shikamaru has automatically advanced to the next round."

Gohan blinked then nodded, deciding that one less person in a tournament didn't really make all that much difference in the big scheme of things.

Genma raised his voice in order to be heard. "Now! Let the Final Chuunin Exam begin! First match! Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyuuga Neji!" Cheers erupted from the stands as people began to cheer for Naruto or Neji, though a few people noted that most of the cheers were for Neji. The rest of the contestants cleared off to the booth that was set into the wall. Once they were all there, Naruto and Neji stepped forward to within a few feet of each other, glaring at each other, though in the Hyuuga's case it was more of a superior sneer.

"I'm gonna kick your ass for what you did to Hinata-chan!" Naruto growled.

Neji smirked. "You are going to lose this battle, so why even bother trying to fight."

"How are you so sure?"

"Easy. You were fated to lose the moment you drew your lot last month."

"Keh. I'll show you you stuck up bastard!" Naruto shouted as Genma's hand dropped. The blond shot backward, scooped three shuriken from his holster and hurled them. Neji snatched one from the air as he dodged the other two then whipped the weapon back at Naruto who was in the middle of charging.

The shuriken struck home and Naruto popped in a puff of shinobi smoke.

"Kage Bunshin?" Neji asked himself, not surprised but certainly annoyed. The Kage Bunshin was unique because it created a clone capable of attacking and at the same time, the chakra of the user was distributed evenly so even the Byakugan or its lesser cousin the Sharingan were unable to tell the copies from the original. "You'll need to do better than that."

Neji's arms shot back, catching the two fists approaching him from behind and locking the wrists. The two Narutos sailed on past then Neji jerked, altering their momentum so that the two slammed together and exploded. Neji jumped, kicking off the skull of another Naruto that also exploded then spun in mid-flight, his arms and legs flashing as he struck down Bunshin after Bunshin, which were appearing as fast as Naruto could make them.

"Wow," Sakura marveled from up in the booth, where she was leaning against the rail next to Gohan. The saiyan in turn was watching both fighters like a hawk. He knew that whoever won this match he would end up fighting if he didn't lose to Lee. "Naruto's doing pretty well."

"He's not doing too bad," Gohan agreed, "but what I want to know is how Neji can see Naruto's clones coming at him from behind."

"It's the Byakugan," Shikamaru jumped in as he leaned against the wall. "One of it's abilities is close to three-hundred-sixty degree vision."

"What?" The other two exclaimed together, looking in shock at Shikamaru, who looked unruffled as Naruto took a bad hit below and was thrown away from Neji. Neji spouted off something about fate, right before a clone Neji missed launched itself at the genius, drawing back for a right hook that would've broken the Hyuuga's jaw if it'd hit.

"Huh?" Naruto asked as the clone Neji thought was the real one burst into smoke, though that wasn't the reason Naruto was puzzled. The real reason was that his punch had been stopped cold by something. It was like running into a brick wall except without the pain of your hand shattering.

Neji smiled nastily then began to spin like a top. "Hakkeshou Kaiten!" Naruto shouted out in pain before being thrown for real, tumbling head over heels into a tree, the trunk snapping like a twig and keeling over sideways, thankfully missing the dazed blond beneath it.

"Now what?" Sakura wondered as she noticed Naruto wobbling up to his feet and shaking his head like a dog shaking off water before glaring at Neji and launching himself back into the fight. "What technique was that?"

"Kaiten," Lee replied, looking rather serious for the first time the kunoichi was able to remember. "It's much like Gaara's sand. It's an absolute defense that throws the attacker's force right back at him while the charka adds in additional damage."

"So it's not to be taken lightly," Gohan summarized.

"Indeed. Underestimating the Hyuuga can prove to be very fatal."

"What do you mean by that?" Sakura prodded.

The taijutsu master looked pensive for a moment before he answered. "Hyuuga use a style of fighting called Juuken. It's a style that instead of breaking bones and limbs, like Gai-sensei and I do, it attacks the inner organs and chakra network directly."

"And no matter how hard you train, you can never toughen your internal organs," Gohan finished. "This guy could, in theory, take out anyone." Lee nodded.

"Rokujuuyonshou!"

All attention was on the ring again as Naruto was thrown again, hard, into the ground, skidding for a few feet before standing up. Neji smirked. "It's over," the genius said coldly. "I've totally shut down your chakra network. You have nothing left. No clones, no chakra, not even the Kawarimi. Give up. You were fated to this the moment you drew that number two in the Second Exam."

Naruto climbed painfully to his feet, heaving huge gulps of breath. That bastard had a point, the blond realized. He didn't have anything. The shinobi couldn't even feel his chakra circulating through his system anymore. That Neji bastard had done as he said and totally shut off Naruto's access to his chakra.

'Oh great. How am I supposed to fight now?' The blond wondered. 'I have nothing left! All that damned Ero-sennin taught me was how to use Kuchiyose no Jutsu and how to use the stupid fox's chakra…' Naruto kept wondering about how he was going to win for a moment then stopped up short. 'Wait! That's it!'

"It's over," Lee said sadly as he watched Naruto close his eyes, as if meditating. "Naruto-kun uses his chakra for every battle. To not have it anymore…There's nothing more he can do."

Gohan frowned as he watched his roommate make a hand seal and snap his eyes open. Even from where he was, the saiyan warrior could see the blonde's determination and even more profound was the feel Gohan was getting from him. There was a stirring within Naruto. Something was coming. Naruto was drawing at that greater, darker, power Gohan had felt within him when they'd first met and it was even more ominous than he'd ever dreamed.

Neji noticed. "What are you trying to do loser?" he asked. "You have no chakra to draw on. You might as well be trying to find water in the middle of the desert."

"He's right," Sakura said worriedly. Her concern for the blond was evident on her face. "Naruto has nothing."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Shika answered.

"Huh?"

The corner of the lazy genin's mouth curled as a ring of dust began to form around Naruto's feet and the feeling of greater power filled the air, shocking all those who could sense it. "Even in the desert, you can find water if you know where to look."

Red chakra burst into being around the blond, whose wounds hissed and began to close and heal with small spurts of steam. The chakra sprayed outward, sweeping across the floor of the arena and forcing Neji to shield his eyes or risk losing them from the rocks in the air.

'What is this power?' the genius asked. 'I sealed off his chakra coils, I'm sure of it!' The dust began to settle and the chakra began to swirl upwards, making a low whispering noise, like a pair of athletic pants rubbing against one another, the swirls looking like tentacles or tails as they spiraled even higher, seeming to pass the pinnacle of the Kage's box. Neji almost shouted as his Byakugan saw the chakra in Naruto's stomach swirl into the shape of a snarling fox head.

"What is he!?"

The chakra began to cling to Naruto and form a second skin over him. As if responding to Neji's thought about a fox, the chakra took on a vague outline of that very animal. There was even a partly formed tail swinging in the breeze behind the blond Jinchuuriki.

Naruto's eyes, red with slightly slitted pupils, bored down on Neji. "Now I'm gonna make you pay for what you did to Hinata-chan!"

Then he vanished.

"Fast!" Lee, Sakura, and Gohan shouted together. For the barest of instants, even Gohan had had a hard time tracking the other boy's movements since he wasn't ready for them.

Neji threw himself backwards, Naruto's chakra-shrouded fist slamming to earth right where he'd been just an instant before. A claw erupted from the ground beneath the genius, who began spinning.

"Kaiten!"

The claw shattered and when Neji stopped spinning, his pale eyes widened as he found Naruto right on top of him with a kunai in his hand. Neji almost didn't get his own out in time and he stopped Naruto's slash, the force of the blow ringing up his arm and making the Hyuuga's teeth rattle.

Naruto let out a yell as he drew even more power from somewhere and pushed Neji back, making the genius' feet skid helplessly over the earthen floor of the arena. The Hyuuga gritted his teeth as he tried in vain to stop his helpless sliding, but it wasn't enough and he hit the wall of the stadium with enough force to crack it beneath him.

Naruto, who'd pushed away at the last second, completed his flip and landed lightly on his feet, a grin on his face as he looked at one of his red fists.

'I could get used to this,' he thought. 'It's like Gohan's Super watchamacallit.' He raised that one fist at Neji, whose eyebrow lifted, then the lavender eyes narrowed as Naruto's thumb pointed downward.

"Don't get cocky bastard!" the genius shouted as he sprinted at Naruto, his hands positioning for another Juuken strike. Naruto's foot twisted slightly and he fazed out. "What!?"

He threw his body into an airborne spiral, feeling the hot youki of Naruto's body narrowly miss scorching his back. 'Since when does chakra have a temperature?' Neji's foot came scything around and slammed into the back of Naruto's neck, throwing the younger genin forward and making him tumble head over heels. It wasn't enough and Naruto hopped up before he'd gone more than nine or ten feet.

"Is that all?" he asked cracking his neck with a cocky grin. He felt almost invincible with this power flooding his system. Neji was moving slower, his attacks hurt less, and he didn't seem as all-powerful as he'd seemed just a few minutes ago. "Some genius."

"Don't get cocky Naruto," Gohan whispered.

"Go Naruto!" Sakura screamed. "Kick his ass!"

Naruto nodded and winked out again. This time, Gohan didn't miss the blonde's movements as he shot at Neji, stopped, shot around him in a circle, then came at him from behind. To Gohan's great surprise, Neji acted like he didn't see the blond until the last second, at which time he dropped and rolled, missing Naruto's outstretched hand and the foot that followed it. As Naruto touched down, off balance, Neji shot in, fingers darting forward, striking Naruto at the base of the neck.

Naruto staggered, fell to one knee, then wobbled upright again.

"Impossible!" Neji shouted. "You should be unconscious!"

"Did that weird chakra protect him?" Sakura asked, looking at the three boys next to her.

"Looks that way," Shika answered, for once in his life looking alert and ready. "I haven't been able to see the last three or four moves though."

Down on the floor, Neji was looking tense as Naruto cracked his knuckles

Neji scowled. "I don't know what in the hell you are," he growled as he pulled out a kunai. "But fate will not allow me to lose this match!"

Naruto pulled out another knife of his own. "Are you still going on about that fate bullshit?" He asked. "Grow up! Fate is only for losers who're too damn lazy to do anything to change it!"

"What was that?" Neji snarled. "What would you know? Do you have any idea what it's like to be branded with a mark that you cannot erase!?"

Naruto frowned.

"What do you mean?"

Neji tore off his hirai-ate and showed Naruto the green swastika on his forehead. "This! This is what I mean!" Neji shouted, his eyes shining with something that might have been tears. "Do you know the pain, the suffering of being branded with something like this!? Something that exiles you from the rest of the world!?"

Naruto's head bowed. Neji smiled triumphantly as he replaced the small piece of armor to its proper position. "You can never understand."

"You're wrong."

"What?"

"I can understand. I know what it's like. The pain, the suffering of being branded and treated like trash. I understand your position better than anyone. Believe me when I say that."

"You bastar…"

"But so what?" Naruto interrupted, his voice back to its usual determined pitch, his head coming up, and the determination in his eyes as clear as ever, even with the unnatural crimson color. "The way I see it you can do nothing and whine like a little baby or you can grow some balls and do something about it!"

"Naruto…" Sakura murmured, wondering what the blond could be talking about. Sure he'd never had any friends, but he'd always been so upbeat about it. To think that he'd been so lonely, it was almost too much to think about. Unless she had never seen him on that swing outside the Academy looking like a kicked puppy on more days than she cared to count, she wouldn't have believe what the blond had been saying just now.

Neji made a noise like a cobra hissing. "You actually believe you can understand!? How would someone like you know anything!?" He was getting angrier by the second. "Because my clan is fated to be the way it is, I lost my father! And I won't be the only one!"

"So change it," Naruto shouted back, the red chakra around him flaring ever higher as it fed off his emotions. The tail behind him was looking more complete and his eyes were now noticeably slitted. "If you don't like the way something is, then you change it!"

"Shut up!" Neji howled. "One more word, bastard, one more word about it, and I swear I'll kill you! You have no right to talk about what you do not understand! Even if you could possibly comprehend what I have to go through, there's nothing you could do about it! No one can do a thing about it, because that's the way fate has cast its dice!"

"So I'll become Hokage and change it! If you're not willing to do something about it, then I will!"

Neji seemed to regain his head. "What could you do? No one can change. No one. Not you, not me, not the Hokage. Once you're fated to do something, that's it, you cannot resist it." The Hyuuga raised his kunai, glaring at Naruto. "Now, how about we finish this and I can hand you your destiny."

"Heh," Naruto snorted. "Finally we agree on something. Come on bastard, let's finish this and I can show you that destiny is just a load of bullshit."

Blue light began to swirl around Neji as the genius' chakra reached its greatest limit. Naruto's crimson chakra began to spiral higher as well, the tail finally fully forming and the chakra coming to a boil as a pair of fox ears formed on either side of the blonde's head.

"Proctor," Neji called to Genma. "I suggest you call a mortician, because I'm going to kill him."

The jounin shrugged. "Do what you want," he replied. Naruto didn't seem fazed by Neji's declaration.

"Like you could kill me," he scoffed.

The sound of Neji's skin tightening against the metal handle of the kunai was audible to Genma and Naruto as they watched a series of emotions flash across the genius' face before it was all swallowed by rage.

Without warning, Neji charged, the chakra streaming behind him as ghostly wisps. Naruto didn't waste a second, mimicking Neji and charging headlong at the Hyuuga prodigy.

With a pair of yells, they slammed together like runaway freight trains, a blue and crimson dome of chakra forming around them, spinning like a tornado before turning purple and exploding.

"Was that Naruto?" Sakura asked as two streaks shot out of the cloud and slammed into the walls, shaking the entire stadium from the impacts and jostling the participants in their booth while the floor filled with even more smoke, dust, and haze. "Since when did Naruto have that kind of power?" She looked at Gohan. "Just what kind of training did he do!?"

"I don't know," the other answered, "but whatever it was, it paid off big time."

"Do you think he's on par with you?"

"Not as a full power Super Saiyan, but he would definitely force me to transform if I wanted to stay level."

"So what you're saying is that Naruto, when he's using that weird chakra, is even more powerful than you, Gohan-kun?" Lee asked, looking skeptical. After all, the boy next to him had fought a demon and won.

"As I am now, yes, but after transforming I would pull past him. Even then, I think it would take around half of the transformation's power boost to pass him."

Shika whistled. "Damn. Who would've thought Dead Last Uzumaki had this kind of potential?"

The smoke cleared and in each end of the arena was a spiderweb of cracks that made a depression around as high as a tree, in the middle of which was a hole around as high as Neji or Naruto themselves. It was a testament to just how hard the two had been thrown when they'd collided.

There was a cracking noise and Neji's hand shot out, grabbed the edge of the hole and pulled himself free, pieces of rock and concrete falling off his shoulders. The genius ceritanly looked worse for wear. His hirai-ate hung askew, allowing for a faint glimpse of the seal on his forehead. Blood ran down the right side of his face, forcing him to partially close that eye to keep it clear. His left shoulder was mangled with small spikes of rock sticking out of the shoulder, pinning his shirt to him, which would've fallen off since the right shoulder was just gone, and staining the area red while small crimson rivers ran down his arm and dripped to the ground. His right arm was almost as bad, but there only seemed to be one wound on it, though it was deep, and that arm was still workable.

The Hyuuga used it to hold his left immobile as he shuffled forward one painful step at a time, his breath and pounding heart the only things that filled his wavering vision. He hissed slightly as he put weight on his right leg, but ignored it and limped forward, trying to walk upright and confident, but it just wasn't happening. He slumped like a huge weight was on his shoulders and the world swam in and out of focus, the madly whispering crowd nothing but muted background noise in his cotton-filled hearing.

'At least the Dead Last has to be in worse shape than I am,' floated across his wandering mind, which made Neji frown. He needed a clear head to continue.

"Probably a concussion," he muttered to himself as he finally limped to a halt in front of Naruto's crater. He was right. The orange-clad genin was in a worse shape. Neji could just see the outline of Naruto's right hand above his head, jammed sideways in the crater as he was, bent at an odd angle. That was a broken arm, maybe compound breaks if Neji was destined to be that fortunate. Naruto's clothes were torn to shreds, revealing patches of skin scraped raw and bloody, with burns from that weird chakra discoloring it. His left ankle was bent at a weird angle as well.

'Broken at the very least. Maybe a sprain if fate decides to favor him.'

Blood coated the blonde's face, the source somewhere above Naruto's hairline, which meant that his once flaxen hair was turning a bright crimson closer to the source and it was already turning a dark and dirty brown farther out. To make a long story short, Neji decided, he'd definitely gotten off better than the blond had.

Neji sighed, wincing as a couple of heretofore undetected bruised ribs made their presence known to him as his adrenalin ebbed. "Sorry Dead Last," he grunted, addressing the unconscious genin in front of him, "but this is reality. You fought hard, and almost had me, but in the end, destiny and fate are absolutely inescapable. Maybe now you'll realize…"

Naruto exploded in a burst of smoke, but before Neji could do more than process what had just happened, the ground beneath him exploded, a pair of hands seized his ankles and held him fast while a shadow shot from beneath him, rebounded off the top of the crater, making it give way, and shot at the Hyuuga, who was too stunned to move, not that he could've dodged in his position anyway.

A fist slammed into his face, knocking his loosened hirai-ate off, and Neji cried out as he felt his nose explode under the shadow's fist, the world vanishing as a white light burst out from behind Neji's eyes. Then next thing he knew, Neji was on his back, his hirai-ate clinking as it hit the ground next to him and Naruto was looming over him. A second Naruto was extracting itself from the ground and once he was free, that Naruto fell over onto all fours, totally out of breath as the first vanished in a puff of smoke.

"A…clone!?" Neji asked thickly past the new blood oozing down his face and getting in his mouth. "He still had…that…much chakra left?"

"Yeah," Naruto answered as he stood up and wobbled dangerously, like a toddler trying its first steps, "I did, and now I've got nothing. So you'd better stay the hell down there."

Neji allowed his head to tip sideways. "Keh, I'm such a fool. I should've known it would be a Kage Bunshin. After all, that's your best technique." He smiled bitterly. "Fate has made me its favorite plaything."

"Are you still going on about that?" Naruto asked, clearly angry but not having the energy to get the emotion into his voice.

"People cannot change," Neji stated. "That is one of this world's absolute truths."

"You dumbass. Let me tell you something. I…was the worst student in my year. I failed the graduation exam three times before I managed to pass. I kept failing because there was always this one jutsu that I could never get the hang of."

Despite himself, Neji found himself listening to the blond above him. He even surprised himself when his mouth asked, seemingly of its own volition, "And that jutsu was?"

Naruto's mouth tugged up in a feeble attempt at his megawatt fox grin. "Bunshin no Jutsu. It was my worst technique, but something just wouldn't let me stop until I got it down. And now look, I can make Kage Bunshins with no problem." He paused to heave a few breaths. "So don't give me that bullshit about destiny and stuff. Anyone can change, I can become Hokage." That was a reference to earlier in the match when Neji had mocked his dream while Gohan and the rest had been talking. "And you can change the Hyuuga clan."

"How can you be so sure?" The immobile genius asked, trying to ignore the shoot of hope in his chest. Maybe this dumbass had a point. Maybe he could really break free of his cage and learn to fly.

"Because," Naruto answered simply, "unlike me, you're not the Dead Last."

Genma smiled as he raised his hand. Neji had underestimated the sheer determination, willpower, and chakra Naruto possessed and it'd cost him. "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!"

The crowd went wild as medic-nins ran onto the field, scooped up the fallen Hyuuga prodigy, and carted him off to the medical center that was integrated with the stadium. Naruto grinned weakly as he watched the prodigy with the stick up his ass get carted off, then allowed the darkness that'd been coming over him to swallow him up.

He didn't feel it when he hit the ground.

"A splendid match, wouldn't you say!?" Lee bellowed as a medic rushed out, picked up Naruto's limp form, and carted him off. The taijutsu master got tears in his eyes. "And now it's my turn to show the world what I can do! Watch me Gai-sensei!" With that, he leapt over the rail, dropped easily to the floor below, then sprinted over to Genma and began bouncing around, throwing kicks and punches, much to the delight of the spectators, who began hooting and hollering with abandon, egging him on.

"Well, he's psyched up and ready to go," Sakura deadpanned, one eyebrow twitching.

"I can't blame him," Gohan answered with a small chuckle. "I'm kind of looking forward to this myself." Before the kunoichi could answer, he was over the rail and next to Genma, limbering up somewhat before the fight began.

The proctor stepped up. "Ready?" he asked. Gohan stood from the leg stretch he'd been doing and Lee managed to stand still for more than a few seconds. Both nodded seriously, though the anticipation in both parties was obvious. "Then begin!"

The jounin moved back fast, expecting an opening that was even more furious than what'd happened with Neji and Naruto, but it didn't happen. Instead, Lee dropped to the ground with a huff.

"What's he doing?" Sakura asked no one. No one had an answer.

"Please wait one moment, Gohan-kun," Lee told his opponent as he pulled up one of his orange legwarmers. Hidden beneath the gaudy cloth, wrapping around his entire lower leg, was a band of weights. "I must remove these so I may fight you to my fullest!" Within seconds, that one was off and the process had been repeated with the other leg. The taijutsu user threw a few happy kicks and a few audience members leaned forwards, almost drooling, as they realized that Lee's kicks were suddenly many times faster.

"Well," Gohan said, impressed, "looks like you haven't been wasting your time this last month."

"Oh no, Gohan-kun!" Lee answered energetically. "I have increased my training regimen by several times!"

"Sounds intense."

"Indeed! But I never quit and now I am positive that you will be hard pressed to stop me!" The energetic genin held out his hand. "May the best martial artist win, Gohan-kun!"

Gohan grinned as he grasped the other boy's hand. The moment they released, they vanished.

The crowd went dead quiet as they beheld the speed of two taijutsu masters. Gohan and Lee were bouncing all over the arena at speeds that were almost unheard of and totally invisible to all but the strongest of shinobi.

"Unreal. First Naruto and his crazy chakra, now Gohan and Lee and their inhuman speed," Shikamaru said as he reassessed his first impression of Lee. The genius' first impression of the bushy browed genin had been lacking to say the least. At least part of that was personal bias on Shika's part, since the spandex-clad genin had beaten Chouji in the prelims, but after seeing Lee go toe to toe with Gohan and actually hold his own, for the time being at least, it was clear that Chouji didn't need to be ashamed of his loss.

The lazy shinobi looked over at Sakura. "Sakura just what did Gohan…" He stopped cold. Sakura wasn't even paying attention to him. She was watching the floor of the arena below, which to Shika looked to be empty except for the brief puffs where the fighting boy's feet pushed off and the plumes that rose up as they collided. But Sakura was clearly different. Her emerald eyes were shifting back and forth, up and down so fast that they were almost a blur and every now and again she would turn her head a slight fraction as she followed the action down below. "Sakura?"

No response.

"Sakura!"

She snapped out of whatever trance she was in. "Huh? What's up Shika?"

"Can you see what's going on down there?"

The kunoichi shrugged. "Sort of. Most of it's just a bunch of blurs, but I can catch a flash of a face or fist every now and again."

"Really?" Privately, Shika reevaluated Sakura as well. He knew he'd been training with Gohan, but up till now he'd been unsure of the results. It was apparent to him now that Sakura, who was once considered the weakest of the Rookie Nine. Now it seemed that she'd given that spot to him. No, make that Ino. At least Shika had Kage Mane to fall back on. Ino's Shintenshin was slow and needed his help to work. Sakura would be a force to be reckoned with in the future. "I can't see anything."

"Well that's because you're using your eyes," Sakura told him, going back to watching the match. "Well, using them too much anyway. If you want to see what's going on, then relax and let your instincts and other senses take over." She said that with a tone that told Shika that she'd been told that a lot during the last month or so she'd been training with the saiyan boy.

Despite his dislike at being told what to do, and someone he'd considered a troublesome girl at the very least, Shika found himself relaxing. Slowly, black flashes lanced across his vision. At first they were so fast and faint that Shika thought they were illusions, but soon enough, he was seeing blurs bouncing all over the place.

Gohan and Lee reappeared in a swirl of dust and a clap of thunder, Lee's shin slamming into Gohan's as both tried to hit the other with a high kick that would've connected to the other's head if they both hadn't tried the same move at the same time, the shockwave from the colliding blows slamming into the walls and fracturing them.

The two bounced apart and got ready for another round of attacks.

"You're a fantastic martial artist, Gohan-kun," Lee said with a grin and a slight puff. "I am enjoying myself very much."

"Thanks Lee. You're fantastic too. I haven't had this much fun since I sparred with my dad," Gohan replied. It was as high a compliment as he could give. Gohan despised fights to the death and tried to avoid them to the best of his ability, but if it was training with his dad or Piccolo, then he didn't mind.

The two sprinted at each other, Gohan skimming over the ground, then slammed together and their legs and arms became invisible as the two didn't sprint all over the place, but went into a stationary battle.

"Unbelievable," Ino muttered to Chouji in the stands as the two remaining members of the InoShikaCho formation watching with gaping mouths and wide eyes. It was so shocking to see that quiet kid down had been hiding so much strength. Chouji had even totally forgotten about the chips in his hands. "Those two are good!"

"I know."

"What's even more impressive," said a new voice, "is that those two are trading full power and full speed blows at such a close range and not even once getting hit."

The two genin spun.

"Kakashi-san! Sasuke-kun!" Ino called. Both Sharingan users were standing on the steps above and behind them. "When did you two get here?"

"Just now," Kakashi remarked, eye curling as Sasuke watched the match below with stunned jealousy. He glanced at Kakashi, saw the jounin's attention wasn't on him, and blinked hard, his eyes flashing crimson when they opened again. Instantly, the movements below were no longer blurs, but were crystal clear and sharp, as if he was watching a plasma HDTV.

'Damn,' he cursed inwardly. 'Even after all that special training, it looks like I'm still behind both of those two! How did they get so damn strong!'

Gohan leaned right as Lee's fist flashed past his head, then his arm came up, pushing the offending limb up and away. His foot blasted in towards Lee's now exposed ribs, but the genin's arm came down, slamming into Gohan's upraised arm, forcing down enough for him to put his hand on Gohan's shoulder then Lee wasn't in front of Gohan anymore, but above him as the taijutsu master did a one-armed handstand, both feet pointing straight up in the air, then the hand fisted in Gohan's gi as Lee kicked his feet over behind Gohan's back, the momentum yanking the saiyan off balance as Lee stood up. The lanky genin was actually a few inches taller than Gohan and was able to tug the other warrior off his feet and hurl him towards the wall.

An instant before he hit, Gohan threw his arms wide, stopping in a pulse of power, then launched into the air like a rocket until he was above even the Kage's box. His arms came up, clasped in front of his forehead and a ball of yellow ki formed in his palms.

"Not good!" Lee shouted as he looked around for a way out. This was like that match earlier when the two had first met. Immidiatly after, Lee had been terrified of that attack, but soon realized that Gohan was an outstanding opponent and a worthy challenge. In truth, Lee had been training ever since that time to fight Gohan and not just the last month. The reason he'd trained his green ass off in the preceding month was that he'd expected the rematch to be farther away than it was.

"Masenko!

The pillar of yellow light blasted earthward, making a vicious wind rip through the stands even before it hit the ground. Lee's eyes intensified as he sprinted straight at the wall that defined the boundary of the arena.

There was a flash of light then an explosion and the entire arena floor was enveloped in smoke. High above, Gohan looked around for Lee's form. That blast wasn't enough to kill Lee. It was more than enough for many people here, but not the heavy-browed shinobi. The spandex-clad fighter was also very adept at concealing his presence. Gohan had not the faintest idea of where to look for him.

There was a puff in the smoke column below and Lee burst from it, running straight up the arena wall, fire in his dark eyes.

"What!?" Gohan shouted, right before the other martial artist launched himself into the air as he hit the top of the barrier that separated the stadium from the village.

"Now I have you, Gohan-kun!" Lee shouted as he reached Gohan's level and lashed out with one leg. Gohan was so stunned at seeing someone who couldn't fly reach him that he didn't even attempt to block it, taking the full blow right in the face. He flew back, but not before grabbing Lee by his ankle and pulling him in.

"Not yet!"

Lee saw white as Gohan's fist crashed into his face, just missing his nose, slamming home just to the left. On instinct his free foot came up and returned the favor, coming up then back down, the genin's heel slamming down on the saiyan's shoulder, directly over the collarbone. Gohan squeezed harder on his opponent's still captured leg the spun and hurled Lee away as he slammed to earth.

The pair exhaled sharply as they hit, then bounced right back up.

"Oh man, how are they still moving after that?" Chouji asked as the two vanished again and began slamming together all over the arena. "I mean, they hit the ground at full force!"

"Kiai," Kakashi answered.

"Huh?"

"It's a method that most martial artists use to help them absorb an impact. Gohan sacrificed a good landing for a chance to injure Lee because he knew that it might be the only chance he gets for a while. Think of it like a game of chess. There are times you have to sacrifice another piece to get the one you're aiming for."

Gai, who'd been watching from another angle but spotted Kakashi and decided to pester his 'Eternal Rival' came over just in time to catch Kakashi's explanation. "There are also ways of falling in the right manner that allow for the falling shinobi to spread, absorb, and deflect his impact's force so that he doesn't get too seriously hurt."

"So where does the kiai come in?" Ino prodded.

"It's the method by which the pressure in the lungs is kept equal. By exhaling sharply, the lungs still retain air and the martial artist can breath immidiatly instead of waiting for his or her lungs to refill with air, which would cost precious seconds, especially in combat like this."

"I'm surprised though," Sasuke broke in, keeping his Sharingan on the battle below, memorizing every detail of Gohan and Lee's taijutsu so he would be able to adapt and use it later. Already it seemed like he'd picked up a few techniques that would be very useful. "Lee's keeping up with Gohan so easily."

Gai laughed heartily. "That's because Lee-kun has trained harder than anyone and has the Springtime of Youth on his side!"

"I've never seen anyone match Gohan," Sasuke murmured, ignoring Gai's outburst. "No one except for Orochimaru."

He missed Gai and Kakashi exchange glances behind his back.

"Huh? What're you talking about, Sasuke-kun?" Ino asked. "Gohan's way ahead of Lee, no matter how powerful Lee is."

"No. Gohan's going all out right now," Sasuke snapped at the other blond. "Trust me, I know."

"Actually," Kakashi interjected, "Ino's right. Gohan is way ahead of Lee."

"Impossible, Kakashi. Even with that bizarre ability, my Lee will catch him no problem."

"Ability?" Sasuke asked. "What's he mean, Kakashi?"

The jounin sighed. "Gohan's not even taking this fight as seriously as he could be."

Sasuke's eyes got dark and dangerous. "What do you mean?" he ground out.

Kakashi's eye flicked over the stadium floor as the blurs of movement below stopped, words were exchanged, and Gohan took up a familiar stance. "Watch. I think you're about to find out."

Gohan and Lee grunted as they glanced off each other again, their fists just missing the other's face. They skidded apart and grinned at each other.

"Gohan-kun, I believe it is time that we stop this little warm up and actually get serious," Lee proposed.

The other nodded. "Yeah, I think I'm limber enough now." Gohan stood up straight and began drawing at the power that lay dormant deep inside of him. Winds blasted out from under him, making his hair whip all over the place as it flashed back and forth from gold and black. He blinked and when his eyes opened again, they were vivid emerald instead of their usual dark onyx color. The teen's muscles bulged outward as they two were energized by the sudden influx of power. A gold ring began spinning around his feet, a faint chirping filling the air right before there was a flash, a noise like something breaking and the aura flared into full life, outlining the Z fighter with a tongue of gold flame.

Last was a sharp hissing noise then a shockwave passed over the entire arena, and Gohan relaxed as his golden aura flashed out of existence, his transformation complete.

"Oh boy," Sakura muttered, "here we go again!"

"Kakashi?" Sasuke asked, his voice trembling as he tried to keep the anger and jealousy from it. Just how did that quiet bastard have this much raw power!? It was greater than Orochimaru's! Of course, Sasuke would be even more stunned if he realized that Orochimaru was even more powerful than Gohan and that the Super Saiyan in the ring below had actually forced the Snake Sannin to use a little more than half while Sasuke himself hadn't even managed to force out even a quarter. "What the hell is that!?"

Kakashi sounded almost smug as he replied. In fact, he had a good amount of ryo riding on this battle. He'd bet that Gohan would win the battle between him and Lee. Gai, in keeping with his drive to beat his 'Eternal Rival' also had that amount riding on Lee. And judging by the way Gai was nibbling at his thumbnail, Kakashi was willing to bet the other taijutsu master had totally forgotten about Gohan's transformation and the power it unleashed. "That, Sasuke, is Gohan at his very best. He's decided to go all out against Rock Lee and transform into what he calls a Super Saiyan."

"Super…Saiyan?" Sasuke repeated, rolling the unfamiliar word around in his mouth.

"Yes. And Lee no longer has a chance of winning."

Laughter from Gai cut him off. "That's where you're wrong, my Eternal Rival!" the spandex-clad jounin shouted, bringing most of the attention from the surrounding crowd onto him. "Lee's trained very hard for this very moment." He took a deep breath. "GO LEE! SHOW HIM THE POWER OF YOUTH!"

"YES SIR!" Lee shouted back, ecstatic. He brought his hands up to his face and looked Gohan dead in the eye, who, for some reason, didn't look as dangerous as he had during the prelims. Without that deadly glint in his eye, Gohan simply looked as if he'd decided to change his hair color and put in colored contacts. Lee made a hand seal. "Gohan-kun," he said, "now is the time to test the limits of my training! Prepare yourself!"

"Kaimon…KAI!"

Well, that's it for now. Hope this chapter serves as a suitable prelude to the next chapter and please accept my apologies for the lateness. Writer's block with one of my other fics and school have kept me from writing as much as I wanted. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed it!

Glossary

Kaiten (Heavenly Spin): Neji spins around really fast and expells chakra from every point on his body. The end result is a nigh-impenatrable shield of chakra that will block almost anything.

Rokujuuyonshou (Sixty four Palms): A series of sixty four strikes all along the enemy's chakra network. The result is total shut down of the network, which means that the victim is unable to use chakra, and when you're a shinobi, that's a bad thing.

Kaimon: The first of the eight chakra gates. Opening this one removes all the body's limits regarding the use of muscular strength and allows for the Primary Lotus to be used. There are eight gates and while opening all eight means that the user is practically invincible, it also totally drains the body's stamina and chakra, resulting in death.