One could feel the electricity in the air at the arena. Nearly half the village populous was in attendance; not to mention all the feudal lords and their entourages from various countries. The assembled fighters, all but the Uchiha were standing by in the arena floor. Naruto glared at Neji, who seemed to not notice. Tenten hid her nervousness admirably, but was disappointed at Neji's lack of reaction to her new outfit. She thought the leather and cloth armor showed off her body nicely, without giving up either protection or modesty. And it was her favorite color too.

'Maybe the pressure's getting to him. Or that he doesn't like pink'

Choosing to stray from that possibly depressing line of thought Tenten glanced over at her opponent. Nothing seemed different from the last time she saw Shikamaru. He still looked like he was about to fall asleep. Resisting the urge to heave a sigh at her fellow Konoha nin's lack of enthusiasm Tenten turned to survey the crowd.

'Damn she's hot'

Even if it was just his peripheral vision, it was more than enough. Tenten's new battle gear was just shy of skin tight, showing off all her curves. It was sleeveless but the pants went all the way to her shoes. The forearms were covered by bracers with geometric designs on them.

'I wonder if she has her ikusa panti on too… stop it man! Focus! You have other things to do today. Concentrate on the enemy before you'

The murmur of the crowd ebbed at the Hokage announced the tournament officially started. The new proctor, Genma, called for the first two competitors to stay and the others to go to the waiting area.

"You ready to get creamed?"

"You are not strong enough to defeat me; your fate is to lose here"

"I'm gonna take that 'fate' and shove it up your frigid ass! Kage bunshin no jutsu!"

Fifty Narutos sprang at the genius. Neji's skill in his clan's taijutsu allowed him to dispel a third of them before flipping back, outside the mass of clones. Naruto didn't miss a beat and sent his clones charging right behind a volley of shuriken. Neji dodged the projectiles and dashed past the horde of orange clad shinobi. He then took out his own shuriken and threw them into the Narutos' rear flank. Another batch of Narutos poofed out of existence. The remaining clones growled at Neji and drew kunai.

"That's not gonna work forever"

"I should say the same to you"

"Damn you!"

Naruto doubled the amount of clones that were still around and all came at Neji, swarming him from all sides with their kunai. Neji waited until the last possible second.

"Hakke shou: Kaiten!"

A sphere of chakra surrounded the young Hyuga. Nearly all the clones were dispelled instantly; those that weren't did so when they hit the ground. The real Naruto recovered and stood facing Neji.

"What the hell was that?"

"The Hyuga clan's ultimate defense. Face it; you are nothing more than a failure. You're just wasting your time here"

"Urusai!"

Naruto again cranked out dozens of clones. They began circling Neji in multiple directions, constantly pelting him with projectiles.

'Damn. It isn't one single wave so my Kaiten is useless! I can't keep blocking indefinitely!'

Soon small cuts appeared in the genius nin's clothing. Shallow cuts to his limbs followed. The many Narutos smirked. They were wearing Neji down.

ggggggg

In the stands the crowd was nearly silent. The battle between the Hyuga genius and the nobody dobe had them all enthralled. Lee and Sakura could hardly believe their eyes.

"Amazing… Naruto was never this strong before"

"His training for last month must have been incredibly intense. How I envy that"

Sakura rolled her eyes. Her boyfriend liked training a little too much at times. She blushed.

'Did I just think of him as my boyfriend? But we haven't gone out on a date or anything… but maybe after the exam is over… since he is cleared for light training…'

Lee was distracted by the very bright red encompassing Sakura's face.

"Are you alright, Sakura-chan?"

"What? Yes! Now pay attention to the match!" 'You dummy! You're just as bad as Naruto!'

Elsewhere Hinata was riveted to the fight. In fact Kiba was starting to worry; she had yet to blink since the start.

"Yo, Hinata. You okay over there?"

"Naruto-kun…"

"Ah… I'll take that as a yes"

"He's using it; that strategy. He could win. Naruto-kun could win!"

Kiba wasn't sure, but he might have seen stars and hearts sparkle around his teammate's head. Choosing to ignore that he questioned Hinata.

"What strategy? Hey come on, throw me a bone here"

"She means the most effective strategy for fighting those of the Hyuga clan"

"Huh? Kurenai-sensei?"

"It's true for all close quarter opponents. Stay out of reach and attack from a distance"

"Oh. But what are you doing here? I thought you were sitting with Asuma-sensei"

"I was but then I saw something that requires my attention"

Kiba sat confused as his sensei closely examined Hinata. Back in the fight one of Naruto's kunai scored a direct hit on Neji's arm. Hinata cheered loudly as a sparkly background erupted from her.

"What the hell was that?"

"Emotion-only genjutsu. Just like Gai's sunsets"

"You mean she can do that?"

"Yes. Emotion-only genjutsu is a perfect illusion; so much so that is might as well be reality. The trouble is no one can control what it will be. But the trigger is an extreme emotion"

"Uh, I'm still kinda lost here, Kurenai-sensei"

Resisting the urge to smack some sense into her pupil Kurenai continued her explanation.

"When Gai feels greater than average youthfulness, those weird sunsets of his pop up. As for Hinata-"

Another burst of sparkliness interrupted the genjutsu mistress. Naruto had got another good hit in. Kiba connected the dots.

"When she's really happy she gets an über sparkly background?"

"Yes"

"WTF?!"

Leaving Kiba to his confusion Kurenai quickly took herself back to her seat.

"I need to get laid"

Now it was Asuma's turn to be confused. His girlfriend was sitting there holding her head as though she had a headache… but that's exactly why she didn't want to last time.

'Talk about mixed signals. How am I supposed to deal with this?'

gggggggggg

Ikusa panti –battle panty; popular term for the undergarment worn when going out on a first date or when confessing their feelings to the person they like. Typically it is the sexiest pair a girl has.

Cultural note: 'battle gear' refers to not only what is worn in battle but also to clothing worn for the aforementioned confession or first date

Emotion-only genjutsu – I just made that up. But it does make sense when you think about it. And it's funny too