Legend of the Iron Monkey

Naruto Fanfiction

Disclaimer: I don't own a single shred of Naruto.

Chapter 11: Phase Two and a Half, Preliminaries.

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Lee strapped the laces on his boots together, nice and tight. As he readied his tools and accessories, he watched as Tenten and Neji did the same. Today is the day that they had been waiting for ever since arriving at the tower, in the center of the forest of death. All of the genin squads that passed the second portion of the exam was to meet in the main hall, where the Hokage would say a few congratulatory words to them, then the preliminary rounds would start. It was very fortunate that Naruto's squad arrived 10 hours before this event was scheduled to occur. Having arrived just a little bit earlier, they received the proper amount of food and rest. Now that all of the genin squads were ready, they would be called, one squad at a time. There was a good 15 minutes left until the Anko would begin calling in the squads. As Lee secured his pouches and sheath on his cloth wrapping, he examined himself on a mirror. He managed to fix his upper garment, but made a few major modifications to his outfit. Of course, it needed more supplies than he currently had. Fortunately, the medic shinobi squads had some spare materials that they were able to let him use. Lee used those as well as his and Tenten's spare materials to create something new for himself.

He modified his old shinobi outfit. The mask was now colored white, but didn't receive any other changes. It was actually from shoulders going down that had received the most changes. Instead of black, most of the outfit was white He removed the hard leather upper garment and replaced it with a soft leather top for better dexterity bonuses, and left the sleeves to be the same. Under his upper garments, however, were different. Instead of a regular undershirt, it was now replaced with an extremely thin layer of alloy that could be worn like a cloth type long sleeve. Because of the alloy being so thin, it wasn't a hindrance to movement and provided a decent amount of protection. It was designed to match the appearance of mesh type clothing, but the holes were much smaller. On the front and back areas of the torso, but still underneath the upper leather garments, was a one and a half inch thick sheet of metal that was worn as an apex vest. It was made of tougher stuff than the alloy sleeves and undershirt, but was still quite light in weight. The alloy under shirt was colored gray, while the metallic vest was colored white to match the upper leather garment.

On his shoulders were thin layers of silver colored alloy to match the garment. It was light, but provided a good amount of protection. As for his feet, he abandoned the use of boots, realizing that they made far too much noise wherever he walked. Lee sliced the shin area out of his boots and sewed it to the shin area of his pants to provide some protection for his legs. For the feet, he used the bottoms of his old boots and the laces. He tied the laces to the shin protector, so his flip-flops wouldn't come off. His socks were colored in white, just to match his entire outfit. Lastly, he now donned arm guards, like he designed for Tenten's outfit. The arm guards were made from his hard leather armor, colored black, and were placed at the exact place where Tenten's guards are, starting from the wrist, and ending just below the elbow region. When the outfit was finished, he handed it to Neji, who accepted it anxiously. He and Neji had similar body types and so, the shinobi outfit that he once owned, fit Neji almost perfectly. Lee crafted his new attire in three days.

The finished product was something that looked very sharp on Lee, especially with his new hairstyle. His hair was still spiky, but was no longer spiked up. It was now spiked down. His bangs covered his right eye, but wasn't enough to hinder his vision. His left eye had no hair to block his vision. Lastly, his hair had blond colored dyes on some of the strands. His new outfit forced him to wear a bodysuit that was made to feel like a second skin. His upper garment was a sleeveless vest that had to be zipped up to be held properly. His trowsers were perfectly fit on his legs and were a bit loose so he could grow into them. For his shin and feet, a pair of hard leather, army boots, were in place and secured tightly. His hands harbored black gloves that were made of the same material as his entire outfit. Over that, he wore a rather large coat that reached all the way down to just a couple of inches below his knee cap. There was a zipper on the coat that started from the thigh area, and went all the way up to the upper part of the chest. A thick string was on both sides of the zipper, used for tightening the hood that rested just below Lee's neck. His entire outfit was color black and made of soft leather. The sheath for his retractable staff and shuriken pouch was hung on his leather belt, behind him but under the coat. The coat was thin, so as to allow for maximum freedom in movement.

Neji claims to have figured out a technique that would rend Tenten and Lee's great speed to be useless, but didn't say anything else after that. The training that he placed himself into, these past few days, were tremendous. He trained until he dropped and when he awoke in the training room, he continued to practice his jutsus. He wasn't the only one training though. The other squads made use of the training facilities that were provided to them, even the shinobi squad of the sand. The only one who didn't do much training at all, was Gaara. All he did was send a death glare at Lee. At first, it sort of ticked the Iron Monkey, but shrugged the thought away after a little while. If they were to fight in the preliminaries, he didn't care what kind of power Gaara had inside him, because he had his own ace card. Besides Gaara, everyone had gotten stronger in the past few days and even developed new jutsus to be used against their opponents in the preliminary rounds. The only ones who weren't able to grasp at this opportunity were Naruto's and Kabuto's squad. Kabuto's squad actually arrived at the same time that Naruto's did. Some said they helped each other, but no one anything against that. This time though, it's all individual skill. Lee approached his teammates.

"Whatever happens today, we're still a team," he said, smiling at them all. Neji and Tenten nodded. A second later, a knock was heard on their door. They turned to face it as it opened and revealed Gai. Gai formed an "o" shape with his lips as he nodded approvingly at the new outfits of his students. He recognized Neji's outfit as Lee's old one, but with some modifications, as well as color changes. Tenten's looked the same, as she didn't want anything changed. Lee's looked really sharp and the black color with the soft leather material just added to the overall appearance of the coat and outfit. His students looked so prepared for the preliminaries and the other genin would be jealous when they see them in their new attires. Gai just hoped that his pupils were ready for the challenges ahead. They looked dashing, all of them, but looks won't win them the title of chunin. However, they were already well honed in the skills department, so there's not much to worry about.

"It's time to get going, you three," he said. Lee walked first, Tenten to his left, and Neji to his right. Gai smiled at their outfits again, learning only just hours ago that Lee was an expert in sewing. Perhaps he could ask his pupil to sew a few of his clothes that actually need it. But that would come later, after the preliminary rounds. As team Gai walked into the main hall, the other genin squads that were already there, had their eyes on them. Some of them were talking to themselves, commenting on the new attires of their colleagues.

"Nice coat, Lee. And I like your hair too," said Naruto. Lee nodded to him and smiled. When his squad was properly lined up beside the other squads, Gai joined the other jonin teachers in front of the genin, with the Hokage before them all. Sarutobi cleared his throat and looked to all of them.

"First and foremost, I would like to congratulate you all for passing the second phase of the chunin exam. You're all that much closer to achieving the next rank in the shinobi hierarchy, the rank of chunin. I'm sure you all have been informed by the chunin or jonin, assigned to each pair of the earth and heaven scrolls, that a preliminary round will be held today since there are far too many of you," he said. He was about to continue when a puff of smoke appeared before him and those of the eyes of the genin squads. When the smoke faded, they saw a rather sick looking man with bags under his eyes, probably through lack of a proper rest. The man who was kneeling when he arrived, stood to face the old man.

"Lord Hokage, please, if I may. I, Hayate Geko, would like to volunteer in explaining to the genin squads of what is going on," he said. The Hokage nodded as the sick looking jonin turned to face the young students. "As you all know, a preliminary match will be held right now because we didn't expect that there would be so many of you who are still around. Very important people will be coming from every corner of this continent, especially other village leaders and land lords. We don't wish to waste their time and so, we will only give them the best of the best. The preliminary rounds will be a match between two fighters. One of you will be declared the winner if you meet at least one of the following conditions. The conditions are the incapacitation of your opponent, having them surrender, or killing them."

Some of the genin shrieked at the idea of killing.

"As the test proctor for this exam, I am allowed certain rights to stop matches if I deem it to be pointless or if one of the fighters are no longer able to fight. This is to save as many lives as possible, but it isn't guaranteed," he said as he held out sheets of records in front of him. The records showed the paper work of every candidate who had passed the second part of the chunin exam and stood in front of him. "And, if for any reason at all anyone here is uncomfortable with starting immediately, or if you feel that you aren't in top physical shape, you may choose to drop out now. Frankly, the more drop outs we get, the less fights we have to go through."

"If those are the conditions of defeat, then I don't think I can handle it," said Kabuto. Lee looked to Orochimaru's henchman. As Hayate allowed him to walk away, he made a bit of small talk twith Sasuke and Naruto, before leaving. "I'm sorry Naruto, but my body is just too battered and beaten down. If I had a bit of rest like you and your squad, I could probably get through with this ordeal but I didn't get any rest. I know I should expect any, but I'm at my limit. You understand, right?"

"No Kabuto, I don't understand!" Naruto exclaimed. "This is your seventh time and you're backing out again? I know it may put pressure in your body but you can't give up just because they pulled a fast one. I had rest, sure, but even if I didn't, I'd still go through with it. You can't give up again, Kabuto..."

"I apologize... but I think I'm going to drop on the first match and that would be more embarrassing for me. I think pulling out right now would be the best idea. Don't worry though, we'll meet again. And maybe then you can tell me how your first match went. I'd so love to hear about it," he said as he nodded and turned away. Everyone turned to him and started having their own comments about Kabuto. Lee narrowed his eyes. You'd think that someone would want to pass, more than anything, on their seventh try. If he failed to do something the first time and got a second chance at it, he'd definitely do whatever it took to pass. So what if he would fight without rest? Before Lee received his powers, he trained until he dropped consciousness. When he woke up in the middle of the training field, he would train some more. Why can't Kabuto do that? Once he was completely out of sight, Hayate coughed a bit more and got the attention of the genin squads.

"If there are any others, please say so right now. You have one minute to think about it," he said, looking around at the genin. Although at front, Lee was able to hear a bit of everything that was going around in the crowd of genin. He also heard something interesting. Sasuke and Sakura were fighting and by the sound of it, it was about the cursed mark on Sasuke's shoulder. Lee wondered if that was going to be a problem in this exam. It was a problem, a few days ago when he arrived to stop him, so who's to say it won't come up again now? The taijutsu specialist didn't want the Uchiha to drop out like Kabuto did, but perhaps it would be best if he did. Anko was in extreme pain when the cursed mark was burning through her skin. Maybe Sasuke is feeling that, too right now. Well, if it became too much of a hassle, he would have to step in and contain him once more. But that would stop the match and end in Sasuke's defeat, something that Lee didn't want to be responsible for. After another minute of waiting, Hayate continued.

"Alright, if there is no one else, we'll start immediately," he said as he turned to Anko and nodded. Anko held the head phone on her ear and muttered something that was incoherent to everyone else. A second later, something started moving from the top left corner of the room. It looked like a giant television screen. "What you see over there is the machine that will decide your matches. The choices made are 100 percent random. That way no one complains about who they are pitted against. But you're all genin who have passed through the forest of death, you shouldn't be afraid of anything."

With that said, names appeared on the television screen above and started displaying other names to replace the first, at incredibly fast paces. Tenten wondered who she was going to have to fight against. The only one here, besides Lee, that she sort of feared was that redheaded guy with the large gourd on his back. He looked really creepy and creepy wasn't her style. But if she were placed against him, she hoped that she wouldn't put Lee's training to shame. Everyone else looked fairly normal, but who was she to talk normal? She is able to heal passively without requiring any amount of chakra or any hand signs. If anything, she and Lee were one of the farthest from normal in this motley crew. But since Kabuto's squad had just arrived a little while ago, she wasn't sure of their abilities either. Perhaps they aren't as normal as she was thinking of everyone else, but as for that, only time will tell. When the machine stopped, Lee narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to the direction of the names of one of the combatants.

Yoroi vs. Sasuke.

"Will the two fighters step forward then?" asked Hayate. Sasuke and one of Kabuto's teammates, with odd black eyes, stepped forward, in front of everyone else. "Everyone besides these two, since it's not your turn to fight, please move up those stands to your side and await your turn. If you want, you may stand next to your jonin teachers, but you're free so wait where you like."

The other genin nodded and proceeded above. Neji looked to Sasuke from the corner of his eye. He was there when Sasuke's cursed mark was activated. All that malefic power that the Uchiha's aura was resonating kind of felt like poison in the mask of darkness. It felt so evil and so full of the intent to kill. If Lee wasn't there to stop him, Sasuke may have had his way with how things looked down there. Sure Neji could have stopped him, but at the time, Neji had no idea what Sasuke's power was capable of. The cursed mark's aura didn't look like any color of chakra that he'd ever seen. It felt so monstrous, like it would explode at any minute. He sighed in exasperation, a bit glad that he wouldn't have to fight someone like that, but a bit disappointed too. He sort of wanted to test his new skills against someone with tremendous power and comes from a powerful line of shinobi, before he used it on someone else like Lee or Tenten. When all of the genin and other shinobi were on the stands, Hayate looked to the two competitors.

"If you are both ready, begin," he said, leaping back a few feet so as to not get in their way. Lee watched as the fight started. This isn't even a fair fight, Sasuke is fighting with one hand, a pair of legs that probably couldn't even sustain his weight, and a burning feeling of pain that just wouldn't go away. What if that purple aura was released again? Come to think of it, there were black comas all over his body when his curse mark was activated. Was that a sign for the first level? According to Anko, there are two levels of the cursed mark and the phase with black comas is probably the first state. Lee was pretty confident in being able to take the Uchiha down, even during the first phase of his cursed mark, but what if the second? What if that phase becomes too much for even him to handle. As he continued to think about it, Tenten held his arm as she watched the fight. Lee noticed and placed a protective arm around her shoulders.

"This isn't fair, Lee. Sasuke had rest but it's like he's handicapped with that cursed mark. I bet he can't even tap into his chakra to use jutsus for fear of making the pain worse. I don't know if I can watch this. He's just going to get himself killed," she said.

"I won't let that happen. If it looks like he can't take it anymore, I'll jump in there myself and stop the match. Sasuke will end in defeat, because someone helped him, but at least he won't lose his life. It's hard for me to watch this too, but the mere fact that Sasuke decided to stick around even despite his handicap, probably means that he has a good reason for it. I don't want to get in the way of his reason unless it starts to threaten his life," he said, assuring Tenten as he rubbed her arm with his gloved hand. Tenten nodded as they both continued to watch the fight. As it dragged on, it didn't even look like Sasuke could continue. He was getting beaten down from every corner and he couldn't even defend himself. Neji heard Tenten earlier, while she was speaking to Lee, and agreed. This is a mismatch! Neji understood that Sasuke actually has backbone, unlike Kabuto, but this is suicide. His opponent seems to be pretty skilled and seems to have the ability to drain the life out of someone. Those are two combinations that prove deadly for Sasuke's condition. Neji clenched his fists, his feet tapping in agitation. He had to stop this match before Sasuke is murdered in cold blood. Just as he was about to act, Lee placed his arm in the boy's way.

"I understand how you feel Neji, I feel it too, but we're not allowed to jump in unless it really is a hopeless cause for him. I can see that Sasuke's opponent has an odd power of sucking the strength out of Sasuke, but as long as his eyes are opened, I can't take the risk that he can still fight. If we go in there now while he can still fight, he will be disqualified. Just choosing to stay despite his handicap is enough of a reason for me to believe that he can win. But if he can't, I'll race you to him," said Lee. Neji narrowed his eyes slightly at his comrade but backed off, knowing that Lee had a point. Neji leaned on the wall behind him and continued to watch. A few minutes later, it actually looked like Sasuke was pulling a miracle. With a few swift motions, he was able to get his opponent in the air. Sasuke leaped just under him. Lee watched in anticipation as Sasuke's executed his technique. The way he jumped right under his opponent looked very familiar to the Iron Monkey. Just then, he realized it as Sasuke brought his opponent down.

"Can it be? That looked like the..." he trailed off, unable to continue. Where did Sasuke learn to do that? It was definitely crude and needs a bit of work, but it resembled something of his own technique, the Primary Lotus. There wasn't much speed used but he knew his own technique when he saw it. But where did Sasuke learn that from? As Hayate declared him winner, Kakashi jumped inside the arena and took him away. When the first match was completely over, the television above activated again, choosing the name for the second match. When the machine stopped, the new opposition showed itself. Lee sighed to himself, actually wanting a chance to get this over with. Quite frankly, he had no time for this. Orochimaru is still out there and must be stopped. While many of the leaf village's finest are in here, Orochimaru is out there doing who knows what. What's worst is, Kabuto is out there now too. Lee didn't know what kind of game Kabuto is playing at, but he didn't like it. What if Kabuto gave up on purpose in order to execute another of Orochimaru's plans. For now, he could think about it, as this match didn't include him.

Shino vs Zaku.

Both fighters leaped down from the stands. Lee had complete confidence in Shino, being a part of the creepy but powerful Aburame clan. From what Gai-sensei told him, the Aburame clan's kekkei genkai was the use of the bugs that are inside them, literally. Upon birth, the parents allow bugs to enter their baby's system, as well as letting them feed off of the infant's chakra and multiply as he grows. In exchange for allowing them too feed off of his chakra, the bug user can call on them for his bug related jutsus. The bugs are Shino's offense and defense. How it will help against a sound shinobi, however, is hard to tell. Lee looked over to Shino's opponent, Zaku of the sound village. He had a cast from being defeated by Sasuke, a few days ago, but that should have healed by now. Why the cast is still there, is another question. As the two fought, it looked like Zaku was getting the best of his leaf village opponent, but he was just playing right into Shino's game. Using his quick wit and strengths in strategy and his bug jutsus, Shino was actually able to clog Zaku's weapon, the wind cannons that come from his palms, rendering them useless.

But being the apparent idiot that this guy was, Zaku tried to force his wind out of his palm, creating a massive problem. Since the bugs had forced themselves inside his cannon holes, they sealed every possble place where the winds could exit. There were only a couple of other holes where the wind could come from, and those weren't holes that they should be exiting from. When Zaku gave it another shot at his wind cannon, his wind came from the few remaining holes that there were, and tore himself apart from the inside. There was some blood that came out from his body, but not enough to fool stupid people, but Lee wasn't stupid. He knew this match was over the moment it started. Shino was the calm and collective type, while Zaku seems to be the loud and violent type that runs into combat without a hint of strategy. He was bound to lose this one eventually. When Zaku 's unconscious body was taken away by medical shinobi squads, Lee walked back to the stands, to his squad. The television above started choosing the two fighters for the next match. Lee hoped it was him. Once his match was over, he would be able to track down Kabuto and find out Orochimaru's plans. He knew that Kabuto was merely acting the game of the spy, and wouldn't fool anyone. When the third match was decided, Lee rolled his eyes at his misfortune.

Sakura vs Ino.

This match is a complete waste of everyone's time. These two girls don't even take their duties, as kunoichi of the leaf village, seriously. All they do is fawn over Sasuke, who seriously isn't even that great, and complain about it. But still, their rivalry between each other has proved to have its uses. It's made them stronger than anyone really expected of them, more than what Lee expected in them. To be honest, Lee actually developed a bit of childish feelings for the pink haired kunoichi, but that was way back in the day, before his two and a half month disappearance from the leaf village. Sakura was no longer worth his time, nor was Ino, he had his own priorities now. He looked to Tenten, who was watching as the two leaf kunoichi brawled. She was his life now, and he would do whatever it takes to protect her. But as time passes, Orochimaru gets more of an opportunity to get what he wants and achieve his goal of destroying the leaf village. With the village gone, those who Lee wished to protect would no longer have a home, and his idling would be the cause of it.

The two girls below didn't seem to have any special techniques or strategies, but the victor of his fight will probably prove something to the both of them. Perhaps neither one cared less about being chunin, but only to see who comes through in this match. They've been rivals for a while, and it all started with Sasuke, but maybe that's what indeed made them stronger. Lee thought that they were just weak little fan girls, but he was now proven wrong. Where they lacked strength, speed, and technique mastery, they made up for in guts and determination. They've been fighting for a little over 10 minutes now, and neither seemed to want to give up. It wasn't really as much of a boring match as he thought it would be. He didn't really enjoy two girls beating on each other, but even as they were tired and their bodies would give in at any given moment, their will and resolve was very strong. The body can be as mighty as a titan, but if the will is weak, the body is weak too. They may have weak bodies and low endurance, but that can improve with time. As long as their will stands strong, maybe there is hope for them as kunoichi. Eventually, they knocked each other out and the match ended in a draw. Kakashi and Asuma picked up their students and smiled at each other. When that was over, it was time for the fourth match. As the machine finished choosing the next two fighters, Lee couldn't take it anymore.

"Oh man... when do I get my turn?" he asked himself.

"Hey, I want my turn too," said Neji, not turning to face Lee. "Don't start thinking that you're the only one here who's bored out of his mind. So far, it's only the weaklings, minus two exceptions, who have gone. Sasuke Uchiha and Shino Aburame are one of the ones that I wanted to fight in these preliminary rounds but since they won, perhaps I can meet them in combat on the third exam."

"That is if you pass this portion," Lee mocked.

"Are you questioning my skill, Lee?" he asked, agitation rising.

"Nope, just your ego," Lee replied, smirking at his companion. Neji remained silent as he read the two names who were chosen. The Hyuuga's eyebrows twitched in annoyance. Those two weren't even worth his time, but he was forced to watch them.

Naruto vs Choji.

Tenten looked to her comrade, Neji. She then glanced to Lee, who seemed to be a little focused on the fight. Honestly speaking, Tenten was quite bored too. She didn't even care if she fought that Gaara guy of the sand village. She just wanted to do something. Waiting around like this, doing nothing, wasn't her style at all. The matches so far weren't even all that exciting. She knew that Sasuke would defeat Yoroi, it was just a matter of time. Zaku is no match for Shino, and the whole charade with Ino against Sakura was just nonsense. Maybe there are some people who placed their own choices for the machine to display. This can't be considered random because of how boring the matches are turning out to be. Then again, there are still six more matches after this one. Maybe the next one will prove to have something more entertaining for her to watch.

Lee sighed to himself as the match between Naruto and Choji ended. That wasn't even much of a match at all, what was that machine doing? Choji is no match for someone like Naruto, for sure. Even with everyone's expectation of Naruto being weak, he showed a bit of his colors here. Even Neji thought that this match would be a waste of his time, but Naruto showed him. It didn't mean that they were in the same rank though, that was adamant in the Hyuuga's mind, but even he had to admit that Naruto kind of surprised him with his match against someone like Choji. Perhaps everyone expected Choji to lose, but he put up a pretty good fight as well. His expansion jutsus are truly something to be useful for. He caught Naruto with his large hands a couple of times, nearly suffocating him in the process, but Naruto is known for being the most unpredictable shinobi in the leaf village. He always has something up his sleeve that will surprise anyone who isn't aware of his reputation. Naruto didn't beat Choji down too badly, so he was allowed to walk back to his squad. Naruto was as well, and was congratulated by Sakura and Asuma's squad, for his victory. When the machine activated once more, Lee hoped that the next match would be something worth his time. When the machine stopped, Lee's eyes widened. This would indeed be interesting, but why these two at these conditions?

Neji vs Hinata.

Neji glanced to his side, looking to Hinata. She wasn't really the one who he wanted to fight, as he already knew the results of this match, but perhaps it would prove a point to the main branch that the side branch of the family isn't that much apart in skill as compared to the main branch members. Hinata looked very nervous, so nervous that Tenten actually felt bad for the girl. This is another mismatch, just like the one with Sasuke and that other guy from Kabuto's squad. There's no way Hinata can win against Neji, it's just impossible. Their gap with skill and power was just too great. Gai narrowed his eyes at Neji, hoping that he wouldn't take this match personally. Just about everyone knew the rivalry between the main house and the side branch of the Hyuuga family. Now there is a match that include the eldest child of the main branch and the eldest child of the side branch. This match can definitely go the wrong way, if Neji doesn't control himself. He is usually the calm type, but not for anything that regarded his family. As Hinata made her way down to the center, Neji was about to do the same, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Neji, just so you know, if this match goes too far out of hand, I will stop you myself," said Lee. Neji's eyes narrowed, but didn't turn to to face his squad member. "You know what I mean, I know you do. If things get to that point and you try to take her life, you'll have me to deal with. You're in my squad, and I do care about you, but we never take personal reasons into any battle. Gai-sensei taught us that and I know that you're still aware of it all."

"Get off of me, Lee," said Neji, shaking Lee's hand off of his shoulder. "I will defeat her in this match and will give it my most honest shot at trying to not take her life. When the time comes where I see that she is unable to fight, I will warn her to back down. If she doesn't take that warning to heart, I will not be responsible for anything that happens to her."

"Yes you will," said Tenten. "I don't want to get in the way of anything that has to do with your family, but Hinata is my friend too. If I even see killing intent in your eyes, I don't care if Hinata can still fight, I'll jump in there and I will be your opponent. Your family issues are your own, but if you are going to take a life, you'd better be prepared for the consequences."

"Why should I? The test proctor himself implied that killing is allowed in these preliminary rounds," said Neji, trying to twist the subject.

"You know what he meant, Neji. If you let your family history get into this, I will stop you as well. I'm very confident that Lee and Tenten alone will be able to get in your way, but look around you. Asuma, Kurenai, and Kakashi, are all looking at you too. They know of the history within the two quarreling branches of the Hyuuga family. Just as Tenten said, if they see killing intent in your eyes, they will stop you before you take another step," said Gai, speaking in a very serious manner. Neji glared at them all. Why were they trying to take his victory from him? Perhaps Hinata wasn't the one he wanted to fight in these preliminary rounds, but this is the opportunity of a lifetime. If he could only take her life here, the main branch of the Hyuuga family will finally accept the strength of the side branch. Neji scoffed and jumped into the arena, to face Hinata.

"Let's get one thing straight, Hinata. You know that I will defeat you in this match. I will give you two warnings to back down and that's it. The first warning is right now. If you choose to drop out of this match, I won't think any less of you than I already do. You and I both know the outcome of this match, I'm just trying to save your life. The second warning will come after I beat you down and you aren't able to fight any longer. Please take this warning into consideration. You know of our family history and that I take it seriously. If you will not heed to this warning, I won't be responsible for what happens to you in the next five minutes," he said. Hinata was really afraid, but she didn't want to let everyone down by giving up in this match. She knew for sure that Neji was much stronger than her in every aspect. Strength, speed, skill, he had it all, and she had none of those if compared to him. Hinata looked over to the side lines and saw Naruto smiling at her. He always told her to believe in herself. It gave him his strength and she was confident that it would give her strength as well. His smile was enough for her to look back to Neji with her byakugan activated.

"I understand what you're saying, cousin, but I will not back down from this fight. Someone very special to me is watching my performance and I refuse to let him down. I will fight for everything that he believes in and he believes that I can win. His belief won't be wasted because..." she trailed off as she slipped into her jyuuken stance. "... I will fight you. And I will defeat you in this match."

"Don't make this mistake again, Hinata," said Neji, still not moving. "We have been pitted against each other many times before this and I was always victorious. Forget whatever this fool of yours is saying and get out of here before things really get messy."

"No Neji, I have something to prove to you and everyone else," she said as she looked to Hayate. Neji looked at him as well. Hayate nodded to them both and stepped back. Neji sighed and activated his byakugan as well. So far, things were going according to plan. He's made his warning and he knew Hinata would take the bait. The fool who happens to be close to her heart must be that blond idiot, Naruto. From the chunin exam, he inspired true confidence in the hearts of those genin who remained to answer the 10th question. But here, you'll need more than just backbone. This is an anything goes preliminary match and killing can be done. If not for those on her side, then he would have wiped Hinata out a long time ago. Even those who were in his squad; Lee, Tenten, and Gai-sensei, wouldn't allow him of his proper victory. As strong as he was, he knew that he was no match for all of their might. He needed allies too, but at the moment, he didn't have any. All he could do now was do battle with her and win.

Hinata moved closer to Neji and began her jyuuken assault. Neji didn't even require the byakugan to keep up with her attacks. They were so predictable and so slow, he probably could have blocked them easily with his eyes closed. But he wanted to grant Hinata her piece of satisfaction before he forced it all to crash down with her. If his own squad wouldn't allow him the victory he desired, then he could at least take everything out on Hinata. Neji blocked another attack by catching her fingers with his hand and attacked her arm, closing a tenketsu point there. Hinata's arm fell limp for a few seconds until she backed away and reopened the closed hole with her other hand. When her arm was healed and ready for battle again, she continued her flurry on her opponent. She had something to fight for and even if she was to lose today, she would prove it to everyone that she had come a long way too. No longer did she want to live the life of a loser. That's Naruto's dream and...

"That's my dream too, Neji. I will defeat you," she said. Neji narrowed his eyes as he evaded another attack. What is this girl mumbling about? It's not making any sense, but then again, since when did she tell him something that ever made sense? The blood is probably rushing to her head. Naruto watched in dire anticipation at what was going on below. Naruto didn't train Hinata as Lee trained Tenten, but he did give her something else. He gave her the power of self belief and it was doing wonders for her. He thought that she was just this weird girl who always fainted around him, but now he was proven wrong. There was definitely more to Hinata than he thought possible, and she was showing more of it in this battle. She was actually putting up a fight against Neji, one of the people in this competition who seemed to be very strong. When Neji blocked another attack and attacked her arm again, on the same spot, Hinata tried to pull away but Neji held her arm tightly. He unveiled her sleeve and showed her injuries to everyone.

"Damn it Neji..." Lee let out in frustration.

"What are those holes? I've never seen anything like them," said Naruto. Lee turned to him.

"The Hyuuga style of combat is jyuuken, or the gentle fist. Each of their attacks drain a bit of chakra to whoever they come in contact with. They've both been taking and receiving blows which drain the chakra right out of their system. Although Neji has been blocking Hinata's attacks, his chakra supply has been draining bit by bit, and because he uses chakra in his attacks, he loses that much more. But in Hinata's case, not only does she insert the same amount of chakra in her attacks, but she's taking the brunt of the damage and is losing more chakra," Lee explained.

"So you're saying that the more they take and receive damage, the more chakra they lose?" asked Naruto. Lee nodded. "But chakra isn't everything. I can totally fight without chakra, I just won't be able to use any jutsus."

"Chakra isn't the only problem, Naruto," said Tenten. "The chakra placed in each attack is like a small needle in their hands. It pricks an invisible hole on the body of the target and not only does the chakra leak out of the body of that target, but it harms their internal system. Take Lee and Gai-sensei for example. Their style of combat is also taijutsu but they focus on dealing external damage. The Hyuuga style of combat is taijutsu but focuses more on dealing internal damage. You can heal damage from outside the body using simple medical jutsus, but it's difficult to apply healing jutsus on damage that has been done from within the body. Basically, Lee and Gai-sensei focus on making the opponent bleed, where as a Hyuuga will focus on draining the opponent's chakra.

"She's right," said Kakashi. "If you were damaged from the inside after coming out from a battle with a Hyuuga, and I were to attempt to heal you using medical ninjutsu, I'd have a tough time in doing so. My jutsu, which requires my chakra, will be battling with the chakra inside your body, making it harder for my healing to reach your actual injury. And since your chakra is battling with me, you would lose stamina because chakra is like your energy. Chakra isn't just for performing jutsus, it's like your life energy."

"But I've run out of chakra so many times during my training, yet I'm still alive and kicking. What's so bad about running out of chakra, when it'll just come back with the right amount of food and rest, right? That's how it's been for me at least," he said. Kakashi looked to Gai, thinking of the exact same thing.

"Well Naruto... you see, it's different in your case. I'm not... um... entirely sure why but that's how it goes. Maybe you actually had chakra within you that you thought was gone but wasn't. It's true that chakra is self-sustaining, but even it has its limits. Chakra doesn't come back after three or four seconds after a jutsu is used to consume it. It takes a lot of time and in your case, it probably doesn't because you've been training hard all your life. You've probably developed a much large chakra capacity than most people here," said Kakashi. Lee narrowed his eyes at that explanation and began to wonder why it was that Naruto had such a large chakra capacity. He seemed normal enough and wasn't really that great with his shinobi arts, so what else could there be besides guts and determination? As Lee continued to ponder about Naruto, his eyes returned to the match that was being held at the moment. There's no way Hinata could possibly defeat Neji, but why doesn't he just knock her out now and be done with it? Surely he was prolonging it to watch her suffer.

As the match dragged on, Lee was getting more and more frustrated at his companion, who was allowing the match to continue when the victor had pretty much been decided. When Hinata was knocked down earlier, the two cousins seemed to have hit some kind of heated conversation that no one really understood. Naruto continued to cheer for Hinata but not much of it was being placed into any use. Actually, now that he thought about it, Naruto's voice seemed to be the only one that was really giving Hinata her courage. When she was knocked down earlier, Lee felt her fighting spirit diminish a bit but when Naruto cheered her on, her morale returned, burning brighter than ever. Perhaps there was some truth in what she said before, all those months ago when she said that Naruto's belief in her gave her the strength to persue her dreams. It seemed to be true now. There's no shot for her victory, but she wasn't willing to stay down, and it's all because of Naruto. His voice really does inspire fierce courage into others, that's his ability. A few minutes later, Hinata was struck down after being struck on the chest, and this time, it didn't look like she could get up.

"Proctor, I've had enough of this. It's apparent that she can no longer fight so why not just stop the match? You said that you will try to stop a match when it seems hopeless, so stop this now, she can't defeat me. She can hardly stand," said Neji. Hayate looked to Hinata.

"Neji, you may be able to constantly knock me down, but I'm not the one who has lost in this match. You have," she said, struggling to stand. When she did, she was breathing harder than ever before. "My body may be battered, but there's something that not even you can touch. My resolve to win will always be greater than my pain. You fight to prove that the side branch is superior but you're wrong in that too. I understand the quarel within our clan, that the side branch may seem inferior to that of the main branch, and I also understand that my defeat in this round will give you the satisfaction you need to go against the main branch."

"I'm not fighting to preserve my honor as the eldest daughter of the main branch, but to finally stop the war that has raged and destroyed the peace between the two branches. But that isn't the only thing that I fight for. I stand against you now to prove to you that destiny can be changed, that I can be strong too. You always belittled me when we were younger and I refuse to take that anymore. I don't know how much I've improved, Neji, but I do know that even if I don't come out as the winner of this battle, it is you who have lost. You fight for a vain purpose and for that I do feel sorry for you," she said. That did it, that was enough to tick him off. Neji's byakugan wasn't activated before, but it was now. The rage of the side branch erupted from within the boy and ran towards his opponent. He didn't care about anything anymore, he just wanted to kill Hinata with his bare hands. Hayate's eyes widened and ran for Hinata. She couldn't fight anymore, that's for sure, but this boy... this boy knows that and is still willing to execute her? Hinata looked into the eyes of her cousin, realizing that she had failed to save him. Before he could move a single step, he was stopped.

Tenten was holding Hinata in her arms, away from striking range, Lee had his comrade in a grappling lock, and Hayate was in front of the raging Hyuuga, his hands on Neji's shoulders to stop him. Gai held one of Neji's hands away, Asuma held the other. Kurenai crouched down and had a kunai against Neji's stomach, and Kakashi had two of his dog summons on Neji's feet, preventing him from moving. The others gasped, not because Lee and Tenten matched the speed of jonin rank ninja, but because of Neji's irrational behavior. They never really thought that Neji would strike down someone who was incapable of fighting anymore. Tenten lowered Hinata's body to the ground and gasped when she choked on her blood. Kurenai heard the choke and rushed to her student immediately. She formed three hand signs as her hands began glowing a green color. She unzipped Hinata's jacket and hovered her glowing hand over her student's chest. Kurenai was shocked and glared daggers at Neji, who couldn't even care less what happened to Hinata. Hayate, Kakashi, Asuma, Gai, and Lee, released their hold on Neji. The jonin gathered around to Hinata as Lee faced his squad member.

"I can't believe you'd stoop so low as to even think of killing your own blood. You saw that she couldn't fight anymore and you let her words get to you? What the hell is your problem, Neji? What did Gai-sensei tell you about letting your own personal feelings cloud your judgment in battles like these?" he asked. Neji's anger spiked higher but eventually mellowed down when he saw the condition that his cousin was in. He turned his back from Lee.

"I don't have to answer to you," he said.

"On the contrary, you do. Let's get this thing straightened out right now," he said. Neji didn't budge. "Listen to me, Neji! You were about to kill her, did you even have control over your own body? I'm trying to tell myself that you allowed anger to get to you. Please tell me I'm right and don't tell me that you intended in killing her. I may not know enough of what happened to your clan and how this is for you, but taking the life of another is not something that Gai-sensei taught us. You'd be putting his teachings to shame and I can't allow you to walk that path. Hinata is of your own flesh and blood. Why would you even think of killling her?"

"This has nothing to do with you, so leave it alone," said Neji as he started to walk away. Lee saw Naruto hop from the stands and make his way to them. He looked over to Hinata. How could Neji be capable of this? This isn't something that Gai-sensei would teach anyone, especially his own students. Hinata was actually in even worse condition than he originally thought. She had only stopped choking on her blood a while ago and that's a bad thing. Naruto examined Hinata's condition and was shocked to the core. Two medical shinobi squads arrived with a stretcher and took Hinata away. Neji smirked to the blond, who was probably all torn up to see his little girlfriend. He'd better be, that's the impression that he meant to leave on the blond. He knew that Hinata's source of confidence derived from Naruto, so it's only fitting that the blond would be the one to feel most of the pain. If only Hinata were here to see his expression, Neji thought, it would just crush her.

"Hey you, moron," called Neji. Naruto turned to face him. "If you're still prancing around your little shinobi way, I suggest you stop yourself while you're ahead. You also mentioned something about becoming the Hokage of this village one day. Do you really think you can accomplish that just by training hard and trying to get there? Well I have some advice for you. Why don't you take that shinobi way of yours and stuff it down your throat. You're as weak as Hinata is and remember it... or what was that phrase you always say? Oh... that's right, believe it."

Ticked by the insult, Naruto ran to Neji, ready to pummel him to the ground. Neji's hands tightened, readying himself for combat, but it was cut short. Lee zipped right in front of Naruto, blocking his path. Lee turned his head slightly at the blond. He knew of the anguish that the younger boy was feeling right now, but this wasn't the time and place to be taking care of nonsense such as this. To be honest, he wanted a piece of Neji too, but there are rules to this examination, and rules that had to be followed if he was to stay longer and have a better chance at finding out Orochimaru's plans. He wanted to allow Naruto to proceed to Neji, to show him what a hard worker is capable of. But not now, or at least, not yet. A time will come for the hopeless to defeat the hopeful, but now wasn't it.

"Lee, get out of my way! I'm gonna beat that guy down until he cries!" he shouted. Lee shook his head, glaring at Neji's direction. Neji returned the glare with equal ferocity.

"You'll get your chance, I promise you. One day, the gifted prodigy will fall to the might of the hopeless cause. That would be a sight to see and one that I would truly drop everything for in order to attend, but now isn't that time," he said. As adamant as Naruto was in forcing his foot down Neji's enormous ego, he knew that there was some truth into Lee's words. Instead of taking action now, he decided to make a promise instead. He looked down at the blood that Hinata spat on the floor, earlier. He knelt down and smudged his hand on it. He raised it to Neji. Lee smirked a bit as he watched what Naruto was doing. This guy is truly one of a kind, and he knew that Naruto could one day achieve his dreams. He has guts alright, if nothing else, and that's going to take him farther than anyone ever expected of him. And he'll make them proud.

"I swear, on the blood of this fallen Hyuuga, I will make you eat your words in the final rounds of this chunin exam. That, I promise you and I never break my promises," he said. Lee nodded to him as the machine above appeared with the names again. It cycled through the remaining ninjas who haven't fought yet, for a few seconds, until it landed with two more names. Tenten was about to follow the medic squad to the treatment room, when Lee held her back by the shoulder. She turned to face him, wondering why he did that. Lee motioned his head to the right. Tenten looked his way, to the machine above, and was surprised, but smiled as well. It was finally her turn to fight. She looked to her opponent, who jumped down. It was him, one of the sand shinobi, the one with the large mummy-wrapped object on his back, the black-clad shinobi with face paint.

Tenten vs Kankuro.

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Chapter 11 is done and there's more to come! Geez, I think this story will turn out a lot better than the first Naruto story that I wrote, Bond of Steel. I have so many ideas for this story, and it won't stop flowing... just the way I like it. If you've noticed, I'm speeding through the fights that I don't have much interest in, you guys understand right? I want to get to the finals as fast as possible, but I still have to write a filler chapter for the one month that passes for the training part before the finals. It's one month, right? I haven't watched the anime or checked the manga in a while so the memory is a little fuzzy. I'll try to do the best that I can though, with the limited memory I have of this arc of the anime. But this is a good thing for me though. I think I've been following the anime for a little too long and I don't really want to do that. Others have done that but I kind of want to stop at it. That's all for this chapter. See you guys at chapter 12!!!

Ja ne!

EDIT: Sorry about this guys, but I have some very bad news. I have just started my second semester of my first year of college and it's getting harder and harder to find any time to write. Luckily though, I've written about 28 chapters and I'll post them all in a 5-7 day basis. For personal reasons, I don't post them once I finish writing them, so you'll just have to understand that. I'm not sure when I can get started on chapter 29, since my courses are fairly time consuming. They're not hard, but they're just a little overwhelming. Okay well, I really need to get going.