Chapter Twenty: One Day and the Final Exam

One Day until the Final Exam

Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu, the two career chunin had once again drawn guard duty at one of the gates and were not looking forward to a day filled with checking papers and making sure that everyone entering was actually allowed to be there. The daimyos entourages alone usually took close to an hour to clear, and while most of them had already arrived, the leaders of the Five Elemental Countries, as usual, only arrived at the last minute. Of course there was the requisite bowing and scraping and tugging of forelocks that any noble expected of someone not nobly born, but with daimyos, it was worse than was usual.

So that is why they grinned at the sight of an elderly man accompanied by a small boy wrapped in a black trench coat. Naruto's squinty eyed grin only emphasized Jiraiya's dour grimace all the more. "Good afternoon Jiraiya-sama. How was your trip?" Izumo asked.

"Would have been better without a blond brat tagging along."

"Aw, you're just sore that I am more awesome than you. Don't worry, if you follow my teachings and do as I say, you might one day approach my coolness."

Signing the log, Jiraiya handed the chunin his pen back and grunted in response, walking away from the gates, grumbling. Reaching into a voluminous pocket in his coat, Naruto withdrew a blue balloon, blew it up and absently began playing with it. Glancing down at his apprentice, Jiraiya rolled his eyes and spoke. "Alright brat. The Final Exams start tomorrow, so have the rest of the day off. Go see your women, have a hot meal, sleep in a warm bed, get laid, whatever you want. Just whatever you do, get your ass to the stadium tomorrow, on time. If you get disqualified for a no-show, you will be in deep shit, got me?"

"Hai Ero-sennin. Take the rest of the day off, but be at the stadium on time."

"Good. Now get outta my sight. I have had enough of your ugly mug to last me."

Entirely unfazed by Jiraiya's rather brusque manner, Naruto formed a hundred clones and took to the roofs.

Jiraiya followed the departing Naruto's with his eyes, and when the last one had disappeared, he broke out in a gleeful grin. "Wait until I tell Sensei how he mastered the Rasengan in a month."

OoOoO

While his clones spread out to look for Tenten, the real Naruto went directly to the Hyuuga compound. Yun and Jun, the two Hyuuga gate guards greeted him respectfully as he passed through the gate. "Good morning Yun-san, Jun-san."

"Good morning Naruto-sama," the pair chorused.

"Do either of you know what is up with all the high-ranked ninja around? I caught sight of at least three ANBU on my way here, and there seem to be more chunin and jounin patrolling on the walls and roofs than usual."

Yun and Jun exchanged a glance before answering. "Forgive us Naruto-sama, but you don't know?"

"Know what? Has something happened to affect the Chunin Exam tomorrow?"

"No, the Final Exam is going to be administered as planned, but a Sound genin that had not passed to the third round and a tokubetsu jounin by the name of Gekko Hayate were both found dead on the rooftops in the last week."

"Do we know who killed them?"

"Forgive me Naruto-sama, but if their murderers are known, we have not heard."

Waving a hand, Naruto brushed it off. "It's okay. Maybe Hiashi will know something."

"Perhaps, Naruto-sama. If you wish to find him, he is probably in the dojo with Hinata-sama." At that, Naruto's ears perked up. Hearing that Hiashi was voluntarily spending time with his eldest daughter was surprising to say the least.

"Really? Hiashi spending time with Hinata-chan? Know why?"

Yun shook his head. "I do not know, Naruto-sama. Perhaps Hiashi-sama or Hinata-sama would be willing to tell you."

"Okay. Well, thanks anyways." Bowing again, the two bid him farewell. Removing his shoes as he entered the sprawling complex, he silently padded to the dojo used by Hiashi and his two daughters. Carefully sliding the rice paper door open, he found a scene that took him off guard. Hiashi and Hinata were sparring, but unlike other times he had watched them spar, there was none of the overly aggressive do-or-die attitude in Hiashi's bearing. Quite the contrary, Hiashi actually seemed to be trying to teach Hinata, rather beat the forms into her.

Rather than interrupt, Naruto shut the door quietly behind him and seated himself on a bench. Watching his wife and father-in-law move through the forms of whatever technique that Hinata was learning, he sat back and admired the graceful movements of the Jyuuken. From a purely aesthetic point of view, Jyuuken was simultaneously the most graceful and peaceful looking martial art he had ever seen. On the other hand he knew from painful first-hand experience how utterly ruthless it was. His taijutsu didn't come close to the restrained violence that was Jyuuken.

Once the pair finally wound down, Naruto stood up and wrapped Hinata in his arms and gave her a peck on her lips, as Hiashi was right behind her. "How are you doing Hinata-chan?" he whispered in her ear.

"I'm fine. But we need to talk."

Naruto nodded and released Hinata, turning to Hiashi. "Hello Hiashi-san," he greeted neutrally.

"Good afternoon Naruto-san," Hiashi replied, equally neutral. "I assume you have returned for the Final Chunin Exam?"

"Yeah, I just got in a little bit ago. On my way in, I noticed a marked increase in the presence of ANBU and upper-level shinobi. I spoke to Yun and Jun on the way in and they said that a Sound genin and the Preliminary Exam proctor had been killed recently. Any idea who killed them?"

"We think that the Kazekage's son, Sabaku no Gaara killed the Sound genin, as there was some chakra-reactive sand found in his corpse. However, Gekko-san seems to have been killed by a bladed weapon, presumably a katana or something similar. Given the Oto ninja that your team encountered last year, Hokage-sama has moved us to war footing, in case this is the opening move of an attack or invasion."

"Does he really think we are about to be attacked?"

"I do not know. But it is better to be prepared in any case."

"True. The worst that happens is that he is wrong and nothing happens. Anyways, are you done with Hinata-chan?"

"I suppose."

"Then we will take our leave now Hiashi-san." Without waiting for a nod, Naruto put an arm around Hinata's shoulders and led her to the door, passing her a towel to mop her sweat with. As he slid the door to the dojo open again, he was arrested by Hiashi's voice.

"One last thing, Naruto-kun. You fight Neji tomorrow in the Final Exam. I will remind you that you are a member of the Main House of the Hyuuga. Should you lose to a Branch member, however talented, I shall view it with the greatest displeasure."

"Don't worry. What do you think I have been training for the last month for?"

OoOoO

The moment the door to their apartment was shut, Hinata turned around and hugged Naruto hard. Naruto smirked. "Miss me much?"

Easing her grip, Hinata frowned. "What happened to 'I'll send a couple of clones back every day?' I got one visit from you the entire month."

Scratching the back of his head, Naruto laughed nervously. "Ah, well, I meant to, but I was pretty busy the entire time."

Pouting cutely, Hinata batted her eyelashes. "Too busy to come see your lonely and neglected wife at home for just a few minutes?"

"Ah..." However his hesitant smile quickly turned into a pained wince. "Won't happen again Hinata-chan."

Tapping a tenketsu low on his back, Hinata smiled softly and replied, "make sure it doesn't Naruto-kun."

Scowling as Hinata turned away he rubbed his back surreptitiously. "You and Tenten are hanging around my mother far too much. That was the kind of thing she would do to me."

"Hm... I wouldn't know."

"Oh really?" Naruto growled back. Stalking forward, he moved to grab Hinata from behind, but as he reached for her arms Hinata spun back to him and did some twisty thing with his arms and the next thing he knew she was sitting on his chest.

"And what did you think you were going to do? You know that you were not the only one who has been training for the last month." Hinata had her arms tangled with his so that if he tried to move them he would probably dislocate something. And as suddenly as she had pinned him she let him go. Grabbing the front of his coat, she laid down and kissed him.

When she disengaged Naruto asked, "okay, so all better now?"

"Yeah."

The silence stretched for a few seconds before Naruto spoke again. "So... you gonna let me up?"

Sighing theatrically, she acquiesced. Once they were on their feet again Naruto asked "so what was with you and Hiashi in the dojo together? He actually seemed to be teaching you rather than trying to beat you senseless like you usually tell me he does."

"Apparently he is of the opinion that even though I lost to Neji in the Preliminaries, my attitude has changed enough for me to be worthy of his tutelage once again. Not in those exact words, but that was the intent."

"Well, that is good I suppose. As long as he is actually teaching you."

"I assure you he is. Surprisingly."

"Heh. I won't argue with you there. So anything else exciting happen in my absence?"

"Father sealed Hanabi-chan."

Naruto grimaced. While he didn't particularly like his sister-in-law, Hinata adored her. And judging from the pained expression that Hinata had on her face and the way her hands were balled up into fists, he doubted this was new news. Before Naruto had the chance to say anything, Hinata continued. "Naruto-kun, please tell me you have made progress on creating a counter-seal for the Caged Bird Seal."

"Hinata-chan, I wish I could say that I had. I really haven't had much opportunity in the last month at all. And I don't have to remind you that this is probably the second-most complex seal I have ever seen. Added to the fact that I can't get Ero-sennin for the Hokage to help at all, Hinata-chan, this is something that could take me years to develop. I am pretty good with seals nowadays, but I am nowhere near the level of Ero-sennin or my father."

Embracing Hinata's slumped form, he kissed her on the top of the head and whispered in her ear. "It could take years, but I will never stop working on it. I promise you, I will find a way to break the seal."

"Thank you Naruto-kun. I was hoping you had made a breakthrough, but I know you will do what you can."

"Anything else you want to tell me?"

"Hm... No. I think that about covers everything."

"Great, 'coz I am hungry. Do you know how bad a cook Ero-sennin is? That man can burn water, I swear."

"Let me guess, you want to go to Ichiraku's?"

"Right in one. You know me so well."

"It doesn't take being married to you to know that you would want Ichiraku as soon as you came back. Give me ten minutes. Let me get a shower and into some clean clothes first."

"Okay. I can start unpacking while I wait."

Fifteen minutes later...

By the time Hinata came out of her room, Naruto was practically vibrating in place. Checking his watch, he took an accusatory tone to Hinata. "That was fifteen minutes Hinata-chan. You said you would be out in ten minutes."

"Well, it is a woman's prerogative to take a little extra time to get herself ready to go out."

"If you say so."

"I do," Hinata replied authoritatively.

"Aaaaaanyway, ready to go now? Good. I am starving." Hinata repressed a giggle as Naruto snatched her hand and hauled her behind him as he raced to Ichiraku. However, things were not as they should have been.

"C'mon Teuchi-ossan, I'm telling you, I am the real Naruto."

"Don't listen to that thieving scumbag. He will tell you anything to get you to do as he wants. Now, I can assure you that I am the real Naruto."

"Those two are idiots. Anyone can tell right off the bat that I am the original."

"Naruto-kun, that sounds like you..." Looking over at the blond, Hinata could tell that he had no more idea what was going on than she did. Setting his features into a fierce scowl, Naruto charged into the ramen bar to find out what was going on.

"Everybody, shut the hell up and tell me...." But his angry tirade was cut short as he pushed past the privacy curtain and found out just what was going on. Slapping his face, Naruto sighed. "Okay, I have seen some stupid shit before, but this has to take the cake."

Standing at the bar were three clones of Naruto, each one trying to convince the proprietor that he was the real Naruto and therefor should sell him a bowl of ramen. Lifting his face from his hand, Naruto simply pointed out to the street. Hanging their heads, the three clones trudged out of the bar. Seating himself at one of the stools, he put his head in his arms. "The usual, I take it?" Teuchi asked. Nodding without lifting his head, Naruto didn't say anything.

"A vegetable ramen please," Hinata said as she sat next to Naruto. Lifting his head from his arms as their food arrived, Naruto took a mouthful of noodles. Once he had swallowed, he asked, "man, I can't even get my own clones to listen to me, what am I supposed to do?" to no one in particular.

"Well, Naruto-kun, it would seem to me, as they are essentially you, the fact that they headed right to Teuchi's says more about yourself than anything."

Staring at Hinata balefully, he replied, "thanks Doctor Hinata-san. Anymore insights you care to offer?"

Grinning widely, she shook her head. "Nope, at least not right now. Although it does raise questions about your priorities when you would rather go for ramen than look for Tenten. And I presume they were supposed to be looking for her."

"Hey, what do you mean me? They were clones!"

"Yes, but they were shadow clones, and as you have pointed out before, there is no meaningful difference between you and a shadow clone. A shadow clone can't do anything that you would not do."

"Geez, when did you get all intellectual on me?"

"I had a whole month away from you, honey. I was bound to pick something up without you blocking it all."

Spluttering, Naruto nearly choked on his food. "Did you just call me stupid?"

"Not at all Naruto-kun."

Naruto opened his mouth to reply when his eyes unfocused for a split second, absorbing memories of a dispelled clone.

"How the hell..." he wondered faintly, before Tenten could be heard faintly yelling his name. "Crap. I swear, women are telepathic."

Naruto hurried to finish his bowl of ramen before Tenten arrived and interrupted. He barely managed to slurp the last of the broth up before a pissed-off Tenten stomped into the stand. Swiveling around, Naruto thrust both his hands to Tenten, palms out. As Tenten opened her mouth to start an obviously angry tirade, Naruto preempted her. "Before you say anything, Hinata has already chewed me out for not coming to visit often enough. My only excuse was that I was wrapped up in my training with Jiraiya and I thought that you would prefer to focus on your own training."

Her angry diatribe cut off before she could begin, Tenten nodded in sullen acquiescence. "Alright I guess, since you seem to have a better reason than 'I forgot,' I suppose that I can accept that." Just as Naruto let out a relieved sigh, Tenten continued. "But do not think you are off the hook," which made Naruto just hang his head. "I hope that Jiraiya-sama taught you some awesome jutsus, because Anko gave me some seriously kick ass ones. Next time we fight, you better be prepared or I will kick your ass from here to kingdom come." Smirking confidently, Tenten had one hand curled into a fist, arm pumped, the other hand resting on her hip.

Grinning himself, Naruto asked, "do you know how sexy you are right now? Because I am having trouble restraining myself from throwing you over my shoulder and taking you home to ravish you into unconsciousness."

"Ravish me into unconsciousness, will you? Only if you can catch me first!" And with that, Tenten took off down the road, quickly followed by Naruto, but not before he thoughtfully left a shadow clone behind for Hinata. Hinata went back to her food as soon as Naruto and Tenten were out of sight. One of the first things she and Tenten had discussed after their agreement regarding Naruto was whether there was any difference between the real Naruto and a clone. It was quickly decided that there was not, at least in any significant manner. After all, a shadow clone possessed all of Naruto's memories, and passed them on to the original after it was dispelled, so it might as well have been the original in the clone's place. And as far as they could tell, Naruto didn't seem to spend more time with either woman as the original than as a clone.

When Hinata finished her meal, she paid for the food, as any money the clone used would vanish along with the clone.

OoOoO

Day of the Chunin Final Exam

Hinata woke on the morning of the Final Exam tense. Looking out the window, a more perfect day could not be wished for. The sky held a handful of clouds, enough to provide the occasional patch of shade and keep the temperature down to semi-bearable levels. But weather was not the source of her tension. In just a couple of hours, Naruto would be facing off against Neji. She believed in her husband, but Neji was a prodigy, the quality of which had not been seen in two generations. He quite possibly was the best fighter that the Branch Hyuuga had ever produced in recent history, easily outstripping Hanabi, another Hyuuga prodigy, and able to give her father a run for his money.

Breakfast passed in silence, neither Hinata or Naruto speaking. When Naruto finally finished his meal, he excused himself and slid the door open. "Naruto-kun," Hinata blurted, halting him in the doorway, "fight well this day."

Looking back over his shoulder, he smirked. "Don't worry, Hinata-chan. I always do." Closing the door behind him, Hinata ducked her gaze to the table, worried about Naruto, no matter what he said. Finally sighing, she shook her head to clear them of such morose thoughts and focused on making the time until the start of the Exam pass.

OoOoO

Nine of the ten contestants stood in the middle of the arena as the stadium gradually filled with the spectators. Naruto caught his mother's and Hinata's attention and gave them a confident nod and wink, before going back to perusing the crowd.

The sun rose steadily higher into the sky, quickly approaching the time for the main event to begin. As usual, Sasuke waited until the last minute to shunshin down into the arena, making sure that everyone made note of his arrival.

As soon as he did, the proctor looked around, double checking that everyone was present and accounted for before raising the microphone to his lips and spoke.

"Welcome one and all to the Konohagakure Chunin Selection Exam. We will now start the Final Exam, a one-on-one, single elimination battle between the ten participants who have made it through the preliminary fights. Please stay until the end and enjoy the fights."

Turning off the microphone, Genma turned to face the ten fighters. "Before we get started here, let me tell you that although the terrain is different, the rules are exactly the same from the preliminaries. That means forfeit if you have to, and do not continue fighting after I have declared a match over. Anyone who breaks my rules will be disqualified. Any questions? No, then everyone but Hyuuga Neji and Hyuuga Naruto vacate the arena.

Facing off, Neji smirked. "You look like you have something to say Naruto-sama."

Naruto's mouth was set into a thin-lipped frown, brows lowered and eyes cold. "Everything I have to say to you has already been said."

Neji just snorted. Once everyone else had cleared the arena, Genma stepped back and dropped his hand, signaling the start of the match. Naruto quickly formed three dozen clones, completely surrounding Neji. Before Naruto had the chance to take the offensive, Neji leaped forward. Hand darting every which way, he quickly dispatched a full dozen clones before Naruto had time to react. With the original hanging back, the remaining Narutos closed the gaps in their ranks, trying to strike Neji with only taijutsu. Leaping and bounding like a human jackrabbit, Neji effortlessly evaded every attack the clones made.

Finally touching down with one foot, Neji smoothly set himself to receive another attack, the smoke from dead shadow clones rapidly dispersing. "That had better not be the extent of your skill, Naruto-sama. If it is, it is small wonder you were matched up with Hinata-sama." Arms folded, and with a dour expression on his face, Naruto remained silent. He had never expected his shadow clone assault to work, merely using them to sound out Neji's form. He didn't want to defeat Neji with ninjutsu, wanting to beat him at taijutsu, his own specialty. Plus the fact that most of his techniques couldn't be scaled down to a nonlethal level helped. Now that he had a good idea what he was capable of, Naruto finally drew his heavy, short blade fron the scabbard hanging from the baldric, causing a murmur among the spectators when his clothes morphed to the Garment of Dead Souls. Neji blinked a few times when Naruto flashed him with the silver blade, but showed no signs of being captured by his illusion. Nodding, as if that was completely expected, Naruto charged.

Pivoting out-of-the-way of a diagonal, right to left slash, Neji spun around to attack Naruto's back. However, Naruto had turned his slash into a pivot also, and it was only to his bloodline eyes that Neji was able to see the rising thrust that would have speared him in the stomach otherwise, stopping his spin before he placed himself in the attack's way. Neji flipped over the follow up slash, finally able to land a single Jyuuken strike on Naruto's tricep before having to backflip before he lost his head to another slash. As it was, he still took a shallow cut across the stomach.

That little blade was really dangerous. It was short enough to be highly maneuverable, but heavy enough that Neji didn't doubt that he would be able to eviscerate him easily, or lop off a hand.

Putting one hand to the wound to make sure it was not serious, he nodded to Naruto, giving him the point. "You said you want to become the Hokage? Well, with that level of attack, you will never become chunin, let alone Hokage. You should know well that I have the perfect vision, able to see in all directions. Even with as hard as you work, you cannot do anything that was not already decided at your birth. Think about it. There have only been four shinobi chosen to be Hokage. If you look closely enough, you will see that those that became Hokage were born into that role. People live within their own unchanging flow, and death is the only fate that everyone shares. We are but grist for the mill that is fate. The is nothing that can protect a person from that wheel."

"I don't believe that at all. Whatever happens, I will protect those that I love from the wheel, and if I can't, I will use this sword here to shatter it, to shatter fate itself." Drawing his right arm back, he hurled Kitsune with his whole body at Neji. Forced to turn to dodge the impromptu projectile, he nearly caused Naruto to stumble as he caught Kitsune by the hilt as it flew by. Naruto fell to his knees, sliding under Neji's sidearm cut that would have otherwise beheaded him. Flipping over, Naruto scrambled to his feet, trying to get inside Neji's guard. He raised both arms and parried a thrust from Neji to the right, glad that he had worn his bracers under his clothes.

Ducking under Neji's reverse cut, Naruto tried to nail Neji on the point of his chin, but Neji dodged by leaning back. Using his unoccupied hand to strike Naruto in the stomach with a chakra-sheathed palm, the blond boy was knocked clear off his feet. Landing face down, he rolled to the side, watching as Kitsune plunged into the ground not an inch from his nose. Rolling he saw the silver blade narrowly miss him three more times before he was able to roll out of range. Slamming a palm into the ground as he started to roll face down, he launched himself twirling into the air and landed on his feet. Neji was standing ten feet away standing at ease, absently tapping the point of Kitsune against the ground.

"You know, Naruto-sama, if I didn't know better, I would be thinking that you are toying with me. From everything I have heard about you and your team, I really was expecting more."

"Shut up you sonovabitch. It is that 'holier than thou' attitude that pisses me off the most. Just because you are stronger than someone else does not mean that you can do whatever the hell you want."

"Well, as it now stands, I am the stronger one here, so yes, I can, as you so eloquently put it, do whatever the hell I want. Might makes right, survival of the fittest, plain and simple. The only rights you have are the ones that you can defend. All men are not created equal. Equality is a concept that those who were born with an inferior fate try to use to lower those greater than they to their level."

"Well, let me show you my equalizer then," Naruto snarled. Naruto seemed to flicker once or twice, then he was nose-to-nose with him. Before he hand the time to blink, He felt his nose crunch, and he was tumbling across the ground. Naruto then calmly walked over to where Kitsune had clattered to the ground a few feet away.

Neji slowly pushed himself to his feet and wiped his face with the back of his hand as Naruto approached again. Snapping his sleeves, Neji spread his feet apart. When Naruto came within range he initiated his attack.

"You are in the range of my divination! Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!" Naruto had barely had the chance to blink before Neji was on him again, fingers flickering lances of pain. It seemed to Naruto that it took Neji an hour to land all sixty four pinpoint jabs, but in reality it wasn't more than a handful of seconds. As it was, Naruto was blasted from his feet again, hunched over on all fours.

Resettling into a relaxed stance, Neji called out to the proctor. "Shiranui-san, Naruto-sama has been defeated. Turning to walk away, his attention was pulled back. Grunting, Naruto was trying to push himself to his feet. "Naruto-sama, give up now. I have sealed over a fifth of your tenketsu, rendering you incapable of combat. If you keep struggling, you could do yourself a permanent injury."

The contorted expression of anger disfiguring his face almost made Neji take a step back. "I promised Hinata-chan that I would beat you. And I do not back down from my promises." As he said this, Naruto did manage to stand up, although with the way he was swaying, it was clear that his sense of balance was tenuous at best. Lifting a single fist, the other hand using Kitsune to support himself, Naruto raised is middle finger to Neji. Grinning maniacally, he managed to utter a hoarse laugh as Neji turned back to him.

"Fine, if that is how you choose to be Naruto-sama, I will show you that you lost before you ever set foot inside this arena." Curling his hand into a fist, Neji struck out with a simple punch, forgoing the acrobatics of Jyuuken for a purely physical strike. "You are done, Naruto-sama if you cannot even keep your feet after a single punch." Turning away a second time, he threw one last comment over his shoulder. "It would seem that you have proven yourself a liar and unfit to bear the Hyuuga name. Don't worry though. I am sure that Hiashi-sama can find a more suitable husband for Hinata-sama so that you can go rut with that Higurashi whore without bringing shame to the Hyuuga name."

As he said that, an unnatural silence fell over the stadium, while the spectators couldn't hear what Neji said, they understood it to be something serious, as the moment he finished speaking, a nearly physically tangible wave of malicious chakra engulfed everyone there. Until that moment, Naruto's anger had been cold, carefully controlled and calculating. Neji's words however had fanned the seed of rage on the pit of his stomach into an incandescent bonfire consuming every thought.

Neji had raised his arms in an instinctual motion to protect himself from the wave of chakra, as if it were a gust of wind. He was halted where he stood, eyes widening as Naruto became something other than human. Paralyzed by the chakra rolling over him in waves, he watched as Naruto regained his feet. When Naruto look up, his eyes were a bloody red, pupils stretched into slits. His shit-eating snarl revealed inhuman canines and whisker scratches deepened into deep scars. He watched in shock as Naruto's nails lengthened to resemble claws.

The members of Team Seven, remembering the evil chakra that had awoken them on the mission to Wave all those months ago were as shocked to find Naruto to be the source of that horrifying chakra. The other genin were equally as stunned to find Naruto, the kid that had passed the genin exam by the skin of his teeth channeling such... power.

When he stared into Naruto's cat-like eyes, he nearly stumbled from the bloodlust contained therein. Immobilized as he was by Naruto's killing intent, he was wholly unable to prevent Naruto from lashing out with his unnaturally lengthened nails, digging four bloody trenches across his face, coming within millimeters of taking his eyes. The abrupt pain was enough to break him from his paralysis, blocking a follow-up strike with Naruto's other hand. And for the first time in the fight, Neji was forced onto the defensive. He was able to prevent Naruto from landing another attack, but had to retreat from the weight of his attacks. Blocking a kick with his shin, Neji ducked another claw hand slash and lashed out with a double handed Jyuuken palm thrust.

Knocked cleanly off his feet, Neji was finally able to gain some breathing room. Unfortunately, Naruto discarded his decision to defeat Neji by himself and created a hundred clones. Before he had taunted Naruto to the breaking point, Neji would have been confident of his ability to deal with a hundred sword-wielding Narutos, but not so now. This new Naruto fought ruthlessly, completely without regard to himself at all and striking to kill. Also, the red chakra sheath that he wore made his faster and more resilient to his Jyuuken, in addition to burning him when he came in contact with it. So, Neji had no choice but to reveal his trump card. Neji let the Narutos close to just beyond melee range, as he required a second to spin up, before unleashing the ultimate Jyuuken technique, Hakkesho: Kaiten. Normally, the Hakkesho: Kaiten repelled any object it came into contact with while leaving the user unaffected, but he was blasted back when his chakra impacted Naruto's red chakra shroud.

Climbing out of the trench he carved, he was barely able to fend off a second assault of feral Naruto clones, that if anything, seemed even more enraged, managing to keep his feet this time. He noted the dip in his chakra reserves, as the Hakkesho: Kaiten was not chakra-inexpensive. Dashing through the crowd of red-eyed, red-cloaked Narutos, killing those within reach, he was quickly bogged down. As fast as he was, Naruto was beginning to wear him down through sheer numbers. As the saying went, quantity has a quality all of its own.

Using a second Hakkesho: Kaiten to block a Wind Release: Pressure Bullet bought him a small amount of breathing room. He peered up when the clones did not resume the attack though. The crowd of Narutos had parted to reveal what was presumably the real one.

"You know Neji, despite how you like to prattle on about the immutability of fate, I know you are the one who is really trying to escape." Neji was barely able to understand what Naruto was saying, his voice was pitched so low.

Roaring at that top of his lungs, the original sprinted towards him. Neji slid his feet apart in preparation to receive his beserker charge, but was left blinking for a moment when a pair of Naruto clones launched the original high into the air so fast that it appeared that Naruto had stepped on a mine. Peaking at a height that would prevent most people from seeing what he was doing, Neji was nonetheless able to see Naruto put his hands together, one behind the other. As Naruto fell belly-down, arms and legs trailing behind, even the civilians were soon able to see what appeared to be a ball of pure chakra growing in his palm, colored a ugly, bruised purple. Going into the first steps of the Hakkesho: Kaiten, Neji watched as the swirling fist-sized ball grow to the size of a soccer ball.

A huge plume of dust erupted when the two collided accompanied by a high pitched grinding, obscuring the two fighters for almost thirty seconds. As the dust finally thinned out enough for everyone to see, Naruto was standing over a prone Neji. The sleeves of his clothes hand been shredded and a series of angry red spiraling chakra burns covered his arms fingertips to shoulders.

Even as the dust was still rising, Naruto was on Neji again. Leaping onto him, Naruto began pounding away at Neji with bare knuckles, screaming incoherently as he beat Neji's face to hell. Neji tried to call to the proctor to admit defeat, he was forced to swallow his own shattered teeth as Naruto drove a straight punch right between his lips.

Naruto lashed out with a backhand swipe when he felt someone try to pull him off Neji as the dust cleared. Letting out a strangled "urk," Naruto's vision was filled with stars for a few seconds as the back off his head slammed into the hard packed earth with tooth-rattling force. When his vision cleared, he saw that Genma had finally pulled him off Neji. Letting the boy up when he saw that he had mastered himself again, Genma declared him the winner.

Looking down to the barely conscious Neji, Naruto said, "if it hadn't been for my mom teaching me the shadow clone, I probably would have failed the graduation exam, because the last test was always my worst technique, the Clone Technique. Stop whining about fate, and how it can't be changed, since you aren't a loser like me." Neji tried to reply, but all that came out was a wet gurgle.

The crowd was silent, absorbing the multiple shocks of having such an upset victory and witnessing the defeat of the technique touted, and until just then, to be a perfect defense and the utter brutality and viciousness of Neji's defeat. It had been a long time since anyone had seen such a bloody match. Even with Finals that had resulted in deaths, that level of vengeful wrath was almost unheard of.

Naruto bowed a few times, giving what might be able to be construed as a smile on a very, very good day all the way back to the fighters box to ringing silence. His arms burned abominably, but the high of coming out on top of such a tough fight allowed him to push the pain off to the side to deal with later.

He didn't even see the looks that said that he had gone from zero to 'do not fuck with, ever' on nearly everyone's badass meter.

Up in the Kage's Box, Sarutobi looked on in stunned disbelief as Naruto quite literally beat Neji within a inch of his life. Shaking himself out of his reverie, he turned to look at his Sand opposite. "That was some match, was it not, Hokage-sama?"

"Yes, it definitely was."

"It is not often that we get to witness such mindless anger. Tell me, do you know what the Hyuuga child did to offend his opponent?"

"I cannot say I do. While I do see the boy on occasion, I have not seen him in a while."

"Hmmm. Ah well. I wonder if the next match shall prove to be as entertaining as the last one was?" Sarutobi gave the Kazekage a sharp look, but did not comment on it.

In the fighters box, Naruto sat down against the back wall, using a towel to wipe the blood dripping from his fists and what had sprayed onto his face, both his and Neji's. Laying his hands palms up on the floor, he closed his eyes. He ignored the whispering that had ceased the instant he passed through the portal and the slight flinch even Tenten had been unable to suppress as he entered the box. He had not questioned when the rage had crept into his thoughts, but now that he was a little more clearheaded, it seemed obvious that the Kyuubi had been influencing him. When he entered the arena, he had intended to give Neji the beating of his life, but not to beat him to death with his fists. The level of influence that the Kyuubi had been able to exert over him was terrifying, and he did not mind admitting it.

It had been a long time since he had had such a taxing battle, the injuries Neji inflicted from his Sixty-Four Palms technique and the chakra burns from matching his supercharged Rasengan against the Hakkesho: Kaiten starting to heal slightly and the mental fatigue of the Kyuubi-induced rage finally setting in. It was unlikely that he would recover completely before his next match, but he hoped that he could recover enough to be able to use his arms. Right now, even thinking of trying to form hand seals had him wincing.

He cracked an eye when a shadow fell over him and smiled slightly. "Hey Tenten-chan."

"You okay?" Tenten asked hesitantly, the beserker rage that had wielded Naruto still bloody fresh, quirking an eyebrow at the angry red burns running up his arms.

"I've been worse."

"You have also been a hell of a lot better."

"I won't deny that. Remind me to never try beating the Hakkesho: Kaiten with a Rasengan ever again."

"At least you were able to leave under your own power. I do not think that Neji could even feel it when he was carted off. I doubt his face will ever look the same."

"He is lucky to be feeling anything below the neck at all."

"And I know that Hinata will appreciate it." Giving him a peck on the lips, she stood and moved back to the rail to watch the next match.

OoOoO

Somewhat predictably, Sasuke had probably been hiding somewhere in the stands before teleporting down to the arena via a leaf body flicker. Giving the fighters a few words, Genma dropped his hand and jumped back so as not to interfere in the fight.

Kakashi, who had trained Sasuke specifically for this fight, had focused heavily on increasing Sasuke's reaction time and speed, and while he was nowhere near Lee's level, was significantly faster than he had been the last time Tenten had seen him. As Gai had once put it so eloquently, the Sharingan's sole weakness was that while the user could see what his opponent was going to do, that did not mean that he could react fast enough to act on his precognition.

Lee dominated most of the match, quickly abandoning his weights when Sasuke proved that he could easily keep up with the handicapped Lee. Lee kept a constant barrage of bruising punches and kicks simply did not provide a chance for Sasuke to hit back. However, Sasuke provided a surprisingly effective defense, able to block, dodge or parry every single punch and kick Lee threw.

Given who he was, Sasuke was more predisposed toward ninjutsu than taijutsu, and Lee kept Sasuke's hands occupied to prevent Sasuke from turning the battle into a contest of ninjutsu, which Lee would lose badly, for obvious reasons.

It wasn't until Lee opened the First Gate, the Gate of Opening, that Lee gained the upper hand for sure. Circling Sasuke so quickly that he appeared to have performed the Clone Technique, Lee charged Sasuke from behind, stunning him with more punches than Sasuke could count so quickly. Lee finished with a leg sweep and a double-footed kick that rocketed Sasuke skyward. Following for the second part of the Shadow of the Dancing Leaf, Lee immobilized Sasuke by utilizing the bandages wrapped around his fists and forearms. Hugging Sasuke close, Lee increased the force behind his face-first piledriver by spinning them both sickeningly fast.

Disengaging his bandages, Lee was the first to emerge from the crater created by his Front Lotus, stumbling in a nearly drunken fashion. Taking a deep breath, he put on a huge smile and thrust one hand into the air, forming a vee with two fingers. His victory was short lived though when Sasuke released his Cursed Seal. Lee didn't spend long wondering how Sasuke had emerged from a move that was supposed to completely disable his opponent because such things were to be expected. If one could not adapt to an evolving situation, there were two options, retire or die. Despite his total lack of ability regarding ninjutsu and genjutsu, if there was one thing that Lee could do, it was think on his feet. But no matter how he tried, what few blows he was able to land were shrugged off. Fatigued from the use of the Front Lotus, Lee was helpless as he gradually grew slower, unable to gain enough space to activate the other four gates.

Sasuke for his part, was doing his utmost to make sure that Lee did not have the opportunity to pull that turnip-planting maneuver again. Despite the new strength that the Cursed Seal afforded him, it did not give him enough endurance to take another Front Lotus. In the end, it turned out that his fears were unwarranted. Without being able to rejuvenate himself via the Second Gate, the Gate of Healing, Lee grew slower and weaker. While extremely powerful, the Front Lotus seemed to be a double-edged sword, harming the user almost as much as the victim. And worst of all, he hadn't been able to copy it with his Sharingan!

Letting the Cursed Seal recede as he stood over a knocked-out Lee, Sasuke locked his knees as the burst of vitality and power left him. Then again, what was said about the Front Lotus was almost as equally applicable to the Cursed Seal.

Ignoring the cheers of the crowd, Sasuke slowly passed the medics who were trotting across the pockmarked arena to cart Lee off to the infirmary.

OoOoO

Shikamaru didn't sigh when his name was called down to the arena, but it was close. In fact he weighed the pros and cons of simply admitting defeat right then and there, given the total lack of information he had on his opponent. Then again, if he did forfeit before ever throwing a punch, he would undoubtedly get an earful from his mother. And one of his goals was to become a chunin at some point. The sooner he was promoted the sooner he could retire.

Figuring that he could always forfeit partway through the fight if it really did become troublesome, he followed the Mist kunoichi he was to fight.

Despite his decision to half-ass the fight and then give up, he couldn't help himself but fight with his all after a small initial demonstration of Sora's prowess with Water Release ninjutsu. Summoning a persistent bank of thick enough to obscure vision beyond arm range and large enough to cover a significant portion of the arena in a day that was probably nearing the triple-digits was one hell of an impressive accomplishment.

While most fighters would find a technique that rendered all of his clan techniques all but useless frustrating, Shikamaru merely grinned. It had been a long time since he hand encountered a fighter that was able to shut him down so effectively, since his only true ninjutsu was the Shadow Imitation Technique. Usually he would rely on his teammates to disable his opponent once he had captured them, but that was not a viable strategy now.

While he may not look it, Shikamaru was quite accomplished at fighting hand to hand, and he found it quite easy to predict his opponents attacks from sound and the swirls of the fog. Dodging a Water Dragon Projectile while wondering absently if Sora had some sort of water-generating bloodline as it simply should not be possible to draw enough water out of the air for that technique without thinning her Hidden Mist Technique, yet she did. And she managed to follow her Water Dragon Projectile with a series of Water Bullets. Drawing a kunai, he met steel with steel when Sora fell on him, short-bladed kodachi first.

Exchanging a flurry of blows, Shikamaru was driven back by the weight of her assault, collecting a cut that nicked his cheekbone and a mouse on his temple from a strike from her pommel. Clearly possessing superior skill with edged weapons, Sora pressed her advantage as well as she was able.

Shikamaru parried a thrust aimed at his stomach and stepped in close where she could not bring her kodachi to bear, placing the point of his kunai just below her chin. "I don't have the opportunity to say this often, but I have genuinely enjoyed fighting you Kaiyou-san. Generally speaking, I find females to be nothing but sources of trouble for myself, but in this case, I would have to retract that statement. You have made this a victory that I will certainly remember."

Putting an expression of mock confusion on, she asked "you won? I would have thought that you would have realized that this is just a water clone?" Starting, Shikamaru drove his kunai into her jugular, only to be rewarded with an impromptu shower. Smiling in honest-to-God anticipation, he merely set himself for Sora's next attack.

OoOoO

Most of the audience groaned in irritation when Sora hid the fight from view with display of strength via her huge Hidden Mist Technique, the next twenty minutes were filled with quiet chatter as the spectators waited for something to watch aside from the slightly luminescent glow of the shifting fogbank and a series of loud twangs once.

Unfortunately for those hoping for an exciting fight, the 'fight' ended almost without notice. Abruptly, the fogbank started to dissipate, the chakra powering it having been cut off. After half a minute, those watching understood why. Sora sat on the ground in front of Shikamaru, bound with what appeared to be half a spool of ninja wire, gagged by what might have been a pair of womens underwear, but it was hard to tell behind all the wire. Nevertheless, Sora didn't seem to be too terribly perturbed by her situation, not even fighting overmuch when Shikamaru slung her over his shoulder and headed to the tunnel leading to the stairs that in turn lead to the fighters box.

OoOoO

Tenten's fight against Sakura was unexpectedly short. While Sakura had improved by leaps and bounds over the last month, was not expecting for Tenten's hand to dart to her belt and draw one of her pistols, holding it in both hands, peering down the barrel. "Once chance, Sakura-san. Forfeit now or I will put you down."

Now, Sakura had seen firearms used before, most notably in Wave, and knew that they were slightly more deadly as a kunai and shuriken, as there were few nin not capable of deflecting a thrown kunai or shuriken, but she had never heard of a nin capable of dodging bullets at point-blank range. Seeing as Tenten only was carrying two pistols (that she knew of, Tenten never having used the two smaller caliber pistols strapped to her ankle, let alone her derringers,) weighed her chances of getting a jutsu off before Tenten was able to squeeze off a shot.

"Alright, you have me. I don't have a chance of dodging a bullet at this range." Raising her hands in seeming surrender, Sakura rolled the dice. She stepped on the smoke bomb that she had palmed, simultaneously throwing herself into a forward roll, the crack of Tenten's pistol sounding loud in her ears, the pungent odor of the gunpowder clogging her nose, a sharp lance of pain exploding in her shoulder. Shoving the pain away for the moment, she followed her roll with a foot sweep, and Sakura could only wince as Tenten flipped over her, and out of the smoke, drawing her second pistol as she passed over her. But Tenten did not fire, not wanting to waste her shot.

Sakura's ninjutsu repertoire and taijutsu had not been the only things that had been improved upon since the mission to the Wave Country. As soon as Sakura was sure where Tenten was going to land, she formed a single tiger seal and directed her chakra into the earth below Tenten. But rather than looking worried when Tenten landed waist-deep in a small pit of mud, Tenten smirked.

"This level of earth manipulation will never work on me, you know. I guess you didn't know, but I am an earth type too. But that is irrelevant, as you are exactly where I want you. Bringing her pistol to bear, Tenten squeezed the trigger, the bullet dispelling the dust clone, much to Tenten's ire.

Growling in irritation, spun one hand around and slapped the surface of the mud, causing it to eject her and resolidify under her. "Okay, you know what Sakura-san, you are going down now. Do you have any idea how long it takes to make one of those cartridges?" Stabbing straight down into the ground with her katana, Tenten gave chase as Sakura fled via the Underground Fish Projection Technique. Reminding herself to thank Anko once again for teaching her the Sound of Earth Technique, Tenten hopped back when Sakura erupted from the soil, fist first.

While Kakashi had supervised Sasuke's training over the month between the Second and Final Exams, he had not left Sakura to her own devices. Calling in a favor from an old subordinate from his ANBU days, he had gotten Uzuki Yuugao to teach Sakura the basic tenants of her style of kenjutsu. Sakura was barely good enough to be classified as a novice, knowing enough to keep her from cutting her own foot off to otherwise seriously maiming herself, but had quick wrists and solid footing.

Drawing a scroll from a pouch, Sakura hurriedly bit her thumb and splashed the scroll she had opened in front of her with a few drops in sloppily, her wounded shoulder hampering her. Snatching the short blade from the air, Sakura slid her feet apart and brought her sheathed blade in a horizontal block. Tenten's longer katana bit through the thin wooden saya almost effortlessly before being halted by the sword itself. Exhaling lightly, Sakura lowered the tip of her blade, to the left and back, using the saya to drag Tenten's out of a possible guard position while simultaneously unsheathing her own blade. Sakura only knew a handful of attack routines, but she did know the follow-up move to that one and performed it almost before she knew what she was doing. Continuing the draw, Sakura's blade cut through Tenten so smoothly that Sakura might have been practicing against an imaginary opponent.

Both women froze, Sakura not quite believing what she had done, Tenten trying to figure what was causing the agonizing pain radiating from her guts. Tasting the blood that was rising in her throat, she coughed, dribbling blood down her chin. Slowly looking down, she blinked at the sight of where Sakura's sword had nearly eviscerated her. Looking up at Sakura again, she said one thing. "Damn..." Falling to her knees, and then to one side, she was fading out of consciousness as Genma pronounced Sakura the winner and Tenten was transported to the infirmary.

"I... I didn't mean to do that. I didn't want to hurt her like that."

Placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, Genma slid the discarded saya over Sakura's bloody sword and gave her a firm push to where the medics were waiting by the edge of the arena while whispering that everything was okay.

OoOoO

The remaining fighters gave Sakura a respectful nod as she dazedly entered the booth again, a thick gauze pad taped over her shoulder and arm in a sling. Team Nine was well known to specialize in kenjutsu and possessing considerable skill, so being able to defeat one of them at their own game was no easy feat.

Spying Naruto from the rail, Sakura quickly approached him, intent on telling him that she had not meant to stab Tenten like that.

"Sakura-chan, it is okay. I know that you didn't mean to hurt Tenten-chan like that, but that does not make your victory mean any less. You have to do whatever you have to win a fight, and that is exactly what you did. Nobody was expecting you to pull out a sword at the last second, least of all Tenten I would imagine." Clapping Sakura on the shoulder, Naruto smiled. "Congratulations Sakura-chan. I won't say I wish that Tenten-chan had won because I know you had to have worked your ass off over the last month to master that maneuver. You won today because you were the better fighter. That is it."

"Then... You aren't angry at me?"

"The better woman won today. I would be a bad friend to begrudge you your victory."

"Thank you Naruto-kun."

During their Academy years, Naruto had been the class clown, fighting hard with Shikamaru for the title of dead-last. He had been the ultimate prankster, and nobody had been safe from his machinations, except her. From an early age, he had taken a shine to her, and would occasionally ask her to hang out, and as they grew older, to go out on a date with him. She had rebuffed him at every opportunity, not really minding his constant attentions overmuch. While he could get annoying, she had always taken the chance to point out to Sasuke how her refusal to go out on a date with Naruto was proof of her devotion to him.

After graduation, she had not seen much of him, apart from the occasions when Team Nine had attacked them a few times, usually trying (and succeeding) to steal Kakashi's porn. She had seen him at Ichiraku's once or twice and every once in a while pass Team Nine on a D-rank, and never without Anko, Hinata or Tenten in his presence.

She had heard a few of the details surrounding his marriage to Hinata and a little less about how they got those strange swords. She had actually thanked Team Nine for beating her and her teammates so soundly in Wave because prior to their defeat, Kakashi had been a less than stellar instructor. However afterwards, he had seemed to take his duties far more seriously than he had before. He was still late to team meetings, but no more than by an hour and a half. Instead of telling the three of them to switch off sparring against one another, he actually taught them the strange amalgamation of various taijutsu styles he had assembled via his Sharingan.

Of course, Kiba and Sasuke had their clan styles, but she had nothing other than the basic Leaf taijutsu that every single Konoha ninja knew, and while it got the job done, she had never once been able to come anywhere near defeating her two teammates. She still wasn't anywhere near Sasuke's level, but she defeated Kiba with passing regularity.

Annoyingly enough, while Kakashi could come up with dozen ninjutsu to counter any situation they could posit, he only knew a measly five genjutsu: Bringer of Darkness, Genjutsu: Binding, Sly Mind Affect Technique, Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique and the Time Reversal Technique.

As soon as they had returned to Konoha, one of the first things he had done was test them for elemental affinities. Hers had been earth, so he had taught her the Earth Flow River, Rising Stone Spears, Split Earth Turn Around Palm, Underground Fish Projection and the Mud Clone.

After everything, she had to admit that she considered Naruto to be a friend, if not a particularly close one, although she wouldn't mind if he became one. Given how he was involved with both Hinata and Tenten, the thought that she would not have to deal with his unwanted romantic advances was helpful too.

She was glad that Naruto didn't seem to hold her accidentally wounding Tenten against her. Now she just hoped that Tenten wouldn't, although she wouldn't surprised if she did.

Her train of thought was interrupted however when the proctor called Kiba and Gaara down for the final match of the first round. But Naruto seemed to have gotten into a whispered argument with Kiba. Naruto was doing most of the speaking, with Kiba first shaking his head defiantly, but grew less so as Naruto continued to talk. Eventually Naruto told Kiba something that made him pale a bit. Nodding slowly to Naruto, Kiba walked to the rail.

"Hey Proctor, I want to forfeit!"

Looking up at him, he shouted back, "you sure?"

"Yeah, this guy is way too scary for me to deal with."

"Alright then, Fifth Match, winner, Sabaku no Gaara. With the conclusion of the First Round, we will have a short half-hour intermission before the start of the Second Round. Please place your bets for the next round with the men that will be circulating around now."

But as Genma switched the microphone off, what appeared to be many white feathers started drifting down from the sky. Those that the feathers settled on found their eyelids growing heavy.

Meanwhile up in the Kage's box, smirking from beneath his veil, Orochimaru-as-Kazekage threw the first blow.