Naruto looked at him and growled. He wanted him to hurt. But it wouldn't do to totally decimate him. No, he wanted Neji to realize just how he never stood a chance before he died. He ran forward, ignoring the pain in his side. Neji entered a stance and then when Naruto was about to hit him, he struck. "Eight Trigrams of Divination: Sixty Four Palms!" He hit Naruto in the hand and continued from there. "Two Palms...Four Palm...Eight Palms...Sixteen Palms...Thirty Two Palms...Sixty Four Palms!" Naruto stumbled backwards and nearly fell to his knees.

"See, you never stood a chance. You were fated to lose the moment I was decided to be your opponent."

"Shut the hell up," Naruto growled. He straightened up again. "You know nothing about Fate because there is none!" His hands flashed through several handsigns. "Hyourou no Jutsu!" He slammed a hand down on the ground. If Neji expected nothing to happen, he was sadly mistaken. Ice lanced from his hand along the ground. It hit Neji and encased him in ice. "The only verdict is vengeance. A vendetta, held in votive, not in vain." He pulled the Shadow Keiri off his back again and jump. He fell, swinging the sword in an overhead chop.

Once the blade started to crack the ice, Neji used his chakra to break the rest of it and escape death. "Cough, cough. How can you still use chakra!?"

"Why don't you use those all seeing eyes of yours to find out?"

Neji looked and he saw that the only point he actually hit Naruto on was his palm with his first attack. "How? I know I hit you!"

Naruto removed his glove and showed him. A bruise went through his hand. "We used our hand to block each strike." He put it back on before he ran at Neji and caught his hands in his wounded one. "Now, you will die." His free hand came up and made what looked like a handsign. Followed by several others. "Makyou Houshou no Jutsu!" The ice reshaped into mirrors in the shape of a dome. "We have been practicing day and night to be able to do this." He kicked Neji, making him let go of his hand. "Now, like I promised, you won't even see your death coming."

He turned his back on Neji and walked to the closest mirror. "Don't ignore me," Neji yelled at him while he went to attack him. But Naruto was no longer there. He saw his reflection in the mirror but no where else. Not even his Byakugan could find him. "Konoha's most secret and most ancient technique: A THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH!" Naruto's right mask eye glinted evilly as he punished the wicked. Neji flew and hit several mirrors while Naruto jumped back in them. Neji fell back down in the center, scowling and holding his ass as he stood up.

The images on the mirrors all grabbed the Shadow Keiri. Before Neji was suddenly covered in blood and he fell to the floor. Naruto walked out of the mirrors and stood above him.

"Hurts, doesn't it? Seeing that you never stood a chance. Being shown how weak you are. We never cared about you before we came to care about Hinata-chan because you never made us. But the moment we did and you insulted Hinata-chan, glad about her pain, that changed. Now..." Naruto flipped the blade around so that it was positioned over his throat, "in this moment of great weakness, you meet the crossroads. The first is where you tell us screw you. You die. The second is where you admit you were wrong. You die anyway but you go to heaven with a clear conscious."

"Cough. I am calling the match," Hayate told him. Naruto never moved, he was still waiting for Neji's answer. "Lower... Put away your sword."

"What will it be, Neji?"

"NARUTO," Kakashi shouted.

Neji looked up and saw his hands never shook, positioned as they were. He was ready to kill him once he said something. So he kept quiet.

"I am ordering you to..." Naruto flipped the sword back up and slammed the butt of it into Neji's head. "To not kill him. Get up here," Kakashi told him.

"We am going to check on Hinata-chan. Proctor, we got lost in the heat of the battle. If we are disqualified than so be it." Naruto discarded his sword, leaving the medics to collect Neji.

"Hokage-sama, I apologize. He normally acts better than this."

"I know, Kakashi. He has had a trying few days. Hayate, don't disqualify him. He didn't kill him."

"Hai, Hokage-sama. But if he does something like that in the Third exam, I will."

"Agreed," Sarutobi said to him. He turned back to Kakashi. "Where did he learn ice jutsu? As far as I know, only you can use them and only with the help of the Sharigan."

"I don't know. I was watching him use those and I couldn't copy them."

"Kekkei Genkai," the Hokage realized. "Just how many aspects does he have?"

—oo000oo—

Naruto watched as the tube drained the blood while they prayed that would be enough until her other lung began working again. Because as it looked, she would die. If she did, Naruto would kill Gaara.

"Naruto-kun," Haku said as she came up behind him. "What are her chances?"

"...Slim." The world's sadness were in his eyes. "And we couldn't protect her. We thought that maybe Venom could give her a symbiont but he can't produce them at will. What about Serum? Can he..."

"No, Naruto-kun, we are not ready to." She produced the barest sliver of Serum and pressed it into Venom. His healing abilities were increased and the bones in his rib mended back together.

"...How did you do that," Naruto asked.

"Venom can absorb the abilities of other symbiotes. We just produced one like you showed us and gave it to Venom to adsorb and heal your wound."

"...Come on!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the room. Venom didn't need to spawn an offspring. He flooded his chakra into Venom to produce another one. It was still the same one except it was half as big as the original. "Haku-chan, produce a symbiont that is bigger." She did and Naruto pressed the two together and watched. They seemed to fight each other and neither won. It changed to blue with black highlights. "Please work." He set the new symbiont down on Hinata. It set itself under her clothing.

Hinata's heart rate sped up to the point that the alarm went off but it stopped after a moment. Naruto was still afraid until he saw her chest rise and fall before she began to gag on the tube. "She is awake," he said to the medics that were rushed to the room. "Get that thing out of her before she chokes!"

They took it out and turned her on her side. They checked her respiratory system. "She is fine. The wound is still closed and her lung is working again. She is coughing the blood out now."

Naruto let out the breath he had been holding. "So she will be fine?"

"She already is," the medic told him.

"Naruto-kun, what happened?"

"You are fine, Hinata-chan. We are right here. We fought Neji and won, Hinata-chan."

"You...Y-You didn't k-kill him, d-did you?"

"No," Naruto replied. "The match ended before we could."

Hinata coughed a few times and blood came out her mouth. "W-We're glad. Neji-niisan w-wasn't always m-mean. He a-actually comforted us wh-when our mother d-died."

"But he hurt you so much growing up," Naruto reminded.

"B-Because he m-misses his father. We n-never hated h-him for it."

"...We came very close to killed him. He has many wounds." Naruto looked at the hand he caught all his attacks with. "We crushed him like he did you Hinata-chan. We felt it was what he deserved. Showed him that it is never fate."

"You sh-shouldn't have." She looked over behind her to the door as the finished setting Neji down. He had a bruise on his head and cuts everywhere. The worst being the one on his side. "N-Neji-niisan, w-will you be alright?"

"I will be," he replied coldly. Naruto clenched his fist in anger at him. Haku walked over to him.

"You listen and listen well," Haku growled, poking him over one of his stitched up wounds, making him grimace. "You will speak kindly to her. Naruto told her he fought you and she said she was glad he didn't kill you. That you don't deserve to be punished for what you have done to her." She almost growled. "We think you do. But it is Hinata's choice."

Naruto looked back at Hinata. "Ready to leave here, Hinata-chan?"

"Yes," she said. "Can you help us up, Naruto-kun?" Naruto picked her up and set her on her feet. "Neji-niisan, get better soon, please." Naruto walked her out of the room.

Haku looked at her then back at him with a glare. She really did like Hinata. She had so much potential and would be strong if people like him and her father had just encouraged her instead of belittle her. "We hope it hurt," she said to him before leaving. She walked back out into the hallway. "Naruto-kun, Hinata-chan, we need to head back because we are watching a prisoner. So we will see you later."

"Okay, bye Haku-chan," Naruto said to her before giving her a kiss goodbye.

"Bye, Haku-neesan." Hinata gave Haku a hug before she left. Naruto walked Hinata to the arena to watched the last matches. People tensed when they first saw him but relaxed when they saw him smiling at Hinata.

"Both Kiba and Shino pass," Naruto told her. "Sasuke did as well, of course. Both Sakura and Ino lost, double knockout. Lee won, Tenten lost."

Kurenai jumped down there to them. "Hinata, should you be walking yet?"

"We hurt a little but we're given the okay to leave."

She nodded. "Naruto, the last match just finished. Hayate was about to pull your number."

Naruto nodded and ran to the center. "Uzumaki Naruto, present."

"Your number is three," Hayate told him. "Take a look at this board. This is the order the third exam being held in a month will take." Sasuke, Lee was the first match. Naruto, Gaara was the second. Kiba, Shikamaru was third. Shino, Temari was forth and final. "You are being given a month to not only train but also allow delegates to arrive." Once everything had been explained, Naruto walked to Hinata.

"Hinata-chan, we need to explain something to you."

"Okay." Naruto walked out of there tower and out into the forest. Hinata was surprised that she had no trouble keeping up. "Naruto-kun, what is it you need to tell us?"

"...Hinata, we changed you."

"What do you mean?"

"Can't you feel it? The sense of everything around you? Something in the back of your mind watching you and the world through your eyes?" Hinata slowly nodded. "Our Kekkei Genkai isn't a Kekkei Genkai as you know it. These clothes are not clothes. They are a symbiont. One that has bonded with us. Haku-chan has one as well. And we were able to create one for you."

Hinata blinked at him a few times. "You mean we are no longer Hyuuga Hinata?"

"No. We are still Uzumaki Naruto just like Haku is still Haku. But you are also more than who you were. Listen, ask who is there and it will tell you."

Hinata nodded and closed her eyes. 'Hello?' A reply came. "...She said her name is Truth. That she both hurts and heals."

"Your symbiont was created by a skill our symbiont knows. A clone like our Kage Bunshin. We combined it with a clone of Serum, Haku's symbiont and it took on a life of its own.

"...She can become our clothes like your's?"

"Yes." Hinata discarded her ruined coat and went behind a tree. Her shirt, pants, and shoes were likewise tossed away and she came out. Her symbiont took on a sneaking suit like ninja once wore a long time ago. It was a blue with the secondary color as black. She wore a mess shirt and pants just above her skin that went along her arms and legs to her hands and feet. Above that, she wore the body suit. It clung tightly to her figure, hiding nothing unlike her coat which hid everything. The bottom half of her face was covered by a mask. The symbiont had hardened over her forearms and legs into armor. She also wore the signature gloves of a host, blue with a black square on the back. Her grieves made no sound as she move. She was dress for ease of movement but it also showed off her figure without coming off like a hooker. "How do we look, Naruto-kun? Naruto-kun!" He got a nosebleed that sent him into a tree.

—oo000oo—

"Relax, just breath," Naruto told Hinata later that day. "Now, feel around you through Truth." Naruto had vanished and left it up to Hinata to find him. She focused, her Byakugan still not activated. Truth would have smiled if she had a mouth, she liked this host. "Now," he said to her, his voice coming from nowhere specific, "find me."

Hinata opened her eyes and looked around. She was used to fighting in the 2-d. But they were still in the Forest of Death, and this was Naruto. He fought in the 3-d. He was likely above her or maybe even below her. She stood and took a deep breath. She could smell his scent. She saw where he jumped from. This was how Naruto was never caught off guard. But she needed to know something. 'Truth, are we worthy of your strength?' Her answer was that Naruto wouldn't have saved her if she wasn't.

She closed her eyes again and did what Naruto had told her to earlier. In time, her senses would always do this. But for now, she needed focus. ...A shift of a branch, a bug moving because of shifting wind... He is there! She shot a web into the trees and pulled herself up. 'No, Naruto-kun said to do smooth, precise movements, not slow awkward ones like a normal person would do.'

She swung her body around the tree and let go, jumping to another tree. She landed on it, her fingers and toes the only thing touching, and jumped up to the branch. She caught it and spun, landing with her feet on the end of it. And walked back to the tree trunk and ran to the end. She dived off and caught a tree with her web. She swung, reaching the end of her swing, and let go. She flew through the air, twisting to avoid branches and landed on a bigger one. Her hand pushed the air in front of her, hitting something solid, against the tree. Naruto's head appeared as he pulled down his mask, followed by the rest of his body.

He was smiling. "Good, Hinata-chan, you did perfect. Truth will augment your Byakugan as well. Activate it."

Hinata nodded and did. And she was amazed. She didn't even mean too but she saw all around her. Including the blind spot! And it wasn't just she could look around her one spot at a time like she used to. She saw all around her all at once for several miles.

"Naruto-kun...this is amazing!" She hugged him. "We have never felt like this before! Like there is nothing we can't do!" What more, her perspective changed on the world. Now she understood what Naruto meant when he called this forest beautiful. Drops hundreds of feet long, creatures that would hunt them, near impossible places to get through, it was a playground to her and him!

"Let's head back to the village and say hi to Haku-chan... Oh, here." Naruto took out the remaining piece of chakra paper he had. "Truth gives you water element chakra. Let's see what your natural chakra is." Hinata took it, removed her gloves, and channeled chakra into it. The edges got wet but the main of it turned to dust. "Hmm, You already had water but now, with Truth, it is as powerful as your main element. Earth. We wonder if there is an element that combines those two."

"...What do you mean, Naruto-kun?"

"By combining my wind and water elements, we have a third element. Ice. Haku has the same ability. But as you have earth instead of wind, you won't have it."

"...Ano, I think I know. Remember history at the academy about the First?"

"Yes, he had the Wood element..." Naruto smiled. "Wood?"

Hinata nodded her head excitedly. "Iruka-sensei mentioned he not only controlled the trees, he had strength in using both water and earth."

Naruto was happy at how excited she was. She seemed to be living off her adrenaline rush that kept her from stuttering. "We'll come here to play later with Haku-chan. Let's go."

—oo000oo—

Naruto and Hinata got to his home to find Haku was talking with Kin. "...Haku-chan, what is she doing here?"

"The Hokage told us to watch over her. At guard her as much as protect her."

Naruto nodded. "She been causing trouble?"

"No, too afraid of being sent back to her village."

"Stop talking like I'm not here," she growled to them.

Naruto looked her up and down, remembering the pain she caused him. Before he shrugged. "Well, you behave and we don't care if you stay here. Are you sharing the room with Haku-chan?"

"Yes."

"We'll keep it that way. Haku-chan, if you can find the time, can you help Hinata-chan train some? We am going to be busy."

"We can."

Hinata bowed to her. "Thank you, Haku-neesan."

—oo000oo—

"Naruto," Kakashi said to him when he next saw him, "I have been considering it and I realized I am not the best person to be training you over this next month."

Naruto frowned but knew he was right. "So who will be training us, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Believe it or not, the proctor, Hayate." Kakashi was smiling under his mask. He knew Hayate well through Yuugao and believe he could sharpened Naruto's rough style into a real dance.

"Is he aloud to do that," Naruto asked.

"Dobe, just accept it," Sasuke said to him. As he shifted, one could barely hear the clink of a bell. The chakra was gone from it so it was nothing more than a bell and didn't hurt Naruto. But Sasuke knew he had to learned otherwise. Naruto was his second match, he didn't doubt that for a second. Naruto couldn't be read as long as he fought with the Enmu no Jutsu. So he needed a counter balance. Even if it just ruined his extreme senses and slowed his reaction.

Naruto smiled at Sasuke. "Make sure you learn as much as you can, Sasuke. We can't wait until we fight you."

Sasuke smirked and nodded. He was looking forward to it as well.

"Meet Hayate at the dojo at the hot springs. I told him of your desire to also learn how to water walk."

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei. Sakura-chan, you make sure you learn something as well. Just because you didn't get to the finals, doesn't mean you can slack off. We swear we will give you to Haku-chan to train if you do." He turned around and walked off, waving behind him as he did.

"...What a goof," Sakura said, smiling as she did.

"Sakura-chan!" Sakura stepped out of the way for the train known as Rock Lee. "I came to give you this!" He held in his hand a hair pin with several sakura petals on it. "The most youthful Naruto told me these are your favorite flower and that you have been trying to think of something to keep your hair from getting in the way while you train and are on missions!"

Sakura laughed. Lee wasn't a bad guy. He just dressed bad. And every day since they met, he had been trying to get her to notice him. She was over her crush on Sasuke. She still thought he was cool but she wasn't the same blind little girl. She actually told Ino when the entered room three oh one that she could have Sasuke if she could get him to like her.

"Thank you, Lee. But I'm not going out on a date with you." Being a woman, one oh one, play hard to get.

"Yosh! Then I shall strive harder and ask again tomorrow!" He bowed to her before he ran off.

"...And so the azure beast has once again failing in its mating ritual. But, undeterred, it goes in search of greater strength to impress its chosen mate," Sasuke said as he watched the dust clear. Sakura and Kakashi were thrown off balance and their eyes were as wide as they could get. "What? I can't make a joke?"

—oo000oo—

Naruto came to the hot springs and found Hayate waiting for him. "Good morning, Hayate-san."

"Cough. Good morning, Naruto. I was, cough, impressed by your skill with the blade. But I noticed you were not, cough, using a style, just swinging it around, cough, while dodging attacks. Kakashi explained to, cough, me that you have enhanced reflexes that surpass, cough, normal humans and even that of ninja. Cough. So I think I will not be teaching a style but certain moves. Create a katana. Cough."

Naruto nodded and a shadow katana formed in his hands. "What shall we be learning, sensei?"

"You specialize in, cough, assassination skills so we will start with where to, cough, strike instead of just attacking, cough, the body where ever you can. You know, cough, the eight points. Now we shall focus the disable points."

Naruto spent the rest of the day going over these points and striking a clone Hayate made. This continued until he could strike a point with pin point precision. With two weeks left, Hayate told him to stop his practice on the clone. "Naruto, I am going to show you a new attack I want you to learn. Dance of the Crescent Moon. Stand right there and don't move a hair." Hayate drew his sword and made a single handsign. Several clones appeared and set off his spider sense. While the real Hayate jumped up and came down behind Naruto, the tip of his sword touching his shoulder.

"This is my best attack. As you can see, it is simple but effective. The Fourth was the one who originally came up with the idea but lacked the skill to finish it before he died. I finished it in his place. It is right that you know it as well."

"...Because he died to seal the fox in us?"

"...I can't say, Naruto. And few actually know. But trust me on this. You will find it useful. Now, do it." He created the practice clone and stepped back. Naruto, holding his sword in one hand, made a one handed handsign and the clones appeared. He found that that his body was almost carried on a jutsu as he jumped. It was more than just kenjutsu. He came back down and cut the clone in half.

"Perfect," Hayate told him. "Now with the zanbatou you are so fond of."

—oo000oo—

Naruto came there the next day, having forgotten that Hayate-sensei had finished his training. He got there and didn't see Hayate. But he did see someone looking through a hole in the wall. "...Perverts," Naruto growled. The guy was lucky Haku-chan was not on the other side. "Stop looking over there."

The guy looked at him and said, "Buzz off." A shadow shuriken flew into the wall, just touching his nose. "You really have no idea, kid."

"Neither do you, pervert."

"I am not a pervert," he said calmly. "I am a mega pervert!"

"And if our girlfriends were on the other side, you would be a dead mega pervert."

"Girlfriends? As in plural?"

"Yes, though what business of your's is it?"

"Kid, you are inspiration of my next book!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "We're honored."

"You should be! Summoning no jutsu!" A toad appeared under him. "I am the Sage of Toad Mountain! Lover of women everywhere! Author of a world famous book! The Toad Sannin, Jiriaya!" Now he had Naruto's attention.

"Okay...maybe you wouldn't be dead."

"Ah, so you have heard of me," Jiriaya said, proudly.

"We am Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto said, bowing to him. "...Can you do us a favor? Sign this." Naruto held out one of his books, gold edition Icha Icha Limit. "We were planning on holding this over our sensei's head and torture him with it and that will make it all the more sweeter."

Jiriaya laughed as he took his pen and autographed the cover. "...Naruto...I wrote a character by that name. I think I heard about you even. Beat the hell out of a Hyuuga, didn't you?"

Naruto smiled. "We did."

"...Uzumaki...mostly clan less, right?"

"Except for a distant cousin that moved here. But she doesn't know who our parents are either."

"Really?"

"Really. Haku-chan, my girlfriend."

Jiriaya rubbed his cheeks. He really wished now he knew more about the Uzumaki. But almost no one does anymore. "Well, tell you what. I think I will train you."

"Sorry, we are waiting for our sensei. He is teaching us sword skills."

"The sword is outdated, kiddo. You would be better off learning..."

"Enmu no Jutsu." Naruto vanished except his spider. "Dance of the Crescent Moon." That spider became several as they all ran at Jiriaya with a sword. He tried to stop them but they just passed by him. The next thing he knew, something was touching his neck and the darkness lifted. A zanbatou like the one that belong to the new Mizukage was positioned with his head through the hole at the end.

"You were saying?"

"...Well shit."

—oo000oo—

Naruto trained to walk on water until Hayate-sensei arrived. It was after he fell the third time he remembered. "...So now what do we do?" A spark came to mind. "Jiriaya-sama, there is something you should know. Orochimaru wants my teammate dead."

"What!? Who is he!?"

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"...The Sharigan. Thanks kid. I got to thank you for that info. How would you like to be able to summon the toads like I can."

"We are a quick strike attacker. But from what we have heard, your toads are...heavy attackers, able to give and take massive damage. They would not suit us."

"...Something else then." He pulled a scroll from his pocket and unrolled it for about a foot. There were five seals. "Raven...Tiger...Hare...Wolf...Shark. What are those?"

"They are summoning scrolls I have come across during my travels. Some I found in a long defeated keep or such, others on ninja that have fought me and lost. I want you to sign the Toad contract. And you should as you could end up fighting on a battlefield where they will be most handy. But that doesn't mean you can't also summon another another. So, which will it be?"

—oo000oo—

Author's notes. I know spiders were expected but the are more of stasis attacks from what I observed from Kidomaru. Naruto, of course, prefers not to play with his food and kill them quickly. Neji being the exception. It just wouldn't fit. So, those are the choices. Have at it.

See ya, space cowboy.