Well, i hinted to a couple of you that there would be a surprise...and here it is! An update one day after the previous one! :) Once again, you can thank himeflye for the quick update. It's her birthday! So, sweety,here's another birthday present for you. 3

This chapter starts the third chuunin exam, the beginning of the end. First up? Naruto vs Neji, of course.

Warning- the fight is pretty close to the original, but there are some differences notably in dialogue since Naruto already knows the whole story and has been friends with Hinata for years. I also show that this Naruto is able to think a little faster than the canon Naruto at this point. Also, I put in a reconciliation scene a little earlier than I intended. Sometimes it just works like that.

Anyway, read and enjoy!

notice-ff style, disclaimer no jutsu!

Two weeks passed by for the chuunin finalists like two days. They trained intensely, honing their skills and preparing for their competition. Plans were made and lines were drawn yet most remained oblivious to the coming danger. One who knew was the Konoha shinobi, and proctor of the third exam, Hayate. Unfortunately, he found himself tied in a small room for most of that month. He had been defeated in battle by the Sand shinobi Baki, the leader of the Sand's genin team, after spying on him and Kabuto, whose loyalties were revealed to be to the Sound, rather than the Leaf village. It surprised him to discover he was being kept alive and well fed. In fact, the time had arrived for another meal.

"Breakfast time, proctor-san," the blond haired girl from Sand said as she walked into the small room with a tray of food. "The exams are today, you know." He spat at the ground after a small cough.

"And yet I won't be there to see them, will I?" Temari shook her head.

"No; we can't let you go just yet."

"Just yet?"

"Of course; we don't approve of what our village is doing, but we have to maintain appearances. We can't allow you to leave since you'd blow the whole thing and our seeming treachery would be revealed."

"Hmph." *cough* Temari looked at him in apology.

"I'm sorry, but that's just how things are. Konoha cannot know of the coming attack, but we've done as much as we can to foil it, and they already know that Orochimaru is here so they ought to be prepared anyway." She lifted a piece of sausage to him, which he refused to eat. She sighed.

"Again? Which part do you want me to eat to prove it's safe?"

"A bite on the third mark on each side, then take the fork into your mouth as well." She did as he asked without hesitation.

"See? No poison."

"Either that or you already took the antidote."

"Kankuro's the one who likes poisons, not me. I like a straight fight. I'll have that at the exam, I suppose. Just have to watch out for that Nara kid's shadow techniques." Hayate grunted as he went ahead and ate the sausage. "Of course, the match I'm really looking forward to is Naruto's. She seemed to have something against that Hyuuga kid, which is odd since she seemed to be friends with the other Hyuuga girl."

"Clan problems," he muttered.

"Really?"

"No secret there." Swallow. "The Hyuuga clan as a main family and a branch family. Hyuuga Hinata is the heir, and Hyuuga Neji is her cousin. His father was put into the branch family when they were children, and later died in his place. Hyuuga Neji took it hard and probably blames Hyuuga Hinata. If she and Naruto are friends, that's the bad blood."

"Hmm. Well, I hope she wins. Naruto's a special girl." *cough*

"As if you'd know."

"I do, actually, in more ways than one."

"Mmhmm."

"Well, I know about the fox inside her, for example, just like Gaara has the Shukaku," she informed him, much to his shock. So that's why he's so strong…

"But the only part about that that's impressive is her control over the beast, and her bright attitude despite it. No, what's really special about Naruto is her passion. She believes in things, with all her heart, and she won't stop until what she loves is safe. I can see that about her, and I want to make sure she's always able to fulfill her dreams." Hayate stared for several moments as Temari continued to feed him. For once he did have her inspect each morsel.

"Why? Why care about Naruto?" Temari smiled.

"That's between us and her, and whoever we feel like sharing to. I don't feel like sharing to you, sorry." She stood up.

"Well, once the fighting gets started you'll be released. I'll leave some food upstairs if you want to grab a sandwich or an apple before you join in."

"And why should I trust you?" Temari turned in the doorway.

"Because, through this whole ordeal, we have never once poisoned or questioned you. We are still loyal to sand, but we won't aid in the destruction of the leaf. Like my brother says: there's a loyalty that surpasses even the loyalty to your village, and that's the one to your friends."

"Good luck," she said, nodding to him and walking up the stairs.

An interesting philosophy. But still, why?

.

.

.

"Alright, you ready, Naruto?" The young girl nodded as the older man clapped a hand on her shoulder. "I thought so. Just remember what we talked about, and don't let your guard down. One misstep and he'll have you shut down, which isn't a good thing, even with your ace in the hole."

"Ah get off it, I'll be fine! I promised Hinata-chan I'd take Neji down, and that's what I'm gonna do! And Uzumaki Naruto doesn't go back on her word." Jiriaya smiled.

"Of course." He stood to his full height and waved as he walked off. "Do your best; I've got some sleuthing to do, like I told you." Naruto snorted.

"Yeah, pervy sage, sleuthing." She shook her head, knowing just what all went into the man's information gathering strategy but waved back to him anyway before turning around to look at the entryway to the arena. Inside she would have a chance to prove herself, but also, all the problems she'd been able to avoid the last month as she trained would resurface. Of course, Sasuke-kun would be there, too. She smiled. I think I can handle it, she decided, and walked in.

The atmosphere inside was completely different from outside. The tall walls confined the noise from the crowd that had been gathering for the last hour. Once the girl walked past the walls, the full barrage hit like a herd of oxen. The first moment deafened her, but her ears quickly adjusted as she spotted where the other contenders stood and made her way toward them.

"Hey, Kin! How are you?" Kin smiled as her friend approached the line of combatants, motioning to a spot on her side…away from the sand siblings. Temari and Kankuro waved to her but Gaara kept his reaction down to an annoyed eye twitch. "So, how'd your training go?"

"It was great! I'm gonna totally whoop everyone's butt! And yours?" Kin laughed.

"Don't think you'll have an easy time beating me! Remember, you have to beat my genjutsu before you can best me kid."

"Of course, you'll have to make it through your teammate and me before you can face Naruto," Kankuro said, speaking up. "I think we've established that you have a hard time beating my puppetry." Kin blushed.

"Well, it's not like I haven't left a few tricks up my sleeve for you, either." Naruto glared as the two gave a short verbal spar.

"Hey Naruto, glad to see you again. The old guy a good teacher?"

"What's it to you?" He held up his hands to ward off her anger.

"Hey, just trying to be civil here. I promise, though, it won't be as bad as it was in the prelims."

"What won't?" He glanced up at the stands.

"Despite him being here, Temari and I have figured out how to win without being too mean. We just need to make sure that our superiority is clear, and we'll be fine."

"Hmph!" Naruto crossed her arms and stuck her nose in the air. "Well, I still don't trust you anymore."

"That's…alright, I guess. Once the exam is over you won't see us anyway. Temari and I still want to keep in contact, but if you want, we'll let you be."

"And Gaara? What will you do about him?" Kankuro scratched his head.

"Still working on that, but Gaara's his own law, you know that. We just need to convince him you're better off here than in Suna." Naruto snorted.

"Fat chance of that!"

"It's a work in progress!"

"If you don't mind, we're going to start now," the new Procter said to them.

"Huh? But wait, where's Sasuke-kun? We can't start without him!" The hokage greeting the spectators as Naruto continued to talk to the proctor.

"Sorry, but we have to; these people don't want to be kept waiting."

"But he's one of the finalists!" The man shrugged.

"If he doesn't show up, he gets an automatic forfeit." Naruto's face clouded. Sasuke would have dragged his own body back to get to the match…and to me. Did something happen? She jerked her head up and looked angrily at the sand genin.

"Gaara! What did you do to Sasuke-kun!" The red head gave her a bored look.

"You toy was training last time I saw him. I still do not approve."

"Exactly! You and your stupid approval; you tried to bump Sasuke-kun off, didn't you?" His siblings looked at him in surprise.

"I suppose he might, at that," Kankuro said slowly.

"Yeah, but what about Naruto's promise? Gaara, did you do anything to Naruto's boyfriend, or didn't you." Gaara rolled his eyes.

"Sasuke is in perfect health. Nothing is keeping him from reaching the exam. Pity; I had hoped I'd get to kill him in the exam."

"Not on your life!"

"…"

"Alright, settle down. We're starting now," the proctor said, holding up a chart. You all remember who you're fighting? Good.

"This being the final test the rules are basically the same; win by knock-out or death. Just remember that if I say the match is over, it's over. I'll step in to stop you if I have to. Also, as you can see, the arena is different now than the one you fought in before, more varied. Use the terrain if you feel like

"First up, Hyuuga Neji and Uzumaki Naruto. Everyone else, go to the waiting area." Naruto grinned as she looked over at Neji while the others left. Naruto cracked her knuckles.

"Well, Neji, I've been waiting a long time for this fight, and this time Hinata won't be stopping me from kicking your trash." Neji flipped his hair as he fell into a jukken stance.

"Such things do not matter. You have been, are, and ever will be a looser. Every fight with me ends in your defeat, and it is your destiny to lose against me again this day."

"I've got a thing or two to tell you about destiny, jerk, and but I'll say this first," she declared, hand on her hip, finger pointing to him. "I make my own destiny!"

In the stands several people voiced their opinions on the match.

"She doesn't stand a chance against someone like him," Ino said to Sakura.

"This will be good," Kiba said to Hinata. She nodded, smiling as being able to sit relatively alone with her crush.

"Eh, she just got here on luck," said a chuunin sitting next to them.

"Yeah, so against someone like this Neji…"

"It's the end of the line." Kiba snorted.

"You, you're wrong," Hinata said quietly.

"Eh? Aren't you a Hyuuga, too?"

"Yeah, she is," Kiba said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "What of it?"

"I just would've thought she'd support her family."

"Naruto there is her best friend," he said, "and anyone who underestimates her pays the price. You think she can't beat a Hyuuga? Hinata here fought harder than I ever thought was possible, even better than a chuunin," he said, "and Naruto still managed to beat her. Place your bets, boys, but if you bet on Neji, you're gonna loose. Naruto's gonna win this match for Hinata here, and prove to that pompous jerk how special they both are."

While Hinata blushed at Kiba's speech, back in the arena Neji and Naruto had walked off some distance to stand ready for the match. The proctor looked back and forth, making sure they were ready.

"…begin!"

Naruto immediately called on two sets of clones. One charged Neji directly while the other aimed kunai and shuriken at him.

"Take this, teme!" Neji smirked as he prepared for the attack. He dodged the incoming projectiles and began to systematically take out the clones. She told Hinata she liked to be in the midst of the fight; that will be her down fall. If she is here now, I will defeat her quickly. If she is not, then she will assume I will continue to believe she is present in the attack, and then I take her out from where she really is, hanging back. Simpleton.

I can use this attack to test his limits on speed and flexibility, not to mention his dodging, then I can adjust my attacks. He'll probably think I'll revert to being in the crowd like I told Hinata I like to do, then he'll figure out I'm back here. I need to stay unpredictable, going back and forth for as long as it takes to defeat him.

In a matter of moments, and some careful dodging from Naruto when Neji got in close, Naruto's clones were all dispelled, and Naruto gained insight from their experience. Yes, he did assume I was in there. Everything strike made him use a decent amount of chakra. She smiled. And I have plenty more than he does.

"Why do you grin? You are a fool, with no chance at achieving your dream." Naruto laughed.

"Really? Are we going to go on this tirade again? 'Only a few become kage,' and 'you can't get it just by trying hard.' Blah blah, Neji, I've heard it all before. I'll show you my power yet, and even though I can shove a good bit of 'destiny' up your arse, I'll show you that what I achieve, I achieve through hard work!"

Naruto moved in to attack, this time joining in, though being careful to avoid his strikes. Now having a feel for his movement style, she was more easily able to avoid him, but he only landed a small number of strikes before making a break for her distraction clone. She grinned. Time to put the hurt in the dirt, she thought, preparing to dispel the jutsu and attack him in his over confidence. And I if I get it right, I'll be in his blind spot, too, she thought, jumping up in the air and he hit her clone, 'forcing' the rest to disappear.

"I told you, it is pointless to fight destiny."

"And I told you, my destiny is what I make it!" With that, 'Naruto' disappeared, giving Neji a split second to react. There!

"Agh!" Naruto fell back, landing hard on the ground. "Darn it, I could have sworn in I was in your blind spot!" Neji sent a quick glare to the stands. Weakling fool, giving out our weaknesses.

"Hmph. You right leg came into view; besides, it the 'blind' spot gets smaller and smaller the closer you get."

"Ugh," She said, getting up shakily. "Guess I should have thought of that."

"Too late now," Neji said, adopting a new stance and charging the girl. "You're within my divination." Naruto's eyes widened. Craaaaaaaaaap! Palm strike after palm strike hit her, shutting down her chakra system and causing intense pain, all the while Neji grinning at his victory. There was no way to stop her lose now. The final strike hit, and Naruto collapsed.

"Naruto, you can no longer stand, thanks to my attack. Does it hurt? It should. Now stay down, and realize your destiny, looser." He turned to the proctor. "This match is over." Naruto grinned.

"I told you, I'm not good at giving up," she said, forcing herself to stand. Neji stared. Impossible. "Besides, against someone like you, who belittles everyone around them, I have no forgiveness. I don't care what happened to you," she said as she looked him straight in the eye, "and I don't call it destiny. Main family, branch family, it doesn't matter. For the way you treat others, and the way you've always treated Hinata, I'm gonna win!" Neji's face screwed up in anger.

"Shut up! The main branch killed my father; born second his destiny, and mine, became what it is today, and now I where this cursed seal on forehead, the caged bird, with which I might be killed on a mere whim. Overcome that! Overcome a mark that everyone can see! Just try can figure out how to overcome being marked with something you can't help, and never be able to be rid of it!" To his anger, and surprise, Naruto began laughing heartily.

"A mark? Really? Heheheheh," she wiped the tears from her eyes. "You're not the only person who's special, and you have no idea what I've suffered from my mark. And you know what I have to say?" She stared at him, grinning almost maniacally.

"So what! Stop trying to get the pity play!" She looked at the stands. "Hinata's a member of the main family, and she's been my best friend for years. She's suffered from this just as much as you have. Still she's tried to change, to become stronger, and now that I've fought her, I can tell you myself that she's become stronger than she was. She may even be stronger than you," she said. "After all, I've had an easier time against you than I have her." Neji gave an uncharacteristic snarl of anger and moved in, hitting the girl full in the chest…and causing her to disappear. What? He looked around wildly.

"Told you; I just don't know when to quit," Naruto said, stepping out from behind a tree, holding her side. "I taught myself how to do a clone and substitute in the middle of battle, and your just weren't fast enough to stop me." Neji growled.

"Don't be a fool. Even now I can see your chakra, and I managed a dozen hits before you pulled off that technique. You couldn't do it again, and we both know it." The girl shrugged her shoulders.

"Maybe now, but then again, maybe I don't need to worry."

"Phaw, you're useless. You can't even fight in your condition." She grinned.

"Can't I?" She leaned against the tree and brought her hands together. Alright you ol' fox, rents come due! Neji looked on in confusion as Naruto gathered her chakra.

"Why? Why fight your destiny so much?"

"Isn't it obvious," she replied. "Because I was called a looser. HAAAAAAA!"

Im, impossible! Neji stared as the block part of Naruto chakra suddenly flooded open. It was almost like she had a second chakra system to reboot the first, and now it seemed to lay on top of it, much stronger than the original.

"Here I come!" Naruto shot off before Neji could even react, surprising him with her speed as she threw kunai after kunai at him. He was forced to use a new technique, the Hyuuga's heavenly rotation technique. It was supposed to be a technique for the main branch only, but Neji had studied them practicing it on his own as she came to understand it. You had to have a sufficient mastery of the gentle fist, then you could gain enough control to release chakra from several points in your body rather than just one, like most shinobi did. This was the limits of most shinobi's capabilities. A well talented Hyuuga could release chakra from all over their body, stopping an incoming attack and even allowing the Hyuuga to shoot the attack back, all while maintaining a rotation to make full use of the byakugan's sight, and with this ability Neji deflected the blondes attacks and tried to hit her, but she was too fast, and dodged every time.

I could keep this up, but that could take a while, she thought. Really, I want to end this quickly, but according to pervy-sage, that attack works just as well against short range as long. It would hit back on me…but what if… She grinned.

"Hey Neji, you like close combat, right!" She changed her course, heading straight for him. "Well, how's about this!" Their attacks exploded in a great cloud.

Naruto-chan! Thought Hinata.

Naruto! Sakura.

Come on Neji… Tenten.

The smoke cleared, revealing both genin in their own small crater, and Neji was already getting up.

"Fool," he said, coughing as he walked over to the girl. "You should have understood your place…what the-" He was unable to complete his sentence at Naruto exploded from the ground, hitting him square in the jaw, leaving him stunned.

"Fool, huh? Well take that," Naruto said, brushing dirt out of her hair almost carelessly.

"Hmm. Kage bushin. I should have thought you'd use your main technique." Naruto chuckled again.

"As you should well know, I failed the graduation exam three times. You know what made me fail most of the time? The clone technique. Sure, there were other factors too, but I have to face the fact that my clones suck. I just can hardly ever do it right, and most of the time." She curled her nose as she continued to inspect her hair. "This is gonna take forever to wash. Oh well. I beat you, and easier than I did Hinata-chan," she said, flinging her hair back. "So quit giving me this crap about destiny. After all, if loosers like Hinata-chan and I can change our destinies, it should be a problem for a guy like you." With that she walked away to cheers of the initially stunned crowd. She took it all in, waving at them all, accepting their praise for her, and for Hinata. Have to make sure I find her after the exam's over. Hope she doesn't get mad at how bad I beat him up, but I still say he deserved it.

I knew you couldn't do it, Naruto-chan.

Heh, told them she's surprise them. Of course, Kiba thought, looking next to him, she's not the only one that can surprise you, I suppose.

Whew, way to go, Naruto. But where's Sasuke?

Naruto...congratulations, my child. I knew you'd do well. I'll have to pass on my thanks to Jiriaya for her training. He did a good job.

Hmmm…this child is more intriguing than I thought. Perhaps she will become key…

…so, she is strong after all. Good. This will make thinsg easier.

"So, she did good, huh?" Temari nodded, smiling broadly.

"Yeah; Naruto did a great job. That was amazing. She may be even better at stragy than me."

"Nah, she isn't."

"But didn't you see-"

"That? That wasn't strategy; it was tactics. Surely you remember the difference Temari."

"Of course!"

"And strategy is much slower; it's planning way ahead, and usually before the battle. What Naruto did? She had no overall plan. It was all one tactic after another, new ideas layered on top of each other so smoothly you might almost have thought it was a strategy. No, our Naruto is a quick thinker, but she's no strategist."

"Hmmm…you may be right…oh, here she is!"

Sure enough, Naruto was walking up the stairs, already being greeted by Kin, who was congratulating her on a job well done. She was still smiling, and true to what she claimed, her body was dirty but didn't seem nearly as worn as when she fought Hinata.

"Hey, Naruto!" Naruto's smile froze.

"Eh? What?"

"We just wanted to congratulate you on the fight. It was brilliant."

"…thanks." Temari stepped away from the railing, towards Naruto.

"Naruto, I know you aren't happy with what we did in the prelims, but please, you said to Anko that you knew you could trust me. I know you're still not happy, and I don't blame you, but please…trust me, like you said you could. We just want you to be happy. Can't you let us be happy for you?" Naruto looked away for a moment.

"Why do you have to make it so hard…"

"Hard? Hard for what?"

"To be angry at you." She turned back to them. "I still think what you guys said is crap, and after this match exam is over I knew exactly who to talk to, the one person alive who can say for sure if you guys are full of crap or not, but…" she held out her hand, "but you're right; I know you believe it, and aren't lying from your view, so I'm fine being friends." Temari smiled and pushed right past the hand, giving Naruto a hug.

"Thank-you," she whispered, crying into her shoulder. "I couldn't have stood it if we left and you still hated us." She pulled back as Naruto tried to deal with the akward situation, Kin watching carefully from behind her. "That was a great job, Naruto. Keep that up and you'll win today." Naruto smiled.

"You know it." She looked around. "Hey, isn't Gaara and Sasuke's match next?" Kankuro grimaced.

"They haven't announced the next match yet, but Sasuke still hasn't shown…"

Sasuke…

.

.

.

"Hokage-sama, we can't find Kakashi or Sasuke anyway. Since we still have Orochimaru to worry about, perhaps it would be best if we just disqualify him and get on with the exam. The crowd is getting restless anyway." The hokage sighed. Naruto would not be happy with him. Girls got like that when you disqualified their boyfriends. He still remembered Kushina's wrath.

"Very well, tell them-"

"Excuse, Hokage-san, but I may have an alternate idea. It may be best for all parties if instead…

Sarutobi leaned forward as the Kazekage put forth his idea.

In my last update, i said in the closing A/N, "Okay, so that's what happens here. Naruto gets an early update, kind of like you guys. " Now I can tell you that I wasn't referring to that update. I was hinting to this one. Anyway, hope ya'll didn't mind the fight. Although the fight was pretty canon, I wasn't to stress that Naruto had a MUCH easier time here than in the main story. I tried to stress that in the chapter, but I wanted to make it clear here, if no where else, that she was stronger. I decided that their own styles for fighting would probably end up with the fight being close to the same, but with the differences I put in. Let me know what you thought. It may change future fights. Of course, the other fights will be TemShika, GarraSasu, ShinoKin, KankuTen, and K/T winner vs Dosu. Several non-canon fights, and Kankuro won't back down this time. Last time he opted out because of the invasion. Well, this time he doesn't approve. Still, two relatively canon fights, and one between the older brother and the boyfriend! Ooooooo... O.O So, let me know what you thought of my execution of this fight.

Again, if I haven't asked enough, please review and tell me what you think. Take care till next time!

~CaptainFlye

ps- and happy birthday again, Hime. 3 :3