Naruto of the Homunculus
Chapter 16
Alright! Its time for the first battle of the Chunin Exam Second Stage! In this corner, we have the fate obsessed, stick in his ass Hyuuga, Neji! In the other corner, the Alchemist Shinobi of the Homunculus, Naruto! Let's get ready to RUMBLE!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Naruto glared across the arena at Neji, "I'll give you one chance to back out."
"You don't seem to understand," said Neji, "fate has decided my victory. You will not beat me, failure."
"For someone with the Byakugan, you're really blind," said Naruto, "why don't you use those famous eyes of yours and see what's you're facing."
Neji scowled and activated his Byakugan, before gasping at what he saw. Instead of a standard chakra network in Naruto, he saw a red core with veins running out of it that extended through his body. Neji couldn't see any ounce of chakra in his opponent whatsoever.
"What are you?" asked Neji.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze!" said Naruto, "And I'm the one who's going to kick your ass."
Naruto clapped his hands, causing Neji's eyes to widen. Using his Byakugan, he saw a spark of energy travel through Naruto's hands as if clapping them together turned them into a sort of conduit. Neji then had to dodge out of the way as Naruto slammed his hands into the ground, causing stone spikes to shoot out of the ground under his feet.
"I see," said Neji, "that strange energy within you allows you to use Jutsu."
"Sorry, guess again," said Naruto.
"But that was an Earth Style Jutsu!" said Neji.
"Nope," said Naruto, "It wasn't Jutsu. It was Alchemy!"
"Whatever it was," said Neji, "it won't change your fate!"
Naruto rushed at Neji, but he received a Gentle Fist strike to the heart for his troubles that sent him to his knees.
"Pathetic," said Neji, "you may not have chakra points, but I can still stop your heart."
"Like that would stop me," said Naruto as he got to his feet with a red energy arcing over his chest, "I told you, I'm gonna kick your ass!"
Naruto clapped his hands again and slammed them into the ground, creating a pillar of stone out of the ground that shot at Neji, but the young Hyuuga simply dodged out of the way and aimed several more strikes at Naruto's vitals. The blond was barely able to activate his Ultimate Eye and dodge in time. Naruto frowned and got into a basic Strong Fist stance that he had learned from Guy and Lee, causing Neji to smirk.
"I see you've been training with my sensei," said Neji, "no matter, you won't beat my Gentle Fist."
"We'll see about that," said Naruto as he charged forward.
Naruto and Neji began to trade blows, with Naruto's healing factor healing any damage that Neji's Gentle Fist strikes did to him, while his strikes were powerful enough to cause significant pain to Neji when they connected.
"You're pretty good," said Naruto as they broke apart.
Neji just glared at him and rubbed his sore arms. It was like sparing with Lee when the spandex wearing Genin wasn't holding back and had several gates open. Sure Naruto wasn't as fast as Lee was, but he definitely hit harder than his youth obsessed teammate. Add in the fact that his opponent had picked up some tricks from his sensei, led to the blond being a tougher opponent than he had anticipated. Naruto charged at Neji and the Hyuuga decided that it was time to stop playing nice. Expelling chakra from his body, he began to spin, creating a dome of spinning chakra around his body that sent Naruto flying back.
xXsceneXx
In the stands, Hiashi and his daughter, Hanabi, watched in shock as Neji fought Naruto.
"Father," said Hanabi, "was that…?"
"Indeed," said Hiashi, "that was the Main Branch's technique: Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation. To think he was able to figure it out without instruction. He truly is a genius, but his hatred and belief in fate will be his downfall."
"What do you mean?" asked Hanabi.
"The child he is fighting, he has the strange ability to bring out the hidden potential in people," said Hisashi, "you've seen the change in your sister. It was because of him."
Hanabi's eyes widened and she watched the battle with greater interest.
xXsceneXx
"Damn," said Naruto as he got to his feet, "looks like you still had some tricks. Good thing I do too."
"What could you possible have that could counter the Hyuuga's ultimate defense?" asked Neji.
Naruto simply smirked and activated his Ultimate Shield, "I have my own Ultimate Defense. Let's test my defense against yours!"
Naruto charged again, but this time, when Neji used his Rotation, Naruto slammed his fist into the spinning shield, pouring all of his strength into the punch. Naruto's fist ground against the spinning barrier of chakra, but his Homunculus strength pulled through and the punch sent the barrier and Neji flying into the far wall of the arena.
'Damnit,' thought Neji, 'from the force of that blow, I'd say he's stronger than Guy-sensei when he has several gates open. That means he's been holding back all this time! How can he be this strong without Chakra I…!'
The Hyuuga was knocked out of his thoughts when he saw Naruto rushing at with a fist cocked back. He quickly pulled himself out of the hole in the wall and was just in time to avoid Naruto's punch, which smashed into the stone.
"Enough!" said Neji as he got into a stance, "I'm ending this! Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"
Neji slammed two gentle fist strikes into Naruto's heart, "Two Palms!"
Four more strikes hit two to his heart and two to his kidneys, "Four Palms!"
Eight more struck, hitting his liver along with the other points, "Eight Palms!"
Sixteen strikes hit this time, hitting all the previous points and Naruto's floating ribs, "Sixteen Palms!"
Next came thirty-two strikes, adding the solar plexus as a target, "Thirty-Two Palms!"
Finally, Neji slammed Naruto with sixty-four strikes, hitting his throat and carotid artery along with the other points, "Sixty-Four Palms!"
Naruto staggered back, but remained standing, surprising the Hyuuga prodigy.
"I told you," said Naruto, "I'm not going to lose here"
"Impossible," said Neji, "you shouldn't be able to stand!"
"I guess my fate isn't set in stone after all," said Naruto.
Naruto then smirked and grabbed Neji, "Here's something you might recognize."
Naruto Hurled Neji into the air before jumping up after him and grabbing the Hyuuga in a powerful bear hug. Naruto then sent the two of them spinning down toward the arena floor headfirst.
"Primary Lotus!"
The two of them slammed into the ground, creating a small crater and a large dust cloud. When the smoke cleared, Naruto was standing tall over an unconscious Neji with a smile on his face.
"Neji Hyuuga is unable to continue," said Genma, "Winner: Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze."
Naruto smiled as he looked out at the audience. The people were all silent, shocked that the Dead Last had managed to beat the Hyuuga Prodigy. Many of them still held animosity for Naruto because of the Kyuubi and were unsure what to think.
Suddenly a sound broke through the silence. Naruto turned and saw that Iruka has stood to his feet and begun to applaud. Slowly but surely more of the Shinobi began to rise and applaud until the entire Shinobi population (minus the advisors to the Hokage) were cheering for Naruto as he walked out of the arena.
xXsceneXx
In the stands, the Jonin-senseis were discussing the match.
"You taught him the Lotus?" Kakashi asked Guy seriously.
"Indeed," said Guy, "Naruto's Youth burns strong and he may be the best suited person to use that technique."
"But Naruto can't use chakra," said Asuma, "he said so himself."
"So that's what you did," said Kakashi in realization.
"Care to explain?" asked Kurenai.
"Naruto doesn't need to open the Eight Inner Gates," said Kakashi, "his own natural strength would be enough if he trained his agility and reflexes enough. Add in his other abilities, and he could use the Lotus without any of the Negative side effects."
"So who would win?" asked Asuma, "Naruto, or any of us?"
"That is a difficult question," said Guy seriously, "truly we have superior experience and knowledge, but he is learning quickly."
"Indeed," said Kakashi, "he's learning to take advantage of his techniques. Also, did you notice? Even after using his ultimate defense, he was still holding back."
"What do you mean?" asked Kurenai, "What more does he have?"
"That question can be answered if you look on his back," said Guy.
"His back?" said Kurenai.
"You mean…?" said Asuma.
"That's right," said Kakashi, "those swords aren't for show. He knows how to use them with deadly skill. In fact, he could have badly injured Neji early on if he used them."
"Not only that," said Guy, "Naruto could have ended the fight in the first minute if he wanted. All it would have taken was a single punch, but he chose to hold back, so he could teach his opponent a valuable lesson."
"I think he deserves a promotion," said Kakashi.
"The kid's got my vote," said Asuma.