Last time, the night before the chunin tournament was everyone was getting ready for tomorrow. During this time, Naruto and Samui had, somewhat, a date with each other where in the end, the both of them showed each other on how they felt. How will the outcome be during the tournament?
Sunrise
As the sun was starting to shine all over the land, most of Konoha was still asleep with only a few konoha shinobi keeping watch over the village. But in one part of Konoha, there was a bit of activity, an activity that is considered respectful and honorable.
The old caretaker of the graveyard was up and about, checking out the graves today. He was checking if any of the graves that need some maintains, such as trimming grass or something simple. His routine was simple, checking several areas a day, to make sure that each konoha shinobi that has fallen for Konoha is taken well care off, where today he was going to check the area that had the Yondaime Hokage's gravesite.
He walked and checks each grave and mark down the ones that needed some care work. However, when he reaches the Yondaime Hokage's grave, he saw something that made him very curious.
On the grave of the Yondaime, there was a broken half of 2 pendants, tied onto the same string, on top of it. The pendants were very strange, where the care taker saw that it was broken carefully in the middle, where they can be connect together to make it a whole pendant with the other half. The strange thing about it was the symbols on it. In the front of each broken half of the pendant, had half a symbol on it. The symbols were sort of hard to read since it was broken in the middle.
The care taker looked around and saw the other half of the pendants tied to a string just 2 graves away from the Yondaime. When he got to them, he put the broken halves together; he read the symbol of the Konoha vest, the Uzumaki, while the other half read the Yondaime Hokage.
He then checked behind the pendants to see that there was writing on it. On the one that said Yondaime Hokage, it read "Faith", while the one with the Uzumaki symbol read "Love." The old care taker then thought, "Why connect a broken pendant with another broken pendant like this? Who would do this? More importantly, what kind of 'Faith' and 'Love' does this mean?"
It was the early morning of the chunin exams, where many people have waited for this entire month. Most people were still sleeping in their beds but for a few, they were up and getting ready for the day, namely the genin participating in the chunin tournament.
Out of all the participants, Naruto is the one who's been awake all night long. He's been standing on the Yondaime's head on the Hokage Mountain almost all night, except for the time he decided to take care of an important errand. He spent all night just looking at the stars, wishing that he could talk to his father, to ask him for some advice or to ask about what to do a about Samui. Even though he knew it was pointless to wish for his father to be here, he still felt a little better since he tried to guess on what his father would tell him.
When sunrise came, Naruto left and went to the closes training (training ground 7) ground to prepare for his upcoming battles against his possible opponents. He already prepared several strategies against Gaara and Ko, who were his primary opponents to fight against. Once he finished on rethinking his plans, he decided to skip breakfast and head for the arena. As he was leaving the training ground, he spotted someone looking over 3 wooden training posts. As he walked closer, he saw that it was Hinata. He calmly walked up towards her, wearing his mask and all, to see what's up.
"Hyuga-san… are you alright?" Naruto asked
When Hinata heard N speak up behind her, she immediately hid behind one of the 3 wooden posts. She then asked on why he was here. N (Naruto) explained that he is here to finish up preparing for his battle.
"Hyuga-san… Neji is your relative, right?" asked Naruto, which Hinata nodded yes.
"He's strong, right?" continued Naruto, where HInata confirmed to him.
Naruto told her that its going to be alright since he's going to win. Even though, Hinata wants to cheer for Neji, somewhere in her mind and heart she wants to cheer more for N's victory since N was someone who not only cheered for her, despite them being in different shinobi villages, but someone who she wants to reach since N (Naruto) was not only strong but also kind, like she wished she could be herself.
Once they finished talking, Naruto bid Hinata farewell after having a nice talk with her. But before he left, he said, "You know, when I first met you, I thought…" where Hinata paid close attention to N voice, "… that you were plain-looking, dark weirdo, but people like you I really like." Where Hinata blushed red at what Naruto told her. Once Naruto was gone, Hinata stood at the same spot until Kiba, with his partner Akamaru, came and wondered on why Hinata was standing like a statue.
Tournament Arena
After many delegates, Daimyos, and other noble families and such had come to Konoha for the chunin tournament, they were all escorted to the tournament arena where everyone was present, including all the genin that are participating in it except for Sasuke.
In the stands, all of Konoha rookies where with their senseis, along with all of Suna, Kiri and Kumo teams, whose teammate made it to the chunin exam finals. Up on the main seating box, the Sandaime Hokage was sitting in his seat with his guard near him. After discussing some things with him, he greeted his fellow counterparts the Yondaime Kazekage, the newly elected Godaime Mizukage, Mei Terumi, and the Yondaime Raikage, A along with each other their bodyguards.
The Yondaime Kazekage was a tall middle age man, who wore the traditional robes and hat of a kage. A mask covered his face, allowing only his eyes to be seen. The Yondaime Kazekage is a well-respected shinobi that can use the Jiton (Magnet Release) bloodline and used it in a unique way to his predecessor, the Sandaime Kazekage, but instead of Iron sand like the Sandaime Kazekage, the Yondaime Kazekage uses Gold Dust. Next to him, where 2 of his bodyguards
The Godaime Mizukage is a tall, slender build woman who was in her late twenties. She had bright green eyes and long auburn hair that was styled into a herringbone pattern at the back with short bangs covering her right eye. She wore a long-sleeve, dark blue dress that fell just below the knees and closed at the front with a zip, while kept open on the front-right side from the waist down. The dress only covered up to the upper part of her arms and underside of her breasts, allowing for a sizeable view of her cleavage. She also wore shorts as the same color as her dress and underneath it, mesh leggings that reached down to her knees.
Along with her, her bodyguard Ao stood right next to her (I won't describe him, so just look him up).
A's bodyguards were both C and Darui.
As the Sandaime was greeting his fellow Kage, A was thinking about the possible events that could or would happen in today's battles. More so, as he looked down and saw Naruto, wearing his special cloth mask around his head, since Naruto was dead to all of Konoha, where things could get hairy in Konoha, especially with a few people, Danzo to name one. It was then that A notice that Sasuke wasn't here, where he asked about him. Sarutobi told him that Sasuke's whereabouts are unknown, but assured him that he had faith that Sasuke would arrive soon.
When everything was ready, the Hokage decided to start the matches. He first greeted everyone, where everyone paid attention to his speech on the chunin final exams. Once he was done, he let Genma, who is the third proctor for this test, start things off with the first match.
"Alright…! The first match is Hyuga Neji of Konoha versus N of Kumo! Competitors! Stay here on the battlegrounds while all other participants go wait to the participant's waiting box!"
Once Naruto and Neji were alone on the battle arena, everyone up in the stadium seats were waiting for the match to begin. As everyone waited, Naruto and Neji both measured up each other.
Naruto saw that Neji still had that look on his face that defeated Hinata, but saw that they held more anger towards him. He knew about the Hyuga incident with Kumo, where Neji's father was sacrifice to stop a war. Naruto thought that Neji's anger as well as his violent nature towards Hinata was because of the incident.
As Naruto was eyeing Neji, Neji was also eyeing him but with more calculate look on him. Neji saw that Naruto had changed his style of clothing a bit from what he used to wear last month. Naruto still wore his usual clothing except that he is now wearing loose dark shinobi pants with a shinobi brown utility belt as well as changing his shirt to short sleeve orange shirt while wearing a new sleeveless black shinobi vest. He was also wearing a belt like straps on both his forearms.. Naruto stood tall and was on guard from seeing him stand plainly like that. Naruto had his arms and knees bend slightly. His fingers cups together, ready to block, catch, deflect, or to attack while his legs were separated, slightly bent to keep a good balance.
In the stadium seats, the audiences were having a discussion about the first match.
"I feel sorry for that Kumo shinobi, going against the Hyuga prodigy." Said one citizen
"Yeah… but that means good news for us, since we can see both him and Uchiha's match faster." Said another, where others agreed.
Yugito was seating in her seat when she was greeted by her fellow Jinchuriki, Bee. Also with Bee was Omoi, who came to cheer for his friends/teammates.
"Hey Bee-sensei, how has it been?" asked Yugito
"It's been fine, now enough about my time, what about you and my peeps time? They measure up or fall down?" Bee rhyme
Yugito told him that she put both Samui and Karui through the ringer, while she did her best on training N (Naruto) on working on the "you know what", but he trained by himself. Like Yugito, Bee wondered on what Naruto was doing for this entire month. Before he could continue to think about it, Yugito asked Bee on what he was doing with Omoi.
"Omoi's great, under the great Bee, he's come to be." Rhymed Bee
Omoi spoke up and told Yugito that Bee got him to improve on his kenjutsu and slightly on his lightning ability to just using his affinity with his kenjutsu.
As they continue to talk, Zabuza and the rest of his genin team were seating in another part of the stadium. Even though Haku was in the finals of the chunin exam, he made sure to train all three of his students, to ensure that none of them fall behind of their training. Even though, Haku had trained well, even did some of her own secret training, he was still worried since he knew that if Haku wins her match against Samui, she'll have to face Gaara next.
On the other side of the arena, the rookie genin was sitting near their senseis, Asuma and Kurenai. As they continue to watch, waiting for the match to begin, they had their own conversation.
"Where is Sasuke-kun… if he doesn't show up soon, he's going to miss his match after Neji beat N up." Stated Ino
"I don't know, he hasn't been seen for the month after he disappeared from the hospital." Said Chouji
It was then that the both of them saw that Sakura was depressing about how Sasuke was missing. Ino cheered her up about how Sasuke would come soon. It was then that they heard Kiba say, "Man, I hope he's shows up soon. But man, this is completely unfair."
"What do you mean about that?" asked Chouji
"I should be the one in the finals, not Shikamaru. After all, if I and Akamaru were there, we would go completely wild against any opponent… isn't that right boy?" Kiba asked his partner, where Akamaru bark in agreement.
"Well, in any case, let's just watch the matches since Neji and N's match are first." Said Ino
"Yeah, I'm not sure that N can beat Neji, but I hope he at least give Neji a good couple of hits." Kiba said since he hoped that N would give Neji a real difficult time because he was still anger at Neji for almost killing Hinata last month.
Kurenai was also in the same boat as Kiba, since she narrowed her eyes at Neji for almost killing her student. Hinata, who sat next to Kiba, was conflicted from her feelings. Hinata wanted to cheer for N, but also hope that Neji would win. Along with that, she also hopes that the both of them don't get seriously hurt.
After the genin participants had made it the waiting box, Genma looked at both N and Neji. Once everything was set, Genma yelled out, "Alright, now then, the chunin finals can begin. If both participants are ready, you can begin!" starting the match
At that very moment, N (Naruto) and Neji both got into fighting stances, Naruto with his taijutsu stance while Neji got into the Hyuga's Juken stance. They both stood perfectly still, waiting for the moment to start their attack. The audience looked on as the battlefield as they felt the intensity was so thick, that it can be like a knife cutting through butter.
As the air was filled with intensity, Naruto looked at Neji's eyes, to see that he not only activated his Byakugan, but also saw other things. He saw hatred, vengeance, and other emotions of hatred.
While Naruto was seeing Neji's soul, Neji looked at N which made him remember his past, remembering on why he not only hated the main branch family of the Hyuga clan, but also all of Kumo. After waiting for a few moments that felt like hours to the audience they both started their battle.
Naruto and Neji clashed at each other with full speed. Once they were at each other's face they both fought with impressive skill. Neji fought using the Juken style, where he tried to hit at all the kill points on Naruto's body, like his heart or lungs. Naruto saw what Neji was trying to do, but wasn't going to allow it since he used his own taijutsu to block all of Neji's attacks. Naruto, of course, covered his hands with chakra and block/deflect all of Neji's hands since Naruto knew that the Juken style of the Hyuga clan use chakra enhance taps against the opponent tenketsu, where Naruto made sure to go only for Neji's hands since the danger was there.
While Neji continued to try and kill Naruto, Naruto not only counterattack, he also tried to get Neji into a grappling match since he figured that the Hyuga family can't fight grappling matches because it stops them from using their juken style.
They both moved around the arena with incredible speed moving throughout the arena, where many konoha shinobi couldn't believe that a shinobi would fight against a Hyuga member in close combat so willingly. What's even more surprising is that Naruto is able to be on even ground with Neji. After fighting it out for a bit, they both separated from each other to give each other some breathing room.
Once they separated, Neji glared at how N was not only able to block/deflect his juken style, but also made it look easy since N didn't look out of breathe. Naruto looked at Neji, admitting that he is almost impressive, but comparing Neji to Lee, Naruto wasn't too impressive to him. It was at this moment that Neji decided to speak to him.
"Impressive, but let's be real here, you have no chance of winning."
Naruto only raised one of his eyebrows, "Oh… and what makes you believe that? A crystal ball…? Or a fortune cookie…?"
"No you worthless and pathetic excuse for a shinobi? My Byakugan doesn't only allow me to see everything around me, but it also let me see the entire world." Answered Neji
"Oh and what do you see?" question Naruto
"I have for scene the outcome with these eyes, that destiny will see me as the winner." Neji responded, narrowing his eyes with a grin on his face as he got back to his Juken stance
"Some eyes…" Naruto said, "… too bad for you then that I'm your worst opponent against it."
"Why's that you worthless Kumo nin?" Neji asked
"The reason is because I break destiny." Naruto answered, putting his fingers together and cried out "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" creating a dozen clones of himself.
Audience
In the beginning of the match, everyone couldn't believe on what happened. At first, they saw both Neji and N run close together, going for close taijutsu combat. This made everyone believe that N was an idiot since the Hyuga family's specialty was hand-to-hand combat, where Neji could stop his chakra flow.
However, with the amazing display of skill, N not only blocked and stopped every juken strike that Neji was trying to do on him. Once they separated, everyone thought on what was going on since N didn't look worried.
"Smart move that Kumo genin is doing. He's using Kage Bunshin this time around." Said a chunin
"What's even more impressive is the Kage Bunshin is a jonin level technique." Responded another chunin
Arena floor
Neji narrowed his eyes, since N was using the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, creating the a dozen shadow clones for Neji to fight against. Neji can see with his Byakugan that Naruto's chakra was evenly separated with his shadow clones.
"Clever… but pointless since no matter how many of you there are, you will still lose." Neji stated
"Oh, I don't know about that since we haven't yet started to see if your so-called destiny came true. After all, all you got is just words… nothing to back up your claim." All the Naruto's said.
In that very moment, all the Narutos charging at Neji. Two of the shadow clones move in first, trying to get Neji from behind, but Neji easily dodge and disperse them. Then more clones went to take down Neji. Neji blocked and dodge every attack the clones through at him.
After a bit of fighting, Naruto was left with only 4 shadow clones. He remembered on how the Hyuga's Byakugan enable them to see a 360 degree direction, making it very hard to sneak behind them. Naruto's thinking stopped when Neji spoke up, "It will take more that this to defeat me, you pathetic Kumo nin. I can see a lot with these eyes of mine."
"Really, then what do you see?" asked Naruto
"I can see the truth of this world. Like everyone else, you talent is determined on the day you were born. In other words, everything is predetermined at birth." Neji answered
"So that's what you believe. Sorry to say that I don't believe in such a weak belief. The only destiny that I believe in… is the one that I make myself." Naruto scuffing at Neji's belief
Neji glared angrily at Naruto, where he then said, "Then you're nothing more than a complete fool then. You believe that you can create your own destiny. You're nothing more than a child. What I have just said is the truth, like how you and I defeated both Lee and Hinata-sama. They were destined to be failures, such as destiny sees me as the winner of this match. It doesn't matter how much they wanted to win, they were fated to be losers from the day they were born. Each person is given a path that they must follow, and they must follow it, obediently to the end. The only fate that everyone shares is… death."
Audience
When everyone heard on what Neji had said with a sober look, many couldn't find any flaw with it since Neji said was true in perspective. Hiashi, who was sitting with his daughter, Hanabi, saw Neji eyes as he took in all what Nej and thought, "Those eyes… his anger at the main branch haven't wavered a bit."
Arena floor
Once Neji finished talking, he looked at N to see that his eyes were closed. Neji thought that N was thinking on what he said. But then he and the referee heard snoring noises coming through N's mask. The ref then yelled at Naruto to wake up.
Naruto was startled a bit, before he stretches his arms up and yawned loudly. He then asked, "Um… what time is it? Is there any breakfast?" with a sleepy look on his face, even though he was wearing a cloth mask (ski mask).
Genma then answered, "No kid… you're in the chunin exam, remember?" where Naruto then said "oh" while he slapped his right fist on his left palm.
Neji, on the other hand, looked at N's idiotic acting as an insult, he then yelled, "What are you doing? Are you completely mocking me you worthless shinobi?"
Naruto just playfully acted sorry, where he put his right hand behind his head and scratch it in embarrassment. He then said, with seriousness in his tone, "Oh, sorry. You see, it's a bit of a medical condition that I have."
"A… medical condition?" Neji responded, where it got the audience attention, to know that a genin finalist with a medical condition is in the chunin exam.
Naruto only lazy his eyes, where he then plainly said, "Yeah… you see, I intend to suddenly fall asleep every time I hear a lot of BS…" angering Neji on what he just said, "… especially from crybabies like you." Naruto said while narrowing his eyes on Neji.
"Why you pathetic…" Neji snarled at Naruto, where he then runs up to Naruto, where Naruto and his clones went in as well. Neji and Naruto used their taijutsu forms to beat the other senselessly. Naruto was able to give himself a good distance, away from Neji as he destroys his clones. Neji was about to attack Naruto again, but Naruto performed the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to create a dozen more clones.
"Clones again? This just shows how much of a loser you are if you can only perform one jutsu against me?" Neji responded to Naruto offense.
"Hey, at first you don't succeed, then try, try again." Naruto stated back at Neji
Naruto sent his clones at Neji, where Neji easily blocked each and every one of them. After some battling, Neji suddenly ran through the clones to across the outside of the encirclement of clones, where he aimed for the real Naruto. Naruto was taken by surprise since Neji was moving so fast that 3 after images followed the real Neji. It was then that Neji made contact, where Naruto was surprise on how fast Neji came in contact with him, where Neji hit Naruto at his heart, in attempt to kill him.
Neji looked at N with evil grin on his face, "As I told you before you worthless Kumo Nin, fate has declared me the winner. Now die." Neji muttered out the last part. It was then that Neji's grin turned frown when Naruto's surprise face turned grin, where he puffed away. Neji quickly realized that it was a shadow clone that he destroyed.
Audience
As people where discussing on the match so far, the Sandaime was also intrigue on how N was handling himself against Neji. At first, he was impress on the fact that N's taijutsu is able to be on par with the Hyuga's juken style. Another was the fact that N is also using psychological attacks on Neji, making Neji temporally lose his cool.
As Sarutobi was thinking of this, A was pleased on how Naruto has come a long way from what he used to. Even though he was enjoying the match so far, he also was worried on the fact that Naruto identity might be revealed or that he would actually reveal it himself since Naruto still had personal issues against Konoha. Even though he knows that Naruto is able to move pass his past, he couldn't help but worry that his past is making him do unconscious actions against Konoha itself.
The Kazekage, only looked at the match with lazy look on his face since this match doesn't involve his own village.
Tenten, who was sitting on the stands, thought, "Hmph, I'll give N credit on what he's just done. But, this match is as good as done. Even though N is able to surprise Neji so far, there isn't a genin alive that can beat Neji. Neji's going to win this match, especially since he hasn't use his trump card yet." Smiled Tenten
Arena
After Neji struck the clone, he heard, "Well, aren't you going overboard? Trying to kill me? And here, I thought we could be friends. Or at the very least, respected acquaintances"
Neji turned around to see that N was standing in front of his clone army, with his arms crossed on his chest. Neji growled at N as he yelled out, "Friends? You actually want me to be friends with you!? Your complete idiot to believe that I will become friends with a pathetic shinobi like you!" with a snarl
He quickly then went at Naruto, where Naruto prepared himself. All the clones and him went at it with Neji. After a couple of minutes of hand to hand combat, Neji got the better of Naruto, where he tossed the real Naruto at a few of his clones, where he then took out several other clones. He then charge at Naruto's blind spot aiming to kill Naruto between his head and shoulders at the nervous system. Naruto was able to land alright, after he was tossed into the air by Neji. Once Neji was at point-blank range, where Naruto couldn't even see it coming at him, Neji struck a right handed juken strike at his neck and mentally yell, "DIE!"
It was then that Naruto suddenly dropped to the floor, narrowly missing the juken strike from behind his neck, where he immediately used his right hand on the ground to spin himself clockwise in the air, where he delivered a powerful straight left front kick at Neji, who couldn't slowdown from his attack. The kick hit Neji's right side, where he was thrown for a loop, while Naruto used kick to push him backward and did a backflip using both his arms. They both gain some distance, where Neji held his right side, while Naruto stood up calmly, glaring at Neji. Naruto then said, "What's the deal here Neji? This is the second time you've tried to kill me in this match. If you keep this up, then I'll have to start giving you a serious beating."
"I have no deal against you." Neji answered
Naruto sighed as he then asked, "Yeah right… what's your deal on trying to kill me? In fact, what's your deal on you trying killing Hinata back in the preliminary round? She is related to you, so why?"
"Why do you even care about something that isn't your concern since you aren't part of this village?" Neji retort
"Well, unlike you… after my team completed the 'Forest of Death', I met up with her team where we later became friends. So, even though I'm not from this village, I am a friend of hers. So that does concern me." Naruto stated
Neji frown at hearing that Hinata is actually friends with Kumo shinobi, where he glared angrily at her.
Audience
Hinata only cringe as Neji looked at her with hate, while she looked around to see that some of her own family also looked at her disbelief, anger, and surprise at her. She wasn't surprise since her family and Kumo are on shake terms with each other.
Arena
After glaring at Hinata, he put his focus back on Naruto, where he just stood at his spot like there wasn't a care in the world. When he focus on Naruto, he quickly ran towards Naruto, going for the death kills in order to shut him up.
Whatever shadow clones were left, they, as well as the real Naruto, went back in against Neji, where he was much quicker. As they fought at hand-to-hand combat, Naruto notice something from the shadow clones that Neji defeated. He smiled behind his mask as he figure out something important about Neji's Byakugan.
During the fight, Neji once again force Naruto to jump back awkwardly where he was now his back was facing Neji. Neji immediately took advantage of this, where he got into an interesting stance that the Hyuga main family knew.
Neji then said, "You're now in my range. Hakke Rokujuyon Sho (Eight Trigram Sixty-Four Palms)!" Neji unleashed lightning fast speed strikes against Naruto, where his back was still turned. Neji thought he won, but he, as well as everyone else, was shocked on what was happening. Naruto quickly side flip in the air, in the last second, to dodge the first 2 of his strikes.
Neji glared as he yells out, "4 palm…!" Naruto landed on the nicely, while at the same time unsealing his bow from its storage space behind his back. He then, without looking back, used it to block the 4 strikes in amazing spin and accuracy. He continued to spin and twirl it around until he throws it away, towards Bee as he spun around to reface Neji.
Neji continued with his attack, "… 8 pa-". It was then he, as well as everyone else, saw that Naruto used his hands to catch Neji's fingers.
(Goku Super Saiyan Theme)
Naruto caught both of Neji's fingers with his hands since he knew that Hyuga family juken style is dangerous if one of their fingers tap anywhere at their opponents body. It was then that Neji pulled with everything he had to free his hands, but felt that Naruto had a pretty strong grip. Naruto then slowly pulled Neji forward to him. Neji decided to take advantage of the situation by trying to kick him, but Naruto blocked Neji's first kick with a knee. He then used the same knee that he use to block Neji's kick to kick at his gut, where Neji got a powerful hit. Neji fell to his knees.
It was then that Naruto said, "The so-called Hyuga prodigy, praised to be so gifted and strong, can't even break out of a simple hand grab. Now Hyuga-san, answer me a this question."
"Wha-what question?" Neji panted heard as he trying to regain his breath from the power kick.
"How can a Hyuga fight if both his hands are now sealed?" question Naruto, as he continued to grip onto Neji's hands with tremendous strength.
Till Next Time