Team 7's last fight ended in victory, though no one left it feeling like they won. Naruto, insides still scrambled, stubbornly supported himself by the balcony railing. Kakashi couldn't meet his eye. Sakura leaned by the wall next to a still chakra exhausted Sasuke.

"Naruto!" Hinata called out again, cheeks dried of tears, and threw a wooden cylindrical container from her balcony to theirs.

Kakashi caught it, opened it, and raised his only visible eyebrow at its contents. "Ointment?"

"Shouldn't you be giving that to Kiba?!" He yelled back and got smacked over the head by his female teammate for. "Hey!"

Sakura's face was pink again. "Just take it, you dumbass!" It turned red when Sasuke leaned his head over her shoulder.

"He has to figure out on his own," he whispered.

"I know, bu–"

Naruto laughed. "You guys really can't stop talking about me."

"Oh just shut up and rest!" Sakura pointed at his reddening bandages. "Your wounds are reopening!"

"They'll heal."

While the other members of Team 7 tried to convince one of their own the merits of recuperation, Hinata jumped down to hand the medics carrying her fallen comrade ointment. "This will help with their wounds."

"Still worrying about me, huh?" Kiba, somewhat conscious, laughed. "Only six left and two of them are that crazy sand guy and Neji." He frowned. "I know what you're gonna say, but you shou–"

"I'm fine," Hinata interjected, eyes growing cold.

"...I just don't want you to get hurt."

Her stoic face did not falter. "Running from pain and discomfort will lead to more hurt and solve nothing. I understand you care about me; I care about you too, but if you're trying to dissuade me from improvement, you're better off not saying anything."

"Sorry." Kiba winced, from her tone and her words. "Something's gotten into you since this entire thing started, like...Naruto." He blinked as they carried him away. "A ton of stuff just started making sense to me."

"On to the next match." Hayate announced and coughed.

'Hinata Hyuga VS Neji Hyuga' displayed on the screen.

For a moment, Hinata faltered. She knew it was a possibility, but she didn't think it would happen so soon. Her best hopes and wishes were placed on facing Naruto, defeating him, and using the rush she'd get after to declare her admiration. Neji would come afterward where she was certain she'd be at her absolute strongest, and she'd finally prove herself to him. Of course, nothing in life ever went exactly as someone planned.

"Neji," Naruto said, growling and tightening his grip on the railing. He wished he was in her place in spite of how wounded he was. There was more than enough he needed to give back to that man. For a moment, his eyes turned red before going back to their usual blue.

Sakura hummed as the Hyuga man jumped down to stand opposite of Hyuga woman. "Are they siblings?"

"Cousins."

"Hinata is from the main Hyuga branch," Kakashi elaborated more on. "Neji is from a branching family. In the Hyuga clan, the main branch has all the power."

"So they hate each other, huh?"

Hayate raised and brought down his arm. "Begin!"

"Before we start," Neji said, "I'd like to say something, Lady Hinata. Forfeit now: you do not make a good shinobi!" His tone grew colder as she stood unfazed. "You are too kind, you wish for harmony and avoid conflict, you agree with others without protest, and you have no confidence in yourself. I have always felt your inferiority. That's why I thought it'd be best if you never became a ninja at all, but the Chunin Exams can only be taken in teams of three: you couldn't turn down your teammates' requests and unwillingly entered. Am I wrong?"

"Wow." Sakura blinked. "This guy is a complete asshole!"

Naruto glanced back, eye twitching. "I told you!"

"Yes," Hinata answered, "every word that came out of your mouth is wrong."

"It's as I thought. You are a spoiled brat of the main house; people cannot change! Losers are losers! Their per–"

She tilted her head. "Do you ever shut up?" She smirked at the look of shock on his face. "Talk is the tool of the weakling, isn't it? Or did you forget the values of our clan?"

"Beat the shit out of him, Hinata!" Naruto cheered.

Hearing his words, she activated her Byakugan and assumed a Gentle Fist stance. "I have listened to your whining for long enough."

"So be it!" Neji activated his Byakugan and assumed his own.

They met in the middle of the arena and met in a series of blows, deflecting each other's lunges by the wrists with them. Their feet and legs pressured in and moved out from the other to entangle and evade entanglement. If it weren't a battle, one would mistake it for a dance. Few could follow it properly. The jonin could and some chunin but only the most skilled genin in terms of taijutsu could really see the movements.

Team 7 and Team Guy could see it just fine.

"What style is that?" Sakura asked

"Gentle Fist." Naruto frowned. "Trash, if you ask me. Utterly useless without a kekkai genkai: the Hyuga can shoot chakra from their tenketsu into other tenketsu or into organs and damage them. The end result is a style focused on minimal movements without power in favor of speed."

Sasuke hummed. "You know it from fighting him, huh?" His concern grew as his rival did not answer, preferring to stare at the movements below.

Hinata closed in and thrust her palm into his right rib, doing damage to his lung.

Neji, seeing an opening in her attack, palmed his opponent just under the lower right rib and used the stunning liver pain to dot her arms in pokes before pushing her back and on to the floor with palms to her ribs, damaging both of her lungs in revenge for his own. "This is the difference between talent no one can surpass. This is what separates the winner from the loser. This is reality."

"I…" She picked herself up and coughed blood. "Would rather die than give up ever again."

Naruto couldn't help but grin, however anxious about her opponent he felt. "Fucking hell, where has she been hiding this?"

"Oh yeah!" Sakura's eyes widened in realization. "She was always watching you!"

He blinked. "What?" He focused back on the fight and saw her cough more blood. "Also, he shut off the chakra flow to her arms: she can't use the Gentle Fist anymore." It was something burned into his memory. He jumped on to the railing. "Use your fists, Hinata! No more gloved hand nonsense!"

She smiled at his words. His direct encouragement was a beautiful thing after years of admiring him from afar. Whatever rage and anger she felt at the idea of him with other women vanished. Even her frustration faded away. It was a shame the tenketsu in her arms were disabled because she really wanted to show him what she was working on at that waterfall. "Okay," she whispered.

Neji moved in as she felt into a Gentle Fist stance and moved to deflect a poking palm only to receive an elbow to his chin, falling for a fake-out.

Sasuke rubbed his chin in memory of the first time Naruto ever landed it. "Does she remember that fight?"

Hinata moved to follow up with a punch to the stomach, but a palm to the chin knocked her unbalanced in turn, and the follow-up blow to her own stomach knocked her back down.

"Continuing is impossible," Hayate said, "And thu–

"One more word, and I kill you myself!" Naruto yelled. He scoffed at the looks he got. "Are you all fucking blind!" He pointed at her struggling yet rising figure.

Neji couldn't believe it, like many others. "...If you keep pushing yourself, you really will die."

"I wasn't lying: I'd rather die than fail myself again." The boy she watched for so long was finally watching her back. She would never forgive herself if she disappointed him like she did on orientation day and when they were supposed to spar. In the end, when she called out to him at his worst, he came back to himself. They were finally even.

"You can barely stand. The responsibility of the main house was forced on you since birth. You have always hated yourself for your own weakness, but people cannot change destiny." His eyes narrowed. "There is no need for you to suffer. Give up!"

Hinata gave a sad smile. "I'm not suffering at all. The person lost in and a pawn of destiny they do not desire is you."

Neji prepared a strike and sprinted while Naruto's pupils narrowed at the look in the man's eye and the strike he was making.

"Ne–

The impact between Naruto's launching fist and Neji's face echoed through the entire arena. Neji tried to strike his heart instead, but Naruto's other hand got in its way before the force of his knuckle-breaking punch sent him several feet back. They recovered from the shock of the blow in a second and charged at each other, the image of their past selves stuck in each other's mind.

Hinata saw the back of the boy who damaged his knuckles defending her so long ago. Her mind recalled the single word he said after her outburst, the same word he said after she pleaded for him to stop. She knew in her fluttering heart he was still the same child that didn't want her to feel alone or sad. The violent, passionate way he expressed it hadn't changed.

Kakashi body flickered behind Naruto to lock him into a hold as Guy appeared behind Neji to hold him. Anko joined the former to grab his arm while Kurenai joined the latter to grab Neji's. Hayate stood between them to dissuade any struggling, but they did so anyway. The sheer animosity between them was strong enough to unsettle even the jonin.

Hayate coughed. "That's enough. The match has been decided, and you both have passed the preliminaries."

"Since when were you her wretch!?" Neji yelled, being pulled back by Guy.

Naruto growled as he suffered the same treatment from Kakashi. "About the time she made you her bitch!"

"Kid," Anko said, "you should check on your girlfriend."

"My what?!" Kakashi turned him to see Hinata cough up blood and collapse. "Hinata?" He stumbled over to her when Kakashi let him go. "Hinata?!" His own body was breaking down, but he couldn't care any less than he already did. "Where's the fucking medic?!"

Kurenai flickered over to her. "She's in need of immediate treatment." Her eyes looked over his own form, the white of his bandages bleeding red. "You are too." She wondered why the girl cared so much for him, especially after he nearly killed Kiba. Now, she could see it in the innocent, worried face he had: he cared deep down.

"I'm fine." Naruto pushed himself up with his good hand and turned to glare at Neji, who was already glaring at him far away next to the bowl-cut duo. He didn't, really couldn't, register the medical team coming in to carry away the fallen.

Kakashi glanced at the dot on the back of Naruto's hand, recalled the positions of their bodies, and hummed. "So that's what happened between you two." He gave a curious-looking Anko an eye-smile. "Just an old rivalry that spiraled far out of control."

The redness on the arena floor caught Naruto's attention. Knowing who it belonged to, he crouched and scooped some up with his good hand. He dabbed his tongue in it, testing the flavor. It was like licking an iron stand, but it was by no means bad. Orochimaru and Anko watched him lap up the blood with delight as most others felt disgust. Closing his hand into a fist over what remained, he held it out towards Neji.

"K-Kiss!" Ino yelled and pointed at him from her team's balcony. "That touched her mouth! That's an indirect kiss!"

He looked up to raise an eyebrow at her. "Fuck are you talking about?!" His face scrunched in confusion as she started crying.

Ino folded her hands together, brought her arms close, and held them to the side of her head. "I thought you were a perverted jerk, but I can see it now!" She sobbed, shedding heartfelt tears. "You're really a romantic, Naruto!"

"I have no idea what that means!" He moved to walk back to the balcony but collapsed into his sensei's arms. "If I could move, I would beat the shit out of you right now."

Kakashi shook his head. "That's enough stubbornness and hostility from you. Right now, you need help. And I'm giving it to you whether you like it or not." He flickered back to the rest of Team 7.

"Naruto," Sakura gently called out, body language similar to Ino. "I didn't know you cared so much about Hinata."

"I don't." He mumbled. "I just…" Groaning, he looked up at the ceiling. He raised his bandaged, broken hand and remembered where the wrappings came from. "Needed to repay her and fuck over Neji."

Sasuke was frowning. "Tell us what happened, now. You can't keep it to yourself after a stunt like that."

"Neji tried to kill Naruto when they were kids," Kakashi answered.

"Fuck you." He groaned, despising the worried and shocked faces of his comrade. "It's my business so none of you step in not knowing anything about it."

"We already had this conversation during our downtime," Sasuke said.

He narrowed his eyes. "If Itachi came back, would you want any of us stepping between you two?"

"Naruto!" Kakashi scolded.

"...No," Sasuke admitted. "But I expect you three to stop me from doing something stupid, like charging in when I'm still wounded and not thinking straight."

"At least he was defending Hinata," Sakura said.

"I… Well, yeah: I was defending Hinata. If...When she wakes up, she's going to be pissed at me, and I can't blame her."

She frowned. "You're joking, right?"

"That was her fight, and I stepped in to ruin it at the last second."

"She lost already."

"Did I say match?" Naruto scowled. "Couldn't you tell from their words and attacks it was about something else entirely?" He brought up his hands, balling them into fists. "I could feel and see it. And she held on until I ruined it."

Kakashi patted him on the head to calm him down. "Why don't you get clarification from her when she recovers?" He eye-smiled as his tactic made the boy, albeit reluctantly, relax.

Neji leaned against the balcony wall with his eyes closed. Guy was looking at him with disappointment as was Lee. Tenten stared at the boy in orange and blue, trying to decide for herself whether that was a romantic gesture or done out of hatred for her teammate. He coughed blood and nearly fell over.

"I was wondering when that'd happen," Guy said, setting him straight. "Concussion and a lung filling with blood. Hinata really got you."

He opened his eyes and wiped the blood from his mouth. "I'm fine!" He'd seen the other boy's wounds with his Byakugan. While his skin regrew to be torn apart again, his organs were in a worse state than Hinata's. Naruto was still conscious, standing, and moving around in spite of that. "This is nothing!"

Guy slapped him on the back, which only added to the boy's pain. "I cannot fault your spirit!"

Orochimaru stroked the chin of the man who's face he stole. There was a flicker of red in the boy's eyes, but he didn't use it when he rushed to the girl's defense. While he denied any romantic feelings, he could see she held them for him. The Byakugan didn't interest him, but he never really looked into it. Perhaps he'd gain a new test subject along with a new body.

"That asshole could read Neji's style and movements," Kankuro muttered. Blinking, he turned to his brother and saw him shivering. The blood and the killing intent they felt was getting to him, and Naruto defending Hinata reminded him of something painful. Turning to his sister, she saw her looking, head-tilted, at the boy in orange. "Don't tell me you like him now."

"Hell no." Temari scoffed, eyes still on him. "Just...wondering what it'd feel like to have a guy drop in like that."

He rolled his eyes. "Women." Inching away from a slap, he held back a laugh.

"You're reading too much into it," Shikamaru said, eyeing a still-crying teammate. "Are you really forgetting all that talk about fondling Kiba's sister?"

Ino whimpered. "He was just trying to fight him at his best!" She bawled even harder. "And he stopped when Hinata cried out!"

"Women are so troublesome." He didn't flinch when she slapped him.

"Live and learn, kid," Asuma said.

Shikamaru twitched. "How many times are you going to say that?"

"Until you understand there are things you can't do or change in this world." He blew smoke from his latest cigarette. "One of them being the way men and women are," he whispered.

"Troublesome."

Hayate coughed from the now empty arena floor. "And now, the next match will begin."

Everyone watched the screen announce the penultimate round.

Gaara disappeared in a swirl of sand and appeared on the arena floor. "Get down here." He looked to Rock Lee. "Now!"

"Yes!" Lee sprung off the balcony. "I have been waiting for this moment!"

Naruto pulled himself from Kakashi with the railing. "Bushy Brows! Kill him the first chance you get! Don't hold back!" As usual, he cared not for the looks the others gave him.

"Thank you fo–"

"I'm not exaggerating or worried about you! I'm telling you the only way you're going to win this!"

Lee shook his head, smile still on his face. "That is unnecessary!"

"Well." Naruto threw up an exasperated arm and faced his team. "He's gonna fucking die." His eyes narrowed. "Fire-Crotch is a jinchuriki."

"What tail?" Kakashi asked, grimness in his tone.

He parted his lips, remembered who made the observation, and shrugged. "I just know because he told me. Apparently, he felt the cloak I made that day with Old Man Hokage and knew."

"Should we interfere?" Sakura asked as the two started to face off.

Sasuke shook his head. "We didn't step in when Naruto started fighting, did we? This is Lee's battle now." He stared at the red-haired boy. "Besides, I want to see exactly what a jinchuriki not trying to resist is capable of."

"I'm never using its power again, if that's what you're worried about," Naruto said.

"Just curious. I know you'd never give in."

Smiling at his words, Naruto watched the battle start. 'You've been quiet.'

"Missed me?" The Tailed Beast mocked. It was trying to get the boy to breakdown with its words, but he'd been doing a fantastic job of tearing himself apart as of late. The seal had weakened in such a short amount of time it thought the taunts unnecessary. Besides, its jailer was starting to overcome its jabs and even resist its influence because of them.

'No, I hate you. It's just odd.'

"I see what you see: the battles before us and that old foe. You would've died if not for me that day. Even now, you subsist off my chakra."

He rolled his eyes. 'One-tailed Runt. Tell me about it.'

"You're about to see for yourself."

They watched Lee rush and crash against sand. It absorbed his blows easily. Unfortunately, it wasn't fast enough to catch him from trying to flank.

"Shouldn't he be using ninjutsu if taijutsu doesn't work?" Sakura asked.

Naruto almost laughed. "Lee was somehow even worse than me at making clones because he couldn't make one at all. All he's got is taijutsu."

"Perfect student for Guy," Kakashi said.

"Wait." Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Then how did he pass the academy?"

"Probably did something crazy like I did," Naruto said.

Kakashi hummed. "Knowing Guy, he probably put in a good word or tried to negotiate something: he hates seeing perfectly viable ninja thrown out over ninjutsu."

The green jumpsuit wearing boy jumped up into the air, escaping from the grabbing sand below. "You are a powerful foe!"

"Lee!" Guy called out. "Take them off!"

"Bu–"

"I allow it!"

Lee tugged off his ankle leg warmers and unwrapped weights labeled with the characters for 'guts.' The rest of the Sand team laughed. Guy's team looked on with interest. Everyone else didn't know what the big deal was, weights looking rather flimsy.

And then they embedded themselves so hard in the floor dust clouds formed.

Naruto voiced what was on all their minds. "Holy shit!"

The assault continued. Gaara's sand managed to block a few blows, but it wasn't fast enough to guard now. Lee frontal flip kicked him right in the face before darting around to send him back with a punch. When Gaara got back up, sand crumbled away from his face to reveal a murderous grin, his skin actually being coated with it.

"I had a feeling." Naruto laughed. "That bastard really is just like me."

Sasuke nodded. "Except his teammates don't stop him when they should."

"Hinata stopped me; you guys just picked me up."

"That girl..."

"Huh?" He smiled sheepishly at Sasuke's confusion and blinked at Sakura's suggesting look. "What?"

Kakashi's eye narrowed at the battle below. "The fight's still going."

While Gaara's sand armor reformed, Lee launched him up into the air with the same technique he used on Sasuke during their spar. He tangled him in his bandages, spun, and drove him into the ground. That Gaara chipped away into sand as the real one appeared behind him, having been shrouded in it. Lee was slammed into the ever abused wall with sand, but he still got up to fight. Seeing no other way, he held his arms before him to break out his trump card.

"That's…" Kakashi lifted his forehead protector to look with his Sharingan. "Guy, you fucking madman. You taught him the Eight Inner Gates!"

The Taijutsu master laughed from the other balcony. "I couldn't just leave him without an ace in the hole, now could I!?"

"Eight Inner Gates?" Sasuke asked.

"There are eight major tenketsu in the human body. They limit the amount of chakra that flows through you. Normally, you have access to 20% of your physical strength. You gradually increase your access as you advance from gate to gate, but you also destroy your body through it."

Naruto scoffed. "So it's a piece of shit."

"Double-edged sword."

"You know what I said, and double-edged weapons don't work that way."

Kakashi shrugged. "It's an expression."

"It's a stupid expression."

"Relax." He patted his students head again as Lee's face turned red and the air exerted from him. "Just watch. Things are about to get crazy."

Gaara was then in the air. It happened so fast almost no one could see it. He was juggled from direction to direction by Lee, never once touching the ground. Sending him upward again, Lee entangled Gaara with his bandages and punched him one more time with all the force he could muster, but Gaara moved his gourd in the way of the blow. They fell back to the floor. Lee tried to get away, but his body reached its limit after activating the gates. Gaara's sand trapped and crushed his left limbs. Guy broke apart the sand after it was clear Lee was done.

"Why did you and the other...save…" Gaara drifted off, clutching his head at the memory on his mind since the last fight.

Guy's eyes met the yearning boy's. "He's my precious student."

"Winner!" Hayate brought him arm down towards the only one of the two conscious. "Gaara!"

Again, to everyone's surprise, Lee stood up in his usual stance, but he was clearly out of it.

"I told him." Naruto shook his head at the sight below. "Kill him on your first opportunity instead of batting him around like a punching bag." He scoffed. "If he just concentrated on a single point in his head, he would've won."

"And he would've killed Gaara," Sakura said, sadness in her eyes at the fallen ninja.

"Oh boo hoo."

Kakashi's head pats ceased in favor of a single firm one holding the top of his head. "Naruto."

"I'm an angry brat who takes his feelings out on other people, even those he cares about." He sighed, already feeling regret over his words. "I know."

"My words were more about the attitude you have and those who care about you, but that works too."

He gave her a wincing glance. "Sorry, Sakura."

"Apology accepted, my favorite dumbass." She smirked.

Sasuke's eyes remained fixed on Gaara, who was walking back up to the balcony. "Was that the ability of his demon?" He tilted his head. "Or is that just a kekkai genkai?"

"I can't tell the difference either."

"You've gotta be kidding me," Naruto said. He blinked as his team turned to him. "...There are kekkai genkai like that?"

Kakashi nodded. "The Third Kazekage used Iron and the Fourth uses gold."

"He's the son of the Kazekage?"

"Could be." Kakashi shrugged and sheathed his Sharingan. He could see his own rival was still in the arena, even though the medic ninja carried his student away. "Hold on." He flickered down "Guy, we're in the way of the next match. Let's go back up."

"...Sure, Kakashi."

They went back up as the final match was announced, setting the last two participants against each other.

Choji tried to rush Dosu by expanding himself and rolling out immediately, but the Sound ninja just dodged. He rammed his odd gauntlet into the fat boy's body. The last member of Team 10 deflated, an absolutely nauseated face on him.

Hayate brought his arm up and down one last time. "Winner! Dosu Kinuta!"

"I have no idea what just happened, but it was stupid," Naruto said, again voicing the feelings of most watching.

"With this, the Preliminary for the third test is over! Winners, present yourself before the Hokage! Everyone else, you may leave!"

Most of the jonin left to see their injured genin. The proctors remained. Tenten stayed to keep an eye on Neji in case he went at it with Naruto. Baki and Kakashi, both with full passing teams, were there as well. Asuma's team was the least damaged from the tournament, so they hung around for Shikamaru. The victors lined up in front of Sarutobi, Neji on one end and Naruto on the other.

Hayate coughed. "Congratulations to all of you." He inclined his head toward the village leader. "Lord Hokage, if you'd please."

"One month from now, the finals will be held," Sarutobi declared. "You are expected to train, gather information on your opponents, and heal your wounds before then as we prepare for the event. People from all over the world will come and see you perform against each other. But before I dismiss you, there's one last thing I need you to do."

Naruto groaned. "Come on, old man!"

"Easy, boy." He resisted the urge to facepalm at him perking up when Anko stepped forward. "There are pieces of paper in the box Mitarashi is holding I want you to take one at a time."

She started at the boy's end, to his delight. "Only one now."

"Last time I held two." Naruto grinned at her blush and drew his lot.

Sasuke shot him a look while he drew his own. "Seriously?"

"Naruto!" Sakura, blushing, took one. "Think of Ayame!"

He tilted his head. "Eh, her tits are smaller." His body was in no condition to lean away from her slap. "Ow."

Kakashi glared at Anko while most of the genin took from the box in varying degrees of dumbfounded. "Ah, my little punk is growing up."

"Harmless one day and killing everyone around them the next," Baki said, speaking for the first time.

"Such are the growing years of a shinobi. Can only hope they kill the right people and do the right thing. Then again, the people you kill aren't usually done in for moral reasons. But an amoral ninja is nothing more than a loose cannon waiting to go rogue."

"...Agreed."

Sarutobi, seeing that all the lots were drawn, nodded. "Now I want you to tell us the number you drew." He heard them obey and thought someone or something was playing a joke on him. "Ibiki."

The bandanna man nodded before drawing out a diagram. It took him a minute, but he was proud of his creation. "May I present it?" Smiling at the Hokage's nod, he held his clipboard out for them to see.

"Oh fuck the hell, yes!" Naruto grinned oh so maliciously at the first two names. He leaned out of line and glared at Neji, who was doing the same. "You better not lose, Sasuke!"

"Please, I should be telling you that." Smirking, he locked eyes with Gaara.

Shikamaru groaned. "Troublesome." He looked to the name next to his and shook his head. "So troublesome." Even if he was uncertain he could win, he didn't want to beat up a girl.

"Save it for the fight, shadow boy," Temari said.

Sakura's lips were pursed in thought. "Sound ninja, huh?"

The last two didn't bother looking at each other, confident they could win out in the end.

"Any questions," Sarutobi asked.

Shikamaru raised a hand. "If it's a tournament, does that mean only one person can make chunin?"

"Not at all. There will be judges there to decide who makes the cut: the top shinobi of the village. The Kazekage and I will watch as well. Your abilities will be evaluated. Even if you lose your first match, you can make chunin. All of you can become chunin or none of you. It depends." He smiled. "You've all done a good job! You are dismissed!"

"Good." Naruto sighed and collapsed.

Sasuke laughed while other people stared. "Beat you again!" He joined him.

"All of that talk about overexerting himself when you're just as bad!" Sakura picked up Sasuke. "Kakashi-sensei!"

He flickered over and picked up Naruto. "Let's go before they die."

And so they left.

Some of the other contestants laughed at the spectacle before the realization set in: they were beyond wounded and below their best during the preliminaries. None, save Sakura, had seen them go all out. One of them was even wounded from their fight and still managed to put up one against a man Arena-Shaker Lee considered his rival. And they had a month to get even stronger to face them. Only three felt confidant enough to think they could.

AN: And the Preliminaries are over. Hinata's fight ended up different thanks to a different Naruto, but it ended almost the same because Neji is better at the Gentle Fist. Neji's speech is more or less the same because, fundamentally, he doesn't believe people change, even when they act different like Hinata did standing up to him.

I don't actually like intermixing Japanese and English, but chakra point is an iffy translation/localization of what tenketsu are. I know it literally means pressure point, but that's where the issue is. Same with bloodline and kekkai genkai. It's like how schadenfreude means taking pleasure from the suffering of other people in German, but there's no real translation for that in English.

Now we can move on to the next major changes, finally. So much narratively for me to work with and so much I've set up. Might stop with the daily updates, but I can't help myself.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the form of a review or PM.