"Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyūga get your asses down here!" Genma called out. The thirty-minute intermission was up and it was time to begin the second round.

The blonde Uzumaki wasted no time in vaulting over the railing of the viewing area, he landed with a great thud as dust jumped up from the ground as he hit. He was in no mood to wait any longer, thirty minutes had been far too long for this.

Neji wasn't far behind of Naruto, though the Hyūga took the stairs. He came out of the hallway and walked onto the battlefield. Naruto was waiting next to Genma as the Hyūga prodigy walked up to them. The crowd was very interested in this match, it was quiet enough to hear any conversation between the two could be heard.

Genma looked from genin to the other. He could feel the contempt radiating off both of them, most of it was coming from the blonde one. The proctor didn't have to think very hard about why or how. "The second round begins now! Begin!" Genma jumped back to safe distance, as per usual. A second later, the two genins were gone.

Sound…sound was the only thing that alerted most the audience that the match had begun. Most of the crowd could only hear the clash of metal, indicating that the boys had already taken out weapons. Even some of the shinobi were having some trouble following the fight, all they could see half the time were blurs. This surprised the crowd, they did not expect Neji to have such speed when compared to what they saw in Naruto from his match against Lee. This indicated further that Neji held back in his match against Sakura.

The two genin finally stopped in the middle of the arena, their kunai clashing against each other in a power struggle. Their clothes were already becoming ragged and torn from the backlash of their attacks. This caused the crowd to wonder how much strength they were putting into their attacks, even the Third Hokage was surprised by this.

Sarutobi looked to his left. Jiraiya had been standing on the ledge of the arena wall since he arrived and spared no words towards him. The Sannin's expression remained hard and stoic for most of the time he had been there, the Hokage caught his student's expression soften once or twice during Naruto's match against Lee. Even a proud smirk when he won with Minato's signature technique.

The aging Hokage knew it was an inevitability for Naruto to learn his father's techniques, but he did not except to happen so early. This made Hiruzen wonder if the boy knew the truth about his heritage. There was no doubt in Sarutobi's mind that Naruto had suspicions about his parenthood.

'Please forgive me, Minato…I did what I thought was right for the village. I'm sorry for the torment that I've caused your beloved son…'

-With Naruto-

'I figured Neji had better taijutsu than Lee, but his armed combat is better than mine. I've been on the defensive the whole time…let's change that.'

Naruto let off his strength a bit, allowing Neji to come in slightly. He used that to headbutt Neji square in the forehead, their hitaiates clashing with a loud clang. The Hyūga stumbled back but it was clear he was not as affected as Naruto hoped he would be.

Neji gathered chakra in his index and middle fingers on his right hand and jammed them into his opponent's chest, precisely one-inch to the right of his heart. This caused Naruto clutch his chest and step backward.

Neji waited for Naruto to regain himself as he stood in a particular stance, he waited for just the right moment to counter Naruto's charge at him. He began to spin rapidly and emit chakra from every chakra point in his body. A blue chakra dome appeared around the Hyūga and caused Naruto to be launched back from the hit.

"Kaiten!" (Rotation/Revolving Heaven)

The chakra dome began to disappear as Neji slowed down his spinning, he stood in a small crater that his dome created. Naruto regained himself and stood up to a knee. He wiped the blood from his lips.

"Now that's something. I've never seen someone exert chakra from every chakra point in their body like that."

"It's a Hyūga Main House secret technique, known only to the leader of the clan and the clan's heir. Not by some low genin of the Branch family."

"I sensing some bitter feelings towards your family." Naruto spat. "I have a pretty good feeling why, though." He stood to his full height and went through a series of hand seals.

The veins around Neji's eyes began to protrude. He could see the chakra gathering in Naruto's mouth, he got back into his stance as he waited for the attack to come. Naruto took in a heavy breath and gathered chakra in his mouth.

"Katon: Karyūdan!"

A large bullet of fire shot out of Naruto's mouth and engulfed Neji. It began to swirl around and the spinning blue dome of chakra appeared at the center of the flames. Neji dispersed the dome with a surge that put out the flames near him.

"That Kaiten must take a lot of chakra to use, not to mention the extreme chakra control you need to attempt something like that. I wonder how long you can keep it up before you have nothing left."

Neji chuckled, his Byakugan glaring at his opponent. "Long enough for fate to take its course in this battle."

"Fate has nothing to do with our fight or what you did to Sakura. You damn near killed her."

"Then that was her fate. You cannot change your fate."

Naruto's fist began to tighten. "It's not your place to decide who someone is, or decide it's someone's time to die."

"Then our lives as shinobi mean nothing. We are soldiers who are sent to eliminate threats to our village by any means necessary. That is the point of this whole exam, learning who has what it takes to do what is needed."

Naruto smirked. "You may have a point. But I can't let what you did to Sakura go, I'm going to make you pay for that."

"I never thought of you as someone who entertains the idea of revenge."

"It's not revenge, it's a promise."

"Hm. Promises don't change fate."

Naruto groaned. "Enough with this fate bullshit. Let's just get on with this."

Neji just shook his head. "Have it your way. Fate has already told me what I must do."

Neji lowered his body and tilting it forward with his right arm stretched back. Naruto sensed his opponent's chakra being concentrated and prepared himself for what was coming.

"Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms."

Neji rushed forward.

"Two Palm!"

The first two strikes were met by Naruto's forearms, causing them to miss their intended targets.

"Four Palm!"

Only one of the strikes hit, Naruto managed to dodge the others.

"Eight Palm!"

Half of the strikes landed, Naruto's ability to dodge surprised Neji.

"Sixteen Palm!"

Neji became frustrated when only seven strikes hit, the Hyūga pushed his body even further. He pushed more chakra to his arms to generate more speed.

"Thirty-two Palm!"

Twenty strikes hit. The blonde had stopped some of the strikes and dodged the rest before they were able to hit their intended target.

"Sixty-four Palm!"

Neji pushed his body to it's limit, landing fifty total strikes on Naruto. He followed his final strike on his chakra points with a strong palm strike to Naruto's stomach that sent him crashing back onto the ground. The audience cheered for this, they loved seeing the demon brat being struck down by the beloved Hyūga clan prodigy.

The cheers and roar of the crowd quickly stopped and went silent as Naruto slowly made it back to his feet. He wiped more blood from his mouth. He could feel many of his chakra points were closed off, making it very difficult to regulate his chakra through his body.

"You think fate is bullshit? Take a closer look at reality! People are chosen by destiny, you don't simply become something by trying. People can only live in their own unchangeable flow. The only destiny that everyone shares is death. The only one."

Neji looked at Naruto and could see something resembling a smile on his face. "You want to talk about reality? Unchangeable flow? Let me tell you a little story about reality, Neji. At the age of six years old, I was left here in this village alone. The only person that ever cared for me left on a lie. Now? He's back and wants to make amends for six long years of daily torture and torment. Is that an unchangeable flow to you and your fate? The reality of this…of my life is that no matter what I do will never change this village's opinion of me. All because of one decision I had no say in."

Neji remained silent and let Naruto continue with his rant. The Hyūga tried to decipher what the blonde was saying but continued to be confused. He stared at the blonde, he was surprised when Naruto suddenly met his gaze.

"Those eyes…they are the reason for your praise. Your mastery with them sets you aside from the rest and causes others, your clan, to be proud of your accomplishments. Your eyes are what make you special and praised. What makes me special…condemns me until the day I die."

Neji's Byakugan noticed something deep inside Naruto among the mass blue chakra that swirled at his stomach another chakra began to grow. The first thing he noticed about this new chakra was its color, it was red. As far as Neji knew, chakra was only blue in color through the eyes of his Byakugan. It shocked him further when it began to expand throughout Naruto's chakra pathways, reopening up Naruto's recently closed chakra points.

'Impossible! What is this chakra?!'

The red chakra began to leak out of Naruto's body as his chakra points were reopened, his wounds rapidly healing. Neji gasped when he noticed nine separate columns of chakra that resembled tails stemming out from the ground around Naruto. The chakra tails whipped around, strong winds and waves of energy ravished the arena. Neji brought his forearms up to shield himself.

'What…what the hell is this?!'

The strong chakra winds quickly died down and the tails disappeared into nothingness, leaving Naruto completely healed from his injuries and his chakra points reopened. His whisker marks had darkened and his pupils in his eyes were now long, vertical slits.

"If fate was truly the deciding factor…how could I be fated to live such a life? A life filled with nothing but lies, pain and, loneliness?"

Neji took another defensive stance and prepared himself for Naruto's charge. The blonde closed the distance with even greater speed than before. Neji had the realization to block the punch but he had a feeling that's what his opponent wanted.

"I know about your Caged Bird seal." Naruto whispered.

Neji blocked Naruto's next punch on pure instinct alone, he was too shocked by what he just heard. "H-How do you know about that?!"

The blonde jinchuriki smirked. "The Sandaime told me about it a few years back when he tried to give me a lesson on fuinjutsu. That lesson didn't amount to much but it did me some insight on the Hyūga clan."

Neji narrowed his eyes. "What kind of insight?"

Naruto stepped back slightly and went for a kick to Neji's abdomen. The Hyūga absorbed most of the attack with his forearms. "A hate for one's family."

Neji stood his ground as he racked his brain to try and figure out what exactly Naruto had been trying to say over the past few minutes. Neji felt as if Naruto was finally letting out a lot of his deep, bottled up thoughts and feelings because of how scattered yet interconnected they were.

"The Main House of the Hyūga clan maybe blood but they are not my family. Not after what the Main House did to my father! They let him be killed in Lord Hiashi's place the night Lady Hinata was kidnapped by that Kumo shinobi."

Naruto was aware of the incident that Neji was talking about due to a history scroll he once read. A Kumogakure shinobi leader came to Konoha to discuss a peace treaty between the two lands in the years after the Third Great War. After a treaty had been signed, that same Kumo shinobi attempted to kidnap Hinata, the Hyūga clan's heiress. That kidnapping was foiled by the girl's father, the leader of the Hyūga clan, Hiashi.

But Kumogakure demanded Konoha be at fault for the death of one their shinobi leaders because the Raikage, Kumogakure's village leader, insisted his shinobi leader acted alone. This caused the peace treaty to be disbanded and the bickering began again, nearly causing another war. Kumogakure gave one final demand, the body of Hiashi Hyūga.

Naruto looked up into the stands and found where Hiashi, and his youngest daughter Hanabi, was sitting. The man was very much alive and obviously not in a Kumo jail cell. And the fact that Neji said his father was killed in Hiashi's place meant one thing.

"So, you're the nephew of the Hyūga clan's leader, and your father was Hiashi's identical twin brother."

Neji was slightly impressed by the fact Naruto had pieced all that together, but he did not let it show. "Yes. Lord Hiashi was born first, only by a few moments, making him apart of the Main House and my father a member of the Branch House. It was destiny that decided my father's death. Hiashi being born first sealed my father's fate without him even being born yet. That's the fate of every Hyūga Branch House member, to live and die for the sole reason to keep the Main House alive and the secrets of the Hyūga clan unknown to the rest of the world."

Naruto raised his head slightly in confusion. "Your Byakugan?"

Neji nodded. "The Caged Bird seal not only has the ability to kill with a simple hand seal but it also seals away the Byakugan just after death. So that our bloodline cannot fall into enemy hands."

Naruto took in this new information. He was not surprised by the fact the Hyūga clan would do something like this. Clans had been going to the extremes to keep their secrets hidden for ages, they were clan secrets for a reason. In the Hyūga's situation, the Byakugan's abilities were very well documented and even more sought after. There were multiple cases of grave robbers digging up the graves of deceased Hyūga and robbing the bodies of their pupil-less eyes. Only to find the dōjutsu was long gone.

"So, the reason you believe fate is the ultimate decider is because your father was born a few minutes after your uncle…and here I thought we could come to an understanding for a moment. I guess I'll just stick to my original plan."

Neji glared down at his opponent. "Your plan? And what would that be?"

Naruto met Neji's glare and the Hyūga did not expect to feel such anger behind the blonde's eyes. "Breaking you."

Naruto closed the distance between them with his right hand corked back. He unleashed a fury of attacks at the Hyūga prodigy. Neji dodged his way through most of the strikes but Naruto was able to deal quite a bit of damage. It seemed Naruto's growing anger was leaking through his punches. Still, Neji could not get his mind off what he was just told.

"You're going to break me?"

Naruto threw more strength into his strikes and landed some heavy hits on Neji. The Hyūga couldn't do much to dodge these attacks and just simply absorbed them, causing him to be pushed back. "You sought to destroy one of the few things I hold dear to me, a promise that keeps me whole. That is something I will never let happen."

Neji cocked a smirk. He knew that Sakura held some type of importance to the blonde even before his match with her. "It was not my fault for her defeat, she was the one who didn't stay down."

"And what about Hinata? You tried to do the same thing to her and she didn't stay down."

"Both were fated to lose to me. Just like you." Neji moved back into his taijutsu stance, gearing up for another bout.

Naruto followed suit and stood in his own stance. A soft wind blew between the two genin as they charged at one another, determined to win.

-Infirmary with Ino-

Ino was starting to get frustrated with the layout of the medical wing of the Chunin Exam stadium, there were so many unnecessary turns and empty rooms that it felt impossible to find someone or something in this place. To be fair, Ino would've had a much easier time trying to find her best friend in this pointless maze if she had followed the medical team that carried Sakura off the field like Ino wanted to do, but Shikamaru's match was next and there was no way in hell Ino was going to miss Sasuke's match after that.

The entire time Ino cheered for Shikamaru and Sasuke in their respective matches her mind could not get off Sakura's condition and what her injuries were. Ino and Sakura had been close friends for many years and never had Ino seen Sakura so beaten to the point she was. Still, Ino couldn't help be feel proud for Sakura. She went up against an opponent who clearly outmatched her and was defiant to the bitter end.

After what felt like hours, Ino finally managed to find her way through the maze of hallways to Sakura's infirmary room. The platinum-blonde kunoichi didn't bother to knock, she figured Sakura would be completely knocked out. Ino was pleasantly surprised to open the door to see Sakura sitting up in her bed, holding her head with her hand.

"Sakura, you're okay!"

At the loud exclamation, Sakura winced. "Can you be any louder, Ino-pig? I don't think the people on the other side of the village heard you."

Ino rolled her eyes. "Whatever billboard brow. I'm just glad you're awake, I didn't expect it so soon. Neji really came at you hard."

Sakura continued to massage her forehead and temples, the headache she was having was possibly the worst in her life. "Yeah, he was stronger than I thought. I think I pissed him off with that flashbang and he got serious. I didn't even get to try any of my strategies Kurenai sensei and Hinata helped me come up with."

Ino could tell Sakura was frustrated with her performance in her match. Honestly, she would be too if their roles were reversed. "You still should be proud, Sakura. Not to downplay your abilities but Neji is the pride of the Hyūga clan. He's way too strong for someone our age, only the likes of Sasuke, Naruto, and that Gaara guy are strong enough to fight him. The way you handled yourself in that situation was far beyond anything I could've done. You were even able to hit him and make him use one of his strongest abilities. That's something to be proud of."

Sakura glanced over to her long-time best friend. Ino had a very valid point. She saw what Ino was trying to get at and realized, despite the loss, her performance was anything but subpar. "I guess you have a point."

Sure, Sakura had plans to possibly beat the Hyūga prodigy but those plans were dependent on how Sakura was able to last in the match. All in all, Sakura was proud of her match but knew she really needed to step up her training if she ever wanted to catch up to Naruto and Sasuke. Speaking of which…

"Did Sasuke win his match?"

Ino nodded furiously. "Of course, he did! Did you really think our Sasuke would lose to that sand weirdo?"

Sakura smiled. "No. Sasuke is way too strong for him."

Ino nodded again. "Even Shikamaru won his match against that Suna kunoichi, Temari. Whether he wanted to or not." She giggled at the end of her sentence, finding the humor in the end of her teammate's match.

"Still lazy as ever?"

"Is that even a question?"

Sakura knew Shikamaru would probably never change and break his habit of laziness. It's just who the boy was. "And what of Naruto? I know he beat Lee and that means he'll be fighting Neji in the next round since I lost."

Ino tilted her head slightly to the side in confusion. "What do you mean, Sakura?"

"Did he seem, y'know, different?"

Ino shrugged slightly, crossing her arms. "I'm not really sure, you know how hard it is to get a read on him. Though, he did seem pretty pissed after your match. I think he followed the medical team when they took you out of the arena."

"R-Really?"

Ino nodded. "Yup."

Sakura couldn't help the faint blush on her cheeks. 'He always makes sure I'm okay…he's really sweet.'

"I think his match with Neji already started. We should be able to catch the end of it if we hurry back."

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts. She definitely wasn't going to miss Naruto beat Neji. She moved to get off the bed but stopped. She expected to feel unbearably sore from her match, but she could move just as freely as normal. Did she heal that quickly? Or was this the doing of the medical team?

"You good Sakura?"

Sakura looked at Ino. "Yeah, I'm fine…actually I'm better than fine. I feel better than ever."

"Really? You aren't injured or anything? Nothing at all?"

Sakura moved off the bed completely and stretched her limbs, she felt no ill effects. Minus the head-splitting headache. "I'm completely healed."

"Wow…our medical ninjas are really something if they reopened your chakra points and healed your injuries. That's pretty impressive." Ino looked over Sakura just to double check if anything was wrong with her. That's when she finally noticed something among Sakura's clothes. There was a small cut just under her left breast, just above her rib cage. It was a clean cut with no frayed edges, that meant the incision was slow and precise. "What's that?" Ino pointed towards the mark.

Sakura followed to where Ino was pointing. She ran her fingers over the cut and felt a small scar from the incision. "I-I'm not sure. I don't remember getting cut in my match."

"Hm. Must be from the nurses, probably did it by accident."

Sakura thought that was the logical and most likely explanation for this small tear in her clothes, but that didn't explain the small actual scar in her skin. She almost didn't notice at first but she knew her body and what it felt like, the scar wasn't there before her match. To add even more to her confusion, there was a soft melody stuck in her head. It was harmonic and smooth yet she felt something behind it. Was it the cause of her headache? Or something else entirely?

"C'mon, let's go Sakura!" Ino yelled as she left the room.

Sakura snapped out of her infirmary room. "Hey! Wait up!"

-In the arena-

Naruto and Neji continued to dash around the battlefield, sparks being left in the wake of their clashing weapons. Their latest clash actually broke Naruto's kunai and gave Neji a clear opening for a kill shot. Using his superior dodging skills, Naruto evaded the jab and disarmed Neji by smacking out of his hand. A small opening was made and Naruto went for it, his fist was stopped however by a thin layer of chakra. A chakra dome appeared around Neji and he began spinning at a high speed. The dome reversed Naruto's momentum and launched back. The blonde rolled back to his feet once he hit the ground.

'That damn Kaiten is seriously strong. It not only blocked my attack but completely reversed my momentum and used it against me. It'll need something pretty strong to break through it.'

Naruto had just the thing to beat that defense.

Naruto looked up from his roll and realized Neji was closing the distance between them, and Naruto could tell his opponent was coming in for another attempt on his chakra points. But Neji was far too tired to strike him like that again, Naruto could see that much by the misplacement of Neji's feet when he got in his taijutsu stance. Naruto unloaded a perfectly timed punch that disrupted Neji's stance and shot the Hyūga back.

Both genin were left staggered and heaving for air, it seemed this match was coming to an end.

"I thought you were going to break me?" Neji gasped between deep breaths.

Naruto wiped the sweat away from his eyes. "Trust me, I will."

Neji took in more deep breath, regaining control over it, before resuming his usual stance. "Then quit stalling. This match is far from over."

Naruto stood from his crouch. "Actually, it's just about over, Neji." The blonde held his right hand out in front of him. He began to rapid hit certain spots around his hand in a circular fashion until a blue spiraling sphere was formed in his palm.

Neji tensed up and prepared himself for what was coming. From what he gathered from watching Lee get hit with this technique was this: Don't get hit with it. It would be game over.

Naruto charged and closed the distance. Neji already began to spin, the chakra dome forming.

"Kaiten!"

"Rasengan!"

The two techniques clashed with great strength and caused a massive shockwave throughout the stadium. Most of the crowd had to shield themselves from the sudden energy. A large explosion occurred a few seconds after the clash and blinded the audience with a cloud of dust. Once that dust disappeared, it was unclear who the winner was.

Neji stood in a small crater that his jutsu created and Naruto stood with his hand stretched out. Both genin, somehow, withstood the explosion their clash created and stayed perfectly in place. It took a few moments before they both began to falter and collapse to the ground.

Genma jumped into the devastation and was about to call the match a tie when he heard movement to his right. He looked over and saw Naruto struggling back to his feet. Genma was thoroughly surprised by this. 'This kid's durability is off the charts. Withstanding this and what happened in his previous match is positively insane. He actually might have what it takes learn all of his techniques.'

Naruto dragged himself over to the fallen Hyūga prodigy, who was still somehow conscious, and fell to his knee next to him. Genma waited to call the match, he wanted to hear what the blonde had to say.

"…H-How is this possible? It was d-destiny-"

"Destiny is bullshit, Neji. There is nothing in this world that can tell you who or what you can be. If that were true then I wouldn't be here." Naruto looked up to the viewing area and saw that Sakura had fully recovered from her own match from Neji. He could see her cheering for him but he couldn't make out what she was yelling. "It wasn't fate."

"W-What?"

"It wasn't fate that kept me from the darkness. It was just the goodness in a little girl's heart to share her favorite flower because a little boy's world had just come crashing down." Naruto pushed himself back to his feet and began walking towards the exit.

Genma took that as a signal. He motioned for the medical team to come check on the defeated boy. "This match is over. Winner: Naruto Uzumaki! He will advance to the finals!"

The crowd was skeptical about the blonde's victory over the pride of the beloved Hyūga clan. It obviously was a fair fight and the demon brat flat out overpowered the Hyūga prodigy with that spiraling sphere technique from the Fourth Hokage's arsenal. It was strange. The more the crowd watched Naruto fight, the more they were reminded of their beloved, late Hokage.

Naruto climbed the stairwell that led to the viewing area, using the railing as a way to help his ascension more than he would've liked. By the time he made it to the top, Shikamaru and Sasuke were already making their way down to the arena for their match. Shikamaru gave a respectful nod towards the blonde, while Sasuke stuck out his fist and bumped it with Naruto's.

"See you in the finals, dobe."

Naruto smiled at his teammate, relating the same message in his notion. The blonde would've liked to exchange in some playful banter but Sasuke needed to stay focused on his match. Shikamaru would no doubt be a tough opponent, especially since Shikamaru was able to learn from Sasuke's match against Gaara.

Once Naruto made it to the top of the stairs and entered the viewing area, Sakura was the only one up there. He couldn't help the small smile that graced his lips. He was glad Sakura had recovered and his little trick actually worked.

"Naruto! You did it!" Sakura exclaimed as she rushed to him. She took a quick glance at her teammate and instantly noticed his main injury. "Look at your hand, Naruto! It's a mangled mess."

Naruto wasn't sure what his pink-haired teammate was talking about until he looked down at his right hand and realized she was right, it was a mangled mess. Blood dripped from underneath every single one of his fingernails and his hand, itself, looked like it was held over a fire and cooked. His skin was red and irritated, it was then he finally realized how much pain his hand was in.

"Must've been the backlash of my clash with Neji. His Kaiten was trying to reverse my strength but I guess my Rasengan was too strong for that."

Sakura nodded. "There's no way you can fight in your next match with your hand like that. Give it here."

Naruto looked skeptical about letting Sakura take a closer look at his arm, but a stern glare gave Naruto the push to lift his arm up. The pinkette examined the blonde's arm for moment before going through a series of hand seals. Once she executed the final seal, her hands began to glow an emerald green color and hovered her hands over Naruto's injured appendage. Naruto couldn't help but notice the glow matched the girl's eyes.

Sakura focused her chakra and began to heal Naruto's injured hand, it was slow but Naruto felt the pain subside. The sensation he felt from Sakura's was warm and very calming. Was this what it felt like to have a medical ninja heal you? He wasn't awake for the first time, or frankly didn't remember. But it was a sensation he could easily get used to and lost in the bliss of it. He was accustomed to the burn that came with the healing factor that the Kyuubi 'blessed' him.

"You've gotten better with these medical techniques."

Sakura smiled. "Thanks. I practiced them a lot in my spare time when I wasn't training with Kurenai sensei. I took in some injured birds I found and practiced on them. My mom freaked when one of them got loose in the house. We needed to replace a window after that one."

From the few of the stories Sakura has told about her mother, Naruto knew his teammate was not lying or exaggerating. "How are you feeling from your match?"

Sakura shrugged her shoulders slightly, keeping her hands firmly hovered above Naruto's injured hand. "I can't say I feel good after losing so quick but I'm trying to reflect on the positives of what I did. Physically, I feel great. Besides waking up with the worst possible headache, I woke up feeling completely rested and I'm having no trouble using my chakra, as you can tell. We have really good medical ninja if they were able to heal me completely and reverse the affects on my chakra system. Feeling and seeing their work first hand makes me really want to be a medical ninja even more."

Naruto internally rolled his eyes at Sakura statement about Konoha's medical team. Sure, they had talent and were fully capable of saving lives but Sakura would've died from her injuries if he hadn't done that to heal her. In fact, Naruto was positive if Sakura was aware of the state the nurses left her in it would only kill Sakura's drive to be a medical ninja. The girl obviously was trying to be one and he would not do anything to hinder Sakura's drive. But that would involve telling her about what he did and what he held…now wasn't the time for that.

"That's…that's really great, Sakura. I have no doubt you'll become one of the best."

Sakura smiled, her cheeks reddening from the praise. "Thanks Naruto. Congratulations on making it to the finals. You deserve it."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly in a rare moment of embarrassment. "Thanks."

The two teammates sat in silence as they looked down into the arena to watch Sasuke and Shikamaru fight for the other spot in the final match.

-In the arena-

None in the crowd could deny that this next match was an interesting one. Sasuke and Shikamaru, despite his laziness, were at the top of the list when it came to possible chunin candidates at the beginning exam. The two members of their prestigious clans were both thought as geniuses in their own rights for their respective families. Sasuke was only third in overall score during his time in the academy for the Uchiha to Itachi and Shisui, both who graduated early and became ANBU captains at a young age. While Shikamaru was only second to his father, Shikaku who was the leader of the Nara clan and the Jōnin Commander. Only Shikaku has a higher recorded I.Q number than his son.

Genma looked at the two young geniuses. 'This match has a completely different tone than the last one. It feels more like just a friendly bout instead of a personal attack. Hopefully I won't feel inclined to draw a weapon during this one.'

Shikamaru stood across from his Uchiha opponent and began to analysis him. 'Sasuke's got a lot to him. He's strong, fast, considered above average in all three forms of jutsu, and to top it all off he has the Sharingan. And that's just skimming his abilities. It'll be difficult to come up with a strategy for him…troublesome.'

Shikamaru examined the situation further. 'If he comes in for close combat then there is no way I'll win, I guess that applies to ranged attacks too. His chakra control is much better than mine, so he doesn't waste as much chakra as I do when performing jutsus, and I bet he has more chakra to use than me right now. I don't have enough chakra to overuse my Kagemane to trap him. And there's no way I can stall him long enough for the sun to go down to help with preserving my chakra by using natural shadows. I don't want to use that smoke cloud plan either, he'd see through it easily.'

The Nara boy continued to look for any possible advantage. 'The terrain won't help me this time either, he knows I'm capable of hiding within the rubble. He'll be expecting it. A prolonged fight will only help him, he gets stronger as a fight goes on. Damn, of all the people to fight, I'd get forced to fight someone from the clan that's born for battle. What a drag. There really isn't a winnable scenario for me. My only chance is to somehow trick him into submission or either use his own strength against him by turning it into an advantage for me…what's a strength of his I can exploit? Hm, he did always like to disarm during weapons sparring back in the academy.'

Genma felt like he had kept the suspense going long enough for the crowd. He brought his hand up and threw it down towards the ground. "Fight!"

Sasuke instantly threw three shurikens at once. Shikamaru dropped to the ground as the weapons passed over him. The Uchiha closed the distance for close combat. They began exchanging punches and kicks, however, it was clear that Sasuke had the advantage over Shikamaru.

Sasuke landed two strikes to his opponent's face before Shikamaru was able to dodge one, Shikamaru dodged just to receive two more to hit midsection. Shikamaru tried to even the odds by drawing a kunai and slashing upwards, but Sasuke had the perception to disarm. A quick, violent uppercut followed that staggered the genius and gave Sasuke an opening to kick Shikamaru back.

Shikamaru slid to a stop and looked at his opponent. He saw Sasuke sporting a confident smirk while holding the kunai that was taken from him. That caused Shikamaru to smirked with confidence.

Sasuke took notice to Shikamaru's change in demeanor. "What's that smile for? Already realize that you're not going to win? I don't see how that's something worth smiling about but, hey, whatever goes for you."

"Well, you aren't technically wrong about the whole not winning thing. But that's not what I'm smiling about."

Shikamaru suddenly pulled his right arm back, causing Sasuke's left arm, the one with the kunai, to be jerked forward. Sasuke wasn't prepared for this and his entire body followed his arm being yanked, he also felt something tighten around his arm just before it was yanked.

Shikamaru slammed his hands together and created the hand seal for his Kagemane. Sasuke saw this and instantly realized Shikamaru's plan. Shikamaru must've had wires attached to the kunai he drew and when Sasuke disarmed him the wires wrapped themselves around Sasuke's arm. Then used the wires to pull Sasuke closer so he didn't have to waste chakra.

The shadow extended from Shikamaru and closed in on Sasuke. The Uchiha knew he only had moments to spare. He executed the necessary hand seals. Just as he completed the third one, his movements ceased. Sasuke looked down, only using his eyes, to see his shadow attached to Shikamaru's by a long black shadow.

Shikamaru breathed a sigh of relief. "Kagemane no Jutsu…successful."

Sasuke's body tensed, trying to find a way to move but his body was completely immobile. "I'll give you credit. The wires were a nice touch."

Shikamaru scoffed, still holding the hand seal. He needed to figure out a decent plan fast, constant use of his shadow binding technique drained his chakra very quickly. "I knew coming into this fight I didn't have much of a chance, the gap between our strength is pretty big. That's what I meant about you being right earlier."

"Hm. I'd like to say to give up since you know this isn't winnable for you, but fighting a stronger opponent that you know you really can't win against…I get that." Not that Shikamaru would know, but Sasuke was clearly reminding himself of his quick bout with Orochimaru in the Forest of Death a month ago.

Shikamaru chuckled to himself. "I never thought you and I would come to an understanding on something. Or that I'd even find myself in this type of situation."

Sasuke would've nodded in agreement if he had control over his movements…well, most of his movements. "Then why don't we get on with this match?"

Shikamaru raised his eyebrow. "And how do you plan to do that still being trapped in my shadow?"

Sasuke chuckled. "One of the drawbacks with your Kagemane is that your target can still move their eyes, breath, and even talk without a problem. You were just a second too late. I was able to finish weaving my hand signs." He filled his lungs with air and gathered chakra in his mouth. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

"Shit!"

Shikamaru dropped his hand seal, causing his shadow possession over Sasuke to be broke, and jumped out of the way of the giant ball of fire that was shot towards him. Once Shikamaru was clear of the attack, he came face to face with Sasuke with his Sharingan activated. The Uchiha had closed the distance the second Shikamaru released his jutsu and used his Sharingan to help predict which way he'd jump to avoid the fire ball.

Sasuke landed a strong punch square on Shikamaru's jaw, sending the Nara boy backwards. Shikamaru rolled to a stop on his backside, his limbs spread wide.

"Man, what a drag. I knew this fight was too troublesome. And now that you've activated your Sharingan, there isn't a chance in hell I'm able to win. Even if you didn't use your Sharingan, you know the weakness of my Kagemane technique now. Not to mention, I don't have the chakra to hold it anymore." Shikamaru moved into a relaxed position with his hands behind his head and bent his knee so he could rest his other leg on overtop of it. "That's it. I give up."

Genma couldn't help but chuckle. "Winner: Sasuke Uchiha! He will advance to the final match!"

Genma looked on in amusement. 'What a weird kid. He has no aspirations to have anything than a simple time but when push comes to shove he's willing to throw down. And his strategy and intellect are already pretty high, give him some experience and he'll outclass most chunin. All he needs is some motivation to get stronger and he'll probably give some jōnin a reason to sweat. If these matches he fought were real missions, they'd more than likely be resounding successes with little to no fault against him or his team. This kid…he's got a better chance than the other two.'

Sasuke, himself, couldn't an amused scoff, he thought this is how their match would end. The victorious Uchiha remained in the arena while Shikamaru finally decided to get up off the ground and leave the arena.

"Hey proctor."

Genma looked over at the Uchiha. "Yeah? What is it?"

"Is there going to be another thirty-minute intermission between rounds?"

The tokubetsu jōnin nodded. "Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"I'm good to go, now. I hardly used any chakra and I don't want to wait another intermission for my fight."

"Well, it's not really up to me. If your opponent is ready then let's get it over with. I don't really care either way."

Sasuke looked up towards the viewing area. "Hey Naruto! You good to go?!"

Only few moments passed before the blonde in question landed in the arena with a very excited smile adorning his features. "You bet I'm ready!"

Genma looked up to the two Kages, specifically his Hokage, to make sure it was alright to proceed. Sarutobi gave a nod and Genma nodded in return. But the tokubetsu jōnin noticed that the Suna jōnin, Baki, was longer behind his Kazekage. Genma instantly had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that he did not like.

"Alright! This is the final match between Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha!"

-Unknown location-

The room was dark all around him, there was nothing. Yet, this was the place he felt most safe. Submerged in the darkness, never seeing the light that he knew would never reach him. He was alone. He was useless. He had failed to please, failed be prove his existence to the one thing that never judged him.

"I'm sorry Mother…" The young boy sobbed. He hated disappointing Mother.

Hidden in the darkness, a large creature stirred. Two eyes with the black sclerae's and with yellow irises and pupils that each takes the shape of a black four-pointed star with four black dots opened and shined over the young red-headed boy.

"You will have another chance to prove your existence."

The boy stopped sobbing momentarily to look up at the beast. "I-I will?"

"Yes. Just submit your soul to me and your existence will be forever."

All the boy wanted for his life to be considered real, nothing was ever worth except the vindication of Mother. That's he had ever known. That's all he will ever need.

"Yes Mother."

Gaara held out his hand and placed it on the beast's sandy-brown stomach. He was slowly submerged into the beast's body, never once fighting against the pull.

-Forest outside of Konoha-

Baki calmly looked over the large amount of ninja before him, roughly three thousand of his top chunin and jōnin laid in waiting for the signal to begin the attack. The plans were delayed slightly to Gaara's unfortunate loss at the hands of the surviving Uchiha boy, but it was not a devastating blow the overall plan.

The Shukaku was the most vital part of the plan, unleashing that beast from inside Gaara to lay waste Konoha while the Suna and Oto forces combated the remaining Konoha shinobi. The small delay may actually prove beneficial. The longer the invasion takes to begin, the longer the Konoha shinobi are drawn into a false sense of security. The plan, on paper, was quite flawless. There was only one outlier that stood out in Baki's mind. His village leader, the Kazekage, had been acting strange as of late. Stranger than usual when compared to his normal, hard self.

Baki cast that thought aside, the Fourth Kazekage was just focusing on his fight with the Hokage, Yeah, that was it. No need to panic.

A cloaked, masked figure suddenly jumped down from one of the trees above and landed next to Baki.

Baki looked over to the man. "What do you want?"

"Your secret weapon has been moved to the infirmary. I took care of the ones monitoring his…condition. There should be no problems from here on out."

Baki continued to glare. "Why help us? What does Orochimaru have to gain from allowing Suna to destroy Konoha? I thought he would do that himself. "

The cloaked man removed his mask slightly to reveal silver hair and a single round lense of the man's glasses. "Lord Orochimaru has plans, my sand-loving friend. It's in his best interests that Konoha falls."

Baki turned away, saying nothing to man. The cloaked man chuckled manically before jumping back into the trees.

Hello to whoever reads my story, I have a quick thing I want to say. I'll be going on vacation at the end of the week and it will be for the rest of the month. I'm not sure how much time I'll have to write since I'll be spending most of my time with family and friends who I haven't seen in close to a year at this point. So, don't worry, the story isn't suddenly over or I gave up on it. I'm just taking a little bit of a break from my chaos of a life to go home for the first time in a year.

But I won't leave all of you hanging high and dry with just a small cliffhanger, I've got many things planned for this story through to the end. Which, by the way, I plan making my own version of 'Naruto' as a story all the way through to the end of Shippuden and possibly further…still haven't considered that yet. But regardless, I'll give you some direction as to where this 'Part One' rewrite is going.

Chunin Exam Arc is almost done, I'd say two more chapters before I begin my Tsunade Arc. Speaking of which, the Tsunade Arc is going to be an adaptation of both canon and the PS2 Ultimate Ninja 2 storylines. I have most the main points of the arc planned out, I just need to iron the small details and stuff like that. Let me know what you think about that and what things you'd like to see in future arcs.

Secondly, my overall plan is to, as I stated before, basically rewrite all of Naruto. Don't get me wrong, the Naruto series will always hold a place in my heart and I don't think I'll ever find anything like it for it to be replaced. That being said, I am not blind to its faults. Which is obvious because I'm writing this fanfiction.

One of the things that always bothered me about Naruto as a whole was Sakura's character development. I'll admit it, Sakura is one of my favorite characters in the series. Not because I liked the concept of her and Naruto ending up together in the end, which I still do, but because I was able to identify with her more than Naruto or Sasuke. She came from nowhere, had no clan to give her status. Just a simple kid who wanted to be a ninja…and she became one of the best there ever was. That in itself is damn impressive. But her character development completely died after her fight with Sasori. Then got resurrected in the middle of the War Arc when she surpassed Tsunade, but by then it was too late for anything major. We all knew how infatuated she was with Sasuke that any development she had died every time she saw him. Yes, she was a strong woman and good character but she could've been so much better. And honestly, the main reason most fans disliked Sakura wasn't because she was a love rival for Hinata, which I felt was way too forced when compared to Naruto and Sakura's friendship, but because she lied to Naruto about her feelings…even then I was never really convinced that was a complete lie. Sakura may not have loved Naruto in the way he wanted her too but she loved him like family.

One more small rant then I'll be done. The Third Hokage…what the hell man. You were the most powerful man in the village, and not just in strength, and you still let Naruto be treated like absolute shit for his entire childhood. Like how does even happen? I get the whole 'nobody can talk about it' rule but really that just made it worse for Naruto because nobody would talk to him. The Third, and Jiraiya for the most part, was the only one who could truly help Naruto during that time in his life and he did nothing. He just let it happen for the most part. That's why I ever liked the Third Hokage.

Anyway, those were just some of the reasons why I chose to write this story. If you'd like to hear some other reasons then let me know and I'll add Author's Notes to end of more chapters. I'll do my best to hammer out the next chapter as soon as I can.

I'm out.