I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, I'm just a fan I enjoyed the anime but I love the fanfics even more, they made me fall for the whole franchise.

Chapter 84

I stared at Sasuke's approaching form and I wondered if permanently disabling him would get him off my back. I can't kill him, maybe a few weeks ago I would have been able to do so but not now. Sasuke went through hand seals and blasted me with a great fireball jutsu.

I raised my right arm, palm facing forward and the seal on my palm glowed red before the flames inches from my palm vanished suddenly. No smoke, no sound just gone without a trace. Sasuke's Sharingan widened, and I couldn't help but think he should try to copy that with his eyes.

I watched him jump in the air and go through more seals, now performing a fire-style phénix flame jutsu. I aimed my hand at his airborne form and unsealed the flames I had sealed away earlier, moving with the same velocity it traveled in when first sent my way.

Sasuke's eyes widened again before the flames consumed him. I knew it would not be that simple and a second later my thoughts were proven correct when a burnt log fell from the sky. I brought my arm down and instead looked at Hinata who I had placed behind me to let her calm down.

Sasuke rushed in again, now from the right with bloody teeth bared in anger. I summoned a clone that quickly appeared in front of my 'teammate' like an illusion and engaged him in hand-to-hand combat.

I turned around to face the dome of sand that had encircled Gaara after he stopped moving. I wrapped my hand around Hinata's shoulders from behind with our cheeks very close to each other while my clone kept Sasuke busy.

I noticed how Hinata was intently staring at the dome with her Byakugan, only she knew what was going on in there.

"I will be right back Hime." I told my best friend and dashed off to take on Sasuke who was fighting with every tool he had at his disposal. My clone was giving him a hard time with the simple strategy of summoning a clone before getting dispelled and having the summoned clone attack at high speeds while Sasuke was in no position to dodge or block.

Training with clones is a cheat code of magnitudes only I will ever know, the leaps in strength, skills, experience, and chakra control I achieved every day for the last 3 weeks were enough to make me proficient in everything I trained in and learned. I can train everything at once and with my stamina which I share with my clones, they can train for hours nonstop.

"You don't know when to stay down." I said when I reached Sasuke and my clone popped to obscure his vision. The Hook I sent his way was weaved away from and he looked at me with pure hate in his eyes. Yes, I stared him in the eyes, I had to cover my weakness against Genjutsu and fuinjutsu had just the answer for that.

I was not falling victim to the Sharingan's eye of hypnosis anytime soon, but Sasuke did not have to know that. "I'm going to kill you dobe." Sasuke threatened and I rolled my eyes when he brought his left leg up to kick the side of my face.

"Show me." I beckoned him to make his promise a reality while grabbing his attacking leg in a vice grip. He jumped while swinging with his other leg at my face but without a seal, I summoned a clone to my side already at high speed coming with a right hook. The fist met Sasuke's cheek and sent him blasting back and away from me.

'It would be so much simpler to kill him.' I thought with anger at myself for not just finishing it but…'Aunty would be sad.' Or maybe I was just finding a reason to not do it, not for her but for Mom. I looked at the audience and squinted my eyes to spot Mikoto Uchiha and Izumi Uchiha watching the fight.

'I don't think I can hurt Aunty like that and mom would not like it.' I performed the Shuushine to reach Sasuke's form and delivered a knee strike to his diaphragm, knocking the breath out of him and blasting him a couple more feet away. He rolled on the ground before pushing himself up by performing a flip. He landed on his feet and took four steps back as if disoriented before gazing at me with anger in his crimson eyes.

I know Sasuke hates my guts, Honestly, he is just fun to tease but the difference between his hate toward me and the one I get from the general public is that my teammate's hate is purely against me and not from my association with the fur ball.

Sasuke drew two Kunai and dashed in again, making me sigh before sending out another high-speed clone, this one with a bang.

Boom!!!

The clone exploded before reaching Sasuke and the force behind the explosion sent him flying back and away screaming in pain. I looked back toward Aunty Mikoto and saw her place her hands in front of her mouth. From this far I could not read her facial expression but her body language said she did not like to see her son hurt, she most certainly would not like to see him dead.

'I don't want her to hate me.' I thought to myself, she is the closest I can get to knowing my mom. She cooked for me my Mom's special Ramen and shared so many stories of the redhead. For me to Kill her son in front of her while We are supposed to be teammates. That does not sound like something Hinata would approve of, so I will not do it.

"I'm just gonna beat you to the ground until you can't stand up anymore!!" I proclaimed and cracked my knuckles. "Get ready Sasuke because I'm coming." I vitalized my body and took control of my shadow with Ying release before vanishing like an illusion only to appear in front of Sasuke with a spartan kick.

Sasuke crossed his arms in front of his chest because he was not fast enough to dodge my attack even if his sharingan had somehow evolved and could keep track of me. My foot made contact and Sasuke shot back like a bullet crying out in pain. I performed the Shuushine to get to his airborne form and I grabbed his foot stopping his momentum suddenly.

I heard a crack from the leg I grabbed and Sasuke screamed out in pain. "Agh!!!" I refrained from looking at Aunty as the crowd cheered when I dislocated Sasuke's ankle. I summoned another clone who appeared in the distance. I spun 3times With Sasuke's foot in my hands before throwing him toward my clone with great force.

Sasuke must have broken the sound barrier before reaching my clone who landed a devastating clothesline to his chest, probably cracking a rib.

Crunch!!!

Sasuke did not make a sound as he rolled and rolled on the floor before going over the mountain and falling off. I summoned a clone with the purpose of saving him from a crash landing and deposit him safely on the ground for a ninja to go collect him.

'I'm sure his done after that final attack.' I concluded and Ran back toward Hinata to find a solution on what to do against Gaara. Just when I reached Hinata the clone I sent after Sasuke got killed by the Uchiha and dispelled giving me the memory.

"Man…… he doesn't give up." I chuckled as I said this out loud looking up at the sky. Did he want me to end it all with his death, it is just the Chunin exams it isn't that big a deal.

"How is the situation going with Gaara?" I asked my girlfriend who looked so beautiful as she placed all her concentration on the dome of sand.

"His wounds have healed, I can't feel his presence and his chakra networks are being flooded with the bijuu's chakra." Hime told me seriously and I got serious as well. Hinata took a deep breath and did something, or I think she did when she suddenly became still.

"Naruto!!!!" Sasuke's shout reached me and I turned to find his bloody form limping toward me with a Fūma Shuriken in hand. "For how long!!?" He asked and I looked at him in confusion.

"What are you blabbering about?!!" I asked having to raise my voice as well because of the distance between us.

"For how long have you been this strong and mocking me??!" Sasuke demanded in another shout as he limped his way toward me with pure rage in his crimson eyes that I stared straight at.

"I don't have to answer that." I instead told him and turned my head to face Hinata who didn't seem to register anything. 'What is she doing!' I wondered before looking back to Sasuke. He threw the Fūma Shuriken at me with a shout and began going through hand seals.

"Ahhhhhh!!!" Ox, Rabbit, Monkey, Dragon, Rat, Bird, Ox, Snake, Dog, Tiger, Monkey. It was my first time seeing the sequence of seals but what followed after was the Chidori a bastardized Rasengan if you asked me.

Sasuke smirked before he jumped up using his uninjured foot and began free-falling toward me with his left hand outstretched forward covered in lightning.

'I did not think I would get bored fighting this guy, yet here I am bored out of my mind.' I swung my right hand in the air like I was throwing a slap and the seal behind my hand glowed before a gust of wind smacked Sasuke's body out of the air to meet with the rocky terrain once more. The crowd again approved but I did not look to my Godmother and instead at the seal on the back of my right hand.

With a little tweaking and changes, the seal used to create the Sword of the thunder god became something else and in my opinion something cooler. The seal tattooed to my flesh on the back of my right hand was in the shape of a swirl, with three arrays meant to do specific things.

'The first absorbs my chakra and stores it into an array that works like a battery. The second array automatically uses nature transformation to change my chakra into wind release when called upon. The last array shapes the wind into whatever position my hand is in'

I made a fist with my right hand and shot it forward like I was throwing a jab in Sasuke's direction while the seal glowed.

"Aghhhhhh!!!" Sasuke screamed when my wind punch landed on his form, making his whole body feel the hit. This time I let him drop to the forest floor below.

I turned around, and since I never took a step away from Hinata when Sasuke attacked I was right next to her. I went on to wrap my arm around her shoulder and give her a gentle shake. "Hime?" I called out her name and she blinked before looking at me.

"Find anything?" I asked her and also realized how my rising nerves because of Sasuke diminished when our eyes made contact. "Did I ever mention how beautiful your eyes are?" I asked with a grin forming on my face, She had me in the palms of her hands but with that blush forming on her face I would think the feeling was mutual.

"No Naruto-Kun, b-but thank you." She has such a gentle voice, I thought. I moved my hand from her shoulder and placed it on her cheek so I could move my head closer to hers and stare deep into her eyes.

"I adore you." I whispered and she turned red, which made my grin widen and her beauty elevate.

"A-And I adore you Naruto-Kun." She whispered with a beautiful big smile that made me happy to see. I wish she could see how much she makes me smile, my cheeks are quite literally hurting at this point.

"Ncaawwww!!!!" the crowd cooed when they saw the fluffy mood the two contestants had going on.

"The beast within Gaara seems calm, it did not register my intrusion." I got confused by the knowledge and asked her what she meant.

"I….." Hinata stopped talking and turned her head to face the dome with my hand still on her cheek. "He is awake and hostile." Hime mumbled and she summoned her Katana. I too turned my head to face the dome of sand and saw cracks forming while other sections fell apart.

"Are you sure?" I had to ask and when Hinata looked at me with fear in her eyes, I turned her head to face me and brought our foreheads together. I looked at her deep into her active dojutsu that made it look like she was glaring at me and promised myself I would protect her.

"Yes." She simply said and I rubbed her cheek with my thumb.

"I will always protect you, you know that." I told her and she nodded but still frowned. "What is wrong.?" I asked trying not to look at the sand dome breaking apart.

"What about you, who will protect you?" She asked me with clear fear in her voice and I sighed before wrapping my arms around her waist. I ignored the catcalls coming from the audience and gave Hinata my best grin that said believe it.

"You will Hime." I responded and her eyes widened at the assurance in my voice. "I trust you, you know that right?" I asked and she nodded, blushing red because of how close I held her with the only distance being between our lips as even our foreheads were connected.

"Then I got your back and you got mine?" I asked making her nod again. "Cool, then let's do this." She again nodded and tried to get out of the hug but I held on tight, she looked back at me and I got lost in her eyes. "You know I love you right?" She broke into a smile at that question and nodded with a pink tint on her face.

"How about we travel the world after all this, just the two of us?" I suggested and she brought her arms to wrap around my shoulders while she smiled.

"I would love that very much." Was her answer and I found myself moving in for a kiss. When I am with my Hime the world becomes background noise, I just want her like this until the end of time, and then some.

'I will sacrifice any and everything for you Hinata Hyūga, including my life if I have to.' I promised myself seriously and I saw her frown, it is like she always knows when I am being emo. Hinata pecked my lips with a smile and I was a happy rainbow once more as I grinned.

"NARUTO!!!" Sasuke's shouting voice reached my ears and I found myself back in reality. I sighed and Hinata sighed as we broke the hug and faced the limping Uchiha who was bloody, with torn clothes that were also burnt in random places while being filled with dirt and grim.

"He is hurting, Naruto-kun." Hinata reminded me and I wondered why she always seemed so good at reading people's feelings.

"UZUMAKI!!!" I turned my head to stare at Gaara who revealed himself from the sand dome sporting new features.

"That's my name." I joked before winking at Hinata. "How about you let me handle Gaara?" I offered and she shook her head in the negative confusing me.

"I will fight him. I just have to land another clean hit." She told me and I nodded not minding the change of plans because I believed in her strength.

"Ready Hime?" I asked grinning.

"Ready Naruto-Kun." She replied with a serious nod and I again wondered how I was so blind to notice all that love in her eyes no matter the form it took.

I turned around and dashed toward Sasuke while Hinata ran toward Gaara but I quickly made a clone moving at high speeds to transform into a dark blue strand of hair and attach itself to her. I can't risk losing my life because that is what she is to me, my life.

«««««"»»»»»

Hinata dashed toward the possessed Gaara with her katana held in one hand, while the other hand was raised in front of her with her palm facing forward. She concentrated on her vision and found the Ichibi screaming while throwing a tantrum. It was chaotic and Gaara's body moved with that same chaotic energy.

Gaara's new features consisted of a big clawed right and left arm made of sand and the insane yellow eyes of the Ichibi. Hinata prepared herself when the salivating Gaara leaped toward her and she went through hand seals before calling out.

"Water style: Water Needle!" Using the chakra control granted by the Gentle Fist, Hinata concentrated her chakra until water vortexes were created around her. She shot out water blasts from the vortexes which turn to needle-like water. By using the Byakugan, this technique can be used with great precision to aim at the tenkentsu in the body.

Hinata had to admit the large-scale sand tsunami that Gaara summoned to block her technique was grand. She jumped back and away from the sand Tsunami that was slowly losing its force as it gained on her.

Hinata stopped back paddling when the Sand technique lost its velocity and crashed to the ground. She quickly leaped to the left to dodge Gaara's human-sized clawed arm that is reminiscent of the Ichibi's own.

The Hyūga Heiress took to her nature manipulation training and called upon her knowledge of it. Hinata called upon a thin layer of water to coat her Katana and take her weapon's shape.

'Thinner.' Hinata thought raising her blade above her head as she soared backward. 'Sharper.' She concentrated her chakra into the water coating her blade to make the water sharper. Hinata landed and blasted herself toward Gaara while swinging her blade downward.

"Water Style: Katana Slash!" Hinata called out and the thin layer of water took a crescent shape as it flew off the katana but retained its sharpness and concentration heading toward Gaara.

The attack made contact with the sand arm Gaara sent at Hinata and she was happy to see that it worked. A sword did not do well against earth and Hinata did not want to take chances by cutting the sand directly with her blade.

The sand arm the Hyūga Genin cut off quickly got reattached and Hinata frowned narrowing her eyes at the phenomenon. She saw in great detail how Gaara's brown chakra attached itself to the sand and gave it purpose.

The sand returned to Gaara's side and formed another clawed right arm before recreating another for his left arm. The possessed Jinchuriki laughed in hysteria after that feat.

Hinata narrowed her eyes and raised her left hand in front of her face with her index and middle fingers out stretched to channel her chakra.

The veins in the corner of her eyes began pulsing as her eyes got even darker if it was possible. More Water began coating her katana as her chakra spiked.

Left Swipe, diagonal up swipe, horizontal left swipe, diagonal down swipe, Hinata's right hand became a blur as she began performing the water style: katana slash sending consecutive sharp water arcs at Gaara in the form of an eight.

Gaara raised his arms and a sand wall formed in front of him to block the attacks. As the one with the superior element, Gaara was very sure of his defense and was shocked when the first water blade sliced cleanly through his sand wall.

Gaara jumped high to get away from the onslaught of water blades and placed his arms above his head before swinging them down to point at Hinata.

"Sand Shuriken." Gaara sent out a barrage of sand Shurikens at Hinata. The sand Shurikens formed from his clawed hands and were launched at the Hyūga with great speed.

Her Katana still coated in a thin layer of water, Hinata began cutting down on every shuriken that converged on her. She was not done attacking yet as thin crescent water blades were still being sent out toward Gaara after every swing of the blade.

"Heeeeeiiiiyaaasaas!!!!" Gaara screeched in insanity and sent his clawed arm down to grab onto the ground below so he could yank himself down. Dodging the sharp water blades Gaara landed with a crash and sent out both clawed hands stretching toward his opponent.

Hinata's blade disappeared and she brought both her palms forward to collide with the clawed hands as she called out.

"Eight Trigrams: Mountain Crusher!!" Hinata's chakra traveled through the sand arms while breaking them apart before reaching Gaara's actual arms and causing great damage.

"Rrriiiieeerryyaaaaa!!!!" Gaara's screech of pain was a disturbing sound but what was even more disturbing was how the possessed boy's arms healed in seconds with snaps and cracks sounding out with a wet sound in between them.

"Kill mother, kill the progenitor, kill the rabbit, kill evil." Gaara was mumbling incoherent things as he slowly approached Hinata. Eyes locked to her own with great bloodlust and he attacked screaming a long-lost name.

"Kill the rabbit goddess!!!"

««««««"»»»»»»

Sasuke's three tomoe Sharingan danced around his eyes as it kept him informed on the fast-moving blonde's position. He tried to raise his guard to block the incoming jab but still received the hit as Naruto's fist slipped through the closing gap.

Sasuke's head flicked back and he gritted his teeth as more blood fell from his broken nose. He buckled forward when he received two hooks on his sides and got raised off his feet when an uppercut met his chin and rattled his brain.

The Uchiha felt his ankles get grabbed and he was dragged back down, only to receive another uppercut from the blonde. Sasuke still in the clone's grip registered his canine loosen and his eyes widened at the thought of losing a tooth.

He grits his teeth while performing a seal less substitution technique to get away from the blonde. Sasuke found himself in a bush as he hid to catch his breath and he chuckled.

"I'm hiding from that dobe." The Uchiha said before chuckling again, though his eyes carried none of the humor you would expect. Sasuke was livid, the blonde was toying with him. Sasuke could deduce that much by his condition, it aches him to think that he should have been down for the count already but it was the simple truth.

Sasuke couldn't live in a world where the dobe was better than him, it was not the world he imagined. Sasuke thought, which showed just how much he had changed from the eager boy who wanted to start the academy 6 years ago.

The old Sasuke Uchiha dreamt of fighting alongside his big brother for the longest time, and in wave country, he had gotten that honor. He dreamt of doing S-Rank missions for the Hokage himself and in his ninja pouch he carried this achievement in the form of a payment scroll under his name. The same Sharingan he once envied in Itachi that he now possessed all seemed to not matter anymore. All that mattered now was being better than Naruto Uzumaki.

'He stole the whole exam, no matter what I do now, it will not make as big an impact as everything he has done.' Sasuke balled his fists as he kept still to not reveal his position. His mind replaying everything Naruto had done in the exams since it began.

Naruto spoke up for the other examiners in the first stage to motivate them all when morale was low. Sasuke remembered how even enemies cheered along with him at the end of his speech. In the second stage the blonde proved his love for Hinata by choosing her above Ino and now the final stage.

'The Taya tag, even father was excited for its release.' Sasuke felt a pang in his chest that quickly turned to bloodlust before he ran out of his hiding place and toward the blonde who simply stood there waiting for him to attack like he had all the time in the world.

"Every day I have to sit around and see you have it all." Sasuke spoke as he initiated the attack knowing that he was only able to do so because the blonde allowed him to do so.

"Wow Sasuke… really man, really??" Naruto asked as he dodged Sasuke's jab by moving away from it and hopping on his feet to change his body's angle. Sasuke moved in again and jumped up with both feet up in a drop kick. A clone appeared above Sasuke and aimed for a leg drop with Sasuke barely twisting out of the way.

"I'll kill you." The Uchiha threatened as he landed on all four like a feline about to pounce and pounce he did as he launched himself at the Uzumaki. Sasuke caught sight of Naruto sidestep so fast that he thought he saw double before he missed the blonde completely feeling like he phased through him.

"I think we both know you can't accomplish that as you are." Naruto spoke softly as his right hand moved forward and Sasuke found himself in the Uzumaki's mercy.

The Uchiha quickly performed the clone technique, never knowing he would need it one day. Naruto's hand about to grab Sasuke's ankle missed and instead phased through the illusion that was made to look closer than Sasuke actually was.

Sasuke smirked when he landed with a roll and twisted to stare at the blonde thinking Naruto never saw that coming but when he looked at the blonde he found him instead looking in the distance at Hinata Hyūga who was fighting the weird Genin from Suna.

The Uchiha Genin did not understand what that transformation was about, what captivated him was the fact Hinata still took on the monstrosity and was somehow winning.

Sasuke didn't want to close his eyes because he would relive the kiss between Naruto and Hinata. It pained him to think that for the blonde, Hinata would be brave enough to publicly announce her affections by initiating a kiss. Sasuke didn't even think he was brave enough to do such a thing.

"Don't mock me dobe!" Sasuke shouted when Naruto's posture became dreamy. The Uchiha's boiling anger once again spilled over and he attacked again. "You have it all!!" Sasuke accused and Naruto shook his head in disbelief at what he heard.

"You stupid? stupid." Naruto blandly spoke like he was stating an obvious fact. Sasuke quickly reached him and was met by another wind punch that sent him flying back and Naruto followed him in dash.

"You have a family, a clan, a history you can trace back to the age of the warring clans and you say an orphan with none of what you have has it better than you, 'has it all' apparently." Naruto didn't know what it was about the Uchiha Genin but something was clearly loose up there and it was starting to annoy him immensely.

Sasuke balled his fists until they turned white while he got angrier at the golden-blonde Genin standing in front of him. What the blonde said made him angry because it rang true in his mind but admitting that Naruto had a point even to himself was something his psyche would not touch with a poll the length of the elemental nations and beyond.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted and dodged by the skin of his teeth as his eyes became accustomed to the sudden burst of speed at the beginning of Naruto's attacks. Sasuke found a chance to counter and took it immediately as he performed a reverse roundhouse kick to Naruto's cheek.

Sasuke smirked. "Puff." The smirk dropped and turned into a frown before he heard exaggerated clapping coming from directly behind him.

"There, you won!! You defeated the great Naruto-Sama!!" Naruto was not helping the situation by putting on an act because it could only be an act, what with the wide grin on his face that looked absolutely villainous.

"Don't…mock mmmm….." Sasuke's eyes widened as his words came out in an incoherent whisper. Naruto reached him so fast that he couldn't so much as move a muscle even though his eyes caught everything. A gust of wind followed a second after the d-do-be….dobe stopped in Sasuke's personal space.

"Stay down….you are out of your league." Sasuke felt fear strike him when Naruto whispered those words in his left ear ominously, and he could not retract his head due to the blonde holding it from behind with a death grip.

There was no sound made as a blue light began emitting in the gap between their bodies. Sasuke peaked down out of curiosity and fear gripped his heart when he spotted the famed jutsu of the fourth Hokage spinning rapidly 1 millimeter from his midsection.

"Rasengan!!" Naruto roared as he held Sasuke in place by the head and drilled the Jutsu into his stomach. The blonde did not blink as Sasuke screamed in pain and thrashed in a hopeless attempt to get free.

"Aghhhhhh!!!!!" Naruto shoved the jutsu further into his raven-haired teammate's stomach. The Jutsu grounded away at Sasuke's shirt, mesh shirt, and finally skin. Placing his intestines under a lot of stress and pressure including unimaginable pain.

"Now we know who's better." Naruto whispered his final words before letting go of Sasuke's head and letting his Jutsu spin Sasuke around like a top before blasting him away.

Sasuke screamed while he landed on the ground roughly while getting carried more than 20 meters away. When he finally lost all momentum his Sharingan deactivated with his black eyes opened wide, mouth agape, and body unresponsive.

Naruto turned around as a Chunin of Konoha immediately came down to collect Sasuke Uchiha. A second later a group of Medic Ninja came with a stretcher when the Chunin sent a hand signal to indicate the injuries were serious and if not treated immediately they could become life threatening.

The crowd was in a frenzy because of all they had witnessed. Naruto did not care, his mood was ruined and now he just wanted to get the whole event out of the way so he could run away with his princess.

A feed declared Sasuke Uchiha Eliminated and Naruto did not give the boy getting carried away another glance.

An:

To be continued.