The matches went Sasuke as expected. He didn't bother paying attention to them as they bored him. What good would it do him to watch Temari fight TenTen? Or Shikamaru vs Kin? Like seriously. For all he knew he was satisfied with his skills and wasn't going to copy anyone any time in the future. He already knew how he was going to turn so why bother. It would be annoying, really. But he figured he just left soon after Sakura's match, Kakashi wasn't going to leave him. He would just tease him and he didn't want that. He had other things to focus on.
Naruto fought Kiba and won. Even though Orochimaru hadn't done anything to temper with the jinchuriki's seal this time but he was sure enough that Jiraiya was bound to come to check up on his godson. When the blonde farted in Kiba's face, he was all but disgusted. Did he really have to stoop as low as that? But fair enough, he had won. That's what was important. In a real battle, it didn't matter how you won, as long as you saved the lives of your comrades and those around you.
The eighth match was between Neji and Hinata. This piqued his interest as Naruto had been training the Hyuga heiress in stamina. He wondered how this match would turn out, would it be the same as last time or not. He watched on with interest.
"I hope that this match won't be a waste of my time Hinata. Considering how very weak you are," Neji taunted as he smirked at the girl. Hinata would have started to doubt herself but Naruto had taught her to endure no matter. They had been training together for the past month. Hinata helped Naruto learn a few Hyuga taijutsu styles and he taught her in stamina and resilience. His exercises were gruesome and a bit weird but she silently thanked him when she was in the Forest of Death. She had managed to fight off some enemies on her own and get the scroll they wanted.
Now she was fighting with her cousin. His behavior during the past month had gone from bad to worse. He was colder than before, spoke with more spite than she knew a person could have and taunted her worse. She wondered if it was because she had been training with Naruto. It seemed as though her training with the obnoxious blonde didn't seem right to him and seemed to anger him even further.
"I won't lose to you," she said determinedly. The two had a face-off before rushing towards each other. She struck her palm out upon meeting him and the Hyuga dodged. She quickly struck her palms as quickly as she could. Her speed had increased slightly due to her training. Neji had starting dodging with ease before becoming frustrated due to the girl's increasing speed and attacks and had started to give her own attacks. A few of them had managed to hit her but she avoided as much as possible. They both hadn't activated their Byakugans yet. He managed to land a blow to her shoulder, almost dislocating it but she shrugged it off like it was nothing.
Neji jumped back, creating a distance between the two of them as he eyed the kunoichi warily. She had improved greatly and was turning out to be more of an opponent rather than a nuisance. She had managed to land a few blows and he had grunted in pain, hoping that no one really noticed. "I see you've improved a bit, though not enough to beat me," he said in a cold voice. "I've been t-training with Naruto-kun f-for the past m-month. He taught me a-a lot and I'm g-going to put my all i-into this match so a-as to not let him d-down," she replied with the occasional stutter, her eyes hard with determination. "We'll see," Neji said and formed the hand signs for activating the Byakugan. Hinata did the same as well.
The two rushed towards each other and began to fight in a typical Hyuga style. With their palms cloaked in chakra, the struck each other, deflecting blows and countering with their own. Everyone looked on in silence as they watched the two Hyugas give their all in the battle. Sasuke was actually impressed with Hinata's improvement. It was better than he had expected but he was sure that she had something up her sleeve. She trained under the dobe and he was sure as hell that she might've learned a few tricks or two.
Hinata struck out her palm and Neji deflected it with his forearm before delivering a blow to her stomach and sent the girl flying away. She landed on the ground with a loud thud. She slowly regained her bearings. "No matter what, you'll never be able to defeat me. You're a weakling and a pathetic excuse of a kunoichi, much less a Hyuga," he sneered at her. The girl's expression faltered a bit and Neji knew he had found his mark. "You went to that dobe to train. I'm guessing he accepted you more out of pity than actual feelings. You are social reject after all," he added. "That's n-not true. N-Naruto-kun offered to h-help me as a friend," she replied, her voice soft and meek. "Oh please, who would want to train with you? Even Hanabi is a better fighter than you and Hiashi-san is actually considering to make her the heiress to the clan instead of you," he said wickedly as he smirked at her. "N-Neji-niisan that's-"
"I'm not your nii-san!" he yelled furiously, shocking the crowd that the composed Hyuga would even lose his cool at someone like Hinata. "If I'm your niisan then why'd you let my otou-san die? Tell me, why?!" he shouted, his face a mask of utter fury. "I-I," the girl stuttered but was unable to respond. Neji didn't say anything as he rushed towards with a new speed. Before Hinata could react, he was already upon her. Putting the famous Hyuga Gentle Fist style into good use, he struck her forcefully. Hinata managed to block or evade a few blows but she had received the brute of the attack. He struck her twice in the stomach before giving her one final blow which sent her crashing into the wall, leaving a dent behind
Neji watched as she fell to the ground motionlessly. She wasn't moving and the Hyuga branch member smirked in satisfaction. After a moment, Hayate broke the silence. "Hinata Hyuga is unable to battle. The winner is-"
"WAIT!"
The crowd looked at Naruto who had yelled at the top of his lungs, prompting Hayate to stop. "What now Naruto?" he asked, obviously displeased with the interruption as he glared at the boy who was watching from the spectators' area. "Wait, she's not yet defeated. The fight's not over," he said desperately as he watched the unmoving girl. "Naruto, she's unconscious and-" "She's not, she's really not. Trust me on this one," the blonde said. "Naruto," the kenjutsu master warned. "Hinata-chan! Hinata-chan! Wake up!" he yelled at the unmoving girl. She did not so much as move at his word. "Hinata-chan! You can do this, you can't lose to the prick!" he yelled, ignoring Neji's glare. "She won't wake up, so why bother?" Neji said as he glared at the blonde who was doing a good job of ignoring him and yelling his brains out for the girl to wake up. "Hayate-san," Neji said to the jounin.
"The winner-"
"Hinata-chan!"
"-of the match-"
"Wake up!"
"-is-"
"HINATA-CHAN!!!!!!!"
'twitch.'
The genin watched in awe as the girl moved a bit, before slowly rising. Her breathing was ragged and she had trouble standing up straight. Hayate had stopped to watch the Hyuga heiress rise. Considering the blows she had received from Neji, which could have killed her as it harmed all her internal organs, he was surprised to see her move, more so to even stand up. "It seems that the Hyuga heiress is up. This match may continue then," he said as he watched the girl narrow her eyes at Neji, her fists tightly clenched, even though she seemed to be in great pain.
"You're still standing? What a pathetic attempt of trying to be strong. But no matter what, you're a failure and you'll always be a failure. That's your fate, it's your destiny," he spat as he glared at the girl with so much distaste. "Ignore him Hinata-chan! You can do this, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled from where he was, receiving a sideways smack from Sakura. Hinata spared Naruto a longing glance before turning to look at her cousin. "You may beat me, break me or do anything you want but I'm not a failure. Naruto-kun taught me that there's no such thing as a failure," she said in a steel voice, her voice crystal clear. "I won't let Naruto-kun's effort be in vain. I'll keep on fighting no matter what. That's my ninja way," she said with a hard determination.
Neji smirked at her before rushing towards. Hinata did the same and rushed towards him. She went through a single hand sign before five Hinatas poofed into existence. This resulted in several gasps of shock. 'She can do the Shadow Clone jutsu? That's new,' Sasuke thought as he became more interested in the match. All the clones clashed with Neji, each fighting in the Gentle Fist style. Neji dodged with difficulty as it was being difficult to land a hit on the clones. They were moving with such fluidness he'd seen only his otou-san doing. He grunted as one of the cloned managed to strike his bicep. He took down three of them and was left with two. Dodging to the left, he swept his foot and knocked away one if the clones, the clone immediately poofing out of existence.
He exchanged a few blows with the last clone before he struck it in the stomach, immediately poofing away as well. At that very moment, his ears tingled, ninja senses warning him of incoming danger. He turned around at the last moment, dodging Hinata's chakra-laden palm barely by a hair's breadth which was coming from above him. His eyes widened in shock as Hinata's palm connected to the ground where he was previously standing on and the earth cracked loudly and yielded under the force, dust rising immediately. He jumped away from the girl and saw her standing in a large crater which she had created, which he saw sure that if it had connected with him, he might be on the brink of death right now.
Everyone stared wide-eyed at the two except Naruto who was smirking. Neji stared at the panting girl and for the first time he saw her as a kunoichi, rather than a meek heiress who was responsible for the death of his otou-san. It seemed to only fuel his anger all the more. The two glared at each other before she dropped on one knee, wheezing heavily as she struggled to breathe, blooding dripping down her chin from her mouth. Chakra and physical exhaustion were starting to take effect on her body. "You think that a sneak attack like that could easily defeat me?!" he shouted with a touch of hysteria to it. "Why do you continue to fight when you know that you won't win?!" he shouted again, rage evident in his voice. Hinata didn't answer him as she continued to stare at him, hoping to buy some time and think of a plan to defeat him. "You claim that I suffer as the heiress of the Hyuga clan," she said softly. "But you suffer more because you're a member of the clan's branch family," she added as she looked him straight in the eye.
Neji's face was a face of pure rage. "Why you pathetic brat! I'm gonna kill you!" he shouted as he rushed towards her before punching her in the face and sending her flying away and crashing hard into the ground. He ran towards her only to be stopped by Hayate and the other jounin. "Let me go!" he snapped as he struggled out of the Hayate's grasp. His view of Hinata was slightly blinded by the jounin.
Naruto jumped down and rushed towards the Hyuga heiress. "Hinata-chan! Are you okay?" he asked, concern evident in his voice as he knelt beside the crouched Hinata. She looked at him through hooded, tired eyes before smiling weakly and falling down onto his lap, unconscious. "Hinata-chan!" he exclaimed as he caught her. His chest tightened in pain as he watched the girl on his lap. She didn't deserve this especially from her cousin, dattebayo. His sight turned red in anger before it cleared again.
"That was pointless cheering," Neji chastised as he glared at the blonde genin. Naruto glared in return. "Once a failure, you're always a failure. She's a failure and that's her fate. It's her destiny," he stated as he glared at the unconscious girl. Naruto jumped at Neji only to be stopped by Lee who had blocked his path. "Let me through Bushy-Brows. This doesn't concern you," the jinchuriki all but growled. "Naruto-kun, this is not the right time for a clash between a genius and a failure. You can do that later," Lee reasoned with the blonde. Naruto seemed to be trembling in anger before sighing resignedly.
The medics arrived and put Hinata on a stretcher. Naruto watched in concern as she was carried away. 'Please be okay, Hinata-chan,' he thought, his heart constricted. Naruto took some of Hinata's blood and smeared it on his palm. "I swear by Hinata-chan's blood, Neji. I will defeat you, even if I have to kill you!" he shouted he fisted the palm with his friend's blood, glaring at the Hyuga prodigy. Neji scoffed in return before walking away with the medics.
Sasuke waited patiently as he watched the last two matches. The first was between Gaara and Lee. The green-clad taijutsu ninja had a snowball's chance in hell against the jinchuriki. Lee's left arm and leg are crushed by Gaara's sand and it is only after Gai intervened that he was spared. Gaara was declared the winner of the match. The last match was between Chouji and Dosu in which Dosu easily won. Sasuke watched in utter boredom. He wasn't interested in either of the two boys anyways.
The remaining genin watched as the final matches were being announced.
Uzumaki Naruto vs Hyuga Neji
Uchiha Sasuke vs Gaara no Sabaku
Aburame Shino vs Kankuro no Sabaku vs Haruno Sakura
Nara Shikamaru vs Temari no Sabaku
"Those are the final matches. For match no. 3, whoever wins will fight against Haruno Sakura. You have a month to prepare for the exams. Do I make myself clear?" Hayate asked, coughing now and then. All the genin. "Until then," he said.
Team 7 was walking in the streets of Konoha. Right after the finished the preliminary round, they had gone straight to Ichiraku's, blood, sweat and all. After finishing their meals, they began walking the streets of Konoha. It was almost night. "Congratulations on reaching the final exams. You guys made me proud, my cute little students," Kakashi said as he eyed his three soon-to-be-chunin out of the corner of his eye. "I'm surprised we managed to make it this far. I'm surprised I managed to make it his far," Sakura said as she rubbed her arm distractedly. She winced in pain and saw the burn she had received I the forest. They were an angry red, as if mocking her for not being treated.
"You didn't go to the hospital to get those treated," Sasuke stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "Well, I," the kunoichi said as she smiled sheepishly. "You should get those treated Sakura. We wouldn't want to scar you pretty skin," Kakashi said. "Sensei and the teme are right, dattebayo!" Naruto said as he grinned. "C'mon," Sasuke said as he grabbed her wrist. "W-Where are we going?" the pinkette asked, her face beet red at the action. "To the hospital," Sasuke snapped, though it lacked the usual bite to it. "I wanna go too!" Naruto complained loudly as he latched himself onto Sakura's injured arm. The girl winced in return.
"Careful dobe," Sasuke seethed as he roughly pushed him away from her. "Actually Naruto, there's someone I need you to see. Why don't you let Sasuke and Sakura go on to the hospital without you then you can join them later?" the silver-haired jounin reasoned with the blonde. Naruto huffed in annoyance before a muttering a yes. Whether Kakashi was onto something, Sasuke didn't know but he wasn't liking it one bit. "Let's go," Sasuke said without sparing the two members of Team 7 a glance, holding Sakura by her wrist. "Bye Sensei! Naruto!" the girl yelled after the two, her face red from embarrassment.
After they were out of sight, Naruto turned to see Kakashi giggling. "You paired them, didn't you?!" he shouted as he pointed an accusing finger at the jounin. Kakashi chose to ignore him, focusing on muttering something about "his cute little students."
I'm done with the chapter. I never knew writing would be soo tiresome but what can you do? I enjoyed writing Neji's fight with Hinata. I hadn't originally intended to write the scene but it wouldn't be fair since I don't want this fic to be centered on Team 7 only. I'm sure Neji was surprised at badass Hinata, shannaro! Anyways, I won't promise any updates soon. I might get really busy, just hope for the best.
Read and review.
Tozoonana.
AfrcanFire
