Naruto and Neji stood across from each other, ready for Genma to announce the start of their match. However, before Genma could start, Naruto and Neji were surprised by the noise that the crowd made. Instead of cheers, it was the noise of boos and curses. The blonde didn't need to hear what they were saying to know that it was targeted at him. Naruto looked around as he observed the unison voice of the crowd. He obviously knew what the village thought and felt about him.
In the jonin area of the stadium, several of them were pissed. Kakashi was using every fibre of his being to stop himself from doing anything to them but was slowly and subtly increasing his killing intent. Yugao, who sat in between Kurenai and Anko, was not so subtle in releasing her killing intent. The jonin sensei were also very pissed at the crowd. They had all interacted with Naruto and knew the real Naruto was very different from the one the villagers hated. In fact, many of the higher ranked ninjas could tell the difference between Naruto and the Kyubi and couldn't help but feel pity for Naruto.
"Idiots, bastards, motherfu…" Anko saw Yugao's fists tightened as she mumbled curses at them. She too wanted to just go up to them and slap them a bunch of times. As someone who had been shunned by the village before, she understood the Gaki's position. It was not a great place to be.
The genin were appalled at the hate Naruto was receiving. What had Naruto done to deserve this? Shikamaru and Sasuke knew exactly why and wanted to defend their teammate but were stopped when they saw Naruto's hands behind his back. 'Relax…I got this…Thanks…' he communicated through Anbu hand signs behind his back. The jonin were impressed that Naruto knew the Anbu hand signs.
"It seems they don't like you," Neji said, causing Naruto to turn his attention back to his opponent. "Fate has already declared me the winner of this match and the crowd seems to agree."
Naruto chuckled at Neji's words. "Ha, I would say not liking me is an understatement. Honestly, they could hate me all they want. None of them know enough about me to say anything that will hurt me," he said as he gave them a middle finger. The jonin smirked at Naruto's response. He got into his stance and so did Neji. "Neji, remember what I said during the prelims. Nobody gets away from almost killing my friend. Let's see this fate you speak of…"
"I will show you what I mean as we exchange fists. Proctor, please start the match," he said as his Byakugan activated.
"Hajime!"
As soon as the match was called, Naruto jumped backwards to put some distance between them. He threw a mass of shuriken and kunai towards Neji. Neji took out a kunai of his own and started deflecting them. Naruto used a light step and appeared behind Neji and threw more shuriken. Naruto made the snake seal and clasped his hands together, " Futon: Reppusho (Wind Style: Gale Palm) " The horde of shuriken were boosted by the wind jutsu and flew at high speeds towards Neji. Neji brought his kunai up to block the shuriken but much to his chagrin, the shuriken broke his kunai. He had fought against Tenten many times before but he never fought against wind boosted weapons. He threw his broken kunai away and used his byakugan to swiftly dodge and deflect the shuriken coming his way.
Asuma watched the match with a smile. Naruto was starting off by the book, using long range methods and with wind style jutsu to boost it too. Not just any wind jutsu, but a jutsu with only one hand seal. It reminded him of his younger days before he discovered his favourite trench knives. Sasuke watched with his sharingan and smirked at his rival's prowess. He could see the speed and sharpness that comes with a wind boosted shuriken, he had no doubt that those shuriken could tear a person to shreds.
After a few moments, Naruto stopped throwing his weapons to see a Neji who only had a gash on his back, near his shoulder. "Neji was hit. Impossible," Tenten muttered. Hiashi Hyuga narrowed his eyes where Naruto had hit Neji. 'Did he notice the Byakugan's blind spot?' Neji grimaced in pain before steeling himself. Naruto merely narrowed his eyes at the injury.
"Mere shuriken would never be enough to defeat me, Uzumaki," he said before he saw multiple clones surrounding him. "Really?" They all said before a horde of kunai and shuriken came directed at him.
Neji snarled in frustration. He didn't want to show the move he was about to use until later on. However, he had no choice or he would risk receiving a fatal wound. He pumped his chakra from all of his tenketsu and spun 360 degrees. " Hakkesho Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms: Rotation) !" A blue dome of spinning chakra was formed as Neji deflected every single one of Naruto's kunai and shuriken.
All the Hyuga main branch members stood stunned at the jutsu Neji used. Hinata and her sister, Hanabi had a hand to cover their open mouth. 'That's a main branch family jutsu. How did he learn such a skill?' Thought Hiashi Hyuga.
Tenten cheered happily for Neji with Gai and Lee, who escaped from the hospital to watch. She had helped Neji with the jutsu during their one month training break. She was happy to see that he finally mastered it.
The clones saw Neji stop rotating and immediately pounced on him. Neji quickly got down low and into his stance and popped all the clones with his jyuken strikes. "No matter how many clones you send at me, I will pop them all. You ask, why do I talk about fate? Everything inherent about people is set. Everyone has their destiny, like I who was destined to be a Hyuga branch member instead of a main member. Like you, a nobody who everyone hates. In the end, only one destiny connects us all, death."
Naruto could hear the bitterness in his voice, especially when he talked about the Hyuga family. 'What the fuck did the Hyuga do to him? He's a prodigy, clans usually celebrate people like him…'
Neji circulated chakra to his legs and rushed towards Naruto. Everyone was expecting Naruto to dodge, hell even Neji thought he would dodge; however, he did the opposite and engaged the Hyuga in taijutsu. Usually engaging a Hyuga in taijutsu was considered a death wish, but Naruto didn't care. The jyuken was based on precision and finesse as the Hyuga used their chakra in two fingers and attacked opponents, slowly closing their opponent's tenketsu. Naruto's taijutsu was mixed but its greatest advantage was its fluidity.
Neji's right finger was aimed for his stomach which Naruto parried away using his right hand while he dodged a strike aimed for his head from the left. With Neji's arms crossed, Naruto kicked him in the torso, causing him to skid back. Naruto rushed him and aimed a jump kick for Neji's head but he ducked under it. Naruto recovered quickly from the missed kick before Neji could attack his extended leg. Neji aimed at his arms, starting with his right. He struck with his left but Naruto dodged and kicked away the right arm that was coming afterwards. They continued their exchange for a while until Naruto slipped and Neji took advantage. He aimed for Naruto's torso and hit him as many times as possible. Naruto was sent to the ground as Neji stood over him.
"The match is over now. I've closed many of your tenketsu, you will be unable to move. It seems fate is on my side and I win," he said smugly. Naruto looked up to him and smirked before he exploded, catching everyone off guard.
The audience gasped as Neji was thrown back by the explosion and Naruto exploded himself. "Naruto!" His friends exclaimed in horror. Even the jonin-sensei panicked. Well, all of them except Kakashi who watched with amazement in his eyes. He turned to his right and saw Yugao with glints of pride in her eyes. 'So that's where he learned it from…'
The dust the explosion kicked was blown away to show Naruto standing in the middle looking unharmed, much to the confusion of the audience and Neji who was just recovering. His clothes were burned and blood could be seen dripping from his mouth. Naruto had his hands in his pockets as he stared at Neji. Neji's headband had fallen off and everyone could see a distinct mark on his forehead. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the sight of the seal on Neji.
"Do you see this?" Neji asked as he pointed to the mark on his head. "This is the caged bird seal. The seal is branded to all Hyuga branch members. It allows the main family to control our Byakugan. It is an effective way to protect the Byakugan but it binds us to a destiny as nothing but mere caged birds. My father, Hizashi Hyuga, was the twin of Hiashi-sama. However, because he was born mere minutes later, he was casted into the branch family and was given this hatred seal. Hiashi-sama watched as his own brother, his own blood get placed in cage like some animal. Eventually, he gave up his life for the main family just because he was a branch member. This seal, it fated him as a branch member of the family, it was his destiny. And right now my destiny is to win this match!" He exclaimed as he rushed to attack Naruto. However, his fingers stopped mere centimetres away from Naruto's heart, much to his confusion.
"You forgot one thing, Neji. My name is Naruto Uzumaki, the Uzumaki were a clan that were wiped out by multiple villages at once due to their unmatched prowess in one thing…fuinjutsu." He said as seals appeared around Neji's body. " Uzumaki Fuinjutsu: Super Paralysis Seal ," Naruto said as he locked eyes with Neji's which were filled with many questions. "You're blind spot, I placed it there during our taijutsu engagement. As for the clone…from the start."
He went closer to the Hyuga, "I know about the Hyuga's cursed seal, I've read about. When I become Hokage, I promise to change it. I never go back on my promises. For your obsession with fate, I believe that one is not bound by their destiny. As you've shown yourself, you, a branch member, learned a main family jutsu. Something by fate you shouldn't know." He whispered, getting shocked looks from Neji. "I noticed Hiashi Hyuga's and Hinata's reaction. It showed that you weren't supposed to know it. You, a branch member who was supposed to protect the main branch, nearly killed one of the heirs. You've constantly gone against your so-called fate, Neji. You're a genius like no other. You're not someone bound by fate. You go out there and make your own fate and destiny." Naruto patted him on the shoulder and walked away.
The stadium was silent, you could hear a pin drop. Nobody had expected this result, except for his close ones. After a few moments, the audience cheered when Genma announced the winner. Naruto looked up to the audience and smiled to himself. He waved at them as a thank you for the praise.
"Hypocrites. Just a few moments ago, they were hating you with all their guts. Now, they're cheering you on."
"That's how people work, Kurama, it's in their blood. But to change their opinions of me, they're forced to be the hypocrites you said they were. I am now one step closer to winning their trust and respect."
He entered the waiting area and saw Sasuke smirking at him and gave him a congratulatory fist bump. Shikamaru did the same. Sakura and Shino also congratulated him. "You scared us for a second there, with that explosion. You troublesome blonde," Shikamaru commented.
"What can I say? I'm unpredictable like that," Naruto said with a shrug. "It's your turn next, Shika."
"Must I really…" he pouted.
"Oh yes, I'm not having my opponent ditch on me. Now get down there!" Temari basically shouted at Shikamaru who nearly immediately ran to the fighting area. He worked on instinct, and his instinct said that Temari was like his mother and he would get send to Suna personally by her fan if he didn't fight.
Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other before shaking their heads in amusement. 'Whipped. Whipped for sure…'
"Yo, Sasuke. I'm going to the spectator area. No reason for me to be here waiting for a match that won't happen," he whispered before he disappeared in a shunshin.
Naruto appeared at the spectator area and was greeted by his fellow genin. Ino congratulated him while Kiba and Choji gave him high fives. "Nice job, Naruto!" Choji said as he handed Naruto a packet of chips. "Thanks, Choji."
He turned to team Gai and sheepishly said, "no hard feelings?"
"Of course not Naruto-Kun! That was the most Youthful Match! I now have a new goal! To beat Neji, Sasuke-Kun and You!" Lee exclaimed which Gai agreed to before they hugged each other in a way that made everyone around them shiver.
"That was a good use of wind style jutsu, kid," Asuma praised as he patted Naruto on the shoulder.
Kakashi gave him an eye smile which Naruto returned and congratulated him. Kakashi had no doubts in his mind that Naruto would win and he was glad to be proven true. Naruto made his way deeper into the stands and met with Yugao. He gave her a tight hug. "Thanks for coming," he whispered.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world…" she replied with a smile. She had promised to be there for Naruto during the finals when she first heard he had advanced past the second phase. No matter how broken she was on the inside, she could not bear to break her promise to Naruto. "That was a great use of the Bunshin Daibakuha (Exploding Clone) ," she commented.
"Learned from the best, ne?" Naruto said with a chuckle. Yugao had taught Naruto how to create exploding clones which were usually used by Anbu members.
Naruto's ex-classmates watched with curiosity and confusion at Naruto's interaction with Yugao. They had never seen this lady before but it seemed that Naruto was extremely close to her. Naruto sat beside Kakashi and Asuma and watched as Shikamaru's match started. He opened his bag of chips and watched intently.
The Hokage couldn't help but have a proud smile plastered on his face. He thought of Naruto as his own grandson and he couldn't be more proud of the boy. He had grown so much from that little boy who Kakashi had first taken in. He was also proud that he was the one who started Naruto's life in fuinjutsu.
"You have quite a shinobi there, Hokage-dono. Definitely chunin potential," the Kazekage said.
'Ah, Orochimaru, you either truly underestimate me or are starting to slip on your abilities. You can't fool me but I will humour you for now…' "He has the potential to be a great shinobi one day. Maybe a promotion is in store."
Shikamaru stood in front of Temari who had essentially forced him down to the Arena. 'Man, women are so troublesome…' Shikamaru thought as he observed Temari. She had her giant fan ready and Shikamaru was not looking forward to seeing it in action. Shikamaru sighed and nodded to Genma to signal he was ready. Temari also nodded and Genma started the match. Shikamaru just stood where he was, a bored look on his face and his hands in his pocket.
Temari was annoyed that Shikamaru was taking their match lightly and attacked first. She took her fan and slammed it where Shikamaru was, causing dust to rise from the strike. As the dust cleared, Shikamaru was nowhere to be seen. Temari frantically looked around before seeing a shadow stretching towards her. Remembering the prelims, she expertly dodged the shadow with backflips. She stopped several meters away when the shadow no longer moved.
"It looks like your shadow has a limit." She said as she drew a line in the ground with her fan. "You couldn't capture me but now, you have revealed your position."
She opened her fan and used a wind jutsu directed at the forested area of the fighting area. The jutsu razed the forest, slowly driving Shikamaru out of his hiding spot. 'He will have nowhere to hide after this,' she thought.
Shikamaru jumped out of the forest as fast as he could and Temari immediately shifted her aim. Seeing her aiming at him, Shikamaru went through hand signs, " Doton: Doryuheki (Earth Style: Mud Wall) ." A wall of earth sprouted from the ground which shielded Shikamaru from the troublesome wind jutsu.
'Damn, this is a troublesome fight…' Shikamaru thought as he sat against the wall. He looked up to the clouds and sighed, 'How did I get to this situation…'
The jonin sensei watched Shikamaru's match with frowns. They knew of the Nara's intelligence, they weren't usually careless to be driven into a corner like Shikamaru was. 'Had he slipped up? Had he been out played? Or had he been planning on this all along?' they thought.
Choji was eating through his chips at insane speeds. He was a nervous eater and he couldn't be less relaxed as he watched his friend. Ino also had concern etched on her face. No matter how troublesome he was, she was still a close friend and she couldn't help but worry. Naruto; however, had the exact opposite thoughts. 'To think he would learn that jutsu. Well, it's in the name I guess. I shouldn't be surprised.'
Temari stopped her jutsu as she saw the earth wall crumble. Immediately she jumped away as a shadow shot towards her. "You're really a one trick pony aren't you? Your shadows will never touch me," she said as she dodged away. The shadow followed her around the fighting area until it stopped and could no longer extend. She had a proud smirk on her face.
She was about to reach for her fan again when she froze. She stood stunned as she tried to will her body to move but failed. " Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possession Jutsu) completed," came a voice to her left, from the forested area she had destroyed. From the forest, Shikamaru came out and walked towards Temari who unwillingly moved towards him.
"How? I escaped from your jutsu," she said. In response, Shikamaru turned his head so Temari could see where the earth wall used to be. She saw another Shikamaru looking back at her which exploded in a puff of smoke.
" Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. " He said as he raised his hand. She stared into his eyes as he stared into hers. 'I lost. I lost to the lazy shinobi who had outsmarted me. Me! One of Suna's brightest thinkers…' she thought with disappointment. "Proctor, I forfeit," he said in his usual lazy voice. 'He won. He forfe- wait WHAT!'
"You WHAT?!" She exclaimed in disbelief.
"Damn troublesome woman. I'm right here, no need to scream. Like I said, I forfeit. Shadow clones take a lot of my chakra and with the number of jutsu I used, I have no chakra left. So, I give up," he said.
Shikamaru's teammates could only chuckle and sigh. No matter how much they try, they just can't get rid of all of his laziness. But sometimes it's for the best, cause that's what made Shikamaru, Shikamaru. Kakashi's eyebrow was twitching uncontrollably as he watched his student. Choji finally stopped eating nervously and everyone else had wide eyes and dropped jaws. They were very sure that Shikamaru had won.
However, nothing could top Temari's outburst. She grabbed Shikamaru by his collar and started berating him, "You bastard! How there you look down on me…quit on me!" She was livid and she started shaking Shikamaru vigorously. Shikamaru had just accepted his fate with a sigh.
'Whipped. Whipped for sure…' Naruto thought in a mix of sympathy and humour. 'Maybe it's something in their Nara genes…'
"As amusing as this is," Genma interrupted Temari's outburst, "I still have other matches to proctor. Shousa, Sabaku no Temari! Now please exit the area," he said.
The Hokage just wanted to face palm. He sighed, 'that's a standard Nara for you… However, it seems he had a plan from the start. He also showed prowess in elemental ninjutsu which is different from any others from his clan. He also knew when to back out and where his limits were. I would say that is chunin material indeed.'
Shikamaru entered the waiting area while constantly trying his best to ignore Temari who was staring daggers at him. Sasuke looked at Shikamaru quizzically, "shadow clones?"
"My father taught me once he figured I had enough chakra," he said with a shrug.
'I need to learn that jutsu,' Sasuke thought. Shikamaru was hidden when he used the jutsu, so Sasuke couldn't copy it and Naruto never uses the full hand seals. He said goodbye to Shikamaru who went to the spectator area to join Naruto. He turned to the fighting area and watched the next match.
Naruto watched as Sakura and Shino battled their hardest. Sakura had placed Shino under a genjutsu but his beetles were separate entities from Shino and thus, moved on their own to protect Shino until he could break the genjutsu. Once Shino had broken the genjutsu, he sent a swarm of beetles to Sakura who used a kunai wrapped with an explosive tag to kill them.
She ran through the smoke created by the explosion and everyone was shocked by what they saw. She raised her fist and slammed into Shino as hard as she could. The Shino she punched turned into insects causing Sakura to go through him and punch the ground. The ground broke and cracked in a large spider web like shape. The punch rocked the stadium.
Everyone's eyes jutted out of their eyeballs. Even Sasuke was in shock. The jonin turned to look at Kurenai who chuckled sheepishly. "She pushed chakra to her fist and exerted it when she made contact. It's a bastardised version of Tsunade-sama's technique and uses a lot of chakra. It's her trump card and a last resort," she explained.
True to her words, Sakura started feeling the effects of using a lot of chakra at once and getting her chakra absorbed by Shino. Minutes later she collapsed from chakra exhaustion and Shino won. 'She could really kill with that technique…' Naruto thought with a shudder. Naruto watched as Shino whispered something to Sakura who nodded with a smile before the medics carried her off to the infirmary.
'Shino had a good grasp of his clan techniques and had a good plan. He was also very calm and collected. Sakura was always going to lose a battle of attrition so she needed to act fast. However, in her haste, she acted rash and attacked with a jutsu that had high risks. The guts of a chunin is definitely there but I think a bit more time as a genin would help her build on it.' Hiruzen thought as he jotted down on his book.
The crowd was cheering the loudest it had the whole day. It was time for the most anticipated battle of the day. It was time for the Last Uchiha to battle. Sasuke joined Gaara who had shunshin down to the fighting area. He looked towards the stands and made eye contact with Naruto and Shikamaru who wished him good luck with some thumbs up. Kakashi gave him an eye smile. He turned his attention to the genin in front of him. He was exuding bloodlust and rage. He seemed like a time bomb slowly ticking away. His eyes, cold and green staring intently at him. His smile, a maniacal one like that of a monster.
"Sasuke Uchiha," he said in a low and cold voice. "Mother wants me to kill you…"
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "you can only hope to try," he said as he looked to Genma to start the match.
"Hajime!" Genma announced as he jumped away, causing the crowd to cheer louder. Sand poured out from Gaara's gourd and circled around him. Sasuke threw three kunai at him and the sand turned into a clone and caught them. The clone threw back the kunai which Sasuke dodged and Gaara sent a wave of sand at Sasuke. Sasuke jumped out its way and went straight for Gaara.
He punched the sand clone in the stomach causing it to hunch over before kneeing it in the head causing it to disperse. He sent a punch for the real Gaara but the sand protected him. He smirked before he disappeared in a blur of speed and appeared behind Gaara. Gaara turned, a stunned expression on his face before a punch met on his cheek. He was sent flying and the crowd cheered.
In the stands, Lee watched in disbelief. 'His speed, it's equal to when I took off my weights… ' Sasuke watched as Gaara stood up with a crack on his cheek. 'Sand armour…' Sasuke extended his hand and motioned for Gaara to come at him with smug expressions.
Seeing Gaara standing there impassive, he rushed towards Gaara as fast as he could and dodged the sand using his sharingan. He entered his flank and kicked him in the side. He was too fast for the sand to keep up like in Gaara's battle with Lee. Suddenly, Gaara was enveloped in a sphere of sand. The sand surrounded him from all angles and an eye made from sand appeared outside of it. Using his sharingan, Sasuke could see the chakra sand overlapping itself to form a thick barrier around Gaara.
'No…is he going to transform now? That's not part of the plan,' Temari, who had joined Kankuro and her sensei, thought.
Sasuke attacked the sphere but was stopped immediately as spikes appeared from it. He attacked again from another angle and he got the same result. He received a few cuts from the sand spikes. 'I have to use that jutsu..' he looked up towards the stands and saw Kakashi nod at him. He smirked and ran up the wall behind him.
Naruto watched as chakra gathered around Sasuke's arm and started getting sharper and more sporadic. "Sensei, you taught him that jutsu, didn't you?" He asked, getting an eye smile in return. The high pitch screams of lightning were heard as Sasuke prepared his jutsu.
"The Chidori …" Gai said softly as he stared impressed at Sasuke. Sasuke ran as fast as he could down the wall towards the sphere of sand with a lightning-covered hand. He left a trail of blue and the sound of a thousand chirping birds covered the arena as he got faster and the jutsu got more refined and stronger.
" CHIDORI! " Sasuke exclaimed as he thrusted his arm into the sphere of sand, the sand's counter attack too slow for him. A few moments of silence went by before an ear piercing scream was heard. The sand crumbled to show Gaara in a panic. He held his shoulder and brought his hand to eye level. "This is…this is…MY BLOOD! MY BLOOD!" He screamed before he held his head in pain. The sand started to cover Gaara's body and Naruto saw feathers falling from the sky.
