Disclaimer: I do not own any of the content following this statement. All titles, names, and plots are owned by Masashi : The following will contain material that some viewers may not find suitable. There will be smut, graphic explicit sex, lemons at random moments, character deaths, and multiple pairings. There will be no additional warning as without reading the smut what little plot there is will not make any sense. You have been warned.
Author Note: I had some free time and this is a small rewrite and merger of the old chapters.
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Sakura was truly worried as Naruto entered the arena to face off with Neji. It was said he was a true genius and from what he told everyone who would listen he was his generation's prodigy. She looked at him as the Sasuke of his class, a well-trained asshole with a stick up his ass, her inner voice's opinion, making itself known. Being in agreement with herself she sat and waited for the round to begin.
Seeing the crazy power Lee had in the preliminary rounds of the exams and hearing from their teammate Tenten that Neji beat Lee in every spar had put Sakura on the edge of her seat. Sakura feared what was going to happen to Naruto, only hoping it wasn't going to be career-ending in the same way Gaara had ended Lee's hopes.
As Naruto ran into the arena wall having lost control of himself running down the stairs, Neji just looked at him like he was some kind of bug that needed to be squashed. Shaking off the dust Naruto walked over to stare down the Hyuga like nothing had happened, Sakura always admired the way Naruto didn't dwell on his mistakes and ran forward to his next.
As the proctor explained the rules, Sakura couldn't help but look around as her friend Ino came down the seating stairs to sit next to her. "What happened, your mother gave you a hard time again?" Asked Sakura as Ino sat next to her.
"Ya a little but I wanted to sit closer anyway so when I saw you I told them I promised to sit with you," added Ino as she joined Sakura
Hearing a roar from the crowd the girls turned to see that Neji had sent Naruto flying into the wall with a well-placed kick and was just standing there waiting. The insults from the civilians sitting around the two girls were surprising to hear as the orange-adorned boy ran back to the fight. It seems like the whole village but the ninjas hated Naruto with a passion.
As the match continued, Neji wasted no time in unleashing a flurry of Byakugan precise strikes, his Gentle Fist technique aimed at disrupting Naruto's chakra network. Naruto, displayed surprising agility, evading Neji's attacks with a combination of speed and unpredictability even with half his chakra network closed off.
When the fight entered its tenth minute, the crowd seemed to begin to respect Naruto's determination as he continued to keep getting back up. He didn't have a lot of Jujitsus but what he did have he used with gusto. Sakura could see he was getting tired, even for a ball of energy like Naruto getting hit a hundred times was wearing him down.
Naruto summoned an army of clones at one point trying to overwhelm Neji, forcing him to use the feared Hyuga rotation. It was after this that Neji tried to use his defeatist-talk-no-Jutsu on Naruto. As Sakura listened she smiled knowing that Naruto talk-no-Jutsu was far superior having seen him use it on many enemy Ninjas.
Being out of breath Naruto let Neji tell his story of fate and defeat, how one could never rise above the station they were born in, the long-haired pale-eyed boy was good Sakura would give him that but not as good as Naruto. The arena was quiet as they waited for Naruto to respond.
After a few minutes of allowing Neji to drown on, Naruto slowly pulled himself up to his full height; and looking at the slightly taller boy said, "Get over it!", his talk-no-jutsu reaching the whole area.
To Sakura's shock, she heard Ino yelling by her side as Naruto shook his head and with a dramatic flare flung his hand up, "So fucking what! Your struggles are nothing compared to what I have to deal with, and fate isn't in control of me!"
"I am in control of my own destiny," said Naruto
"YOU TELL HIM KID" a man below Sakura yells as Naruto jumps back and places his hands together tightly in his trademark clone sign.
Glaring at the other boy Naruto screams, "I've been beaten, stabbed, burned, and, strangled!" Now totally red-faced Naruto looked over to his opponent, "I've been told my whole life to give up, and you expect me to start now because of fate? Well, fuck you and your fate or destiny or whatever! I am my own man and will do whatever I have to, I will be Hokage someday and you or fate will not stop me."
"What is he doing making signs now, Neji has closed all of his pathways," Ino asked Sakura as she leaned forward. Everyone could see Naruto trying to draw chakra with no effect.
"Even you're not so stupid to try to draw chakra with your pathways closed," Neji said crossing his arms as he looked over to the proctor, "End this match or I will end him". Neji was visibly distressed not wanting to kill a fellow leaf nin.
Getting closer to Ino she whispers, "What the fuck do you think he is doing?" Ino shook her head that she had no idea as Sakura moved to the edge of her seat she watched Naruto's body tense as he let out a scream, trying his best to call forth his Chakra.
The whole stadium seemed to be on edge waiting for something to happen, all of the adults knowing what he contained and hoping it doesn't come to that. More than a few eyes were looking up at the Kage viewing box hoping he knew what he is doing allowing Naruto to fight on.
"When you beat Hinata into the ground I promised her I would defeat you!" Naruto's voice was getting deep and a low growl seemed to be coming from inside him. The crowd turned quiet, some getting out of their seats and many looking up to the Kages. They all could hear him when he said, "This is for Hinata!"
Once the echo of Hinata's name stopped bouncing around the arena Naruto's body glowed and then exploded with red chakra. Half the crowd cheered and half go up to run for the exits.
"Holy fucking shit!" Ino jumped up to the railing and was hanging off screaming, She bounced back to her seat and turned to Sakura, "I can't believe it, he actually did it!"
Neji stared at the red glow around the orange-clad boy and prepared to show him that fate was in control of this match and that no loser was going to beat HIM. With a hand sign, the whole field of the arena was filled with hundreds of clones all glaring at Neji.
Sakura looked on knowing where the chakra was coming from and what it was doing to Naruto. She jumped to the railing to get a better look at the real Naruto in the center of it all with Ino joining her. She wanted to tell her friend that that wasn't his real chakra, his chakra was warm and filled with hope. No, this chakra was hate and anger, it was going to do things to Neji if Naruto couldn't control it.
Watching the tendrils of energy shoot around her teammate's body, Sakura couldn't help but smile as she heard him take control, "I made a promise to Hinata, and what kind of future Hokage can't even keep his word!"
With those words all the clones closed in at once on Neji, he put up a fight to remember as clones flew into the air and burst. His hands moving faster than the best ninja could follow, he struck down the army of clones until only the original was standing.
Breathing heavily and looking at his opponent Neji felt a hint of doubt. Naruto moved, fast, faster than he had ever moved before, Neji was unable to hit him as he closed in and landed a gut punch that sent him flying across the arena's floor.
Sakura knowing the incredible amount of Uzine that was building up in Naruto felt a very familiar heat form in her stomach and work its way down.
"Wow," Ino said at her side, a small smile on her face as she kept her eyes on the action, "When'd Naruto get kind of cool?"
Sakura wanted to respond, 'He was always cool', but she was speechless as her own body betrayed her. This need to be with Naruto was consuming her thoughts. A mass of red Chakra had formed around Naruto's hand as he slammed into Neji's rotating wall of chakra. The resulting explosion threw both boys against opposite walls.
The smoke from the clones and the dusk from the explosion obscured everything in the arena. She was just barely able to see figures moving to the center to once again face each other. A gust of wind cleared everything away, a wind jujitsu from one of the Jonin she assumed, as the contestants staggered to stand face to face once again.
Neji made the first move hitting Naruto with his gentle fist on many of his chakra points before he could jump away. Naruto swayed before going down on one knee, looking like a picture of defeat as Neji moved to the downed boy to stand over him.
The crowd was torn on who to cheer for: the one they had been taught to hate for years or the arrogant prick he was fighting. "No, no, no, get up!" yelled Ino, leaning over the railing and giving all the men a good look at her shapely ass. "NARUTO, YOU CAN DO THIS, GET UP!" screamed Sakura beside Ino, also leaning forward and gaining a few onlookers who appreciated her smaller, compacted shape.
Naruto spots his two female friends waving and screaming at him and gives a small nod. Neji, with his byakugan fully active, sees the two girls and sneers, "Your looser teammate and her friend mean nothing, you mean nothing as fate has decreed I will win this match"
"Fuck you, Neji, and fuck FATE!", Screams inner Sakura, getting an aghast look from Ino before she joins in with swearing at the follower of fate. Sakura had to bite her own tongue to stop Inner from going too far with the obscenities she didn't even know she knew.
"Allowing destiny to control your life may be your way but it's not mine," Naruto yells for the entire audience to hear as he sinks his fist in Neji's gut bending him over. His follow-up punch lands squarely on Neji's chin, laying him out on the ground spread out cold.
"YES", the girls scream together seeing Neji's unmoving form.
Now as he stood over the fallen Hyuga he says. "Laying down like a bitch for destiny may be the Hyuga way, but it sure as hell ain't ever gonna be mine!" his voice echoed over the crowd as he waved his fist in the Hyuga boy's face.
"YOU TELL HIM KID" an unseen man yells out.
The crowd paused for a moment before ecstatically cheering for the blue-eyed boy they once hated. Looking at his bleeding hands and feeling the burn of the nine-tail chakra in his veins he stared at Neji waiting for the proctor to call the match.
"This…this can't be happening" Neji wheezed angrily through clenched teeth as he stared up at Naruto," I can't lose to you, I can't…."
Naruto kneels down next to the boy who was his opponent, "For the record, three times I failed my graduation exam three times, because of one Jutsu that I couldn't pull off no matter how hard I tried. If I had graduated the first time I would be a year ahead of you and this wouldn't have happened."
Neji let his head drop, and Sakura could practically feel Naruto's smile as he said, "You've been called a genius all your life, and I was the failure who failed because of a lousy Clone Jutsu. So, don't come whining to me about destiny, and stop telling me you can't change destiny. If I can do it…so can you."
Neji seemed to steel his nerves, closing his eyes as Naruto slowly started turning away; only for his eyes to pop open as Naruto said, "After all, you're no failure."
"I will think about it." Neji let his head drop again, and the crowd went wild.
"I can't believe he did it, he beat Neji." Ino stepped back from the railing with an audible moan of disappointment from a couple of men behind her, arms crossed she faced Sakura, "I have to admit, I didn't think he could pull it off!"
Sakura could've cried in happiness as she watched Naruto run towards the exit slowly, a cheerful smile on his face as he ran and jumped to the many cheers.
"You know" she heard a woman behind her say almost quietly as she looked over at the teenage girl sitting next to her, "He's growing up.", "And he is really cute too", the girl responds watching the boy leave the arena.
"You're telling me" the woman next to her smirked, causing Sakura to drop her own smile as she continued, "He is getting pretty cute too".
Taking her eyes away from the woman, Sakura quickly began looking around the arena; and when she finally found her target, she jumped up.
In the next section over, she found Anko who was standing up slowly, a sly grin on her face as she tracked the blond making his way to the arena's floor exit.
"She's going already?" Sakura couldn't help but panic as she watched Anko slowly start making her way through the rows of seats, like a predator on the hunt.
Snapping back towards her teammate who had finally made it out of the arena past the stretcher heading towards Neji, she knew she had to act quickly as she too jumped up.
"Sakura?" she could hear Ino say as she began making her way to the steps that would lead her to Naruto. "Sakura, where are you going? Sasuke's up next!"
"He can wait!" she yelled back, the only thought going through her head being Naruto as she raced towards her teammate, her opponent being the sexually hungry Anko.
Ino watched Sakura run off and decided she wasn't going to miss out on whatever was going on between them, so she ran down the stairs to follow her pink-haired friend.