Chapter 14 : A chip off the old block

After talking with Enma and his children, Obito and Hiruzen left but Obito told them that very soon he will return to follow their training times after the Chunin selection exam. In Konoha, Obito chatted with Hiruzen and told him about his confrontation with strange members of the Anbu, he told him in detail what had happened and this angered Hiruzen who knew that it was Danzo who had sent his men. 

Obito asked him for an explanation and the old man knew that he had no interest in lying to him so he told him about Danzo and the root before asking the boy for a favor, protect of the village from Danzo's influence if anything bad happened to him. 

He asked why Hiruzen didn't take care of him in Personally right now and Hiruzen told him that even though it seemed strange, Danzo was his oldest friend and he acted countless times in the shadows for the sake of Konoha. They talked more for a while and they parted ways. 

Obito returned home and changed clothes before going to the main Senju residence to burn incense and make offerings in front of the portraits of the first two hokage as he usually did And he went to do the same thing on his parents' graves . Hiruzen had long told them who their parents were and why they had to keep it a secret. Contrary to the main reality, Kushina had done one thing that completely changed the relationship between Naruto and Kurama. 

When she was a Jinshuriki when she was alive, she spent enough time with Kurama to influence him and make him much friendlier to her because of his way of being.

Kurama knew how much pain Kushina felt after learning that her homeland had been destroyed and the hatred she pushed back inside her towards the other great ninja villages that were responsible for it. 

Kushina was stubborn, very stubborn because even though Kurama at first was hostile to her, she didn't stop talking to him as a confidant in her mental space. She told him about her future plans with the family she was going to start with Minato, her memories in Uzushiogakure, and especially how much she was looking forward to meeting her twins. 

All this positivity had ended up affecting Kurama who, over the years with her, had exactly the same assignment for Kushina as he did for Naruto in Boruto.

When at the birth of the twins Obito hypnotized him to attack the village, he realized what he had done when he was locked up in Naruto, the memory of killing the only friend he had made him feel guilty for the first time in his existence because unlike Naruto who in the main reality asked Kurama for favors for his chakra, Kushina asked only one thing and that was to talk to her. 

He attended everything the boys attended and when Naruto was mentally in front of him for the first time, he gave him his chakra without saying anything or making fun of him.

Naruto, like his mother, started chatting with Kurama from time to time and sometimes the fox was telling him about his mother. 

(Now) 

 He created a clone who went to the others to begin taking care of the basic training of children but also adults unaware of their heritage and the use of chakra.

As for his main body, He went to train in the Forest of Death, a place where he won't be disturbed and fully concentrate on Iraishin.

 (time skip)

 Very quickly, weeks passed and the day of the final phase arrived. Some things had happened during this month but the most shocking fact was certainly the discovery of Gekko Hayate's corpse , he had been murdered and that had put Konoha' ninjas corps on alert.

Hiruzen had organized several meetings and with the investigations, they linked it to a plot involving Orochimaru and Suna. However, since these were only suspicions, they did nothing at the time and Hiruzen asked his men to still be on alert.

 He had called on Team Zero with Obito's clone to give them the information, they may have been rank genins but their level was far beyond that.

He trusted them enough because he saw their potential, they were strong and much more mature than children their age.

 Right now Obito, Naruto and all the other contestants were lined up in the center of the arena with Genma who was responsible for arbitrate the finals.

Genma introduced the contestants and the rules of the matches before announcing the first fight of the tournament, Naruto VS Neji.

As he sent the other candidates back to their seats, Genma made eye contact with Obito and they exchanged a smile.

He had already been on a mission with Obito and knew what he was capable of, this child was far from having a place in this exam.

 Obito and Naruto had changed clothes, Naruto had a black version of his classic outfit but the jacket was open while he had an orange t-shirt underneath .

Obito for his part had an outfit that resembled that of Boruto as a child, the differences were his usual mask, the piece of red fur on the collar, the dark red shirt under the open jacket and his same pair of sandals.

 Neji faced Naruto who looked at him intensely.

 "You're going to leave in the same state as Hinata when you've beaten her more than you needed to." Naruto told him calmly.

 "What's going on between my cousin and I is only Hyuga clan's business, I don't see why you're so attached to a completely spoiled loser like her. You who are of the same wood as me know very well what I'm talking about, destiny-(interrupted)" Neji replied but Naruto interrupted him.

 "No, I don't know what you're talking about, you and I are not the same and we don't see things the same way. Just because Hinata doesn't meet your expectations in some areas doesn't mean she couldn't be a true prodigy in other areas."

 "Tss, we'll see about that..." Neji said condescendingly.

 "Yeah you'll see, she was a genius in helping me shut your big mouth. This victory will be Hinata's , junk genius..." Naruto said, Genma asked them to get ready before giving the starting signal and the match began.

 Naruto and Neji rushed towards each other while Neji turned on his , it seemed like they were going to fight seriously.

The two attacked while the opponent managed to either deflect or avoid the other's blows, it was a start to the fight with very good level Taijutsu which greatly pleased the crowd in the stands.

Neji was very fast with his hands thanks to jûken or Juntle fist, his clan's combat technique, but was greatly surprised to see that Naruto could follow his speed and even parry his blows .

 However, something strange was happening. The more the fight progressed and the more Naruto began to noticeably dominate the fight, Neji felt it like everyone else and the atmosphere of the fight was changing little by little.

Naruto had his father's talent, no, he slightly outperformed Minato and reaching the same typing speed as Neji was a monstrous feat especially as Naruto was even getting faster and faster.

Where Naruto's taijutsu was scary was that he managed to parry Neji's attacks and took the opportunity to counterattack by hitting the genie Hyūga on the joints of his arms. 

If Neji took off the bands on his arm, he would certainly see the bruises that had appeared there. Naruto dodged a series of attacks from Neji before grabbing him and elbowing him in the face , Neji took advantage of this opportunity to try to touch him in the abdomen but Naruto was just waiting for that before grabbing Neji's wrist and giving him a violent knee to the rib cage, a blow that shattered several of his ribs. 

By training with Hinata seriously, Naruto had developed a hand-to-hand fighting style that was harmful to Junken practitioners , of course in front of more experienced practitioners it was useless for the moment but in front of people of his generation, he was a nightmare. Neji was a hard-working genius but his genius was limited to the techniques of his clan while Naruto was a genius of the adaptive kind who also worked hard and during that month he had worked even harder to avenge Hinata. 

 "Naruto is truly amazing ! In terms of movement speed I am above Neji but in striking speed I cannot keep up with him with my weights while Naruto stands up to him without apparent difficulty." Lee said while sitting next to Obito.

 "My brother can be very scary sometimes, where my talent is rapid and near-perfect understanding, Naruto is a genius in terms of adaptation..." Obito responded with his arms crossed while watching his brother's fight.

 "You told me he's been training with Hinata for most of this month. It means that by training with Hinata who practices the same style as Neji, he was able to adapt to this striking speed, he stuck to this speed or even..." Lee said with intrigue while a drop of sweat came down from his forehead.

 "…or even that he was able to surpass this speed and knowing him, he must have seriously suffered from it. He had to surpass Hinata's speed to catch up with Neji's, much faster than his cousin, and that continues during this fight. In his own way, my brother is a real monster." Obito continued, smiling.

 (In the stands)

 "Father, who's the boy fighting with big brother Neji?" Hanabi asked Hiashi her father who was watching this fight with a lot of surprise in his eyes.

 "His name is Naruto Uzumaki, a talented young shinobi on the same level as Neji and the Uchiha kid. It's as surprising as the rumors say that he and your incapable sister are close friends even though I forbade her from going near this dangerous boy." Hiashi replied, finishing his sentence in a dry tone.

 " Dangerous ?" Hanabi asked.

 "You're still too young to understand but know that this boy has something very dangerous inside him. Watch this fight Hanabi and learn what you can from this experience. " He said as Hanabi focused on the fight.

 Naruto had just finished another exchange of blows before moving away from Neji for a few seconds before rushing towards him again, he gave the impression of attacking but it was a feint so when Neji wanted to counterattack , Naruto grabbed his arm and gave him another powerful middle-kick in the ribs.

This kick was terribly strong as his constitution was much more robust than that of a hyūga of his age and Neji was not an exception but it wasn't over as he followed up with a punch but the moment he wanted to add another, he immediately took a big jump back as if he had sensed some danger.

 "I have to say, you are really strong. I don't know how you surpass the gentle fist's attack speed but know that it was just its basic form..." Neji said with a smile while taking the stance of the superior gentle fist technique, the sixty four palms to increase his speed even more.

Naruto had been able to cope with the speed of basic gentle fist but this was something else, Hiashi was severely shocked to see Neji take this stance, he didn't know where he had learned this technique belonging to the main branch.

 "Neji really wanted to handicap this boy for life, this young man did well to move away..." Hiashi with his byakugan saw small needles of chakra at the end of Neji's fingers, he literally wanted to cut Naruto's tenketsu points.

 Naruto looked at Neji calmly before summoning several shadow clones who scattered around the arena throwing smoke bombs everywhere even though it was of no use against Neji and while everyone was wondering what As it happened, several Kunai were thrown from all directions of the arena towards Neji, there were so many of them that he immediately used the kaiten to generate the chakra swirl to deflect them and surprise Hiashi once again, surprised at his advanced level in the techniques of the main branch. 

 "Not bad, your technique is superb but how many times can you do it exactly ?" one of Naruto's clones asked mischievously when in the smoke, four of the clones performed mudras to perform the Futon Jutsu: Great Breakthrough.

The four clones took their breath as Neji had a serious sense of urgency, they blew out four extremely powerful wind tube capable of even uprooting trees.

With the speed of the wind and the four different directions they were coming from, Neji couldn't dodge and used kaiten a second time but with too much chakra to resist Naruto's attack.

 Naruto waited patiently and while Neji was slowing his rotation while stopping expelling his chakra, the clones sent shuriken and kunai at him at that precise timing, while some were knocked back, others were lodged on non-lethal areas of his body and that's when Neji felt something.

Wires of extremely thin and strong metal wrapped themselves securely around his body with his own rotation to trap him and before he could do anything, Naruto appeared to deliver a terrifying punch to his face and he followed up with several other punches to disfigure Neji and avenge Hinata but even he was angry, Naruto wasn't cruel enough to go through with it so after a while, he stopped to take a kunai and point it on Neji's neck.

 "You lost, there's no point in continuing the fight anymore. Now tell me why did you treat Hinata this way." Naruto asked a tied up Neji with a face marked by his blows, Neji told him that it was none of his business but seeing Naruto's determined and sincere look, he asked him to remove his protective headband and when Naruto did it, Neji's bird cage seal was visible for everyone.

He began to tell his story and his father's story as a member of the sub-branch and their relationship to the main branch, how they were painfully controlled by this infamous seal and how his father was unjustly sacrificed by the clan to alleviate the conflict between Konoha and Kumo (if you are here it is because you know Naruto, if you know Naruto then you know this story, it is not for me to remind you. It is too much complicated and I'm lazy).

 Neji complained about how life and destiny had conditioned him despite his talent and as he stopped his monologue, Naruto gave him a hard slap whose sound was heard by everyone. 

 "You moron. How do they call you a genius with such immature thinking? Do you want your destiny to change? Do you want this cage to open ? So make sure you change things for the better or cling to someone who can, Hinata. This practice of your clan is purely barbaric and unfair but today, Konoha saw and heard it.

Do you think someone like Hinata can treat you like the elders of your clan treated you and your father? Why go after the only person who doesn't consider you just as a resource for the clan but like a big brother ?" Naruto asked Neji who remained silent just like the entire crowd completely shocked by certain revelations concerning the Hyûga clan while Hinata had her eyes moist.

 "Give up this fight and resume everything as it should..." Naruto asked him and Neji after a few moments gave up the fight.

Naruto untied him and looked towards where Hinata was in the stands showing her his thumb with a big stupid smile as she blushed, he had promised to fight for her.

 "Kakashi, I know my genins and you can believe me, Neji is strong but Naruto..." Gai said to Kakashi next to him and Kakashi was quick to respond because even he was impressed.

 Kakashi: Naruto is a fairly unique young shinobi. Outside of combat, he has an extremely light-hearted attitude and can easily be mistaken for an idiot, but in combat situations, he becomes a completely different person. In terms of power and strategy, he's resourceful and really knows how to be creative. The example of this is how he ended this fight.

 "He exploited Neji's technique to trap him even though it was the first time he saw it." Gai said in awe.

 "More precisely the second time, the first time he saw it when Neji deflected his throwing weapons and it served him to put together a strategy afterwards but the most impressive thing was the realization of this plan on the first try.

With the application of chakra, Neji's rotation gave him a dome of protection and once finished, Neji stopped rotating on himself in just a few seconds but between the moment he stopped applying chakra and where it stops spinning, it still has enough speed for a few dozen turns on itself and it is this timing that Naruto used to make Neji fall victim to his own movement. A strategy that is both simple and complex nonetheless. » Kakashi said as Gai nodded. ( Minato was able to turn the Kamui against Obito after seeing him only once to take him and Iraishin by surprise. A chip off the old block) 

 "Sensei...your son is truly your spitting image..." Kakashi said as he still looked at Naruto in the arena.

The fact was that Naruto and Obito had only let their hair grow, Naruto was seriously starting to resemble his father and the resemblance was really starting to stand out in some people's eyes.

Everyone knew that the 4th Hokage Minato Namikaze and his wife were expecting twins before their death and the thought began to itch the minds of some.

(I never understood how in the manga, people who lived in Minato's time could never guess that Naruto was his son. He's blond with blue eyes like him and he has the name Uzumaki like Kushina .WHAT OTHER UZUMAKI WAS PREGNANT AT THIS TIME IN THIS FUCKING VILLAGE BESIDES KUSHINA?)

 After declaring Naruto the winner to a standing ovation from the crowd, Genma announced the first fight of the second branch, Shikamaru VS Temari. Naruto walked up the stairs as Shikamaru came down and the two high-fived each other.

 "Good fight show-off…" Shikamaru said to Naruto who looked at him smiling.

 "Suna's girl is pretty, the sun is strong so cast some shade to get closer to the pretty blonde. You'll thank me after your victory " Naruto said patting him on the shoulder.

Not having understood Naruto's sentence at the time, Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders before going down towards the arena.