17.1

Naruto flashed straight to his parent's home. He needed something to calm down, something to focus on. His mind was in a haze, with all his rational thoughts and logic buried beneath a storm of emotions he could make no sense out of. This was the first time he was feeling something like this, and his gut instinct was understandably confused. Fortunately, he had Kurama to talk some sense into him.

' Naruto! Calm down! Take it slowly, step by step.' He rumbled in a calm manner, trying to work the panic out of Naruto's system by pushing some of his yang chakra through. He could feel Naruto trying to think this through logically, as he had done with every situation before.

Naruto registered Kurama's shouts and upon hearing the annoyance in his voice, he forcefully shook his head. He took deep breaths, letting each one out slowly. It took him over five minutes to calm down enough so he could listen to Kurama. He slowly sat down in the living room sofa, right in front of his parent's portrait. He put his chin on top of his joint hands and listened.

' Alright, I'm calm now…..Sorry about that. I just didn't know what to do,' he said in a neutral tone, with only a hint of confusion in it.

Kurama scoffed, 'As you should be! I really don't see what's there to panic about. You should be jumping in ecstasy instead, having finally had your first kiss with a girl.'

Naruto frowned a bit, '….Maybe you're right. However, even if I kissed her, she is going to be my enemy on the day of the finals! I don't know what I would do! As a shinobi of the leaf, it is my sworn duty to destroy the enemies of the leaf. However, I know that I won't be able to bring myself to kill Temari. And I can't even imagine the treatment a prisoner of Konoha gets.'

Kurama raised an eyebrow, 'What you need to do, is slow down. It is not up to you to decide what happens to them. That's the job of the Hokage. Your job is to simply stop them from completing their mission, by any means necessary.'

Naruto thought about it, weighing Kurama's words intensely. He was right; he simply had to stop the Sand from achieving their goal. He figured that he might have to take some lives on the day of the finals, but he could choose to spare some.

He got up, his keen mind slowly working out the various possibilities and scenarios as he made his way to the simulation. He already knew that Gaara was the biggest part of the opposition's plan, so he would have to neutralize him by any means. If he could stop Gaara, there is no other trump card that he could think of that Suna can fall back on. He could choose to spare Temari, as she can't do anything on her own. Her other brother was easy to handle as well. Based on his observations, Kankuro was a skilled puppeteer, but he was also a bit of an idiot. Both were a very small part of the entire invasion, the pawns on the chessboard.

He removed his resistance seals and set the simulation to level six. He stepped inside the room and activated the simulation with the seal sequence. As his opponent formed in front of him, he settled into his stance, eyes steely. As soon as the command was given, he dashed forward in a flash step.

' I will figure out what to do!'

The fight was tough, easily the toughest that Naruto had ever fought. The bruises and sore muscles were the definite proof of that. He winced as he rolled his shoulder, trying to relax it a bit as he exited the room.

He had given it his utmost effort from the beginning, trying to end it as quickly as possible. However, he wasn't surprised at all when he was parried blow for blow, jab for jab. Neither managed to gain the upper hand on the other for a whole of fifteen minutes. Naruto could not hit his opponent, but he made sure that his opponent couldn't hit him either. It soon became clear that he won't be able to gain the upper hand if he continued like this, so he activated the Blazing hands technique. At first, it looked like he had gained a slight advantage, but he was forced onto the defensive when his opponent copied the Blazing hands and used it against him just as effectively.

Naruto absently fingered the small, burnt hole in his jacket as he walked up the basement. The blazing hands had caught him off guard for a moment, which is why there was a burnt hole. But he had managed to put up a successful defense, all the while trying to think up of something that would give him an edge in the fight. The fact that there was no pattern to identify did not help at all. It all came down to this: the only way he was beating this opponent was by catching him off guard, and capitalizing on that hard and fast, give the opponent no time to recover or think up of a strategy. However, it had to be something completely new. Something totally out of the box.

It did not escape his observation that the moves he fought in the previous level did not work on the next.

So he waited, all the while defending himself from his opponent. It took him the better part of twenty minutes to think up of something that even remotely had a chance of working. Blazing hands was somewhat based on the tree walking exercise. You have to maintain a constant amount of chakra on your hands or feet, however, instead of it being normal chakra, it has to be Katon.

Katon was fire, and fire was weak to water, and vice versa.

With this in mind, Naruto improvised. Instead of maintaining Katon chakra, he changed the nature to Suiton. It wasn't difficult at all, if he didn't count the constant attacking on his person. it was no surprise that the Blazing hands technique of his opponent was neutralized. But water nature chakra had no offensive capability in taijutsu. But his goal was something else entirely.

He maintained the change for only ten seconds, after which he switched back to Katon. He smirked when he saw his attacks getting neutralized, the same way he neutralized them. His opponent was using Suiton to counter his Blazing hands.

This was the chance he was waiting for.

Without a moment of waste, he had flipped away and charged back. He used the potential of his danger sense to the maximum, slowing down his perception, waiting for the exact moment to strike. When his punch towards the stomach was predictably blocked by a fist, he struck.

Red lightning danced across the body of his opponent, sending his electrical impulses into overdrive and spasming his muscles. Naruto had gathered a small amount of his Raiton chakra in his punch. And since the opponent was using Suiton to counter Blazing hands, the water only boosted the effect of electricity on his body. Naruto seized his chance; he would have to finish this in one move, otherwise he risked giving his opponent a chance to adapt.

He back flipped, enforcing his right heel with chakra to amplify the damage. His opponent went flying in the air, and Naruto smirked when he heard the telltale sound of a bone cracking. But he didn't stop his movements. He jumped a bit and spun counter-clockwise, timing his jump such that his left foot made a painful contact with the opponent's gut, sending him flying back. His back struck the wall hard, his head bumping back as well due to momentum. But Naruto was already flash stepping forward as soon as his kick had ended. He had gathered a large amount of lightning in his fist, making tiny sparks go off in random directions. He struck his fist right in the chest where the heart is.

It went right through it, emerging on the other side. The Raiton chakra burned away any blood that would have gathered on the fist, if it were a real opponent. As it wasn't, the simulation ended, signifying his victory. The sheer amount of lightning in his hand had given him a high amount of piercing power. The power to cut through almost anything.

Naruto did not know, but he had unintentionally recreated something similar to the Chidori, the technique that Kakashi was infamous for.

' No wonder he didn't get back up,' he thought as he prepared to flash away. The simulation had ended after that. His purpose was achieved; he had managed to distract himself from the whirlpool of panic he was going through. Now that his mind was focused enough, he could logically think this through on what he would do on the day of the invasion.

And he had decided what he would do.

For now, he needed to rest. He had an invasion to prepare for.

Naruto was sleeping comfortably, a peaceful smile on his face. The sun peeked over the horizon slowly, and as soon as the first rays of the sun touched his face, his eyes fluttered open. He blinked his eyes several times to clear the sleep out of them. He then put his hands behind his head and just stared at the ceiling, attempting to piece together the facts he knew.

' Okay, here are the facts. Orochimaru attacked us in the second phase, making it clear that he is after Sasuke for some reason. From what I learnt from Temari, the Sand and the Sound are planning a combined invasion on the leaf on the day of the finals. So it's not just that the Sand and the Sound shinobi will be fighting each other, but the Kage will fight as well. Jiji is up against the Kazekage, and possibly Orochimaru as well. That snake just want to see the leaf destroyed, given that he was denied the title of the Yondaime by jiji. The fact that jiji only cemented the fact that he would never become Hokage by declaring him a missing nin is only the icing on the cake. He wants to see the leaf utterly destroyed,' Naruto frowned heavily at his thoughts.

The leaf was in a very bad situation.

He knew that jiji must have organized his forces accordingly upon learning of the invasion two days ago, so he only needed to worry about himself. It was finally time to cut loose. He was ready to show the world who he really is. 'Though it will be amusing to see whether the world is ready to know who I really am,' Naruto smirked.

He completed his morning rituals and was waiting for his clone to finish making breakfast. Today he would be resting entirely, so he could fight in peak condition tomorrow. Which means he had ample amount of time to come up with a plan on how to deal with Gaara. He doubted it was simple enough to get close to Gaara to apply the Five elements seal, for his absolute defense was nothing to laugh at.

The clone was grumbling about slave-drivers when he served breakfast to Naruto. Naruto proceeded to dispel the clone while he ate the pancakes. He began thinking of ways to beat Gaara as he slowly ate his breakfast.

Taijutsu was out of the question, if what Gaara did to Lee was anything to go by. Genjutsu was a useless option to use against a jinchuriki, for the beast inside them would release the illusion for them. That left ninjutsu and fuinjutsu.

Gaara primarily used sand, which was a glaring weakness for Naruto to exploit. Naruto knew how well Gaara could control his sand, but he doubted he could control it well enough when it got soaked in water. Wet sand was heavy. Fire was only good to use if it was hot enough to turn the sand to glass. He could use lightning, but he preferred if it didn't come to that. He would douse Gaara in so much water he would be hard pressed to find enough sand that he could control.

Fuinjutsu was something he could use to a great effect. A chakra absorption barrier would effectively trap and drain Gaara of his chakra until he dropped unconscious. But that presented another problem. Kurama had told him that the moment Gaara falls asleep, Shukaku would seize control and get free. So he would have to deal with a bijuu. 'Thank god for the fox summons,' he thought as he washed his plates. He dried them and went back to his room. Gazing in the mirror, he saw his hair and sighed wistfully.

A second later, a clone popped into existence, already knowing what to do. He picked up a blade and scissors, and set about to cutting the original's hair. Tears of regret flowed out from his eyes.

"Why are you cutting your hair, prime? It is such fine hair…"

Naruto turned in confusion, "Why are you complaining?"

The clone scowled, "I know what you want to do with your hair, and I say it's idiotic because we would look like idiots!"

Naruto snorted, "Who says you have an option?"

The clone grumbled as he set to cutting the hair, while Naruto remained on guard, ready to dispel the clone in case he tried to shave him bald. Fifteen minutes later, Naruto gazed at himself in the mirror, smiling as he saw his new hairstyle. He even had his whiskers removed, for patches of hair, with a pattern that he had, hardly looked good on anyone.

He had cut his ponytail, causing his hair to fall around and making two jaw length, spiky ear tails on either sides of his head. He experimentally lifted his right hand and spiked his head forwards. He smiled when the hair seemed to actually spike forwards and stay like that.

' People are going to get a heart attack tomorrow,' he smirked. He went into the bathroom and took a quick shower. 'I have to prepare some back up for jiji, for he may have to face the Kazekage and Orochimaru at the same time,' he thought as he wiped himself dry.

' What do you have in mind?'

The sudden deep baritone caused him to blink once. 'About time you woke up. I was beginning to get worried when you didn't respond to my thinking earlier.'

Kurama scoffed, 'You're about a ten thousand years too young to worry about me! Anyways, what do you have in mind?'

Putting on his clothes, he scoffed in return and replied, 'I'm only a genin. I can only prepare a few hundred shadow clones, nothing else.'

Kurama thought for a few moments and said, 'You know, you underestimate your shadow clones. Don't forget, you are a decently skilled mortal of your age,' he gracefully ignored the snort from his host, 'And as such, shadow clones of your caliber can act as a great support for anyone.'

' If you say so,' Naruto absently replied as he dressed up as usual. He looked at his hair in the mirror, noting the way in which it formed a spiky mess on his head. He arranged it so it was spiked forward on top of his head. He wondered what to do about his ear tails.

He knew that his father too, had jaw length bangs on either sides of his head. He could replicate that, but he really didn't want his hair sticking around his face if it got wet with water. He could tie the bangs under his headband, but then it would still stick randomly when wet.

' What to do, what to do, what to do….'

' It's quite rare to see someone like you, who never pays attention to irrelevant things, fussing over your hair,' Kurama slyly commented.

Naruto scowled, 'It's a relevant concern, okay? And when did I ask for your opinion on this anyways?'

' You didn't, I was simply stating a fact,' the reply was swiftly delivered. 'Anyways, I have something that you can try. A bit old style, but you might do some justice to it.'

Five minutes later, Naruto was looking over his new hairstyle. 'You know Kurama, this actually looks good on me. You do have good advice sometimes!'

The beast snarled in annoyance, 'You sure have some nerve….making fun of me like that!'

Naruto smirked but said nothing, further aggravating the bijuu within. He had tied his bangs in the middle with bandages, and then tied his headband over the bangs. [He has Ashura's hairstyle. Search for Naruto Ashura hairstyle]

He grabbed two blank scrolls and his sealing supplies. He felt for the marker he had left on the training spot where Jiraiya trained for the last three weeks. He was gone in a flash.

Naruto appeared in the clearing, spreading out his senses and confirming if he was truly alone or not. When he had confirmed, he sat down and opened one of the scrolls. Taking out his brush and ink, he started writing seals for a prisoner containment scroll, with a slight alteration. In just under a minute, he had completed writing down the sealing sequence. He inspected it for any mistakes, then nodded upon finding none. Standing up, he made a half ram.

Around two hundred shadow clones popped into existence. "Alright, I want you divide into two groups of hundred."

"HAI!"

For a second, Naruto feared that the sound of two hundred people simultaneously shouting would draw someone's attention. He sensed for any foreign chakra signatures, but found none. Nonetheless, he had to do this quickly.

It took him just under ten minutes, but he managed to seal one group of clones into the scroll. Normally, a prisoner scroll is made for dead people who have no chakra. Also, it is made only for one person. So Naruto had to tweak the seals a bit so that the amount of chakra that was shaped into his hundred shadow clones did not get disturbed in anyway. Also, he also tweaked the seals to allow solid, hundred constructs to safely get sealed.

He exhaled a breath and did the same with the other hundred. In twenty minutes, he had prepared a backup for himself and jiji. Each back up worth a hundred shadow clones.

' Alright, my work is done for today. Kurama, will my reserves be back to full by tomorrow?'

' Easily. Leave it to me. I might even be able to expand them a bit.'

Naruto nodded, pleased with the development. All that was left, is to wait for tomorrow.

Temari watched as her sensei paced their room in agitation. She glanced over to the other occupants of the room. Kankuro was cleaning his puppets, but kept a wary eye on their sensei, as if unnerved by his recent behavior. Gaara was just simply staring out of the window, arms crossed. No one knew what Gaara was thinking all the time, but it wasn't that hard to guess that he was bloodthirsty. All this time, there had been no one who Gaara had managed to kill, aside from the second phase of the exams. He was getting restless, and that spelled danger for all of them.

Temari thought back to the events of last night and had to vehemently fight off the blush that threatened to cover her entire face in red. That was her first kiss, and it couldn't have been any better. The way they had moved against each other was just mesmerizing. But then the memories of what had happened before their kiss came up, and Temari found it easier to beat back the blush.

She had planned to tell her sensei about her being ambushed, but was dumbfounded when Baki told her that they may have already been discovered. There was a loose end untied. Some Konoha shinobi had been spying on Baki's secret meeting with their ally. Baki had almost managed to finish him off but the shinobi was rescued by someone. Someone so fast that all Baki had managed to see was a blonde blur and a blue flash. Which meant that Temari didn't need to tell him if they had already been discovered.

Baki was getting worried about the next day. The Kazekage had told him that they would be proceeding with the invasion no matter what. So far, the Konoha forces had not shown any signs that they knew about the invasion. But he had a bad feeling in his gut, and his entire shinobi career had told him to always trust his gut.

He had no choice but to ignore it and follow the orders of his leader.

Morning arrived sooner than Naruto thought. He got up, thinking about what would happen today. Today, two things were sure to happen. He was not just going to beat Neji, no, that would be too light of a punishment for what he did to Hinata. He would show him just how little fate meant to him.

He was going to utterly humiliate the Hyuga. The chances of him winning were already in his favor with his lack of a chakra network, but he would put effort for Neji. The other thing was the invasion, something that scared Naruto a bit. So many people could die, and those people would not just be the enemies, but his comrades as well. He would do whatever he could to protect his comrades, even if it meant putting himself in the line of fire.

He shook his head, wiping that line of thought immediately. He would fight like a shinobi today; fast, deceptive and ruthless. He already had his plan on how to beat Gaara, whether they crossed paths in the finals, or on the battlefield. Gaara would either lose, or die. He personally preferred if it didn't come to the second choice.

Getting up, he quickly got ready. He checked and double checked his hip pouches and holster, nodding when he saw they were fully stocked with what he needed. He put the backup scrolls in the pouches as well, reminding himself to give one of them to jiji. He tied his headband around his head and tied his hair just like yesterday.

He smirked when he saw he looked almost like a mini-me of his father. Today would be marked as the reveal of the legacy of Yondaime Hokage.

The village was in a buzz, looking livelier than usual, many people noted. However, there was reason to be. Today was the day of the chunin finals. People chatted happily as they made their way to the stadium, talking about who would win and who they would place their bets on.

Of course, most of the buzz was about the last Uchiha. Many people were sure that the last Uchiha would no doubt emerge as the winner of the chunin exams. It seemed as if the name of Uchiha automatically distinguished them as the strongest. Of course, people had reason to believe that as the last Uchiha was no other than the younger brother of Uchiha Itachi, the greatest prodigy to come out of the Uchiha clan. So, there was a lot of hope placed on youngest Uchiha to perform well.

Many other people were rooting for the Hyuga genius, Hyuga Neji. The boy was hailed as the prodigy of the Hyuga clan, and there was no doubt as to how powerful the clan was. A prodigy of a powerful clan such as the Hyuga would no doubt be another favorable contender for the title of the winner of the chunin exams.

Naruto smirked as he made his way to the stadium, ensuring he was out of everyone's sight. It was important for him to not be seen by anyone. He wanted his entrance to be one worthy enough for the son of the Yondaime. As he made his way to the stadium, he paid close attention to what the people were saying. Most of them seemed damn sure of Sasuke's victory, while the others were in the favor of the Hyuga. Others were not even mentioned, which suited him just fine. The more he was ignored, more potent would be their guilt.

He wanted the people of Konoha to know just who they were tormenting all this while. As the stadium came in sight, Naruto changed his route to arrive at the back of the stadium. Looking up, he saw the back wall of the stadium looming in front of him.

"There are still over five minutes before the announcements begin," he mused. He sat down to wait, and while he waited, he thought back to what Neji had said during the prelims.

Flashback

Naruto watched in horror as Neji stood over the downed form of Hinata, who was twitching in pain. "No one can defy fate, Hinata-sama. Fate deemed you to be weak, that is why you lost to me."

Flashback end

Naruto frowned as he thought back to those words. The amount of scorn Neji held for his sister was unreal. He whispered, "Why do you believe in fate so much, Neji? Just what happened to you to believe in bullshit such as that?"

He was shook out of his thoughts when his keen ears picked up an announcement, "All final contestants please get down in the arena!"

Naruto took a deep breath and stood up. This is it, he told himself. Looking up, he saw the the top of the wall was about ten meters above the branch of the tree he was standing on. He made a clone, who charged his legs with chakra and jumped, easily vaulting over the wall.

Shikamaru looked as lazy as usual, but he closely observed his opponents. His opponent, the girl from sand, looked every bit confident of her victory. But there was a small hint of apprehension in her eyes, which darted around the arena anxiously. He didn't bother looking at Shino. The guy was as stoic as a stone, and never gave anything away. The glasses and high collar of his jacket only made it difficult to read him. The puppeteer from sand was just like his sister, but unlike her, there was no anxiousness radiating from him. The last guy from sand was the one that bothered Shikamaru the most.

The redhead was dangerous, no doubt about that. Although his expression was stoic, it was betrayed by the sheer amount of bloodlust he could feel from the guy. He still remembered what happened to Lee in the prelims. Gaara had not hesitated one bit to kill him with his sand. He was a seasoned killer, one that Shikamaru doubted anyone wanted to cross. From the minute twitches that he could see, Shikamaru deduced that he was eager to get on with the fighting.

He looked over to Neji, who was Naruto's opponent. Regarded as the rookie of the year of his batch, Neji was a proclaimed genius of the Hyuga, who were known for their deadly and unique Taijutsu. While a formidable opponent, Shikamaru doubted he would win against Naruto. He knew that Naruto was powerful, but he had the feeling that Naruto had yet to show what he was fully capable of. Speaking of…..

He looked around, trying to find his blonde friend. Him and Sasuke, both of them were absent from the lineup, as well as the audience stands. If they didn't come arrive right now…

"Troublesome," he muttered. The proctor, a different one from the prelims, was standing in front of their lineup. A lazy one, from what he could see.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the chunin exam finals. I am Shiranui Genma, the proctor of this stage. The matches will be as follows: Uzumaki Naruto vs Hyuga Neji, Uchiha Sasuke vs Sabaku no Gaara, Aburame Shino vs Sabaku no Kankuro and Sabaku no Temari vs Nara Shikamaru."

Turning his attention to the lineup, Genma continued, "The rules are the same as preliminaries, however, whether you win or lose doesn't matter. Your promotion will be decided on the basis of your skill, your strategy and execution."

Stands

Sakura looked worried as she tried to spot her two teammates. Ino, who was sitting next to her, said, "Where do you think are your teammates, Sakura?"

While she still believed Sasuke would win the finals, she had gained a healthy amount of respect for the blonde Uzumaki, ever since she suffered the humiliating defeat at his hands. The ease at which he handled her told her how pathetic she really was. Also, it was evident just how much he was holding back from absolutely thrashing her.

Sakura shook her head worryingly, "I don't know…"

' Where are you, Sasuke-kun, Naruto?'

A sound coming from above the finalists caught hers, as well as every person's attention.

Arena

The proctor was just about to speak some more when a sound above them caused everyone, including the audience and the Kage, to look up. In a puff of smoke, a small object fell right in front of the assembled genin. It was revealed to be a kunai, but not just any kunai.

A three-pronged kunai.

There was a collective gasp among the audience when they recognized what it was. Genma had wide eyes as he stared at the kunai, being reminded of the only person in the entire nations who used to wield these. Before he could think anything else, a person appeared in a blue flash.

A pin drop silence washed over the entire stadium as everyone got a good look at the person.

Kage box

Hiruzen stared in awe as the person was revealed to be just who he thought it would be. And Kami, he looked just like his father.

' Minato, you would be proud of who he's become.'

Beside him, Orochimaru was seething. His fists were hidden from view, so that no one could see that they were clenched tightly.

' Uzumaki Naruto….it is not possible for anyone to master that jutsu in just a month, which means you knew it well before, and you knowingly held back against me? Very bold.'

But then he smirked, 'If you weren't the jinchuriki of the kyuubi, I would have marked you instead of Sasuke-kun. To have that jutsu in my arsenal…..I would have been unstoppable.'

Stands

Everyone's eyes were at the point of bulging out when they saw the kunai used by their beloved Yondaime being thrown in the arena. Everyone had gasped collectively, and had jumped up on reflex when the person who had likely thrown the kunai had appeared.

It couldn't be…..It just couldn't be, were the thoughts of everyone. They were filled with disbelief, trying to deny what was right in front of their eyes. But no matter how much they wanted to, it was simply undeniable.

Spiky blonde hair, which was no longer tied in a ponytail, but in a style that was painfully reminding them of a similar blonde. Two jaw length spiky bangs, although tied beneath the headband and the bangs themselves tied around the middle, there was no mistaking just who the blonde Uzumaki resembled so much.

He was almost a literal copy of Namikaze Minato, with only his hairstyle distinguishing from the famous Hokage. The Yondaime couldn't return from the dead, which left only one conclusion. To think that the demon container was also the son of the Yondaime…..

The crowd exploded in mutters, exclamations of "Yondaime!" mostly drowning any other verbal exclamation. It was something that no one was expecting to see. No one knew that the Yondaime had a legacy, and now that they thought about it, it was right in front of their eyes all the time! Guilt began to creep into every Konoha villager about how they treated the boy, who was almost royalty considering just whose legacy he represented.

"Is that Naruto? He looks so hot!" Ino cried out as she hungrily looked at Naruto. Then she closely looked at Naruto. While he had only changed his hairstyle, he closely resembled a person that was on the tip of her tongue.

Sakura was beside herself as she gazed upon Naruto's new look with a slight blush. 'He looks almost as handsome as Sasuke-kun, if not more…'

Arena

Naruto stood in a crouch, right hand grasping the handle of the kunai and eyes on the front, facing the genin assembled. He took in the expression of each of them. Shikamaru 's narrowed gaze, Shino's raised eyebrows, Kankuro's frown, Temari's appreciative but slightly guarded gaze, Neji's narrowed eyes but otherwise neutral expression. But what put him on guard most was Gaara.

Pulling out the lodged kunai with a slight jerk, he slowly stood up, maintaining eye contact with Gaara. Gaara's mouth almost twisted into a manic smile, but it was so quick that Naruto would have missed it if he were not looking for it. He stood up to his full height, towering full four inches above him. Without breaking eye contact, both of them seemed to size each other up. It was as if along with them, their bijuu were also looking each other through their eyes.

A new feeling washed over the assembled group. It was as if at first, there was an existing sensation of a contest between themselves. Temari and Kankuro knew that Gaara was the strongest among the three of them, and the genin from Konoha knew Neji was the strongest among them. It was a clash between both the groups. But with Naruto's arrival, it seemed that the purpose of the clash went utterly void, for here was a genin whose aura seemed to say that he already knew he was the strongest among them.

The feeling was unsettling.

"Uzumaki," Gaara whispered, though it perfectly conveyed his bloodlust. Naruto did not change his expression, prompting Gaara to continue, "Mother cries for your blood."

Naruto merely lifted an eyebrow and said, "She's going to have to wait." He then proceeded to stand next to Shikamaru, who turned an annoyed expression to him, "You're a troublesome guy, have I ever told you that?"

Naruto smirked but said nothing.

Genma gazed at Naruto for a moment more, before turning his gaze and calling out, "Just to be clear, I'll say it one more time. The same rules apply as last time. Opponents continue to fight until one is either knocked out or unable to continue. I also reserve the right to stop the match when I see fit. With that said, the contestants of the first match will step forward. The others will proceed to the contestant stands to wait for their matches."

Shikamaru patted Naruto on his shoulders and walked off to sit with the rest of the rookies. When the field cleared, it was just Neji, Naruto and Genma, who stood between the two fighters as the two sized each other up.

"You should give up, Uzumaki. Fate has already decreed me to be the winner today," Neji broke the silence, informing Naruto as if what he said was fact, nothing more.

Naruto smirked- both at the squeals from the female audience and what he was about to say- at him and replied, "Your eyes are said to be great, yet they can't even see that fate is not the proctor of this match, Genma-san is."

Neji's eyes hardened, "Everything in life is set by fate, as is your defeat. But I can see you do not understand fate." Slipping into his stance, he continued, "Allow me to explain by demonstrating it to you."

Genma knew an opportunity when he saw it, and he swung his hand down in a slicing motion. "Hajime!"

Immediately jumping back, he made a half ram seal. Eight clones popped into existence. "Go," he commanded. All of them moved in to engage.

Neji did not seemed alarmed at all. He calmly engaged the clones with controlled expertise, slowly but surely, dispatching them. Naruto observed that Neji's eyes never once moved in their sockets, always gazing forward. As the last of the clones was finished off, Neji was surprised a bit that another batch was already moving in to engage. But no matter, they would not win. Fate had decreed him to be the victor of this match.

Stands

"What is he doing, using Kage Bunshin against Neji?" Asuma wondered, confused by Naruto's tactics. Alongside him, Kurenai and Gai also were wondering the same thing. "If he knows the Hiraishin, he could have ended the match easily, so why isn't he?"

"With Neji's Byakugan, any type of attack using clones wouldn't work because of his all-around vision," Gai put in his thoughts. "Perhaps there is more to this match than just achieving victory, that we are not seeing."

A few seats away, the head and the heiress of the Hyuga clan watched the match with impassive expressions. Hiashi paid careful attention to the Uzumaki, who was intently studying Neji's fighting style. There was no doubt about it, Naruto was the son of his old friend, the Yondaime. Had he not known that Naruto knew that jutsu that made Namikaze Minato so known, he would have been in favor of Neji's victory. But now, he felt like Naruto was setting Neji up for something.

Like a predator playing with its prey, before finishing it off. He would have told Hanabi about his assurance of Neji's victory, but that was before he realized just who Neji was facing.

He wisely chose to keep quiet.

Arena

' There,' Naruto mentally exclaimed as Neji finished off the fourth batch of Shadow clones. He waited for Neji to get his breath back as he prepared himself, setting into his stance. He found out all he needed to fight this match on his terms.

Neji finished off the last clone and faced the original, all the while mentally cursing. While it took much longer than he estimated, he was able to finish all of them off. But that wasn't what surprised him. The clones, along with the original, didn't seem to have any chakra network at all!

The Hyuga clan's Taijutsu was largely based on attacking the tenketsu in the chakra network, cutting off the flow of chakra where they struck. However, the revelation that Naruto did not have a chakra network almost made his Taijutsu null and void. It was almost like he was fighting blind.

Almost.

Along with learning the locations of the tenketsu, the Hyuga also learn the locations of various pressure points. With the option of striking the tenketsu out, he only had pressure points to rely on. While not as many as the number of the tenketsu, there were enough for him to strike.

He turned to the original, watching him settle into a strange stance. He settled into his, knowing that Uzumaki Naruto had given him yet another reason, along with being the son of the Yondaime, to believe that he was a very dangerous opponent.

"I presume you know that I am not a normal opponent by now," Naruto called out.

Neji narrowed his eyes and deactivated them, "Indeed you are not. But that doesn't matter. Fate has spoken in my favor today, which is why you will lose."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "If you insist on believing so much in fate, then allow me to show just how fragile the concept of fate is." With that, he moved.

Almost everyone, including most of the jonin in the stands, was perplexed as one moment Naruto was standing ten feet away, and the next moment a foot was being barely blocked by the Hyuga. Many people thought the it was Hiraishin, however, when Neji was sent skidding back from the force of the kick, they realized that Naruto had moved so fast that the momentum had augmented the force behind the kick, causing Neji to go skidding backwards. But Naruto had only started.

' Wha-' Neji had barely begun to think when Naruto attacked again. He was shocked at just how fast and ruthlessly he was forced onto the defensive. As he tried to block the attacks, Neji had thought that Naruto's fighting style was focused more on the strength of the attacks, rather than speed. He was promptly proved when he failed to hide his winces when he felt the force behind each of the attacks. He moved by instinct as he attempted to redirect the force behind Naruto's attacks.

The speed behind his attacks was nothing to scoff at as well. While the strikes had impressive force behind them, they seemed to be augmented by the sheer speed that Naruto was using to strike.

Son of the Yondaime indeed.

Only years of training in the martial art of his family and developing his instincts allowed him to dodge his attacks. Even then, he was dodging and blocking by instinct only. That wasn't the only problem. His hands were feeling unusually hot.

Neji's thought process resulted in a punch slipping past his guard, right into his left cheek and he found himself flying backwards from the force of it. He prevented from landing on his back by twisting himself mid-air and landing on his feet. His hand came up to tenderly rub the surprisingly, slightly burnt area as he narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out just how was Naruto defying fate.

Kage box

Hiruzen was thoroughly impressed when he saw Naruto engaging Neji in Taijutsu. Usually, it was considered suicidal to engage a Hyuga in taijutsu, but it seemed Naruto had no such qualms. Not just that, but his taijutsu was effective enough to put a Hyuga on the defensive. And it seemed he added his own touch to it, if the small burn on Neji's face was anything to go by.

Most Unpredictable ninja indeed.

He pulled out a notepad, which he had brought to write points on which each genin qualified for the position. He wrote down something and kept it aside.

"Your genin is quite impressive and bold, Hokage-dono. He must be very confident to engage a shinobi of the Hyuga clan in taijutsu," Orochimaru commented, playing his role as the supposed 'Kazekage'.

Hiruzen chuckled, "I'm sure that this is only the beginning, Kazekage-dono. He will surprise us, of that I have no doubt." Mentally though, 'You don't give me the credit I deserve…..Orochimaru. Don't think I don't know that it's you in those robes.'

Stands

The surprise was evident on the faces of the three jonin. Not every day you see a prodigal Hyuga being bested by the supposed dead last, now revealed to be the son of their late Hokage, in taijutsu.

Gai was crying, shouting something about Naruto's youth, with Lee vehemently agreeing with him.

"Kami…..is this really what he is capable of?" Ino whispered in amazement and slight fear. She was suddenly, infinitely grateful that Naruto hadn't gone full force in their spar that day. If he had, she would have really been dead.

"Naruto….." Sakura whispered in awe as she watched her teammate best one of the Hyuga at their own game. It suddenly became clear just how utterly huge the gap between their skills was. She couldn't even begin to see his movements, that's how fast he was. The first attack alone would have taken her out of the fight.

A few seats away, Hinata watched with a slight smile as Naruto held his own against her prodigal cousin. "Naruto-kun….."

Kiba on the other hand, was shocked and almost jealous of the speed and skill Naruto was displaying. It made him think back to his own fight with the blonde, and he ruefully smiled at how easily he was beaten.

He had grown up with Naruto, and if there was anything he could say for certain about the blonde, it was that Naruto never gave up. He could say without a doubt that Naruto had trained his ass off to reach where he is now. It sort of inspired him to become the same. After all, if Naruto could do it, why can't he?

Arena

Neji hid his wince as he kept his gaze on Naruto, slowly standing up. He evaluated on whatever he had experienced so far. 'There is no doubt that he is physically strong, almost on the same level as Lee. I'm willing to bet that he could withstand the amount of force he dishes in his attacks himself as well. And he is fast, unbelievably so. Nothing else would be expected of the son of the fastest shinobi to ever live, after all. I never knew that it was possible to have such impossibly fast reflexes.

' His fighting style is lethal, but in a way I have never seen before. Every fighting style has a focal point which it is based on. Gai-sensei's Goken is based on strength, Jyuken is based on precision. But his style seemingly incorporates strength, speed, flexibility and precision! It's as if he can switch to any one of them if one proves proves to be inadequate against one opponent. Not just that, his movements are bizarre. He seems to have mastered the way to perfectly switch from one set of movements to another, without hesitation. His hands also feel as if they are on fire, burning any area of contact.'

Fully standing up, he took deep breaths to center himself. 'I'll have to avoid his hands… no, pretty much his every blow.'

"Am I getting to you, with that fragility of your so called fate?" Naruto asked, and no one missed the sarcasm in his voice.

Neji chose to ignore that, and instead asked, "How did you manage to burn my face?"

Naruto rose his eyebrow in a way that strongly reminded Neji of himself; he raised his eyebrows that way when his teammates seemed to suggest an utterly stupid idea. 'So that's how it feels to be on the receiving side of it.' He felt quite stupid to be honest, and was a bit glad that he had a burn on his cheek, otherwise his blush would have been caught.

"What idiot reveals the secret of his or her technique, baka?" Naruto asked in a bored tone.

Kage box

Hiruzen heartily laughed at the question. It was highly amusing when in his youth, his opponents seemed to spare him the thought process of trying to figure out their technique by revealing it on their own. It allowed him to create a counter strategy quite easily. Instead of finishing him off, they seemed to choose to gloat about their techniques. What idiots.

"A very true question! Won't you agree, Kazekage-dono?"

Orochimaru forced out a chuckle, while he couldn't shake off the feeling that the old monkey knew it was him and was openly mocking him.

"I agree, Hokage-dono." Hiruzen smirked and turned back to watch what was turning out to be a highly entertaining match. So far, Naruto had only shown his superior prowess in taijutsu, and had yet to show something that qualified him for chunin, except for keeping emotions under control.

He had to keep his smirk from widening, for he was reminded of a younger Orochimaru, bragging about the secret behind the techniques he developed himself.

' What an idiot!'

Stands

Kiba shared the amusement with his Hokage, for he was laughing as well. He never knew Naruto had it in him to mock others. Hinata was trying to hide her giggles behind her hand. It would not do if her father caught her laughing at Naruto calling her cousin an idiot. Sakura and Ino shared no such restraints, and were full out giggling.

The jonin had mixed reactions. Asuma had snorted and had to catch his smoking stick from flying onto the head of the person in front of him. Kurenai was stifling her giggles like her student, not wanting to offend Gai for laughing at his student.

Gai had an entirely different response. Instead of being offended on behalf of his student, tears came from his eyes and he clenched his fist. "WHAT A HIP RESPONSE! NO DOUBT, YOU HAVE PASSED YOUR COOLNESS ONTO YOUR STUDENT, MY ETERNAL RIVAL KAKASHI!"

Needless to say, he entirely ignored insult on Neji, choosing to focus on how "Hip and cool" Naruto's response was.

Arena

Neji was barely keeping himself from turning red in embarrassment at all the giggles in the stadium that were aimed at him as a result of Naruto's comeback.

Naruto was entirely amused by the giggles resounding in the stadium, but chose to keep it to himself. No need to embarrass him any further. Time to continue the fight, this time with a bit of misdirection.

Neji was already worn out and trying to reduce the feeling of stupidity in himself, so when Naruto suddenly disappeared from in front of him, he was caught unawares. Naruto grinned as a solid kick connected to Neji's left shoulder, sending him flying away from him for the second time in the fight. He twisted and landed on feet, but was given no time to recover as he engaged the Uzumaki in taijutsu yet again. He activated his Byakugan this time, watching out for Naruto's no doubt, Katon chakra-enhanced hand strikes.

But for some reason, Uzumaki's hands were lacking the chakra that was making them heated. So Neji jumped at the opportunity to block rather than dodge, all the while trying to find an opening. He also deactivated his eyes to conserve chakra. He would endure the punishing force for a short while. Maybe he should taunt him a bit.

"You are not fighting with your chakra coated strikes as you were doing before, Uzumaki." He smirked as he saw Naruto narrowing his eyes, "It seems this is where fate draws the line for you using that technique."

He was shocked however, when Naruto, instead of getting enraged like he wanted, snorted out loud. In a surprising maneuver, Naruto locked himself with Neji, holding him in place. As much as Neji tried, he would only move if he managed to overpower him.

Yeah, not happening.

Neji grunted as he tried to get out of the lock Uzumaki had put him in. But as much as he struggled, he could not move the limbs of the blonde. His face twisted in a snarl, and he locked eyes with Naruto, who had a neutral expression on his face. Whatever he was going to say was thrown out of the window at the blonde's words.

"Only a pansy like you would call misdirection as an act of fate." He saw it, but could do absolutely nothing to stop it.

' Fuuton: Reppuushou!' (Wind style: Gale palm)

A clone, who had appeared beside them without any hand seals-which caused a gasp to resonate through the shinobi part of the crowd- had enough compressed air in his hands to cleanly blow Neji away almost twenty meters. Naruto had released him from the lock at the very last second.

While the force was enough to send him flying, it lacked a damaging component. But instead of feeling relief, Neji only felt dread. He had a feeling that Uzumaki had planned something much worse for him. Unlike the previous times, Neji failed to add grace to his landing and as such, rolled toughly onto the ground. Remembering that Uzumaki would not likely give him time to recover, he quickly got up to his feet, just in time to see four shuriken converging on him with deadly accuracy. He jumped to the side to avoid them, but was surprised by the blonde, yet again.

' So he decided to switch to long distance attacks. This is good for me, for I might be able to use this window to recover a bit.' But that thought was thrown out of the window in the next moment.

Naruto had predicted in a split second where Neji would land, after he avoided those shuriken. So, he had cleverly threw three kunai, wrapped with explosive tags of his own design, to that spot. Neji grit his teeth as the kunai came closer and closer.

' It seems I'll have to use that .'

Naruto watched as the kunai almost hit Neji. His eyebrows raised in surprise when Neji suddenly spun, so fast that he wasn't even visible anymore, and was covered in a dome of his own chakra.

" Hakkesho Kaiten!"

Naruto activated his exploding tags just as they reached Neji, and watched with a mix of curiosity and fascination that the dome of chakra spinning around Neji completely protected him from the resulting explosion.

Stands

Hanabi turned to her father, "Tou-sama, isn't that-"

"Yes," Hiashi replied instantly. His own eyes were narrowed as he clenched his fists. 'Kaiten is supposed to be the technique of the main house. How does Neji, a member of the branch house, know it so well?'

Arena

Neji stopped spinning, and couldn't really hide the smugness from his voice as he saw the expression on Naruto's face. He could gloat later, right now, he would capitalize on this small window of opportunity. No need to use the Byakugan, for he knew exactly where to strike.

Naruto had immediately created five clones to scope out Neji's new technique and find a weakness, but his opponent's words momentarily gave him a pause.

"You are now in the field of my divination," Neji ominously announced. Not wanting to give Neji the chance of using this technique, two of them shot forward to engage him. But this time, Neji was ready, his hands moving in a blur.

" Two palms!" two clones gone.

" Four palms!" Another two gone.

" Eight palms!" The last one tried to shield himself.

' Futile effort. Even if you have no tenketsu, the physical damage from the strikes alone will send you down!'

" Sixteen palms!" Naruto grunted as the hands slammed into him with considerable speed.

" Thirty two palms!"

" Sixty-four palms!"

Naruto skid back as Neji finished his technique, breathing evenly. Because he chose to keep his Byakugan deactivated for the majority of the fight, he had more than enough chakra to keep going on. It was easy to ignore the physical pain when you train with people such as Gai-sensei.

Naruto had blood dripping from his mouth. He went down on one knee, drawing gasps from the crowd. This was the first time he had taken any damage in this fight, and it was enough to send him on one knee. Looking at Neji, he asked in obvious pain, "I assume you were… going for physical damage… if you couldn't find my tenketsu, weren't you?"

Neji felt a sense of superiority as he looked down on Naruto. No one remained in fighting condition after getting hit by the Eight trigrams: Sixty four palm technique. "You assume correctly. While you were formidable for some time, this is where this ends, Uzumaki. I told you before; fate has decreed that I will win today."

Kage box

Orochimaru smiled under the veil, "A most formidable technique of the Hyuga clan, Hokage-dono. I wonder if this is the end for the young Uzumaki?"

Hiruzen smiled as he wrote something down on the notepad, "Don't worry, Kazekage-dono. Naruto won't go down this easily."

Stands

The jonin had confused looks on their faces. "Why did Neji do that? Couldn't he see it?"

Gai was rubbing his chin, "I don't know what Neji was thinking when he did that, but it clearly didn't work the way he might have expected." While the news that Naruto didn't have a chakra network was quite staggering, they wanted to see how Neji would work his way around it.

The genin on the other hand, were different parts worried and resigned. Kiba, Hinata, Sakura and Ino wore worried looks as they looked at Naruto.

"Naruto-kun…." Hinata whispered in worry, knowing just how formidable the technique that Neji had used was. Even if Neji didn't have tenketsu to strike, the muscles that were struck would suffer considerable damage.

"What a technique," Ino whispered in awe as she looked at the kneeling form of Naruto. Naruto had completely dominated the fight from the beginning, but Neji had seemingly turned the tables with just one move.

' Get up, Naruto!' Sakura was chanting in her mind, restraining from saying it out loud.

Tenten on the other hand, just shook her head as if she already knew this was going to happen. 'While you were good Naruto, there is no way you can recover from this.'

Arena

Naruto, despite being in pain, chuckled. Neji rose an eyebrow, "What's so funny?"

'Naruto' looked up with mirth swimming in his eyes, "And I told you, fate is very fragile." And he burst into smoke.

Cheers erupted from the crowd as it was revealed that the Uzumaki had pulled a fast one on everyone, including Neji. The said genin cursed as he activated his Byakugan and looked around. He almost gasped when he found out where Naruto was, but wasn't able to react in time.

Naruto burst from the ground behind him, a predatory grin on his face and body already in motion. Neji was able to angle his body so that his left shoulder took the hit instead of his head. But he winced as the already abused shoulder took another hit, and he was sent toppling away.

Naruto brushed off some of the dirt as Neji let out a small groan of pain and frustration, standing up. "Most people don't think to look down at the last second. Am I right?"

Neji said nothing as he gazed scornfully at the smirking blonde.

"You made the mistake of deactivating your eyes. If you hadn't, you might have noticed that I substituted with my clone at the last second. Your mistake also allowed me to hide without worry under the ground. Pretty good for misdirection and deception, don't you think?"

Neji grit his teeth, "Even if you had substituted with your clone, a shadow clone gets dispelled after one hit."

Naruto made a sound of mock realization, "Ohhhhhhh, that….I reinforced it with chakra. It's really not that difficult."

He then smirked in a way that sent shivers down Neji's spine. "I've somewhat heard about your defensive technique. The ultimate defense of the Hyuga, isn't it?"

Neji said nothing, which was more than enough for an answer.

Holding up four shuriken, he challenged, "Let's test that so called ultimate defense, shall we?"

Kage box

"Your genin is very ingenious, Hokage-dono."

Hiruzen nodded, pride coursing through him at how well Naruto was handling himself. So far, Naruto had demonstrated skills that were already above the qualification level of chunin. He wondered just how Naruto planned to break the ultimate defense of the Hyuga clan.

Stands

Kiba, Ino and Sakura had shouted in glee when 'Naruto' had popped, the real Naruto kicking Neji away. Hinata had quietly cheered for Naruto, while Tenten was in a state of disbelief. While even Lee couldn't get up after Neji's technique, it was a whole another thing to avoid it successfully altogether.

Arena

The shuriken whizzed towards Neji, who jumped to the side to avoid them, opting to conserve chakra. He was stupefied, however, when he spotted a giant ball of fire making its way towards him, fast. Having no time to jump again, he was forced to resort to his defense.

" Kaiten!"

Neji reached his maximum rotation speed just as the fireball reached him. The fireball crashed into the spinning dome of chakra, taking only five seconds to disperse, which was four seconds too late for Neji.

It was hard to accurately keep track of your surroundings when you are spinning at a really high speed. So one moment Neji was inside the dome, the other moment Naruto was inside with him…..wait, what?!

This time, Neji didn't even have time to be fully surprised as he was punched in the face, hard. The sudden application of an external force disrupted the Kaiten, and Neji was bodily thrown through the fireball.

' I'm really getting tired of being thrown like that,' Neji lamented as he stood up once again, a bit burnt from going through the fireball.

Stands

Asuma and Kurenai were gawking at the way Naruto broke the defensive technique. One moment he was standing outside the dome, the other moment they all saw him disappearing and appearing instantly inside the dome in a blue flash.

"Hiraishin," Gai whispered in awe. Even he had not found a way yet to break that defensive technique. But if the Hiraishin could surpass defenses with such amount of ease…

It really was a terrifying technique. No wonder the Yondaime was so feared.

Kage box

"I really have no more words to describe how impressive that genin of yours is Hokage-dono. To learn and master the Yondaime's most feared technique at such a young age is no small feat," Kazekage complimented.

Hiruzen smirked and nodded. That was a masterful use of the Hiraishin. Naruto must have marked Neji at the very first opportunity.

"Also, to be capable of using two elemental natures is very impressive," Orochimaru complimented.

Hiruzen accepted the compliment on behalf of Naruto with a nod and a smirk.

Arena

Neji breathed heavily as he gazed at Naruto. He was down to just a quarter of his chakra reserves, while Naruto had yet to show any signs of fatigue. What he didn't know that Naruto's chakra reserves were so much larger that he had only used a small drop of the entirety yet.

"How… did you…."

"How did I break your defense?" Naruto helpfully finished it for him. When he saw him nod, he sighed. "While I did say before that only idiots reveal their technique, it's no big secret as to the way I appeared inside with you."

Reaching behind him, he pulled out his Hiraishin kunai, dangling it in his index finger. "I'm sure you know what this is." He looked around, discreetly seeing that he had captured the attention of the entire audience, "This is a kunai that was once used by my father, Namikaze Minato."

Mutters rose in the crowd in response to the confirmation of their thoughts from before, but quickly silenced when Naruto continued, "The Hiraishin no jutsu is a space-time technique, a combination of ninjutsu and fuinjutsu. Basically, this formula here," he showed him his imprinted formula, "Acts as a beacon for me. Wherever this formula is, I can teleport there without any problem. That means, the reason I was able to get in there is because you already have a mark on you."