Battle of Fate

The entire arena was oddly silent as the two contestants stared each other down, almost as if they could feel the tension that was beginning to rise as the two contestants glared at each other, each waiting to see who would make the first move.

"You should give up," Neji advised as he decided to give the blond a way out and save himself from the disgrace of losing. "You will not win here today; it is your fate to lose here."

Naruto blinked a few times as he tilted his head to the side, looking almost like he did not understand what the white-eyed prodigy was saying, "My fate?"

"Yes, that is right. It was your fate to lose to me, the moment I was made your opponent your fate was set." Neji said, an arrogant smirk on his face, "People are only as talented as fate allows them. A person's abilities are predetermined the moment they are born into this world."

Kami what is it with this guy? Asked Naruto who was starting to get sick of hearing Neji's spiel about fate. Shaking his head the whiskered blond gave a derrisive snort, "Wow, listen to you flapping that mouth of yours. You know, with the way you go on about fate, you sound like fate's little whore."

Neji scowled, "Don't mock me dead last!" The Hyuuga prodigy calmed down again and smirked, "It matters not what you say, fate has already made me the winner."

"You know, I think you would be better off as a priest than a shinobi with all this fate bullshit your spewing." Naruto grinned, "Or perhaps I should say priestess. What with that long hair and your kimono, you're really pushing the definition of a gender bender, aren't you?"

Enraged at the insult Neji charged towards Naruto, intent on wiping the smirk off of the blonde's face. However before he could even get there Naruto brought his hands into a ram seal.

"Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" Six clones phased next to the blond and charged at Neji, using their teamwork to keep the Hyuuga prodigy from being able to actually dispel one of them.

"Whoa! Who knew that kid knew a jutsu like the Kage Bunshin?" Kotetsu muttered.

"It is pretty impressive that he actually knows such a powerful Kinjutsu, and a B-ranked one at that." Izumo added, "I know some Jonin who have problems making that many clones."

Kotetsu smirked as he kept his eyes on the battle, "It looks like this battle just got interesting."

Neji grit his teeth as he blocked one of the clones punches, only to be forced to jump back as another clone came in with a kick on his left. Three of them charged in from the front in an arrow formation, while the other two came in from either side, Wait there should be at least one more…

He almost missed the clone that had come in directly behind him, where it managed to hit him in the back of the head and sent him to the ground. At the last second he managed to lash out with a hand and dispel the clone before he landed on the ground with a dull thud.

Neji was forced to his feet as the five others came at him. He blocked the first one coming in, then twisted his body to the right, dodging a kick from the clone on his left. The three clones in front came in one with a high kick, one who swerved to the side and tried to launch an attack into his torso, and the last one who came in hoping to take his legs out with a kick.

The Hyuuga prodigy managed to jump over the low kick, while flipping backwards to avoid the high kick, he then landed on the third Naruto's out stretched hand and managed to strike out with a chakra-enhanced knife edge and hit him in the face. He then leapt back and waited for the rest of the clones to attack.

It was to his surprise that all of the clones suddenly went up in a puff of smoke. Several shuriken came out of the smoke and towards Neji, who scoffed since he had seen them coming with his Byakugan. He blocked a few and dodged the last one that came out at him, letting it hit the ground a few feet away.

It was then that Naruto decided to get into the battle himself. He charged at Neji and came in with right hook. Neji moved in to block it but at the last second Naruto grabbed onto his wrist, the blond yanked on the Hyuuga prodigy and smashed a fist into his face. The crowd gaped as Neji skidded several feet back, holding a hand to his now split lip.

"You may think you've won some kind of victory with this hit, but I assure you it was only luck," Neji wiped the blood from his lip. "Fate has already declared me the winner of this match, and no matter what you do, you cannot hope to defy it."

"So says the gender confused priestess," Naruto shot back with a grin.

Neji sneered as he charged in to assault the blond. Grinning Naruto began to duck, dodge and wave through Neji's attacks, using the un-telegraphed and evasive moves of the Hebi-ken (Snake Fist) that he had picked up from his spars with Anko. Naruto was pleased to see all of the stretching he had done to be capable of the oddly angled and unpredictable movements had paid off, Neji seemed completely incapable of hitting him. The Hyuuga prodigy nearly growled in frustration at not being able to hit the blond, he increased the speed of his strikes, hoping at least one of them would wipe the blonde's smirk off his face.

Naruto noticed that Neji's moves were getting sloppier and he decided to wait until he saw a good opening, one that came several seconds later. When Neji came in with a palm strike aimed at his chest, Naruto bent himself so far back he had to plant his hands on the ground for support. He used a foot to kick Neji in the wrist, knocking his attack off course. Then he came in with his other foot and managed to smash it into the Hyuuga prodigy's chest. Neji let out a gasp of pain as he stumbled back a few steps, rubbing his chest to try and massage the pain out of it.

Naruto came at him again, this time getting in close and attempting to land a devastating number of strikes on the Hyuuga's torso. However Neji had gotten used to fighting Naruto by now, and was able to avoid all of the blows while trying to get in his own. Naruto was able to dodge the attacks, however he was forced to back off when a few of them got a little too close for comfort.

Jumping back Naruto held up the wrist that held his gauntlet and shot out several kunai in rapid succession, while at the same time was going through a set of one-handed seals with his other hand.

"Kunai Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" several kunai soon multiplied into several dozen kunai, all of which were flying towards Neji.

"What the-! One handed seals! Is he for real!" Yelled a shocked Temari.

"Now that's impressive," Yugito murmured, having never seen anyone use one handed seals before.

'While it is impressive, I wonder why he hasn't used any other abilities yet?' Nibi mused. 'Or Kyuubi.'

'Maybe he's trying to prove a point?' Yugito commented as she watched the battle, 'Or maybe he doesn't need to, I doubt this Hyuuga child is much of a threat to Naruto-kun.'

'What could he possibly want to prove?'

'I don't know, I just saying it may be something like that. After all, Naruto-kundoesn't seem to get along with him.'

The two of them not getting along was an understatement from what Yugito could tell. Naruto seemed to have an extreme dislike towards the so called Hyuuga prodigy, and from what she had gathered from some of her conversations withher fellow blond, it had started long before Neji's battle with Ayako during the preliminaries.

Of course it could have something to do with the boy's attitude. Neji seemed to have some odd belief that fate controlled everything, and that fate somehow owed him because, at least according to Neji, fate was on his side for just about everything.

At least that was the feeling Yugito got the few times she had listened to the Hyuuga prodigy.

Realizing there were too many to dodge or block, Neji began to pour chakra through his tenketsu points, forcing more and more chakra out of his body before he began to spin.

"Hakkuesho: Kaiten!" he yelled out as a light blue doe of spinning chakra formed around him, blocking all of the kunai and making them harmlessly bounce off the blue spherical shield.

Hanabi gasped as she looked up at her father, "Tou-sama that's…"

"Yes," Hiashisaid with a slight nod. "The Kaiten, a technique of the main branch family."

For Neji to have learned something like this on his own. Such talent is wasted in the branch family.

Neji stopped spinning as the dome died down around him, he stood back up and smirked, "You should have known such simple tricks wouldn't work on me."

Naruto shrugged, "I merely wanted to force you to use one of your trump cards. And in case you haven't realized yet, you have yet to land a single hit on me, so don't act so superior."

Neji scowled before he charged back in, far faster than Naruto had expected since it was almost, but not quite as fast as Lee... when he had his weights on. It was because of this that Neji managed to get in close before Naruto snapped out of his stupor and blocked a strike that came in from the left. The blond winced a bit as he blocked a Jyuukens trike with his left hand, while the youki he was channeling through his body kept his tenketsu point from being closed, it still hurt.

Naruto back-pedaled as he tried to gain some distance, but that plan was put to a stop as Neji charged after him. The blond Hanyou was forced to duck and weave in between strikes that were coming far faster and more fluidly then before, and it was obvious to Naruto that his opponent had been holding back, obviously he had not been expecting Narutoto be such a fierce opponent. Not being able to see an opening this time, Naruto decided he had to take a strike in order to get one.

When Neji came in with an attack towards the blonde's chest, he moved himself ever so slightly so that it hit his shoulder instead. Naruto winced a bit but was able still able to launch a kick which hit Neji in the chest, and sent him flying backwards.

Neji landed on his back and skidded across the ground, grimacing as he held a hand to his chest. The blond kicked hard, maybe even as hard as Lee and that was saying something. He looked up in time to see Naruto coming in again, his fist striking out in a jab towards his face. The Hyuuga waited until the last second, timing an attack of his own while swatting Naruto's attack away with a Jyuuken strike. Naruto hissed a bit as he felt the sting from the attack. Thankfully it did not stop him from dodging the next strike from Neji, before jumping back a bit to gain distance.

He shot several senbon from his gauntlet, forcing Neji to deflect them rather than charge in. Naruto used that time to form a Youki whip, which he instantly used the lash out at Neji with. It was only thanks to the Hyuuga's Byakugan that he had been able to see it coming and dodge appropriately.

Seeing Neji dodge the first strike Naruto formed another whip in his other hand and began attacking the Hyuuga prodigy with both of them. Neji did his best to dodge andwhen he was incapable of that, tried to block. However he soon found a problem when he tried to block the attack. Even after setting a layer of chakra over his hands to protect him from the whip, he would still get injured. Whatever that whip was made out of, it was most certainly not chakra, or it was made out of a very strong chakra that he had yet to encounter. Strong enough that even being protected by his own chakra the Hyuuga branch member still felt the burn marks appearing on his hands as Naruto attacked.

Having had enough of the blonde's constant barrage with that odd purple whip of his, Neji charged in, using his Byakugan to its full advantage to dodge the attacks. When he closed in the Hyuuga launched a Jyuuken strike to Naruto's stomach. However the blond was able to swat the attack away before any damage could be dealt.

He retaliated by lashing out with a kick, but was surprised when Neji caught it . However before the Hyuuga prodigy could make an attempt at closing any of his tenketsu points, Naruto jumped into the air and spun around while launching a heel kick, forcing Neji to let go if his leg and jump back.

The two eyed each other wearily, using the small pause to catch their breath.

"Yosh! This fight is turning out to be such a youthful battle!" Lee shouted. "Those two are really in the springtime of their youth!"

Tenten's left eyebrow twitched a bit, "Lee, can you please tone it down! I'm trying to watch the battle!"

"You know, ever since I started training with Ten-chan and Bushy Brows, I've always wondered…" Naruto narrowed his eyes at the Hyuuga. "Why do you always go off on one of those fate rants of yours? You've gone on and on about fate to me ever since we met, but I've never heard you explain why you believe that."

"That is none of your business," Neji grit his teeth, both at the question and his seemingly inability to take the blond down.

"The hell it isn't!" Naruto growled at the Hyuuga prodigy, barring his elongated canines to him. "All I've ever heard from you is fate this and fate that. You keep on bitching like a little pussy from some soap opera! I saw how you reacted during Hinata's fight when she used the Kaiten. I saw how you reacted when I mentioned her when we first met. And I sure as hell saw how you nearly killed that Kumo kunoichi despite the fact that the proctor had called the match. Such unbridled hatred for others, those who have done no wrong to you. And even family! I don't know much about family, seeing as how I've never had one, but I do know that you're not supposed to hate family for no fucking reason!"

"No reason?" Neji narrowed his eyes, the bulging veins around them faded as he turned them off to conserve chakra, he was starting to run low he realized, and this small reprieve may allow him to gain some valuable energy. "You want to know? Very well, I'll tell you why fate is the only thing that exists. Perhaps then you will understand why fighting against fate is pointless."

"Within the Hyuuga's main house, there is a special ninjutsu that has been passed down through the generations. This jutsu is a cursed seal jutsu."

Naruto frowned at the words cursed seal as it sounded like what Orochimaru had attempted to place on him, "Cursed seal? You mean a fuuinjutsu?"

"Yes. This cursed seal represents an inescapable fate, that of a caged bird," Neji said, and though his face was calm Naruto could hear the barely restrained rage in his voice, even though it was covered up in layers of indifference and arrogance. The Hyuuga prodigy reached up and untied his head band, revealing to Naruto a seal located in the center of his forehead.

"On the day when I had turned four years old, I had this seal carved into my forehead using that cursed seal jutsu. That same day, a grand ceremony was taking place. One of the shinobi leaders from Kumo, which had been warring with Konoha for many years, had come to sign an alliance treaty to end the constant warfare. However, at this signing, which everyone from the Hokage down to the lowest Genin had gone to, one clan was missing. That was the Hyuuga clan, you see that day was an important day for us, it was the day the Hyuuga Heiress turned three. Hinata-sama's birthday."

"My father, Hyuuga Hizashi, and Hinata-sama's father, Hyuuga Hiashi-sama were twins. However, because Hiashi-sama was born first, he became a member of the main family, while my father who was born second, became a member of the branch family."

Neji paused as he remembered that day, the look his father had when Hiashi had taken him away to get that cursed seal put on his forehead, the rage on his father's face. With a shake of his head he banished the memories.

"When Hinata-sama turned three, I was turned into a caged bird with this cursed seal, as was my fate as a member of the branch family."

Naruto frowned. Wasn't family supposed to be one of the most important things in this world? He knew the basics of the Hyuga clan from what he had read in the library and what Jiraiya had told him, but this information confused the blond, "I don't understand. Why is something like that necessary? Is it something to distinguish the main house from the branch house?"

Neji gave a derisive snort, "Do not be foolish. This seal on my forehead is not just for decoration, something to tell the world of my lower status. This cursed seal is the absolute fear of death given to us by the members of the main house. With nothing but a simple hand seal a branch member's mind can be destroyed, and death is just as easy for the seal to attain. And this curse willo nly disappear after death, destroying the Byakugan's abilities when it leaves."

"The Hyuuga clan is one of the clans that holds an advanced Kekkei Genkai. There are many people who have gone after it, and so, with this seal the branch members are made to live only to serve and protect the main house. Any disobedience was dealt with harshly. It was a system created to eternally protect the Byakugan of the Hyuuga clan. All branch members are expected to give their lives to this system. And it was because of this that my father was killed."

"It was on the night just after the treaty was signed, Hinata-sama was kidnapped. However, he was discovered by Hiashi-sama before he could escape and was killed. It was dark and he was wearing a mask. Can you guess who it was?"

Naruto frowned for a moment before a look of understanding came to his eyes, "You mean it was…"

"Yes, it was the leader of the Kumo shinobi who had just signed the alliance treaty. It had been clear that he was after the secrets to the Byakugan from the beginning. But with their leader killed in the failed attempt, Kumo made a demand from Konoha for breaking the alliance. Of course Konoha argued with them, and it had almost come to war. However Konoha had made an under-the-radar deal with them in order to avoid that outcome."

Having grown a lot in the past six months, not just in body but in mind as well, Naruto was able to come to the conclusion about where this was going, "They killed your father didn't they?"

Neji set his mouth inthin line, "Yes they did. You see Kumo had always wanted the Byakugan after seeing its strength in the Third Shinobi War. They had demanded the corpse of Hiashi-sama and in order to avoid a war, Konoha agreed and the war had been diverted. But it was not Hiashi-sama that had been given to them that day, no, instead my father was killed to replace Hiashi-sama."

Everyone in the audience had gone silent as they tried to process this information. Hiashi had bowed his head in shame, Neji did not know the true story of what happened but it still brought immense sorrow to the Hyuuga head to see his nephew's suffering. The Raikage too looked rather ashamed. He had not agreed with the plan, and had in fact voiced his dissension over it, claiming they did not need the Byakugan and that to try and retrieve it was an act in pointlessness since Konoha would never willingly give up its secrets and had they gone to war it would have been more costly for them then for Konoha. However he had been the only one who had disagreed, at least, until the plan had failed and they lost both one of their shinobi and a chance at the Byakugan. He was glad that the Sandaime Raikage had been executed because of the debacle. While the man may have been his father, A had always been more loyal to his village then his old man. After all, it was his father who had ordered the Hachibi to be sealed into his brother and in a sense it was his fathers fault that his brother suffered as he had due to that desicion. More then that the man had become so obsessed with getting the Byakugan that he had willingly risked war with another village when neither of them could have survived a war.

Neither Neji nor Naruto noticed the varying reactions of the crowd as they stared at each other.

"They were twins, their strength was virtually the same, however their fate was decided the moment of their birth. Born first, born second, just by that, their fate had been sealed." Neji retied his head band as he looked at Naruto, "Now do you see? Because of this seal I will never be free. You have no idea what it's like to have a curse like this, a burden you can never get rid of."

Naruto closed his eyes as his hand went to his stomach, an act which caught the attention of many of the shinobi old enough to know what he held. Then the blonde's shoulders began to shake as a small chuckle came out, the chuckle soon turned into a laugh which then turned into full-blown raucous laughter.

"What's so funny!" Neji scowled, enraged that this boy was making light of his curse.

"You! You think I don't understand where your coming from," Naruto's laughter subsided as he shook his head, "I do know what that's like. To have a terrible burden placed on you from day one. To have the odds stacked against you simply because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

A bitter smile made its way onto Naruto's face, "So what? Who cares?"

"What?" Neji gasped, too shocked by the callous way Naruto dismissed his burden to even be angry.

"You stand here bitching and moaning about your fate, saying it's inescapable. That nothing you do and nothing you say will ever allow you to defy your fate."

"That's because nothing we do can change fate!"

Naruto shook his head and smiled, "That's where you're wrong Neji. And today, I will prove it to you by beating you into the ground."

"You can't prove anything," Neji turned his Byakugan back on and got in a stance. "Because you are within my field of divination. Hakke: Rokujuuyonsho (Eight Triagrams: Sixty Four Palms)!" the Hyuuga shouted before he rushed forward at speeds far higher than before.

"Hakke: two palms!"

Neji struck out at Naruto with two palms, his hands a blur. Naruto dodged them with relative ease.

"Four Palms!"

Neji launched out with four attacks, yet none of them hit as Naruto continued weaving around the attacks.

"Eight Palms!"

Getting frustrated Neji increased the speed of his attacks. Naruto still dodged them though he was forced to put in a little more effort.

"Sixteen Palms!"

Hands becoming nothing more than a blur, the Hyuga prodigy lashed out. Yet not a single one got Naruto.

"Thirty-Two Palms!"

Again Neji tried to strike Naruto, moving quicker than many of the Chunin and none of the Genin could see. Naruto was forced to increase his speed in order to dodge the attacks.

"Hakke: Sixty-Four Palms!"

Neji sent out his last attacks, increasing his speed to the point that only a few in the crowd could ever hope to follow. Naruto tried his best to dodge them; however one of the strikes had finally managed to get through and hit him…

BOOM!

However all that did was make Naruto explode in a shower of electricity.

The entire crowd became absolutely shocked at the turn of events as Neji flew backwards and landed on the ground with a thud several feet away, his body twitching as the lightning chakra disabled his nervous system and motor functions. He couldn't even feel anymore, much less move.

"Rai Bunshin (Lightning Clone)!" The Raikage shouted as he stood up, "How the hell could he possibly know the Rai Bunshin! That's a technique of Kumo!"

Sarutobi frowned, "I do not believe that was a Rai Bunshin Raikage-dono, let us watch and see what happens next."

The Raikage looked over at the old Hokage before nodding and sitting back down.

"What the hell just happened!" asked Tenten as she looked at the burnt and twitching Neji, "What kind of jutsu did Naruto-kun just use!"

Naruto-kun? Does she know him as well? Yugito asked herself. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised, Naruto had said none of the younger generation knew of his burden so it would stand to reason some of them may not hate him.

'Kitten are you going to let that girl take your man?'

Yugito sighed, 'First off he's not 'my man', I'll admit I like him, he's fun, nice, strong and sweet, not to mention cute. But we come from different villages; we both know a real relationship would be impossible between us.'

'Then what about all this time you spent with him kitten? I thought you were staking your claim.'

Yugito frowned as she looked at Naruto while giving her explanation to her tenant, 'I never said I wasn't. I don't particularly care if a real relationship is possible or not. So long as when we do see each other, I can be with him.'

'Perhaps you can convince the Raikage to let you be an envoy to Konoha for him.'

'That does sounds likea good idea, but that's only if he wants an alliance. And we both know it will take a lot to get the Raikage to agree to such a thing. He always believed in relying on our own strength than having the help of others,' Nibi went silent after that, knowing it was true.

"What's going on? Where's Naruto? And what was with that Bunshin?" asked Ino, not entirely sure what had happened.

"I… I don't know," Sakura said in confusion, she was not even sure what had happened. "I've never seen Naruto use anything like that Bunshin. The only clone technique I thought Naruto knew was the Kage Bunshin."

Several feet away from Neji, the shuriken Naruto had thrown burst into a puff of smoke before clearing to reveal Naruto standing there. A shocked crowd watched as the blond walked over to the disabled Neji, stopping just inside the Hyuuga member's vision.

"H…ow?" asked Neji, barely managing to move his jaw muscles due to the electricity messing with his motor functions.

"It's actually quite simple," Naruto said. "When we fought and I first summoned those clones, they were not meant to test your reflexes, or see how strong you are. I already had a fairly good idea of your strength from the few times I was around when you would actually spar with Lee..." Naruto kneeled down so no one else but Neji could hear what he said, "No, those clones were solely summoned to see if there was a blind spot in the Byakugan."

While most people in the crowd were wondering what the blond shinobi was saying, Hiashi who had mastered the art of reading lips gasped. He of course knew of the blind spot the Byakugan had, the size of the blind spot depended on the strength of the user's Byakugan. It had always been a closely held Hyuuga secret. For this boy to purposely find it was…

"Incredible…" Hiashi whispered.

Hanabi looked up at her Tou-san, noticing the look of shock on his face. She looked back down at the arena, How could Neji-nii-san be beaten by some peasant?

Naruto smirked as he noticed Neji's shocked look, "Yes, I always heard about how the Byakugan offers its users 360 degree vision. But then again I've never been one to listen to here say. I knew there had to be some kind of weakness to a doujutsu of that caliber." He held up a hand as he began ticking off what he knew of the Byakugan's abilities, "it can see through solid objects, chakra and even the tenketsu points and offers 360 degree vision. Nothing so powerful can exist without having some kind of weakness, and since the Byakugan relies on sight, I figured it had to have some kind of weakness that dealt with one's vision."

"That clone that hit you from behind, you didn't see even see it until its mass was about fifteen feet behind you, and exactly 180 degrees behind you. Your blind spot is located there and start soff with a five degree radius that slowly expands in a conical fashion, the further you get away from the Byakugan user, the larger the blindspot is. When my Kage Bunshin attacked you it had actually used the wall to push off the wall so that it was horizontal to the ground, letting me know how large your blind spot was and how close it had to be in order for you to see it."

Naruto stood back up, "After that I threw those shuriken, all I needed was for you to dodge one of them, then make sure I got you to move until that shuriken was Behind you. After that it was a simple matter of getting you to talk so I could prepare. After you attacked, I used the time I spent dodging to channel my chakra perfectly so that I could do a seal-less and smokeless Kawarimi, replacing myself with a clone and then replacing myself with the shuriken and combined it with a simultaneous henge to disguise myself."

Naruto rubbed his chin for a second before grinning, "The clone was actually a creation of my own. It was really just a standard Kage Bunshin with one major difference. I had it prepared before I had even gotten to the stadium and hid it far enough away that your Byakugan wouldn't be able to find it unless you were actively looking for it. The clone itself had a seal on it which I call Fuuin: Raiton: Kuuden Shokku (Sealing Art: Lightning Release: Static Shock), which basically took all its chakra and released it the moment the clone's chakra was disrupted."

Everyone who heard this was gaping like a fish. To have planned so many moves in advance was genius. Something that reminded many of the shinobi present of the way the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato had battled. Yet here was someone who had been considered the dead last of his graduating class, coming up with a strategy that was so advanced that only a Nara should have been able to come up with.

Asuma had dropped his cigarette as he listened to the explanation given, "Damn… I knew Naruto was good at strategy, given that he beat Shikamaru at shogi as often as he lost, but this is… damn."

"Who would have ever expected this from the dead last at the academy…" Kurenai mumbled, seemingly in agreement with Asuma.

Anko grinned as she looked at her best friend, "And thats why he's my favorite gaki." He just continues getting better and better.

"Un-fucking-believable," Kotetsu said with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.

"You can say that again," Izumo said, currently unsure what to think since his mind felt like it had been put into an oven and deep fried.

"Un-fucking-believable."

"Just so you know, I failed the academy a total of three times before I was able to graduate," If Neji could have gasped he would have. "Because every year, there was this one jutsu that I could never get down."

Naruto looked at Neji, "For some reason I was never able to do a Bunshin, it was the most basic technique in the entire academy and I could never do it. To be honest, I still can't do it. Apparently my chakra reserves are simply too large for me to have enough to control to use the jutsu properly with only the basic chakra control exercises they gave."

He decided to leave out the fact that he had never learned those control exercises until he left the academy, it would ruin his point after all.

"For years I struggled to do this one technique, and in the end I never could. After my third failure I was approached by one of my Chunin instructors and told that there was another test, a secret one that would allow me to pass. If I could steal the Forbidden scroll of sealing from the Hokage's office andlearn a single jutsu from that scroll, I would be allowed to become a ninja. It was a trick of course, but I didn't know that. In the academy we were always taught to trust our senseis, I had no idea he was tricking me. I should have, of course, I mean what kind of sensei asks their student to steal something with the word forbidden in it? But what can I say, I was an idiot."

Naruto sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, "I managed to sneak into the Hokage's office and steal the forbidden scroll. I was able to learn a jutsu, and even managed to beat the holy hell out of the traitor who had tricked me. Despite what had happened and the fact that there really was no secret graduation test, I was passed and allowed to become a ninja. And with the help of my grandfather figure, I was able to gain a powerful method that only I can use to become stronger."

Everyone who had not heard this story looked at the Genin in shock. Not only because of the story itself, but because he had actually succeeded in gaining strength. Neji himself just listened in shock as well, not sure what he would say even if he could talk.

"For the past six months, and with the help of some new people I met and made friends with, I was able to learn everything I had not at the academy and then some. I worked hard, pushing myself to the limits every day. I experienced pain, hardship and even learned what it felt like to lose someone important to me." It was here Naruto paused before deciding to press on, he had gone this far with his little story so he might as well go all the way, "On my first C-rank mission my team and I went up against foes far beyond my team's capacity to deal with, and on that same mission…"

Naruto grit his teeth a bit and swiped a tear that threatened to fall from his eye, "On that same mission I lost the only person who had ever truly professed her love for me."

Up in the stands the eyes of Tenten, Sakura, Ino, Yugito, Lee, Temari and several others had their eyes widen. Sakura finally realized why Naruto had been crying that day and was surprised to say the least.

"She was actually an enemy kunoichi who was working under an A-rank missing ninja from Kiri that we had been forced to fight in what should have been a simple C-rank protection detail. I had met her in the forest after I had passed out from exhaustion after an incident occurred withour client's grandchild. We talked for a while, and despite the fact that she knew I was her enemy agreed to meet me there again. And she did, the next day, and the next day and each day after that we would meet. We grew close, having both shared a burden similar to each other's we became far closer than most people do in that time frame. However both of us knew it wouldn't last. And in the end, she had sacrificed her life for her master, taking a jutsu that had been meant for him. A jutsu that my own sensei had delivered."

Several gasps came from the stadium. Shock rippled through the arena. No one knew how it felt to have your own sensei kill someone you fellin love with. Many wondered if the boy hated his sensei.

Naruto closed his eye and sighed, "So believe me, while I don't know what it's like to lose family, I do know what it's like to lose a loved one. And I do understand what it's like to bear a burden that you can never get rid of."

"Despite the pain I felt from her loss, I continued to persevere through everything, growing stronger from my experiences, gaining an understanding of the real world. And do you know what I learned?" Naruto smiled at Neji who was listening to every single word, along with the rest of the audience.

"I learned that fate doesn't exist. We choose our own paths. There is only one fate everyone shares, and that is death." Well for most of us, Naruto thought bitterly as he would never be given the choice to die unless someone killed him, but did not make that comment out loud.

Shaking his head he continued, "But how we die, and the purpose we die for… that is our choice. I had offered that kunoichiachance to come with me, back to Konoha and if she hads he would have lived. However that was not her choice. She chose to give her life for someone else, to protect her precious person. Likewise, I do not believe your father was killed, but that he chose to die not to protect the Byakugan, not to protect the main house..."

Naruto paused here and gave Neji a smile, "But to protect his brother, his family. He defied his fate by choosing to give his life for his brother. Just like what you're trying to do Neji," Said Hyuuga's eyes widened.

"Even if you don't realize it, you are trying to defy fate, in fact, I would say that you at least partially succeeded. While I do not know much about the Hyuuga clan in general, I do know that those two techniques you did are not techniques that a branch member is allowed to learn. If fate controlled everything, then fate would have made sure you did not know those techniques." Naruto's eyes hardened as he looked at the fallen Hyuuga.

"So don't give me any of this fate bullshit anymore. Fate doesn't exist. I know that life is sometimes hard, and I know that sometimes the burdens we are placed with feel like they're too much to bear. I still don't know a whole lot about this Main branch hatred you seem to have. But it doesn't matter, because if this burden of yours is too much to bear on your own, then I'll be there to help. When I become Hokage, I'll change the Hyuugas, and that's a promise."

There was a small glimmer of hope that flickered into Neji's eyes before they closed, and he slipped into unconsciousness with a smile on his face. Naruto sighed as he turned to look at Genma who was currently gaping at him, his senbon having long since fallen from his mouth, "It's over, even if he was conscious there is no way he could have done anything anyways."

Genma quickly shook himself out of his stupor and nodded before announcing, "Shousa! Uzumaki Naruto!"

For a moment there was nothing but silence, the whole stadium had gone quiet as they absorbed all that had transpired during the battle. Naruto had expected as much and began to walk away. Then it happened. Clapping could be heard coming from the Kage booth as both Sarutobi and A began clapping. It soon began to sweep throughout the stadium as everyone began to clap and cheer wildly.

"WAY TO GO NARUTO-KUN!" Both Tenten and Yugito shouted out at the same time. Hearing the other speak they both turned to look at the other.

"YOSH! What a youthful battle! And such a heart felt and youthful speech!" Lee covered his face with an arm as tears poured down his eyes like a waterfall.

Suddenly he lifted a fist to his face and shook it as a fire ignited in his eyes, "I WILL STRIVE TO BE LIKE NARUTO-KUN AND SPREAD MY FLAMES OF YOUTH! AND IF I CANNOT DO THAT THEN I WILL DO ONE MILLION LAPS AROUND KONOHA ON MY HANDS! AND IF I CANNOT DO THAT THEN I'LL…"

Everyone except Tenten, who was used to Lee's antics, backed away from the Genin who began shouting about 'youth' and making ridiculous challenges to himself that got more Ludicrous and more grandiose as time went on. Many of them wondered if he had lost his mind. Of course since he was wearing green spandex, they felt the answer to that was rather obvious.

Temari looked at the blond, replaying his speech in her head. She was not sure what to think about the blond shinobi, he was a lot different from other ninja she had known. But she had to admit, the battle and speech afterwards were most impressive and heartfelt, it's too bad he'll most likely be dead before the end of the day...

"THAT'S SHOWING 'EM NARUTO!" Sakura shouted as cheered her teammate on.

"I can't believe how badly he beat Neji," Ino said as she clapped and whistled. "I don't even think Neji laid so much as a scratch on him."

"That's Naruto for you. He always comes up with some way to surprise you," Sakura agreed.

Asuma chuckled a bit as he clapped, "That was quite the speech, ne?"

"I have to admit, I never expected something like that," Kurenai replied. "Though to be honest, even after what I saw him do in the preliminaries, a part of me was not expecting him to win either."

"Hah! If anyone actually thought my gaki could lose to some white eye, they need to get there head checked," Anko took the time to say before she continued cheering.

Asuman and Kurenai looked at the woman, before turning an amused gaze on each other.

"Man! Did you see that!" Kiba shouted while Akamaru barked loudly. "He totally creamed your cousin Hinata-chan, I don't think I've ever seen someone lose so badly before!"

Hinata smiled as she clapped, Naruto-kun, you truly are amazing.

"I'm not even sure what to say about this battle," Kotetsu commented.

"I'm not even sure I can call it a battle," Izumo replied amusedly, "That Hyuuga kid barely even got any licks in before he was defeated. Hell, I'm almost positive that Naruto had him beat from the beginning. That plan was easily Chunin if not Jonin-level strategy."

Kotetsu nodded as he grinned, "I can tell you one thing, I'm definitely putting his name on the list for Chunin."

Izumo chuckled, "Yeah, me too."

"That Genin of yours is most impressive Hokage-dono," The Raikage complimented. "I don't think I've ever seen such an impressive and efficient strategy, not since the great war anyways."

"He always has been one of my most surprising ninja," Sarutobic huckled. "When he was young he would actually come up with complex pranks similar to this, it never ceased to amuse me."

"You don't say," The Kazekage murmured as he stared at the blond Konoha shinobi down in the stadium. Such an ability! Such strategy! And to think I had almost disregarded him… yes he will make an excellent weapon.

"I can't believe Neji-nii-san lost to some peasant," Hanabi muttered.

Hiashi frowned at his daughter before standing up, "Stay here Hanabi, I have something I need to take care of." Maybe now, I can finally reveal the truth behind what happened that night. I only hope Neji can understand.

Hanabi watched her father leave, I wonder what's so important that he has to leave.

For a moment Nauto stared out at the people in the arena in shock, he had not expected them to cheer for him. However he could not deny it felt good.

As he listened to the crowd cheer a part of him could not help but go back to what he had said during his little- er large speech. Mainly his talk of Haku and his A-ranked mission. Memories about his time with the black haired beauty came to him.

"Hey, wake up. You'll catch a cold if you sleep out here." Haku said.

Naruto stirred, stifling a groan he opened his eyes. And the first thing he saw was…

"Tenshi?" he asked as he saw a beautiful heart-shaped face with a set of chocolate brown eyes. His voice slightly groggy and his sleep addled mind was coming to what he obviously thought was the correct conclusion.

Haku blushed at being called an angel. "I'm afraid not. If I was, you would have to be dead in order for us to meet."

"Naruto!"

Naruto turned around and grinned as he saw Haku walk into the clearing. "Hey Haku-chan! How are you… doing?" He blinked when he noticed that her chest was decidedly… larger then last time.

Haku, noticing where he was looking blushed and, despite being fully clothed covered her chest. "You know, it's kind of embarrassing when you look at me like that.

"Huh?" Naruto looked at her face before his eyes widened as his face took on the hue of a tomato. "Oh no! I was just…I was surprised because well…because of yesterday and all! And I! erm…"

Haku giggled as Narutogot completely flustered. "It's ok, I suppose it would be surprising. I usually wear chest bindings to hide them."

"Oh…" Naruto said in realization. "So…how about we start again?" he asked sheepishly. "How are you doing?"

"I know one thing you can give me." Haku said with a small blush.

Naruto tilted his head to the side quizzically as he looked at her. "Really? What's th-"

Naruto was cut off and his eyes widened in shock when he felt a pair of warm, soft lips press against his own. His entire body froze in place, andit felt like someone had lit him up with the Amaterasu flames.

When she noticed Naruto was not responding she pulled back and gave him a pout. "You know when someone kisses you, your supposed to kiss back."

"I…well I…that is to say we…and you…kiss…and uh…" Naruto tried, the red on his face increasing several shades.

Haku sighed, even she knew how to kiss. "Looks like this is something we're going to need to work on." With that she claimed his mouth with her own, and even after Naruto started to respond their lips had remained locked.

He remembered all of the times they had shared before the battle on the bridge. However unlike most times none of these memories brought any pain, and he smiled as he remembered the good times he had with Haku. He felt an odd sense of relief sweep through him, almost like a gentle breeze or a calming rain that was cleansing his soul.

Maybe there was something to all that talk about cleansing the soul by speaking about your past, though he doubted it meant telling the whole world about it. But hey, if you're going to do something you might as well go all the right? Why do anything half-assed, when you can go big.

Naruto shook the thoughts and feelings away as grinned at the crowd and held up an arm to wave at everyone cheering for him. As he waved he became surrounded by a swirl of leaves and disappeared, using Shunshin to appear in the fighter's box. When he did the first thing he saw was Yugito who had come up to him with a soft smile.

"You did an amazing job out there Naruto-kun," She leaned in and planted a small kiss on his cheek, making him blush red enough to rival Hinata.

No one noticed the glares coming from two of the other contestants.

Though Naruto did wonder where the killing intent that had just appeared was coming from.

"Hehehe, t-thanks Yugi-chan," Naruto said as turned away from her, not even able to look in her direction. His reaction caused Yugito smirk.

"Naruto-kun, who is this?"

Naruto turned to see Tenten giving him one of those sweet 'if I don't get an answer from you right now I'm gonna stick you full of kunai' smiles.

"Uhh… this is Yugi-chan," Naruto said, sweating nervously from the bun haired girls smile. "I met her during the one month hiatus and we sort of hit it off."

Tenten's eyes twitched but she held her smile in place, "Oh, so she's a friend?" she stressed the word friend.

"That's right," Naruto said, not understanding what her tone meant, "…is something wrong?"

"Nope, nothing's wrong!" Tenten chirped. She turned to Yugito and gave her a large smile as she held out her hand, "I'm Tenten! Naruto's good friend."

Yugito noticed the inflection in her voice and unlike Naruto who was still fairly oblivious, knew what it meant.

So this girl wants to stake her claim on him huh? Good luck with that, Yugito doubted that anyone could truly claim Naruto. Given what she knew of the boy, and what she had just learned from his speech, she doubted that Naruto would want a steady relationship anytime soon.

Still that was no reason to be rude to one of his friends, so she gave the girl a smile and shook her hand, "Nii Yugito, it's a pleasure to meet you Tenten-san."

Naruto sweat dropped, 'Kyuu-chan? Is something wrong with Ten-chan? She seems kind of… angry.'

Kyuubi sighed, honestly for someone so intelligent he could really be dense. 'I have no idea Naruto-kun. Maybe you should ask her,' well, she for one was not going to give him all the answers for his relationship problems, especially since none of these little girls were worthy of being with her container.

Instead she decided to focus on a different topic, 'You know you really did a good job out there. I was actually impressed with your performance.'

Naruto felt a warm energy coming from the seal that he started associating with Kyuubi feeling positive emotions towards him, a rare occurrence if there ever was one. It had only started happening sometime last week and even then only two times before, but when he did something, or said something to Kyuubi that was nice or made her proud? Sometimes an odd but not unpleasant warmth would come out from the seal. He smiled even though she could not see it, 'Thanks Kyuubi, that means a lot coming from you.'

Within her seal Kyuubi smiled for a second before it left. She closed her eyes for a moment before heaving a sigh, "Are you proud of him?"

There was a few moments of silence before the voice answered, 'Of course, he truly is his father's son…' there was a slight pause before the voice spoke again, 'and what about you?'

Kyuubi frowned, "I don't know what you mean… I'm just glad that he has not proven to be a disappointment, I would have been rather upset if all that training I gave him went to waste."

The voice gave off a laugh, "I think you do know what I mean, but I won't be the one to tell you. You'll have to figure it out on your own."

Kyuubi scowled as she listened to the voice, "Do not be so full of yourself. You know nothing about me; do not presume to lecture me on how I might feel."

However the voice had already left, leaving Kyuubi alone, much to her frustration.

Several miles outside of Konoha, Jiraiya just finished disposing of another group of shinob who were preparing a summoning seal, along with a hand full of ANBU. He knew that he would not be able to find all of the enemy shinobi and summoning seal arrays that his snake of a former teammate had placed, but every little bit they could find helped.

As he wiped the blood from a kunai he had used to slit the throat of one of the enemy ninja, he looked over at the stadium, I wonder how the gaki's doing? His battle was first so it should be finishing up soon…

"Jiraiya-sama," One of the ANBU walked up to him. "We have located another summoning seal array one mile east of here."

Sighing Jiraiya nodded, "Then let's head out, the more of these summoning seals we destroy the better off Konoha will be."

"Hai!" The ANBU all gather around Jiraiya as they took off through the trees.

A dozen miles away in a more secluded section of the forest, Gaara growled at anything and everything, especially the people who were taking his cage closer to Konoha. Had it not been for the seals on the cage that suppressed his chakra, he would have already killed everyone here so that he could find the one person who could prove his existence.

"WHERE IS HE! WHERE IS UZUMAKI! MOTHER MUST HAVE HIS BLOOD! I MUST PROVE MY EXISTANCE!"

Hakke: Rokujuuyonsho (Eight Triagrams: Sixty Four Palms): The Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms is a maneuver of the Gentle Fist fighting style. It is reserved only for the Main branch of the Hyūga clan, though capable Branch members are able to reverse-engineer it. This technique is used to close off the flow of chakra through sixty-four chakra pointsof an opponent's Chakra Pathway System. This eliminates their ability to use chakra for quite some time and makes it difficult for them to move.

Once someone is within range of the user's field of divination, he or she assumes a Gentle Fist stance and begins to deliver the attack:

First, two consecutive strikes to make two. Second, another two consecutive strikes to make four. Third, four consecutive strikes to make eight. Fourth, eight consecutive strikes to make sixteen. Fifth, sixteen consecutive strikes to make thirty two. Sixth, another thirty two consecutive strikes in succession to make a total of sixty four strikes.

Each set of strikes is done at an exponentially increasing pace and strength. The attack not only disables the enemy but also knocks them back with every set of strikes. In the anime, a minor version of this technique is called the Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms technique, and the doubled version of this technique is called the Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms technique