Chapter 7: Chaotic Finals, Invasion Begins 1/3

KeybladeMasterRiku: Glad you think so, I enjoyed writing that fight a lot.

Sarahgri99: I'm glad to see you enjoyed it, because I enjoyed writing it.

Dai sennin kurosaki d naruto: I think a better question is, why did no one stop Gaara from crippling Lee in canon? Besides, Tatsu still had the full force of his Tenseigan, which gave him the power to rival a Tailed Beast, so I highly doubt that's actually an issue.

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The big day arrived.

Naruto, Tatsu, Lee, Neji, Ino, Temari, Kankuro, Sasuke, Shino, Shikamaru and Dosu all stood in the arena, the massive crowd of spectators all watching them.

Genma was acting as the proctor instead of Hayate "You guys are the heroes of this final competition."

Then Sarutobi stepped up from his spectator box with the Kazekage "Welcome all, and our deepest thanks for coming here to the Village Hidden in the Leaves for this year's Chunin Selection. We have come to the final competition between the 11 candidates who made it through the preliminaries. We ask that no one leaves until all the matches have been completed, now everyone enjoy."

"Alright, listen up. The terrain is different, but the rules are the same as before. That is that there are no rules. The match continues until one candidate acknowledges defeat or dies. That is to say, if I determine that a match is over then I can step in and stop it at any time and no arguments permitted. Understood?" no objections "There are the opponents for the first match, Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga. Those two stay, the rest of you can go to the waiting area."

They did, but Naruto and Neji stayed.

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"Hey Hinata check it out, I found a few free seats." Kiba pointed to a few seats in the front row of the crowd.

"O-Oh, thank you." Hinata sat down next to Kiba and gave him a small smile.

"I don't know about you but I think this is gonna be one hell of an interesting match."

"Yes. Naruto…'

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Ino glanced over at Tatsu "So what do you think, about the fight between Naruto and Neji I mean. Do you think Naruto can beat him?"

"I think that if anyone who actually knows Naruto and thinks about it then it's gonna be pretty much obvious." Tatsu told her bluntly.

"Meaning what exactly?"

"Exactly what you should expect if you know me, Naruto's gonna give him an ass kicking that he's long deserved."

"You think so? Well you've always had more faith in him than anyone else, I never really understood why until I saw his fight with Kiba. I have to admit I'm kind of surprised he lasted as long as he did, but if he actually can beat Neji then I'll definitely have some newfound respect for him."

"He will, but we're definitely going to be in for a long fight.

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Neji gave an arrogant smirk "You got anything to say to me?"

Naruto held out a fist "Only what I told you last time, I vow to win!"

Neji activated his Byakugan 'He has the look, he's calmer now and more sure of himself.' he got into a Gentle Fist stance "So much the better for me, I can't wait to see the look of despair on your face when you learn that your foolish vow is impossible to keep."

"Are we gonna stand here talking all day? Let's get going, show me what you've got."

"As you wish."

"Alright, now let the first match begin." Genma made the call.

"Are you ready to see why your destiny can never be changed?"

"How about I shove that up your ass instead!" Naruto fired off a volley of kunai and promptly charged forward.

"Naruto you idiot!" Kiba barked from the stands "There's no way in hell a frontal attack is gonna work on this guy!"

"We'll see about that!" Naruto let a barrage of punches and kicks fly forward.

"You should've listened to him." Neji caught Naruto by his left arm and attempted to fling him away.

Naruto regained his footing and fired off another barrage of punches.

Neji blocked every strike with ease and struck Naruto in the chest using his Palm Heel Strike technique, followed by him attempting to strike Naruto in the shoulder, sending him tumbling backwards a short distance 'I missed the chakra point, he knew exactly what I had been aiming for then.'

'That was way too close.' Naruto pulled himself back to his feet 'I almost fucked that up big time, if I get too close to him then he can turn off my chakra and there goes my ability to use any jutsu. I'll have to hang back and hit him from a distance with some long range jutsu of some kind.'

"Do you understand now then? You don't have any way to defeat me."

"Get your head out of your ass genius, I was just checking you out that's all. But now that we're both all warmed up, we can get this started. Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he summoned four Shadow Clones 'And people say that I don't like to use my head, that will show all of them!'

'Shadow Clones, but that is supposed to be a jonin level technique, so where did he learn a jutsu like that exactly? I see now, that's actually quite a clever move. He's distributed his chakra evenly amongst these clones so that even my Byakugan can't pick out which one of them is the real one. Not bad but it doesn't matter, you can't hide from me for too long."

"I think we'll just have to see about that!"

"If you're coming then come on. It won't make any difference how many clones he uses, I can defeat this imbecile on my defence alone.'

"As if you had to ask, but let me make this clear to you first. I don't want you to ever, and I mean ever, count me out!" and he had his clones charge in.

Neji dodged and blocked the attacks from the clones with ease, but wasn't able to react fast enough to avoid what came next.

"I gotcha!" Naruto blitzed forward with speed that caught Neji off guard and dealt him a swift uppercut kick to the jaw, sending him flying through the air.

Neji rebounded almost instantly and gracefully landed back on the ground "Not bad I'll admit, but I doubt you can pull that off again."

"Why don't you come and find out!" Naruto had his clones charge forward.

Neji leapt into the air and with a few swift movements he kicked and palm thrusted all four of the clones out of existence "You were saying?"

'What the hell is with this guy, it's like he's got eyes in the back of his head!'

"Did you really think you could become the Hokage? Such a thing is absurd, and it could never happen. I can see many things thanks to these eyes of mine, one thing they've shown me is that the limitations of people are set, fixed and cannot be changed. Only a fool wastes his time trying to become something he can never be."

"So I'm a fool then am I?" Naruto clenched his fist "There's no way I'm dealing with any of this crap again, who the hell do you think you are to decide what a person can or can't be?"

"Do you think anyone can become Hokage, that all it takes is a little bit of hard work? Open your eyes to the truth, of all of the shinobi in all of the world, think of how few of them have ever become the Hokage, or Kage at all for that matter. They were born destined to be the Hokage of legend, it's not something to become by merely trying to become it. They were chosen by destiny itself. Each person is given their own path to follow, and they must follow it with obedience until the very end. There is only one destiny we all share equally, and that is death."

Naruto found himself frozen in place as he and Neji locked eyes 'The look in his eyes, they show so much hatred… Yeah, well so what? I say you can think that way as much as you want, people always tell me that I just don't know when to give up, but I say that I just don't like to give up, and there's a huge difference. Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he summoned a massive army of Shadow Clones and they all charged forward.

Wasting no time, Neji weeded out the original and started beating him down, only to be forced to retreat by the barrage of Shadow Clones, but he quickly dispatched a considerable number of them with a few simple strikes.

'Dammit this is bad, I'm not even getting close to this guy.'

"Do you really think I can be fooled with a trick like that one? You can conjure up as many clones as you like, you won't be able to hide from me." he blitzed past the large crowd of Shadow Clones and struck the real Naruto right in the chest, causing him to cough up blood and the clones to disappear "You're the only one keeping out of my range for fear of my striking your chakra points like this. The more the others attack the more you stand out for holding back. That would make you the real one wouldn't it? I told you it was pointless, it's not my fault you didn't listen."

"Oh… Oh yeah?" Naruto spat out some blood and let out a chuckle "Well I remember telling you that it was a mistake to count me out." and then he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What the- When did he- How did he-?" Neji whipped around to find two more of them charging at him 'So that's it then, he held back one of his Shadow Clones in order to deceive me and lure me into a trap!'

"What you thought I'd be too much of a chicken to attack you myself? Well you've got another thing coming! Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he and his clone both breathed out medium sized balls of fire.

'It might injure me, but I have no choice! 8 Trigrams Palm Rotation!" Neji surrounded himself in a dome of wind based chakra, dispelling the fireballs and blowing Naruto away while dissipating his clone, although he received a few minor burns in the process.

"What the hell was that supposed to be?"

"The reality of your situation, a good trick perhaps but it was nowhere near enough for you to defeat me."

"We'll see about that! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" with the formation of a hand seal he summoned 6 more Shadow Clones and they circled around Neji.

'My Byakugan allows me to see almost 360 degrees, I can detect any attack as soon as it's been launched so his movements are pointless. That's when my real defence comes into play, the 8 Trigrams Palm Rotation.'

"Ninja Art: Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" the clones all fired off a barrage of shuriken and formed some hand seals that caused the shuriken to multiply mid assault.

"8 Trigrams Palm Rotation!" Neji unleashed his Rotation, cancelling out the shuriken and sending both Naruto and his clones flying.

Naruto pulled himself back to his feet "Dammit…"

"This is the end for you, you're in my range and it's impossible for you to escape from my Eight Trigrams. Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams 64 Palms! 8 Trigrams 2 palm! 4 palm! 8 palm! 16 palm! 32 palm!" he blitzed towards Naruto and started dealing him a fierce barrage of blows in all of his chakra points, sending Naruto crashing to the ground in a heap.

Genma made his way over to where Naruto was trying and failing to get up 'This one took a major beating, it looks to me like it's over.'

"I have now struck you in all 64 of your chakra points, at this point you're lucky to still be able to breathe at all."

"D-Dammit…" Naruto spat out some blood and tried to force himself back to his feet, but to no avail.

"It must be quite frustrating for you to realize just how utterly hopeless it turned out to be, that little dream of yours. You thought you could succeed through hard work alone, but such a thing is only found in a fantasy."

Naruto slowly lifted his head, his vision growing blurry as he thought back to the events of the preliminaries 'Tatsu… Hinata… Not a chance in hell…" he gritted his teeth and forced himself back to his feet.

"But that's impossible, how are you even standing?"

"It's like I told you… some way I don't know… when to give up… but I say… I just don't like to give up… There's a huge difference…"

"Stop with this madness already, you'll only get more of the same. I don't have anything against you personally."

"Oh yeah that's real touching, you're gonna make me cry. Anyway, I've got a hell of a lot personally against you."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You don't? And here I thought you were some big shot know it all, you don't remember what you did to Hinata then do you? The way you screwed her over with your stupid mind games, going out of your way to rip her apart when she worked so hard to get as far as she did."

"Never mind something like that, it has nothing to do with you."

"You mocked Hinata and called her a failure, all of that crap about how great the Hyuga clan is supposed to be, main households and branch families, what a bunch of bullshit! It doesn't give you the right to decide who fails and who doesn't, that's what I've got against you!"

"...So that's it then. So be it, if you're as interested as you claim to be then I'll give you a better understanding of the heritage of hatred that embodies the Hyuga clan! For generations the main household of the clan has practiced a secret jutsu known as the Curse Mark jutsu."

"Curse Mark jutsu?"

"The Curse Mark is the symbol of a bird locked in its cage, it's the mark of those who are bound to a destiny they cannot escape." he pulled off his headband, revealing the Curse Mark branded on his forehead.

"So, that thing is the Curse Mark?"

"It is. I was only four years old when the leaders of my clan branded this symbol on my forehead with their Curse Mark jutsu, and on that same day a great celebration took place for the people of the Hidden Leaf Village. After many years of war, a peace agreement had at last been reached with the Land of Lightning and they had sent the head ninja of the Hidden Cloud to sign the treaty and join in the celebration. Everyone was there to welcome our old enemies, whether they be genin or jonin or even any ordinary civilians. Only one clan was absent, and that was the Hyuga clan, because this was the day on which the heiress to the main household was to turn three."

"You mean-?"

"That's right, it was Lady Hinata's third birthday." he glanced up at the stands "Lady Hinata's father Lord Hiashi is sitting up there in the stands as we speak, he and my father Hizashi were twin brothers, and yet he entered this world first so as the firstborn he was made into the head of the clan. As a result of this, my father and his twin brother was banished to a lesser branch of the family. It was then on the day that the heir to the main household turned three that the Curse Mark was placed upon me and I was turned into a metaphorical bird in a cage by my very own uncle."

"You and this clan of yours, what's the point of all of it? Why bother to have a main family and a branch family, and this weird Curse Mark? What the heck does that mean anyway?"

"I can assure you of one thing, it's not simply for decoration. It's the instrument by which they keep us in our place, we live with the fear that they will use this Curse Mark to turn our brains into jelly any time they wish. Fear, that is what we live with and we live with it every single day of our lives. Only in death can we be free of it. Only those of the Hyuga clan possess the secret of this unique form of Kekkei Genkai, and of course there are many who would steal it from us as well. That is the reason for which we exist, it is the purpose of the branch family to defend that secret and to serve the keepers of the secret, the main household, with obedience without question for all of eternity. That is our destiny, or it was until that dreadful night they finally went too far, when they murdered my father. One night someone entered the main household and abducted Lady Hinata. Lord Hiashi acted quickly and he caught and killed the man, and who was this intruder you may be wondering, stealing through the shadows in the middle of the night and wearing a mask over his face to conceal his identity?"

"Who was it?"

"It was none other than the head ninja from the Hidden Cloud of the Land of Lightning, the man who had just signed off on an alliance with us. It was obvious to everyone that he was after the secrets of the Byakugan, but the Land of Lightning professed shock at this willful murder of their ninja. They claimed that the Hidden Leaf was in violation of the treaty and they demanded recompense as a result. Things continued to get worse and worse until it looked like war would break out yet again between our villages. The Hidden Leaf Village wanted above all things to avoid a war so at last they made a deal, a life for a life. The Land of Lightning had demanded the death of the person who had slain their ninja, so if there was to be peace then Lord Hiashi would have to die. The Leaf Village accepted their terms, and so to avert a war a man was killed, but it wasn't Hiashi. My father was his twin brother as I stated before, and because of that he was killed in place of Lord Hiashi in order to protect the main household! Only in death was my father finally free of this evil Curse Mark. They were twin brothers that were so much alike, but their destinies had been determined long ago when one was born only mere seconds after the other one. And this match is the same, your destiny was decided the very moment I was chosen to be your opponent. It's your destiny to lose to me, and it's as simple as that." he tied his headband back on.

"Oh yeah is that right, well I say we won't know until you actually beat me now will we? Okay I get it, so your father was killed a long time ago, and I know it wasn't fair and I get why you're upset about that, but that doesn't have anything to do with destiny. If you think I'm buying that then you've got another thing coming."

"I don't expect you to ever understand." Neji promptly reactivated his Byakugan, blitzed forward towards Naruto at full speed and landed a palm strike straight to the chest, sending him tumbling backwards. Then he glanced over at Genma "It's over now proctor, this battle is over and he's a failure just as I believed him to be." he started to walk away, when a voice stopped him.

"Hold it…" Naruto struggled but he managed to pull himself back to his feet "Don't you… even think about… walking away from me… I'm not done with you… not yet… I don't quit… and I don't go back on my word… that's my nindo… my ninja way…"

"That does sound familiar, so that's where she got it from."

"All of that crap about destiny, well if you really believe it then why the hell are you the one walking away?"

"You impudent little brat, why should I bother to waste any more of my breath explaining this to the likes of you? We are all given a destiny at birth, and it's pointless to fight against it. You have no idea what it's like to be branded with a mark that sets you apart from everyone else, a mark that can never be wiped away."

"Oh trust me, I know damn well what that's like better than you'll ever imagine. Well big deal, cry me a river."

"You worthless little son of a-"

"Man you think you've got problems. Well I've got some news for you Neji, you're not the only one who's special around here. Did it ever occur to you that Hinata might be suffering just as much as you are? It's not her fault that her father was born ahead of yours, and yet you resent her for it. You treat her like shit even when she's trying so hard to improve herself. All she wanted was for you to respect her, that's what she was fighting for even though it almost ended up getting her killed, and what was that all about anyway? I thought it was your destiny to serve the main household, not to beat it to a bloody pulp. After all you said about how you can't fight off your destiny, you don't really believe any of that crap either do you?" he suddenly let out a weak hacking cough.

"I've already blocked all 64 of your chakra points, how do you intend to keep fighting when you can't use any of your chakra against me? It's fitting that you sympathize with Hinata because you're about to share her fate."

"You wanna bet? You think that Byakugan of yours sees everything, you know everyone's weakness don't you?"

"Yes that's right, but if you're the one who thinks he can prove me wrong then I say be my guest."

"As if you had to ask, I'm gonna show you that you're wrong about a lot of things, starting right now! Yeah that's easier said than done, it doesn't feel like I have any chakra at all. I haven't felt so totally drained since that time when I was training with the Pervy Sage. Wait that's it, I can use Kurama's chakra!' he paused in order to focus himself properly 'Alright Kurama I know you're in there so listen up, if you're there then I'm gonna need you to give me a good chunk of power you got it?'

"I know I know, just get this over with. This Hyuuga brat is starting to get on my nerves right about now."

'How do you think I feel? I'm the one fighting him.'

"And look how that's turning out."

'Exactly. HEY!'

Neji glanced over at Genma "Proctor this battle has gone on long enough, I suggest you stop the match. If my opponent is foolish enough to continue with this battle then I will not be held responsible for what happens to him."

Genma let out a sigh "Fine, whatever you want."

"Thank you sir."

"Not so fast." Naruto formed a hand seal.

"It's pointless, I already told you this."

"You wanna bet? I can do this, I won't lose, not to him!'

"Why do you even bother, you don't even have any chakra to lose. Why do you even bother to fight such a hopeless battle in a desperate attempt to defy your destiny?"

"You really wanna know why? It's because people have always called me a failure, and now I'm gonna prove them wrong!" a crimson glow of chakra gathered around his body as his wounds began to heal themselves.

'What the- It can't be, where is this chakra coming from? It shouldn't be possible, just what is he?!'

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Tatsu gave a smirk aimed at the others in the waiting area "See you guys, I told you Naruto had this in the bag. I say we've only got another minute or two before Neji gets his ass handed to him. That said, it took Kurama long enough to pull his muzzle out of his tails and help the idiot out. Well nothing to do about it now, all I can do is sit back and enjoy the show, which I fully intend to do.

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Neji was forced to brace himself from the sheer force and potency of Kurama's chakra that was enveloping the area 'This chakra, just what exactly is he? What kind of chakra is this, or is it even chakra at all?

'This is awesome, this is even more power than I felt before, and I like it! Get ready Neji, because I'm coming for you!" with a sudden burst of speed Naruto blitzed behind Neji and fired off a volley of shuriken "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" and with the formation of a few hand seals the shuriken multiplied.

"8 Trigrams Palm Rotation!" Neji activated his Rotation to protect himself from the barrage of shuriken, catching a few of them and firing them off himself.

Naruto blitzed out of view and dodged the shuriken with ease.

'He's even faster than before, what's going on here?' Neji quickly dodged a blow from behind and fired off a volley of shuriken.

"Wind Style: Crimson Wind!" Naruto fired off a red colored slash of wind from his fingertips that cut clean through the jutsu "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he breathed out a large red fireball that was enhanced by the Crimson Wind jutsu.

Neji leapt out of the way, only to end up receiving a sharp kick to the head from Naruto, sending him tumbling to the ground 'His strength and speed are on a completely different level from before!'

"Alright Neji, I hear that you like close combat do you? It might be the way of the Hyuga to cave into destiny but it's not mine! If you think there's no point to fighting it then don't, just stand there and take it!" and so Naruto charged forward at full speed "I'm gonna change the way of the Hyuga clan, and I'll do it after I become the Hokage!"

'Quickly, I'll only have one shot at this! 8 Trigrams Palm Rotation!" Neji quickly activated his Rotation.

"Wind Style: Crimson Wind!" Naruto summoned wind chakra into his fingertips and slashed down on the Rotation, the two jutsu colliding and resulting in the explosion that followed, before the smoke cleared to reveal two craters where Naruto and Neji once stood.

Genma braced himself for the backlash and observed the situation once things had calmed down slightly 'Damn that kids got some real fire in him, never seen anything like it. No way that kid from the Hyuga could've…'

As the smoke cleared, Neji pulled himself out of one of the two craters coughing up a large amount of dirt and dust, stumbling slightly from the backlash as he made his way over to the second crater where Naruto appeared to be lying unconscious 'I didn't expect his apparent second wind to be capable of so much raw power and force.'

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Lee let out a sigh "That's the secret of the 8 Trigrams Palm Rotation, not only does it protect the user from attacks but it also turns the user's own chakra against them."

"You say that like Naruto already lost." Tatsu pointed out.

"I doubt I would be able to get up from a collision like that unscathed, but regardless of that no one has come as close to beating Neji as Naruto has."

"Don't call it just yet, keep in mind that I'm a sensory type."

"...He has another last ditch trick up his sleeve doesn't he?"

"Why don't you look down there and find out?"

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Neji slowly limped over to where Naruto apparently lay unconscious in the crater, and he let out a chuckle "Sorry, but this is the reality of the world. You fought hard and well, and I admit that you almost had me, but in the end you're still a failure. This match is over-" he was promptly cut off by what happened next.

"Wind Style: Crimson Wind Fist!" condensing the chakra of his Crimson Wind jutsu into his fist, Naruto suddenly burst up from the ground and dealt Neji a fierce uppercut while he was distracted, the force blowing him clear off his feet and sending him tumbling several feet backwards, while the version of him that was in the crater suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I… I can't move…"

"And I can't feel my arm, I say we're even."