Chapter 713 : An Epic Clash

"The Hyuga blood flows thicker in his veins than in anyone else's. Watch closely, Hanabi." 

"Yes, Father." Hanabi replied to Hiashi. The two of them weren't the only ones. All Hyuga ninjas in the stadium were watching closely. 

Naruto, who had just created his Shadow Clones, suddenly shivered. He wondered, 'What the hell? Why does it feel like I'll be in huge trouble?' 

The reason for his instincts warning him was Fujin's gaze that had locked on him. Fujin thought, 'If he gives Neji a free attack like he did Kiba, I'm taking over his training for a month.' 

"Heh. Scared already?" Neji teased Naruto who immediately replied, "As if someone like you can make me scared!" 

Neji chuckled and taunted, "Come at me then if you dare!" 

Naruto's Shadow Clones rushed ahead and attacked Neji. The four clones ganged up on Neji and attacked him from every direction. Unfortunately, no matter what they did, none of their attacks landed on Neji. Neji hit and dispelled all four clones with extreme ease. 

Hoka shook his head and said, "Forget Neji, he wouldn't hit any Hyuga ninja with that level of Taijutsu." 

Fujin nodded and replied, "That's true. Even though he prefers Taijutsu, it isn't exactly his strong point." 

Hoka glanced at Fujin and thought, 'Weird. I thought he'd defend Naruto. Why was he so confident that Naruto would win then?' 

Neji smirked and said, "You want to be the Hokage, huh? I don't think that's gonna happen. I can pretty much tell with these eyes of mine that abilities and talent are determined at birth. In other words, your entire destiny is set from the time you're born!" 

His words pissed Naruto off, who shouted, "Why are you so stubborn? You're always so sure that the future is full of gloom and doom! Why?" 

Neji replied, "Well, are you saying that anyone can become the Hokage if they just try hard enough? Only a select few individuals are even considered for Hokage. Wake up and face reality! Those who become the Hokage are born with that fate. You can't get there by trying. You have to be pre-selected!" 

A chuckle escaped Fujin's lips as he heard Neji's words. Ignoring the gazes the ones around him gave, Fujin thought, 'Well, as delusional as he is, I can't say he is entirely wrong. Then again, how could he know the history of the supposed loser? 

The son of the Fourth Hokage and the Jinchuriki of the strongest Tailed Beast, a fate he received at his birth. The absurd part is that those factors are more or less irrelevant considering that he is the reincarnation of Asura. Poor kid, blabbering so much in front of the wrong person.' 

Neji continued, "Each person's life consists only of being swept along in the inescapable current of his destiny. All of us have only one thing in common… One shared fate... Death!" 

A frown appeared on Hiashi's face. Naruto snorted and asked, "Even if that is the case, what makes you think that your eyes can see the fate of everyone?" 

Naruto created dozens of Shadow Clones and attacked Neji. Despite the huge numerical disadvantage, Neji dodged and countered every attack. Having seen through Naruto's attack pattern, Neji predicted that the Naruto who was standing at the back of the clones was the real one. 

He made his way through the army of the clones, reached the Naruto hiding behind the clones and jabbed his fingers towards the chakra point near his heart. Just before his attack could land, Naruto caught his wrist. However, Neji quickly followed up with more attacks and landed a hit in the blink of an eye, forcing Naruto to vomit blood. Immediately, several Shadow Clones around him were dispelled, covering the area in smoke. 

Neji said, "You're the real one. I told you it was useless." 

To his surprise, Naruto began laughing. He stared into Neji's eyes and said, "And I told you to not make so many assumptions." 

Suddenly, Neji's eyes widened and he looked behind. He sensed a sudden chakra spike some distance behind him. However, before he could do anything, the Naruto behind him lunged at him. 

Thanks to his Byakugan, Neji saw that attack coming and attacked him again. To everyone's surprise, 'Naruto' dispelled in the cloud of smoke. Even though he was shocked, Neji had no time to pay attention to the fact that he had just been fooled. After all, in front of him was an intense wind current that was threatening to cut him into pieces! 

Wasting no time, Neji released chakra from nearly every chakra point on his body. At the same time, he began spinning rapidly, causing the chakra to rotate alongside him and forming a barrier. 

The eyes of several Hyuga ninjas widened, realizing that Neji had used Rotation, a technique that very few outside of the main family knew. The fact that he had done it at such a young age was even more shocking. 

The winds engulfed the barrier and several wind blades rained down on it. However, the barrier held as Neji continued spinning until the winds subsided. 

Kotetsu muttered, "Great… No, it's the Infinite Breakthrough jutsu, a rank B jutsu. Along with the forbidden Multi Shadow Clone jutsu, Naruto is not lacking in high-level jutsus." 

Izumo said, "More impressive is how he baited Neji. The ability to plan and fool opponents is extremely important for a Chunin." 

Kotetsu nodded and added, "True. However, Neji is quite impressive as well. To have learnt Rotation at such a young age…" 

As the dust cleared, Naruto's eyes widened as he saw that Neji was completely unharmed. One of his clones exclaimed in disbelief, "No way! How did he defend against that jutsu?" 

Neji smirked and asked, "You thought you had me beat?" 

However, Naruto and his clones weren't too interested in talking it out. The fact that he failed to achieve anything with the jutsu taught by Fujin worried him more. He didn't wish to endure any more special training sessions with Fujin. He had a feeling that they would be extremely unpleasant. 

Another clone said, "Maybe the jutsu wasn't strong enough, boss. Give him a big one!" 

Naruto weaved hand signs as he replied, "That's right! Let me see whether he can defend against this!" 

Neji's smirk disappeared as his eyes saw Naruto concentrating a massive amount of chakra. He quickly moved towards Naruto but was stalled by the Shadow Clones. 

In the stadium, a worried look appeared on Hiruzen's face as he questioned, 'Did they have to teach Naruto this technique?' 

Neji was just a couple of meters away from Naruto when he was done supercharging the Infinite Breakthrough jutsu! Just like Fujin, he poured 5% of his chakra into the jutsu. Neji's eyes widened as he saw Naruto blowing out the jutsu at him from such a close distance. He immediately released his chakra and used Rotation once again. 

As good as Neji's defense was, Naruto's attack was far beyond what a Genin should be able to do. Heck, most Jounins wouldn't want to be at the receiving end of that jutsu. Even so, Neji's Rotation ensured that he wasn't hit by the winds. However, due to the difference in the strength of the two jutsu, Neji, along with his Rotation barrier, was flung across the arena! Even so, Neji continued spinning and didn't dare to let the jutsu end. 

And, considering the nature of the jutsu, Neji wasn't the only casualty. As Hiruzen feared, the intense winds hit most of the audience in the line of attack. Thankfully, the winds had mellowed down and no wind blades reached the audience. Even so, quite a few people were blown away, causing several injuries. A part of the stadium became a complete mess! Even the people who weren't in the line of attack felt the strong winds. 

Hoka and Renjiro glanced at Fujin and thought, 'Supercharged wind jutsus. No wonder he was so confident! How is a Genin supposed to defend against the supercharged jutsus of a freaking Jinchuriki?' 

Lee shouted, "Excellent, Naruto! Keep it up!" 

Ino questioned with a stunned expression as she covered her eyes, "What the hell? When did Naruto become so powerful?" 

Sakura answered, "I don't know. His Wind jutsus weren't this strong before!" 

Kiba had a similar stunned expression as he thanked the heavens that Naruto didn't use such a jutsu against him. 

Hinata, whose condition didn't worsen like in the original story due to Fujin's treatment, smiled as she looked at everyone acknowledging Naruto. 

When the winds died down, Neji's figure appeared once again. This time, he wasn't completely unhurt. Even though Rotation kept Neji safe from the Wind blades, stopping such strong jutsu made Neji feel the backlash. His entire body was aching and blood could be seen trickling down his lips. However, he still stood on his feet, shocking Naruto and his clones once again. 

"Holy crap! What is that defense?" 

"How is he still standing?" 

"Boss! Give him another! If two isn't enough, three will take him down!" 

"That's right! Let me see if he still stays standing! Infinite Breakthrough jutsu!" 

To the shock of Neji and the audience, Naruto fired another supercharged Infinite Breakthrough jutsu at Neji, and by extension, the people behind him! 

[A/N: Quite a bit of a repeat of what happened in the original story in this chapter. Initially, I had decided to omit it all but eventually decided against it so that you guys wouldn't have to re-read the manga to know what Fujin was commenting on. That said, there won't be much repetition of canon in the upcoming matches.] 

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