Confrontation - 6

Still, he doubted something such as that could ever apply while facing Sato, "I won't withdraw."

Naruto was irked by his stubbornness and had expected it too, "Fine! Fight! If you freak out, even if it's just for a second, I'll be there to bitch slap you!"

Gaara blinked at him and nodded. It sounded fair enough.

The blonde boy was still partly fuming before suggesting that they join the rest of the participants on the balcony below. The trip there was tense and quiet and Gaara wondered if mentioning the fight he and Haku had been in would be a good idea. Naruto probably wouldn't appreciate the news at the current time.

Once there Sato was already fidgeting around, observing the huge audience that had turned out with wide eyes. Gaara grimaced at the sight of him and then looked across the way to the adjacent balcony where his siblings stood in wait.

He knew better than to leave Naruto and join them, especially when he was still irate that Haku had not arrived.

Shortly after, something peculiar happened.

Team Gai arrived quite suddenly and the normal energy that they usually carried with them was nowhere to be found. Naruto tried to control himself at the sight of Neji, who was impassive as ever, though he did see something strange.

The Hyuga prodigy and Tenten stood on opposite sides of Lee, dead silent, and appeared outwardly irritated by the other's presence. Lee, between them, had never looked more distressed in Naruto's time knowing him. Clearly his teammates were not agreeing on something and he had been caught in the middle.

'I know that feeling…' Naruto thought, still on edge, 'I wonder how Neji will fight if he's this distracted?' He didn't want to be disappointed when he knocked the prodigy's teeth out.

Gaara tensed and Naruto looked to their left where Haku had arrived, looking as calm and casual as ever. Naruto stormed over to him, blue eyes blazing, "Where the hell have you been? I thought you just vanished or something!"

"Naruto-kun, it's alright! Really!" Haku didn't overlook the attention Naruto's ranting had attracted, "I really am sorry if I held you up, but I did tell you before I left that I might be a bit late…"

Naruto blinked, "Oh. You did? It must've slipped my mind then I guess…a lot of crap happened this morning."

Haku smiled at him weakly and said nothing to Gaara.

Naruto equated the coldness of the members of Team 13 to that of which was emanating from Haku and Gaara. It was something he would not stand for and it did explain a few things.

"What's with you two?" Naruto looked between his friends, sensing they had had a spat, "If one more thing goes wrong I'll beat the shit out of both of you!"

If he had to be the disciplinarian then so be it. Naruto was not willing to ruin their chances of gaining Chunin rank, even if they were.

Haku apologized again, he sounded sincere too, "I just needed to fetch something for my match. I had almost left it behind."

Gaara scowled openly at him. Whatever scheme he had concocted to get around Temari's use of wind jutsu he judged to be nothing short of elaborate and infantile. He had a feeling it would be a close one though.

Down below, Hayate stood at the center of the arena, and the roaring clamor from the crowd died down momentarily as he announced, "The final rounds of the Chunin Selection Exam have begun," He glanced up at the Hokage briefly, "The first match will be between Hyuga Neji and Uzumaki Naruto."

Haku and Gaara simultaneously observed their friend as he stared out ahead into the stadium.

'I can do this,' Naruto resolved, 'I have to!'

Neji ventured down without a word to his teammates. He didn't need confirmation from them that his match was as good as won, although Tenten might have tried to make him believe otherwise. She knew nothing. He had no reason to hold back. Now was his time to prove to the Main House just how wrong they were.

"You can do it, Naruto-kun." Haku said quietly, staring at the back of the blonde boy's head. To his surprise, Gaara nodded in agreement. The only thing they didn't seem to diverge on was their confidence in Naruto.

Naruto turned and grinned at them, "Yeah, I've got this one in the bag!"

He raced down the stairs, unwilling to let Neji show him up.

Once down to the ground level, Naruto was able to see just how huge the stadium actually was. The roar from the watching crowds was indeed a bit distracting, but Naruto had set his mind on one thing and one thing only.

'I'll make him pay for what Hinata-chan's been going through!' His expression was confident as he neared Hayate, who waited with Neji at the arena's center, 'I can't lose!'

The face-off was particularly uneventful and Naruto could feel his teammates staring at the back of his head. Neji's white eyes were as stoic as ever, but he could tell that somewhere beneath the anger and stubbornness Neji was feeling something that was very real.

Hayate muffled a small cough while observing the first two combatants. Both of them looked hostile, 'It'll make an interesting fight then…'

"If the opponents are ready, you may begin now." Hayate backed up a ways from the two genin, listening as the audience came to life in excitement behind him.

Neji fell into a practiced Jyukken stance, his face grim, "This would be the time for you to back out, should you decide not to humiliate yourself."

"Tch!" The blonde boy's eyes were like flaming sapphires, "Not until I teach you a lesson!"

The Hyuga wasn't inclined to wait much longer, "What could a dropout be able to teach me?"

"How to lose!" Naruto formed hand seals, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Two dozen replications materialized beside Naruto, sharing in his determination, and leapt ahead to get through Neji's defenses. The Byakugan illuminated Neji's eyes and he moved with skill, knocking away and destroying the clones methodically as they came within range.

It wasn't long before all of the shadow clones had been spent, and the last remaining Naruto was the one Neji charged for, hands striking the nearest tenketsu expertly. Haku grimaced as Naruto recoiled in pain and then reverted to a puff of smoke.

The true Naruto came from above with a dropping aerial kick. Neji hadn't been counting on his speed and barely evaded the assault, which was a mere distraction for something more fatal.

Neji righted himself, his sandals skidding in the dirt, and watched the blonde boy form more seals, "See if you can handle this! Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Four red warrior toads appeared and Naruto, in imitation of his sensei, perched on the head of the nearest one. From the balcony Haku and Gaara both grinned openly, while Shino and Hinata watched in astonishment from the stands.

A fair distance away from where Hinata was sitting, Hanabi turned to her father wearing a worried expression. She hadn't come to this match expecting her cousin to be facing someone capable of summoning creatures into battle.

Neji was not very impressed, or at least, appeared not to be, "You think that these frogs are a match for me?"

A vicious tongue extended without warning, knocking the Hyuga back a number of feet and to the ground with a thud. The toad in question was the very one Naruto crouched on top of, and it looked rather insulted.

"Toads!" Naruto corrected him, and he could tell that after that things were going to get serious.

Naruto and his comrades closed in on Neji who stood in wait, calculating. His eyes picked apart every aspect and weakness of his opponents. The Hyuga prodigy's rotation sent two toads reeling before they could get near, while the other two drew their swords. Naruto briefly wondered just how violent the match could get if his toads intended to skewer his foe.

Neji was reading the awkward body language of the toads as they bounded within striking range, the angle at which the blades were held, even the slightest twitch of muscle beneath skin was completely visible to him.

Naruto abandoned the toad he had hitched a ride on as it swung its dagger, watching as the metal sang through the air with a soft hum, 'Is this it? This is the payback I wanted for Hinata-chan?'

From her place in the stands the Hyuga girl's eyes were as wide as saucers as the battle toads closed in around her cousin. It was likely that even behind his glasses Shino's were as well.

The blade came down and met earth. The second came with a horizontal slash that was so powerful, the toad lost its grip once its weapon also missed the target, and it was embedded in the loose dirt of the crater Neji had created.

Though he wasn't about to admit it then, Neji's training with Tenten was responsible for his ability to evade weapons. The toads weren't nearly as skilled with swords as she, and dodging them took very little effort. Too sluggish to recover, the toads were helpless against Neji's counter, "Hakkesho Kaiten!"

The last two toads were dispatched with a rotation twice as powerful as the last. Naruto steadied himself, planning his next means of attack, 'He's using that technique Hinata talked about like it's nothing!' He frowned inwardly, 'I didn't even come close when I tried it…just how much of a genius is he?'

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto created more shadow clones and dove through the dust cloud that had been kicked up.

Watching the match from their place on the balcony, Neji's teammates had their mouths hanging agape. They hadn't seen anyone other than their sensei summon a creature before and Naruto seemed to have the ability down pat.

Lee inclined his head cautiously to Tenten and asked quietly, "Is it possible that just maybe…Naruto-kun might be able to defeat Neji?"

There was a long silence, and Lee suspected that she wasn't interested in commenting on the match until she did at last answer, "…let's hope so."

Lee laughed loudly at her snappish voice, but was glad to see her smirking playfully. Tenten had no intentions of taking out her frustrations on Lee. It appeared to her that Naruto was doing all the hard work for her.

While letting his clones act as a diversion, Naruto built up his chakra, knowing if that he didn't finish the fight soon he wouldn't be able to at all.

By then familiar with Naruto's attack patterns, Neji eliminated the second wave of clones quickly, but not after suffering a blow to the gut from a rogue slide-tackling clone that made him consider the usefulness of free-thinking replications. It hadn't really worried him though, 'His use of shadow clones is sloppy...and he'll be made to regret it.'