Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Author's notes: This is my first fiction so i kept it simple. I feel that this
how the fight between Naruto and Neji should have been like. Although, it was
good that Naruto beat Neji, it wasn't as soundly and as spectacularly as i
think it should have been. Most of this is taken straight from the manga,
except near the end. So many spoilers. I guess the good stuff is at the end, so
if you want to skip down to where Neji uses his 64 Hands of Hakke, feel free.
"This is the end of the line," pondered Kamizuki Izumo out loud
"Yea for guys that got this far on luck..." his friend Hagane Kotetsu
interrupted him "But for that kid to get this far..."
"He can't beat the Hyuga clan," Izumo decided with finality.
"That Naruto's opponent is just too tough," his friend agreed.
Inuzaka Kiba, on the other hand, was of a different opinion, "You'll pay
if you underestimate him..."
Down in the arena, Hyuga Neji was sporting a smug expression on his face, and
why shouldn't he? He was about to face the ninja who placed the lowest in the
Academy. "Looks like you have something to say," he said smirking at
his opponent.
"I told you before," replied Naruto while holding his extended fist
towards the Hyuga kid in front of him "You're definately going down."
Activating his Byakugang, Neji examined the loud and obnoxious ninja in front
of him. "Eyes of a person who totally believes in himself, there's no
doubt in him," he thought to himself. Aloud, he said with another smug
grin "It will be fun to watch you fall apart when you discover
reality."
"Stop all the blabbering! Let's fight!" said Naruto in his loud and
excited voice.
Above in the stands, Hyuga Hiashi was with his daughter Hanabi closely watching
the exchange. He decided to use this fight as an opportunity to educate the
hope of the Hyuga clan even further, "There isn't another who has received
such thick Hyugra blood, watch closely Hanabi," ordered Hiashi. "Yes,
father," replied his daughter with obediance.
"So I'll have to fight from a distance," decided the blonde ninja. With
his plan of action decided, he executed his favorite jutsu with a practiced
familiarity. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he yelled as four clones
appeared in front him. With perfect coordination, each of the clones whipped
out a kunai and held it in a readied stance.
The reactions to a Genin's execution of a Jounin level jutsu were mixed.
"Good thinking Naruto," thought Harano Sakura.
"Heh, interesting guy," noted Kotetsu.
"Kage Bunshin is a Jounin level jutsu," announced Izumo, "For
him to be able to use it..."
"This fight could be good," finished Kotetsu.
"Kage Bunshin?!" wondered Neji. This fight might be a little tougher
than he had first expected. Know your enemies, Neji reminded him self as he
examined the clones with his Byakugang. It was clear enough that Naruto's
chakra was divided equally among the clones, and he even recognized that he
couldn't tell which body was the real one, "But, in the end, there's only
one true body," he said half to himself, half to his opponent.
"Heh, stop acting tough," smirked one of the Narutos.
That Neji kid is really pissing me off, Naruto thought to himself. He was lucky
that he wasn't angered to the point where the demon fox Kyubi had started to
murmur his bittersweet promises of power and revenge to him yet. For right now,
Naruto had himself under control, however even he knew his chances were slim to
none against this genius Hyuga. The Gentle Fist taijutsu style scared Naruto
more than he would have liked to admit. He had seen how devastating it was to
Hinata.
Hinata...
The one person who seemed to actually care about him, and that bastard in front
of him had tried to kill her. His rage was only increasing, he needed to keep a
cool head if he were to win this fight.
"If you're gonna come, then come," announced Neji in open defiance.
"Hey-" started on clone
"Stop"
"Disrespecting"
"Me"
With that said, the four Narutos launched themselves at Neji in a perfectly
coordinated attack pattern. It was easy enough for Neji to get rid of the first
two clones, but the remaining two had slipped behind him and were coming up to
attack. Unfortunately, Naruto was not aware of the powers of the Byakugang. Without
even turning his head, Neji blocked both of the clones's outstretched arms sent
them flying back towards the original Naruto.
"This guy, does he have eyes on the back of his head?" wondered
Naruto, incredulously.
The white-eyed Genin smirked at Naruto, "Become Hokage, eh. It's
impossible with that. I can figure it out with these eyes."
The rest of his drivel was lost on Naruto. Something about his demeanor annoyed
the fox ninja to no end. His fury was really rising and it was soon that Kyubi
was going to start infecting his thoughts. "You always automatically
decide things like that?!" hollered Naruto in disgust. He needed to stall
in order to think of a plan to beat his opponent. However, he didn't want to
simply beat Neji, he wanted to shatter Neji's confidence in himself so much he
would never hurt anybody like he hurt Hinata again. But to accomplish this
seemingly impossible feat, he would have to most likely give in to his rage, a
prospect that did not appeal to him. Yet there was a positive aspect to this
solution. From his previous experiences, using the Nine-tail's strength for
himself always seemed to attract attention to him, something he was desperate
for.
"Then, you are saying anyone can become Hokage through hard work? Only a
handful of shinobi are chosen as Hokage," said Neji in his
holier-than-thou tone. "Look closer at reality!" he continued,
"People must live within their own unchangable flow. The only destiny that
every person shares is death."
Hiashi recognized the look in his nephew. "He still has a grudge against
the main family," he thought to himself. Hiashi sighed the saddest sigh he
had ever felt since his brother died instead of him. It was not going to be
easy to reconcile everything between himself and Neji.
Naruto was unphased. "So what!" he yelled back at the dark-haired
ninja, "I'm not good at giving up!" and suddenly thirty or more
shadow clones appeared in front of him again.
What does that kid have in mind, wondered Neji. "I'm not stupid. I already
see through your attack pattern," he said with the same confidence, but an
ounce of annoyance was creeping through his voice.
"Bah! I told you to stop automatically deciding things!" replied one
of the Narutos.
Meanwhile, Naruto's actions were starting to worry his fellow rookies. "If
he creates that many clones he'll run out of chakra, that idiot," said
Sakura to nobody in particular.
"YAHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed the clones in unison.
Despite being overwhelmed with several angry Narutos, Neji did not even flinch.
It did not even require any concentration to avoid the attacks. Instead, he
concentrated on finding the real body. I told you i'm not stupid, thought Neji,
the true body is...I know where it is! Racing towards the suspected Naruto so
fast he was only a blur, Neji struct his foremost fingers into Naruto's solar
plexus, expelling some chakra into his Inner Coils system. Fearing having your
points pressed, one body is doing the least amount of attacking. The more you
attack the clearer it becomes.</i> "You're the real one,"
said Neji with a definate finality in his voice.
The spectators nodded to themselves in acknowledgment of what just happened,
all except Hinata who was extremely afraid of what was about to happen.
"Naruto-kun," gasped Hinata in exclamation. Next to her, Kotetsu
simply announced, "It's over."
"That's why I told you it was useless," continued Neji. But at that
moment, the most unexpected event happened which Neji was completely unprepared
for.
Naruto chuckled and said in a weak voice, "That's why I told you to stop
automatically deciding things."
Neji was not the only person to gasp as Naruto finished his sentance. At that
moment, Naruto faded into a puff of smoke and two other shadow clones lept at
the Hyuga Branch member from behind.
"No way!" thought Neji as his mind boggled. "Anticipating what I
was thinking, and purposely having a clone stand out."
The Chuunin Ketatso was definately impressed, and Hinata let out a huge sigh of
relief.
"Alright! I've shaken his confidence a little, time to kick his sorry ass!
The two clones were closing in fast, not even Neji could dodge their attack. The
crowd was on their feet as it appeared that the unexpected was about to take
place. Naruto was already harboring victory thoughts as his punch was mere
inches from Neji's face. The only problem was, it never touched his face.
At that moment, Neji was had expelled some chakra from all of his opening
points, thus effectively blocking Naruto's punch. Using even more Chakra, Neji
spun around rapidly several times, pushing his attackers away.
The crowd gasped again, even more surprised at the surprising move the Hyuga
kid pulled off.
"Ughhh, what was that?" wondered Naruto as pain crept through his
body.
"Naruto's punch should have connected!" said Sakura with disbelief.
Hiashi was in awe at his nephew, "How can it be, that was Kaiten the
Heavenly Spin!"
"Father, that's your..." started Hanabi. "Kaiten is the Hyuga
main Family's...Basically it's a special technique only passed down to the
heirs of the Hyuga House," interrupted Hiashi. "To master it on his
own, what a guy. To be this good."
"Damn," said Naruto. "I was so close too!"
"It's over. You are within the field of my hakke," stated Neji.
"Damn, this can't be good," thought Naruto as he watched Neji assume
an odd stance. In the stands, Hiashi's disbelief and awe towards his brother's
son grew even further.
"That stance, it can't be..." thought the Head of the Hyuga clan.
"Gentle Fist Style, Sixty-Four Hands of Hakke!"
"Shit, this is gonna hurt," thought Naruto.
Naruto was too beat up from his previous attack to be able to dodge the
incoming attack, no matter how obvious it was. The first few pressure points
that were hit did not hurt so much, but the others made him want to scream out
in pain. But he did not even utter a sound, except for a grunt, as his
opponent's last palm strike knocked him to the ground.
The other Leaf rookies looked upon the arena in shock. This could not be it,
they all thought together. Yet, they all knew how devastating the Gentle Fist
style was. It was obvious that Naruto was not going to be able to stand up
anymore.
"I have hit sixty-four points on your body, you can no longer stand,"
Neji said simply. "Heh, is it painful? Stay on your knees before a power
you cannot change and realize your worthlessness."
That was it. Naruto finally snapped and his rage became uncontrollable. Nothing
Neji said no longer mattered to him. All that was important was to stand up. That's
all he had to do, to stand up! He remembered how Hinata had stood up even after
taking several hits from her cousin, and how even that thick-browed freak Rock
Lee stood up even though Gaara had nearly killed him.
"Come on boy, get up!" growled an inner voice inside of him. "So
it has started," Naruto thought to himself, "Hehe, Kyubi, i might
need your help just yet."
In the crowd, it seemed that the Hyuga prodigy had won, but still the examiner
had not announced the winner, and for a good reason too: Naruto was standing up
again. What a kid, they all thought. To withstand the devastating Hyuga technique
and still be able to stand up. Everbody grudgingly admitted that this seemingly
good for nothing Genin had shattered all expectations.
Naruto couldn't help but chuckle as he saw the look of surprise on his
opponents face. "Hehe, i told , I'm not god at giving up," he said
with the slyest grin he could manage.
"This guy, impossible," Neji thought in denial. Aloud, "Quit
already, continuing won't change anything. I have no grudge against you."
"That bastard, there he goes again about destiny," muttered Naruto to
himself. "S...Shutup! Well, I do!" he yelled back in reply.
"What do you mean?"
"Why, why if you're this strong. Why, with those eyes that can see
everything, did you mentally attack Hinata who was trying so hard?
"That is none of your business."
"Insulting Hinata, automatically deciding she's a loser - main family,
branch family I don't know what the hell happened. But pieces of shit like you
who call other people losers, I will never forgive!"
"All right, fine. If you're gonna go that far, then i'll tell you the
Hyuga's destiny of hatred."
Most of what Neji talked about didn't even hold Naruto's attention. He hardly
cared about whatever angst his opponent was feeling towards his family. That
was his business. All he cared about was figuring out a way to kick his ass.
That's all that mattered to him, all he needed to think about.
"Your destiny is to lose to me, there's no doubt," repeated Neji.
"We won't know until its over," panted Naruto, "I don't know how
much it hurt that your dad was killed a long time ago, but thinking that
destiny is all decided because of that is a huge mistake."
"You're hopeless," replied Neji as he finished putting his forehead
protector back on. With that said , he rushed towards Naruto and again used his
devastating Gentle Fist style on the battered blonde ninja.
"Examiner, it's over." said the white eyed ninja.
"Ahhh, god damnit. This thing hurts," thought Naruto as he clutched
his stomach.
"Grrrr, get UP boy!" growled the inner voice inside of him once again,
"there's no way you can lose to such a pathetic...HUMAN!"
"Even the demon inside me is getting restless."
"Damn loser," muttered Neji.
"D...Don't run away. I won't run. I don't go back on my word,"
coughed Naruto, still in obvious pain.
"Heh, i've heard that before."
"There's no way i'll lose to a coward who's always whining about
destiny."
"An ignorant brat like you shouldn't be lecturing," replied Neji, and
then with even more conviction, "You could never understand what it's like
to be burdened with a symbol you could never rid yourself of!!"
That last statement almost made Naruto break down laughing, if it were not for
the pain, he just might have done it. Instead, he simply snickered in his voice
which seemed to irk Neji the most and said, "Hehehe, yeah i can. And so
what? Stop acting cool you god damn angsty brat. You're not the only one who
bears a symbol he can't get rid of." Naruto almost considered showing Neji
the seal on his belly-button, but realized that would be a silly mistake. Instead,
he remembered how Neji had mentally attacked Hinata a month ago and quivered in
anger. "Hinata too she's suffered as much as you! A member of the main
family, but not acknowledged, trying her best to change herself, thinking that
as she was coughing blood while fighting you. You're the same! The Branch
Family is supposed to protect the Main Family, yet doing that to Hinata...In
truth, you are trying your hardest to disobey destiny!"
"Pff, i don't need to get angry over this loser, i've pretty much already
won," Neji reassured himself.
"Heh, Your sixty-four opening points are closed. You won't be able to use
chakra for a while, how can you fight? In the end, you and Hinata-sama share
the same destiny."
"Shut up!! Stop using that Byakugan to decide and act like you know
everyone's destiny!!" Neji's confidence in his special ability was
definately pushing Naruto's limits.
"Then prove to me that what you are saying is correct."
"I'm definately going to defeat you, you bastard, and prove that i'm
correct!" "Damn it! But i can't fee any chakra. Feels like when I
used it all up during the training!"
It took a while for the bell to ring in Naruto's head after what he had just
thought. After making the simple comparison between his current situation and
his previous training with Jiraiya-sensei it took Naruto a few seconds to fully
understand what that meant.
"Stupid fox, lend me your power!" ordered Naruto.
"Hehe, you shall get that and much more, little one," said the
growling inner voice.
"Can I ask you just one thing?" asked Neji, "Why do you go
against your destiny so much?"
"Because," Naruto answered dramatically, "I was called a
loser!"
This answer only served to widen the smirk on the long-haired Genin's face, but
the next thing that was said shocked him.
"Now...is when i prove the worthlessness of the Hyuga Branch Family!"
yelled out Naruto, and without waiting he embraced the full power offered to
him by the Nine-tails demon sealed inside of him. The yell that the blonde
ninja was releasing sounded more like a howl, but nobody was paying attention
to this minute detail. As a matter of fact, nobody even payed attention at how
Naruto's body had changed a bit: his pupils narrowed down to slits, his nails
lengthened and sharpened, and his mouth widened every so slightly.
"Impossible..." was pretty much the thought of everybody that was
witnessing the events unfolding before them.
"Chakra is flowing out, what's going on? Did I mess up my technique? No,
impossible. I practiced it too much. Yet...there it is, flowing out of all of
his opening points."
The fear was plain on Neji's face, as much as the disbelief. Even Hyuga Hiashi
was shaking in disbelief. The thought that somebody had defeated one of their
ultimate techniques was unthinkable. He would have to deal with this Naruto to
make sure the secret never got out.
Meanwhile, the other Leaf Genin and Chuunin were having a hard time believing
what they saw. Not only that, but the chakra that this once dead-last ninja was
radiating was more than any Jounin they had met, except for maybe Hokage-sama.
In the arena, Naruto inwardly grinned at the effect of what just happened. This
was going to be fun. He was going to enjoy beating up Neji for what he did to
himself and Hinata.
"Here I come!" he yelled out in partial warning to his opponent, and
suddenly whipped out a few shurikens and threw them with such speed that there
was no way Neji could have dodged it.
"Such speed," thought Neji in horror, "I'm going to have to use
Kaiten again."
Despite being shocked at what he had just witnessed, Neji definately did not
let it affect his fighting. With careful minutia, he expelled just the right
amount of chakra, but instead of completely spinning to knock away the
shurikens, he spun halfway and grabbed the shurikens in his hands and threw
them right back at Naruto. He was not surprised to see Naruto dodge them with
ease for his speed dramatically increased as well. Instead, he used the
opportunity to rush his opponent so he could finally end this fight.
As he approached the fox-looking ninja, he saw him grinning. "Baka,"
he thought as he launched his open palm at Naruto's heart, ready to flow his
deadly chakra.
What he saw shocked him even more than before.
Naruto was grinning because right after he saw Neji begin to thrust his palm
forward, he had expelled some chakra from all of this opening points thus
completely stopping his opponent's attack. The look of horror on the Hyuga's
face was almost enough to make Naruto chuckle, but instead he completed the technique
and spun around rapidly making Neji fly off a few feet.
This time, every single member of the crowd gasped audibly, except for Hyuga
Hiashi who simply stared with his mouth open. "Father?" began Hanabi,
but she knew better than to continue. The fact that a non-Hyuga member was able
to use their secret techniques was unheard of.
But it did not stop there.
"Hey loser," called out Naruto to his opponent who had just gotten
himself up, "In case you forgot what I said a month ago, don't use a
technique more than once, or it'll be used against you."
If seeing somebody else besides a Hyuga use their special technique had not yet
shaken Neji to the point of complete fear, seeing Naruto assume a stance he had
only a few minutes ago shown to the blonde ninja made him outright fear for his
life.
"Gentle Fist Style, Sixty-Four Hands of Hakke!" yelled out Naruto
with an evil snicker on his face.
There was no gasp from the crowd this time as Naruto preceded to repeat the
same Taijutsu on Neji as it had been executed on him before that. There was no
other option available. Everybody who was watching could only agree that Naruto
was far beyond the level of a Genin at that moment, definately Chuunin level,
and some even wondered if he could be on the Jounin Level. The ability to copy
Taijutsu techniques, something even a Sharingan user could not do, was a
powerful ability indeed.
After finishing his Sixty-Four Hands of Hakke, he did not just stop there.
Rather, four shadow clones appeared next to him. It was only fitting for him to
finally defeat his opponent with an original technique.
"Naruto Rendan!" yelled out the clones in unison, except this was not
the Naruto Rendan he had displayed at the preliminaries. Each hit was increased
by the concentration of chakra into whatever body part. It wasn't the Gentle
Fist style, but it served to increase the damage, and especially to hurt Neji
even more. Indeed, the last kick of the combo knocked the Hyuga member half-way
across the arena.
Naruto knew he had won, so he walked over to where Neji was lying down, shaking
in pain and said to him, "So, I was supposed to lose huh? Next time before
you go deciding what happens, remember what happened on this day, and realize
you are not all knowing, even with your Byakugan."
In the crowd, it was tough to realize what just happened. The genius Hyuga
Genin had been defeated by that loser Naruto, and with his own techniques used
against him no less! For Naruto, it was not defeating Neji that made him happy,
but rather the fact that he fought in defense of a precious person, Hinata.
He did not even notice the whole stadium was cheering for him, but when he did
he immediately reverted back to his old self, flashing that fox-like grin and
blowing kisses. He even had the energy to run a victory lap around the arena.
"Geez," thougt the examiner, Gemma, "What a stamina freak, he
even has the energy to run around."
Although to the village who still grudgingly saw him as the harborer of the
Nine-tails, to his peers he was no longer THAT Naruto.