Namikaze Naruto- The Unpredictable Shinobi

Chapter 31: Final Round- Neji vs Naruto

It was a splendid morning, not giving the slightest of hints of the gruesome battles the day would witness. Flowers bloomed, birds chirped, trees greener than ever and Naruto was in a wonderful mood. She had woken up as usual and trained for two hours- till 7 a.m., while researching on Hyuuga tactics, strengths and weaknesses as she created plans of counter attacks against her first opponent of the day. The Hyuuga wasn't known as a prodigy for nothing. He obviously had more tricks up his sleeves than a child of the main family. 

She relaxed and meditate for an hour, talking casually with Kurama, before she walked towards the stadium where the Final Chunin Exams were held. She met Shisui and Itachi on the way and discussed the plans of counter attack when Orochimaru put his plans in action, before Shisui promptly changed the topic of discussion to her first match. He boosted her morale that seemingly went down when she talked about the incoming war. Both the Uchihas wished her luck as she entered the stadium, standing in the middle of the ground with her fellow participants.

Gekko Hayate had woken up two days ago, but was still weak, and was resting in the ANBU Headquarters under ANBU protection. As proctor, he was replaced by Shiranui Genma. He was a cool looking Jounin, though in the same Jounin Attire, and a bandanna on his hair. He had a senbon in mouth and his composure seemed cool like that of Kakashi, but without the lazy demeanour.

Not-so-pleasant pleasantries were exchanged among the participants. Naruto was a loudmouth. Shikamaru was unmotivated and lazy. Neji was cold and stoic. Gaara was simply impassive. Temari was aloof and cocky, despite worrying on the inside about the invasion. Kankuro seemed more relaxed and talkative than his siblings. Dosu - dead- a gloomy topic not everyone knew. Shino was silent as usual with snide remarks of obvious logic here and there. Sasuke was... missing? Okay Kakashi was training him, but was he also teaching him his bad habits?

At 9 a.m., the stadium was packed with crowds. The Kage Box had Sarutobi with Jiraiya as his guard and the Kazekage, i.e., Orochimaru in disguise and a random Suna jounin as his guard.

Naruto turned to the proctor who announced, "Uchiha Sasuke has time till his match starts. If he doesn't show up till then, he is disqualified. Kinuta Dosu has met with an unfortunate death. Therefore Nara Shikamaru shall battle Temari. Now that that's cleared, let the matches begin. Hyuuga Neji vs Uzumaki Naruto. Can these two candidates stay back, while the rest wait in the Contestant Box up there?

When they had complied and the ones on the ground were Neji, Naruto and Genma, the proctor said, "Let the match begin." and left the ground, giving the other two space.

"Fate has already declared me the winner of this match, Uzumaki. It's best you give up now and not waste everyone's time." Neji said as he smirked. "What are you talking about? As far as I know, winners are declared by the proctors that oversee the match. Proctor-san, your name is 'Genma', isn't it? When did it become 'Fate'?" Naruto replied with a very innocent look.

Genma smirked, looking nothing short of amused. Neji was irked, "You think you are funny, don't you, Uzumaki? Why don't I show you that you are wasting time?"

"Duh, you are the one talking instead of fighting and you accuse me of wasting time." Naruto deadpanned while Neji was pissed. She continued, "Whatever. Let's begin." She threw a kunai at him to prove her point.

Both engaged in a battle of Taijutsu, with Naruto avoiding fatal attacks. When Neji got more aggressive, she jumped away and created 5 shadow clones that did the fighting for her while she observed him from the sidelines. He was having no weak points, especially with his Byakugan activated. But wait, there seem to be some. But they were all safe-guarded. However, there seems to be an Achilles' heel. Right then, the clones all ganged up on him. Neji retaliated by using the move Kaiten- Rotation- a Hyuuga main family technique. He expelled chakra from all his chakra points and spun, the chakra forming a protective dome, its force expelling all the clones. Naruto wasted no time in creating 5 more clones. As they attacked, she analysed again, her arms folded, standing straight, unconsciously mimicking Tobirama, her eyes blank for all to see, masking a cold and calculating look. As the clones dispelled, she understood. The Hyuuga have a blind spot in their 360 degree vision, a spot on their back. The main family had the Kaiten to protect the blind spot. Neji, despite being a branch member, learnt the technique on his own.

Naruto found Neji a good shinobi, if not his ideals. He seemed too fixated on pre-destined fate. She had to talk him out of it, he had been depressed for too long. She pretended to let her guard down as  Neji proceeded to attack her and close off 64 of her chakra points- Tenketsu, "Hakke- Rokujūyonshou   (8 trigrams- 64 palms)" He was successful, and the pain that shot through her body proved it.

Neji scoffed, "As I said, I'm the winner. Proctor, please-" "Wait! Don't declare the match yet, 'cause, I haven't given up yet." "What can you do in this state, Uzumaki. The most important Tenketsu of your body have been closed off." "That is currently irrelevant. But I'm confused over something. Do answer my questions, Neji-san." Neji didn't say anything as she continued, "Neji-san, you are a great shinobi of our generation. Some of your ideals are good, however, I find your ideals on fate disappointing, if not annoying. What has gotten you to believe that one's fate is decided? Because I think otherwise."

"You, who keep refusing to give in to your fate, ask me thus. File, let me enlighten you with my story, the story of the Hyuuga.

"The Hyuuga clan is famous for their eyes, the Byakugan. To protect the bloodline limit, the clan is divided into main and branch families. The Branch family serves the Main family. They are branded by the main family with the Bird Cage Seal-" He removed his headband on the forehead to reveal a seal that seemed to glow an angry green in the Sun. It was a cross between two horizontal lines, with certain familiar curves. "-This seal, controls us and is a seal placed on our minds. A wrong move and our minds would be destroyed." 

He sighed. "It was the day when Kumo arrived here to form a peace treaty with Konoha. The entire village was celebrating the alliance, whereas Hyuuga family were having celebrations of their own. It was the first heiress of the clan, The daughter of the head, Hinata-sama's 3rd birthday. On that day, I was officially branded this seal. It was ironic. My father, Hyuuga Hizashi had been branded because he was younger than his twin brother Hyuuga Hiashi, the current head of the clan, by a few minutes, yet, I was branded even though I am older than Hinata-sama by an year. My father resented the main family that treated him worse though it was his own family due to mere time-lapse.

That night, a Kumo Jounin kidnapped Hinata-sama at night. However, he had been caught by Hiashi-sama, who ended up killing him. The Sandaime Raikage of Kumo had obviously denied the attempt at kidnapping and unfairly demanded that compensation of his Jounin's death be given in the form of the head of the head of the Hyuuga clan. Now, we can't have that can we? Konoha's safety was to be taken care of along with the clan's interests. So what's the best option? "

Naruto widened her eyes in realisation. The Uchiha Coup de tat was replayed in her mind. How people had to suffer individual losses for the sake of the village, her father, herself, now Neji, Itachi had come close with his clan. Neji continued bitterly, "That's right! They clan elders sacrificed my father instead! The decision of his death had been out of his hands. Once this seal on my forehead is put, we are caged till death." He put his headband back. 

"Now that I'm done here, Proctor, please declare the match." "Oh really? Wait Proctor-san, I'm not done yet." "Oh yeah? What else do you have to say?" "Not say, but do." Naruto had been opening her closed off Tenketsu during her talk. And to emphasize her point, she gave off a short flare of her chakra.

Neji activated his Byakugan in disbelief when he saw that his work had been undone. "No. It's impossible!" "Yeah, believe that it isn't. And I will either change or help you change the Hyuuga clan in a similar way- making the impossible possible." "How would you know the burden of a seal?!"

"I know it better than you think!" She yelled, making the shinobi around who knew about the Kyuubi feel guilty. "Enough of this." She grumbled and began her assault of kunai. She created clones and they attacked Neji altogether. Neji saw the 'original' getting dangerously close to his blind spot and retaliated with a Kaiten, a larger dome this time. The 'original' smirked. 'She' wanted this, the increase in the radius of the dome. 

Neji tried to keep the dome up with the small amout of chakra he had left. Kaiten was a jutsu that consumed a lot of chakra. He shivered all of a sudden as he felt a presence inside the dome. One of the kunai that was buried almost till the hilt underground had Naruto's Hiraishin seal, not that he knew. The original Naruto popped from the ground beside the kunai and used a less damaging version of the Rasengan as Neji slowed down and the dome disappeared. He was knocked unconscious as the Rasengan threw him to a wall.

Everything became silent as Genma declared, "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!"