The failure vs. the prodigy, a battle of fate!

"Well, I'm glad Shikamaru is alright, would hate to have to bury a teammate this early in my career.", Kiba said as he looked down as the lazy Gennin started making his way back up to the rest of them. "Indeed. It is good to see he is unharmed.", a voiced called as Rock Lee drew everyones attention. "Lee, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be resting or something?", Choji asked, surprised as anyone there to see the strange leaf ninja before them.

Lee was heavily bandaged with his arm in a sling and a cast on his foot but he nevertheless grinned. "I could never abandon my fellow shinobi when they needed to be cheered onwards to victory. I have been here since the first fight.", Lee smirked with a thumbs up to Naruto. "A very youthful fight, let us hope your bright flames of youth spark what Neji has lost! Perhaps you will make him see the truth, Naruto!".

Naruto nervously laughed as he rubbed his neck a bit. He wasn't too sure how to take the strange way Lee was trying to cheer him on, but he was gratful nonetheless that another person was believing in him. "Thanks, Lee.", Naruto said as he realized something. "Guess I better get going, my next match against that bastard teammate of yours is starting soon.", Naruto said wit a look towards Tenten.

"Don't worry about it Naruto-kun, you're not going to give that smug jerk a inch to work with!", Tenten cheered as Hinata seemed to struggle a bit before saying "Naruto-kun... can I ask you a favor?". Naruto looked at her a bit before nodding as she brought him in close and whispered something into his ear. The others were curious as to what she was asking of him as he nodded a bit, their whole conversation dampered by Hinata's hand.

Pulling away, Naruto stared at his girlfriend and asked "You sure about that, Hinata-chan?". Seeing her nod, Naruto smiled. "Sure, I'll do my best for you Hinata-chan.", Naruto said as he waved them goodbye and walked back into the arena yet again.

The crowd, having seen the matches leading up to this one were very excited to see who would win this match, the Hyuuga who had gone toe to toe against the Aburame and won, or the blond haired shinobi who had unexpectedly beaten the kunoichi from Kiri. As both fighters entered the floor of the arena, Naruto couldn't help but give a hard look to Neji as he took his position.

"You have something to say to me?", Neji asked with a smug grin as Naruto got into a loose stance and replied "I vow to win!". Seeing both contestants were ready, the proctor looked between the two one last time and yelled "Begin!".

Naruto was quick to jump as far back as he could. 'Okay, just remember: This guy is great at close range fighting, can't let him touch me or I'll end up not being able to use my chakra.', Naruto thought to himself as he brought out a few kunai. Up in the stands, Narutos comrades watched as Naruto and Neji began their fight. "Good thinking Naruto, keep your distance.", Kiba muttered as Tenten grinned. "Don't worry about Naruto. With little hints I gave him about Neji and with him seeing how he fights, Naruto has an edge over that jerk.".

Hinata also wanted to add she had told Naruto a few tricks to the Hyuuga way of fighting but kept quiet about that little information for the moment. It wasn't the time to be saying such things anyway, seeing as her boyfriend was about to fight.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!", Naruto called out as he crossed his fingers and formed a sign, as a small goup of the shadow clones popped into existance around him. "Let's see if those eyes of yours can tell the real me apart from these.", the Narutos all said together. Nejis scowl on his face caught many off guard, wondering why the Hyuuga prodigy was reacting this way. But the judges watching the match just grinned as much as any who had figured out Narutos trick.

"Well now, that's an interesting trick. Because the shadow clones distribute chakra equally, the Hyuugas eyes can't tell the clones apart from his opponent.", one judge said with a smirk. "Pretty clever, using his strength against him and turning it into a weakness.", the other judge added as they notted down the strategy being used by the blond shinobi before them.

Neji however then grinned as he charged towards the mass of clones before him. "I don't need to know who is the real one, since you would place yourself as far from me as you can, I need only find the one at the end of the line!", Neji yelled as he began destroying clones left and right before making it to the last Naruto. "Now I have you!", Neji yelled as he hit the Naruto right in the stomach.

Everyone watched with held breath as it seemed the Hyuuga had put an end to the match quickly before the Naruto before him grinned. "Rule number one of being a ninja: Not everythinh is what it seems!", he said before disappearing in a cloud of smoke that made everyone look in surprise.

'Behind you, bastard!", a voice called as Neji spun around to see two Narutos charging him. "Got you back!", one yelled as they neared their target. "Hehe, he led the Hyuga to one of his clones and anticipated his opponents moves.", one judge said with a grin. But just as it seemed Naruto was about to land a solid hit, Neji spun around in place, as a dome of chakra spun with him, knocking Naruto and his clone away and fully protecting him from Narutos surprise attack.

"Ugh, I told Naruto to look out for that!", Tenten said in aggravation. "That's Nejis Kaiten. It's an ultimate defense that could be stronger than Gaara's sand is.", Tenten explained to the others as Hinata nodded. "But Neji had to learn it on his own, something no other cadet branch member has done before.", Hinata said in a worried tone, knowing that it wasn't the end of Nejis abilities.

"Now then, I will show you my true power and why a failure like you could never hope to beat me.", Neji said as he slid into a new stance and then attacked. "Eight trigrams two palms! Four palms! Eight palms! Sixteen palms! Thirtytwo palms! Sixtyfour palms!", Neji called out as he hit Naruto for as many times she shouted, with each hit sealing his chakra in him.

On the last attack Neji pushed Naruto across the arena as he landed hard, visibly feeling the effects of Nejis attack as said Hyugga stood up. "You have no chance now. I have sealed your chakra network.", Neji explained as he smugly grinned. "Fate had decided I win this match from the beginning, it is useless to think otherwise.", Neji stated as he watched Naruto struggle to stand.

"Fate, huh? Well, let me tell you something.", Naruto said as he stood weakly. "I don't believe in such things, especially that we are unable to do somthing about it.", Naruto said, looking across to his opponent. "Really? Well then, I suppose I should tell you about the curse of the Hyuuga clan.", Neji said as he got a reaction from Naruto he wasn't expecting, Naruto started to laugh.

"Hehe, your a little late to tell me about that. I already got told by Hinata-chan about your clans way of seperating the two houses, about that seal on your head that marks you as a servent to them and makes you have to do as they tell you, and so what?", Naruto asked as Nejis scowl grew. "When you were fighting Hinata-chan in the preliminaries, you weren't fighting her.", Naruto said as a grin came to his face.

"You were fighting the fate you use as an excuse to give up.", Naruto said as Neji responded angrily. "Well then, if you're so wise, why is a weak main house allowed to be happy when a strong cadet branch is not?", Neji asked as Naruto laughed bitterly again. "Who said Hinata-chan was happy?", Naruto grinned at Nejis unreadable face. "When Hinata told me about it, she was so sad that her cousin was **** to do something he didn't want to, but you know what she did to change that?", Naruto grinned.

"She reached out and found people to support her and while you go on about how your fate is determined, she is still trying to make it better for you. See, because I made several promises to Hinata-chan and one of them is that I will change the Hyuuga clan when I become Hokage.", Naruto said as Neji sneered. "To be the Hokage, you have to be strong and born to that title. You however are a failure and so you have no chance to ever get it.".

Naruto nonetheless made a hand sign as he began to focus, using all the training Jiraiya had given him. "I'll show you who a failure is!", Naruto said as the crowd watched on. "What's Naruto doing? He had his chakra blocked, there is no way for him to do any Jutsu!", Kiba said shocked as Jiraiya grinned. "Don't worry about that, just watch as Naruto shows why he's the number one surprising ninja.", the old Shinobi said.

Soon Naruto could feel it, the foxes chakra was being drawn from inside him and was forcing his chakra points to open, reversing the effects of Nejis attack, making everyone look on in awe as his chakra began to flow from him in waves. "Now, Hyuuga Neji, I'll show you why you should never think fate determines anything!", Naruto yelled as he attacked.

Neji couldn't believe it. For a second it seemed his victory was assured, but now Naruto was attacking him harder, faster. Even with his all seeing eyes, he was actually having to go on the defensive against Narutos weapons. The entire crowd was on the edge of their seats as they watched the two shinobi colliding with each other, their weapons being scattered throughout the field. They could tell the fights ending was quickly approaching.

"If you think it's impossible, then stop fighting fate!", Naruto yelled as he brought his fist towards Neji, who out of reflex began another rotation to block it. As both ninja's attacks collided, the arena was rocked by an massive explosion, obscuring the view of the two combatants as the crowd watched in edged suspense, wondering who had come out as victor of the heated battle.

As the dust began to settle, two craters were shown and slowly, someone began to climb out of one of them. The crowd watched as Hyuuga Neji climbed out of the ground, visibly hurt as he limped a bit ,looking down at the other hole where Naruto had apparently not emerged from yet. "Heh, sorry failure, but this is the way it ends.", he muttered before the ground beneath him broke as Naruto jumped from undergound.

Naruto landed a solid punch to Nejis face and knocked him off his feet and onto his back where the exhausted Hyuuga lay finally unmoving even though he willed his body to continue to fight. "You know, you really pissed me off.", Naruto muttered as he dusted himself off a bit. "You should know that fate doesn't determine much of anything if you actually try to change it.", Naruto said as he looked to the crowd.

"Did you know Hinata asked me something before I fought you today?", Naruto said suddenly as Neji stared at him, "She asked me not to hurt you too badly! Even after all the clan did to her and how you hurt her in the prelimnaries, she still cared for her cousin.", Naruto explained. "I think you need to rethink your position. You can change anything if you put your mind to it, and I'm sure you'll succeed at it too.", Naruto grinned as he said those words.

"Because unlike me, who can't do a simple Bunshin no Jutsu to pass an exam, you're not a failure.", Naruto said as the proctor looked to the judges again. Seeing them nod, he turned to all present and declared "The winner of the match is Uzumaki Naruto!".