Chapter 20: Round 3 Begins! The 'Losers' Battle On!

Naruto agreed to Hiashi's requests to come by the Hyuga compound to help with Hinata's training for a little. Unfortunately, he received a few looks from some of the members of the clan, particularly the older members, as to why he was there. Some of the older Hyuga knew about Naruto's inhabitant and many of them felt that they should keep their distance from the boy. Even Hiashi had tried to keep his daughters away from him out of fear of the unknown. However, that didn't tend to work out so well.

Over the past month or so, the reports Kurenai had been giving Hiashi on his daughter's progress had revealed something rather curious. It seems as if Naruto managed to have a positive effect on Hinata's confidence and she even went as far as to attribute Hinata's accomplishment in the second exams as a result of Naruto's constant support. The other night, when he found Naruto actually helping her work on her gentle fist, normally he would have scolded her for even being anywhere near her, but when it was revealed that Naruto's intentions were for Hinata's benefit, and they actually seemed to get Hinata to truly focus. It was then he realized that perhaps the village had the boy wrong. Despite the elder's objection's it was worth a shot.

"Naruto, thank you for coming. I appreciate you taking some time out of your training to help with Hinata's" Hiashi said as Naruto entered the Hyuga dojo.

"It's really not a problem,…" Naruto said, trying to find the words for what to call Hiashi.

"Call me Hyuga-sama. It is a title of respect that my clan has worked hard to earn" Hiashi explained.

"Alright, Hyuga…sama" Naruto struggled to get the last part out. He was not used to using honorifics with people's names; however this was something about this man that Naruto didn't want to test. The Fox had even warned him to treat this man with respect.

For the remainder of the week, Naruto focused his time between his own training and helping out Hinata a few hours each day. Hinata's technique was coming along quite well, with her gaining the ability to use the thirty-two palms and coming very close to perfecting the sixty-four palms.

Naruto on the other hand had been struggling to perfect the Rasengan. Needless to say, training ground 7 was now a field of battered trees with large gashes in them as a result from Naruto's attempts at the Rasengan. By the night before the finals, Naruto had come close to being able to use it. It was at the point where he would have to find out tomorrow. Thanks to his talk with Hinata, he had no doubt in him. Even if he couldn't use the Rasengan yet, he would still find a way to kick Neji's ass.

Naruto arrived at the stadium a few minutes before the third exam was scheduled to begin. Upon walking in, he saw everyone there, except for Sasuke and that Dosu guy. Naruto turned to look at Gaara. 'This is the guy Sasuke's fighting? Where is he?' thought Naruto.

"Have you found Sasuke yet?" asked the Hokage to one of his personal guards. The Hokage was located in a box on top of the stadium, overlooking the entire arena.

"We have a few ANBU teams looking for him" the guard said. "With Orochimaru after him, I don't know what to say."

The Hokage just gave a nod of understanding. Suddenly, something else caught his attention. "Well, well, Kazekage-dono" said the Hokage, greeting his fellow Kage from Suna.

Ino turned to Sakura in the stands. "I know you're worried about Sasuke, but Naruto's match is up first, shouldn't you be worried about that?" Sakura remained silent. While she was sure Sasuke would be fine, she still couldn't help but be worried for him.

As the Kazekage and Hokage exchanged greetings, the Hokage stood up, ready to introduce the competitors to the audience. "Thank you everyone for coming to the Hidden Leaf chunin selection exams" announced the Hokage. "We will now start the main tournament between the remaining 10 participants who made it through the preliminaries. Please stay and watch until the very end."

'10? There was initially 11 and now there is only 9? What is going on?' thought Shikamaru.

"There is something I would like to tell you before the match starts" explained the proctor, holding up the tournament bracket. "Please take a look at who you are fighting." The 9 contestants looked to see that Dosu was no longer on the bracket and that Shikamaru would face Temari in the first round. The winner of that match would then face the victor of the matches between Haku, Yugito, Sasuke, and Gaara. Finally, there would be a final one-on-one match to determine the overall winner.

"Hey, Sasuke isn't here yet, what are you going to do?" asked Naruto.

"If he doesn't show by his match time, he will lose by default" the proctor explained.

'Hmm, that is strange. He would be here even if that meant dragging his broken body down here' thought Naruto.

Baki looked down from the stands at Gaara and a suspicion came to his mind. 'It can't be. After all I told him not to draw attention, did he kill Sasuke?' thought the Suna jonin.

"Alright guys, this is the final test. The arena is different but the rules are still the same" explained the proctor. "You will fight in 1-on-1 matches until one of you either dies or acknowledges defeat. However, if I determine that the fight is over, I will stop it, understood?" The 9 competitors acknowledged. "Now for the first fight, Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga, you two stay here while the rest of you go to the waiting room."

"G-good l-luck Naruto" Hianta whispered as Neji shot her a dark look.

In the stands, Kiba joined Sakura, Ino, and Chouji, along with Kurenai and Asuma to watch the fight.

"Heh, this will be good" Kiba said.

"But against him, Naruto doesn't have a chance…" Ino said doubtingly.

Two chunin, Kotetsu and Izumo, from the first exam were sitting behind them. "For this kid to get this far…" Kotetsu said.

"For a guy that got this far on pure luck, this is the end for him. His opponent is just too tough" Izumo said. This worried Sakura and Ino even more. Kiba turned to the two of them.

"Don't worry. That's what I thought at first, but you can't go underestimating him" Kiba said. Suddenly, he headed a worried call from Akamaru and turned around to see an ANBU standing in the back corner. 'What's the ANBU doing here?'

"Hmph. You got anything to say before you lose?" Neji said to Naruto.

"Yeah! You're going down!" exclaimed Naruto, all doubt had been erased from him after the talk he had with Hinata a few nights ago. Neji activated his Byakugan.

"Hmm, the eyes of a person who totally believes in himself. There is no doubt in him" smirked Neji.

"Begin!" announced the proctor.

"So sure of yourself. It will make it that much more enjoyable when I send you back to reality" said Neji.

"Stop all the blabbering and let's fight!" exclaimed Naruto.

Up in the stands, Hiashi had taken his seat in the noble's box, along with his second daughter Hanabi. "Watch closely Hanabi, there isn't another who was received such thick Hyuga bloodline." Hiashi said. Even though Hinata was beginning to show some potential, he had to admit that Neji was easily the stronger of the two. This was going to be an interesting fight.

"Yes father" replied the small 7 year old Hanabi sitting next to him.

Naruto remembered what Kakashi had said back in the preliminaries about the Gentle Fist fighting style. "So basically, I have to fight him from a distance" said Naruto. Naruto made four shadow clones and sent them charging at Neji.

"Shadow clones? That is a jonin level technique. For him to use it…" Izumo said to his friend.

"This could be a good fight after all" Kotetsu replied.

'Shadow clones?' thought Neji, analyzing them with his Byakugan. In the waiting box, Hinata also had hers activated and was seeing the same thing Neji was seeing. 'I see…his chakra is divided evenly amongst them. Even with the Byakugan I cannot tell which one is the real one.'

Four Narutos charged at Neji, kunai at the ready. He evaded the first two, using them to springboard into the second two, causing the second two to disappear. As two more clones charged at him from behind, Neji grabbed their hands and elbowed them in the chin, sending them back and causing them as well to disappear.

"What the hell? Does this guy have eyes in the back of his head?" Naruto said, forgetting a few things said about the Byakugan in the preliminaries.

"So you want to become Hokage, eh?" questioned Neji. "Well that's impossible. I can figure out with these eyes. Talent is decided at birth. You could say everything is decided when a person is born."

"Why the hell do you always decide things like that?!" shouted Naruto.

"So what you are saying is that anyone can become Hokage through hard work? Only a handful of shinobi are chosen as Hokage" explained Neji. "Look closely. Those who become Hokage are born into that destiny. You don't be become it by trying. It is decided at birth. People must live within their own unchangeable flow. Just give up. The only destiny that every person shares…is death." Neji stared at Naruto with coldness in his eyes. In the stands, Hiashi caught this look

'Those eyes…he still holds a grudge against the main family' Hiashi thought up in the stands.

"So what?! I'm not good at giving up" shouted Naruto, creating a dozen shadow clones in the process.

"I'm not stupid. I already see your pattern in attack" said Neji as the clones charged him. Neji evaded each clone and charged through the mass. His target was the Naruto standing out of harm's way. Neji charged at that Naruto and hit him just underneath the collar bone, pressing a tenketsu there. "Fearing having your pressure points pressed, one body is doing the least amount of attacking. The more you attack, the clearer it becomes…You're the real one."

Naruto coughed up a bit of blood from Neji's hit. He then looked up and gave Neji a grin. "N-Naruto…" Hinata said, worrying from the contestants' box.

"Heh, I told you to stop automatically deciding things" said the injured Naruto as it disappeared in a cloud of smoke, revealing itself to be a shadow clone.

"What?!" said Neji, shocked that his eyes had failed him. Two Naruto's appeared behind him. By the time Neji realized it, there was no dodging this attack.

"Yeah! Go Naruto!" Kiba howled from the stands. Most of the remaining people in the stands were surprised that the 'dead last' had pulled something like that off.

'Naruto, go!' Hinata thought, observing alongside Shino and the other finalists.

'He anticipated what I was thinking and purposely left on clone back?' thought a shocked Neji.

"I'm coming at you with everything I got!" shouted Naruto, his fist quickly closing the gap between him and Neji. Only an inch or so away from Neji's head, Naruto's hand was stopped by a blast of chakra. Naruto was thrown back by the force as everyone was wondering what had just happened. From there eyes, it looked as if Naruto had Neji there.

'That can't be…' Hiashi thought from the stands. 'Kaiten…the Heavenly Spin?'

"Father, isn't that…" Hanabi asked. Her father nodded.

'No…Naruto had him there' thought a worried Hinata.

'Heh. That's Neji's ultimate defence thought Tenten.

"Yes Hanabi, that is the Kaiten, a technique passed down through the main family and only through the main family" Hiashi said. 'To master it on his own…'

"Damn. I almost had him" Naruto said, picking himself back up.

"It's not over yet. You are within my field of divination" Neji called out, also sending a glare up to Hiashi in the stands. "Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams, Sixty-Four Palms!"

'Shit. I've gotta get away!' Naruto thought frantically. He knew about that stance from seeing the beating his clones had taken the past week. But, it was too late.

'That stance…It can't be…' Hiashi thought.

"What?!" Hinata said up in the stands. Even she knew that stance was part of the main family's techniques and how Neji knew it, she didn't know.

Before Naruto could get away in time, he was hit with all 64 of Neji's strikes in a matter of seconds.

'A branch house member, surpassing the main family…' Hiashi thought in awe. 'What natural talent…for the brilliant blood of the Hyuga to be born into someone who cannot become the heir. Hizashi, you should have been the first born.'

"Naruto!" Hinata said out loud, surprising most everyone in the contestants' box.

"I have his 64 of your tenketsu, you are no longer able to stand" claimed Neji. "Stay on your knees before a power you cannot change and realize your worthlessness. Having your dreams come true through hard work is an illusion."

"Damn it" said Naruto. He thought of Lee, standing up after being crushed by Gaara and Hinata becoming strong by defying Neji's taunts and insults by defeating a strong opponent. Naruto forced his way to his feet. "I told you, I'm not good at giving up!"

"Quit. I don't have a grudge against you" Neji stated.

"Shut up…I do!" responded Naruto. "If you're this strong, then why have you been tormenting and harassing Hinata mentally. What sort of right do you have to bring others down? Before her match, you called her a loser and said she should just give up and accept her fate. Yet she came through and proved you wrong, and still you stand here and preach about fate! Pieces of shit like you who call others losers…I cannot forgive!"

"Fine. If you're going to go that far, then I will tell you the true story of the Hyuga family hatred" responded Neji. "From the preliminaries, you know about the main and branch families of the Hyuga. Well, to keep the branch family in check, the main family has a special jutsu…a cursed seal."

"Cursed seal?" asked Naruto.

"The curse mark represents a 'caged bird'. It's the symbol of being tied down to an inescapable destiny" said Neji as he removed his forehead protector and the medical tape covering his forehead, revealing the Caged Bird Seal on his forehead. Naruto looked in shock. "From the day I was four, I've had this horrible seal carved into my forehead. It was also on the day of Hinata's third birthday, that the Cloud came to Konoha to sign a peace treaty. Now, my father and Hinata's father were born as identical twins, but Hinata's father came into this world just a few minutes before my father did. As such, Hiashi became a member of the main family while my father was thrown into the branch family. On Hinata's third birthday, I was made a bird in a cage."

"Wait?! But why do they need that mark?" asked Naruto.

"This mark on my forehead is not simply for decoration. This curse is the absolute fear of death, given to the branch families by the main family. With a simple secret hand seal, the branch member's mind can be destroyed; however, death is just as easy of course. This curse will only disappear after death, sealing up the Byakugan with it" explained Neji. "Because the Hyuga household holds a great advanced bloodline, those who go after its secrets are incalculable. With this jutsu, the branch family is allowed to live only to protect the main family. No disobedience is allowed. It is a system created to protect the bloodline of the Hyuga. It is because of that, my father was killed by the main family!"

"Huh?!" was all Naruto could get out. In the stands, Hiashi just lowered his head. Hinata in a way knew her cousins pain. Until just recently, her father had completely given up on her and she had lived most of her life without her father's love, all because she was considered too weak to be in the main family. She was even on the verge of being branded into the branch family. However, because of Naruto, she was able to change just a little, making her believe that her father might actually begin to accept her again.

"The night that Hinata turned three and the Kumo ninja came to the village, one of them tried to kidnap Hinata, who possessed an unsealed Byakugan. He was there to sign a peace treaty, but the Hyuga quickly realized that he was only after the Byakugan. Hinata's father killed him during his attempted escape and the Cloud village demanded Hiashi's head in return for 'breaking the alliance agreements'. Not wanting war, the Leaf agreed to these terms. However, instead of Hiashi, my father, Hizashi was killed to protect the main branch. Their destiny that night was decided simply by who was born first and who was born second, just like this fight was decided the moment I became your opponent. Your destiny is to lose to me. Just like it will be Hinata's destiny to fall to me as well…if she even makes it that far."

"I don't know how much it hurt that your dad was killed like that a long time ago, but thinking that destiny is all decided by that is a huge mistake!" claimed Naruto. "You thought it was Hianta's destiny to lose back in the preliminaries but she didn't. She changed and showed that she'd strong!" Neji had enough of Naruto's ranting and he charged at the boy, landing a strike directly in his chest.

"Examiner…it's over" Neji said as Naruto slid across the floor of the arena. Neji turned and walked away.

"Don't run!" shouted Naruto. "I won't give up and I don't go back on my word! That's my nindo. And there is no way I will lose to a coward who is always wining about destiny. If you don't like where you are, then change it!"

"Insolent brat! You shouldn't be lecturing" replied Neji. "You could never know what it's like to be burdened with a symbol that you can't get rid of!"

Naruto looked down, thinking of his childhood. At the same time, as if on cue, Sakura and Haku did the same thing, remembering what Naurto had gone through and why the village treated him like such.

"Actually, yeah I can. And you know what?" Naruto said. His answer had struck something in Neji. He could tell that his opponent wasn't lying. "So what…Stop acting cool, you're not the only one who's special. Hinata's suffered just as much as you! A member of the main family, who was cast aside by her family as being weak…trying to change herself! And you, you're supposed to be in the branch family, helping her and supporting her. Not dragging her down. You know what…Like you did to that Cloud ninja whose father was responsible for that incident; I bet you would try to kill Hinata as well! In truth, you're trying hard to defy your destiny!"

Naruto had struck something in Neji, although he wasn't going to admit it. Neji was at the point where he had enough of Naruto's ramble. "Heh, I've blocked over 64 of your chakra points. You won't be able to use chakra for a while, how can you fight?! In the end, you and Hinata will share the same destiny as losers!"

"Shut up! Stop using that Byakugan to act like you know and can decide everyone's destiny!" shouted Naruto.

"Well, if you think I'm wrong, then prove it!" challenged Neji.

"Yeah, I'm definitely going to kick your ass!" said Naruto. 'Damn…but I can't feel any chakra. And his preaching about curse marks and such is getting annoying…wait, that's it!'

"Took you long enough" Kurama said, realizing that Naruto was starting to realize.

'Yeah yeah…just lend me you power and let's kick his sorry ass!' Naruto said to Kurama.

"Haha. Now things will get interesting" replied the Fox as he allowed a little of his chakra to flood Naruto's system. It wasn't enough to put any major strain on the seal or activate the chakra cloak, but it was more than enough to revitalize Naruto's chakra system. Naruto made a sign as he began to channel the chakra through himself.

"It's useless. Your points are pressed and you can't channel anymore chakra" Neji claimed.

'Unfortunately Naruto, he is right' Hiashi thought to himself in the stands. "If this is all you have, then why did I take an interest in you?"

"Before you lose, can I ask you one thing? Why do try so hard to go against destiny?" asked Neji.

"Because…I was called a loser!" replied Naruto. Soon, a red chakra began to swirl around Naruto.

"I-impossible…H-how is chakra flowing out?" Neji asked. Both Hiashi and Hinata were watching the same thing with their Byakugan and also saw Naruto's system flood with a red chakra.

'That's…it can't be?' thought Hiashi, looking on. Elsewhere throughout the stadium, a few other spectators began to feel the surge of the Kyuubi's chakra spreading through Naruto.

"Father?" Hanabi asked tugging at her slightly stunned father.

"What is that? That chakra?!" Neji said as he felt the blast of chakra. Up in the stands, Sakura let out a smile, much to everyone else's surprise. She knew what was going on as Naruto had told her, Sasuke, and Haku.

"W-what is t-this?" Hinata asked.

"That is his true power" Haku said to her. "The power to prove himself and the power to protect those precious to him." He was going to leave it at that as it was not his place to be revealing that sort of stuff.

With the boost of power given to him by Kurama, Naruto began his attack, taking out a few shuriken and launching them at Neji. "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he shouted as his 4 shuriken turned into 100. It was too late for Neji to dodge so he proceeded to use the Kaiten, hoping to blow them away. He was successful in blocking most of the shuriken, but a few got through before he could get the Kaiten off. Neji had a few deeper cuts in his arms and legs along with one or two in the side of his abdomen. Neji was now on full alert for that attack and Naruto knew it would be difficult to get Neji again with shuriken. It was finally time to see if his training had paid off.

"Oh? Wait! That's!" exclaimed the Hokage with a growing look of surprise, looking on at what was forming in Naruto's hand.

"What is that?" most of the other genin were thinking.

"So this is what Jiraiya-sensei was teaching Naruto. I must say I'm actually impressed that he was able to pull it off" thought Hiashi, watching on.

Naruto had done it. The Rasengan was sitting in his hand and it was stable. He began to charge at Neji, with a boost in his speed thanks to some residual chakra from Kurama. Neji, who was still slightly dazed by the shuriken, knew that he wouldn't have the time to dodge this.

"Rasengan!"

"Kaiten!"

The two attacks met and a massive explosion followed as one figure was sent crashing back into the stadium wall. When the smoke cleared, Naruto was standing in the middle of the stadium, panting but on his feet. From the crater in the wall, Neji fell. The Rasengan had beaten the Hyuga's ultimate defence.

"Father? What was that?" asked Hanabi, observing the shocked look on Hiashi's face at the result of that attack.

"That was known as the Rasengan. It was invented by the Yondaime" explained Hiashi, still stunned that Naruto had actually pulled that jutsu off. Although it had never actually been tested until now, the Yondaime theorized that the Rasengan had the power to even defeat the Kaiten. That theory had just been proven today.

'Hmm, even when injured, to believe in victory and think ahead, the power to believe in one self…that becomes the power to change destiny' Genma, the proctor thought. 'This kid understands that and it comes naturally to him.' Naruto walked over to Neji.

"Where did you get that? How did you?" said Neji.

"That's what happens when a failure doesn't decide to give up. However, unlike me you're not a failure, you're seen as a genius. And don't give me this destiny crap" explained Naruto. "If you're so depressed with what has happened in the past, then do something about it!"

"Winner: Naruto Uzumaki!" Genma announced. Naruto suddenly heard an unfamiliar sound coming from the stands…everyone was cheering and clapping for him.

'Naruto…you did it!' thought Hinata.

"Great Fight". "That was amazing!" was what Naruto was hearing from around the stadium as he started jumping and celebrating.

"Geez, still has enough energy to run and jump around. What a stamina freak" Genma said to himself.

"Not bad Kit, not bad" even the Fox was impressed with Naruto's fight.

"Naruto's getting stronger and stronger. I can't believe it, but I'm actually kind of jealous of you" said Sakura quietly. A few of the jonin were impressed that Naruto had been able to pull out the Kyuubi's chakra like that without losing control.

'To be able to tap in the Kyuubi's power and to be able to use THAT jutsu, since when did he?' the Hoakge thought. In reality, only two other people in the stands knew about the relationship that Naruto had forged with the Kyuubi.

"Even a captured bird…if cleaver enough will pick the lock on his cage and escape…its desire to fly freely in the sky" Genma said to Neji as the medics came to collect him.

Hiashi wanted to get up and leave. He had something important to tell Neji, but his daughter's match was next and he wanted to see just how strong of an effect this boy, who even he once saw as a 'demon child', had on Hinata.

"Will the contestants of the next match, Hinata Hyuga and Shino Aburame, please come down to the arena" Genma announced. Shino had already walked down the stairs and was coming out to the field as Naruto was going into the stands. On his way up, Naruto met Hinata.

"N-naruto…that w-was a g-great match" Hinata stuttered.

Naruto just gave her is big goofy grin. "Thanks Hinata. That really means a lot. If it wasn't for you, I might not have been able to beat him."

"M-me? What did I do?" she responded.

"It was what you said the other night, about me being a proud failure. Thank you" Naruto said as Hinata began to blush a deep shade of red. "Now go on, Shino is waiting for you to fight him with your all and you can't disappoint him, can you?"

"No, I guess I can't after that" she said, gaining a little more confidence as they parted ways.

Hinata emerged in the stadium and approached the center. Talk was circulating around the stadium. Another Hyuga was taking the battle field and this one was from the main branch. She faced Shino in the middle and he could see a little bit on uneasiness in her. Normally, a shinobi would capitalize on this, but Shino wanted to fight Hinata at her best and he knew she would not be able to unless she was completely certain of herself.

"Hinata. I can tell that you are uneasy about fighting me. Why?" Shino asked.

"B-because you are my teammate and f-friend. I don't w-want to hurt you that badly" Hinata stuttered out.

Shino took a deep breath. "And it is because I am your friend that you should come at me with everything you have. I desire to see how strong you have become and you and we deserve to fight this at our full potential" explained Shino, saying more words in that minute than he normally says in a day.

Hinata closed her eyes and dropped her head slightly. She recalled Naruto's words about her being kind. 'Was this what he meant?' she thought as the answer came to her. She picked her head back up and looked at Shino, she was ready to prove herself. She was not going to disappoint anyone any more "Byakugan!" she shouted as she activated her eyes. Shino let out a rare smile. He was ready for the fight.

"Begin!" Genma announced.

"Father? Exactly how strong is nee-san?" Hanabi asked.

"Even I don't know that" Hiashi replied. "While she has been training with me these past few weeks, it is true that she has shown some impressive improvement to her skills. From what I have noticed, I will admit that she's not as strong as Neji, but I've noticed that she's been doing some 'extra' training at the nights. I have a feeling that she has something up her sleeve."

Hinata dropped into her Gentle Fist stance. Inside Shino, she could just barely make out chis chakra network as it was being blocked by the charka of his insects. She knew Shino and she knew that she would have to watch out for his insects as they would start draining her chakra. If she got too many on her or this fight lasted too long, Shino would win. She made a charge at him, hoping to take him out before he got a chance to set his insects up. Due to Shino's lack of taijutsu ability, she was able to land a few strikes on him before backing away from the insects coming out of his coat.

"Huh?!" she said. "I thought I hit some of your tenketsu?" In the stands, Hiashi saw it too.

"Yes, but I have found a way to defend against your attacks" Shino said as he sent a cloud of insects towards Hinata. Thanks to the training her father gave her, her speed had greatly increased and she darted around the insects, laying another two blows on Shino. Like the first attack, she failed to close the tenketsu, but figured out why.

"I see, you have your insects take the hit inside instead of your tenketsu" she said.

"Precisely" Shino replied, slightly impressed that she figured his strategy out so fast. Shino sent out even more insects towards Hinata, blocking her vision of him with all the small chakra dots that the insects gave off. She made her way around the insects and charged at Shino. However, she broke off her assault at the last minute, realizing something was wrong. She turned to her side to see the real Shino standing a few yards from her. She diverted her attack to that Shino and landed a few strikes on him. One of her attacks his while the rest were blocked by the insects. However, she got some insects on her and they were able to drain a small amount of chakra before she could get them off.

"Impressive, how did you realize that was not the real me?" he asked.

"All I saw was a blur of chakra coming from the other you" she explained. "It looked as if it was made up of many different sources of chakra. I soon realized that it was an insect clone, thankfully before it was too late." Shino nodded. He unleashed another swarm of insects from his body and they formed a wall in front of her. The insect clone then cut her off from behind while the swarm that he had initially released to guide her to the clone was hovering above. Soon, they had her surrounded. She was not going to get out of this one without getting a lot of insects on her, which would mean that they would drain a lot of chakra from her and she didn't exactly have the largest chakra reserves.

"Nii-san!" Hanabi called out from the box. Hiashi looked on as well.

'So is this is Hinata? Did the month of training result in this, or do you have something else as I suspect' Hiashi said to himself, looking behind him at the Hyuga elders who had that look of shame on their face. One Hyuga had already lost today, and to a 'demon brat' and a second Hyuga looked as if she was about to dishonour the clan yet again.

*Flashback*

Hinata stood on top of the stream at training ground 8. Those words she heard from the elders, they really did hurt her. What made it worse was that her father was actually supporting her. After that, she knew that she couldn't lose, or else she wouldn't only disappoint her father, but she would be working right into the elder's hands.

What she needed was something that would both impress her father and give her the chance to beat Shino. Being on the same team as Shino, she knew all his abilities, but he knew all of hers. She was standing on top of the water as she realized that training like this not only worked her chakra control, which was probably the strongest aspect of her. While practising her forms, a slight fluctuation in her chakra caused her feet to destabilize on the surface for a mere second. This was during the middle of one of her strikes, and as such, one of the water droplets got caught in her chakra bursts. Her Byakugan saw it, the water droplet sliced straight into two as her chakra passed through it.

Realizing that this was exactly what she needed, she began to work on rapidly expelling fine chakra blasts from her hands in an area that covered all points around her. While she was starting to get the hang of these small rapid bursts of chakra, they still wouldn't be enough if Shino sent out all of his insects. Now, what if she could sustain the attack? What if she could keep expelling the chakra in a fine and precise manner while maintaining the speed and flexibility of when she sent the small chakra bursts out? It took some time, but she was finally able to refine those bursts into fine beams that emanated from the palms of her hands. Using the natural speed and flexibility that she was discovering that she had, she found that she could reach every point around her body. All she had to do now was test it.

The following night, Hinata had made her way to a waterfall on the outskirts of the village. Thanks to a fallen tree, she had been able to stop the flow of the water momentarily, long enough for her to get into position. When the water finally reached the point where it was flowing over the tree, Hinata had begun to move her arms in a blur, adding chakra to them to increase the speed at which she could move them. The falling water finally made contact with her chakra beams. No water made it within 2m of her.

*End Flashback*

Shino signalled for his insects to attack and drain her chakra. His strategy for countering the gentle fist had proven rather effective as Hinata also was aware that if she got too many insects on her, they would drain all of her chakra. This kept her from engaging too long. He knew that if she kept up the attack, more and more of his tenketsu would eventually be closed as her strikes knocked out more and more insects. "Looks like it's over, Hinata" Shino called out as his insects began to move in on her.

"I'm sorry Shino…" Hinata said. "Protection of the Eight Trigrams!" With that, Hinata began to move her arms in a frantic looking fashion as she expelled thin chakra beams from her palms. Soon, she was surrounded by the same dome of thin, sharp chakra beams from a few nights ago.

"Father?" Hanabi said, looking at her stunned father. "What is that technique?"

Hiashi couldn't find the words for the move that Hinata had come up with. He was observing the event with his own Byakugan active, and what he saw was amazing. The insects that Shino had surrounding her were being sliced and diced within seconds as what looked like small blades of chakra were surrounding Hinata at every angle. What was this technique?

As the dome of cutting chakra came into contact with Shino's beetles, they were cut in half by the sharpness of Hinata's chakra. Shino just stood there stupefied, although it was tough to tell, as Hinata just cut through his insects.

Naruto was looking on in awe at that jutsu. "Wow! That's amazing!" he shouted out. A few of the people in the contestant's box were impressed while Gaara remained rather indifferent, thinking to how he was going to kill Sasuke in their upcoming match.

After a few seconds of cutting apart most of Shino's hive, Hinata began to focus her attention on her opponent. From what her Byakugan could tell, most of the insects within his body had left to attack her, leaving his tenketsu vulnerable. She put enough energy into her current technique to give her an opening. "Gentle Fist: Eight trigrams, Thirty-two palms!" she said, cancelling her protection and slipping into the Eight Trigrams stance. Before Shino's insects could get to her to stop her attack, it was too late and she began lashing out with her attack. Without any insects to block her chakra bursts, his tenketsu were vulnerable and she was able to close them. Shino crumpled to the ground, unable to move from her attack as his insects returned to their master. Despite the fact that they could give him chakra, the insects did not necessarily know how to open tenketsu and Shino was done. At the same time, Hinata had managed to cut his hive down to roughly 1/3 of its original numbers and he knew that any more attacks with his insects would just be countered by her protection. "Proctor, I surrender" Shino announced. "I am no longer able to move and my insects appear to be ineffective against my opponent."

Genma nodded at Shino's submission. "Winner: Hinata Hyuga!"

Most of the crowd stood up and applauded the victorious Hyuga; however to say that some were ecstatic would be an understatement. Naruto was so happy at Hinata's victory that he wasn't watching where he was going. He nearly fell of the railing. If it hadn't been for Haku or Shikamaru grabbing his feet, he would have fallen.

Kiba was howling like mad up in the stands and Kurenai was forced to rely on Asuma to control her emotions. As Hinata and Shino left the arena, Genma announced the next match. Before leaving, Hinata looked up at her father, who was giving her applause and the approval from his she was seeking.

However, her victory was bitter sweet Looking behind her father at the clan elders, she could still see the looks of disappointment on their faces, unchanged even after that display. Apparently, they still saw her as a failure and it was expected that she should have been able to defeat someone from an inferior clan, as they saw it.

At the same time, Hiashi now seriously doubted if Hinata would even be able to put up a fight in her next match and unfortunately, the elders would see this as a sign of weakness if what he feared happened.

"The next match will be Sasuke Uchiha vs. Gaara!" he announced.