Naruto and Neji faced off against each other.
"You got something to say?" Neji said with a smirk.
"I've said this before and I'll say it again. I vow to win!" Naruto said.
"Heh, it's more fun this way anyway. I can't wait to see the despair in your eyes when the truth finally dawns on you." Neji said as he took his stance.
Naruto took his own stance, something that Neji has not seen before. It was a simple guard with his hands protecting his body.
'What is that stance?' Neji thought. 'It doesn't matter, he's still going to lose.'
Neji simply advanced towards Naruto, as Naruto took a couple of steps towards Neji as well.
They met in the middle and Neji immediately attacked with his gentle fist martial arts. Aiming to block Naruto's chakra points. But Neji and Naruto were pretty similar in strength with taijutsu. After a couple more seconds of exchanging strikes, they separated.
"You want to be Hokage, huh? I don't think that's gonna happen. I can pretty much tell, with these eyes of mine. Abilities and talent are determined at birth. In other words, your entire destiny is set from the time you're born."
"You're delusional." Naruto said.
Neji, seeing that Naruto was just as good as him in taijutsu, decided to retreat and attempt to use 64 palms. Naruto decided now was a good time to attack. He body-flickered right in front of Neji and showered him with punches. Neji put up a solid defence despite being taken by surprise. But he managed to make some distance and used rotation to force Naruto to retreat.
Naruto said, "You wanna keep going?"
"Do you wanna know why I feel the way I do?" Neji said, ignoring Naruto's question.
"Yes, I wanna know what leads someone to having that type of train of thought." Naruto said.
Neji raised his arms and took off his headband. Revealing a stylized green swastika underneath.
He went on to explain how the Hyuga clan operates and the story of how he got the curse mark placed on him.
"Your fate is to lose to me, that's a fact." Neji said as he put on his headband.
"I can't even imagine how much pain you felt when your father was killed, but I think you're wrong to conclude that everyone's destinies are predetermined!" Naruto said.
"You're hopeless." Neji said, as he ran to attack.
Neji covered the distance between them quickly and attacked with a palm strike to Naruto's chest. He looked up and was shocked to see him still standing, unfazed. He looked down and saw a massive amount of chakra concentrated at Naruto's torso.
"A coward like you doesn't deserve to see my full strength. I won't entertain someone who believes in resigning himself to fate." Naruto said, standing straight with a scowl on his face.
"What a joke, stop trying to lecture me, as if you know anything. Everyone is born shouldering a destiny that cannot be defied. How could you understand anything about my fate, about bearing an inescapable, permanent curse?!" Neji yelled.
"Actually, I understand pretty well. And so what? You're the one who needs to quit lecturing. You're not the only one who's special, you know!" Naruto said?
"Let me ask you something. Why do you keep trying so hard to defy fate?" Neji asked.
"Because I used to think I had a curse of my own. Until I met people who showed me otherwise. Now, let me show you what was once my curse." Naruto said.
Neji with his Byakugan active could clearly see Naruto's chakra pathway. His chakra dimmed, as another chakra filled his system. The chakra was so great that it encircled him and took the shape of a nine tailed fox.
'W-what is this? Is it chakra?' Neji thought.
Naruto gained a significant boost in physical abilities with the chakra flooding his system. His speed skyrocketed. A hook to the jaw, a liver punch, an uppercut. Combination after combination was executed flawlessly on Neji. Naruto's hands were moving so fast they left afterimages.
Neji was a bloody mess, his ribs cracked, his jaw broken, a concussion, many organs bruised.
Finally, Neji's legs gave out and he fell onto his knees and his body fell to the side. Seishin appeared and called off the fight.
"The fight is over, Naruto wins!." Seishin said.
The audience started to cheer.
"Medics!" Seishin called.
The medics ran up and started working. They put a neck brace on Neji and put him on a stretcher.
Naruto immediately brightened up as he heard the cheering. He gave a peace sign and then gave a theatrical bow to the audience as he left the arena.
Sakura, seeing this, sighed. "I guess I'm fighting Naruto. Honestly I'm a little relieved, at least Naruto will let me show off some of my moves before beating me."
Seishin stood next to Neji as the medics worked to patch him up and take him to the hospital.
"You know, Neji. Even a caged bird, when it smartens up, will try to open the cage door with its beak. Never giving up its dream to fly free again. I just hope this beating is enough to smarten you up." Seishin said.
Hiashi Hyuga looked on at the arena with a conflicted expression.
Later, Neji was resting when Hiashi Hyuga entered the room.
"Can I have a private word with Neji?" Hiashi said.
"Uh, yes sir." The medic said, as he left with the other medics in the room.
Neji got up from the bed with some difficulty and said, "What is it sir?"
"I came here to tell you the real truth about that day." Hiashi said.
"...! The real truth?" Neji said, surprised.
"That day… I fully intended to die." Hiashi said.
"What?! What are you saying?! That day, my father was murdered to act as your body double!" Neji yelled.
"I understand how you came to that conclusion… but that is now how it happened." Hiashi said.
"But… why tell me this now?" Neji said.
"Because now I feel like you might actually believe me." Hiashi said.
That day, Hiashi fully intended to sacrifice himself to protect the village. But he was reprimanded by the leaders of the clan. One elder suggested using HIzashi as a body double for Hiashi, since the precise wording of their demand was simply to "give us Hyuga Hiashi's corpse." Giving them Hizashi who was physically identical to Hiashi will prevent them from justifying retaliation. Hizashi sucker punched his brother when he continued to argue against doing this. He then explains that he is finally making a decision himself. Instead of being forced to do something by others.
Hyuga Hizashi chose death to gain freedom. He wanted to defy the Hyuga destiny and choose his own destiny.
"And that is the truth." Hiashi said.
"You can't really expect me to believe that story! What a convenient explanation! It sounds exactly like something the main branch would cook up to placate me… especially after all this time!" Neji screamed.
"I knew you would think so, that is why I waited this long. And that is why I am telling you this now. I wanted to relay my brother's final words to you, not as the head of the main branch, but as Hizashi's older brother. Please believe me." Hiashi said, as he kowtowed towards Neji.
Neji was shocked to see the clan head bowing.
"...Please… raise your head." Neji said, tears streaming down his face.
__________
"Ho ho, the crowd is excited." The Kazekage said.
"Yes, it seems that match really pumped them up." The Hokage said.
"No, everyone is simply excited to witness the last Uchiha in action." The Kazekage said.
Haruki walked up to the Hokage and said, "Unfortunately, Sasuke Uchiha hasn't made it yet. Should we forfeit his match and move on to the next?"
"Yes, it's unfortunate. But rules are rules." The Hokage said.
"Lord Hokage. I ask you to hold off on disqualifying Uchiha Sasuke's match for just a bit longer." The Kazekage said.
"I'm sorry sir, but someone who can't make it to a competition of this importance on time doesn't deserve to be Chunin. I don't see a reason to wait for him." Haruki said.
"I see, but there is sufficient reason. Most of the feudal lords, nobles and audience are here to simply witness that match. This boy is the last of the Uchiha clan, and as the leader of the hidden sand village, I beseech you to allow him to face Gaara." The Kazekage said.
"Sir?" Haruki asked.
"Very well, we'll postpone the match and wait for Sasuke." The Hokage said.
Seishin was informed and he let the audience know. "Alright! Ladies and gentlemen. One of the contenders for the match has not arrived yet. So, this match will be postponed and we will proceed with the next scheduled match!"
"Well then, the next match is Kankuro against Aburame Shino. Please come down!" Seishin said.
'Fuck! I can't reveal my trump cards during this match, it'll jeopardize the plan!' Kankuro thought.
He looked at his sister and then finally said. "I withdraw!"
Temari then pulled out her giant fan and used it to glide down from the viewing platform to the arena.
'Fuck, fuck, fuck! What the hell? Why does nothing ever happen the way it's supposed to? Maybe I should just forfeit too.' Shikamaru thought.
Naruto smiled and just smacked him hard on the back. "You got this, Shikamaru!"
Naruto used extra strength and ended up pushing Shikamaru off the platform and onto the arena.
Temari watched Shikamaru continue to lie down on the ground and ran out of patience. "If you won't come to me, I'm gonna go to you!"
"Sheesh, this chick really wants to fight." Shikamaru said as he pulled out two kunai.
A dust cloud formed as Temari attacked with her giant fan. Once the dust cloud settled, Shikamaru was revealed to be standing on the two kunai he pulled out and embedded on the wall of the arena.
"I don't really care whether I become a Chunin or not, but I can't stand the idea of losing to a girl, so I guess I'm in." Shikamaru said.
And so the fight commenced. Temari tried to use her massive scale wind jutsu to overwhelm Shikamaru, and Shikamaru used strategy to try and get Temari in a shadow possession.
Shikamaru created a parachute by tying his jacket to his kunai to extend the range of his shadow possession. Using that he maneuvered Temari to stand next to the damaged ground where Naruto and Neji fought. Using that, he managed to discreetly extend the range of his shadow possession and catch Temari.
He walked up to her as she mimicked his movements. They both raised their hands and Shikamaru said, "That's it, I'm done. I give up."
Everyone was shocked, especially since everyone thought he won.
"I used up too much chakra, I can't keep fighting." Shikamaru said.
"Winner, Temari!" Seishin said.
Naruto jumped down from the viewing platform and ran up to Shikamaru, "Hey, why'd you give up you idiot?!"
"What does it matter?" Shikamaru said.
Then suddenly, a breeze came by and picked up some leaves as Kakashi and Sasuke appeared in the middle of the arena.
"Hey, sorry. We're not late are we?" Kakashi said.
"Oh, you're finally here. I thought you chickened out and were too scared to fight me." Naruto said with a smirk.
"From your tone, I guess you won your match?" Saske said.
"Yeah, no big deal." Naruto said.
"Hey, Sasuke didn't get disqualified did he?" Kakashi asked, a little nervous.
"No, you got lucky. If it was someone else, they would have got disqualified right away. But the Uchiha prince gets special privileges." Seishin said, as he wrapped an arm around Sasuke's shoulder and gave him a nuggie.
"Ow, ow, hey! Cut it out, big bro Seishin!" Sasuke said, as he shoved Seishin away.
"Alright, Gaara! Come down!" Seishin said.
"Naruto! Let's go back upstairs. And let's just take the stairs this time, okay?" Shikamaru said.
"What! You're still mad about that?" Naruto said, as he followed him.
Naruto and Shikamaru went up the stairs and saw Gaara kill two shinobi who were trying to intimidate Gaara into losing so they could win money from betting.
"Wow, you really don't hold back huh?" Naruto said with a whistle.
"Get out of the way before I kill you." Gaara said with a crazy look in his eyes.
"Don't worry, if Sasuke can't deal with you then I will soon enough." Naruto said as he moved out of his way.
"Sigh, I've never seen anyone kill so easily." Shikamaru said.
"Begin!" Seishin said.
Sand erupted from the gourd on Gaara's back.
Sasuke backed up to make some distance between them.
Gaara then put a hand on his head in pain.
"Please don't be so angry, mother. I gave you bad tasting blood earlier didn't I? I'm sorry, but don't worry, this time I'm sure it'll be really tasty." Gaara said as he calmed down.
Sasuke started off using shiruken and taijutsu. Gaara retaliated by using sand clones.
Sasuke imitated Lee's taijutsu to land a hit.
The fight escalated from there as both sides continued to use bigger and bigger jutsu until Gaara initiated a defensive jutsu that covered him in a sand sphere. Gaara then proceeded to perform multiple handsigns.
Sasuke backed up onto the wall of the arena and performed handsigns of his own. Sasuke finished first as he extended his arm as electricity appeared in his hand and the sound of a thousand birds erupted from him.
Sasuke ran down the wall and onto the ground as he became a blur of movement and instantly appeared in front of the sand sphere and plunged his hand into it.
"Wh-what is this feeling? It's warm, and moist. Mother, what happened?" Gaara said as he looked down and saw a hand plunged into his shoulder.
"Ah, Waah!!! Blood! It's my blood!!!" Gaara screamed.
Sasuke tried to pull his arm out, but it was stuck. He pulled with all his strength and he managed to pull it out. But something else came out as well. A grotesque sand arm came out of the hole where Sasuke's arm was. The arm was covered in blue veins and had sharp fangs.
Sasuke looked into the hole as the arm retracted and saw something indescribable with his sharingan.
'What the hell was that? Those weren't his eyes!' Sasuke thought.
Suddenly, feathers appeared around the arena as people were knocked out.
'Finally, I was starting to get bored.' Seishin thought.
Seishin closed his eyes and expanded his wind sense and started to identify all enemies within the walls of the village.
As that was happening, Temari and Kankuro appeared next to Gaara and took him away.
"Team 7!" Seishin said.
"Yes!" They all responded and appeared in front of him.
"Follow the team from the sand and neutralize them." Seishin said.
"Yes sir!" They said and followed after the sand team.
After a few minutes, Seishin bit his finger and performed a summoning.
"Tada! Your favorite and cutest wind spirit has arrived!" Sylph said.
"Now's not the time, Syph." Seishin said.
"Great Wind Blades Shower." Seishin said.
"Got it!" Sylph said.
Syph positioned herself at Seishin's shoulder to help him with his jutsu.
Then a massive aura erupted from them. This got the attention of the Kages up on their viewing platform.
They looked on in shock at the massive amount of chakra being let free from one man.
Then a massive tornado materialized above him and reached the clouds, then suddenly blades of wind appeared one after the other in the sky. Thousands upon thousands of blades of wind appeared in the sky that nearly blocked out the sun. Everyone looked up at the sky in shock at what they were witnessing.
Seishin then appeared next to the Hokage and looked at Kabuto.
"You know, there's really no point in keeping that disguise on Kabuto." Seishin said.
"So you knew it was me?" Kabuto said as he took off the realistic skin mask he was wearing.
"Yeah, you're nowhere near Orichamru's level." Seishin said.
"Give it up, Kabuto. The plan was done the moment Orochimaru died." Seishin said.
"Well I can't let down my master." Kabuto said with a smirk.
"Okay, let me see what's making you so confident." Seishin said.
Four shinobi appeared around them and prepared to use a jutsu. But then, tens of blades of wind flew down at them at incredible speed. They got skewered by the blades of wind so fast, they didn't even know they were dead until their bodies fell apart.
This finally got Kabuto to sweat. He immediately performed some handsigns as 3 coffins appeared, but the third one didn't come out all the way and disintegrated.
'Hm, too bad. The third one didn't work.'
The coffin's cover opened and revealed the bodies of the first and second Hokages.
"I can't believe you would desecrate the dead like this, Kabuto!" Hiruzen said.
Kabuto prepared to insert the kunai seals that would put them under his control. But as he approached, several blades of wind rained down and blocked his path.
"First and Second Hokage's, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Seishin Hoshizora, and I am a candidate for the seat of Fifth Hokage." Seishin said.
"Oh! Impressive! Are you related to that annoying kid? You have the same last name." Hashirama said.
"You must be Arashi's grandson. It's good to see the village still has capable ninja." Tobirama said.
"Anbu! Where the hell are you guys? Come up here and seal this guy away." Hiruzen finally said.
"Yes sir!" The Anbu said as multiple ninja appeared around Kabuto and held him in place as others performed seals to prevent him from moving, using chakra and escaping.
"Finally, that's dealt with. First and Second Hokage, are you two interested in sticking around for a while? Or do you want to go back to the pure lands?" Seishin asked.
"I think it's best that we go back. I don't want Mito to worry." Hashirama said.
"Well, I can teach you guys the hand signs. I saw Kabuto perform them and I memorized them. But if you guys have anything holding you back, like certain regrets or if you just want to reminisce, you're more than welcome to." Seishin said.
Seishin then taught them the hand signs and left to clean up while the third Hokage stuck around to catch up with his teachers.
Seishin kept the massive number of wind blades above the village to intimate the enemy and raise Konoha's morale. He ran around and helped any civilians and ninja having trouble or stuck somewhere. He performed basic first aid and took control of the scene. Everyone in the village remembered the handsome shinobi that saved them.
Once things settled in the village, a massive amount of chakra erupted a couple of kilometers away from the village. Seishin sensed it and saw the two massive monsters facing off.
As he ran in that direction, he saw the massive toad turn into the nine tailed fox and attack the tanuki.
Seishin decided to fly to speed up and get a better view.
By the time he arrived, Naruto had won and both massive beings were dispelled.
"Naruto, status update." Seishin said as he arrived.
"Situation handled!" Naruto said with a grin and a thumbs up.
"That's not what I asked, idiot." Seishin said.
Sakura arrived on the scene and explained the situation.
Seishin looked at the sand trio and said, "Alright I understand. The sand got played by Orochimaru and Kabuto and it backfired completely. But I'm sure, Konoha can absolve the Hidden Sand village and re enter into an alliance once things settle down and the higher ups get an explanation. For now, you guys pose no threat and you're free to leave."
"Um, thank you." Temari said.
"Take your brother and leave." Seishin said.
Kankuro and Temari didn't need to be told twice. They lifted Gaara and left towards the Wind Country.
"Temari, Kankuro, I'm sorry." Gaara said.
"Don't be, you're our younger brother." Kankuro said.
"Yeah, there's nothing to apologize for." Temrai said with a smile.
Seishin watched them walk away and smiled, "Alright, you three did a great job on your mission. I'll talk to the Hokage and have him continue the Chunin exams in private to see if you are ready to be promoted to Chunnin. Naruto, good job using your summon and transformation to attack the Tanuki. Sakura, you showed great calm under pressure and provided great support for your teammates and Sasuke, good job neutralizing the other two sand ninja. You guys have come so far, I'm proud of you."
__________
It's been a couple of weeks since the Chunnin exams, Hiruzen Sarutobi promoted Shikamaru, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura to Chunin. Shikamaru got promoted based on his strategic capabilities. Team 7 got promoted after demonstrating their abilities to the Hokage in a private exam by fighting some random Jonin and almost beating them.
The first and second Hokage decided to go back to the pure land after speaking with Hiruzen and berating him for the state of the village. He shamefully accepted their verbal punishment and promised to retire after everything settles down.
The Third Hokage settled the situation with the Sand Village and they signed another peace treaty and entered into an alliance.
Finally, he announced to the top brass of the village his intention to retire.