AN: This is going to be a two-shot. Nothing serious, just a little think that kept bouncing around in my head to the point that it got annoying. Hope you enjoy.

I realise that there may be come errors with continuity or timing or something or other, but just imagine whatever changes you need to for now. I might update this in the future if I can be assed, nothing major but maybe adding a few reactions or extra bits of dialogue, maybe even a third chapter with the invasion, who knows, but for now, enjoy.

Naruto panted as struggled to keep his arms underneath his aching body, the multiple Jūken strikes to it closing points in his chakra system and making it difficult to do more than breath. Even so, each contraction of his chest brought forth a lance of pain that made the boy wonder if it was just better stop breathing and save himself the pain.

The sound of sandals slapping sand made Naruto raise his head, a jerky motion given the pain that he felt but he managed it all the same. The cold, blank eyes of the Hyūga Clan met his blue ones.

"You never stood a chance," Neji commented from his position standing above the blond. "It was decided long before today that you would lose. There was nothing you could have done to change that; your fate is absolute."

"Fate only has power of you if you let it," Naruto replied through pained breaths, attempting to bring a knee up under his body in order to push himself to his feet. "I refuse to let anyone tell me that I can't do something."

"Then you're a fool," the Hyūga replied easily, "and all you'll succeed in doing is reminding everyone else of that fact when you inevitably fail. Just give up and admit that you'll never amount to anything."

"Oh yeah," the blond challenged as he tried to push himself up, only just having gotten a single knee under his weight, "why makes you sure of that?"

"Because you're already a nobody. You don't even know where you come from," Neji replied.

"I'm from Konoha," Naruto snapped back instantly, nearly snarling as his opponent insinuated otherwise.

"Are you truly?" Now it Neji with the challenging tone. "I've read your file, Naruto Uzumaki, just as I have for everyone in this tournament. Orphaned on the night the Kyūbi attack, no father or mother identified. Most likely, no one will ever know who your parents were. How do we know that Uzumaki is even your true family name?" Not even the people in the furthest stands missed the way that Naruto's body tensed suddenly.

"You take that back." The words were said with a growl, one that made the genin who knew him nearly recoil in surprise. They'd never heard such a tone of anger in Naruto's voice before, it was unnerving. Neji didn't miss the tone either, but continued on, thinking none of it with Naruto at his mercy.

"Most likely the Hokage gave it to you in an act of pity, the Uzumaki were known for their red-hair after all and yours is anything but. Fate was unkind enough to make your parents merely two of the many that history eventually forgets and he tried to make you feel like you matter, a nice sentiment. Your parents were nobody, and so you will follow in their footsteps." As he finished speaking, Neji watched as Naruto's head turned to look up towards the Kage's box, no doubt hoping that Konoha's leader would deny his words.

Eyes following the gaze of his opponent, Neji watched as the Hokage remained motionless, neither out right confirming nor denying the words. Still, where others might have seen a non-answer, Neji only saw the Hokage confirming his suspicions, not answering in order to spare Naruto's feelings.

"You see," he said, turning back to Naruto, whose head had turned back to staring down at the dirt. "Even the Hokage knows the truth, your parents were most likely nobodies, not remarkable enough t-"

So caught up in his words, Neji almost missed the leg that tried to sweep his feet out from under him, but he didn't and managed to leap over it. Unfortunately, his opponent had two legs, the second foot flashing out to catch the Hyūga in the stomach, sending him skidding back before he came to an eventual halt.

"You should have kept your mouth shut and taken the win," Naruto told him as the blond dragged himself back to two feet. Byakūgan activating, Neji nearly took a half-step back at the torrent of chakra that was now coursing through his opponent's system, forcefully opening each of his previously closed tenketsu.

"How are you opening your tenketsu? I closed vital points in your chakra system." Neji's words caused whispers to break out in the crowd as they realised that the fight wasn't over yet.

"And for your information," Naruto said, continuing on as if his opponent had never spoken, "I wasn't asking the Hokage if what you said was true, I knew it was a bunch of bullshit already." The blond's posture full straightened, chakra flowing freely once more, wounds and bruises healing. "I was just telling him that I was going to kick your ass."

Neji slipped back into his taijutsu stance, ignoring the blond's crass language.

"Come and try, I'd be happy to remind you of fate's place for you, Nobody." Instead of having the demoralising effect that Neji had hoped for, it made Naruto grin. All who saw it realised that it promised pain.

"Nobody is a nobody," Naruto replied easily. "They're just someone that hasn't introduced them-self to you. Since you consider me a nobody, allow me to properly introduce myself." Neji's eyes widened as golden chains, made from pure chakra, fell straight from Naruto's hands. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto's words were now much louder, obviously for not just Neji, but the stadium as a whole. "Son of Kushina Uzumaki, and member of the Uzumaki Clan."

Before Neji had the chance to process those words, Naruto had already pushed off of the ground and launched himself at the Hyūga with a speed he hadn't displayed before. Mid-travel, Naruto spun his body, allowing one of the chains to lengthen as he did so closing the distance and forcing Neji to shift himself in order to dodge the chakra construct.

Despite being focused on the first chain, Neji didn't miss the other chain coming from the opposite direction. Ducking underneath that, the Byakūgan user straightened up in order to meet Naruto as he came within arm length.

If Neji thought that Naruto was going to engage a Hyūga in taijutsu, he was quickly disabused of that notion when chains sprouted from Naruto's back, moving over his shoulders and around his stomach to ram into the boy's stomach. Neji quickly jumped back to avoid the chains but was forced to jump again just as fast as the two original chains turned around and came to skewer him from behind.

Touching the ground for a moment, Neji's eyes just had time to widen as he felt a chain wrap around his leg, having sprouted from the ground. Lifting him up into the air, the white-eyed boy tried to slice through the chain with a kunai pulled from his holster, but it had little effect.

Just as suddenly as it lifted him, the chain retracted quickly yanking Neji on a downward path with the ground. Thinking quickly, the boy expelled a burst of chakra from around his ankle, loosening the chain's grip on him enough to pull his leg free and stop any more momentum being added to his fall.

Channelling chakra to his legs and bracing himself for impact, Neji didn't have the time to curse as his Byakūgan pointed out a pillar, made up of two of Naruto's chains wrapped around each other, falling directly over his position. Knowing that he'd only have a second to react, the boy prepared himself for what he'd need to do.

The moment his feet touched the ground, he was spinning, releasing a cry of 'Kaiten' as a bubble of revolving chakra encircled him, deflecting the pillar of chains.

Instead of being put out by the sight of the Hyūga's ultimate defensive technique, Neji only saw Naruto's grin.

More chains sprouted from Naruto's back, each one diving under the earth, further than Neji's enhanced vision could see.

"I wanted to do this the moment I saw your technique," Naruto told his opponent, his voice managing to reach over the sound of rotating chakra grinding against earth.

Contemplating dropping the technique in order to conserve energy, Neji was forced to keep the technique up as the ground began to rumble, not wanting to give Naruto an opening.

The sound of earth cracking and groaning reached Neji's ears, a sound that he knew wasn't associated with the use of his current technique. His eyes tried to find the source, but he only saw Naruto's chains digging deeply into the earth, deeper than his eyes could penetrate.

A sudden shift in the earth beneath Neji's feet nearly made him drop the technique, something that he would realise in hind sight that would have been a good thing. By the time that the Hyūga Clan member noticed his vision rising and tilting it was too late, and his whole world suddenly shifted sideways.

Naruto's chains, which had dug directly underneath where Neji had been performing his technique, erupted from the ground directly underneath his opponent, lifting large chunks of earth with them into the air.

The sudden destabilisation of his footing, and so his momentum, forcefully stopped Neji's Kaiten while the momentum that was imparted into him sent him into the air.

Righting himself as much as he could as he began to descend, Neji tried valiantly to dodge as chain flew in his direction, managing to do so once, but was unable to do so again when it came back around. Quickly, Neji found his body wrapped up tightly in chains and being pulled towards Naruto.

Expelling chakra from his body did nothing, the hold of the chains far tighter than they had been before, more so than any human grip.

Before he knew it, Neji was right before Naruto, the blond having his arm pulled back. Bracing himself, Neji prepared for the punch to come.

The blow that came hit with a strength that the Hyūga didn't know Naruto had, launching Neji out of his opponent's chains and into the wall on the opposite side of the arena, indenting himself.

Pulling himself out, Neji spat blood as he felt the side of his face swelling up. Even with his Byakūgan active and focusing, the white-eyed boy didn't have much of option to do anything besides tense as a length of chain erupted from the earth by his side and slam into him. The blond must have realised that his dōujutsu wasn't able to penetrate too far into the earth.

Launched, Neji forced himself to recover, planting his feet on the ground, and pushed off, just escaping as another chain length smashed into his former position. Now able to take a breath as he moved around the arena, dodging Naruto's chains, the Hyūga was finally able to plan an attack.

Naruto was the epitome of calm and collected, standing in the middle of the arena, arms by his side as his chains followed his will, constantly chasing after the Hyūga.

It was a pity that he knew Neji wouldn't give up, it would have saved him a whole lot of hurt and embarrassment.

Seeing the Byakūgan user finally stop running and now actively trying to close the distance between them, Naruto hid a smirk. Good, this was what he wanted. He sent his chains to attack, not wanting the white-eyed boy to get suspicious of a trap.

Gathering his chakra, Naruto prepared himself to show his opponent just who he was facing. The Hyūga's speed was nothing to scoff at, despite being a prick, and he quickly made it into the range of Naruto's technique, ironically and unknowingly sealing his fate.

"Water Release," Naruto called once his opponent's position was too far gone to recover, "Wrath of the Whirling God."

The ground rumbled and Neji stayed his course, knowing that if he could land even one blow, it would end the fight.

The arena exploded into a sea as water erupted from the ground, rising up in a massive tidal wave that quickly over took the walls of the stadium. Neji had no space to move as his vision of his opponent was obscured and the water began to encircle him. He was trapped, he realised. The water didn't stop at the height of the walls, reaching for the sky until it cleared the tops of the stands that housed the spectators.

There, the water began moulding itself, forming a watery face, complete with an identifiable beard, hair and glowing eyes. At the centre of the head, only the most keen-eyed jōnin noticed the blond boy, but that was only the few who managed to tear their eyes away from the expression of rage that the face formed.

Looking down, the face gave something similar to a growl before it rose further, water forming an upper torso for the construct. In one hand, a water trident formed, tips pointing down towards the centre of the arena.

A roar sounded out, to many seeming like the mix between a man and beast, and the water giant dived downward. Neji had nowhere to move, nowhere to go, as the massive being descended on top of him. Not that he could even if he had the option. The boy was frozen stiff as he watched the monster of a technique bear down upon him.

He could do nothing but watch as his life flashed before his eyes as the trident slammed down on top of him before the rest of the body followed. Water passed in front of his vision, a bone-breaking pressure pushing in from all sides, then it turned to black and Neji knew no more.

Water rocked the stadium as the aftershocks of the technique drenched a few people in the closer rows of the stands, the backlash from the technique hitting a hard surface sending watch into the audience. As the water settled quickly, people began muttering when the water didn't seem like it would drain away, filling three-quarters of the arena easily.

Suddenly the water-line began to recede, the level lowering by an unseen force. The draining happened at a rapid pace, and in less than a minute, the stadium only contained a few large puddles of water that lingered, the rest retreating back into the ground from whence it came. This allowed the crowds to see the outcome of the attack.

Not surprisingly, the Hyūga was laid out. His eyes were closed though a few could make out the short rise and fall of his chest, showing that he was unconscious and not dead.

His opponent stood above him, staring down at his downed foe.

"Next time," the blond said, his voice echoing in the quiet arena, "just take the win instead of gloating like an arrogant little dickhead."

With that, Naruto exited the arena just as pandemonium began in the stands.