"And the winner is Obito Uchiha!" Ino called out as the unconscious Rasa was carried out to the medic station. Obito knew he wasn't hurt badly. As much as Obito wanted to brag that he was just a better fighter than Rasa, he knew that he had just gotten a good lucky hit in.

He shook his head and started to go back up to the fighter's box. He wouldn't allow himself to just win from a series of lucky hits. He would never make Chunin that way.

He was already 12, he refused to wait any longer for the promotion. He needed to become stronger to protect his precious people. And to defeat him, even if the thought of meeting him again made his stomach turn.

"Good job Obito!" Obito looked up, realizing that he made it to the fighter's box, and was met with the blinding smile of Rin. Obito found himself smiling back, reaching up to adjust his goggles. He was still covered in sand and didn't want to even risk getting sand in his eyes.

"Yeah, it was a cinch once I got on a roll!" He bragged, wanting to impress Rin. He was about to say more before he was interrupted by Kakashi.

"Idiot. You just got lucky. I bet you didn't even know your charka would do that to his sand."

Obito scowled at his teammate. He had thought they were past things like this but he was being just as much as a jerk as normal. "What think you could have done better?!"

Kakashi huffed and crossed his arms, turning away from him. Obito just glared, convinced that he wasn't going to get an answer. Rin looked like she was about to step in and stop a fight that would embarrass the team, though Obito was sure that that reason wasn't at the forefront of his teammates mind, when Kakashi spoke up again.

"No." He said, sounding both bored with the situation and also like what he's saying is causing him pain. "I couldn't have. I wouldn't have enough chakra to waste like you did, nor am I fast enough."

Obito just blinked before smiling at his teammate. Maybe he wasn't as much of a jerk after all.

"Next Match!" Ino called out, once they got the arena in a somewhat fightable state. Rasa destroyed a lot of the dirt making dust. "A vs Hizashi Hyuga!"

"This is so troublesome…" Shikidai muttered, from where he was standing near the railing, watching the group. "Why can't my match be over all ready…?"

xXx

Hizashi looked at the ninja in front of him, just barely stopping from glaring. He had no reason to hate this boy, even if he was a cloud nin. He had nothing to do with his father, and no matter his own feelings toward Cloud, he had no reason to be rude to him.

"I hope we have a good match." He said instead, dropping into a fighting stance. A smirked, doing the same.

"Same to you."

xXx

Neji watched intently at the fight. True, neither genin were his own student, (Hiashi's fight wasn't until later and he was sure that the boy would have no trouble with Rin), but Hizashi was family. Not only was the boy his cousin, but he was the next one in a long line of Branch Family. Neji himself was the head of the Branch Family, for all the power that gives him, and Hizashi was looking to be the heir of the title.

(Neji was still amazed at how long Hanabi has avoided this fate. The council needed a backup, after all, for how disappointing Hinata was to them as a child and only got better once she married to another one of their family. Once her husband died, Neji was surprised that Hinata was brave enough to stand up for her position as head. Though that didn't save her youngest.)

The boy was doing well, obviously excelling in Taijutsu but Neji truly didn't expect anything different from the boy on Lee's team. The genin from cloud, A? Who names their child A?, was obviously also a Taijutsu expert, and was incredibly fast. Neji was surprised that none of those lighting covered hits had breached Hizashi's defenses-

Oh, no, wait. There he goes. Neji turned his head, to see where Hizashi ended up after that hard hit. The boy took a second to get back up, obviously tired, but somehow looking even more determined. He got back in stance, and the cloud genin should have used this time to act and finish this but-

Neji's eyes widened. Hizashi was using main house attacks. He shouldn't know those. Neji sure didn't teach him. He frowned, watching Hizashi attack too fast for A to dodge and seal up his chakra points. Did the boy do what he, himself, did and dissect the attacks to learn them? Or did Lee, who was his old teammate and had seen many of those attacks up close, somehow given him enough tips for him to work it out? Was it Hizashi's brother, Hiashi? Neji wasn't sure how close the two of them were, even if one of them was on his team.

Or…

Neji glanced over to where the rest of the Hyugas were sitting, the ones who weren't senseis. Was it Hinata? He would be vaugly surprised if it was, for the women to break any rules- No, that's a lie. Hinata would do what she could for the people she loved. He needed to stop being so hard on her. (and her son.)

He didn't know who seemed more likely to have taught the boy, he mused as he watch Hizashi end the match with a finishing blow, but he needed to make sure he was there in the fallout with the elders. The boy was talented.

xXx

A scowled as he walked back up the stairs. Even after being healed and his chakra flow being restored, he was still incredibly sore. He wasn't sure what happened in that last half, but that Hyuga kid's viciousness turned up a couple notches after he hit him against that wall.

Not that that didn't make sense, but it was startling and irritating. And now he was going to have to face his brother and Nii and listen to them telling him what he did wrong-

He blinked and stopped, seeing the kid he was just facing waiting for him on the step ahead of him. But, actually, no. This was Hizashi's twin. He had one, right? He vaguely remembered seeing the two together both last month, and earlier when they were gathered together. Hiashi right?

He didn't move, staring at the kid, waiting for him to speak. He didn't. A scowled.

"Are you just going to keep staring?"

"…" Hiashi sighed. "I just… felt like I owned you an explaination."

"An explaination?" A raised his eye brow. "For what?"

"For why my brother was so vicious. I swear, he isn't normally like that."

A paused and calmed himself down. He wanted to hear this.

xXx

Review! Next chapter is Hyuga and Shiaku vs Kakashi! Vote on who should win!