I don't own Naruto.

(the stadium)

Shikamaru stood over a slightly battered Temari, silent for a moment. "I know you're awake…"

The golden haired girl smiled her rough smile. "Ugh… I wish I was dead… losing in the first round."

Shikamaru grinned, now sure she was alright. "That's what you get for underestimating Kiba, and all leaf ninjas for"

"Yeah, yeah…" Temari interrupted. "Y'know, you made my life a lot harder today. Not only did you beat Kankuro, but you quit right after! He's gonna be bitchy for weeks…"

"heh… don't worry, the fifth is making me participate further in an attempt to build up my motivation."

"HAH… like it'll help… so you're in for one more round? Who you hoping to fight?"

"Hinata I guess… everyone else takes this way to seriously…"

"Aren't you the one who always complains about fighting girls… well good luck with whoever you draw."

Shikamaru was slightly taken back, but then smiled and headed off to the tournament grounds.

(The arena)

Genma stared watching the screen for the break to be over. The seconds ticked away to zero and he turned to address the audience. "Alright, since there are an odd amount of people left, we will select one ninja who will advance automatically to the second round."

The remaining contestants looked up at the screen, which would decide the flow of the tournament. Several contestants had to fight much harder in the opening round, and if they didn't get a breather would be easy to pick off.

"And the one who advances automatically is… Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto jumped up, "That is bullshit! Make the thing pick again!" he was quickly slapped in the head by Kiba.

"You idiot, not having to fight is perfect! Everyone else will be dead tired from the extra round!"

Havix snorted, "You're the only one whose tired, weakling! Anyone who needed a break already would just lose in the third round."

Genma looked up towards the fighters and decided to move things along. "The first match of the second round will now be announced."

Almost instantly the young ninja turned their heads towards the screen. "Rock Lee versus…"

Lee jumped up and down with excitement, then launched himself down to ground level. "No matter what I won't lose this match!"

"Shikamaru!"

"Crap, already?" shikamaru grimaced, as he slowly walked down to the center. As he walked through halls he contemplated battle strategies. "I'll want to keep him at a distance since I can't compete with him hand to hand. But his speed will make capturing him much harder…"

Lee stood waiting, shaking with anticipation. "Yes! This is it! A true genius! I will finally prove hard work can overcome a genius."

Shikamaru trudged into the center as the audience cheered with anticipation. "Begin!"

Shikamaru threw three kunai at Lee, causing Lee to jump back. "Okay, I can't let myself get pushed back any further!" Lee thought to himself. "All I have to do is get in close and I can end it!"

Shikamaru's shadow stretched to ward Lee causing him to jump further back. Unfortunately for Lee, since the chunnin exams several trees had grown in the center of the stadium, so shikamaru had plenty of shadows to add to his own. Luckily Lee was faster then Shikamaru's shadow.

"He's almost backed into the wall, he's trapped…" thought shikamaru. But as soon as Lee reached the wall, he dug into it with his fingers and launched himself up. About thirty feet up he kicked off the wall and landed right in front of shikamaru, landing a lighting fast punch. Shikamaru fell to the ground, "Damn… he's fast… never had a chance."

Genma smiled as Lee was already jumping up and down. "The winner… Rock Lee!" the crowd applauded loudly for rock lee. He ran up to the contenders booth, where he was greeted by Neji.

"You've beaten a true genius today Lee, does this mean you'll finally stop pursuing me?"

Lee smirked, "Not a chance, you will always be my rival Neji! That won't change even after I beat you!"

Genma called out the next match, "next round… Hinata…"

Hinata gasped and started moving toward the stairs as Naruto called out to her, "You'll be fine, Hinata!"

Hinata stood in the center of the ring, fumbling her fingers.

"Versus… Neji!" Genma paused for a moment, "uh-oh."

Neji started moving toward the stairs before Naruto called out to him. "If this ends like last time, I won't wait for our fight to be called."

Neji stared at Naruto, prepared to address him, but then just smirked and walked off. Naruto was about to chase after him before Lee stopped him. "Don't worry Naruto, Neji's changed. He bears no hatred towards Hinata."

Naruto unclenched his fist and reluctantly returned to the ledge to view the fight.

Genma looked at the two fighters, who already had taken the gentle fist stance and activated the byakugen. "Begin!"

Neji rushed towards Hinata, throwing several attacks her way, which she deflected easily. Hinata quickly found an opening, but Neji jumped back. "Hm, you have improved greatly… but your eyes show that you don't believe you're at my level."

Hinata struggled not to lower her head, "No!" she thought, "N-naruto believes I can win! I won't let him down!" She quickly threw several stars toward Neji and rushed in toward the left side, trying to put him on the defensive. Neji easily deflected the weapons, but was slightly pushed back by Hinata's assault, though she never landed a direct blow.

Lee looked down at the fight, "Wow, hinata has really improved! But… I don't think she's quite at Neji's level…" he said with a undertone of disappointment in his voice, which made Naruto laugh.

"Heh… well, I don't think Hinata knows as many techniques as Neji, or is quite as skilled… but we both know that there's a more important quality…"

Lee smiled, "Determination." He said, finishing Naruto's sentence.

Hinata was slowly driving Neji back, until Neji saw an opening for his patented 128 hit combo, "Initial hits!"

Hinata's eyes blugged as she sent her hands to deflect the two hits, sending Neji's hands back. "Now!" she whispered as she sent her hand towards Neji's chest, successfully hitting him. Neji winced in pain, but only slightly. With lightning speed he drew five stars and launched them at Hinata. Hinata spinned out of the way, though one grazed her right leg. She ignored the wound and charged Neji again.

Hisashi sat watching the match from the front row. "I had thought it was impossible, but Hinata is finaaly on the path to being a capable ninja. I will recommend a promotion to be given to Kurenai…"

Kurenai stood, her mouth slightly hanging open. "When did Hinata become so… confident? Is this because of Naruto?"

Tsunade sat next to Jiriaya, "Hmph… Hinata's dossier said she was a weak ninja, I guess the Hyuuga standards are still too high…"

Jiriaya smiled, "She has made serious improvement since the chuunin exam, she managed to shed her frailty and timidness, and become slightly more… reckless. Who do you think taught her that?"

Neji smiled, "Hinata, your growth is unquestionable… let us see how far you've gone." He waited until Hinata's hands were a safe distance away. "Kaiten!"

Hinata gulped as she recognized the stance, "This is it…" she thought to herself. "Kaiten!"

The two blue auras clashed against each other pushing back and forth on each other until, to the audiences surprise, Neji was pushed back. Hinata pushed herself past her surprise and took the opportunity to launch an attack at Neji chest, landing three successful blows before Neji delivered a strong hit to her mid-section driving her back.

Lee looked down at the scene in disbelief, "That's impossible! Neji's aura was much stronger! Hinata should have been the one who was pushed back!'

Naruto shook his head, "I-I thught so to…"

Both Haku and Hyoto looked over toward Havix. Havix nodded and tilted his head down in concentration for a moment. "Oh, I get it… The boy does have much stronger aura, but his vision isn't complete, so there's a small part of his shield that he has to fill in without seeing it. It makes it a bit weaker than the rest of his protection field."

Lee nodded, "Yes, it's the Hyuuga family weakness…"

Havix shrugged, "Well, whatever it is, the girl doesn't have it. Her field of vision is complete. So every rotation, she forces the boy back a bit."

Naruto smiled as he looked down at hinata, who was once again trying to force Neji back. "See Hinata, you are strong enough to be the heir…"

Neji was barely able to block Hinata's attacks, while Hinata was almost completely out of chakra. "She's tired… this will decide everything!" He smirked at Hinata. "one last time… Kaiten!"

Hinata's muscles tightened, "Kaiten!"

The auras clashed again, though much weaker this time. Both collapsed at the same time, but neji was forced back farther. Hinata took the opportunity and delivered a kick to his stomach, knocking Neji to the ground.

Neji ached all over, but wasn't unconscious. "Her kick was weak, she wasn't able to put enough chakra into her kick…" he looked over to Hinata, who was dry heaving out of strain. He propped himself up a bit, then felt stinging pain in his arms. He fell back on the ground. "I… concede."

Genma blinked, "Winner, Hyuuga Hinata." The entire stadium seemed to shake with cheers and applause. Hisahsi stood up and clapped. A small tear fell from Kurenai's eye. Hinata fell to her knees from disbelief.

Genma put his arm on the panting girls shoulder. "Do you want to continue?"

Hinata looked up and smiled, "I-I don't think I can… I'm out of chakra."

Naruto and Kiba jumped down to congratulate the dark haired girl. Naruto raised the girl up in his arms, smiling down on her. "You did it!"

Hinata smiled as she raised her lips up to Naruto's, kissing him as hard as she could, which at the moment wasn't that hard. Naruto was surprise at Hinata kissing him in front of a stadium full of people, but quickly returned the kiss.

Tsunade smiled, "I wish I was young again…"

Jiriaya snorted, "We know… that's why you hide all you old lady wrinkles…" He was immediately punched into the wall.

Tsunade looked over to where Hisashi was standing, who had changed from clapping to clenching his fist. "Jiriaya, we might have to take care of something…"

Naruto carried hinata up the stairs as Genma looked up toward the board. "Next round… Kiba versus…"

Kiba smiled, "I guess we don't have to go anywhere eh, Akamaru?"

"Bark!'

"Havix!"

Havix looked down on the field and grinned. He jumped off the railing colliding with the ground hard, leading with his right foot. The collision left a deep hole in the ground.

Kiba looked at the ground. "odd landing. He must need the hole for something… Forget it! Let's go over the info on this guy… kunais won't work on him, his size is his main advantage. On the plus side, he looks pretty slow, and I don't think he knows any good techniques…"

Havix sneered, "I know plenty of good techniques… but I won't use them on trash like you."

Kiba was surprised, "he can read minds?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, I won't use it on you… you're a blank slate anyways."

Genma wondered why the taller boy was apparently carrying out a conversation by himself, but shrugged it off. "Begin!"

"Beast transformation jutsu!" Kiba screamed, transforming both him and akamaru into a feral looking Kiba. They both charged Havix, getting on opposite sides then attacking. Havix took the first punch, then elbowed his attacker in the face, then swatted the other Kiba in the face.

Both kibas meet about twenty feet away from Havix. "Heh… didn't think that would work…" Kiba said aloud.

"Nothings going to work! You're not strong enough to topple me! I'll laugh off that twin fang attack of yours!"

Kiba smiled at the insults. "Ha! I doubt that! But I'm using my best technique on you…Right, Akamaru?"

"Woof!"

Kiba flashed the signals, and both he and Akamaru turned into a large two headed wolf. Havix jumped back to the whole he punched earlier. "Crap, I didn't think he had something like that!" he started flashing hand signals, having a large water dragon rise out.

Genma looked over, "That's why he landed oddly, to bring him closer to water."

Havix launched the dragon toward the spinning devil dog, slamming his hands into the dragon before they collided. The dragon was destroyed, by the two headed wolf was struggling to move. Havix laughed, though breathed a sigh of relief. "Right before you hit, I lowered the temperature of the water. The cold makes it near impossible to pump out chakra."

Havix then snickered, "By the way, what smells like wet dog?" he then ran toward the collapsed beast and struck the left head, shattering the technique. Havix looked down in disappointment, seeing he only held the dog. "Huh… guess you die first…"

"NO!" Kiba screamed as he went into the fang destroyer, hitting Havix square in the chest. Havix was driven back, but was still strong enough to slam both his fist down into kiba's neck. Kiba fell to the ground, though Havix continued to kick him.

"Told you it wouldn't hurt." Havix taunted before one last kick to kiba's face.

Genma looked down at the battered kiba, "Winner, Havix!" havix received the same polite clapping mixed with blood thirsty howls from the audience.

Havix walked up the stairs. "Great, I'm in the semi-finals and I still haven't used my best technique."

Genma looked up, "which means the final match in this round is…" he stopped when he realized both Gaara and Sasuke where already there. "Right… Begin!"

Sasuke rushed Gaara, trying to deliver a spinning kick, but was caught by Gaara's sand. The sand morphed around his leg and threw him to the ground. But Sasuke stooped the collision by pushing his hands towards the ground. He then immediately lowered himself to his elbows, flashed several signs, and blew a giant fire ball toward Gaara. The attack forced the sand back to its defense position.

Gaara was shielded from the flames, but still felt the scorching heat. He blinked for a second, and when he opened his eyes, he saw that a portion of the sand had been turned to glass by the flames.

Sasuke broke threw the glass and kicked Gaara directly in the stomach, then propped himself on his hands again, and kicked Gaara in the face. Sasuke grinned when Gaara took a step back. "So, even if you control it, it's still just sand." Sasuke said with a laugh.

Gaara surprised him by sneering. "Fire and heat alone cause physical reactions, not chemical."

Sasuke didn't grasp the meaning, so Gaara continued. "So sand turned to glass, is still sand."

Sasuke's eyes bulged in realization, but wasn't able to move before seven long shards of glass shot into his back. "AHH SHIT!"

Gaara laughed at Sasuke's pain and surprise, then swatted him with a fist of sand. Sasuke landed on his feet and prepared the counter attack, one which Gaara recognized. In response Gaara raised all the glass around him to cut sasuke down.

"Chidori!" Sasuke screamed, charging Gaara. As he ran towards him, glass continued to slice threw him. Large shards entered his leg and torso, while the chidori shattered all that came towards his face. He reached Gaara after what seemed like an eternity, and dove into Gaara's midsection. He was slightly deflected by Gaara's sand, but still slashed threw Gaara's left side.

Both ninja's fell to the ground, both covered in blood. The audience was silent, astounded that two young boys took this so seriously.

Genma was about to call a tie when a blood covered youth rose to his feet. "Well then… the winner is"

(End of Chapter)

The more reviews I get, the quicker I'll put the next chapter out.