"Screw this!" Naruto yelled at Jiraiya, the legendary toad sanin, "I came to train, not to help you find women!"

The chunin exams were quickly approaching, and Naruto had gone through two useless sensei in a day.

"If you really want me to train you, you have to do what I say." Jiraiya said, but Naruto had already stopped listening. The accumulation of all of today's disappointments had finally reached the limit. Something snapped inside of him, and he stormed off in anger.

"I'll train myself! You'll all see, I don't need anyone!" his mind was fueled by rage and hate, and he marched through the streets of Konoha without a purpose. His thoughts wandered to the upcoming battle, he was no match for any of his potential opponents, he could readily admit that. Neji Hyuga, was at the moment, his main priority. He would have to find some weakness in the gentle fist, if he ever wanted to defeat it. With a new determination in his heart, Naruto raced to the Konoha public library, where knowledge awaited him, and hopefully, his key to victory.

The librarian was of no help to him, she didn't even pretend to act like she was familiar with the Byakugan. In an act of newfound self reliance, Naruto found everything in the library that related to the Hyuga clan, and brought it all back to his apartment.

Sitting in his bedroom, he unrolled every scroll, cracked open every book, and folded out every diagram. He had no clue in which specific place to start, so he grabbed for the closest book.

In a few hours, he had learned almost all there was to know about the Hyuga clan, their bloodline trait, and the technique of the gentle fist. He was soaking in knowledge like never before, his focus was uncanny, his mind a ready made tool.

It felt like he was thinking for the very first time.

He stood up off the floor, knocking a tea mug over a few of the scrolls, spilling hot liquid on them. He noticed, but he didn't care. He unfolded a diagram of the chakra lines running through the human body, and taped it to his wall. He stared at it, scratching his chin. He knew how the gentle fist worked, using the Byakugan, a Hyuga could pinpoint the exact location of where the majority of chakra lines bundled. Then, they could block them with their gentle fist, preventing chakra from running evenly through the body.

Neji could effectively cripple Naruto this way, since the boy's tai-jutsu was mediocre at best.

Naruto groaned, frustration was racking his brain. There was no possible way for him to become a better fighter by the time of the exams, he would have to find some better way to trump the Byakugan.

Once again, frustration threatened to cloud his focus, so Naruto began to do crunches on the floor. By the three thousandth repetition, an inking of an idea had crept into his skull.

Using the byakugan and the gentle fist over an extended period of time would no doubt tire out Neji, if Naruto could find a way to block his attacks long enough, maybe he could exhaust neji enough to land a finishing attack. He could where metal plates or armor of some sort to protect himself from Neji's attacks- but no, he would be able to see that their was more than just skin between the chakra lines and his fingers with the Byakugan. Naruto stopped crunching and began to think even harder.

If he were able to wear armor that had chakra flowing through it at certain points, he could possibly fool Neji's byakugan into thinking he struck a chakra bundle even when he didn't. That, coupled with good acting from Naruto, could trick the Hyuga into expending all his energy attacking false points.

"Yes..." Naruto's excitement was creeping into his thoughts, he had to redouble his focus, or risk losing it. He needed to find some way to make fake chakra points.

He figured that if he were to concentrate a certain amount of chakra into small circular plates, he could place them around his body in conjunction with the actual location of his chakra lines. Unfortunately, he had no clue how to do that.

Anger threatened to rise up and control Naruto, but he exhaled all his rage in a single sigh. There it was, he had found the solution to his fight with Neji, and he had no way to use it. Looking at the clock in his room, he realized how late it had gotten.

At 2AM he left his apartment and headed for Kakashi's. He knocked three times, and the copy-cat ninja answered.

"Naruto? What are you doing here so late?" Kakashi hadn't been sleeping, he seemed wide awake.

"If you want to make up for choosing one student over another, you can help me real quick."

"Naruto... it's so late" Kakashi grew annoyed rather quickly.

"Just help me tonight, and you can go back to training Sasuke tomorrow, and every other day until the chunnin exams." Naruto quickly said.

Kakashi could hear the new determination in the tone of Naruto's voice. Kakashi sighed, then nodded, knowing Naruto wouldn't take no for an answer.

"What's up?"

"How might I go about infusing chakra in an inanimate object?" Naruto asked, almost impatiently. The question was nothing like Kakashi had expected, it was intelligent, and practical depending on the use Naruto had for the object.

"You better come inside." Kakahsi closed the door behind them.

Naruto held the small metal chip in between his fingers, trying desperately to transfer chakra from his body to it. He had been it since he got home from Kakashi's, three hours ago. He knew the technique, he just couldn't do it, no matter how hard he tried. Frowning, he dropped the chip into the box with the others.

Beside him on the bed, was the one chip successfully charged with chakra. It was the chip Kakashi had demonstrated on. Naruto could feel the chakra pulsing through it, and he was almost certain that it would fool the Byakugan, but unfortunately one was just not enough. Naruto formed a seal with his hand, and summoned four shadow clones into his room. They all reached into the box and pulled out a chip, with any luck, one of them would be successful.

It took them three more hours of continuous effort, but eventually one clone was able to fully charge his chip. Naruto took the chip from the clone, and released the jutsu. Soaking in the memory of the successful infusion, he set the chip down next to Kakashi's, in the finished pile. Summoning seven more clones, they went back to work at the other chips, and in only a few hours they had charged everyone.

Naruto was proud of his success, but also completely exhausted. He had used a great deal of his chakra stores, and had also been awake for almost twenty-four hours. Although he knew that he still had much work to do before the exams began, he figured a short few hours of sleep would be alright. After all he still had almost a month to go before the finals.

Not even bothering to change into his pajamas, he laid down heavily on his bed, falling asleep in a matter of minutes.

A loud and constant knock woke Naruto from his slumber. He stumbled out of bed, and bumped into almost everything in his house before reaching the door.

"Hello?" He slurred as he opened the door. The light was almost blinding, and as he squinted to see, Sakura's voice filled his ears.

"Naruto are you just waking up?! It's almost 3 pm!" Sakura was right, 3 in the afternoon was a little late for normal waking, but Naruto did only get about six hours of sleep.

"Can I help you with anything Sakura-chan?" Naruto tried to be as polite as possible, but now that he was awake, his focus was returning, and chatting with Sakura wasn't helping him win the chunin exams. Regardless of how he felt about her, he had work to do.

"Um, yeah." She said, almost offended by the fact that he wasn't completely focused on her.

"What?" He asked.

"Oh... have you seen Sasuke lately?" Naruto passed by Sakura.

"No." He said flatly, leaving Sakura alone at the door to his apartment. Being awake, and focused, he realized he needed to find a way to mount all the chakra charged chips on his body.

"Hey!" He hadn't noticed that Sakura was following him until she spoke. He looked in the opposite direction as he walked down the stairs.

"What Sakura? I'm kind of busy." He stood on the road outside his apartment, looking from left to right.

"Busy with what?" She asked curiously, Naruto looked at her for a moment, then back to the streets.

"The chunin exams." He stated clearly. Then he spotted what he was looking for, and walked over to it quickly. Sakura chuckled and followed him.

"You know Naruto, if I were you, I'd just give up. I mean, for you to beat Neji is highly unlikely, and even on the off-chance that you do win, you still have to beat Sasuke."

Naruto ignored her, stepping into a ninja supply store. She followed him.

"Excuse me?" He addressed the woman at the register. She smiled at him.

"How may I help you?" She asked politely.

"I need a lightweight metal mesh that covers the whole body."

"Like an armor?" She asked curiously.

"No, it doesn't need to be protective, just something I can attach things to." The cashier started to blush.

"Oh... what might you need that for young man?"

Sakura looked on in confusion. Naruto slapped his hand against his fore-head, realizing the sexual implications his question seemed to entail.

"No-no-no! It is for armor, the mesh itself just doesn't need to be protective!" He said quickly, and the woman's blush slowly faded. She nodded.

"One moment please." She walked briskly into a back-room, leaving Naruto and Sakura in awkward silence.

"What do you need all this for Naruto?" Sakura finally asked.

"To win." Was all he said.

The cashier returned from the back room, a smile still on her face. She held a body-suit made entirely of metal wiring that wrapped across itself.

"That's perfect, how much?" He asked. She smiled at him, and told him the price. He paid for it without hesitation.

"Thank you so much." Naruto said, leaving the store. Sakura stayed behind.

"Your boyfriend's really cute." The cashier lady said, "If he were a few years older..."

Sakura blushed, smiling at the cashier.

"He's uh, I uh, I have to go..." She left quickly.

Naruto stood in his apartment, staring at a life sized chart of the chakra lines in the human body. In one hand he held a paintbrush, and in the other, a jar of paint. He placed them on the dresser as he took off all his clothes.

Slowly, and carefully, he started painting the chakra points onto his body. After a few hours of messing up, he threw the paint across the diagram and broke the brush across his leg.

"Gah!" He screamed, kicking the tea stained scrolls and books across the floor. There was no way he could identify the points correctly without the byakugan. He was still tired, and he was frustrated, he was quickly losing his focus.

He started doing crunches again, and by the 6,000th repetition, another idea entered his head.

He needed to find Hinata. Putting his pants back on he left his apartment again, it was getting dark, and he would have to search quickly if he wanted to find Hinata and her team before they stopped training for the day.

Luckily for him, he caught them right as they were leaving the training grounds.

"Hey Naruto!" Kiba said, Naruto had to try not to ignore him.

"Oh, hey Kiba. Hinata I need you."

Hinata gasped. Kiba looked at Shino and canted his head.

"Um, okay, see you guys later." Kiba said as he and Shino walked away, leaving Hinata and Naruto alone.

"What... what can I help y-y-you with, Naruto?" Hinata said quietly.

"I need your help to beat Neji. Can you come back to my apartment with me?" Naruto was too determined to take no for an answer, and before Hinata could answer he started walking away, "C'mon."

Hinata didn't say anything the whole trip back, and if Naruto wasn't so sure that she would help, he could've sworn that she wasn't following him. When they finally he entered his room, he handed her a bucket of paint.

"I need you to paint me."

"W-w-what?" She asked, blushing madly.

"Turn on your Byakugan." He ordered politely. She did so, and he began taking off his clothes. She quickly shielded her eyes with her hands.

"N-n-Naruto I c-can't do t-this!" She said in almost a whisper. For a few moments only silence passed between them, then Hinata felt Naruto's warm hands pull on hers.

"I need you to do this Hinata..." She gulped as her hands left her eyes. Naruto was standing naked before her, and she tried her hardest to not look below his waist. She still was uncertain what Naruto was asking her to do, but just thinking of the possibilities turned her face so red it was nearly purple.

"I need you to paint the chakra points where Neji would hit me with his gentle fist." He asked clearly. Hinata blushed deeper still, she would have to paint all over Naruto's body to do this.

"I-I-I-i-i-I-i-I-"

"Please Hinata! I'll owe you so big for this, without this I can't win!" He was begging now, but soon he would command, no matter how it would effect his friendship with Hinata. He needed to win.

"O-O-o-okay." She finally whimpered.

"Thank you so much." Naruto replied. He was thankful that he wouldn't have to force her. He knew not why she was so against it. He assumed it was because the prospect of touching a naked male was taboo for someone of her age and social status. He had no clue of Hinata's true feelings.

It took a few hours for Hinata's hands to stop shaking, but finally it was done. Naruto looked in a mirror to fully appreciate the girl's hard work. He matched the chart perfectly.

"You did so great Hinata..." Looking over his shoulder, he saw how close the girl was to falling asleep, "Hinata you can lay down if you're tired."

He led her to his bed, and she laid down with barely an argument. In a few moments she was asleep, and Naruto looked at his clock. It was one am.

He walked around for another hour, letting the paint dry completely before pulling on the mesh suit. He carefully glued all the chips to the mesh, lining them up as well as he could with the paint on his body. In another hour, and with some careful bending, he had completely covered his chakra points with the chips. He was anxious to test out the mesh, but he also didn't want to wake Hinata. To kill time, he did sit-ups until morning. At around six am, there was another knock at Naruto's door. He pulled his boxers over the mesh and headed to the door.

It was Kiba.

"Naruto! Where is she?!" He asked, anger in his voice. Naruto held a finger to his lips.

"Sleeping." He whispered. Kiba blew past Naruto and walked into his bedroom. Naruto stayed at the door until he returned.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Kiba was whispering now too, "I covered for you with her dad, but next time you want to screw around with Hinata-"

"It wasn't like that Kiba." Naruto answered coldly. The boys were inches from each other, but Naruto looked down on Kiba.

"Funny, I always thought you were shorter than me." Kiba said. Naruto realized that Kiba was right, he must've grown since the third phase of the exams.

"If you want to wake her up I don't mind... I have no more use for her." Naruto turned to go back inside, just as Kiba's punched him in the back of the head.

"You dick!" Kiba had obviously assumed Naruto had used Hinata sexually.

"That's not what I meant you asshole!" Naruto turned around quickly, malice in his every movement, "I needed her help for training! Why would you even think I did that!"

"G-guys?" Hinata had awoken, and was standing a few feet behind Naruto, the last bits of sleep still lingered in her eyes. Seeing her, Kiba instantly realized he had been wrong to assume that Naruto had mistreated her. He stood ashamed.

"Hinata, I told your dad you were doing some late night training, but he's probably worried sick." Kiba said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh! Father, I completely forgot!" Hinata rushed through Naruto's door, "U-um, I'm g-glad I could help... Naruto..."

"Later Naruto." Kiba said with an apologetic smile, he closed the door quickly. Naruto had planned on having Hinata test out the armor, but now that she was talking to her father, it would be sometime before he saw her again. He decided to hit the training grounds, even if he couldn't perfect his tai-jutsu in a month, he could at least improve it.

Naruto summoned a shadow clone and faced him.

"I need someone to talk to while I spar, it'll help me make better decisions, feel free to comment as you see fit." Naruto told the clone, who nodded in turn.

They began to fight.

"Now I don't really have much of a style..." Naruto said as he swung punches, "Every move I make is clunky and thick, there doesn't seem to be any finesse to my movements."

Naruto cocked his fist at an angle and sent a hammer punch into the collar bone of his clone.

"If only I could somehow use that to my advantage... If I could develop a sort of brutal style, no extraneous movements, just what I need."

Naruto dodged a jab from the clone's left hand, and sent a fist into the nerve endings under its armpit. The pain was so great that the clone dropped to its knees, Naruto backed off and let it stand up.

"Only what you need to get the job done." The clone said at last, "Nothing fancy, no etiquette, just results."

The clone feigned another jab, then swung a hay-maker at Naruto. Naruto ducked and brought his elbow up into the clone's chin.

"I can use angles to get in and around to the opponent's weaker points." Naruto stepped quickly behind his clone, bringing his fist into it's throat as he did so.

Naruto walked a few feet away from the clone as it coughed and choked.

"Gahh..." It said, "Time- Time-out..."

Naruto sprinted forward and destroyed the clone with an elbow to the face.

"Go Hinata."

Naruto stood, his arm's held up and his legs spread wide. Beneath thick clothing, he wore his mesh chakra armor.

"A-are you s-sure N-Naruto?" Hinata asked nervously, she had already turned on her Byakugan.

"Go Hinata!" Naruto said again.

"B-but-"

"Go!" He yelled this time, and she charged him.

Naruto had all his clones recharge the drained chips as he paced around his apartment. The test had been a success, he had been so happy he almost kissed Hinata, then he realized how mad Kiba had gotten at him and stopped himself. Besides, the girl seemed to freeze up just when he hugged her. He concluded that she must really not like human contact. He was so excited, this meant that as long as everything ran smoothly, he could beat Neji.

"Mhm-Yes!" He yelled in primal joy, then, realizing that happiness was overtaking his focus, he dropped to the ground and began to do sit-ups. He had reached 2,546 before once again he was disturbed by a knock on the door. A clone opened the door.

"I'm doing sit-ups by the bed." It said to whoever was at the door, no doubt confusing him/her, "Do you want me to get me?"

"Naruto, you're really freaking me out." Sakura said. Naruto stood up and quickly walked to the door, dismissing the clone.

"Sorry Sakura, I'm really busy right now... what's up?"

"Huh, oh nothing... I just saw you walking with Hinata earlier today..." She said.

"Yeah I was."

"I also saw you hug her." She said, this time more sternly.

"Yeah." Naruto said, he stepped out of his apartment, looking around Konoha from his balcony, "Did you ever find Sasuke?"

"What? Naruto don't change the subject."

"From what?" Naruto asked.

"You hugged Hinata! I thought you had a crush on me!" She almost yelled at him.

Naruto was infinitely confused.

"Sakura I hugged Hinata because she helped me with something... every time I try to hug you, you punch me. Now I need to find Sasuke." Naruto went back into his apartment and grabbed a notepad and pencil from a table, when he returned, Sakura looked angrier than ever.

"Have you seen him?" Naruto asked for the last time, if she didn't give him an answer, he would find Sasuke some other way.

"I found him and Kakashi training, but they just told me to go away." Sakura said impatiently, "We're going to have to talk about Hinata eventually Naruto."

"Can you take me there? Where you saw them training?" He asked.

Sakura nodded reluctantly, and led Naruto to the hidden training ground. A few feet from the interest, Naruto stopped Sakura.

"Thanks Sakura, you can leave now." He patted her on the shoulder and put his notepad between his teeth. Smiling at her through the notepad, he started climbing the nearest tree.

"Naruto!" Sakura whispered harshly, "What are you doing!?"

"Research!" Naruto whispered back, adjusting himself on a limb some twenty feet off the ground, from here he had a perfect view of Sasuke and Kakashi training.

Taking a pencil from his pocket and opening his notepad, he prepared to document everything Kakashi taught Sasuke. First off he wrote a time down on his notepad, it looked as if the two had been training for a half hour now, so he scrawled ten o'clock on the notepad.

"What did you right that time for?"

Naruto jumped, Sakura had snuck up the tree while the boy was writing, and she had scared the daylights out of him. She held back laughter as he scrambled to stay on the tree.

"Sakura! I'm trying to work here!" He whispered.

"Don't mind me, I'm just watching Sasuke... now why did you write that time?"

"That's when I think they started training, I'll work my schedule so I can watch them train every day."

"I see..."

The two went on watching for four hours until Kakashi and Sasuke went home. Naruto closed his notepad, he had almost filled the whole thing. He moved to stand up, but a weight on his shoulder was holding him down. Looking to his right, he saw something he had been too focused to notice. Sakura, had fallen asleep on his shoulder.

Naruto stood in the center of the arena the night before the chunin exams. The past month had seemed to fly by in an instant. He was confident that he was a changed man, he had worked fool-proof plans to defeat all of his opponents, with the exception of Gaara, the sand jinchinchuriki.

Naruto would have to rely on the power of the nine-tailed fox if he ended up having to battle him. He breathed in the air of the coliseum, mentally preparing himself for tomorrow's battle. He had trained harder for this than anything in his entire life, and he truly believed he was ready to win.

"Naruto? Is that you?" Naruto looked up into the stands, where Jiraiya, the toad sanin, was waving.

"It is me." He said, in a split-second, Jiraiya had jumped down and stood face to face with Naruto.

"I wanted to thank you kid," He began, "It ended up being a good thing that you refused my training."

Naruto gave Jiraiya a confused look.

"Me and my spy network uncovered a plot by Orochimaru to assassinate the Hokage, we were able to take him down in a surprise attack." Jiraiya's voice seemed to hold a hint of sadness.

"The creepy snake guy? So he's dead now?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya nodded.

"I never would have discovered the plan if I had been training you... so thank you, you indirectly saved the Hokage's life."

Naruto nodded, only half concerned with the plot.

"By the way, Orochimaru had been in cahoots with the sand village, but he betrayed them and murdered the Kazekage... the two boys are going home to mourn him, the girl sand ninja is the only one who wanted to stay behind and finish the exams."

Naruto smiled, that eliminated some of the competition. He hadn't prepared for Gaara, so it was better this way. He probably could've taken down the puppet-master, but it would've taken perfect timing and quite a bit of effort, he had been hoping that Shino would beat him. Now that both of them were out of the finals, his victory seemed even more certain.

"Great." Naruto said. Naruto nodded and turned to leave the arena, but Jiraiya stopped him.

"Wait a second, in return for your accidental assistance, I've decided to teach you something!"

"That really isn't necessary." Naruto started walking away, he needed to get some sleep before tomorrow, and wasting his time on a pervert wouldn't help him win his matches.

"Now wait just a second!" Jiraiya stepped quickly in front of the boy, "It was a technique invented by the fourth Hokage himself!"

This caught Naruto's attention, even if only for a brief moment.

"You really expect me to learn a Hokage level technique in one night?"

"Not at all." Jiraiya said honestly, "I'm teaching you this for life, not for just one battle."

Naruto sighed.

"We will work out the basics today, and after the exams I'll continue your training. Sound good?"

Naruto nodded reluctantly.

"I only have a few hours..." He said, knowing full well the sanin didn't care. Jiraiya pulled a water balloon out from his pocket, and tossed it to Naruto. The boy caught it carefully, and the water in the balloon swished around wildly in his hand.

"Don't pop it." Jiraiya said, stating the obvious. Naruto nodded and waited for the balloon to stabilize. Once it had, Jiraiya began to speak.

"Now, I want you to pop the balloon, using only chakra."

Naruto did so.

"HOW THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT!?" Jiraiya asked. Naruto shrugged.

"I focused my chakra into the balloon, then rotated it until the balloon popped." Naruto had really become quite the chakra control expert in the past few weeks, once he had learned to focus chakra into the chips, he began experimenting with what else he could infuse with chakra. He had popped a few rubber balls in his house this way, and currently had a chakra infused kunai stuck in his bedroom wall.

"No one's ever done that so quickly!?" Jiraiya was completely and utterly surprised, "Okay... let's see if you can do step two as quickly."

"Whatever."

Jiraiya tossed Naruto a rubber ball.

"Pop this one. Using the same-"

The ball popped in Naruto's hands.

"-technique..." Jiraiya didn't make any flabbergasted statements this time, he just handed Naruto another balloon.

"Swirl the contents of the balloon with your chakra, but don't pop it this time... okay?"

Naruto nodded, and did as he was told. This time it was a bit more complicated, but in a few minutes he had his chakra spinning spherically inside the balloon.

"Amazing..." Jiraiya said to himself, confusing Naruto.

"What kind of jutsu is this? I'm just spinning chakra inside a balloon, that won't help me beat anyone..."

"Keep it spinning..." Jiraiya said. He poked the balloon with his index finger, and it popped. A spinning ball of chakra remained.

"Woah..." Naruto was amazed by the swirling ball of chakra.

"It's called the Rasengan... Here-" Jiraiya summoned a shadow clone, "Practice on me."

The real Jiraiya stepped away, and the clone prepared for an attack.

"Wh-what do I do now?"

"Hit me!" The clone shouted. Naruto thrust the Rasengan into the chest of the shadow Jiraiya, sending it spiraling into one of the stone walls of the arena.

"T-that was amazing!" Naruto shouted. He looked around, but Jiraiya was nowhere to be seen, "Jariya?"

Naruto walked home and went to sleep, knowing full well that he was prepared for whatever he faced tomorrow.

"It is your destiny to lose, Naruto." Neji stood over the crumpled heap of Naruto's body, sweat dripping from his fore-head. Neji had expended far more energy than he had anticipated in defeating Naruto. His eye's were tired, his fingers were sore, and his lungs burned. No matter how many times he had attacked Naruto, the boy kept getting up, forcing Neji to block every single on of his chakra points.

"Whatever..." Naruto said, wheezing.

"Just admit defeat..." Neji panted, he shut off his Byakugan, he no longer had the energy to use it. "There's nothing you can do... I've won!"

Naruto smiled. His plan had worked perfectly, apart from the occasional bruise from one of Neji's 'pokes', Naruto was completely unscathed. The chakra infused chips had worked perfectly. He cleared his throat and slowly stood up.

"What?!" Neji's eyes opened wide with worry.

"I'm afraid you haven't hurt me at all Neji... you see," Naruto ripped his orange jacket off, revealing the body mesh covered with the chakra infused chips.

"No!" Neji quickly realized that he had been duped.

"It would seem I'm a lot smarter than you think." Naruto sprinted forward, thrusting a hammer fist in between Neji's eyes. The boy dropped to his knees in pain.

"Impossible..." Neji looked to the sky just as a bird passed over the sun. Naruto knocked him out with a strike to the back of the head.

Naruto didn't smile, but inside he was bursting with happiness. He had won his first fight, and he had barely broken a sweat. He picked up his orange jacket, but saw that it was torn along the side.

"Damn..." He muttered under his breath. He dropped the jacket in the silence of the arena, and as it hit the ground, the spell was broken. The proctor shook his head, and spoke.

"Winner, Naruto Uzumaki!"

The crowd roared, but Naruto barely heard them. He grabbed at a chip just above his left pectoral, and ripped it away. The mesh tore off and hung below his chest, it was useless now anyway, any Hyuga watching would expect that trick now if they fought. and Naruto grew more and more uncomfortable having it on.

Roses and other flowers fell at his feet, but he ignored them, leaving the arena and heading up to the stands.

Sakura wanted to cheer, but Naruto's victory had rendered her speechless. At first, everything was going as expected until a few minutes ago. Naruto was losing to Neji, and then out of nowhere, he had won.

"That was incredible..." Ino said. From her left, she saw Naruto climbing the long stairs to the top section of the stands, where only the old drunks sat, "Look, there he is!"

Sakura turned and saw Naruto, he had a large box in his hand.

"Let's go talk to him." Ino said, smiling. Naruto's victory had surely impressed her, until now, the thought of talking to Naruto had only disgusted her. Sakura nodded, and together they walked to Naruto.

"Great fight Naruto!" Ino said, the boy smiled.

"Thank you..." He turned away and opened the box, it seemed to be a lost and found of sorts, with odds and ends and mismatched clothing filling it to the brim.

"What are you doing with those clothes?" Ino asked curiously.

"I'm going to wear them..." Naruto said, taking a green gi with large internal pockets out of the box. It was embroidered with dragons, and its sleeves cut off right below the elbow. It would suit Naruto's purposes perfectly.

"Who's fighting?" Naruto asked, not taking his attention away from the box.

Sakura looked down into the arena.

"Shikamaru and the sand ninja." She answered. Sakura suddenly remembered the last time she had seen Naruto. It was when they were watching Kakashi and Sasuke train. Naruto had the same look of focus on his face that he had now. She suddenly grew worried for Sasuke's safety.

"Naruto!" Ino gasped, Sakura turned and blushed madly, Naruto was naked. The girls tried their hardest to keep their eyes above his waist, but they both failed. Their blushes deepened.

"Naruto- What are you doing?" Sakura managed to ask before Naruto pulled on his boxers.

"Changing." He answered stoically. He reached into the box and pulled out a pair of slops, they were much to big for him, but he pulled them on regardless. The loose baggy part stuck out around his knee, and the tight shin sleeves went halfway to his toes. He pulled a belt from the box and wrapped the super loose waist around his lower stomach.

Sakura was going to say something, but her eyes were stuck on Naruto's stomach, which now sported a well defined six pack. Looking to her left, she saw that Ino was looking at the same thing.

Naruto pulled a sleeveless turtleneck form the box and pulled it on over his torso, blocking his abs from the view of the two girls. He tucked the shirt in under his belt and looked up.

"What were you guys saying?"

Sakura and Ino remained silent, but their blushes deepened. Naruto reached into the box and pulled out a smaller box, one that he had brought from home.

"W-what's in there?" Sakura asked.

Naruto didn't answer, instead he dumped the contents of the box onto an empty seat.

"Wow." Ino said, staring at the large collection of bladed weapons.

The last thing Naruto pulled out of the box was a large straw hat. He spun it around, looked at its interior for a moment, then took a large explosive tag from his pile of weapons.

"How's the fight going?" Naruto asked as he stuck the tag to the inside of the hat.

Sakura looked into the arena.

"W-what are they doing?!" The two looked to be hugging.

"What?" Ino walked to Sakura, "Shikamaru! What the hell!?"

Hinata had been listening from a few seats down, and turned toward Ino.

"Um, exuse me." She said politely, "I know what happened."

"What's up Hinata?" Sakura asked kindly.

Hinata smiled, then began,

"The fight was going pretty well, but it looked like Shikamaru was losing until he caught her in his shadow possession jutsu. He had her caught, but then she suddenly started to cry. He released the jutsu, and now appears to be comforting her."

"Crying just because she lost? What a wuss." Ino stuck her tongue out toward the fight, "And Shikamaru is such a softie! I don't want someone like that on my team anymore."

She was joking, but Naruto became slightly annoyed by her ignorance.

"Her father was found murdered yesterday." Naruto said coldly, "That might have something to do with why she was crying. If I'm ever in that state, I hope I have someone like Shikamaru to comfort me."

Ino looked down at the floor ashamed. Naruto looked Sakura in the eye, but she shied away. She suddenly felt guilty for being so indifferent towards Naruto's quest to win.

"Hello Hinata." Naruto addressed the Hyuga, "I want to thank you again for all the help. As you can see, my plan worked."

He smiled at her, then began shoving shuriken into the inner pockets of the green gi.

"O-o-oh, you're v-very welcome... Naruto." She said quietly.

For some reason, the attention Naruto was showing Hinata bugged Sakura immensely.

"Naruto." Sakura said through gritted teeth. She clenched her fists.

"What?" He answered, distracted. He began wrapping kunai around his forearms with a thick gray bandage. Naruto placed numerous weapons around his body, and Sakura realized once more that Sasuke was in danger.

"Naruto! Please don't hurt Sasuke!" She grabbed Naruto by the arm, and he turned to look at her.

"How am I going to win without hurting him?"

"Please..." Sakura looked Naruto dead in the eye, "I'll do anything..."

Naruto's face grew hot.

"Me too..." Ino said, remembering Naruto's six pack. She put one hand on her hip and replicated the same puppy dog face Sakura was wearing. Naruto's face got even hotter.

"Anything?" Naruto asked. Looking down, he saw that Hinata had gone further down in the stands, where a dejected Neji was sitting.

He was tempted to accept the girls' offer.

"Both fighters forfeit... next up, Sasuke Uchiha vs Shino Aburame!"

Ino and Sakura left Naruto and sped back to their seats.

"Sasuke!" They both cheered as the dark hair boy entered the arena.

Naruto growled while strapping a tonto to the back of his belt. Leaping forward, he landed on the rail in front of Sakura and Ino's seat. Squatting down, he watched the fight unfold before him.

In a few minutes Sasuke had won.

"Thank goodness." Naruto said. Ino and Sakura hadn't noticed him land beside them.

"Naruto? When did-" Ino withdrew one question in favor of another, "Why did you say that?"

"I know I can beat Sasuke... my plan on taking down Shino wasn't as definite."

Worry once again took hold of Sakura, but before she could speak, Naruto stood up.

"I better go."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, in the final round of the Chunin Exams, Naruto Uzumaki will be fighting Sasuke Uchiha!"

The crowd erupted in an explosive roar. Sasuke stood in the arena, awaiting Naruto.

"Let's go Naruto, we haven't got all day."

"I'm right here." Naruto stepped out in front of Sasuke, his new clothing and his large hat took Sasuke by surprise.

"Haha, Naruto... dressing like a ninja won't make you one."

Naruto smirked.

"I'm not the only one with a change of clothing Sasuke... dressing like a woman won't turn you into one."

Sasuke cringed.

"Begin!" The proctor shouted.

Sasuke charged at Naruto, just a few feet in front of him, he slid, throwing a kick toward Naruto's chest. Naruto stepped backward and blocked the kick with both fore-arms, pushing Sasuke into the ground. The Uchiha spun around, pushing himself onto a standing position with his hands, but leaving his back exposed to Naruto.

A sharp pain entered his shoulder. He stepped away quickly, reaching toward the source of the pain, he pulled a kunai out from his back.

"You aren't playing fair today Naruto." Sasuke said in anger. He threw the kunai to the ground, "I don't need tricks to beat you."

"We're ninja Sasuke... trickery is our very nature."

Sasuke growled and charged Naruto again, this time he attacked from above, kicking downward at Naruto from the air. Naruto blocked the kick again, but this time he dropped to the ground, sending Sasuke tumbling with him. Now that they were on the ground, Sasuke's head was at Naruto's feet.

Naruto sent two kicks into the Uchiha's face, breaking his nose.

Sasuke screamed and rolled away, blood dripped down from his nose as he stood up.

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed from her seat in the stands, her heart was aching.

"Man, Naruto is badass." Ino said.

"Ino! He's hurting Sasuke!"

"Big deal," Ino said, in a total change of character, "Sasuke's a big boy, he can handle a little pain. I don't know about you, but my money is on Naruto."

Sakura stared at he friend in shock. Only a few weeks ago, she had been battling with Ino over Sasuke, now she seemed utterly content with watching him lose. To Naruto of all people!

"What's got you in such a rage Naruto! What are you fighting so hard for?!" Sasuke asked through trickling blood.

"I'm just sick and tired of having to prove myself... I've realized that I've only gotten this far through determination and luck. A little preparation goes a long way... and I want Sakura to see how much better I am than you!"

Naruto tore his hat off his head and threw it on the ground in front of Sasuke. It took only a moment for Sasuke to realize it was about to explode.

"Gah!" He leaped and rolled away just as it blew, releasing a cloud of thick smoke throughout the arena.

"Where did they go?" Sakura asked, scanning the dust for signs of her two teammates.

"Did you hear that Sakura?" Ino asked grinning, "Naruto is fighting for you."

Sakura blushed.

"Where are you!?" Sasuke yelled, standing up slowly. The explosion had messed with his balance, he had lost Naruto in the thick smoke.

"I am everywhere."

Naruto hit Sasuke from behind with a kunai, slicing the boy's back.

"Gah!"

Another Naruto kicked Sasuke's legs out from under him. Another Naruto threw a shuriken that Sasuke barely dodged.

Naruto's clones attacked Sasuke repetitively until the smoke cleared. Leaving the Uchiha battered and breathing heavily. He had a few close calls, but he had been able to dodge most of Naruto's attacks.

"You bastard!" Sasuke screamed at Naruto, who was standing a few feet away, his arms at the ready.

Sasuke struggled to form hand seals, but soon, a cackling energy formed in his right hand.

"The Chidori!" Naruto yelled in fake praise, "The thing you've been training so hard to learn!"

"W-what?" Sasuke asked, shocked.

"I've been watching you train Sasuke... every single day. Nothing you can do surprises me."

"N-no!"

"Plus, I've got a trick of my own..." Naruto formed the Rasengan in his right hand, "The Rasengan."

The crowd roared.

"The fourth Hokage's jutsu!" Someone screamed.

"Impossible!" Yelled another.

"The resemblance is uncanny!"

The third Hokage was equally shocked. Standing up in his booth, he turned to a smiling Jiraiya.

"When did you teach him that?"

"The boy's a quick learner..." Jiraiya said laughing.

The Hokage walked forward, making himself visible to everyone in the stands.

"This is what you would have wanted Minato..." He said to himself. Clearing his throat, he addressed the whole arena. "People of Konoha! Naruto Uzumaki, the boy who stands before you, is the only son of Minato Namikaze! The Fourth Hokage!"

Chills ran down Naruto's spine like electricity.

Everyone of Naruto's friends stood in shock.

A wide smile crept onto Sakura's face.

Kakashi laughed underneath his mask.

And Sasuke charged with his Chidori.

Naruto barely had time to thrust the Rasengan into Sasuke's Chidori, and for a moment, the electricity lingered dangerously close to his chest. Then he pushed his arm out, and slowly began to overpower Sasuke.

"No!" The Uchiha yelled, primal rage overtaking his voice.

Naruto was inches away from pushing the Rasengan into Sasuke's chest, then his mind rushed back to what Sakura had asked of him.

"Please Naruto..." Sakura was tearing up in the stands, fearing for the safety of Sasuke.

In the split second before Naruto would hit Sasuke's chest, he released the Rasengan and stepped out of the way. Sasuke's momentum carried him into a wall, where the Chidori impacted, making a crater in the thick stone.

Sasuke fell to his knees, exhausted. Naruto walked over to him, and the audience watched.

He grabbed Sasuke's arm, and lifted the boy to his feet.

"Winner, Naruto Namikaze!" The proctor's voice cracked with emotion.

For only a moment, Naruto's world was completely silent. Then the crowd cheered like never before.

The emotion was so strong that Naruto's legs shook violently. He fell to his knees.

"Ow! Watch it!" Sasuke yelled as his hit the ground. Naruto looked over at him, and Sasuke was smiling. Tears mixed with blood on his cheeks.

"You're my best friend Sasuke... I'm sorry I had to hurt you."

"Whatever." Sasuke said, "Next time you'll be the one hurting, and you won't get an apology from me."

Naruto sat down, and Sasuke sat behind him, using Naruto's back as support. They both sat back to back, watching as the arena filled with screaming fans and their friends.

"Sasuke!" Sakura ran over to Sasuke, checking over his injuries, "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine Sakura." He said coldly. Then smiled at her. She smiled back. Looking over Sasuke's shoulder, she saw Naruto turn his head away.

"Naruto." She stood up and walked in front of the fourth Hokage's only child.

Naruto didn't look at her, the tears streamed down his face.

"Hey. Look at me." She said.

Naruto looked at her, stifling sobs. Sakura gripped him in a warm, loving, hug.

"You don't need to prove anything to me again," She grabbed his shoulders and held him at arm's length. Staring into his eyes, she felt tears come to hers, "I know how amazing you are... everyone does now."

"Amazing enough for a kiss?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"Don't push it." Sakura said, rolling her eyes. Naruto nodded and bit his lip, trying to stop crying, "But this one time...Yes"

Naruto looked at Sakura in surprise just as her lips touched his own. The kiss only lasted a brief second, but while it was happening Sakura felt truly in love for the first time. Then when it was over, she all but forgot that feeling.

"You're going to have to earn my love the old fashioned way Naruto... nearly killing my boyfriend won't help you after this." She said jokingly.

"I'm not your boyfriend Sakura!" Sasuke said from behind Naruto.

"Who said I was talking about you?" Sakura said, standing up, "I'll let you talk to your fans."

Sakura walked over and stood next to Ino. Suddenly Naruto and Sasuke were flooded by dozens of young genin, autograph books in their hands. After rubbing the heads of some fifteen children, Sakura's implication finally hit Naruto.

Naruto had nearly killed himself winning this tournament. If she wasn't talking about Sasuke, then she was talking about...

"Woah." For the first time he realized how narrow his competition for Sakura's love was, it was either him or Sasuke. Had it always been that way? Was Sakura really only one Uchiha away from loving Naruto completely?

He would have to find out another day.

"Citizen's of Konoha! I am please to announce this year's chunin!" The third Hokage shouted over the roaring crowd. All of the finalists knelt before him, anticipation and nervousness shaking them to the core.

"Temari of the sand!" The crowd cheered and approval, "You fought in spite of the loss you suffered today, and you never gave up. I am pleased to have someone like you joining the ranks of the Sand Village chunin!"

Temari excepted her vest in great shock. More tears welled in her eyes, and she looked back and forth until a smiling Shikamaru caught her eye. He nodded at her, and she bowed to the Hokage.

"Thank you so much, Lord Hokage."

The Hokage smiled as Temari stepped down.

"Shikamaru Nara!"

"Yeah Shikamaru!" Ino screamed from the crowd.

"You not only showed expert strategy in today's battle, but you also showed mercy... a truly admirable trait in a shinobi of my village."

Shikamaru bowed and took the vest.

"Thank you Lord Hokage." He said, artificial apathy failing to hid his happiness.

"Shino Aburame!" The crowd cheered, but Shino remained kneeling, "Shino, accept your vest."

"I'm sorry Lord Hokage... but I lost poorly... why do I deserve to be a chunin?"

"Without you, Naruto might never have won, you weakened Sasuke substantially before the final battle. Your enemy lost regardless of your defeat. However in a real battle you might not be lucky enough to have a finisher like Naruto... so be more careful next time."

Shino nodded thankfully and took the vest, tear drops slipped out from behind is sunglasses.

"Sasuke Uchiha!" The crowd cheered as Sasuke stepped up, "I'm afraid that I don't have enough time to praise you my boy... your entire clan would be proud of what you did today."

Sasuke nodded, and took a deep breath, holding back sobs as he took the vest.

"Thank you!" He said. He was so proud of what the Hokage said, he didn't think once about is brother the entire day.

"Last, but certainly not least... the ultimate winner of the Chunin Exams, Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto didn't hear the crowd scream, he didn't hear the Hokage speak, the only thing he heard was the beating of his heart, and the sound of his body-shaking sobs.

"Or should I say Naruto Namikaze! After all, you know the truth now."

Naruto looked into the eyes of Sarutobi.

"You are your father's son Naruto... and now you are a chunin. One step closer to Hokage my boy..."

Naruto accepted the vest, and looked around desperately.

"Thank you... thank you so much..."

"It's not illegal to celebrate son." The Hokage said, smiling.

Naruto nodded, then jumped into the air. He joyful yell was heard all across the village.

The end! See you all this December!