Elemental

Chapter Nineteen

Author's Note: Guys we are sooooo close!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Inuyasha.

When Kagome awoke it was the break of dawn. She hadn't remembered falling asleep. Turning to her side, aqua colored eyes connected to hers. "I don't sleep." He stated. He stood up, walking towards her and pulling her to her feet. "You are the Uchiha's, correct?" Kagome tilted her head. "I am his girlfriend, if that's what you're asking." Gaara gave a low hum.

"Yet, his scent is not on you. Why is that?" Kagome tensed. "He's been training, I haven't seen him lately." Gaara looked at her. "Hn. It'd be best for you to return home." he paused. "Be careful during the exam." Kagome gave him a weird look before he vanished in a swirl of sand.

Running a hand through her hair, she wondered how worried Sesshomaru had been. Probably just thought she had trained too late as he hadn't come looking for her. Looking down to the spot where Gaara stood, she had to at least give the guy props; he hadn't left her when she'd fallen asleep, instead he looked after her. Well, more like watched her, but same thing right?

Kagome stared at the vial in her hand. It was a special one, infused with her yokai. In the vial was some of her acid. She wasn't planing on using Kaname, which was why she had put the acid in the vials. She had come up with this idea while training for the exams. The acid would serve as a distraction, or as a way to win if that was her last resort. She had a few more in her weapons pouch.

Shaking her head, she placed the vial into the pouch before jumping onto a nearby building. She had to get to the arena; that's where the exams were being held. It didn't take her long at all, but she must have been a bit early because the only people there so far were Team Baki, Sango, and Shikamaru. She also noticed that Genma was now the proctor. Shikamaru gave her an awkward nod. "Glad to see you're alive." he said in a bored tone, though his eyes showed how worried he was.

"We were on the roof you know. And all we did was talk." Kagome drawled. Shikamaru's eyes widened before a smirk touched his lips. "Leave it to Kagome Taisho to make friends with someone like that." Sango chose that moment to come into the conversation. "Someone like what?" Kagome smiled at her while Shikamaru looked at her, suspicious. "Gaara, the red head over there." Kagome supplied.

"He's a jinchuriki. But his life has been harder, and I'm willing to bet whoever sealed him didn't understand what he was doing, otherwise Gaara would have probably ended up better." Kagome mused, her eyes connecting with the boy in question. "I just think he's crazy." Shikamaru's voice broke through. Sango and Kagome gave him a dry stare. "What? The kid has no remorse for death!" he said, defending his statement.

"That's probably because he's had to kill to survive..." Sango trailed off. Both leaf ninja nodded at her words. Shino and Kanna showed up within the next couple of minutes, and Kagome eyed her opponent. The girl looked to be 10, but she wouldn't judge by her appearance. Now they just had to wait for everyone else to show up.

20 minutes passed and so far the only people missing were Naruto, Sasuke, and Dosu. Just as they were about to start the exam, Naruto came flying through the entrance, skidding to a halt. Both Shikamaru and Kagome helped him up. "Way to make an entrance, Naruto." Shikamaru drawled. Naruto gave a sheepish grin before taking his place next to Kagome.

The genin looked to the Hokage as he made a speech. After he was done, Kagome looked in the direction of Sakura, seeing Sesshomaru sitting just behind her. He gave her a smirk and she smiled back. "Hey, what's gonna happen to Sasuke if he's not here?" Naruto asked. Genma sighed. "If the genin is not here by the time his name is called, he will automatically forfeit the match."

Kagome frowned. But hey, their rules. Speaking of their rules..."This match is just like the others in the way that there are no rules. The match continues until on candidate admits defeat, is unconscious, or dies." Genma smirked. "The first match will be between Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuuga. The rest of you may take a seat up there."

Kagome wished the blond a quick good luck before running to meet where her friends were. Sakura gave her a questioning look as if to ask where Sasuke was. Kagome merely shrugged. She didn't know either. Throughout the crowd murmurs of Naruto and Neji were spoken. Most of them about him not having a chance. Grabbing Sakura's hand, she gave a gentle squeeze. "Hey, just wait. Naruto will prove them all wrong." Sakura grinned at that.

Neji and Naruto looks. They both took stances before Genma announced the start of the match. The crowd fell silent, and Kagome could finally make out what was happening. Naruto threw kunai at Neji, who merely caught them and threw them aside. Naruto began to run at him, aiming for a punch, but Neji's hand maneuvered Naruto's body so he would miss him.

Naruto quickly regained his footing, jumping from the ground to aim another punch at the Hyuuga's head. Neji dodged to the side, unfazed. Naruto began to throw a series of punches and kicks at Neji, all of which were blocked before he pushed his hand in the middle of Naruto's chest. Naruto coughed but got up again to attack. This time Neji hit him on the shoulder, causing the boy to fall.

"See," Neji began. "You have no way to beat me." Naruto laughed. "Nah, I was just checking you out is all." Neji's eyes narrowed as Naruto stood up. "Okay, now that we're warmed up we can get started!" Naruto shouted, quickly making a hand-sign. "Shadow clone jutsu!" Four Naruto clones appeared beside him. Neji smirked. "No matter, you can't hide for long." The Naruto's laughed. "Well we'll just see about that!"

The four Naruto's ran at Neji. However, the boy merely flipped over them before maneuvering the two other clones away from him as he had done with Naruto. Neji was prepared for the kick that the real Naruto sent, flipping back. "Not bad," Naruto admitted. "But let's see you do that again!" Two of the clones began to run at Neji. Without missing a beat, Neji spun in the air, kicking both clones in the heads and causing them to poof away.

The two other clones ran at him from behind only for Neji to smack the kunai from their hands. The clones quickly turned around only to be smacked in the middle of their chests, causing them too to poof away. "You thought you could be Hokage? It's absurd, never." Neji said, smirking at him. Naruto started growling. "These eyes of mine show me many things." Neji began.

"One thing they've shown me is that people's limitations are set, fixed, and unchangeable. Only a fool wastes his time trying to become something he can never be." Naruto glared at him. "A fool, huh? Not this crap again. Who are you to judge a person on who they can and can't be?" Neji chuckled. "You think anyone can be Hokage? All it takes is a little hard work?" Naruto lost his resolve for a second before gaining it back.

"Open your eyes. Of all the shinobi in the world, think how few of them become Hokage. They were born destined to be Hokage. It's not something you become by merely trying. They were chosen by destiny. There is only one destiny we all share equally; death." Naruto struck his hand out. "Fine, you can think that way if you want. People always tell me I just don't know when to give up!" with his little speech done, he once again made shadow clones, except instead of four, there were at least a dozen.

The clones began to attack Neji, trying and failing to land a hit. Neji smirked, running in between the clones before shoving the tip of his hand over the heart of who he believed was the real Naruto. Naruto fell to the ground, Neji standing above him with a smirk. Clones began to poof away all around him. "I told you it was pointless." Neji stated. Naruto began to laugh. "Oh yeah, and I told you it was a mistake to count me out!" he shouted, poofing away, revealing that he was also a clone. Neji stepped back in surprise.

Two Naruto's jumped him form behind, intending to land a hit. However, Neji used a chakra shielded to blast him back. One of them poofed away. "Hah, did you really think you'd won?" Neji said. Naruto stood up from the ground. "We'll see about that!" he shouted, making more clones. The clones all ran at him only to be blasted back. "This is the end for you." Neji stated. "You're in range, and you can't escape my eight trigrams."

Neji smirked, getting into stance before running at Naruto, his hands connecting with various places on his body. Naruto flew back, and the crowd was silent. Genma slowly walked towards them. "Looks like it's over." he stated. Neji stared at the blond with disdain. "I have now struck all sixty-four of your chakra points. You're lucky to even be breathing."

Naruto shook on the ground. "Well, it must be utterly frustrating knowing that this little dream of yours was for nothing. You thought you could succeed through hard work alone, but that's only an illusion." Sakura sighed, watching Naruto. Kagome squeezed her hand a bit, causing the girl to look at her. "Watch." she whispered. Naruto began to slowly get up.

"No way." he said. Neji gasped. "Heh, I told you; I just don't know when to give up." Neji began to talk about the Hyuuga heritage and the differences between the main branch and the rest of the family. The crowd seemed to be paying attention, except for Kagome. She'd known about the ritual long before. Nothing was kept a secret for too long in Konoha.

She heard Kiba's voice and made her way to investigate. By the time she had gotten to where her cousin was, she found him and Akamaru unconscious on the walkway behind the seats, Hinata beside him. Sniffing the air, she recognized another scent with their's; Kabuto's. She knelled down, gently slapping her cousin's face in an attempt to wake him up. It didn't work and she growled back in her throat.

In a moment of pure inu, she licked the side of his face. Kiba stirred, opening his eyes to see Kagome starring at him. "Wah..." he groaned, rubbing his slightly wet cheek. "Why is my cheek wet?" he asked. Kagome shrugged innocently, and Kiba blew it off. Tucking Akamaru into his jacket, he carefully picked up Hinata and brought her back to their seats. Kagome twitched. Was he not even gonna ask how he got to the walkway? Man he was dumb.

She made her way back to her seat, but stopped next to Sesshomaru. "Tou-san, I think there's something weird going on." she whispered. He tensed, but nodded. She sighed, knowing that that was probably going to be the only thing she got out of him. Taking her seat, she looked towards the battle. The rise of Kyuubi's chakra began to flood the arena. She could briefly make out the red wisps started to surround Naruto's body. The strength of it made her fangs and claws to grow and the markings on her face get bolder, but she held herself back. Sesshomaru watched in interest behind her, marveling at his daughter's quick control over her beast, however small it may be.

Naruto began to quickly run around Neji, throwing weapons and such but never landing. "So I hear you like close combat, huh?" Naruto growled before running at him. There was a big explosion as Naruto's and Neji's weapons clashed. When the dust cleared, it showed two body sized holes. The crowd waited with baited breath. A hand struck out of one of the holes, then a head, revealing it was Neji.

The genin shook the dirt off of him before walking to the hole that had Naruto. "See..." he rasped. "I told you. You're a failure. This match is over." Neji stated. The ground beneath him suddenly crumbled and Naruto shot up from it, sending a punch towards Neji's jaw. It connected, sending the Hyuuga boy fling back and landing on his back.

"I can't move!" Neji shouted, blood dribbling down his lip. Naruto started walking towards Neji's form. "For the record, I failed the graduation exam three times because there was this one jutsu always on the exam that I just couldn't figure out; that I just couldn't master." With each word, Neji's eyes got bigger. "My clones were pathetic. That's right, I flunked that jutsu every time. So don't come whining to me with that destiny stuff, because quite frankly," Naruto spit out blood to the side. "It's straight up bullshit."

With that said, Naruto began to walk towards the direction of the stairs. Genma looked between both boys, a smirk on his face. "I declare this match over. The winner is Naruto Uzumaki!" The crowd blew up in cheers.

Author's Note: Good lord, I didn't expect this chapter to take so long. I wasn't going to do the full Naruto/Neji fight, but I figured I would since no one else ever does it, and if they do it's rare. But like before, 10 reviews for the next chapter out ASAP!