Let It Burn: Birth [Sasuke Uchiha]

Chapter 22

As the Genin made their way towards the designated room, Mai glanced over a shoulder to make eye contact with Naruto. The knucklehead gave her a grin and a thumb up causing the girl to smirk slightly in reply. No matter how hard his opponent may be, he was always up for the challenge. Turning away her head shook, muttering,

"You're going to be just fine."

The crowd had settled down to a low murmur as the ninjas faced one another. Genma exchanged a few words between the opponents before shouting,

"The first fight! Begin!"

There was a standoff. The two sized each other up before Naruto made a hand sign first. Five copies of himself stood at the ready, weapons in hand. They attacked in a pattern to catch the Hyuuga off guard. But Neji was fast. He evaded each move and even use some of the clones to his advantage to jump over the attacks. The Genins that watched from the waiting area were in shock as the clones were forced back.

"That's the Byakugan," Mai muttered under her breath.

"Oh man," Shikamaru groaned beside her.

She remembered Belva talking about it in one of the lessons. Along with other clan techniques from the ninjas she could be facing. It was universal information, but useful all the same so she received a better explanation. That way she wasn't going in completely blind. The Hyuuga Clan could see chakra once activated. Which would be difficult for her to go up against if they both made it through to the next rounds and were forced to fight.

By watching the match though, Mai guessed that Neji could not clearly pinpoint which one was the real Naruto. The knucklehead managed to learn control how to properly distribute his chakra amongst the clones evenly. It forced Neji to redirect every clone that came at him. He couldn't be too careful.

"Good job, Naruto," Mai mused.

"You can't become Hokage," Neji spoke up. "Look at the big picture. Only a handful could even hope to be chosen. Look closer at reality! Those who become Hokage are born into that destiny. You don't become it by trying. It is decided by destiny. People must live within their own unchangeable flow. Only one... the only destiny that every person shares is death."

"So what!" Naruto shot back. "I'm not good at giving up!"

There were a few dozen clones now facing the unphased Hyuuga.

"I'm not stupid. I already see through your attack pattern."

"I told you to stop automatically deciding things!"

Naruto couldn't catch him, even with the additional numbers. But this time, his opponent didn't bother with engaging. Merely defended in order to push forward. Eventually, the Hyuuga found his target. He was on the outskirts of the assault. Neji's fingers pressed together and lunged to jab the digits into Maruto's gut roughly. All of the clones disappeared in a puff of smoke, and the crowd watched on the edge of their seats as blood spat from the Genin's mouth. He hunched over the hand in an attempt to hold himself up.

"You're the real one," Neji stated.

Pulling away, the knucklehead staggered, an arm clutching at the wound.

"That's why I told you it was useless."

"That's why..." Naruto breathed out.

Slowly, his head drifted up with a smirk. The emotion startled the opponent. How could he still be so confident in this situation?

"I told you... to stop automatically deciding things."

Naruto vanished. It had been another clone.

"Ha, ha!" Mai laughed. Her hands gripped the railing as Neji whirled around to see two Naruto's rush in. "Go Naruto!"