By the time it was for finals, Team 7 was definitely ready for combat. Their speed picked up by ten seconds every time they pictured a Gai behind them. Due to all the weights Gai had put on them, they were in tip top shape and ready to go.

"Hey, I don't see that sound dude." Naruto looked around.

"Hmph, probably dropped out or something." Sasuke huffed. "Is this changing our order?"

"It is." Genma answered him. "Check your matches everyone." He held up a piece of paper.

1. Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyuuga Neji

2. Aburame Shino vs. Haruno Sakura

3. Kankuro vs. Nara Shikamaru

4. Temari vs. Winner of 3

5. Gaara vs. Uchiha Sasuke

"Alright! Time to kick some ass!" Naruto cracked his knuckles.

"How troublesome. I have to fight again." Shikamaru yawned. Up in the stands, Ino and Chouji cheered for their friend.

"Shikamaru! You can do it!"

Said person just yawned again. "Dorks."

Atop the Hokage box, the Kazekage arrived and sat down. "Ah, my good Kazekage-dono! It's good to see you," the Hokage greeted amiably.

The Kazekage, or Orochimaru in disguise, grinned darkly under his veil. "Yes, Hokage. I hear there are many good candidates amongst this year's Genin."

The Hokage laughed, appearing modest. "Oh no. I hear the fiercest team was from Sunagakure."

"I hear there was another team evenly matched with our Gaara." Orochimaru licked his lips underneath his veil. "I hear it has the last Uchiha..?"

Sarutobi heard the hint. Another idiot who sees the Uchiha name and not Sasuke himself. If people knew half of what Sasuke and his team is really like they'll all run away. "Ah, yes, Sasuke's team has made it all to the finals."

"No need to be so modest, Hokage-dono. We're friends, aren't we?" Pseudo Kazekage's gleeful mood was dampening at the sight of the old geezer. Why couldn't that old man roll over and die? It was all so very annoying...

"Okay everyone, the matches are starting now. Hyuuga Neji and Uzumaki Naruto, you guys are first." Genma motioned everyone up the stairs. "The rules are the same as before."

"Hey you! I remember you, you're that pretty boy who beat up Hinata!" Naruto pointed. "I also remember promising to give you a knuckle sandwich."

Neji scoffed. "Hmph. Those who are born failures, will remain failures. The chances of you giving me a knuckle sandwich is in single digits."

"So you don't deny the pretty boy part?" Naruto asked curiously.

Neji pointed his chin into the air. "It is the truth that those of the Hyuuga clan, branch or main, are blessed with near divine beauty, almost ethereal, to match our skill. See, unlike failures, I was born as a genius, and I will remain superior to you in every way possible. Including looks."

"Hey I resent that! I think I'm pretty good looking myself!" Naruto huffed. "I have three secret admirers who follow me around."

"I have five."

"Actually, I have ten."

"Fifteen."

"I bet your teacher's part of the group too, isn't he?" Naruto cackled. "He must be so happy about his student's 'youthful' pride in his 'beauty'."

Neji grimaced. "Silence! I will not have you dirty my-"

"Um, can we please start?" Genma interrupted. "I think the audience is getting restless."

True enough, people began throwing things at the blonde. "Hey! Why just me?"

"Failures, will always, be failures." Neji rushed towards the blonde in a Jyuuken stance. Seeing things coming, Naruto plucked the incoming trash out of the air and charged them with chakra. Thanks to the intense Y-O-U-T-H training he had gone through the last week, he was faster than ever.

"Come on, lover boy!" Naruto dodged the first strike, aimed at his sternum, turned, twisted, jumped and threw the chakra powered soda cans down at the Hyuuga. Neji dodged and parried them all, but the superpowered aluminum left dents in the ground on impact.

Not waiting for a backlash, Naruto pulled out a few kunai, and hurled them as Neji was preoccupied with the soda cans. Using the momentary time advantage that gave him, he leaped back several meters. Neji, finished with dodging the kunai, looked up with a smirk. "Is that all?"

"Not yet!" Naruto ran a wide half circle around Neji and pulled out more kunai and shuriken, and threw them. Neji moved gracefully, every step matching Naruto's. He parried everything with a kaiten, drawing surprised gasps from the entire crowd. Naruto continued, running around Neji, until weapons dotted the other half of the field Neji was standing.

"What the hell is that idiot doing?" Kiba wondered, annoyed. "He's just randomly throwing weapons at the Hyuuga. It's not gonna hit anyway."

Shikamaru, standing by the rails, was thinking the same question, until one possibility came to mind. Could it be? Naw, Naruto's not that smart...

"That idiot better not use everything." Sasuke said irritably. "I helped too!"

"I wonder if it's against the rules," Sakura mused. "Because technically, the match didn't start yet."

"What are you guys talking about?" Shino asked.

"Your aim is terrible." Neji taunted. "But what can I expect from a failure."

Naruto grinned. He shifted back up to a normal standing position. "It's over."

Neji frowned. "I fail to see your point."

Naruto made a handseal, and bright lights lit up all around Neji. "This is what I mean."

There was a huge crash, and a battered Neji stumbled out of the exploding zone, only to step onto a shuriken. He shrieked, and on instinct stepped away to a clearer area, only to be encircled by another white array of seals and blown up. This time, he was ready for it, and tried to escape by jumping to the side.

"Not so fast!" Naruto made more handseals. More seals lit up in a circle around the Hyuuga. This time, the kunai surrounding the boy lifted into the air, and flashed around, approaching at a deadly rate. However, Neji wasn't called a genius for nothing. Bending down, he outstretched his arms to his sides. "You won't defeat me. Hakke Rokujuyon Sho!" Instead of fingers thrusting into tenketsu, he used the technique to beat down the relentless amount of weapons charging towards him.

"Ho, that boy can use that technique? And to improvise in its usage.." Sarutobi made a note in his book as he watched the battle. He was infinitely impressed. Mostly because of Naruto's deceptiveness and trapping skills. And partly because of the Hyuuga's ability to lesson the damage, despite the circumstances.

"Thank you for doing that" Naruto made another hand seal, and this time, a box surrounding the previous seal circle appeared. Neji, still in the midst of his technique, couldn't do anything, let alone dodge this last attack. "Blast." The square seal array glowed bright, and all metal weapons, including the metal in Neji's own holster, exploded into tiny shrapnel.

The entire stadium was quiet. The only sound was the shifting sound of the smoke coming from Neji's half of the field. Naruto stood still, waiting.

To everyone's immense surprise, Neji staggered out of the smoke, covered in wounds and abrasions, with a piece of metal stuck in one leg. "You..you haven't beaten me yet..I can't lose..not when I still have to prove..."

"Prove what?" Naruto's apathetic tone rang throughout. "Prove that the branch family is better than the main family? Doesn't that go against your belief that people are born the way they are, and can never change? You are a hypocrite."

"No. That's not what I...the main family...they killed my father. They made me into a caged bird. Look!" Neji lifted a trembling hand and pulled off his hitai-ate. "I am nothing but a slave to the main family. This is the destiny I was born into, and it will not change."

"But you're fighting against it now. I can tell. All your blows, all your anger, is not directed at me, but at the segregation of your family! If you really feel like you've been done wrong, stand up for your beliefs and stick it out like a true hero!" Naruto's apathetic tone rose to a heated one. "There's already plenty of people who are too pansy to not do anything about their pitiful selves, you know. You're saying one thing but you're behavior says another. Stop this madness and be true to your heart!"

In the stands, Sasuke and Sakura picked up on the cue and began singing "True To Your Heart."

Naruto paused mid speech, and waved a frustrated hand over at his teammates. "Not the beginning parts! Just the chorus! None of that 'I'm your destiny'! I don't wanna be this guy's destiny!"

Neji was flabbergasted, but he was nonetheless very inspired. "Naruto, you are a great man."

Naruto turned back to his opponent and flashed a wide smile. "This is Uzumaki Naruto, member of Team Badass, future Hokage! Great match, Neji."

Neji gave one last weak smile, more like a grimace due to his pain, then fell unconscious.

Genma cleared his throat, then announced, "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto."

The stadium burst into an explosion of cheers. Naruto, shocked out of his stupor, looked around in wonder. He'd never had anyone other than Iruka, Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura, and the old man cheering for him. It was a novel experience. Somewhere deep in his gut he wanted to start crying, but that would be going beyond even the laws of melodrama, and so Naruto refrained.

All he did was blow thousands of kisses at the audience and scream "FUTURE Hokage! OH YEAH! OH YEAH!" until Genma dragged off the field.

"Hey, how did you do that? I didn't see you making any markings on the ground during the match." Shikamaru asked Naruto the moment the blonde walked up the stairs.

"Oh that," Naruto grinned. "Sakura, Sasuke and I drew seals around here the day before, at 3 am. And today, we were drawing more seals with our feet. But shhh, don't tell anyone, okay? It might be against the rules to set things up before hand."

Shikamaru grinned. "Gotcha. Is there any way I can use those seals too?"

"Sorry mate," Naruto apologized. "We didn't incorporate your chakra into the seal. And to be frank, you're not the one who woke up at the crack of dawn to make those things..."

Shikamaru sighed. It seemed every easy way to end a match quickly involved more work beforehand. And that was just too troublesome to do. Even if it meant it got easier later on. "Never mind then. Thanks."

Genma spoke from the bottom of the field. "Okay. The next contestants, Aburame Shino and Haruno Sakura, please come down."

"My turn," Sakura cracked her knuckles with a evil grin while Shino merely shuffled his way downstairs. "Watch me shine, boys."

"We'll be cheering for you, always." Naruto and Sasuke cheered. "And remember, our objective isn't to win, it's to be promoted so we won't have to do any more D-ranks. Impress the old man as much as you can with strategy. Why do you think Naruto refrained from using his other skills and opted for cornering Neji instead?" Sasuke lectured.

"I got it, I got it," Sakura jumped down from the railing, landing softly at the bottom. "Hello, Shino. Looks like I'm your opponent."

Shino regarded her coolly. "Hello Sakura. Let this be a good match."

To this Sakura just grinned maniacally.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~      

In another part of the stadium, Hinata clutched her fluttering heart. Oh no, Naruto has 9 other admirers? What should I do?