Sasuke was carried away on a stretcher. Kakashi, casting a brief, serious glance at Naruto, followed them. He had a difficult task ahead—applying the Evil Sealing Method while the Uchiha's body was unconscious.
Anko went with them—she was the only one who could assist with suppressing the Seal.
Naruto remained alone in the arena.
The silence in the hall began to give way to whispers. Genin, Jonin, proctors—everyone was looking at him. There was no disdain in their gazes. There was fear. There was respect. And there was the question: "Who is he?"
Naruto paid them no attention. He turned and slowly climbed the stairs to the balcony.
When he approached the railing, the crowd of Genin instinctively parted, creating an empty space around him. Kiba averted his eyes, Shino adjusted his glasses, Neji Hyuga narrowed his white eyes, scanning the blonde.
Naruto stood next to Hinata.
"Attention to the screen!" announced Hayate Gekkō, breaking the tension.
Names flickered again.
NEJI HYUGA vs HINATA HYUGA
Hinata flinched as if struck. Her face, already pale, turned white as chalk.
"Fate..." whispered Neji, standing nearby. He looked at his cousin with a gaze full of cold contempt. "You shouldn't have come here, Hinata-sama. This place is not for the likes of you."
Hinata shrank, lowering her head. Old traumas, fear of the clan genius, years of humiliation—it all crashed down on her at once.
She took a step toward the stairs, but her legs were trembling.
"Give up," Neji continued to press, not even raising his voice. "You are trembling. You know yourself that you cannot win. People don't change. A failure will always remain a failure."
Hinata froze. Her cousin's words hit the mark, paralyzing her will.
"Hinata."
The voice sounded quiet, right above her ear. It was a calm, firm baritone.
She looked up. Naruto stood beside her, looking not at her, but down at the arena.
"Believe in yourself," he said. "You are stronger than you think."
Hinata blinked. She couldn't find words to answer.
"You know it yourself," Naruto continued, turning his head slightly toward her. In his blue eyes was a confidence he was sharing with her. "You know that 'fate' is just a word people use to justify their inaction. You are not a victim, Hinata. Show him your will."
His words, reinforced by a barely perceptible pulse of warm Qi, acted like medicine.
The trembling stopped.
Hinata straightened up. A light appeared in her pearlescent eyes that hadn't been there before.
"Yes... Naruto-kun."
She descended into the arena. Neji frowned. He expected to see a broken doll, but before him stood a Kunoichi in a perfect Gentle Fist stance.
"Begin!"
The fight began.
And it wasn't the fight Neji expected.
Hinata wasn't defending. She was attacking. Her movements were fluid, fast. She used flexibility to evade her cousin's harsh strikes.
Neji was stronger. His Byakugan saw more, his strikes were more precise. But Hinata... she didn't give up. Every time he knocked her back, she got up. Every time he told her she was weak, she silently attacked again.
She wasn't fighting to defeat a genius. She was fighting to prove to him—the guy on the balcony—that she could overcome fate too.
"Enough!" Neji barked, losing his composure.
His strikes became harder. He began hitting tenketsu, closing chakra points.
Hinata fell, coughing blood. Her arms went numb. Her heart skipped a beat.
"You have reached your limit," Neji stated coldly, walking toward her. "I told you. A failure cannot change their nature."
Hinata, staggering, rose to her feet. She was breathing heavily, but her gaze was clear.
"You are mistaken, brother," she whispered with split lips. "A failure... is someone who gives up without even trying. I... I see what you don't. I see the Path."
These words, an echo of an opposing philosophy, were the last straw for Neji's pride. His face contorted with rage. He saw in her not a weak cousin, but a threat to his worldview.
"Silence!" he roared.
Pure Killing Intent flared in his eyes. He forgot about the exam. Forgot about the rules. He wanted to destroy this mirror reflecting his own insecurity.
Neji surged forward. His fingers formed for a killing blow.
Target—the heart.
A full-force Gentle Fist strike to this point would stop the heart. It was instant murder.
"No!" Sakura screamed from the balcony.
Jonin reacted. Guy, Kurenai, Hayate—they all rushed from their spots. They were fast.
But Naruto was a step ahead.
He didn't just react to movement. His Qi Sensory caught the spike of Neji's killing intent before the Hyuga's muscles began to contract.
Naruto didn't jump. He simply stepped over the railing and let gravity and Qi acceleration do their work.
He fell downward like a black bolt of lightning, absolutely silent.
Neji was centimeters from Hinata's chest. His face triumphant.
CLAP.
The sound was sharp, dry.
Neji's hand stopped.
He froze, his fingers, charged with chakra, trembling near his cousin's heart.
His wrist was gripped by a hand.
Naruto stood between them. He had landed so softly that not even dust rose. His face was calm, but arctic cold raged in his eyes.
Neji tried to wrench his hand free, but Uzumaki's grip was iron. Qi Reinforcement in the fingers turned the hold into a vice.
"What?.." Neji exhaled. His Byakugan pulsed, staring at Naruto.
He saw it. The "chakra" enveloping Naruto's hand. It was... strange, dense. So dense it suppressed his own Gentle Fist defense.
Guy and Kurenai landed nearby a moment later, but they were no longer needed.
Naruto squeezed Neji's wrist a little harder, making the genius grimace from bone pain. He threw the Hyuga's hand aside as if it were trash.
"The fight is over, Neji," Naruto said. His voice in the silence of the hall sounded like a verdict. "You won this match. But as a brother... you lost."
Neji recoiled as if slapped. He looked at Naruto, at Hinata, at the Jonin looking at him with condemnation.
He realized what he had just attempted to do.
"Winner—Neji Hyuga!" Hayate announced, but there was no triumph in his voice.
Naruto didn't look at the winner. He turned to Hinata.
She stood holding her heart, looking at him. Tears stood in her eyes, but she was smiling.
"I... I didn't give up... Naruto-kun..."
"You were magnificent," he said quietly.
Hinata swayed. Her legs gave out.
Naruto caught her in his arms, not letting her fall. She was light, almost weightless.
"Medic!" he threw out shortly, looking at Hayate.
He carried her to the edge of the arena, where a team with a stretcher was already waiting. Kurenai approached them, looking at Naruto with unconcealed surprise and gratitude.
"Thank you, Naruto," she said. "I'll take her."
Naruto carefully handed Hinata to her Sensei. Before she was carried away, he touched her shoulder for a second, sending a short, calming pulse of his Qi to stabilize her erratic heart rhythm.
"Rest," he told her softly.
He straightened up and looked at the balcony. There, in the shadows, stood Gaara. His sand armor crumbled and reformed, and his eyes burned with mad interest. He was looking only at the Jinchūriki.
Naruto met his gaze.
Did he sense the Fox in me too? raced through the blonde's head.