The Real Me

42

Finally it had begun.

Naruto's great escape.

And right off the bat the commentator announced "AND THE FIRST MATCH IS BETWEEN, NEJI HYUGA AND NARUTO UZUMAKI!"
The crowd cheered and then the murmuring started. They were now placing bets.
Naruto's sharp ears caught a few conversations,
"Neji Hyuga will win for sure."
"That blond doesn't stand a chance."
"This is gonna be interesting..."
"What if that Naruto does win? Imma bet on him. This is going to be interesting.."
"Neji Hyuga belongs to the Hyuga clan right....?"

Naruto was quite surprised to hear a few people from other villages placing a bet on him. He grinned.

Let's beat him to pulp.

He entered the arena and waved at the crowd which sort of cheered. It was hard to make out the different things.

The commentator told them to start but none of them made the first move. They circled each other slowly staring into each other's eyes. Naruto noted Neji's stance. It was similar to Hinata's but definitely more precise and perfect. He remembered how Neji had almost killed Hinata with a palm to her heart and made a mental note to maintain distance from him.

And then he spoke.
"Surrender already Uzumaki."

Naruto raised his brows.
"You know you can't win. Just surrender before I'm forced to fatally injure you."

Naruto couldn't contain his smile now. He stopped circling and grinned.

"Try me." He said. Neji narrowed his eyes and took his stance. "Eight Trigrams thirty six palms." With that, he noted Naruto was in his range and began his attacks. He ran towards him and attacked in a flurry.
Naruto was unable to avoid it. It was too fast and too accurate. With every touch a chakra point extinguished and Naruto fell down.
Neji stood over him and smirked.
"This is your destiny. You cannot escape it."

"What's my destiny?"
Neji whirled around and saw Naruto casually leaning under a tree.

"What-" he then realised that the Naruto he had just defeated was actually a clone. He cursed as Naruto laughed and tsked at him.

"You were so caught up in your stance that you didn't even notice my clone. So much for your Byakugan."
Neji scowled at the blond who grinned at him. This is not what he had heard from Rock Lee and the genins. This was supposed to be the failure of their batch. But Neji couldn't help but notice that he had more chakra than most and it flowed much more smoothly and efficiently than others. He had amazing control over his chakra.

He saw Naruto remove a scroll and place it on the ground. Just like Tenten he summoned a katana from the scroll.
"My chance." He called out and rushed at Neji.

He ran upto the Hyuga and then jumped up in the air, twisting his body and releasing a powerful wind jutsu.
The crowd was shocked. But the genins in the waiting room were even more shocked. Since when had Naruto been able to do wind jutsus?Where did he get that katana from?

"Did you know about this?" Shino asked Shikamaru who shook his head.
The Sand Siblings were quite surprised.
"He uses wind jutsus." Kankuro pointed.
"I know." Temari replied.
"It's on your level but he does it with a Katana." He said again.
"I know." Temari said frowning. They had not expected this. She glanced at Gaara who was grim a few moments ago, but now she saw the ghost of a smile on his face.

Neji would have been gone for sure if it wasn't for Tenten. He thanked her mentally and evaded it by using Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation.

When he stopped he saw a very pleased Naruto.
"You're really good at this huh."
Neji scowled in response.
"What did you say about my destiny?" Naruto asked in a cold voice.
"You can't escape it. You will always be an outcast."

Naruto ran at his and slashed at him. Neji dodged and used Gentle Fist at him and struck a point below his stomach. But Naruto kept slashing. It wasn't as accurate as Tenten's attacks so Neji was able to dodge it and he was able to strike several other chakra points as well.

Then Naruto jumped back. He muttered something and Neji's Byakugan widened. It was as if a different chakra was flowing through the blond now. All his deactivated chakra points burned back to life. This wasn't normal chakra.

Neji took a step back in precaution.

Naruto jumped up and created a dome of Narutos using Shadow Clone Jutsu.
That attack again. Neji thought and got ready to use his rotation.
All the Narutos slashed their Katanas in mid-air launching a powerful slash of air. Neji used his rotation to deflect thoses attacks but even through it, he could feel the power and intensity of it.

He stopped it to be met with a powerful punch from the blond.

"What-" he began, but without a word Naruto skillfully gripped the Hyuga's wrist and slowly crushed them. He wouldn't break it of course, just stalling time. He looked into the wide Byakugans and whispered. "This is my destiny."

He headbutted the Hyuga and as he fell down gave him a perfect roundhouse kick that he had learnt from Keito.

The crowd gasped as Neji was sent flying.

Naruto didn't bother going to help him and Instead went and picked up his Katana.
His precious sword. It gleamed under the sun.

Naruto smiled and returned it to its scroll and then turned to face Neji.

He wasn't interested in associating with this arrogant elite bastard, he was just like Sasuke but Naruto couldn't resist it.  He walked upto the Hyuga who was slowly getting up. The crowd waited to see if he could actually continue the fight.
Naruto held out a hand which Neji glared at.
"You make your own destiny. " Naruto simply told him, enjoying the look on the Hyuga's face.

"AND THE WINNER IS NARUTO UZUMAKI! WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED??!!" the commentator announced.

Neji had taken his hand and Naruto had helped him up. Neji smiled and accepted his defeat.
If such a failure could beat a genius like him just by believing that he could make his own destiny, why couldn't he?

The crowd roared as Naruto waved at them.

He caught sight of the shocked faces in the stands. He had some explanation to do... Time to come up with lies.
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A/N:

Hey y'all.
Sorry for late update, loads of schoolwork and all.
I wanted to make his fight with Neji a bit interesting though I think I wasn't able to "convert" Neji as smoothly as the canon. So...yea.

Anyways, Demon Slayer/Kimetsu no Yaiba is epic af.

And,
Vote, comment, share and follow!

Yours truly,
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