The match didn't start right away.
Uzumaki Naruto and Hyūga Neji stood facing each other, neither moving.
"This is it," Naruto said, staring straight at Neji. "I'm definitely beating you today."
Neji scoffed. "You? I remember you. Bottom of the class. Lots of stamina, zero technique. A failure like you can't beat me."
Even as he spoke, Neji slipped into the Hyūga clan's opening stance. He wasn't stupid. He had seen Naruto fight before. Underestimating him would be a mistake.
Naruto grinned and jabbed a thumb at his chest. "Maybe. But I promised Hinata I'd win."
Then his smile widened.
"And my best quality is this. I always keep my word, dattebayo."
The next moment, he moved.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Neji frowned.
Every clone had chakra. Real circulation. Real flow. Even with the Byakugan, there was no clean way to tell the original apart.
Then Naruto and the clones formed hand seals again.
Wind Release. Gale Palm.
Neji reacted fast, shuriken flashing as he shattered several clones. But it wasn't enough. Naruto and the remaining clones unleashed Gale Palm together.
Tōma smiled faintly.
That opening was a nightmare to deal with. One seal, dozens of clones, all firing at once. Almost impossible to interrupt.
Wrapped in compressed wind, the clones rushed Neji.
Neji dodged Naruto's charge with ease and struck back, fingers flashing toward chakra points.
Then his expression changed.
The wind barrier resisted him. Even when he forced through it, the strikes landed weakly. The clones didn't disperse.
That hesitation cost him.
A wind-charged punch slammed into Neji's crossed arms, blasting him backward. He skidded across the ground and barely stopped himself by grabbing a raised edge of stone.
"That's your chakra strike?" a clone said, clenching its fist. "Didn't really hurt."
Neji exhaled slowly.
So ordinary strikes wouldn't work. He needed to commit.
He shifted stances.
The reaction was immediate.
Hyūga Hiashi stiffened. Hyūga Hanabi froze. Even Hinata's eyes widened.
"That stance…" Hiashi muttered.
Eight Trigrams. Sixty-Four Palms.
A technique taught only to the main family.
Which meant Neji had learned it on his own.
That alone stunned the Hyūga spectators.
"So he reached that level already," Tōma thought as clones began popping under Neji's precise strikes. "Wind barriers won't stop that."
Still, using Sixty-Four Palms on clones alone was expensive.
Against Naruto?
A stamina war with Naruto was suicide.
Neji realized it too.
His gaze sharpened. As more clones rushed in, he shifted again.
"That is—" Hiashi's eyes widened.
Hanabi turned to him. "Father…?"
"Watch carefully," Hiashi said grimly. "Rotation. Our clan's ultimate defense."
Neji spun.
Chakra erupted outward as his body rotated at high speed, forming a whirling barrier. The clones were swept up, torn apart one after another, unable to hold form.
This time, Neji didn't wait.
He charged Naruto directly.
The correct response would've been to retreat. Rebuild clones. Repeat the pressure. Rotation couldn't be used endlessly.
But Naruto didn't retreat.
Tōma covered his face with one hand.
Of course he wouldn't. Because he was Naruto.
Neji's strikes landed cleanly.
Chakra points sealed. The tide turned instantly.
The crowd buzzed. Many had doubted Neji after his rough start, but now they nodded in approval. His techniques were beautiful. Precise. Lethal.
"It's over," one of the gate guards muttered. "Hyūga strikes don't miss."
"Not necessarily," Tōma said calmly.
The guards glanced at him, faltered when they recognized who he was, and fell silent.
Chakra point sealing was devastating. Against most opponents, it was decisive.
Naruto wasn't most opponents.
Even so, Naruto didn't immediately draw on the Nine-Tails. He staggered, breathing hard.
Tōma knew why.
Naruto could now tap into the Nine-Tails' leaking chakra, but full access was still dangerous. His body couldn't handle repeated surges yet.
Instead, Naruto talked.
He argued. Shouted. Pointed at Neji's forehead when Neji tore off his protector in anger, exposing the caged bird seal.
Tōma chuckled under his breath.
"So this is the legendary Talk no Jutsu."
Neji's anger wasn't wrong, but it was poorly aimed. Rage alone would never change the Hyūga clan. A visible genius was a threat, not a reformer.
True change required patience. Shadow work. Time.
Eventually, Neji put his protector back on.
And Naruto finally snapped.
Red chakra flared.
On the highest platform, the Third Hokage's eyes lit up. "The Nine-Tails… controlled."
It was working. Tōma's guidance had paid off.
But that wasn't all.
Tōma leaned forward, eyes sharp.
"That's not just chakra."
Wind condensed around Naruto's body, shaped and reinforced by the Nine-Tails' power.
A suit of armor.
Wind Armor.
It had evolved beyond Gale Palm. A new technique entirely.
Tōma watched the formation closely. He had pioneered the concept, but Naruto had brute-forced it into the next stage under pressure.
Typical Naruto. Accident-prone. Breakthrough-prone.
And annoyingly effective.
The red, translucent armor wrapped Naruto like a living shell. The crowd gasped. Even civilians could tell something incredible was happening.
Wind had no color. Tōma knew that if he used the technique, it would be invisible.
Naruto's armor existed only because of the Nine-Tails.
And it looked absurdly cool.
Tōma snorted softly. Sasuke hadn't even unlocked Susanoo yet, and Naruto was already playing with armor.
Life was unfair.
From that point on, the outcome was inevitable.
Neji's Sixty-Four Palms barely scratched the armor. Naruto's strength skyrocketed to terrifying levels. Even jōnin wouldn't block those hits head-on.
Then Naruto charged straight through Rotation.
The arena shook.
Dust swallowed the field.
Tōma didn't need sight to know the result.
When it cleared, Naruto stood uninjured.
Neji was down.
Tōma exhaled slowly. The Nine-Tails' passive recovery had erased Naruto's earlier injuries, and Wind Armor had crushed Neji's defense outright.
Brutal. But effective.
This version of Naruto, even using only leaked Nine-Tails chakra, was already approaching special jōnin level.
And that was enough.
Growth had to be earned, not forced. Even a protagonist couldn't skip every step.
The proctor's voice rang out.
Uzumaki Naruto had won.