The last part of the Chunin exams was a one-on-one fight.
However, the number of chunin who passed the exam was more than expected as there were 21 shinobi who passed.
It was uneven so a small test was supposed to be held to eliminate a few participants but Kabuto forfeited bringing the number down to twenty.
It was still uneven but the chunin exam organisers decided to go ahead and start the match-ups.
"The first battle is between Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuga Neji.
Both Neji and Sasuke stepped up onto a blank open field that was located in the building where the chunin exam was being held.
Sasuke does not look like he is in peak condition as he was hit by a curse from an unknown Ninja in the forest of death.
"Uchiha Sasuke. I am not expecting you to be my opponent this early." Neji said.
"Hyuga Neji. I have heard rumours about you." Sasuke replied.
"As a member of the Uchiha, you should possess Sharingan. But I will show you that it is not comparable to my Byukugan. After all, the Hyuga are the strongest clan in Konoha, while the Uchiha are a disgraced clan that has already been wiped from history." Neji said while giving a wicked smile.
"I know he is provoking Sasuke to use his Sharingan but does he have to go too far?" Tenten who was watching the match said.
"Sasuke. Beat up that asshole." Naruto the always emotional one yelled out and cheered for Sasuke.
"Sasuke don't be too rushed. He is trying to get under your skin." Saukra yelled out as she warned Sasuke but at that time he was already blinded by rage.
He activated his Sharingan and ran towards Neji to punch him in the face.
"Byakugan," Neji said as veins started to appear around his eyes.
He then redirected Sasuke's punch and then counterattacked him but putting two of his fingers around Sasuke's heart and slightly pushing them towards it.
Sasuke quickly dodged the attack when he saw what Neji was going to do but he was too close and although he avoided getting hit in the heart he still got hit.
Sasuke quickly backed away and tried to calm down.
That was close. If I didn't see his attack with my Sharingan I would have suffered some serious damage. He thought to himself as he looked at Neji.
"It was quite surprising that you were able to react to my attack. It seems that you were considered promising by the village for a reason." Neji said while smiling from amusement, but at least his face did not look wicked.
Both Sasuke and Neji then ran towards each other and started exchanging their taijutsu.
"Sasuke made a mistake," Guy said.
"Yeah. In terms of prediction and visual enhancement, the Byakugan is always a step ahead of the Sharingan. Engaging Neji head-on was a really dumb move unless he had something up his sleeve." Kakashi agreed with Guy.
Just like the two jonin's prediction Sasuke was overwhelmed by Neji in the exchange.
He was not able to land even a single hit against the Hyuga's prodigy and was even countered and attacked every time he went in for a big attack.
This is not working. He was able to predict every single one of my attacks. Not only that he was also able to counterattack. If this keeps on I will lose. I have to think of something. Sasuke thought in his mind.
"Show me, Sasuke. Show me why I chose you." A weird creepy man who was wearing a headband with a symbol of a music note said as he observed the fight from afar.
"Fire style Fireball jutsu." Sasuke jumped backward and launched a fireball at Neji.
Sasuke thought that he was able to finally land a powerful attack on Neji but he was mistaken.
A blue protective shield made of chakra appeared around Neji before the fireball hit him.
"Eight trigrams Plam revolving heaven," Neji announced his attack as Sasuke looked in bewilderment.
However at that moment Sasuke fell to his knees as one side on his neck was covered by black flame shaped marks that were spread from his back.
"!" Neji noticed and immediately deactivated his Byakugan as the veins that appeared around his eyes slowly disappeared.
"That marks. They are appearing again." Sakura said.
"Tsk. I should have noticed them earlier." Kakashi himself.
"Sasuke. Are you okay? You jerk. What did you do to him?" Naruto shouted at Neji.
Naruto does not have a good impression of Neji since from a few meetings that they have Neji always said words that belittle him.
Although he is an idiot he is at least smart enough to know when someone is looking down on him when they are not trying to conceal it at all.
"....." Neji just looked at Naruto without saying anything.
Then he looked right back at Sasuke.
"Give up. You are not in a condition to fight me right now." Neji said to Sasuke.
"As if I give up this easily," Sasuke replied.
He then tried his best to get up.
Neji could easily defeated Sasuke at that time but he just looked at the last survining member of the Uchiha clan with indifference.
"Sasuke," Sakura said as she looked at the boy she loved who was in a very bad condition.
"Kakashi sensei. Is Sasuke going to be alright?" Naruto asked.
"I am not sure but if the black markings on his body become even worse than before we might have to force him to drop out of the exam," Kakashi said.
"No way," Naruto muttered.
"There is no way I am going to give up. I can still fight. If he were in my position he would not give up either." Sasuke said as he stood up.
"Then so be it," Neji said as he reactivated his Byakugan.
Neji just like many others also thought that Sasuke was one of the front-runners in the exam.
And even in his current situation it seems like he still has some tricks up his sleeve.
And he was curious about how far Uchiha Sasuke would go.