After the preliminaries ended, they were granted two weeks time to recover and to train for the upcoming final exam. For most of the time, Naruto threw himself into solitary training, doing his best to keep himself busy while staying away from the others. Rai similarly squirreled off into training under the tutelage of Kakashi, whereas Mayu disappeared for long periods of time, seemingly touring the village.
The days dragged by but eventually the morning of the third exam arrived, and Naruto was again set to go first. The exam was held in a much fancier stadium than where the preliminaries had taken place in; the walls were made of hardened clay that reached up around 15 feet around the circular, level platform.
The audience sat on rows on top of these walls; Suna ANBU were positioned strategically in the audience both as bodyguards for the high-ranking officials as well as preventative measures, in case any fights got out of hand.
The first match of the day set Naruto against one of Sunagakure's favorites: A blonde Suna genin named Temari, who was apparently the daughter of the Kazekage. Naruto had noticed her earlier – from what he'd seen, she was quick-footed and clever, with a bit of a cruel streak in her tendency to play with weaker opponents. Her weapon of choice was a giant folding fan, and just as the match begun, she'd flown at him on top of it, catching him off-guard enough for her to land a glancing blow off of his leg.
But in the end, she was no match for him. As soon as Naruto recovered, quickly gathering that her weakness was close-range combat, he made short work of her with the help of several Kage Bunshin. When he walked out of the enclosed arena, the ensuing polite applause did little to conceal the sullen expressions of the watching Suna audience.
The next match was between Rai and Neji, in which Rai held up surprisingly well despite the hype that had surrounded the Hyuuga boy. Keeping up a steady stream of kunai, his teammate was able to surprise everyone in the stadium – Neji included – by channeling his chakra into some of the kunai and exploding them as they lay scattered around his opponent's feet.
Though Neji noticed them in time and managed to avoid most of the fiery explosions, Rai still managed to lightly scorch the stoic boy's leg. Unfortunately for him, this served only to irritate Neji, who'd seemed to be trying to conserve energy by remaining on the defense. Going on the offensive, he managed to corner Rai and with several well-placed hits, Rai was soon on the ground coughing up blood.
After Rai was carried out on a stretcher, Naruto did not pay much attention to the following two fights, though he noted that the girl from Takigakure – Fū, who'd beaten Mayu in the preliminaries – defeated her opponent with ease. Rai had called her the 'jinchūriki' before. That could mean only one thing: that she was the host of a tailed-beast, just like him. Undoubtedly, she would make it to the finals, and if the sharp look she'd shot in his direction was any inclination, she expected the same of him.
In a detached sort of way, Naruto wondered if she knew the truth about him as well. He wouldn't be too surprised, as it seemed he hadn't ever known anything about himself.
With the first round of the matches done, there was a brief break (likely more for the benefit of the watching daimyō than the participants). As Kakashi and Mayu had gone to check on Rai in the infirmary, Naruto sat alone drinking out of a water skin, not paying much attention to his surroundings.
Suddenly, a side of his face was relieved from the burning sun as it fell in shadow. Naruto put his water skin down, and turned to see the Hyuuga boy staring down at him with his arms crossed. His eyes trailed down first to the burn on his leg that his teammate had so graciously given; it looked a bit more raw and painful than it had seemed down in the arena.
"We'll be fighting against each other in the next round," said Neji shortly, and Naruto looked back up.
"It's supposed to be randomized," he pointed out.
The matchups for the winners of the initial round – Neji, Fū, a Suna genin who used puppets, and himself – were picked out from a public drawing.
"Everyone knows it's a farce. They'll want to knock out at least one genin from Konoha," Neji said flatly.
Naruto felt a flicker of irritation. "What's your point?"
"Before we fight, I wanted to tell you something. In this world, as I'm sure you've realized, there is the elite, and then there are the outcasts. We can change our physical appearance and improve our skills with training and study, but ultimately, we are judged by what we cannot change. What can't be changed must be endured.
We are who we are, and we must live with it...and with my Byakugan, I can see many things. I've seen how you strive to be the best, so that you can become Hokage." Neji's eyes hardened. "An outcast like you or me could never become the Hokage. Keep that in mind."
The shade on his face moved away, and Naruto was left alone once more. He picked his water skin up again, and drank.
He hadn't expected such a direct psychological attack like that. If surprise had been its intended effect, it had worked. However...
'His last wish was for you to be seen as a hero.'
Naruto's lips curved upwards in a humorless smile. Neji needn't have wasted his breath; he'd already known everything he'd said was true.
...
Soon, the second half of the third exam began and true enough, Naruto and Neji were matched up for the first battle. When the bald-headed proctor looked up at him expectantly from the arena, Naruto exhaled. Throwing the empty water skin aside carelessly, he jumped down from his seat down into the stage, sending up tufts of sand as he landed.
Neji was already waiting for him. As the crowd buzzed in excitement and the proctor roared something about their shared backgrounds, neither one said anything. For a moment, the two were completely still, simply eyeing each other from across the field. Naruto noticed that the pale-eyed boy was slightly favoring one leg; he'd had some cooling paste dabbed over the burn since they'd talked, but it must have been bothering him.
As if reading his thoughts, Neji spoke up.
"This injury will make no difference in the outcome," he said coolly. "After all...my Byakugan shows me many – "
"Yes, good for you," Naruto cut in. Neji's eyes narrowed, and he continued to glare at him, until Naruto looked away. He waited for the countdown wearily.
Fleetingly, as the sun's white rays beat harshly down on his face, he wondered what he was doing there on that arena.
"Begin!"
Naruto automatically lowered into a basic defensive stance, waiting for Neji to make the first move. Dully, he recounted what he'd learned about the kekkei genkai. Though the Hyūga clan was understandably tight-lipped about it, there were some basic things one could gather about it just by sparring with one of their clansmen.
There had been a Hyūga member from the branch in his class, and he'd been able to gather several things from her – the most important one being that the Byakugan, at its most basic, granted its user the ability to see everything at the chakra level. This meant that they could see through solid objects, and illusions such as clones meant nothing to them. Furthermore, as he'd gathered from Neji and Lee's fight, their fighting style took advantage of their Byakugan to make common taijutsu into something much more destructive.
"Byakugan!" cried Neji. Sure enough, the veins around his eyes visibly bulged as the boy activated his infamous heritage. Once activated, he glared at Naruto without making another move; it was clear that he wanted Naruto to make the first move. There were a variety of ways he could deal with this – most people would probably take the long-range approach to avoid Neji's taijutsu.
After a split second's deliberation, he decided.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Four exact copies of himself immediately materialized in a cloud of white smoke. From what he knew of the way the Byakugan worked, Neji shouldn't be able to discern his real self from among his clones.
In one fluid motion with his clones, Naruto drew his tantō from his back. He and his clones shot towards Neji, who pulled out his kunai. Metal met metal harshly as his clones kept the pale-eyed genin busy, and at the edges, Naruto continuously feinted in and out.
To Neji's credit, despite having five Narutos converge on him from all directions, he left no openings, and Naruto only managed to get in a few shallow cuts. However, as soon as his summoned clones began to erupt into pillars of smoke, he summoned more, each time managing to get in some more shallow cuts.
Slowly but surely, Neji's legs and arms began to be covered in an abundance of cuts. His breathing grew more labored as his reflexes began to slow.
As Neji thrust his kunai into his clone, turning them into smoke, Naruto gradually moved closer to Neji, swapping his original rear position with one of his clones. As another clone turned into smoke, Naruto moved in and aimed a kick at Neji's legs, which he dodged by leaping back.
Simultaneously however, Neji unconsciously turned away his scorched leg in an effort to protect it, a movement which cost him a split second – predicting this, Naruto stepped behind him at the same time. Neji's eyes widened as he realized his back was exposed, but with no time to turn around, Naruto swung his tantō inwards in a sharp arc.
Just before his blade made contact however, he met a strange, almost immaterial barrier and to his surprise, he was then immediately blasted back as Neji spun rapidly in a powerful circle, his black hair fanning around him. As Naruto hit the ground, his remaining clones which had also been thrown back disappeared into clouds of smoke. When Neji had stopped spinning, the sand around him had furrowed into a shallow hole.
Naruto looked at the other genin in surprised silence, and in response, Neji smiled grimly. Despite the number of cuts on his body, he stood firm in his confidence. Spreading his feet apart, he bent down sideways, touching the back of his hand to his foot.
"It's over now," said Neji coolly. "Gentle Fist Style: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms..."