The month of training passed in a blur of focused, desperate effort. Team 7 was reforged. Sasuke, under Kakashi's tutelage, had achieved a terrifying new level of speed and had mastered the Chidori. Deva had spent the month mastering the massive library of jutsu he had copied, his own power growing daily as his new, immense chakra container steadily filled. Naruto's progress under the tutelage of the Sannin Jiraiya was a mystery to them, but the spikes of immense energy Deva sometimes sensed from his training ground suggested he was not standing still.
Finally, the day of the final tournament arrived. The main arena was colossal, packed to the brim with tens of thousands of spectators, including the Feudal Lords. The air buzzed with anticipation.
Deva and Gaara, despite the draw, both had advanced to the finals. He didn't know who he would fight against. He took a seat in the stands next to Kakashi, his role now that of an observer for now. His senses swept across the stadium. He felt the nervous energy of the crowd, the powerful hum of the Jonin and ANBU providing security, and the collected chakra of the finalists. He also felt something else, something deeply unsettling. The energy of the Kazekage, sitting beside the Third Hokage, felt wrong. It was layered, muddled, and carried the same faint, snake-like quality he had felt in the Forest of Death.
On the field, the finalists were gathered: Naruto, Sasuke, Neji Hyuga, Shikamaru Nara, and the Sand Siblings, Kankuro and Temari. All of them were present and on time. After a speech from the Third Hokage, the proctor, a man named Genma, stepped forward.
"We will now begin the first match!" he announced. The electronic board on the wall whirred to life, the names of the finalists cycling at high speed before stopping abruptly.
Naruto Uzumaki vs. Neji Hyuga.
The crowd roared. The Academy's dead-last versus the top prodigy of the famed Hyuga clan. Neji was the picture of calm confidence.
"A failure will always be a failure," Neji stated, his pale eyes looking down on Naruto. "You cannot escape your fate. You are destined to lose to me."
"We'll see about that!" Naruto shot back, his voice full of defiant energy. "I'm gonna win, and I'm gonna change your stupid idea about fate! Believe it!"
The fight began, and for a long time, it seemed Neji's words were prophetic. He was faster, more skilled, and his Byakugan saw through every one of Naruto's clumsy attacks. He moved with a dancer's deadly grace, and with a final, furious assault, he unleashed his clan's ultimate technique.
"Eight Trigrams, Sixty-Four Palms!"
A blur of precise, lightning-fast strikes impacted Naruto's body, each one targeting a vital point in his chakra network. When it was over, Naruto collapsed to the ground, bruised, beaten, and his chakra points completely sealed.
"It's over," Neji said coldly. "Your chakra flow is stopped. You can't even stand. Accept your fate."
But then, something changed. Deva, watching intently from the stands, felt it. A surge of that familiar, hot, and hateful frequency erupted from within Naruto. The Nine-Tails' chakra. It forcefully blasted open his blocked chakra points. The crowd gasped as Naruto, cloaked in a faint red aura, rose to his feet, a feral grin on his face.
The fight resumed with a new intensity. Naruto, powered by the beast's chakra, used his Shadow Clones to launch a relentless assault. But Neji was a defensive master. "Eight Trigrams Palms Rotation!" he yelled, spinning and creating a dome of pure chakra that deflected every attack.
The battle was a stalemate. Naruto couldn't break through Neji's perfect defense, and Neji couldn't land a finishing blow on the tenacious, regenerating Naruto.
"I told you it was useless!" Neji grunted from within his shield.
"We'll see about that!" Naruto's voice yelled. He created a single shadow clone beside him. He stuck out his own right hand, and the clone placed its hands over his. The real Naruto began pouring chakra into his palm while the clone worked frantically. The chakra began to swirl, faster and faster, a chaotic, violent vortex of pure energy. It slowly condensed, forming a perfect, spinning sphere of brilliant blue chakra in his hand. It was a jutsu no one in the arena, save for a few, had ever seen before.
"Wait! is that-?!" Kakashi murmured, stunned. Somewhere out there, Jiraiya grinned.
From the stands, Deva's senses were locked on. It wasn't an elemental jutsu. It was pure shape transformation, a level of mastery he hadn't thought possible. It was a perfect, spiraling frequency of immense power.
"Rasengan!" Naruto roared.
He charged. Neji, seeing the undeniable power of the attack, put everything he had into his Rotation. The two A-rank techniques clashed. The Rasengan, a drill of pure, grinding power, met the perfect, spinning shield of the Rotation. For a moment, they held. Then, with a final, explosive surge of Naruto's will, the Rasengan tore through the defensive dome and slammed into Neji's chest. The Hyuga prodigy was sent flying, crashing unconscious into the arena wall.
Naruto had won. The stadium was silent for a beat, then erupted in the loudest applause of the day.
In the competitor's box, Sasuke watched, his face a mask of shock and disbelief. He had spent the last month enduring hellish training to master one A-rank jutsu, the Chidori. And here was Naruto, the idiot, the dead-last, revealing an A-rank jutsu of his own that was just as powerful, if not more so. A cold pressure settled in Sasuke's chest. He had thought he had left Naruto far behind. He was wrong.
Deva, too, was processing the new data. Naruto wasn't just a container of immense power anymore. He was learning to wield it, to shape it into techniques of incredible caliber. His growth was exponential.
As medics carried Neji away, the board began to cycle for the next match. The names locked into place.
Sasuke Uchiha vs. Gaara of the Sand.
The crowd's excitement reached a fever pitch. The Uchiha prodigy with his Sharingan and new skills, versus the monster of the Sand.
Sasuke leaped down into the arena, his expression a mixture of intense focus and a burning need to prove himself. The pressure from Naruto's shocking victory was immense. He had to win. He had to show that he was still the strongest. He looked across the field at Gaara, who was smiling his bloodthirsty grin, and prepared for battle.