Naruto and Neji stared at each other, sizing each other up. Naruto's eyes were full of determination while Neji's were full of calm contempt. Discord meanwhile was hovering over the two combatants, a bowel of popcorn floating beside him and 3-D glasses rested over his mismatched eyes.
Neji was the first to speak. "Allow me to make a recommendation to you and your…little pet."
"Pet?" Discord mouthed, looking offended. Who the hay was he calling a 'pet'?!
Naruto only glared. "What would that be?"
"You should forfeit the match."
"WHAT?!" Naruto glared at the Hyuuga.
"The boy's gotta be kidding…"
"Why the h*ll would I do something stupid like that?" Naruto demanded.
"It's quite simple, really…" a hint of a smirk showed itself on Neji's face, "Because I've already won."
"But you haven't even done anything," Discord pointed out.
"It doesn't matter," Neji didn't even spare Discord a second glance. "You see, I've already won simply because fate has determined me to be the victor; and you the loser. Not even a Summons as ridiculous as that one can help you."
"AS IF!" Naruto shouted. "We're gonna kick your sorry a**, especially for what you did to Hinata!"
"What a fool…" Neji continued talking, while Discord floated a little closer to Naruto.
"Fishcake, he's monologuing."
"Wha…"
Naruto glanced from Discord to Neji, who was making strange trumpet noises as he continued speaking. (The Hyuuga seemed completely unaware of this fact.)
Naruto smirked while he charged, catching Neji off-guard. Neji managed to block Naruto's kick, but it hardly made Neji budge.
"You shouldn't monologue!" Naruto shouted, going in for another series of punches and kicks.
"BYAKUGAN!" The veins around Neji's eyes popped up from underneath the skin, and swiftly, Neji performed a series of swift maneuvers on Naruto's leg.
"Gah!" Naruto collapsed onto the ground.
"What did I tell you?" Neji glared at his opponent. "It is your destiny to lose, and mine to win."
"Now, my boy," Discord was wearing a doctor's uniform while an eyechart of some kind that had what appeared to be googly eyes glued to it in place of a medical report, floated behind him. "Those veins don't look very healthy, might I recommend some eye-drops?"
Discord squeezed the small bottle, and Neji quickly performed a series of strikes that prevented the water from hitting him. He then took jabs at the obnoxious Summon, but Discord evaded them with ease, even going as far as to poof up a ballerina tutu when dodging with a neat pirouette.
Meanwhile, Naruto called out, "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"
Nearly 40 clones appeared around them, and Discord grinned. "Good thinking, Fishcake!"
"That's right, Fishcake!" Another Discord called.
"WHOOO! Who's number one?" A Discord called out from the stands. People gaped at a Discord who was wearing a soda hat and an oversized foam-finger with BNDFF written on it in bold print.
"What the-?" The ground underneath Neji began to warp and twist as it turned obnoxious colors of neon reds, oranges, and yellows. This momentarily distracted him as he focused on maintaining his footing.
"Take this!" Numerous Naruto's yelled out, throwing shuriken and kunai at their opponent.
"Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven!" Neji had intended to save this move for later in the exam, and he was partially annoyed that he had been forced into using it against someone like Naruto.
In the stands, Hiashi Hyuuga gasped in surprise. "He taught himself that technique?"
Only the main clan members were permitted to know such a technique, which showed just how impressive his nephew was; it was something he had learned merely by observation.
Meanwhile, in the arena, Neji was becoming very irritated. "Just quit already!" he then got into a wide stance. "You're in my field of Divination." With that, a yin-yang symbol appeared beneath him and he charged forward, striking the real Naruto at faster speeds then before. The Hyuuga counted down the strikes by doubling the amount with each count, and finished with a cry of, "Eight Trigrams – 64 Palms!" With that, the real Naruto was forced to the ground with a cry of pain as his clones began to poof due to his lack of chakra to maintain them.
The last of Naruto's clones dissipated, and even though he still had to deal with Discord's clones, they weren't that big a concern, yet. Since Discord could manipulate the reality around him, Neji was already concocting a plan to take down the annoying creature.
Naruto slightly stumbled as he got to his feet, his chakra having been depleted. "Not until I pay you back for what you did to Hinata! Until then, I won't lose!"
"When will you realize you have already lost?!" Neji demanded. He glared at the blond.
"I can't lose here…" Naruto panted for breath. "If I lose here, I won't be able to become Hokage…I won't be able to protect the people that I love…"
"What makes you think someone like you could become Hokage, much less protect anyone?" Neji asked. "For someone like you, it is your destiny to lose, no matter how hard you work…" Neji turned slightly to look at Hinata in the stands. "Even for someone like Hinata-sama…it was her destiny to lose to me, simply because she is weak."
Naruto glared, his blue eyes flashed angrily. "How can you say that?! Isn't she your family? How can you treat family so coldly?"
"Family?" Neji scoffed bitterly. "Allow me to show you exactly what 'family' does…" he untied his forehead protector to reveal a symbol of some sort tattooed on his forehead. "As a Hyuuga from the branch clan, the main family seals us in order to keep us in line…"
Memories of his father screaming and writhing on the floor as his uncle activated the Seal to ensure that the man remained under control shot through Neji's mind. He was a bird in a cage; forever destined to be locked away and controlled.
"The main clan keeps the branch clan in cages; and we are nothing more than pawns!" Neji glared where he knew his uncle and cousin were sitting. "Even though there are those of us who are more deserving of being in the main clan, we will never be able to escape our cage – that's why you will lose!"
"Oh, boo-hoo," Discord mocked as he floated between the two boys. "Let me play you a sad song on the world's smallest violin," he said as he began rubbing two of his talons together, producing a sorrowful violin piece.
While it was concerning the amount of animosity towards his own family the kid was displaying, Discord knew that just because he had a sob story doesn't mean his actions were justified. From what he gathered from Fishcake, Pretty Boy seriously hurt his younger cousin earlier in the exam and mocked her the entire time. Now most ponies would say that the Draconequus lacked empathy due to his chaos causing, but that was the furthest thing from the truth. Discord would only bring chaos to liven up the lives of the beings around him, not to cause serious harm. And to hear someone obviously centuries younger than him would do something like that to his family, well, let's just say the Chaos Bringer was more than happy to knock him off his high pony. And if he ended up helping Fishcake win his match, well that was just a bonus, really.
Neji scowled at the Chaos Bringer. "Are you mocking me?" he hissed through gritted teeth, thinking that the abomination of Uzumaki's was making light of his and the Cadet Branch's suffering.
"Not really, this actually is the world's smallest violin," Discord protested, bringing up an oversized magnifying glass and holding it up to his talons to reveal a tiny violin was indeed being held by his eagle claw. He then had to dodge a palm strike from the irate teenager. "Yeesh, if you don't like the violin you just need to say so. Maybe some jazz trombone?" he asked, taking out said instrument while wearing an outfit from a 1960's jazz club.
"Shut up, you dull creature! You don't know how my family has suffered thanks to this Seal!" Neji roared as he prepared to attack both Summon and summoner at once.
"Ptooh!" *Splat!*
The audience and the two Chunin hopefuls froze as Discord literally spat on Neji's forehead! The Draconequus poofed over wearing a pair of oil stained bib overalls and a trucker cap and began to wipe the older boy's spit covered forehead with an old looking rag, said boy did nothing but shiver in disgust and revulsion.
"Discord, what the h***!" Naruto called out to his summon, breaking out of his shock first (though a part of him couldn't help but find the whole thing hilarious and karma for what Neji did to Hinata).
"I'mma just puttin' in some spit shine!" Discord replied cheerfully with an exaggerated slang.
Neji snapped out of his shock at this and aimed to strike Discord once more, only for him to be replaced by a life size plushy with a 'Kick me!' sign attached to it. The Chaos Spirit appeared right next to Naruto in his normal (for him) state, buffing the talons of his eagle claw on his furry chest. "You're welcome, by the way," he called over to Neji.
"For what?!" Neji snarled, his calm masked momentarily broken by the infuriating mongrel that Uzumaki called his summon.
A full length mirror poofed up in front of him as Discord said, "Why, for clearing up your pretty face of course! You were making such a fuss about that ink stain on you, I decided to get rid of it," he finished cheerfully.
Neji barely heard him as he could only stare at his forehead, his clean, Seal-free forehead in shock. Somehow, that hodgepodge creature had removed the Cage Bird Seal like it was no more than a marker stain! There was a major amount of noise coming from the Hyuuga section of the stands, but the combatants and other spectators largely ignored this for now, too busy focusing on the intense match before them.
The older shinobi was too busy staring at his now bare forehead to take notice of his opponent. Taking advantage of Neji's distraction, Naruto mentally called out to the Fox:
'Time to pay your rent, you stupid Fox!'
While the Demon Fox didn't really appreciate being called 'stupid,' he complied with a pretty generous portion of chakra, the blond being shrouded by a dark orange cloak of energy. Personally, he was enjoying this match. Naruto produced more clones to help him hide. Clouds of pink-tinted mist shrouded them, and the ground began to warp once more. Naruto more than easily traversed over the moving ground, even going so far as to crack it every time his feet came into contact.
Neji quickly forgot about his Seal and quickly went into his stance to prevent Naruto from attacking him. Naruto, in his shroud of orange colored chakra, charged full force at Neji's spinning Rotation. It was a classic case of the immovable object meeting the unstoppable force, where only one would emerge victorious. The two chakras grinded against each other causing sparks, before there was a large flash and bang.
The audience waited with baited breath as a cloud of dust settled around where the two boys were, waiting to see if the fight was truly over. Discord hovered above the cloud trying to appear nonchalant, an effect that was ruined by the fact he was chewing on his claws/talons like a beaver chewing on wood.
'C'mon Fishcake, don't let me down!' he silently encouraged, a thought that was mirrored by several members of the audience; namely Hinata, Iruka, and the Third. The dust started to settle, and it revealed two forms, one of which was standing. The field finally became clear to reveal Neji standing over Naruto's beaten form.
Neji panted as he looked down on his opponent. Normally, he would have gloated saying that it was his fate as a failure to lose to a genius like him, but this fight had been something of an eye opener for Neji, as the formerly talentless dead last had pushed him to the brink and his strange Summon had freed him from the cage he had been trapped in for over a decade. So, he decided to do the honorable thing.
"You fought well," Neji told his down opponent. "Perhaps next time we fight, you'll even be my superior in skill. For now though, victory is mi-!"
"Don't go counting me out yet, Neji!" a voice sounded, causing Neji's eyes to widen as the 'Naruto' he was standing over poofed out of existence.
The ground underneath Neji split, revealing a dirty but still in it Naruto who gave a devastating uppercut to the older Genin. Neji seemed to fly through the air before gravity reclaimed him, causing him to crash on the ground. Neji groaned as he tried to move his exhausted body to no avail, the headband he had been holding since he took it off having slipped from his fingers. He looked to the boy who had beaten him as he stood with a proud, yet not mocking, grin. It was clear from his damaged and bloody fingernails that he had dug his way from where his Shadow Clone had laid and burrowed underneath the Hyuga. Neji had been so preoccupied with the Shadow Clone and exhausted that he hadn't even noticed the boy's movements until it was too late.
Seeing that Neji was unable to continue, Genma the judge yelled out, "The winner of the first match is Naruto Uzumaki!"
It was as if a bomb had gone off as the crowd cheered wildly for the end of an epic match. For a moment, even the most antagonistic members of Konoha had put aside their hatred for the Kyuubi to cheer the blond on. And the one making the most noise was, of course, Discord. The Draconequus was wearing a victory T-shirt and had a #1 foam finger on one hand with a noise maker in the other, and yet another noise maker was being blown in his mouth as confetti and streamers fell from the sky.
"Woo-hoo! You did it, Fishcake! What a show! Encore, encore!" the chaos master cheered happily.
Naruto looked up at Discord and grinned, giving the Draconequus a thumbs' up.
"Uzumaki," Neji said from his place on the ground as the medics came to pick him up. "Congratulations on your victory. It was careless of me to not notice the Shadow Clone, your signature technique. It seems that it was I who was fated to lose today."
Naruto, while still smiling, said in a more subdued tone. "Ya'know Neji, all those times I was held back in the Academy? They were because I couldn't do the Clone Jutsu." He then said encouragingly as the other boy's pale eyes widened. "You can fight against your fate, Neji. After all, unlike me you're not a failure."
The older boy gave a nod of acknowledgement as the medics put him on a stretcher to carry him out of the arena. Naruto meanwhile walked back towards the competitor's booth with Discord floating closely behind.
"I must say, Fishcake; that was the most fun I've had in a while! Sure, it wasn't my usual brand of chaos, but it was definitely an entertaining experience if nothing else! A little sappy at the end there, but I guess if it wasn't for sap we wouldn't have syrup." The Draconequus finished as he pulled out a plate of pancakes and poured a generous amount of syrup on them.
Naruto's stomach rumbled at the sight of the foreign food, causing the boy to blush. With a smirk, Discord handed Naruto the now dubbed 'victory pancakes.'
"Thanks, Discord…for helping out back there, and for the food." Naruto grinned at the Draconequus.
That strange pang in his chest returned again, if only for a few seconds. Discord blinked a few times before quickly turning away and waved his paw, trying to ignore the unfamiliar, yet becoming commonplace feeling in his chest. "Yeah, yeah, just eat your food and watch the show, Fishcake."
The next few fights were interesting in their own right, though not nearly as entertaining as Fishcake's had been in Discord's own humble opinion. Though the next fight was a major disappointment when, a guy who wore way too much make-up and was carrying what looked to be a mummy forfeited before he even fought his opponent, a somewhat creepy looking guy with a concealing trench coat and dark sunglasses. The next match was better when good ol' Pineapple-Head took on a girl with four pigtails that used a huge fan to create tornado force winds like she was a Pegasus pony (Discord couldn't help but cackle at Fishcake's 'inventive' way of getting Pineapple-Head to the stadium floor. He must have been a good influence on the blond!)
"Sorry, Shikamaru!" Naruto called, although the boy didn't sound sorry at all.
"You certainly don't sound like it…" Shikamaru fixed Naruto with a glare. How troublesome.
And while there was quite a bit of action in it, it was like watching a high speed chess match in a way as both opponents tried to out strategize the other. It ended when the Pineapple-Head managed to catch Pig-Tails in his shadow using the hole Fishcake had dug earlier to expand his shadow's reach. It should have been an easy victory for Pineapple-Head, but then for whatever reason he forfeited right then and there! Talk about a bummer!
The last one was apparently highly anticipated, as it was originally scheduled for right after Fishcake's match but was postponed since Raccoon Eye's opponent hadn't shown up yet. Just as it looked as though the match would have to have been canceled altogether, two figures showed up. One was an adult who had most of his face and one eye covered, along with silver hair that spiked in a way that Discord was willing to place bits wasn't natural. The other was a boy around Fishcake's age wearing all black and had dark hair styled as (Discord couldn't help but snort at this and know he'd have fun with this later) a duck's behind!
"So who are Emo Boy and Broom Head there?" Discord asked.
"'Emo Boy?'" Naruto snorted as he laughed. Pointing at the pair, the blond continued, "That's Sasuke, my stupid teammate and rival, and Kakashi-sensei, the leader of our team."
Discord grinned. "Well, I'll just have to go and formally introduce myself as soon as this little tournament is over."
"Oh, I can't wait to see that!" Naruto could already see a frustrated Sasuke yelling at Discord as the dobe tried climbing out of something sticky and repeatedly failing.
~0~
Fishcake was worried for his teammate/rival, and Discord couldn't blame him. There was definitely something off (even more so) about Raccoon-Eyes, and according to Fishcake when he went to go meet Pineapple-Head after his match, Raccoon-Eyes had killed a couple people who had tried to prevent his match. Discord shuddered at the thought. While he was coming to terms that this world was more violent than Equestria, the thought of such callous loss of life made his stomach turn.
The match between Emo Boy and Raccoon-Eyes started off pretty intense: Sasuke attacked Gaara, and Gaara's sand immediately moved to protect him from any attack Sasuke could dish out. It was clear from the beginning of the match that Raccoon-Eyes was out for blood, quite literally. Emo Boy was holding his own, keeping his distance and attacking when he had an opening with speeds even Rainbow Dash would respect. Then things took a downward turn when Raccoon Eyes completely encased himself in a sphere of sand that was all but impenetrable. Discord got a bad feeling from the sphere, but apparently Fishcake's teammate had a plan for this. Gaining some distance, he ran through some hand seals and what appeared to be lightning formed in his hand, the arena filled with the sound of chirping birds.
Sasuke charged, and was surprisingly able to pierce the supposedly Invincible Shield.
"He did it!" Naruto whooped and hollered, but Discord shivered. Something wasn't right.
"I'M BLEEDING! IT'S MY BLOOD! I'M BLEEDING!"
"That can't be good…" Discord had that same feeling like he did when they were back in that hospital room.
Sasuke sensed the danger moments before a large, sand-colored claw reached out for him. The Uchiha knew how close he had come to being crushed, and quickly focused on not being killed and maintained his distance. He would have to think of another strategy and quickly.
Meanwhile, Discord noticed something floating in the air; a lot of somethings in fact. He watched as a rain of white feathers fell from the sky, lulling him into a hypnotic trance. Before he knew it, the Disharmonious One was out cold.
"Just for a few minutes…" he muttered sleepily.
Discord snorted, and the sheep sawing logs above his head baaed angrily at him and ran away as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Mm, I was having such a nice dream too. Nice and chaotic." It was then he noticed the pure pandemonium around him as ninjas with musical note and hour glass headbands fought leaf wearing ninja. A large purple barrier was surrounding the area where that Hokage person had been sitting at and…was that a giant, three headed snake smashing buildings in the distance?
"Huh," Discord hummed as he took in the chaos surrounding him. "I guess dreams really do come true!"
Looking around, it seemed that Fishcake and Pineapple-Head were gone. But where to? Now to find Fishcake and find out what the hay is going on!
Discord took off to the skies, trusting his instincts to lead him right where Fishcake was.