One day, when the Land of Clouds sent an important envoy to Konoha to sign a peace treaty, that night, the head envoy of the Land of Clouds turned out to have malicious intentions. He snuck into the Hyuga clan's residential complex and tried to kidnap Hinata Hyuga, who was still a child at the time, the legitimate heir of the main family, to obtain the secrets of the Byakugan.
However, his attempt was successfully intercepted and he was killed by Hiashi Hyuga.
Due to the newly signed alliance treaty, and to avoid a major war with the powerful Land of Clouds, Konoha wanted to resolve the issue peacefully. They eventually agreed to the unreasonable demand from the Land of Clouds and asked the Hyuga family to hand over Hiashi Hyuga's body as compensation for the death of their envoy.
To protect his twin brother, the main family, and Konoha village from the devastation of war, Hizashi Hyuga bravely sacrificed his own life, taking Hiashi's place to be executed.
Therefore, since his father's tragic and unjust death, Neji had told himself and believed with all his heart that a person's life was predestined from birth, and that cruel fate could never be changed, no matter how hard he tried.
After Neji finished his story, Naruto was silent for a long time, trying to digest all the painful information.
"Ah, I understand now,"
Naruto said softly, his tone now more serious.
"Your story is indeed sad, Neji. But so what about all that?"
Suddenly Naruto's tone rose again.
"Stop pretending to be a victim and blaming fate all the time! You're not the only special and suffering person in this world, you know! Look at Hinata! She's also suffering greatly like you, maybe even more! She's a legitimate member of the main family, but she was never acknowledged by her own father just because she was considered weak!"
"She tries desperately every day to change herself, to become stronger, and she was even willing to duel you in the preliminary round even though she knew she would be severely injured! And you're just the same, aren't you?!"
"As a member of the branch family who is supposedly meant to protect the main family, you instead used that exam to beat up and almost kill Hinata so cruelly! Doesn't that mean you're also desperately fighting against your own destiny that should be protecting her?!"
Naruto hit right at the sore spot and contradiction within Neji.
Neji was stunned by Naruto's words.
Without waiting for Neji's reply, Naruto suddenly dispelled all his remaining Kage Bunshin, creating a thick puff of white smoke that momentarily obscured the view around the arena.
However, Naruto cleverly left two Kage Bunshin hidden within the smoke.
"I'm going to use my ultimate jutsu now, Neji!"
Naruto shouted from within the smoke.
"You better prepare that absolute defense of yours for the last time!"
Neji, still slightly shaken by Naruto's words, immediately reassumed a wary stance.
He saw one Naruto figure emerge from behind the smoke, a wildly spinning light blue energy ball now formed in his right hand.
And behind that Naruto, another Kage Bunshin was already prepared with both hands open, gathering wind chakra.
The audience was once again shocked and cheered wildly when they saw Naruto using the legendary signature jutsu of the Fourth Hokage, Yondaime Hokage.
"Impossible… That's... Rasengan?!"
Hana, sitting behind the seal bars, just smiled proudly.
The Naruto holding the Rasengan then leaped high, and right beneath his feet, the Kage Bunshin behind him released a wind jutsu.
Fūton: Reppūshō!
The strong gust of wind propelled Naruto, who was holding the Rasengan, forward like a human missile at an extremely high speed, directly towards Neji.
Neji was truly surprised by the speed and power of that combination attack.
He felt he wouldn't be able to dodge it or counterattack with his Jūken.
So, for the fifth and perhaps the last time today, he had to use Kaiten again with his remaining chakra.
After this, his chakra would be completely depleted.
"Since you said you can't change your miserable fate, Neji!"
Naruto shouted as his Rasengan was about to hit the Kaiten dome.
"Then just let it be for now! When I become Hokage later, I swear I'll help you change that ridiculous Hyuga clan's fate!"
DUAAAAARRRRR!!!
After a very violent collision between the Rasengan and Kaiten, creating a large and blinding chakra explosion, both were thrown in opposite directions.
Neji managed to get up first, though staggering and gasping for breath.
His Kaiten dome had managed to withstand the Rasengan, although he felt excruciating pain throughout his body.
However, the attacking Naruto seemed to have fallen hard to the ground and wasn't moving.
"I told you... fate... cannot be changed..." Neji hissed with difficulty.
However, the Naruto who was thrown and lay on the ground suddenly disappeared into a puff of white smoke.
It was a Kage Bunshin!
That reality shocked everyone watching, including Neji himself.
Neji felt all his strength completely drained when he saw that.
He finally knelt on the ground from extreme exhaustion, his vision starting to blur.
As he looked at the ground near his feet to find where the real Naruto was, Neji realized there was something strange about one of the shuriken scattered near his feet.
'Shouldn't all the shuriken from the Kage Bunshin have disappeared into smoke when the group of Naruto's Kage Bunshin that threw them earlier also disappeared?!'
Sure enough, the strange-looking shuriken suddenly changed form in a small puff of smoke.
POOF!
It was the real Naruto, who had been disguised as a shuriken using Henge no Jutsu all along and waiting for this opportunity!
Before the completely exhausted and helpless Neji could react, the real Naruto had already leaped up from underground and delivered a very strong uppercut right to Neji's chin, knocking him unconscious on the arena floor.
If Neji still had a lot of chakra left, he would have immediately noticed the strangeness of that shuriken through his superior Byakugan.
Unfortunately, he didn't even have enough chakra left to properly activate his Byakugan.
"The winner is... Uzumaki Naruto!"
Genma, after checking the unconscious Neji's condition, finally announced the final result of the extraordinary battle.
The entire stadium immediately roared with cheers and thunderous applause from the audience.
This was the first time in his life Naruto had received so much applause and sincere recognition from so many people.
An indescribable feeling of warmth and happiness spread throughout his body.
He did it!
He ran around the arena joyfully, waving his hand at the audience, a wide smile never leaving his face.
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From their hiding place, Naruto's, Sasuke's, and Hana's eyes also caught sight of a red-haired girl they knew very well, hiding with a deathly pale face behind a large rock not far from the battle arena.
"Hey, hey, my handsome prince Naruto-kun,"
Hana whispered with a super mischievous tone, nudging Naruto's arm.
"Don't you want to go down there and get acquainted with your 'third wife'? She looks very scared, you know. Maybe she needs a little 'comfort' from you?"
"WH-WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THIRD WIFE, HANA-NEECHAN?!"
Naruto retorted in a hushed voice, his face immediately turning beet red.
"AND WHY DOES THERE HAVE TO BE A THIRD WIFE ANYWAY?! NO, I MEAN... WHY DOES SHE HAVE TO BE MY WIFE, GEEZ?!"
He was truly confused and embarrassed.
Hana just giggled amusedly, her eyes sparkling with triumph.
"Of course Karin-chan is your third wife, my prince. Because I, the most beautiful Hana who loves you the most, am definitely your first wife! And the second... well, of course, it's this tsundere but loyal Sasuke-kun!"
She winked at Sasuke.
Naruto: "..."
Sasuke: "..." (His previously flat face now turned a pale green, his eyes wide with horror).
The two of them, Naruto and Sasuke, were instantly reminded of the 'accidental kiss' moment that had once happened between them.
A traumatic memory they tried hard to forget.
Both their stomachs churned, and they almost vomited simultaneously on the spot.
Both of them were now restraining themselves with all their might and great difficulty from immediately activating their KCM and perfect Susanoo just to punch and beat up this annoying fox woman who always managed to make them flustered!