Naruto sets out to get Hinata something to eat besides ramen, and getting some dango, encounters Jiraiya in the process. Naruto’s clone gets taken down just as easily as Ebisu was, but not before throwing the dango to one of his allies. Naruto visits a bakery, and fearing what they would sell him if he went in as himself, he transforms into a blond version of Kiba and makes his purchase, unhappy about giving them his money.
While leaving the hospital, a Chunin approaches Naruto and says the Hokage has summoned him. Naruto reluctantly complies, somehow less than optimistic about the meeting.
Sakura and Ino, in the process of rebuilding their friendship, notice Naruto leave with the Chunin exams. Sakura thinks back on Naruto, thinking of him as a prankster who makes empty boasts, but heard him give his advice to Lee, and saw him fight against Orochimaru.
Sakura then recalls the “fight” between Naruto and Sasuke, in which Sasuke insulted Hinata (considering he seems indifferent toward her, he wouldn’t stoop that low), and Naruto, the “class clown”, lays Sasuke low with one punch.
Sakura then concludes that Sasuke would not visit her in the hospital, if he had the option of training. I can’t exactly argue with this, but considering that Sasuke was usually the one in the hospital in Part 1, and Sakura has not, so far, been hospitalized, we never get to see this put to the test.
Kurenai gets a summons from the Hokage, and ponders Gaara’s willingness to kill his enemy, as well as being strong enough to defeat Lee.
Naruto greets the Hokage with odd politeness, as well as Kurenai. The Hokage brings up Naruto’s conversation with the Nine-Tailed Fox, and describes blowing up the seal like he does popping a pimple (which, again, doesn’t seem to grasp how seals work). The Hokage advises Naruto to keep his temper under control, to minimize the risk of the Fox escaping, especially considering that Naruto is up against Neji.
The Hokage reveals he’s called in one of his old students, and Jiraiya arrives. An argument ensues, with Naruto accusing Jiraiya of stealing his dango, while Jiraiya notes that Naruto interrupted his research and shouldn’t get his clones to do his errands.
Jiraiya reveals that he’s been delayed, having had to deal with some assassins targeting Naruto after the border patrol. It makes me wonder if the Rock Village will factor into the plot at all, even if they didn’t show up much until the Summit of the Five Kages arc in canon, outside of Kakashi Gaiden. After Jiraiya brings up his book and Naruto insults it, Naruto is told to wait outside in the hallway, whereupon Kurenai goes off on a spiel about the evils of “pornography”(although it’s not clear how pornographic they are, although they are rated for those 18 and up, in universe). Kurenai suggests that Kakashi not only gets on her nerves by being arrogant and lazy, but also by reading the books at meetings, and even suggests that his books contribute to people not taking her seriously because of her being a woman. She then tells Jiraiya that if she corrupts him in any way, she will make him pay. Jiraiya simply takes this, commenting that Naruto must have really gotten to her. It all seems like more of the author’s anti-sexism preaching.
Naruto meets with Kurenai and Jiraiya, who notices that he seems scrawny. Kurenai mentions Naruto working with a taijutsu specialist, and that his taijutsu training had been neglected while at the academy. She also points out that his ninjutsu technique needs work, especially with his problems of using too much chakra.
As Naruto molds some chakra, Jiraiya inspects his seal, and concludes that it’s holding together well, but “advanced” a little farther than he thought- in other words, allowing him to access more of the fox’s chakra as he gets ready. Naruto is surprised that Jiraiya taught the Fourth Hokage, and Jiraiya is impressed that Naruto is dating a Hyuuga, although Naruto denies it. Jiraiya is optimistic about Naruto’s growth, and promises to teach Naruto some more jutsus, although Naruto seems uncharacteristically (for canon AND this fic) content with what he has. Naruto believes Guy can teach him more useful things, but Jiraiya leaeds him away to put that theory to the test.
Kurenai meets with the Hokage, and both are pleased with how things are going. Kurenai mentions that she’s learned some more about those plotting against Naruto, but the Hokage cautions her against taking action prematurely.
After Naruto demonstrates his Earth Element Trap jutsu, Jiraiya shows him Swamp of the Underworld, and Naruto shows interest in that one. He divides his time between Guy and Jiraiya. Kurenai calls Naruto and Shino in for a meeting, and Naruto hopes it’s not about Hinata so that he won’t have to repeat the things she told him in confidence.
Shino arrives, and Naruto notices from his walking that he’s become better at using his weapons. The meeting begins, over take-out from Moritake’s, and they begin to discuss their opponents, Neji among them.
After discussing their opponents, Kurenai mentions the possibility of Shino and Naruto having to face each other, telling them not to inflict permanent injuries on each other. Naruto suggests that he’ll do that to Neji, which seems unusually dark even considering his determination to defeat him. Naruto and Shino promise to do everything they can to weaken their opponents before they’re defeated, should they be outmatched.
Kurenai mentions that Jiraiya has a toad summoning contract, and Shino becomes concerned, mentioning that toads are “voracious insectivores” and that he would lose a good portion of his parasitic insects if he went up against one. Naruto clearly has second thoughts of getting the summon contract, but I find this misses the point. The summoned toads are intelligent enough to not seek out prey when there’s a battle going on, and can tell who their summoner’s allies are. Kurenai hopes Naruto won’t later regret his "thoughtfulness." She may call it that, but I call it a poor reason for rejecting a potentially useful jutsu, one that, in the manga, helps lead to Naruto learning Sage Mode, a technique that’s crucial to his success against Pain.
The day of the finals arrives, and by then, Hinata has gotten out of the hospital. Hinata does have some convalescence, though, and Kurenai has Hinata stay at her home, so she can supervise it, or so she says.
Like in canon, Naruto and Neji go first, but unlike in canon, the proctor is Hayate, who hasn’t gotten killed by Baki for learning about the alliance between Orochimaru and the Sand Village.
Iruka finds his way into the VIP section as a result of his winnings, and manages to get close to his targets.
Naruto meets with Neji for the pre-match greetings, and tells Neji that he’s been looking forward to fighting him, which Neji contemptuously dismisses. Naruto makes a fairly cruel barb against Neji, saying his father would be disappointed against him. That might be correct, but bringing up his dead father seems to cross a line. Neji swears to kill Naruto, making it far more personal than when Neji saw Naruto as just another overconfident challenger who needed to be taught a lesson.
Naruto’s canon responses were significantly better, as he pointedly accuses him of insulting Hinata, and tells him that whatever happened between the main and branch families doesn’t give him the right to do what he did to Hinata. He also points out that Hinata has been trying to change herself, whereas Neji, in spite of preaching about fate, doesn’t truly accept his role, either.
Hayate complains about Naruto and Neji’s Trash Talk, which is fairly strange since he didn’t do anything to stop Neji’s much longer, as well as more vicious, Breaking Speech against Hinata in canon, nor did his replacement do anything about Neji’s monologuing about his and his clan’s past.
The battle begins, and Naruto, keeps Neji at bay with clones and attacks from a range with kunai, knowing that Neji has a great deal of power if not the same grace as Hinata.
Hinata watches, still not having recovered quite enough for Kurenai to feel confident having her watch the finals. This is especially true when doing so is difficult for her; she clearly is fond of Naruto, but also sympathizes with Neji, because he is her cousin, and because he has lost so much for the sake of the main family.
As Naruto continues his fight with Neji he declares that there is no fate but what they make. He turns one technique he learned from Hinata against Neji, only for him to dismiss her as a weakling, and Naruto to say “She’s not a weakling, asshole!” in response. Naruto takes a Gentle Fist strike to the shoulder, but uses Hinata’s weight-launching trick against him.
Neji performs the Rotation jutsu, fulfilling Hinata’s expectations, even when in canon, Hiashi, who had some idea of Neji’s talent, was surprised to see both the Rotation and Eight Trigrams 64 Palms at play, both in that Neji could perform the chakra control necessary for the former and that Neji could learn both of them. Naruto counters with a Swamp of the Underworld jutsu, and Neji reacts by hitting a clone in the head.
Neji then unleashes Eight Trigrams: 64 Palms on Naruto and gloats at his apparent victory. Hinata, feeling worse from Neji’s words and the mastery of Gentle Fist he displays, is desperate for Naruto to win.
Neij appears convinced he has won, but Naruto says he won’t back down after what he did to Hinata. Naruto tells Neji that Hinata has nothing to do with it. This is a good point, one he should have raised in canon, but it’s less of a valid point than his stating, at this point, that Hinata has sought respect, and has tried to change himself, while he, in spite of his preaching that You Can't Fight Fate, engages in ultimately futile attempts to resist it. Naruto then forces his chakra coils open, in spite of the pain, much to Neji’s horror, and Naruto tells him that fighting fate and a Gentle Fist user hand to hand were things Neji said were impossible as well.
The Hyuga clan is shocked at how well Naruto is doing, wondering if the Fox’s power is at play and if they should kill Naruto for finding the weakness in their jutsu, but Hiashi insists that Neji has not been defeated yet. Canonically, while it’s worth repeating Hiashi is less of an arrogant, abusive Jerkass, he seems surprised by the power of a branch family member, which in and of itself forces him to reconsider his attitude.
Naruto manages to hold his own against Neji, warding off his attacks and deflecting his shuriken. Finally, Naruto charges forward, and strikes Neji down, shredding Neji’s face in the process and ending the match, a somewhat more brutal and less intelligent finisher than his clone feint (which, admittedly, hinged on Neji lacking the chakra to use his Byakugan).
An omake shows Iruka betting on the matches in the preliminaries, which is quite humorously done.
EDIT: One thing I forgot to mention earlier is an author's note complaining about people who complain about the differences from canon, and asks why they're reading fan fiction if all they want is a rehash of canon. This misses the point in a few ways.
- The author is writing a For Want of a Nail fic, so it should stay true to canon except for those events altered by the nail.
- There's a difference between going beyond canon and going against it. A fair number of the differences in this fic are the latter.
- Lastly, and most importantly, not all of the changes he makes to canon events are good.
I may go into more detail about this later, if the fic is updated again.
What I liked
- A few of Naruto’s points against Neji
- The omake.
What I didn’t like
- Kurenai preaching against Jiraiya’s pornography.
- The battle with Neji was less entertaining than in canon.
- Naruto’s dialogue with Neji shows less understanding of his situation, even considering he was told about it in advance.
- Naruto refusing the contract with the toads.
- Naruto’s fairly cruel remark about Neji’s dead father.
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