We open on Iruka thinking how Naruto will do against Neji. Kabuto wants Naruto's performance to entertain him a little, since he's got a rough job ahead. At the arena, a stampede of orange-clad ninja charge Neji, and if anything they do worse than when there were fewer clones. Neji says he warned Naruto that he wasn't a slouch, and charges through the crowd to slam the real Naruto and pop the clones. One of the Proctors already calls it, and Hinata quietly pleads for our hero to win. PSYCHE! The real Naruto wasn't Naruto at all. Kiba(!) yells encouragement as two more clones leap to offense on a startled Neji. Then Neji blocks with a Chakra force field that digs a hole in the ground when it's used. Hinata's dad Hiashi calls it Rotation - Neji's Byakugan's almost 360 degrees. Naruto tries surrounding Neji with Clones again, but Neji blocks them all and sends them scattering away with his Chakra shield. Tenten helpfully explains that unlike even Jonin, who tend to expel from Chakra from one point in their body, Neji can do it from any point. Okay, kid's still a prick, but he's no joke. The elder Hyuga is amazed that Neji figured this out on his own, as that's something that's passed down in the head Hyuga branch. Naruto's getting frustrated, and Neji assumes a stance he apparently really shouldn't know. Neji circles in and then hits Naruto with a 64-combo strike. Oh my god.
Neji triumphantly says he hit all 64 Chakra points, and now Naruto can't even stand.
Our boy struggles to move, and his vision's blurry. Naruto flashes on people who've had to deal with that prick Neji, and slowly manages to get to his feet. Neji's shocked, but Naruto did tell him he didn't know when to quit. In the stands, Hinata's so torn up she starts coughing, her injuries starting to flare up. The Anbu Kiba spotted comes to take a look at her, and Kiba wonders who the hell he is. Not-at-all Kabuto Anbu: "I'm not suspicious or anything." Well, that settles it. Neji tries to get Naruto to quit, saying that it'll just get worse and he doesn't really have a grudge against Naruto. Naruto's definitely got one against him, calling him out for being a bastard to Hinata during their fight and asking why, but Neji says it's not his business. The Anbu works some healing mojo on Hinata as Kiba looks on.
Neji decides to shut Naruto up and tell him about the sordid past of the Hyuga clan. They have the Curse Mark Arts, where people in the clan are branded to show the destiny they're locked into, and the only way to escape it is death. When Neji was four, they met at Hinata's third birthday, where Neji was Curse Marked so that the way for Hinata to become head of the clan was made clear. Naruto wonders what it all means, as do I. We flash on Hinata's training, and Hisashi tells him that he'll be Hinata's bodyguard one day. Hisashi isn't pleased at all with how Hinata's coming along, which he uses the Byakugan to see, and Hinata's dad detects murderous intent from Hisashi. Hiashi sends some painful feedback through Hizashi's own Curse Mark. The Mark, it turns out, is a leash on the branch family, to keep them as the main family's protectors and to have something to hold over their heads. Neji recounts when Hinata was kidnapped, and Hisashi killed the abductor - it was the head of the Lightning Ninja, who were in town to sign a treaty with Leaf. The two Villages almost went to war over it as the Lightningers apparently made it seem like it was the Leaf's fault, but the Hokage wanted to avoid that at all costs. The Lightning Ninja wanted Hiashi's body for the Byakugan, but instead they gave the Lightning Ninja Hisashi, who was made to look like a body double. Neji says growing up in the Hyuga clan you know all about destiny, and Naruto's was decided when the match was made. I get Neji now, but he's still a jackass.
Next Episode: Naruto's got to find some Chakra around here somewhere...
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