Aceso walked towards the door with the medics and Kiba and Akamaru.

" Uh, Kiba?" Hinata asked as she walked up. They stopped and looked at her. She held up some ointment. " Here's some healing ointment. It's for you and Akamaru.

" Huh, forget about us," Kida stated. " The stuff Aceso gave us is doing great. You better start worrying about yourself, Hinata."

" What do you mean?" Hinata asked.

" Only six left," Kiba informed. " Just you and Choji, Neji, Lee, and then there are those two guys from the Sound and Sand Villages. Listen to me, be smart. If they put you in with that guy from the Sand Village, you've got to forfeit the match. Same with Neji. Be smart and just walk away. Trust me, he'll be merciless. He'll destroy you."

" All right, we'll now pick the names for the next match," Hayate informed. Everyone looked over as the screen ran through six names. It landed on Hinata and Neji Hyuga. Aceso looked over to see that Hinata was already trembling with fear. The two walked onto the battlefield as Aceso went back up to the second floor and Kiba was taken out of the room with Akamaru.

" I never thought that you and I would have to face each other, Hinata," Neji admitted.

" Nor I, brother," Hinata agreed.

" What'd she call him?" Sakura asked.

" Brother!" Naruto exclaimed. " Those two are brother and sister?"

" They're both descended from the Hyuga clan," Aceso explained. " One of the most ancient and honorable families of the Hidden Leaf Village."

" Not actually brother and sister," Kakashi added.

" Ok, but they're related somehow, right?" Sakura asked as she looked at her sensei and Aceso.

" Yes," Aceso answered.

" In the way, a branch of the great tree is related to its trunk," Kakashi explained. " Technically, they're more like cousins."

" The trunk of a tree?" Naruto asked in confusion.

" Yes, Hinata belongs to the family's main household, directly descended from the head of the clan," Lee explained. " Well, Neji's family is just a side branch of the clan."

" Still, they're family," Sakura brought up. " And now they have to fight each other. I feel for them. It must be hard."

" Yes," Aceso agreed.

" But-" Lee began.

" But what?" Aceso asked as she looked up at him.

" It may not be as hard as it seems," Lee explained. " I have heard that for many generations now, there has been some bad blood between the two families."

" Hm," Naruto breathed. " And why is that?"

" I have never known the specifics," Lee admitted as he looked over at them. " But you know about the bloodline trait to the great ninja clans, like the Uchiha and the Hyuga, special techniques and abilities unique to those families. The first generation of the Hyuga clan made all sorts of rules and decrees that favor the main branch of the family. It seems some branches of the family broke these rules."

" Huh?" Aceso, Naruto, and Sakura asked.

" Anyway, it is said that because of that there has been some friction between the branches of the clan," Lee informed as he looked back at the combatants.

" So it's like this match is a family feud," Sakura concluded.

" Look, they're about to start," Kakashi said, they all looked down.

" All right, you may begin when ready," Hayate announced.

" Before we do this, a word of advice," Neji began as he got into stance. " Hinata, listen to me." She looked up at him. " Withdraw now. You know you were never meant to be a ninja."

"He reminds me of you a little Sakura," Aceso commented, Sakura glared at her.

" You're too kind and gentle," Neji said. " You seek harmony and avoid conflict. You allow yourself to be easily swayed by others." She looked away from him sadly. " Admit it, you have no confidence. You feel inferior to everyone else here. It would've been better for you to simply remain a Genin, but to register for the Chunin exams, you need a team of three people. You never even wanted to take part in these exams, but Shino and Kiba did, and you couldn't bear to let your teammates down, could you?"

" No, you're wrong," Hinata denied as she looked back at her brother. " You're wrong. I wanted---I had to find out. I did it because I wanted to see if I could change.

" Hinata, you're the pampered offspring of the Hyuga's main branch," Neji said.

" What?" Hinata gasped.

" People can't change no matter how hard they try," Neji explained. She gasped. " They can't run away from their true nature. A failure will always be a failure." Naruto started to growl. " People are judged by their true nature. It is the way of the world. That is why we have many elite and why there are outcasts. We can change our physical appearance, improve our skills with training and study, but ultimately we are judged by what we cannot change. What can't be changed must be endured. We are who we are, Hinata. And we must live with it, just as I must live with the fact that you were born in the elite of our clan while I am from a lesser branch. I understand these because I see the world clearly with my Byakugan." Lee grabbed Aceso's braid once more, she looked over, and he dropped it. She looked back over at the arena and Lee grabbed it once more. " Despite your brave words, what you're really thinking is that you'd like to run as far away from here as you can."

" No, you're wrong," Hinata declined. " You're wrong about me."

" Byakugan?" Sakura asked. They looked back at Kakashi.

" It's the Kekkei Genkai or bloodline trait of the Hyuga, a visual Jutsu like Sasuke's Sharingan," Kakashi explained. " In fact, they say the Uchiha clan's Sharingan was derived from the Byakugan some time long ago. But for the sheer power of insight, the Byakugan is the stronger of the two." Even from this height up. Aceso could see how bad Hinata was trembling.

" Byakugan!" Neji shouted after doing the handle sign. Veins around his eyes popped out and in his eyes.

" My eyes cannot be deceived," Neji explained. " Just one moment ago, in the slightest of movements, your gaze drifted toward the upper-left corner of the room. I saw at that moment you were thinking of your past, your bitter past. And then, almost immediately after your gaze drifted to the lower right. It was a mere flicker of the eyes, but to me, it revealed all of your mental and physical suffering. You're seeing your old self and wondering if your life has prepared you for this moment. You're picturing the outcome of the battle. You see yourself losing." Naruto clenched the ointment in his hand, he didn't get it from Aceso, but from Hinata herself. He was shaking with anger. " And the way you're holding your arms in front of your body like that? It tells me that you're trying to build a wall between us, to keep me at bay. You want to keep me from raiding the deepest recesses of your mind. And why? Because everything I've said is true. Should I go on?" Aceso glanced over at Naruto as he grunted. " That familiar gesture of putting your fingers to your lips, I know it's a desperate attempt to suppress your rising panic, made all the more desperate because you know it's futile. It's all futile, Hinata. You are what you are. Whether you admit it or not, you already know."

" That does it!" Naruto snapped. Everyone looked at Naruto. " Who gave you the right to tell her what she can or can't be? Go on, Hinata! Show this guy he's wrong."

" Hm," Kakashi smiled as Naruto growled more.

" Hinata, you just going to stand there and take that?" Naruto asked. " Do something. You're driving me crazy." Hinata looked down, and then back up with more confidence in her eyes,

" If you don't forfeit the match you know what will happen," Neji warned. Hinata held out her arms and then started to do hand signs.

" Byakugan!" Hinata yelled activating her Kekki Genkai.

" Huh?" Naruto gasped. Hinata got in a position to fight.

" Defend yourself, my brother," Hinata advised. Lee gasped as Neji did the same.

" Very well then," Neji agreed.

" Of course, it is the Hyugya style," Lee gathered.

" Huh?" Aceso asked as she looked back at him.

" That is why their poses are the same," Lee explained.

" The Hyuga style?"Aceso asked.

" It is the most effective type of Taijutsu found in our village," Lee explained as his fingers went through the hair on Aceso's braid as his other fist clenched. " I have said it before, I have on my team the man who is probably the strongest Genin ever to come out of the Hidden Leaf Village, that man--" He pointed with the braid out. " Neji Hyuga."

Neji and Hinata took off simultaneously at each other. The two began striking and dodging at each other, and chakra was to be seen coming off. Hinata skimmed based Neji's stomach with her hand.

" Did she get him?" Sakura asked as they leaned over the rail.

" No way," Naruto denied. " She hardly touched him."

" Even so, a glancing blow is enough," Lee explained. " That is what makes the Hyuga clan the most formidable of fighters."

" What does?" Aceso asked.

" What are you talking about?" Sakura asked.

" Their Taijutsu is a unique one that's been passed down for generations," Gai explained. " It's not the kind of Taijutsu Lee and I employ. We tend to concentrate on inflicting external damage. We use crushing blows to raise contusions and break limbs, pounding our enemy. The Hyuga is to attack their opponent's internal organs and the chakra network through which the chakra flows. Their way is more subtle. Perhaps not as thrilling to watch, but it gradually takes effect with devastating results."

" You see, you can't build up your internal organs, no matter how hard you train," Kakashi explained. " Even the toughest ninja is vulnerable to this kind of attack." After keeping a distance the two Hyugas went back to attacking each other.

" Hinata, way to go!" Naruto cheered.

" They attack the chakra network?" Sakura asked.

" Their victims always tend to need more attention at the hospital," Aceso recalled. " Their organs to a while to recover."

" These people are amazing," Sakura stated.

" Yeah, you could say that again," Naruto agreed. " So what is the chakra network anyway?"

" Ugh," Sakura groaned. " Don't you know anything?"

" Here, I will explain it," Lee offered just as Aceso closed her mouth. She closed it to listen to what Lee had to say. " It is the complex system of circulatory canals that distribute chakra throughout the body, similar to a person's vascular system, the veins, and arteries that carry blood."

" I get it," Naruto said as he folded his arms. " Only these veins carry chakra, not blood?"

" Basically," Aceso nodded. " Furthermore, the chakra network is so closely interwoven with all the most vital internal organs that they are virtually one in the same. Therefore, when the network is attacked, these organs suffer damage as well."

"Wow Lee and Aceso, how did you ever get to be so smart?" Naruto asked.

" I live and work in a hospital," Aceso reminded him.

" Idiot!" Sakura snapped. " How'd you ever get to be Genin?" She hit him on the top of his head.

" Ow!" Naruto yelled as he grabbed his head. Lee's hands were now shaking, both of them, he was incredibly worked up. He was clutching the one braid very tightly, he was starting to pull on Aceso's hair. She grabbed her head.

" Lee," Aceso breathed as she tugged at her hair.

" Sorry red rose," Lee apologized as he let go of her hair.

" But sensei, how do they know where to strike their opponent?" Sakura asked. " I mean, the chakra network is invisible to the eye, right? SO how do they know exactly where to land their blows?"

" You're forgetting their Byakugan," Kakashi reminded her. " There are few things invisible to those eyes. What's more? When they strike a blow, it's a little different from a normal attack. A small but intense burst of their own chakra is released from their hand. It drills into the opponent's body, directly attacking his chakra network" There was a strike, chakra blew into the air.

"Yeah! Get him!" Naruto cheered. Others gasped as they tried to get a closer look at where they were standing.