Naruto: The new beginning

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Naruto thought for a moment about the possibility of asking his father to completely stagger the schedules of Hayate Gekkō and Uzuki Yugao as a form of revenge.

Hayate didn't notice anything and immediately started the next match. The names scrolled on the big screen and finally stopped:

[Hyuga Neji vs. Tenten]

Naruto turned his head to look and thought, "Ah, well done!"

He hugged Hinata, turned around, and walked to the side of the arena. Seeing the three- or four-meter-high viewing platform, he decided to take the stairs.

Climbing the stairs to the top of the platform would take him only a second at most, but... Naruto decided to hold onto Hinata a little longer without getting tired. 

As they were heading up, they happened to run into Neji, who was coming down the stairs.

"Hmph." Neji shot Naruto a disapproving look.

Naruto: "???"

"What's the deal? Didn't we get along well during the first exam?"

Hinata buried her head even deeper, too shy now that her brother Neji had seen her like this.

Kushina watched her son with pride, then glanced at Minato. "Like father, like son," she thought. Some things just don't need to be taught—they're inherited.

Neji and Tenten walked to the field and got into position. Naruto, still carrying Hinata, also made his way upstairs. 

Instead of joining the crowd or going to their parents, they stopped in a relatively open spot to watch the match.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata called out softly.

"Hm?"

"Put me down," Hinata whispered, blushing.

"I'm not tired," Naruto replied earnestly.

"But..." Hinata's face turned even redder as she glanced at the crowd. There were so many people around.

Realizing her discomfort, Naruto gently put Hinata down and created two shadow clones. "Go, bring our sofa here."

When the clones vanished, they left behind the Flying Thunder God mark. Moments later, they reappeared, carrying the living room sofa, placing it behind Hinata, along with a small round table set with tea and snacks.

"Uzumaki Logistics, at your service! Please rate us 5 stars if you're satisfied!" The clones gave a playful salute before disappearing. Though they loved to joke around, they knew when it was time to be serious.

Naruto pulled Hinata onto the sofa, poured her some tea, and handed a snack to her mouth.

Hinata, already accustomed to Naruto's playful shadow clones, took a small bite of the dessert, feeling sweetness not just in her mouth but in her heart.

Sasuke glanced over at them, wondering why Naruto hadn't joined him.

Sakura looked enviously at Naruto and Hinata, then back at Sasuke, and again at Sasuke.

"If only Sasuke was half as attentive as Naruto, I'd have three kids by now!" she thought.

"The second qualifier: Neji Hyuga vs. Tenten. Begin!"

Tenten jumped back a considerable distance, simultaneously throwing a barrage of shuriken and kunai, trying to create some space. She knew Neji too well—close combat was not an option.

Neji also knew Tenten. If she managed to maintain distance, he'd be up against a barrage of ninja tools, risking either getting crushed or exhausted.

With the help of his Byakugan, Neji deftly dodged the shuriken and deflected the kunai, all while closing the gap between them.

These two were like natural opposites: one excelled at long-range combat, the other at precise positioning.

In the end, Neji's superior skills shone through. He fended off an array of Tenten's ninja tools—sickles, machetes, maces—and managed to get close enough to place his finger on her neck.

"I surrender," Tenten said. She had anticipated this outcome. Even though she still had her Twin Rising Dragons jutsu, she knew Neji had his eyes and Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.

"Winner: Neji Hyuga," announced Hayate, declaring the result.

Naruto thought the match was thrilling, but lamented the absence of commentary like the kind he used to provide.

He took Hinata's hand and silently switched out the tray of snacks.

"Wait, I just had two pieces from this plate—how did they disappear so quickly...?"

As Neji and Tenten left the field, the screen began to scroll again:

[Haruno Sakura vs. Uchiha Sasuke]

"Pfft~" Naruto spat out a mouthful of tea. "What is this, some kind of annual blind date event?"

"Naruto-kun?"

"It's nothing." Naruto wiped his mouth, then frowned. In his attempt not to spray tea all over the table, he'd ended up soiling the armrest of the sofa. Would he get scolded for this at home?

Sakura also frowned, but it was more out of envy for the scene between Hinata and Naruto. 

She imagined losing a match, only to be carried off like a princess and then cuddling while watching the next fight.

But knowing Sasuke's style, she'd be lucky if he held back 30% of his strength for her sake, even if he was in a good mood.

Sasuke was a bit surprised by the match-up but didn't say anything, simply leaping off the stand. 

As everyone knew, in the original story, Sasuke only had three categories of people in his life: Itachi, Naruto, and everyone else.

Now that his family was still alive, he probably added his parents to the list, but Sakura still wasn't someone he took seriously.

Facing off, Sakura and Sasuke waited for the signal. When Hayate announced the start, Sasuke didn't even activate his Sharingan—he just walked forward and slashed at Sakura's neck with a kunai. But Sakura dodged.

After training with Naruto and Sasuke for so long, her reflexes and reaction speed were far beyond those of an ordinary genin.

Sasuke continued with a series of Uchiha-style taijutsu, his movements fluid and almost dance-like. With his good looks, it was as if he was performing, truly living up to the Uchiha name.

During the battle, Sakura stayed focused, taking it seriously. She utilized substitution jutsu, shadow clones, and shuriken to distract and evade, demonstrating a solid foundation and an incredibly strong will to survive.

Sasuke wasn't surprised—Sakura's survival skills had been honed through countless battles with him and Naruto.

In the end, Sasuke placed a kunai on Sakura's neck, and she raised her hand to surrender.

Naruto realized how naive his earlier thoughts had been. Putting a kunai to his future wife's neck and forcing her to surrender—that's just something only Sasuke could pull off.

After changing out another tray of snacks, Naruto thought bitterly, "If this guy wasn't so handsome, he'd be single forever!"

"Winner: Sasuke Uchiha."

The screen started scrolling again and eventually settled on:

[Nara Shikamaru vs. Temari]

Naruto calmly took a sip of tea and didn't forget to offer Hinata another snack because this was turning into a blind date session.

Wait a second—Naruto suddenly noticed a pattern as he reviewed the roster from the previous matches:

Naruto Uzumaki vs. Hinata Hyuga

Neji Hyuga vs. Tenten

Nara Shikamaru vs. Temari

And then there was the last one:

Haruno Sakura vs. Uchiha Sasuke

Ah, this...

Naruto smirked, realizing the truth: Sakura didn't just want to change her surname to Uchiha—she wanted to make Sasuke change his surname to Haruno!

Or even if Sakura does take the Uchiha name, she'll probably be the one calling the shots... ahem.

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