Chapter 42
Sakura took a deep breath to calm her nerves. The village was watching and she felt intimidated. However, she was ready to show everyone that she was not the same person. She was going to put on a show for these people. Sakura was ready to fight.
Sakura gave Hinata the Seal of Confrontation. Hinata followed her lead, giving the seal back. Hinata got into her Gentle Fist stance while Sakura took the standard stance taught at the academy. Seeing that they were ready, Hayate started the match. Sakura launched forward to engage Hinata.
Sakura threw a one-two combo to start. Hinata dodged and countered with a Gentle Fist strike to Sakura's mid-section. Sakura dodged and attacked again. Hinata began to move in a circular motion, avoiding Sakura's punches and kicks. Hinata would attempt to counter only for Sakura to dodge, dancing out of her reach. After a few moments, Sakura decided to change tactics.
Doing a few hand seals, Sakura just vanished from view. Hinata was on guard and felt something was off. Activating the Byakugan, she saw a disruption of her chakra. She quickly dispelled the genjutsu and saw a hand reach for her ankle. Hinata quickly moved away and sakura was forced to come out of hiding. Hinata stopped and changed forward. She ducked under Sakura's punch and threw a palm strike. Hinata was surprised when it went through Sakura. This time, her ankle was grabbed and she was being dragged underground.
"Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation!" Hinata called out. Sakura quickly let her go and shot out of the ground to get out of range. Hinata stopped spinning and hopped out of the crater. She landed on the other side of her crater and Sakura acted. She tossed several shuriken. Hinata flowed through them and spun into Sakura's guard. Sakura got hit by a strong strike, stunning her. Sakura quickly got out of stunned state and threw a hard punch that connected with Hinata's jaw. Hinata's head snapped down and her eyes were wide with surprise by the power behind it.
The two jumped away from each other to catch themselves. Hinata touched her cheek and winced as she could feel it swelling. Sakura immediately used the Healing Jutsu to counteract the Gentle Fist attack. Both girls returned their focus on the other and thought of way to win. So engrossed, they ignored the cheering of the crowd.
XXX
Ino couldn't believe what she was seeing. She believed that this would be a short fight. Not only was it not short, Sakura and Hinata was putting on a show. Ino knew that Hinata had improved since the academy. She probably would have been 'Top Kunoichi' if it wasn't for her shyness. However, Sakura only had two to three months of any real training. It shouldn't have made any difference, yet here she saw, going blow for blow with Hinata. Ino grumbled as she continued to watch.
In the competitor's box, everyone watched this fight and couldn't help but be impressed. Sakura and Hinata were really showing their skills. The only one not impressed was Neji. He believed that Hinata should have already defeated this girl. It proved that she was still a weakling. He looked into the crowd to see his uncle and was surprised to see a proud smile. Was he actually proud of Hinata? That couldn't be right. What did Hinata do that deserved that smile? It pissed Neji off, which aggravated his wound. His attention was diverted when someone shouted.
"Hey, did I make it?" It was Kiba. The young Inuzuka looked really banged up as both arms were in slings.
"What are you doing man? Shouldn't you be in the med bay?" asked Naruto.
"And miss Hinata's match? No way in hell was that happening." Kiba and and turned his attention to the match.
XXX
Feeling better, Sakura ran over to the wall that was destroyed by Naruto's Fire Style jutsus. She grabbed a very large piece of wall and, to everyone's shock, lifted it from the ground.
"CHAAA!" Sakura roared and actually threw the piece of the wall at Hinata. Coming out of her own shock, Hinata quickly rolled out as the wall hit the ground. Hinata fixed herself only to see another piece coming at her. She was about to move away when the large piece exploded into pieces. Acting quickly, Hinata began to spin.
"Palm Rotation!" A dome of chakra appeared and deflected the rain of stone. Coming out of the spin, she could not find Sakura anywhere. That's when she felt a prickly pain in her leg. She looked to see a senbon sticking into her leg and Sakura's arm sticking out of the ground. Sakura came out of the ground and started attacking. Hinata tried to move but her leg wouldn't let her. Hinata defended herself well but Sakura was relentless.
It would pay off as Sakura stuck her with another senbon. Hinata's arm locked up, leaving her open. Sakura stuck her with several more senbon before hitting her with an uppercut. Hinata hit the ground with a thud. Hinata struggled to her feet and looked at the Senbon in her. She could barely move her limbs, something Sakura saw. She ran at Hinata, her fist cocked back, ready to finish Hinata off. Seeing this, Hinata closed her eyes and took a breath before flashing her Byakugan.
"Gentle Fist Art: Body Blow!" Hinata shouted and expelled her chakra from every point of her body. The senbon were shot out by the move and Hinata got into a stance. She dodged Sakura's punch and landed a hard punch to her gut. As Sakura staggered back, Hinata caught her wrist and pulled her into a shoulder jam into Sakura's chest. Hinata twisted her wrist and drove her shoulder again into Sakura. She released the wrist and struck Sakura with five palm strikes, stepping into each one. Sakura was so dazed that she couldn't defend the thirty-two strikes. Hinata ended the combo with the Palm Rotation.
Sakura screamed as she was tossed away. She hit the ground hard, bouncing once before laying still. Hayate waited a while to see if she was going to move. When she didn't, Hayate pointed at Hinata.
"The winner of the fourth match is Hinata Hyuga." he announced. Hinata let out a sigh before making her way over to Sakura. Hayate was already there and turned the young kunoichi over. He pulled out some smelling salts and waved it under Sakura's nose. She quickly sat up and threw a punch that Hayate caught.
"Easy genin Haruno. The match is over." Hayate said. Sakura took a few breaths to calm down and realized that she lost. She felt bummed about that until Hinata held out her two fingers. Sakura understand this and locked fingers, showing the Seal of Reconciliation. Sakura was helped to her feet and the crowd gave the two a standing ovation.
XXX
"Man, what a fight! It wasn't as good as the Uzumaki/Uchiha fight but man, what a fight!" a villager said with excitement.
"Yeah, I agree. I honestly thought that this fight was going to be as short as the last kunoichi fight." said another villager.
"Yeah, that fight was a waste of time. It was as if only one of them came to fight. That Leaf genin should be ashamed of her performance." A third villager elbowed the first and made a motion toward Ino. The two balked as they saw Ino's fist clenched. Ino quickly got up and left, not even listening to the two adult's apology. She walked out of the stands, refusing to let anyone see her cry. Asuma saw this and went to see if she was okay.
Kakashi looked on as Sakura was taken off the field. He didn't know how to feel right now. He felt proud that Sakura gave it her all but he had no hand in it. Other people helped shape mold Sakura into as kunoichi and he did not.
"Must be frustrating Kakashi." Guy's voice spoke, making him flinch. "Two rare gems you had in your possession. If only you weren't so blinded by past mistakes, you would see that. Alas, it is your loss. I only hope you don't make the same mistake with Sasuke." Kakashi said nothing and didn't even face Guy. He just walked off in the direction of the medical bay. Guy just sighed.
In the competitor's box, Kiba cheered Hinata's victory only to cry out in pain due to his injuries. Shin checked on him while he bawled in pain. Choji was joking with Naruto about having to face Hinata in the next round, making Naruto sweat. It even made Temari giggle at him. The only one who was not laughing was Neji. He was pissed and it showed as his Byakugan came alive. It wasn't due to Hinata's victory. It was the proud look that Haishi and the elders were giving Hinata. Why were they so proud of her? They hated the fact that she changed her Gentle Fist style. They thought her style was weak. Why were they so proud of her? She barely beat that weakling. They should be furious.
"Neji!" Tenten called out. He looked at her sharply but saw that everyone was looking at him. Tenten gave him a glance and her calmed down. He quickly but gingerly made his way to the far corner and stewed in his anger. Everyone wondered what that was all about
XXX
After a few minutes, Choji and Tenten were on the field. Choji was really nervous about being in front of such a crowd. He then heard his friends cheer him on and he felt a little more confident. Relaxing, Choji nodded to Hayate to let him know he was ready. Tenten did the same and Hayate started the match. Choji charged forward and unsealed his staff from the seal Naruto put on his forearm. Tenten pulled out two tonfa and guarded herself from Choji's attack.
Choji launched several strikes and thrust with his staff, keeping Tenten on the defensive. One overhead strike was so powerful, it cracked Tenten's tonfas and forced her to a knee. Tenten jump away and tossed several shuriken. Choji was able to block them and pushed forward. Tenten threw a kunai that was attached with ninja wire. She pulled herself away just as Choji swung at her. She landed on the side of the stadium wall. Choji saw that she was reaching for his shuriken pouch and did some hand seals.
"Expansion Jutsu!" Choji grew in size, his abdominal section the largest. He then tucked in his limbs, turning into a ball. Tenten watched as Choji began to roll at an amazing speed before launching himself. "Human Boulder!" he shouted and rolled toward Tenten. Tenten launched several shuriken at the rolling Choji and she watched with surprise as it bounced off realized that he was moving too fast for her shuriken to stick.
Choji came at Tenten who believed that she was safe up on the wall. She was soon proven wrong when Choji rolled up the wall. Tenten cursed and cut the ninja wire just as Choji pasted by her. Choji leap off the wall and fell after Tenten. Tenten landed and rolled out of the way just as Choji nearly crushed her. Choji used his chakra to get out of the small crater and rolled after Tenten. She continued to be on the defensive as Choji came at her like a tank.
XXX
Kurenai, Asuma and Gai were impressed by what Choji was doing. While they were confused in the beginning considering what they saw Choji do. They then realized what it was.
"So, he is using methods of the Tree Climbing exercise to go up walls and dodge Tenten's attacks?" Kurenai asked.
"It was an idea that we thought of while we trained. He knew the weakness of the Human Boulder was the inability to steer and stop. It took most of the month for Choji to even get this far. It isn't mastered yet but if he keeps working on it, this move will be something to stop." Asuma answered.
"It probably takes a lot of concentration to pull off. Yosh, this gives me an idea to further my training! I will think of this as I do one thousand push-ups! My flames are brighting!" Guy exclaimed. Asuma and Kurenai just looked at their fellow jonin with sighs.
XXX
Tenten was breathing heavy and was getting tired of being chased. It was time to stop playing around Tenten pulled out several scrolls. She began tossing them in front of the rolling Choji. When Choji rolled over the scroll, they burst open, revealing several chains. Choji continued to come at her so she threw a few more scrolls that Choji rolled over, chaining him up. It would take a few more scrolls before Choji's movement stopped. He kept trying to move forward but the chains were heavy and some of the chains had hooks that dung into the ground, stopping his forward movement. Knowing this Choji had no choice but to return to his normal size.
Tenten saw her chance and decided to finish this before Choji got free. Taking her last to scrolls, She placed them at either side of her, she began to do hand seals.
"Twin Rising Dragons!" Tenten called out. The scrolls rose up and spun around each other cloaked in smoke shaped like a dragon. Tenten vanished and reappeared in the middle of the two coiling scrolls. Choji saw this and realized that he would not get free in time. He did have one move left to do. It would take a lot of chakra but it needed to be done. Choji did some hand seals and called out his jutsu.
"Expansion Jutsu!" Choji shouted. A huge plume of smoke appeared. When it cleared, everyone was just shocked into silence.
XXXXX
Authors' Notes
Left this on a cliffhanger huh? Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
