Chapter 54: The Magnificent Hinata
Relying on these few original moves, Hinata's taijutsu strength had already far surpassed her own from the original story, even reaching a level where she could contend with Neji.
If it weren't for Hinata's lack of experience, Neji would have suspected he was about to suffer an unexpected defeat.
After a few rounds of sparring with his cousin, they had traded wins and losses. Neji's fundamentals were more solid, but Hinata's fighting style was full of surprising moves. He managed to win a few rounds by taking advantage of his unfamiliarity with her techniques.
However, in terms of raw skill, Neji was still a cut above.
After familiarizing himself with Hinata's fighting style, the confrontation between the two siblings began to lean in Neji's favor.
But the gap between the two was still minuscule. Neji admitted that in his first year as a Genin, he definitely didn't have Hinata's level of strength!
While surprised, Neji also felt genuinely happy for Hinata's strength.
"Neji-niisan, your taijutsu is even better than Sakura-chan's!" Hinata said, wiping the sweat from her damp hair while smiling at Neji, her large eyes curved into a crescent moon, seeming to flow with the bright moonlight.
Neji felt as if he had been healed by this warm smile.
It's unbelievable. Just a few days ago during the preliminaries, I was thinking that if I met Hinata, I would definitely humiliate her! Neji felt ashamed and couldn't understand his previous thoughts.
Such a smile, what kind of older brother could be so cruel as to destroy it with his own hands?
"Of course, hmph... As for Sakura! Without her ninjutsu, she definitely couldn't beat me!"
Neji gave a bright smile, as if he had only been defeated by Sakura due to a moment of carelessness. He didn't know how such words had come out of his mouth.
Perhaps it was because he felt the warmth of family from Hinata again. With her, even the usually stern Neji had learned to joke.
Hinata immediately burst out laughing.
Sakura was a ninjutsu-type ninja. Neji knew this and still deliberately said it, his feigned matter-of-fact look amusing Hinata.
"Hey, hey, hey, did I hear that right? Is someone unconvinced?" a mock-surprised voice came from outside the training ground, instantly drawing the siblings' attention.
Walking through the door was a pink-haired girl in casual clothes with her hands on her hips.
Emerald eyes, a faint smile, a confident posture, and the faint aura of Water Style chakra.
It was Haruno Sakura, who hadn't made an appearance for three consecutive chapters.
The girl's annoyed voice sounded exceptionally harsh to Neji.
Interrupting his and Hinata's warm sibling moment was already a heinous crime. Publicly exposing his bluff in front of Hinata and making him lose face in front of his sister was an unforgivable sin—that might be a bit of an exaggeration, Neji wasn't that much of a sis-con, but he did feel an impulse to retort.
He suppressed the anger in his heart.
"Hmph, what are you doing here? This is a Hyuga training ground!" Neji said coldly.
Although she had woken him up during their match, and in a sense, he owed her a debt of gratitude, Neji found it difficult to feel any gratitude towards her.
Perhaps it was because she had been too arrogant as an opponent. When he saw her, the words "thank you" felt as heavy as a mountain, stuck in his throat and unable to come out. There was always a clash of auras between two geniuses.
Or perhaps it was the kind of thing that didn't need to be said out loud, but just silently remembered in one's heart, with the certainty that there would be an opportunity to repay it in the future.
Neji would never admit that it was because he felt that Sakura hadn't used her full strength in the preliminary match, felt that he had been looked down upon, that he was so angry.
However, as the victor, Sakura didn't show much grace either.
"I'm here to see Hinata, don't get any ideas, you defeated opponent!" she said with a contemptuous smile, emphasizing the words "defeated opponent" heavily, a look on her face that said, "If you're not convinced, come and fight me."
Her emerald eyes faintly swept over Neji's angry and slightly red face, lingering for a moment, before meeting a pair of clear, cold, and stubborn blank white eyes.
The four gazes collided in mid-air, instantly igniting the blazing flames of war, as if they were about to turn the training ground into a sea of fire!
"Hmph!" "Tch!" The two of them snorted coldly, took their stances, and secretly gathered their strength, looking as if they were about to start a big fight.
Crack! The specially made wooden floor was forcefully stomped and shattered by Sakura.
Clang! The dessert plate in Neji's hand was thrown out with the technique of a shuriken thrower, embedding itself halfway into a sturdy pillar, probably impossible to pull out.
Chakra surged violently. The wind began to blow.
A great battle was on the verge of breaking out!
Then, the towering battle intent was doused by a plate of ice water to the head.
Smack! Sakura's forehead received a fresh and spicy bonk from Hinata.
"Ow, that hurts!"
Sakura clutched her reddened forehead, her eyes watering.
The woman at the top of the food chain, who reigned supreme in Team 7, was also kept in line by Hinata. It had to be said, this was a cycle.
Under Sakura's many years of patient teaching, the weakness and shyness in Hinata's original personality had transformed into confidence and fortitude—though she was still very shy in front of Naruto—but in front of her friend Sakura, who liked to "liven up the atmosphere," she was a bit too forceful.
The weak and timid girl who used to be bullied had, under Sakura's influence and teaching by example, already become a confident and strong-willed young lady, whose greatest hobby was correcting the wrongdoings of her close friend Sakura in her eyes—a conclusion Sakura had reached with both bitterness and relief after being repeatedly lectured by Hinata.
And on the other side, Neji's ear was twisted into a small flower in Hinata's fair little hand... The dignified young man Neji was thus mercilessly pulled and dragged away by Hinata without any resistance.
Neji didn't know why he was so willing to be managed by Hinata. But this feeling didn't seem too bad...
"Sakura-chan, Neji-niisan, can't you two just talk properly? Do you have to fight the moment you meet?!" Hinata said angrily, with her hands on her hips, looking down at the two people on her left and right who had their heads bowed.
"Sakura-chan, are you thinking of bullying people with your ninjutsu again!"
Just with her ninjutsu, she can bully me? Neji retorted silently in his heart.
"Neji-niisan, as a senpai, shouldn't you be more graceful and yield to your junior a little!"
I don't need him to yield to me, I'm going to beat him until he's convinced! Sakura grumbled silently.
However, neither of them dared to reveal their inner thoughts.
The two who had been filled with battle intent just now were instantly suppressed, not daring to even breathe loudly, and could only obediently listen to Lady Hinata's/little sister's lecture.
After being lectured by Hinata with a straight face, when they walked out of the Hyuga residence, Sakura still looked like a wilted eggplant hit by frost.
"Sakura-chan, walk faster, we still have to go buy flowers!"
"...Oh."
"Sakura-chan, I was angry just now and twisted my brother's ear. Will he be angry? Will he hate me?"
"...A diehard sis-con will not hate his little sister."
"Huh? Sakura-chan, what did you say?"
"...Your brother Neji won't mind such a small thing."
"Oh, that's good. By the way, Sakura-chan, we have to buy something to eat for Choji when we visit him. I feel pretty bad for knocking him out last time. I wonder if he's feeling better now?"
"...He's fine. I saw him yesterday, and he could already eat and drink a lot."
Sakura answered Hinata's questions wearily.
During the preliminary matches, because Neji, who was supposed to face Hinata, had run into Sakura, Hinata's opponent had also been changed to another of the Rookie Twelve—Akimichi Choji.
In the Sasuke retrieval arc of the original story, the drugged-up Choji had shown astonishing strength. Especially the slim and handsome version of Choji after his Butterfly Transformation, who had completely dominated most of the Rookie Twelve in both offense and defense.
It could be said that Choji, who seemed to be at the bottom in terms of strength, was someone that few of the original Rookie Twelve could beat in a real life-or-death battle, although Choji would also quickly collapse after taking the pills.
However, a Choji without pills was on another level.
Basically, the kind that anyone could bully.
His ninjutsu was very powerful, but it had a very serious drawback: low accuracy. When teamed up with Ino and Shikamaru, with two strong crowd controllers, this drawback was not a big deal. But in a one-on-one confrontation, his problem was very fatal.
The battle between Hinata and Choji had proceeded in exactly this way.
Facing Choji's rampaging attack, Hinata easily dodged to the side, then delivered a full-powered Gentle Fist strike from the side.
With one palm, she knocked out the madly spinning and charging Choji.
The match lasted less than ten seconds, the fastest preliminary match to end.
The fact that the usually inconspicuous Hinata had won against Choji in a crushing victory—although Choji was a bit of a weakling—left many people stunned.
The movements Hinata made, though they looked easy and simple, showed a speed and power that was not something a mere Genin could easily achieve.
Just based on the fact that she had knocked out the giant-sized Choji with one palm, she had already earned the qualification to enter the third round of the exams.
However, if these people had seen Hinata fighting on even terms with Neji in a spar, they probably would have gone to see an eye doctor collectively out of disbelief.
After the match, the poor Choji had been unconscious for a whole day.
When the worried Hinata went to visit Choji after the preliminaries, he was still lying unconscious in a hospital bed. So Hinata had arranged with Sakura to come and visit him again in a few days.
For Sakura, this was also on the way.
This time, several of the Rookie Twelve had ended up in the hospital, and there were a few of them the two of them needed to visit.
Sasuke was a teammate from the same squad, so of course, Sakura had to see him first. Next was Kiba, Hinata's teammate, who had been sent to the hospital by Naruto, so the two of them had to visit him as well. Then there was Choji, who had been injured by Hinata. Finally, there was Hinata's cousin Neji's teammate, Lee, whose injuries were very serious. It was only right and proper that they should go and visit him.
❃❃❃
⤑ Show your support with Power Stones!
⤑ Unlock a Bonus Chapter every time we hit 400 Power Stones!
❃❃❃
♕ Get early access to 20+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
🔗 https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to open the link!)
💬 Enjoying the story? Drop a review!
Your support really helps the series grow—thank you!