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Eighth match, Neji Hyuga vs Uchiha Koroi.
Ikki: [So Uchiha survived the changed timeline this much, huh. Would have loved to watch the match between Neji and Hinata, but let's give the girl some peace of mind. She must be facing her inferiority complex. And her father didn't do much better for her.]
The fight started. Hyuga's style has always been defensive, but seeing this match Ikki knew he would never acknowledge this trashy style.
Uchiha Koroi possessed a single tomoe Sharingan. As soon as the match started, he threw shuriken straight at Neji, which he countered with his taijutsu. As soon as the last shuriken went out of sight, a fireball was thrown from the left side of Neji. All people subconsciously prefer their dominant side, so most ninjas look to their right side first. Neji also did the same, but feeling the heat coming from the left side, with improved footwork he dodged back. After dodging, Neji Hyuga again got himself into a defensive stance. Uchiha Koroi, seeing this, came near him and started close combat. Neji Hyuga, being trained in Hyuga Taijutsu, was able to counter Uchiha's attacks. Uchiha Koroi never intended to win with close combat, even he knew that was not possible. His primary target was to get Neji to see him in his eyes.
Ikki: "Foolishness. Being reliant only on Sharingan or Byakugan inevitably leads to stagnation."
Hinari: "Why are you saying this, Ikki? Even I use Byakugan continuously."
Ikki: "Hinari, initially before being integrated into this team you were relying heavily on Byakugan, but now you have learned to use it as a passive tool. Even if you lose your Byakugan, you can still fight. No—you can dominate. But these Uchihas and Hyugas, they rely on their dojutsu too much. They're not even trying to improve their taijutsu or ninjutsu. They're just relying on their dojutsu. Inevitably they're gonna stagnate in the future. Either improve their ocular powers to the limit or improve in other areas. After being past prime both are not good options. Improving ocular jutsu is hard itself. They can improve in other areas from the start but they gave up on that. This is just like murdering their potential."
As Ikki said, Neji didn't fall into the trap of looking at the Sharingan, and one uppercut hit Uchiha Koroi's chin, which made him fly in the air. Neji didn't let this chance go by. He closed the distance between them and started hitting with Gentle Fist. The first fist landed, but Uchiha Koroi stabilized after one hit, though it still put him at a disadvantage. See—Uchiha Gentle Fist blocked tenketsu points. As chakra flow got disrupted, the house of cards began to topple. Koroi tried to dodge and make distance for upcoming attacks, but he couldn't. At last, he couldn't hold on.
Tatsumo: "Winner, Neji Hyuga."
Ninth Match, Uchiha Shinai vs Ikki.
Ikki: "Again."
Tatsumo: "Yes, again. Come down already."
Ikki was about to protest when Hinari picked him up and power-lifted him.
Ikki: "Annnno, Hinari-chan, you are not gonna do what I'm thinking, right?"
Hinari: "We should give your opponent a chance, right?"
Tatsumo and Sandaime also broke into a sweat seeing this.
Ikki: "What have I ever done to you, Hinari-chan?"
Hinari: "Nothing, I just enjoy this."
Saying this, with both hands Hinari threw Ikki down into the arena. At the last minute, Ikki utilized chakra to strengthen his legs, rotating his body, and landed safely.
Uchiha Shinai, seeing this, started to sweat. Before he had some Uchiha arrogance which told him not to give up, but now it all evaporated. If he was flung like that, of course, he would survive but never land like that. He would have many injuries. Seeing this, he raised his hand:
Uchiha Shinai: "I give up."
Ikki got dumbfounded, so did every Genin. But all adults knew what was happening.
Tatsumo: "Ikki goes into the final matches."
Ikki again returned to the stands.
Tenth match, Hyuga Hinata vs Hyuga Hinari.
Ikki: [Hinari vs Hinata, this is gonna be interesting. I know Hinari has some anger towards the main family. But Hinata is not like the main family. Even Branch family people like Hinata. So it should be okay.]
As the match started, Hinata activated her Byakugan, but Hinari didn't. Hinari just stood there, waiting for Hinata to make the first move.
Hinata: "Hinari-sama, even if I know I am not as strong as you, I will still try."
Hinari: "Princess Hinata, I am sorry for what's about to happen."
Seeing Hinata's determination, Hinari started to like her more.
Hinari: "Good, let's start."
Hinari started with normal Gentle Fist, Hinata also did the same. Palm to palm matched. After some duration, Hinari started to weave one-handed hand signs with the other hand which was not striking. Seeing this, Hinata made distance between them.
Hinari: "Huh, you're not gonna let me finish my jutsu, huh."
Hinata started to sweat. But sticking to her guts she still pushed through. Instantly increasing her speed, she stopped just one arm's length away and threw her palm at Hinari's solar plexus. Hinari, seeing it, also matched palm with palm. But these were just decoys—Hinata swiped her right leg at Hinari's side, but Hinari raised her left leg to block. Predicting this, Hinata changed the leg's trajectory and made the toe of her leg touch Hinari's knee. Using that position as leverage, she jumped from her left leg to strike at Hinari's head.
Ikki: "Nicely done."
Chikako: "Yup, for an underdog that was a nice technique. Pity, she's against Hinari."
Before the leg even touched her head, Hinari ducked and caught the left leg, flinging Hinata like a rag doll and throwing her. Hinata skipped on the ground two times but, as a skilled ninja, stabilized herself.
Hinari: "Princess, I am getting bored."
Hinata: "I don't care, I won't give up."
Hinari: "Now, that's the spirit."
Hinari arched her body like a bow, and bang, she increased her speed. For Hinata, it looked like Hinari just disappeared. Hinari appeared behind Hinata, chopped behind Hinata's neck, and Hinata was down.
Hinari: "Phew, she made me serious."
Ikki: "I don't think we will have any challenge before we fight each other."
As I said this, many contestants looked at us.
Chikako: "Sigh, don't rile them up."
Ikki smiled.
Tatsumo: "Next match, Sunagakure's Gaara vs Konohagakure's Rock Lee."
The whole match happened as in the anime. When Lee dropped the weights from his ankles, the whole stadium shook.
Chikako: "Isn't it too much?"
Ikki: "It's a different path than mine. I can achieve the same type of speed and power, just that increasing power and speed for me is hard as I need to push my whole body to achieve it. For Lee, it's just one muscle movement."
Chikako: "Can I even handle it?"
Ikki: "You are forgetting what you have."
Chikako: "Kenbunshoku no Haki."
As the match reached its conclusion, before Gaara could destroy Lee's legs, Tatsumo intervened. And as soon as that happened, Gaara won the match, but in this timeline one thing changed—Lee didn't need surgery to walk again.
Tatsumo: "Winner, Sunagakure no Gaara."
Tatsumo: "Next match, Choji Akimichi vs. Dosu Kinuta."
Quickest match ever, Dosu won without any effort.
Tatsumo: "Last match, Uchiha Kinata vs Uchiha Tetsu."
Both were Uchiha fighters who knew each other's strengths and weaknesses as all Uchiha fighting styles are similar. The winner was Kinata.
Tatsumo: "Now all winners will participate with each other after a 1-month break. Your opponents are shown on the screen."
===
Hyuga Neji vs Uzumaki Naruto
Temari vs Shikamaru Nara
Sasuke Uchiha vs Gaara
Ikki vs Dosu Kinuta
Uchiha Kinata vs Shino Aburame
Kankuro vs Sakura Haruno
===
Hinari: "Why is my name not there?"
Sandaime: "I can answer that." [As Sandaime entered the middle of the arena] "As there were an odd number of participants, and looking at your performance, we have decided to directly promote you to Chunin."
Hinari went blank for a second, so did Chikako and Ikki.
After 1 second Ikki shouted, "Yes! Now Hinari is leader, I can retire as leader!"
Bonk, Tatsumo hit his head.
Tatsumo: "How trouble-making you can be!"
Sandaime: "About the leader situation of your team, that discussion will come after the last rounds."
Sandaime turned to all participants: "You all have 1 month to prepare. Many guests, Suna's Kazekage and other important VIPs are gonna attend, so you all better perform well. If your performance is not satisfactory, there might even be punishments for you people. Dismiss."
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