"Eh?"
Upon seeing that Inner Sakura's attack was actually dodged by Hinata, Sakura's expression froze for a moment.
She hadn't expected that the Spirit Possession Technique, which had always been smooth since the beginning of the exam, would actually slip up.
'Is it luck?'
'Or some other reason?'
Inner Sakura, after being dazed for just an instant, threw another punch, but it was once again dodged by Hinata.
Sure enough…
'I have been seen through!'
Sakura quickly put some distance between herself and her opponent.
"You can see it?"
Hinata's expression was serious, "I can see a little bit."
The Byakugan has the ability to clearly observe the flow of chakra in the human body.
Inner Sakura is a mental entity, something similar to Yin-Release chakra, though still somewhat different.
Although Hinata couldn't clearly see Inner Sakura's real appearance, she could at least distinguish her rough outline.
When Hinata saw the shadow standing behind Sakura, she was also startled.
"I didn't expect you to actually have this kind of ability, Sakura."
Sakura's mood quickly adjusted from her surprise.
Although having her trump card exposed did make her panic a little, she had already understood long ago. There could never be an absolutely perfect ninjutsu in this world.
There must always be a weakness.
"This is a ninjutsu Aoba specially gave me. I only just mastered it not too long ago," Sakura explained simply.
In fact, she had barely learned it herself. It was basically Inner Sakura who acted on her own.
"Really?"
'So it is something Aoba-kun gave her..."
Hinata gently pursed her lips and didn't say anything more.
"Eight Trigrams Air Palm!"
She sent a vacuum projectile straight toward Inner Sakura, who was standing not far from Sakura.
But the Eight Trigrams Air Palm merely passed through Inner Sakura's body and landed against the far wall behind her.
Physical attacks were useless.
Hinata immediately understood.
At that moment, Inner Sakura also flew straight toward Hinata.
Hinata covered her hands with chakra and tried to block.
Yet when Inner Sakura's fist struck her arm, Hinata suddenly felt a sharp pain in her brain.
'It seems this attack is aimed at the mind.'
Faced with Inner Sakura's follow-up attacks, Hinata didn't try to take them head-on, instead dodging while covering her hands in chakra and striking at Inner Sakura.
But none of her attacks had any effect on Inner Sakura.
After all, Inner Sakura was a spirit entity. Physical attacks had absolutely no effect on her.
If you don't know how to use spiritual power, facing the Spirit Possession Technique is like being a lamb ready for slaughter.
Hinata's brow furrowed slightly. After dodging Inner Sakura's punch, she simply rushed straight toward Sakura.
This time Sakura did not retreat; she went to meet her head-on as well.
From the battle just now, it could already be seen that relying on Inner Sakura alone would not be enough to defeat Hinata.
Although Hinata couldn't land attacks on Inner Sakura, with her Byakugan's insight it was also difficult for Inner Sakura to land attacks on her.
The two of them once again became locked in combat.
Although Sakura's taijutsu level was limited and she found it hard to fight Hinata head-on, at this moment she wasn't fighting alone.
["Ora! Ora! Ora!"]
Inner Sakura was attacking crazily from behind Hinata, wildly throwing punches.
Hinata had to dodge Inner Sakura's attacks while also fighting Sakura.
Taking advantage of this, Sakura could make up for her disadvantage in close-quarters combat.
Sakura kept throwing punches, and in the blink of an eye, the two had already exchanged more than a dozen moves.
Back and forth, give and take, all the movements were so fast they were barely visible to the naked eye, yet incredibly smooth and natural.
"Sakura is amazing, she can actually trade blows evenly with Hinata... but why does it feel like Hinata is still fighting with someone else?", Tenten watched Hinata's evasive movements on the field and felt slightly confused.
But she was certain that before the Chunin Exams, Sakura wasn't this strong.
She and Sakura were on the same team, she knew exactly how strong she was.
Which meant Sakura's strength must have improved during this time.
As for the reason, Tenten more or less had a guess.
"It seems Hinata's Byakugan can actually see that strange ability Sakura has," At that moment, a somewhat hazy voice rang out.
"Yakumo?"
Tenten turned her head curiously, and sure enough saw Yakumo, "You're awake? Is your body okay?"
Yakumo smiled, "I didn't really get hurt. A bit of rest and I'll be fine."
"Really?", Karin looked at Yakumo suspiciously and said, "Don't tell me you actually woke up a long time ago, but were just clinging onto Aoba-oniichan and wouldn't get down?"
"I just lost my match. What's wrong with Aoba comforting me?", Yakumo glanced disdainfully at Karin, 'Only this girl can think of that kind of thing.'
Little did she know that Yakumo wasn't just…
"You!", Karin glared at Yakumo, then hugged Aoba's arm.
"Aoba-oniichan, you're not comforting me at all."
Aoba rolled his eyes at her and said irritably, "You don't even care about winning or losing yourself, so why would I comfort you?"
Karin's face flushed red and she retorted stubbornly, "Who says I don't care? I care a lot, okay? I'm so sad I'm about to cry."
As she spoke, Karin even put on a tearful expression.
"Heh!", Aoba merely let out a cold snort and then reached out to pinch Karin's nose.
"Mmm! Mmm! Mmm!"
Karin grumbled and tried to resist.
Watching the two of them fooling around, Yakumo didn't feel anything. After all, she had already been satisfied earlier.
Tenten and Ino, however, were becoming somewhat displeased.
"You, don't go too far," Ino moved over and squeezed herself in next to Karin.
Tenten asked directly, "Aoba, did Sakura suddenly become this strong because of that ninjutsu you gave her last time?"
"Eh?"
The squeezing movements of Ino and Karin instantly came to a halt.
Yakumo and Temari also looked at him in surprise.
Aoba nodded, "The ninjutsu I gave Sakura is called the Spirit Possession Technique. It's a mental-type ninjutsu and suits Sakura perfectly."
"As for the rest, it will be better for Sakura to explain after the match ends."
When they heard this, the group quieted down, and Karin and Ino stopped fooling around.
———
[On the Arena]
The fight between Hinata and Sakura had become ever more dangerous.
A person's concentration is always limited. The longer it drags on, the easier it is to make mistakes.
The two of them had already exchanged more than a hundred moves.
Sakura was breathing slightly heavily. The pressure on her was immense.
Her taijutsu had been inferior to Hinata's from the very beginning.
On her exposed arm, the previously fair skin now had many red spots. While attacking, she also had to guard against Hinata's Gentle Fist. If it hit a key acupoint, she might immediately lose her ability to continue fighting.
And Inner Sakura's consumption was also very real, consuming her chakra with each attack.
Hinata was under the same amount of pressure. She had to deal with Sakura and Inner Sakura attacking her from both the front and the rear.
And Inner Sakura's attacks were ones she could not take head-on.
As for Sakura's human fists, she could not take those directly either. She had to parry every time.
Inner Sakura and Sakura, one attacking the spirit, and one with monster strength.
Facing attacks from two opponents at the same time, her pressure was even greater than Sakura's.
[T/N: The Silk Song is real!]
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