"What is this?!"
The surrounding air was whipped into a vortex by the puppet arms.
Sasuke immediately felt the immense pull. He had to channel chakra to his feet just to keep his footing.
But then he realized the situation was worse than he'd thought—wind blades were slicing into his body and limbs, over and over.
"That Hyuga girl…"
Orochimaru had come to admire Sasuke's performance.
But clearly, Sasuke was mired in a losing battle.
Sasuke was a genius—but unfortunately, his opponent simply wasn't operating at the Genin level.
"This is bad…"
Sasuke could barely keep from groaning.
He knew Hanabi was going easy on him. Otherwise, these horrific wind blades would've shredded him outright. The cuts he was sustaining? That was already the result of her holding back.
"Pretty similar to your Sickle Weasel Technique." Kankuro glanced at Temari beside him.
"No, it's completely different. This move isn't purely wind blades—there's something else mixed in." Temari frowned.
Sasuke was clearly being caught in the airflow itself, and that was something the Sickle Weasel Technique couldn't do.
"Sasuke…" Sakura and Ino both had their eyes wide.
They were terrified for him.
"That guy's not seriously gonna lose just like that, is he?" Naruto knew Sasuke would probably lose, but if he went down now, that would be even faster than Tenten's defeat.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
Sasuke fought against the binding winds and fired off a fireball.
"Yes! Hanabi's pulling in the air from the front—she absorbed the entire fire attack!" Sakura's eyes lit up.
But Sasuke, the one actually in the thick of it, didn't share her optimism. The flames were sucked in, then diverted and expelled to either side—the fire had turned into a wall between them.
"Absorbing the enemy's attack while simultaneously using the airflow itself as a shield—preventing the opponent from interrupting the jutsu? Sasuke's in danger." The Third Hokage read the technique instantly.
"Doesn't he still have the Sharingan?" Orochimaru said. "The Uchiha clan's kekkei genkai."
The "Kazekage" is acting a bit odd…
The Third didn't voice the thought.
And over on the field, Sasuke had indeed already activated his Sharingan.
"I see—chakra woven into the airflow, restricting my movement! But now that I can see it, that's nothing to fear!"
Sasuke drew a short blade.
He slashed through the binding chakra threads, then reinforced his body with Lightning Style and brute-forced his way out of the massive vortex.
"Huh?! That's my taijutsu!"
Lee sensed something was off.
Sasuke's posture and movements were eerily similar to his own.
"Mm, about the same as Lee's standard speed."
Guy, having consoled Tenten, had made his way to the spectator seats.
"Oh, Kakashi!"
Guy noticed Kakashi sitting on the other side and sidled over.
"So this time it's an intra-squad match. Who do you think wins?"
"—Isn't it obvious? Hanabi, of course." Hikari's eyes never left the match, but the moment someone mentioned Hanabi, she couldn't stay out of it.
"That is…?" Guy recalled that during the second exam, Hanabi had brought a friend along.
At the time, Guy hadn't thought anything of it.
After all, the Chūnin Exams didn't technically have a rule against spectators.
But in hindsight, something didn't add up.
Because the Central Tower was in the heart of the Forest of Death—not the city center they were in now.
So how did this person get to the tower?
"Well, she's sort of Sasuke's special-training instructor." Kakashi offered.
"She looks about Sasuke's age." Guy remarked.
"Maa."
Kakashi didn't know where Hikari had come from either. Not a ninja, yet somehow very strong.
"Hah… hah…"
Back on the field, after escaping the Flowing Mist, Sasuke caught his breath.
Hanabi waited patiently for him to recover.
"If you can't even break through that level of defense, this is where it ends for you, Sasuke."
Hanabi stood there, still smiling, still in the same spot.
"In that case—there's only one move left."
One chance remained to punch through that defense.
Sasuke began to retreat, then ran all the way to the arena wall and started forming seals while channeling chakra through his feet.
"Chidori!"
A storm of lightning erupted in Sasuke's hand, screaming like a thousand birds.
"Ara."
Hanabi tilted her head.
Then she retracted the puppet arms to her sides.
The arms folded up and were stowed away.
Next, she collapsed the red parasol and switched into the Shiranui ninja outfit.
[Let's gooo, liftoff!]
[Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!]
[That waist-to-hip ratio—unreal]
[Stacked! She's absolutely stacked!]
[She's freaking 12?!]
[The red rope is the real star, people!]
[Long live what's under the rope!]
[TEN THOUSAND YEARS to what's under the rope!]
[Hanabi-sama, I am literally your dog!]
The moment Hanabi switched to the ninja outfit, the crowd erupted even louder.
"Hanabi's going way too easy on him." Hikari saw through it instantly.
If Hanabi had used Zhuixia, Sasuke wouldn't have lasted long enough to pull off this many moves.
And it wasn't just Zhuixia—those blade-edged geta hadn't touched Sasuke once.
She was holding back. Blatantly so.
But then Hanabi stowed the puppet arms and just… switched outfits?
That was infuriating. Cheers everywhere, but all that bare skin of Hanabi's being ogled by everyone—Hikari didn't like it one bit.
Hanabi didn't mind at all.
There isn't a single inch on a good actress that can't be shown to the world!
Winning this match wasn't the point.
Giving the audience a visual feast—that was the point.
Mechanical Illusion: Flowing Mist was a jutsu with spectacular visual effects.
And now, the clash with Chidori head-on was the next key moment.
Whether she dodged or substituted, neither would give the viewers the best experience.
At that moment, Sasuke launched himself off the wall.
"Well then. Hanabi Style—Fire Style: Heat Wave Dance, Revised."
Heat Wave Dance—a technique that wreathed her entire body in flame.
The Mai Shiranui card hadn't been upgraded, so its moves weren't very useful on their own—but Hanabi had borrowed and adapted them all.
Some had been reworked to fit the jutsu framework of the Naruto world.
As chakra gathered, flames engulfed Hanabi's right hand.
"Haaa!"
On the other side, Sasuke came rocketing down off the wall, gravity fueling his speed to blistering levels.
"BOOM—"
Lightning and fire collided, detonating with a thunderous roar. Smoke and dust engulfed the entire arena…