"Hiashi, I won't let that happen twice!" Ready to rumble, Nozomi got back into her stance. "I'll show you what the branch house can do!"
"Let's see about that." Smiling, Hiashi got ready to fight. It had been too long since he had a proper fight against someone from the clan. "Come at me with all you got!"
Closing her eyes to focus, Nozomi concentrated her chakra and released it into the nearby puddle of water.
"Water Needle!" As her words trailed off, a small vortex appeared on the water surface, before propelling countless fine needles towards Hiashi.
"...!" Surprised, Hiashi spun once again, generating a massive dome of rotating chakra around him. "Hakkeshō Kaiten!"
Coming into contact with the revolving chakra, Nozomi's needles disintegrated. As soon as they were all neutralized, Hiashi stopped his technique, exhaling some air.
"Got you now! Eight trigrams!" Appearing behind her cousin, Nozomi used the fact that he was still in the middle of stopping his technique to counter-attack.
"Shit...!" Unable to dodge, Hiashi could only clench his teeth and prepare for what was about to happen.
"Two palms!" Hitting Hiashi right in the abdomen, she pushed him back, making him lift off the ground.
"Four palms!"
"Eight palms!"
"Sixteen palms!"
The more she hit Hiashi, the worse looked. With her last hit, she had utterly blocked sixteen of his tenketsu.
"Thirty-two palms!" Concentrating fully, Nozomi struck with all her power, making Hiashi cough out a large amount of blood.
"But how...!? That jutsu is a main-house secret! There's no way she could've learned it!" With an agitated expression, the Hyuga clan head rose from his seat, fists clenched. "Preposterous! She must've stolen it!"
The thirty-two palms and sixty-four palms were a secret of the main house. Although it could be derived from the branch family's sixteen palms, this was simply preposterous.
"She didn't steal it... Nozomi just learned it herself." Not too far away, Jiraiya crossed his arms. His face was stern, as he did not appreciate someone berating his student. "How the hell would she have stolen it anyway? Isn't it only passed down through word of mouth?"
"Grr...!" Gnashing his teeth, the clan-head was unable to retort his statement. There was zero possibility that she had stolen the technique. Shifting his gaze towards the panting Nozomi, he found her repugnant. 'But how could she be such a genius...!? She's from the branch!'
"Huff..." Catching her breath, Nozomi wiped off the sweat from her forehead. Taking one last look at Hiashi's unconscious body, she shifted her gaze towards Shigeo. "What are you waiting for?"
Hearing her words, Shigeo quickly ran up to him, checking his condition.
"Hyuga Hiashi is unable to continue! Hyuga Nozomi passes on to the next round!" At his words, cheers reverberated across the arena.
"YEAH!"
"WAY TO GO, GIRL!"
The audience went crazy, especially the women present. Nozomi was the only kunoichi that qualified, so they were subconsciously rooting for her.
'Nozomi... When did she get so strong...?' Watching her, Hizashi didn't know how to feel. He had always seen his brother as the goal to surpass, yet she had come and destroyed him. This pumped him up like never before. 'Even if we're from the branch family, we can still win!'
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Special thanks to Frozoka Swaggins, God Erebos, and Daniil!
Don't forget to drop some stones!
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