Chapter 88: Hinata's Strength! Battle of the Dreamers!

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Hinata's / Sai's POV (Courtyard of Iron Arena - Land of Iron)

Hinata ducked a flying bird that seemed intent on dive bombing for her eyes. Finger jabbed a flying squirrel out of existence while she kicked a rabbit flying through the air. She then dived to the right to dodge the wild charge of an ink hog. 'How in the world did he have this many summons? He nearly tripled the amount he used against Temari.' Seeing two coyotes closing from behind, Hinata expertly spiked their heads with kunai. With both arms open, Sai suddenly flew in and ducked her desperate punch, slashing a line on her left leg and kicking her in the ribs, sending her flying back. Sai stopped, the small amount of forest left surrounded the two and acted as a barrier to keep Hinata trapped. Using her raw speed and powerful vision, she had managed to survive the barrage of animals, and Sai threaded himself through thus far. But slowly, they were overwhelming her. Sai seemed to be doing better stamina-wise as well, somehow, despite engaging in speedy Taijutsu and Ninjutsu in tandem. Hinata painfully stood up and rested into her stance with a wince. 'I need to do something. But what can I do? I could use the air palm, but it can only do so much. Even if I land a direct hit on him, it'll leave me open for his summons to attack. Not to mention it's much too costly to use repetitively.'

Sai smiled at her as his horde of various ink animals paused and writhed around him. "I must admit to being disappointed. I had prepared quite the strategy for you in case you proved to be as strong as your cousin. It seems you are not, though. The Hyuga heiress is shockingly unremarkable. I doubt I needed my little trick." He sounded oddly disconnected from his words as if reading them off instead of choosing them.

Hinata reigned in a flare of anger at his biting consideration of her skills. Instead, she tried to focus on the essential parts. "A trick?" She asked patiently.

"Oh, it is normally considerably bad sportsmanship to do so, isn't it? Then again, as shinobi, we're expected to see underneath. Though I'm sure the others managed to find out, unlike you." Sai teased. Hinata felt the little ember of anger flare up at that, but she managed to control it. "I spent the time before this match drawing up creations. See, my technique relies on actually drawing and fueling my ink drawings. By preparing them ahead of time, I can release a shocking amount at once. Costly for my chakra, but it makes more offense unrelenting. Dangerous depending on my foe, but a weak heiress lacks the raw power to deal with such. I had prepared them in case you proved to be like your cousin. Luckily, you are a much weaker version."

Hinata could feel shame once again. She hated how familiar it felt. She had felt when she had been defeated by Hananbi and dismissed by her father at a time hated by Neji, it seemed to be a recurring theme in her life. Hinata had sworn she wouldn't be ashamed again. She had trained hard to ensure such, she was making an honest effort.

"No effort to even defend yourself?" Sai continued. "I suppose some simply aren't cut out to be shinobi…

Hinata's mind went black.

"Cut out to be shinobi…" It echoed in her mind.

Hinata was tired of being looked down on. Sasuke had done this, too. She had proven herself to him… she'd do the same with Sai.

Sai's POV

"I am," Hinata said darkly. She had created that recent jutsu, she knew it was still being prepared, and it was a little costly and unstable. But she refused to let anyone look down on her anymore. "Gentle Fist: Precise Beam." She said as she clasped one hand in another while facing Sai. Her Byakugan almost seemed to shine as she prepared her attack, her anger nearly palpable. Sai smiled, seemingly not afraid of such. Suddenly, chakra shot from her hands with absurd speed, quickly piercing a coyote at the left edge of the group. Hinata shouted in fury as she swung her clasped hands sweepingly. Sai flinched at the speed of it before ducking as the small beam sliced through the summons around him, merely bisecting him if not for his reaction. Hinata saw this and swept her hands again, Sai jumped over this, chucking out several scrolls with art and flaring his chakra to summon various larger birds. Hinata did not react to such swiping up with her beam at Sai. Two birds grabbed both of his shoulders and barely hauled him out of the way. Sai chucked two more scrolls, which burst with dog-sized moles that dug into the ground below before Hinata's beam sliced through both birds, causing Sai to crash bodily into the ground. He rolled as soon as he recovered from the painful impact, watching as the beam sliced a small trench through the tough topsoil.

'She was holding a technique like this in her kit?' He thought as he acrobatically dived over her beam. 'Need to get in close, problematic. It keeps her hands full, though, if I get in fast enough, I should be able to take her down. How interesting this turned out to be.'

Sai rushed in as two birds flew in with speed from behind, and two moles burst from the ground, flying through the air at her sides. Sai rushed in from the front. 'If she uses Kaiten, it will force her to deactivate the technique.' He thought as he came with ten feet. Hinata did not bother to do so, simply spinning on one foot, slicing through the animals, and nearly removing Sai's feet. Sai continued to close the distance as a mole tunnel in front of him from below and a bird hovered above him from behind. 'She uses it horizontally, attacking from various vertical routes limits her options.' To his shock, Hinata simply jumped out and shifted her weight so she lay sideways in the air. Sai flinched as she sliced vertically, cutting through his summons and himself. To his surprise, it burnt and even cut his skin thinly. But his chakra points that were touched were also sealed. He stumbled, used to the pain, but a decent part of his body felt numb. 'Almost the entire left side.' He leaped back, noticing Hinata had stopped the technique. 'Keep my distance, find an open-"

"Eight Trigrams: Sixteen Heavenly Beams!" Hinata called. As she flared her chakra into her hands. 'The sixty-four palms? At this distance?' He thought as she seemed to prepare for a famous technique. "One Beam!" She called fiercely, jabbing her finger once with impressive speed. As she did, a thin beam of chakra fired, hitting Sai exactly where she had pointed. Sai cried out in pain as the beam hit his left leg, stumbling a bit as it hit. 'She created a medium-distance version?!' "Two Beams!" Sai stumbled more desperately, attempting to stay on his feet. 'Well done, heiress.' He thought. "Four Beams! Eight Beams! Sixteen beams!" Sai could think nothing as the barrage landed flush. Instead, the mix of chakra being cut off and the pain makes him fade into darkness. Hinata finished and eyed down Sai with a glare.

Kakashi appeared whistling merrily. "Is he dead?" He asked casually.

"Dead?!" Hinata said, mortified. "Of course not! I held back with Precise Beam and my finishing technique. I would never kill an ally!"

"Could've fooled me~!" Kakashi replied happily. "Looked like a murder to me~!"

Hinata ran over to the downed Sai and checked on him. Luckily for her, the medics arrived to cart off Sai and provide him the needed aid.

"The winner ("And potential killer." Kakashi teased Hinata with a whisper.) is Hinata Hyuga!" He announced. The crowd roared happily with what seemed to be a classic underdog victory. However, there was little time for this to settle as Naruto's and Kurotsuchi's bodies flickered into the courtyard. Both nodded at Hinata with what seemed to be respect before they both glared at each other. "My my my, it seems the next match is already ready. Hinata, please clear the field, you two wait till I give the mark." Kakashi ordered.

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Naruto's POV (Courtyard of Iron Arena - Land of Iron)

Hinata nodded and, as she walked away, offered Naruto a word. "Neji is unable to wish you much, so good luck," Hinata said with a small smile. "Neji says you're one of the strongest shinobi he's met. So I look forward to seeing what you can do."

"Tch," Naruto said with a shit-eating grin. "Just watch, I will show this lady the difference between us!" Naruto said with confidence.

"Keep talking Shortstack," Kurotsuchi said. "My grandpa always says a shinobi who talks too much dies early."

"Maybe I'm just not afraid of death." Naruto replied confidently. "Besides, I can't die till I'm Hokage."

"Well said. But do you really think that matters? I'm gonna be the Tsuchikage one day. That's way better than some Hokage." Kurotsuchi taunted.

"Why would it matter what kinda Kage we'll be? It's the same thing." Naruto replied, confused.

"It's about pride, idiot." Kurotsuchi said, now seeming somewhat serious. "The Leaf has always embarrassed the stone. Now, I met a Leaf shinobi who shared the same dream and drive as me. It's practically fate! We'll settle the years-old question of which is better. Two future Kage from rival villages clashing. Can't you see this is the perfect opportunity to settle things? Which is better, the Stone or the Leaf? Well, we'll decide right now.!"

"I don't care about that, though." Naruto replied simply. "I love my home, but I don't need it to be proven superior? I did look forward to this fight but for me. I wanna see how strong you are and if I can hang. I don't really care about proving the Leaf is great. I know that to be true anyway."

Kurotsuchi was stunned by his simple logic. She bellowed out laughter at this, laughing for nearly a full minute before settling down. "You really mean that, don't you?"

"Course I play it straight." Naruto said.

Kurotsuchi smiled and shook her head at him. "I suppose you are right. I don't really care about all that drama, either. Just want to make my homeland proud. Let's do it, not for our homes but for ourselves. Though I'm gonna kick your ass."

"Let's do it." Naruto said with a matching smile.

"Naruto Uzumaki VS Kurotsuchi of the Stone! Begin!" Kakashi called as the two dashed forward.