Trial by Combat

"Give the Genin some space," said Akahoshi, gesturing for his remaining subordinates to fall back. "Witness firsthand the awesome strength the star has bestowed upon them— powers that could very well be yours!"

A second smaller circle made up of the star trainees formed around Team 7, with the adults looking in on from the outside. All in all, there were about sixty adult shinobi of varying ranks and seven children Genin present, not including Mizura and Sumaru.

Unlike Natsuhi and her deceased husband, these adult shinobi had never undergone star training thanks to the Third Hoshikage's policies, as it had only been accessible to the village's elites due to its high mortality rate. But for Akahoshi's dreams of grandeur to be realised, every single shinobi would have to undergo the training… which would undoubtedly ravage the Hidden Star Village's entire population within two decades.

"The tumours, Mizura-kun's disease, was it all a lie?" said Hokuto, tears flowing down her cheeks. "Because of your lies, Sumaru-kun has been declared a traitor…"

Sakura hated to see such a cute girl crying like this, but she would have a lot more to cry about than Sumaru and Mizura if she continued following a tyrant like Akahoshi!

"It's not a lie," said Sakura, her eyes flickering between the various threats surrounding her. "You really are dying— and so will the lot of you, if you undergo the training! Did you ever stop to wonder why the Third Hoshikage ordered the training to be stopped?"

"Lord Third was a great man, but he was weak," said Akahoshi dismissively. "Afraid of what could be accomplished if we fully tapped the star's powers!"

Sakura took in a deep breath.

"That's a lie!" shouted Sakura. "You and your two lackeys— the fat one and the thin one— you murdered the Third Hoshikage in order to restart the training! You're the real traitor, not Sumaru and Natsuhi!"

Akahoshi's face contorted in fury. How in the world had she learned that? Had those two idiots Shisō and Yotaka left their diaries out in the open, or something!?

"Kill them!" he roared.

Speech 100.png

In the future, Sakura thought to herself, she'd leave the Talk-No-Jutsu to Naruto— he was clearly much better at it. Unlike him, who'd grown up miserable and lonely like half his enemies, the only suffering demographic she could truly relate to were pretty ladies tormented by back pain.

"Peacock Arts: Beast!" x 7

Purple chakra feathers sprouted from the seven star trainees' backs.

'It's an enemy stand!' shouted Inner Sakura.

"Sakura?" said Naruto urgently, ducking, jumping and weaving under and over the flailing chakra tentacles assailing him. "Any day, now!"

While the seven Genin were nowhere near Natsuhi's level when it came to the Mysterious Peacock Method, there were still seven of them— which meant seven indestructible chakra tentacles coming at them from all directions.

"Focus on the enemies in front of us first!" shouted Sakura, drawing her sword. "I need space to concentrate!"

"Wind Style: Vacuum Blade!"

Only chakra could cut through chakra, and Sakura's wind chakra was very sharp indeed! She breathed out a stream of turbid yellow-greenish chakra onto her blade, before slashing a bunch of thin chakra tentacles in half. With the wisteria-coloured chakra out of the way, Sakura's eyes met her attacker's, and he immediately fainted.

"Saimingan: Sharingan Hypnosis!"

Shocked at her comrade's sudden bout of narcolepsy, the female Genin next to him reflexively halted her attacks to pull him to safety. Thanks to the slight lull in the constant barrage of attacks, Sasuke finally found an opportunity to strike!

"Chidori Stream: Lightning Rod!"

Sasuke flicked two shuriken from his right hand wreathed in crackling electricity.

As the shuriken whistled through the air, the weapons collided mid-flight, ricocheting at sharp angles to evade the chakra tentacles reaching for them— before embedding themselves in the arms of his two opponents. A fierce current surged through the hidden wires attached to the shuriken, electrocuting the Genin instantly and dropping them where they stood!

'Kyaaah!' squealed Inner Sakura. 'Sasuke's so cool! He wears all black, he fights well, and he electrocutes people— he's like Chinese Electric Batman!'

Chidori Stream was one of the new Ninjutsu Sasuke had come up with after consulting the Scroll of Secrets— it was essentially just a taser attack that sacrificed the Chidori's lethality to gain range. Even without Orochimaru to teach him personally, he could still gain some insight from the Sannin's Ninjutsu research papers, which he had published before defecting!

With three of the seven Star Genin already down, the tide of battle began to shift in Team 7's favour. Even though the enemy could manipulate powerful chakra outside their bodies at will, they were still sheltered kids with next to no practical combat experience— no match for Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke, who could punch far above their weight class.

Through a mix of Shadow Clones, Taijutsu and Genjutsu, the remaining four were quickly cut down to one. And just like that, bruised and battered, lip split and breathing hard, Hokuto stood her ground as the last girl standing, fists raised and defiance burning in her eyes.

"If you won't put your faith in us outsiders, then you should at least trust in your friend Sumaru," said Sakura, a look of pity in her eyes. "Think, Hokuto-chan! The only mistake Sumaru ever made was to get kidnapped, and yet, the higher-ups of your village were instantly ready to declare him a traitor, without giving him a chance to speak for himself. Is Akahoshi really someone you want to fight for?"

A few metres behind Hokuto, Akahoshi was fuming in anger.

From the very beginning, the purpose of assembling a star-enhanced Genin troupe had been to serve as a proof of concept— a way to convince the other shinobi of the village to undergo the star training, even though it had traditionally been an honour reserved for the elites among the youths of the village.

The Mysterious Peacock Method was supposed to be invincible, but this useless bunch— even with superior numbers— couldn't even take down a single enemy! The three Leaf shinobi were making the star trainees look bad in front of the entire village!

What if they started thinking for themselves? What was the point of enduring such long, agonising training if it couldn't even give them the strength to defeat mere Genin from the Five Great Villages?

"Useless trash," hissed Akahoshi. "Your weakness has dishonoured the village!"

Sensing that it wouldn't be long before he ordered the rest of the Star shinobi to attack, Sakura glanced in Naruto's direction and winked at him.

"Get ready," Sakura mouthed. "On my signal…!"