Chapter 77: Princess vs. Princess, The Most Dashing Entrance

Chapter 77: Princess vs. Princess, The Most Dashing Entrance

"Two Stars!"

Genma Shiranami had barely dropped his arm when Temari unfurled her three-star fan halfway, converting her chakra into Wind Release: Nature Transformation. A miniature tornado roared toward Hinata Hyuga.

Unlike the Central Tower's manipulation of Ten Ten, Temari's words about hoping Hinata would entertain her masked her true perception of Hinata as a major threat. Unlike her younger brother Kankuro, Temari was the eldest daughter of the Kazekage, the first princess of Sunagakure, bearing the honor of the Wind Shadow and her village—just like Hinata.

If her opponent had been anyone else, losing wouldn't matter. But she absolutely couldn't lose to a woman from an allied nation, especially a noblewoman.

"Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!"

As the roaring tornado approached, Hinata simply raised her hand, unleashing an impact wave rivaling Temari's Wind Release. The two forces collided, instantly kicking up a massive dust cloud.

Genma Body Flickered backward, creating distance between himself and the two kunoichi—a silent confirmation of his earlier statement that even if someone faced mortal danger, he wouldn't intervene due to their status.

Hoo—

The dust cloud had barely risen when Temari fanned it away with her fan. After all, she hadn't forgotten her opponent was the Byakugan Princess, capable of seeing through and perceiving distant objects.

Unfortunately, her speed was still a bit too slow.

As the dust cleared, Hinata had already surged forward, her delicate fingers—slender as jade yet capable of shattering wooden training dummies and causing internal bleeding in human bodies—stabbing forward with swirling blue chakra flames.

If struck, Temari's body would instantly lock up. Without strong resistance to blunt force trauma, the battle would essentially be over.

But the next moment, Hinata's beautiful eyes widened slightly. As her fingers neared Temari, the kunoichi suddenly smirked, her figure flickering slightly before reappearing several meters behind.

"This movement technique…"

"It's not just your teammates who can incorporate Nature Transformation into Body Flicker Technique", Temari said, as if guessing Hinata's thoughts. With a proud expression, she fully unfurled her three-star fan, shouting, "When it comes to Wind Release, Sunagakure is the strongest! Wind Release… Great Scythe Weasel Technique!"

Woo woo woo…

The howling wind twisted into invisible blades, carving gashes into the ground as it surged toward Hinata. The storm's area was astonishingly vast, its speed unimaginably fast—impossible to dodge with Body Flicker.

"What incredible Wind Release: Nature Transformation!"

Even Genma, who had already created distance, was forced to Body Flicker farther away, watching the storm carve gashes into the earth as it passed, slightly awed.

Watching the chakra spreading like ocean waves within the storm, Hinata calmly assumed a Gentle Fist stance, crying, "Eight Trigrams Palm… Rotation!"

At this moment, Hinata's limitless chakra reserves were fully demonstrated. Massive chakra erupted from her chakra points, condensing into a rapidly spinning, colossal hemispherical barrier as she rotated in place under precise chakra control.

The storm engulfed the massive hemisphere, a series of clangs echoing as countless blades struck the rapidly spinning steel-like surface, bouncing off.

In the competitor's box, Neji Hyuga gripped the handrails tightly, his eyes trembling. At this moment, a sense of defeat resurfaced in his heart. The same Rotation technique—his energy shield was at least a tier below Hinata's in both volume and quality.

In the audience seats, Hanabi Hyuga was equally stunned.

"Your Gentle Fist talent isn't inferior to Hinata's", Hiashi Hyuga said, offering encouragement. "With diligent training, you'll be able to do this too." While feeling gratified, Hiashi's inner shock was no less than Neji's.

He felt like he must have saved the world in his previous life. How could both his eldest and youngest daughters possess such astonishing chakra reserves and Gentle Fist talent?

Could it be that the Hyuga Clan's teaching methods were flawed, and Izayoi's approach was correct?

Unknown to them, it was because Izayoi had become a powerful tonic—effective only when consumed by the Hyuga Clan.

The rapidly spinning blue hemisphere didn't last long. As the wind dissipated, the energy sphere also vanished into blue flames. After spinning countless times in place without any dizziness, Hinata vanished like a shadow, appearing before the astonished Temari with a flash of lightning, her fingers stabbing again.

Temari clearly hadn't anticipated her ultimate technique being blocked so easily. Seeing Hinata reappear before her, this time Temari couldn't Body Flicker away in time, gripping her giant fan to block.

Seeing this, Hinata immediately switched from finger to palm, striking the open fan surface of the three-star fan.

Boom—

The terrifying shockwave instantly pierced through the three-star fan, slamming into Temari's body. Temari's feet left the ground as she was sent flying by Hinata's long-range palm strike. The shockwave ravaged her insides, blood trickling from her lips, but she gritted her teeth against the internal pain, ready to use the blood at her mouth to unleash her ultimate technique.

Unfortunately, she forgot she was mid-air.

"Thank you for the lesson."

When Temari looked up, Hinata had already vanished from her sight. A soft voice came from behind her.

Roar… Faintly, Temari seemed to hear the roar of the king of beasts.

Then, Temari felt a hand strike her back, her chakra instantly vanishing as if struck by a full set of Gentle Fist, all her chakra points sealed. Her eyes dulled, she knelt on the ground, as if about to faint at any moment.

When a kunai blade pressed against her neck, the cold gleam piercing her skin, Temari's chakra channels finally resumed flowing, restoring a bit of her spirit.

"The battle is over. The winner is Hyuga Hinata."

Hearing the proctor's announcement, Temari first felt a surge of resentment, then glanced at the kunai being withdrawn from her neck, a bitter smile forming on her face as she muttered, "I lost."

As Sunagakure's princess, Temari was undoubtedly proud. And she had the strength to back that pride. But the prouder one is, the greater the inner shock when defeated—especially by a peer. Either they'd train harder or fall into despair. Obviously, the proud princess would choose the former.

Victorious Hinata didn't console the enemy village's ninja. After storing the kunai back into her wrist-mounted sealing scroll, she headed toward the competitor's corridor.

Approaching the audience seats, Hinata heard thunderous applause, glancing toward her father and sister. Seeing Hanabi waving energetically without caring about her image, and her father's usually stern face showing a rare smile, Hinata's lips curled upward, filled with accomplishment.

Entering the dim corridor, Hinata quickened her pace, eager to share her joy with Izayoi. However, before reaching the audience seats, Hinata faintly heard the audience's curses, her face puzzled. What happened? Just moments ago there was applause, now why were they cursing? Was it because she didn't acknowledge the crowd, or were they targeting the Sunagakure kunoichi?

When Hinata reached Izayoi's side, she suddenly understood. It turned out Kankuro, who had drawn number six, had chosen to forfeit. Like Nara Shikamaru and Naruto Uzumaki, they advanced without battle. But unlike Naruto's automatic advancement, the audience didn't know this was the second round.

After watching an exciting match, having someone forfeit in the next round was like tasting a delicious dish only to find it mixed with feces—disgusting the audience who had traveled far and paid premium prices.

But no matter how much they cursed, Kankuro, who had chosen to conserve strength for his plans, remained unmoved, even showing a disdainful smile.

Genma also ignored the audience's reaction, calling out, "Contestant six has forfeited. Contestant five advances automatically. Contestants seven and eight, please enter the arena immediately."

As his words faded, sand materialized out of nowhere on Genma's left, gradually condensing into a figure.

Seeing this entrance, the audience members who had been cursing and hadn't even heard Genma's announcement—those who had missed two matches—immediately fell silent, focusing intently on Gaara in the arena.

"This entrance method clearly wasn't simple."

"When did that guy leave?"

In the competitor's box, Nara Shikamaru and Naruto Uzumaki were slightly startled. Instinctively looking at Gaara's position, they found his figure already gone.

"Hmph, overreacting", Kankuro scoffed. "With Gaara's strength, he could kill you without you even realizing how you died."

"What are you saying, you painted-face cat!" Naruto mocked, pointing at Kankuro. "You're too scared to fight Shikamaru yourself. How strong could your teammate possibly be?"

This single sentence offended two people. However, Shikamaru didn't mind, instead warning Izayoi, "That guy with the gourd isn't simple. Be careful, Izayoi."

Seeing Izayoi without a camera in hand, Hinata vaguely guessed something but still smiled gently, saying, "Good luck, Izayoi-kun."

"Mm."

Izayoi didn't return a smile, merely nodding slightly. Then, under the wide-eyed gazes of Sasuke Uchiha, Nara Shikamaru, and other strong competitors, as well as Kankuro and Temari who had just returned to the audience seats, he lifted his feet off the ground, his body floating upward as he slowly flew toward the exam arena.

This scene left not just the contestants stunned. The audience seats also fell into complete silence.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end