Chapter 317: The Truly Sinister Hyūga
"Sakura, get out of the way!"
As Ino dodged to the side, she shouted to Sakura.
"Get out of the way" might be a god-tier move in Pokémon, but in the ninja world…
…it worked just fine here too.
Sakura lunged forward and narrowly avoided the attack from the flaming Human Bullet Tank.
The two of them only suffered minor burns from the flames and the burning oil flung off by the high-speed rotation.
"Just as I thought."
Watching the flaming Human Bullet Tank shoot toward the audience like a runaway horse, Ino let out a sigh of relief.
As a member of the Ino–Shika–Cho clans, she was quite familiar with the techniques and teamwork of the three families.
There was a cooperative technique called the Human Bullet Yo-Yo.
In it, the Yamanaka clan provides an "overhead perspective" to lock onto the target, while the Nara clan uses shadow techniques to tether the Akimichi clan's Human Bullet Tank, forming a three-in-one coordinated attack.
All three roles were indispensable.
Without the Yamanaka clan, there would be no way to pinpoint the enemy's position and relay it in real time to the Nara clan.
Without the Nara clan's shadows, even with that information, there would be no way to adjust direction in time.
The moment Ino saw the Akimichi kunoichi on the opposing side preparing to coordinate, she immediately thought of this.
And that was the flaw.
The Human Bullet Tank required the user's body to spin at high speed. While that generated tremendous momentum, it also made precise directional control nearly impossible.
So as long as you dodged the first strike, you were essentially safe.
As for the flaming Human Bullet Tank heading toward the audience?
With so many experts present, someone would surely react in time and block it.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!"
Kurotsuchi leapt down from the platform, slammed her hand onto the ground, and raised a tall wall of earth to block the incoming attack.
But the flaming Human Bullet Tank was indeed powerful, one Earth Flow Wall wasn't enough to stop it.
Cracks had already begun to spread across the wall.
Standing behind it, Kurotsuchi formed a mass of rock around her right arm, encasing her arm and fist, ready to personally intercept the flaming attack at any moment.
The Raikage did not make a move and continued watching from the platform.
He was confident that if Kurotsuchi failed, he could instantly activate his Lightning Armor and block the attack at top speed.
But he didn't think she would fail.
After all, she was the Tsuchikage. If she couldn't stop an attack from two genin participating in the Chūnin Exams, that would be utterly unreasonable.
Even if the Tsuchikage was a full generation younger than those two genin.
The Raikage held back mainly because he wanted to see just how strong the new Tsuchikage really was.
After all, the previous conflict had ended too hastily, and the intelligence division hadn't gathered much afterward.
"Do you want me to help?"
Gaara looked toward the others.
Against an attack like this flaming wheel, Gaara's sand defense was indeed the most suitable.
Hearing Gaara speak, the Raikage's expression tightened.
The intelligence division had long since obtained information about Gaara's abilities.
After all, Gaara had displayed his power multiple times while becoming Kazekage and during the transfer of authority after the Wind Daimyō's death.
The Raikage couldn't openly object, that would be too obvious.
"No, no, let me try!"
Hanabi came running over eagerly and leaned against the edge of the platform.
"The Hyūga…"
Seeing the young girl, the Raikage recalled intelligence about a main-branch Hyūga girl whom Shiromo had taken from Konoha.
"Little girl, what are you planning to do? Be careful not to hurt the contestants, they're still in the middle of a match."
"It's just a simple combination technique. Even if its power were increased tenfold, Kurotsuchi could still block it. There's no need to worry."
Terumi Mei had quietly walked over to Hanabi's side and placed a hand on her arm.
As someone who had once undergone a kind of "Primal Reversion", Mei sensed a similar presence in Kurotsuchi.
Which meant Shiromo had given her that power as well.
…That sounded a bit strange.
In any case, having experienced that power herself, Mei knew that if Kurotsuchi truly unleashed it, even without being pushed to the limit by natural energy, she could destroy the entire arena.
So what was there to worry about?
"Alright, fine, I'll be honest, I don't want to help, I just want to try it out."
Hanabi grew anxious. If she didn't act soon, once the earth wall broke, she'd lose her chance.
Without waiting for anyone's approval, she activated her Byakugan.
"Locked on!"
"Eight Trigrams Air Finger!"
Hanabi quickly locked onto something unseen and fired a burst of air pressure downward.
"Ah!"
Akimichi Rianko, spinning at high speed and enveloped in flames and burning oil, couldn't hear anything outside.
But the moment she was struck, she let out a strange cry. Her rotation abruptly stopped, and she awkwardly clutched her rear, looking around in confusion.
Who did that?!
Who could possibly, while she was spinning at high speed in Human Bullet Tank form, cut her "wisdom window" with something unknown?!
"Um, Sakura-nee, Ino-nee, you both know medical ninjutsu, could you treat her a bit? Just stop the bleeding, it won't cost much chakra. Then you can keep fighting!"
Hanabi called down from above.
"Treat her?"
Sakura and Ino exchanged a glance, then looked over in confusion.
Only to see Akimichi Rianko clutching her wound… and it was bleeding.
Uh…
"Forget it, I'll go."
Sakura twitched slightly at the corner of her mouth and stepped forward to start healing.
After all, she had just avoided that earlier attack thanks to Ino's shout, this could count as returning the favor.
"Huh?"
Following Hanabi's voice, Akimichi Rianko looked up and saw the Hyūga clan's Byakugan, freezing in place.
So it wasn't just them developing new techniques, even the supposedly old-fashioned Hyūga clan hadn't stood still.
A long-range attack with built-in targeting and x-ray vision… the Hyūga clan was downright sinister!
"…"
Sarada felt like she couldn't bear to watch anymore.
Mom…
Sakura, when faced with the task of treating an enemy's "wisdom window" injury, didn't argue with Ino at all. She simply stepped forward on her own and began treatment before the opponent could even react.
What was she doing?
Was she that eager?
And thinking back to the Fifth Hokage's earlier answer,
"Are they a female couple?"
"I suppose you could say that."
As expected… the Fifth Hokage hadn't lied to her.
"Thank you."
"No need. I'm just doing this for fairness."
After the treatment was completed, Akimichi Rianko and Sakura returned to their respective positions, preparing to resume the battle.
"Fatty, the opponent is from the Yamanaka clan. She knows the weaknesses of your Akimichi techniques, so switch to something else."
Sarutobi Amane said seriously to her teammate.
"Got it!"
"Expansion Technique!"
"Fire Release..."
Once again, a classic move, using Fire Release on her own teammate.
But this time, it wasn't the uncontrollable Human Bullet Tank, but her enlarged arms after using the Expansion Technique.
Akimichi Rianko instantly transformed into a pair of massive flaming fists, swinging toward Sakura and Ino.
"Ugh, that's hot! Forehead, stop holding back, it's time we use our combined ultimate technique."
Ino barely blocked one punch, was sent flying, and quickly shouted to Sakura.
(End of this chapter)