Chapter 37 (Patreon)

The battle between Hinata and Tsurugi Misumi was just as one-sided as Mihawk expected.

Tsurugi’s specialty was a form of body-manipulation taijutsu. He could soften his body and freely stretch or twist every part of it, allowing him to wrap around an opponent and crush them through sheer constriction.

Unfortunately for him, he had been matched against the Gentle Fist—the fighting style best suited to countering his technique.

Had Hinata been paired with Neji, her kind nature and their relationship as members of the same clan might have prevented her from fighting at full strength. At the very least, she would never have attacked Neji as mercilessly as he had attacked her in the original events, driving chakra directly into her internal organs.

Tsurugi, however, was different.

He was Yoroi Akadō’s teammate.

Yoroi had wanted to kill Mihawk, the person Hinata cared about most, and Tsurugi clearly intended to avenge his fallen companion.

In that sense, both sides entered the arena with something to settle.

Hinata had already placed Mihawk above herself in her heart. She would never allow herself to lose here and embarrass him.

The Byakugan of the Hyūga main family granted her nearly three-hundred-and-sixty-degree vision. She had also mastered the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, spent years practicing her precision against Mihawk, and greatly improved her chakra control through tree-climbing and water-walking training.

It took her only two moves to end the match.

“Eight Trigrams Air Palm!”

Hinata thrust her palm forward.

The compressed burst of chakra struck Tsurugi while he was charging toward her and stopped him in his tracks.

Before he could recover, Hinata stepped inside his guard.

“Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!”

Her hands blurred.

Each strike drove chakra into one of Tsurugi’s tenketsu. The rapid blows damaged him internally while simultaneously sealing the flow of chakra throughout his body.

When the final palm landed, Tsurugi coughed up blood and collapsed.

The result forced many of the spectators to look at Hinata differently.

None of them had expected such a quiet, timid girl to possess that kind of strength.

The other Konoha rookies were especially shocked.

For six years at the Academy, Hinata’s presence had always been faint. She rarely spoke, avoided drawing attention to herself, and never showed any desire to compete with the others.

They could hardly believe that she had become this powerful.

Even Neji, who had always resented her, showed a trace of surprise.

That timid, weak heiress couldn’t even defeat her younger sister.

His eyes shifted toward Mihawk.

Did he change her this much?

A shadow passed through Neji’s expression.

Mihawk did not notice Neji’s gaze.

His attention remained on Hinata as she returned to the second floor.

“Well done, Hinata,” he praised with a smile.

“Mm…”

Hinata lowered her head with a shy smile, warmth filling her chest.

With her victory, every member of Team Eight had passed the preliminaries and earned a place in the third exam.

The result made Kurenai’s smile even brighter.

The fifth match was soon announced.

Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino

The two girls had known each other since childhood. They had once been close friends, only to become bitter rivals later.

Their match offered little worth mentioning aside from Ino’s Mind Body Switch Technique.

The Ino–Shika–Chō formation was known as one of Konoha’s strongest team combinations because of the secret techniques passed down through the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clans.

Their true strength, however, only appeared when all three clans worked together.

During the later battle against the immortal duo, the new generation of Ino–Shika–Chō fought alongside Kakashi and nearly carried out a plan capable of neutralizing both Kakuzu and Hidan.

Had Kakuzu not possessed several hearts—and had Hidan not been immortal—the plan would have ended the battle much sooner.

Once separated from the formation, however, the three clan techniques were far less overwhelming.

The Nara clan’s Shadow Imitation Technique remained extremely versatile, while the Yamanaka clan’s mind techniques were invaluable for intelligence gathering and support. The Akimichi clan’s physical expansion techniques also had considerable destructive power.

Even so, none of them were as dangerous alone as they were together.

The Yamanaka clan suffered the most from that weakness. Their techniques left their bodies vulnerable and were far safer when protected by members of the other two clans.

Just as Mihawk remembered, Sakura’s second personality disrupted Ino’s Mind Body Switch Technique.

After that, the two abandoned tactics and began trading ordinary punches like a pair of angry girls settling a personal argument.

In the end, both collapsed at the same time.

The match was declared a draw, and neither of them advanced to the third exam.

The sixth match was:

Temari vs. Tenten

It was a terrible matchup for Tenten.

Her entire fighting style relied on overwhelming her opponent with thrown weapons. Against Temari’s Wind Style techniques and giant fan, those weapons were almost useless.

Temari blew every projectile away and defeated Tenten without giving her any real chance to fight back.

The seventh match was:

Nara Shikamaru vs. Kin Tsuchi

Kin was the female member of the Otogakure trio. She specialized in senbon and bells, using sound to draw her opponents into genjutsu.

Unfortunately for her, Shikamaru only appeared lazy.

Beneath that unmotivated exterior was an exceptionally sharp mind.

After observing her technique, Shikamaru quickly devised a plan and trapped her with the Shadow Imitation Technique.

Kin lost the match.

The eighth pairing was:

Uzumaki Naruto vs. Inuzuka Kiba

The strange fortune surrounding the Child of Prophecy never failed to amaze Mihawk.

In his eyes, Naruto’s current strength was almost pitiful.

He relied almost entirely on the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, and there were several candidates present who could defeat him easily.

Yet no one would have believed that only one month later, Naruto would defeat Neji and then overcome Gaara, the jinchūriki of the One-Tail.

Naruto often went for long periods without showing any obvious improvement.

But whenever his strength did increase, the change was enormous.

The battle unfolded almost exactly as Mihawk remembered.

Naruto first relied on his greatest talent—creating an unexpected opening.

A badly timed fart struck Kiba’s hypersensitive nose, disrupting his senses and leaving him unable to fight properly.

Naruto then coordinated with his shadow clones and launched a series of attacks that finally knocked Kiba unconscious.

Naruto won.

The ninth match was:

Hyūga Neji vs. Komatsu Mika

Mika was the only female member of Team Nine.

The moment she saw Neji’s name beside hers, she immediately chose to withdraw.

She knew there was no possibility of defeating him.

With that, Team Nine became the first team to have all three of its members eliminated.

The tenth match was:

Gaara vs. Rock Lee

This was the match Mihawk had been waiting for.

Rock Lee’s Eight Gates was also one of the few techniques he currently regarded as a serious threat.

Mihawk did not fear Kakashi. If they fought seriously, he was even confident that he could kill a shinobi of Kakashi’s level.

Pure taijutsu specialists such as Lee and Might Guy were different.

They were simply too fast.

Observation Haki might allow Mihawk to predict their movements, but prediction was useless if his body could not react quickly enough.

Without the Eight Gates, Lee posed no threat to Mihawk at all.

Even if Lee opened several Gates and sharply increased his speed and strength, the difference between them would remain overwhelming.

Mihawk’s Observation Haki could follow his movements, while Armament Haki would easily withstand any attack Lee managed to land.

To Mihawk, the Eight Gates made Lee more impressive, but not dangerous.

No matter how far Lee pushed his body, Mihawk could still end the fight with a single strike.

“It looks like I’ll have to start wearing weights and improve my Body Flicker Technique,” Mihawk murmured as he watched Lee attack Gaara with a relentless barrage of punches and kicks.

The outcome remained the same as in the original events.

Lee opened the Fifth Gate and unleashed the Reverse Lotus.

However, the attack failed to defeat Gaara.

Lee exhausted his body, while Gaara still had enough strength left to counterattack.

Sand wrapped around Lee’s arm and leg.

“Sand Coffin.”

The bones shattered.

Before Gaara could continue, Might Guy appeared between them and stopped the attack.

Gaara won.

The eleventh match was:

Dosu Kinuta vs. Akimichi Chōji

Dosu was the strongest member of the Otogakure trio.

The device attached to his arm allowed him to use sound waves as a weapon, attacking an opponent’s inner ear and disrupting their balance.

The battle held no suspense.

Dosu easily defeated Chōji.

That left the final candidate.

Kankurō had no opponent and received the only bye, allowing him to advance without fighting.

With that, the eleven candidates advancing to the third exam were decided:

Nerona Mihawk.

Uchiha Sasuke.

Aburame Shino.

Hyūga Hinata.

Temari.

Nara Shikamaru.

Uzumaki Naruto.

Hyūga Neji.

Gaara.

Dosu Kinuta.

Kankurō.