A/N - Sorry for such a long absence, I was hospitalised and needed time.
-x-
Sukuna was crouched beside her, palm hovering over her abdomen. His RTC shifted—refined, controlled. Reverse Technique flowed effortlessly, mending ruptured tenketsu pathways, soothing internal bruising, stabilizing her chakra network with delicate precision.
Five minutes. That was all it took.
Hinata's fingers twitched, and not long after, her eyes fluttered open.
A wave of murmurs rippled through the arena.
"She's awake already—?" Of all people, Neji was the most surprised.
His Byakugan snapped open. The first thing he noticed was, of course, Sukuna's strangely dark chakra, but currently that chakra was unusually bright since he was using RTC.
He ignored that. That could wait. What mattered was Hinata's wounds which he inflicted—how could she wake up so fast?
And that was when he noticed most of the wounds were already healed. Even her closed tenketsu were opened up.
'This… what kind of ridiculous level of healing is that? To be able to heal from Hyuga clan Gentle Fist like that.'
Neji's eyes became complicated. His gaze left Hinata and focused entirely on Sukuna for once. Honestly, he usually didn't care much about healers. They were necessary, yes, but ultimately they were useless in a fight.
Tenten always talked about healers and he mostly ignored the girl. But seeing this, even he had to agree—with this level of healing capability, this could genuinely change the course of a battle.
Even the jonin on the balcony leaned forward slightly.
Hiruzen's gaze sharpened beneath his hat. At last, he sighed once again. 'If not for the boy's very impressive record on missions so far, he really would have liked to tie him up to the hospital like Aizawa once suggested.
Konoha might bear the loss of a high-end power, but not another loss of a miracle doctor. That loss is equal to losing an entire war.' Hiruzen knew how difficult it was when Tsunade left the village.
Sukuna withdrew his hand calmly. "You'll be sore. Don't try to circulate too much chakra for a few hours."
Hinata blinked up at him, dazed but conscious. "…Thank you."
The girl at first didn't get it, but then realization hit about being completely healed and she was in a daze.
Sukuna didn't care. He stood as if it had been nothing.
The whispers didn't stop though.
"That wasn't normal medical ninjutsu."
"No hand seals…"
"Who the hell is that guy…?"
He got the most attention, of course, from teams of other villages. And what were their thoughts? They couldn't let Leaf have another Tsunade. That was an entire war worth of assassination risk.
On the jonin balcony, Asuma let out a low whistle. "That kid's ridiculous."
Kakashi's visible eye curved. "That level of healing… even some hospital veterans would struggle to replicate it."
Guy gave a thumbs up. "Youthful vitality! Healing your comrades in the blink of an eye! Magnificent!"
Kurenai's eyes narrowed toward Kakashi. 'Says the man who once said the boy doesn't have much potential…'
Still, she was glad Hinata was completely fine. Her eyes turned a bit envious though upon seeing that healing ability. If only her team had someone like him. That was practically a new life given to a team. Sighing, she glanced toward Neji, who stood apart from the others. "The Hyuga match was intense."
"It was personal," Izumi said quietly. Her insight about life was sometimes better than her punches.
Her red eyes tracked Neji's retreating figure.
Asuma exhaled smoke slowly. "Kid's got talent. But there's something boiling under that calm exterior." Asuma clearly understood what. Anyone who knew about the Hyuga clan's situation would know, but he wouldn't directly name it. No one would.
"Resentment," Izumi replied mildly.
"Branch and main house politics are rarely simple."
Guy crossed his arms. "Still! Lee's match was far more unfortunate! Taijutsu against a liquefying opponent! Youth had no chance!"
Asuma snorted. "Yeah, that was rough. Exploding tags didn't even dry the guy out."
"Hozuki clan's Hydrification is troublesome," Kurenai said. "A pure compatibility loss."
"And yet Lee didn't hesitate," Guy declared proudly. "Opening the Gate despite knowing the disadvantage! That is true spirit!"
Izumi tilted her head slightly. "The Sand team seems composed. The Mist as well."
"Hm." Kakashi nodded. He didn't know much about the Sand team, but he had personally seen the Mist team perform and knew they had improved.
His single eye turned toward the lone figure standing further away with his face half covered in bandages and a huge sword on his back. Yes, Zabuza had come with the Mist team and he was observing the fight. And by his eyes, he was glaring at Sukuna.
At that, Asuma's eyes flicked subtly toward Sukuna below. He clearly saw where Kakashi looked, recognized the person, and then matched his line of sight with Zabuza.
'Seems like the old man will have to put up some security around that kid after this exam…' Asuma puffed on his cigarette but didn't mention anything. If he could see it that clearly, then surely his old man could too.
Meanwhile, down on the arena floor, Team 7 and Team 11 gathered together during the short rest period.
Naruto was pacing.
"That jerk!" he snapped. "What kind of cousin does that?!"
Kiyomi crossed her arms, eyes still sharp. "I'll get that bastard. I hope I fight against him."
"Get in line…" Naruto snorted.
"Yeah? He proved he's a stuck-up—" Karin nodded.
Sasuke cut him off. "He's strong."
Naruto whirled. "Whose side are you on?!"
"I'm stating a fact," Sasuke replied coolly, gaze still fixed on Neji across the arena. "His control and precision were excellent."
Naruto gritted his teeth. "Tch. I'll wipe that calm look off his face."
Kiyomi smirked faintly. "You'll need to touch him first."
"Hey!"
Sakura knelt beside Hinata, who was now sitting upright. "Are you really okay?"
Hinata nodded softly. "Yes… thanks to Sukuna-kun."
Karin stood nearby, arms folded, frowning faintly.
"Five minutes," she muttered. "And I still lost after pushing everything."
Sukuna glanced at her. "You did well."
She looked away. "Still lost."
"By a narrow margin," Sasuke added quietly.
Karin scoffed but didn't argue.
Naruto suddenly leaned toward Sukuna. "Hey! You could've healed Lee too, right?"
Sukuna shrugged lightly. "He wasn't critically injured." Sukuna was right. Lee hadn't suffered any injury per se. He was out due to using the Gates. Rest would do him better than RTC.
Yes, there might be surface-level injuries, but those were minor. No need to heal them. The boy just needed some rest and all would be fixed.
Sakura bounced slightly on her feet. "When's the next match announcement? I want to know already!"
"You're way too excited," Karin muttered.
Sakura shot back, "At least I'm still in."
Karin raised a brow. "Keep talking."
Naruto suddenly grinned mischievously. "Hey, Sakura. What if you get Neji next?"
Sakura froze.
"…I'd hit him."
Kiyomi laughed softly. "Now that I'd pay to see."
Sasuke remained quiet, eyes still measuring potential opponents—Neji, Kimimaro, even the Sand team.
Across the hall, Gaara stood silently with his siblings, watching everything with unreadable eyes.
Naruto noticed and stiffened slightly.
"Sand freak's still creepy."
Kiyomi hummed. "Strong though."
"Everyone's strong!" Naruto groaned. "This exam's insane!"
Sukuna leaned back casually against the wall. He was honestly bored, if anything. Now this level of fights didn't make him excited anymore.
They all glanced at him.
"What?"
All of them pursed their lips, recalling that from this round onwards, this bastard was also on the list. Whoever drew a fight with him was cooked.
All of them kept three minutes of silence for that person in advance.
The rest period buzzed with quiet tension—rivalries forming, grudges simmering, ambitions sharpening.
Above, the jonin continued their low discussions.
Below, genin sized each other up.
And soon—
The next eight names would be called.
The proctor soon came up to the middle of the hall, and the board above him displayed the list of names for the next matches. Arguably the semi-finals before the finals of the Chunin Exams.
"Here are the list of the following eight matches…."
"Temari of the Sand vs Tenten from Konoha."
Both Tenten and Temari eyed each other at that.
"Sasuke Uchiha vs Dosu from Hidden Sound."
'Hm…' Sasuke just grunted, not even eyeing his opponent.
"Sakura Haruno vs Suigetsu."
"That water boy." Sakura frowned, while Suigetsu just smirked. But then she realized that she had those gloves which Sukuna gave her and what Sukuna told her about how to bypass the Hozuki clan's Hydrification.
That brought a smirk to her face.
"Haku Yuki vs Kankuro of the Sand."
Both boys eyed each other… wondering how much makeup the other guy had put on. The irony was that Haku had none. And of course, Kankuro thought that because he thought Haku was a girl and still looked too beautiful not to be putting makeup on.
"Naruto Uzumaki vs Shikamaru Nara…"
"Shika…" Naruto's eyes widened.
"Such a drag." Shikamaru already felt like having a headache.
"Sukuna Haruno vs Shino Aburame."
Shino at this looked at Sukuna, who just pursed his lips tight. The matchup didn't feel fixed; otherwise there wouldn't be so many Konoha nin fighting each other.
Sigh.
"Gaara of the Sand vs Kimimaro from Hidden Mist."
Both tough guys eyed each other and everyone knew that this was the match to look forward to.
Lastly…
"Neji Hyuga vs Kiyomi Uchiha."
"Yes…" Kiyomi's lips curled up.
'I'm so beating that asshole…'
xXx
A/N: Ah, here is the next list of matchups. What do you guys think? Like the matchups? I used AI to make it completely random.
Looking forward to the next fights. Me too. I will fast-forward the unimportant ones while giving more focus to important fights like I did earlier.
Tell me if you find any mistakes and I'll fix them ASAP!
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