Naruto:Blast to the Past

Chapter 56: Finals Part II

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"Hmm...."- Bijuu
"Hmm...."- Flashback

Chapter 56:
Finals Part II

Hikari knew that she was in a really tough situation at the moment. At first, she hadn't been pleased when she had learned that she would be fighting against either Minato or Shikaku right after their match, depending on who won. Mainly because the winner would have already exhausted himself in his first match. And unlike the others, he wouldn't have a break. So she would basically be fighting against a weakened opponent. The Hyuuga girl did know that such things did happen in the shinobi world at times. Which resulted in deaths. It was the uncertainty of the world she decided to be a part of. However, this was different. Hikari already knew what this tournament was all about. It was to showcase their skills to the rest of the world. And unlike with Shibi, Hikari wanted to show what she could do. But she knew that she would have a hard time doing that against a weakened opponent. Some might feel blessed by that. But she didn't. She wanted a fair fight. With Shikaku's unexpected, but not really surprising, apathy towards his match, the Hyuuga girl now found herself fighting a Minato at one hundred percent, just like she had wanted all along.

However...

"Too slow, Hikari!"

Sometimes the wishes you wanted were granted, which resulted in you perhaps rethinking those dreams.

That was Hikari's situation as she found herself skidding back as a powerful fist came in contact with her cheek. Even with her byakugan activated, she still had a hard time catching sight of the person who the fist belonged to.

Minato was smiling as he reappeared in front of her. But to Hikari, that smile was anything but pleasant at the moment. As she was learning firsthand, her eyes weren't all that much useful when her opponent was too fast for her to even react to his attacks. Heck, she couldn't even catch sight of the blond until it was too late. Although Hikari had known of Minato's speed from all those years in the academy, this was the first time that the girl was experiencing it firsthand. And because of the blond's speed, Minato had taken command of the match ever since it had begun.

But Hikari wasn't planning on going down so easy either. Even if her chances of victory were looking slimmer, it didn't mean that she was about to roll over and let the blond win just like that. She still had her pride as a kunoichi.

Minato's smile became even bigger when he saw the girl take another defensive stance. Good. That was what Minato liked. He didn't want to fight any opponents who lacked passion. That was why he had been disappointed in Shikaku. But the Namikaze knew that he should have expected that from his lazy friend. But that didn't matter right now. He could at least fight his heart out here.

That being said, he wasn't about to lose either. He planned on winning this tournament, become chunnin, and then get the summoning jutsu from his master. That was his goal.

Hikari frowned when she noticed the blond take a step forward. In this situation, there was only one thing that she could do.

Minato disappeared into another blur again, only that instead of trying to react to his attacks, Hikari went for another method.

"Kaiten!"

In the face of the powerful shield, Minato knew that he couldn't go in halfheartedly. It was why the blond stopped himself midway from continuing with his attacks, opting instead to putting some distance between himself and his opponent.

Hikari frowned even more as she noticed this, coming out from her technique as she picked up on Minato putting some distance between them. She had been expecting to catch the blond off-guard with that. But now she had lost that option. Next time, the blond would be expecting her to pull that off.