𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐇𝐘𝐔𝐆𝐀 𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐍

The Preliminaries, Pt. 3

Last time:

Hanara turned around and walked back up the stairs, hoping that her teammates would give her the silence she desperately needed.

Now:

Once everyone had gone back to the viewing area and Hinata had been taken away by the medics, Hayate gave Anko the signal to start the name scrambler thing. The entire time, her teammates had been unusually silent. Choji wasn't even munching on his chips! But Hanara's mind was in a frenzy, worrying about her elder sister and silently yelling curses to her cousin.

Beep!

The machine had decided on the next two competitors: Kankuro of the Sand vs Misumi Tsurugi

But Hanara didn't notice, her mind was occupied.

Misumi had snaked around Kankuro and was about to choke him, using tactics very similar to a certain Sanin.

But Hanara didn't notice, her mind was occupied.

'Kankuro' was apparently his puppet. The real one controlled the puppet and was making it squeeze Misumi hard enough to crush his bones.

But Hanara didn't notice, her mind was occupied.

So, when the proctor called the match in Kankuro's favour and then called out the next two opponents, Hanara didn't notice her name was one of them.

"Hana! Hana! HANARA!" Ino yelled in her ear, shaking her back and forth, "It's your match, you idiot!"

"Huh?" was her very eloquent response.

"You've been out of it for the entire match! I know you're worried about Hinata but you can't let that affect you! You're up against Tenten and if she's anything like Lee and Neji, you've got to give it your very best!" Ino exclaimed, "Now get down there and win!"

"I'm up against who?"

"Tenten. Now go!"

"Hanara Hyuga, are you going to participate?" the proctor asked.

"Oh! Yes sir! Coming!" Hanara called as she jumped over the bar and down into the makeshift stadium, mentally pushing any thoughts about Hinata and Neji into a box to deal with later.

"2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate?" Guy and Lee cheered, "GO TENTEN!"

"Tenten, Hanara, BEGIN!" the proctor announced before jumping back and coughing.

Immediately Tenten jumped back and put some distance between her and Hanara, no doubt wary of her Gentle Fist.

"Go Tenten! We're behind you for all of this!" Lee cheered.

'... she didn't even do anything!' Hanara thought confused, forcing her outward expression into a bored one so that Tenten wouldn't be able to read her easily.

Both girls stared at each other for a moment, as if daring their opponent to attack.

After a moment, Tenten spoke, "I know you're Neji's sister but I won't hold back!" she declared, jumping into the air and throwing four shuriken at Hanara.

Hanara smirked, using her Gentle Fist training to let out a bit of Wind Natured chakra from all her chakra points to force the shuriken away from her. Her hand lay on the fan in the weapon pouch on her right thigh, ready to pull it out in a moment's notice. 'Let the games- sorry, my preliminary round -begin!' Hanara thought, quoting her absolute favourite book from her old life, 'Hm... I hope that they have something similar here... I'll check after this is over...'