He was absorbing her chakra, and it was simply hopeless.
Satsuki scowled, breathing heavily; damn it, was this how Lee felt? Unable to use ninjutsu and genjutsu to his aid, only capable of relying on taijutsu? Well, she doubted he would miss using them or would feel as helpless as she did when ninjutsu and taijutsu was out of the option, after all, would a man born blind miss being able to see?
Her respect for Lee had gone up a notch, she grudgingly admitted this as she spun out of the way as Yoroi Akado charged her, his technique intent on devouring all of her chakra. Desperately, the Uchiha glanced around the stadium for anything that would help her, give her advantage.
Even though she shouldn't be distracted, Satsuki's eyes found Haruto's anyway. The Senju was glancing focusing intently on her, hands gripping the metal railing with enough force to crush and his golden eyes were wild though they were encouraging.
"Hey, are you just gonna stand there and let him kick you ass, huh, Satsuki!"
Oh, great, leave it to him to scream her name and cheer. That, she could forgive, however, the next sentence made her blood boil. "Hey, Hinata-chan," Haruto was saying deliberately loudly. "I bet you could defeat that guy easily!"
That statement of course, made Hinata blushed pleasantly.
Satsuki gnashed her teeth together, shooting the Hyuuga and Senju each a furious glare, but her eyes riveted to Lee who was with his team, standing beside Haruto. Wait. Oh, she had an idea all right. The next time Akado came at her with intent to kill, she sidestepped, crouched low and delivered a powerful uppercut that send the traitor nin flying into the air.
"Shishi Rendan!"
Satsuki leapt after him, shadowing him, mirroring his vulnerable aerial position. She kneed his back, hearing a satisfying sickening crack before she continued to deal rapid but powerful blows. When she felt the momentum, she grabbed him and hurled him towards the ground following with a punch to the gut.
She landed on her opponent, sadistically viciously kicking him in the abdomen before she landed on the floor quietly, smirking when her opponent was out cold.
Hayate sweat-dropped when he saw the Uchiha clan heiress kicked the guy's head multiple times. Deciding to save the guy from severe brain injury, he cleared his throat which resulted in a cough again. "Well, WINNER: Uchiha Satsuki!"
Unexpectedly, the Konoha genins erupted into cheers. Satsuki felt her cheeks heat up a little, this was the first time so many people cheered her on. Usually, it was only her older brother and older cousin Shisui and very rarely, her mother. She jumped, landing on the railing before Haruto, scowling down at him.
"You were saying?" she grounded out threateningly.
Haruto paled rapidly. "I mean, I knew you could do it!" He waved his hand in a sign for help and to placate Satsuki which failed terribly and she was about to beat the shit out of him when Kakashi-sensei came to his rescue by intervening.
"Now, now, Satsuki," said the silver-haired man as he pulled his female student away from the sole male of the group. "We have other things to do."
"What things?" It was extremely stupid, in Haruto's opinion, to feel jealous and wary of his own teacher.
Kakashi's eye crinkled into a smile as if he knew what he was thinking. "Nothing that would make her cheat on you—" he swiftly ignored the splutters, and dodged the punches that followed this statement. "—but we have to seal away the you-know-what." His voice was lowered to a whisper when he saw the last part, making Haruto grow serious.
"Good luck," said Satsuki gleefully, not cheerfully, but that sort of you're about to suffer and i'm going to laugh my ass off at the trouble you're in glee.
Haruto eyed her suspiciously. "Why are you so happy?"
She merely pointed, smirking even as Kakashi Shuunshin'd them away.
Haruto turned, glanced at what she was pointing and paled almost as much as his opponent. He grinned nervously, palms getting sweaty .
"Well, good luck to us both, eh, Hinata-chan."
***
With dread that she hadn't felt in years, Hinata descended into the arena under the watchful eyes of everyone; it was more than enough to make her nervous. Already, doubt ate away at her; she stole a glance at Haruto who remained a cheery and encouraging grin at her.
It was enough to melt her insides, again her heart fluttered; but it was dashed the moment she was face-to-face with him once more. This had to be the worst match-up ever, aside from Neji nii-san of course, but this was equally terrible; to fight the boy she liked!
She worried her lip, looking past Haruto's red hair to where her cousin brother was glaring down at her coldly, there was a triumphant look in his eyes: You can't win. And she knew it.
"H-H-Haruto-kun… I—"
"Let's just do our best, okay?" Haruto threw her a wink, meant for encouragement even though he was intent on winning. "Don't hold back because I won't either." He slipped into a fighting stance, blue eyes though cheerful were now wary and determined. "I have to make it to the finals."
She slipped into her own Gentle Fist style stance. "M-M-May I i-i-inquire a-as t-to w-why?"
"If I make it to the finals like Satsuki did, she promised that we'd go on a date!" He laughed. "Well, did that sound like a lame motivation to you? That's just part of the reason: being Chunin means a step closer to the Hokage position. It's my dream you see."
Every word made Hinata regret ever asking the question. Knowing that he liked Satsuki was hard enough, but she knew that she'd get over it someday, now, she didn't stand a chance in comparison to the Uchiha. She didn't want to hurt Haruto not did she want to crush his dreams…
"I s-s-see," she mustered a shaky smile as her hands flew into a series of handseals meant for activating the Byakugan. "I-I-I h-h-have m-my d-d-dreams t-t-too…" The veins crawled out from her ears to her eyes and instantly, her vision intensified. "S-s-so I-I-I m-m-must try m-my best t-to w-win!"
Haruto grinned brightly instead of being offended. "You go, girl!" And when the proctor dropped his hand, signalling the beginning of the fight, Hinata charged first.
She was a taijutsu expert, she was meant for close ranged combat but Haruto was made for all-ranged attacks. If she let him get far enough, she won't stand a chance, so it was best to strike him down first.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" About six or more so clones poofed into existence, much to Hinata's surprise, they charged at her head-on. She was mildly surprised to find that they were real but she struck with no hesitance, straining to see the original as she dispersed the clones, coming out unscathed.
If it was against Neji nii-san, it would not happen. She knew that Haruto was being merciful already.
She blinked, glancing around but saw no one. "Here!" She made the mistake of looking up, her palm shot up to deflect the blow, the moment Haruto's fist touched hers, he dispersed, showing that he was a clone. She jolted when someone clutched her knees and pulled.
She struggled but she gaped when roots shot out of the ground. She had to escape, only knowing one technique to get her out of this situation but not knowing it will work or not, she closed her eyes and concentrated on releasing her chakra from all her tenketsu, then she turned on her heels and started spinning.
"Hakkesho Kaiten!"
The roots kept coming, from tens to hundreds, forming a cage, shielding the battle from the arena for which Hinata was grateful. She didn't do as well with everyone watching her like a hawk; she detested attention, especially Neji nii-san's hateful eyes, constantly watching her for mistakes and hating her even more.
Even if she would lose, she had to show him, that someday, she would be strong enough to inherit the Clan from her father and free the Branch Hyuga members. She couldn't disappoint him, her sister and her father—even if they barely pay any attention to her and view her as a failure.
She'd show them she's not a failure.
She only a split second to act; with a great amount of energy, Hinata forced the barrier larger, giving her enough space to maneuver herself out of the prison. Snatching a bomb tag and latching it onto the kunai, she threw it at the farthest root from her, causing an explosion and smoke.
It did not deter her, even though she heard her opponent coughing from the smoke.
She saw straight him, she sped towards him, stopping at a respectable distance and executed her next move.
"Hakke Sanjūni Shō!"
She'd trained this technique for two whole years ever since she got her hand on the scroll; yet, she did not possess the confidence that it would work but please, just this once to prove that she'd tried and that all her efforts were not wasted, please work (even though it usually backfire at her).
First, two consecutive strikes to make two—Haruto made a strained sound. Second, another two consecutive strikes to make four—there was a sickening crack. Third, four consecutive strikes to make eight—her opponent's body went limp. Fourth, eight consecutive strikes to make sixteen–+her heart fluttered. Fifth, another sixteen consecutive strikes in succession to make a total of thirty two—she was done.
She panted, unable to believe that she'd been able to execute it perfectly. Her joy was short-lived as Haruto looked at her with wide eyes before his skin started to peel off, like a tree bark and all that left of her opponent was a dead root. She gasped, turning around.
"My turn." His hands flew into a rapid series of handsigns, puffing his cheeks. "Suiton: Mizurappa!"
Hinata found herself skidding backwards from the pressure, spluttering water and soaking wet.
"This will hurt, Hinata-chan," Haruto shot her an apologetic look as her tossed seeds to the ground (what was the use?) and started forming another series of signs. "Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Kōtan!"
From where the seeds landed—so this was how Haruto-kun created so many roots—root sprouted, eventually creating a dense forest right in the middle of the arena. Hinata didn't waste time gawking as she tried to find a way out of the forest—a Senju, especially a Mokuton-user, was deadly in a forest—her palms breaking and snapping any roots that came her way.
She tried to use Kaiten again but before she could do such, the trees closest to her exploded, sending her flying into a tree's tendril, she struggled but to no avail; she could only watch with horror as Haruto lunged, a chakra powered punch followed and all she felt was pain, stealing away her vision before everything went black.