from Academy to Anbu by theriku260

chapter 32

The first rounds will be ten minute match ups in the following order:

"First match: Hinata Hyuga V Sakura Haruno.

Second match: Kiba Inuzuka V Rock Lee.

Third match: Kankuro no Sabaku V Shino Aburame.

Fourth match: Tenten V Temari no Sabaku

Fifth match: Neji Hyuga V Sai

Sixth match: Gaara no Sabaku V Sasuke Uchiha.

In the stadium, round one match one…

Hinata gave her best glare at her opponent. In all reality, though, it came out to a mildly annoyed expression.

Better than her academy days, at least. The Hyuga heiress curled her toes in to mentally ground herself, something her kind cousin Hikaru suggested. The usually verbose and excitable man instead gave her a gentle head pat that morning and ordered her to 'try her best' but 'not use all her energy- like a true shinobi'.

In other words, this fight was not going to be her last. When Hinata had moved to question him, Hikaru had just winked at her with a shushing gesture and used a shunshin. Guilt eating at her for knowing her cousin had given her some kind of hint, Hinata barely heard the proctor yell 'start'!

Sakura, apparently, had no such problems. The girl with the pink bob flew towards Hinata and knocked the girl back with a quick punch to the nose.

Hinata winced, but activated her Byakugan; she had ten minutes to either surrender or make Sakura do so. Easy, right?

When a senbon tried to graze her cheek, poison evident on the blade, Hinata decided that perhaps she wasn't quite ready. Nevertheless, she had to prove she was not a failure. With steely eyes the shy Hyuga leapt towards the budding medical prodigy, gentle fist strikes aimed at vital spots.

Sakura tried to keep the fury out of her eyes when Hinata hadn't reacted to the proctor giving them the heads up to fight. Sure, Sakura knew she wasn't as 'prestigious' as the clan genin, but she at least deserved an attentive opponent! Socking the girl in the jaw moments later was just what she needed- even with the booing from the crowd asking for a 'shinobi' fight.

What, did they think all shinobi fought with jutsu? Rolling her eyes Sakura threw a paralyzing senbon towards Hinata- who finally looked halfway prepared- hoping for a quick win. But, the girl dodged, and flew at Sakura in a frenzy of jabs. If it weren't for Hikaru-sensei's training, Sakura was sure she'd be dead by now.

Dodging the blows, Sakura parried with kunai and senbon, aiming for spots that allowed her poison in, yet failing to make contact. Finally deciding something had to give, Sakura stopped moving.

Hinata's eyes widened as her palm successfully struck the taller girl's shoulder. Balance was off though as the girl ever so slightly leaned further in, trying to catch her balance.

And that's when Sakura struck. With a vicious smirk Sakura used her good hand and grabbed Hinata's neck, a senbon embedding itself in the flesh. A fast acting sedative had the Hyuga heiress out in seconds. The stadium cheered, entranced by the fast taijutsu and odd finale. Sakura just healed her shoulder and gave the antidote to her comrade; they were from the same village, after all.

Up in the stands, Hisashi Hyuga…

Hisashi kept the sigh of relief off of his face, glad that both children would be out of harm's way come the invasion. Hanabi had been ordered to stay in the compound last minute due to a made up offence (the Hokage wouldn't let them tell the child and break the secret after all), and he ordered Hikaru to make sure his daughter didn't exhaust or overtly injure herself. While the teen was an utter disgrace to the Hyuga name, he followed orders.