[A/N: Hey everyone!
This chapter is going to be my biggest yet—clocking in at over 2,000 words! I poured my heart into it, so I hope you all enjoy every moment of it.
✨ If you're loving the story, please consider sharing it with your friends—the more, the merrier! It really helps others discover the fic and join in on the ride.
📝 Also, if you have a moment, leaving a review would mean the world to me. Your feedback keeps me going and helps the story reach a wider audience.
Finally, I wanted to ask: I've been posting 3 chapters a day lately, and I know that might be a lot to keep up with. So let me know in the comments—Should I keep going with 3 chapters a day? Or would 1 or 2 be better so everyone has time to catch up?
Thanks for all your support—it means everything! 🙏Now, let's dive into the chapter 💥]
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Match 1: Karin Uzumaki vs Temari
The first match of the Chunin Exam Preliminaries wasn't just a fight—it was a clash between two powerhouses representing the strongest teams so far.
Karin, of Konoha's Team 7, stepped forward, red hair swaying, fists raised and glowing faintly with chakra.
Temari, the eldest of the Suna trio, unfolded her war fan, Tessen with a graceful snap, planting it before her like a shield.
The air crackled with anticipation.
From the sidelines, a familiar voice cut in—
"Karin! Make it quick, yeah? But uh, try not to hit her too hard—I can't bear to see a beauty get bruised!"
Heads turned.
"Temari! Same goes for you—don't mess up my sister's pretty face either!"
Double death glare.
Simultaneously, both girls shouted:
"SHUT UP, NARUTO!!"
Naruto froze like a deer in kunai lights. Mouth open, soul temporarily exited the chat.
The room burst into laughter. Even the proctors cracked a grin.
Kakashi's eye crinkled. Guy guffawed. Lee looked confused but laughed anyway.
That little moment shattered the tension like glass underfoot.
Now the match could really begin.
Hayate coughed and raised his hand.
"Begin!"
Karin didn't move.
Temari's eyes narrowed. Not rushing in?
The Suna kunoichi smirked and swung her tessen.
"Kamaitachi no Jutsu!"
A razor-sharp wind blasted across the arena, tearing up the ground as it barreled toward Karin.
Still—Karin didn't move.
At the last second, she sidestepped—so effortlessly it almost looked lazy.
Temari clicked her tongue. Cocky.
She raised her fan higher—one moon circle visible.
"Kamaitachi no Jutsu—Double!"
A stronger gust. Karin dodged again, though this time she had to push off with a little more force.
Wind howled through the arena. Dust swirled around Karin, strands of red hair dancing in the storm.
Temari didn't stop.
Swing. A cutting wave of chakra.Swing. Another—closer this time.Swing. A full power blast!
Karin was forced backward, just barely slipping between the currents.
But she wasn't attacking. She wasn't even trying to close the distance.
She was letting Temari burn out.
Temari finally paused, breathing a little heavier.
That's when Karin smiled.
"Getting tired?"
Temari's grip on her tessen tightened.
"Tch. If she's not going to attack—fine. I'll wipe her out in one move."
She raised her fan fully open—three moons visible.
"This is it. No more dodging."
"Daikamaitachi no Jutsu!"
A monstrous windstorm erupted, ripping branches off trees and sending dirt flying.
BOOM.
The arena was completely engulfed.
Dust settled.
The audience held their breath.
Temari smirked.
"That should've—"
Then, from the smoke—a red blur.
Karin.
Temari's smirk vanished.
She barely had time to gasp before—
THOOM!
Karin's fist connected hard with her stomach.
Temari's body lifted off the ground, air completely knocked from her lungs.
She flew backward—but just before she hit the wall, Karin caught her.
She gently laid Temari down.
Karin exhaled. Not even winded.
Temari? Completely drained.
Hayate, after a long pause, declared:
"Temari is unable to continue. Karin Uzumaki advances to the Next Round"
The room was silent—impressed, shaken.
This wasn't a Genin match.
This was a statement.
Even among Chunin… even some Jonin—few could stand their ground against such force. But still… the system demanded more. Rank wasn't handed by talent alone—it was earned, proven.
And this—was the proving ground.
Karin scooped her opponent up in a gentle bridal carry and began walking toward the stands.
The crowd whispered.
Naruto just grinned, arms crossed. "That's my sister for ya."
Kankuro jumped down, landing lightly in front of Karin, anxiety flaring in his eyes as he looked at Temari.
But before he could reach her—Naruto blurred in between.
"Yo, back it up, eyeliner," Naruto said with a teasing tone, pushing him gently with one arm. "Let the med-nin handle this."
Kankuro frowned, "What are you gonna do to my sister?!"
Naruto raised a brow, comically offended."Excuse me? I heal people, I don't break them—unless they're annoying."
Karin snorted. "Didn't I do exactly what you asked, Nii-san?" she said with a wicked smirk, her red hair whipping behind her like fire.
Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah… I said not too hard. Didn't mean launch-her-across-the-arena hard."
By now, the rest of the Leaf genin had gathered nearby. Sakura stepped forward beside Naruto.Everyone knew she was Tsunade's apprentice. But Naruto?
"Don't worry, I'm a student of Tsunade too," he said, hands glowing with green chakra.
Sakura nodded. "He's not bluffing. He's actually... good."(Hard for her to admit. But truth is truth.)
Kankuro watched in silence as Naruto knelt beside Temari. He placed a hand over her ribs where Karin had landed the final blow.
"Shōsen Jutsu."
A warm light glowed under Naruto's hand as he worked quickly but gently. The bruising faded. Her breathing eased.
"She's gonna wake up soon," he said, eyes calm. "But her chakra's bottomed out. She'll need rest."
Karin folded her arms. "I didn't want to hit her like that, you know. But she just wouldn't go down."
Temari let out a little groan, blinking faintly—just as Naruto finished.
"You're gonna be okay," he said with a gentle smile. "You fought like a real badass."
Karin gave her a nod. "Thanks for giving me a good fight."
Temari, eyes heavy with fatigue but pride still burning, smiled back faintly.
Meanwhile, the next match was being called.
Hayate's voice echoed through the still air.
"Neji Hyuga vs. Tenten."
A heavy silence fell.Two teammates. Two friends. And now—opponents.
Tenten stepped forward with a grim nod, tightening the wraps on her wrists.Neji walked with that same composed, calculating expression.
Neither looked at each other with hatred.
But their eyes were filled with something fierce—determination.
Only one could move forward.
Only one step closer to becoming Chūnin.
"Begin!" Hayate declared, his voice rough with another cough.
Where the last battle was fierce yet respectful between distant teams, this one hit different.
This was personal.
Neji Hyūga and Tenten—teammates, friends, rivals.They'd done missions side by side, bled together, grown together. But now, they stood opposite in battle.
Neji eased into his Hakke stance, the refined and lethal form of the Gentle Fist. Calm. Focused. Deadly.
Tenten smiled with a spark in her eyes. "Neji... we might be friends, but I'm not holding back. Today, I'm fighting to win."
A beat passed.And then Neji did something shocking—he smiled. A genuine, soft smile.
Tenten blinked, caught off guard for just a second.Neji almost never smiled. Not in missions. Not in training.
That smile said it all.
"I respect you. Show me everything you've got."
And Tenten did.
With a dramatic whirl, she unraveled one of her scrolls mid-air—sealing tags glowed as a literal arsenal of weapons burst out.
Kunai. Shuriken. Needles. Blades.
She launched them like a storm, manipulating them with chakra threads and subtle hand motions. A single wave from her, and the sky became steel.
Neji, eyes glowing with the power of the Byakugan, danced through it all.
Gentle Palm: Deflect.Rotation: Parry.Step. Twist. Flow.
Each weapon was parried with perfect, almost lazy elegance. To the untrained eye, he looked untouchable.
But Tenten knew better. And she wasn't done.
As she unleashed a second scroll, she muttered to herself, "Now... time to test that blind spot you always pretend doesn't exist."
She adjusted her next wave of weapons. It looked chaotic—but it was planned down to the last angle.
A single kunai was launched wide—too wide—curving from an odd angle. It bounced off one of the deflected shuriken, redirected just slightly... then another deflection helped it bend more...
And now it was racing for the Hyūga blind spot.
That one spot—the Achilles heel of their near-360° vision. A small point near the upper thoracic vertebrae. Barely a pinhole—but it was there.
Tenten held her breath.
Neji didn't see it.
Not until the very last second.
His body reacted—pure instinct.He spun with a grunt, his arm snapping back just in time to slap the kunai out of the air.
It clanged to the ground.
The crowd gasped.
Neji took a breath, almost startled. That had been close. His Byakugan pulsed as if awakening further.
"That was impressive," he said, voice low but sincere. "You aimed for the blind spot."
Tenten raised an eyebrow, grinning. "Was I close?"
Neji nodded slowly. "Too close."
For the first time, this wasn't a spar between comrades.
It was a real fight.
"Then… let's fight even more—with our hearts!" Tenten declared, eyes fierce, voice full of that unshakable shinobi resolve.
Without hesitation, she unsheathed a katana, the blade gleaming with chakra tempering.
She wasn't just the weapon scroll girl anymore.Tenten had trained—with Naruto, with Sakura, with Lee and even Tsunade's crew. Maybe not as long. Maybe not as hard. But her spirit burned just as bright.
Katana gripped in one hand.Chakra threads crackling from the other—connected to her floating weapons like invisible snakes.
She charged.
The clash was like thunder.
Tenten slashed from the left, precise and sharp.Neji parried effortlessly, spinning and tapping with the elegance of the Gentle Fist.
But then—
A whirring sound. A shift in the air.
A giant shuriken sliced through the battlefield from behind him—completely silent, controlled with threadlike precision.
Neji's eyes widened. A pincer attack?
"Dual-layer offense… brilliant."
One threat up close, another from the distance—Tenten was controlling the field like a master tactician. Every strike of the katana was backed by a silent partner: needles, kunai, traps, and now massive shuriken zipping through like boomerangs.
This wasn't a brawler fight.
This was a dance of death and distraction.
Neji deflected the katana, pivoted, then spun low—barely dodging the shuriken.
Tenten didn't pause.
She pressed forward—attacking with combinations that forced Neji to constantly readjust.Each movement had a feint. Each attack had a shadow.
Neji's Byakugan helped, yes, but he was now multitasking at an insane level: reading chakra threads, blocking blade strikes, keeping his rotation prepped, and protecting his blind spot.
His calm expression twitched for the first time.
She's not giving me a second to breathe.
Tenten grinned, sweat on her brow. "You've gotta admit, Neji… I'm not the same girl who only tossed weapons from the sidelines."
Neji exhaled slowly, wiping a bead of sweat. "You're right."
He lowered into a deeper stance.
"You're a real threat now."
The battlefield quieted for a moment.
Two friends.
Two warriors.
A battle of heart and tactics.
The battle raged on.
Tenten's attacks were relentless—fierce, calculated, and ceaseless. Every move was like a page from a well-rehearsed scroll, each strike honed through sweat, failure, and grit.
Neji, ever the prodigy, stood firm in his defensive stance.
Yet even he, the Hyuga genius, found himself cornered—not physically, but tactically.
He unleashed his clan's most revered defense:"Hakkeshō Kaiten!"A spiraling dome of chakra erupted around him, deflecting every projectile with its majestic spin.
But it still wasn't enough.
Tenten kept pressing, the storm of steel never ending.
Kunai, shuriken, sickles, and stars—She wielded her weapons like verses in a poem, each line flowing into the next.
It felt like she'd prepared her entire life for this one moment.
She wasn't fighting to win.
She was fighting to prove something.
And Neji understood that.
The crowd noticed something too—especially the other chunin.One of them muttered under his breath, "Tch… we can't even afford one chakra-tempered blade with our salary… and this genin girl's throwing dozens like it's confetti."
But they weren't just tools.
They were testaments—to her dedication, her discipline, and her dream.
The match became a symbol.Offense vs. Defense.Steel vs. Chakra.Tenten vs. Neji.
Neji stayed alive with uncanny instinct and elegance.
But Tenten's dual attack—kenjutsu up close, and long-range puppetry with chakra threads—demanded the full focus of even a Hyuga prodigy.
Each minute drained them.
Each second chipped away at their stamina.
And then—
Both collapsed.
Sweat soaked. Muscles screaming. Breaths ragged.
They had nothing left to give.
Hayate stepped in, cough echoing as he watched carefully, hoping for either of them to rise.
But the moment passed. No movement.
"Neither combatant is able to continue," Hayate declared, voice solemn but respectful."This match… is a draw."
No cheers.
Just awe.
The arena had witnessed something rare.
A battle not of hatred, or rivalry, or ego—
But of mutual respect, heart, and unwavering will.
Defense vs. Offense.
There were no winners.
But there were no losers either.
Only two warriors who left everything they had on that field.
And in that, they earned something far more enduring than a title.
They earned honor.