He wasn't worried about Hiashi's safety. With Jiraiya-sama here, even if someone died, he could bring them back.
What concerned him was Hiashi's dignity. The elder Hyuga had never looked kindly on him to begin with, and now being blasted into the barrier by a single Rasengan must've shattered his composure.
Sure enough, after the match ended, Hiashi slid down from the glowing wall, his eyes icy cold as he sneered, "Oh, you certainly don't hold back!"
Naruto whined, "But you told me to hold nothing back!"
At that moment, Hinata rushed over and poured oil on the fire, "Father, Naruto, are you okay?"
Hiashi's temple twitched violently as he pointed at Naruto and snapped, "Does he look hurt to you?"
Naruto let out a dramatic yowl, "Ow! Your body's too tough! My wrist might be broken!"
Watching his pathetic "performance," Hiashi's expression darkened even further.
From a distance, watching Naruto's clumsy and unimpressive antics, Neji scoffed, "Pathetic! What's there to be afraid of?"
Sasuke nodded in agreement, "No backbone at all. He's embarrassing us!"
"Exactly!" Neji nodded vigorously. "You won't hold back against Sakura, right?"
"Certainly not... Wait? Sakura?" Sasuke suddenly realized, looking up at the sky, "It really is her!"
Previously, he wouldn't have cared much.
After all, what did it matter if a girl had a crush on him?
Strength makes us all the same!
But after absorbing some of Sasuke Prime's memories, he couldn't be so cold toward Sakura anymore.
Even if he didn't consider Sakura, he had to think about his future daughter!
Thinking of this, Sasuke modestly folded his hands behind his back, "I, Sasuke, don't strike women!"
Neji gave him a scornful glance. So this was it! All three of them were actually the same!
Just then, an announcement came through the loudspeaker, "Match at Stage 4: Contestant 23 Toneri Otsutsuki versus Contestant 24 Hinata Hyuga!"
"Toneri Otsutsuki?" Neji immediately grew serious. "That's the one who fought on registration day!"
With Sasuke Prime's memories, Sasuke's expression turned even more severe. "Is this the one from the Moon? Why has he appeared earlier than the Parallel World timeline? Because of the Moon mission's influence, or because of Hinata?"
Near Stage 1, where Naruto had been clowning around, his eyes suddenly widened. This was that bastard Boruto had warned him about—the one who might steal his wife?
They'd actually ended up fighting on the same stage. Danger!
Hinata still didn't understand what was happening. She smiled sweetly, "Father, Naruto, I'm going up now!"
Hiashi nodded slightly, "Don't get eliminated in the first round like I did. Show the Hyuga clan's spi..."
Before he could finish, Naruto started flailing his arms wildly, "Don't go! That guy's really perverted!"
Hiashi scoffed coldly, "More perverted than your Sexy Technique?"
"Ah? You know about that too?" Naruto grinned sheepishly, "Guess I was too young and got tricked by Jiraiya-sama!"
Over there, Toneri stepped onto the stage and recalled the adults' advice, "Right, I should use a Mask to identify myself..."
Thinking of this, Toneri took out a Mask and put it on his face.
Seeing this, the surrounding crowd felt inwardly unimpressed.
Everyone already saw your face—what's the point of wearing a Mask now?
Toneri naturally didn't care about others' opinions. Calmly looking toward the opponent, he said, "You..."
But before he could finish one word, Naruto shouted from the sidelines, "Hinata, blow his damn head off!"
Hinata gave Toneri an embarrassed smile. "Sorry, Naruto's being a bit impulsive today."
However, Toneri didn't pay attention to her and looked at Naruto instead. "Are you Seiki Shimaseki's disciple?"
Frowning, Naruto grew increasingly annoyed at this disrespectful person who dared to say his teacher's name directly. "So what if I am?"
Toneri gave a slight nod. "Good. You've successfully caught my attention!"
Naruto was taken aback—this turn of events just didn't feel right!
He wasn't targeting Hinata, he was targeting me?
At this moment, Hinata recalled Naruto's earlier words and feared the worst—could this guy have a perverted interest in Naruto?
"Pervert? Harass?" Toneri frowned slightly. He rarely came to the human world and thought he might have said something taboo. "Are people down here really this conservative?"
Thinking this, Toneri apologized. "If my words offended you, please forgive me. As an apology, I'll take your attack!"
Hinata didn't hesitate either, stepping onto the Eight Trigrams and attacking.
[Eight Trigrams—Two Palms, Four Palms, Eight Palms... One Hundred and Twenty-Eight Palms!]
Like crashing ocean waves, each strike grew stronger—by the final one, the force carried the sound of thunder!
However, Hinata's heart turned cold.
Her strikes, strong enough to split mountains and shatter stone, didn't even make the opponent budge. The Chakra she had injected into the acupoints vanished like a cow into the sea with no reaction whatsoever!
Instantly, Hinata understood—this person's strength might actually surpass Naruto's!
Toneri's gentle voice came from beside her ear. "Finished? It's my turn now!"
Without any flamboyant movements, Toneri simply flicked his finger, sending Hinata flying heavily!
"Phew!" She spat out a large mouthful of blood and immediately collapsed into unconsciousness.
After determining the match result, Naruto and Hiashi quickly went onto the stage to rescue Hinata.
Although knowing his teacher was present and Hinata would definitely be safe, Naruto's fury still uncontrollably erupted. "You bastard! How dare you hit so hard!"
If their strengths were similar, then not holding back during battle could be understood.
But since the opponent was clearly far superior to Hinata, hitting this hard was truly excessive!
"Hit hard? I merely flicked my finger casually." Toneri shook his head slightly, imitating Aizen's tone. "It's actually really hard to control your strength just enough to step over an ant without squishing it!"
"You bastard!" Naruto became furiously enraged, nearly transforming into his Super Jinchuriki form.
But Hiashi held him back. "Naruto, defeat him on this battleground!"
"Although Hiashi didn't say what would happen after defeating the opponent," Naruto caught the unspoken meaning and couldn't help but shout excitedly, "I'll definitely crush him!"
Toneri replied calmly, "You'd better hope you don't get eliminated before facing me!"
Naruto shot back, "Just don't go losing on purpose because you're scared, okay?"
After the noisy exchange, the competition continued.
Before long, it was Sasuke's turn to take the stage.
Neji looked at him mockingly, "Aren't you the one who said you wouldn't fight girls? So what now? Surrender?"
Sasuke glanced at him calmly, "My teacher once told me the highest form of victory is winning without a fight."
"Wait a minute, you wouldn't possibly..."
Before he could finish, the announcement came through the loudspeaker, "Contestant No.71 Sakura Haruno has forfeited. Contestant No.72 Sasuke Uchiha advances to the next round!"
Neji's eyes showed disdain, "Pathetic!"
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