Chapter 20: Yoroi Akado Vs Sasuke Uchiha

 Nothing really changes so you skip this chapter

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Hayate announced, "Now then, we will begin the preliminaries. The preliminaries to come will be one-on-one individual battles. There are now exactly 18 people, so we will conduct 9 battles. The winner will be able to advance to the third exam. There are no rules at all. You will fight until someone dies, collapses… or admits defeat. And… please admit defeat right away if you don't want to die. However, in case I judge that a match is over… err… I don't want to needlessly increase dead bodies, so I will intervene and stop the match or something to that effect. What holds the key to your destinies is…"

Anko: "Open it!"

Hayate: "The names of two foes will be randomly selected and displayed on this electronic signboard. Now then, let's get right down to it and announce the two names for the first battle."

The names of the participants were displayed one by one at rapid speed before stopping on Yoroi Akado and Sasuke Uchiha.

Hayate: "Now then, the two displayed on the signboard, come forward."

They both stepped forward as Hayate continued, "For the 1st battle, Yoroi Akado and Sasuke Uchiha have been selected. No objections, right?"

Yoroi and Sasuke: "No."

Hayate: "Now then, the 1st battle will now begin. Everyone other than the two foes, please move to the upper area."

As everyone started moving to the upper area, Kakashi sensei approached us. I followed the group toward the staircase when I tripped and was about to fall, but I was caught by none other than Gaara.

Gaara: "I thought you were strong Hinoka. For you to just trip and fall…"

Hearing that I chuckled and said, "Yeah, I guess I used more chakra than I thought. Thanks for catching me, Gaara," before walking away.

Naruto looked at me and asked, "Since when did you and the weird guy become friends?" I paused for a moment before answering, "I guess from the time we exchanged names."

Sakura: "Why do you get along so well with boys, but every girl seems to find you annoying?"

I replied with a smug grin, "Because they're jealous of me." Sakura looked annoyed, and I glanced at Kakashi and Sasuke as they were talking before Kakashi started walking up to the upper area.

Not long after, the match began. Immediately, Sasuke pulled out a kunai, and Yoroi took out three shuriken. He threw them at Sasuke, who used his kunai to deflect them, but flinched in pain and fell to the ground.

Yoroi dodged his own shuriken and quickly approached Sasuke, attempting to punch him. Sasuke narrowly avoided the punch and countered by spinning off a kunai he had jammed into the ground, kicking Yoroi and knocking him down before holding him in a deadlock.

However, Yoroi managed to touch Sasuke and absorb his chakra, rendering Sasuke temporarily unable to move. Yoroi broke free from Sasuke's hold and punched him to the ground before jumping back.

Sasuke struggled to sit up, when Yoroi grabbed his head, pinning him down, and started draining his chakra. Despite Sasuke's efforts to resist, he eventually let go before kicking Yoroi off.

Yoroi then continued to attack him while he barely dodged.

Suddenly, Naruto shouted, "Hey Sasuke! Come on, man! What was that?! And you call yourself an Uchiha! You're going to let this goon walk all over you?! Come on, stop messing around and get it in gear!"

Sasuke looked at Naruto, then at me, and I knew he had an idea.

Yoroi charged at Sasuke again, who smirked. He disappeared from sight and delivered a powerful kick to Yoroi , sending him flying into the air.

I realized it was the same move Lee used against Sasuke.

Sasuke pushed himself off the ground, came up behind Yoroi, and coughed up blood as the mark on his neck started to spread. It spread for a while but suddenly stopped and went back to how it was before.

Sasuke grabbed onto Yoroi's back, spun to the side of him, and delivered a forceful blow that knocked Yoroi down. Despite being knocked down, Yorui managed to push himself off Sasuke to avoid crashing into the ground.

As they were about a foot from the ground, Sasuke kicked Yoroi again, sending him crashing to the ground.

Sasuke skidded back and seemed defeated as well. Mr Hayate then went to check on Yoroi and glanced at Sasuke, who got up.

Hayate: " I'm declaring this match over. As the winner of this preliminary round, Sasuke Uchiha advances to the finals."

Just as Sasuke was about to fall back, Kakashi sensei appeared, but I couldn't hear what they were saying before they walked away.

I was pretty disappointed since I wanted everyone to see me when I battle!