Chapter 97: Shinra Tensei

In the last month, a lot of things happened.

But finally, the day of the finals arrived, their was a bustling atmosphere across the village, as many of the villages celebrated the event like a holiday.

The wealthy merchants and aristocrats from the capital had arrived in Konoha and had busied themselves, trying to create more connections.

One individual drawing a lot of attention was Hachiro.

These dignitaries had started calling him the next God of ninja behind his back, after the terrifying show of might from the thunder giants descent.

Even after Hiruzen had dispatched ninja's to cover up the damage, a couple of mountains in the distance still possessed damage that spoke of the catastrophic event.

The Daimyo from the land of rivers sat with his hand holding up his cheek.

"I don't think it really matters, who wins the chunin exams now."

The middle-aged man beside him, fiddled with the gold chain around his neck and hummed in response.

"You're right~ the cloud is undoubtedly going to be the dominant village for a decade or two."

The lady accompanying him nodded and said in reminiscence

"Kind of like when Hashirama Senju and the ghost first joined hands. My father was a fan of the legends left by the two."

Another conversation going on was along the lines of, "Is Konoha really declining? I heard that the sand and cloud only sent a team each this year and somehow, Konoha only managed to get two into the finals."

Hearing the conversation among their fellow dignitaries, the merchants and officials from Konoha sat silently.

They had long known that the tides of change would no longer favour Konoha at one point, it's just that they didn't think the situation would reach such a low point so suddenly.

The genin taking part in the last test stepped into the examination room below.

Unlike in the anime, Sasuke Uchiha arrived on time with the Sound ninja, Dosu, being absent.

In the auditorium, Kurenai asked Kakashi.

"So, have you prepared Sasuke in case he loses?"

Kakashi gave a signature eye smile and replied, "Hmm~ I don't think he listened to me very well, but he should be fine."

Under his mask, a confident smile spread.

"Even if he does lose, it shouldn't be bad enough to stain the reputation of the Uchiha or effect his mental state."

...

...

Despite the absence of the Raikage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage and the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa were present.

Hiruzen sat in his seat and greeted the Kage from the sand with enthusiasm.

"Good evening, Lord Kazekage. How are you?"

'Rasa' gave a false smile and gave a few comments of hostility.

"Pretty horrible, I had to travel quite far and now my old muscles are aching."

"I hope your doing well yourself. Seeing as Hokage-sama is getting advanced in age, perhaps you should consider a successor?"

The snake still held a grudge against the old man for opposing him so vehemently as Hokage.

Hiruzen noticed the note, the man in front of him was playing and decided to mimic him.

He squinted his eyes and said, "I had hopes for a worthy successor but that didn't end well..."

'Rasa' looked off to the side and rolled his eyes.

Suddenly, an uproar occurred in the audience.

The replacement of Hayate Gekko, Genma shiranui stood in the middle of the soon to be battle ground and was forced to eliminate the sound ninja.

"Since, Dosu is absent, we will have to disqualify him."

The other candidates didn't object as they didn't care about Dosu.

The referee finally announced that the exam was officially beginning.

Hinata and Sasuke were left alone on the platform as everyone else joined the spectators.

The excitement of the audience was palpable as they stared at the byakugan and sharingan of Sasuke and Hinata.

Guy commented with youthful vigour, "A battle between the two very best dojutsu? Lee, make sure to pay attention and take notes!"

Conversation could be heard from all over the stadium.

"What's the story behind the Cloud shinobi getting someone with the Hyuga clan's byakugan?"

"Ah! Didn't you hear like a decade ago, those villains threatened the Hyuga clan patriarch, that they had to hand over someone from their clan or they would go to war."

"I heard the Hokage was forced to agree after the patriarch forcefully gave the child to the Kumogakure shinobi."

The Konoha shinobi, smiled bitterly.

Neji knew more of the details and questioned his father, Hizashi.

"Father, isn't possible to take Hinata back? It's been 12 years."

Hizashi gave him a warm smile and replied.

"Konoha is much weaker than back then, don't worry about it too much. Your young."

He suspected the reason Konoha fell into this state wasn't only because of the Hokage's faction but Itachi Uchiha as well.

Shisui and Itachi had been 'best friends' a long time ago, he suspected that the traitor had been the one to kill Shisui and frame it as a suicide.

He was the only one strong enough and as shown with the massacre he carried out on his clan, he had the motives too.

...

In the middle of the field.

Sasuke had learnt how fearsome and what to expect from this seemingly weak girl from Kakashi.

He was still confident he could defeat her, as he close to mastering an extremely strong lightning jutsu.

Genma gave them both a long introduction.

"The first game will be a battle between Sasuke Uchiha and Hinata Raiden! Both of these young, talented shinobi have shown off immense strength unbefitting of their age..."

After, he finished he raised his hand and swiped downwards to signify the game's beginning.

"The first round, Hinata Raiden VS Sasuke Uchiha, start!"

Sasuke heartlessly showed his position when it came to gender equality and took the initiate to jump at his opponent.

The sheer increase in speed from his last fight, demonstrated his incredible growth.

His speed was comparable to Lee.

He got within five meters before circling around to her left and pulling out a kunai that charged towards her throat.

In response, Hinata didn't move from the spot but extended her hand and uttered 2 words.

"Almighty push..."

_______________________

Alright, I'm going to be honest.

I don't know what showing off the tenseigan is going to accomplish, nor do I know how it is working.

It wasn't too clear, so I kind of assumed that she just got another chakra storage similar to Naruto with the Sage of Six paths. Should I make it similar to Sasuke where it's literally his own eye?