"Now for the second match of the second round! Temari of the Sand vs Kurama Yakumo!"
Hiruzen's announcement rang out shortly after Saul returned to where his team sat at the stands. Yakumo smiled at him as he arrived. Saul was exhausted and breathing heavily from making more chakra after healing Neji and Lee.
"Well, I'm off now. Wish me luck, Saul."
He saw right through her nonchalant facade. They had known each other for a while now - Saul could just tell when Yakumo was being pretentious.
"You can do it, Yakumo. Just try to be a little more flashy this time around! To earn recognition, everyone should see what you can truly do, understand? There's no point in hiding it if you truly want to revive your clan."
"...I understand."
She smiled, this time more genuine. Yakumo had been jealous of how far Saul seemed to go for Hinata, during their match he didn't even look at her a single time. Yet from his words, it seemed he had been paying just as much attention to her when she fought as well.
She'd follow his words. Today, she'd show everyone what she was capable of. A bed of flower petals wrapped around her feet and carried her down into the arena, gentle as a breeze. Not to be outdone however, Temari also flew down into the arena on her fan, guided by the winds.
Back up in the stands, Lee could no longer hold back.
"Doctor-san! How's Neji?"
"...His life is no longer in danger."
Lee pumped his fist excitedly!
"I knew someone like Neji wouldn't just die like that! He'd never break so easily!"
Hinata looked relieved as well. She affectionately placed her soft hand atop his, and gave him a smile full of love and appreciation.
"T-thank you, Saul-kun. Neji is like a brother to me. If he died b-by my hands, I..."
"You two shouldn't be celebrating so early. My current healing capabilities were not enough to do much more than to save his life. His wounds were extremely serious, Hinata. His lungs collapsed. His bones were shattered. His organs were pierced and ruptured. Even now, fragments of his pulverized ribcage are still present, lodged inside many of his major organs. I could not do anything about this."
The two fell silent, looking down. Hinata began to cry. Saul sighed.
"I'll be able to fully heal him one day, but it will take time, understand? I've already expended all my chakra for today on him."
"U-understand... I-I'm sorry..."
He hugged Hinata to his chest as the girl sought comfort from his embrace. Lee however, continued asking questions.
"What about the medical-nin in the Konoha hospital? Shouldn't they be able to remove the fragments somehow?"
Saul nodded. "You bring up a good point, Lee. Yes, unlike me, many of them have already learned the Chakra scalpel technique. From my time working at the Konoha hospital, the majority of them," excluding Ugai, "were extremely capable medical-nin. There are two problems, however.
Only a few of them are actually capable of healing organs with the mystical palm. The few that are, do not have the chakra capacity to keep Neji alive as they operate. Even I was a part of the group who was unable to do the incredibly fine and delicate work of healing the innermost parts of the body until today."
Lee's face fell.
"So you're saying..."
"Yes. If it's not a bonafide ninja like me, then multiple medical-nin would have to work together at once in order to somehow heal him. This however, would be risky beyond belief. A single mistake in the operation could result in them having to expend much more chakra than usual, resulting in failure.
Plus there's also another factor to consider. Today, I expended much of my chakra to forcibly keep Neji alive. He should have already died many times over by now. Even now, the man is merely living on borrowed time.
His body simply doesn't have the nutritional reserves to support much more healing. Anything further would require an enormous amount of chakra to make up for this shortage! This compounds the difficulty of the operation much, much more."
Rock Lee bowed his head. Then he made direct eye contact with Saul, his black eyes both serious and full of resolve.
"I don't understand what you're saying fully, but I know one thing. Today, you saved my life. You also saved the life of my friend and rival. Thank you, doctor-san. I'll be relying on you in the future."
Saul's attention turned back to the Colosseum below. Temari and Yakumo seemed to be talking to each other. He wondered, what were they saying?
"Hinata, can you relay to me what exactly Yakumo and Temari are talking about?"
"...No, Saul kun. I haven't learned to read lips yet."
"That's no problem then. I was just curious."
The two women stood opposite of one another. Temari stood upwind, an intentional, strategic choice. She was smirking while Yakumo's mouth was open in shock.
"How do you know him?"
Temari chuckled. "Curious I see? Hah."
She stuck her giant fan deep into the sand and leaned onto it casually. The blonde woman was clearly amused.
"Your teammate actually had the balls to strike up a conversation with a woman like me in the street. He seemed like an interesting guy, to say the least. Full of tricks too."
Temari frowned, recalling their spar. Then she erased it from her face, trying to keep up the casual facade, "I did a little digging about you and your team. I've figured out your worthless tricks."
"Oh?" Yakumo fiddled with the yellow tulip in her hair, "Is that so?"
Temari opened up her fan and blew a gust of wind at Yakumo. It wasn't an attack - it didn't contain any chakra at all. Yet as the wind buffeted her beautiful, long, brown hair, Yakumo grinned.
Temari snarled. "As I said, I won't be falling for any of your tricks! You and that pig cast Genjutsu through scent, don't you! Him with smoke and you with flowers! I've got you both figured out!"
Yakumo threaded the Tulip back into her hair, meticulously making sure it remained in place.
"That may be the case for Saul, but, I can assure you. If you think my Genjutsu is on the same level as his... You're in for a rude awakening."
Just then, Hiruzen announced to the crowd. "The next match will be between Kurama Yakumo and Temari! I'm sure all of you are familiar with the sand princess and her gigantic fan. After she handily defeated the Konoha Genin named Tenten, I'm sure you all understand her strength and methods just from watching.
However, you all must have been confused seeing Yakumo's first fight, right? Why did her opponent merely stand still, waiting for death?"
The third Hokage paused for dramatic effect, noticing the focused silence of the crowd. He continued then a little more excitedly,
"This is the terrifying nature of the Kurama clan's Genjutsu! I actually have personally dealt with matters involving this Kurama clan Heiress. It is said that once every hundred years, an incredible genius is born to the Kurama clan. Their Genjutsu is so powerful that it manifests itself in reality!"
Temari's gaze grew serious as she gazed at the smiling Yakumo.
"Yet their inheritors are also plagued by a demon. It manifests itself as an evil being, taking the form of its inheritor and doing terrible things. Yakumo however, is the first within the clan to have 'dealt with' this inner demon of hers without losing the power it grants! I'm sure you all saw the way she entered into the arena! What Genjutsu allows its user to fly?"
The nobles in particular began chattering excitedly, glancing down at the arena and pointing down at Yakumo. Yes... Hiruzen grinned. If he could use this girl's novel abilities to benefit all of Konoha, his continuous efforts to hype her up would not have gone to waste. Hiruzen hoped Yakumo would win.
"Now, let the match begin!"
Temari started the match by immediately launching a gust of wind at Yakumo. The Kurama clan heiress jumped back immediately, cautious of her winds.
"What's wrong? Weren't you going to show me how your Genjutsu was so much different from Saul's?"
"Oh, don't you worry." Yakumo said, placing her palm onto the ground while it was glowing green, "Saul-kun told me this time to put on a show."
The arena rumbled. The dirt and rock of the arena, which had been ground up into sand, sprouted grass, flowers. It was a paradoxical sight, seeing a field of yellow tulips emerge amidst the sand.
Temari had to retreat up into the air, floating around with the wind. Staying down there among the flowers would certainly be a death sentence. She watched as Yakumo's Jutsu covered the entire arena in shock. No, this couldn't be real! It had to be fake! But if it was, how did she put her under Genjutsu in the first place!? Temari had not inhaled any of the scent from her flowers!
"Release!"
Nothing changed.
"RELEASE!"
Yakumo giggled. "Didn't you hear Hokage-sama's words? You are not under a Genjutsu. Not yet, anyway. The world itself is."
The glowing green of her palm began to turn red. Yet still, the girl had not used a single hand seal. Was all of her Jutsu seal less!?
The Kazekage turned to the Hokage, his eyes filled with the light of a reminiscent caution and a mad grin. Yet the man spoke slowly, deeply, menacingly. "Was Konoha hiding, this... woman? Did you hide the Kurama clan's power from the Sand all along?"
Hiruzen chuckled, "Ho ho ho. What's the harm in an old man hiding a few small things? Konohagakure and Sunagakure are allies, after all. There is no need to be afraid. Regardless, this girl is truly special. Who would have thought the Kurama clan really could produce such a monster?"
Yakumo raised her palm, now glowing a crimson red.
"HA!"
A fireball shot out, setting the chakra laced winds keeping Temari up ablaze. The sand princess was forced to disperse the fire by blowing her fan, but... She plummeted from the sky as a result. She was sitting on the fan to fly, after all.
"Shit!"
No! Once she landed on the ground, she would never be able to escape her Genjutsu! Temari made a last ditch effort of throwing a pair of Kunai at Yakumo.
The girl looked frail, delicate, weak. Maybe she wouldn't be able to avoid the Kunai? Fortunately for Temari, the woman did not react to her hidden last ditch effort. Her vision had been obscured by the flames she had cast after all.
Unfortunately, however, it didn't matter. As the Kunai got within a meter radius of Yakumo, they were deflected by something completely invisible.
Temari watched on with disbelief and despair. She tried to get back onto her fan one last time, but vines sprung up from the ground and caught Temari. Once they touched her, her eyes immediately went blank. Yakumo lowered her slowly, gently, all the way down into the bed of flowers.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. There was never a need to do so."
The Kurama clan heiress flew right back into the sky, surrounded by petals as she ascended right back up to her place in the stands. The crowd cheered as Hiruzen announced,
"Temari of the Sand has been defeated! Kurama Yakumo has won!"
Author's Note: If you want to reach me faster than something like comments, the link to the discord is here: discord gg YwperMGsBq ("." before gg and "/" after gg, no spaces)
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