Sara and Ino faced each other, waiting for Mizuki’s signal. As soon as Mizuki gave the signal, Sara rushed forward, not even close to Naruto’s speed but still fast. Ino took a defensive stance and started waiting. When she noticed Ino’s stance, Sara took an offensive one. Then they started exchanging blows.

Sara had better technique while Ino had a better body. But neither of their advantages seemed to be enough to win. At the five-minute mark, Sara and Ino were still equally matched. Then I noticed Ino subtly changing her stance to a stance that meant to increase the ability to counterattack. That made all the difference. Sara threw a punch some hundredth time, but this time, instead of blocking, Ino parried and countered like lightning with a kick. The kick caught Sara on her belly and destroyed her stance. Ino capitalized on her advantage and after a few exchanges, Ino was left victorious.

I made my way to Sara and took her out of the ring. She came to herself in a few seconds and sat down, “I lost.” She said.

She seemed down, so I said, “Your match was great. You fought well, don’t worry.”

Sara sighed. “I know I did well, dummy. I am just sad because I lost. And I trained with you more too.”

I nodded. “Ino used a great tactic there. It’s not easy to shift your stance mid-fight, even hiding the shift from your opponent… That was some genius at work.”

“Thanks.” Ino beamed. “I got the idea from Sasuke-kun.”

I tilted my head. “What do you mean? When?”

“He did it in his fight with Hara. He kept changing his stance while attacking. That’s why Hara couldn’t attack back.” Ino said smirking. Clearly feeling extra smart since she noticed it while I didn’t.

“Well, congratulations on your win. Though since you saw it from Sasuke, your performance lowered from genius to just… meh.” I said while smiling.

Ino chuckled and punched my shoulder. Then I felt someone hugging me. I turned to look at the offender and saw it was Sara. She looked at Ino from behind me and said, “Mine.”

I sighed, “Sara. Don’t do things like that, or I will just keep pinching your cheeks.” Sara ehhed and separated from me. Then I turned to Ino and raised my arms invitingly. “Come on Ino-chan, won’t you hug me?” Sara pouted while Ino grinned and hugged me. I stopped the hug after a while and asked, “Well then. What is the next match?”

“It’s Sakura and Hinata.” Sasuke supplied from the side.

“Well, rip Hinata. She is too… Wait a minute.” I made my way to Naruto who was boasting to some kid and said, “Naruto, do you know Hinata?”

“The silent girl?” He asked frowning.

I nodded. “Can you encourage her, she seems to need it.”

“Why don’t you do it?” He said, “You are better at it.“ He added softly but I still heard. Before I could interject he said, “Since you asked it, I will try.” I nodded and let him go.

I returned to others and sat down. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at me. “I told Naruto to encourage Hinata. I thought he could do a better job with her.”

“It’s because she has a crush on him right?”

I looked at smirking Ino, surprised. “She has?”

Ino’s smirk faltered. “If you didn’t know, why did you told him to do it?” I just shrugged. Ino sighed, “Boys.”

“It’s easy to see she has a crush on him. Why? Because she always watches him.” I turned to Shino he was with Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba.

I looked at them smiling. “Heya, guys. What’s up?”

Shikamaru sat on the ground beside Sasuke and Choji beside him. Kiba stayed standing and said “After this match, I will fight against Choji. You may think your lessons are great but they are nothing to me, I will show you.” With that, he left and moved to other side of the ring.

I sighed. “Anyone that thinks he won’t take it well if he loses, raise your hands.” I raised both of my hands but nobody else did. I sighed. ‘Now kids think I am too kiddy.’

“I don’t think he will. And from what I saw, he will lose.” We all turned to Shikamaru. He continued, “He is fast and strong but fights like a brawler so he is at a big disadvantage since Academy Taijutsu Style is great for fighting against brawlers.”

I nodded, “I hope he comes around to learn from me or even Iruka-sensei after this fight instead of stubbornly focusing on fighting like a brawler.”

Others too conveyed their agreement. Then, “Hinata and Sakura are up.” Sasuke said from the side. So we all turned to the ring to watch.

Inside the ring, Sakura took a defensive stance while Hinata took a juuken stance. “Hinata seems resolute. Whatever Naruto said looks like worked very well.”

Ino observed then someone yelled, “Come on Hinata, you can do it!” Hinata seemed resolute before but after Naruto said that, she looked ready to pounce at Sakura.

I chuckled, “I knew he would do well.”

Before anyone could say anything, Mizuki called the start and Hinata pounced on Sakura, who was too shocked to defend herself. Hinata then palmed Sakura’s chest which made her eyes comically enlarged.

Sakura took a step back and covered her chest with her arms, “Hinata!” She yelled to deaf ears. Hinata pounced again and this time, managed to threw Sakura out of the ring.

“Yes! Hinata, you are great!” Naruto yelled from the side.

That made her red. “Naruto-kun.” She mouthed so softly that I could only understand reading her lips.

Leaving Naruto and Hinata on their love life I said, “Now I hope Sasuke goes against Hinata. That would be great.”

Sasuke snorted. “She can’t beat me.” He said and added humbly, “No one here can beat me.”

I chuckled. “I may not be subtle but I have a large cannon if you know what I mean.”