The Nine-Tails' Chakra!

In the stands, three white-eyed people sat together: a middle-aged man, a young man, and a little girl.

"Brother, is that kunoichi Sakura Haruno, the one who defeated you?" young Hanabi asked Neji.

Neji sat upright, his eyes fixed on the two people in the arena. Without turning around, he answered, "That's right, it's her..."

"Hanabi, watch carefully. This is the technique that completely defeated Neji's Gentle Fist..." said the other white-eyed man, who sat between them. "Neji is a genius who perfectly inherited the Hyuga Clan's bloodline... yet even at full strength, he lost to this girl!"

"Does a Water Release that completely counters Gentle Fist... really exist?"

"Come on, Naruto! You've learned the Rasengan and the moves the Pervy Sage taught you, right? Then use them and show me what you've got! Give it everything you've got and defeat me!"

Although I sounded confident, I actually wasn't very sure of myself... My original plan was to avoid using the Water Release techniques I had created and let the fight go however it would, preferably without using too much stamina.

But since Jiraiya had asked me, it would be better if I defeated Naruto. The question was, how was I supposed to beat him while avoiding the Water Gun Technique and Azure Water Release as much as possible?

Naruto had great stamina and a lot of chakra. If I let the fight drag on, I was sure to lose. So was the best approach to launch an all-out attack and defeat him in one go?

No, no. My instincts told me that if I really did that, I'd suffer a crushing defeat...

While I was thinking, Naruto beat me to the punch and used a ninjutsu-

"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"

Over a hundred shadow clones appeared around me in an instant. Their sheer numbers drew surprised murmurs from the spectators in the stands!

"Here I come, Sakura!"

At a command from somewhere among the shadow clones, more than a hundred of them charged at me together, brimming with fighting spirit!

I quickly shook my head and cleared my thoughts. Since I couldn't figure it out, I'd just take it one step at a time! It wasn't as if I couldn't fight without those two Water Release techniques! Even with just ordinary Water Release and Ice Release, I could still win!

"Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique!"

I drew the water stored in my sealing formula and turned it into a thick mist. It completely enveloped the area within ten meters of me, making it impossible to see even a hand in front of one's face! By deliberately reducing its range, I had proportionally reduced the chakra the Hidden Mist Technique consumed, but it was more than enough for close combat!

Naruto's shadow clones charged into the mist and immediately lost sight of me, while I could sense Naruto's position and movements through the chakra contained in the water vapor!

I showed no mercy to the practically blind shadow clones. With Nintaijutsu enhancing me, I moved as fast as lightning. Every punch and kick carried tremendous force, and each blow to a shadow clone's vital points destroyed it, while Naruto couldn't touch me at all!

Bang, bang, bang! Naruto's shadow clones couldn't withstand my attacks and quickly popped like bubbles. In just a few seconds, every shadow clone that had charged in was gone!

"Naruto, you're just wasting your strength! You're no match for me in close combat!"

"Damn it! Don't rush in yet!" Seeing that a blind charge would only waste chakra, Naruto had no choice but to stop the remaining shadow clones from rushing in to their deaths. "You only beat my shadow clones because the mist blocked my vision, right? Then I'll just blow it away!"

"If you can blow it away, go ahead and try!"

The genuine Hidden Mist Technique couldn't be blown away by Wind Release because the mist contained a great deal of chakra. But to conserve energy, I hadn't put much chakra into my weakened version, so any Wind Release could blow it away. I'd only done it to give Naruto a false impression and lure him into using an excessive amount of Wind Release!

"Then watch and see if I can blow your mist away!"

The ten Narutos remaining in the clearing formed hand seals at the same time-

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

A fierce wind rose at once, sending sand and stones flying! It howled over Naruto and toward me, sweeping up dust from half the arena and uprooting every tree in its path! My patch of mist was utterly helpless against it, disappearing without a trace in an instant and leaving nothing but an empty clearing-

Long before speaking, I had used the Substitution Technique to swap places with a water clone I'd quietly created...

"Where did she go?" Naruto froze.

"Right here!" As I spoke, I flung out more than a dozen ice shuriken. Under my control, the spinning ice shuriken shot toward Naruto at tremendous speed!

The Naruto shadow clones closest to me couldn't react in time and were destroyed one by one. Only three Narutos managed to jump into the air and dodge the shuriken, flinging several kunai back at me!

"You can't dodge in midair, can you?! You've lost, Naruto!" I easily dodged the kunai and rapidly formed hand seals!

"Ice Release: Shuriken Explosion!"

The dozen or so shuriken flying toward Naruto burst into countless sharp fragments at once, turning the three Narutos, who had no way to dodge in midair, into pincushions. Naruto's body fell stiffly to the ground!

An uproar rose from the stands. The spectators seemed to think the fight really had ended just like that!

Bang! All three Narutos who had fallen to the ground vanished in puffs of smoke.

"You're the one who's going to lose, Sakura!" The kunai Naruto had thrown turned back into human form behind me and attacked!

I didn't have time to turn and block, so I had to roll forward to dodge the blow! But there was another Naruto in front of me?!

"Rasengan!"

"It's over!" Naruto's real body held the Rasengan in his hand and slammed it down-

Below, my water clone was, unsurprisingly, struck by the Rasengan and scattered into a splash of water, revealing an ice skeleton...

Meanwhile, while the water clone had Naruto's attention, I had quietly used Water Release to lift myself into the air. I was actually the one forming the hand seals for the ninjutsu my water clone had used below!

"Huff, huff. Sakura, where are you?" Naruto and his shadow clone stood back to back, on guard as they anxiously looked around for me.

But the proctor, Genma Shiranui, had already looked up and spotted me!

Naruto searched for a long time without finding me. Finally, he followed the proctor's gaze and spotted me!

"Idiot, it took you this long to find me!" I said, looking down my nose at Naruto. Speaking from up in the air, looking down on him like this, felt wonderful!

"Warm-up's over, Naruto! Let's stop playing this game of using clones to trick each other into using techniques! Show me what you can really do!"

"Sakura, even if you say that... then come down here! Why are you standing so high up?!" Naruto said, looking up with an indignant expression.

Whoosh! I formed several ice shuriken in my hand. "Why do you think? Obviously-"

I flung the shuriken at high speed, sending them streaking through the air along more than a dozen straight paths!

"Because I can hit you, but you can't hit me!"

As mentioned before, when I threw shuriken, I aimed for speed rather than angles. With their extreme speed and the advantage of my elevated position, Naruto's shadow clones couldn't dodge in time. They were struck one after another and vanished in puffs of smoke!

Naruto's real body had an exceptionally hard time dodging too. A shuriken he failed to avoid opened a long, bloody line across his arm!

"Nice dodging!" I teased, watching Naruto struggle. "How about another round?"

I formed another dozen or so shuriken in my hand and fired them at Naruto below!

Naruto looked up at me, without a trace of panic in his eyes!

"Is that the only trick you know?" Naruto quickly formed hand seals. "I saw through it a long time ago!"

"Wind Release: Great Wind Breakthrough!"

The fierce wind sent all my shuriken flying back, leaving me completely unable to continue attacking with ninja tools in midair! Naruto took the opportunity to gather a large amount of chakra beneath his feet and leap forcefully off the ground. He jumped up beside me and threw a punch!

"Not bad, Naruto! But you're still not high enough!"

The Water Release beneath my feet suddenly lifted me higher, letting me dodge Naruto's punch. With my feet now above his head, I struck him hard in the head with a sweeping kick! I watched Naruto's face twist and distort as it made intimate contact with my foot, and then he plummeted headfirst toward the ground!

Bang! Naruto crashed hard into the ground, leaving a pit in the dirt. The thick cloud of dust he kicked up completely concealed him!

When the dust settled, Naruto was revealed in a sorry state. Blood had already spilled from the corner of his mouth, and he was breathing a little heavily!

"Idiot! You can't hit me like that!" I looked down at Naruto from on high. "Why are you so determined to jump up to my height?!"

"Because..." Naruto wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "I hate the way you look down at me! I hate how you always treat me like a child!"

"You always look at me that way! When we're on missions, when you train with me, and when you teach me ninjutsu!"

"I'm already a Konoha ninja! Don't look at me like I'm a child!"

"That's why I have to stand at your height! I want you to know, I want you to acknowledge me, and that is-"

At that moment, Naruto Uzumaki's gaze was utterly resolute!

"I'm a ninja you can trust now!"

I lowered my eyes and fell silent for a moment.

Naruto... has grown up. I can't keep looking after him like a child anymore!

"Naruto... if you want me to acknowledge you, you'll have to try a little harder!" I smiled softly. "If you can force me down to the ground, then I'll acknowledge that you're a ninja I can trust!"

"Isn't that too easy?!" Naruto smiled confidently. "Not only can I force you down, I can beat you too!"

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

A huge cloud of smoke appeared as the ninjutsu was completed! Below, Naruto's shadow clones packed the arena from end to end, numbering in the hundreds, even thousands!

Before the dust had settled, hundreds of kunai shot out of it toward me. At the same time, countless Narutos suddenly leaped up from below!

There were too many! There was no room left to dodge!

"Water Release: Endless Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death!"

I formed hand seals with both hands and circulated my chakra at full power. The thin shield of water beneath my feet rapidly grew larger and thicker, and I gave it a gentle tap with my right foot!

A vast amount of water condensed into tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands or millions of ice senbon, which blasted downward like a furious storm!

Clink, clink, clink! The sounds of senbon colliding with kunai rang out in an unbroken chorus. Under the assault of the endless rain of senbon, all the hundreds of kunai Naruto had thrown were knocked to the ground without achieving anything!

Bang, bang, bang! Naruto's shadow clones were turned into pincushions by the senbon one after another, vanishing into hundreds of puffs of smoke in the air!

When the smoke cleared, the entire clearing beneath my feet had been plowed over by senbon, which were embedded deep in the ground!

"Got you!" Naruto's voice rang out behind me! Two shadow clones held me tightly!

This guy! He actually used such an enormous number of shadow clones as bait! Even I didn't see that coming!

"Rasengan!"

The ball of chakra in the real Naruto's hand came at me with boundless power! Held tightly by Naruto's shadow clones, I couldn't move and had nowhere to dodge!

"Hmph!" I flicked my right index finger, and the chakra-infused water beneath my feet turned into two shuriken that struck Naruto's shadow clones, turning them into two puffs of smoke! Freed from the shadow clones' grasp, I bent over and dodged Naruto's Rasengan!

Well done, Naruto!

I stopped using Water Release to float in the air and landed on the ground at the same time as Naruto!

"Huff!" Having just used a large-scale ninjutsu, I began to pant too! The technique I had learned from Haku was astonishingly powerful when I used it this way, but it also consumed an enormous amount of chakra!

But Naruto had used up even more energy than I had. After using such a huge number of shadow clones and two Rasengan, even Naruto, with his extraordinary stamina, was starting to gasp for breath!

"Nice tactic... Naruto! You were willing to use that much chakra to fool me, then take the chance to attack from my blind spot! But, Naruto," I said to him, "you're... almost out of stamina, aren't you?"

"Huff, huff..." Naruto stared at me wide-eyed, desperately trying to calm his breathing. He couldn't get a word out, and sweat had completely soaked his hair and clothes!

"You don't have the strength to fight back anymore!"

Chakra burst from beneath my feet, and I rushed up to Naruto, driving a punch at his face! Naruto barely managed to block it with both hands, but his center was left wide open. I took the opportunity to get inside his guard and punched him in the chest! Naruto clutched his chest in pain and crouched down!

With another roundhouse kick, I knocked Naruto hard to the ground! He lay there helplessly...

"Naruto, is that all you've got?! What about the moves the Pervy Sage taught you? You've lost before you even got to use them!"

"Sh-shut up...! I haven't, cough, cough, lost yet!" Naruto replied weakly from the ground. "After all that, I finally got to stand here and got the chance, cough, cough, to have a proper fight with you... How can I go down so easily?!"

"Don't push yourself, Naruto! You don't have any chakra or stamina left. You can't even stand up now, so how are you going to fight?!" I walked over to Naruto and looked down at him as I spoke!

"There's that look again, looking down on me! I told you, I'm not a child anymore!" Though Naruto was clearly exhausted, he still managed to stand up, trembling! "I have to get up!"

"I have to prove it to you! Don't look down on me!"

Naruto roared at me!

"Haaaaaah!" Red chakra poured out of Naruto!

It was chakra filled with a calamitous, ominous feeling!

In the stands.

"It's over!" Neji said. "Both of them are monsters! Even Naruto, the dead last, is this strong. He can actually use that many shadow clones...! But he's completely out of stamina now... He's lost!"

"That's right," Hyuga Hiashi added. "Although we didn't see the Water Release that defeated Gentle Fist, this Sakura Haruno really is strong... Both of them used excellent tactics. You could even say Naruto's tactics were better, but Sakura is far stronger! She's certainly stronger than Neji..."

"But what left the deepest impression on me was that hand-seal-free ninjutsu Naruto used twice just now... That was the Rasengan, wasn't it? Wait, this is-!"

"How is that possible?! He clearly didn't have any chakra left, so how can he still produce such an enormous amount?!" Neji exclaimed in surprise!

This chakra... that's right, it's the Nine-Tails' chakra! Hyuga Hiashi said silently to himself... Sure enough, they're both monsters!

"That's amazing, Naruto!" I hadn't felt it so keenly last time in the Land of Waves, but now that I was facing it head-on, I finally understood a little of why Haku had lost to Naruto. "The Pervy Sage seems to have taught you an incredible move!"

"I admit it, your move surprised me!" The Nine-Tails' chakra really is impressive!

The chakra spreading through the air finally gathered around Naruto, forming a cloak of chakra visible to the naked eye!

Naruto clenched his teeth, stared at me, and said-

"Sakura, watch out... Here I come!"

[I still haven't finished writing the fight... and there clearly wasn't much filler!]