Opponent! Gaara of the Sand

"Sun... Sunagakure?"

Tenten froze for a moment.

Then she gritted her teeth and forced herself to steady her nerves.

Neji, the dead-last, was standing beside her, and Rock Lee had forfeited. If she got scared too, what would that do to Teacher Guy's reputation?

"I'm going!"

Tenten gathered herself, braced a hand on the railing, and leaped down.

What a stylish entrance!

On the other side, her opponent landed just as neatly.

With a crisp clang, the enormous closed iron fan behind Temari struck the ground. It sounded heavy.

Kiba was helped back up and stood beside Neji, watching the match.

"Aren't you going to rest?" Neji asked.

"No need. Those Sand Ninja brats..."

Kiba gritted his teeth, clearly still bitter about losing after being caught off guard.

But he praised Tenten all the same. "Those Sand Ninja brats seem to look down on us Konoha Ninja. I'm going to watch Tenten beat them once and for all!"

Neji's eyes flickered slightly, but he said nothing more.

There was no telling whether Tenten could win this match.

"The match... begins!"

"Hah!"

"Hmph!"

The two clashed fiercely from the very start!

Tenten unfurled a large scroll and kept summoning Shuriken, Kunai, Senbon, and all kinds of other weapons from it.

On the other side, Temari opened her iron fan.

"First Star!"

A tremendous gust swept up, deflecting every weapon!

The weapons whistled through the air, but whenever they struck the fierce gale Temari sent their way, it was like hitting an iron wall. None could break through!

Seeing that her attack wasn't working, Tenten brought out two scrolls, one in each hand, and ran forward.

Temari smirked and immediately retreated, refusing to let Tenten get close.

"You're too naive!"

Once she had covered half the distance to Temari, Tenten leaped straight into the air.

"So this is... Tenten..." Guy murmured, startled by the sight.

This was the secret technique Tenten had trained so hard to master. She was already using it. That girl really wanted to win this match between Konoha and Sunagakure!

The two scrolls unfurled, and Tenten began spinning in midair as all kinds of strange weapons emerged from them.

"Manipulation: Twin Rising Dragons!"

"An upgraded version of Rising Dragon?" Neji rubbed his chin. The technique's power was undoubtedly much greater, but Temari was the perfect counter to Tenten...

Then thousands of weapons flew toward Temari, sharp and deadly!

"Second Star!"

Seeing how much stronger this attack was, Temari opened her fan even wider and swung it with all her might.

But this time, it didn't seem to work as well. There were more weapons, and they were heavier. Only half were blown away.

"Tch!"

Temari retreated again, dodging the first wave of attacks. Then she gripped her iron fan and opened it all the way.

"Third Star!"

"Whoosh!"

A tremendous gust blew every weapon away!

The technique ended, and Tenten landed, gritting her teeth. Only then did she realize that Temari was a complete counter to her.

The match had reached a stalemate, and Tenten seemed to have no chance of winning.

With a thump, Tenten pulled a large scroll from behind her and summoned two enormous Shuriken. Their shape was strange, more like fan blades.

"She's really going for it, huh?" Rock Lee gulped.

Neji had never seen them before, so he asked, "What are those?"

Guy grinned behind them. "Those are Tenten's trump weapons: Fuma Shuriken!"

"Hyah!"

Tenten ran forward and hurled the Shuriken at Temari, then quickly began forming Hand Seals.

"She's a genius at wielding weapons. She's the only one who could learn this S-rank Ninjutsu through her own hard work while still a Genin!"

Neji nodded slightly, giving nothing away.

Beside him, Kiba's eyes widened as he eagerly anticipated Tenten knocking that Sand Ninja flat.

The enormous Shuriken's trajectory was easy to read, and Temari dodged it without difficulty. But then another one came at her.

With a clang, Temari knocked the Shuriken aside with her iron fan.

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"

Tenten finished forming her Hand Seals and unleashed the technique!

The two Fuma Shuriken quickly multiplied in midair, becoming dozens.

Tenten's eyes blazed with anger. She would use this move to reclaim her dignity after Kankuro's taunts against the Konoha Ninja!

"Hmph. Ninjutsu: Kamaitachi!"

Temari seemed to have had enough of playing around. Seeing that Tenten had backed her into a corner, she formed Hand Seals, raised her iron fan, and casually swung it back and forth.

The tremendous gusts seemed almost alive! They were no longer ordinary winds, but tornadoes that appeared to be under her control, deliberately blocking every Fuma Shuriken.

One, two, three... In the end, all twenty Fuma Shuriken were blown away.

While Tenten was still stunned, Temari raised another gale.

"Ahhh!!"

This time, the Ninjutsu covered almost the entire arena. Tenten had nowhere to run!

"The winner is Temari!"

"The Sand Ninja Genin are really strong," Guy sighed softly.

He didn't like it, but the winner was the one who mattered.

Beside him, Kiba was grinding his teeth, furious.

Temari glanced disdainfully at Tenten, who lay sprawled on the ground, then smiled proudly and scornfully.

The names on the roulette wheel spun faster and faster.

"Next match: Gaara of the Sand!"

The first name to appear was Gaara.

The red-haired boy had already formed Hand Seals and used Sand Body Flicker to reach the arena!

After Konoha's three straight wins, Sand Ninja had taken the next two matches. And now another Sand Ninja was up. Would anyone be able to turn things around?

To the Konoha Jonin and the others, these were trivial contests that had nothing to do with honor. But Tenten, Kiba, and the others were silently determined to prove themselves.

"Whoever it is, you've got to knock that Sand Gourd down!" Kiba glared furiously.

"Hyuga Neji!"

A name appeared on the large screen behind them.

"Both of you, cough, please come to the arena. The match is about to begin." Gekko Hayate's face remained grim as he stepped back and gestured toward the arena.

"This..."

Beside him, Kiba felt his heart shatter.

"Neji, if you can't beat him, just forfeit."

Tenten had been helped back up too. She was battered and bruised, her expression uncertain.

She and Kiba had only suffered minor injuries, so even after losing, they had stayed to watch the match.

"Neji, go on. Show them what you've accomplished through your training."

Neji suddenly froze as someone gave him a heavy pat on the shoulder.

Behind him, Guy grinned and gave Neji a thumbs-up.

Neji's lips curled slightly. "I'll do my best."

Then he headed off to the side and calmly walked down the steps into the arena.

One step at a time.

After noticing that Gaara had used an advanced Body Flicker Technique to enter the arena, everyone fixed their gaze on the Hyuga Clan's so-called "dead-last."

He was actually... strolling down as leisurely as if he were walking in a garden!

No one else had done that so far.

"What's this guy doing?"

"Why's he walking down? What a weirdo!"

Facing the heckles of a few nobodies, Neji narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Aren't these stairs meant for walking?"

As he spoke, Neji silently grumbled to himself.

What a stroke of bad luck. With so many Jonin around, he had to fight such a powerful Sand Ninja.

But remembering how Tenten and Kiba had just been defeated, Neji felt that what he was about to do was all the more meaningful.