51. Showing off pt1

“You did great! I’m so proud of you!” As soon as Nozomi reached her merry group of misfits Tomoka began pressing her while hugging her from the side. This in turn generated a reaction from the two girls in Tomoka’s friend group. Nozomi felt pride swell in her chest as some embarrassment mixed with something else tinged her cheeks rosy red. On the other hand Hinata couldn’t help but frown and pout in jealousy.

“Hinata Hyuga'' Having her name called suddenly caught the girl by surprise. However, she quickly composed herself before walking forwards. In her mind she needed to do better than Nozomi. Her competitive nature ignited for one and one reason alone. She wanted to be praised and maybe even hugged by Tomoka, not that she would ever admit to the latter one. 

Like before the timer began and with practiced ease Hinata got to work. The Hyuga clan was never recognised for their bukijutsu, or ninjutsu, or anything else that isn’t their gentle fist or byakugan. However, she is different. Due to her constant and relentless competition with Nozomi she had improved drastically in those fields.

Weapons flew through the air as they landed on target each time. Hinata’s hands moved at high speed throwing weapons until her time ran out. In her hand weapon number nine was just about to leave but didn’t. Her final count had been eight flawless hits. Hinata’s brows were furrowed into a deep frown.

“You did well” With a smile Tomoka placed a hand on hinata’s head softly petting it. Hinata felt conflicted, On one hand she liked the feeling. On the other, she knew this was nothing more than a consolation reward. Her frown became even deeper once she saw Nozomi’s smug grin. In her mind she vowed to train harder, she would win next time. 

“Tomoka  Fushi” Tomoka’s turn finally came. With ease of movement she went forward Analyzing the targets while formulating different methods for maximum efficiency. However, before that she had to do something else.

“Sensei! I told you to just call me Tomoka” With a deceivingly cute pout she glared at Iruka. 

[Don’t fall for it, human! This demon is worse than me!] 

‘Shut it fox, He is already under my grasp’ 

Done with their little banter Tomoka prepared. In front of her were a total of five targets with different sizes as well as distances from her. The biggest target is also the closest one while the smallest is the furthest away. Another thing to note is that all of them are nailed to a tree, and this was what made her mind. 

“Begin” 

As soon as the timer started Tomoka took her first kunai and threw it to the nearest target. Her movements were languid and slow disregarding the fact that she was wasting time. As the Kunai flew through the air a loud whistle could be heard. Then it struck the target, splitting it in two while perforating the tree behind. The same was repeated four more times.

“I believe I said this was a bukijutsu test Tomoka” Iruka finally broke from his astonishment and came to a conclusion. 

“I don’t understand sensei?” Of course Tomoka played dumb. 

“You used an air jutsu to improve their cutting power didn’t you” Iruka was having none of it. The strange whistle had been clue enough.

“No I didn’t. I just infused them with my chakra. That's not a jutsu is it?” She wasn’t wrong but that wasn’t what Iruka wished to hear. He had been warned about this one, a cheeky and smart girl that enjoyed messing with people. 

“Fine, I will let this one slide, but no chakra usage in the taijutsu test or you will get detention” He simply let go of Tomoka for two reasons. First he didn’t want to deal with it, and second her display didn’t affect the results of this test anyway. After all, coating the weapon would be meaningless if they didn’t hit. 

To tell the truth Iruka didn’t care much for the amount of shuriken and kunai thrown but instead for the hit rate and what targets were hit. As long as a student was able to hit all five targets without missing once he considered them to pass flawlessly. 

“Don’t worry sensei, I won’t. After all, I don’t want to hurt my fellow classmates… much” The last part came as nothing more than a whisper that even she could barely hear. 

[I wonder who will be the poor bastard to be matched against you] 

‘Hopefully Sasuke, he is the only one I won’t feel bad for beating into the ground’

[Bullshit! You won’t feel bad no matter who you beat into the ground, I have seen how you train Naruto, Hinata and Nozomi]

‘Touché’