Chapter 92: Ino’s Determination to Fight

Chapter 92: Ino’s Determination to Fight

Disclaimer:

Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto.

I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 92: Ino's Determination to Fight

As Naruto was about to reach the top of the stairs, he came face to face with Ino, who was about to go down.

"Oh, there you are. Congratulations, Naruto!" Beneath her gentle smile was a great deal of concern.

"Thanks... you're not actually going to fight that Gaara... right?" Naruto asked her.

She immediately became upset.

"You too? I already heard this enough from my father and Sensei. I'm not giving up before even trying."

"You don't seem to understand how dangerous that boy is," Naruto warned her.

Ino had missed the match between Gaara and Rock Lee, so all the information she had about him was from third-hand sources.

But she was aware of how strong he was.

"I'm not stupid, Naruto. I know I don't have much of a chance to win... but I won't give up that easily. If I do... I'll never become a Chūnin, you know? I also have ambitions..." she said with mixed feelings.

"It's not about winning or losing. If you step in there, he won't let you leave the arena alive." Naruto had already faced Gaara directly and had a good grasp of how deranged that boy was.

"Oh? Are you perhaps worried about me?" She had a mischievous smile.

"I can't blame you for becoming smitten by my beauty. But I still like Sasuke." She wasn't sure if that was true anymore, but she said it anyway.

"But I will tell you something." She walked past Naruto and began to descend the stairs.

"If... you win this tournament, you can take me out to dinner," she added without stopping.

"Oi Naruto. That was a very interesting match."

He saw TenTen approaching, and she didnt seem very angry with him at least.

"I thought you would be more upset with me. Isn't Neji your companion?"

"Companion? You mean as in boyfriend?..." Tenten's face got very red.

"Of course not! We are just teammates..." even though she wouldn't mind if there was something more.

"I was just surprised. I never thought I would see Neji being slapped around in such a manner," the girl said.

"Right! That was insane!" Lee added.

"I sparred many times, but with his Byakugan, it is impossible to land a hit on him. You were moving so fast that he could not react... maybe if I had used gates..."

"Lee..." Gai had a warning tone.

"I know, Sensei. I was just..."

"And besides, Naruto was not really moving much faster than Neji," Gai added.

"Really? But Neji could not follow his attacks, even with the Byakugan active," Tenten said.

"He could follow them, but he couldn't avoid them in time. All attacks have momentum to them. During a brief period of time, there will be an opening. No matter how good or refined your fighting style is, there will always be an opening that can be exploited. It is up to the user to cover those openings the best they can. " their Sensei explained.

"You are saying that Naruto was exploiting those openings in Neji's moves?... That's..." Tenten glanced at Naruto with surprise.

Lee was doing the same.

They both thought that Naruto had somehow become faster than Neji and used this advantage to overwhelm him.

But surpassing someone like Neji with pure technique was a whole different thing. It meant that Naruto was at least at jōnin level when it came to Taijutsu technique and expertise.

"Hey, Ino's match is about to start!" Sakura exclaimed.

Naruto got closer to the wall and looked down at the arena.

"This is not a match... this is an execution."

A.N: - Remember to comment, vote, and/or leave a review if you have the time. Those things help me a lot and I would really appreciate it.

You can Support me on P@treon if you like and get 20 advanced chapters.