91 Unfinished destiny

As Naruto left the field to change his pants (orange is truly a bad choice; it highlights stains too much), accompanied by a medical ninja to treat his wounds, the rest of the matches continued once the magma cooled down with water jutsu, and the field cleared.

Next up is the match between Neji and Hinata, and oh, Hinata is looking this way.

Does she perhaps remember me from when I gave her the apple? It's been a few years.

I waved to her, and she nodded determinedly. I'm not sure why, but I nodded back.

Now is when Neji has to—oh, come on!

Don't look at me with narrowed eyes, Sarutobi Hiruzen! It gives me chills...

He must have a conspiracy theory or something in his mind.

As I was saying, forget it, the match has already started, and things are... more even than I expected. Despite facing criticism from her cousin, Hinata seems to be warming up and returning the blows with more force than I would expect from her.

Neji clearly didn't expect Hinata to put up such a fight, and he's getting impatient, striking in a way that seems...

"She's doing it on purpose, isn't she?" Haku asked me.

"Yes, she's leading him by the nose too easily," Kimimaro confirmed as he watched the confrontation.

"She's provoking him," Karin rubbed her chin thoughtfully after calming down now that the blond was out of her sight. "I guess the other Hyuga is from the branch family; otherwise, he wouldn't be so aggressive against the heiress."

"What's your evaluation of her?" I asked the three of them.

"She has a kind heart," Haku replied, as if she saw herself in Hinata.

"She has a goal," Kimimaro affirmed.

"She has issues," Karin concluded, to which the other two turned to look at her. "What? The fact that someone from the same clan sees her in such an aggressive way shows they have serious internal problems. As the heiress, she'll need to confront them sooner or later."

"Karin, she's right," I nodded. "Although you all have a point, Karin has raised a key issue. The Hyuga clan's Caged Bird Seal is intentionally flawed in both design and function. In fact, I'm surprised this kid still has the seal when anyone can buy the Byakugan nowadays."

"And where would that be possible?" we heard from behind us.

The kids turn to see a man smoking, accompanied by a chubby boy who eats potato chips non-stop.

"It's rude to listen to other people's conversations," Haku pointed out calmly while her eyes checked what flavor of chips Choji was eating.

I'm curious too; it smells like... country potatoes, those with tomato and garlic. Pretty good, but if there's too much salt, it turns terrible.

"I'm sorry, it happened that we were close, and I accidentally overheard, so I couldn't resist asking," Asuma replied, although everyone present can see that it's just an excuse.

"You were twenty meters away from us just a minute ago," Kimimaro exposed, very observant of where each person is in the room.

"Do you want to trade?" Karin asked Choji as she pulled out a bag of crispy fried apple slices.

Choji thought for a moment that he had misheard.

A girl wants to trade snacks with him?

"Sure!" he agreed without hesitation; the apple slices were clearly homemade, and he was very curious about their taste since he had never eaten them this way before.

"Ahem!" Asuma cleared his throat to refocus on the topic.

"Oh, the answer to that is... Wow, Hinata won!" I turned with a surprised expression despite having been "watching" with Mantra the whole time.

And my surprise is genuine! Just like my change of topic...

Okay, Hinata seems to be on the verge of collapse and covered in bruises, but Neji is lying on the ground unable to move his limbs properly.

Did the match reverse, and was it Hinata who struck his tenketsus or whatever they're called?

I can't help but applaud her. Even if Hinata's strength improved for some reason compared to the original, it's a fact that Neji had significant talent and dedication that would be difficult to overcome.

And she did it!

Hinata hears my applause as well as those who join from my team, and she smiles at me before fainting. Thank goodness she doesn't need to fight again, or she would be out.

Later, I'll feed her a golden apple in secret to help her recover. If they later come looking for me, I'll just say I'm a great medic.

I feel Sarutobi's gaze again, and this time I don't even bother turning to look at him; I just raise my middle finger discreetly for him to see and hear him choke on his smoke. Good.

Gaara's fight against Lee bores me.

While Kimimaro and Karin watched Lee's taijutsu with curiosity, when they found out he was still using weights during the test, both slapped their foreheads while sighing exasperatedly.

"Why do the ninjas in this village seem to have brain problems?" Karin wondered.

I wanted to tell her that the stupidest part hasn't even arrived yet, but I let them see the surprise.

"He's going to end up with bone fragments in his spine," Kimimaro concluded very professionally, one of the greatest bone experts present.

"Yes, I don't think he can continue being a ninja after that," Karin agreed.

In this case, I must point out that using a technique that will make you stop being a ninja without enough mastery, to prove that using only taijutsu you can be a ninja, is quite illogical.

But well, Lee and Guy's brain circuits are unique, just like their hairstyle.

Give him a golden apple too?

Why? Just because he's a character in the series? I don't know him, and I don't care.

In fact, it was Guy who almost finished Madara, not him.

As far as I'm concerned, Lee can stop being a ninja and become a taijutsu teacher at the academy. The next generations of Konoha will have a higher survival rate on their first missions, thanks to the physique they got from the crazy teacher with bushy eyebrows who will continue yelling at them that the sand is evil.

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If you could, would you help Lee or let him become a civilian?