9 The preliminary rounds.

The next five days were spent inside the tower waiting for the other genin to arrive. The konoha 12 and the sand ninja arrived along with a few sound ninja. Kabuto wasn't here this time which means he retreated along with Orochimaru to recuperate.

During the five days I bonded with girls a bit more, worked on my chakra control as I had an abundance of leaves, cooked up some more snake summon and shared it with who ever asked for it. I made conversation with temari and kankuro that way which was interesting as they talked about their villages financial situation concerning the wind daimyo giving our village work. I suggested asking the hokage for joint missions with them so they can get a share of the cut to earn back trust.

They looked at me like I was glowing, I thought only the akimichi can give me this look. After debating it with them for a while and giving them a portion for gaara as I understood his situation. They were shocked when they realised I knew what he was but I just pointed to my scars and said I'd seen a tail beast up close, I can tell when one is nearby especially with a faulty seal. I then bullshited about Orochimaru weakening the seal so he would go berserk more often and they rushed to tell Baki.

All according to keikaku. Other than that I made shadow clones study the two sound jutsu and practice my fire jutsu on top of the tower. The jonin had no problem with them training there as it made it appear that a battle was going on and would put the examinees on edge.

I also met up with my dango body and told her about the snake and about Kabuto confessing he worked for Orochimaru and was going to use the sand to attack. He really didn't but they have no way to confirm other than the mind check which they wouldn't do as they're scared of my sister. She relayed the info to the hokage after taking a couple of my snake burgers. She loved them and took some more for the whole torture department which I didn't mind. Being in their good books is a good thing.

On the fifth day it was time for the prelims to starts. That sick jonin who Kabuto was meant to kill went on and delivered the rules of the fights. They more or less went the same as canon, especially Hana loosing to naruto. I could hear tsume screaming from the clan deck from here.

However this is were canon deviates as now Hinata is fighting neji. He gave her a hateful look and gave the whole destiny spiel but she just looked at him listlessly. He got pissed and they had their match of patty cake. What he didn't understand is that Hinata doesn't use gentle fist anymore, it's dizzy fist now. He began screaming after about thirty second and was rolling gripping his arms.

When she struck those points she not only sealed them but twisted them. Neji can reopen then using his byakugan and just send chakra through again but he neglected the fact they are twisted due to rakshasa palm. So by sending chakra through them he retwists those points causing a great deal of pain. That's the nasty part about the style, the side effects of it are dizziness and muscular pain.

The boy is a trooper as he shrugged it off and got up to his feet panting laboriously. He demanded an explanation towards how she can do that with the gentle fist style. She already obliged him with letting him get back on his feet. Kurenai trained to us to kick our opponents when they're down but I guess he's still family to her. If I pulled that crap Kurenai would confiscate my ramen for a week.

He then talked aloud about his family and the curse seal but Hinata was just staring trying to seem interested. After he healed up he restarted the fight and went to use that rotation of his to block her water jutsu. After that he rushed to use the trigrams.

Gaara should pay attention she's about to use her ultimate move. She reached into her pocket and gripped, neji didn't notice. As he was about to strike she tossed it.

"POCKET SAND JUTSU". Neji screamed as sand got into his byakugan. Everyone looked at her dumbfounded as to what she just did. Allow me to explain— we taught her to fight dirty and I taught her the weakness of every dojutsu. Easy win as she struck him again knocking him unconscious.

I cheered for her as hana was in the infirmary and Kurenai was with her. She returned to the stands with a smile on her face. "You did great Hina!!!" I said loudly. She blushed and said quietly "thank you toriko. For everything". She whispered that last part but I still heard it.

Next it was my turn and I was stoaked. Directly arrived on stage. My opponent came down quietly with his face his behind that coat of his.

" Toriko Yūhi vs Shino Aburame.... begin". The second he announced it I used one of my public jutsu that I planned to show off.

"Wind style- lariat". I used flash step with an added wind chakra nature to increase my speed even more so. I reckon I match the raikage in terms of speed when I lift off but I can't maintain it yet. I plan to make an armour technique later. I raised my arm out and connected with shino's neck sending him rolling all the way to the wall. The wall cracked and the audience couldn't believe my speed. I saw kakashi with his Sharingan watching what I did and guy studying me like a hawk.

I heard chittering and buzzing so I turned to see shino getting out of the wall covered in bugs. They cushioned his fall and protected him from the impact.

"Fire style shivering jutsu" I used to vibrate my body and kill any of the bugs that might be on my arm. This is an E rank jutsu that is normally used on cold missions or during the night when people are cold. It's so easy to do that the academy doesn't even cover it which I find hilarious. I could hear Sakura asking about the jutsu I'm using and I just chuckled. Shino got wary off me as he processed my actions thus far. He sent a swarm to surround me so I decided to use one of my favourite jutsu.

I lowered my body like I'm about to seat and made the hand signs as the mark on my back began to light up.

"Fire style- hibashira jutsu!!!"

Immediately then entire arena was scorched high temperatures as a pillar arose from my back frying any bugs near me. I kept this up at full blast for three seconds before ending it. I could keep it up for about 39 seconds before my chakra bottoms out but I have other cards I wanna use.

"I surrender". Shino immediately quit once he realised his bugs would die. Even if the fire retardant ones came near me I could deal with them. He made a smart decision was what everyone thought.

"Shino aburame has forfeited. Toriko yūhi wins and proceeds to the next round". After that the other fights were the same as canon with lee getting hurt, then naruto made the promise to avenge him instead of Hinata. Guess this was a plot point. After that our opponents were announced for the next part in a month.

Hinata Hyuga vs Naruto Uzumaki.

Shikamaru Nara vs temari of the sand

Toriko yūhi vs kankuro of the sand.

Sasuke Uchiha vs Gaara of the sand.

Oof. This is gonna be rough..... for Hinata.