Hinata vs Ino

After Anko's... defeat... it was time for another match: Hinata vs Ino.

While Ino looked pretty much like her canon counterpart, except that her eyes were much clearer and gave off a very mature impression, Hinata's previously purple hair turned bluer and bluer over the last few years and by now almost gave the impression of flowing water.

They both got into a combat stance, but unlike almost everyone other time she fought someone, Hinata didn't activate her Byagukan.

It turns out that Ino not only inherited her clan's affinity for mind-related skills but had an excellent affinity for everything concerning the soul, so meeting Ino's eyes during combat was not a great idea. Any form of eye contact would allow Ino to launch an attack on the mind or even on the soul. This was also how she so easily dispatched Jugo when they met a few months ago.

The fight started, and Hinata immediately felt a familiar pressure descending onto her. The more developed soul, Ino's, exerted pressure onto the less developed one, Hinata's.

Naturally, Hinata wasn't too bothered by it. She was already familiar with the feeling and knew that there was nothing she could do about it. Unlike Ino, Hinata spent significantly more time developing her water affinity and general skills in combat than her soul. Despite feeling some pressure from Ino, she was still confident that she could best her due to her superior combat skills.

Small water droplets started forming around Hinata and, seemingly without any input from her, started shooting at Ino at high speed.

Ino frowned when she saw Hinata's ridiculous control over water and swiftly pulled out two kunai to deflect the bullets she wouldn't be able to dodge and dove into the bullet storm.

She expertly weaved through the storm, and, moments later, she arrived in front of Hinata, slashing a kunai at her, slicing a large wound across her body.

As soon as Ino's kunai made contact with Hinata's, a deep frown appeared on her face as she basically felt no resistance. Instead of blood, water flowed out of the wound Ino just made, and moments later, Hinata's water clone exploded, resulting in water needles flying everywhere.

Ino already predicted that would happen, so she was already jumping backward before the clone exploded, and as soon as she landed on the ground, she sent chakra into the ground, resulting in a wall of earth raising in front of her, blocking the water needles. Like everyone else, Yuna forced Ino to learn at least a basic earth wall jutsu for defensive purposes.

However, what Ino was worried about weren't the water needles but the fact that she lost sight of Hinata. That was never a good thing, so Ino heightened her perception as a profound light started radiating out of her eyes.

Frankly, Hinata's stealth had reached a ridiculous degree, but out of everyone in their group, Ino had the best close range perception, so only a few seconds later, her eyes snapped in a particular direction as her hands moved while still holding two kunai.

*CLANG*

The sound of metal clashing echoed through the room as Ino barely managed to deflect Hinata's blade before it could reach her, causing Hinata to smile.

"Oh? I honestly wasn't expecting you to find me. Even Yuna claims that she has no easy time finding me if I try hiding."

Ino snorted as she took some distance from Hinata.

"Well, since you specialize in stealth and I in perception, wouldn't it be pretty bad if I couldn't find you?"

Hinata chuckled in amusement before shaking her head in denial.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't specialize in stealth..."

The skin around Hinata's eyes turned blue as massive amounts of water started forming in midair, causing a solemn expression to appear on Ino's face.

"...I specialize in water."

A storm of water-based projectile shot at Ino, causing her eyes to glow even brighter, increasing her perception to the max, while the pressure Hinata felt from her increased even further.

Another earth wall rose in front of Ino, but this time it was quickly bisected by a jet of water which forced Ino to dodge underneath it.

Ino left the no longer existing defense of her earth wall as she approached Hinata in a circular manner while constantly dodging the projectiles shot at her. This kept going for a few more minutes until Ino reached a range where she was confident that her next jutsu would hit.

So, Ino's hand moved and formed the usual hand sign that was used when the Yamanaka clan used their mind jutsu.

"[Cloned Mind Tranfer Jutsu]"

Unlike the original skill that would cause Ino to lose consciousness, she developed a new version recently. Instead of having her real consciousness invading someone else's body, she would create a clone of it and send it towards her opponent.

Moments later, Hinata's eyes became dazed as the onslaught of water projectiles stopped, causing a happy smile to appear on Ino's face. Although Ino had the advantage that Hinata couldn't use her Byakugan against her, that disadvantage was easily balanced by Hinata's ridiculous proficiency in large-scale multiple projectile attacks.

Unfortunately, Ino's good mood didn't last for long, as she suddenly could feel a blade press against her neck as the Hinata she just tried to mind control turned into a puddle of water.

"N-No way, a water clone!?"

"Hehe, sorry about that, Ino, but it's not that easy, you know."

Ino's face deadpanned when she heard Hinata's words as she looked at her with dead eyes.

"Please tell me you did that verbal tic as a joke."

At first, Hinata had no idea what Ino was talking about, but after pondering the situation for a moment, her face flushed crimson.

"H-Hahaha, o-of course, I did. I-I was just trying to copy it because I thought it might be funny, hehe."

Naturally, Ino didn't believe a single word Hinata said, but after remembering Anko's condition after the last fight, she decided to play dumb and not expose Hinata's lie.

"I see; guess that joke fell flat, huh?"

Hinata eagerly started nodding her head when she realized that Ino "believed" her lie.

"Yesyesyes, totally messed up that joke. Such a pity, hahaha."