While Hinata was still blaming herself, the situation on the field shifted once again. Naruto, whose tenketsu had been sealed by Neji's Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms and who had seemingly lost all fighting strength, suddenly underwent a change.
Crimson chakra slowly emerged across Naruto's body. The tenketsu sealed by the Eight Trigrams Palm were forcefully broken open by the Nine-Tails' chakra, and the tide of the battle instantly reversed.
"Phew."
Even Furina, standing far away, could feel a portion of the powerful aura erupting from the Nine-Tails chakra, let alone Neji, who stood directly opposite Naruto. The sweat beading on his forehead already proved how unsettled his heart had become.
"I don't understand what you mean by 'a fate that can't be changed' or whatever, but it doesn't matter. Once I become Hokage in the future, I'll definitely change that kind of fate!"
"Stop talking big."
Faced with Naruto's talk-no-jutsu, although Neji was clearly somewhat moved, his techniques did not weaken in the slightest. Having good intentions was fine, but without the ability to back them up, they were ultimately just empty words.
If he could get past him, then they could talk about the future.
The two figures flickered and clashed at high speed across the arena until finally, after the most intense collision yet, a fist wrapped in Nine-Tails chakra met Neji's Revolving Heaven. Only then did this long-drawn-out contest seem to reach its conclusion.
"Cough cough cough."
"As expected, Neji still won. That Naruto guy is pretty strong too, but compared to Neji, he's still just a little short."
"Naruto-kun... lost?"
As the dust kicked up by the collision gradually dispersed, the spectators in the stands could finally see the situation clearly: Naruto lying motionless in a crater, and Neji standing beside him, panting heavily.
Upon seeing this outcome, some were happy while others were sad. The happy one was naturally Tenten. When Naruto had erupted with Nine-Tails chakra, she could not help but feel nervous for Neji, but fortunately the result was what she had hoped for.
As for the sad one, that went without saying. Who else could it be besides Hinata? At this moment, she looked as though she was about to burst into tears.
Seeing her in such a pitiable state, Furina quickly pulled her close to comfort her. Really, she hated seeing girls cry the most.
"Keep watching. The referee hasn't announced the result yet, right?"
As if to match Furina's words, right after she finished speaking, another change occurred on the field. A figure suddenly burst out from the ground beneath Neji's feet and landed a punch squarely on his face.
At the same time, the Naruto who had been lying in the crater exploded into white smoke and vanished, revealing the earth tunnel hidden beneath him. Clearly, the Naruto who had just charged out had tunneled from here.
After taking yet another punch from Naruto, Neji, now fallen to the ground, no longer had the strength to get up and continue fighting. After a brief pause, Iruka Umino walked to the center between the two and announced the result.
"First match: Uzumaki Naruto is the victor."
And the reversal was not limited to the field. The stands experienced a reversal as well. For example, Tenten, who had been all smiles earlier, now showed not a trace of one, only stunned shock.
But according to the law of conservation, smiles do not disappear; they merely transfer. And now the smile had transferred from Tenten's face to those of Furina and Hinata.
To be precise, though, it was only Furina's. After seeing Naruto win, Hinata merely gave a faint smile and did not make a big show of it. Furina, on the other hand, was different.
"Hahahaha, see that? I told you Naruto would win!"
"Furina, maybe tone it down a bit." Watching Furina's smile grow increasingly unrestrained, Hinata quickly tugged at the hem of her clothes. She had already noticed many people looking their way, and her father was among them.
"It's just a match. Winning and losing are normal. What's important is that the two of them came to acknowledge each other, right?"
Looking at the somewhat dejected Tenten in the distance, Furina finally stopped smiling and pointed toward the two on the field, speaking with clear intent.
Hearing this, several people looked toward the arena together. They saw that the originally fallen Neji had been pulled to his feet by Naruto. Watching the two of them chatting and laughing, it was clear that Furina's words were not wrong.
"I underestimated Naruto earlier. I shouldn't have done that." After seeing the smile on Neji's face, Tenten also recovered from her earlier downcast mood and began some self-reflection.
"I suggest you say those words to Naruto himself. If he hears them, he'll definitely be really happy. Another person has changed their rigid impression of him. Congratulations."
"Maybe when I get the chance." Hearing this, Tenten turned her head away. After all, she used to be one of those who had a stereotypical view of Naruto. Although Furina had not directly implied anything about her, she still felt a bit awkward.
"Second match: the combatants are Nara Shikamaru of Konoha Village and Temari of Sunagakure. Both sides, please come here and prepare as soon as possible."
After Naruto and Neji left the field, the second match continued immediately. But upon hearing the names of the combatants, Furina instantly lost any desire to keep watching.
What was there to see? Watch them feed each other dog food? No thanks.
"Eh, Furina, where are you going?"
"To find a place to rest for a bit. If you want to keep watching, then stay here."
With that, Furina turned and left. Seeing this, Hinata quickly followed after her. Since Naruto-kun had already finished his match, there was no need for her to stay here either.
Glancing at Hinata following her, Furina did not mind. After casually finding a spot to sit down, she began checking her own system.
After all, the free-for-all would start soon. It was better to add points first.
[Affection Value: 130895]
Upon seeing the amount of affection value, Furina's mood brightened considerably. Because the plot had started progressing again these past two days, the affection value was growing extremely fast, and it was still rising steadily even now.
[Affection Value: 131295]
"Maki, huh? Later I'll let you see the results of my sweat and effort. I haven't slacked off even a little during all this time."
"System, add points!"
[Chakra: Jōnin (3098/50000) - Jōnin (50000/50000)]
[Chakra: Elite Jōnin (0/100000)]
[Affection Value: 84393]
"?"
Upon seeing the words "Elite Jōnin," Furina could not help but freeze for a moment. No way. She had thought that after Jōnin it would go straight to Kage-level. Why had an "Elite Jōnin" suddenly popped up? What a letdown after getting her hopes up.
"It must be because the gap between Kage-level and Jōnin is too large, so they added Elite Jōnin as a transition stage." Although it was somewhat unexpected, after thinking about it, Furina roughly understood the reason.