Systematic Shinobi - Chapter 39.1 (Patreon)

As soon as her name appeared on the electronic board, Sakura had frozen up.

She stared at her name displayed on the screen like a deer caught in headlights.

"Looks like it's your turn Sakura-chan!" Naruto didn't read her mood very well and thumped her on the shoulder happily, "All you need to do is kick this guys ass and all three of us will have made it through!"

"….Yeah…" she replied dazedly, biting her lip.

Kakashi didn't say a word to her, not that Daiki blamed him, while Sasuke looked at the pink haired girl with a raised eyebrow and didn't say a word either, he was just waiting for her choice.

She should have known it was coming at this point when Hinata and Kankuro got called up, it had left only three possible options for her opponent and prepared something at the very least.

Her head turned almost mechanically and she glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, meeting his own.

She seemed to want to say something to him.

"…What are my chances of beating this guy with that jutsu you gave me?" she asked.

He'd like to tell her she had a chance. Maybe give her some advice that would let her gain an advantange-

"Close to zero," he replied bluntly and truthfully, "If you could get an actual hit on him with it, you could win, the problem is, you're nowhere near fast enough, experienced enough or skilled enough to do so right now."

As much as he'd like to do that, he couldn't, because he didn't have a solution for her right in this very moment that could allow her to defeat Neji.

Sakura's shoulders slumped, "…I see." she grimaced.

Sasuke's eyebrow rose a bit higher, but that was all the reaction he gave. Naruto on the other hand-

"What the hell do you mean Daiki!?" the blonde sputtered, "Sakura-chan can totally take this guy."

"No she can't," Daiki denied, crossing his arms, "Frankly, even if you went down there and helped her, fought him two on one you'd still lose."

"No way!" Naruto growled, "I can take him." he declared, but even as he did, Daiki caught his blue eyes flickering over to Lee who was cheering Neji on as the Hyuga made his way down to the arena and grimacing.

Yeah, Naruto should already be aware right now that he couldn't beat Lee right now and that Lee had declared that Naji was stronger than him.

So bluster then?

Hyping himself up because nobody else would.

Well, Daiki understood that part at least, and he'd be a bit of a hypocrite to look down on him for it.

He was the exact same after all.

Daiki sighed, "Neji is the Hyuga's big prodigy these days, as far as taijutsu goes there probably isn't any genin here more skilled than him right now, I think I'd even lose out to him," he informed, looking at Sakura, he'd give her this much at least and see what she made of it, "His Byakugan allows him to see chakra, through solid objects, have three hundred and sixty degree vision meaning he pretty much has no blind spots and see far off into the distance. On top of that his taijutsu style is the gentle fist, one poke of his fingers can close your tenketsu and lock down your chakra and stop you from using it. On top of that, there's a good chance he probably knows the Hyuga's famous defensive jutsu the Rotation, he'll spin in a circle and unleash chakra through his tenketsu and create a rotating dome of chakra to use as a shield, even my jutsu won't be able to break through it."

"Hmm…" Sasuke smirked as he digested the information for Sakura himself while Naruto clicked his tongue.

"…That's bullshit!" Sakura huffed, giving him a dead look, "There's no way I can win this."

"Right now, yeah, you've got little chance," Daiki agreed with her, before reaching forward and placing a hand on her shoulder and giving it a soft reassuring squeeze, "If you had an extra year under your belt like he did, I'd give you much better odds, but sadly life isn't convenient like that. Best advice I can give you? Just do your best, show off your skills and try to earn your promotion, winning isn't the only thing that matters here."

"…Oh right." her pretty emerald green eyes widened in realisation and she nodded, "That's much more doable." she agreed.

"Get in there then and show us what you can do." he grinned lightly.

She returned the look before leaving them behind and making her way down to the arena to face off against Neji.

"Quite the pep talk," Kakashi commented as she left, not even looking up from his book now that she was gone, "And as usual your knowledge is something else."

"It's really not," Daiki snorted, rolling his eyes before glaring at the man, "But just as usual, I'm doing your job for you, why didn't you speak up and give her advice?"

Kakashi shrugged, "Her best option is to surrender here and try again another time, this was just bad luck on her part."

"…Maybe if you did your job properly she would have had a better chance." Sasuke cut in with a huff.

Kakashi rolled his singular visible eye at them, "You do realise being a Jonin-sensei isn't about teaching you all jutsu and the like, right? That's something you can learn on your own time," the elite jonin pointed out, "My job is to get you guys experience on the job, show you how to do your jobs and make sure you don't die on the way, teaching new jutsu isn't required for that, getting taught new jutsu is not a privilege you're entitled to."

"Excuses," Daiki scoffed, "You're just a lazy bastard."

"Well you're not wrong." Kakashi shrugged the accusation off.

Daiki rolled his eyes and looked away from the scarecrow looking jonin and turned his attention to the pink haired girl making her way down to the arena.

She was going to have a hell of an uphill battle, that was for sure. 'But if she can just make some decent moves, and then-' he paused as a thought came to mind.

He extended his chakra outwards in a rippling wave, directing it towards Sakura while he focused chakra to his eyes.

'Sakura.' he said with the chakra transmission jutsu he learned from Fu.

Sakura froze in her steps for a moment before continuing on, 'Daiki…?' she replied.

'Yeah,' he he said, 'Look I've already told you pretty much all you need to know, but if you want to maximize your chances for a promotion to chunin, I've got a decent idea for you.'

If Shikamaru could be promoted for it, then despite how much he disliked it, then he would take advantage of it.

'How?' the pink haired girl asked.

'Just go with any plan that fits what you've decided on from everything I told you,' he replied, 'Show everything you can, and that's all, when you're totally out of options just surrender.'

'…Surrender, but won't that make me look like a coward?' she asked in her thoughts.

'To some,' he confirmed, 'But to others looking too much into it, they'll see you making the smart choice to disengage from an enemy you can't defeat and it'll put marks for maturity and intelligence in your favour.'

'…Ah, right, just like what Iruka-sensei said about heaven and earth, neither one is good enough alone, I can't just be strong, I have to smart as well,' the pink haired girl replied in realisation, 'Right, I can do this…thanks.'

'Don't mention it, I've got your back.' he waved her off.

'Heh, you've made no attempts to hide that.' she giggled.

Daiki raised an eyebrow at her words, before shrugging them off and cutting off the flow of chakra.

Moments later, Sakura took her place in across from Neji and wasted no time falling into a loose ready stance that would allow her optimal chance to spring forward or backwards depending on how things went.

Neji in contrast gave her a dispassionate glance, his arms crossed in an almost bored fashion.

He wasn't taking her seriously at all.

Not that Daiki could blame him, there wasn't much Sakura could do to him at this point in time without him being taken utterly by surprise.

Hayate looked between them and nodded before lifting his hand into the air and bringing it down, "Sakura Haruno versus Neji Hyuga, begin!" he declared aloud.

For a moment, none of them made a move, Sakura was tense, ready to move at a moments notice, but Neji didn;t make a move.

"This is foolish," the older white eyed boy scoffed, "You should just surrender while I'm feeling generous, you have no chance at all at defeating me."

"I won't know that unless I try." the pink haired girl replied tightly.

Neji scoffed again, "Utter stupidity, I have already seen all you are capable of and you fall vastly short of the level needed to even make me sweat," he replied, "The only thing of note you have to your name is one singular jutsu that was given to you by someone else, a jutsu you can't even use without hurting yourself. Do yourself a favour and accept your fate and give u-"

As Neji was getting into his insulting tirade, still not taking the girl seriously at all and demeaning her with every word.

Sakura used that chance to act.

Her right arm, extended outwards was flicked into a rapid jab. It wasn't anything blindingly fast and was actually very slow by Daiki and even Neji's typical levels.

But it wasn't meant to be anyway.

Chakra rippled and a split moment later, a large compressed shock wave of pure force erupted from her fist and tore through the air towards Neji rapidly.

An audible crack echoed through the room as Sakura's wrist once again snapped from the sheer force behind the jutsu and the girl gave a muffled scream of pain.

Sakura chose the perfect time to attack and took advantage of Neji's arrogant grandstanding.

Neji's eyes widened as the jutsu was on him in a split moment and quickly he spread his leg back, arms going outwards and wide before rapidly rotating like a spinning toad. Chakra sparked into existence, howling out of his tenketsu and forming around him into a large spiralling dome.

The shock wave slammed into the dome of chakra and an explosion of sound blanketed the room drowning out everything else for a few moments

"What the heck was that!?" Naruto sputtered as the jutsu was dispersed, "It looked just like your Jutsu Daiki!"

Daiki barely paid attention to the blonde jinchuuriki, instead his eyes were on Sakura.

She hadn't stayed idle, as soon as Neji started spinning and unleashed his ultimate defensive jutsu she rushed towards it, even as her right arm dangled useless at her side.

'Smart.' he nodded approvinly.

After all.

Neji, arrogant as he was being in regards to Sakura and not taking her seriously.

Hadn't activated his Byakugan yet, so his vision was currently obscured within his jutsu and he couldn't see her getting close.

When Neji spun to a stop and his dome shield of chakra flickered away, it was just in time for Sakura to reach him, getting within just a few feet of him.

Neji's eyes widened in shock as the pink haired girl once again took advantage of him not taking her seriously and threw a rapid punch out with her remaining non damaged arm, "Shannaro!" the pink haired girl roared.

Once again the air rippled as a a massive concentrated shock wave of pure force erupted from her fist at near point blank range.

Normally, this would have been the end, even as Sakura's second wrist snapped and the force of the jutsu jettisoned her back, this should have been checkmate.

The problem though was in the sheer speed difference between her and her opponent.

On seeming instinct alone, Neji spun, chakra erupting and roaring forth from his tenketsu.

He didn't manage to form a shield of chakra even half the size of his previous one, but it did do its job.

Even if the force still travelled through.

Neji gagged noticeably as pure force slammed into his stomach and bodily lifted him into the air and threw him back, the chakra forming around his body bursting apart.

It hadn't been properly formed after all.

Neji spun through the air before landing on his feet over twenty feet away, clutching at his stomach and glaring fiercely at Sakura who had landed in a crouched position, pain visible on her pretty face as her arms hung limp at her sides, already purpling deeply with bruising.

"Tch, taking advantage of me speaking, how trivial," the Hyuga scoffed, "Though a decent plan for trash like yourself, it doesn't change that it is my fate to defeat you." he added, letting go of his stomach and narrow his eyes.

Veins visible throbbed around his eyes and his white irises became more pronounced as he activated his doujutsu.

He was just about to spring forward towards Sakura, no doubt rushing her down before she could even do anything and give her a mighty beat down.

Only, he never got the chance.

"I give up." the pink haired girl took Daiki's advice and surrendered.

"…What?" Neji was so shocked by the call that he actually stuttered forward a step.

"WHAT?!" Naruto shouted.

"Sakura Haruno has surrendered, the winner is Neji Hyuga." Hayate declared, before calling for the medic ninja to make their way in.

While everyone was busy being shocked over what just occurred, the pink haired girl instead looked over her shoulder and met Daiki's eyes.

He smirked and gave her a nod of approval.

It was a very, very short bout. But it went a long way to showing Sakura's strengths and few of her many weaknesses.

'Clever girl.' he broadcasted to her with his chakra.

The smile that splayed across her lips was almost blinding.