Hayate approached the finalists and coughed.
"The first match will be between Hyuuga Hinata and Kurama Yakumo. The two participants please prepare yourself for the fight. The others please proceed to the waiting area."
The arena cleared out except for Hayato, Hinata, and Yakumo and Rei raised his eyebrows at this match-up.
"I see what is going on here." He deadpanned and his eyes trailed over to Tsunade who sat on the other end of the arena and was looking straight at him with a smirk. "Random matchmaking, my ass." He silently mouthed and her eyes gleamed while her smirk widened and became smugger.
Of course, since she did not 'cheat' in the same way as Konan, Pakura, and Ringo, she had to resort to other means.
The match started silently, both Hinata and Yakumo got to their designated spots and Hyate raised his hand in a sign he was about to start it.
There was no jeering, no initial pre-fight banter aiming to get an emotional response... just two determined kunoichi prepared to face each other as they measured the other with their eyes. In a way, it was exactly how the start of a fight between two 'noble' clan heiresses should look.
Rei had no doubt the Hyuuga Elders would have been frothing from their mouths if Hinata started vulgarly insulting her opponent.
Hayate's arm fell down and the fight started as he jumped back.
The two kunoichi instantly sprang into action, Hinata rushing at Yakumo while Yakumo tried to widen the distance between them by jumping back as she reached into her pocket, taking out a storage scroll, and summoning... nothing.
Hinata did not stop even for a second because of what happened. She threw senbons at Yakumo and tried to close the gap between them but Kurenai's training showed and Yakumo nimbly evaded each of them with a great efficiency usually not seen in genins, keeping her distance from Hinata as they ran all over the arena in this cat and mouse game.
'A genjutsu, eh?' Rei inwardly hummed, looking to the side at Konan who seemed to be very impressed with the Yakumo girl's ability. The flicker was brief before it was covered by the smoke from the storage scroll opening but Yakumo did take out something small and instantly used it for her Jutsu at such a speed, it seemed as if her summoning failed.
Unfortunately for Hinata, she was not using her Byakugan yet. Whether it was because of some misjudged Hyuuga pride, the Elders expected her to beat her opponent without it, or because she was trying to bait the genjutsu user... Rei had no idea why.
It was, however, exceedingly arrogant, in his opinion.
The two girls darted all over the arena with such speeds, the civilian audience had a hard time following them with their eyes, creating many surprised exclamations of astonishment from the crowd.
Even the ninja audience was impressed. This was not the speed a genin was supposed to possess. The two girls were obviously cut far above their peers and their combat ability was too good for their ranks.
And yet... only the most experienced ninjas noticed Yakumo, the real Yakumo, not the genjutsu 'clone' that Hinata was chasing, sitting on the edge of the arena, hidden behind a tree and furiously doing some finishing touches on the pre-drawn picture of the arena.
"She has quite developed control over her bloodline. I doubt that Hyuuga girl could see through this particular genjutsu even if she was using her Byakugan." Konan suddenly spoke as she observed the match.
Obviously, the 'perfect' genjutsu of the Kurama clan had some flaws since the clan was never well-known. If it was as unbeatable as it was hyped up to be in rumors, it wouldn't have been Uchihas who dominated the genjutsu field in Konoha...
But since Hyuugas depended on their eyes entirely too much, Kurama clansmen were their hard counter, considering their use of sight as the main medium for their genjutsu that was simply too subtle for a Hyuuga to detect just with eyesight, no matter how good it was.
The trick was using more senses in tandem to beat this level of genjutsu but... that was a technique far above genin or chunin levels of ability.
Then again, the girl was just a genin and Rei could see even some jonin affected by her wide-area genjutsu covering the entire arena. Her skill with her bloodline was more than just praiseworthy.
Rei doubted Hinata would be able to see through Yakumo's genjutsu even with her Byakugan. Yakumo was not trying to influence Hinata with her chakra. Instead, she was directly creating illusions over the surrounding area through her bloodline. At best, a skilled Byakugan user could see the area being a bit richer in ambient chakra.
"Kurenai definitely showed the girl how to fight a Byakugan user with genjutsu. Considering Yakumo's bloodline is genjutsu-based and counters their bloodline..." Rei shrugged.
It was obvious Yakumo was far too well prepared for facing the best genjutsu detection bloodline in the village. He wondered if Kurenai prepared Yakumo for all participants to such a degree in hopes the girl would win.
"Heh," Konan chuckled, "what a blatant show of favoritism."
From her tone it was obvious she meant it as praise. A jonin instructor was supposed to train their charges and Yakumo clearly hit jackpot with how willing Kurenai was to train her.
"Well, considering Anko is Kurenai's best friend and she thinks of Hinata as her 'apprentice'... Kurenai most likely knew Anko would blab about Yakumo's abilities and strengths, maybe even help Hinata develop a way to fight it." Rei added with a wry smile.
"Ah. So this is basically a fight between Anko and Kurenai to see who can prepare their protege better." Konan nodded in understanding, finding it amusing. Anko was stronger than Kurenai but Kurenai was definitely the better teacher of the two. That would even the odds.
She started contemplating if Hinata was not using her bloodline because of some other purpose than plain old arrogance.
In the arena, Yakumo was finished with her painting and grinned to herself in relief. She was on edge during these last five minutes, always wondering if her pre-drawn genjutsu picture would hold against Hinata but fortunately, it did despite not being perfect.
When Yakumo heard her opponent was to be the Hyuuga heiress, she was a bit shaken. Sure, she had a plan against her since she was one of the very few individuals on whom intel could be gained quite 'easily' in Konoha, but Hyuugas were always hard opponents for genjutsu users.
Fighting Hinata meant that over eighty percent of her Jutsu repertoire became flat-out useless. Taijutsu was also a no-go because while she became a lot more capable in a physical fight since she started training under Kurenai, she was still a bit on the frailer side for a kunoichi.
Funnily enough, the more she exercised her body, the more her 'Yang' rose but much to her frustration, this also increased her 'Yin' exponentially as it tried to attain the previous balance. Hence, the more she tried to get physically better, the more potent her genjutsu became and her body improved only very slightly.
It was driving Yakumo mad.
There was no way she would have won against a trained Hyuuga in a physical fight unless the Hyuuga in question missed both eyes, at least one arm, and one leg.
It was sad but that was the truth and she had to deal with it. That didn't mean she could not send a heated glare at her genjutsu projection Hinata was chasing. Being fit enough to have that kind of speed... a girl could dream.
On the other hand, Hinata had that kind of speed.
The second she saw that, Yakumo huffed and decided to be extra vindictive with her next move, resulting in her picture being a bit more... dangerous.
The only effective thing Yakumo had left was her bloodline. She was never so glad she listened to Kurenai and experimented to what degree she could pre-draw a picture for it to be still usable in a fight.
Knowing she would be fighting in Konoha's arena was a very big help.
'I'd like to see some burning fit person.' She thought and started channeling her chakra into the picture with the arena up in flames, using her bloodline to weave an intricate and realistic illusion all over the surroundings.
The second Yakumo's chakra flared, Hinata's entire body jerked to a halt, her eyes widening as she realized the 'Yakumo' in front of her was not real. Before she could do anything, however...
Heat engulfed her.