"Hm..." Toru didn't quite understand what was going on. The mood of the two girls in front of him was changing as the fight progressed and this was a rare thing for everyone.
"I've had enough of you teasing me!" Throwing her cropped hair in front of Sakura, Ino shouted. A second after that, she clasped her hands together forming a triangle.
(She's acting on impulse...)
There was no turning back now. If Ino uses the mind transfer jutsu, she will have lost the fight. Toru realized this the instant Ino clasped her hands together. For someone like him, who knew a little about the jutsu Ino wields, it wasn't hard to know that if he fails to execute the jutsu, she won't be able to move for a few minutes. This weakness can be exploited by Sakura, obtaining the victory.
"Looks like you ran out of options, Ino."
Sakura knew about Ino's jutsu. This gave her the advantage, at the same time, securing her victory.
"Ninja art: mind transfer jutsu, if I'm not mistaken, the moment the jutsu's spiritual energy fails to impact against the opponent, your body won't be able to move for a few minutes. Don't you think doing that is a bit stupid?"
Indeed, Ino's jutsu has to be precise at the time of use, if it fails, her body will be unprotected as her spirit returns to where it came from.
Toru was sure that Ino understood the consequences, after all she is the expert in mind transfer jutsu.
"I don't care about that, Shintenshin no Jutsu!"
But after hearing Ino speak, Toru sighed and closed his eyes waiting for his teammate's defeat.
At the same time, Sakura tried to move away from Ino's field of vision so as not to be affected by the jutsu, but strangely, she stopped dead in her tracks, as if her body had stopped responding. On the other hand, Ino fell to her knees.
It seemed that the jutsu had worked, this made Toru feel confused as he wondered, Are these two girls idiots?
Everyone was thinking the same thing as Toru, this fight was a bit ridiculous. More ridiculous than Enko's fight against Hakuto.
"Hm? Wow, looks like your little trick didn't work."
No, the mind transfer jutsu had failed. Ino was now on her knees unable to move. This was Sakura's moment, she could already see the end of this fight. However, when she tried to take a step forward, her body stopped abruptly, as if there was an invisible wall in front of her.
"Hahaha, I still can't believe you fell into this simple trap."
Laughing at Sakura's incompetence, Ino touched the ground with her hands, where the strands of hair connected with one of Sakura's legs. The thin strand of chakra that extended around the hair could be clearly seen.
This was a big surprise to everyone. None of them could understand why those girls always fall into the traps of their enemy.
"Damn!"
"Did you really not notice? Or are you just so blind as to see the thread that connects to your foot?"
Opening her eyes in surprise, Sakura noticed the thread of chakra connecting from Ino's hands to her right foot.
"I managed to trick you, and now you won't be able to escape - Shintenshin no Jutsu!"
As she finished saying those words, the howl of a wolf was heard, immediately after, Ino's body stopped moving as well as Sakura's body.
Everything remained silent until Sakura began to see the surroundings.
"How nice!"
Ino was celebrating, as her jutsu was successfully performed. What's more, it was so perfect that she even felt like laughing. Well, after all the failures she had in performing this jutsu, it was about time she had some good luck.
"It's a pity, Sakura. To think that your strength would only be physical and not mental. In a way I pity you."
She was teasing a little. This triggered a little deja vu in Toru, who was reminded of the early days of Team 11.
(Somehow she's still the same as always).
Swallowing his words, Toru accepted that this time, Ino had outdone herself.
On the other hand, Naruto's blood was heating up with Anger. He could not accept the current situation. He hoped that Sakura would win, so they could go to the final exam together.
"Now that I'm here, it's time to give up."
Ino was being a bit ruthless, just for this occasion. Since she was in Sakura's body, how about humiliating this girl a little by making her give up? It was such an evil plan that Ino felt like laughing.
(She seems to be having fun)
With a sleepy expression on her face, Toru sighed as she looked at Ino (inside Sakura's body). Apparently it was no longer necessary to cheer her up. Still, the way she used her hair as a chakra conductor was a very good improvisation on Ino's part. Surprising without a doubt, and ridiculous at the same time.
(Still, what a waste...)
Looking at the cut hair lying on the ground, Toru felt a little sorry for Ino. She looked beautiful with long hair, though she didn't look bad with short hair either.
"Excuse me, sensei. I want to-"
"Sakura-chan! Are you going to let her control you like this?"
Interrupting Ino, Naruto stood on the metal bars and shouted. Somehow, he was angry, he was so angry that at any moment he would jump into the battle arena to defend his friend.
(What's wrong with that fool?)
On the other hand, Ino also felt angry, as she was interrupted. Still, this would not change her plans to force Sakura to surrender. So, she ignored Naruto and continued.
Raising her hand high, Sakura (Ino) looked at Hayate and opened her mouth, from which words came out, but again, as if the record of a tape recorder was stuck, Naruto shouted.
"Sakura, don't let her control you!"
Naruto's words caused a small vein to swell in Sakura(Ino)'s forehead. She was already getting tired of the constant interruptions. It's like Naruto had the power to fuck with anyone.
"Shut up already!"
"Make me!"
This was already getting out of hand, everyone looked at the two ninjas, who started to argue. However, Hayate interrupted this cute conversation to ask Sakura what she was going to say.
To her good fortune, Sakura(Ino) answered with a smile.
"Um, yes. Sensei, I'd like-"
This was strange, Ino lost control of Sakura's body. She couldn't move, neither could she speak. Hayate stood waiting for Sakura's words, which did not come. Since Sakura remained motionless looking at the emptiness.
At the same time, inside Sakura's mind, a gigantic shadow appeared, which was revealed a few seconds later, it was the same Sakura.
Likewise, Ino was speechless. There was no way to break free from the mind transfer jutsu, unless you are an experienced ninja or someone who has unbreakable willpower.
(Wait... no...)
That's right, Sakura had that unbreakable willpower. Something that was very rare. Ino tried to search through her memories, but she couldn't find any time when Sakura had shown willpower. So this made her feel confused as she wondered how is it possible?
On the other hand, Sakura was looking at the invading spirit, which had taken over her body. However, this time she was not going to give it a chance to humiliate her.
That's why she grabbed the spirit by the shoulder, forcing it to look at her. That was how their eyes met.
"Get the hell out of here, get out of my head!"
Sakura tried to push the spirit away from Ino, but it was clinging tightly. It was almost impossible to make it leave.
"Get your hands off me, you planet-sized forehead!"
The two spirits struggled, the strength of both was overwhelming. Each felt that at any moment they would fall to their knees, but neither was going to give up, as that is one of the few things these two girls have in common.
In the end, and after a few seconds, Ino could not resist any longer, leaving Sakura's body and returning to her own.
"Hah... hah..."
Both girls breathed heavily. On the one hand, Ino was tired from excessive chakra consumption, after all a jutsu like the Mind Transfer Jutsu consumes quite a bit of energy. Likewise, Sakura was tired due to the wear and tear she suffered from being possessed by Ino.
But this was not going to stay like that, since, without taking any rest, Sakura and Ino got up from the ground, launching themselves to the attack once again.
In the first second, the two connected a double punch to each other's face. This sent both of them flying to the ground.
But despite the fact that their faces were bleeding and the blows they received upon landing, they again got up and continued punching each other. Only thirty seconds passed, but this fight was so savage that Hayate was afraid to intervene.
The two girls were like a tigress and a lioness locked in a cage, fighting to see who gets out of that place alive.
In a single second, Ino grabbed Sakura by the hair and propelling herself, she hit her abdomen with her knee. Sakura felt this pain, causing a large amount of saliva to come out of her mouth.
Ino sighed with satisfaction, but Sakura looked up with a smile.
"It didn't hurt."
Taking advantage of Ino, who was shocked by what she had seen. Sakura stood up punching Ino in the chin. This made, her fall to the ground again.
(This is more than I expected...)
Toru, on the other hand, was watching everything with an expressionless face. All those blows had stopped being as weak as they were in the beginning. Now this was serious, it could be clearly seen in the looks of the two girls on the battlefield.
Like, Toru, Hinata watched the fight with a worried expression. It's true that the fights between ninja are usually wild, but commonly they don't last that long.
At the very least, this fight should have lasted between five and ten minutes, but that time was long gone. The wear and tear on both girls was very noticeable. The blood and bruises that could be seen on Ino's body, this was getting dangerous.
"Uhg!"
As the blood came out of her mouth, Sakura rolled on the ground to a stop, the same thing happened to Ino. There were no words to describe what was happening anymore.
Likewise, Gaara's team looked at this fight as a small dispute between two street cats. Unlike Toru, who fought with a certain elegance in his movements, Ino was the opposite.
She just punched without having any practice just like Sakura. There was no fighting skill involved.
(Seriously, this is getting too long already).
Scratching his head, Hayate felt tired. Watching these two girls kill each other was boring. Although in the end, this whole fight got a little interesting.
(I can't take it anymore... I'm out of chakra).
Staggering, Ino was already about to faint. The blows she received from Sakura hurt a lot and caused considerable damage. The same was happening to Sakura, who could barely stand on her legs.
"Ahhhh!"
Throwing themselves into the attack one last time, Sakura and Ino felt that this fight would end with this last blow.
And it did, as the two girls hit each other in the face at the same time, leaving a small trail of blood as they fell to the ground.
(Hm... the winner has already been decided).
Closing his eyes, Toru could feel who would win this fight. But seeing is believing some say.
"It seems that the two participants are unconscious, therefore-"
Hayate closed his mouth as he saw who was getting up from the ground. This caused a slight smile to form on Hinata's mouth, as the girl who got up from the ground, was Ino.
"No... I'm not unconscious..."
She could barely stand, her vision was blurred and some drops of blood fell to the ground.
Hayate looked at this with a raised eyebrow. This fight was strange in many ways, still, the credit went to Ino, who stayed conscious until the end.
"The winner of the fourth fight of the preliminaries is Yamanaka Ino, she advances to the third and final examination."
Hearing Hayate speak, a smile formed on Ino's mouth, before she fell to the ground. But even though she waited for her head to hit the ground, she felt something soft hold her waist, even though she was too tired to notice what was happening.
At the same time, everyone looked at Toru, who appeared out of nowhere holding Ino. No one could see him move, even Naruto opened his mouth as he tried to process what he had seen.
"Oh, my. This just got out of hand."
Replicating what Toru had done earlier, Kakashi appeared to carry Sakura in his arms. For a moment the gazes of these two men met before they climbed to the highest part of the fighting arena.
After that although Kakashi, gently laid Sakura on the ground, Toru was still carrying Ino.
"Where am I...?"
This was something surprising to Toru. Since, after having spent all her chakra, Ino was able to open her eyes after a few minutes.
Reaching out, Ino stroked the cheek of the person who was holding her, but when she regained her vision completely, her face turned a fiery red color.
"What do you think you're doing, let go of me, you pervert, you stalker, you weird kid!"
Ino jerked in Toru's arms in order to free herself, but Toru replied in a soft tone of voice.
"If I let go now you'll fall to the ground..."
After hearing what Toru said, Ino didn't know how to respond. So she hid her blushing face in Toru's chest.
At the same time, Hinata watched all this with a sad smile on her face.
[Summary of the fourth fight:
Sakura Haruno vs Yamanaka Ino.
Time: 16.21 minutes.
Winner: Yamanaka Ino
Decisive blow: A normal punch]
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Hello, it's me, the mighty and omnipotent author-sama! Okay, now I have to come up with a good excuse to explain why I didn't post chapter these days... Hm... this one's hard. Oh, yeah, that'll do. I don't have internet :D.
For this reason I won't be able to post chapter this week, but don't worry, I'll be writing so I can bring chapter daily like before.