The Princess of the Hyuga clan, Hinata's opponent, was someone from the Branch house. He was a 29-year-old man with white eyes and long black hair. He stood at the height of 5 feet 8 inches tall. He was neither muscular built nor skinny. He was just an average-looking Jonin of the Hyuga clan and Konoha.
Letting Hinata face Chunin was useless since Hiashi could tell that his daughter would pretty easily defeat them. So Jonin was her perfect opponent. If Hinata can even defeat a Jonin, then there is no reason to test Hinata anymore. Hinata would solidify her place as the greatest Genius of the Hyuga Clan. After all, even in the warring periods, no one from the Hyuga clan has ever managed to become a Jonin at 15.
So, As a father, Hiashi was very proud of his daughter. He really wanted his daughter to achieve this milestone. As a Clan Leader, Hiashi was extremely happy and relieved that the Hyuga clan now had another pillar to rely on. Hinata can lead the next generation of the clan.
"Lady Hinata, my name is Takumi Hyuga. It's an honor to be your sparring partner." Takumi bowed his head to Lady Hinata first. After all, even if he is a Jonin, he hasn't forgotten his place in the clan. He was a nobody from the Branch house who was lucky enough to become a Jonin at 25.
"The rule for this battle is simple: both participants are allowed to use all of their moves against each other, but life-threatening Jutsu are prohibited." Hinata and Takumi nodded their heads.
'Lady Hinata, I am sorry, but I will not hold back against you,' Takumi thought in his mind.
For Takumi, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. 'This is my only chance to raise my status within the Branch House.' If Takumi can leave a deep impression in the minds of the elders, then in the future when there is a vacant spot, Takumi might be selected to become an Elder from the Branch House.
A few seats of Elders in the Hyuga clan were also given to the Branch house to reduce the gap between the two houses. This was Takumi's biggest dream. By becoming an Elder, he would secure a prosperous life for himself and his family within the Hyuga Clan. Even the ones from the Main House would need to show him respect.
'This is my chance. This is the moment that I have been waiting for.' Takumi has been waiting for a moment like this where he can leave a deep impression in the minds of all the Elders and the Patriarch.
"Here I come....!!"
Swoosh!!!
Hinata's speed surprised everyone watching this fight from the sidelines.
"Lady Hinata is so fast.....!!"
"Lady Hinata might be faster than me." Said an Elder with a look of disbelief.
Takumi was surprised by Hinata's speed.
Hinata appeared before Takumi. It was as if she had teleported in front of him.
The Princess began with a palm strike infused with chakra, making her attack several times more powerful compared to a normal palm strike. This was a basic thing that every Hyuga clan member used.
Hinata might have been faster, but Takumi was a Jonin.
Takumi easily deflected the attack and then attacked back with a palm strike from his left hand.
Bang....!!!
The Palm strike hit Hinata. Seeing this Takumi felt confused. He knew that given Hinata's agility, she would have easily avoided his attack.
However, the next second, Hinata turned into a wooden log, which fell to the ground.
"What?" Takumi was surprised. To think he would fall for a low-rank Jutsu.
Takumi felt something behind him. He instantly turned around only to see an explosive tag flying in his direction.
Takumi countered by creating an earth wall.
"Earth Style-Mud Wall!!"
The explosive tag hit the mud wall and exploded.
Booom....!!!
Takumi did not waste time and used Byakugan. But as he did, he felt even more confused as his eyes could not find Hinata anywhere. She wasn't in front of him, she wasn't behind him, she wasn't on his right or left. It was as if she had vanished from the face of the earth.
But when he looked down, he instantly found Hinata.
"Where did she go?"
Crack...!!!
Suddenly, a hand came out of the ground and grabbed Takumi's ankle. Before Takumi could free himself, Hinata came out of the ground and punched Takumi's chin, sending him flying.
'Naruto-kun, this really worked.' Hinata was happy that this worked. It was Naruto who had given her this idea. One time, Naruto told her that he once defeated a Hyuga using this technique.
'Impressive!! But if that's all Lady Hinata has to offer, then "disappointing" would be an understatement.' Thought one of the Elders. He was one of the Elders who supported Hanabi in becoming the next Head more than Hinata. But that doesn't mean he was against Hinata or anything like that.
He respected and admired Hinata as much as Hanabi. But he felt that Hanabi's character was more suited to become the next patriarch. Hinata's rise in power has left him stunned. Today he came here despite all of his work as the Elder to watch Hinata's growth.
Meanwhile, Takumi got up from the ground. He was a little embarrassed by the fact that despite being a Jonin, he was caught off guard by a Junior. But he quickly composed himself. Now wasn't the time to think. It was time for action.
Hinata charged at Takumi once again. This time, Takumi did not dare to take Hinata lightly. Takumi closely watched Hinata while activating his Byakugan.
Seeing Chakra gathering in Hinata's palms, Takumi guessed that Hinata must be preparing to hit him with palm strikes.
'Like this is going to work on me. I didn't become a Jonin because I am a Hyuga. I became a Jonin because of my experience and skills.' Takumi became over-confident and charged towards Hinata as well. In Takumi's mind, no matter how good Lady Hinata was, she could never beat him in Taijutsu.
Bang.....!!!
Both of their Palm strikes collided. As soon as their palm strikes collided, it released a mini shockwave. Takumi was surprised that Hinata's palm strike was as strong as his.
'That was fast and strong.' In fact, Takumi felt his hand was aching a little bit. But he ignored this feeling.
He was about to retreat his hand when suddenly, Hinata moved her palm forward and grabbed his wrist. She pulled his wrist forward, pulling Takumi forward as well.
Takumi then saw a palm strike coming at him from the left side.
Takumi grinned. His was never going to work on him. He shifted the weight of his body to the right side to dodge the attack. But the next second, he saw the palm strike blurring before entirely disappearing.
'What is going on?' Before Takumi could realize what was happening, he noticed a second palm strike had come very close to him from his right.
'I thought I had dodged her attack.' Takumi wasn't able to defend or dodge her attack.
Bang!!!!
All of this happened in less than 2 seconds. To others, everything was happening at an extremely fast pace. The attack nearly made Takumi fall. He was forced to take many steps back while coughing violently. The strike made him feel his chest was burning from pain.
Hinata wasn't going to let go of such an opportunity. This might be the opening that she needed to end the battle. She charged forward.
Seeing this, Takumi somehow stabilized himself and was about to channel his chakra but then he realized one problem. 'She blocked my charka pathway.' Takumi realized this when he found that he could not channel his chakra.
However, Hinata only had blocked one of Takumi's chakra points. Being a Jonin Hyuga Shinobi, he instantly unlocked his chakra point.
Takumi did not dare to move his focus from Hinata. She was extremely dangerous. Hinata was still a few meters away from Takumi, which allowed him to think of a plan to get out of this retreating and disadvantageous situation.
He blinked, and it took no longer than 0.5 seconds. When he reopened his eyes, he found his target was much closer to him than he had expected. Given Hinata's speed, it was simply not possible for her to cover the remaining distance between them and suddenly appear in front of Takumi.
'What did she do?' Takumi saw her palms heading in his way. Having no time to prepare, Takumi decided to retreat.
Hinata's right palm was about to strike Takumi, but suddenly, she changed its direction. Her hand followed a curved path to the right. Everyone was puzzled by this move until her palm struck Takumi's right side, hitting his ribs.
Bang.....!!!!
Takumi felt as if someone had hit the right side of his ribs with a hammer. He was 100% sure that the attack had cracked his ribs.
The force of the attack was so strong that Takumi was sent rolling to the ground. At the same time, he felt a strong electric shock that seems to have paralyzed his body for a few seconds.
Seeing this, everyone, including Hiashi, was shocked. They were just too stunned to say anything.
Meanwhile, Hinata did not stop. She grabbed Takumi by his shoulder and then began to block all of his chakra points. Once all of his chakra points were blocked, the battle was over. Before he can unblock all of his chakra points, in a real battle situation, Hinata can kill him at least 19 times.
Bang.....!!!
In the end, Takumi fell to his knees. His chest was still in pain from her earlier attacks.
"It's my loss....!!" Takumi murmured in a very low tone. He looked like he was in disbelief.
'In the end, I was used as a stepping stone.' Takumi knew that he simply wasn't strong enough. He closed his eyes and accepted his loss. Although he felt bitter, at least accepting the fact that he was still not strong enough made his heart calm down a little bit.
"Good job, My daughter!!! I am really proud of you." Words cannot express just how excited Hiashi was both as a father and as the Patriarch of the Hyuga Clan.
Hinata was really surprised when Hiashi suddenly started patting her head with a big smile. She had never seen this side of her father before. She always thought that her father was cold and distant from everyone. Maybe her mother was the only one with whom Hiashi was open.
"Thank you, Father." Hinata was deeply moved by Hiashi's words. She was struggling to contain her tears.
"My daughter, I noticed that you have used a few moves that I am unfamiliar with. Do you mind explaining to us what moves you used?"
"All of these moves are just combinations or slight variations of our clan's Jutsu." Hearing this, everyone was pleasantly surprised.
"For example, I used an improved variation of the substitution Jutsu in my last move. I call this Phantom Step Dance (Mugen Ashi Odori)." Hearing this, Hiashi, Takumi, and all the elders were surprised.
--------
Once again, thank you for reading this chapter. I really appreciate all the power stones that you all have given to this novel. Your comments and your power stones do make a big difference.
If you want to read 15 advanced chapters or if you want to support me, then you can visit my Patrèon page - patrèon.com/Salted_dragon