'How did he break out of it!?'
Sarada thought in frustration as Boruto dodged her punch. The finger genjutsu, which was her trump card, was now countered.
Boruto huffed as he moved away from Sarada, sweating profusely.
"That was a very nasty genjutsu, Sarada!"
"Oh yeah? Then prepare for a nasty punch!"
Saying that, she kicked the ground, turning into a thousand pieces.
He ran towards her, and she started throwing boulders at him again.
But this time, she has realized that she has already awakened Sharingan.
She could predict his movements to a degree, and with compensation of knowing his fighting style very closely, she could counter his taijutsu without much effort.
But suddenly, she felt her arms getting weaker as she blocked his attacks.
"Do you think only you have a trump card?"
Boruto smirked, and Sarada realized via her Sharingan that Boruto's chakra had entered her arms.
'Gentle Fist!?'
She didn't expect Boruto to use gentle fist. He hasn't even awakened Byakugan!
She tried to get away, but Boruto intended to finish this now.
"You are in my range."
'2 palms!'
Sarada blocked one, but couldn't block the other due to her arms getting useless.
'4 palms!'
She countered 1, he missed 1 tenkutsu point.
'8 palms!'
She countered 1, he missed 3.
'16 palms!'
The spectators were amazed by the spectacle. Performing Gentle Fist without a Byakugan wasn't something anyone could do. Even if he was missing some points, the number of successful hits was simply impossible without Byakugan!
"Unless he knows Sarada's body really well..."
Hanabi muttered, and everyone looked at her incredulously. Hinata and Sakura glared at her, and Naruto got a goofy grin.
'He is my son, so I wouldn't be surprised if Boruto was able to... with his charms inherited from me...'
"Naruto, what's the grin for!?"
"Hehe~, nothing Sakura."
Sakura couldn't really get mad at the Hokage in front of the village, so she kept in her anger.
"You know, kids these days-"
Ino tried to fill Sakura's ears, but shut up as Sakura glared at her.
As for Hinata, she became too focused on watching the match with her Byakugan. To see if the 32 palms she has taught him will be able to be completed.
'32 palms!'
Sarada couldn't counter even 1 palm, and Boruto missed 6 tenkutsu points.
Hinata nodded in pride, that he was able to do so much without Byakugan.
But, she was surprised when Boruto continued the assault.
She never taught him how to go to 64 palms!
Back to the battleground, Sarada has stopped feeling her body in many parts. Even standing was hard.
She bit her lips, and tried to perform genjutsu again, but it was of no use. She needed precise chakra control for that, which wasn't possible in this state.
Through sheer willpower alone, she caught his one palm, and punched him hard.
Boruto flew away before he could try the 64 palms, and got embedded into the battleground wall.
'*huff*'
'*huff*'
Sarada spit some blood as she got the chance to breathe.
But, the Boruto embedded into the wall disappeared with a puff.
'A Shadow Clone!'
Sarada felt shivers as she realized what was going to happen. It was Boruto's favorite jutsu.
The ground beneath her stirred, hands grabbed her feet, and she was buried into the now rocky ground.
'Earth style: Dark Swamp!'
Boruto appeared out of the broken up rocky terrain, and quickly performed the jutsu to trap Sarada.
She already guessed that he will use that, but her chakra was barely flowing to perform her power punches or genjutsu. And her hands were buried.
Even a large part of body has already lost feeling, so all she could do was struggle, as the rough rocks around her became a swamp, and she was completely trapped.
"The winner is, Boruto Uzumaki!"
The crowd cheered as the fantastic match ended, and Naruto gave Boruto a thumbs up.
He smirked a little, but it wasn't of satisfaction.
'I would have lost today if Byakugan didn't awaken momentarily.'
Boruto broke through Sarada's genjutsu, and was able to get a very good look at her tenkutsu points and memorize their positions enough to perform Gentle Fist with a much, much greater accuracy.
And he would have disappointed everyone, since Hokage's son can't lose, or his father will be embarrassed.
"Boruto, let's have a rematch in the Chunin Exam. I will be the winner next time."
He was broken away from his thoughts as a muddy Sarada extended her hand to him.
"Ew..."
He didn't want to shake hands with her and get his hands dirty.
She glared at him, and hmph'ed.
"I will definitely win next time."
Saying that, she turned and started leaving.
Boruto has always made fun of this repetitive dialogue, but this time, he couldn't.
She stopped midway, and looked back at him.
"Why are you sad, huh? You are the Winner. Atleast today."