Naruto: Rebuilding the Hidden Sand

Kakashi lost, but not without dignity. He had fought hard throughout and managed to drain a meaningful amount of Pakura's condition in the process.

Second match. Pakura versus Hyuga Hizashi.

A contest between two Byakugan users.

One was pure Hyuga clan bloodline.

The other had only acquired the Byakugan through a transplant from a Hyuga who had defected.

Throughout the previous fight, Hizashi had been watching and observing through his Byakugan, reading the chakra movement within Pakura's body clearly and developing some understanding of her attack patterns. Konoha had sent him as the second competitor with the clear intention of using this knowledge to turn the match around.

As a Hyuga clan member, no one understood Byakugan capabilities better than him.

But wishful thinking was one thing and reality another.

From the moment the fight began, Hizashi found himself on the back foot almost immediately.

The Hyuga clan's fighting style was too narrow in scope. It relied entirely on finding the right moment to close distance and engage in close-quarters Gentle Fist combat. This gave Pakura numerous ways to respond, including ranged ninjutsu attacks and depleting techniques, combined with thrown weapons to maintain distance.

And on the taijutsu level itself, Pakura's partial mastery of Gentle Fist technique was not inferior to this Hyuga successor.

After holding out for several minutes, Hizashi was found with an opening by Pakura and lost.

His performance had not even matched Kakashi's.

The third competitor to take the floor was a Sarutobi clan member.

This fighter visibly went all out without holding anything back, but the gap in raw strength was clear, combined with insufficient practical combat experience and technique. In every dimension Pakura held a clear lead. With such comprehensive suppression across multiple aspects, she had too many ways to win.

"Sand Village's Pakura wins."

The referee called the result.

Pakura had swept through three consecutive opponents.

Danzo, who had been carrying something of a satisfied air the day before, wore no smile at any point during this sequence. He stood up directly from his seat in the gallery and walked out without a word.

Konoha still had two competitors remaining, but from how the situation in the arena looked, there was no realistic path to a win regardless.

Yuji watched Danzo's retreating silhouette and allowed the corner of his mouth to curve upward slightly.

Minato and Hiruzen both maintained composed expressions throughout. Minato was even generous with his praise for Pakura's performance.

Even though she was not from his village, the quality of strength she had displayed was genuinely worthy of respect.

Fourth match. Pakura versus the Yamanaka clan's Jonin.

In the Chunin division the day before, both Sand Village competitors had lost to genjutsu-type fighters.

Pakura had naturally prepared for this.

From the very first moment of the fight, she used her exceptional mobility to instantly create distance, denying her opponent any opportunity or preparation time to deploy a genjutsu.

Any genjutsu technique required certain preconditions to successfully activate. And Pakura's Byakugan allowed her to observe the target's internal chakra movement, giving her an awareness of genjutsu attempts that far exceeded an ordinary ninja's ability to detect.

As long as she was not caught in a genjutsu, she could win this fight.

The Yamanaka clan's combat style was similar to Hizashi's in one key respect. Both required specific circumstances and conditions to fully demonstrate their maximum effectiveness. Their advantages and weaknesses were both clearly defined.

With proper precaution in place, Pakura used her superior combat experience to quickly take the upper hand.

But it was evident her condition had declined considerably. Physical strength, mental focus, and chakra had all been significantly depleted. Using her Byakugan eye technique continuously to observe targets had further accelerated her chakra consumption.

Even so, she won the match.

But from her labored breathing, her condition was approaching its limit.

She did not withdraw.

Instead she chose to continue and face Konoha's final competitor.

The Aburame clan's Jonin.

A competitor who had earned a place in this gathering was naturally not ordinary. Anyone with eyes could see that Pakura's condition was poor. After four consecutive fights she had also exhausted most of her techniques.

So from the very start of the fight, the Aburame clan Jonin activated his secret techniques and began a targeted strategy. By using parasitic insects to continuously drain Pakura's physical strength, or deploying insect jamming techniques to disrupt her senses while the chakra-carrying swarms interfered with her Byakugan observation, he worked toward eventually overwhelming her body with the swarm.

This finally brought Konoha their single win of the day.

Pakura's loss came from two things. Her depleted condition after four matches, and her lack of specific combat experience against the Aburame clan's techniques.

She simply did not know the Aburame clan's techniques well enough.

Her practical combat experience was exceptional, but the Aburame clan's fighting style was not only unusual, it was also extremely difficult to analyze through conventional combat thinking. This was the nature of the ninja world's diverse capabilities.

Pakura could not sweep all five. Reluctant as she was, she had no choice but to step back.

Fortunately, even in her loss she had forced her opponent to expend a meaningful amount of his resources, giving the teammate who followed her onto the floor some useful information to work with.

The next Sand Village competitor to take the floor was the Tokubetsu Jonin with the three-tomoe Sharingan transplant.

Because there was no absolute gap in raw strength between the two of them, the fight ignited into an intense exchange from the very beginning.

Unlike Pakura's matches against her earlier opponents where differences in strength across multiple dimensions were clearly visible, these two were evenly matched in experience, in-fight adaptability, and combat rhythm. As time passed, the dynamic gradually settled into one side relying on the Sharingan to launch constant attacks while the other used the insect swarm secret technique to counterattack and disrupt.

It became a contest of Sharingan versus insect arts.

In the end, after a final exchange, both fighters seriously wounded each other simultaneously and fell to the ground together.

A draw.

The Aburame clan Jonin had genuine skill. After fighting Pakura to exhaustion and still being able to push the next opponent to a draw, his performance had been remarkable.

But a draw was still a draw, and Konoha had no remaining competitors to send out.

The final result still gave the Sand Village a decisive advantage in the Jonin division.

The primary contributor was naturally Pakura and her four consecutive wins.

The gallery, which had opened the day with electrifying energy, had become completely silent.

The atmosphere was heavy and awkward.

In truth, Yuji had already noticed during the third match that a number of Konoha civilians had been quietly leaving the gallery, following Danzo's example by making an early exit.

When the exchange gathering was viewed in total, although Konoha had won both the children's division and the Chunin division, the most critical Jonin division had ended in a comprehensive defeat.

The competition concluded. Both villages' competitors shook hands and parted on friendly terms.

Yuji and Minato each delivered brief closing remarks in sequence, formally declaring this exchange gathering between the Sand Village and Konoha a success.

Both sides were tactful enough not to make anything of the final standings.

Afterward, Yuji's group returned to their accommodations and began packing their belongings, preparing to depart.

The exchange gathering's purpose had been achieved. There was no desire to extend the stay in Konoha any longer than necessary.

"The intelligence from this gathering will almost certainly reach the other hidden villages before long. You are already a priority observation target for the outside world."

"After leaving the village, when you are on missions, be more careful than usual."

Yuji said this to Pakura in the room before they departed.

Everyone went through this kind of phase. Once you rose in the ninja world, people would inevitably start aiming at you. A famous name cut both ways.

He thought back to when his own reputation as the Blood-Clad Yuji first spread. He had become a thorn in quite a few eyes and ended up on underground black market bounty lists.

"Understood," Pakura said with a single nod.

"Lord Kazekage, everything is ready," Baki said, stepping into the room to report.

"Let us go," Yuji said.

"Yes."

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