Before you read the chapter, I would like to show you all of these beautiful Fan arts I got from my fellow readers! ٩( ᐛ )و

Thank you to RunInosukeHasAgun for these Fan arts. The hand-drawn ones were really cute! I love them! 💕

And Thank you to Hansu_hannxe for this Beautiful art! I was honestly blown away by how pretty it looks! Thank you for the time and effort and love you've put into this! 💕

I've also made art as well during my hiatus. :3 that's readers hair when she first became a demon slayer.

Back to the Chapter~

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「The Rivals get Serious!」

❀19❀
✼ •• ┈┈┈┈๑⋅⋯ ୨˚୧ ⋯⋅๑┈┈┈┈ •• ✼

Third Pov:

It was finally time. For Sakura's match. (Y/n) observed Ino's capabilities back at the academy. Sakura has the advantage in terms of brains, but Ino has the advantage in terms of ninja techniques.

'It's almost like a brains vs brawns match. And either one could win...' (Y/n) thought.

(Y/n) took a glance at Sakura, who was looking nervous and worried. (Y/n) stared at her before turning her head to Gaara. "Excuse me, Gaara. But, I gotta go check on Sakura-Chan." She said, before teleporting to Sakura. (Y/n) placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Deep breaths, Sakura-Chan. Deep breaths..." (Y/n) whispered.

Sakura did as she was told and took a couple deep breaths, before feeling a bit more relaxed. Sakura turned to (Y/n) with a worried look on her face. "(Y/n)... How can you expect me to be calm in a situation like this? I'm going against Ino and... I don't wanna admit it, but she has better ninja skills than me. And, I can hardly do anything with my chakra." Sakura said, looking down.

(Y/n) formed a small frown, sensing Sakura's self-doubt and lack of self-confidence. "Sakura, there are times when having no confidence helps you, and there are times when confidence doesn't help you. Besides, you have something that Ino doesn't have. You were able to use my sister's insect breathing for the first time in your battle against the sound ninjas. Even if you can or can not use the breathing techniques, you can use your own skills and knowledge to overpower your opponent." (Y/n) advised.

Sakura lifts her head and gasped. "Wait, how did you know I did the insect breathing? I never told you earlier." Sakura asked. (Y/n) formed a small smile and giggled. "I heard it from some of my butterflies. They told me how you and our boy's battle went while I was unconscious. I am very proud of you." (Y/n) said.

Sakura slowly nods her head, before looking at the battlefield. Before Sakura could leave, (Y/n) wanted to say one last thing. "Hold on, Sakura-Chan. Before you go down, I just want to say, that it is your decision whether or not you want to use insect breathing on Ino. I know breathing styles aren't meant to harm humans, but insect breathing is the most effective against humans. So, you got a chance. So, do your best, Sakura-Chan. You'll still be an amazing Tsuguko to me regardless. Whether if you win or lose." (Y/n) smiled.

Sakura looks at (Y/n), as she bit her lower lip to refrain from forming tears in her eyes. She quickly jumped down and looked directly at Ino. Sakura took a couple of deep, deep, breaths before looking at Ino with narrowing eyes.

'I won't let my team down!' She thought.

Hayate looks at both girls, before signaling them to start. "Begin." As soon as he said those words, the two girls immediately engaged in a taijutsu battle with each other. (Y/n) observed their taijutsu, and it wasn't bad, but at the same time, it wasn't exactly the best. But, it's better to know some Taijutsu. Sakura threw some kunais at Ino, but Ino dodged two of them, and deflected the other kunais back to Sakura.

The taijutsu kept going as (Y/n) can start to see more hesitation between the two girls. (Y/n) can smell the hesitation and fear between the girls, but also some sadness in them too. 'I feel like they're afraid of hurting each other seriously. They still care about each other, huh.' She thought to herself, despite not knowing about Sakura and Ino's history.

Sakura suddenly stops, and untied her ninja headband. Everyone got confused by this as Sakura pulled something out that (Y/n) was not expecting. Her eyes widen at the familiar accessory.

... It was her old butterfly hairpin. (A/n: The violet one from Kanao's backstory)

Sakura placed the butterfly hairpin on the side of her hair, as she opened a part of her Tsuguko cape, showing Ino her swordsman Katana.

"I'll show you I'm a worthy Tsuguko." Sakura said sternly. Before she quickly charged at Ino at high speed, and attempted to throw some wisteria-coated kunais at Ino, to which she easily deflected. Sakura was behind Ino as she quickly unsheathed her katana, and tried to slice Ino with it.

Ino saw this and hurriedly ducked her head out of the sheer fear of getting beheaded.

(Y/n) stared at Sakura with wide eyes, not expecting her to wear her old butterfly hairpin and to try to fight Ino with her sword.

(Y/n) formed a small smile, thinking back to her older sister, Shinobu. Back when she first became a demon slayer and was determined to become stronger to prove she can fight in her small body, and how much she wanted to save everyone. (A/N: THIS IS WHAT I MEAN PEOPLE!)

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Sakura kept panting to herself, feeling more of her breath leaving her. No matter how many times she tried to hit her, Ino kept on dodging. And Sakura was feeling really exhausted.

She was slowly starting to feel frustrated, an urge to punch something out of frustration. She really wants to win. For herself, for her team, for (Y/n).

She is sick and tired of being useless and not doing anything while her team is fighting so much to protect her. She wants to do something and protect them too! Like a real ninja and swordsman!

'Insect Breathing, Butterfly Dance: Caprice!'

Sakura jumped high in the air and spin her body down towards Ino, as some butterflies appeared and surrounded Ino.

Ino doesn't know what's going on, and it feels like some sort of Genjutsu, but she knows it isn't.

Ino looks in front of her to see a butterfly in front of her, as she lifted a finger, letting the butterfly land on her finger.

Ino stared deep into the butterfly, slowly seeing that it was starting to bleed.

Sakura quickly took this chance to quickly dash towards Ino, and give her a quick poison-coated slash.

After she slashed Ino, Sakura simply stood there, with a blank look, looking down at the ground. Ino looks at the cuts on herself, before looking back at Sakura. Ino was a little baffled by this, confused why Sakura just gave her a simple slash and not do anything now.

'She tried using (Y/n)'s techniques only to result a few cuts on me?' Ino thought to herself.

Ino snapped out of her thoughts, as her face got serious. She turned to Sakura and attempted to walk towards Sakura, but she suddenly felt pain in her body.

[A/n: Shinobu's poison is super effective against demons, but it's like a regular kind of poison on humans, so Ino will be fine eventually.]

Ino fell to her knees and held onto herself, trying to ease herself from the pain, but the pain kept going. She feels utterly surprised by Sakura's move. Poisonous slashes, huh?

Feeling her vision getting weaker, Ino eventually gives in and faints on the ground. Sakura turns around and looks at her with a sadden expression.

Hayate walks over to check on Ino, seeing that she was indeed passed out. "Due to her opponent being out of commission, the winner of the fourth match, is Sakura Haruno." Hayate announced.

(Y/n) formed a wide smile, feeling very happy for her friend's win. "Way to go, Sakura!" Naruto cheered. Sasuke formed a hidden small smirk, while Kakashi smiled behind his mask.

Sakura walked back up to the stands to her team. (Y/n) walks over to Sakura and showed her a big smile. "You were amazing, Sakura-Chan! I knew that I found myself a strong Tsuguko!" She smiled.

Sakura looked at (Y/n) with a shock yet confused expression, before she formed a smile as small tears formed in her eyes, feeling proud of herself. (Y/n) took Sakura's hand and grasped it into her own. "I'm very proud of you, Sakura-Chan. Not only did you use Insect breathing wonderfully, but you also managed to win!" She praised.

Sakura stood there, still can't help but still not believing that she managed to beat Ino. Sakura smiled, and felt a strong proud feeling inside of her. "You know, I didn't expect you to wear my old hairpin back there." (Y/n) said, pointing at the butterfly pin on Sakura's head.

Sakura's face tenses as she immediately took it off. "I'm sorry, (Y/n). I guess I chose this hairpin when you gave me the option for it, was because I didn't want to pick your sisters since they are your treasures of them. And also... It somewhat matches your current one. So, perhaps that could show people that I'm your Tsuguko, and friend, right?" She said, slightly embarrassed.

(Y/n)'s eyes gleams as she had a very wide smile. "Sakura-Chan!" (Y/n) pulled Sakura into a big hug. "You're so thoughtful, Sakura-Chan. I'm so glad that we're friends! Thank you." She said.

Sakura returned the hug with a soft smile. "I should be the one saying that, since not many people would want to be my friend. I'm glad you're you to become someone I consider as my close friend." Sakura said back.

The two girls released their hug, as they turned their attention over time the display board, seeing who is up next.

━━━━━━。゜✿ฺ✿ฺ゜。━━━━━━

Temari vs Tenten

━━━━━━。゜✿ฺ✿ฺ゜。━━━━━━

(Y/n) forms a intrigued expression on her face. 'I don't know anything about these two, but I can see that they have more experience since they're both older than me. Tenten is Lee and Neji's teammate, while Temari is Gaara and Kankuro's sister. I wonder how these two will play it off.' She thought.

"Temari, Tenten, get ready." Hayate told the two girls who stepped forward.

'I am so ready for this. After watching that last match, I'm fired up!' Tenten thought, smirking to herself.

Hayate then gave the two the signal. "Begin!"

The two girls had a little silent stand off, with neither of them making a move. Tenten chose to keep her distance by backing up a bit, trying to analyze Temari's move. "Are you planning to wait out and see how I make my move? Let me just tell you, once I start my attack, you'll be over in a second." Temari smirked.

(Y/n) studied the look on the two, seeing lots of confidence in Temari's, while she sees cautiousness in Tentens. 'Seems like she is trying to provoke Tenten.' (Y/n) thought.

"You're trying to be cool and see what I do first. A hundred years early! It doesn't matter to me, come first." Temari provoked.

"Okay, if you insist. Well, I won't hold back." Tenten jumped high in the air, and aimed a few shurikens at Temari, aiming where her face was. But in an instant, the shurikens stopped and fell to the floor.

"I missed her? There's just no way!" Tenten exclaimed in disbelief.

"What was that? A warm up exercise? Or maybe you're scared and it's effected your aim. Is that it? I thought I would enjoy it a bit more, but evidently it's not promising." Temari said, her smirk still in place.

"What is going on? How could she have missed? It's incredible!" Lee yelled in disbelief yet confusion. "It's impossible. Tenten's aim is perfect. She always hits her mark." Guy-Sensei commented.

"There is no reason for them to miss." Neji added. "She never misses... There must've been something, that made her miss." Guy-Sensei noted.

(Y/n) overheard what Tenten's team was saying, and it only made her face look skeptical. 'Temari didn't move her feet at all. But, she did indeed move her hands. It was fast enough that not even Guy-Sensei and his team notice...' She noted.

Tenten looks down to measure out her distance, thinking that Temari must've dodged her attack somehow, even though she didn't move. Temari, on the other hand, sees that she is measuring her distance, and mentally laughs. She knows that Tenten is gonna pull some sort of big move, so she places her hand on the handle of her fan.

Tenten sees this and smirks. 'So that's her secret, that fan that she carries. Okay!'

Tenten starts running around and behind Temari, who still isn't moving at all, and pulls out a scroll, and leaps high in the air. "All right, try this one on for size!" She opens her scroll and spins around, summoning her weapons from the scroll, and threw them down on Temari.

Temari looks at the weapons, and instantly made them fall to the ground again. (Y/n) can see the movement on Temari's hand while holding her fan. The speed was so quick, it was like a blur.

Tenten lands and saw her weapons failed again. "No way! She stopped everything I threw! What has she got in that fan of hers?" Tenten said in disbelief.

Temari makes her smirk more amised than she already is. "Take a look. This is the first moon. There are two more. When you see all three moons, you'll know. You've lost the match." She stated, showing the purple full moon on her fan.

'So as soon as she gets to her third moon, she definitely knows that Tenten lost. She has an ace in that fan of hers.' (Y/n) thought.

"Tenten! Do not play your opponents game. Maintain focus! Maintain focus!" Lee encouraged his teammate.

'I know, Lee. I know! Well, I was planning on using this for the finals, not waste it on a preliminary round. But it maybe now or never.' Tenten thought to herself. Forming a small smile that quickly vanished.

Tenten then brings out two scrolls, making Lee surprised. "She's using that already?" Guy-Sensei said.

"What's with the two scrolls? What does she plan on doing with them?" Naruto asked. "I'm gonna assume this is some sort of weapon for her to use as a last resort." (Y/n) guessed.

"Hah, it won't work whatever it is." Temari smirked.

Tenten squat down, and weaved some hand signs. "Rising Twin Dragons!" Two dragons made of smoke were summoned and flew into the air, transforming into scrolls.

Tenten leaped up quickly and spinned around and threw the weapons faster than last time. "Doesn't matter how many you throw at me. It's all the same. Moon #2!" Temari opened her fan more, revealing her second moon, and fanned Tenten's weapons.

Tenten lands and glares at Temari. "I'm not done yet!" She yelled. Tenten flew up into the air, and made some chakras threads from her fingers, attaching them to her fallen weapons. She moves her hands to make her weapons move from her control.

She aims at Temari, in hopes of getting her. But unfortunately, Temari was unfazed by her plan and simply fanned her and her weapons away. Tenten looks up to see Temari holding her fan behind her, with the third moon revealed.

'Uh oh, it's the third moon. What is she gonna do now?' (Y/n) thought worriedly.

Temari's smirk grew wider. "Moon #3" Temari spins her fan around her, making her vanished into thin air.

Tenten gasped at this. 'Where did she go? She... She disappeared!' Tenten looks around for her.

"Over here!" Temari sang, behind Tenten. Tenten looks behind her to see Temari flying on her giant fan. (Y/n) can't help but feel fascinated by that.

Temari lands and prepares her special jutsu. "Ninja Art! Wind Scythe Jutsu!" Temari fans her fan, making it form a air vortex, bringing Tenten in. From (Y/n)'s observation, the vortex is indeed strong with the air and chakra in it. It's strong enough to form cuts and scratches on Tenten.

"She can't escape it. It's over for her..." (Y/n) muttered.

Tenten falls and lands on the tip of Temari's fan. "Woah... That girl is really ruthless..." Naruto commented, shaking a bit.

"Wasn't much of a match. Kinda boring." Temari commented with a disappointed look.

Hayate stepped up to the two. "The Winner of the fifth match, is Temari." Hayate announced.

Temari slowly smirks, as Lee immediately notices. "Wait a second!" Lee jumps down as soon as Temari threw Tenten away with her fan, as Lee lands and catches her.

"What is wrong with you? She may have lost, but that is no way to treat an opponent who has done her best!" Lee shouted.

Temari slams her fan, "Oh, beat it. And take that sack of garbage with you." She insulted.

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*inserts the DAAAAAAMN*

A/n: I can hear my cousin screaming at her 🤣
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That made Lee furious. "No, Lee!" Neji yelled, as Lee charges at Temari. "Leaf Hurricane!" He attempted to kick her, but she stopped him with her fan. "What?"

"Not even close. You know what, you're as dumb as you look." Temari smirked at him.

(A/n: Emotional Damage! 😩 sorry-)

"What did you say!?" Lee gritted his teeth. "Lee! Stop!" Guy-Sensei quickly appeared behind him. "But Guy-Sensei"

"Temari" Temari looks up at Gaara. "Forget about them. The match is over so get up here. You won, so why are you wasting your time on this pathetic loser and his ridiculous mentor." Gaara said.

(A/n: Another Emotional damage! Okay, I'll stop.)

"Calm down, Lee." Guy-Sensei puts a hand on Lee's shoulder to calm him down. Guy-Sensei looks at the Sand guys. "A word of warning. You sand ninjas don't know what Lee is capable of. Remember, he still hasn't fought yet. So I'd be careful if I were you." Guy-Sensei warned in a provoking way.

The three of them eventually leaves to their perspective teams, watching the display board selecting the next match. "Okay, hurry hurry! Me next!" "Next! Next is my turn!" Naruto and Lee exclaimed.

━━━━━━。゜✿ฺ✿ฺ゜。━━━━━━

Shikamaru Nara vs Tsuchi Kin

━━━━━━。゜✿ฺ✿ฺ゜。━━━━━━

Naruto and Lee sulked in disappointment at the result of the display. (Y/n) chuckles to herself at what the outcome might be of this match.

"Let's see what the lazy student is gonna do..."

「Taisho-Era Secrets」

✿ (Y/n) recalled of Shinobu doing something similar as Tenten with the weapon scrolls.

✿ (Y/n) was way too proud of Sakura from her match.

✿ One of (Y/n)'s old friend is gonna be coming to the Lead Village.

Hello! I'm back from the dead! My apologies for not posting, cause I've been lacking motivation, and I chose to have a break cause of, reasons. But anyway, thank you all for being patient, I could've posted this earlier, but, my work and taking care of my mom stopped me, and I'm really exhausted. But I finished this for you guys cause I want you guys to feel happy by me posting this.

Question of the day, or chapter, Who do you think of (Y/n)'s friends is coming to the Leaf?

While you guys answer that, I'll answer you all the questioned from the previous chapter. You all said Breath of Moon, to which is the most obvious choice. You guys aren't wrong, but you all aren't exactly right either. Night breathing is somewhat derived from the breath of moon, but it isn't directly derived from it. It's actually derived from her mentors breathing style. That's a bit of a spoiler since her mentor won't be mentioned till further chapters.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, especially Sakura's fight. I took a lot of time thinking about it, but I'm not that creative, so I went with what I could offer. I hope you all had a good merry Christmas.

Sayonara~