Chapter 233: Noburi’s Humongous Dragon ​

Spoiler: dice Hinata: Alertness ?

Noburi: Alertness 30

Turn order: Hinata, Noburi



Round 1



Hinata Supplemental: Substitution

Hinata spends ? CP and is now at ?.

Hinata Supplemental: Byakugan

Hinata spends ? CP and is now at ?.

Hinata Standard: Block against Noburi doing anything in her zone.



Noburi Supplemental: Water Whip Technique

Noburi spends 38 CP and is now at 462.

Noburi Standard: Sprint

Noburi: Athletics 35 - 1 + 0 = SDC 3 vs TN 0 = 1 shift + 1 base = 2 shifts

Noburi Supplemental: Move

Noburi reaches the lake surface zone.



Round 2



Hinata Standard: Sprint

Hinata: Athletics ?

Hinata reaches the zone next to the lake.



Noburi Supplemental: Move

Noburi reaches the lake bottom zone.

Noburi: Hōzuki’s Mantle Technique

Noburi spends 150 CP and is now at 312.



Round 3



Hinata Standard: Manoeuvre to create “Great Cover” Aspect.



Noburi Supplemental: Draw explosive tag.



Round 4



Hinata: Full Defence.



Noburi Supplemental: Move to surface zone

Noburi Supplemental: Arm explosive tag

Noburi Standard: Throw tag

Noburi: Ranged Weapons 5 – 3 - 1 = 1

Hinata tags “Great Cover” for free.

Hinata: Athletics ?

Hinata dodges.



Round 5



Hinata: Full Defence.



Noburi Standard: Water Dragon Bullet Technique

He spends 219 CP and is now on 93 CP.

Noburi spends 1 FP to invoke “Star of the Show”.

WDB Attack 1: 25 + 3 + 3 - 2 = 28

Hinata: Athletics: ?

Hinata dodges.

WDB Attack 2: 25 + 3 - 2 = 26

Hinata: Athletics ?

Hinata dodges.

WDB Attack 3: 25 + 3 - 3 = 25

Hinata: Athletics ?

Hinata dodges.



Round 6



Hinata uses chakra boost. She spends ? CP to gain + ? to all physical skills and is now at ?.

Noburi uses chakra boost. He spends 25 CP to gain + 5 to all physical skills and is now at 68 CP.



Hinata: Full Defence.



Noburi Supplemental x2: move to the lake edge zone

Noburi Standard: Attack

Noburi: Water Whip 44 + 7 + 5 + 3 = 59

Noburi spends 1 FP to reroll.

Noburi: Water Whip 44 + 7 + 5 - 3 = 53

Noburi spends 1 FP to reroll.

Noburi: Water Whip 44 + 7 + 5 + 0 = 56

Noburi spends 1 FP to reroll.

Noburi: Water Whip 44 + 7 + 5 + 9 = 65

Hinata uses the Gentle Fist Style.

Hinata: Alertness ?

Noburi: Chakra Reserves 10 + 0 = 10

Hinata wins. Hinata creates the fragile “Chakra Strike” Aspect on Noburi, and gets a free tag on it.

Hinata: Taijutsu ?

Hinata wins but deals no stress due to Full Defence.



Round 7



Hinata uses chakra boost. She spends ? CP to gain + ? to all physical skills. She now has ? CP.

Noburi uses chakra boost. He spends 25 CP to gain + 5 to all physical skills. He now has 43 CP.



Hinata Standard: Attack

Hinata uses the Gentle Fist Style. She rolls Alertness vs Noburi’s Chakra Capacity

Hinata: Alertness ?

Noburi: Chakra Reserves 10 + 0 = 10

Hinata wins. Hinata creates the fragile “Chakra Strike” Aspect on Noburi, and gets a free tag on it.

Hinata tags “Chakra Strike”. She spends 1 FP to invoke “Pride of the Hyūga”.

Hinata Supplemental: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms

Hinata: Taijutsu ?

Hinata spends 1 FP to reroll.

Hinata: Taijutsu ?

Hinata spends 1 FP to reroll

Hinata: Taijutsu ?

Hinata spends 1 FP to reroll

Hinata: Taijutsu ?

Hinata spends 1 FP to reroll

Hinata: Taijutsu ?

Noburi: Water Whip 44 + 7 + 5 -3 = 53

Noburi spends 1 FP to reroll.

Noburi: Water Whip 44 + 7 + 5 - 3 = 53

Noburi spends 1 FP to reroll.

Noburi: Water Whip 44 + 7 + 5 + 6 = 62

Hinata wins. Hinata deals 4 stress to Noburi.

Pangolin Conditioning Technique breaks. He takes 2 stress.



Noburi Standard: Attack.

Noburi: Water Whip 44 + 7 + 5 - 9 = 47

Noburi spends 1 FP to reroll.

Noburi: Water Whip 44 + 7 + 5 - 6 = 50

Hinata: Taijutsu = ?

Hinata wins.



Round 8



Hinata uses chakra boost. She spends ? CP to gain + ? to all physical skills. She now has ? CP.

Noburi uses chakra boost. He spends 25 CP to gain + 5 to all physical skills. He now has 18 CP.



Hinata Standard: Attack

Hinata uses the Gentle Fist Style. She rolls Alertness vs Noburi’s Chakra Capacity

Hinata: Alertness: ?

Noburi Chakra Reserves 10 + 0 = 10

Hinata wins. Hinata creates the fragile “Chakra Strike” Aspect on Noburi, and gets a free tag on it.

Hinata Supplemental: Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms

Hinata tags “Chakra Strike”.

Hinata: Taijutsu ?

Noburi: Water Whip 44 + 7 + 5 + 5 = 56

Hinata wins. Hinata deals 4 stress to Noburi.

Noburi takes a Light and a Moderate Consequence.



Noburi Standard: Attack

Noburi: Water Whip 44 + 7 + 5 - 3 - 5 + 3 = 51

Hinata: Taijutsu ?

Hinata wins.

Noburi chooses to be Taken Out and does not take a Severe Consequence.

-o-

​

Noburi has earned 2 XP and 2 FP.

​

-o-

​

The previous plan continues. There will be no voting.​

Finally. At long last. How he’d waited. Noburi looked up at the hundreds of people in the bleachers above, from Kage to carpenters, their attention focused solely on him, and he knew that all of his life had been leading up to this moment.Oh, and Hinata was there as well.“Ladies and gentlemen,” he began, facing the audience, “allow me to introduce myself. I am Gōketsu Noburi, rising star of Leaf’s ruling clan. I’m a master of taijutsu and ninjutsu, and I’d be a master of genjutsu as well except that I don’t need it thanks to my natural charm. I’m even a practising medical ninjutsu user, because life’s too short to spend it on not being the best at everything. I’m counting on you guys to cheer me on as I continue on my quest to reach Kage-level badassery—as opposed to the chūnin-level badassery I’m about to show you.“Now I have to admit, it breaks my heart a little, knowing that I’m going to have to face the other Leaf clans in this tournament, and I can’t say I’m not a little anxious thinking about what they can do.”He watched everyone’s gazes swivel to Hinata.“Yeah, Ino-Shika-Chō aren’t to be messed with, and you already know that Shino’s one cool dude. And since I’m counting on these guys to do Leaf proud and make it through the early stages, odds are I’ll be facing one or two of them later on.“But I’m sorry”—he turned to Hinata—“I forgot Shino had a teammate. What can you do again? Oh, right, the Byakugan. My bad. Byakugan users are so interchangeable, I thought you were your cousin who got disqualified for gross incompetence.”There was a fine line to tread here. Jiraiya had made it clear that, while humiliating the Hyūga in the tournament would play well back in Leaf, overdoing it in front of a foreign audience would backfire by making the village look weak and/or divided. Lucky Noburi was so good at what he did.“Here, I’ll give you a chance to prove you’re better than him. How many hundreds of chakra beasts have you killed lately? How many years did you spend making the world’s deadliest hunter-nin look like a fool? What’s the biggest enemy ninja group you’ve wiped out, and how many of them were chūnin or higher?”Hinata smiled. “Yes, Noburi, that’s very impressive. I admit that withBloodline Limit I wouldn’t have been able to restore my team’s chakra while the two jōnin, the sealmaster and the summoner defeated my enemies for me. I almost envy you—with my abilities I’m stuck as the team leader, having to take the lead in combat while my teammates provide backup according to my strategies.“But I don’t envy anything else. I’ve seen you with the Byakugan. Arms like noodles. Flab masquerading as muscle. And you know what shocked me most?”She gave a dramatic pause for the audience’s benefit.“With the Byakugan, I’ve seen the body of everyone in Leaf. That’s just how it works. What were the odds that out of all those thousands of men, Noburi’s manhood would be the smallest? No wonder he carries such a big barrel!”There was a roar of laughter.Noburi went crimson. There was no way he was—No, he wouldn’t go down that road. He’d come here prepared for Hinata to psyche him out, and that was exactly what she was doing with that pitying smile of hers.And besides, he was at least average. Probably.What was the average, anyway? What if it was bigger in the Fire Country?“I’m afraid you’ll be the one going down today, Noburi,” Hinata said. “I wouldn’t even know where to look.”Another roar. He could see what she was doing—a simple two-punch of smarter insults for the ninja and low-brow humour for everyone. And after the latter, the crowd had turned from laughing with him to laughing at him. Noburi gritted his teeth in frustration. If she thought she was going to—“But enough of that,” she said before he could retaliate. She turned to the judge. “I’m ready, ma’am. As for Noburi”—she gave a pointed look at his groin—“well, how would anyone tell?”The judge snorted.“Off with you kids. Into the arena… and fight!”Instantly, Hinata disappeared, to be replaced by a log so classic Noburi suspected it must have been brought in specially while they were preparing the quarry.“Byakugan!”Hinata waited for him with a small, unnerving smile on her face, not bothering to look up.“Water Whip Technique!”There were some laughs. A long, thick, wet implement (curse you, Rock Lee) wasn’t the best thing to wield in front of the crowd right now, but hopefully they’d feel differently once he gave Hinata a good licking.Oh, damn it, now she’d left him in Rock Lee mode as well.Noburi quickly formed seals to match Hinata’s. Appearing next to her, he just had time to activate and harden his mantle before she reached for his—No, that was stupid. It was how this matchto go, with him coming out on top after a vigorous duel which would stay in the audience’s minds for years to come.Or he could do this the smart way.Noburi sprinted along the arena wall, ignoring Hinata completely as he headed for a place no other man would think to enter: the artificial lake.Hinata, of course, saw what he was doing instantly, and made a beeline for him, aware that there were some depths he couldn’t be allowed to plumb. He could only thank his lucky stars that he managed to get in there before she had a chance to stop him. He dove inside without hesitation, his hands already making the appropriate motions, and didn’t relax until he was all the way in and could feel the comforting underwater vibrations of Hōzuki’s Mantle and its tendrils.Then… nothing happened.Hinata didn’t go after him. He didn’t drain her until she was too exhausted to continue. He just waited, his breath held… and nothing happened.Second after second, it continued not to happen, Hinata simply refusing to come to grapple with him and his whip.This was a problem, and not just because standoffs would quickly make the audience’s enthusiasm fizzle. He couldn’t keep his technique up forever, and it was expensive to recast. At this rate, he’d eventually run out of chakra and have to forfeit, turning the blazing fire of his passion into a damp squib. Whereas all Hinata needed to do was stand there and watch him, triggering her Byakugan over and over until she was satisfied. Clearly, he’d have to stimulate her into engaging with him directly.Noburi pulled out one of Kagome’s special waterproofed explosive tags. His throw would have to be perfect, nailing Hinata before she could react. If she still didn’t come for him after that, then he’d have to stop holding back and finish in one mighty burst.Noburi braced himself, then used chakra repulsion to penetrate the murky waters above and rise to the surface with a single thrust. As the water poured off him, he saw Hinata holding onto a pair of dome-shaped boulders, which she must have found during those few seconds when she could see him preparing tags. Noburi slid his hand over the explosive tag, priming it for action, and then his kunai flew between her barriers.But he’d miscalculated his throw. Hinata must have known he’d take advantage of any opening, and had prepared reliable protection from any detonation. All his kunai could do was deliver its explosive payload over her twin monoliths.His weapons weren’t potent enough to soften up those ovals in any meaningful timeframe, and even if they were, it wouldn’t be hard for Hinata to locate better assets. What he wouldn’t do to get hold of her in the open…“I can wait,” Hinata said calmly. “You can’t.”Oh, right. Byakugan. She had a solid grasp of his chakra situation, and that meant she’d know how much it took for him to keep up Hōzuki’s Mantle.Noburi firmed up his resolve. There was one way to deliver Hinata into his hands. One way to throw her down and leave her helpless. One way, in short, to place the two of them together in an ideal position.“Hey, Hinata!” he called out instead of retreating back underwater. “You were wrong about one thing. No girl can stay away from me when she sees my humongous dragon!”Hinata tilted her head in confusion as Noburi began the nigh-endless series of hand seals. By the time she figured it out, it was too late.“Water Element: Water Dragon Bullet!”A huge, majestic, elegantly sinuous beast rose out of the lake behind Noburi. Looking down, it briefly coiled around him in a broad spiral as if to acknowledge its master. This ritual performed, it opened its maw wide and soared through the air towards Hinata, winding its way past the boulders as if they were barely there.Hinata, her smug smile finally gone, dove out of the way with barely a moment to spare, those great jaws rushing by less than a metre from her side. A normal shinobi might have relaxed there, the attack avoided, but of course Hinata had the Byakugan.She didn’t even take the time to turn around as a river’s worth of water twisted in mid-air and came in from above. Instead she dropped into a roll that slipped out of the dragon’s path as the seemingly living ninjutsu aborted at the final second in order not to smash into the ground.The dragon turned one final time.But Hinata, able to watch every second of the dragon’s flight, had figured out the pattern of its attacks. As it came for her, she performed a perfectly-timed simple step sideways and watched it zoom past, unable to correct its course enough to snatch her up in its mouth. She waved it goodbye as, with its use time over, it spiralled into the air and then broke itself against the ground in the distance.“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Noburi muttered as the audience cheered. The damn thing’s design intent was to capture however many victims it could before slamming them all into the earth like the fist of an angry god. Apparently that meant it refused to do anything else. Next time, he swore he’d just learn a Kill My Enemies With a Giant Dragon Technique.“That was beautiful, Noburi,” Hinata smiled. “It really was.”Her smile turned predatory. “And you don’t have the chakra to do it again. Or much of anything, for that matter.”“Come on,” she beckoned. “It’s rude to keep a lady waiting.”At this point, if he did nothing, she’d just continue waiting for him to run out of chakra. Stupid Wakahisa inefficiencies.“Just remember that you asked for this,” he growled.Noburi left his refuge on the surface of the lake. This wasn’t how he wanted it, but Hinata really was his worst opponent. He couldn’t bluff her about his resources. He couldn’t surprise her. He couldn’t sneak around her. Mist would only be to his disadvantage, since he’d be able to sense her location, but she’d be able to see him clear as day. Clones wouldn’t distract her from the real him, much less stand a chance of hurting her. Syrup Trap, maybe? Would be great to follow with explosives, assuming he could knock her out without outright killing her, but it would also use up all his remaining chakra. If she broke out and attacked him, he’d be lucky to last three seconds.No, full frontal assault it was. Between the Water Whip and Hōzuki’s Mantle, he had a chance. He had to tell himself that. He had to keep telling himself that all the way to the shore, where Hinata waited.His superior reach gave him the first strike, scoring a hit on Hinata’s shoulder. It also gave her the second, as she slipped under the extended whip to strike him in the chest. The Gentle Fist, a soft slap in the middle of his sternum, felt like being hit with a hammer. He staggered back, but recovered in time to intercept the third. After that, it became a familiar game. Noburi had to keep her off him with the Water Whip while looking for openings for a direct strike, while she ducked and wove like an infuriatingly calm snake, with venom in every touch. His blows bruised flesh and cracked bone; hers simply turned off parts of his body.The noise of the crowd in the distance was a big part of what kept him going, and he could make out a few familiar voices.“You can beat her! You’re stronger than this!”—Hazō.“Kick the tar out of her!”—Jiraiya, with Hyūga Hiashi probably only a few seats away.“No death glares for a month if you win!”—Keiko.Hell yes. Enough of barely holding his own. Gōketsu Noburi was going to deliver a beatdown that would echo through the ages.He took a few steps back, out of Hinata’s reach, to consider his next move.Hōzuki’s Mantle was worth its weight in gold. Every time Hinata tried to step around the slow-moving dome and to the mutual blind spot—which wouldn’t be blind to a Byakugan user—the Mantle’s watery tendrils lashed out and forced her to retreat. But this still wasn’t good enough. He was keeping her on her toes right now, but he didn’t have much chakra left to pour into his aching muscles. Not much chakra, unless…It was a very, very bad idea in the long term, and he’d never tried it and wasn’t even sure if it worked for Wakahisa. Still, if he were to draw on some of the chakra responsible for keeping his body running, could that give him enough to use another Water Dragon Bullet? If he could just get her into the water for a few seconds, he’d have every advantage, and his chakra problems wouldn’t last long either… whereas hers would just be beginning.Noburi reached inside himself, looking for that elusive sense of being, like a spiritual heartbeat, that characterised one’s personal life-force.He didn’t have a chance to find it.,” Hinata breathed as he presented her with an opening. She looked right at him, as if she needed to, and her whole expression shifted to match the implacable certainty in those inhuman eyes.“You are within the range of my divination.”The world faded away. All he knew was a litany of pain, getting faster and deeper with every second.Two blows.Four.Eight.He lost count. It kept going.He couldn’t feel parts of his legs. It took enormous effort to lift his arms past the shoulders. His vision was blurred and his breathing was heavy.Somewhere, he vaguely heard the noise of the crowd. Most were shouting for Hinata to finish him. But a few, a blessed few, were still cheering for the underdog, and he hadn’t come here to lose.“Not over till it’s over,” he forced through his lips, raising his whip. With everything he had, he leapt forward and lashed out at where he was pretty sure Hinata was.Then he felt her touch his forehead once, almost gently.“Noburi,” he heard her say as he collapsed, “it never began.”