Naruto's POV (Contestant Section of Iron Arena - Land of Iron)
Naruto arrived back into their section, glancing around as he did. They locked eyes and summarily had a glaring match with Gaara and Kurotsuchi. He was pleased to discover Ino was not present. 'I suppose old lady Tsunade helped me out. Feel bad, but I'll make up for it eventually.' Naruto promised himself. His eyes settled on Shikamaru, Fuu, and Samui leaning on the front railing, watching the latest match. He glanced around curiously to see the current game in play:
Hinata Hyuga VS Sai of the Leaf
'I remember Sai is more impressive than I would've thought. And I haven't had the chance to see Hinata fight either. Glad I came back when I did.' Naruto summarized as he slapped Shikamaru's as he joined the trio on the railing.
Naruto was about to ask about the fight before he noticed a cast around Shikamaru's left wrist. "You okay, you lazy bastard? I figured they would've fully healed by now." Naruto mentioned.
Shikamaru sighed dramatically as he looked at his left wrist. "It turns out that fully broken bones, especially in this area, can take a little bit to heal. In reality, it's almost fully repaired. They just put it in a cast until the next match to ensure it doesn't set incorrectly."
"Breaking your own wrist! So brave!" Fuu laughed/yelled. "I've never even broken a bone. I guess I'm lucky!"
"My life is full of trouble-" Shikamaru started before Samui lightly shoved him with a raised brow. "Women. I was going to say, women, woman." Shikamaru finished stubbornly.
"Not cool." Samui admonished seriously.
"Eh, okay," Naruto said, sidestepping the tension. "How's the match going?"
"One-sided," Shikamaru replied simply.
"But it's so cool! Hinata has been on the backfoot yet hasn't been hit once!" Fuu said excitedly. "Man, I hope she wins, I wanna fight her!"
"Perhaps, but she seems unable to make any offense; a strong defense is cool, but no one can dodge forever," Samui added.
"I wouldn't count Hinata out!" Naruto countered confidently. "Neji says Hinata might be just as strong as he is. He doesn't give unearned or usually even earned compliments, so that's saying something."
"He must've been referring to her speed or something." Shikamaru dismissed. "She is planning something, but her scramble is genuine. Sai has her on the ropes."
"He may not keep her as such for much longer," Sasuke interjected, facing the group. "Hinata is a powerful fighter; if he makes a certain mistake, I'm confident she'll win."
"A certain mistake?" Fuu asked, confused.
"Indeed," Sasuke continued. "Normally, Hinata seems to be a rather unremarkable shinobi, at least most of the time. She certainly improved with her training with Neji and developing her own style. But she still lacked a killer instinct and power. If one tries to test her patience, it almost solves both problems."
"A temper?" Samui asked with disbelief. "She seems so well-mannered."
"She is." Sasuke agreed. "It takes a lot to test her patience, but if Sai does so, her victory will be guaranteed. When furious, she can be an interesting challenge even for me." He complimented.
"I hate to agree with this douche, but ya, my lot is with Hinata." Naruto agreed, ignoring Sasuke's glare. Another enemy for the list, he supposed.
"That could be troublesome, Sai has a fondness for teasing people." Shikamaru complained.
"Oh no, please don't tease me?" Naruto asked sarcastically.
"No, he calls it teasing. I call it a vindictive personal attack." Shikamaru continued. "Read in some book about how friends screw around with each other and were taught to make their opponents angry and therefore sloppy. Mix the two, and you get a troublesome bastard."
"I think the emo guy might be right," Fuu interjected; if looks could kill, Sasuke would've killed her on the spot. "Look."
They all switched their gaze to what looked like the beginning of a massacre.
Hinata / Sai's POV (Courtyard of Iron Arena - Land of Iron)
Hinata ducked a flying bird that seemed intent on dive bombing for her eyes. Finger jabbed a flying squirrel out of existence while she kicked a rabbit flying through the air. She then dived to the right to dodge the wild charge of an ink hog. 'How in the world did he have this many summons? He nearly tripled the amount he used against Temari.' Seeing two coyotes closing from behind, Hinata expertly spiked their heads with kunai. With both arms open, Sai suddenly flew in and ducked her desperate punch, slashing a line on her left leg and kicking her in the ribs, sending her flying back. Sai stopped, the small amount of forest left surrounded the two and acted as a barrier to keep Hinata trapped. Using her raw speed and powerful vision, she had managed to survive the barrage of animals, and Sai threaded himself through thus far. But slowly, they were overwhelming her. Sai seemed to be doing better stamina-wise as well, somehow, despite engaging in speedy Taijutsu and Ninjutsu in tandem. Hinata painfully stood up and rested into her stance with a wince. 'I need to do something. But what can I do? I could use the air palm, but it can only do so much. Even if I land a direct hit on him, it'll leave me open for his summons to attack. Not to mention it's much too costly to use repetitively.'
Sai smiled at her as his horde of various ink animals paused and writhed around him. "I must admit to being disappointed. I had prepared quite the strategy for you in case you proved to be as strong as your cousin. It seems you are not, though. The Hyuga heiress is shockingly unremarkable. I doubt I needed my little trick." He sounded oddly disconnected from his words as if reading them off instead of choosing them.
Hinata reigned in a flare of anger at his biting consideration of her skills. Instead, she tried to focus on the essential parts. "A trick?" She asked patiently.
"Oh, it is normally considerably bad sportsmanship to do so, isn't it? Then again, as shinobi, we're expected to see underneath. Though I'm sure the others managed to find out, unlike you." Sai teased. Hinata felt the little ember of anger flare up at that, but she managed to control it. "I spent the time before this match drawing up creations. See, my technique relies on actually drawing and fueling my ink drawings. By preparing them ahead of time, I can release a shocking amount at once. Costly for my chakra, but it makes more offense unrelenting. Dangerous depending on my foe, but a weak heiress lacks the raw power to deal with such. I had prepared them in case you proved to be like your cousin. Luckily, you are a much weaker version."
Hinata could feel shame once again. She hated how familiar it felt. She had felt when she had been defeated by Hananbi and dismissed by her father at a time hated by Neji, it seemed to be a recurring theme in her life. Hinata had sworn she wouldn't be ashamed again. She had trained hard to ensure such, she was making an honest effort.
"No effort to even defend yourself?" Sai continued. "I suppose some simply aren't cut out to be shinobi…
Hinata's mind went black.
"Cut out to be shinobi…" It echoed in her mind.
Hinata was tired of being looked down on. Sasuke had done this, too. She had proven herself to him… she'd do the same with Sai.