I Alone Am The Exception!

Chapter 24: Hinata Hyuga vs Sara Narui

This could be a rival.

Sara Narui regarded her opponent with more vigilance than she had ever treated another opponent, besides Naruto and Gaara.

Naruto likely didn't recall her. He was the one who had saved her from the awful fate that one with a kekkei genkai usually entailed within Kiri. Before she was relocated into Konoha a few days ago, she used to be a Kirigakure civilian who was trained in secrecy by a Shinobi wearing a mask whom she called 'Garou'.

He taught her martial arts that flowed and struck with power and ferocity. And this shinobi gave her ideas on how she could utilize her gifts.

However, she discovered that the one who had taught her was none other than Naruto himself. She realized this when he arrived in Kirigakure to save the Mizukage himself from members of the Akatsuki.

Sure, he was astronomically more powerful than he was all those years ago, but those eyes were the same. He had changed, grown, and adapted to his environment and became smarter, stronger, and more confident out of his time in this world.

Naruto had saved her three times. Once, when she was eight, training her. Twice, when he convinced the manipulator to stop controlling the Mizukage. And thrice, when he saved the Mizukage and inadvertently brought her here because of it.

Sara took a deep breath and calmed her mind as she lowered into a stance, one that got Hinata to widen her eyes at in shock. While no one in this world used the taijutsu stance that she does, including Sasuke and herself, that... wasn't so for Naruto. He doesn't much use it anymore since he is now more comfortable moving with the flow of battle, viewing it as an artistic dance, it was one of his more destructive, and slippery, forms of taijutsu he developed within this world based on the martial arts of Garou from One Punch Man.

The Martial Arts of: Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist.

Only Hinata and Neji truly knew of this martial arts that Naruto once used since he rarely used it, but it was undoubtedly his.

Hinata's eyes glowed with power as powerful bulging veins rose towards her eyes, "You... How do you know that stance?!" Hinata roared.

As opposed to Hinata's outrage, Sara took it in stride as her expression reflected nothing besides a willingness to trade blows with the girl before her.

"My master taught me this technique." Narui answered.

Hinata planted her foot down and launched forward towards Sara, only for her to duck under with fluid grace and strike with a knife hand right into Hinata's gut, with an explosion lighting off from her elbow to propel it further and greater than ever before, launching the Hyuga across the room.

Hinata tumbled across the ground like a skipping stone twice before flipping midair and planting her feet down as she skid across the ground for a few feet before coming to a stop.

Hinata threw out a quick left right jab before aiming for an uppercut that got slapped aside as Sara delivered her own flurry of strikes that left cuts and scratches across the Hyuga's body as she was sent blasting back.

Hinata smirked as she charged forward as her punches now held feints in them that managed to land on the slippery martial artist in front of her. But just as she did, so too was Sara adapting to the strikes and landing in her own, which most of which were being dodged thanks to Hinata subtly enhancing herself with chakra and utilizing her Byakugan.

Eventually, though, Sara managed to slide underneath a hook to the chest and delivered a palm strike to her solar plexus, which blasted her away as Sara also applied her Explosion to it as well.