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Rasa thought back to how these two had perford in the original tiline.
One was Sunagakure's elite jonin.
The other was Konoha's elite jonin.
The first guy's feats were pretty limited. His most famous one was killing Hayate Gekko, Konoha's special jonin.
The second guy's highlights ca mostly from black-market bounty hunting and that fight against the undead duo.
"No kekkei genkai. No bloodline limit… No matter how hard a normal ninja tries, this is basically the ceiling."
"Their strength and potential are about even."
"But this ti, Baki's going to win."
"The Peacock Twin Swords aren't much for truly top-tier fighters, but for Baki right now they're giving him a solid edge."
Rasa's gaze drifted over to Kisa.
Compared to this match, Rasa cared less about whether Baki won and more about whether Baki could accept that Kisa's strength and potential were already above his own.
After today, how would Baki even deal with Kisa? Could he keep his head straight?
Rasa pulled his eyes back to the arena.
By now the fight between Baki and Asuma Sarutobi had turned white-hot.
Asuma had started mixing in other elents besides Wind Style. Baki gripped both swords and was milking every advantage the Peacock Twin Swords gave him.
The crowd around the stage was eating it up.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's face wasn't looking great.
He'd figured that once Asuma showed his real strength, taking down Baki wouldn't be a problem. But now things felt off.
Hiruzen could see it clearly—Asuma was on the back foot.
He was still attacking hard, but Baki looked way more composed.
"No surprise here. Sunagakure definitely bought off the referee and rigged the draw so Baki would face Asuma."
"Top-tier horse versus our mid-tier horse."
"Still…"
Hiruzen's eyes settled on his son.
"Asuma, you're disappointing ."
"Even if Sunagakure pulled so strings, you shouldn't be struggling this much against Baki. You should be winning. That's the only way to live up to the Hokage's son title."
"Compared to Shin'nosuke, you're miles behind."
Hiruzen shook his head.
The second Asuma saw that head shake, panic flashed across his face.
One mont of hesitation was all Baki needed.
He didn't waste it.
"Shlick!"
A deep gash opened across Asuma's chest. His body flew off the stage.
The referee called it fast.
"Winner: Sunagakure, Baki!"
Baki threw both arms up, soaking in the roar from the Sunagakure ninja.
Losing the first match had put massive pressure on him, but unlike Asuma—who was drowning in the sa pressure—Baki hadn't wasted energy worrying about politics or appearances. He'd poured everything into finding a way to win.
And it worked.
"Good job."
Rasa gave a small nod.
Kisa walked over to stand beside Baki.
No bad blood between them.
"Fifth match: Sunagakure versus Konoha."
"Kakashi versus Ryo."
Hearing Kakashi's na, the Konoha crowd lit up.
"Go get that win, Kakashi."
"Take down Sunagakure's guy."
In their eyes, Kakashi was unbeatable in this tournant. Nobody could touch him.
But when they heard "Ryo," a bunch of Konoha ninja looked confused.
"Ryo? Who's that?"
"Sunagakure has a young ninja like that?"
"So nobody?"
"Or another outsider again?"
One Konoha ninja suddenly rembered.
"I got it! Ryo—real na was Shishi from the Red Mountain clan!"
"He's the only survivor after his clan was wiped out!"
"The guy who sold out the Red Mountain clan."
"Is he strong?"
"Probably not."
Most of the ninja world knew about the Red Mountain clan incident. Along with the Uchiha and Taketori rebellions, it was one of the three big clan uprisings during the Third Great Ninja War.
The difference was that plenty of Uchiha and Taketori escaped. Red Mountain only had Ryo left.
And Ryo had betrayed his own clan to side with the village.
From the village's perspective, Ryo had done the right thing.
But right now the Konoha ninja were looking at him with pure contempt.
"A Red Mountain clan mber who turned his back on his own people? What kind of person does that?"
"He watched his clan die right in front of him. How does he even sleep at night?"
"A guy with no loyalty to his family can't be loyal to any village."
A few Sunagakure ninja jumped in to defend him.
"You Konoha bastards don't know shit!"
"Ryo stood for the greater good of the village."
"His sense of duty is way beyond what small-minded people like you could ever understand."
Soone brought up the Uchiha and Hyuga clans.
"Does Konoha really want every single Uchiha to stay united as one big happy family?"
"If that's the case, why don't you just kick every Uchiha still inside the village out right now?"
"If they're not loyal to their own clan, why the hell would they be loyal to Konoha?"
"And the Hyuga? They didn't even care when the village sold out one of their main family mbers."
"What matters more to them—their clan or the village?"
The Konoha ninja had no coback.
They just changed the subject.
"Our Kakashi's definitely winning this."
"Ryo's a nobody. No way he beats Kakashi."
Even so Sunagakure ninja were nervous. Everyone knew Ryo existed, but very few actually knew how strong he was.
Not even Kisa or Baki had a clear read on him.
"Go get 'em, Ryo!"
Hiruzen was already thinking ahead.
"This Ryo should be Sunagakure's weakest pick. Against Kakashi there's basically no contest. Kakashi wins easy. Too bad Asuma didn't draw him instead."
"That way Konoha could've taken at least two wins off Sunagakure."
Two figures stepped onto the stage.
One side: Kakashi.
The other: Ryo.
The referee checked both fighters.
Once he got the signal they were ready, he swung his arm down hard.
"Match start!"
Kakashi imdiately started rapid hand seals.
Most eyes stayed on Ryo, curious what this unknown fighter would do against Kakashi.
"He's not just gonna forfeit, right?"
Right then Ryo calmly pulled out a scroll.
Two puppets appeared.
The second everyone got a clear look at them, their eyes went wide.
"What the—?"
"This isn't fair!"
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