Konoha and Sunagakure had already fought two matches.
Asuma lost to Baki.
Kakashi lost to Ryo.
Only one fighter remained for Sunagakure—Kisa Hoshigaki.
But Konoha's final fighter still hadn't been decided.
More accurately, the na had been submitted, but Hiruzen Sarutobi wanted to change it.
He didn't believe Uchiha Shisui stood a real chance against Kisa.
Kisa's chakra absorption put way too much pressure on ninjutsu specialists. Shisui was good with genjutsu and taijutsu too, but at his age, Hiruzen didn't think it was enough to beat Kisa.
So Hiruzen decided to swap in soone who could actually counter him.
A pure taijutsu fighter.
Might Guy.
While most of the ninja world looked down on taijutsu and treated taijutsu specialists like jokes, Might Dai had caught Hiruzen's eye during the Mist suicide squad attack on Konoha.
He was the first one to survive the Mist assassins and warn the rest of the village.
One man against three Mist suicide bombers. Three punches and two kicks dropped all three before they could even trigger their explosive tags.
That performance blew past several special jonin who'd died to the sa squad.
After seeing Kisa's abilities, Hiruzen imdiately thought of Might Dai.
Chakra absorption hard-countered ninjutsu.
But taijutsu hard-countered chakra absorption.
Might Dai was too old for the tournant, but he had a son—Might Guy.
Sa blood. Sa training style. Sa ridiculous work ethic.
And the right age.
"Sixth match: Sunagakure versus Konoha."
"Kisa Hoshigaki versus Might Guy."
When he heard "Konoha," Uchiha Shisui had already started stepping forward.
Then the second na hit him like a kunai.
"Not ?"
Shisui's head snapped toward Hiruzen.
Hiruzen gave a calm downward press of his palm.
Shisui stepped back to his original spot, face darkening.
"The Hokage changed my na at the last second? Why? Because he doesn't think I can beat Kisa? But the nas were already submitted… Can they even do that?"
Shisui's expression turned ugly.
"The chance Lord Minato fought to get … just gone like that?"
Kisa and Might Guy's fated clash ended exactly the way destiny seed to want.
After Might Guy forcibly opened the Fifth Gate of the Eight Gates, he defeated Kisa and gave Konoha their only win against Sunagakure.
The price was steep—Guy was completely spent and couldn't fight again.
Rasa watched it unfold and felt a strange sense of déjà vu. It reminded him of the future fight between Rock Lee and Gaara.
Kisa flooded the entire stage with relentless Water Style.
Guy opened the Eight Gates and pushed his taijutsu to the absolute limit.
Once chakra absorption stopped working, Kisa's Water Style alone wasn't enough to stop him.
Still, Kisa lasted longer than Rasa had expected. He perford better than anyone anticipated.
Kisa walked off the stage looking crushed. Baki was the first one to reach him and offer quiet words of comfort.
Hiruzen's face was complicated.
On one hand, Guy had actually won a match for Konoha.
On the other, Guy was now useless for the rest of the day. Forcing him to fight again would only make his injuries worse—and he'd probably lose anyway.
For a mont, Hiruzen wondered if bribing the referee had been the right call.
"Seventh match: Iwagakure versus Sunagakure."
"Bunya versus Ryo."
It was a match with zero suspense.
Even Kakashi hadn't been able to beat Ryo. Bunya never stood a chance.
In Rasa's eyes, Bunya was probably the weakest of all nine fighters. Iwagakure actually got lucky drawing him against Ryo. Otherwise they might've gone winless against Sunagakure.
The last two matches ended quickly.
By the end of the day, the final results were in.
Sunagakure: 4 wins, 2 losses.
Ryo beat both Bunya and Kakashi.
Baki lost to Kari but beat Asuma.
Kisa lost to Guy but beat Kitsuchi.
Konoha: 2 wins, 4 losses.
Kakashi went 1–1.
Asuma went 0–2.
Guy went 1–1.
Iwagakure: 3 wins, 3 losses.
Kari went 2–0.
Kitsuchi went 1–1.
Bunya went 0–2.
On paper, Iwagakure was only one win behind Sunagakure.
But anyone who watched the matches knew Sunagakure's three fighters were clearly stronger overall. Iwagakure had just gotten lucky with the bracket.
Konoha, on the other hand, had terrible luck. Their strongest fighter, Kakashi, drew against Ryo—the one Sunagakure ninja who was operating way above his age group.
"Tsuchikage. Hokage. My apologies."
Rasa stood up with a smile.
Most wins ant Sunagakure got the biggest slice of Grass Village's compensation. Better than splitting it evenly.
Hiruzen looked quietly regretful.
Without this tournant, Konoha would've walked away with far more. And that didn't even count the hidden damage to their reputation.
Onoki was annoyed, but seeing the look on Hiruzen's face made him feel a little better.
At least Iwagakure hadn't gotten screwed.
The three villages turned toward the Grass Village leader and began carving up the compensation like vultures.
The Grass leader watched his village's resources being taken away piece by piece, heart bleeding.
But he had zero power to stop it.
"Damn it…"
"I never should've targeted Sunagakure like that…"
"No… even if I hadn't, they still would've found an excuse. And look—Konoha and Iwagakure didn't even get attacked by , but they still showed up to take their share."
"This is the tragedy of being a small village."
"If all the minor villages could band together, we wouldn't keep getting bullied like this…"
The Grass leader clenched his fists.
But Rasa, Hiruzen, and Onoki didn't spare him a single glance.
Rasa found the referee alone.
"Buji."
The referee looked up, startled, then quickly lowered his head.
"Wind Shadow-sama?"
"Buji. Let's talk about you colluding with Konoha and changing the lineup."
Buji's face went white.
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