"Kazekage," Mei Terumi asked, glancing at the veiled figure beside her. "Is your eldest daughter always this temperamental? Could it be you haven't been grooming her to be the next Kazekage?"
She had watched Temari blow Shikamaru out of the arena with a category-five hurricane.
It was impressive, but a bit... emotional.
"Hoho," Sarutobi Hiruzen stroked his beard, chuckling like a kindly grandfather (who secretly enjoyed the drama). "Mizukage, are you thinking of having all Five Great Shinobi Countries' Kage be women?"
When he recalled Jiraiya and Tsunade due to the potential threat of the Iwa-Kiri alliance, Hiruzen had already considered having one of them succeed as the Fifth Hokage.
The situation in the Shinobi World was changing too rapidly.
He was getting old, and dealing with these youngsters was exhausting.
"Oh?" Mei Terumi raised an eyebrow, a teasing smile playing on her lips. "Could it be the Hokage, at such an advanced age, is still considering a... transplant?"
"Transplant what? Uh..."
As soon as Hiruzen asked, his mind flashed to Kakashi's new "masterpiece".
The chapter about the "Vagina" transplant.
His face immediately darkened.
'Damn you, Kakashi.'
...
In the Spectator Stand.
Temari didn't feel happy about her victory.
She returned to her seat with a worried expression, the letter still burning a hole in her pocket.
"Gaara," she whispered, leaning over to her brother. "You need to be careful of the Hidden Leaf Village ninjas."
As his elder sister, she had to warn him.
There were many predators here!
"Careful?" Gaara asked.
His voice was flat, devoid of emotion. He turned his head slowly, sand shifting around him.
"Are you saying I'm inferior to them?"
He hadn't been "Talk no Jutsu'd" by Naruto yet.
He was still in his "I love killing" phase. His words carried the same murderous weight as Uchiha Madara asking you if you wanted to dance.
"I... I'm telling you to watch your backside," Temari hissed, blushing furiously.
Then she turned and fled before Gaara could kill her.
"Hm?" Gaara frowned. The sand around his gourd rippled in confusion.
'Watch my backside?'
He looked at Kankuro. "What does that mean?"
"Uh..."
Kankuro scratched his hood, racking his brains.
Under Gaara's dead-eyed stare, he felt immense pressure. He glanced nervously at the Crow puppet on his back.
'Wait.'
"I've got it!" Kankuro whispered, leaning closer. "My puppets were all designs stolen from Sasori, right? Well, I looked into the history. Sasori's grandma, Chiyo, hates the White Fang of the Leaf because he killed her family."
"I asked the older generation about the White Fang's fighting style. And I never expected..."
"Never expected what?" Gaara asked, his interest piqued.
Kankuro lowered his voice to a grave whisper.
"It's said that the White Fang possessed an extremely terrifying Taijutsu technique. He'd form the Tiger Hand Seal with both hands... then thrust toward the enemy's ass with unstoppable force."
"The White Fang was Kakashi's father. Rumor has it Kakashi's 'Raikiri' got its name when he used Chidori combined with the Thousand Years of Death to surgically remove the Raikage's hemorrhoids."
"?!"
Upon hearing this, even Gaara's cold, ruthless heart couldn't help but feel a phantom tightness in his rectum.
'A backdoor attack?'
Gaara's gaze shifted to the opposite spectator stands.
He scanned the Leaf ninjas.
Among Team Kakashi... was there anyone who had inherited this forbidden technique?
Gaara focused his attention on Sasuke.
According to intel, Sasuke was Kakashi's favorite student.
'So, I need to be cautious of Uchiha Sasuke?'
Gaara narrowed his eyes.
'I will crush him before he gets behind me.'
...
The Next Match.
Hyuga Neji vs. Hyuga Hinata.
A confrontation between the Main House and the Branch House.
Destiny vs. Hard Work.
In the spectator stands, Hiashi Hyuga arrived with Hanabi. They sat in the front row, commanding a perfect view.
Seeing Hiashi, Yuhi Kurenai (Hinata's sensei) looked surprised.
When she first took Hinata as a student, she had visited the Hyuga compound.
Hiashi had essentially said: "Do as you wish. If she can't even defeat Hanabi who's five years younger than her, the Hyuga clan doesn't need such trash."
He had washed his hands of her. So why was he here today?
"Hmm?"
While Kurenai was puzzling over this, she noticed something even stranger.
Hanabi had left her seat and she was pulling someone back with her.
"Hanabi seems quite familiar with that person," Kurenai murmured. "Chatting and laughing happily... But Clan Head Hiashi looks like he swallowed a lemon."
On the other side.
When Hiashi saw Hanabi dragging Makoto over to sit next to them, his face instantly darkened.
'That was the enemy! The extortionist! The man who threatened to turn him into a Branch member!'
But recalling how Hanabi had previously gone to "apologize", Hiashi decided to play it cool.
'I will ignore him. If I look at him, I lose.'
Just as Hiashi was thinking this, the vein on his forehead bulged again.
Hanabi and Makoto were chatting casually, passing a bag of potato chips back and forth as if they were at a picnic.
...
Meanwhile, down in the arena.
Neji began his monologue.
Although Neji possessed the Byakugan, he hadn't activated it to scan the crowd.
His attention was focused entirely on Hinata and he assumed Hiashi wasn't watching.
It was precisely because of this assumption that Neji dared to open his mouth.
"Lady Hinata," Neji sneered, his voice dripping with venom. "You truly are the pampered princess of the Main House. People can never change! The failure will always be a failure, and the elite will always be the elite! This is destiny!"
"Give up. You're completely unsuited to be a ninja. Go back to playing house!"
Neji assumed the Gentle Fist stance, venting years of bitterness.
Hinata, who had never been good with words, was rendered speechless.
She trembled, her resolve shaking.
"Hinata!" Naruto yelled from the stands. "Don't listen to him! Kick his butt!"
"Neji-nii-san..." Hinata whispered. "Actually... I want to change too..."
Byakugan!
"...Father, look!"
Hanabi turned to Hiashi, delighted by her sister's sudden surge of fighting spirit.
Hiashi was indeed somewhat astonished.
Hinata usually folded under pressure.
"She can't even use the strongest skill—Talk no Jutsu," Makoto chuckled from the side, munching on a chip.
"No wonder she's getting roasted."
"Huh?" Hanabi tilted her head. "Talk no Jutsu?"
"It's a verbal technique," Makoto explained. "Refuting the other's viewpoint to make them repent and reform. Naruto is the master of it, but his style is selfish. He always talks about himself. 'I'll become Hokage', 'acknowledge me', blah blah."
"Hanabi, do you understand?" Makoto paused.
"Mhmm, I understand." Hanabi nodded sagely.
Hiashi couldn't help but feel proud of his younger daughter.
She was so sharp!
"Actually," Makoto leaned in, whispering to Hanabi. "To refute Neji, you just need to ask him one logical question."
"If he truly believes fate is predetermined—that the Hokage's son will be Hokage, and the slave's son will be a slave—"
"Then why doesn't he just obediently accept his role as a slave? Why does he train so hard? Why does he try to prove he's stronger than the Main House? Why direct all his anger at Hinata?"
"Isn't his struggle proof that he wants to defy fate? He's a hypocrite."
Hanabi's eyes lit up.
She stood up, leaned over the railing, cupped her hands around her mouth, and shouted downward.
"NEJI-NII!!!"
The entire arena went silent.
Neji looked up, startled.
Hanabi cleared her throat.
"Neji-nii! Let me ask you—since you believe fate cannot be changed..."
She repeated Makoto's logic perfectly.
"Then why don't you just obediently be a scapegoat?! Why train so hard! Why treat nee-san with such hostility! You've always wanted to rebel against fate, haven't you!"
Neji froze.
It was a critical hit.
His ideology crumbled under the logic of a seven-year-old!
"Little dummy," Makoto shook his head with a laugh.
"Huh?"
Hanabi froze.
Was this the next line?
"DUMMY!"
Hanabi shouted at the stunned Neji.
But with her adorable appearance and high-pitched voice, it sounded more cute than insulting.
"You're being a bit piggish," Makoto muttered, face-palming.
"STUPID PIG!"
Hanabi pointed and scolded Neji.
"Moron."
"MORON!"
"Hedgehog."
"HEDGEHOG!... Huh?" Hanabi scratched her head, breaking character. "What's insulting about 'hedgehog'?"
"Ahem! Ahem!"
Hiashi Hyuga coughed violently.
He had initially felt relieved that someone was defending the Main House.
But that relief lasted less than two seconds before he witnessed Makoto turning his precious heiress into a trash-talking delinquent.
'The family education of the Hyuga clan is utterly ruined!'