throughout this tournament each individual has been scored based on performance in battle, the five kage have personally overseen the scoring and the top contestants and favorites have been decided this early, right now hashirama and the kage of the sand village sit in the kazekages office.
"anyone in particular catch your eye hashirama?"
"yes, a few actually" hashirama flips through a stack of notes, "its really a shame the kage can't participate in this tournament"
"well thats what the ambassadors decided on" the kazekage sighs, "ive been watching closely over a few participants myself"
"and who are they" hashirama says not looking up from his notes
"ive been particularly interested in the shinobi, saito, char, and jeiku" the kazekage looks through his own stack of notes, "and fuya from your village also has a lot of potential"
"yes she certainly does" hashirama laughs, "there are several rogue shinobi that ive been watching closely, jo who i believe was a survivor of the mist village massacre registered as a rogue, hes very interesting."
"have you noticed him?" hashirama looks grim now,
"yes" he pulls out a page of notes, "i thought he was dead, if hes as strong as he once was then we could be in trouble, especially if his body is possessed by king"
"i suspect he is" the kazekage grimaces, "do you think 1 showed up?" hashirama shakes his head,
"no i suspect he fled the ninja world entirely" he flips through more notes, "ah heres some more that im interested in, the rogue shinobi nozomi, chiyo of the stone village, daiki of the sand, and aika of the rain"
"not sure what you see in daiki" the kazekage chuckles and the mood is lightened, "i oversaw his training when he was a youngster, he's definitely improved as an adult but i dont think by much"
"i dont know, i just see something in him" hashirama drops back into a serious tone, "you dont think that maebure could win do you?"
"lets not dwell on it" the two leaders sit there in silence, the old mans name has been spoken aloud for the first time in years. shino maebure, this is not his birth name, in fact no one knows his true name and even maebure himself forgot what it was over time.
"well then" hashirama stands up suddenly breaking the silence, "i ought to be off" he turns and begins to leave, but before hes out of the room the kazekage speaks
"the harbinger will never stop bringing death to this world, maybe its fate, maybe we are on a set path made by some higher being. or maybe, just maybe it truly is pure dumb luck and chance that has brought us to where we are in this exact moment."
"i sure as hell hope it is just luck" hashirama turns his head slightly, "we're gonna need it"