Takara looked at Temari with justifiable indignation.
"You told me to put up a good fight, and that's exactly what I did. They fought for half an hour!"
"They wrecked half of the arena!" grunted Temari, pointing to the area that the twin puppets had decimated with blows and wind ninjutsu. "What if we had postponed the matches until the next day? That would jeopardize the entire month of preparation!"
Takara stared at her as if she were stupid, but because of the mask, it seemed like she simply fell silent.
"There are ninjas all over the place. How hard would it be to use earth ninjutsu to fix any damage? Did you think Konoha wasn't prepared for quick repairs as hosts?"
"Everything is under control, stop worrying so much," Takara shook her head, knowing that Temari was too nervous about the impending strike.
Temari snorted and turned her head, deciding not to say anything more for fear of accidentally revealing something. As always, moderation seemed to be missing from Takara's vocabulary.
Kankuro was clenching his hands tightly on the railing as he recalled the entire fight, always trying to deduce and study the puppets that were frustratingly superior to his.
He didn't understand.
How did she make the joints move so naturally?
Did she employ some kind of sealing to allow Ram's puppet to perform ninjutsu?
What did she do to give them so much chakra to function for so long without risking material degradation?
"Your turn," Takara interrupted Kankuro's musings with her voice, turning to look at her sister.
"The Nara clan boy? This will be easy," declared Temari confidently as she leaped into the coliseum arena, secretly relieved that she didn't have to stall during her fight.
Baki gathered information about their potential opponents and provided it to the Suna genin, hoping for a good performance from them.
Takara silently watched Temari. She could warn her, but with her current mindset, she probably wouldn't listen much, and she needed to divert most of her attention to her connection with the toxins.
She was tempted to start looting, but she found some alarm seals hidden in the cemetery, the hospital, and other places of interest. Taking what she wanted would only alert the Anbu in advance.
It's better to wait for Gaara to release Shukaku and act in the midst of chaos.
As for whether Konoha would be furious with Suna after the failed strike, she couldn't care less. As long as nobody could point fingers at her to cause trouble, it was enough.
Too bad Temari had precisely the longest fight because Shikamaru was waiting for the shadows of the coliseum to grow, causing even the audience to start falling asleep due to the contrast from the exciting previous fight.
The winner was Rem, by the way.
Furthermore, Takara couldn't understand why Temari didn't attack with wind ninjutsu when Shikamaru closed his eyes to think seriously. Throwing a silent kunai would have left him stiff!
They say Nara is very smart, yet he closes his eyes during an open-field fight?
That alone is reason enough to deny him promotion.
"No," Takara suddenly said. "You can't kill him to speed things up. Just wait, it's almost over."
Gaara snorted and quietly stored away the sand he had taken from the gourd. He was disgusted with this waste of time and wanted to start the strike already to go back to sleep.
Kankuro was sweating, not daring to say anything while Gaara was in a bad mood.
In the midst of tension, the referee's voice reverberated with the result of the fight.
"Shikamaru Nara is the winner!"
"I can't believe I was beaten by that guy!" protested Temari when she returned to them.
"Actually, you could have won if you weren't so proud," commented Takara as Gaara impatiently descended to the arena to carry out the delayed match against Sasuke.
Temari opened her mouth to retort, but after several seconds, she closed it slowly, knowing that Takara was absolutely right. While it's true she didn't give it her all because she knew about the impending strike and wanted to be in good shape, she shouldn't have just waited passively.
"Do you think this time the Uchiha will show up?" wisely changed the subject.
"Yes," Takara stared at the arena as she waited for Orochimaru to signal the start of the strike. "The Uchiha boy is one of the current attractions. If he doesn't show up, it will embarrass Konoha and lose a lot of people's trust, causing their mission volume to decrease," she explained slowly. "There's a reason why his match was postponed and not declared a loss due to absence."
"That sounds like something Konoha would do," Kankuro agreed.
Temari looked around and leaned closer to Takara's ear.
"Are you all set?"
While most of Suna's ninjas aim to strike Konoha, Takara wasn't focused on causing harm, but on gathering some urgently needed items for the village with the help of her stringless puppets, such as medicines from the hospital or rice from the grain stores.
"As ready as I can be," Takara replied without looking away.
While the number of puppets at her disposal wasn't small, given more time, she could increase their numbers, especially now that she had access to new materials.
"Do you have what I gave you?" Takara asked Temari in return.
"Yes, I have the seals prepared, although I don't think I'll be able to use them," Temari nodded with doubts.
"Don't worry, you'll use them," Takara assured her. "Get ready, it's about to start soon."
And Gaara's cry of pain was the signal.
The Suna ninjas and Orochimaru's subordinates in the audience began casting illusions on a large scale, while Orochimaru himself put a kunai to his old master's throat.
The strike on Konoha had officially begun!