'So that's why this crafty old fox was so confident. Konoha is showing off its talent once again,' the two daimyo thought, looking at the result of the first round of the third stage.
All three of Konoha's ninja won their matches and advanced to the next round. They secretly hoped they'd be paired against each other, but alas, the matchups were already decided.
The next match would be between Darui and Kaida. The Lightning Daimyo was really tense. At this moment, Darui was the only remaining participant from Kumogakure. He surely couldn't lose.
He wasn't worried about the 30 million Ryo at all. What was that small amount? He could just raise taxes a little, and it would be collected in a month or even a week, depending on how much he raised it. What he was truly worried about was his reputation. Losing was the problem, not the money.
That's why when the proctor announced, "The next round will start in five hours. Participants can use this time to receive medical treatment and rest," the Daimyo left the other two and went out to meet the Raikage personally.
---
"Welcome, Lord Daimyo," A said as the Daimyo sat in the VIP lounge of the Raikage building.
"I'm not here for formalities, A. What I want is confirmation. As I mentioned in the letter, I want someone from Kumogakure to win this competition. I bet 30 million Ryo on that, and if I lose, I'll have to reduce the number of missions to make up for the loss," the Daimyo said, clearly threatening the Raikage, the most hot-headed of the five Kage.
"I—"
"Sir, please have this glass of water," Mabui interrupted, handing A a glass of cold water to give him time to cool down, so he wouldn't say something out of line.
"Sigh."
"Sir, Darui is participating in the match. He's the best of Kumogakure's younger generation, so please rest assured, we will win this competition," A said.
"That's what I wanted to hear," the Daimyo replied. Although 30 million Ryo wasn't much for him, the same couldn't be said for a ninja village. This amount was enough to send an S-rank ninja on a dangerous, life-threatening mission. In a way, one could say it was the price for an S-rank ninja's life. When that amount was involved in negotiations, even a Kage had to consider the pros and cons before speaking.
Well, that's what the Daimyo thought, but he was wrong about one thing. There had been many Daimyo in history who died of "natural causes" after challenging powerful ninja clans. Now that such incidents were rare, many politicians had forgotten this fact. Once the Daimyo left, A stood up from the sofa.
"How old is the Daimyo's eldest son?" he asked.
"He will be 12 this year, sir," Mabui replied.
"Send someone to befriend him. He should be convinced in the next two years that he should become the next Daimyo, now that he's an adult. Kumogakure will fully support him for that."
"Yes, sir," Mabui said. This time, she didn't try to calm A down. It was already a blessing that he hadn't snapped in front of the Daimyo. There would be no problem as long as someone from the Daimyo's lineage became the next Daimyo, but since that was a future concern, she decided to focus on the current task.
"Sir, even though I trust Darui, Konoha has performed remarkably well in the Chunin Exam this time, and there's a chance Darui might lose," Mabui said.
"I personally trained him for two weeks, and he was able to land an attack on me in the end. Do you think anyone can dodge him now? So what if those Uchiha can see his attacks? Seeing and dodging are two different things. And if he loses even after that, Konoha will pay for humiliating us in our own village," A said, a shadow looming over his face.
---
As the participants were leaving to rest, Deidara approached the Konoha team.
"You're lucky your next match isn't against me. Make sure you win your match so I can kill you myself."
"Hahaha, hey Kabuto, did you hear that? This random guy thinks he can defeat Itachi. Thanks, man, I really needed this type of joke. I was kind of stressed," Kaida said, chuckling.
"Wait and see, fucker. I'll show you the greatest art of all time," Deidara said.
"From what I can tell, you really want to defeat me. Let's make a bet then. If you win against Itachi, I'll bow down in front of you in the stadium in the next round, head on the ground. How about that?" Kaida said.
"If that's how you want to die, then so be it," Deidara grunted before leaving.
"Can you stop making him madder? He might actually do something bad because of this," Itachi said.
"Don't worry, I trust you completely. You'll handle it for sure," Kaida replied.
Itachi just shook his head and kept moving toward the gates.
"Are you nervous about your next fight?" Kabuto asked.
"Kind of. Darui was trained by the Raikage himself, and since he was especially trained to fight against us, I'm sure he'll have something to counter genjutsu. The fight will come down to pure skill, and he's not bad in that part," Kaida said, recalling Darui from his memories. Though Darui was much younger than the one in the anime, he was still strong.
"But you lucked out, huh? Your next match will be easy," Kaida said, remembering Kabuto's opponent.
"Yeah, at least the next one," Kabuto sighed.
Before Kaida could say anything, Shisui called out from a little distance away.
"You guys can talk while resting. Let's go."
"Yes, brother," Kaida said, and they followed Itachi back to their residence.
"Man, I'm tired. That was really chakra-draining," Kabuto said, lying on his bed.
"Do some meditation and recover your chakra. Eat that food; it'll help with chakra and stamina recovery," Jiraiya said, pointing to a strongly medicinal-smelling dish on the table.
"Is it even food anymore?" Kaida asked.
"Just eat it, brat. You can complain about the taste after the competition is over," Shisui said, landing a punch on Kaida's head.
"Kaida, in your next match, don't rely on genjutsu to win," Jiraiya said as they started eating.
"Why, sensei?" Kaida asked.
"Darui is Kumogakure's last hope. If he loses without even landing a single hit on his opponent in his own village, and that news spreads, Kumogakure might start a war against Konoha, whether they're ready or not. We don't want that. Have a normal fight with him."
"So, do I have to lose?" Kaida asked nonchalantly. He didn't have any stakes in the exam anyway, and if winning meant many ninja would lose their lives, he'd be more than happy to lose.
"No, just fight normally, without using genjutsu for this one match. If we were scared of Kumogakure, this whole situation wouldn't have happened. We're here to win. We just don't want to push the Raikage too much," Jiraiya said.
"Okay, sensei," Kaida said, finishing his food.
"What about my fight, sensei?" Itachi asked.
"Iwa isn't as hot-headed as Kumo, so you can have any type of fight you want. Finish the match in a minute or an hour, your choice," Jiraiya said.
Itachi nodded. Kabuto didn't even ask, since there were no high stakes for his fight anyway.
---
(After five hours)
The stadium, which had become a little empty, was once again filled to the brim with people. Some had stayed for five hours, not wanting to lose their seats, which offered the best view of the stadium. The next match was bound to be great.