Time passed like fine sand particles through the gap of the fingers.
And in a flash, two whole days passed.
Today was the second and final round of the interclass competition, featuring the top talents of the second-year S-classes of the Central Ninja Academy.
Considering this was the first competition of its kind since Konoha's founding, and the participating students all reached at least Chunin-level combat prowess, Tobirama decided to make the final round public.
Why did he do that?
Well, it served quite a few purposes.
For example…
Konoha could invite several high-ranking officials and the top merchants of the Fire Country to showcase the strength of Konoha's next generation of Shinobi.
The message was clear.
If the kids who weren't even older than 10 could muster such power, imagine how powerful the official Shinobi of the Konoha were.
This would attract many wealthy clients, missions, and funding to Konoha, allowing Tobirama to execute many projects and train more capable ninjas.
Everything to make Konoha stronger.
Next, holding the competition publicly would allow the civilians living in Konoha to understand the strength of the ninjas, making them more enthusiastic to send their kids to the Ninja Academy in the future.
This will also solidify their trust in Konoha's upper management and leadership.
Third, showcasing multiple young talents below 10 with Chunin-level prowess to warn the enemy nations to keep their dirty maws out of the Fire Country.
Would this attract hostility from the other Nations? It would.
Would it make the nations want to kill these prodigies before they could mature? Of course, it would.
However, could they send people to assassinate these geniuses of Konoha?
Heh!
Tobirama would like to see them try.
The emergence of such prodigies would make the other Shinobi villages restless.
They would be itching to take action.
And as a result, many enemy spies might try to take action against these kids, even at the risk of exposing their identities.
But did they think that Konoha's ANBU were there for nothing?
Each prodigy of the S-class had multiple layers of protection from their clan and Konoha's ANBU.
Civilian prodigies like Haneda even had at least one Jonin and two Elite Chunin-level ANBU ninjas following him all the time, protecting him and his family from the shadows.
If those spies and assassins dared to show their presence, these ANBU ninjas also dared to press their blades right at their throats.
After that, their only destination would be the headquarters of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force (TIF), where Yamanaka clan Jonin would have a deep heart-to-heart chat with them.
Their minds and brains would be beautifully deflowered until they spilled every single information about their affiliated villages and organizations.
What a passionate scene that would be?
Full of blood, gore, screams, mind invasion….cough!
(A/N: For those who aren't familiar with Naruto, Yamanaka clan ninjas are experts in various mind-related and Yin Release Ninjutsu. Their expertise also included searching memories of their enemies, though it isn't an omnipotent or absolute ability.)
Anyways, on to the final purpose.
That was, of course, money.💲💲💲
Which civilian didn't want to witness clashes between ninjas?
Which bored ninja would mind relaxing and having some fun watching little sprouts of Konoha going up against each other?
By exchanging a few hundred Ryo, they could get a ticket to enter the public venue where the matches of the second round would take place.
For the audience, it meant fun.
For Tobirama, it meant more money in Konoha's treasury.
It was a win-win combination.
Perfect! Absolutely Perfect!
Most participants were preparing to face their opponents, blissfully unaware of the schemes of the Konoha leadership.
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It was already 9:30 AM.
Seimei and the 24 other participants were already present in the public battle venue, where the final round would take place.
Right now, Seimei had a deadpan expression on his face as he stared at his father, Senju Tobirama, who was preaching the Will of Fire to all the participants and audiences.
He truly never misses a chance.
Now, he knew why Sarutobi Hiruzen, the third Hokage in the original Narutoverse, was so addicted to rambling this Genjutsu: Will of Fire all the time without missing a chance.
He inherited that trait directly from his father.
There was no doubt about it.
Fortunately, his father's speech was short. He finished his brainwashing session within 10 minutes.
As for why his father was delivering the speech instead of his uncle, Hashirama Senju…
Well, because his father would soon become the second Hokage and take over the leadership of Konoha officially.
So, right now, it was just warming the citizens of Konoha up for the eventual transition of power.
After all, to truly wield the helm of Konoha as a Hokage, you need the support of the citizens and the ninjas.
Sure, suppression might work, but true loyalty and devotion would eventually go a long way.
Otherwise, even if you rule over Konoha with an iron fist like Uchiha Madara, people will never truly see you as a true leader, leading to various problems, destabilization, and even riots.
That's why earning the approval of the Konoha citizens is necessary.
As Tobirama left the stage, the proctor of the previous round, Inuzuka Hiro, stepped onto the stage to explain the rules of the final round.
"Students!"
"The rules of this round are simple."
Of course, Inuzuka Hiro didn't forget to use chakra to enhance his voice so everybody in the stadium could hear whatever he said.
A simple, but effective use of chakra reinforcement.
"The format will be a knock-out match."
"We have already made the draws and chosen the teams who will be facing each other."
"This round will extend to two days."
"Today…"
"Team 1-S will face Team 4-S. Meanwhile, Team 2-S will face Team 3-S."
"The losing teams will be eliminated, while the winning teams will face each other tomorrow in the same venue."
Hiro glanced at the students and then at the crowd before continuing, "Today, each match will have two rounds."
"First round will be a group face-off."
"In this round, both teams' qualified members will fight."
"To win this round, you just have to eliminate all the members of the team you are fighting against."
"The next round will be 1v1 matches."
"Each team will send one member at a time on stage to fight."
"Similar to the first round, when one team's all members are defeated, the other team will win."
"A third round will only follow if both teams win one round each."
"This round will act as a tie-breaker, where both teams can only send one member from their teams to compete."
"Needless to say, whether your team advances or not will depend on the result of this single match of the third round."
"The final and the match for third place will be held tomorrow."
"For more clarification, you may ask your homeroom instructors."
"That's it."
"The first match will start at 10 AM sharp."
"Now, go back to your designated positions."
"Over!"
With that, Inuzuka Hiro walked off the stage.
According to the schedule, the first match was between Team 1-S and Team 4-S.
Seeing this, Seimei glanced at Team 4-S briefly.
This team only has 5 members.
Plus, even if they had all members, they would have still been the weakest team in this competition.
Still, I should be careful.
After all, a careless ninja is no better than a dead ninja.
Seimei continued his inner monologue as he fell into a deep thought.
Now, he only had to wait for the clock to hit 10 AM.
The final stage of the competition was about to unfold.
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