Time quickly passed, and the day of the interclass competition finals had finally arrived.
Team 1-S and 2-S, who would be participating in the finals, had already arrived at the stadium by 10 AM, and currently, they were waiting for the proctor to begin the match officially.
The stadium was brimming with crowds. Civilians, ninjas, influential merchants, and officials of the Fire Country—all of them had gathered here to witness the ultimate showdown between the next generation prodigies of Konoha.
Naturally, the spies from other countries and the enemy Shinobi villages also arrived at the public match venue to gather intelligence on Konoha's prodigies.
If they could, they would love to tear these prodigies apart before they could grow up and become a threat to their respective Shinobi villages.
But they couldn't.
Why?
It was because of a few reasons.
Konoha was heavily fortified, and ANBU ninjas and the Uchiha Police Force were keeping an eye on every corner of Konoha like hawks.
If the spies dared to take action and show themselves, they would probably die before they could even touch a strand of hair of these Konoha prodigies.
Most spies had the strength of a Chunin-level ninja at best. After all, if a Jonin-level Shinobi suddenly infiltrated Konoha, they were highly likely to attract attention due to their strength.
Every Jonin-level ninja was a strategic asset of a Shinobi village. Konoha might get suspicious if a Jonin-level ninja suddenly appeared out of thin air, even if they have perfectly forged legal documents.
The Yamanaka clan ninjas from the Torture and Interrogation Department might just invite these spies to their headquarters to have a nice chat to discuss the meaning of life.
So, sending Chunin-level ninjas to spy was the best bet as they wouldn't attract too much attention, making information gathering and intel delivery easier.
But even these brave spies couldn't help but feel uneasy today.
Some were even scared out of their wits, even though they kept a composed facade to blend in with the crowd.
Why?
Because the very God of Shinobi, the First Hokage of Konoha, the legendary Senju Hashirama, had come to the stadium to witness today's matches.
Honestly, he came just to cheer for Seimei and goof around, but the spies didn't know that.
But the person who made them feel most uneasy wasn't the God of Shinobi, but his little brother, Senju Tobirama.
This man was an absolute menace.
Most enemies probably dreaded facing Senju Tobirama the most, as he had earned his notoriety by slaughtering his enemies through cruel, ruthless, and vicious methods that broke the morals of the opposing forces completely.
His Jutsu and techniques are so bizarre that many of his enemies didn't even know how they had died before ascending to the Pure Land.
However, all of these things had nothing to do with Seimei. He just wanted to finish the match and go back to his home to relax and train a bit.
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"What do you mean by there has been a change in the match format?"
In 30 minutes at most, their final match would begin. And their homeroom teacher, Kamishiro Kirito, just walked in and dropped a bombshell on them.
All their preparations for group matches and the sequence planning for the individual matches had gone down the drain.
Just when they thought they were fully prepared, the new match format and rules literally pointed a middle finger at them.
Nara Shikamo, the captain of Team 1-S, could only hold his forehead with his right hand in exasperation. As a tactician, he hated last-minute surprises the most.
He let out a deep sigh before asking their teacher, "And the opponents had already been selected by lottery beforehand?"
Kamishiro Kirito looked at the stunned and exasperated expressions of his students with dark satisfaction and almost let out a smirk.
But he reined in his expression and simply nodded with a shrug. "That's right."
Then, he took out a small blue scroll from one of the inner pockets of his Konoha Jonin vest and tossed it at Shikamo.
"As I said, the lottery had already been concluded."
"This scroll has the draw results. You can see the opponents each of you will be facing and make proper plans beforehand."
Kirito smirked and said, "After all, you still have 30 minutes to prepare before the match starts."
Hearing this, Seimei, Shikamo, and others cursed their sensei vehemently in their minds.
Prepare before the match?
What is there to prepare for now when you, the higher-ups, have already selected our opponents on your own?
Do you even hear yourself, sensei?
Is this human speech?
They prepared for group and individual matches. But now, for some inexplicable reason, the format had suddenly changed.
Since both Team 1-S and Team 2-S had seven participants each, the village decided it would be more entertaining to randomly match two students from both teams and let them fight.
This way, there will be seven matches where all seven members from both Team 1-S and 2-S could participate in the finals.
In the end, the team that wins the most number of matches out of the seven will be crowned the champion.
Well, we are just students.
You guys are official ninjas.
What can we even do?
We can only comply with your arrangement.
The students thought inwardly while all of them focused their gaze on the scroll to see who they would be fighting against.
Since their opponents were selected through random lottery draws, the weakest of their team might even have to face the strongest participant from the opposing team.
In that case, they might have to devise some serious countermeasures to help their teammate win against their opponent…
However, all of them suddenly paused.
Team 1-S members: (⊙_(⊙_⊙)_⊙)
Team 1-S members: Wait a damn minute!
Team 1-S members: What the fuck?
Sarutobi Yuto gave Kamishiro Kirito a strange look and asked, "So…"
"These are our opponents…selected through lottery draws?"
Kirito made a clueless and innocent face before nodding, "Yes, you will be fighting against them."
"And of course, they are selected through completely random, impartial lottery draws!"
Sarutobi Yuto: (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Team 1-S members:...Like hell we would believe your nonsense! The whole damn thing was rigged from the start to make our fight more entertaining to the crowd, wasn't it? Are we ninjas or entertainers?
The reason for their bewilderment was clear.
Although their sensei claimed the whole match-up thing to be the result of an impartial lottery draw, every single one of their opponents seemed to be selected carefully to ensure the matches don't end too soon.
For example, Seimei's opponent was from his own clan, Senju Naoki, the wielder of Mud Release Kekkei Genkai.
Although Seimei could still defeat him without breaking a sweat, Naoki's Mud Release and Wind Release Ninjutsu could be quite annoying to deal with, effectively prolonging the match.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Reina's opponent was Hyuga Itsuki.
Seimei couldn't help but suspect that his father wanted to sit back with a bucket of popcorn and watch the two Dojutsu clans bicker with a malicious smile on his face.
Now, that was truly entertaining. Both for him. For the crowd. And for the other Shinobi clans of Konoha.
Good move indeed.
"Alright. Prepare yourself. See you after the tournament," said Kirito as he waved his hand, and walked out of the Team 1-S gathering spot and went to his colleagues.
Seeing this, Nara Shikamo's forehead was filled with imaginary black lines.
But what could he even do?
Nothing.
He took a deep breath and exhaled again before muttering, "Huh! What a drag!"
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