Red Nara

Hiruzen was already approaching fifty and had a fair amount of gray hair in his beard (all four of them had hats with the inscription of their respective elements) and wrinkles on his face, but even a blind man wouldn't dare to call him infirm - he was puffing chakra in my sensor senses as well as his neighbors, and even a kind smile couldn't hide the outgoing sense of danger even in the relaxed state of a shinobi.

The Raikage sitting on his right reminded me a lot of the matured Ai - the same massive swarthy blond with a beard, whose muscles couldn't hide even the rather spacious clothes of the ruler of the hidden village. Oonoki, who sat on the other side of him, seemed even smaller than he was. Even though he looked ridiculous, his age was more than respectable for a shinobi and the size of his chakra reserve was not inferior to his colleagues.

Given his ability to fly and his mastery of the three elements, he wasn't the most dangerous among the four. The Kazekage was even a little lost with such ambiguous personalities, being the weakest of the four, despite his genkai genkai magnetism kekkei. He was also the youngest of the four - if I'm not mistaken, he had to be in his early thirties, and he hadn't seen the First Shinobi World War, unlike the rest of his neighbors.

My curiosity about the leaders didn't stop me from following and highlighting the main points in the words of the strongest shinobi speaking, and that's why I reached the important reason why Sarutobi was still sitting on his throne even after the heavy losses in the last war - he knew how to speak to a crowd!

He didn't seem to say anything like that (peace, friendship, tobacco and so on), but even I, who was immune to politicians' propaganda from the TV screen, was left with a positive impression. At least, now it's clear how he managed to shrug off disgruntled clans, get additional funding from the stingy daimyo Ho no Kuni, and take part in pushing through the project of an international chunin exam among his colleagues and the highest officials of other countries.

Talent, my ass! If he had been a little more forward-thinking and not so consistently trying to concentrate all the power in the village in his own hands, while getting rid of his rivals, he would have made a very good ruler.

The last of the kage finished his speech and the newly risen Kazekage announced, to the enthusiastic roar of the crowd, the start of the third tournament. The bored finalists quickly cleared the arena, leaving only two figures.

- Uchiha Kotoko, Konohagakure no Sato vs. Rushi, Sunagakure no Sato, hajime! - With a wave of his hand, the referee jumped to the wall and prepared to watch the fight from there. Well, well, well, let's see what they'll show the audience.

***

There was a tense pause for a while, during which the opponents waited for each other's actions, until almost simultaneously they snapped out of their seats, releasing the iron from their hands.

But that was the end of the similarity, as the sharingan's opponent suddenly rushed forward and fought the invisible opponent, while the Uchiha simply walked around him in an arc and, showing a good stretch, kicked him in the back of the head. The genin from Suna passed out in flight, and I suppressed the urge to go bang my face against the wall - and such an idiot made it to the third round?

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