The Third was furious at this moment, his gaze rarely brimming with killing intent.
From forging the alliance of the five great shinobi villages to now expanding it to encompass all shinobi villages, his plans had been steadily progressing.
This time, hosting the Chunin Exams, his original intent was to use the exams to establish authority, seizing leadership of the shinobi village alliance in one fell swoop.
Everything had been going smoothly, but he never expected that a trivial matter like challenges between participating shinobi would disrupt his entire plan!
If it were just one or two losses, it would've been inconsequential to Hidden Leaf Village, which is why he hadn't paid much attention to it initially.
But things quickly spiraled out of control.
No one could've predicted that a shinobi from Hidden Grass Village would block the gates of Hidden Leaf Hospital to issue challenges, and even more shocking, this Grass shinobi defeated every Hidden Leaf shinobi who responded.
This not only humiliated Hidden Leaf but also thrust the entire village into the storm of public scrutiny, making the Third's next steps nearly impossible to execute!
At today's Five Kage Summit, the Third had painstakingly leveraged the momentum of countering the Akatsuki to get the other four great shinobi villages to restrain their shinobi and mitigate the negative impact. Yet, before the summit even concluded, shinobi from Hidden Sound Village mimicked Hidden Grass, launching another gate-blocking challenge!
"Could someone be orchestrating this behind the scenes?"
Hidden Grass Village hadn't yet recovered from the war in the Land of Grass, unable to even handle some rogue shinobi factions within its borders. Hidden Sound Village was barely a few years old. Even if these two villages got lucky and unearthed one or two prodigies, the Third didn't believe they had the audacity to provoke Hidden Leaf.
Thus, he suspected a hidden force was instigating Hidden Grass and Hidden Sound to challenge Hidden Leaf, aiming to undermine its prestige.
"Could it be Hidden Cloud or Hidden Rock?"
The Third couldn't pinpoint which, but he believed the mastermind was likely one of those two. As for Hidden Mist and Hidden Sand, they hadn't shown any intent to vie for leadership of the shinobi alliance.
At this thought, the Third glanced at Koharu Utatane, who sat nearby sipping tea.
He had to admit, the timing of her pressure on him was impeccable.
…
Near Hidden Leaf Hospital, in a small grove.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The occasional deafening roars and clouds of dust rising into the sky signaled an intense battle raging within the grove!
The fight between Naruto and Kidomaru had entered a fever pitch from the start.
Unable to transform into his tailed beast form within the village, Naruto unleashed Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu paired with Rasengan, launching wave after wave of ferocious attacks on Kidomaru.
Initially, Kidomaru tried to counter Naruto with taijutsu, but he quickly realized Naruto's shadow clones were not only numerous but also formidable in quality. Taijutsu alone couldn't handle them, so he fought while retreating, shifting the battlefield from the open area in front of the hospital to the grove.
With the cover of trees, Kidomaru immediately gained the upper hand.
Like a nimble spider, he darted through the forest, using his web-spinning ability to turn the entire grove into a massive spider's nest. With his innate Spider Nest Domain, he transformed the forest into his home turf.
In this grove, even the slightest tremor could be easily detected by Kidomaru through his threads, allowing him to pinpoint his opponent's location.
Though Naruto lacked strong battlefield analysis skills, he possessed combat instincts that few shinobi could match. He quickly realized Kidomaru's purpose in luring him to the grove. Instead of playing hide-and-seek, Naruto unleashed his shadow clones and began demolishing the trees with Rasengan.
"Tch!"
Hidden within the canopy of a large tree, Kidomaru spat disdainfully.
Though he scoffed, he had to admit Naruto's approach, while crude, was effective if executed well, capable of dismantling his Spider Nest Domain.
…
Outside the grove.
As trees toppled one by one, the onlookers erupted into heated discussions.
Among the three Hidden Sound shinobi, Sakon and Ukon sneered, "Who would've thought Hidden Leaf's jinchuriki is such an idiot!"
Choji, nearby, snapped, "What did you say?"
Other ninja academy students also glared at Sakon and Ukon.
Sakon and Ukon snorted, "I said he's a fool! Does he think destroying the forest will let him beat Kidomaru? How stupid!"
Shikamaru interjected, "This may be a spar, but there are limits to the battlefield. If you keep running away, it's as good as admitting defeat!"
Sakura chimed in, "Exactly! The battle should stay within this grove. Are we supposed to chase you all over the place?"
Tayuya smirked, "Relax. If you manage to drive Kidomaru out of this grove, Hidden Leaf wins! But I'm worried Kidomaru might get carried away and take out your village's jinchuriki!"
"What!?"
The Hidden Leaf group collectively paled.
Ino whispered to Shikamaru, "Should we stop the match?"
Hinata, looking worried, added, "Yeah, if this goes on, will Naruto be in danger?"
Shikamaru replied, "This is Hidden Leaf. They wouldn't dare go too far!"
He said this, but deep down, he wasn't entirely confident.
Injuries were common in shinobi spars, and if the opponent got ruthless, Naruto could be seriously hurt, even if he didn't die.
But then he remembered Tsunade was present. With a medical shinobi of her caliber on-site, even if something went wrong, it shouldn't be a problem.
Using the Telescope Jutsu, the Third observed the battle in the grove from his office.
When he saw Kidomaru turn the entire forest into his domain, forcing Naruto to destroy trees, he let out a sigh.
Then, he dispelled the Telescope Jutsu and said to Koharu Utatane, "Go inform Shinji. The village agrees to his demands!"
With Naruto causing such a scene, even if he won, it wouldn't bring glory to Hidden Leaf—after all, the opponent was just a Hidden Sound shinobi. At this point, the Third had no choice but to concede.
Koharu Utatane wasn't surprised. She slowly rose and left the Hokage's office.
After she departed, Mitokado Homura said, "Hiruzen, you should've relented earlier. This internal conflict is meaningless!"
The Third turned to Homura. "I just didn't want to break the village's rules!"
Homura shook his head and left the Hokage's office as well.
Speaking of breaking rules, the Third had turned a blind eye to Danzo's rule-breaking plenty of times before. In the end, it was because he hadn't taken Uchiha Shinji seriously enough that he found himself in this passive position.
But forcing the Third to concede in this manner made Homura worry about the future for Koharu Utatane and Uchiha Shinji…