Fights!

Tsunade noticed Mei's facial expression and chuckled in amusement. She could more or less guess what Mei was thinking.

"You are wondering why he is still a genin despite how strong he is, right?"

Mei nodded her head in acknowledgment, so Tsunade resumed speaking.

"He's an idiot that is constantly running around with restriction seals on him, so very few people know how strong he really is. I could just make a special exception and promote him, but that would bring some political annoyances due to him not being able to use Ninjutsu."

"And you wanted to flaunt Konoha's strength by letting him win this exam."

Tsunade and Mei both ignored Yuna's interruption and continued talking with each other.

"What happened to him during the last chunin exam in Konoha? It appears he was already quite strong then, so why didn't he make it into the finals?"

"That's because he had to fight the monster behind me before the third round."

"Ah, my condolences."

While Tsunade and Mei were chatting, Gaara decided to take part in the conversation as well.

"There might actually be someone who could be Lee's opponent. His name is Shira, and just like Lee, he can only use Taijutsu."

Tsunade looked at Gaara in surprise when he said that.

"Oh? To think there would be another person that specializes in Taijutsu. Their fight should be interesting."

Gaara nodded his head in agreement while his gaze returned to the middle of the arena, where the second fight had just finished.

Sai defeated a small girl with big eyes from Suna. Her name was Yome. She could change her vision like a telescope and zoom in and out with them, making it possible to see small objects, even if they are far away. Unfortunately, that didn't help her much when a flock of ink-drawn tigers attacked her, so Sai defeated her quickly.

The next match was the previously mentioned Shira against Tenten, which ended rather quickly as well. Although Tenten was very precise with her weapons, Shira was simply too fast for her, and the moment he closed the distance between them, it was game over for Tenten.

The next match was Kaito, a man with red hair wielding two one-handed swords against Sen, a woman with sandy-brown hair specializing in Genjutsu. Unfortunately for Sen, Kaito quickly got out of her Genjutsu and didn't give her enough time to create something more potent, resulting in her defeat.

With the end of this fight, the first round of the tournament was over. Since there were a total of 12 remaining participants, a small extra round had to be held to reduce that number to eight. In conclusion, the eight remaining contestants and the people they will be fighting against are:

Lee vs Sai

Shira vs Kaito

Karin vs Haru

Neji vs Hisoka

So without further ado, the next match started, and unlike Lee's first fight that ended with one attack, this one wasn't such an easy victory. Sai was used to fighting Yuna, so he wasn't overwhelmed by Lee's speed and could somewhat react to it. But unfortunately for him, Lee didn't give him the time to use any of his drawings due to his fast attacks, which significantly decreased Sai's combat strength.

Back in the VIP viewing stand, Yuna couldn't help but chuckle at Sai's misfortune, which caused Tsunade to look at her weirdly.

"Isn't he your student?"

Yuna suppressed another chuckle and waved Tsunade's question away.

"Mah, he will be fine. It's not like they are fighting to the death after all. Besides that, I always found it amusing how much people are looking down on Taijutsu in favor of flashy Ninjutsu. No matter how outstanding your Ninjutsu skills are, they won't help you much when someone significantly faster than you is beating you up."

Tsunade nodded in agreement when she heard Yuna's words. In fact, Tsunade herself used pretty much no Ninjutsu, but people tend to ignore that and still look down on Taijutsu. Well, people barely talk about her combat strength and focus on her medical skills instead, so it can't be helped.

A few minutes of struggling later, Sai was defeated with a punch to the face, and Lee was declared the winner of the match.

Moments later, the next pair, Shira and Kaito, entered the arena and started fighting. While Shira was fighting barehanded, Kaito used two one-handed swords, which immediately brought Shira into a disadvantageous situation.

Yuna shook her head when she saw Shira getting suppressed so easily.

"He isn't used to fighting people holding swords."

Gaara agreed with Yuna's statement with a nod.

"That can't be helped; Suna isn't exactly known for their sword users. Even if he wanted to train fighting sword users, there are no good sparring partners for him. But Shira won't lose so easily; he still has a few tricks up his sleeve."

As if he heard Gaara's words, Shira's chakra started moving and covered his body like an invisible film, and moments later, the momentum of the fight was turned around. Kaito became the one who was struggling.

Yuna looked at the technique Shira just used with some interest and moments later nodded in approval.

"Not bad. He cloaks his whole body in chakra to suppress the noise he makes while moving. It's somewhat similar to Hinata's technique, but on a smaller scale and with normal chakra instead of water-natured one. Although it can throw your opponent off when you no longer make any sounds while moving, this technique isn't that great in a one-on-one fight and can be used relatively efficiently for assassination instead."

Gaara wasn't surprised that Yuna analyzed Shira's technique so quickly and nodded his head in agreement.

"Indeed, but this should give him the edge in this fight."

"Hehe, aren't you underestimating the genin I sent a little? Kaito isn't defeated yet."

"Considering the weapons he uses, I assume lightning?"

"Correct~ The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist are rather famous globally, despite quite a few of their famous swords getting stolen and their wielders killed. So, I want to resurrect the legend of The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Personally, I think being allowed to carry one of the famous blades made quite a few of them complacent. In the later generations, it wasn't the swordsmen themselves who were strong, but the blades. This time, their weapons will be normal, so the person needs to be strong instead."

Yuna nodded in approval when she heard Mei's words. As someone who never carries a weapon and always makes them out of ice, she can easily understand Mei's logic.

Moments later, Kaito's two swords started glowing as lightning chakra was infused into them.

Yuna could only shake her head when she saw that.

"Sloppy."

Mei chuckled in amusement when she heard Yuna's assessment but agreed with it.

"He decided on this path only a few months ago, so it can't be helped that he isn't used to infusing two blades with chakra yet."

Yuna nodded her head in understanding as her gaze returned to the middle of the arena. Kaito's swords became sharper and faster, but since he needed to concentrate on keeping the chakra flow in his swords steady, his movements became a little less coordinated as well. All in all, the two people are now evenly matched.

Shira also noticed that, so instead of fighting a long and drawn-out fight, he decided to reveal another one of his trump cards.

"[Seven Heavens Breathing Method: First Activation]"

"Finally, someone with at least a somewhat decent naming sense. Well, the "First Activation" part is pretty lame, but the "Seven Heavens Breathing Method" has a good ring to it."

The other people in the VIP box rolled their eyes at Yuna's comment but didn't say anything about it. Instead, they looked at Shira, whose eyes had become white, while a yellow aura surrounded him.

He bent his knees and jumped towards Kaito at high speed. Kaito's eyes widened in surprise at the sudden increase in speed but reacted nonetheless.

His swords slashed towards Shira, but he disappeared before they could reach him, dodging the attack. Before Kaito could react, Shira appeared next to him and smashed his fist into Kaito's stomach, sending him flying into the arena wall and knocking him out.

Shira was declared the winner, and Mei couldn't help but click her tongue in annoyance at another one of her genin getting defeated. Right now, only Haru was left, and Mei had little confidence that she would win against Karin. After all, Yuna's people tend to be abnormally strong, and Karin was one of those people.