A few moments prior, in the Kage booth:

“Vacuum style and physical prowess similar to Tsunade. I must say that these Exams are turning out to be rather interesting, wouldn’t you say, Kazekage-dono?” Orochimaru spoke with apparent, perverse glee, not expecting any answer.

Sure, these two S-rank kunoichi were a massive surprise for him. But they were not a reason for worry. Heh. At least, not for him. Orochimaru gave a side-glance at Rasa, who looked very grave, and his grin widened.

His goal here was to kill Sarutobi. Anything else was simply a bonus. And with his pre-arranged barrier, there would be no interference. The one to face these two would be Rasa, Suna ninjas, and the Oto ninjas. But Orochimaru didn’t really care about his ninja forces. They were barely a good distraction. Whether they faced Jonin or S-rank ninjas did not matter. They would fulfill their role and die anyway.

Not killing Rasa was clearly the correct choice! Seeing the proud man with ambitions beyond him have such a grave expression as he realized he fucked up… Ah~, Orochimaru couldn’t get enough of it.

But Rasa could not back away now. It was far too late for that. He had no way to call off his forces. That just made the entire situation more hilarious in Orochimaru’s opinion!

He really wondered how many Suna ninjas would die today. Would Suna be able to even retain their position as one of the Great Five? Even without two unexpected S-rank kunoichi, that was a massive maybe. With them? Hehe. It is going to be a massacre.

Orochimaru genuinely felt proud of orchestrating this masterpiece.

He never really cared about the destruction of Konoha. Danzo would not have helped him if that was his goal. Say what you want about the old warhawk, but the prosperity of Konoha was always at the forefront of his mind.

Or at least, his idea of its prosperity.

Konoha was never going to be destroyed by the Suna and Oto alliance. Orochimaru knew that. He served the village long enough to determine this. Only Rasa would be foolish enough to think this plan was going to work.

But what did that have to do with him? No matter how many Oto or Suna ninjas die today, as long as Sarutobi dies, Orochimaru would count the invasion as a success. His revenge would be fulfilled.

But for now, he was satisfied with seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi looking constipated as he watched the two S-rank kunoichi duke it out in the competition for genin.

Right in front of many important nobles, merchants, and more importantly, envoys of other hidden villages who probably would have a lot to say about letting S-rank kunoichi attend Chunin Exams this blatantly.

‘Heh. Hah. Hahahahhaha!’ Orochimaru cackled in his mind. Konoha’s righteous image was finished.

A decade of effort to sabotage it didn’t have the same effect as these two foolish girls! Wasn’t that just great!?

And better yet? Sarutobi had no idea! Orochimaru could tell from his expression. This was getting better and better by the second. He almost contemplated not killing the old monkey just to let him experience the absolute diplomatic fallout from this level of fuck up.

Sure. The Chunin Exams were made into a joke many times in the past. Villages making low-level Jonin compete under the guise of genin rank was nothing unheard of. Delaying promotions of genin that deserved them just so the village could send them to the Chunin Exams and show off to potential clients was practically a normal thing.

Most of the participants who manage to get to the last part of the Exams are already chunin, if not more, ability-wise. Not just in the current exams, but in all Chunin Exams.

But appearances need to be maintained for the sake of politics.

It was fine if Sabaku no Temari was revealed to be a Jonin-level combatant but still ranked as a genin. She was Sunagakure’s princess. She was expected to be trained since she left the crib. She was one of the Kazekage’s possible successors.

But if some no-name orphan kid was revealed to have Jonin-level prowess? What message would that send? What would the other villages think? They would certainly see it as a setup.

It was all about excuses. There was a line of propriety that should not be crossed. An image that a village needed to uphold.

If these two girls were low Jonin-ranked combatants? The other villages would not be happy. Not at all. But they would have no other choice but to reluctantly swallow their complaints. The girls were the heirs of their clans.

It could be argued that they received relentless training and were held back for safety reasons.

But S-rank? In Chunin Exams?

There was no possible excuse that could be used to salvage this level of diplomatic explosion. Not even Kumo with their audacity would have the brass balls to send an S-rank ninja to compete with genin.

Because this was a political and social suicide of the highest order for Konoha. It was simply unreasonable.

Yes. Chunin Exams existed to show off the villages’ prowess and to attract clients. But it had to be done in a way that would not piss everybody else off. In a way that would not touch their pride and bottom line.

Wars were started for less.

Hiruzen looked pale as if death warmed him over, while Orochimaru was over the moon. This day couldn’t possibly get any better!

“What about you, Hokage-dono? This is a very bold move on Konoha’s part.” Since Rasa decided to stay silent, Orochimaru changed his target and decided to annoy Hiruzen instead.

Hearing his question, Hiruzen’s mood soured even more. What had he done to deserve this? Not only did he have an upcoming disaster on his shoulders, but even his traitorous disciple sat to his left, mocking him.

Inwardly sighing, Hiruzen ruefully wished he could take a long drag from his pipe. At least that piece of polished wood was still loyal, unlike his students.

“It is what it is.” Hiruzen softly responded, giving Orochimaru a glance full of contempt. “We have two very young S-rank kunoichi. What’s wrong with showing them off? Anyone who complains is just jealous!” He proudly declared and did a small victory dance in his mind when he noticed that even Orochimaru became speechless at his audacity. Rasa’s jaw actually dropped for a split second before he gathered his wits.

Hiruzen smirked. These kids were a hundred years too early to compete with him.

This was a diplomatic disaster, but to hell with it! He was too old for this shit, and he knew how to take his wins with his losses.

Konoha was going to lose some business and agreements with other ninja villages and countries. Fortunately, the village had a very good relationship with their Daimyo, who could and would happily bankroll their financial losses.

It didn’t matter. Konoha could take the consequences head-on.

What did matter was the fact that Konoha now had two new S-rank ninjas. And that was going to make the other villages wary of starting any serious trouble.

The thing that gave Hiruzen his headache was that he could already foresee all the pointless meetings he would have to attend because of this. This will practically double his paperwork for the foreseeable future.

Somebody was going to get caned for this with his favorite staff. And unfortunately for the poor seal-obsessed chap, Hiruzen knew exactly who to blame for this clusterfuck.

Oh, he probably didn’t understand all the intricacies of inter-village politics and diplomacy when he green-lit his students to do this stunt. But as a kind and generous elder, Hiruzen was going to take it as his duty to educate the youngster about his mistakes.

Enma was going to get a real workout very soon.

“Is that your stance, Hokage?” Rasa, with a very dark expression, asked in a frigid tone, gritting his teeth in outrage. “This is blatant cheating.”

“We are ninja.” Hiruzen chuckled. “Besides, as a man who let his Jonin-level daughter compete here, you have no right to give me a lecture about cheating, do you, Kazekage-dono?”

As Hiruzen asked that, his tone was light and amused, which only made Rasa angrier because he had no good way of refuting it.

Orochimaru opened his mouth to speak, only for the entire arena to suddenly shake. The heads of the three Kages instantly whipped back toward the fight, noticing that the pressure from Hinata’s punch had shattered several reinforced layers of the wall, causing the protective seals to show up for the second time during the match.

Seeing the audience panic in fear, Hiruzen’s lips pursed.

“I am afraid this can’t be allowed to continue.” He said with a frown. “I am sorry, Otokage, Kazekage-dono, but in these circumstances, I am forced to interrupt the current fight and postpone the remaining ones for safety reasons.” Hiruzen reluctantly shook his head. “The walls of the arena will be rebuilt and reinforced with better seals in three days. We can continue then.”

“Naturally, Hinata and Ino will be disqualified for the destruction of the arena.” Hiruzen added after a brief pause. This was more or less to appease the anger of other villages and Rasa.

Honestly, it was an empty gesture to maintain a proper image. With how powerful the girls were, they were going to be fast-tracked to Jonin anyway. Their participation in the Chunin Exams was no longer relevant.

Too absorbed in his worries, Hiruzen missed the alarm in Orochimaru and Rasa’s eyes as they exchanged a glance.

Postponing the matches for three days? They could not have that! Their armies were already nearing Konoha. The invasion was supposed to happen today!

They could not just tell them, “Oh, just camp at Konoha’s gates for three days. The defenders will surely understand and pretend you are not there!”

With gloomy looks, Orochimaru and Rasa reached a silent consensus. This was happening. Right now!

“Don’t worry, Rasa-dono. I am going to reprimand the girls severely.” Hiruzen continued speaking and turned toward Rasa just in time to notice the naked hostility in the red-haired Kazekage’s eyes as white feathers started filling the arena.

That warning was what saved Hiruzen from being injured as he reacted in time and jumped back just as several sharp sand spikes skewered the chair where he had sat just a moment ago.

“Kazekage! What is the meaning of th-?” Hiruzen exclaimed, his hands already joined in the middle of hand seals, when suddenly, he felt a nudge of substitution.

But it was not forceful. The chakra belonged to one of his bodyguards, so Hiruzen let it whisk him away as he was substituted with Gekko Hayate.

Only to witness Orochimaru’s sword exit Hayate’s chest as it pierced him straight through the heart from behind. Hayate let out a confused, bloody cough for one last time before becoming limp and falling to the ground while Hiruzen heard an anguished cry from one of his ANBU guards while Orochimaru coldly pulled his sword out of the corpse and flicked it to the side to get rid of the blood before turning toward Hiruzen with a mocking smirk.

“You should have expected this, Sarutobi-sensei.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep