In Kirigakure, Soji, the Fifth Mizukage, had a terrible headache!
In the blink of an eye, nearly a month had passed since Kakashi's diplomatic visit to Kirigakure, yet Soji still had not managed to assemble a powerful team of Kirigakure genin.
As one of the hosts, Kirigakure planned to send seven genin teams to participate in the Chunin Exams this time.
Putting together seven genin teams was easy enough, but assembling a genin team with real weight behind it was not so simple.
After all their picking and choosing, the genin Kirigakure had selected were merely average, with no great gap in strength between them.
If they went to the Chunin Exams at that level, they would basically just be making up the numbers.
They would be nameless extras, stepping stones for the protagonists.
Konoha's current batch of genin included the Konoha 12 Genin!
And they were the Konoha 12 Genin, vastly stronger than in the original story!
Among them, Neji, Naruto, and Sasuke stood out the most.
If those three made a move, they could sweep aside all the other genin.
How were the other ninja villages supposed to compete with that?
If Kirigakure sent out seven utterly ordinary genin teams, they probably would not even make it to the third exam.
That would be a disgrace to all of Kirigakure!
Sunagakure at least had Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro to hold up the fort.
But what did Kirigakure have?
Of all the genin names submitted by his subordinates, only one caught Soji's eye: Chojuro, the future Sixth Mizukage from the original story.
As for the rest, they were not complete trash, but compared to the Konoha 12 Genin and the Fourth Kazekage Rasa's three children, they were far inferior.
But Chojuro alone was not enough!
If Kirigakure, one of