"Number twenty-five, Mei Terumi versus number thirty, Obito Uchiha!"
As the referee's voice reached the waiting room, Mei Terumi and Obito quickly made their way to the arena.
"I'm already the best-performing Hidden Mist Village ninja. I shouldn't disappoint Genji, but I still need to do my best to make it into the top four. Only the top four receive rewards in this match," Mei Terumi thought.
Even the fourth-place prize was a Chakra Blade worth tens of millions of ryo.
If Mei Terumi sold it, the money would be more than enough to commission the collection of every flavor of ice cream in the ninja world.
"I absolutely can't lose. There's still one punishment slot left," Obito thought with a grave expression.
The rules they had set were that the first two disciples eliminated would receive the same punishment as losing the internal spar. Since Nohara Rin was not participating, one more disciple had to be eliminated before Obito could escape the suffering of doing problems.
For the sake of his wonderful future, he absolutely could not fall here. No matter what, he had to advance to the top four!
With that thought, Obito looked at Mei Terumi. She happened to be looking at him as well. Both saw intense fighting spirit in the other's eyes and understood that each of them had a reason they had to win.
"Mei Terumi's Water Release is so strong, and her Hidden Mist Jutsu can block the Sharingan's vision. She really seems to counter Obito," Nohara Rin said from the stands, worried about Obito's upcoming battle.
"This is the level of battle the quarterfinals should have. Before this, he was just lucky enough to face opponents who were too weak," Kakashi said.
By the quarterfinal stage, there were no weak ninjas left.