Five Kage Assemble

"Mu Yue is not suitable to serve as the challenger and drain Sōsuke's Chakra," Hiruzen Sarutobi said bluntly.

During the challenge, Sōsuke would most likely not be ruthless toward Mu Yue. What he was worried about was their allies.

By the time the challenge ended, Sōsuke's Chakra would be depleted, but so would Mu Yue's.

Perhaps the other Ninja Villages would then accidentally injure Mu Yue, whose combat strength had greatly declined.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had always been willing to assume the worst possible intentions from his fellow shinobi.

To reduce their losses and gain benefits, the Hidden Mist Village could stab the three great Ninja Villages in the back and turn against Konoha.

To preserve their interests, Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Sunagakure could put aside their old hatred and form an alliance.

Ninja Villages had always placed interests first. As long as the benefits were great enough, there was nothing they would not do.

And for every Ninja Village outside Konoha, what would be the best possible outcome of the Martial Arts Tournament? Successfully killing Sōsuke?

No, it would be for Sōsuke and Mu Yue to die together!

The two of them were far too exceptional for the current shinobi world. No one wanted a ninja from another village to become that powerful.

"Third Hokage, you are underestimating the younger generation a little. Everyone has witnessed the Fourth Hokage's strength. Though he is young, he may not be much weaker than Sōsuke," Ōnoki refuted.

Judging from Mu Yue's performance in the final battle of the Third Great Ninja War, there was still quite a gap between him and Sōsuke.

However, two years had passed, and Mu Yue had surely improved. Since Ōnoki wanted Mu Yue to participate, he naturally had to praise him more. Words were free, anyway.

"The Fourth Hokage's