Flourishing

"Obito Uchiha wins!"

Seeing that the battle had reached its conclusion, the referee announced Obito's victory.

Once again, a young genius had defeated a Kage—and Obito was even younger. Heated discussion erupted from the stands.

"The ninja world really is full of hidden talents. Without this tournament, who could have imagined that two young geniuses possessed the strength to defeat Kage?"

Some sighed at the flourishing strength of the current generation of ninja, with each genius proving more exceptional than the last.

"I wonder who's stronger, Obito Uchiha or Nagato."

Some were curious about which of the two, Obito or Nagato, was more monstrous.

"They'll face each other next round, so we'll find out then. But Nagato should be stronger, right? After all, he's several years older."

Most people favored Nagato.

Though both had defeated Kage, Nagato had clearly won more effortlessly than Obito, suppressing the Third Mizukage from beginning to end.

"I'm really looking forward to the quarterfinals in five days. I wonder if there'll be another upset like today's."

Some spectators wished they could skip straight ahead to the next round.

Compared to the third round, the intensity of the quarterfinals would rise by another level. All the ordinarily famous powerhouses had been eliminated.

Those who had reached the quarterfinals were either peerless experts like the Third Raikage, Third Hokage, and Third Tsuchikage, or incredible dark horses like Obito and Kakashi. There was no shortage of spectacle.

"Fourth Hokage-sama actually lost!"

The Sunagakure ninja in the stands all wore extremely ugly expressions.

They had no mind left for the tournament. Every one of them looked as though the sky had fallen.

Perhaps their only consolation was the Hidden Mist Village, fellow sufferers in the same predicament.

At least they were not the only ones who had lost. They