"Special Jonin?"
Hyuga Kagami gently shook his head.
In the original timeline, Kimimaro had been critically ill and could only barely sustain his life with medication, yet he had nearly killed Gaara, who was about to succeed as the Fifth Kazekage.
Even if his combat strength had not quite reached true Kage level, he was at least on the level of an Elite Jonin.
And judging by the timing, Kimimaro was still more than a year away from becoming critically ill. He should currently be at the peak of his strength. If he unleashed the Earth Curse Mark and fought without regard for his life, he could definitely reach Kage-level combat power.
Jiraiya frowned deeply. "This Chunin Exams doesn't look too promising!"
Tsunade nodded as well.
She had originally been very confident in the village's Genin, but the other villages had clearly broken all limits, sending people who obviously possessed Jonin-level strength—or even Kage-level strength—to take part in the exams.
Compared to those monsters, the village's Genin clearly could not compete.
The Third Hokage took a puff from his pipe and said, "It seems we need to revise our strategy."
Utatane Koharu immediately understood. "Yes, the other villages are also competing against one another. Someone like Iwagakure's Deidara should draw special attention from every village, so we can win over contestants from the other villages and deal with Iwagakure's team first."
Jiraiya hesitated before saying, "But will that be useful? Deidara has already mastered Dust Release. Perhaps he alone can sweep through everyone."
From behind the Hokage's desk, Hyuga Kagami said, "He can't."
Otogakure.
While Konoha's upper ranks urgently discussed the Chunin Exams, Orochimaru also summoned Kimimaro, who had finished all preparations and was about to depart with his team.
After bowing to Orochimaru, Kimimaro respectfully asked, "Lord Orochimaru,