Unrivaled That Year

"The winner of this year's Best Village Evening Performance Award is Sarutobi Sachima, a Konoha Chunin, for his performance of I Guard Konoha's Borders!

..."

Onstage, Master Minato held the freshly tallied voting results—absolutely fair, impartial, and transparent—and made the announcement.

The Uchiha Clan's Fire Style performance and the White Album Trio's Unreachable Love took second and third place respectively.

A fix!

Uchiha Mai looked utterly bewildered. What was going on?

The applause had clearly been loudest during the Uchiha Fire Style performance and the White Album Trio's act. How had the Best Performance award gone to someone else?

"Uncle, who is this Sachima?" Uchiha Mai quietly leaned closer to Fugaku and asked in a low voice.

"He's the Third Hokage's son."

Fugaku explained softly as well, "He's a few years older than Asuma. His talent isn't particularly exceptional, but he makes up for it by being serious and hardworking."

So that was it.

A fix! A blatant, naked fix!

After a night of revelry, Konoha returned to normal, and Uchiha Mai began preparing for the upcoming Chunin Ninja Exams.

The next day, Fugaku summoned Uchiha Mai to his home.

"Clan Head, what is it?" Uchiha Mai asked, glancing around. Besides him, two clansmen around twelve or thirteen years old were sitting in the living room.

"Sit first."

Fugaku gestured for Uchiha Mai to take a seat, then brought over a tea set. As he brewed tea, he explained, "I've heard a bit about these Chunin Ninja Exams as well.

"I hear Kirigakure has sent young members of the Kaguya and Yuki clans, along with two somewhat famous young prodigies, intending to claim the top spot in one stroke during the Chunin Ninja Exams.

"Our Land of Fire possesses the most fertile land and the richest resources in the Ninja