Taiseki was another Genin from Iwagakure. He had been teamed with Dong Shiren and Mahiru, and had helped Kitsuchi drive off Shinnosuke and Hiashi during the preliminary test. He had never crossed paths with Akaseki or Ranwu.
As one of Iwagakure's representative Genin, he was certainly no pushover. His Ninjutsu and Taijutsu fundamentals were solid; with enough experience, he could easily have qualified as an Elite Chunin.
Against Ranwu, however, he still fell short. All he managed was to drain another portion of her chakra.
Then—
More challengers appeared.
This time, Ranwu chose one of them—the one she considered the strongest!
"Defending champion Ranwu will face Iwagakure Genin Wenya. Everyone else, leave the arena," Hatake announced.
"Huh? That Wenya guy—isn't he Iwagakure's strongest after Kitsuchi?" Akaseki wondered.
Wenya was powerfully built, but unlike the somewhat bulky Suikazan, his bulk was all muscle!
He was also Ōnoki's student, highly skilled in Earth Style and Taijutsu. He had been teamed with Kitsuchi earlier, and in some areas, he was even stronger than Kitsuchi.
If she wanted a weak opponent, Wenya should have been the last person she picked—
"Because she can't keep going," Minato said, shaking his head helplessly.
"Huh?" Akaseki froze.
"With her chakra being depleted fight after fight, it's hard for a defending champion to keep winning. Rather than let weaker opponents drain her dry, she might as well try to eliminate another village's strongest Genin. That also gives her a better chance to show what she can do," Minato explained.
Only then did Akaseki realize how much thought went into this.
Of course, none of that had much to do with him—
He was the last defending champion anyway, so he didn't need to worry about when to enter. Besides, he'd already settled on his strategy—just get in there