Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped his pipe helplessly and complained with a smile.
"That Jiraiya. Whenever we need him to put in an appearance, he's never around."
He rested his pipe on the edge of the ashtray and looked at the two beside him.
"Oh well, one less won't hurt. Tell me honestly, who has the best chance of taking first place in this year's individual matches?"
"Amamiya Maki."
Tsunade and Orochimaru answered in unison, their agreement almost absurd.
Tsunade glanced sideways at Orochimaru, looking a little surprised. His expression remained blank, his golden slit pupils narrowing slightly in the morning light as he calmly added his analysis.
"If Minato Namikaze uses Flying Thunder God to its fullest, he has a seventy percent chance of reaching the finals. The teleportation speed of Flying Thunder God: Second Step, combined with tactics that integrate offense and defense, gives him a tremendous advantage in individual matches."
"But against Amamiya Maki, his chances of winning would be cut in half. Maki's Chidori Stream generates a wide-area electric field that would interfere with Flying Thunder God's spatial trajectories, greatly reducing Minato's teleportation accuracy."
Hiruzen Sarutobi pressed further. "What about Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder?"
"That's a strategic-level ninjutsu. It's simply unsuitable for one-on-one combat."
Orochimaru explained evenly.
"Minato has only succeeded with it once in training so far. It's extremely unstable. But give him a year to refine it, and it will become one of Konoha's finest defensive techniques."
"Then Maki could use Chidori Stream and Rasengan for close-range assaults, while Minato clears away every ranged attack from the rear with Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder. That two-man combination could crush an enemy army of any size head-on."
Hiruzen Sarutobi leaned forward slightly and asked the question weighing most heavily on his mind.
"Then do you think