Inside the chunnin exam arena,

Tsunade, Rasa, and Mei are seated in the VIP Section as they stare at the arena. ​​

Many civilians and shinobis came to watch the final battles as there is a hustle-bustle in the arena.

"I am so excited to watch so many ninjas fight." Ayaka is seated with Aiko and Akira in the audience seats.

"Where is Onii-san?" She looks around but fails to find Izuna.

"He is up there." Akira points towards the VIP Kage seats.

"Your Onii-san is acting as a bodyguard for the Hokage-sama. He is fulfilling his duty as a shinobi." Aiko caress Ayaka's head.

"Wow! Onii-san is so awesome." Ayaka's eyes shine brightly.

"Of course, he is… he is my son afterall." Akira proudly raises his head.

Aww…

Aiko elbows him as she has a smile on her face.

"Ara… you forgot about me."

"How could I? He is our son afterall." Akira has tears in his eyes as he forces a smile.

"Yes… I will also become a cool ninja-like Onii-san." Ayaka nods her head.

"You will definitely be a cool ninja." Akira pats her head as he turns towards Fugaku and Yagami.

Both of them nod to him as he gets up from his seat.

"Ayaka… father has some work to handle. Till then, why don't you watch the fights with your mother and aunt."

"Okay!" Ayaka nods her head as she is being pampered by Fumiko and Mito.

"Such a good girl."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are seated with the other members of Konoha 11 as Ino and Sakura linger around Sasuke like flies lingering around honey.

"Ino-pig get away from my Sasuke-kun." Sakura hugs Sasuke's arm.

A frown appears on Sasuke's face as he is annoyed by her.

"Shut-up you 'billboard brow'. You have been hogging up Sasuke-kun all by yourself." Ino pushes away Sakura.

"What a drag!" Shikamaru lazily rests on his seat as he stares at the arena.

Chomp… chomp…

Choji gobbles down one snack after another.

"I have prepared enough snacks for the entire tournament." He picks up a giant bag full of snacks.

"You want some." Choji passes a packet to Naruto.

"Ah… I am fine. I am not hungry."

"Such a shameless sight." Neji snorts at the sight of Sakura and Ino fighting each other.

"Lady Hinata will never stoop as low as them."

"Umm… Naruto-kun, I made this for you."

Hinata walks in front of Naruto and passes a box to him. She has a blush on her face as she stretches her arms and passes the box to Naruto.

"What's in this?" Naruto asks her.

"I… I baked some cookies for you. I hope you will like them." Hinata replies with a shy smile.

"Oh! I am not that hungry." Naruto scratches his head.

"Did someone say cookies?" Choji turns towards them.

He grabs the box from Hinata and opens his mouth wide and gobbles all of them in a bite.

Huh!

Hinata's expression freezes as she turns around and runs away with a tear in her eyes.

"Naruto-kun! You Baka."

"Huh! Did I do something wrong?" Naruto cluelessly scratches his head.

"NARUTO!!" Neji activates his Byakugan as he angrily stares at Naruto.

"Hinata-sama…" He chases after Hinata before giving a last glare at Naruto.

"But what did I do?" Naruto looks around cluelessly.

"Naruto… you knucklehead." Tenten angrily glares at him.

"Naruto-kun… you have lost the way of youth. Come with me and I will guide you to the springtime of Youth." Lee spins in front of Naruto and stretches his arms.

Bang…

Tenten smashes Lee's head with a hammer.

"Don't make it worse."

"ALL OF YOU SHUT UP. YOU ARE SO ANNOYING!"

Sasuke yells to silence them.

In the VIP area,

Izuna is standing beside Tsunade and Mei as he keeps a constant eye on the cloaked figure.

'Since I can't read him, I will have to be ready for his movement.'

The cloaked figure stares at the arena as he scrutinizes the audience.

'None of them match my requirements.' He continues to watch the people as his eyes fall on Ayaka.

Hmm…

His eyes stay on her for a while as a strange light flicker through his eyes.

Izuna senses a small fluctuation of chakra near the cloaked figure. He immediately puts up his guard as he scrutinizes the figure.

Huh!

The figure ignores him as his eyes continue to linger towards the Uchiha family.

Izuna follows his gaze as Ayaka appears in his vision. His expression turns ugly as he clutches his fists.

'What's this bastard planning? He better not have any bad intentions for Ayaka or he will see the worst side of me.'

Crack… crack…

Izuna knuckles crack from the pressure.

"Are you alright?" Mei and Tsunade question him as they notice his expression.

"I am good. The chunnin exam just reminded me of my chunnin promotion during the era of the Third Ninja War." Izuna takes a deep breath to calm his emotions.

"Good." Both of them nods their head as they turn towards the arena.

Might Guy walks in the center of the arena as he stares at the crowd.

"Ladies and Gentleman! I Might Guy, Konoha's Sublime beast of prey would be the referee for this tournament. I am here to judge the youthfulness of each enthusiastic genin aiming to become a chunnin."

Guy does his signature gentleman pose as he flashes a smile brighter than stars and a thumb higher than a mountain.

Boo… boo…

The crowd instantly boos him.

"This Guy. I knew it… it was a bad idea to make him the referee of this tournament." Kakashi shakes his head as he stares at Guy.

"Ah! Nii-san insisted on making him the referee. So, I can't say anything." Shisui scratches his head.

"At least, the crowd won't be bored this way." Itachi tries to show the brighter side of the decision.

"Well… I can't agree more." Kakashi nods his head as he notices the enthusiasm of the crowd.

"Let's get back to the guard duty of Daimyo-sama."

Kakashi walks towards another section of the VIP area.

"Daimyo-sama decided to spectate the final phase of the chunnin exam. He just mentioned his desire a day before the exam. We can only agree to his demand." Shisui shakes his head as he follows Kakashi.

"Izuna told us that Daimyo-sama is like a golden egg-laying goose. We have to handle him carefully." Kakashi laughs at the analogy.

"Can't blame him? Nii-san set up a gambling den and Daimyo-sama would be one of our most rich costumers." Shisui remarks.

"Just make sure to remind Daimyo-sama about the gambles." Kakashi enters the VIP area to act as a guard.

Shisui turns towards Itachi and pats his shoulder.

"Itachi… you will be the leader of the team for this mission. I believe in your abilities and I hope you too."

"Leave it to me, Nii-san." Itachi nods his head as he unites with Team Ro.

He puts up his anbu mask and disappears from Shisui's vision.

Haah…

"I feel like I am being left in the dust. My goal was to always be a great ninja like Izuna Nii-san, but he is on an entirely different level. Now, even Itachi caught up to me or probably is on the verge of surpassing me.

Looks like I can't slack anymore. After this mission, I will retire from Anbu and search for my Ninja way." Shisui takes a deep breath and enters the VIP section.

Ahem…

"So, without any further delay, let's start with the first round of contestants." Might guy clear his throat as he announces the beginning of the tournament.

"Our first pair of contestants are Kegon from Takigakure and Kaito from Sunagakure."

Guy announces the matchup.

Kegon and Kaito enter the arena from opposite gates.

"Izuna, I want to place my bet on Kegon. He seems to be quite strong." Tsunade places her bet.

"…"

'She can never win. Can she?'

Izuna shakes his head and signals to Yugao who is handling the gambling den.

"I will place my bet on that Kaito guy." The Daimyo consults with retainer as he places his bet.

"I will take care of that." Kakashi nods his head and places the bet.

Kegon and Kaito confront each other as Guy stands in between them.

He raises his hand and signals them to start.

Swoosh… bang…

Kaito immediately opens his fan and waves it to release a powerful gust of wind.

The gust catches Kegon off-guard and slams him into the wall of the arena.

Aah…

Tsunade's cheerful expression freezes as she stares at the arena with wide eyes.

Fufu…

Mei chuckles softly.

"No wonder, they call you the legendary sucker. You have never won any gamble."

"I called it." Izuna raises his hands.

Sob… sob…

Some tears appear in Tsunade's eyes as she draws circles with her finger.

"This sucks. Why can't I win any gamble?"

"Calm down, Tsunade-san. At least you don't have to worry about the gamble expense. Izuna-kun is taking care of that." Mei calms her down.

Izuna pales as almost slips on his feet.

'Women! Such a dangerous creature.'