Jugo watched as Kabuto's last companion descended to fight Kankuro, another fight identical to the original.
He wondered if these two were placed together precisely because of what happened to Sasuke.
If Kabuto was suspicious for failing the Chunin Exam seven times and Yoroi was suspicious for displaying skills he'd never shown before, logically the last member should also have problems.
Instead of sending a ninja from his own village to test the waters, it's better to let a ninja from another village do it.
Kankuro was indeed a good option. As the Kazekage's eldest son, he should be able to handle it, right?
Even if not, isn't that better? The fact is, his son lost to a random genin from the village. What does that have to do with me, the Hokage?
Of course, Jugo wasn't sure if all of this was staged, he was just trying to find patterns to pass the time.
In any case, he believes so. After all, they're sneaky ninjas. Isn't it normal to break the rules as long as it's not obvious?
If he wasn't going to do that, wouldn't it have been better to use a box with names on it and remove it immediately?
But Jugo didn't care enough to try to change anything he just hoped this would be over soon.
His thoughts were on how to advance his sequel.
It was impossible to wait a month for that, so he'd have to leave Konoha to let loose or find a way to become stronger right then and there.
Sighing, he watched as the battle began.
It was annoyingly similar to the original. Honestly, that stretching ability is interesting. Maybe he can copy Luffy a bit, but it's probably not that simple.
Bad abilities are always discarded by Orochimaru to be cannon fodder.
If the ability isn't bad, it's probably the user who is bad.
One of the four sound ninjas, Jirobo, can also siphon chakra.
Those four... they're probably at the level of special jonin, but Jugo didn't care about these "copies".
The fact is, Orochimaru's talented people had only one end death.
They either became experiments or were used for reincarnation.
Thus, Orochimaru's useful subordinates are far behind those of other villages, and the reason isn't a lack of talent.
Orochimaru recruits from everyone, but even so, his highest-level combat prowess, Kimimaro, was only preserved because he had an illness and couldn't be reincarnated.
As for why Jugo wasn't targeted? Two reasons, according to Kimimaro.
The first is that Jugo's genetic flaw, madness, is unacceptable to Orochimaru. In fact, the other members of Jugo's clan have likely already been studied to extinction by Orochimaru, so he likely hasn't found a way to maintain his sanity and power.
With the cursed mark, Jugo's power is only slightly superior to the so-called "copies."
Thus, Jugo was never truly targeted in this regard.
The other point is that Jugo doesn't accept the cursed mark.
To put it more bluntly, the cursed mark "corrupts" the target's body with Orochimaru's "breath". The more it is used, the easier it is for Orochimaru to accommodate his soul in the new body.
But the cursed mark has no effect on Jugo. Not only that, but his body absorbs it directly when applied.
Trying to corrupt the source of the curse with the curse itself? It's impossible at the very least, Orochimaru couldn't do it.
So, it's not that Orochimaru doesn't desire Jugo's power. With his skill, Jugo's body would be a huge step forward for him virtually infinite chakra, accelerated recovery, shapeshifting, enhanced chakra...
Unfortunately, these two problems prevent him from achieving this, so Orochimaru can only watch with longing, never getting what he wants.
The battle ended very quickly. The irony was that while Misumi tried to strangle him with her arms, Kankuro strangled him with the arms of his puppet, Karasu.
Looking at the puppet, Jugo became a little intrigued. He remembered that sequence 4 of his pathway was called Puppet. He also remembered that Sharron carried a doll around after advancing. Maybe learning puppetry would help in the future?
Who knows, sequence 4 is still a long way off.
In the end, Misumi suffered several broken bones in his torso and arms and was carried away on a stretcher. His sensei didn't care at all and left with the last of his subordinates.
Orochimaru didn't return and Jugo didn't care if he did, but soon the hidden stone wall rose again, ready to show the next match.
The next match finally made him look up, Sakura vs. Ino.
He paused for a moment, wondering why it was still the same.
He could only think that it was some kind of protection for both of them.
First, they were both very weak. Second, even if they gave it their all, they would still hold back for fear of getting seriously injured. Lastly, this guaranteed that at least one of them would pass. If they were pitted against others, it was practically a foregone conclusion.
Besides, one is a student of the Hokage's son and the other is currently the strongest ninja after the Hokage.
Of course, not considering Jiraiya and Tsunade who never stay in the village.
This could demonstrate an attitude of favoritism toward their subordinates and even if one of them loses, no one will be angry because they are both "friends" and "rivals." Whoever loses will train harder to win next time, so losing isn't really a bad thing.
In short, this makes the teachers happy.
The problem is, they didn't expect this duo to be so "good" that it would even end in a double knockout.
Jugo shook his head and he wasn't even surprised when, as expected, the combat quickly turned into a chicken fight.
The worst part is that their fight was incredibly long, while Kankuro's, which could have been interesting, was quite short.
Jugo grew increasingly bored. He wasn't the only one. Dosu was staring at the ceiling with interest and even Kin had a look of disdain on his face.
Only the Konoha group still seemed interested, even if their motives were different.
Teams 7 and 10 were just supporting their friends. On Team Guy, Guy was a nice guy, Lee liked Sakura, Ten Ten was kind, and Neji... well, Neji was leaning back with his eyes closed, clearly uninterested.
On that side, Gaara was still watching with cold, expressionless eyes. Kankuro seemed amused and Temari seemed to want to go down and finish this herself. Baki followed Gaara with a cold and indifferent look.
In short, this was a fight of mixed emotions.
But the ending was thrilling, well... almost.
A double knockout.
This was unusual, even in the ninja world.
So could it still be considered quality entertainment? Who knows.
In the end, each teacher picked up their student and took them back upstairs.
Jugo looked at Ino's scattered hair and thought it was a waste long hair is the best!
The next fight quickly followed. When the names were announced, Jugo glanced at Kin slightly.
-Tsuchi Kin vs. Ten Ten.- Hayate's voice rang out softly.
Kin smiled happily, finally her turn. She looked at Jugo and spoke. -Don't worry, Jugo-sama, I'll finish this quickly.
Jugo glanced at her lightly and said. -Don't joke.
He wouldn't talk about Ten Ten's weapons, not because he cared more about Dosu than Kin, but because there was no need.
Shino is the kind of ninja who enjoys hidden attacks, like a spider chasing a mosquito, only for the mosquito to fight harder without realizing that fighting harder only tightens its webs around it.
Ten Ten isn't like that, she's a Bukijutsu ninja and very direct.
She has a few tricks, but compared to Kin's genjutsu, she won't be able to fight back.
Of course, as long as Kin doesn't mess around and start monologuing like Dosu.
Jugo decided to encourage the girl a little. -If you win quickly, we can go out to eat just the two of us.
Kin blushed slightly and looked away, but her heart was already beating rapidly.
She nodded quickly before practically skipping away excitedly. -Hai! Jugo-sama!
Dosu, behind them, could only think about how silly Kin is. Anyway, Jugo has no money and she would be the one to pay.
Dosu looked at Jugo with his one eye full of strangeness, but when he saw Jugo turning to him, he quickly looked away.
Jugo, on the other hand, was wondering why Kin had been sent against Ten Ten.
In the original, Ten Ten faced Temari and Kin faced Shikamaru. Why has that changed now?
Jugo looked thoughtful, trying to find a pattern.
The only reason he could think of was Kunoichi versus Kunoichi.
In the original, besides Kin, there were only five other women: Hinata, Ten Ten, Temari, Sakura and Ino.
Sakura faced Ino.
Ten Ten faced Temari.
That leaves Kin and Hinata.
But Hinata was probably scheduled to face Neji, probably some political ploy, Jugo really didn't want to think about.
That left Kin out, which led her to face Shikamaru.
Now, Sakura and Ino had already faced each other, but now Kin took Temari's place. Why?
Jugo was confused, but the beginning didn't wait for him the fight had begun.
.
--x--
.
+11 chapters of Jugo - Father of Devils on P_treon.
+22 chapters of The Legendary Mechanic - Triple Six on P_treon.
P_treon: March_Rain