Chojuro didn’t try fighting the Shadow Possession for too long. There was a thing called knowing when you are beaten and Ringo made sure it was beaten into the Kiri recruits fairly early on.

After all, nobody could know if there will be an opportunity to escape once you get captured. Hence, surrendering was preferable.

The whole order of importance of actions in Kirigakure was winning… and if that can’t be done then escaping. If escaping was not an option, then surrendering and surviving should be prioritized before dying.

Naturally, Kirigakure had quite brutal anti-torture methods which were simply put their recruits under the skilled hands of a master torturer so they were aware of what kind of experience it was and could resist it better later on.

Honestly, not many could measure up to Kirigakure’s torture master so Kiri ninjas seldom cracked under torture.

Since Ringo took over, Kiri gained a reputation for spitting out some tough but also smart cookies out of their training program.

Of course, they were still assassins so if surrendering and escaping was not an option… Well, death was also a kind of escape.

But that was really the final and most drastic measure.

In this kind of situation, giving up actually earned some points for Chojuro as chunin was not a rank for people who didn’t know when to stop. A leader has to be able to assess the situation and decide to call a retreat when a retreat is needed.

And while his showing was definitely not enough to earn him a rank up by the Chunin Exam standards, that didn’t matter for him anyway.

After all, it was not Konoha officials that decided if he gets promoted or not. It was Ringo. Chojuro had to impress her. Not the current ‘judges’.

Unfortunately for him, he could be almost certain his previous showing was definitely not impressive for the current Mizukage. She did not send him here to have a quick match and lose on top of that.

He was supposed to show off the might of Kirigakure but…

Eh, he didn’t do much of that.

Chojuro was in for a very painful reprimand followed by even more painful long training months once he arrived back at Kirigakure. That was for sure.

Ringo’s eyebrow was twitching at how fast the match passed. It didn’t last even two full minutes and half of that time was just the boys staring at each other.

Sure, the battles between ninjas are often finished instantly but this was the Chunin Exams. This was the platform where ninjas had to show off. She even ordered Raiga to train the kid and this was the result? After all that annoying complaining Raiga put up in hope she would get fed up and stop that order?

It was simply beyond disappointing.

“Well, this match passed certainly quickly.” Shikaku tried to start a conversation with Ringo whose eyebrow was visibly twitching. He felt it was his duty not just as the current Hokage but also as the father of the boy who… ahem… unknowingly humiliated the Kiri contestant and by that probably pissed off the extremely dangerous woman sitting next to him.

Shikaku doubted the redheaded Mizukage would be so petty and put a high bounty on a genin. Especially not on a son of the Hokage. But she was a former member of the Seven Swordsmen of Kirigakure and these were almost in every case extreme nutjobs. One could never be sure with them.

So, just in case, Shikaku wanted to make sure while attempting to calm down any ruffled feathers.

“But I guess it is natural. The boy from your village was certainly at a disadvantage. I apologize for that. The match-ups are random.” Shikaku continued and smiled apologetically at Ringo only for her to snort when she heard that.

“My mood swings are more random than these match-ups.” She grumbled under her nose, loud enough for every present Kage to hear her, which made Shikaku’s smile freeze as the other Kages chuckled.

“But don’t worry. I am not mad at your boy. He fought well and I am certainly not gonna kill him just because Tsunade is a bitch who rigged the matches in her village’s favor. Hah, every Kage does it so there is no problem with that.” She rolled her eyes and instantly killed any follow-up conversation that might have occurred.

The other Kages did not even try to give some childish and subtly insulting remark on how easily Chojuro lost after hearing that. Mostly because what she said was the truth. Every Kage tried to give the participants from his village an edge. And if the Chunin Exam happened to be in their villages… well, naturally they would reflect that desire.

It was just natural.

Not having Konoha ninja win Chunin Exams occurring in Konoha was humiliating enough. If no Konoha ninja got past the first match of the finals… what message would that send to the future potential clients?

Still, that didn’t mean she had to state the reality so bluntly. Some secrets should stay discreet even if everybody knows them…

‘Heh, she is definitely pissed.’ Pakura inwardly noted with a small smile gracing her lips.

She stayed quiet as the other Kages, not seeing the point in stirring up this particular conversation even if she could.

With how the odds were stacked against Tsunade’s village in these Exams, nobody could fault her for giving the Konoha participants a bit of a push by matching them against someone they either had a chance to beat or could counter with their skill set.

But even then she could not have been sure her participants would win. The competition was just that hard.

Winning the whole thing? Tsunade could forget about that with people like Karin Uzumaki and Temari participating and she definitely knew it too.

Hence, the uneven match-ups. She at least made sure to pit people of similar prowess against each other so the matches are not utter curb-stomping. So far, in every match, both combatants had a chance to win.

That would not have happened if someone like Hinata fought Tayuya, for example.

The match-making was not that terrible. Honestly, the show of power to civilians was one of the best Chunin Exams ever had. Granted, that was more because of the quality of the current contestants than anything else.

Speaking of quality…

“The next match will be between Sabaku no Temari and Karin Uzumaki.” Hayate announced and Pakura wryly smiled as she glanced at the smug-looking Tsunade.

‘Of course, she just had to put the two strongest against each other.. Shrewd shrew.’