Hashirama was truly stumped by the question. "It should be Nawaki, I suppose. After all, Nawaki inherited my Wood Release and has developed it to a very high degree. Its potential is much better than Puppet Jutsu."
Hashirama's words were quite sincere; he wasn't boasting or anything, but rather offering a serious analysis.
"Speaking of which, Puppet Jutsu was developed by Shamon, the Second Kazekage, wasn't it? So why did Chiyo become the foremost puppet user? It couldn't be that it was surpassed as soon as it was developed, could it?"
Hashirama glanced at Tobirama with a smile. "You still have the leisure to care about Shamon's Puppet Jutsu? Your own Flying Thunder God Jutsu is about to be surpassed."
Hearing this, Tobirama's face turned red with anger. How could everything always come back to him!
"The Flying Thunder God Jutsu has been developed for over thirty years; it's natural for someone to surpass it! This is a sign that the Hidden Leaf Village is brimming with talent, and the one surpassing me is my own junior, so I'm very happy about it!"
"But Shamon's Puppet Jutsu was surpassed by his own Master's Wife. Now, when Puppet Jutsu is mentioned, no one talks about him; everyone thinks of Chiyo. How can that be the same!"
Hashirama pointed at Tobirama, but turned his head to Mito. "Look, he's flustered."
"You're just too proud. You're this old and still can't stand others teasing you?"
"You're almost eighty, aren't you? Why are you still as sensitive to teasing as a child?"
At this, Mito tugged Hashirama's arm. "Alright, you know Tobirama cares about these things, why insist on talking about them?"
Hearing this, Hashirama sighed softly. "I'm making him see reality, so that when Minato truly surpasses him, he won't be unable to get over it himself."
Hashirama himself had once faced such a hurdle. After teaching Torifu for over a decade, he was surpassed by him.
While feeling gratified, he couldn't help but feel that he was getting old, but his heart refused to accept it, so that period was quite awkward for him.
However, he eventually came to terms with it. Later, when people brought up his title of God of Shinobi being taken by his disciple, Hashirama no longer felt bothered.
Having shed the heavy responsibility of protecting the village and the title of God of Shinobi, he could finally enjoy life properly.
He would make up for all the affection he had owed Mito over the years.
Hashirama felt that only after retiring did his life truly begin.
Hearing his elder brother say this, Tobirama's emotions calmed down a bit. "Don't worry, Big Brother, I'm not that petty. I spent a great deal of effort guiding Minato with his Flying Thunder God Jutsu; how could I be unwilling to be surpassed by him?"
"You better be."
"..."
After the first match ended, the second one quickly followed.
These young geniuses inevitably became a bit careless or underestimated their opponents when battling, or faced various unexpected situations.
After all, they were all talented shinobi; many were steady, but quite a few were also arrogant.
The speed of each battle was quite fast; most matches were completed within twenty minutes.
Contestants from both groups were swiftly eliminated.
Until the arena welcomed these two contestants: Aburame Ryoma of the Aburame Clan, and Kamizuru Kazuma of the Kamizuru Clan from Iwagakure.
These two contestants shared one commonality: their respective clans were all insect manipulators!
The Aburame Clan of the Hidden Leaf Village specialized in manipulating kikaichū; they were a very powerful clan within the Hidden Leaf, generally responsible for the village's reconnaissance and intelligence work.
The Kamizuru Clan was similar; they manipulated bees and were one of the few insect manipulator clans in the Shinobi World.
The battle between these two contestants could be described as very quiet and peaceful.
The two stood mostly still, and the spectators in the stands couldn't see the insects.
They could only see a yellow 'mist' and a black 'mist' continuously colliding, with large numbers of dead insects falling onto the arena during the process.
But the two contestants completely disregarded these losses, still controlling large numbers of insects to clash with each other.
And the members of the Aburame Clan, who had always been very low-key, unusually started shouting from the spectator stands today.
Cheering for Aburame Ryoma.
In their eyes, this was no longer a simple competition, but a contest between two insect manipulator clans.
Kamizuru Kazuma's insect manipulation techniques were very advanced; he was certainly a talented member.
And Aburame Ryoma was the same.
If an insect manipulator from another village defeated them within Hidden Leaf Village territory, the Aburame Clan's reputation among the villagers would undoubtedly suffer greatly.
So these Aburame clan members, wearing black sunglasses and concealing their faces beneath hoods, began loudly cheering for Aburame Ryoma.
This sound even startled Torifu, who was on the spectator platform.
"Oh my, this Kamizuru youth brought by the Tsuchikage has actually made the Aburame Clan feel a sense of crisis."
Ōnoki didn't seem too concerned about this. "They originally fled to Iwagakure after failing to compete with the Aburame Clan for the title of the foremost insect manipulator clan. Their development over these years hasn't been particularly great; they've always been lukewarm, so I didn't expect him to win."
When insect manipulators were mentioned, shinobi immediately thought of the Aburame Clan; aside from shinobi from Iwagakure, almost no one recognized the Kamizuru Clan.
This was the outcome of the two clans' competition back then. Although the Kamizuru Clan now had a talented member, the Aburame Clan was still a prestigious and powerful clan within the current Hidden Leaf Village, so how could they lack talent?
Therefore, most of the contestants Ōnoki selected this time were chosen for entertainment.
There might have been stronger contenders, but he didn't have the patience to screen them, so he just had someone randomly pick ten participants.
He had no intention of having them compete for any championship title.
Aburame Ryoma in the arena also heard his clan members cheering for him, and his confidence surged.
He immediately released all the kikaichū within his body, preparing to deliver a finishing blow to his opponent.
The massive swarm of kikaichū circled throughout the entire arena, their buzzing sound filling the entire venue.
"Kikaichū - Insect Sphere!"
The enormous swarm of kikaichū enveloped Kamizuru Kazuma, gradually forming a dark purple sphere.
Kamizuru Kazuma's bees, however, had already been greatly depleted. Unlike kikaichū, their slow reproduction rate was a significant drawback.
Thus, there weren't many bees left in his beehive that could contend with Aburame Ryoma.
If he released them all, the outcome would essentially not change much, and he would only lose all his bees, not to mention a significant reduction in his own strength.
Rearing them alone would take a very long time.
Ultimately, after weighing the pros and cons, he could only reluctantly choose to surrender.
And as soon as he surrendered, the swarm of kikaichū dispersed, splitting into several wisps that burrowed back into Aburame Ryoma's voluminous robes.
[T/N: It appears the Moth girl was forgotten by author. She no longer exists.]