As soon as Chojuro announced the start of the fight, Kukyo charged straight as Tia, drawing a kunai with his right hand. Kukyo attempted to strike Tia with a flurry of swipes, but Tia gracefully and seamlessly dodged them all, sidestepping and weaving away from every attack. Nonetheless, with each swing Kukyo pushed Tia closer and closer to the edge of the ring. Before Kukyo could send Tia all the way out, however, the kunoichi dipped underneath one of Kukyo's swings and swept him off his feet with a kick just above the ground, making him trip and fall face-first onto the edge of the ring. Tia took the opportunity to turn around and backflip twice to place herself back in the centre of the arena and distance herself from Kukyo.

Seeing Kukyo was knocked down, Chojuro began counting.

"1! … 2! … 3! …"

Before he could count any further, Kukyo stood back up and faced Tia:

"I'm still in this!"

"Not for long!"

Tia began weaving hand seals. Kukyo threw his kunai at her hands in a bid to make her stop, but she finished her set of seals with Tiger before the kunai arrived:

"Lava Style: Magma Monster Jutsu!"

Tia brought her Tiger seal up to her mouth and spewed out lava in the shape of a serpent straight for Kukyo. The lava flew through the kunai without slowing down, stopping it in its tracks and sending it flying. Kukyo tried running to his left to avoid it, but the lava serpent curved during its flight and caught Kukyo in its teeth. The lava then picked Kukyo up and slammed him into the water outside the ring, the mouth encasing Kukyo in concrete as the rest of the technique dissipated into hot air.

"Out of bounds… the winner is Tia Terumi!"

In response to Chojuro's announcement, the crowd went wild with cheer and praise. "You're the hottest, Lady Tia! We love you!" a group of vocal fanboys shouted as a team of medics descended from the audience to escort Kukyo out of the stadium and Tia walked back to the waiting room with her hands on her hips and an arrogant smile plastered on her face.

"Way to go, Tia!" said Yuri.

"That chump was easy. I hope I have more of a challenge next round."

Tia then looked in Suigetsu's direction with a wink.

Suigetsu smirked. "Be careful what you wish for."

"Next match… Suigetsu Hozuki vs. Gekido!"

On Chojuro's cue, Suigetsu and Gekido walked on to the stage side-by-side and spread themselves out, facing each other.

"Begin!"

"You can do it, Gekido!" the boy's mother shouted and waved from her seat in the audience.

"Yes… Mother's watching me… I have to do this!"

Suigetsu smiled from the other side of the ring as he watched Gekido draw Tenten's sword and get into a stance. That smile would turn upside down, however, when Gekido didn't charge at him.

The Hozuki stomped his feet impatiently. "Come on, Gekido! Attack me! Remember yesterday?!"

"I… remember… I remember…"

Gekido's hair started to fly up, overwhelmed by the intensity of his chakra and emotions. "I remember…"

Gekido's eyes narrowed as he stared at Suigetsu with all the anger he could muster, and in due time something happened that Suigetsu was not at all expecting.

Lightning began to cover Gekido's sword.

Suigetsu was shocked into silence. Lightning Style?!

Gekido promptly rushed at Suigetsu with a weakness the Hozuki had never told him about:

"Haaaaahhh!"

When Gekido reached proximity to Suigetsu with his lightning-charged blade, the latter solemnly sighed and sidestepped Gekido's attack, leaving his back exposed. Without wasting any time, Suigetsu swiftly chopped the back of Gekido's neck with just enough force to knock him unconscious.

As light left Gekido's eyes, he fell to the ground face-first and dropped his sword, which burst into several pieces the moment it hit the ground.

The crowd was stunned silent by Suigetsu's display. During their silence, Suigetsu turned his head backward to the acting referee. "What are you waiting for, Chojuro? Start counting." He said.

"Uh… right!"

Chojuro shook himself back into focus. "1! … 2! … 3! … 4! … 5! … 6! … 7! … 8! … 9! … 10! By knock-out, the winner is Suigetsu Hozuki!"

The crowd reacted with half stunned silence, and half with boos.

"Damn it… stooping to lows like hitting kids!" an audience member said.

"It wasn't his fault he was matched up against someone so young." Someone beside him replied. "From how I'm seeing it, he made the kid's defeat quick and painless; he used just enough force to win and no more."

The first member crossed his arms in disgust. "Tch. You might have a point. To think that the Second Coming of the Demon is actually capable of restraint…"

Ignoring the crowd as much as he could, Suigetsu gently lifted Gekido was both arms and carried him back to the waiting room. Meanwhile, Chojuro carefully moved the shards of Gekido's sword into the pool out of bounds in preparation for the next round.

Once Suigetsu was back in the waiting room, he poked Gekido's forehead to wake him up.

Gekido looked up to Suigetsu's eyes. "I lost, didn't I?"

"Yeah… but you were able to attack me without holding back. That's the important thing." Suigetsu said as he placed Gekido on the ground and helped him stand up. "I'll keep your dream alive, alright?"

"Thank you, Senpai…"

Gekido then turned to Tenten and cried into her chest with a hug. "And I'm sorry, Ms. Tenten… I broke your sword."

"It's okay..." Tenten returned his embrace. "I have many more weapons where that came from."

"How did you know to use Lightning Style against me anyway?" Suigetsu interjected, snapping Gekido's attention beside him while still hugging Tenten.

"I read your Bingo Book entry. Your weakness is public knowledge for the Hidden Mist… But I'm still not very good at it. Every time I try to charge a weapon with Lightning, I end up putting too much chakra into it and the surplus static destroys the weapon…"

"That was how you broke my sword, I guess…" Tenten remarked.

Meanwhile, having finished removing the sword shards from the ring, Chojuro resumed the battles with his announcement:

"Next match: Yuri Joki vs. Tenten!"

"That's my cue!"

Tenten promptly let go of Gekido and walked out with Yuri beside her.

Gekido waved and cheered as she left. "Good luck, Ms. Tenten!"

Once Yuri and Tenten were in position, Chojuro got between them and announced the start of another fight:

"Begin!"

At that moment, Yuri clapped his hands together and Tenten tapped various parts of her scroll, quick-firing as many shuriken as she could.

"Boil Style: Steam Soldier Jutsu!"

Yuri was just moments away from being punctured by Tenten's shuriken when his entire body transformed into a spherical mass of steam. The flurry of shuriken passed through the mass of steam seamlessly.

The moment this occurred, Tenten started thinking. Oh no… I can't hit him! If it's anything like Suigetsu though, then there's still something I can do! I won't be able to fight in the next round if I do, but I'll secure a Sword anyway… Here goes nothing!

Tenten then tapped an elaborate part of her scroll to conjure a red-and-white feathered fan.

B grinned from his seat to the left of the Mizukage. "Ten-outta-ten! Using the Ba-sho-sen!"

"No!" Jugo objected from his position in the waiting room. "Tenten doesn't have the chakra to use that safely… It's all or nothing!"

As Yuri began to approach Tenten in steam form, Tenten jumped and waved the Bashosen toward the ground in Yuri's direction, blasting the mass of steam with a thick arrow made of lightning. It struck the ground with such force to scar the white ring brown at ground zero and create a shockwave strong enough to force some water in the pool out, sprinkling the entire front row of the audience. Chojuro had to stick to the ground with chakra not to be forced out of the ring himself.

But despite all the power of the Bashosen, the mass of steam remained undisturbed and followed Tenten into the air. Tenten struggled to remain conscious as she began falling back-first, but she was forced wide awake when she saw Yuri return to his original form above her and drive his knees into her abdomen.

"Did you seriously think my technique would have the same weakness as Hozuki?"

Yuri slammed Tenten into the ground back first, sandwiched between his knees and the ring. She began to cough up blood as she heard her own spine crack under the pressure while the Bashosen left her hands and disappeared in a puff of smoke next to her.

Jugo's eyes widened with horror. "Tenten!"

"That's enough!" Chojuro shouted, using the Body Flicker to warp next to Yuri and the downed Tenten as the former stood back up and the latter continued coughing. "Tenten is unable to continue; the winner is Yuri Joki!"

As the medics rushed to Tenten's immediate aid, the crowd roared with thunderous applause and cheer.

"Yeah! Show that outsider who's boss!" a member of the audience shouted.

"So cool! Go Lord Yuri!" several female fans also shouted.

Yuri smugly left the ring to return to a voice filled with dissent for what he'd done.

"Tenten… Yuri, why did you do that to Tenten?" Jugo asked with just the hint of anger in his voice. Gekido gave Yuri a dirty look all the while.

"What? I saw an opening, so I took advantage of it. We're all ninja here; fighting dirty is part of the MO. If you want to avenge her, then win your match and take me on in the next round."

Tia smiled and gave Yuri a high-five. "You said it, Yuri!"

As the medics finished giving Tenten immediate treatment and escorting her out of the arena, Chojuro called on the next match:

"To finish the round: Torasame Hoshigaki vs. Jugo of the Scales!"

Jugo and Torasame walked down the aisle side-by-side, and the cheering from the crowd was scared into silence by the emerging fighters.

"Jugo of the Scales… isn't that the monster Sasuke Uchiha used to keep in check?" one watcher wondered, shivering.

"Yeah… and his opponent looks like he could be the Monster of the Hidden Mist's twin brother…" someone beside them added in fear.

The two giants walked into position and faced each other. At that moment, however, Jugo started to shiver:

No… not now…

"Begin!"

Chojuro had indicated the start of the fight, but before Torasame could take a single step, Jugo raised his hands and screamed:

"I surrender!"

Jugo promptly ran away from the arena and back into the waiting room as fast as he could.

"Okay, then…" Chojuro said. "Since Jugo of the Scales surrendered, the winner is Torasame Hoshigaki!"

The Water Daimyo applauded. "Ah. Good show, Torasame! Defeating your enemy without having to make a move! Just splendid!"

As Jugo returned to the waiting room, a very angry Suigetsu was waiting for him:

"What the hell, man?! What happened to avenging Tenten, huh?!"

"What indeed?" Yuri and Tia asked in unison, smirking with their arms crossed.

"Quiet!"

Jugo quickly sat down and began meditating.

"Oh… I get it now… Sorry for the outburst…"

Suigetsu averted his eyes in shame as within moments, purple markings surrounded Jugo's eyes, he grew four small white horns on his forehead, his forearms widened and turned white and scaly, and his back grew a hump that was also white and scaly

Jugo stood up upon completing his transformation into Sage Mode. The moment he did so, however, he froze with fear as he stared outside toward Torasame:

"Maybe my surrender wasn't so unfortunate after all…"

"What do you mean by that, Jugo-san?" Gekido asked, his own eyes tearing with worry.

"I mean that along with Kisame's name and face, he also has Kisame's level of chakra."

Everyone's jaws dropped in unison.

"You won't be able to beat him through conventional means, Suigetsu… Torasame is yet another Tailless Tailed Beast."