Torasame briefly looked up at Killer B in the top of the king's statue before walking back to the waiting room in the base of Urashima Taro's statue, to meet several scared faces and Jugo in Sage Mode. "Guess I was lucky." He said. No one was brave enough to respond as Torasame leaned back on a cobalt wall and crossed his arms.

Mei stood up to address the audience. "This concludes the quarter-final round, and the final four have been decided! Tia Terumi, Suigetsu Hozuki, Yuri Joki, and Torasame Hoshigaki!"

Upon the announcement, several members of the audience started cheering, "Lady Tia!" Others cheered "Lord Yuri!" Meanwhile, some booed along with yelling "Down with demons!" and some angrily shouted "No sharks!"

"Silence, please!"

In response to Mei's command the crowd immediately lowered their voices.

"Which swords will go to which wielders? And who will receive the grand prize? We begin deciding now, with the semi-final round!"

The Mizukage promptly sat back down, and soon after Chojuro made his announcement:

"Next match: Tia Terumi vs. Suigetsu Hozuki!"

On cue the fighters began walking into the ring. "Lady Tia! Lady Tia! Lady Tia!" many voices in the crowd chanted, drowning out the various boos.

"Listen to that?" Tia asked rhetorically as she looked Suigetsu's way during the walk. "The crowd loves me more than it hates you, Hozuki. Maybe you should just give up and spare yourself the humiliation."

"I already told you; for better or for worse, I'm winning the whole damn thing." Suigetsu replied as they got into their starting positions.

"Begin!"

At the very start of the fight, Tia jumped and began making hand seals.

I may not be capable of Lightning Style, but I can still take advantage of your weakness! When Lava Style makes contact with Water, it becomes concrete! Once I've covered the whole arena in Lava you won't be able to liquefy without turning yourself into cement!

Tia finished her Hand Seals with Tiger in tandem with her thoughts and brought her hands closer to her mouth.

"Lava Style: Magma Mon -"

Before Tia could complete her technique, she found she could no longer move her mouth, and something hard was suddenly occupying the space inside it. And moments later she was falling to the ground, struggling to breathe. She looked at Suigetsu once more and saw that he was pointing at her with his left hand and some water was dripping from his left index finger.

In another second, Suigetsu began rushing for Tia as she fell, expanding his right arm during the pursuit. Tia tried to put her arms in front of herself to block the incoming attack, but to no avail; the force of Suigetsu's punch was enough to make her spit out the chunk of concrete inside her mouth, along with knock her out of the ring and straight into the wall.

When Tia smacked into the wall she heard a crack behind her, and instinctively brought her hands behind herself in an attempt to heal her injury.

"Out of Bounds! The winner is Suigetsu Hozuki!" said Chojuro.

Several nearby medics immediately dropped down to assist Tia's recovery to the sounds of countless boos from the audience.

"Are you alright, Lady Tia?" one of the medics asked.

"I've been worse…"

Tia tried standing up and walking to the waiting room, but she quickly fell back down. "Damn… take me to the infirmary…"

"Understood."

The medics thus helped Tia up and walked her out of the stadium.

Meanwhile, Suigetsu was walking back to the waiting room himself.

"What just happened, Jugo-san?" Gekido asked in confusion.

"When Lava Style techniques make contact with Water, they harden and turn into concrete. Tia was likely planning to use that trait to defeat Suigetsu's ability, but Suigetsu turned it on her. By shooting water into her mouth right before the lava had a chance to leave, he shut down Tia's Lava Style instead."

Suigetsu returned to meet a furious Yuri:

"Tia… Why did you do that to Tia?!"

"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."

Yuri was at a loss for words.

"Next match: Yuri Joki vs. Torasame Hoshigaki!" Chojuro announced.

"Arrgh… fine! Just you wait, Hozuki!" Yuri shouted as he turned his focus to the ring. "My Steam Soldier has never lost, and it isn't going to start losing now!"

Yuri and Torasame then walked out onto the ring and got into position, staring each other down with palpable determination.

"Begin!"

Yuri began this match the same way he began the previous one: clapping his hands together and announcing his technique.

"Boil Style: Steam Soldier Jutsu!"

The crowd exploded with cheer. "Go, Lord Yuri! Destroy the shark!" several fangirls screamed.

While Yuri was transforming and the crowd was rooting for him, strangely enough, Torasame closed his eyes and stood still.

"What's Torasame-san thinking, just standing there?" Gekido thought aloud as he watched.

"He's not just standing there." said Jugo, his voice turning grim. "He's standing completely still."

Suigetsu's jaw dropped and he started to shiver. "You serious about that, Jugo?"

"No doubt in my mind."

As Suigetsu, Jugo, and Gekido were conversing, Yuri was approaching Torasame. Once Yuri was in proximity, Torasame's right hand turned from orange to great white and the man swiftly opened his eyes. He threw a punch with his right hand straight into the Steam Soldier, shocking everyone in the crowd.

What followed would shock them even more.

Most of the steam was absorbed into Torasame's body through his right hand, while the rest solidified into Yuri's body impaled on Torasame's fist through the torso. Torasame then pulled his right hand out of Yuri's body, the fist returning to its original orange colour as it left. Yuri fell limp on the ground, blood leaking out through the wound as well as Yuri's mouth.

Some fans screamed in response to Yuri's condition, while the rest gasped in horror. Furthermore, Chojuro put himself between Torasame and the critically-wounded Yuri with the Body Flicker:

"That's enough! Yuri Joki is unable to continue! The winner is Torasame Hoshigaki!"

The crowd was completely silent - too horrified to respond - with one notable exception.

The Water Daimyo was applauding.

"Excellent work, Torasame! After a display like that, I am confident you can win this entire tournament! Only one more obstacle stands in your way!"

As the Daimyo finished, he looked at the base of Urashima Taro's statue and at Suigetsu in particular.

During the Water Daimyo's cheering, medics arrived on the scene to give Yuri immediate assistance and transport him away, but before they could, Yuri spoke up despite his injuries:

"How did you… defeat me?"

Torasame looked down at him and crossed his arms. "Your technique, while indeed impressive, is nothing more than a mass of chakra in the form of steam. Take away your chakra, and I take away your steam. It was easy."

"Easy, huh…" Yuri continued to cough up blood as he spoke. "Lady Mei should have never let you comp -"

"You're talking too much!" a medic interrupted. "Let us take you away or you're going to die!"

Yuri silently nodded and allowed himself to be removed from the arena. At the same time, Torasame took yet another look at Killer B before turning away and back to the waiting room, where a frightened Suigetsu, Jugo, and Gekido awaited him.

Torasame offered a handshake. "Let's have a good final match, Suigetsu Hozuki."

Suigetsu reluctantly shook his hand, his fear overpowering any anger he might have responded with otherwise.

"Yeah…"

Mei stood up once again to address the audience. "That ends the Semi-final rounds! Our two grand finalists are Suigetsu Hozuki and Torasame Hoshigaki! Who will win the grand prize? Find out one hour from now! Yes, we will be having a one-hour recess to give our finalists a chance to relax and recover before the last matches of the tournament. When we reconvene, we will first have a battle between Tia Terumi and Yuri Joki to determine third place, and once that is over, we will be holding our Grand Final Match! If you don't want to miss it, then come back on time! Until then, you're all dismissed!"

In response to Mei's declaration, most of the audience stood up from their seats and left. Meanwhile, the Water Daimyo stood up and waved to Torasame.

"Torasame! We need to talk!" the Daimyo shouted. Torasame walked out of the waiting room and saluted in response.

"As you can see, I have a meeting to attend to this hour. Excuse us." The Water Daimyo said to Mei, who was still standing and turned her head back and to the right to meet his eyes. The Water Daimyo promptly bowed and left his seat with his guard shortly behind him.

I should meet up with Chojuro in the meantime… Mei thought. She proceeded to turn around herself, but B suddenly stopped her from leaving. "Lord B? What's going on?"

"There's something you gotta know, before the end of the show."

"Okay, what is it?"

[X-X-X]

Meanwhile, at the meeting room…

"I have a meeting with Lord Daimyo. Excuse me."

Torasame bowed and left the waiting room to enter a hall to the side. The others waved goodbye to him before focusing on each other.

"Hmm… I want to see Mother." said Gekido. "I saw her in the stands…"

"You want us to come with you?" Suigetsu asked.

"No thank you. I'll be fine by myself."

"If you insist…"

Suigetsu sighed as Gekido started walking away. "See you soon, Gekido!"

Gekido waved goodbye on his way out while keeping his back turned.

"So what do we do during recess, Suigetsu?" Jugo asked.

"We should go to the infirmary and check up on Tenten and the others."

"Yeah… that's a good idea. I'll follow you."

[X-X-X]

Several minutes passed before Suigetsu and Jugo reached the infirmary. After they received permission from the medics to see their fellow competitors, Suigetsu and Jugo made their way to where they were being treated. They walked in on Yuri just being placed on a bed with his left side facing them, Tia sitting up on a bed just behind his, Tenten lying down on a bed even further behind, and Kukyo just standing up from his bed, the farthest from where Suigetsu and Jugo had entered.

"How's it going, Hozuki?" Tia asked as she saw them coming in.

"Yuri's condition says everything, doesn't it? I'm up against the guy that did this to him, and I can't liquefy unless I want the same thing happening to me."

"I see…"

Tia put a finger on her lips, lost in thought.

"Excuse me, but I'm going to check on Tenten." Jugo said, cutting past Suigetsu and finding his way to her bedside. When he reached it, Tenten opened her eyes to see Jugo looming over her, smiling.

"Jugo? You came to see me?"

The Snake Sage nodded.

"How's the tournament going? Who's in the grand finals?"

"It's Suigetsu vs. Torasame."

Tenten made a faint giggle. "Damn… Here I was hoping you and Suigetsu would fight each other… That way, Gekido's wish would be granted either way…"

Just then, Tenten's eyes widened and she tried looking down to her feet. "Say, could you do me a favour, Jugo?"

"Anything you want, Tenten."

"Can you search the stadium for a Soldier Pill? The medics went through my belongings and counted one less pill than I had when we arrived in the village… I must have dropped it somewhere. Don't stop unless you find it or the grand finals start…"

"Sure thing, Tenten."

Jugo contentedly nodded and walked back out of the room. "Tenten's missing a Soldier Pill. I'm going to look for it." He said to Suigetsu on his way out.

At that moment, Yuri began opening his eyes.

"Tia? Hozuki?"

Suigetsu inched closer and Tia stood up and loomed over Yuri's bedside. Only a moment later, however, Tia promptly kneeled down and hugged Yuri's still-motionless body:

"So you're going to make it! I'm so relieved, Yuri!"

"I'm not going to make it fast enough, I'm afraid… Our match for third place is under an hour away… I won't recover by then…"

Tears started to form in Tia's eyes. "That's okay! We already decided on the swords we wanted before the tournament started, and the only thing on the line in our fight is who gets third pick… it's a meaningless formality for us!"

"Right…"

"What swords do you want?" Suigetsu interjected.

Tia stood up and faced the Hozuki. "I want the Nuibari for its medical applications. You know, being able to sow people back together. And Yuri wants the Shibuki, to combine his Steam Soldier technique with explosives. We were never after the sword you wanted, Hozuki."

"That works out really well, then. … The only problem is Torasame; if he wins and doesn't pick Kabutowari, then one of us is screwed."

"Then you'll just have to win."

Tia smiled as she placed her right hand on Suigetsu's left shoulder. "If anyone can kick Torasame's ass, it's you. Beat him for all of our sakes."

"It's not just for you three!"

Suigetsu and Tia turned toward the voice that interjected to find Kukyo approach them. Kukyo then bowed to Suigetsu's feet:

"Please… the whole village is depending on your victory!"

Suigetsu stroked his chin. "The whole village? What do you mean?"

Tia's eyes widened. "I get it! You might be a traitor, but Torasame's an outsider!"

"Yeah! Think about what the other countries will think if some random nobody outsider ends up winning against the whole village on our home turf! They'll think we suck and no one will ever trust us with a mission ever again! But you, Suigetsu Hozuki… you're not some random outsider. You might have betrayed us, but you were still born and raised in the Hidden Mist! The crowd might not like you much, but it'll be on your side in the coming battle. You have to show the stadium - no, the world – that it can depend on us!"

Once Kukyo was finished, Tia walked passed him and Suigetsu and opened the door out of the infirmary. She looked back to Suigetsu and said one last thing with a wink before she left:

"I'm going to tell Lady Mei about Yuri's condition and that he won't make it in time for the third place match. As for you, Hozuki… win the whole damn thing."

Kukyo stood up and looked Suigetsu in the eyes. "I'll be watching from the stands. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'll be cheering you on." he said. Then he followed Tia out of the infirmary.

"When I said I wanted to play the hero, this isn't what I had in mind…" Suigetsu said aloud, specifically so that Tenten and Yuri could hear it. "… but I can live with it. Gekido, Tia, Yuri, Hidden Mist, everyone… I'll shoulder all your hopes and take them to the very top! Torasame's going down!"

[X-X-X]

Forty-five minutes later…

Why did I have to be the one to transport the prizes too, Lady Mizukage?

Chojuro was pushing a dolly with four empty wooden boxes labeled 'Kiba', 'Kabutowari', 'Shibuki', and 'Nuibari' stacked on top of each other toward the storage room. During the recess, he was tasked with acquiring the four prizes - the Swords of the Mist - placing them inside the boxes, and bringing them up to the Daimyo's guards. They would hand them to the final four after the grand finals, at which time they would open their prizes all at once.

To his shock, however, when he got to the storage room, he found the door was already open and someone was inside, touching one of the prizes. Chojuro recognized this person on-sight.

"You're not supposed to be here!"

Chojuro let go of the dolly and drew Hiramekarei. The moment he did, however, he saw the intruder disappear and felt a blade plunge into his back.

"I'm sorry, but my wish has to come true one way or another."

Chojuro's body fell limp as the intruder spoke. The intruder then brought Chojuro into the room with the blade still inside him.

The last thing Chojuro saw before losing consciousness was the intruder transforming into Chojuro himself and lifting Hiramekarei off the ground.