Replacement for war? There can’t be a replacement for war. War is something that occurs when a country seeks something from another that can be obtained through diplomatic means. Things like gaining territory, establishing political ideology, revenge, slavery. War will always happens when a country desperately wants something they can’t negotiate for. The chunnin exams don’t have these kinds of stakes, prestige is something that could always be obtained through sport, it doesn’t have to come down to bloodshed if that is the only thing that mattered. Feels like Kishi added this to add to the ”cruelty of the ninja world” theme he pushes throughout the story but it doesn’t have logical sense in this chapter.