A New Year's Chunin Ninja Exams!

"So many teams are leaving already!"

Baki's words seemed to subtly convey a sense of surprise...

Regardless of Sakura's inner thoughts about the Sand shinobi's temporary leader, the allied leader changed the subject and explained to Tsunade:

"These are the security measures we've implemented..."

According to the Sunagakure's arrangement, each team of examinees will bring a set of scrolls into the examination hall. However, these are not scrolls to be fought over, but rather life-saving emergency scrolls: when faced with an insurmountable crisis, unfolding the scroll means surrendering, and the incantation on the scroll will summon an examiner to come to their aid.

Compared to Konoha's approach of throwing new recruits in and then not caring whether they live or die, Sand shinobi's approach seems to be more popular.

Baki waved his hand, and a member of the Anbu stepped forward, fiddled with a few switches on the television wall to bring up footage from a hidden surveillance camera in the valley.

One of the images was blurry and kept shaking, and you could hear footsteps.

"This was captured on a portable monitor." Baki leaned forward slightly, closer to the video wall. "You can see the line unfurling the scroll."

After the image stabilized for a moment, the examiner held the camera steady and filmed the team that sent the signal: a young ninja was lying on the ground, his face purplish-red, unconscious, clearly having been caught in a deadly poison trap set by the Sunagakure.

Which village's team is it?

In the scene, the examiner injects an antidote into a poisoned ninja, and the examinee's Forehead Protector flashes briefly on the monitor; Tsunade Kazuma already have the answer.

"Hmm... it seems to be a ninja from our Konoha." Tsunade said calmly.

Konoha's team became the first to be eliminated, which was a bit embarrassing for her.

This is also because of the shortage of manpower in the past year, and all the outstanding newcomers have been promoted. There is nothing wrong with this approach in order to accelerate the development of talent, but the quality of this year's candidates has dropped significantly.

Otherwise, sending any one of Hinata's team, Neji's team, or Shikamaru's team would crush these newbies in no time.

"Heh heh, why didn't your village send those outstanding Genin from last year to participate in this exam?" Baki asked, looking at Tsunade, whose face was ashen and somewhat embarrassed.

The Fifth Hokage stared at the monitor. The purplish-red color on the faces of the Konoha examinees quickly faded. She took a breath before replying, "This is the Chunin Ninja Exams being held in Sunagakure. We naturally cannot steal the show."

Baki paused, speechless.

The verbal sparring between the two ninja village leaders ended with the speechless and tongue-tied Baki losing.

However, no matter how sharp-tongued one of Konoha's teams is, it is an undeniable fact.

The second exam lasted for three hours.

The second time, Konoha, which sent three teams, had another team eliminated – this time they encountered Sand shinobi Ninja and were defeated in the battle.

Sakura recognized those idiots from the monitor; they were junior students from the Ninja Academy, and their strength was quite good among their peers. Perhaps inspired by the outstanding performance of those newcomers last year, they came to participate in the Chunin Ninja Exams right after graduation, only to be utterly defeated by the Sand shinobi's Genin, greatly disgracing Konoha.

Even the best of Sakura's next cohort of juniors can't compare to the worst of the top twelve. That group of newcomers is clearly overconfident.

Fortunately, the other party remembered the alliance between the two villages and did not kill them; otherwise, the atmosphere would have been tense for a long time if Tsunade Kazuma were sitting there.

Fortunately, the remaining team was both brave and resourceful, and they successfully passed the second test.

In contrast, all three Genin teams from the Sand shinobi passed the test; none of them were eliminated.

Despite her excuse of "not wanting to steal the spotlight," Tsunade still felt the scene was a bit awkward. The faint smiles on Baki's face annoyed her. Sakura Haruno whispered in her ear that Naruto should come to take the exam immediately, and even the Fifth Hokage was almost tempted.

"We in Konoha are only giving you Sunagakure face," Tsunade consoled herself. "Otherwise, if we sent our Genin Konoha..."

The Chunin Ninja Exams were scheduled quite tightly this time. After the second exam, there was only a short break before the third exam began.

Sakura was a little disappointed that she hadn't been able to explore the Sunagakure properly, even though it was a rare opportunity to visit.

Even during breaks, she had to follow behind Tsunade; Tsunade and the Sunagakure leaders held secret talks in the conference room, she and Shino had to wait outside the door, bored out of their minds, unable to speak or move around freely.

Standing with them were the Sand shinobi's Anbu, all wearing masks or veils, their faces obscured. Bored out of their minds, the Anbu from both villages had started playing a staring contest.

Sakura had no idea what Tsunade and the Sand shinobi discussed; she only knew that Tsunade looked radiant as she left the meeting room, clearly having gained a lot. She even patted Sakura on the shoulder and nodded at her.

Sakura Haruno's previous actions have clearly given Konoha a boost of confidence.

However, the girl who was the key was completely confused and had no idea what was going on.

The third exam arrived as scheduled; and as Tsunade had expected, the Konoha Ninja did not achieve any outstanding results.

The final individual competition was an internal Sand shinobi battle, in which Konoha only managed third and fourth place.

Tsunade was in a relatively good mood. Besides the good progress of the previous talks, the more important thing was that although the new recruits were not as skilled, their spirit and energy were very much in line with the spirit of Konoha.

That said, the Sand shinobi candidates for this exam are all so strong, there might be something fishy going on. The simplest explanation is that they might prevent a few very strong ninjas from advancing to higher ranks, and then have them take the exam Genin. That way, they would sweep through the competition like a whirlwind, attracting everyone's attention.

This is an unspoken understanding among the five great villages and the various ninja villages. When it's someone else's turn to host the Chunin Ninja Exams, they have to give that person face. That's generally how it is.

Doesn't Konoha have any similar shady dealings?

Anyway Sakura Haruno knows at least one example.

She's someone she knows! I won't mention their name, to avoid making things awkward.

The Chunin Ninja Exams concluded successfully without any unexpected incidents. Tsunade secretly breathed a sigh of relief; the Sand shinobi should be completely convinced.

On the way back, the Hokage walked with the examinees.

Sakura's personal guard duty changed to bringing up the rear of the team, together with Shino and the other team that had previously brought up the rear.

There were four people in total, with three of them protecting the three directions behind them.

Sakura Haruno followed at the back; she was the strongest among them and was responsible for supporting the Anbu ahead when they encountered enemies.

Therefore, she will leave Sunagakure some time after Tsunade has set off.

After Shino and the others set off, only Sakura remained as a lone Konoha Ninja in Sunagakure.

She sat in a dessert shop, ordered a cold drink, and idly fiddled with her fingers.

Aren't you going back yet?

A familiar, clear female voice suddenly came from behind me.

Sakura turned around and saw Temari talking, with Kankuro and Gaara beside her.

"I'll be covering the rear, so we'll be setting off later," she said with a faint smile to the three of them, glancing at their expressions. "There's no rush now."

"The ninjas who cover the rear are usually the strongest ones, so it seems you are really strong." Kankuro glanced at the slender girl in front of him; her pretty appearance was too deceptive. In his mind, a strong person should be eight feet tall, with a waist circumference of eight feet, and preferably have eight puppets to carry.

Sakura Haruno gave a reserved laugh, her laughter light and clear like a mountain stream; this was quite different from the barbell-like laughter that Kankuro had imagined. He thought, at least it should be as fierce as his older sister's!

Regardless of the wild thoughts running through this guy's head.

"Sakura, I haven't had a chance to give this to you before. This is the garnet sand you wanted, and there's also a bag of silica sand inside." Gaara stepped forward and handed a bag to Sakura.

Adding fine sand to the water jet as an abrasive can enhance its cutting ability. Sakura wanted to try this out, so when they met before, she specifically asked Gaara for help and asked him to make a batch of sand.

Gaara continued, "Your silica sand is indeed much harder than ordinary sand, and its effect on my Ninjutsu is amazing. However, it needs to be ground from rare moissanite, which is too expensive, and the quantity is too small. Hmm..."

Why not try making it yourself?

"I'll look into it when I have time..." Gaara shook his head. The regular troops had many missions, and he simply didn't have time to study this right now.

"Alright, alright, who talks about Ninjutsu when saying goodbye?" Temari interrupted the two, "Come visit us again sometime! It's very windy and dusty here, but there are lots of fun places to visit!"

"Chunin Ninja Exams are over, I have a vacation and I'd like to go on a trip."

Women really aren't as enthusiastic about cultivation and strength as men... Sakura Haruno sighed almost imperceptibly.

Then Temari actually pulled out a tourist map and gestured to Sakura about a few attractions. "Like this Grand Canyon."

She paused for a moment, then crossed out the area with her eyeliner. "Uh, never mind... It used to be a really beautiful place, but someone vandalized it earlier this year, destroying a section of the stone forest. Now the scenic area is closed off."

I won't reveal the culprit's name here, to avoid making things awkward.

"Here, the Pearl Oasis, this cluster of oases is as beautiful as a string of pearls; and here, there's an ancient site, almost untouched by most, well worth a visit..."

After chatting for a few minutes, Sakura said goodbye to them.

As they walked out of the main road leading to Sunagakure, Sakura Temari the map that Temari had given her in her hand.

"Tourism?" Sakura Haruno didn't have the time for that, but it wouldn't hurt to visit while on a mission.

"Pearl Oasis? The oasis we searched during the previous mission, right? We've already been there."

"This ancient site, um, what's it called again? Maybe we could take a look if we're passing by."

She muttered to herself, then vanished in Body Flicker Technique from the sight of the Sand shinobi guarding the gate.

(Fifth update today!!!! Bonus chapter for 600 monthly votes!)

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