At this moment, elsewhere, in the Hokage's Office.
"How are things with the Chunin Exams?"
After placing the last official document in the pending tray, the Third Hokage removed the pipe he used to refresh himself from his mouth, gently rolled his aged shoulders, sore from handling documents, then rose to his feet. His gaze lowered slightly, settling on the Anbu Ninja who had suddenly appeared behind him.
He spoke.
"Everything is proceeding smoothly. We have reached the second round of the exams, the wilderness survival test in the Death Forest."
The Anbu Ninja behind the Third Hokage reported truthfully.
This counted as a routine report.
Generally speaking, the Hokage would not interfere too much with the Chunin Exams. He would certainly pay attention to them, but he would never inquire about their progress at every opportunity as he did now.
Now, whenever the Third Hokage had a spare moment, aside from the regular reports on the Chunin Exams, he would ask about their progress whenever he had even a little free time.
However, since this was a wilderness survival test, and in order to avoid causing unnecessary misunderstandings, they only conducted cursory checks on the overall progress of the exams. They would not excessively investigate the condition of every examinee.
As long as the exams were proceeding without issue, they would not pursue matters too closely.
After all, so many ninja villages were participating in this exam. Excessive surveillance and investigation would provoke dissatisfaction and suspicion from the other villages.
At best, it would trigger protests from the ninja villages and damage the host's credibility. At worst, it might invite a boycott from the other villages.
If they monitored everyone too closely, it would truly look as though Konoha were gathering intelligence on the rising talents of the other