Tejima Shinichi and Second Pillar arrived at Training Ground 3 one after the other.
A few traces from yesterday's special training still remained on the field.
The moment they stopped, Second Pillar immediately voiced the doubt in his heart.
"Shinichi, you don't seem surprised at all that those Sand shinobi appeared here?"
Tejima Shinichi walked over to a flat rock and sat down, looking at Sasuke.
"What's so surprising about it? The Chunin Exam is coming up."
"The Chunin Exam?" Second Pillar frowned. "What does that have to do with them appearing here?"
"The Chunin Exam isn't hosted by Konoha alone," Tejima Shinichi explained. "It's a large joint examination led by Konoha and Sunagakure, with Genin teams sent by ninja villages from every country. It's perfectly normal for people from Sunagakure to be here."
Second Pillar froze for a moment. He truly had not looked into the specific format of the Chunin Exam in detail.
"A joint exam... Lots of villages will come?"
"That's right." Tejima Shinichi nodded. "Besides Konoha, the host, there will usually be Sunagakure, Amegakure, Kusagakure, Otogakure, and others. It's a stage for each village to display the strength of its new generation, as well as an opportunity to test one another and gather intelligence."
He paused, then added,
"The three sand ninja from earlier were Genin sent by Sunagakure to take part in the exam."
Second Pillar fell silent for several seconds.
"I see."
He looked at Tejima Shinichi.
"You knew all along?"
"Teacher Yamato mentioned it to us two and a half months ago," Tejima Shinichi said. "He and Teacher Kakashi don't have time to lead us today, most likely because they're finalizing the arrangements and procedures."
Second Pillar's gaze sharpened.
"The Chunin Exam..."
"I see. Looks like we have a chance to participate too..."