News About the Chunin Exams

Some time passed.

For some reason, ever since spring began, bear attacks on human settlements had occurred one after another not only around Konoha, but throughout many parts of the Land of Fire. The entire country seemed to be suffering from a "Bear Plague."

These beasts were not only naturally cunning and highly vengeful. More troublingly, in this world where Chakra existed, some bears had grown abnormally large, becoming thick-skinned and immensely powerful. A few even possessed Chakra themselves. Ordinary soldiers and hunters found them difficult to handle.

Local authorities had been driven to distraction by these "Xuanwo Celebrities." Security forces ran themselves ragged with little success, leaving them no choice but to submit urgent requests for aid to Konohagakure.

For a time, the mission office was piled high with requests to hunt down or drive away Giant Bears. Most extermination missions were rated C-Rank, while a handful of particularly dangerous ones—those involving enormous Chakra-wielding bears that could serve as ninja beasts or summoning animals—had even reached B-Rank.

Konoha's ninja frequently traveled through the forests on top of their regular missions.

On this day, Shinichi and Maruboshi Kosuke accepted another such commission.

After leaving the village, the two quickly made their way along a forest path.

Along the way, Maruboshi Kosuke seemed to recall something and broke the silence. "About the Chunin Exams you asked me about last time, I made some inquiries over the past couple of days. I heard a bit of news."

Generally speaking, in peacetime, there were two main routes for a Genin to advance to Chunin. One was to accumulate sufficient mission experience and achievements, then receive a recommendation from their direct supervising Jonin and undergo an internal review. The other was to take a Chunin selection exam jointly held by major ninja villages, or hosted by one village alone.

Shinichi did not know what the Third Hokage had been considering when he graduated. He had not been assigned a dedicated supervising Jonin, and even his only teammate was Maruboshi Kosuke. Although this eternal Genin had long surpassed ordinary Jonin in both strength and experience, he had effectively taken on the role of an instructor.

Perhaps the Third Hokage had deeper reasons for this arrangement, but it also meant that the first path of promotion was essentially closed to Shinichi.

That was why he had asked Maruboshi Kosuke about the Chunin Exams earlier.

"This year's Chunin Exams will indeed be held," Maruboshi Kosuke continued evenly. "However, Konoha will not be hosting them. Our ally, Sunagakure, will."

Sunagakure?

Shinichi's heart skipped slightly at the name.

He knew perfectly well that, in the original future, the spark that ignited the Third Great Ninja War had been Sunagakure using the "disappearance of the Third Kazekage" as an excuse to launch a surprise attack on Konoha. The flames of war then spread like wildfire, sweeping across the entire Shinobi World.

This so-called "ally" had never been a well-behaved neighbor.

Looking back at every great ninja war, perhaps due to its covetousness toward the fertile lands of the Land of Fire, Sunagakure had placed Konoha at the top of its target list almost every single time.

They were practically the Italy of the Shinobi World!

No!

They were worse than Italy!

Although Italy had hesitated at the beginning of wartime and performed miserably after joining the fight, it had at least only switched sides when the war turned against it. Sunagakure, on the other hand, was accustomed to stabbing its allies in the back from the very start.

However, the Land of Wind was covered in seas of sand and its land was barren, making it of little practical value for Konoha to occupy. Moreover, every major war involved multiple hostile forces. Even when Konoha defeated Sunagakure, it often only forced it to sign a nominal "alliance treaty"—which was, in essence, merely a ceasefire agreement.

Konoha then had no choice but to turn around and deal with pressure from other ninja villages. This endlessly repeated historical cycle had kept the two nations in a fragile and distorted state of alliance.

That was why he hesitated over going to Sunagakure for the Chunin Exams. It meant voluntarily stepping into the place most likely to start a war in the future, and the place least faithful to Konoha.

"What, you don't want to go to Sunagakure?" Maruboshi Kosuke glanced at him, as though he had long noticed his hesitation, and smiled.

He roughly understood the Third Hokage's considerations. How quickly this child advanced in rank was not the highest priority. In the future, he would most likely still be placed into a team with children his own age to build bonds.

With him, it was more like a transitional period and a teacher who could help a young sapling take firm root.

Still, since Shinichi had asked about it himself, Maruboshi Kosuke could not make the decision on his own. He had therefore consulted the Third Hokage and only then learned that Sunagakure had invited Konoha to participate in this year's Chunin Exams.

"Senior, who will be leading the village's group this time?" Rather than directly answer whether he would go, Shinichi asked a crucial question.

"I asked around. It's Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin."

Jiraiya?

Hearing that name, Shinichi truly felt more at ease.

Although Jiraiya spent most of the year traveling outside the village, whenever he returned to Konoha, the Third Hokage often entrusted important or unusual missions to him.

With one of the Legendary Sannin, renowned throughout the Shinobi World and exceptional in both strength and experience, leading the group, their safety and ability to handle unforeseen developments would naturally improve greatly.

"With him leading the group, that really is reassuring." Shinichi nodded.

Maruboshi Kosuke looked at him and calmly suggested, "If you decide to go, this old man can serve as your teammate and accompany you on the trip."

"Senior?" Shinichi looked at him in surprise. "You don't plan to keep maintaining your Genin status?"

"I'd only be participating as your teammate. That doesn't mean I have to compete for the Chunin title. These old bones of mine can still accompany you to Sunagakure." Maruboshi Kosuke smiled, his expression relaxed.

Shinichi understood. This was his senior's way of protecting him. He nodded solemnly. "Thank you, Senior. With you there, I truly feel much more at ease."

"You needn't worry too much." Maruboshi Kosuke gazed into the distance, his voice carrying the steadiness of years gone by. "Although Sunagakure has always been fickle and has broken its word more than once, a war is never launched on a whim. Before a great war, there are usually many signs to observe—such as an abnormal rise in military spending, secret stockpiling of strategic supplies, the production and acquisition of equipment on a large scale, sudden expansion of ninja forces, and even subtle changes in the frequency and scale of border patrols... It would not be easy to hide such movements completely from the eyes and ears of other nations."

Hearing this, Shinichi suddenly saw the light. Numerous scattered clues instantly connected in his mind.

Why, in his memories, most students from his class had been uniformly arranged to graduate early at the age of nine.

Presumably, by this time next year, the great ninja war would not yet have broken out. But all kinds of ominous signs would already have gathered silently like dark clouds, allowing Konoha's higher-ups to keenly sense that a new storm of war was brewing.

Thus, the higher-ups decisively began the graduation process early, for a very clear purpose:

To let this group of children become familiar with ninja mission procedures as soon as possible and accumulate basic experience. Once war truly broke out and most of the core forces headed to the front lines, the village would inevitably face a manpower shortage in maintaining internal operations and handling all kinds of basic missions within its territory.

By then, these Genin who had already been given a chance to warm up could swiftly fill those gaps and become an effective force supporting the village's rear.

Should the situation continue to worsen and manpower become strained, these Genin who had graduated early and were no longer pure rookies would also be deployed more quickly to the edges of the battlefield or to second-line missions.

"However, taking the Chunin Exams usually requires a three-person team, along with a team leader who is at least a Special Jonin." Maruboshi Kosuke reminded him, "I count as one teammate. You'll need to find the remaining teammate and the team leader yourself."

Teammate... team leader...

Shinichi considered it. A moment later, two names surfaced in his mind.

If those two were willing to participate, then he could finally put his mind completely at ease about this trip to Sunagakure.