Joint Chunin Exam

After her shock, Tsunade continued reading the scroll and saw the mission Hiruzen Sarutobi had assigned her: to train Qingshui.

She immediately understood the old man's purpose. He wanted to win over Qingshui, the sudden genius.

Just as his younger brother Nawaki had become Orochimaru's student, and Minato, hailed as a genius at the Ninja Academy, had become Jiraiya's student.

In truth, training Qingshui was much the same as taking him on as a student.

It simply lacked the official teacher-student relationship.

But in the eyes of others, Qingshui would henceforth belong to the Hokage Faction.

Before she had met Qingshui, Tsunade would have refused this mission without hesitation.

All she wanted now was to lie low and take life easy. Konoha and the Hokage Faction had nothing to do with her.

But after meeting Qingshui, she thought it over briefly and decided to accept the mission.

After all, she had already been considering training Qingshui to take over her position as Medical Department Head.

With Hiruzen Sarutobi's mission, training Qingshui for the post would be all the more legitimate.

Besides, she knew Qingshui's talent well, and training him wouldn't take much effort.

Tsunade could already picture the wonderful day, not far off, when she would finally be free.

"Go tell the old man I accept the mission."

The Anbu ninja pretended not to hear Tsunade's way of addressing Hiruzen Sarutobi, and vanished with a Body Flicker.

After he left, Tsunade once again lost herself in the joy of gambling.

Even though she kept losing.

Meanwhile, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu arrived together at the Hokage's Office.

"Hiruzen, why did you call us here so urgently? Is something wrong?"

"We'll discuss it once Danzo gets here."

Unlike Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, Danzo was usually at his Ne Base, so it would take him longer to get here.

The two didn't argue with Hiruzen Sarutobi. They simply found seats and sat down.

After a while, a cold snort sounded first. Then Shimura Danzō walked into the Hokage's Office.

Danzo's voice preceded him. Wearing a cold expression, he looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi with jealousy and resentment.

In Danzo's eyes, the Hokage Position should have been his.

Only he could lead Konoha to become stronger.

Hiruzen, once I complete the Hashirama Cell Transplantation Experiment, the Hokage Position will be mine!

Everyone knew that First Hokage Senju Hashirama had possessed Wood Style, a Kekkei Genkai that had made him unrivaled in the Ninja World.

But since Hashirama's death, no one had been able to inherit the power of Wood Style.

Not even Tsunade, Hashirama's granddaughter.

For that reason, Hiruzen Sarutobi had once launched the Hashirama Cell Transplantation Experiment, hoping to recreate Wood Style.

But after the casualties grew too high, Hiruzen Sarutobi had immediately called it off.

Now, however, Danzo had joined forces with Orochimaru and secretly restarted the experiment.

Unaware of what Danzo was thinking, Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep breath of smoke before explaining in a grave tone why he had called the three of them there.

"I just received a report from Jiraiya. It seems Iwagakure is secretly plotting against Konoha."

At this, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu both changed expressions.

It had been only a little over a year since the Second Shinobi World War ended. Another conflict with Iwagakure would be very bad news for Konoha.

"Hiruzen, what do you plan to do?"

Mitokado Homura asked with a worried look.

"How dare Iwagakure plot against Konoha? Give me a unit, Hiruzen, and I'll wipe them out for good!"

Before Hiruzen Sarutobi could answer, Danzo spoke up impatiently.

In his eyes, Konoha was the strongest village in the Ninja World. Dealing with Iwagakure would be a piece of cake.

"Danzo, that's absolutely impossible!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi naturally couldn't agree. He rejected the suggestion firmly.

He was also thoroughly exhausted by this.

Danzo only had to shout for war. As Hokage, Hiruzen had to consider a great many things.

"You'll regret this, Hiruzen!"

"I'm the Hokage, Danzo!"

Hearing that, Danzo felt deeply frustrated.

Damn Hiruzen, always using his position as Hokage to lord it over me. Once I become Hokage, I'll make him feel what I'm feeling today.

"Danzo, Hiruzen is right. You shouldn't bring that up again."

Utatane Koharu didn't agree with Danzo either.

Danzo snorted in displeasure, but said nothing more about starting a war.

"Still, we need to gather intelligence from inside Iwagakure. Danzo, leave that to Root."

Hiruzen Sarutobi then made the arrangements.

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu had no objections.

"If that's all, I'll be going."

Danzo had accepted the mission and was ready to leave, but Hiruzen stopped him.

"Wait, Danzo. I have something else to say."

"I'm planning to hold the Joint Chunin Exam."

After graduating from the Ninja Academy, students became Genin. To advance to Chunin, they had to take the Chunin Ninja Exams.

The so-called Joint Chunin Exam was a Chunin Ninja Exam held together with other Ninja Villages.

Genin from other Ninja Villages would come to Konoha and compete against Konoha's Genin.

This was, in fact, a kind of war between Ninja Villages.

By showcasing their promising young generation to nobles and wealthy merchants, the villages could persuade them to assign more missions to their Ninja Village.

"Why are you suddenly holding a Joint Chunin Exam?"

During the Second Shinobi World War, Konoha hadn't held Chunin Ninja Exams for several years, so it was indeed time to hold one now.

Under normal circumstances, though, Konoha would hold it on its own.

After all, involving other Ninja Villages in a Joint Chunin Exam made the process much more complicated.

"Iwagakure is secretly plotting against Konoha. We can't rule out other Ninja Villages being involved, or having similar intentions and plans."

"So Konoha needs to demonstrate its strength at the Joint Chunin Exam and make those Ninja Villages think twice before making trouble."

There was another reason: Qingshui.

He hadn't been promoted to Chunin yet.

So Hiruzen Sarutobi planned to have Qingshui take part in the Joint Chunin Exam. Konoha would surely outperform the other Ninja Villages.

Hiruzen didn't explain this, because he didn't want Danzo to find out and start getting ideas.

"Hiruzen's right. Then we'll hold the Joint Chunin Exam."

"Which Ninja Villages should we invite?"

"Send an invitation to every Ninja Village. We'll accept any that decide to participate."

Hiruzen Sarutobi firmly believed that even Genin from the Five Great Ninja Villages couldn't match Qingshui.

In just a few sentences, they had settled the matter of the Joint Chunin Exam.

Danzo, who hadn't offered an opinion on the matter, just wanted to leave as soon as possible. He didn't care about an exam for a bunch of Genin.

All he wanted now was to obtain Wood Style as soon as possible.

"Are we done here?"

After Hiruzen Sarutobi confirmed that they were, Danzo immediately got up and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

In the Land of Rain.

Qingshui looked at Konan and the other two. "You're all quite strong now, but you lack combat experience. Tomorrow, I plan to take you to accept some missions."