KOF Tournament?

Konoha.

"It really is modeled after the KOF Tournament format!" Sarutobi Toru muttered as he looked over the entire Chunin Exam schedule.

"What KOF Tournament?" Tsunade leaned over to look at the schedule and asked curiously.

"Nothing! It's a tournament format I suggested to Uncle Hiruzen before."

There were still some differences, though. Besides one-on-one matches, teams could also compete in three-versus-three group battles. The format would be decided through negotiation between both sides, and if they failed to reach an agreement, they would draw lots.

In an era without public events that drew the entire Shinobi World's attention—without sporting events, entertainment stars, or any global-scale spectacles—the influence of this first Joint Chunin Exam far exceeded everyone's imagination. If it proved to be a huge success, it might even develop into a recurring event like the Olympics in the future.

"Ohhh, my youth is already burning! I have to work hard, starting with one hundred laps around Konoha! If I don't finish, I'll do three thousand push-ups..."

"Enough, enough! It'll be dark by the time you finish a hundred laps around Konoha. We came today to check out the seeded teams from the other villages. We don't have time to waste!" Sarutobi Toru grabbed Might Duy by the back of his collar and dragged him back.

Their new teammate, Inuzuka Hana, held a small white puppy in her arms. Without saying a word, she quietly followed Sarutobi Toru.

Inuzuka Hana was a normally assigned ninja, and her strength was fairly decent—roughly at Chunin level. The Inuzuka Clan also specialized in reconnaissance. With no other suitable candidates among Konoha's younger generation, the Third Hokage had simply picked the best of a bad lot and assigned this genuine Genin to their team.

As for why Sarutobi Toru was not on a team with Hiruko and Hatake Sakumo? It was simple. Sarutobi Toru could win no matter whom he teamed up with, so it was better to group the other stronger members together. That way, the other team would have better odds as well.

"Hehe, Teacher Danzo himself told me not to be careless, yet this lineup is arrogant to the extreme!"

As for Inuzuka Hana, all she felt now was the urge to cry. Root's reputation had not yet become as notorious as it would in the future, but intelligence agencies like this were always hard to enter and even harder to leave! Now that she knew Sarutobi Toru and the others' true identities, would she have any other way out in the future?

But when she looked at Sarutobi Toru's breathtakingly handsome face, she barely managed to comfort herself. This isn't a loss. Even if I can only look at a handsome guy, it's still fine.

"But I really didn't expect the famous medical prodigy to be a Root member too. What a surprise!"

A green-clad "frog" hopped past her in frog jumps, and black lines seemed to appear over Inuzuka Hana's head.

"Forget it. Root even accepts weirdos like this. Having Sarutobi Toru around is perfectly normal, isn't it?"

Looking at Tsunade and Sarutobi Toru acting all lovey-dovey ahead of her, then at the "frog" beside her, Inuzuka Hana sighed inwardly. This is too hard for me!

With the precedent of the Second Hokage and the Second Raikage last time, the other four nations had only sent leading Jōnin this time. None of them dared to come directly to Konoha Village.

VIP Room at the examination venue.

"You've all had a difficult journey," Mitokado Homura said with a smile to the Jōnin from the other nations.

Since the leaders of the Four Great Ninja Villages had not come, the Third Hokage would not lower himself to receive them personally either. Aside from showing his face at the beginning, Mitokado Homura handled the reception for the rest of the time.

This exam was open to the entire Shinobi World, so naturally, it was not just candidates from the Four Great Nations who had come. There were also plenty of Genin and team leaders from smaller countries.

Even the Five Great Nations had sent a few extra people besides their seeded contestants, just to make up the numbers. With enough people, perhaps they might pull off an upset.

It could only be said that the temptation of 300 million Ryo was too great. It was nearly equal to half a year's military expenditure for poor major ninja villages like Sunagakure and the Mist Ninja. Even knowing their chances were slim, they had to fight for it with everything they had.

"Alright, now that we're all here, shouldn't you bring out the rules for this Chunin Exam?"

"Rest assured. This is the examination schedule. Please take a look."

The exam consisted of two rounds: the Preliminary Round and the Final Round. Konoha would issue eight Invitation Letters to eight teams. The letters had been marked, and every half hour, the location of each would be reported to all teams.

The Preliminary Round would take place in the vast Forest Sea outside Konoha. Three days later, teams that returned with an Invitation Letter could enter the second-round Final Round.

In addition, each team could only hold one Invitation Letter. This was to prevent fewer than eight teams from making it through and disrupting the Final Round.

As for a written test? Even wealthy Konoha had only recently added theory classes at Sarutobi Toru's suggestion. In other ninja villages, unless they belonged to professions such as intelligence divisions, their theoretical knowledge was basically on the level of the future Uzumaki Naruto.

"There are so many people!" Might Duy looked excitedly at the various contestants in the lounge. Sarutobi Toru swept his gaze across them, comparing their faces with the information Root had gathered. Most of them could be matched with people from the future.

For example, there was the baby-faced Yagura from the Mist Ninja, the huge Suikazan Fuguki, and a fellow named Jinin Akebino.

Kumogakure's core group consisted of two muscular brutes and one skinny man. Among them were A and Dodai.

The red-bearded man with the Tsuchikage might be Rōshi?

Sunagakure had a black-haired man with spiky hair. Sarutobi Toru's mouth twitched. Wasn't that the Second Kazekage's disciple? He was probably the future Third Kazekage. Wasn't he even fifteen yet?

The rest were Chiyo's son and disciple, most likely Sasori's future parents—the unlucky pair who would die at Sakumo's hands.

Seriously, were these guys really all Genin? Damn it, plenty of them were already Jōnin, weren't they?

This cheating was so blatant it was unbearable to watch!

Hatake Sakumo walked over with Aburame Ryoma and Hiruko. "How is it, Toru? Anyone you want to challenge?"

Sarutobi Toru said irritably, "Are you kidding me? How could this bunch of trash possibly be worthy of my challenge?"

The moment he said that, the lounge fell silent.

Hokage's Office. Danzo slammed the documents onto the desk in front of the Third Hokage and cursed, "Do these ninja villages have any shame at all?!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe. "Calm down. Didn't we cheat too?"

"Heh, am I angry because they cheated? I'm angry because they think we're idiots! They actually claimed they'd failed missions and been demoted to Genin. This is the first time I've heard that ninja can even be demoted!"

"Wasn't this expected? If we hadn't been confident, we probably wouldn't have let Tsunade's team participate either."

At the mention of confidence, Danzo's expression eased somewhat. "They want to treat Konoha like a sucker? They're dreaming!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen, meanwhile, was reading the report. Since the Chunin Exam began, Konoha's foot traffic had surged. All manner of goods, food stalls, and inns were completely packed. By his estimates, Konoha Village's total income during the Chunin Exam had likely already approached 300 million Ryo.

Adding in the advertisements, reputation, and expanded influence, even if all 300 million Ryo were handed out, Konoha would still make a tremendous profit.

However, the true benefit of first place was not merely money. It would bring immeasurable advantages to Konoha's reputation and influence as a whole.

"Hehe, now it depends on Toru and the others' performance!" the Third Hokage thought happily.