This Chunin Exam was unusually held in the neutral Land of Iron.
Just as Sarutobi Toru had initially expected, the enormous success of the first Chunin Exam, coupled with the decent performance of the following few exams—even if they had not been as spectacular as the first—had turned the Chunin Exam into a grand event much like the Olympics.
Under such circumstances, every nation was quite eager to host the Chunin Exam. The Five Great Nations were powerful, and in the past, the Chunin Exam had basically always been held in their territories.
However, this also gave rise to a problem. If it was held in the Land of Fire, Konoha would take first place. If it was held in the Land of Earth, the Iwa shinobi would emerge victorious. Likewise, if it was hosted in the Land of Wind, Land of Lightning, or Land of Water, the host nation's shinobi village had basically already secured victory.
The reason for this was not only that the host shinobi village would indeed tamper with the match schedule. The main reason was that the other shinobi villages did not dare send their greatest geniuses to other countries to take part in the Chunin Exam.
After all, any genius with Kage-level potential who appeared in a major shinobi village of another nation would almost certainly be eliminated by that village. Even if the host village wanted to maintain order and had no intention of acting, shinobi from other nations would take the opportunity to fish in troubled waters, frame others, and set traps.
Under such circumstances, the other major shinobi villages naturally would not send their top geniuses, who had yet to mature, out to their deaths.
Thus, the shinobi village that held the home-field advantage and could go all out would naturally