Chunin Ninja Exams

"Chunin Selection Exam?"

The restoration and carving work at the Waterfall of the End had made progress recently, and the site was beginning to take on the appearance of a proper valley.

With the mission finally at a close, a new trial awaited them.

Diejian and the others had been Genin for more than two years.

The season was marked by the incessant chirping of cicadas, and it was summer all year round.

The members of Team Six had gathered at a dessert shop, where their Jonin instructor, Kagami, brought up the Chunin Selection Exam.

The three of them were dressed in civilian clothes.

Still, as a ninja, Sakumo wore long sleeves and pants.

Diejian had thrown a Hawaiian shirt over his tank top, with shorts and sandals below—a cool, casual look.

The only woman, Juri, wore a sexy kimono with a slit and a hem that reached her knees, leaving her sweat-glistening feet bare.

She fanned herself with a gunbai, sending a breeze over her bare thighs.

The short hem fluttered up and down in the breeze, but anything farther beneath it was lost in shadow.

She had pinned up her hair, exposing the nape of her neck, where transparent earrings modeled after tags swayed.

Inside the earrings, which looked as if they were made of plastic, lay a faded, withered petal.

They were all at an age when their youthful appearances were gradually giving way to those of adults.

Diejian's height, Sakumo's features, and Juri's figure had each begun to change, little by little, leaving their boyhood and girlhood behind.

Sakumo seemed unsure where to look in the face of Juri's unexpected allure.

"What's that? The Chunin Selection Exam? I've never heard of it."

"I just told you about it."

"Isn't Chunin selection just a paperwork review?"

"I was just about to explain that, too."

Though their appearances had changed, their personalities hadn't changed so easily. Juri's arrogant words and behavior were as constant as ever.

Even with Kagami, who was both her brother and her teacher, she made no attempt to hide her disrespect, pointing her gunbai at him with a sharp smack.

They had spent the past two years doing construction work as Genin, so their Chunin promotions had been postponed until the mission was finished.

Now that their chance had finally arrived, she pressed for details with interest.

Diejian had heard a little about it from Tobirama before, so this gathering only confirmed the reason for it. Just as I thought.

Diejian gulped down some cold water, ice cubes floating in it.

The feeling of cooling his overheated body from the inside seemed almost addictive.

"The Second has finalized the new standards for Chunin selection that he came up with."

"Another thing from the Second..."

Remembering the Genin advancement exam, Juri turned her face away in disgust.

After the Genin exam, she had learned that it was originally meant to test teamwork, and she had been deeply irritated by the Second, Tobirama's, scheming.

The arrangement had probably been made with full awareness of how much Juri disliked Diejian and the Senju. Realizing what Kagami meant, Juri felt even more disgusted with Tobirama.

Juri wasn't unaware that Team Six would never have passed without Diejian looking out for them.

That was precisely why she couldn't bring herself to openly acknowledge Diejian.

She still didn't know how to respond to his kindness.

Whenever feelings she couldn't understand welled up inside her, Juri treated Diejian even worse.

"As Sakumo said, a few Jonin used to review the paperwork. But given the success of the Ninja Academy and the expected increase in the number of Genin, we've arranged a more rigorous Chunin selection."

When Konohagakure was first established, a ninja could become a Chunin if their clan head recommended them for promotion and the other clan heads and the Hokage approved.

Over time, the process gradually changed. Clan heads were no longer required; approval from a certain number of people qualified to be Jonin was enough. The system had been simplified that way—

But now, it was going to change again. This was the Chunin Selection Exam Kagami had mentioned.

For some time after the Ninja Academy's system was developed, no Chunin promotions had taken place. This was entirely so that the Chunin Selection Exam could be established as a system and launched all at once.

That was also why Diejian and the others, along with the students from the classes below theirs, had spent two years as Genin.

Even more astonishingly, the Chunin Selection Exam would be jointly hosted with other hidden villages.

The villages each had their own reasons, no doubt—whether it was a chance to "show their cards" to Kumogakure, which had long sought an alliance, or an opportunity to assess Kirigakure's strength, since it was not active in diplomacy.

Now that some time had passed since the end of the war, this was a bold attempt to take diplomacy between the villages into a new phase.

However, many villages were reluctant to let the forces of another village into their own, so Konohagakure, as the host village, had proactively offered to hold the event.

To ensure they could handle any emergency during the Chunin Selection Exam, Tobirama had begun strengthening the village's defenses about a year ago.

He had made thorough preparations on many fronts: establishing the Konoha Military Police Force under the Uchiha Clan's leadership, developing a large-scale barrier covering the entire village with the Yamanaka Clan at its core, and creating the Anbu to handle special missions involving the village's secrets.

Jointly hosting the exam came with enormous risks.

For instance, if the invited ninja started a riot and destroyed the village, the "Kage" who led it would never be able to tolerate that.

It was only natural for the other villages to hesitate.

But for Konohagakure, this Chunin Selection Exam was something they had to overcome at all costs.

Once they successfully got through this "get-together," they would formally enter an alliance with Kumogakure, which had long hoped for peace.

The same went for signing a non-aggression pact with Iwagakure, which had transitioned to the Second's regime.

Relations with Suna and Kiri remained unstable.

But if three of the Five Great Hidden Villages joined forces, then even if Suna and Kiri caused trouble, the gap in strength would be so great that war would no longer be possible.

This was especially significant because Konohagakure, led by the Shinobi World's strongest clan, the Senju, was joining forces with Iwagakure, whose Second Tsuchikage, Mu, could use the special technique known as Kekkei Tōta, and whose ranks included Ōnoki of Both Scales.

The peace Hashirama had pursued was steadily becoming a reality through Tobirama's skill. It had even reached the point where every problem might be solved during Tobirama's generation. Diejian once again felt keenly how remarkable his teacher was.

"Does that mean I'm not needed anymore?" Diejian was enjoying the peaceful days enough to make a joke like that.

"Ninja from other villages and VIPs from various countries will be coming, too, so I want you all to be careful. I'll inform you of the exact date later, but as the first graduates of the Academy, you're not allowed to withdraw. Take care of your health and be ready for the exam."

"Hmph. I'd be delighted to take the Chunin Selection Exam. I'd never back down. So? What's the exam going to involve?"

"Hey, hey. How can you so casually ask for a leg up, Juri?"

Juri immediately tried to get special treatment through her brother, Kagami.

Diejian chided Juri for it, even though he'd asked Tobirama the same question when he first heard about the exam—and had already been scolded for it.