The Joint Chūnin Exams are, in the Shinobi World, a combination of the Olympics and a military parade.
In peacetime, it played a role somewhat similar to that of war, and also served as a platform to demonstrate its own strength.
If it's done well, there will naturally be many benefits.
The relationship between Sunagakure and the Daimyo is not good, and they are even short of funds for daily military expenses. Sunagakure also wants to organize such large-scale events, but they are struggling to find the money.
In stark contrast to Kumogakure, Sunagakure has an extremely close relationship with the Daimyo. It is precisely because of this that the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning suffered a crushing defeat a few years ago and had to pay a huge sum in compensation, from which he has yet to recover.
Darui knew that if he asked to be the organizer, the Daimyo would support him even if it meant selling everything he owned. The more this was the case, the more Darui hesitated to ask.
Because Kirigakure already had an agreement with Konoha, or rather the Uchiha Clan, to act in unison, they didn't even consider hosting the event; their main goal was simply to participate and show their support.
Only in Iwagakure, due to Ōnoki's unwillingness to suffer losses, was his participation possible, but he made corresponding demands.
It's definitely unrealistic for Iwagakure, and Ōnoki didn't make such a mindless request.
In its reply to Konoha, Iwagakure demanded that at least one round of the Joint Chūnin Exams be held in Iwagakure, otherwise Iwagakure would not participate in the Joint Chūnin Exams.
After receiving the reply, Ren smiled.
Ōnoki isn't good-looking, but he has some pretty grand ideas.
The unprecedented Joint Chūnin Exams involving all ninja villages brought obvious attention and benefits, so it's perfectly normal for Ōnoki to want a piece of the pie.
Is Ren such a person who can be easily blackmailed? Admittedly, if Iwagakure doesn't participate, its influence will be far less than if Iwagakure does.
It certainly had some impact on Konoha, but Iwagakure was also affected. The entire Shinobi World, all the other ninja villages were involved, but Iwagakure was not.
It will be incredibly awkward.
Ōnoki's move was purely a case of killing eight hundred enemies while losing a thousand of his own. He probably thought that because Ren was young, he wanted to scare Ren. If it succeeded, he would gain a lot; if it failed, he wouldn't lose anything.
Having figured out the key point, Ren didn't tolerate Ōnoki and spoke directly.
"The replies from all the ninja villages have arrived. We will soon announce to the entire Shinobi World that, except for Iwagakure, which has hesitated and has not yet responded, all the ninja villages in the entire Shinobi World will participate in this grand event!"
"Yes, Lord Hokage!"
When Ren taught Iwagakure a lesson, he didn't completely block their escape route, leaving them some way out.
Just as Ren had predicted, the day after Konoha issued its announcement, Ōnoki also made a public statement, declaring that Iwagakure would not miss this grand event.
The date was set for three months later, which would be roughly one month after Neji graduated.
Konoha shouldn't even dream of achieving good results relying on Neji, Rock Lee Tenten.
Ren had his own plans for this, while Neji and the others were mainly going to broaden their horizons and gain some knowledge.
Ren has finished his work, and someone else is refining the detailed plan; all that's left is to wait for the results.
There's still a lot to prepare.
In terms of the overall direction, Ren did not go against the grain. He still used the traditional three-round examination: a written test to select most of the candidates, a few teams from smaller ninja villages, and a number of people from larger ninja villages depending on the situation.
In the second round of team battles, some representatives from all the smaller ninja villages remained, while a small number of elites from the larger ninja villages stayed behind according to the list.
Finally, there is the highly anticipated third round of individual battles, which is not only a time to showcase the strength of each ninja village, but also a stage for the ninja class to demonstrate their power to ordinary people.
Ren had never participated in the Joint Chūnin Exams, but as the Hokage, he had read the materials left behind from the previous Joint Chūnin Exams and understood the intricacies of the process very well.
Therefore, Konoha has a lot of preparations to do over the next three months.
The fact that Ren went to such lengths to handle this matter suggests that his purpose was not as simple as it appeared; he had a deeper plan.