June 10th.
Springtime has passed in the Shinobi World, and the weather has become slightly hot and dry.
Several consecutive days of sunny weather allowed people to take off their coats.
On this beautiful, sunny day, the unprecedented Joint Chūnin Exams are about to be held in Konoha.
Ninjas from all the ninja villages in the Shinobi World arrived in Konoha today.
Unlike the grand events held by the nobles of the Shinobi World, the Chunin Ninja Exams, which are attended by ninjas, do not require the usual preparation and reception of participants several days in advance, as is the case with events for ordinary people.
The Shinobi World is not small; the distances between various ninja villages and Konoha vary, yet they all arrived in Konoha on the same day.
There were approximately 700 Genin) taking the exam, including those from the five major ninja villages. About 400 of them were from the five major ninja villages alone, averaging 80 people from each village, divided into 30 to 40 teams.
The large line of examinees, guided by staff, arrived at the Konoha Ninja Academy to collect their respective number plates, i. e., their examination admission tickets.
The issuance of examination admission tickets is not done indiscriminately; staff will also verify whether the records match the candidates.
They also identified a small number of "Genin" (low-ranking ninjas) with gray hair and wrinkles so deep they could trap mosquitoes.
Everyone knows how much of the Genin participating in the Joint Chūnin Exams are just there for show, but they still have to put on a show.
As the Genin received their exam admission tickets, they were unaware that their fates had already been decided by powerful figures.
On the other side, the leaders of the various ninja village teams received a warm welcome from Ren.
Conference room in the Hokage Building.
The meeting room, large enough to accommodate all the Jonin of the village for a meeting, is more than enough to seat the leaders of each village's team.
"First of all, thank you very much for sending your Genin teams to participate in this Joint Chūnin Exams. Here..."
Ren, carrying the manuscript he had just read through that morning, rambled on and on about a bunch of pointless nonsense.
An hour and a half later, they finally got to the important stuff.
"... As usual, this year 'Joint Chūnin Exams consist of three parts, as you all know: a theoretical exam, a team-based combat exercise, and, most importantly, an individual battle."
"In order to prevent the losses of each village from being too heavy, the first round of this Chunin Ninja Exams will be slightly different from the past. The theoretical exam will eliminate 80% of the candidates, leaving only 20% to participate in the remaining two rounds of assessment."
These words immediately caused an uproar in the conference room.
"Hokage, is the pass rate too low?"
After glancing at the leader of this unknown small ninja village, Ren knew what the other was worried about.
The Shinobi World has held so many Joint Chūnin Exams. The major ninja villages may not have participated many times, but the smaller ninja villages are forced to participate every time.
Unlike the Five Great Shinobi Villages, the competition here focuses on performance in the final individual battle.
The competition among the smaller ninja villages is about who gets to enter the second round of exams, and how well they perform in those exams.
Meat is always available to those who have no shortage of meat, while the goal of drinking soup is simply to get an extra sip.
Konoha now has to eliminate 80% of the candidates in the first round. These small ninja villages, which have never set their sights on the third round, are very worried about the results they have achieved this time.
For a normal ninja village, low- Genin are always a expendable resource.
The reason why the small ninja village sends out so many ninjas is to win by sheer numbers. There is a meeting like this before each Joint Chūnin Exams to discuss the pass rate for each exam.
Not counting the time when Hiruzen Sarutobi presided over the event, when Sunagakure harbored rebellious intentions and refused to communicate with Konoha, leaving everything to Konoha's discretion.
"Whether it's suitable or not, you might want to take a look at this first."
As Ren finished speaking, Mitsuba and Shikaku, who were standing behind him, distributed the documents in their hands to the leaders in two different directions.
While everyone was looking at the contents, Ren also kept observing them, his eyes constantly scanning the room, but his attention was mostly focused on the leader of Amegakure.
Each ninja village sent its own renowned ninja to lead the team, such as Zabuza from Kirigakure, Kitsuchi from Iwagakure, Dodai from Hidden Cloud Village, and Baki from Hidden Sand Village.
The other ninja villages also mostly had ninjas recorded in intelligence reports.
Only in Amegakure were the ninjas sent out recognized by almost no one at the scene.
Besides Ren, many people also turned their attention to the leader of Amegakure. After all, everyone is familiar with the Land of Rain, but Amegakure has become incredibly mysterious since the Third Shinobi World War.
Now that the leader is a ninja no one has ever heard of, it's normal for him to be attracting attention.
At the scene, only Ren recognized him as Akatsuki White Tiger, Konan.
Yuuki glanced at the list in front of him: Amegakure Jonin, Shiroki?
Konan, using the alias Bai Rong, was carefully examining the contents before her.
Amegakure is incredibly mysterious to the Shinobi World, and Konoha is equally mysterious to the Akatsuki.
Taking advantage of this rare opportunity to openly and legitimately enter Konoha, Nagato was naturally unwilling to give up and ultimately sent his most trusted Konan.
Konan felt utterly absurd at that moment. Compared to Amegakure, which was ruled by divine authority, Konan, who thought the world was so simple, understood the complexity of society for the first time.
The contents of the paper in front of her were beyond Konan's comprehension.