"Extra, extra! For the first time in history, the Five Kage will gather in Konoha! The largest Chunin Ninja Exams ever will be held in three months! Extra, extra!"
The paperboys' clear voices rang through Konoha's streets and alleys, like a stone dropped into a still lake, sending ripples spreading outward. Villagers poured out of their homes, poked their heads out of shops, and set aside their work at construction sites. They swarmed around the boys, scrambling to buy newspapers still fragrant with fresh ink.
"Give me one!"
"I want one too!"
"Hey, kid over there! Don't run off!"
The paperboys were surrounded on every side, the newspapers in their hands disappearing before their eyes. Those who got a copy eagerly unfolded it, their gazes sweeping across the bold front-page headline-For the first time in history, the Five Kage will gather in Konoha! The largest Chunin Ninja Exams ever will be held in three months. The Five Kage, gathered together. Every villager in Konoha understood the weight of those words. It was a spectacle unseen since the First Hokage founded Konoha, proof that the village still stood strong after the Third Shinobi World War, and a declaration to the entire Ninja World-Konoha still stood at its pinnacle.
"The Five Kage, all together! That's a first!" A middle-aged man with a pipe clenched between his teeth slapped his thigh, his voice brimming with pride.
"Exactly! The Kage from Iwagakure, the Hidden Cloud Village, the Hidden Sand Village, and the Hidden Mist Village are all coming to our Konoha. What does that tell you? That Konoha's still the top dog in the Ninja World!" a woman beside him chimed in.
"I heard these exams will be completely different from before. Something called a 'battle royale,' I think? They have to spend three