Although the Joint Chunin Exams were hosted by the Five Great Nations, participation was not limited to the Five Great Shinobi Villages. As a microcosm of war in the shinobi world, even the shinobi villages of smaller nations needed to make an appearance. A good showing might even lead to cooperation with one of the great nations. Even being a follower could be more rewarding that way.
As the host, Konoha Ninja Village also had to rigorously vet the participating ninja. It had notified every shinobi village well in advance to submit a list of candidates. Of course, these contained only basic information. Revealing too much could put their candidates at a disadvantage against Konoha ninja. None of them believed Konoha Ninja Village would simply accept the intelligence without sharing it with its own candidates.
As the Joint Chunin Exams approached, every shinobi village's candidate list had arrived at Konoha Ninja Village. As a supervisor, Kazemori Masaki had every right to review them. The original story had offered little detail about the period surrounding the Second Shinobi World War, so he knew almost none of these young ninja.
Well, he could not say he recognized none of them. Two did ring a bell. Holding two candidate profiles, Kazemori Masaki smiled and shook his head. The candidates were a boy and a girl from Sunagakure Ninja Village, and one profile explicitly identified its subject as Chiyo's son.
These two were probably Sasori's parents. Judging by their ages, they could indeed have taken the Chunin Ninja Exams at this time. He wondered whether this counted as fate. Chiyo, the boy's mother, had a grudge against Kazemori Masaki, and in the original history, the two would eventually die at Hatake Sakumo's hands.
"What's so funny? Did you find a candidate worth watching?" Mitokado