Hokage Building
Office
Chihane, Orochimaru, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Uchiha Fugaku, Tsunade, and Minato Namikaze sat around the desk. All of Konoha's current senior leadership had gathered in the office.
A document lay on the desk between them, clearly stating that Kirigakure had invited Konoha to participate in the Chunin Ninja Exams it would be hosting.
Until now, each major village had always held its own Chunin Ninja Exams.
Only allies sent invitations to one another. Ninja from smaller villages were either promoted by their own villages or took the exams alongside the major villages backing them.
For example, in the original story, Konoha and Sunagakure were allies, which was why Konoha had invited Sunagakure to participate in its Chunin Ninja Exams.
It was precisely this that had given Orochimaru the opening to launch the Konoha Crush Plan.
Moreover, because of the war, the Chunin Ninja Exams, normally held twice a year, had been suspended for quite some time.
This time, Kirigakure had actually sent invitations to all the Four Great Shinobi Villages at once, raising suspicions that some scheme might be involved.
The Third Shinobi World War had ended only a little over a year ago, and Kirigakure had suffered heavy losses in the fighting. Instead of lying low and licking its wounds, it had invited the entire Shinobi World to its Chunin Ninja Exams. No one could tell what it was up to.
As the saying went, anything out of the ordinary had a reason behind it. Something they knew nothing about must have happened.
Orochimaru knew perfectly well that asking Chihane about ANBU intelligence would be useless, so he asked Minato Namikaze, "Minato, has ANBU received any information?"
Minato Namikaze gave Chihane a helpless look before replying to Orochimaru, "Lord Hokage, our spies in the Four Great Shinobi Villages