Minato Namikaze returned very quickly.
Given that both sides are willing to cooperate, Minato Namikaze's main purpose in setting off as an envoy this time, besides discussing the details of the Chunin Ninja Exams, was to represent the Third Hokage and Fourth Kazekage and the high-ranking officials of Sunagakure to discuss the details of the upcoming strategic cooperation between the two sides.
As for the main characters of this Chunin Ninja Exams, namely the Genin who participated in the exam, they were actually among the group that learned about the Chunin Ninja Exams relatively late.
"Huh? The Chunin Ninja Exams?! And they're even being held in conjunction with other villages!"
Ebisu pushed up his Glasses and asked in surprise.
Konoha holds the Chunin Ninja Exams twice a year, but this is the first time it has been held in conjunction with another village.
"I knew it! No wonder you've been training so hard lately. You're preparing for the Chunin Ninja Exams. Watch out, Kakashi! I'm sure I'll outperform you this time!"
Uchiha Obito shouted excitedly, but Kakashi replied with "Idiot."
Ignoring Uchiha Obito, Kakashi turned his attention to Uchiha Meikyō and Minato Namikaze.
"Minato-sensei, Teacher Meikyō, I've been Chunin for a long time, and I'm currently accumulating merits in preparation for promotion to Special Jonin. I shouldn't need to take this kind of childish, low-level exam, right?"
"Damn it, Kakashi, this Chunin Ninja Exams isn't some child's play you're making out to be. It's a joint effort between our village and Suna to showcase the power of both villages. As the chief examiner for this Chunin Ninja Exams, I can tell you very clearly, Kakashi, that you were personally selected by the Third Hokage-sama to participate in this Chunin Ninja Exams."
Meikyō shook his index finger at Kakashi and said.
"That's right, Kakashi. Your strength has far surpassed the level of Chunin, and you can greatly showcase the style of Konoha's new generation of ninjas. There are also others who are very talented, so you will all have to participate in this Chunin Ninja Exams."
Minato Namikaze took over the conversation and, together with Meikyō, took out several forms from their Ninja Tool Pouch and handed them to everyone.
"Alright, Kakashi, let's make this our forty-first Chunin Ninja Exams! Let's see who goes further in the Chunin Ninja Exams!"
Might Guy gave Kakashi a thumbs-up, revealing his gleaming white teeth, and said.
"If you're still as strong as before, you won't be able to beat me."
Kakashi glanced at Might Guy and said calmly.
"Don't worry, Kakashi, I've prepared a new technique especially for you!"
Might Guy patted his chest, revealing a confident expression.
Time quickly came to the start of the Chunin Ninja Exams.
This Chunin Ninja Exams was the first time it was jointly organized by two ninja villages, so there was nothing new in the exam content. Instead, the most conventional method used in the Chunin Ninja Exams in the past was chosen for the assessment.
Intelligence gathering, teamwork, and individual skill battles.
More than forty Genin from Sunagakure, along with their team leader, came to Konoha with Elder Ebizo from Sunagakure.
As the Kazekage, Rasa will only appear with the Third Hokage in the finals. Other high-ranking members of Suna, such as Chiyo, have fought against Konoha's experts on the battlefield and even have deep-seated hatreds with them. To avoid any accidents, Ebizo is the most suitable candidate.
Ninja Academy, large classroom.
Hundreds of genin from Konoha and Sunagakure Genin were participating in the Chunin Ninja Exams had gathered here early on.
"It looks like Yakumi, Ebizo. The people from your village seem rather impolite as guests."
Outside the large classroom, Meikyō was trimming her nails with the Ama-no-Ohabari Feather, and spoke to Ebizo beside her with her head down.
Everything that happens inside the classroom can be seen from their position.
"Is that so? But Konoha, as the host of this place, doesn't seem to have much hospitality. However, I think that with the reputation of the Meikyō the Body Flicker, just stepping out at this moment will definitely intimidate those unruly brats."
Ebizo chuckled and stroked his beard, speaking with a hidden barb.
Meikyō rolled her eyes at Ebizo without saying a word.
The incident was triggered when some Sunagakure Genin that Might Guy, Shiranui Genma, and Ebisu were disciples of Uchiha Meikyō.
On the battlefield, Meikyō had killed countless Suna ninjas. Among these Genin were many whose relatives and teachers had died tragically at Meikyō's hands, and some had not even been able to leave behind a complete corpse.
After all, before Meikyō earned the title of "Meikyō the Body Flicker," he was known in the underground black market as "The Meikyō the Decapitator," and his opponents were basically all cleanly and neatly beheaded by him.
If Meikyō were to reveal himself, he might be accused of bullying the weak and being petty.
"Iron Gate, you are the examiner for the first exam, so you're in charge of handling this matter."
Meikyō waved his hand and spoke to a Byakugan ninja behind him.
This person is none other than Hyuga Tetsu Meikyō. He is also the most outstanding ninja among his classmates, apart from the three in Kato Squad, and is now one of the many Jonin of the Hyuga Branch Family.
"Yes, Lord Meikyō!"
Hyuga Tetsu placed his hands tightly against his thighs, quickly bowed and nodded to Meikyō, and then Body Flicker Technique left.
"The disciples of the Meikyō the Body Flicker and the Golden Flash must be the most outstanding new generation ninjas in Konoha. I wonder if Meikyō would be interested in making a bet with me?"
Looking at the group of examinees who were intimidated by Hyuga Tetsu, Ebizo turned to Meikyō and asked.
"What do you want to bet? Let me make this clear first, I'm not some legendary easy target like Teacher Tsunade. On the contrary, I'm quite skilled at some gambling techniques."
With the Observation Haki derived from the Transparent World, Meikyō can easily gain a huge advantage in games like dice games.
"Of course, we're betting on whether your Konoha ninjas go further in this exam, or whether our Sunagakure juniors perform better. Let's bet on which side has fewer eliminations in each round of the exam. The loser..."
Ebizo silently took out a 100,000 tael silver note from his bag.
"Good."
The first round of the Chunin Ninja Exams was actually just a normal test of theoretical knowledge.
This test assesses a ninja's intelligence gathering abilities.
It's basically about who can cheat better.
However, there were a few exceptions among those present.
One is Hatake Kakashi, another is Ebisu, and the third is Nohara Rin.
Kakashi is a true all-around top-tier academic genius. When he sees these questions, he doesn't even need to think before he starts writing.
Ebisu's theoretical knowledge was extremely solid, and the fact that the Third Hokage chose him as Konohamaru's tutor in the future demonstrates his ability in this area.
As for Nohara Rin, although she has a certain gap in theoretical knowledge compared to the two mentioned above, she can still handle most of the questions with ease.
In stark contrast to them were Uchiha Obito and Might Guy.
These two unfortunate Ninja Academy were in a situation where "everyone takes turns sitting in the same spot, and today it's my turn."
Uchiha Obito's entire scroll was completely blank except for his name.
Might Guy was a little better than him because he remembered the exam techniques Meikyō had taught him. He would guess a C on every multiple-choice question and always managed to get a few right.
Fortunately, they were not fighting alone.
Nohara Rin secretly used the throwing technique of ninja tools, combined with some illusionary Genjutsu, to successfully shoot the small paper ball onto Uchiha Obito's table.
Shiranui Genma used a small mirror and a special angle of refraction to project the contents of Ebisu's exam paper onto Might Guy Ebisu's exam paper. Even the questions were exactly the same. Might Guy only needed to write down the contents one-to-one based on the shadow.
Two hours later, the exam ended.
"First row, fourth, second row, seventh, fourth row, third..."
Hyuga Tetsu stood up from the podium and pointed to more than twenty people below.
"Your cheating was too obvious, you're eliminated!"
In the first round of testing, Meikyō, the chief examiner, meant that at least a quarter of the candidates would be eliminated.
Under Hyuga Tetsu's all-around Byakugan, he could immediately spot those whose intelligence-gathering methods were too clumsy. Ebizo's presence outside was also to prevent Konoha's examiners from favoring Konoha during the examination.
Fortunately, Ebizo's assessment of Hyuga Tetsu was somewhat satisfactory.
"Eleven people from Sunagakure have been eliminated, while twelve have been eliminated from Konoha. It looks like you're going to lose, Meikyō- kun."
Ebizo said with a smile.
"The first round of testing isn't over yet, it's not good to draw conclusions so early."
Meikyō shook his head at Ebizo and patted his hand.
Upon hearing the applause, the group of people standing behind Meikyō quickly Body Flicker Technique into the classroom, each took a test paper, opened their Sharingan, and began to correct the answers.
These are all personnel temporarily transferred from the Konoha Military Police Force by Meikyō, and each of them is an elite Uchiha has awakened the Sharingan.
When their Sharingan is activated, they can check exam papers extremely quickly. They don't need to grade them in great detail; they only need to glance at them, check the correct answers, and then mark a score. There's no need to use checkmarks or crosses.
The sound of exam papers being flipped through echoed continuously in the examination hall, as the Uchiha grading papers moved so fast that their hands were blurry.
Finally, a few minutes later, the exam papers were graded in an extremely efficient manner. After summarizing the results, Hyuga Tetsu wrote the rankings on the blackboard.
"First place, Hatake Kakashi."
"Second place, Ebisu."
"Seventy-first, Izumo Kamizuki."
"Seventy-second place, Kotetsu Hagane."
In the first round of testing, a total of seventy-two people passed the exam.
Of those eliminated, seventeen were from Konoha and eighteen from Suna.
"It's a real pity that they were slightly inferior in the end."
With a sigh, Ebizo handed over the 100,000 tael silver note to Meikyō, accepting his loss.
Meikyō opened his Mangekyō Sharingan and checked repeatedly until he was completely sure there were no tricks up his sleeve. Only then did he take a new pocket from his wallet and put the bag in, intending to spend it as soon as he got outside the village, rather than keep it in his possession.
Ebizo disregarded Meikyō's cautious attitude.
It's normal for ninjas to use underhanded tactics to ambush others, which is why most powerful people in this world are extremely vigilant.
After the first exam ended, the second exam quickly followed.
The examiners for the second round of assessments were also acquaintances of Meikyō.
A huge swarm of insects, darkening the sky, flew in from outside and entered the classroom, startling many of the students.
The flying insects gathered on the podium and transformed into a young woman wearing sunglasses and a hood.
Aburame Nami.
Years of war caused most of the older generation of ninjas to perish, while the younger generation of Konoha began to rise to prominence at this time.
Aside from the most famous Uchiha Meikyō and Minato Namikaze, among Meikyō's peers, besides Hyuga Tetsu and Aburame Nami, the Ino- Ino-Shika-Cho and Inuzuka Ryo, among others, have also been playing their roles in various parts of Konoha.
"I am your examiner for the second round Aburame Nami. Remember, I only say what I say. Now, everyone assemble in your teams and set off with me to the Forest of Death!"
Aburame Nami's unique entrance and cold tone were very intimidating to these Genin.
She was quite famous in Suna as well.
Seventy-two Genin were divided into twenty-four teams and arrived at the Forest of Death.
The Forest of Death is neither very large nor very small. Strictly speaking, the entire Forest of Death is contained within Konoha's largest training ground— the Training Ground 44. It has a total of 44 entrances, each of which is a full 10 kilometers away from the top of the tower at the center.
These twenty-four teams entered through twenty-four of the forty-four entrances.
However, they were unaware that there was a tower in the center of the forest. They were only told to find a scroll containing crucial information in the Forest of Death, and finally find five tokens based on the clues on the scroll. Only by finding all of them could they pass the second round.
These five tokens are actually inside the tower.
Each team can only obtain one token, meaning that only the first five teams to reach the tower will advance to the third round.
"These rules are indeed very complex!"
Uchiha Obito looked completely bewildered.
"The next step should be to find out information about the scroll, right?"
Nohara Rin followed behind Uchiha Obito, holding a Kunai in her hand and looking around.
"No need. Our team doesn't have any professional intelligence ninjas. Searching for intelligence directly is too inefficient. It's much easier to hunt down other teams and snatch the intelligence from them."
Hatake Kakashi gripped the White Fang short sword in his hand, his sharp, eagle-like eyes constantly scanning his surroundings, searching for any suspicious traces.
The size of the Forest of Death is truly something that makes one want to complain again about Kishimoto lack of numerical sense. The six hundred billion Explosive Tag are like that, and so is the size of the Forest of Death.
The data about the Forest of Death in this chapter is all from chapter 115 of the original manga.
According to the map inside, if the radius of the Forest of Death is ten kilometers, then the diameter of Konoha is several times that of the Forest of Death, probably at least forty or fifty kilometers.
But in reality, the diameter of some mega-cities is less than 30 kilometers...
Just a quick rant.
Also, let's celebrate successfully unlocking the illustration feature!