"Those guys from the Kingdom of Ghosts are so arrogant. I really wanted to teach them a lesson just now."
Entering the hotel room, Kankuro placed the object wrapped with a white cloth tape on his back casually by the wall, and then sat unceremoniously on the nearest bed, brooding over what happened at the front entrance of Konoha. .
"If we really get into a fight, we don't know who is lecturing whom. That red-haired girl is obviously trying to provoke you on purpose. Don't jump into a simple provocation trap."
Hearing Kankuro's extremely dissatisfied voice, Temari, as the eldest sister, gave Kankuro a hard look.
If she hadn't stopped him just now, Kankuro would have been provoked to that level and then exposed his ability information.
And once it evolves into that kind of result, it will be detrimental to the next Chunin Exam.
"Of course I can see that kind of trap. It's just because the ninjas of the Ghost Country are unhappy. The sixth largest country really likes to put gold on its face and is shameless."
Kankuro had an angry expression on his face.
"..."
Temari shook her head, no interface.
She could completely understand the resentment accumulated in Kankuro's heart, but it was a fact recognized by many countries that the Demon Country had become the sixth largest country.
The most important thing is that Sunagakure was defeated at the hands of the Demon Country's military. This fact is also undisputed.
If the Kingdom of Ghosts is not qualified to become the sixth great nation, will the Kingdom of Wind, which was defeated miserably by the Kingdom of Ghosts on the frontal battlefield, still have the dignity to maintain its reputation as a great nation?
On the contrary, just because the Kingdom of Ghosts has become the sixth largest country, the face of the Kingdom of Wind has become much better.
The defeat to the Ghost Country, which is also a great country, can only be said to be inferior in skill, but it can be accepted in terms of face.
"Temari is right, those genin of the Demon Kingdom are not simple. Your real battlefield is the chunin exam. Before that, try to avoid fighting directly with others and leaking your information."
Maki and Gaara also came in together. After hearing what Temari and Kankuro said, their eyes paused on Kankuro.
In the war between the Kingdom of Wind and the Kingdom of Demons a few years ago, as a Jonin who participated in the war with Sunagakure, he had suffered losses at the hands of the Kingdom of Demons and knew how terrifying the Kingdom of Demons was.
Over the years, although there has been no large-scale friction between the two countries on the surface, the fight has continued secretly.
Especially at Kazami Castle on the dividing line between the two countries, the Army of the Kingdom of Demons stationed there was like a thorn in the flesh, severely stinging the self-esteem of Sunagakure and the Kingdom of Wind.
In terms of diplomacy between the two countries, Sunagakure and Wind Country are also at a disadvantage.
"Yes, Teacher Markey, I will be more careful."
Although Kankuro was still a little unhappy, he had to listen to Maki's words. The most he could do was wait until the chuunin exams began, and then show some color to the genin of the Kingdom of Demons.
"That's good. If you have any grudges, let your own strength speak for itself in the Chunin Exam. In this way, even the Kingdom of Demons won't find a reason to attack us."
Maki's words made Temari and Kankuro somewhat silent.
Maki's words have already shown that when facing the Kingdom of Demons, as Sunagakure ninjas, they are on the disadvantaged side, but on the advantageous side.
However, the two quickly cheered up. As the aces of Sunagakure who participated in the joint chuunin examination this time, they had considerable confidence in their own strength.
The right to speak among ninjas must ultimately depend on their own strength.
"It's best to eliminate them all. That way, it will be fun to watch during the third exam."
Kankuro said.
The third exam will be held in the Kingdom of Demons. If all the genin of the Kingdom of Demons fail in the first two exams, then the face of the Demon Kingdom will definitely be gone.
Thinking of that scene, Kankuro couldn't help but have a playful smile on his face.
"Let's not talk about the other Genin of the Demon Country. The few Genin of the Demon Country that I saw at the main entrance of Konoha will never let you succeed easily. It's better to be careful then."
Ma Ji recalled the Asuka and others he had seen before, with a cautious expression.
"With Gaara on our side, no matter what the process is, the outcome will be our side's victory."
Kankuro inadvertently glanced at Gaara, who was silent at the side. Gaara's whole body exuded a cold aura, and the words "Keep strangers out" were barely written on his face.
Those emotionless eyes were as sharp as sharp blades.
Maki also glanced at Gaara and nodded slightly.
Like Kankuro, he also has strong confidence in Gaara's strength.
He even believed that among the genin, there could be no ninja who could surpass Gaara.
Even if he, as a Jonin, wants to deal with Gaara, the battle will become extremely difficult.
Now Sunagakure Village urgently needs to achieve excellent results in the Joint Chunin Examination to change other countries' views on the Land of Wind and Sunagakure.
Since losing the war with the Demon Country a few years ago, the reputations of Sunagakure and the Wind Country have been on the decline.
Especially in the past few years, the number of clients who have come to Sunagakure Village to entrust tasks has been much smaller. Fortunately, the Kingdom of Oni is not interested in commissioned tasks and has no plans to enter this market. Otherwise, the mission market share of Sunagakure Village will be squeezed by the Kingdom of Oni. That scene was something Marky couldn't even imagine.
Therefore, in this joint chuunin exam, Sunagakure Village must make a splash. And Gaara is the secret weapon launched by Sunagakure's senior officials.
Coupled with his identity as the son of the Kazekage, he will definitely become a key figure in discussions among senior officials and businessmen from various countries during the third exam.
"Gaara, what do you think?"
Temari asked Gaara.
Gaara raised his head and looked at Temari. His cold, emotionless eyes seemed to have lost all human emotion. Then he closed his eyes and replied lukewarmly:
"It's boring. When the time comes to hold me back, I'll kill you all."
Temari smiled awkwardly.
Seeing that Temari, who had a hot face but a cold butt, was also defeated in front of Gaara, Kankuro, who wanted to talk to Gaara, his younger brother, immediately retreated in his heart.
It would be unwise to disturb Gaara at this time.
At a milder level, it might just be a few sarcastic words, but at a more severe level, it might be thrown out of the room and spent the night outside.
"Okay, you guys should have a good rest tonight and tomorrow. Remember not to cause trouble here. I'm going to have a meeting first."
Because the day after tomorrow is the start time of the first joint chuunin exam, there are some procedures that Maji needs to understand in detail.
"Okay, Maki-sensei, we'll take a rest after talking. Don't worry about us. I'll keep an eye on Gaara and Kankuro."
Temari, the most steady and careful person, said.
"Hey, there's no need to add me, I've always been honest."
Kankuro suddenly shouted in dissatisfaction.
Neither Maki nor Temari paid attention to Kankuro's cries of dissatisfaction, and nodded to Temari. Maki formed a seal with his hands, and his body turned into a breeze and disappeared from the room.
"Teacher Ma Ji's wind escape technique is getting more and more sophisticated."
Kankuro was surprised when he saw Maki disappearing mysteriously.
"Of course, Maki-sensei is our Sunagakure's leading Wind Release Jonin."
Temari, who is also practicing Wind Release, naturally knows the subtleties of Ma Ji's Wind Release and Shun Shen just now. It is absolutely impossible for her to achieve the level of Ma Ji.
"But I heard that Teacher Ma Ji was once captured by people from the Kingdom of Ghosts on the battlefield..."
Kankuro touched his chin, as if he thought of something.
"I will tell Mr. Marki what you said when he comes back."
Temari glanced sideways at Kankuro, feeling speechless and having a headache at this younger brother who wouldn't pick up any pot.
"Wait, Temari, I was just joking, I don't want to be chased and slashed by Maki-sensei with the wind blade!"
When Kankuro thought of the scene of Maki driving the Wind Blade and frantically chasing him, he couldn't help but turn pale and began to beg Temari for mercy.
"Then just shut up and listen to me. Regarding the first test, although it is definitely a written test, I don't know what the specific test will be. However, it should be related to tests such as intelligence collection and transmission. Now we need to prepare in advance. Good job in this area..."
In the room, Temari began to explain to Kankuro and Gaara what might happen in the first exam and make preparations in advance.
◎
"This village is still the same as before..."
Uchiha Yan stood on the window corridor of the Ninja School. The sky outside had completely dimmed. He could see the kind stars in the night sky. The commercial district in the distance was brightly lit, showing a bustling and lively atmosphere.
This scene, before leaving Konoha, basically did not change much from the scene in Uchiha Yan's memory.
Although the Ninja School has gone through several rounds of renovations, the specific scale and appearance are not much different from the past.
Compared with the rapid changes he has personally experienced in the Kingdom of Ghosts in the past ten years or so, the retro-style buildings in Konoha immediately brought back memories that had been sealed in his mind for a long time, and he was filled with emotion.
The several Jōnin of the Demon Country beside him did not speak. Unlike Uchiha Yan, a ninja who had huge entanglements with Konoha in the past, they had no involvement in Konoha and their backgrounds were very clean.
They were only slightly interested in the exotic scenery of Konoha, which was different from the country of ghosts.
We are used to seeing all kinds of high-rise buildings, but it is quite rare to see a large town with a pastoral style like this in the country of ghosts today.
"A few of them are here to attend this meeting on behalf of the Kingdom of Ghosts."
At this moment, a young ninja wearing a Konoha Chuunin uniform came over.
"Yes."
Uchiha Yan and others turned their heads and looked at each other.
"Please follow me, the meeting is about to begin."
The Konoha chuunin said.
"Trouble."
Uchiha nodded and followed the Konoha chuunin with the other Jonin from the Kingdom of Demons to the office conference room of the Ninja School.
When we arrived at the conference room, we found that almost all the Jonin from the other Ninja Villages were here.
Basically, there are only one or two jounin present in the small country's ninja village, and as many as four or more jounin in the big country's ninja village.
In terms of numbers, they dominated the meeting.
Although in Uchiha Yan's opinion, this kind of dominance has no practical benefits at all.
However, the mere act of demonstrating one's own military power is enough to make many jonins from small countries feel envious.
Uchiha Yan looked towards the direction of the Jonin of Otogakure and Amegakure Village, and stayed for a while without leaving a trace. Then he looked back, and with several fellow Jonin, he walked past the arranged seats and sat down.
"Good evening everyone, please allow me to introduce myself. I am Nara Shikaku, the jonin squad leader of Konoha."
After everyone was in place, Konoha, as the organizer of the first exam, naturally had the greatest say in this exam.
So, Shikaku stood up first and briefly introduced his identity.
In fact, Shikaku didn't need any introduction, everyone else already knew him as a famous person.
Wuying, the military minister of the Kingdom of Ghosts, is the apparent military leader of the six major kingdoms. Naturally, he is a big shot that everyone knows.
As the ninjas beside these six big figures, they are naturally well known by all forces.
The combination of the Hokage and the Jonin squad leader is one of the most noteworthy targets in Konoha.
However, even though everyone knew this, they did not interrupt Shikaku's self-narration.
Next, Shikaku started to explain the process in detail, focusing on the first test of the Joint Chunin Examination.
In order to avoid favoritism and malpractice on the part of Konoha, Shikaku also proposed that the first exam would be monitored by ninjas from the six major nations in accordance with the exam rules to ensure the complete fairness of the exam.
"Excuse me, are the jonins personally supervising this?"
asked the Jonin from Kusagakure Village.
Lu Jiu glanced at the other party and replied: "No, because there are a total of 297 genin candidates participating in the joint chuunin examination this time. Even if the jounin leaders from various countries in the joint chuunin examination are included, , and may not be able to invigilate the exam, because the jonins have other work."
Moreover, asking Jonin to do such a thing is overkill.
"Then how to invigilate the exam?"
"The proctoring of the exam will be conducted by chuunin from the six major nations. Four to five genin from each side need to be present."
"so much?"
There were four to five chunin present on each side, which added up to at least twenty chunin.
The Jonin representatives from those small countries were a little surprised.
"This is also because there are too many candidates this time, 297 people... If we don't arrange enough chuunin, there may be a situation where the invigilator is not in place."
Shikaku explained.
The other Jonin representatives from the big country's ninja villages or the military looked indifferent. Konoha had already been angry with them about this matter, and the only ones who didn't know were the jounin from the small country's ninja villages.
"In that case, let's follow these rules."
The jounin representatives of the small country's ninja village were also open-minded and knew that even if they participated in this joint chuunin exam, they would not be able to gain any say. Moreover, the chuunin from the six major countries also serve as proctors, which indeed ensures the fairness of the chuunin exam and prevents Konoha from conducting secret manipulation at home and cheating for the genin in his own village.
Seeing that the jounin representative of the small country's ninja village was meaningless, Shikaku nodded, then glanced at a Konoha ninja beside him and said to him: "It's up to you to explain the next thing, Ibiki. "
"OK."
Konoha's special jounin named Ibiki stood up from his seat. He was wearing a black and solemn windbreaker. The scars crisscrossing his face made his face look a bit ferocious.
After Ibixi stood up, he nodded slightly to everyone and gave a simple greeting.
"Everyone here must know me to a certain extent. I am Morino Ihiki, the head of the torture department of Konoha Ninja Village, and also the examiner of the first joint chunin exam. The rules of the first exam, I I think you already know a little about it before coming here. However, there are new elimination rules for some details, which may still be vague in some places, so I will explain them to you in detail now."
…
One meeting took more than an hour in total.
Representatives of jonin from ninja villages and the military from various countries left the conference room one after another. In the end, only a few jounin from Konoha were left.
As the organizers of the first exam, they still have work to complete.
"I didn't expect you would propose to the higher-ups to temporarily add new rules."
Shikaku smiled bitterly as he recalled the rules Ibiki had added to the first exam in the meeting just now.
"Well, after all, in my opinion, since it is an exam jointly held by the six major countries, it would be a bit too shabby if the difficulty is the same as the Chuunin exam held by our own country. That's why I took the first exam, Some new customs clearance rules have been added. These rules are also supported by other ninja villages and the top military leaders of the Kingdom of Ghosts."
Ibiki replied.
"I suspect those at the top, like you, have abusive tendencies."
Shikaku smiled helplessly.
Ibixi also smiled, but because of the scars on his face, his smile was a bit eerie.
"Because of the previous exam rules, more people may have missed the test. But under the additional rules, the genin who can pass the first exam will only be elites. After all, whether genin can be promoted to chunin depends on the It’s not enough to have a strong and fearless mentality, ability is also very important.”
Ibiki doesn't think his method is wrong.
"I can't beat you." Shikaku breathed out, and then asked: "Then how many genin do you think will pass the first exam?"
Ibixi thought for a moment and said, "I think two-thirds of the people will stay."
"In other words, are you going to eliminate a hundred people in the first exam?"
"Then it depends on the quality of this class of genin."
Ibiki said in an uncertain tone.
Whether you pass the Chuunin exam or not, in the end, it all depends on the quality of the Genin who takes the exam.
Retaining two-thirds of the candidates is just an estimate by Ibixi. The specific situation depends on the mentality and ability of the candidates.
Only genin who possess both can truly pass the first exam.
"Although the difficulty has increased, the genin participating in the Joint Chuunin Examination are all elites sent by all parties. I believe that the quality of the genin in this Chunin Examination will far exceed that of any previous Chunin Examination."
Seeing Ibiki's confident look, Shikaku couldn't say anything else.
When I met this guy with a somewhat twisted personality, I could only pray that this generation of genin would be blessed.
But as Ibiki said, those who can pass the first test after the difficulty is increased are the real elites.
Ibiki's purpose was simple, that is, to eliminate all unqualified genin in one go, and at the same time reduce the pressure on the examiners of the second and third exams.
◎
"I'm so hungry..."
The Konoha business district at night was already crowded with people.
On the streets of the business district, you can see ninjas from all over the world at any time. Judging from the age of most people, they are between twelve and twenty years old.
These people wandered aimlessly in the business district with great interest, carrying large and small bags in their hands. The prosperity of Konoha exceeded their imagination, and they had an extremely strong desire to shop in their hearts.
Xianglin felt a little bored by such a scene. There wasn't even a large shopping mall in Konoha, so naturally it couldn't arouse any desire to buy in her heart.
He just followed the footsteps of Asuka and Cai, holding his belly from behind and shouting that he was hungry, while scanning the streets on both sides, looking for a place to eat.
"Is there a ramen shop there that I want to go to?"
In fact, it wasn't just Xianglin who felt hungry, Feiniao also felt hungry.
I haven't eaten since I had dinner at noon, until I arrived in Konoha in the afternoon, and then settled into the hotel. And by the time we finished packing and left the hotel, it was completely dark.
Xiang Rin looked in the direction Asuka pointed, and sure enough he saw a ramen shop in operation, named 'Ichiraku Ramen Shop'.
However, there was already a long queue at the entrance of the ramen shop. Not only that, the shop was so narrow that it could only accommodate five or six people eating together, which made Xianglin want to complain.
"Captain Asuka, isn't this store a bit too small? And it's so crowded."
Xianglin didn’t really want to go.
She had never seen a ramen shop like this in Shion City, and most importantly, she didn't want to queue.
Depending on the length of the line, it's estimated that it will take at least an hour when it's their turn.
"The rest of the places are also crowded, and the queues are longer than here. Besides, I seem to have heard about this ramen shop from my mother before, and I want to try it."
Asuka's face showed emotion.
"Lord Liuli?"
Xianglin was surprised.
"Indeed, I remember that in the photo album in my father's study, there was a photo with this ramen shop as the background. In the photo were my parents, Aunt Liuli, and an unknown adult with white hair and a short sword on his back."
Cai remembered the photo album in her father Shiraishi's study, and there was such a photo.
"That's no problem, let's go queue up."
Thinking that three big shots from the military had visited this ramen shop, Xianglin immediately made a decision and decided to try the ramen of this ramen shop, just to feel the blessing of those big shots.
Seeing Xiang Rin excitedly running towards the ramen shop, Asuka and Cai followed suit and stood behind Xiang Rin, lining up honestly.
There were about a dozen people in front of them, including people from Konoha Village and genin from other villages who came to take the chunin exam. Everyone lined up in a polite manner and there were no conflicts.
As time went by, there were fewer and fewer people in front. Asuka was about to walk forward when suddenly he heard the sound of someone shouting:
"Why are there so many people? How long will the queue last?"
"Idiot Naruto, please keep your voice down. If outsiders see you, you will look very rude."
Faced with Sakura's scolding, Naruto had no choice but to shut his mouth and did not dare to speak again.
"Sorry, my companion has disturbed you."
Sakura walked up to Asuka and began to bow and apologize.
She didn't want to leave a bad impression on her friends from abroad because of Naruto's loud voice.
"It's okay, there are indeed a lot of people queuing up here."
Asuka waved his hand, indicating that the other party did not need to apologize.
Then, he noticed something.
Someone is watching me.
As a result, Asuka's eyes crossed Sakura and Naruto and landed on the third person behind.
He found that the other party's eyes were staring at him.
To be more precise, he was staring at the Uanfan logo on his clothes.
This is the family crest belonging to the Uchiha clan.
There is also such a mark on the clothes of the other party.
"You are...Sasuke Uchiha."
Asuka's eyes narrowed slightly and he called out the other person's name.
Although he didn't know much about the grudges between the previous generation and Konoha, he knew that the Uchiha clan was once one of the founders of Konoha.
One night five or six years ago, the Konoha Uchiha clan was purged by the traitor Uchiha Itachi, leaving only one orphan alive.
And the name of the orphan, Asuka remembered, was Uchiha Sasuke.
