The next day, the Joint Chunin Exams officially began.
The participants from each country filed into the venue for the first round of the exams. In terms of numbers, the Land of Earth and the Land of Fire, with their deep foundations, had the most participants. They were followed by the Land of Wind and the host nation, the Land of Rain, with the Land of Rivers and the Land of Grass at the bottom. In total, there were over two hundred participants.
After everyone was seated according to their assigned positions, the written test officially began. When the students saw the exam paper, a full six pages long, their eyes widened.
"A total of one hundred and twenty questions? The exam is two hours long, which means we have to complete one question every minute. How is that possible?"
"Maybe the questions are simple?"
But when they saw the questions clearly, most of the students' faces turned green.
"And they're all open-ended questions! How is it possible to finish this?!"
But no matter how much their heads ached, they couldn't change the exam paper and could only brace themselves and start writing. In the end, only those who passed were selected, immediately screening out more than half of the participants. The remainder were then grouped into teams of three by village. Those who couldn't find a partner were also eliminated.
With that, only twenty-three teams were left to participate in the second round: the group battle.
The group battle took place in a rainforest. The objective was to snatch the point plates from the hands of the other teams, as well as the point plates that were hidden throughout the forest. These plates had point values of one, five, ten, and fifteen. To qualify for the next round, a team had to make it through the rainforest before time ran out with a total of over twenty points.
After a full night of struggle and fierce fighting, only five teams earned the right to advance to the final elimination tournament. Iwagakure and Konoha each had two teams, while the remaining team was surprisingly from Kusagakure. All the other villages were completely wiped out.
As the host nation, not a single one of Amegakure's teams advanced. The Ice-Fire Clone's face was grim as he angrily announced the results of the second round. Then, under the gloating gazes of Onoki and the others, he left the conference room.
This, of course, was just an act. Knowing that the other villages harbored ill intentions, how could the Ice-Fire Clone possibly be willing to let his own promising candidates participate? The same went for the Silver River Village. As for Kusagakure, well, that was a different situation entirely.
After a day of rest, the time for the third round of the exams finally arrived. This round was held in a large arena, and in attendance were not only the important figures from each village but also a large number of spectators from Amegakure. The weather on this day was decent; although the sky was gray and overcast, it wasn't raining.
Sitting on the main platform, Danzo looked up at the dim sky, an inexplicable heaviness in his heart. The plan shouldn't go wrong. For this day, he had mobilized almost all the members of the Root organization. This time, he could only succeed; failure was not an option.
Danzo opened his eyes a crack and glanced at the Ice-Fire Clone sitting in the center. Seeing him pick up the cup of water in front of him and drain it in one go, a smile couldn't help but touch the corners of his lips.
"Lord Danzo, what are you smiling about?" the Ice-Fire Clone happened to turn his head just then and asked, puzzled.
"Today is a happy day. Of course, I'm smiling," Danzo said, his smile vanishing. "Doesn't Leader Kaito think so?"
"Mmm, it is indeed quite happy," the Ice-Fire Clone chuckled a few times and turned back to converse with Onoki.
Before long, the third round of the exams officially began. The first match was between a burly man from Iwagakure and a young boy from Konoha. The immense power of Earth Style collided with sharp swordsmanship, earning a round of applause from the entire hall. The final victor, however, was the man from Iwagakure.
"Hahaha, my apologies, Danzo. The Genin of Konoha are nothing special after all," Onoki said smugly.
"It's still too early to say that," Danzo said, tucking his arms into his sleeves, his mind not on the battle below.
"Hmph, keep pretending."
The matches continued. In the following bouts, it was Konoha who repeatedly defeated the ninja from Iwagakure.
Soon, it was Kusagakure's turn to enter the arena, against a ninja from Iwagakure. The Grass-nin, completely wrapped in cloth, created a large cloud of smoke, then clapped his hands together and released a massive-scale ninjutsu. A circle of earth walls rose from the ground, completely surrounding the entire arena.
The ordinary spectators in the audience were bewildered. "What's going on?"
"This level of chakra..." Hanzo sensed something was wrong. "Not good, he's not a Genin!" Suddenly, an alarm bell rang in his mind. His pupils contracted, and he instantly used a Body Flicker to move away.
The next second, a shower of iron sand rained down, smashing Hanzo's seat to smithereens. Hanzo reappeared on the other side, glaring at the Third Kazekage. "What is the meaning of this?"
"The meaning? Isn't it obvious enough? Today, your Village Hidden in the Rain is doomed," the Third Kazekage sneered.
As soon as he finished speaking, more than a dozen signal flares lit up the sky, illuminating the dim heavens as if it were a sunny day. A sense of foreboding rose in Hanzo's heart. He turned his head to look at the Ice-Fire Clone, only to find him surrounded by Danzo and Onoki.
"Still daring to look away? Let me see the power of a Demigod for myself," the Third Kazekage said, gathering his iron sand.
"Just you alone? I'm not afraid of you," Hanzo said dismissively.
"Then what if you add us?" Ruri and the chakra clone landed behind him, blocking his path of retreat.
"Even you..." Hanzo's heart sank. Facing this joint force, he couldn't break away in a short time. His only hope was that Kaito could unleash his divine might.
The moment the signal flares lit up, the enemies disguised as spectators in the audience rushed out and clashed with the Amegakure ninja. The entire venue instantly descended into chaos.
On the other side, the Ice-Fire Clone stood up, squinted at Danzo and Onoki, and asked in a low voice, "Why? Why attack Amegakure? Since I became the leader, I have only ever sent out signals of goodwill. I haven't offended you, have I?"
"Heh heh, you're still too young," Onoki sneered. "And it's precisely because you're too young that if we let you grow, there would be no place for us in the future."
"What about you, Danzo? Does Konoha think the same way? Can't the Village Hidden in the Rain and the Village Hidden in the Leaves establish a friendship?" the Ice-Fire Clone asked, looking at Danzo.
Danzo shook his head. "I'm sorry, but only when you are dead can Amegakure and Konoha establish a friendship. You can only blame yourself for being too outstanding."
"So that's how it is. Is this the dilemma that a genius must face? But... do you really think the two of you alone can stop me?" The Ice-Fire Clone was about to make a move when his body suddenly trembled, and he couldn't muster any strength.
"This..." The Ice-Fire Clone's face changed drastically.
"My apologies. You've already been poisoned, and it's an incurable one," Danzo said, a smile finally spreading across his face.
"So it was poison. That's just like you. I suppose I'm not needed here anymore. I'll go finish off Hanzo," Onoki said, levitating into the air and flying towards Hanzo.
"What a pity. But you're not the only genius to die young. Farewell, Kaito." With that, Danzo picked up a kunai and threw it.
Squish. The kunai pierced flesh, and drops of blood trickled out.
Danzo stared wide-eyed at the kunai embedded in his own heart, his face a mask of disbelief. "Why?"
"Heh, I'm not telling you." The Ice-Fire Clone twisted the kunai with force, sending him to his death.
The Darkness of the Shinobi, a generation's mastermind, died with his eyes wide open in grievance.
"This is the importance of intelligence. How could I possibly be poisoned?" The Ice-Fire Clone shook his head and threw out a ball of fire, burning Danzo's body to ashes.