Within her perception, the examinees this year were wildly uneven, but the vast majority had reached the level of ordinary Chunin. Only a portion had not reached that standard.
But that made sense. If they did not have Chunin-level strength, how would they dare come take the Chunin Exams?
Especially since this was a joint exam. Basically, every village had sent out its elites. Those whose Chakra intensity had not reached the Chunin level were mostly Konoha ninja. As for the other villages, anyone qualified to participate in this round of Chunin selection was usually among the best of the Genin.
This was also the first time Hyuga Keiko and Amakusa Ryuji had participated in this kind of Chunin Exams. They now had a deeper understanding of what Kaede Kitahara had said, that the joint exams were an arms race between villages, a military exercise.
When war could not break out directly, the joint Chunin Exams became one of the channels for assessing each village's strength. If you performed poorly, outsiders would not think you had simply performed poorly. They would think your village looked strong on the outside but was hollow within.
Because of that, none of the villages dared take it lightly. They had sent over every powerful Genin they could spare.
"That one carrying the gourd…"
Hyuga Keiko glanced discreetly at Gaara in the crowd. Without a doubt, she had seen some of the earlier battle between Gaara and Uchiha Sasuke that Kaede Kitahara had interfered in. She had even opened her Byakugan and seen something incredible.
The Chakra inside Gaara's body was absurdly vast. Even without counting the One-Tail Shukaku of the Sand, his own Chakra far exceeded others his age.
She remembered Kaede Kitahara's warning. Avoid clashing with Gaara as much as possible. Otherwise, even with their current strength, the two of them could still die.
Kaede Kitahara had once said without hesitation that Gaara's strength was absolutely at Jonin level. He had exceeded the standard by far. Under normal circumstances, how could someone like that only be taking the Chunin Exams now?
Or rather, he did not need to take the Chunin Exams at all. It should have been nothing more than signing a promotion order. For powerful people who had surpassed the rules, many rules no longer applied.
Since Kaede Kitahara had warned her like that, Hyuga Keiko naturally took the matter seriously.
"You guys are this year's newly graduated rookies, right? You'd better keep it down a little." At that moment, a white-haired young ninja walked up to the Rookie Nine. "You're all pretty cute, but you're making too much noise. Seriously, it's not like you're going on a field trip."
"Who are you? What makes you think you can talk so high and mighty?" Yamanaka Ino immediately shot back.
"I'm Yakushi Kabuto. More importantly, take a look around first," Yakushi Kabuto reminded them.
Only then did the nine of them realize they seemed to have become the focus of everyone's attention.
"The guys behind you are from Amegakure. They're quick-tempered. Everyone's anxious before the exam, so I'm warning you before you cause trouble!"
Amegakure?
Uchiha Sasuke raised an eyebrow. In the eyes of the public, Amegakure was undoubtedly just a small ninja village in an unremarkable little country.
But in his heart, it was different. It was a deep-sea region where a terrifying monster like the Akatsuki Organization lurked.
The Amegakure on the surface was only a disguise and cover. The true Amegakure was controlled by those people from the Akatsuki Organization. Among them was Uchiha Itachi, the person he hated most and desperately wanted to kill.
"Can't be helped. You're all rookies who don't even know left from right. It reminds me of how I used to be," Yakushi Kabuto said with a helpless expression.
"Are you Kabuto-senpai?" Sakura Haruno asked. "Then is this your second time participating?"
"Yes," Yakushi Kabuto said. "No, my seventh."
Hearing that, the Rookie Nine all seemed shocked. Someone had taken the exam seven times and still had not passed?
When Uchiha Sasuke heard this, he raised an eyebrow too. Seventh time?
Yakushi Kabuto had really gone all out for his disguise.
Unlike the others, he naturally knew Yakushi Kabuto's true strength very clearly. If it came to a real fight, Kabuto absolutely had Elite Jonin-level strength. Although his main focus was Medical Ninjutsu rather than combat, this so-called lack of skill was only relative.
It was like Tsunade being bad at fighting. That was only compared with her level in Medical Ninjutsu. Her actual combat power absolutely had Kage Level strength.
Even so, she had still suffered a major loss under Yakushi Kabuto and had nearly been killed by him. Although her Hemophobia had been a factor, it was still enough to prove Yakushi Kabuto's strength.
"Orochimaru's spy, huh? He's deliberately looking for an opportunity to get acquainted."
Uchiha Sasuke had made his judgment. Clearly, Yakushi Kabuto's true target should be him.
He knew perfectly well that Orochimaru wanted his body.
In just a short while, Yakushi Kabuto had already established the image of a senpai who could never seem to pass, but had collected quite a lot of intelligence. He took out several Ninja Info Cards and said he would share some Chunin Exams intelligence with his juniors.
"I've even collected some information on examinees from other countries," Yakushi Kabuto said. "Is there anyone you would like to know about?"
Hearing that, Uchiha Sasuke immediately stepped forward with one hand resting on the Kusanagi Sword and said, "I want to ask whether you have intelligence on Gaara of the Sand Waterfall, Rock Lee, and Hyuga Neji."
These were the few people Uchiha Sasuke paid more attention to. From Kaede Kitahara's diary alone, he had only seen part of their information.
Just now outside, he had briefly fought Rock Lee. That thick-browed guy had left a deep impression on him. After exchanging blows, they had been evenly matched.
But he knew that was definitely not Rock Lee's full strength. Sasuke also had not used methods like Thunder Breathing or Chidori. The two sides had only clashed in Taijutsu, yet it had already left a strong impression on him.
He did not know that if Kaede Kitahara had not given him special training and drawn out his own potential, he probably would have suffered a huge loss as soon as he ran into Rock Lee.
It was just that the current Uchiha Sasuke was completely different from the original story. He was no longer someone whose eyes could keep up while his body could not. Now his eyes could keep up, and his body could keep up with Rock Lee as well.
Of course, Rock Lee also had not fully released the seal on his weights yet.
"If you know their names, that makes things much easier." Yakushi Kabuto found the three corresponding cards among his Ninja Info Cards. "First is Rock Lee. He's one year older than you. Mission experience, twenty D-rank missions and eleven C-rank missions. His teacher is Guy.
"Over this past year, his Taijutsu has made abnormal progress, but he's completely hopeless in every other area. Last year, he drew a lot of attention as a very capable Genin, but he did not take the Chunin Exams. Like all of you, this is his first time taking the exam. His team includes Tenten and the other person you asked about, Hyuga Neji.
"Hyuga Neji is the same age as Rock Lee, one year older than you. His mission experience is the same as Hyuga Neji's.
"He was a famous figure among last year's graduating Genin. He was the top student at the academy, just like you, Sasuke. His specialty is the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist. There isn't much more information beyond that."
Uchiha Sasuke nodded. He knew how strong Rock Lee was. From the Taijutsu strength Lee had displayed in the video of Sasuke's battle against Gaara, he could roughly glimpse the truth. Even so, Lee had not been the top student, which showed that Hyuga Neji was also very strong.
Although Sasuke knew Neji would die in the future, right now, he was still a powerful rival.
"Next is Gaara of the Sand Waterfall. Mission experience, eight C-rank missions and one B-rank mission. Impressive. A Genin has already carried out a B-rank mission? Because he's a ninja from another country and a newcomer, there isn't much more information. But it seems he has come out of every mission completely unharmed," Yakushi Kabuto said, pushing up his glasses.
"A Genin took part in a B-rank mission and came out completely unharmed?"
Nara Shikamaru, who had the highest intelligence, was the first to realize the weight behind those words.
Even his own teacher would not dare say he could take part in a B-rank mission and come out unharmed.
Unharmed from a B-rank mission?
Uchiha Sasuke was not surprised. With the level of Gaara's Armor of Sand, completing a B-rank mission unharmed was a very simple matter.
Judging by the level Gaara had shown in Kaede Kitahara's diary video when he fought Kimimaro, B-rank missions were easy for him. Completing A-rank missions would not be difficult either. He might even be able to complete S-Rank missions.
"If you have information on everything, then I want to ask whether you know anything about someone named Kaede Kitahara. He isn't an examinee this year."
Suddenly, a cool voice came from nearby.
The Rookie Nine looked up and saw the people who had just been discussed, Hyuga Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten, walking over.
"Kaede Kitahara? I do have some. I still have some."
Yakushi Kabuto paused for a moment, but immediately answered.
He suddenly remembered who Kaede Kitahara was. Not long ago, Lord Orochimaru had suddenly contacted him through the Sound Four and ordered him to investigate information related to Kaede Kitahara.
On top of that, Kabuto was already acting as a spy in Konoha. Participating in the Chunin Exams was also for the sake of gathering intelligence. Kaede Kitahara had been an examinee in the previous round, and there had been some records of him at the time.
It was just that in Kabuto's intelligence assessment system back then, Kaede Kitahara had only counted as a barely passable ordinary cannon-fodder Chunin. His talent was decent, but compared with true geniuses, he was far behind.
However, when Kabuto began collecting information on Kaede Kitahara with some doubt in his mind, he was immediately shocked.
Because Kaede Kitahara, who had only just become a Chunin less than a year ago, had recently been promoted at lightning speed to Tokubetsu Jonin. On top of that, he was going to serve as a Proctor for the Final Round of the Chunin Exams.
That kind of promotion speed would be normal during wartime, but during peacetime, it was very strange.
Still, Kabuto soon obtained some of the Anbu's records on Kaede Kitahara through Orochimaru's secret spy planted in the Anbu.
He was suspected of possessing strength comparable to an Elite Jonin and had twice defeated Root squads sent by Shimura Danzo to hunt him down. In other words, his strength was astonishing.
In Yakushi Kabuto's eyes, Kaede Kitahara had clearly become a classic case of someone hiding his true strength, because Kabuto himself was doing the same thing. Likewise, no one currently knew.