"Participation isn't obligatory. If any one or two of you feels you're not ready, you can refuse entry, and the other two or one will compete," Fugaku calmly said with a straight face.
Naruto knows that what Fugaku said was complete bullshit. With his information around the Elemental Nation, he knows that the entire squad had to participate in order to become eligible to join.
Even without the information provided by the Jujutsu Society, Naruto easily learns this information since he once secretly sent one of his clones to see the Chunin Exam for himself.
While at that time his clone didn't know how many tests the Genins have to face to become a Chunin, one thing he took notice of was the fact that the Genins are always in groups of three, which is the standard ninja squad formation for Genin without including the Jonin sensei.
Not that he will inform his teammates about it since he doubts that they will refuse this great opportunity.
Even if they didn't want to participate in the Chunin Exams, it also didn't matter to Naruto since it wouldn't really affect his plan. The only reason why he was a little bit interested in it was due to one of his projects he wanted to end.
Satsuki and Hinata stared at each other's eyes for a few moments. They saw similar feelings within their eyes, and a small smile appeared on their face.
The two didn't have any intention of backing out and intended to join the Chunin Exams from the start for various reasons, of course.
Satsuki decides to join the exam to test herself against her peers—except for Naruto, of course—and also thinks that fighting her stronger peers like Keimei, Mito, and ninja from other villages will definitely make her stronger faster.
Hinata's reason behind wanting to participate was quite different from what others might have expected. She wanted to participate in the exam because she believes that by taking this big step she will shed her former meek self.
Hinata believes that if she observes her peers, she can use them as a reference for which path she should choose.
A certain person who might be the answer for her existential question appeared in her mind at this moment, and a small smile appeared on her face.
"The Chunin Exams will commence in seven days," Fugaku continues, snapping both Hinata and Satsuki from their thoughts.
"My responsibility is to notify the Hokage today of whether I have granted you permission to compete or not. You are the one who is going to decide to provide your answer between now and the day before the exam if you wish to participate."
"Of course it's important you understand what this entails and the implications. The exams permit the use of lethal force and killing as well as other things standard under normal mission conditions. Competing will mean placing one's life on the line," Fugaku explains sternly.
"Fugaku sensei, I'd like to enter," Hinata declares, voice full of determination.
"So would I," Satsuki said after, and all heads turned to Naruto.
"I will be competing in the exam," Naruto said in an indifferent tone.
After hearing the response of his students, a small smile appeared on his face.
Hokage Mansion: Hokage Office.
Minato sits back on his chair as he watches the sun slowly fall at the horizon. The meeting to decide the participation in the Chunin Exams had already taken place hours ago.
As expected, almost all the rookie teams would be competing. 'Almost,' since the Jonin captain of Team 13 hadn't been present for the meeting, which wasn't really a surprise since Minato had given the task to Fugaku to complete before the Chunin Exams began.
This year's Chunin Exam is incredibly special since, for the first time, all the Five Great Ninja Villages will be participating.
This was thanks to the sponsorship of one of the greatest and richest companies in the Elemental Continent—far larger and richer compared to Gato's business even if one includes his crime empire—as well as the cooperation of the Five Nation Daimyo.
At first Minato was quite wary of the company president after they offered their support, but after talking for hours, they started to cooperate since the Chunin Exams are very special for the company itself for their plan of expansion.
From what Minato gathered, it seems that the president wanted to hire many ninja, but in order to avoid disturbing the delicate balance between the Five Great Ninja Villages, the president wanted to use the Chunin Exams as a test for the ninja villages' capabilities.
Minato initially wanted to monopolize the opportunity, but after thinking deeply about it, he accepts the president's plans since Minato didn't want another war to happen, especially since they were still pretty much wary of the movements of the culprit behind the Nine Tails Fox incident back then.
This special nature of the Chunin Exams makes Minato far busier than they initially expected, and this is why Minato had to give Fugaku some tasks to help with the Chunin Exams.
Right now everything was moving so smoothly, and their preparation for the Chunin Exams was almost complete already, which was faster than even Minato expected.
Though it also troubles him for Orochimaru's activity since the Chunin Exams will definitely be the perfect time to cause trouble for the Leaf.
Minato sighed inwardly after thinking of Orochimaru. He still couldn't come up with concrete plans against Orochimaru despite help from the Jonin Commander Shikaku Nara.
They already came up with many plans to deal with Orochimaru's force, but what Minato wanted was complete annihilation of Orochimaru, which is far too difficult to plan out since the latter was infamous for his slippery nature.
This also didn't mention the fact that not only is Orochimaru a brilliant person, but also there are still many spies inside the villages that belong to him that they haven't found yet.
As Minato continued to observe the village, he suddenly heard the knocking noise coming from the door.
'Already finished? 'Minato slightly raises his eyebrow before turning his seat to the direction of the door.
"Come in," Minato calmly said.
The door slowly opened, and a man wearing a Jonin attire entered in a calm manner. This person is none other than Fugaku Uchiha, the Jonin Captain for Team 13.
"Fugaku, it was good to hear that you returned back this early," Minato said with a small smile appearing on his face. "Did you already accomplish it?"
"Yes," Fugaku gives a small nod. "They accept your terms easily, which was questionable, to be honest."
"Indeed," Minato responds with a helpless voice.
What they are currently talking about is the company that is sponsoring the Chunin Exams.
Due to the threat Orochimaru poses, Minato forces the company to ask for help in terms of security when the Chunin Exams take place.
This action will definitely show to everyone that the Village Hidden in the Leaf isn't prepared for this occasion, which wasn't entirely wrong since they haven't fully recovered from the Nine Tails Fox attack in the first place, especially when it comes to their force.
This decision was also based on the fact that when the worst situation comes, the Leaf had someone to take blame, especially if the accident happened during the company's supervision.
One might ask why Minato asks help from a company when he can ask other villages or even the small ninja village.
While the villages, especially one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, might be helpful, the company itself possesses forces almost rivaling the Five Great Ninja Villages, from what they know.
There might be chances that the company itself already possesses capabilities far surpassing the ninja villages.
This decision and request was to test the capabilities of the company and see their prowess to create a counter against the company when an event makes the relationship between them sour.
"I'm also here to grant permission for Genin Team 13 to compete in this year's Chunin Exam," Fugaku calmly said, to which Minato nodded in an expected manner.
He wasn't surprised to hear Fugaku's decision, and Minato believes that probably out of the rookie genin teams, Fugaku's team was the most expected one to join, especially after being trained by Fugaku himself.
Everyone in the forces already had high expectations for Team 13 after learning the news about their mission to the Land of Waves.
The news about what happened to the Land of Wave didn't travel around the village yet, and even those who heard of it first didn't believe it, but after Minato's confirmation, everyone started to keep an eye on Team 13, especially the Chunin who are interested in the Genin, specifically Satsuki and Hinata.
This interest wasn't out of bad intention but something else, and that's their strength. Most of the people who are interested belong to the Uchiha and Hyuga clans.
Uchiha feels proud to hear it, as they believe it was work between the father and daughter, while the Hyuga Clan found it interesting, especially since they know Hinata well.
No one really cared about Naruto, as they believed he was the dead weight of the group.