Chapter 286: Shameless
Dana enjoyed two more days of delicious food in Sunagakure without incident. Meanwhile, more and more people gathered in the village—local nobles from the Land of Wind, merchant guilds from all over the ninja world... the endless stream of visitors made the Third Kazekage beam with joy.
As the official opening approached, advertisements for the Kitanouji Guild began to plaster Sunagakure.
When Dana saw the giant banner hanging from the tallest building in Suna, even he was slightly stunned.
"Kitanouji Guild! The SOLE Sponsor of the Second Joint Chunin Exams!"
Perhaps Suna truly cared about their Sugar Daddy Kitanouji, or perhaps they simply had no concept of advertising and went completely overboard.
Whether it was the "Line of Heaven" canyon entrance, the uniformly sandy-yellow buildings, or even both sides of the streets, advertisements for the Kitanouji Guild were everywhere. Those who didn't know better would think the Kitanouji Guild hadn't just sponsored a competition, but had invested in building the entire village. They might as well carve the Kitanouji logo next to the Suna symbol on their forehead protectors.
The visiting merchants and nobles had never seen such a spectacle. They thought the Kitanouji Guild must be incredibly powerful, which indeed boosted the guild's reputation significantly.
However, the village, originally full of exotic charm, now looked like an exhibition center plastered with ads—and all from the same company.
Fortunately, it was all meat rotting in his own pot, so Dana secretly chuckled to himself.
During this time, he also visited the Cloud's contestant team. The young ones were full of energy. In the last exam, the Cloud's results crushed the other major villages, and this time they wanted to recreate that glory. However, from Dana's perspective, winning the championship again might require a bit of luck.
Dana also noticed that the Rain team was training with his own team. Being brother villages, this wasn't hard to understand.
Hanzo saw an opportunity this time and wanted to secure a good ranking, so he sent out his three disciples.
These three children were native-born Rain orphans. Because of their outstanding talent, Hanzo had adopted them.
Their names were:
Hanzo Rain-Sasori (Rain Scorpion)
Hanzo Rain-Chiri (Rain Scatter)
Hanzo Rain-Yori (Rain Reliance)
And Yori was the only girl.
Their characteristics were easy to remember; they basically each inherited one of Hanzo's signature skills: Poison, Kusarigama (Chain-Sickle/Taijutsu), and Water Release.
Dana encouraged everyone and treated the young ninjas from both villages to a big meal, continuing the tradition from the last exam.
The day before the official opening, the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, arrived in Suna. With him, three Kages were now attending.
Less than half a day later, the Fourth Hokage, Sakumo Hatake, also arrived.
This meant that among the Five Great Villages, except for the Raikage, the other four Kages were all present.
The atmosphere changed slightly.
Because this event didn't warrant so many Kages attending. It was a bit strange.
Under the swirling yellow sand, Suna had constructed a circular arena for the exams. The audience had a canopy for shade, but the contestants standing in formation below weren't so lucky. Not only were they under the blazing sun, but the wind kept blowing sand into their eyes.
The Third Kazekage stood on the high platform giving a speech, which looked like it would drag on for a long time.
In the shade behind him were four seats, occupied by Sakumo Hatake, Onoki, Yagura Karatachi, and Yotsuki Dana.
Dana looked around with interest.
The location of this high platform was excellent. Pity there were four seats instead of three; otherwise, with each of them crossing their legs, it would look exactly like the setup for the Marine Admirals in One Piece.
Hmm... except for me, the other three don't quite meet the height requirement.
Oh, right. The four chairs also had Kitanouji Guild ads carved on them.
"Kitanouji Furniture: Protecting Your Lumbar."
Who was that even for?
Onoki spoke up. "I thought the Raikage would come personally. I wonder what the Third Raikage is busy with lately?"
Dana replied expressionlessly, "My presence is sufficient. Does Tsuchikage-dono concern himself with such trivial matters? Rumors say Iwagakure has been very busy lately; seems the rumors were false."
Onoki, having been jabbed, paused, not knowing how to respond.
Sakumo Hatake interjected, "Isn't Yotsuki-dono newlywed? To have the time to cross half the ninja world for the Joint Chunin Exams..."
Dana crossed his legs casually. "Not trouble at all. I flew here. Took about a minute or two."
Barbed words and mutual probing were the norm.
Throughout this, Yagura Karatachi remained silent, as if the conversation around him had nothing to do with him.
Finally, the Third Kazekage finished his nonsense. The four of them stepped forward according to procedure, standing in a row to endorse the Second Joint Chunin Exams.
Interestingly, although the Third Kazekage stood in the center as the host, Dana's sheer height made him so conspicuous that he looked like the protagonist.
Looking down, groups of young people showed excitement or nervousness. Many familiar faces were among them, such as the cool beauty Pakura of Suna, the perpetually poker-faced Sasori, and Tetsuo Okine of the Cloud, who was eager to try and win a title this time. The Konoha trio of Kakashi and company was also very conspicuous, mainly because Obito was waving frantically at the audience like a maniac, as if they were all there for him.
Dana and the others waved perfunctorily. The Third Kazekage announced the official start of the exams and revealed the first stage, which had been kept secret until now.
Hearing the content, Dana almost threw out his back.
"First Exam: Crossing the Great Desert! For a ninja, wilderness survival and long-distance travel capabilities are essential. All contestants, in their squads, will depart from Sunagakure and cross the desert following the designated route. Each person is allowed to carry only one kilogram of supplies, type chosen by themselves. Ranking will be determined by time of arrival."
Dana looked at the others and found the faces of the three Kages weren't looking good either.
Especially Yagura.
Suna, to ensure a ranking, you really are shameless!
This so-called "Crossing the Great Desert" seemed to test various wilderness skills—planning supplies, navigation, resisting extreme environments, stamina, endurance, willpower, etc. But you, Sunagakure, are the host!
Isn't this equivalent to Iwagakure hosting a digging contest or Kumogakure hosting a height contest?
Suna had already held back many contestants from the previous exam, and now they pulled this stunt. Yagura's face was twisted. The Mist arrived earliest, yet their contestants still hadn't overcome acclimatization issues, even needing wet towels on their faces to sleep at night.
For Suna contestants, crossing the desert was probably just a daily routine.
Sure enough, most of the contestants below looked utterly dumbfounded.
Good lord. No wonder they kept it secret from the high officials of other villages. They were afraid the project would be rejected.
Only the ordinary audience members didn't understand the twists and turns, simply thinking being a ninja was amazing to cross a desert at such a young age.