Sunagakure
Under the fake Kazekage's leadership, the shinobi army preparing to attack Konoha had already finished assembling.
To increase the odds of success, Orochimaru also planned to make use of Sunagakure's One-Tail, Shukaku.
He had elite jonin Baki take the Chunin Exam candidates—Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, and the other rookies—ahead first, while he himself followed behind with the combined forces of the two nations.
Orochimaru's movements were extremely discreet.
Thousands of shinobi infiltrated the Land of Fire without causing any noticeable commotion.
After reaching the outer region of Konoha, Orochimaru handed command of the allied army to his subordinates. He then entered Konoha openly under the identity of the Kazekage.
Besides Otogakure and Sunagakure—both under Orochimaru's control—villages such as Amegakure, Kusagakure, and Takigakure, which had also received Konoha's invitation, each sent their own delegations as well.
But in terms of numbers, Konoha held an overwhelming advantage.
The Third Hokage arranged for nearly ninety rookies to participate in the Chunin Exams, while the combined total from all the other villages still didn't reach that number.
Even Sunagakure—one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages—only brought thirty candidates.
To a certain extent, the number of examinees reflected each village's overall strength.
Sunagakure, even after scraping together every last resource, still couldn't reach even half of Konoha's number—no wonder the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, had been worried about the village's future.
When you sleep, a powerful neighbor watches.
If Konoha ever tore up the alliance and attacked, Sunagakure could be reduced to dust in the pages of history.
Forming alliances wasn't truly a good way to survive—Uzushiogakure, represented by the Uzumaki Clan, was a perfect example.
Uzushio had been friendly with Konoha for generations and had even been linked by marriage.
To this day, Uzushio's symbol still remained on Konoha's uniforms.
And yet… even so, Uzushio had long since become a fallen nation.
The truth was simple: allies usually couldn't be relied on.
To stand firm in the shinobi world, the key was always your own strength.
Rasa had ambition and courage—he just happened to run into Orochimaru, a master schemer.
Konoha Streets
Uchiha Yusuke went out for a walk out of sheer boredom.
The moment he stepped onto the street, Tsunade and Kurenai Yuhi wrapped around him from both sides.
"Yo, little brother Yusuke," Tsunade teased.
"Big sis wants to buy a new outfit. Come shop with me."
Without giving him a choice, she grabbed his arm and tried to drag him away.
Kurenai wasn't happy.
"Tsunade-sama, Yusuke promised to have dinner with me today."
Tsunade waved her hand grandly.
"What's the problem?"
"We shop first, then we eat together. Easy."
In just a few lines, the two women reached an agreement—without considering the "person involved" at all.
Yusuke could only sigh helplessly.
If I'd known this, I wouldn't have come outside today…
With the Chunin Exams approaching, Konoha had welcomed many "international guests." The merchants naturally wouldn't miss such a chance to make money, and the entire village became lively and bustling.
(Trash watermark removed.)
Since becoming Hokage Advisor, Yusuke's financial situation had also improved.
Konoha_ Overthrowing Fugaku — T…
Before, he only had his thin mission pay. Now, if he felt like it, he could stroll into the finance department and "reallocate funds."
Konoha's financial power had returned to the two advisors—Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane.
Those two old geezers only bullied the weak and feared the strong, so prying open their mouths wasn't difficult for Yusuke.
Still, compared to Danzo in the past, Yusuke was practically frugal.
When Danzo served as Hokage's advisor, he lived like a "second emperor."
Sometimes he spent even more than Hiruzen, the actual Hokage.
Yusuke couldn't refuse. He was dragged through Konoha's shopping district by Tsunade and Kurenai from store to store.
Not only did he pay for everything—he also got forced into being their pack mule.
Shopping with women… even a god-tier powerhouse could be tortured into misery.
Rookie Friction
While some people suffered from having too many women, others were eagerly chasing early romance.
On the main street, Konoha's rookies walked in groups of three or five.
Team Seven—Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura—was among them.
Naruto hovered around Sakura, calling her "Sakura-chan" nonstop, while Sakura only had eyes for cold, cool Sasuke.
Since they were on break, they had temporarily escaped boring missions.
"Sasuke-kun, later… wanna practice shurikenjutsu with me?" Sakura asked hopefully.
Sasuke didn't even look at her.
"Honestly, your strength is worse than Naruto's."
"I don't have time to wander around with you two. I'm going back."
Sakura took critical emotional damage. Naruto tried to comfort her—and immediately became her punching bag instead.
Sasuke glanced at both teammates with disgust.
So boring.
A hawk spread its wings overhead, as if carrying a signal.
Kakashi, Might Guy, Asuma, and the other jonin instructors all looked up at the sky at almost the same time.
Is it about to begin?
Naruto got punched down by Sakura and accidentally slammed into a passerby.
He scrambled up to apologize—only to be yanked by the collar.
"Shorty—your collision hurt!"
Sakura rushed over as well.
Before she could speak, Kankuro sneered.
"Heh. These are Konoha's genin?"
"They don't look like much."
Naruto's face darkened.
"What did you say, bastard?"
"You wanna fight?"
Kankuro said arrogantly:
"You're too weak."
"You're not my opponent."
Temari, standing nearby, didn't stop him at all.
They hadn't come with good intentions anyway—stirring a little conflict early didn't matter.
Kankuro continued posturing at Naruto.
"Even if you both come at me together, you won't last a single exchange."
"Think carefully before you move. You could die."
Naruto exploded in anger.
He was about to charge in with everything… but Sasuke acted first, flicking a stone that struck and injured the back of Kankuro's hand.
"Brat, you're way too arrogant."
"This isn't a place where you can run wild."
"Get lost."
Trying to out-cool Sasuke, Kankuro quickly fell behind.
But he refused to accept it.
"If you've got the guts, come down here."
"I hate guys like you—so full of yourself!"
Sasuke leapt down from the tree.
"You want to fight?"
"I'll accommodate you anytime."
(Remove number-spam line.)
The Real Danger Isn't the Kids
Across Konoha, with the Chunin Exams approaching, conflicts like this were happening everywhere.
The village looked peaceful on the surface… but underneath, the currents were turbulent.
The kids' friction was small.
What mattered was the conspiracy being brewed by the adults.
As Yusuke continued shopping between the two women, he took a deep breath, his gaze turning profound.
If his judgment was correct, Orochimaru had already infiltrated Konoha and was preparing to unleash a storm of blood.
But honestly… Orochimaru causing trouble didn't really concern Yusuke.
The one who should be getting a headache was the Third Hokage.
Back then, Hiruzen's moment of softness—letting his student escape—had created today's situation.
Now Orochimaru was no longer someone the Third could "handle easily."
Just as Konoha and Suna's rookies were at each other's throats, Kankuro prepared to use the puppet on his back against Sasuke—
A cold voice cut in.
"Stop, Kankuro."
"You'll only bring shame to Sunagakure."
Kankuro froze instantly.
"G-Gaara… listen—"
"He started it!"
Gaara gave him a cold glance.
"Shut up."
"Do you think we came here for this?"
"If you keep talking, I'll kill you."
Facing his brother who recognized no family bonds, Kankuro immediately backed down.
Jinchuriki were taboo in every village—most people instinctively avoided them.
Gaara swept Konoha's rookies with an emotionless gaze.
"Sorry for the disturbance."
"We're leaving."
Sasuke stared at Gaara's back.
That gaze… made his skin crawl.
This guy isn't ordinary.
Hokage Office — "Recommendations"
With the Chunin Exams drawing near, the Third Hokage held a meeting as usual.
A meeting now could only be about organizing the exams.
Inside the Hokage's office, Kakashi, Asuma, Might Guy and others were already present.
Once most people had arrived, the Third Hokage went straight to the point.
"About this Chunin Exam… do any of you jonin instructors have recommended candidates?"
He had basically already finalized the list, but appearances still mattered.
As his words fell, many instructors showed troubled expressions.
Their students were average, and the teaching time had been short.
Letting them take the exam now felt forced.
While everyone sighed…
Asuma was the first to step forward.
"Team Ten genin—Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara—apply to take the Chunin Exam."
Right after him, Kakashi and Might Guy followed.
"Team Seven genin—Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno—apply to take the Chunin Exam."
"Team Guy genin—Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee, Tenten—apply to take the Chunin Exam."
With those three leading, other jonin instructors stepped forward to recommend their promising students.
Seeing this, the Third Hokage nodded with satisfaction.
With these rookies, Konoha could definitely show off in front of the other villages.
If the other village leaders felt intimidated, maintaining peace for ten years wouldn't be hard.
Retiring with glory—or dying in office—
Either ending was acceptable to Hiruzen.
The Hokage's power might eventually slip away, but the Sarutobi clan would remain rooted and thriving.
Even if Yusuke became Hokage in the future, the Sarutobi descendants wouldn't lose their voice completely.
Ideally, Hiruzen could hold things until his grandson Konohamaru grew up.
If he couldn't, he would still lay as much groundwork as possible.
As the Hokage who had ruled Konoha for the longest stretch, Sarutobi Hiruzen had pushed faction politics to the extreme.
His only regret was that he couldn't truly "control" his three students:
Orochimaru had tied himself to Danzo early.
Jiraiya held resentment due to Minato and Kushina's fate.
And Tsunade was even worse—she openly fell into Yusuke's camp.
Whenever Hiruzen thought about it, his heart ached.
He had once strongly supported Tsunade as successor—
Only for Yusuke to pull the rug out from under him.
He "stole" the person away, and all of Hiruzen's investments ended in total loss.
The Exams Begin
A few days later, the highly anticipated Chunin Exams finally began.
Rookies from multiple villages gathered together—one wrong glance could ignite sparks.
After a simple genjutsu screening, the fakers were mostly filtered out.
In the end, a little over one hundred sixty candidates entered the official testing phase.
The first test was a written exam on shinobi theory.
In the exam hall, everyone showed their methods.
Those who knew the answers wrote furiously.
Those who didn't… did everything possible to cheat.
Gaara played with sand and used floating eyes.
Kankuro manipulated his crow puppet.
Kiba used the dog on his head as his "answer key."
Shino used insects like hidden cameras.
Neji used Byakugan to see from afar.
Sasuke used Sharingan to copy movements.
Naruto, though… was on another level.
He had been confident at first, thinking it would be easy.
But after reading the questions, he realized… he couldn't answer even one.
And that wasn't the worst part.
He didn't even really know how to cheat.
So for the entire written test, Naruto basically stayed in "head-in-hands panic mode."
He wanted to at least get one correct…
But reality didn't give him that mercy.
Still, Naruto endured the pressure of the final "mental trial."
And in front of the proctor—Ibiki Morino, Konoha's infamous interrogator—Naruto shouted that line:
"I'm going to become Hokage someday!"
Ibiki's psychological pressure was terrifying.
Holding firm under it was already a strong showing.
"Ding ding ding…"
The end-of-exam bell rang.
Naruto handed in a blank paper.
But the written portion was only a test of information-gathering ability.
The true deciding factor was the final courage test.
Naruto barely passed the first round.
Out of the 160+ examinees, only seventy-eight advanced into the second stage.
In terms of numbers, Konoha still held an overwhelming advantage.
So far, everything was still following the script the Third Hokage wanted.
However…
Kabuto Yakushi—disguised as a Konoha shinobi—and Gaara's group from Sunagakure were growing increasingly restless.
And based on Yusuke's judgment, Orochimaru lurking in the shadows should be close to losing his patience.
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