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***
Half a month later.
Konoha's main gate.
"Finally back to the village," Kido Daisuke leaped through the gate, stretching his body and letting out a long sigh of relief.
Behind him, Shikaku, Itachi, and Hattori Shinichi followed suit.
"Seniors, you've worked hard," Kido Daisuke said, looking at the two ninja guarding the gate.
"You've worked hard too," the two ninja addressed him, Shikaku, and the others.
"I'll handle this mission myself. I'll be on hold for the time being."
Shikaku said solemnly, gazing at the three.
Kido Daisuke and Hattori Shinichi nodded emphatically.
Before returning to the village, Shikaku had already informed them of his intention to have the three of them participate in the soon-to-be-started Chunin Exams.
Swish!
Shikaku darted toward the Hokage Building.
"We need to intensify our training!"
Kido Daisuke declared, his eyes filled with excitement, despite uneasiness.
After all, having chosen to become a ninja, no one wants to be a genin forever.
Hattori Shinichi also pushed his glasses and said, "I will definitely do my best and won't hold the team back."
"We are a team. Besides, Hattori's strength is crucial in the Chunin Exams," Itachi patted Hattori Shinichi's shoulder.
His time taking the Chunin Exams was unique.
While others participated in small groups, Itachi was the only person in Konoha's history to take and pass the Chunin Exams alone.
The Chunin Exams' primary purpose is to select individuals with outstanding genin talent, but talent encompasses more than just individual strength.
Being a chunin or genin represents more than just superior strength.
Most importantly, it involves the judgment and decision-making ability to lead a team.
In the Hokage's office.
"You're back."
Minato stood up from his seat, watching Shikaku enter.
Minato's expression was slightly solemn.
Shikaku frowned, saying, "What happened?"
He rarely saw that expression on Minato's face.
Minato nodded.
He turned, picked up a scroll from the table, and handed it to Shikaku.
The first thing that caught his eye was the striped pattern on its surface, representing the Hidden Mist Village.
"A scroll from the Hidden Mist?"
Shikaku was slightly surprised.
For years, the Hidden Mist had remained isolated from the ninja world.
His gaze immediately fell on the scroll's contents.
After roughly reading the contents, Shikaku raised his eyes to Minato, his gaze filled with deep horror.
"The Fourth Mizukage is actually planning to hold a joint Chunin Exam among the five major ninja nations in the Hidden Mist?!"
"What do you think of this?"
Minato asked, frowning.
"This is extremely unusual," Shikaku said.
A joint Chunin Exam among the five nations was unprecedented in ninja history.
Furthermore, the one proposing this joint Chunin Exam came from the Hidden Mist, a village that had long maintained a closed-door policy and rarely interacted with the outside world.
"Yes," Minato's eyes narrowed slightly.
For the past few years, not only Konoha, but also Kumogakure, Sunagakure, and Iwagakure ninjas have sought to infiltrate the Hidden Mist Village in the Land of Water and gain intelligence on it.
However, due to the Land of Water's offshore location, infiltration is inherently difficult.
Furthermore, in addition to the main landmass, the land itself is also home to numerous small islands, making infiltration nearly impossible.
This time, the Hidden Mist Village's actions were a departure from their previous closed-off approach, proactively opening their doors.
"Besides wanting to ascertain the power fluctuations of the other four major ninja villages over the years, I can't quite grasp the Hidden Mist's purpose for doing this," Shikaku said.
For decades, the Chunin Exams, jointly held by the five major ninja nations, had been a means for each nation to assess the strength of the ninjas trained by the other villages in recent years.
The Chunin Exams served as a small-scale battlefield for each nation to determine the strength of the next generation of ninja.
This time, the Hidden Mist Village's target was Konoha and other ninja villages from the other four major nations, also members of the Five Great Ninja Nations.
This essentially eliminated any potential plotting opportunities for the Hidden Mist Village to exploit the Chunin Exams.
Regardless of any unusual circumstances during the Chunin Exams, the Hidden Mist Village would become the focus of attention from the other four nations.
Even Konoha, the strongest of the Five Great Ninja Villages, wouldn't dare do so, let alone the Hidden Mist Village.
"Therefore, Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Sunagakure will definitely agree to the Chunin Exams."
Minato explained.
For the four major ninja villages, including Konoha, the location of the Chunin Exams in Kirigakure was a perfect opportunity to gather intelligence.
The Fourth Kazekage, the Third Tsuchikage, and the Fourth Raikage would certainly not miss this opportunity.
"So you've already agreed to Kirigakure's request for a joint Chunin Exam?" Shikaku asked.
Minato smiled meaningfully, saying, "I have no reason to refuse."
"So you asked me to lead those three little guys to Kirigakure to take the Chunin Exams?"
Shikaku asked.
He wasn't particularly skilled at intelligence gathering.
However, among Konoha's current jonin instructors, no one seemed suitable for the task.
After all, they had no idea what Kirigakure's intentions were.
"Well, the three kids on your team should have no problem handling the exam," Minato said with a smile.
Konoha was widely considered the most powerful ninja village in the ninja world, and this reputation provided considerable convenience for Fire Nation citizens abroad.
To maintain this image, Konoha's participating ninja team must excel in the Chunin Exams.
"So, Shinku's team is also on your roster, right?"
Shikaku said.
Besides Minato's own abilities and Shinku Yuhi's, the main factors in Minato's decision were, of course, Itachi and Izumi.
Among Konoha's genin who hadn't yet reached the rank of chunin, Itachi and Izumi, who had just graduated six months earlier, were undoubtedly the two most accomplished genin.
Itachi, in particular, was a point Shikaku, even with his cautious nature, could almost guarantee.
In this Chunin Exam, among the genin from various countries participating, with the exception of the Hidden Mist Village, whose details were kept secret and unclear, no one could surpass Itachi.
While Itachi was still a genin, his current strength was enough to rival some of the village's jonin.
In the history of the ninja world, besides Minato, Shikaku didn't know anyone else who had reached this level before the age of eleven.
Besides Uchiha Shisui, who was in Konoha's ANBU, his details were unknown.
...
"Have you finalized the rest of the list?"
Shikaku asked.
Konoha certainly couldn't send every applicant for the Chunin Exams to the Hidden Mist Village.
"Yes," Minato took another stack of ninja registration forms from his desk.
Shikaku took them and glanced at them.
Besides the information for Itachi and Izumi's class, there were twelve other ninja registration forms.
This meant that Minato planned to send a total of six genin teams to the Hidden Mist Village's Chunin Exams.
Of these six teams, only Shikaku and Shinku's classes were freshmen who had graduated just six months earlier.
"Aside from you, I've already notified everyone else," Minato continued.
"I'll leave the Chunin Exams participation entirely in your care. However, you'll also serve as a jonin instructor, so I've also asked Choza and Inoichi to come along."
"That should be all right then," Shikaku smiled faintly.
Of the village's jonin, the two he knew best were, of course, Choza Choza and Inoichi Yamanaka
The name of Ino-Shika-Cho was already revered among the clans before Konoha was founded.
The four Kage from the Fire, Lightning, Wind, and Earth Countries couldn't easily leave their villages, but they would naturally send elite ninja from each nation to lead their teams.
After receiving Minato's order, Shikaku immediately gathered his class and informed the three of them of the date for the joint Chunin Exams.
"A joint Chunin Exam for the five great nations? What a grand event!"
Kido Daisuke and Hattori Shinichi were both incredulous.
After all, a joint Chunin Exam for the five nations would be a first in the history of the ninja world.
Itachi's face was equally filled with shock.
However, deep down, he already harbored suspicions about the Chunin Exams.
He knew that the current Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, was merely a puppet being manipulated.
The true master of the Hidden Mist Village lay with the masked man, who had maintained tight control over the village for years to prevent the other four ninja nations from noticing any signs of trouble.
And this time, he had proactively requested the Chunin Exams from the other four nations.
The masked man, willing to risk the possibility of his own discovery, was determined to hold the Chunin Exams for one reason only.
That evening, Itachi arrived at Shisui's home and channeled his chakra into the kunai engraved with the Flying Thunder God Technique, refined by Minato.
Swish!
Then, Minato appeared before him.
"We had intended to wait until after the Chunin Exams to implement our plan, but we didn't expect the enemy to be more desperate and strike first." Minato remarked.
The masked man couldn't possibly have known that Konoha had already realized that the Hidden Mist Village was being manipulated.
Therefore, there was only one reason to proactively invite the four major nations to a joint Chunin Exam.
"Itachi, their target is you," Minato said.
Itachi nodded, saying, "I didn't expect those guys to be so crazy."
Akatsuki's Zetsu possessed intelligence-gathering capabilities unmatched even by the intelligence agencies of the five major ninja nations.
Therefore, the Hidden Mist Village couldn't have held the Chunin Exams for intelligence.
This left only one answer.
They should have already investigated and discovered that Itachi was still hiding his power from most people in Konoha.
Therefore, holding the Chunin Exams would force Itachi to leave Konoha.
The reason they involved the other three nations was to conceal their intentions and avoid Konoha's suspicion.
"It's not crazy, because I think they're doing this because they can't figure out your secret," Minato said.
From the enemy's perspective, no matter how they considered what happened to Itachi, there was no explanation.
No one could have imagined that Itachi had been reborn after more than a decade.
Therefore, the unknown about Itachi made the masked man and others feel a huge threat, which is why they were willing to use this method to eliminate Itachi, even at the cost of possible exposure.
"No matter what method they want to use or what their purpose is, we can reversely exploit the enemy's plan and achieve our own goals," Itachi said calmly.
He had once been an undercover agent in the Akatsuki organization, so even now that he knew that the masked man, Pain, and others in the Akatsuki organization had murderous intentions toward him, Itachi's heart remained unmoved.
Because now he was also not alone.
"Yes," Minato smiled faintly.
Originally, sending Itachi, Shisui, and Kakashi alone to infiltrate the Hidden Mist Village in the Land of Water would have been a very difficult and dangerous task.
Now that Itachi could legally enter the country as a participant in the exam, things would be much simpler.
While Kakashi and Shisui, members of the ANBU, could not accompany him, Shisui had also mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique, including Minato's improved version.
Even the most rigorous defenses the masked man had orchestrated with the Hidden Mist ninja were useless against space-time ninjutsu.
"I think they'd most likely strike around the time you arrived or left the Hidden Mist Village for the exam," Minato said.
Although the masked man controlled the Fourth Mizukage, he wouldn't dare attack Itachi, a participant, within the Hidden Mist Village.
Doing so would give the Konoha ninja a legitimate reason to investigate.
Furthermore, Itachi's status as the eldest son of the Uchiha clan leader meant that Minato, as Hokage, couldn't sit idly by.
The masked man dared not lead Minato to the Hidden Mist Village.
"I've invited the Chunin Exam participants from our ally, Sunagakure, to join you on the journey," Minato said.
Since he had already learned of the enemy's potential plans, he naturally took precautions.
Sunagakure had formed an alliance with Konoha at the end of the Third Shinobi World War.
Geographically, the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind were separated only by the Land of Rivers.
"They should reach Konoha within three days. Then you will depart together and take the boat to the Land of Water."
Minato and Itachi exchanged a glance, a fierce look gradually forming in their expressions.
....
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