Konoha Notes

Chapter 205 Consideration
Inside the tower in Amegakure, the cold rain relentlessly pounded against the building's exterior walls.

Obito Uchiha, standing by the window as "Madara Uchiha".

Did they disrupt the joint Chunin Exams held in Konoha?

Is it possible to do that?
Yes.

The method is simple. Attack and kill all travelers, wealthy merchants, powerful figures, and even daimyo heading to Konoha, regardless of the cost. Let fear and corpses pave every road leading to Konoha.

Without spectators, Konoha naturally loses most of the meaning and motivation for hosting this grand competition.

However, Iwagakure will not endorse or cover up such behavior.

The purpose of the struggle between ninja villages is to plunder resources. As a military organization that does not engage in production, indiscriminately carrying out large-scale massacres of those on the production side would immediately arouse public outrage and panic throughout the ninja world.

To avoid becoming the target of everyone's ire, that old fox Onoki will definitely betray the Akatsuki organization as soon as possible. At that time, the Five Kage Summit will be held, and the five great ninja villages will reach a consensus, making a joint attack on them inevitable.

With the power of Nagato's Rinnegan, he might be able to forcibly replace a ninja village, making other forces hesitant to act. But what happens after that?
It will be an endless, overt and covert pursuit and attrition from the entire ninja world.

Even if things came to that, the Akatsuki wouldn't be completely defeated. After all, they still held a trump card—the resurrection of Uchiha Madara.

But if that happens, the man will take control of the subsequent plans.

While maintaining its own dominance, Akatsuki's current survival strategy is to temporarily become a weapon, causing the various parties wielding the weapon to be hostile and fight each other.

As long as the conflicts and contradictions between the five great ninja villages remain the mainstream of the ninja world, Akatsuki, as a relatively "cheap" mercenary force that operates outside the five great villages, will be able to continue to accumulate power.

Therefore, the first method will not work.

So, what about the second option: assassinating the teams of genin from various countries participating in the Chunin Exams?
This would immediately make the Akatsuki the enemy of all ninja villages. The effect would be no different from the first option, and might even backfire faster.

Not at all.

As for the last option, attacking Konoha...

With Shennong now in Akatsuki, launching an attack using the remnants of the Sky Ninja Village is not impossible. An attack using aerial superiority would catch even Konoha off guard and inflict heavy losses.

However, this card can only be played once, and then it's gone.

It's not worth the trouble to ruin an exam.

"We refuse Onoki's request this time."
-
There was no infiltration as expected, and no large-scale destruction.

From the preliminary rounds in August to the official start of the tournament in September, the joint Chunin Exams hosted by Konoha progressed unexpectedly smoothly.

The sentries, both overt and covert, deployed throughout Konoha, along with elite patrols personally led by Hiruzen Sarutobi, including personnel like Shuji responsible for event reception and perimeter security, ultimately failed to encounter the formidable enemy they had anticipated.

Only a few insignificant small fry were caught and easily dealt with.

The atmosphere inside the stadium was electric.

The stands were packed, with merchants, nobles, and ninja leaders from various countries watching the fierce battle unfold below.

Cheers, exclamations, and murmurs mingled together, constantly assaulting our eardrums.

On the field, a wall of earth rose up beneath Yamato's feet, blocking all the flames spewed out by his opponent.

He wasn't used to this kind of battle where he was the focus of countless eyes.

The noise wasn't the problem; the problem was the spectators' reaction. The ninja battles seemed to have turned into a performance to entertain the audience.

Just using Earth Release, Water Release, or even just taijutsu, can attract so much attention and reaction.

Yamato even caught a glimpse of a banner with his current name hanging somewhere in the stands, which made him even more disoriented. After all, having received training at Root since childhood and then carried out missions in the Dark, being exposed to the sunlight and scrutinized by countless eyes was still too novel for Yamato.

In the stands of the Hidden Mist team, Zabuza silently watched the battle unfold.

That guy named Yamato was completely different from the other Konoha genin.

That simple, efficient, and deadly fighting style...

This is someone who was specially cultivated. Or... was specifically brought in for this competition.

His gaze swept over the area where the Cloud Village's ninja leaders were leading the charge, then quickly returned to his own.

The Jonin leading the Cloud Village team is so close to the people of Konoha, and they often act together. What objections could they possibly have?
Zabuza then turned his gaze towards the direction of Maki, the Jonin leading the Sunagakure team. The other man's expression was calm, revealing nothing about him.

"No objections either... It seems that it's standard practice for the organizers to take extra measures to secure victory."

"The so-called joint examination is nothing special."

"A boring show."

Having lost the will to watch any longer, Zabuza closed his eyes.

How far the fight can go depends entirely on Konoha's mood.

There's nothing interesting to see.

"Is Yamato's situation similar to Darui's?" Samui stood beside Shuuji, looking at the arena, and asked in a calm tone.

“No, it’s different.” Shuuji rested his hands on the railing of the stands, his gaze still fixed on the arena. “He has never participated in any exams to improve his ninja rank. You can tell from the reactions of the audience and the other participants from Konoha, Miss Samui.”

"With Yamato's strength, if he had participated in the exam, even the village's exam, the Konoha genin would treat him differently."

Samui nodded, then raised a new question: "Mr. Shuji, regarding the practical exchange between our two villages next year, will there be any similar... 'special cases' of people participating?"

The Hidden Cloud Village and the Hidden Leaf Village have agreed on the scope of participants. Next year's competition will mainly involve genin and chunin, so the competition will be divided into two levels: genin group and chunin group.

Now that they've been divided into different tiers, both sides assume they're fighting against opponents of the same level and stop engaging in any other underhanded tactics.

But now Samui has noticed a new problem.

If Yamato is someone like Darui who's brought out to make a show of things, then that's an exception. Or if it's someone like Itachi, a young genius, that's fine too.

According to Shuji, he had never participated in the Ninja Exams promotion competition.

But considering Yamato's age, this is inappropriate.

In the past, when the Chunin Exams weren't considered as valuable, genius genin would be promoted within a year of graduation, or even in the same year.

Those who are relatively outstanding are promoted at the age of sixteen or seventeen.

In more common cases, promotions are only given to people in their early twenties.

Based on the strength and combat skills demonstrated by Yamato, he should be considered to be in the top tier.

if not……

"Mr. Shuji, I think we need to have a more detailed discussion and confirmation regarding the specific criteria for next year's participants."

　I'm useless, give me another half hour, second update.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)