Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

Not only is the workload enormous, but various unexpected problems also keep arising.

Fortunately, the newly established Chunin Exams Preparatory Command Center is full of talented people. From the head and deputy head to every single member, none of them are just there to coast along and gain experience. With the full support of the Hokage, no matter what the problem is, it can be solved immediately.

everything,

Everything is operating smoothly and according to plan.

"Shikaku, how is it?"

Uchiha Arashiyama carried two steaming cups of strong tea into Nara Shikaku's office.

"The people from Smoke Village have arrived too, four people including the ninja leading them... This is just a perfunctory effort! They probably won't even make it past the first round of preliminary selection." Nara Shikaku complained, taking the hot tea from Uchiha Arashiyama's hand, and said, "But now that Smoke Village has arrived, all the villages have arrived, so there's no need to worry about any village's people being unable to get here in time and missing the deadline."

"That's good."

Uchiha Arashiyama, sporting deep dark circles under his eyes, breathed a sigh of relief.

After being busy for so long,

This job is finally almost done.

"In that case, we'll have to wait until the day after tomorrow!"

“That’s right, we can finally catch our breath after the Chunin Exams officially begin the day after tomorrow.” Nara Shikaku, who also had dark circles under his eyes that were not much less pronounced than those of Uchiha Arashiyama, rubbed his eyes and looked out at the pitch-black night. He said, “Speaking of which… what’s the situation in Sunagakure? Why is the Anbu keeping an eye on the Sunagakure embassy?”

“Anbu… Oh! I heard from Shisui that the Sand Village sent the One-Tailed Jinchuriki to take the exam this time. The Hokage ordered someone to keep an eye on him to prevent him from going out of control.” Uchiha Arashiyama walked to the window and looked out at the night.

"A Jinchūriki of the One-Tailed Beast? Hiss!!!"

Startled, Nara Shikaku accidentally scalded himself with the boiling tea, causing him to gasp for breath.

"Be careful, it's very hot."

"You little brat, who do you think caused me to get burned?"

Nara Shikaku said irritably.

Immediately,

With a serious expression, he said, "The Sand Village sent the One-Tailed Jinchuriki to our Konoha. Could it be that they have some kind of... scheme?" As one of the smartest people in Konoha, Nara Shikaku's mind instantly conjured up various speculations about whether the Sand Village was planning to use the One-Tailed Jinchuriki to cause trouble.

You can't blame him for always thinking the worst.

Rather, the treachery and deceit in the ninja world are commonplace, and it is extremely common to assume the worst about the enemy. Considering the worst-case scenario is the job of a strategist like him.

"I don't know."

Uchiha Arashiyama, however, seemed unperturbed.

"But there shouldn't be any problem. Now that the Hokage knows about the Sand Village's little tricks, he's not afraid that they can cause any trouble."

"...That's true."

Nara Shikaku nodded in agreement.

Indeed!

The situation is no longer as dire as it was during the later years of the Third Hokage's rule, when everything was barely scraping by, with the Third Shinobi World War looming large and the Uchiha clan constantly under surveillance and restrictions. This forced the strategists to work within their own limited resources.

The more difficult the situation, the more important these strategists become.

But he felt it was more comfortable to crush them with absolute strength, just like when the First Hokage was in power, or like now when the Sixth Hokage is in charge. Although they would be extremely busy, at least they wouldn't have to worry about the outcome of the battles on the front lines or the future of the village and their clan.

Nara Shikaku shook his head, clearing his mind of distractions, and changed the subject, saying, "Sunagakure, Iwagakure, Kumogakure, Kirigakure... Arashiyama, how many of them do you think will make it to the end in this Chunin Exams?"

How would I know such a thing?

Uchiha Arashiyama rolled his eyes. "Although we have a list of genin from various villages who are taking the exam, what can you tell just by looking at that? The Sand Village didn't add a note after the name of the One-Tailed Jinchuriki."

"Just guess! If we knew the details, what would be the point of guessing? We could figure it out with a simple calculation."

"…Let's go with the Sand Village and the Mist Village!"

Uchiha Arashiyama answered casually.

"I can understand the Sand Village ninja, with the One-Tailed Jinchuriki, but why do I think the Mist Village ninja also have a chance of winning?"

"Hozuki and Shimizu are prestigious families from Kirigakure! On the other hand, while the lists of Iwagakure and Kumogakure have a lot of people, there aren't any particularly noteworthy names. If nothing unexpected happens, Sunagakure and Kirigakure will perform very well this time. However, apart from that Jinchuriki of the One-Tailed Beast from Sunagakure, this time, Konoha is destined to take the lead."

"Uchiha Arashiyama said with great confidence."

"To be the best? That sounds pretty good."

Nara Shikaku couldn't help but smile. His son would also be participating in the Chunin Exams. Of course, he didn't expect Shikamaru to pass the exams and become a Chunin this time. Such a rare event was enough to broaden his horizons and gain some knowledge.

Their family members make a living with their brains.

Being able to fight is certainly important, but not that important.

"I hope everything goes smoothly."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Smooth sailing... Such a wish is probably hard to come by. Under the deep night, in the inn where the Grass Ninja were staying, the Grass Ninja Jonin in charge of leading the team was completely unaware that three Grass Ninja Genin belonging to the same squad were first subjected to an hour of torture, and then their faces were cruelly peeled off.

Bai held the bloody dough in his hands.

Without any reaction, he used a technique called "Face Removal Technique" to cover his face with a skin. His appearance and figure then changed to resemble the still-warm corpse on the ground, and even his chakra aura changed.

Haku, who had changed his appearance, quietly put on the clothes of a Kusanagi ninja.

Immediately,

Looking at her two companions beside her, she asked, "How is it? Karin, Jugo, do you feel there's something off about me?"

"No."

Jugo looked at it carefully from head to toe, then shook his head.

“There are no problems at all. There are no flaws in appearance, body shape, smell, or even chakra aura. It’s just a pity that this technique is only maintained for a short time. Otherwise… we wouldn’t have had to take such a big risk to make a move in Konoha.” Karin said regretfully, while subconsciously glancing around like a thief.

Although they were indeed thieves.

"There's nothing we can do about it. The Face Removal Technique can't keep a face from decaying for long; half a month is the limit. If we peel off a face outside beforehand, we won't have much time to investigate inside Konoha Village."

Infiltrating Konoha isn't difficult.

With Orochimaru's detailed research on Konoha's barrier techniques, no matter how Konoha's barrier formation changes, as long as it's not fundamentally overturned and rebuilt, given some time to study the methods Orochimaru left behind, it's always possible to infiltrate.

The difficulty lies in,

How can we find Anko in such a large village as Konoha?

This is a bit too difficult. Not to mention the elusive Anbu, even the Hyuga clan's ninjas are troublesome to avoid, not to mention the members of the Konoha Yamanaka clan... In short, infiltration is easy, but investigation is very difficult.

but,

Fortunately, Konoha is currently holding the Chunin Exams.

The gathering of genin from various ninja villages in Konoha provided an opportunity for them to take advantage of the chaos. By simply impersonating a few of them, they could move openly within Konoha, which was much safer than impersonating a local or an ordinary outsider.

Not only do they have a legitimate identity as ninjas, but their lack of understanding of Konoha is also completely understandable and acceptable.

Among so many options

The reason they specifically chose the Grass Village was twofold. First, the Grass Village lacked skilled ninjas; the Jonin leading the team would at most be considered a Special Jonin among the Five Great Ninja Villages, so they weren't worried about their actions being discovered. Second, Karin had lived in the Grass Village for a long time and had a deep understanding of it, so she wasn't afraid of being questioned about her identity by people who knew about the Grass Village.

"If there are no problems, you two should get started!"

Bai said.

In order to infiltrate Konoha for the investigation, Haku spent five minutes mastering the Face-Changing Technique, and then spent three days teaching this technique, which was not difficult for him, to Karin and Jugo. Before the operation, he practiced it many times on those scumbags who were used as expendable resources.

but,

Will things go smoothly when the time comes?

To be honest, even Bai couldn't be sure.

He could guarantee a 100% success rate, but he couldn't control Jugo and Karin to achieve this in a short time. It was a gamble. If they succeeded, they would proceed according to plan. If they failed and attracted Konoha's investigation, then they would have to... think of another way.

Under Bai's gaze,

Karin and Jugo each picked up the blood-stained human face and, following the method Haku had taught them, carefully covered their own faces with the face mask, mimicking Haku's previous rhythm. Their appearance, body shape, scent, and chakra aura all began to slowly change.

Even someone as tall as Jugo, who was over two meters, has shrunk to about 1.7 meters.

"Success!!!"

Karin excitedly clenched her fist, showing no discomfort whatsoever from having someone else's face pressed against her own.

"It still feels so strange."

Jugo shook his neck. The change in his body shape also changed his vision. However, this change was not a big problem. He could adapt to it in a little while. He had noticed this issue during practice and had Jugo practice transformation techniques to become Haku or Karin to adapt to the change.

"Alright, Jugo, wait, it should be Rye. Hurry up and change your clothes!"

A smile also appeared on Bai's face.

"Also, Hibiscus, you should change your coat and go back to rest. If you take too long to go to the toilet, people will suspect something. And the calming herbs have limited effects."

"Yes, yes, Brother Lin Cao."

Karin picked up her change of clothes and went to the next cubicle to change. It wasn't that she was afraid of being seen by Shiro, but mainly because Jugo was in her way. If the two of them were alone, she wouldn't miss such a good opportunity to show off her figure.

Rush, rye, and hibiscus—these were originally the names of the three corpses on the ground.

But now,

The scroll was temporarily borrowed by Haku and the others. Anyway, names are not of much use to the dead. While Karin went to change her clothes, Haku took out the scroll, collected all the corpses on the ground, and carefully checked the room, finding all the places where bloodstains might remain.

Only after confirming that there were no clues left besides a faint lingering smell of blood in the air did they feel relieved. They opened the window wide, thinking that by daybreak, the faint smell of blood would have completely dissipated. Unless a ninja dog or a ninja with an extremely keen sense of smell was sent to investigate, it would be very difficult to discover that someone had died in this room.

Is it going to snow?

Bai stood by the window, gazing at the dark sky devoid of moonlight. Judging from this, when he woke up tomorrow, he would see a white, desolate Konoha Village.

[Chapter 415. Chunin Selection Exam]

November 15th.

It has been snowing heavily for two days in a row.

To this day,

The force of the wind and snow subsided somewhat.