Chapter 306: The Chunin Exam in the Sand Village
The Chunin Exam in the Sand Village would also last for a month. At the end of June, the Konoha ninjas crossed the sea of sand and arrived at the Sand Village, invited to participate in the Chunin Exams.
After Ino's generation and before Konohamaru's, Konoha had no outstanding Genin.
Naruto was still in the hospital taking care of the seriously ill Iruka. The Konoha 12 were all too young, and it was feared they wouldn't be able to handle themselves. Only Ino, in her capacity as a medical-nin, accompanied the group to the Sand Village.
The Jounin leading the Konoha team were Kakashi and Genma Shiranui.
Genma Shiranui's strength was actually not weak. He and Anko Mitarashi, two Tokubetsu Jōnin, actually had the strength, or at least the potential, of Jōnin. Anko had basically given up on herself, lying flat and not trying anymore, letting things be. Genma hadn't given up, but his luck was always a bit off.
As a Tokubetsu Jōnin, his personal rank was actually lower than his personal strength, a situation very similar to Ino still being a Chunin. Both were stuck due to an insufficient number of missions.
Ino's issue was simply that she had completed too few missions, while he never had the opportunity to take on high-level missions.
Genma Shiranui was able to fight the Sand Village's elite Jōnin, Baki, to a standstill at the Chunin Exam site. His personal strength was actually very high.
Considering Baki's situation at the time, there was no reason to hold back; he was definitely going all out. Even so, Genma fought him for a long time as if nothing was wrong, dragging it out until Kakashi and Might Guy came to help after clearing out the Sound Village minions. He didn't have a single scratch on him, his clothes weren't even dirty, and even when the three of them stood there chatting with Baki afterwards, Genma was still in the C-position.
All things considered, it was absolutely no problem to call him an elite of the background characters.
The reason he had completed so few missions and was unable to be promoted to Jōnin was that he had always been on the periphery of the Hokage's inner circle.
He wanted to actively get closer, but no one gave him the chance.
Carefully studying Genma Shiranui's resume, as a well-known figure in the background character world, he had basically been present for every major event one could name.
From encountering the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist right after graduating during the Third Great Ninja War, with Might Duy opening the Eight Gates, to serving as the Fourth Hokage's guard, presiding over the Chunin Exams, the Sasuke Recovery Mission, the Fourth Great Ninja War, teleporting Mei Terumi, pursuing the Second Tsuchikage, and so on—his active figure could be seen in all these major events. But... his judgment was a bit poor, and his luck was a bit off.
Initially not valued under the Third Hokage, he had set his sights on Minato Namikaze early on, working hard for him. After Minato took office, he could be considered to have gained merit for backing the winner and was even taught the Flying Thunder Formation Technique. Although he didn't master the main technique, he learned the formation version, but at that time, he was highly valued.
Unfortunately, the good times didn't last. The Fourth died too early, and then the Third Hokage took office again, putting him in an awkward position.
After more than ten years of hard work and good performance, he regained the Third's trust and served as an examiner for the Chunin Exams, but then... the Third died.
Now, after painstakingly gaining the trust of the Fifth Hokage, what? The Fourth was being resurrected? And the Fifth intended to return the Hokage position to the Fourth, only for the Fourth to refuse.
He was quite speechless about this. All my efforts over these dozen or so years, what was it all for?!
Temari was the one from the Sand Village who came to welcome the Konoha party.
Temari's face was weary, with a hint of a forced smile.
Ino even smelled a faint scent of blood on her. This definitely wasn't that time of the month, but from killing someone. If nothing unexpected happened, someone must have tried to assassinate her when she left the village.
The internal situation in the Sand Village was even more unstable than expected.
Seeing Ms. Hercules come out of the village specifically to welcome her, Ino felt a little embarrassed. She could only say that one's fate in the jianghu is not one's own to decide. To think she had caused so much trouble just to get Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan...
She felt that no matter what, she should at least protect Ms. Hercules. Anyway, you're going to marry into Konoha sooner or later, so it shouldn't be a problem to become family ahead of time.
"Hmph, why the long face? Did you hear about my promotion to Jōnin?" Temari said quite smugly.
Ino scoffed. This Sand Village really has no one. To bolster Gaara's support, even someone like Temari can be promoted to Jōnin. Your qualifications are far too lacking!
"Yes, you're amazing, happy now? Did your somewhat simple-minded brother get promoted too?"
Kankuro looked at her with a dark face. She whistled like Tsunade; whoever answered was the simple-minded one.
With Gaara becoming the Fifth Kazekage, Temari and Kankuro's fortunes rose, and both were promoted to Jōnin.
The talent-starved Sand Village could only use blood relations to forcibly promote two Jōnin to help Gaara stabilize the situation.
Ino just shook her head. Pathetic.
The older generation of the Sand Village was just Chiyo and Ebizō, and those two old folks were no longer involved in affairs. The core strength was Baki and Yūra, and Yūra was a spy. The rest were just the three of them...
Unfortunately, Gaara was already the Fifth Kazekage; he would not surrender to Konoha, and the political climate would not allow the Land of Fire to annex the Land of Wind.
It was highly likely they would meet on the battlefield again in the future.
This time, Konoha brought sixty Genin. There were old-timers who had taken the exam seven or eight times without passing, and also newcomers who had just graduated from the academy, aiming to catch up to Ino's generation.
Temari gave them a rough glance. Their skills were all very average. On the contrary, the Sand Village's Genin had the advantage this time. Perfect!
Hosting the Chunin Exams in their own village, the Sand naturally wanted to leverage their home-field advantage and show off their presence in front of the other hidden villages.
As long as Konoha didn't try to steal their thunder, it would be fine.
Konoha and the Sand Village were allies, but an ally's ally is not necessarily an ally.
As one of the five great hidden villages, the Sand Village still had some foundation. Some of the surrounding smaller countries, as its subordinates, sent Genin to participate in the exams.
The Sound Village that Orochimaru established in the Land of Rice Paddies was not currently an ally of Konoha, but the Sand Village had maintained contact with the Sound Village without breaking their alliance.
Jōnin Guren had brought twelve Sound Village ninjas to participate in the exams.
As the Konoha party walked into the Sand Village, they happened to see Guren training with her subordinates. This powerful female ninja didn't even glance at the Konoha party, just gave a very disdainful "hmph" through her nose. Judging from her outward behavior, one would never imagine that the two sides were working together.
As a high-ranking member of Konoha Village, Kakashi went to see Gaara on behalf of the Fifth Hokage to discuss the details of the competition.
Genma Shiranui, on the other hand, arranged for the Genin to rest and prepare for the written exam two days later.
Ino, who always believed that "if one cannot be a good minister, one should be a good physician," toured the Sand Village's hospital facilities accompanied by Temari.
"You're saying you're a medical-nin?" Hearing that Ino, the woman who had beaten her brother to a pulp, was a medical-nin, Temari was one hundred and twenty percent skeptical. How is that possible? I don't believe it!
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