For the next few days, Uchiha Ling and her team mostly stayed inside the inn, not bothering to go out even when the Hidden Cloud Village Ninja were making noise outside.
However, seeing the arrogant demeanor of the Hidden Cloud Village and the similar configurations of their competing teams to those of Iwagakure and Hidden Sand Village, Uchiha Ling confirmed her suspicion: these three Great Shinobi Countries had colluded.
But this collusion was only aimed at Konoha; in reality, they were still a loose collection of individuals, and finding the right opportunity to sow discord could easily make them go their separate ways.
For the past few days, Uchiha Ling had been engaged in reverse-engineering with the Konoha Ninja, deducing how the three Great Shinobi Countries would frame Konoha and trigger a war.
They ultimately concluded that the three Great Shinobi Countries would likely target Konoha aggressively during the Chunin Exams, regardless of the effectiveness of their targeting, as they would have achieved their objective regardless.
And after the Chunin Exams, it was probable that the hidden Jonin of the three Great Shinobi Countries would disguise themselves as Konoha Ninja and launch coordinated attacks on the Genin participating from the three Great Shinobi Countries.
For example, Hidden Sand Village would attack Hidden Cloud Village, Hidden Cloud Village would attack Iwagakure, and Iwagakure would attack Hidden Sand Village, and they would all leave some survivors to return to their respective Villages.
This would incite dissatisfaction towards Konoha within the Villages, allowing them to legitimately launch a war to plunder resources. It must be said that this tactic is truly disgusting.
In fact, they had also discussed a solution or a way to minimize losses: directly intervening after the Chunin Exams, when they were disguised as Konoha Ninja to eliminate the opposing Genin.
They would kill the Jonin disguised as Konoha Ninja. As for whether to kill the Jonin of two Villages or one Village, after receiving a reply from Konoha, it was decided to kill the disguised Jonin who attacked the Genin of Hidden Cloud Village and Iwagakure.
Then, they would escort their Genin back to their Villages, so Iwagakure and Hidden Cloud Village would have no reason to cause trouble. As for the Jonin who died on the other side, what did it have to do with Konoha?
As for why they wouldn't kill the Jonin of all three Villages and then send the Genin of all three Villages back to their Villages unharmed?
That's because even if they thwarted the three Great Shinobi Countries' conspiracy this time, they would continue to refine and devise various conspiracies to deal with Konoha next time.
It's better to directly inflict pain on one side while dealing with the other two; this is more in line with Konoha's interests.
This way, Konoha would only face the offensive from Hidden Sand Village, while Iwagakure and Hidden Cloud Village would be content to watch Hidden Sand Village and Konoha suffer mutual losses.
They would likely launch a war against Konoha after Konoha defeated Hidden Sand Village, which aligns better with Konoha's psychological expectations; a war of attrition is better than a siege.
At that time, they would only need to hold off one Village while concentrating their forces to attack another, and the severely damaged Village would likely become wary of its neighbors.
Perhaps they might even turn their horses and launch a surprise attack on their neighbors, allowing them to profit greatly while Konoha is engaged in battle with its neighbors.
Therefore, Uchiha Ling and her team only needed to participate in the Chunin Exams with peace of mind, as the Village had already dispatched an elite Anbu squad to assist in the implementation of this plan.
The Great Shinobi War was ultimately going to break out early, and Uchiha Ling felt a bit helpless. She had already done her best, and fortunately, with her full power now, she was capable enough to survive the Great Shinobi War; even if the Tailed Beasts surrounded and attacked her, she would not be afraid.
It's just that once the war breaks out, she won't have much time for research. Orochimaru probably has similar thoughts to her.
Among the Five Great Ninja Villages, Hidden Sand Village is the weakest. Their Third Kazekage is already dead, and Rasa and Pakura are still young, with their strength at most being at the Kazekage level.
As for Ichibi Shukaku and its Jinchuriki, Uchiha Ling said it was not a big problem. She had not yet fought a Tailed Beast and a Jinchuriki, and she did not know if the feeling would be good.
Early the next morning, Uchiha Ling and her team were preparing to go to the written exam for the Chunin Exams. As soon as they stepped out, Uchiha Ling saw the participants from the three Great Shinobi Countries glaring at them.
For the past few days, the Konoha Ninja had completely ignored all their provocations, making them feel like punching cotton, with a feeling of wanting to vomit blood.
Uchiha Ling quickly glanced around; it seemed there were no recognizable faces, mostly background characters. She had originally thought she might encounter Pakura or Kitsuchi, and others like Dodai from Hidden Cloud Village.
Although the number of opposing Jonin was roughly five or six per Village, Uchiha Ling stated that Jonin were nothing more than cannon fodder.
For Uchiha Ling and Minato Namikaze, these ordinary Jonin could be completely massacred one-sidedly, unless they had some hidden trump cards, otherwise there would be no surprises.
They walked towards the Amegakure's Ninja Academy, drizzling lightly along the way. The Amegakure's Ninja Academy was built on a peninsula of a river, isolated from the rest of the Village.
The architectural style was dark and damp, but it was clear that this school was relatively new. At this time, three or two competing teams had already gathered in the playground.
Uchiha Ling immediately saw members of the Akatsuki Organization wearing black cloaks with red clouds and Root members wearing Root raincoats, but there was only one team of each, and their Chakra fluctuations were all at the Chunin level.
Uchiha Ling recognized the opposing team leader Jonin; the Akatsuki Organization's team leader Jonin was Konan. Konan in her youth was truly beautiful, with a paper flower in her hair and an indifferent expression.
And the Root's team leader Jonin was the Jonin from the Shimura Clan with the codename 'Otsu' who was with Danzo at the time. He was quite good at Wind Release, but unfortunately, he followed the wrong person.
Uchiha Ling really wanted to ask Konan for some Chakra for research. She was still somewhat unclear about Paper Release and had never fused a Bloodline Limit. That feeling of divine enlightenment described in the scrolls was completely elusive to her.
Although Uchiha Ling was not socially anxious, she was not a social butterfly either. Seeing Konan's aloof demeanor, Uchiha Ling felt like backing down.
However, Minato went up to greet them. It seemed he had a good relationship with Yahiko and the others, after all, they were all taught by the same teacher.
"Konan, junior sister, are Yahiko and the others not here?" Minato walked forward with Uchiha Ling and Kakashi.
"No." Konan turned to look at Minato, who was smiling a bit awkwardly, and couldn't help but remember that Jiraiya-sensei also had such a smile, and her expression softened considerably.
"Oh, by the way, Hanzō might have colluded with the three Great Shinobi Countries. The Great Shinobi War might break out, so you all need to be careful."
Minato Namikaze still couldn't completely put his junior brothers and sisters at ease, so he informed them of this intelligence, allowing them to make plans early.
"War? Yahiko must be very disappointed." Konan understood that the outbreak of the Great Shinobi War would definitely be a heavy blow to Yahiko, who had always wanted peace to continue.
As the Chunin Exams examiners arrived, the written exam officially began. Uchiha Ling sat in the classroom, looking at the test paper in front of her, feeling a bit like taking the college entrance exam in her previous life.
The test paper was not difficult, only involving fluid mechanics, meridian studies, Chakra and Ninjutsu principles, tracking and anti-tracking, Ninja World history, and general Ninja knowledge.
For the academic genius Uchiha Ling, there was no difficulty at all. However, at this time, the most miserable ones were probably Might Guy and Obito.
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