Danzo understood the meaning behind the first round of the Chunin Exams almost immediately.
The moment he saw the situation clearly, the old man's spirit seemed to return to him all at once.
For the sake of his own ambition, for the great cause of unifying the shinobi world beside his nephew, and for all the "endurance" his nephew had shown over these past few years, Danzo could no longer sit still.
He had to begin laying the groundwork.
Driving a wedge between two great nations was never a simple matter.
Danzo knew very well that Ōnoki and Ebizō were both old foxes who had survived countless storms. Trying to provoke them directly would be extremely difficult.
Since those two could not be moved so easily, Danzo shifted his attention elsewhere.
The genin teams participating in the Chunin Exams.
As the man who controlled Konoha's darker intelligence network, Danzo already knew that the team Iwagakure had sent included Ōnoki's son.
If Sunagakure's genin could kill Ōnoki's son during the Chunin Exams, then the chances of Sunagakure and Iwagakure forming an alliance would drop to almost nothing.
After returning to the Root base, Danzo began going through the information on the genin teams from Sunagakure and Iwagakure.
Soon, he discovered the first difficulty.
Sunagakure was truly useless.
The genin they had sent were only around twelve years old. At best, their strength barely reached the level of chunin. There was no way they could be a match for Ōnoki's son, Kitsuchi.
Danzo's mind turned quickly.
If Sunagakure's genin could not kill Kitsuchi directly, then what about the opposite?
Could Kitsuchi be used to kill the Sunagakure team instead?
But the moment that thought appeared, Danzo rejected it.
He thought of Ebizō's lowered posture during the meeting, and of Sunagakure's current weakness.
The village was already struggling to survive. Even if the former Kazekage's disciple died during the exam, Sunagakure might still swallow the insult for the sake of forming an alliance with Iwagakure.
No.
That would not be enough.
It had to be Sunagakure's genin who killed Ōnoki's son.
Only then would the hatred become impossible to erase.
After all, Kitsuchi was the son of the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki. If he died at the hands of Sunagakure, even an old fox like Ōnoki would find it difficult to remain calm.
Even if Sunagakure later sent Rasa and the others, the former Kazekage's disciples, to Iwagakure as an apology, it would not solve the problem.
Because the moment Sunagakure tried to sacrifice its own people to appease Iwagakure, Danzo could use Konoha's spies hidden inside Sunagakure to expose everything.
Once that happened, the shinobi of Sunagakure would turn their resentment toward their own higher-ups and Iwagakure at the same time.
In other words, as long as Kitsuchi died at the hands of Sunagakure, the mission to split the two villages would already be more than half complete.
The only real problem was that Sunagakure's genin were too weak.
Under normal circumstances, they would never be able to defeat Iwagakure's team.
Danzo continued flipping through the files.
His single eye moved over the names of each village's genin team, and after a while, a new idea slowly formed.
If Iwagakure's genin fought Kumogakure's genin first, both sides would inevitably suffer losses.
Then, after both teams were exhausted, Sunagakure's team could be guided toward them to finish the matter.
If the Sunagakure genin were impulsive enough to kill every remaining genin from both Iwagakure and Kumogakure, that would be the best possible result.
If the sons of the Third Tsuchikage and the Third Raikage both died at the hands of Sunagakure's genin, then Sunagakure would have no path left except to seek protection from Konoha.
Thinking this far, Danzo's lips curled slightly.
The plan was taking shape.
After deciding on the general direction, Danzo began considering the details and the people needed to carry it out.
To manipulate the genin of three villages at the same time, the Yamanaka Clan's secret techniques would be important.
Kato Dan's Spirit Transformation Technique would also be crucial.
And the Eight-Tails jinchūriki sent by Kumogakure could be used as well.
To ensure that the plan succeeded without fail, Danzo spent the next two days refining every step in silence.
Two days later.
The first round of the Chunin Exams began.
Inside the classroom prepared for the written test, all the participating genin sat in their assigned seats, waiting for the exam to start.
In the middle of the classroom, near the aisle, the son of the Third Raikage—the man who would one day become the Fourth Raikage, A—stared down at the test paper in front of him with a stiff expression.
His brows slowly tightened.
As the successor personally chosen by the Third Raikage, A's talent in ninjutsu and taijutsu was beyond question.
But because of that, most of his time had been spent training his body, sharpening his Lightning Release, and improving his combat ability.
As for cultural knowledge and written theory…
He had never been good at those things.
What the hell are these questions?
A's eyes twitched as he stared at the paper.
Every line seemed to be mocking him.
For a moment, he almost wanted to crush the desk.
But then he remembered what his father had told him before the exam.
A written test in the Chunin Exams was never just a written test.
It was a test of intelligence-gathering ability.
Realizing that, A slowly calmed himself.
He glanced around the classroom, first checking the positions of the examiners, then the candidates seated ahead of him.
He began thinking about what method he could use to gather answers without being caught.
But after going through the ninjutsu he knew, A's face darkened.
None of them were useful here.
Most of his techniques were meant to break bones, smash enemies, or tear through a battlefield.
They were not meant for quietly stealing answers from a sheet of paper.
Damn it.
If Kumogakure failed the first round because of him, his father's fist would definitely come down on his head.
Just imagining the Third Raikage's iron fist made A's cheek twitch.
Since ninjutsu was useless, there was only one option left.
The simplest one.
Look directly.
With his tall body that stood out even among the candidates, A carefully watched the examiners' gazes, then prepared to glance at the paper of the candidate in front of him.
"Ohhh… scary, scary. Everyone looks so serious."
A lazy voice suddenly sounded beside him.
A's already tense nerves nearly snapped on the spot.
His head turned sharply.
The moment he saw the person walking in, his expression froze.
That guy…
Konoha's Golden Flash.
Shimura Kizaru.
The genius who had defeated his father.
Yesterday afternoon, when A had followed the Third Raikage to the banquet held by Konoha, he had already seen Kizaru once.
He had even glared at that bastard for quite a while.
Of course, Kizaru, who was now smiling lazily at him, looked as if he had no memory of that at all.
In truth, he probably did not care.
As one of the people in charge of the Chunin Exams and the examiner for the third round, Kizaru had come to help proctor the first round simply because the other examiners were short-handed.
He smiled and nodded casually at the examiners and candidates who looked toward him, then walked toward the corner of the classroom with his hands in his pockets.
Seeing Kizaru move away, A finally let out a quiet breath.
Good.
He could still cheat.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Before A could fully relax, footsteps sounded again behind him.
His eyebrow twitched.
Slowly, A turned his head.
Kizaru had returned.
And in his hand, he was carrying a chair.
A's face darkened at a visible speed.
What does this bastard want now?
Under A's murderous stare, Kizaru walked over with his usual lazy smile, placed the chair in the aisle right beside him, and sat down leisurely.
Then he crossed one leg over the other.
"Do your best, student-kun."
Kizaru smiled at him.
Crack!
The pencil in A's hand snapped in two.
"Why are you sitting here?" A asked through gritted teeth.
His voice was not loud, but in the quiet classroom, it was more than enough for everyone to hear.
The candidates and examiners all looked over.
Kizaru remained completely calm under their gazes.
"Well, you see…" he said slowly, dragging out his words in that irritatingly relaxed tone. "I'm one of the examiners for this round."
Hearing that, the other candidates quickly turned back to their papers and continued answering questions—or continued cheating in their own ways.
Only A kept glaring at Kizaru.
His jaw tightened, as though he was trying very hard not to say something that would get him disqualified.
Kizaru smiled as if he had already seen through him.
"Ohhh… insulting an examiner will get you removed from the exam, you know."
A's expression stiffened.
The words he had nearly spat out were forcibly swallowed back down.
With visible frustration, he reached into the desk and took out another pencil.
Then he looked down at the test paper in front of him.
The questions still made no sense.
Beside him, Kizaru's gaze remained fixed on him with that same lazy smile.
At that moment, A felt something close to despair.
What now?
What the hell am I supposed to do now?
His fingers tightened around the pencil.
Slowly, A turned his head again and looked at Kizaru.
Kizaru smiled back at him.
"Hmm? Something wrong?"
A's face twitched.
Then, with grief and anger burning in his chest, he turned back toward the paper.
It's over.
I'm not passing this written test.
Damn you, Konoha Kizaru.
PS: I have some bad news...
Kidding!
I've started a brand-new novel:
Naruto: Minato Died, So I Took His Wife
Ahem...
The title alone should tell my fellow men of culture exactly what to expect. Yes, you guessed it—there will be R-18 content from the earlier chapters.
But don't worry, it won't be mindless smut. The plot is refreshing, the story has actual direction, and there's plenty more to enjoy beyond the mature content.
So, check it out if you're looking for a breath of fresh air from the usual Naruto fanfics!
Tagged below 👇