If we were to ask which two countries' ninjas disliked each other the most, it would undoubtedly be the ninjas from the Sand Village and the Iwagakure Village. Since the establishment of the villages, the two countries have been competing for decades, and countless years of fighting have accumulated countless blood feuds.

Under the leadership of the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki, the Iwagakure Village has reached a level where it can compete with the Konoha Village and the Kumogakure Village with its not particularly outstanding overall strength. This is inseparable from its leadership and the unity policy it advocates. However, this is bound to lead to very bad relations with competing villages. Not to mention the Sand Ninjas, even the Mist Ninjas, who rarely participate in disputes on the continent, are at odds with the Iwagakure Village, and their relationship with Konoha is also very cold.

Fortunately, due to the need for balance of power between the great powers, and the tacit connection with the Hidden Cloud Village, the two northern villages jointly suppressed the powerful Konoha and its expansion of power. The situation of confrontation between the north and the south has been formed for many years, and the mutual distrust has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. This time, the Chunin Exam, with people who are full of anger gathered together, is bound to be far more intense than the previous Chunin Exams.

The Chunin Exam has not started yet, but the candidates who have been eager to take action have not been idle. Various tricks have emerged one after another. Asking for information is already considered mild. The secret war has begun since entering Konoha Village. Street fights are trivial matters. With the suppression of Konoha ninjas, no one dares to cause any trouble in broad daylight. Ninjas are experts in playing conspiracies and intrigues, and are no strangers to sneak attacks and assassinations.

In just a few days, the most serious accident happened when a candidate from Iwagakure was controlled by an unknown mental technique and poisoned his companions' food, which almost caused a disaster. Fortunately, Konoha's medical ninjutsu was excellent enough to treat him in time. After two days of rest, he was able to catch up with the Chunin Exam. However, the physical and mental trauma and the blow to morale were too great.

The ninja world is so vast, and there are so many strange bloodline limits and secret techniques. Even if the Six Paths Sage is resurrected, he may not be able to figure out how many kinds of these troublesome things there are.

The reality also led to a significant increase in the workload of the Konoha ninjas, and the ordinary ninjas responsible for maintaining order were simply too busy to handle it.

"It seems to be very troublesome!"

Mizuki met Hatake Kakashi by chance, and the two chatted for a while.

Kakashi Hatake was also quite troubled by this situation.

"It would be nice if the Chunin Exams could start sooner rather than later. It would make things easier for us if we could eliminate a group of people earlier."

Not only did the ninjas have a hard time, but some Konoha villagers also complained. It wasn't that the ninjas from other countries had any bad behavior. The large number of tourists brought a lot of popularity to the village, but also brought various inconveniences. After all, Konoha is not a very big place.

"Didn't you take the previous warnings to heart? Just expel a few unruly candidates."

"It's difficult to handle without direct evidence!" Sometimes we know which village committed the crime, but we have no way to prove it. Should we drive away all the people in the village?

Mizuki shook his head. If someone dared to do this, they must be able to avoid being discovered. Of course, there are also idiots who don't know the situation, but those who can participate in the Chunin Exam must be the elites of each village, and they won't be caught so easily.

"Just hold on for two more days."

As long as he no longer has the protection of his identity as a candidate, he will not care about anything else and will be directly driven out of Konoha Village.

…

Taking the Chunin Exam application from Mizuki, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuga were overjoyed. The Chunin Exam was less than two days away, and Mizuki hadn't officially told them about it. For a while, they even suspected that Mizuki had forgotten about them.

In fact, their guess was correct. Shuimu had already submitted the registration list, but the personal application form had always been in Shuimu's hands. Due to too many things to do, he forgot about it.

"Fill it out and go directly to the examination room the day after tomorrow morning!" It's not a big deal anyway. It doesn't matter if it's a day late or a day early. As long as I can catch the first written test, it will be enough.

"I always feel like Mr. Mizuki is just going through the motions. Don't you have any advice?"

"How could that be?" Shuimu said sternly, "Since you want to become a Chunin, you must be responsible for your own choices. If you need a teacher to teach you everything, how can you graduate?"

"Really? Teacher Asuma is really worried about Choji and Ino!" Inuzuka Kiba asked suspiciously.

"Don't worry, you are very strong. Just take the exam well."

How could Shuimu, who was extremely busy, have the time to explain so much to his students? He just casually gave them a compliment and dismissed them.

"Also, your dedicated and conscientious teacher Mizuki is also the examiner of the Chunin Exam. If you accidentally see me, you should pretend not to know me. Otherwise, people will think you got in through the backdoor, okay?"

"Eh? Does that mean we can't tell you any information at all?"

Shuimu smiled slightly, waved his hand, and then disappeared.

"Just leaving like this?" Inuzuka Kiba pouted and said dissatisfiedly, "Shino, are we going to take the exam like this?"

"Yeah, it was the same last time, nothing is different. As long as we perform well, we all have a chance to become Chunin."

"Well, I was planning on communicating with Choji... and Naruto isn't here, which really spoils the fun."

"Just like Mr. Mizuki said, one's own ability is the key. Let's go back and prepare well."

Aburame Shino looked in the direction Mizuki had just left.

"What a quick teleportation technique! It escaped from my perception and the detection range of the parasite in an instant."

…

The first written exam of the Chunin Exam was held in a converted oversized conference room. The entire space was transformed into a compact stepped exam room. Surveillance cameras were set up in all directions, and many candidates had entered the exam room one after another. Although there was still some time before the exam, most people came a little early just to get familiar with the exam room and observe their competitors.

The examiners waiting in other rooms looked at the many candidates under surveillance, trying to identify which ones needed special attention.

"Ebisu, why don't you try some genjutsu tricks and eliminate some people like you did last year?"

"Forget it." Ebisu shook his head and replied, "Last year, the number of candidates was small, so we blocked a group of candidates in advance and the elimination effect was obvious. This year, the quality of candidates is too high. Even if there are one or two idiots, it doesn't matter compared to the huge base. They will be eliminated in the end anyway, so there is no need to waste the effort."