Chapter 12: The Decision of Konoha’s Top Management

Soon after.

In the Konoha Hokage Building, the top brass of Konoha gathered for an emergency meeting. Even Jiraiya, who had just returned to the village and didn't like attending such meetings, was present.

"Lord Hokage! This is roughly what happened." Captain Anbu relayed the information he had obtained. There was more information that they had discovered on their own than what Sasuke had said.

"Hmm~" Sarutobi Hiruzen took a puff of his cigarette and slowly blew out a smoke ring. Then he turned to look at the think tank, Nara Shikaku.

"Shikaku, what do you think?"

Shikaku was silent for a moment, then he said, "Lord Hokage, there is so little information these days. Some conclusions can be drawn based on the analysis of current intelligence.

First, this organization is very powerful. Second, this organization may be targeting Sasuke; otherwise, they wouldn't come here to meddle. Third, this organization knows many secrets that we don't know, such as Wood Style. Fourth, Orochimaru's purpose in coming to Konoha is not pure. He may want to take advantage of the Chūnin exam to cause damage."

"Hmm~" Third Generation nodded, fully agreeing with Shikaku's analysis.

"I'll add something. The last blow that the red-haired girl fired should be the Tailed Beast Bomb, which is unique to tailed beasts. I've played against Nine Tails before. I saw Nine Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb. So, it can be concluded. The power of that Tailed Beast Bomb is comparable to Nine Tails. So, that girl could be a Jinchūriki."

"But Hokage-sama!" A Jōnin said, "Based on the current intelligence, there are only nine tailed beasts in this world, and they are trapped in different villages. Moreover, there is no bird-tailed beast among these nine tailed beasts!"

"It seems that this world is more mysterious than we imagined~" Third Generation sighed. "I don't know a lot of things very well. Maybe it was secretly researched by that mysterious organization~ This organization is temporarily set as an S-class terrorist organization. Inform everyone to be careful when meeting people from this organization. If a conflict occurs, you can abandon the task!"

"Yes!" Everyone was shocked at the same time. For ninjas, missions are more important than life. And at this moment, Hokage actually asked them to abandon the mission when they saw the black organization! Moreover, no one from the top management of Konoha objected. This was shocking.

"Okay, let's put the black organization's affairs aside for now." Third Generation continued, "Let's talk about the Chūnin exam first~ Such a big thing happened in the Chūnin exam, should we suspend or cancel it?"

"I don't think so." Danzo quickly said, "The damage to the 44th training ground was not too much. We can definitely keep going."

The only place where the 44th training ground was destroyed this time was a large fan-shaped area of about 200 degrees, centered on the original location of Orochimaru, radiating outward. The three members of Team Seven had just entered the forest not long ago and always turned their backs to the core of the forest and faced the outer edge of the forest.

Therefore, most areas of the forest are still intact. The reason why this happened was mainly that Orochimaru was a bit close to Sasuke at first. In order to prevent the mission target—Sasuke from being injured, it was caused by Karin's Wood Clone trying her best to protect Team Seven.

Danzo saw everyone was silent and did not refute his opinion, so he continued, "If it is suspended or canceled, it may have an impact on the reputation of our village. After all, people from our village are not the only ones taking the Chūnin exam this time. Moreover, there will be famous people coming to watch the battle. As for Orochimaru… Isn't Jiraiya here? We don't have to worry at all."

Jiraiya glanced at Danzo meaningfully after hearing this, but did not speak. He also believed that Orochimaru could not cause any trouble in Konoha. After all, with such a lustful person like him... Bah! Toad Sage here! Moreover, his teacher, Third Generation, was also a powerful ninja. Dealing with Orochimaru was easy.

After discussions at Konoha's high-level meeting, the Chūnin exam continued! At the same time, there was a complete blockade on the black organization. It was said to the outside world that the explosion was caused by Konoha Shinobi's experimental ninjutsu. Fortunately, the explosion occurred in a relatively remote place like the 44th Exercise Ground. Therefore, it did not cause much panic.

Five days later, the second round of the Chūnin exam ended successfully. Because there was a "butterfly" like Varen here, the number of people who passed the exam was somewhat different from the original work. In the original work, the number of people who passed this round of exams was 21. Now, 27 people passed.

After the second round of exams, these people were gathered in a competition arena. First, Anko, the second-round examiner, made a concluding speech. Then Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke and talked about the importance of the Chūnin exam. Finally, the referee of the third round of exams, Moonlight Hayate, explained the content of the third exam.

"Perhaps it's because the first and second exams were too easy. Therefore, there are a lot of candidates left in this third session." Moonlight Hayate said while coughing. "Therefore, before the third exam begins, we need to conduct a round of qualifying rounds."

After hearing what Moonlight Hayate said, many of the candidates below suddenly became unhappy. However, their objections were in vain.

"Because the qualifiers are about to start, if anyone is feeling unwell, you can opt-out. This is a personal battle, so your withdrawal will not affect your teammates."

There was sudden silence in the field.

…

"Sasuke..." Somewhere in the competition arena, Orochimaru looked at Sasuke not far away with a smile on his face. "Last time, that weird girl caused trouble, which made me fail to see your strength clearly. But, this time is a good opportunity~ I must get your body! If I had your body, then I wouldn't be so passive when facing that weird girl Uzumaki. The world is far more complex than I imagined. So I want to become stronger!"

…

After a while, among the 27 people, only Yakushi Kabuto chose to give up the game. The remaining 26 people were divided into 13 groups for individual battles!

The first battle was between Sasuke and Orochimaru's red body armor. This time, Sasuke showed his power perfectly because he was not affected by the curse seal. He defeated the red body armor cleanly.

"The winner of the first competition, Uchiha Sasuke!"

…

"Sasuke..." Orochimaru looked at Sasuke, who put his hands in his pockets and left coolly, and couldn't help but stick out his tongue and lick his lips.

…

The game continued. Except for Sakura and Ino, who tied and were both eliminated, all other matches were won by one person. Soon, it was time for the battle between Hyūga Hinata and Hyuga Neji!