Naruto: By lying low and hiding, he eventually became the leader of the Legendary Sannin.

"Don't panic! According to the plan, I'll blast him into the air, then you guys use that move!"

Upon hearing this, Juzo Biwa and Hozuki Suigetsu exchanged a glance, nodded, and then found a rock protruding from the lava to use as a foothold, while simultaneously beginning to form hand seals.

As for Kakuzu, his two blue-masked monsters had already floated below the Four-Tails.

Seeing the roaring monster before him, his eyes lit up, and he shouted:

"Wake it up for me!"

As he spoke, the two blue-masked figures took a deep breath and unleashed the ninjutsu they had prepared beforehand at the Four-Tails in front of them.

Water Escape·Water Rush Wave!

It summoned water that spun and rose rapidly like a tornado, and then the water flowed backward like a waterfall, rushing towards the four tails.

The massive surge of water even propelled the enormous four-tailed creature directly into the air.

At this moment, the hand seals of Hibiki Juzo and the pufferfish demon of Suigetsuyama were finally completed.

The two men stared wide-eyed at the four-tailed beast in mid-air and shouted:

"Water Release: Big Explosive Water Wave!"

As soon as they finished speaking, the water they violently spewed from their mouths instantly formed a huge ellipsoidal water prison, imprisoning the four tails in mid-air.

The enormous water prison floated magically in the air, like a lake.

At this moment, the four tails were like a landlubber who had fallen into the water, helplessly floating in it, unable to get out.

Seeing that he had finally trapped the Four-Tails again, Kakuzu stopped delaying and gathered his five masked monsters together.

Various colors of chakra energy gathered in front of the five masks.

After charging for a few seconds, the five energy cannons intertwined and merged into a blue energy beam, which blasted towards the four tails that were unable to move in the air.

boom!

A deafening explosion rang out, and the huge lake floating in mid-air shattered with the impact, turning into raindrops that fell to the ground.

The Four-Tails, struck squarely by this attack, was finally knocked down and transformed back into Rōshi's body in mid-air before slowly falling to the ground.

Thus, the Four-Tails finally fell into the hands of Akatsuki.

In the pitch-black underground space, Madara Uchiha, with his white hair and aged appearance, heard the news from his members, and a glint of light flashed in his eyes.

"Three more are needed..."

Before him, a humanoid object bearing a resemblance to him was quietly embedded in a massive tree trunk.

Faintly, one could see the slight rise and fall of the humanoid object's chest.

Chapter 73: Only one qualified candidate?

The Tsuchikage and Mizukage of Konoha are completely unaware that their country's tailed beasts have been stolen.

In fact, they didn't find out about this until several days later, after the two had returned to their village.

As for Kagura, she was aware of the Akatsuki organization's purpose in collecting the Tailed Beasts.

After all, he was familiar with the plot and knew very well Madara Uchiha's ultimate goal and the purpose of collecting the tailed beasts.

Some might ask, since Kagura knew all this, why didn't he stop it?

The question is, how can he stop it?

Apart from the Nine-Tails, the other tailed beasts are important combat forces for their respective countries and are highly regarded strategic weapons.

Even if Kagura were to forcibly travel to other countries to collect the materials using her own strength, it would most likely trigger the Third Shinobi World War prematurely, bringing devastating disaster to Konoha Village.

After all, if there wasn't some ulterior motive, why would a village like Konoha collect all the tailed beasts?

Of course, Kagura could also do this after leaving Konoha and openly becoming a rogue ninja.

In this way, they can distance themselves from Konoha Village.

Let's set aside whether Kagura's current strength is enough to take on multiple major powers on her own.

Even if he does manage to succeed by sheer luck, there will be a fatal problem afterward.

That is, he simply has no way to deal with these tailed beasts.

Unlike Madara Uchiha, Kagura did not have something like the Gedo Mazo.

So even if he were given a tailed beast now, he wouldn't be able to settle it down easily.

Although he now possesses Wood Release, which makes it easier to restrict tailed beasts, restricting and sealing are two different things.

Even the legendary ninja god Hashirama Senju collaborated with the head of the Uzumaki clan.

Only then can those tailed beasts be captured and sealed one by one, and sold to other villages.

However, Kagura nowadays, not to mention whether she has the strength of Hashirama Senju, she simply cannot solve the problem of sealing.

Even if he solves all these problems, what's the point?

After the battle in the valley, Kagura knew very well that she was still far from being able to reach Madara Uchiha's "Six Paths".

If I collect all the tailed beasts in advance, wouldn't that be indirectly helping Madara Uchiha?

After all, back then, Madara Uchiha only needed to defeat himself to easily obtain all the tailed beasts.

Having done such a thing, he certainly couldn't get help from others at that time and could only face such a powerful enemy alone.

So after thinking it over, Kagura came up with her own solution.

Stay in Konoha and keep an eye on Kurama (the Nine-Tails).

To finally summon the Ten-Tails, Madara needs to gather all the tailed beasts.

In other words, he cannot successfully fuse the Ten-Tails if he is missing even one of them.

In that case, all I need to do is stay in Konoha and keep an eye on the Nine-Tails, which can also thwart his plans.

After all, if he stayed in Konoha, he would still have many helpers to fight against Akatsuki.

This is why, despite knowing Madara's intentions, Kagura hasn't taken any major actions over the years.

Okay, we've gotten a bit off-topic. Let's get back to the present.

At this moment, everyone was completely unaware that Akatsuki was taking advantage of the Five Nations Joint Exams to seize the Tailed Beasts, and their attention was focused on the Chunin Final Exams.

After Hiruzen Sarutobi announced the official start of the Chunin Exams, Dan Kato, a Jonin from Konoha, walked to the center of the arena.

I have to say, this pretty boy...

ahem...

With his outstanding looks and considerable skills, Kato Dan is indeed quite suitable to be a referee in this kind of situation.

After bowing to the five Kage on the stage, Kato Dan then faced the examinees and audience and began to introduce the content of the final exam:

"Next, we will have a 1V1 duel."

The list of opponents has already been arranged in advance through a random process.

With a wave of his right hand, a huge screen above the dueling arena lit up, displaying a match schedule.

The names of all 32 candidates were displayed on the screen, and they were divided into pairs to compete against each other.

What's surprising is that the match-up list doesn't just include the two pairs of opponents.

A solid line extends from each group, then connects back into pairs pointing to an empty cell.

This cycle repeats itself endlessly, eventually pointing to the single blank space at the very top.

Could this be...?

Is only one person qualified for this year's Chunin Exams?

This sparked discussion not only among the test takers but also among the audience on stage.

In the stands, each of the five Kage reacted differently when they saw the match-up list.

In order to coordinate with this joint exam, the other four countries were almost completely uninvolved in the planning of this Chunin Exam.

All exam content and examiner arrangements are decided and arranged solely by Konoha.

So even they, like the audience, only now learned the contents of this so-called final exam.

When these actors saw the battle schedule displayed on the screen, their thoughts were the same as the audience's.

Upon realizing this, the Water Shadow's face quickly darkened.

As the weakest party, Yagura Karatachi was well aware of the strength of the genin in Kirigakure.

It can be said that apart from the boy named Qing who had some strength, the other genin were quite ordinary.

There's no way around it; geniuses don't come easily.

Over the years, the few members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist who had finally emerged and whom he had placed great hopes on had either died or betrayed him for various reasons.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but glance at Kagura behind him with dissatisfaction.

Despite noticing his gaze, Kagura remained calm, as if she had no idea.

Although the Land of Water has become widely recognized as the weakest major power in recent years, it would be too embarrassing to be eliminated too quickly in this situation.

So after pondering for a while, Yagura Karatachi couldn't help but speak to Hiruzen Sarutobi in the very center:

"Lord Hokage, isn't this kind of exam format a bit inappropriate?"

After all, this is a joint exam involving five nations. If only one candidate from this year's cohort qualifies for promotion to Chunin, it seems a bit excessive.

Hearing his words, Feng Ying chimed in at the opportune moment:

"I think Lord Mizukage is right."

After all, the Chunin Exams are only held once a year. If this is the case, many talented Genin will have to wait another year to participate in the exams again.

This seems to be...

Upon hearing what the two said, the Tsuchikage Onoki, who was sitting next to Hiruzen Sarutobi, did not speak, but the expression on his face seemed to indicate his agreement.

But at that moment, Raikage A spoke up from the other side.

The tall man glanced down at the expressions of the figures, then spoke with a hint of disdain: