Starting with Naruto, I'll become stronger through my own efforts.

Chapter 192 The Throne of the Fifth Hokage

The Chunin Exams were held as scheduled, and the opening was, as always, a written test with a cheating contest.

This kind of exam tests the completeness of the ninjutsu system, which is extremely disadvantageous for small ninja villages. In just one round, more than half of the genin teams from small ninja villages were eliminated.

Among them, the small ninja village of Kawanin suffered the worst, with all five of its genin squads being wiped out, all caught due to their crude cheating methods.

No genin from the five great ninja villages were eliminated; they passed through in various ways.

Even a genin with deficiencies in reconnaissance ninjutsu would have a team with a ninja who possessed the corresponding special skills. The most hardcore team member who completed the exam through mutual assistance was Sakura Haruno from Team 7, who solved all ten extremely difficult problems entirely on her own.

It should be noted that Xia Zuo was unable to answer at least half of those ten questions.

The written exam has always been designed to eliminate teams whose ninjutsu skills are not comprehensive enough, thus preventing these genin teams, whose strength is significantly inferior, from entering the inevitable second stage.

Next comes the practical assessment, which is the only part of the exam that allows candidates to kill each other.

Because it was the Ninja World Joint Exam, a large number of genin participated. After the first round of elimination, there were still 63 teams.

This number far exceeded the carrying capacity of the Death Forest, so the test location was chosen in a forest outside Konoha Village.

Konoha Village has deployed a large number of cameras in this forest, including six-legged walking cameras and drone cameras, forming a comprehensive surveillance network.

This allows for the timely detection of seriously injured individuals and prompt rescue efforts to prevent injuries outside of combat.

At the same time, it can also provide exciting battle scenes to be shown to the leaders, nobles, wealthy merchants and villagers of the ninja village, becoming an important form of publicity to showcase the strength of Konoha Village.

The Konoha ninjas all believed that the Konoha village's genin would fail, but that ultimate victory would surely belong to them.

This exam entered a climactic phase from the very beginning, a collision of titans.

Deidara, Darui, and Gaara all received orders to demonstrate their strength, and from the very beginning they unleashed considerable power, launching a frenzied attack on the nearby ninja squads.

In the primeval forest that served as the examination venue, lightning suddenly struck, causing a deafening explosion that sent yellow sand swirling like waves.

Through three monitoring devices, viewers can see a combination of close-up and distant views, gaining a clear and comprehensive understanding of the entire battle and its details.

Many nobles, wealthy merchants, and villagers of Konoha witnessed the true power of ninjutsu for the first time, and they also realized for the first time just how exaggerated the strength of ninjas truly was.

Seeing the devastating scene, the ordinary villagers were simply amazed, while the nobles and wealthy merchants, after their initial amazement, began to show unease.

Their bodies twisted and turned as if needles were pricking their buttocks, and some of them, for some unknown reason, broke out in a cold sweat of fear.

The four Kage sitting in the highest VIP box noticed it. The Fourth Raikage spoke first: "Fifth Hokage, your Konoha Village's method is really good. It can make ordinary people honestly realize their own vulnerability."

"Once they see real ninjutsu and battle, they will realize that the money and power they have are not as good as the power in the hands of us ninjas."

"Your method is very effective in deterring them, more so than when I killed 100 nobles in the Land of Thunder. I have learned something new."

The Fifth Hokage laughed heartily: "You're welcome."

"If Kumogakure can't do it well, they can come to Konoha to buy equipment and services. I'll talk to the Ministry of Commerce and ask them to set prices that are appropriate for the Fourth Raikage's status."

The Fourth Raikage snorted coldly and said nothing more.

The Fifth Hokage was mocking the Hidden Cloud Village for being willing but unable to do so, yet ambitious enough to want to learn everything, ultimately leaving them with only one choice: give up or submit to the Hidden Leaf Village.

Unfortunately, the Fourth Raikage knew that the Fifth Hokage was telling the truth, so he could only remain silent.

In the past two years, Kumogakure has focused its attention and resources on researching chakra weapons capable of killing the Fifth Hokage, and has made no progress in this area of ​​sophisticated surveillance equipment.

This sophisticated surveillance technology is built on the booming electronics industry of the last two years, which is precisely what Konoha Village excels at.

According to intelligence, this wave of new electrical appliances did not start in Konoha Village, but the Fifth Hokage reacted very quickly and unilaterally pushed Konoha Village to invest a lot of resources and manpower.

As a result, the unknown founder was killed by Konoha Village, disappearing without a trace.

In the past two years, Konoha Village has made a fortune from new electronics, making the other four great ninja villages green with envy.

With more money comes more people willing to take risks. The daimyo of the Land of Earth became the first to take the plunge, and then he and the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, were beaten so badly by the Fifth Hokage that they were unable to take care of themselves.

Next was the Fourth Kazekage of Sunagakure, who wanted to leverage his status as an ally to get some benefits from Konoha by complaining.

As a result, the Fifth Hokage gave Sunagakure a completely different look.

With internal strife raging in Kirigakure, the Fifth Hokage couldn't attend to these matters, but he still found an excuse to severely punish Kirigakure, directly leading to the collapse of the Fourth Mizukage's power and his eventual death in the coup.

The Fifth Hokage's power, tyranny, and irrationality proved that he was entitled to monopolize the profits of the new electric vehicle.

The three great ninja villages had no choice but to bow their heads and, following the last passage left by the Fifth Hokage, begin researching new electrical appliances, just like Konoha Village.

Then they realized that even though there were ready-made examples to copy, they couldn't understand them.

This left the three shadows very frustrated.

They just couldn't understand it. They were all ninjas, and they had invested so many resources, so why was Konoha able to develop brand-new electrical appliances, while they couldn't even replicate the old ones?

It felt like going back to the era of the Second Hokage, where every now and then you'd hear that Konoha had acquired a new forbidden technique, powerful enough to allow a Chunin to kill a Jonin.

Although this time it wasn't a directly fatal ninjutsu or forbidden technique, the feeling of despair was exactly the same.

In the dark and top-secret laboratory, the Second Hokage, in his Edo Tensei form, raised a thumb: That's right, the one who's giving you all a splitting headache this time is still me, Tobirama Senju!

The Fourth Raikage remained silent, still sitting in his imposing, reclining posture on the large chair like a mountain.

But the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, noticed that his young old rival's fingers were trembling slightly, clearly indicating that he was feeling very frustrated.

He chuckled inwardly: "Young people just can't keep their tempers up."

This isn't the first time we've been completely suppressed by Konoha. We can just endure it for a while; it might even lower my expectations for my successor.

After all, the more outstanding the Tsuchikage, the more extraordinary their ambition.

In an era ruled by a powerful monster like the Fifth Hokage, the ambition of a Kage was the most deadly poison for the ninja village.

[Let me see. If the performance of the Konoha genin in this Ninja Exams is truly as rumored, then I'll make Kurotsuchi the Fourth Tsuchikage.]

[To make a living under the powerful rule of Konoha Village, the beautiful granddaughter's affability is more suitable than the fighting prowess of her neurotic, foolish disciple.]

The Fourth Kazekage also remained silent, but the thoughts churning within him were more numerous than those of the Fourth Raikage and the Third Tsuchikage combined.

He was waiting, waiting for the betrayal Orochimaru spoke of.

He was also preparing, preparing to deliver a fatal blow to the Fifth Hokage when that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presented itself.

Therefore, Rasa was worried about whether Orochimaru would appear here, whether he could control the Fifth Hokage, whether his attacks would be fatal, whether the rebellion within Konoha could be successfully launched, and whether the ninjas from the smaller villages would back out.

The Fourth Kazekage had too many worries, which made his heart race uncontrollably. He had to exert all his strength to circulate his chakra in order to control his movements and expressions.

Perhaps the Fifth Hokage was getting too cocky, because he didn't react to the three Kage's unusual behavior. He sat quietly and arrogantly in the large chair in the center, enjoying the Chunin Exams on the big screen.

The Hokage's seat is not only the largest, but also the tallest, just like a real throne.

The Kazekage, Tsuchikage, and Raikage, seated on either side in chairs that were noticeably shorter, appeared to be the retainers of the Fifth Hokage.

Regardless of the reason, the fact that the three Shadows did not publicly object to this indicates that they acknowledged each other's status to some extent.

Konoha Village is the most powerful, and the Fifth Hokage is the strongest; this is the foundation of the current order in the ninja world.

The exam in the forest is progressing rapidly, with the number of eliminated ninja teams increasing and the number of dead ninjas approaching three digits.

The team closest to the finish line was Deidara's squad. He energetically created bizarre shapes such as birds, centipedes, and spiders, and charged into the forest, either flying or crawling, carving out a path with absolute violence towards the tower that led to their final destination.

It was a very peculiar octagonal tower, made of wood from a single piece.

The tower has a total of 13 floors and a total height of an astonishing 36 meters. It also shines with dazzling light, comparable to the midday sun.

Even in a dense forest, as long as you look up, you can see this wooden tower, so you don't have to worry about getting lost.

The violent explosions continued, and insects and birds hiding in the woods fled in panic, while concealed traps were violently destroyed.

Watching the trees turn into splinters, Deidara felt a thrill of destruction. He shouted, "This is art!" and continued his bombardment with even greater force.

For this exam, Deidara prepared five times the amount of clay in advance, so he didn't have to worry about running out of materials.

Kurotsuchi and Genju, two genin, followed behind Deidara, advancing easily along the flattened ground, wary of possible ambushes and sneak attacks from other ninjas.

Deidara's actions were spectacular, and Darui's were no less impressive.

The white-haired, black-skinned ninja was surrounded by arcs of electricity. He seized the time to practice the Layton Chakra Mode, treating every large tree he encountered on the road as an enemy, launching fierce sprints and collisions, smashing the trees to pieces.

When Darui had made some progress and started to think, Shi and Samui would take turns clearing the way so that their captain could concentrate on his thoughts.

Therefore, the movements of the strongest squad in Kumogakure are sometimes strong and sometimes weak, and they are unpredictable, but their speed is by no means slow.

The only team from Sunagakure was led by Captain Gaara, who stared blankly into the distance, turning everything in front of him into golden sand, creating a path of yellow sand through the forest.

Aside from the sound and light effects not being as good as Darui and Deidara's, Gaara's destructive power is just as great, and his speed is even faster.

Hozuki Suigetsu, carrying his long sword Sewing Needle, kept complaining that Zabuza refused to hand over the Executioner's Blade to him.

"This sewing needle is really not destructive enough. Here, we should use the Executioner's Blade or Samehada."

"Zabuza, the Jonin, refuses to give me the most suitable weapon. He just doesn't like me and is jealous that my talent is better than his!"

"Just wait, once I'm stronger than him, I'll definitely take the decapitation sword from him."

Bai followed behind Shuiyue and asked gently, "Why did you suddenly stop talking about exchanging things?"

"Suiyue, are you going to get a new sword, or are you going to take this opportunity to collect the Executioner's Blade?"

Hozuki Suigetsu looked around to make sure no one else was there, then laughed heartily without restraint: "My dream is to collect all seven great swords. I would never trade with Zabuza for one."

Hui shook his head and said in a deep voice, "Shuiyue, how could you scheme against Lord Zabuza like this? If he finds out you want his executioner's blade, he will definitely teach you a lesson."

Shuiyue retorted defiantly, "Tch, you think I'm afraid of him?"

Bai asked, "Shuiyue, why are you so obsessed with collecting the Seven Great Swords?"

"These represent the highest fighting strength of Kirigakure. Even if they are all collected, they will definitely be distributed among different Jonin to form the new generation of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist."

Hozuki Suigetsu said nonchalantly, "Once I've collected them all, I can share the new Mizukage with whoever I want. I'm not going to hoard him."

Bai found it even stranger: "If your goal isn't to possess it all, then why are you so obsessed with collecting it?"

Shuiyue replied, "You don't know, the Seven Great Swords were created under the supervision of the Second Mizukage, and they represent the highest level of our Hozuki clan's heritage."

"Back when my brother Hozuki Mangetsu was still alive, the family had a summoning scroll that could summon the Seven Great Swords back."

"Unfortunately, this scroll was destroyed in the continuous turmoil, which is why the ninja sword was taken away by a rogue ninja and could not be found no matter what."

"If the summoning scroll were still there, they could retrieve the ninja sword with just one slip-up, and even locate the rogue ninja and bring them back to the village."

"Therefore, I must collect all seven great swords and remake the ninja sword summoning scroll."

Team 7 of Konoha was led by Sasuke Uchiha, whose Sharingan was very strong in reconnaissance, especially in observing details, which was even more powerful than the Byakugan.

Sakura Haruno followed closely behind, responsible for supporting Sasuke with her superhuman strength, while Naruto Uzumaki, as the captain, covered the rear, responsible for overall safety.

In fact, Naruto Uzumaki is the core of the team's reconnaissance.

He had just awakened the [Kagura Mind's Eye] talent. Although he couldn't see the details clearly, his 5-kilometer observation range was enough to compensate for this shortcoming.