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

Chapter 224 Xia Zuo's "Konoha Crush Plan" Begins

In fact, none of the ninjas who made it to the third round of exams were ordinary genin.

The battles of the weaker ninjas among them, which seemed mundane to ordinary people, were exciting and fascinating to the ninjas themselves.

Even the Konoha Jonin would cheer loudly for the Genin's outstanding performance.

The cheers from the Konoha ninjas reached the ears of the merchants and nobles, who then learned which ninja was stronger and formed an initial impression of the excellent genin.

This is why, even after the Fifth Hokage, Natsume, announced that those who passed the second exam would become Chunin, a third exam was still to be held.

This is from the perspective of all ninjas in the ninja world, to promote the reputation of genin to ordinary people, villagers, merchants and nobles, and to consolidate the superior status of ninjas.

Those exceptionally skilled ninjas were able to gain immense fame through this opportunity, thus embarking on a fast track to promotion and acquiring more resources.

Perhaps in a few years, these genin will be promoted to jonin.

Furthermore, the performance of the genin will affect the reputation of the ninja village. In fact, when the genin from the four major villages take the stage, the emotions of the Fourth Raikage, the Third Tsuchikage, and the Fourth Kazekage will fluctuate.

In the private room where there was no one else but the four Kage, the Kazekage, Raikage, and Tsuchikage stopped pretending and revealed their true colors.

When their own ninjas perform well, the three Kage perform exactly the same.

They would be smug and would even make sarcastic and mocking remarks about the other two.

When their own ninjas perform poorly, the three Kage each have their own unique characteristics in their performances.

The Fourth Raikage would roar loudly, then his entire body would be surrounded by arcs of electricity, using the crackling sound of electricity to block the taunts of the Kazekage and Tsuchikage.

The Third Tsuchikage would pretend to be hard of hearing and unable to hear anything, and his chair would float up until it reached the ceiling, indicating that he couldn't see anything.

The Fourth Kazekage would create a small whirlwind, plug his ears, close his eyes, and pretend to be dead.

But the three shadows have one thing in common: they will secretly decide in their hearts that they will give this shameful guy a hard time when they get home.

Throughout the entire private room, only the Fifth Hokage remained completely calm.

It wasn't that he had the best temper or the strongest mental fortitude; rather, the person who crushed the cup and roared about training Nara Shikamaru to death, Natsumi himself, wasn't actually in the private room.

Sasuke Uchiha of Konoha and Deidara of Iwagakure clashed, finally sparking a fierce battle.

The battle between the Sharingan and the exploding clay was so intense and spectacular that it once again brought the atmosphere to a new level.

When Sasuke Uchiha was slightly outmatched and narrowly defeated Deidara, cheers shook the huge ceiling of the venue.

Then Haku from Kirigakure, Darui from Kumogakure, and Naruto Uzumaki from Konoha appeared one after another, displaying strength that amazed even the Jonin.

In the VIP boxes in the stands, the Fourth Raikage, the Fourth Kazekage, and the Third Tsuchikage exchanged sarcastic remarks, commenting on each other's terrifying strength.

Inside a secret chamber in Konoha Village, the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade were all commenting on the strength and skills of the up-and-coming genin.

These Kage-level ninjas are powerful and have sharp eyes, able to see through the weaknesses of these Genin at a glance and propose targeted changes.

Only the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and the Fifth Hokage, Sasuke Natsumi, offered unwavering praise and compliments, without uttering a single word about the shortcomings of the genin.

Tsunade asked curiously, "Grandfather, why do you praise and compliment all the Konoha genin? Do you think they all have no problems?"

Hashirama Senju replied with a smile, "How could there be no problem? But those shortcomings are not important. They are all about the same level of weakness anyway, so it doesn't matter whether we talk about them or not."

Xia Zuo nodded repeatedly, looking as if he shared my sentiments.

Both the First Hokage and the Fifth Hokage surpassed the Kage level, crossed the threshold of the Super Kage level, and touched the edge of the Six Paths level.

Their strength is too great. They are no different from genin, chunin and jonin. They are all weaklings who can be wiped out with a single move.

The matches were held one after another, and the second round of matches ended quickly.

The top eight genin selected at this point were all from the five major ninja villages, while the genin from more than twenty smaller ninja villages had been completely wiped out.

Deidara from Iwagakure, Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga from Konoha, Haku from Kirigakure, Darui and Samui from Kumogakure, Gaara from Sunagakure, and Tenten who was skipped twice.

The third round of the competition begins with Gaara's dialogue, and the most intense environmental changes unfold amidst yellow sand and frost.

Exhausted from two battles, Gaara was irritable. His eyes were bloodshot, and he grinned maliciously as he shouted, "Die, you sissy from Kirigakure!"

Gaara raised his hands, and the gourd behind him sprayed out endless yellow sand. The flowers, trees, and soil on the battlefield quickly dehydrated and turned into a sky full of yellow sand.

As he swung his hands downwards, endless yellow sand surged towards Bai like a tidal wave; he was determined to win in one fell swoop.

Bai remained calm and composed throughout, until the yellow sand rushed towards him, at which point he raised his hands to form a mudra.

【Ice Release: Glacier Descent】

Haku's chakra surged, and with a wave of his hand, a terrifying cold wind met the surging yellow sand, freezing the sand waves halfway as if they were real waves.

Then the cold wave swept across the yellow sand and rushed towards the dumbfounded Gaara, almost freezing him in place before he could react.

When Gaara finally escaped the onslaught of the cold wave and moved to a safe location, he looked back and discovered that the entire battlefield was covered in ice and snow. The moisture in the air had frozen into snowflakes, which were fluttering down in a flurry.

What was originally natural land suddenly turned into a vast desert of yellow sand, and then instantly froze into a frigid ice field.

The audience on the platform was stunned. They had never seen such a terrifying ninja battle, not even in their wildest dreams.

A gust of cold wind blew Gaara away, and his irritability disappeared, but his competitive spirit, unwilling to be outdone, burned even brighter.

Gaara slapped the gourd behind him with his backhand, and yellow sand spewed out again.

At the same time, his chakra erupted like a whirlwind, instantly shattering the rocks underground into yellow sand. The ice layer was then broken apart by the yellow sand gushing from the ground, forming a yellow dragon of swirling sand.

【Magnetic Escape - Flowing Sand Waterfall】

In an instant, he transformed half of the battlefield into a vast expanse of yellow sand. The sand churned like waves, churning the earth and causing it to rise and fall, before sweeping towards the other half of the icy plain.

The counterattack of the yellow sand did not frighten Bai. He calmly formed hand seals, mobilized his chakra, and unleashed an even stronger ice-style secret technique.

【Ice Release: Glacier Reversal】

The snow-covered ice field began to tremble, then began to flow like a glacier. Although the flow was a thousand times faster than that of a real glacier, it was still just like an ordinary person taking a walk.

As the thick ice sheet of the ice field broke apart amidst the tremors, the speed of the glacier flowed faster and faster, soon becoming like an avalanche, rushing towards the opposite yellow sand waves with a devastating force.

boom-!!

The giant yellow waves and the white snow crashed together violently, neither giving way to the other, pushing and shoving each other in an attempt to completely overwhelm the other.

Gaara's chakra reserves are significantly greater, and the propulsion force of the yellow sand is stronger.

However, Haku's chakra control is more perfect, and he can always use only a fraction of his strength to create ice crystals to disrupt Huang Sha's inevitable impact.

The result of their contest was a draw.

Gaara preemptively changed tactics, controlling the sand scattered by the ice shards and reconstructing it into the Magnet Release technique, striking the Hidden Mist ninja from the sky.

【Magnetic Release: Sand Barrage】

Fist-sized clumps of yellow sand fell from the sky, creating craters the size of a human head when they hit the ice, demonstrating their immense power.

Bai had no choice but to use his Instantaneous Movement Technique to dodge, while simultaneously unleashing his most proficient secret technique.

【Ice Release: Thousand Kill Ice Needles】

Moisture in the air is condensed by Ice Release chakra, forming ice needles the size of a middle finger, which fall from the sky like a torrential rain, capable of piercing through a foot-thick layer of yellow sand.

Even with Gaara's unwavering confidence in his Sand Armor, he still had to focus on controlling the yellow sand to float above his head, acting as a giant umbrella to block the torrential rain of ice needles.

The two sides reached a stalemate once again.

The scene was so exaggerated that not only were ordinary people dumbfounded, but even the ninjas watching were completely stunned.

The battles of ninjas can change the battlefield environment. These are legendary sights that only appeared during the battles between the First Hokage and the Fifth Hokage. How come they appeared in the Chunin Exams?

The Konoha Jonin were filled with questions: Am I a Jonin, or are those two kids below Jonin?

Inside the private box, the Fourth Kazekage watched the battle with a smile. His son hadn't used any Tailed Beast chakra yet, clearly indicating that he had the upper hand.

Unfortunately, Kirigakure has not yet chosen a Fifth Mizukage, otherwise he would definitely have taken the opportunity to mock him.

Even more unfortunately, after this round of fighting, it should be time for Orochimaru to launch his rebellion, and he will once again face the strongest ninja in the world.

Regardless of the outcome, the Fourth Kazekage will die in Konoha and never see Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara again.

Suddenly, the Fourth Kazekage smiled; his smile was both sorrowful and sweet.

Perhaps all four of us, father and sons, will die in Konoha Village, and the whole family will go to the Pure Land to reunite with Karura and Yashamaru.

In the secret chamber of Konoha, seeing Gaara gradually gaining the upper hand by relying on his chakra advantage, Orochimaru suddenly stood up.

He nodded slightly to Xia Zuo and left the secret room to oversee the "Konoha Crush Plan," a scheme to trap the Fourth Kazekage.

Jiraiya stood up and left with Orochimaru.

He was going to meet up with Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Izumi to form a reserve force to prevent unexpected enemy attacks on Konoha.

In six directions outside the competition venue, the ninjas of the Inu clan, Hyuga clan, and Aburame clan formed 18 reconnaissance squads.

Their mission was to track down the retreating enemy after Jiraiya's reserve forces failed to intercept them.

Both were part of the "Konoha Crush Plan," but the organizational capacity led by Xia Zuo far surpassed that of the spontaneous organizations of Konoha ninjas in the original history.

No one noticed that Konoha Village had silently prepared for war.

On the contrary, the actions of the Konoha Jonin who were pretending to rebel were quickly discovered by the Fourth Raikage, the Third Tsuchikage, and the Fourth Kazekage.

Although the Fourth Raikage and the Third Tsuchikage didn't understand what had happened, they tacitly concealed their surprise and hoped that something chaotic would happen in Konoha.

Knowing Orochimaru's plan, the Fourth Kazekage was on edge. He had to do everything in his power to control his excitement and avoid revealing any weakness to the Fifth Hokage.

Just then, Orochimaru pushed open the door of the private room and walked in silently, approaching the Fifth Hokage with a calm yet slightly excited expression.

The Fifth Hokage turned to Orochimaru and asked, "Orochimaru, what is it that requires you to see me now?"

Orochimaru spoke in a low voice, "Fifth Hokage, this is great news! I have some very good news to report, and I can't wait a moment longer."

The Fifth Hokage asked with curiosity and a touch of arrogance, "What good news is it? Could it be that the research project has been successful?"

The Raikage, Tsuchikage, and Kazekage all felt a jolt in their hearts, their eyes fixed on the white paper in Orochimaru's hand.

Even though the Fourth Kazekage knew that this might just be a trick Orochimaru used to get close to the Fifth Hokage and make him relax, he still couldn't help but want to know what "that" research project was.

The project that the Fifth Hokage could readily name must be something that could revolutionize the ninja world.

Orochimaru waved a stack of white papers in his hand and said excitedly, "Yes, Fifth Hokage, I succeeded! I have obtained the result that will allow Konoha to forever dominate the ninja world!"

The Fifth Hokage could no longer sit still.

He stood up from the highest Hokage throne. Because his movement was too hasty, he broke countless invisible sealing chains. Hidden black runes suddenly appeared and then quickly disintegrated and disappeared.

The moment the sealing chains disappeared, a strong chakra fluctuation spread out, clearly indicating that the seal had formed some kind of barrier and contained terrifying power.

Sensing this intense chakra fluctuation, the three Kage's hearts skipped a beat.

This was their second time in this private room, and they had stayed there for at least 5 hours, but they still hadn't found any seals around the Hokage's throne.

The Third Tsuchikage cursed inwardly: "Damn the Fifth Hokage, how could he be so cautious!"

I thought he didn't have any guards with him because he felt he was powerful enough, but it turns out he has such a strong protective barrier.

The Fourth Raikage's eyelids twitched, thinking: "The sealing techniques of Konoha Village have improved too quickly. They're so well-hidden, and I haven't even noticed them. The gap between us is widening."

The Fourth Kazekage, while shocked, was also filled with delight: "Great! Orochimaru's little trick not only fooled the Fifth Hokage into lowering his guard, but also automatically dispelled that terrifying barrier."

At this point, all the Kage-level ninjas present were convinced that the Fifth Hokage was indeed himself.

Such a powerful barrier represents not only advanced technology, but also an expensive price.

If it were a "shadow warrior," they would never use such a powerful and precious barrier for protection, much less dare to destroy such a high-level barrier at will.

The Fourth Kazekage had completely come to believe Orochimaru's plan and began secretly extracting chakra.