While Konoha was bustling with preparations, the other four Ninja Villages were also screening candidates.
Ninja from various villages, including Anbu members, removed their masks to collectively participate in learning and training, and their profiles were naturally prepared by others.
Small Ninja villages were fine, but the larger ones almost all experienced a surge in training enthusiasm.
Even Utakata, who was staying in Konoha, received a new identity file sent by Mei Terumī!
Yuuki naturally knew about this and said nothing, as Hidden Mist indeed didn't have too many trump cards.
Although Utakata was older, he looked young, so participating in the Chunin Exams wouldn't be a big problem.
This was an unspoken rule that everyone understood; when there were no Joint Chunin Exams, the various Ninja villages still had their own promotion tests.
Anyone who truly believed that all participants in the Joint Chunin Exams were Genin was too naive.
The Ninja World passed a month peacefully amidst this wave of learning and training.
A major event occurred, drawing the attention of interested parties to the sea between the Land of Lightning and the Land of Iron.
Someone had discovered the whereabouts of the Eight-Tails!
The news came from a samurai in the Land of Iron.
About a week prior, a small fishing village on the coast of the Land of Iron had rumors circulating among multiple fishermen about a giant sea monster.
The ruling class of the Land of Iron naturally dispatched a team to investigate.
The captain of the investigation team, a well-traveled samurai, recognized the monster as the Eight-Tails, one of the Nine Tailed Beasts, the moment he saw it.
The news quickly reached Mifune, the General of the Land of Iron. As a permanently neutral country, the Land of Iron never participated in conflicts between Ninja.
Mifune did not hesitate and immediately informed Hidden Cloud Village.
Then, everyone in the Ninja World who needed to know, knew.
It wasn't that the Land of Iron or Mifune leaked the secret; rather, the Five Great Shinobi Villages paid moderate attention to every stir in the Ninja World, differing only in the degree of their focus.
Originally, several Ninja villages had thought it was a summoned beast that had mistakenly entered the Ninja World and were eager to get involved. After learning it was the Eight-Tails, they all stopped their planning and merely intensified their observation.
Some ambitious smaller Ninja villages completely abandoned their original plans.
If it were a large summoned beast, they might still hope to get lucky, but a Tailed Beast? Forget about it!
Amidst widespread attention, Darui, the Fifth Raikage of Hidden Cloud Village, personally led a team out to sea to retrieve the Eight-Tails.
And Yuuki quietly left Konoha.
It wasn't that Konoha had any designs on the Eight-Tails, but rather that Yuuki himself was quite interested in the Eight-Tails.
The Eight-Tails' soul had even been burned away by Yuuki, so upon learning of its resurrection, Yuuki became very curious about it.
Not to mention Orochimaru's later Chakra manufacturing device, designed by imitating the Eight-Tails using its fragments.
The Eight-Tails' resurrection occurred even earlier, and Yuuki learned the exact timing from Saiken.
The Tailed Beasts' group chat now had three and a half members.
Six-Tails Saiken, who joined the group chat after Utakata became a perfect Jinchuriki; Three-Tails Isobu, released as promised before Yagura's death; the newly resurrected Eight Tails Gyūki; and Ichibi Shukaku, who only counted as half a member due to his 2G internet speed.
After its resurrection, Gyūki was like a newborn Tailed Beast, not only forgetting who it was but also maintaining extreme vigilance towards Saiken, Isobu, and Shukaku.
Although Yuuki knew of the Eight-Tails' resurrection, he didn't know its exact location.
After receiving the news this time, he immediately set off for the sea, with a simple goal: to get something from the Eight-Tails.
Yuuki wasn't the only one interested in the Eight-Tails; Orochimaru was as well.
Orochimaru, having put aside his new account creation, also departed from his base in the Land of Rice Fields with the same objective as Yuuki.
In another direction, two Akatsuki Organization members, dressed in black robes with red clouds, were also on their way.
Nagato, who was dedicated to creating a truly peaceful world, shouldn't, in theory, be so concerned about the Eight-Tails.
In order, the Eight-Tails was second to last. At this point, only peripheral Akatsuki Organization members or White Zetsu needed to monitor the Eight-Tails' final destination; there was no need to dispatch core Akatsuki Organization members.
The key lay in the Eight-Tails' resurrection time, which was earlier than expected. This unusual phenomenon caught Nagato's attention.
While Nagato was indeed chuunibyo and not particularly bright, it didn't prevent him from knowing what he needed to do.
As a critical factor in achieving Ninja World peace, any unforeseen event concerning the Tailed Beasts would alarm Nagato.
The Akatsuki Organization, usually low-key in the face of great nations, therefore dispatched two core members.
Sasori, the Akatsuki's Maiden of Jade who returned to his old ways, and Kakuzu, the Akatsuki's Big Dipper who valued money above all else.
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