The moon set, the sun rose.
The darkness before dawn was torn apart.
In the blink of an eye,
The noisy night had passed.
When the first rays of sunlight in the early morning fell upon the ruins of Konoha, everything seemed to begin to dissipate.
There were no towering flames and rampaging dust.
There were no surging water waves and exploding thunder.
All the war,
Stopped in the dead of night.
This surprise attack launched by Sunagakure against Konoha,
Ultimately, it was interrupted by the death of Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen and the mysterious disappearance of the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa.
Soon after,
Sunagakure allied with Konoha and dispatched several teams of intelligence Shinobi, starting to search for traces of Rasa.
And finally,
They discovered the corpse of Rasa in a valley.
He had been dead for at least three days.
That is to say,
From the very beginning, the Fourth Kazekage who led the Sunagakure's Shinobi to Konoha for the exams was impersonated by Orochimaru...
Realizing this,
Almost all the Sunagakure's Shinobi instantly became disheartened.
They no longer had any will to fight, thus throwing down their weapons and surrendering completely to Konoha.
However,
The gloomy atmosphere in Konoha was not dispelled by this.
Because,
On this night,
Almost everyone in Konoha knew,
Konoha's pillar, the Third Hokage was dead.
And the one who killed him,
Was the former S-rank Missing-nin from back then, one of the legendary Sannin, Orochimaru.
He disguised himself as Sunagakure's Fourth Kazekage and, together with Otogakure of the Land of Rice Fields, launched a premeditated attack on Konoha.
Not only that, he also summoned a strange summoned beast and directly blew up the Hokage Rock.
Finally,
He even abducted the orphan of the Uchiha Clan, Uchiha Sasuke.
Currently,
He is still at large.
Kakashi's team, Guy's team, Asuma's team from Konoha, and the Shinobi Teams from Sunagakure have all left Konoha.
They are urgently searching and pursuing outside.
Everyone is trying to quickly find the mastermind behind this, Orochimaru.
But the result... is still unknown for now.
However,
One thing is clear.
This Joint Chunin Exam would have to be stopped.
The massive losses on both sides, Konoha and Sunagakure, meant they had no mood to continue holding the exam.
On Sunagakure's side, the Kazekage's assistant, Baki temporarily took on the responsibility of leadership.
He expressed deep apologies to Konoha,
And promised to make significant compensation to Konoha afterwards.
On Konoha's side,
After losing their Hokage, the power of leadership was logically handed over to those two senior advisors.
Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu.
However, because Koharu's state of mind seemed unstable, she did not appear directly.
Therefore, another person was put in charge instead. That was another of Konoha's high-ranking figure, the leader of Konoha's Root organization, Shimura Danzo.
Thus, now,
Homura and Danzo naturally began to handle the aftermath in the village.
The first thing to arrange,
Was of course Hiruzen's funeral.
As a Hokage who died in the process of repelling invaders, holding a grand funeral was certainly no problem.
The second thing to arrange,
Was the reconstruction of Konoha's landmark building, the Hokage Rock.
Danzo specially selected an Earth Release Shinobi unit from among Konoha's Shinobi, specifically responsible for this area.
He might not care too much about Hiruzen's death,
But regarding the Hokage Rock, Konoha's most famous landmark, Danzo naturally cared deeply.
Because he always believed in his heart,
That one day,
His face would also become a huge rock sculpture, carved upon it.
And,
The remaining third thing,
Was the aftermath of the Chunin Exams.
After all,
This Chunin Exams was not only between Konoha and Sunagakure,
It also included Shinobi Villages from a series of surrounding small countries like Takigakure and Amegakure.
Therefore,
If this incident was not handled well,
It would likely cause Konoha's prestige among the surrounding small countries to directly hit rock bottom.
If that happened,
Konoha would inevitably lose its standing as the "big brother" and be constrained in many aspects in the future.
And Danzo absolutely would not allow this situation to occur!
Therefore,
Early in the morning,
Danzo decided to personally appear, as the leader of Konoha, to hold a meeting with the Shinobi of these small villages.
In doing so, he could properly demonstrate the style of a great Shinobi Village,
And incidentally, show the Shinobi of Konoha his personal magnanimity.
After all,
Being a Hokage,
Is actually quite similar to an "idol", it depends on popularity.
To successfully become Hokage, it's not enough to rely solely on strength.
You also need to compete for the support of the Jonin in the village.
Thinking back,
During the election of the Fourth Hokage,
Danzo had recommended Orochimaru to be Hokage,
But in the subsequent election, he was completely crushed by the high support rate for Namikaze Minato, the young sun recommended by Hiruzen.
He lost due to popularity.
Therefore,
Danzo understood in his heart,
That to become Hokage, one must pick the right moment!
And now,
After Hiruzen died, it was a perfect moment!
Because,
In Konoha right now,
There was temporarily no one suitable to succeed the Hokage's position!
Among the older generation of Shinobi,
Although their prestige was sufficient, their strength was not.
And among the newer generation of Shinobi, such as Kakashi and Asuma, although their strength was passable, their prestige had not been built up.
Having them become Hokage was completely impossible for now.
As for qualified candidates with both prestige and strength,
There were indeed two.
They were two of Hiruzen's former three disciples-
Tsunade, Jiraiya.
However,
Since Tsunade had long lost her fighting spirit, indulging in gambling and avoidance, she would definitely not be willing to return to the village to be Hokage.
Therefore, she was completely out of the question.
And Jiraiya...
This guy still seemed to be wandering around the Shinobi World.
For now,
His whereabouts were also unknown.
Of course, he couldn't be found to be Hokage either.
Therefore,
This time, Danzo wanted to try,
Take this opportunity... to directly install himself as Hokage first!
And it had to be quick.
After all,
If Jiraiya suddenly returned to the village at some point, things would get difficult.
Then, those two, Homura and Koharu, would inevitably choose to recommend Jiraiya as the Fifth Hokage.
And the Jonin in the village, barring any accidents, would naturally also strongly support him.
After all, as early as the Second Shinobi World War period, Jiraiya's name had already spread throughout the Shinobi World, with remarkable military exploits.
Although Danzo was thick-skinned and bold enough,
He was not so arrogant as to dare compete in popularity with Jiraiya.
If that happened, he would probably be thoroughly crushed...
Therefore,
Action must be quick.
Danzo had already decided in his heart.
Once the uproar of this Chunin Exams subsided, he would immediately propose... running for Fifth Hokage!
To avoid any disruption or accidents.
"Danzo-sama,"
"Ahead is the residence of the Amegakure's Shinobi participating in the exam."
Just as Danzo was pondering,
The Shinobi leading him, Gekko Hayate, cautiously reminded him.
His complexion was somewhat haggard, with thick dark circles under his eyes, carrying a sword on his back, his face pale.
He was exactly the Tokubetsu Jonin from back then responsible for receiving the Amegakure shinobi... the kidney-deficient Gekko Hayate.
At this moment,
Hearing Hayate's words,
Danzo nodded slightly, then glanced over and said:
"Hmm."
"Hiruzen dispatched you to receive the Amegakure's Shinobi back then. He must have also had you probe their intelligence, right?"
"How was it? Anything to be cautious about?"
Danzo said calmly.
As the words fell, Hayate was momentarily stunned.
He didn't expect this Danzo to hit the nail on the head!
You have to understand, when Hiruzen gave the order back then, there weren't even any Anbu around. It was very secret!
However,
What he didn't know,
Was that as Hiruzen's old comrade-in-arms and political opponent for decades, Danzo had already completely figured out Hiruzen's various ways of doing things.
Therefore, he could almost infer what Hiruzen might have done.
And at this moment,
Hayate coughed and said:
"Cough, cough..."
"Da-Danzo-sama..."
"Hokage-sama did tell me to investigate intelligence... but unfortunately, I couldn't find out anything."
"They are indeed, somewhat mysterious... cough, cough, cough, cough..."
Hayate spoke hesitantly, covering his mouth as he coughed.
After hearing this,
Danzo slightly raised his eyes, his expression returning to calm, and after humming in acknowledgment, he continued walking forward.
And just then,
Suddenly, at the corner ahead,
Four black figures walked out one after another.
The three behind were all wearing Amegakure's Shinobi uniforms, carrying straight black swords on their backs, their steps steady.
And the one walking at the very front was different.
Although wearing the Amegakure's uniform, he did not wear a Shinobi forehead protector. Instead, like a samurai, he carried his black sword diagonally at his waist.
His hands were in his pockets, his pace leisurely as he walked this way.
Seeing this scene,
Danzo frowned slightly.
'Hmm?'
'An Amegakure's Shinobi dressed like this?'