No matter how much Ino's little head leveraged the cheat from her "previous life," she couldn't deduce what was about to happen from just one visiting Ninja.
Having mulled it over all the way home, Ino decided to stop thinking about it, telling herself, "I'll just ask Comrade Inoichi when he gets home. Dad will definitely know..."
"Oh, you mean the visiting Ninja?" Inoichi was asked about the outsiders as soon as he stepped through the door... and he did indeed know. "That's an envoy from the Crab Ninja Village. We need to be a bit more careful for a while; many more Ninja from outside will be coming... In a few more days, Ninja from the Hidden Sand Village will arrive too. These Ninja have peculiar temperaments, and we'll likely encounter some big and small troubles with public order..."
"What are they coming to Konoha for?"
A vague possibility seemed to flicker in Ino's mind, but it slipped away like a fish, disappearing without a trace... Inoichi said, "It's for the Chunin Exams—more precisely, for the Joint Chunin Exams..."
The "Chunin Exams" are typically conducted within a Ninja Village's own ranks. Smaller Villages lacking the capacity to hold their own exams affiliate themselves with one of the Five Great Ninja Villages to conduct theirs.
These ordinary, internal Village Chunin Exams are held twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall.
A standard Chunin Exam is divided into three parts: written test, practical application, and command. These respectively assess a Ninja's intelligence and knowledge reserves, their combat abilities in Ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu, and their command capability for a three-person team—among these, possessing team command ability is an extremely important indicator.
The "Joint Chunin Exams" are different. Konoha's Joint Chunin Exams are co-hosted with the Hidden Sand Village, one of the Five Great Villages, forming a joint examination model with "Konoha and Sand" as the axis, surrounded by smaller Ninja Villages. It's a worldwide, large-scale assessment format.
"The Chunin Exam model was created by the Second Hokage and later became popular throughout the Ninja World... After the Third Great Ninja War ended, Konoha and the Sand needed a relatively peaceful form of competition, which led to the formation of the Joint Chunin Exams led by Konoha and the Sand. Compared to the orthodox Chunin Exams, this exam is more like a show!"
"A show?"
"Exactly. Whether it's a small Village or a large one, they will all put forward their most outstanding Ninja to clash in intelligence and Ninjutsu!"
...Ino thought of the "Chunin Exams" content from the comics... It seemed in the comics, it really was just the two major Villages of Konoha and the Sand, along with places like Otogakure, Amegakure, the Kusagakure, Takigakure... As for the other three great nations, they simply didn't appear:
Kumogakure and Iwagakure weren't even mentioned, and Kirigakure... they just play behind closed doors by themselves.
Places like the Star Ninja Village also didn't participate... If Inoichi hadn't explained the "Joint Chunin Exams" in detail, Ino wouldn't have thought about it carefully and would have intuitively believed the Joint Chunin Exams involved all Ninja Villages.
"The Joint Chunin Exams have developed an extremely mature assessment process, or rather, a showcase model."
"The first exam is an intelligence war, primarily focusing on an unseen clash of information—the exam process is later serialized and publicized in text form across various regions through channels like newspapers. Most of the opportunities here are reserved for smaller Ninja Villages..."
"The second exam is usually a survival trial, where Ninja teams eliminate each other within a set time limit..."
"So, the appeal of this second exam is the thrill of the survival challenge?"
Ino instantly thought of Bear Grylls, wilderness survival, and the like... Inoichi nodded and said, "Correct. This second exam is broadcast live on television and widely disseminated throughout the Ninja World... This is also a major stage for smaller Ninja Villages to display their strength..."
As for the third round... the showcase of individual Ninja strength, the intense confrontations—that is purely the stage for Konoha and the Sand—
Outstanding Ninja can gain immense fame on this stage, and that fame translates into mission volume.
It's a pure "fan economy" business model... "The third assessment is usually held in a stadium. It's a live competition, where dignitaries and nobles watch the Ninjas' performances from the stands. Ninja who perform excellently are naturally remembered, thus receiving a large number of mission orders..."
"For example, if an outstanding Genin emerges from our Konoha, and after being promoted through the Chunin Exams, all their abilities are shown to be excellent, then our mission volume will increase. With more missions, the Village prospers... Actually, to be honest, our Konoha's situation is already considered good. Backed by the Land of Fire and having developed its own commercial environment, we have somewhat freed ourselves from dependence on missions..."
"But for the Hidden Sand Village, it's different..."
If Konoha lost missions—people would at most live a bit more frugally; if the Hidden Sand Village lost missions—they would starve to death.
Therefore, regarding the Joint Chunin Exams, the Hidden Sand Village places far greater importance on them than Konoha does. After all, Konoha wants face, but the Sand Village is fighting for its life... "This Joint Chunin Exam is the second one co-hosted by Konoha and the Sand. The Ninja of the Sand Village live harsh lives; their personalities are ruthless and fierce, especially some Puppeteers. Their tools are highly poisonous, and a slight misstep could lead to a fatal accident. Those poisons... Anyway, if you go out during this period, be extra careful..."
Inoichi reminded Ino once more, particularly emphasizing the anomaly among Ninja that is the "Puppeteer":
The Yamanaka Clan has quite a few records on Puppeteers and is well aware of their strengths... as well as their weaknesses.
And Ino knew all about the combat characteristics of Puppeteers—their cunning, insidiousness, ruthlessness, and deadly poisons. After all, Princess Ino had read far more materials than Inoichi; the various treasured collections at home weren't enough for her. She had practically turned the entire library upside down.
"Well, then I won't go out these next few days..."
After all, Konoha is only about the size of a small county town; you can practically see from one end of the Village to the other, and there aren't that many interesting places to visit anyway.
The best way to avoid danger is, of course, to stay away from it.
However, Ino was quite interested in the Chunin Exams and wanted to see them in person... "Dad, when the Chunin Exams are on, can I go watch?"
"Of course you can!" Inoichi readily agreed. "If you don't find it boring, Dad will definitely take you to see the exams live."
"Awesome!"
Ino gave Inoichi a loving hug.
"Gently, gently..." Inoichi was knocked back a step by the force of Ino's hug, thinking to himself, "My goodness, Ino's strength..."
This was hardly a "loving hug"; it felt more like she was trying to send her old father to an early grave.
Such filial piety!
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