July of Konoha Year 42.
July was a special time of year.
Every ninja village held its Chunin Exams.
The difference was that small villages either kept things in-house and did their own thing, or accepted invitations from the great nations and sent one, or maybe two or three, genin squads to take part in those larger exams, competing on the same stage as the genin of the major countries and other small villages.
If they died during the exam, then they had "died gloriously."
If they came back alive, then even if they failed to earn much praise from the great nations, most of them would still be promoted to chunin after returning home.
In peacetime, when one of the great villages produced an especially strong new generation, they would usually host a grand Chunin Exam to show off their national strength to both the great countries and the smaller ones.
If they did not have any outstanding young talent that year, then they would just shut the doors and keep the whole thing internal.
And this year, Konoha had a batch of prodigies who had graduated early. Their jonin instructors were all ace-level fighters like Minato Namikaze and Dan Kato, plus Gojo Yoru, one of the current peaks of the ninja world.
There was no way Konoha would pass up a chance like that to show off its power.
So after asking Yoru and the others for their opinions, Konoha began sending out invitations for the Chunin Exams to neighboring countries, as well as to the former enemy nations from the First and Second Shinobi Wars.
Small countries did not dare refuse Konoha's face, so they could only send a few average squads of genin, led by one of their jonin, to Konoha.
As for the great nations, their Kage barely glanced at the invitations before tossing them straight into the trash. They could not have cared less about Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Unlike the era in canon where the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire had an alliance, the Five Great Nations at this point were all hostile to one another. None of them had allies.
And the Chunin Exam itself was a promotion test where lives were on the line.
Once you signed the death waiver, it meant that if you died during the exam, the host village bore no responsibility whatsoever.
Under those circumstances, sending your own geniuses into enemy territory to take the exam was madness. If they died, it would be entirely your own fault.
But if you refused to send your top talent and only sent ordinary genin to go through the motions, that would be slapping yourself in the face, openly telling all the spectators from across the world that your new generation was inferior to your enemy's. Then the ordinary civilians and wealthy clients who did not really understand ninjas would instinctively start crossing your country off the list when choosing where to commission missions.
Either way, there was nothing to gain.
The best response was to ignore the invitation entirely.
Small countries did not dare do that because they were afraid of offending a major power.
The Five Great Nations, on the other hand, did not care in the slightest about offending one another.
"A Chunin Exam, huh? This could actually be a good opportunity."
In Amegakure, Yahiko had received Konoha's invitation as well.
Ever since the Land of Rain had lost the war, Amegakure had entered a state of self-imposed isolation.
Once the other nations realized Hanzo of the Salamander had lost his ambition and only wanted to raise a successor, they gradually withdrew the spies they had planted in Amegakure over the years.
Even the few who remained could no longer get anywhere near the heavily guarded tower district.
And after Yahiko returned and brought Konan and Nagato under his banner, he quietly uprooted every last nail.
If Konan had not told him, even Yoru would not have known that Hanzo was already dead.
As far as the outside world was concerned, Hanzo was still the one in charge of Amegakure.
Even inside the village, only the jonin knew that Hanzo-sama had already fallen, and that the one now ruling was Yahiko, the boy who had awakened Wood Release.
Yahiko had also secretly planted Wood Release kill-switches inside those people, and had White Zetsu clones use the Spore Technique to silently monitor them.
The moment any of them showed signs of betrayal, the information would be shared with Obito, and then Yahiko would activate the Wood Release planted in their bodies, causing wooden spikes to erupt throughout them and kill them on the spot.
"Yahiko, are you planning to sneak people into Konoha to gather intelligence?"
A voice echoed in Yahiko's mind. It was Afei.
"I should remind you of something. Neither our Mayfly Technique nor the Spore Technique can hide from that space-time ninja in Konoha. Quite a few White Zetsu clones have already been captured and studied by them. You need to be careful."
"So that's it."
Yahiko suddenly understood.
"No wonder every time I asked you about Konoha, you were always vague and never really answered."
Then he sneered.
"It doesn't matter. The 'plan' is about to begin anyway. As long as I do not personally go to Konoha, that is enough."
After saying that, Yahiko went to find Konan and Nagato.
"Konoha?"
Both Konan and Nagato looked surprised when they heard what he wanted.
Deep down, Konan was tempted. She actually really did want to go to Konoha. She wanted to see the real Yoru in person. She did not even dare hope for more than that—just seeing the real Gojo Yoru would be enough.
But she knew she could not go to Konoha recklessly, or it would be very easy for the White Zetsu clones hidden in the shadows to take notice.
That was why, over the years, even though Konan had taken Nagato all over the ninja world, she had never once gone to Konoha.
And to avoid seeming suspicious, she had never taken Nagato to any of the other Four Great Villages either.
Now Yahiko suddenly wanted to bring them to Konoha. That stirred her interest, but it also put her on guard.
She suspected he might be testing something.
So Konan asked in a flat voice, "What exactly are you planning to do in Konoha?"
Nagato also stared at Yahiko, waiting for his answer.
"I want to gather some intel, and I need Nagato's Rinnegan to help me do it," Yahiko explained. "Relax. It is just information gathering. I am not going to send you straight at Konoha's space-time ninja. My Wood Release and disguise technique can perfectly replicate another person's chakra signature. Nagato can also use the Shapeshifting Technique to make a remotely controlled body-double and replace the ninja of another village. Even if our identity gets exposed, it will not raise suspicion."
Nagato still said nothing. He just turned to Konan again.
Yahiko knew Konan was the one who made the call, so he looked at her instead.
Unlike the original darkened Yahiko, he was not the kind of person who found Konan irritating and wanted to get rid of her. That would have been idiotic.
Nagato had already learned the Six Paths techniques and Yin-Yang Release, and yet he still treated Konan with total respect and obedience. That kind of loyalty had sunk all the way into his bones.
The two of them had spent years as bounty hunters without incident. If Konan died shortly after joining Amegakure, anyone with half a brain would know who had done it.
Unless Konan died in front of Nagato at the hands of an enemy whose identity and power were completely obvious, Yahiko would never gain Nagato's loyalty that way.
And if he tried to kill Konan first and then come recruit Nagato afterward, that would not work either, especially once Nagato had mastered the Human Path and Naraka Path.
That would only make Nagato realize something was deeply wrong.
Only sincerity could buy sincerity.
That was why Yahiko treated Konan with real respect and importance.
When Konan had said she wanted Amegakure's Exploding Flame Formation, Yahiko had agreed without hesitation.
At this point, Konan could already openly use techniques based on paper manipulation and the Exploding Flame Formation.
But she still could not use the A-rank forbidden technique Multiplying Explosive Tags.
So Konan only thought for a moment before asking Yahiko, "You know Konoha's Multiplying Explosive Tags technique, right?"
That question stabbed straight into Yahiko's sore spot.
He raised a hand and pointed at the burn scars on his face, his expression blank.
"I almost died to that very technique."
Then he asked, "You want me to help you steal Konoha's Multiplying Explosive Tags?"
"Exactly."
Konan nodded.
"That technique, just like the Exploding Flame Formation, is the one most suited to my Paper Release."
Yahiko immediately pictured the scene of Konan bombing the forest of his Deep Forest Emergence attack.
Flying-type ninja were among the most troublesome in the entire ninja world.
And when a flying ninja also possessed wide-area destructive techniques, that already meant they had strategic deterrence on the level of a Jinchuriki.
Deidara in the original timeline was exactly like that.
With flight and explosive clay alone, he had been able to invade Sunagakure and solo Gaara.
His strength had put him in the middle-to-upper tier of the Akatsuki.
And if he used C0, then unless his target could escape with Reverse Summoning or block the blast with something like Susanoo or the Yata Mirror, even someone like Itachi Uchiha would have needed Izanagi to survive.
Right now, Konan could already devastate a small country with nothing but Wind Release-enhanced explosive tag bombardment.
Now that she also had Amegakure's Exploding Flame Formation, which let her remotely shape the flames produced by explosive tags into whatever form she wanted, her strategic threat level had leapt again.
And if she also got Multiplying Explosive Tags, giving her the ability to create fixed-point destruction in the billions or trillions, Yahiko genuinely could not imagine just how terrifying she would become.
He was certain of one thing, though—at that point, even he would not dare look down on this girl his own age.
But the stronger Konan became, the better that was for Yahiko.
If he could persuade both her and Nagato to help him deal with Gojo Yoru, then even a space-time ninja might not be able to overcome the three of them working together.
And Konan's Paper Release directly countered Yoru's "melding into space."
If Yoru phased out, Konan would only have to use Multiplying Explosive Tags and the Exploding Flame Formation to keep him from casually dropping out of his intangible state.
And if Yoru could not use Flying Thunder God while phased, then his only option would be to rely on Body Flicker to escape the blast zone.
The instant his body returned to reality, Nagato's gravity and repulsion, plus Yahiko's Wood Release, would all become major threats.
Just imagining that strategy made Yahiko even more determined to get Konan the Multiplying Explosive Tags technique.
"So yes," he said, making up his mind, "I will do everything I can to get that technique for you."
"Tell me before we leave."
With that, Konan turned and left, hands in her pockets.
At Konoha, on Hokage Rock, Team 2 was hard at work cleaning the giant monument.
All they really had to do was dip the mops in water and use chakra wall-walking to clean it easily.
And yet the three of them were drenched in sweat and panting like mad.
Of the three, the one who actually looked the most relaxed was Rin Nohara, who was publicly the weakest.
Because Team 2 all had weighted metal blocks strapped to their legs, and even the mop handles in their hands were made of steel, making them absurdly heavy.
"Why aren't you whining anymore?" Yoru mocked from where he sat on a railing, kicking his legs. "Didn't you say D-rank missions were easy?"
"Back when you were doing C-rank missions you were not even breaking a sweat. So how come a lousy D-rank mission has you panting like dogs?"
"With how weak you are, I'm starting to feel embarrassed about even putting in the request for you to take this year's Chunin Exam."
"Stop holding back and stop being scared. If you fall, I'll catch you. Come on, geniuses."
Hearing that, Kurenai gritted her teeth.
"I'd rather fall to my death than let you catch me."
"Exactly!" Asuma chimed in.
"Oh wow… hearing students say that really is heartbreaking."
Yoru clutched his chest like he had been deeply wounded.
Normally kind-hearted Rin, for once, did not step in to defend him.
Because even she had never escaped Yoru's pranks. More than once, he had scared the daylights out of her and made her look utterly miserable.
That alone would have been one thing.
But Yoru always prepared a camera in advance, or had a shadow clone hiding nearby to photograph the exact moment they made fools of themselves. Then he used those blackmail shots to force Asuma to do chores, and to make Kurenai and Rin smile while he pinched their cheeks.
What "miracle"? What "peak of the ninja world"?
In Team 2's eyes, he was nothing but a mean, foul-mouthed, impossible-to-beat bastard of a teacher who constantly messed with them and bombarded them mentally, while they had no way to fight back.