kyōichi’s insightful suggestion

Sandaime left.

Leaving everyone else to continue the meeting.

"Minato, you've really put me in a tough spot."

Kyōichi sighed.

"Isn't this a good thing? An A-rank mission with a decent reward!"

Minato was somewhat embarrassed.

But.

Wasn't this a good outcome?

He had initially been worried about Kakashi's situation, but now Kyōichi had perfectly resolved it.

Breaking up the squads…

Why hadn't he thought of that!

The only issue was.

With this arrangement, Obito basically had no chance of becoming a chūnin this year.

It wasn't a matter of strength.

In terms of strength, he felt Obito was among the top of this batch of genin, but the kid was always rushing forward without thinking, just as Kyōichi had said…

He lacked a brain.

"Jōnin-Kyōichi, the issues and suggestions you raised are things we've never considered before. Perhaps it's true that the younger generation has more ideas. For the Chūnin Exams, you'll need to put in some extra thought, but if you need anything, you can have Hokage-sama relay it to me. I'll definitely help."

Shiranui Genma greeted him with a smile, his attitude humble, completely opposite to the fierce scar on his face.

Kyōichi had crossed paths with him a few times—he had participated in the previous jōnin exams.

Now, Kyōichi actually knew quite a bit.

Genma had previously been an ANBU ninja, holding a high position within ANBU. Participating in the jōnin exams was just a formality, and he had even become the team leader for Might Guy and the others.

This was different from the original timeline.

"Alright."

Kyōichi reluctantly agreed.

The Chūnin Exams were a thankless task, and the system probably wouldn't offer any rewards for it. 

He hadn't been interested in taking charge, just planning to let his team participate casually.

After all, once war broke out, everyone would quickly become chūnin.

But.

Unexpectedly, Minato had thrown him under the bus.

"Minato, since you've dragged me into this, don't think you're getting away scot-free!"

Kyōichi's eyes were full of warning.

Minato cleared his throat and said, "Don't worry, I'll help with whatever you need. What's your plan? Why don't we discuss it here, since everyone's present."

"Fine."

Kyōichi sat down, and all the jōnin found seats around him.

He thought for a moment and then outlined his plan.

"My idea is this: whether or not there's a written exam is up to you all to decide. For the second stage, we'll set up an exam area with food, weapons like soldier pills, kunai, and shuriken…"

Kyōichi explained his idea.

In simple terms.

It was a ninja battle royale.

At regular intervals, jōnin would sweep in from the outskirts, indiscriminately driving the candidates toward the center.

Everyone was stunned.

This…

Was this how exams could be run?

"Your idea is that for the second stage, we confiscate all the candidates' belongings, and they have to search for everything themselves. But here's the question: what about clans like the Inuzuka, who have ninja beasts?"

Minato raised his concern.

"Ninja beasts are part of their strength."

Kyōichi replied.

While the Inuzuka clan's ninja dogs were powerful, they weren't invincible.

The other jōnin nodded in agreement.

Indeed.

If the Inuzuka had ninja dogs, other ninjas had summoning beasts.

It was the same.

"Before the exam starts, we'll show all the candidates a map of the resource points."

"This is a test of intelligence."

"Right, and we can also periodically drop items like weapons, special soldier pills, and explosive tags. When these are dropped, we can fire signal flares."

"Team battles."

Everyone was a jōnin.

As Kyōichi laid out each point, they quickly understood the purpose behind the rules.

By the end…

Genma pondered for a moment and hesitantly said, "This set of rules is very good, but I'm a bit worried—isn't the difficulty too high?"

"True, with the team reshuffling and resource competition, the difficulty is much higher than past Chūnin Exams."

Another person chimed in.

Chūnin Exams?

This setup could easily be used for jōnin exams.

Using it for genin was no small challenge.

But.

"Everyone, Konoha could go to war with other villages at any moment. If we let some incompetent fool get promoted to chūnin, isn't that irresponsible to the genin?"

Kyōichi spoke with deep concern.

Although part of the reason he proposed this plan was because it sounded fun, it was true that this ninja battle royale was far more comprehensive than something like scroll battles.

Intelligence, teamwork, and leadership were all essential.

After much deliberation, the others found they had no objections to raise.

Kyōichi had thought of everything.

In comparison…

What had they been doing before?

Scroll battles? Too basic.

Tradition wasn't always right.

Minato sighed inwardly.

"Jōnin-Kyōichi, I think this kind of exam could be widely adopted. You should write up a detailed proposal."

Nara Shikaku said.

He rarely spoke up, as he wasn't a team leader.

However.

Kyōichi's plan was truly excellent, far superior to the old scroll battles.

After some thought…

He asked, "So, for the third stage of the exam, do you have any ideas?"

"Individual battles, what else? If we really want to do something different, we could apply the same format but switch from teams to individuals."

Kyōichi replied.

Shikaku pondered for a moment, then his eyes lit up.

He understood the benefits of this format—

In the past, it had always been arena battles.

But.

Wars weren't fought on arenas. They took place in the wild, with assassinations, ambushes, and sneak attacks everywhere. Who would fight you in an arena?

This kind of exam would select students better suited to the pace of war.

He nodded and said, "Please, Jōnin-Kyōichi, write up a proposal. I'll ask Sandaime-sama to increase your reward."

"That sounds good."

Kyōichi smiled.

Shikaku was a strategist and wouldn't make empty promises.

If he said so.

Then…

An increased reward was practically guaranteed.

A-rank missions typically paid between 150,000 to 1,000,000 ryō, and there was a lot of room to maneuver within that range.

New weapons, here we go!

With the plan settled, all that was left was to write and polish the proposal.

Everyone dispersed.

Outside the building, Kyōichi cornered Minato.

"Minato, you said you'd help with anything, right?"

"Yes."

"Ahem, well, I've been a bit busy lately. Could you handle writing the proposal?"

"Huh? Wait…"

Minato was stunned.

Just as he was about to object, he saw Kyōichi in front of him gradually fade into an afterimage.

An improved Body Flicker Technique!

Minato was at a loss for words.

This…

What kind of nonsense was this!

Busy?

Yeah, right.

After some thought, he couldn't help but shake his head lightly.

Whatever.

It wasn't a big deal anyway. Writing it was fine. Kyōichi had already explained the plan clearly, so it would only take a day or so.

No problem!

As for Kyōichi himself…

After slipping away, he went to check on his three students.

The three of them were very self-disciplined, running laps around Konoha.

Full of energy!

Kyōichi didn't disturb them. Instead, he found a shop, bought some food, and sat down to read.

Tsunade's stack of books wasn't something he could finish without putting in some serious effort.