Starting Point

Just like in Konoha, only true geniuses in each village can participate in this exam.

If the best of the new generation are killed in combat, even if the villages try to maintain appearances and do not act immediately, sooner or later, there will be retaliation. And that retaliation will not be limited to the village alone… it will also be directed at the person responsible for their elimination.

Furthermore, if Gen demonstrates extraordinary talent during the exam, he will attract too much attention. Other villages will not hesitate to mark him as a threat and will seek to eliminate him directly.

"No wonder he's able to keep Danzo completely restrained…" he murmured wearily.

However, there was something else that unsettled him.

What if Hiruzen was using all of this as a covert way to get rid of him?

It wouldn't be the first time someone in power used the hands of others to do their dirty work. Letting rival villages take care of someone inconvenient for him was a smart but ruthless move. And considering the talent and strength he had demonstrated so far, it was impossible for him to believe that Hiruzen, as the leader of Tobirama's faction, did not at least have the slightest suspicion about him.

Even during his missions outside the village, he was always on guard, ready for any assassination attempt or betrayal from anyone in his squad. And this time, the Chūnin Exam was the perfect opportunity for that.

If he participated, he would be exposed. And once it was over, regardless of the outcome, he would not only have Konoha's attention but also that of other villages that might see him as a threat.

Even so, that didn't worry him. He wasn't the type to cower at the possibility of being hunted.

Keeping Hiruzen at ease was just one of the reasons he had agreed to participate. The other was much more personal.

He knew he had talent, that his potential was above everyone else's. But training alone was not enough. At least, not with the speed of progress he expected. He needed more. He needed real experience. Real fights.

And even if the geniuses from other villages didn't pose a true challenge to him, what would come after the exam certainly would. The retaliation. The pursuits. The battles that would force him to surpass himself, to break his own limits.

That was the true reason. He wasn't just participating in the exam—he was preparing for the war that would come afterward.

...

In the blink of an eye, three days passed, and finally, the time had come to depart for Kumogakure.

That morning, sixteen Genin, carefully selected by the village, gathered in front of Konoha's massive gates.

None of them were older than fifteen.

Due to the particular nature of this Chūnin Exam, many of the participating Genin were competing individually, so several teams had been formed temporarily.

Gen was one of those cases.

With his arms crossed and eyes closed, he remained in place, resting. However, Momo and Azora were not by his side. Instead, two young members of the Uchiha clan accompanied him, both wearing the clan's characteristic emblem.

The boy, Kuu Uchiha, and the girl, Reiko Uchiha, were fourteen years old, very close to the age limit allowed for the exam.

But their presence there was no coincidence.

The absence of Momo and Azora made it clear that, in the end, they had decided not to take the exam. Perhaps out of fear, perhaps out of simple caution. But what was certain was that Kuu and Reiko's presence by his side had a reason.

From the moment Gen announced his participation in the Chūnin Exam, the Uchiha clan was thrown into turmoil. It was a risky move, and the clan's high-ranking members quickly expressed their concern.

And it was no wonder.

Gen was not just any Genin. At the age of nine, he was already at the level of a Jōnin, and if his growth continued at that pace, his future would be simply unimaginable.

That was why many within the clan strongly opposed his participation. They did not want to risk him in an exam that, more than a competition, seemed like a trap.

However, not everyone shared that opinion.

Others saw the situation from a different perspective. Not because they wanted Gen to put himself in danger, but because they understood that true growth only came with real challenges.

And in the end, that mentality prevailed.

The final decision was clear: Gen would participate in the exam, but he would not do so alone. The clan selected two of its most talented members to accompany him, ensuring that if things went wrong, he would at least have support from his own people.

In Konoha, not all clan ninjas came from the Academy, nor did all of them have an official registration number.

The reality was that most clan ninjas did not go through the Academy. They were trained within their own families, following much stricter and more personalized methods than those offered by the Academy's teaching.

This explains why, until Naruto Uzumaki's graduation, the number of registered ninjas in Konoha barely exceeded 12,000. At first glance, that figure might seem low for one of the most powerful villages in the world.

But numbers do not tell the whole story.

During the Third Great Ninja War, the Hidden Rock Village was able to mobilize more than 10,000 ninjas just to surround and kill the Third Raikage.

So if a village like Iwagakure could deploy such a number of troops, it was logical to think that Konoha, with its vast territory and powerful clans, had even more.

The key was in the registration system.

Once a ninja receives their registration number, it remains active for life. Even if they die in combat, their number still exists in the records. So if the official figure is just over 12,000, the actual number of ninjas in Konoha is considerably higher.

The reason is simple: many are never enrolled in the Academy and, therefore, do not appear in official records. They are trained in the shadows, within their clans, far from the conventional system.

Kuu Uchiha and Reiko Uchiha were precisely that type of ninja. They had never set foot in the Academy, but they had been meticulously trained by the Uchiha Clan since childhood. They were not on any list, but they were just as competent, if not more, than any average Genin.

And they were not the only ones. Among the Genin gathered today, many came from the exclusive training of their clans.

In this world, the difference between a ninja born into a clan and a civilian ninja was immense.

The clans sent some of their members to the Academy as a visible strategy, usually the heirs or those with special talent. But the truth was that most of those students were only part of the game.

The true core of the clans remained in the shadows, training under their own systems.

"Have you heard? I heard that the team leader this time will be Lord Orochimaru."

"Really? That would be incredible! With Lord Orochimaru leading, the journey will be much safer."

"It doesn't matter who the leader is… What really matters are the opponents in the Chūnin Exam. Don't forget that this time, we also have a mission."

As they waited, those who knew each other spoke in hushed voices. Some had faces full of excitement, while others were serious and nervous.

Suddenly, several figures emerged at the front of the group.

The sound of their arrival made Gen open his eyes immediately. Until that moment, he had remained with his arms crossed, resting in silence, but upon noticing the presence of the newcomers, his gaze went straight to them.

Through the crowd, he distinguished the four figures that had just appeared, with Orochimaru at the front.

"They're here already?"

He was not surprised in the slightest.

While many were intrigued or excited by Orochimaru's presence, he simply lowered his arms naturally.

For a long time now, he had already known that Orochimaru would be the team leader.

________

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