Kurosawa Ren, the Fifth Mizukage of the Village Hidden in the Mist, smiled. There were far too many teeth showing for Hazō's comfort.

"At this point, it is traditional for the host Kage to announce what the events will be," she said, her voice carrying to the back of the crowd with the ease of a trained orator. "This year we're going to try something a little different.

"There are two core functions to the ninja life: combat and information gathering. Of these, information gathering is the more important. Combat is straightforward—you and your enemy meet, you battle. Espionage, assassination, sabotage—in all but the simplest missions, the most essential job is to find out what you need, where to apply it, and when to do so in order to achieve maximum impact with minimum risk.

"The first event in this year's Exams will be an ongoing test of your information-gathering skills. The number and nature of the events will not be announced in advance, nor will their location or start time. Your job is to figure out where to be and when. At the end of each event everyone except the first-place finishers will be informed of the minimum amount of time before the next event. If you are told that the minimum time is twenty-four hours then you can be confident that you have at least that much time to learn what you need to know. You might have more, but you will not have less. I will tell you now that you have at least an hour before the start of the second event." She paused, waiting while the disgruntled and alarmed murmurs went through the crowd.

"The final event, of course, is an exception to the rule. It will be the traditional single-elimination combat tournament, held in the arena on the east edge of the village. In order to give the audience time to arrive, the date and time of the tournament will be announced forty-eight hours in advance.

"There is a second part to this event: operational security. All of you have secret techniques, secret tactics, or military and state secrets of your village. Perhaps the most important ability for a ninja is the ability to not reveal that which must be kept hidden. In a moment, proctors will begin taking you aside in order to give you a secret word. No one aside from you will know that word. If any proctor learns the secret word of a contestant, that contestant immediately fails the first event. Proctors are Mist ANBU and will be wearing green armbands at all times so they can be identified."

She paused to survey them one more time, clearly enjoying the disheartened and frustrated expressions worn by most of the contestants. After a moment she clapped her hands decisively. "Thank you for your attention and now, without further ado, let us begin!" She vanished back into the Tower and ANBU with green armbands moved forward to chivvy the genin into a tight and easily-managed group.

Author's Note

The proctors are taking a few people at a time, each in a different direction. None of the Rookie 15 have been chosen yet but, based on the time it takes for the proctors to come back, you're guessing that each person is being taken at least two miles from the group. This is well outside the range of Shino's bugs and the Hyūga's vision. Contestants are not returned to the group after being taken away.

There are 45 Leaf genin here, and probably a couple of hundred other contestants, so it's going to take a while to get through everyone. Hazō has somewhere between five minutes and two hours before he is chosen. You, the hivemind, have until 9am Eastern Time tomorrow (Saturday September 9) to make a plan.