It can be daunting for new players to jump right into the game, not knowing what plots are going on or who is who. Thus, this page will contain a general summary of wide-ranging actions and smaller ranging ones that have taken place within the game so far. While this is not an exhaustive summary of every little detail, most of the important information should be covered.
The story opens on Konoha with various ninja going about their day to day business and the Hokage assigning new genin teams to jounin and, in one case, to a chuunin. These teams met for the very first time and, in some cases, went through initiation ceremonies with their instructors to see if they were truly worthy of being shinobi. Meanwhile, a Konoha missing-nin, Nobu Goro, sneaked into the village to reclaim important lab specimens for later study before a genin named Takeshi and a chuunin went to investigate the lab and were captured. About this same time, the Land of Rain annexed the neighboring country of the Land of Rivers by means of the machinations of one Hazuma Kyo.
Back at Konoha, the two prisoners escaped and retrieved help to ferret out the missing-nin only to have the lab collapsed around them. The missing-nin escaped, not without retribution from a chuunin team returning from a mission. Another unknown missing-nin, Kyo in disguise, staged a brutal attack against the Land of Grass before disappearing back into the Land of Rains at about the same time an 'Amekage' was named. Soon there after, the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist were contracted to deal with a dangerous missing-nin by name of Yoshi and after a hard-fought battle were able to claim their prize. In the Land of Grass, Kyo made overtures to the elder of the country for alliance before the Sandaime Hokage arrived to stymie his efforts. Upon his return to Konoha, the announcement was made about the beginning of the Chuunin Exams with various genin teams stepping up to try and become chuunin.
Several foreign ninja, some affiliated with villages but some not, then began to filter into the village for the exams for their own purposes, even as the villainous Shoku began to craft their own designs against Konohagakure. Among these actions were missing-nin being hired, tunnels dug underneath the protective barrier around the village, and other little actions such as planting infiltrators. As the Exams began, new conspiracies were revealed as well, especially amongst a clan of summoners who had sent one of their daughters to learn more about the shinobi world. As the first exams ended and the second began, dire news arrived about the assassination of the Sandaime Raikage and a coup within Kumogakure by a warlike faction.