<em>He nods solemnly, answering their inquiries in the order asked.<br/><br/>"Yes, Miya. They have no reason to trust any of the nin from the other villages, including us, however well-intentioned they or we may be. In fact, with so many foreign nin in their land so close to the exam, they are likely to be even more on guard than usual.<br/><br/>"As to the host, the indentity, to avoid the same situations as arose with the Sixth Hokage in his youth and the Fifth Kazekage, has been kept a secret from even the populace of Kumogakure. The other Kages, such as myself, know only a minimum of details. In this particular case, the host is a kunoichi of around sixteen. Normally, she would have advanced to Chunin sooner, but, knowing how vulnerable she likely would be during the exam, she and her squad have been kept away on missions during the other exams, increasing her strength to minimize the risk assassins would pose. She may well be on par with some of you, perhaps even stronger. More than that, I'm afraid I cannot offer.<br/><br/>"As for the exam... As with all exams, it begins with a written portion, and ends with single combat, a format I"m sure you're familiar with. However, you are correct: the second part of the exam is different. Instead, it involves scaling a mountain, ringed with forests towards the bottom, but becoming more and more cold towards the top, the rock eventually giving way to mostly ice and snow."</em>