Yes, generally. The five nations had some very tense relations until recently, so, these tournaments have even influenced wars when one nation sees that a weaker doesn't have very competent fighters, they just simply invade them.

I participated in the Chuunin exams twice. The first time I couldn't make it past the preliminaries. I fought someone who was basically walking kryptonite. [ Her fighting a wind user is like bringing a gun to a knife fight. ] But, after a year of training, I breezed passed it and was promoted to Chuunin with my teammates.