Chūnin Exams (Arc)

The Chunin Exams arc is from Part I of the series that spans from chapters 34 to 114 of the manga and episodes 20 to 67 of the Naruto anime. It introduces many of the secondary characters of the series as well as the first major villain: Orochimaru.

Summary
Team 7 returns to Konoha to continue with their lives as regular Genin. One day, whilst playing with Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi, Naruto meets two of the three Genin from Sunagakure, the Hidden Village in the Sand, Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari and learns that they are in Konoha to participate in the Chunin Selection Exams. Meanwhile Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai all volunteer their teams for the exam also. Naruto is thrilled about the possibility of becoming a Chunin.

First Phase
The first part of the exam is written, but it was not a test of knowledge as much as a test of information gathering and willpower. The first nine questions were supposed to be cheated, where the Genin must use any techniques to find out the correct answer without being caught. Naruto, who did not realize this, went into a traumatic state in which he felt that he would cause his entire team to be eliminated, as he did not know the answer to any of the questions. Sasuke realizes that he, too, did not know the answers but immediately activates his sharingan to copy someone else's answers. Sakura as a testament to her incredible intellect answers all of the questions quickly (a feat which the Examiner later said could not be accomplished at Genin level). The last question was a do or die question: don't answer and your entire team fails the Chunin Exams, answer and get it wrong and you stay a Genin forever. Naruto shows that he is not somebody who quits when he bursts out that he doesn't care if he stays a Genin forever, he will still become Hokage. The Genin who stayed behind all pass the first part of the Chunin exams (including Naruto, who didn't answer a single question on the exam).

Second Phase
The second part of the exam is a survival exam in the 44th Battle Zone aka “The Forest of Death”. During this part, Naruto finds himself in a desperate situation against Orochimaru, an S-Class missing-nin from Konoha so powerful that the Third Hokage later mentions that there is nobody in Konoha that can fight him equally. It turns out that Orochimaru used to be one of the Third Hokage's pupils, or the Sannin. Naruto and Sasuke's reactions to the situation are a complete reversal of what happened in the Wave Country mission – Sasuke is paralyzed with panic while Naruto fights on fearlessly, at one point stopping Orochimaru's huge summoned snake in its tracks on his own (with the help of some demon fox chakra), and muttering to Sasuke, in a moment of glorious retribution that marks another milestone in their rivalry, "You're not hurt are you…scaredy-cat?"

Naruto eventually snaps Sasuke out of his panic. However, Orochimaru uses the Five Elements Seal on Naruto, disrupting the flow of the demon fox's chakra as well as Naruto's own.

However Orochimaru is too much for Sasuke as well. In the end, Orochimaru puts a Cursed Seal of Heaven onto Sasuke's neck, saying that Sasuke will eventually come to him for the power he needs to kill his brother, Itachi Uchiha. Orochimaru then leaves, sending his three Genin, Team Dosu from Otogakure, to come after Sasuke.

While both Naruto and Sasuke were unconscious from the fight against Orochimaru, Sakura had to take care of them. It is there that Sakura's personality reaches a turning point. As Kin Tsuchi of Team Dosu trapped her by roughly holding her by her hair, Sakura realized how pathetic her behavior was, always criticizing others, when she was the one who hadn't improved at all. She reflects on herself, thinking how she was always telling Naruto that she was better than him, when he had been the one who was consistently improving, and telling Sasuke she loved him when she couldn't even muster up enough strength to protect him as a teammate, before she symbolically frees herself by cutting off her long hair with a kunai, which she had initially kept long because Sasuke supposedly liked girls with long hair. She also had to fight against the Sound Genin, and resolves not to be too dependent on her teammates. The three Sound Genin were pushed back, with the aid of Team 10 and Rock Lee, whose efforts seemed to be worthless before Neji Hyuga and Tenten showed up. Dosu Kinuta, the leader of Team Dosu, mentions that Neji can "see through them," but before Neji can attack, an awakened Sasuke intervenes.

The cursed seal Sasuke now has starts to take affect, in a state of insanity and murderous intent, Sasuke defeats Zaku Abumi of Team Dosu, going as far as to dislocate his shoulders for no other reason than to cause him pain. Before he could do any more damage to anyone else, Sakura hugged Sasuke, crying and begging him to stop, allowing Sasuke to regain control of the seal. Dosu left with his teammates wondering why Orochimaru sent him to kill Sasuke if he knew Sasuke had the cursed seal. Team 7 still manages to make it past the second stage, by defeating Oboro and his team, with a little help from Kabuto, a fellow ninja from Konoha.

Preliminaries
Seven teams managed to pass, which is twice as many as expected. To cut down the prevailing genin from the second exam, a preliminary round was staged before the third and final stage of the Chunin Exam. The twenty-one people (twenty after Kabuto quits) are to be matched up with each other, in a fight that lasts until somebody gives in or is unable to continue fighting. The proctor of the third exam, Hayate Gekko, does reserve the right to step in and stop the fight when he feels that there is a clear winner. Sakura at first attempted to tell the examiners that the Cursed Seal that Orochimaru placed on Sasuke was seriously debilitating him but Sasuke stopped her and told her to mind her own business. At that point Naruto steps in to stand up for Sakura but is swiftly silenced by Sasuke who acknowledges Naruto, by declaring that he was one of the ones he wanted to fight. Later on Naruto would return the sentiment.

The first match up is Sasuke Uchiha against a member of Kabuto's team, Yoroi Akado. Before the fight starts, Kakashi warns Sasuke that if his curse mark gets out of control, he'll have to intervene and stop the match to control the mark, which bars Sasuke from using any jutsu at all just so he can fight. The match starts with Yoroi stealing Sasuke's chakra through his hands. The match seems hopeless for Sasuke, until he hears Naruto's nagging. Next to him is Rock Lee, which gives Sasuke an idea. He uses Lion's Barrage, a copy of Rock Lee's Forward Lotus move, captured by Sasuke's Sharingan. Yoroi is knocked out, and Sasuke advances to the next round. After the fight, Kakashi takes him to seal the curse mark.

Up next are Zaku Abumi and Shino Aburame. Zaku only has one arm he can move, but he bets he can win. Down below, the curse mark is sealed by Kakashi, but then Orochimaru shows up for Sasuke. He says that all the Genin he currently has at his command are all disposable. As Kakashi readies his Chidori, Shino commands a multitude of bugs leaving Zaku with a choice: to go for him or the bugs. Zaku then reveals he can use both arms, but it is too late. The bugs block Zaku's chakra and build it up in his arms, making them explode, ending the fight. Orochimaru leaves, saying that Sasuke will be his someday.

The match with Misumi Tsurugi against Kankuro starts. Misumi seems like he will win, until it is revealed that the Kankuro Misumi was fighting is just a puppet. The real Kankuro was disguised, controlling the puppet with his chakra. He uses the puppet to defeat Misumi.

The fourth match, Sakura versus Ino, is particularly meaningful because the two are rivals. The match drones on for almost an hour, before they hit each other at the exact same time, and knock each other out. Hayate declares that neither of them will move on.

The fifth match is Tenten against Temari. The match is over quickly, and Temari wins. Rock Lee jumps down to avenge Temari's treatment of Tenten, but Might Guy stops what would have turned into a fight.

The sixth match of Shikamaru Nara against Kin Tsuchi of Team Dosu is next, with Shikamaru aware that he is at a disadvantage since Kin had seen him use his jutsu in the Forest of Death and she hadn't displayed her fighting style. Kin starts by dodging the Shadow Possession Technique and firing needles with and without bells. She manages to divert his attention by ringing the bells with strings to mock him, then she gets him with silent needles. Shikamaru manages to get his shadow across to her using the strings to perform the jutsu. They both draw out shuriken and fling them at each other. When it comes time for them to duck, Shikamaru ducks successfully, but Kin knocks her head against the wall and knocks herself out which turned out to be the true nature of Shikamaru's battle strategy. Shikamaru emerges as the winner.

Naruto is matched up with Kiba in the seventh match. The fight goes poorly for Naruto at first especially after Kiba's dog Akamaru joins the fight and transforming into Kiba for the Beast Human Clone jutsu. Naruto makes a comeback by transforming into Kiba and tricking Kiba by transforming into Akamaru before his transformation reverses to get Kiba to attack the other "Kiba" thinking that he is Naruto, resulting in him knocking out Akamaru by mistake. Kiba then focuses on attacking intensively to keep Naruto from counterattacking, until Naruto accidentally farts; stunning Kiba whose sense of smell was magnified a thousand times at the time. Naruto then beats Kiba by using shadow clones to perform a new technique Uzumaki Naruto Combo.

The eighth match brings a family rivalry to the forefront, as Hinata and Neji battle. Kiba, being escorted away on a stretcher, urges Hinata to forfeit. Hinata, inspired by Naruto's courage, still wants to fight to prove that she can be brave. They both fight in the Hyuga Gentle Fist style, enabling them to cut off each others chakra flow. They both also have the Byakugan eye; a trait which Kakashi says surpasses the Sharingan eye. With the Byakugan, Neji exploits Hinata's fears with the intention of killing her, and it was only by the exam proctor’s intervention that stopped him from doing that. Hinata's bravery still manages to inspire Naruto, as he vows to battle and win against Neji in the third exam.

The ninth match has Rock Lee against Gaara. Rock Lee uses his remarkable taijutsu abilities, but barely scratches Gaara. He then opens five of the inner chakra gates, the result being that Lee's strength is multiplied immensely for a short time, but also severely injures him. Gaara is beaten badly. Rock Lee uses his Reverse Lotus technique to attempt to break through Gaara's sand armor, at the expense of great pain and injury to himself. When Gaara is falling, he disperses his gourd into sand as a cushion to break his fall. Gaara uses Sand Binding Coffin to crush Rock Lee's left arm and leg. Might Guy steps down to defend Lee, regretting having taught Lee how to open the inner gates, after learning from the medical ninja that Lee could no longer be a ninja due to his intense injuries. Gaara wins the match.

The last match is Choji Akimichi versus Dosu Kinuta. Choji was reluctant to battle, instead wanting to forfeit, but tried after being promised food by Asuma if he wins. Choji enters the battle with prior knowledge of Dosu's abilities, and quickly uses Human Bullet Tank to hide his ears from the Sound ninja's attacks. Dosu manages to overcome this by transmitting his Vibrating Sound Drill through Choji's flesh, quickly defeating him.

Finals
After the preliminary match-ups, there is a one-month time in which the remaining Genin can prepare themselves. Various dignitaries are also invited to watch the main matches. During this month, Naruto meets Jiraiya, another Sannin, for the first time. Jiraiya agrees to be his sensei and is the one who teaches him most of the advanced techniques he learns during that time.

Under Jiraiya, Naruto improves his chakra control by practicing walking on water, learns how to call upon demon fox's energy at will after Jiraiya uses a counter seal to cancel Orochimaru's sealing technique, and how to use a summoning technique to call the giant toad, Gamabunta to his aid but is exhausted after completing his training and Gamabunta carries him to the hospital.

Also, during the month of training, Dosu (who was trying to sneak up on, and kill, Gaara) is ripped to shreds by Gaara and Hayate Gekko (the third exam proctor) is murdered by Baki, the Jonin of Gaara's squad, Team Baki, after he overhears Baki talking with Kabuto on their plans to invade Konoha. Gaara also attempts to assassinate Rock Lee in the hospital on the day before the finals, but is stopped by Naruto and Shikamaru, and Gaara reveals his past, which Naruto realizes that they have similar histories of prejudice, before Guy steps in forcing Gaara to leave.

Naruto's fight with Neji a month later in Match One of the finals is a very dramatic one. During the fight, Neji lectures Naruto much like he did with Hinata during the preliminaries, telling Naruto that dropouts remain dropouts and this cannot change. Naruto eventually wins the battle through a combination of the demon fox's power sealed within him and sheer belief in victory. In the process, he changes Neji's outlook on life and inspires him to create his own fate, thus forming another important bond. Naruto is able to make Neji understand that destiny can be changed, and they become good friends from that point on.

Match two, which features Sasuke versus Gaara, is moved to last since Sasuke hasn't shown up. Normally he would have been disqualified on the spot, but his match has been highly anticipated – in fact, some of the crowd comment they mostly came just to see him fight forcing the Third Hokage to give in to the Kazekage's request to postpone the match.

Match Three, which features Shino versus Kankuro, was given to Shino on default, since Kankuro forfeits to "keep his techniques a secret" before the plan is launched.

Match Four is Temari versus Shikamaru. Both Temari and Shikamaru are excellent strategists, but Shikamaru was better. Though it appeared throughout the match Shikamaru was using pointless attacks, he was actually five steps ahead and skillfully manipulated Temari into a position where he could attack from behind, using Naruto's tunnel (which Naruto had dug during his match with Neji) to stealthily extend his Shadow Imitation Technique. This took control over Temari's body to imitate every one of Shikamaru's movements. Though Shikamaru could have won, he quits instead, saying that he is too low on chakra. His real reasons for quitting, however, seem to be because he is incredibly lazy and sees no point in winning, which would only lead to having to fight in further matches. He also doesn't want to hurt women.

Gaara versus Sasuke comes around again. This is the battle that the crowd has been looking forward to. Sasuke arrives late, but the waiting time was extended again because of the importance of the match. Sasuke demonstrates that his speed has vastly increased, to the point where the sand guarding Gaara could not keep up. Sasuke also demonstrates the Chidori, a technique he learned from Kakashi, which also happens to be Kakashi's only original jutsu, to injure Gaara. Before the match could finish, a smoke bomb is set off at the Hokage's box. Kabuto, who was actually working for Orochimaru, uses a Genjutsu to put almost everybody in the crowd to sleep, and the Invasion of Konoha commences.