In Naruto's Footsteps: The Friends' Paths

is an arc of the Naruto: Shippūden anime. It covers episodes 394 onwards. This arc focuses on the second Chūnin Exams that took place after Sasuke Uchiha's defection to Otogakure and Naruto Uzumaki's departure to train with Jiraiya. This arc takes place in the middle of the Birth of the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki.

The Invitations & Preparations
Tsunade, along with the Konoha Council, arranges a meeting with Gaara, who was recently appointed Kazekage, to propose her plans of the new Chūnin Exams. During this meeting, Kankurō and Temari are unsure of Tsunade's intentions and she reveals her motive behind it is to lure Akatsuki in the open. Gaara proposes the exams be held in Sunagakure, hoping to bring Akatsuki out of hiding, as well as exposing those who are staging a coup d'état against him. Both sides then agree to sponsor the exams jointly — with the first phase held in Konoha, and the second phase held in Suna. Tsunade deploys her Anbu to the other villages, but her invitations are all declined, with each of the Kage refusing to have their villages take part. Elsewhere, Kakashi approaches Amegakure, preparing to meet Hanzō face-to-face.

Kakashi enters Hanzō's fortress — under tight security — and gives him the message sent by Suna and Konoha, while, unknowingly, it is actually Konan in disguise, due to Hanzō having been killed by Pain. Informing Pain of this upcoming exam, he orders Konan to send Ame's genin teams to participate. Elsewhere in Takigakure, Shibuki accepts the invitation, and agrees for Fū's participation. Meanwhile in Sunagakure, Gaara expresses his intention on not only to supervise the second exam, but to make amends with those against him as well. Back in Konohagakure, Tsunade informs her jōnin of the upcoming Chūnin Exams. Meanwhile, Asuma recommends his team to take part, but with Team Asuma a man down (due to Shikamaru already being a chūnin), Ino invites Sakura to join the team. Though Sakura turns down this offer, she eventually accepts in the end. All of the genin teams from foreign villages enter through the Konoha gates, signifying the beginning of the Chūnin Exams.

First Phase
All the arriving genin wait in line for the first phase of the exams. Konohamaru, disappointed that Naruto would not be attending the latest Chūnin Exams, disguises himself as the latter to participate, but is exposed by Neji. All the participating genin are placed in three separate rooms to take the test, which was proctored by Shikamaru. Should any of them get a score higher or below average, they fail the test. The genin of each room try to deduce Shikamaru's test, Sakura and Neji coming to the conclusion that all members of each team must equal the required score to pass.

The genin question Neji's actions, to which his response is to send vibrations through the classroom walls to notify the other team-mates what question to answer. Sajin, not wanting everyone to pass, seemingly offers to help, but punches and kicks the wall a fifth time. Neji states that regardless of how many times the walls are struck, his message would have been conveyed to his comrades. As the genin finish their written tests, Shikamaru informs them of a second part. For the second part, everyone must write on the back of their sheets who they would choose as a decoy if their team is surrounded, within a 3 minute time limit. Meanwhile, Kankurō informs Tsunade that they will look after their Sunagakure genin during the second phase, leaving the Hokage suspicious. Homura and Koharu, who arrived before Kankurō, relay a warning from Danzō to be wary of the Amegakure genin. With the first phase of the Chūnin Exams completed, those who pass are instructed to journey to Suna for the next phase, which would be proctored by Temari.

Second Phase
During nighttime in Sunagakure, a masked man breaks into the Kazekage's office building, only to be confronted by Kankurō. The masked assassin makes his escape, but Kankurō pursues him. Cornered, he attempts to blow himself up along with Kankurō, but is saved thanks to Temari's timely arrival. The next morning, Kankurō and Temari alert Gaara that his rebels are stepping up their efforts against him, but the Kazekage, aware of the dangers that await him, refuses to cave in under pressure. Elsewhere, the first thirty people — including the Konoha 11 — arrive in time to the Demon Desert checkpoint to secure their qualification. During dinnertime, a mayhem breaks out between the genin, and Fū is kept locked inside a room by Kegon and Yōrō. Back in Konoha, Kakashi reports to Tsunade of his failed infiltration of Amegakure. Meanwhile, Chōji — having sneaked out to find food — is attacked by a giant scorpion along with Sakura and Ino. They are all however rescued by Fū. Arriving to the scene, Gaara notices a stark similarity between Fū and Naruto due to her unique charisma. The next day, the second phase begins, with Temari instructing the genin teams to obtain both the Heaven and Earth scrolls to pass the exam.

Day One
As all the genin await for the signal to enter the desert, Neji analyses his opponents' abilities to come up with a strategy effective enough to counter them. Meanwhile, Guy, Asuma, and Kurenai deploy into the desert upon receiving orders from Tsunade. Within the desert, Neji is puzzled upon failing to detect the other teams before realising that they have been caught under a genjutsu. After breaking free from the genjutsu, Neji detects a Suna team up ahead, and engages in battle with them. However, Team Shira arrives to buy enough time for their fellow Suna team to escape. Giving their opponents no time to relent, Sen entraps Team Guy in a genjutsu once again. After this, Team Shira rendezvous with two of the Suna teams, and instructs them to retrieve a scroll from the other teams. Ultimately, Shira and his team-mates are betrayed, and find themselves cornered, but Team Guy arrives to their rescue. Questioning Team Shira's motives, Sen reveals to Team Guy that Shira had only recently become a shinobi. Seemingly confused as to why someone of his calibre had only become a shinobi, Lee comes to the conclusion that Shira — like himself — is incapable of performing ninjutsu and genjutsu, revealing that he had known this when the two exchanged fists the previous day.

Sen tells Lee and the others that Shira was not allowed to enter the Academy when he was a child because of this reason, as he was deemed unfit to be a shinobi, and was ridiculed for it. Eventually, thanks to his hard work, this all changed, with Gaara declaring Shira a shinobi, and abolishing the rule established by his father. After hearing Shira's story, Lee is overfilled with contempt for the men that treated Shira harshly, and runs off to pursue them. Confronting Goji and his team-mates, Lee tells them to apologise to Shira for their harsh words. However, the men refuse, and Lee is caught in yet another genjutsu. As Neji and Tenten arrive to his rescue, Lee attempts to finish off what he started. Shira intervenes, and states he has only himself to blame having not trained hard enough. Not only that, Shira goes as far as to handing over his scroll to Team Goji, but his offer is declined, and instead, they offer their scroll to Shira. As Team Goji departs, Lee asks for a fight with Shira, which he accepts.

As the two exchange fierce attacks, both seem to be equally on par with one another. Observing the battle, Neji notes that Lee will sustain more damage due to Shira having a much superior physique. Eventually noticing that he is at a disadvantage, Lee attempts to open the Eight Gates, but his tenketsu has been blocked by Shira earlier on. Shira then resorts to using his Silent Fist by attacking without making a sound, further putting the pressure on Lee. Remembering one of his training sessions with Guy, Lee is able to predict and counter Shira's moves. Lee is then able to open the Eight Gates once more after Shira released his tenketsu. Shira activates his own variant of the Eight Gates — the Seven Heavens Breathing Method, which enhances his lung capacity. Though for a fleeting moment both are evenly matched, Lee gains the upper hand; the Fifth Gate proving to be too much for Shira, culminating in Lee's victory. Elsewhere, Gaara is informed by his subjects that Kegon and Yōrō are in reality jōnin in disguise. Ordering them not to tell anyone else about this, Gaara begins to spy on Team Fū, only for Fū to notice his sand eye forcing him to cancel the technique. After spying on Team Fū, Gaara begins to realise the truth about Fū.

Day Two
The following day, Team Kazami of Kusagakure encounter Team Kurenai who seem to possess the opposite scroll they seek. These two teams then engage in battle. However, it is all part of Team Kazami's plot to find out which member has the scroll. With Kiba exposed as the holder of the scroll, Team Kazami lead a joint effort to successfully obtain the Earth Scroll. Burami then unleashes his unique Smell Sphere technique, paralysing his opponents. In spite of that, Team Kurenai fight on with sheer willpower alone, much to Burami's dismay. Muyami summons a giant mole, and, atop the creature, he and his team-mates make their escape. Luckily, Shino managed to place one of his kikaichū on Moguranmaru, and Team Kurenai make their pursuit. Once again, Team Kurenai fall to their opponents' prey, and end up inside a quicksand. Though they seemingly fall to their deaths, a last-ditch effort by Akamaru rescues Team Kurenai. With Team Kazami out of Hinata's range of vision, Kiba uses his sense of smell to track them down.

Team Kurenai pursue Team Kazami who, upon realising they are being followed, uses Burami to remove their scent so Kiba and Akamaru could no longer track them. Furthermore, Shino's insects are unable to track down the Kusagakure trio as they left mirages of themselves. As his team-mates discuss their strategy to track down Team Kazami, Kiba is inspired by Naruto's unwavering determination as he vows to retrieve the scrolls. Team Kurenai's search takes them to the middle of the desert, facing Team Kazami. Despite being outmatched, Shino's plan to fake his team-mates' deaths with his insects gives them the advantage as they defeat their respective opponents, and gain both scrolls to advance.

Meanwhile, Team Ajisai is confronted by Team Komugi, who insist to fight for their scroll. Not wanting to bother with a team beneath them, Ajisai and her comrades flee. During the night, Ajisai recalls Konan assigning them to partake the Chūnin Exams in order to, if they are able, capture a certain jinchūriki and/or gain intel on skilled shinobi from other villages. Elsewhere, Team Guy prepare dinner at nightfall. Unintentionally insulted by Lee while complimenting her usefulness in sealing items, Tenten walks off in a huff. She then thinks back to training with Might Guy, who also complimented her usefulness in her techniques, much to Tenten's annoyance, who wishes to have her own special technique.

Day Three
The next day, both Team Guy and Team Ajisai converge at the desert ruins and briefly clash. The Ame team again makes another escape, but is tracked by Neji's Byakugan, forcing them to continue the engagement. During the fight, however, Tenten and Ajisai are trapped deep beneath the ruins. Postponing their fight, both the teams separately search for their trapped team-mates. Tenten awakens to find herself and Ajisai trapped underground. Tenten walks up to a seemingly unconscious Ajisai to offer water, not knowing the Ame kunoichi plans to strike her with her guard down. Tenten, however, calmly asked Ajisai to put her weapon away and offered her some water. Ajisai refused "charity" from one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries, instead summoning her own water. While making her dislike of later nations known, Ajisai agreed to a truce and work with Tenten to escape the ruins. Outside the ruins, Neji, Lee, Fuyō, and Suiren decide to cooperate as well to find their team-mates after Team Komugi retreat due to the numbers were against them.

Finding a way out, Ajisai and Tenten face a giant ant that leads them to its nest with a way out, however they ended up being chased by them. Ambushed by the ants outside, Team Ajisai and Team Guy face the ant legion to rescue both and simultaneously trying to break the wreckage wall. On the other side, Ajisai tries to seal the big part of the wall. Ajisai's effort, however, isn't enough as she begs Tenten's help to destroy the wreckage wall. Motivated by Ajisai's words, Tenten summons an big amount of water putting an end to the wall. Once on the surface and reunited with their respective team-mates, Team Guy and Team Ajisai agreed to not continue fighting and instead promised to meet each other in the third exam.

Episodes
   id:Naruto Kembali: Lintasan Teman