Chapter Summaries

After Naruto’s speech prompted Ibiki Morino to consider his potential and unsettled the Genin, Anko Mitarashi arrived to announce the second exam. The first exam ended with the candidates dismissed to prepare for the next day.

• Ibiki Morino privately judged Naruto to be a promising but potentially dangerous talent and decided to observe him before recommending him to the Hokage.
• Naruto’s proposed mission system astonished the newly promoted Genin, some of whom considered abandoning the exams to report it to their villages.
• Anko Mitarashi crashed through a window and introduced herself as the chief examiner for the second exam.
• Anko questioned Ibiki about the large number of candidates who had passed, and Ibiki praised their ability.
• Anko warned that she intended to eliminate at least half the candidates in the second exam and dismissed everyone to prepare for tomorrow.

Chiyo visited Sand Mechanics with Sasori and learned about its advanced servers and demanding but well-supported work culture. She entered a virtual space to contribute her ninjutsu to the Empire, where she recorded her techniques and prepared to perform Life Reincarnation Technique.

• Sasori showed Chiyo Sand Mechanics’ server room and explained its private servers, their connection to the Ten-Tails Server, and the threat of war.
• Chiyo observed Sasori’s status at the company and learned about the employees’ overtime pay, limits, and rest requirements.
• Sasori led Chiyo to a sealed room so she could upload the ninjutsu she had learned over her lifetime in exchange for an imperial reward.
• Chiyo entered a virtual white space, created objects and Hidden Sand Village, and recorded her Chikamatsu Puppet Brigade technique.
• Chiyo formed hand seals and performed her Life Reincarnation Technique on a corpse.

On the Moon, Kaguya learned of a powerful new resurrection technique and awarded its contributor a huge amount of Merit Points before inviting Uchiha Senju to study it with her. Meanwhile, Senju approved Orochimaru’s plan to secretly draw energy from a parallel world and discussed accelerating the Empire’s expansion as the dimensional channel neared completion.

• Kaguya obtained the Life Reincarnation Technique from the Ten-Tails’ database, recognized its value, and awarded its contributor one hundred thousand Merit Points.
• Kaguya contacted Uchiha Senju and invited him to the Moon to study the technique with her.
• Uchiha Senju and Orochimaru examined the Sage of Six Paths’ remnant soul, which Orochimaru hoped to use to generate new ninjutsu.
• Senju told Orochimaru he planned a Great Expedition into parallel Shinobi Worlds once their Cross-Dimensional Channel was permanently connected.
• Orochimaru reported that Yakushi Kabuto’s research could extract energy from another world, and Senju approved the plan while ordering it kept secret.
• Senju discussed granting powerful foreign ninja privileges to enter the Empire, and Orochimaru estimated that they could soon open entrances to three to five parallel Shinobi Worlds at once.

Uchiha Senju considered how many invasion teams the Empire could field and spoke with Kaguya about a new resurrection technique. In the Hidden Sand Village, Chiyo discovered her enormous Merit Point balance and offered to transfer it all to Sasori.

• Uchiha Senju concluded that the Empire could assemble far more than three to five invasion teams and agreed to visit Kaguya to inspect her new resurrection technique.
• Sasori discovered that Chiyo had earned 113,569 Merit Points, far surpassing his own balance, and worried that the Ten-Tails Server had malfunctioned.
• Sasori explained the Merit Points system and showed Chiyo the Mall’s purchasable techniques, items, and government positions.
• Sasori recommended that Chiyo spend her Merit Points on a Hidden Sand Village Advisor position, but Chiyo offered to give all her points to him.

Anko Mitarashi explained the Forest of Death exam, in which teams had to gather both scrolls and reach the central tower within five days. As the candidates entered the forest, a scream echoed through the grounds, and Orochimaru reconsidered his strategy after sensing a warning.

• Anko Mitarashi introduced the Forest of Death and warned Naruto that he might die, while Naruto confidently promised to surprise her.
• A strange long-tongued man returned Anko Mitarashi's kunai and disappeared into the crowd.
• Anko Mitarashi described the exam rules: teams had to obtain Heaven and Earth scrolls and bring them all to the central tower within 120 hours.
• Choji Akimichi asked about food, and Anko Mitarashi and Kabuto Yakushi warned candidates to forage while avoiding poisonous plants and insects.
• Orochimaru sensed a warning and changed his strategy before the exam began.
• The candidates entered the Forest of Death after Anko Mitarashi urged them to work together, and a scream rang out from within.

Anko Mitarashi explained the second Chunin Exam’s rules, and the teams collected their scrolls and prepared to enter the forest. As the exam began, Orochimaru and the other contestants set their plans in motion.

• Orochimaru sensed danger from Itachi, and Kabuto reported that Sasuke and Naruto seemed changed before Orochimaru gave him instructions for the exam.
• Anko Mitarashi explained the five-day survival test, the scroll and tower requirements, and the penalties for losing a teammate or reading a scroll early.
• Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke collected a Scroll of Heaven, while teams across the forest chose their entrances and prepared to begin.
• Kabuto told an examiner that his team would withdraw after the exam started, and the examiner warned that they would lose their chance to become Chunin that year.
• Orochimaru waited at his entrance, hoping to claim Sasuke’s eyes, while Neji dismissed Rock Lee’s determination as naive.
• The examiners unlocked the entrances, and the second Chunin Exam officially began.

Naruto and Sasuke advanced through the Forest of Death with Sakura, then encountered Orochimaru, who attacked Sasuke and revealed his monstrous Eight-Headed Serpent form. The exam participants and examiners watched in terror as the giant serpent filled the sky.

• Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura raced toward the tower, while Sakura remained unaware of the Genjutsu affecting her.
• Sasuke killed an enemy ninja who had impersonated Naruto, and Sakura fainted before Naruto reassured her that he was alive.
• Naruto struck Orochimaru with Wind Release: Mouth Blast, and Sasuke cut off Orochimaru’s tongue with a shuriken.
• Sasuke confronted Orochimaru and sent Naruto to continue the exam, while Naruto created thousands of Shadow Clones.
• Orochimaru used the Eight-Headed Serpent Technique, terrifying everyone at the exam, including Anko Mitarashi.

Sasuke defeated Orochimaru’s Eight-Headed Serpent with his evolved Flame Release, while Neji’s team encountered Naruto in the Forest of Death. Naruto offered them both scrolls, but Neji and Rock Lee mistook his kindness for an insult and attacked his Shadow Clone, leaving them to reject the scrolls.

• Sasuke severed one of the Eight-Headed Serpent’s heads and destroyed its transformed snakes with World-Incinerating Flames, overpowering Orochimaru.
• Anko sent someone to guard the examination grounds and went to report the disturbance to the Hokage.
• Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten set out for the tower, and Neji asked Tenten to travel with them quickly.
• Naruto met Neji’s team and offered them a Scroll of Heaven and a Scroll of Earth, angering Neji, who felt Naruto looked down on him.
• Rock Lee and Neji attacked Naruto, only for him to vanish as a Shadow Clone; Tenten picked up the scrolls, but Neji ordered her to destroy them.

Naruto rapidly gathered exam scrolls and sent them to allied teams, leaving the Hidden Sand trio facing two mysterious projectiles intercepted by Gaara’s sand.

• Tenten destroyed the Heaven and Earth Scrolls Naruto had given her team, and Neji left to search for scrolls.
• Naruto defeated the Sound Ninja trio and took their Earth Scroll, while teams without Empire ninjas were rapidly disqualified.
• Naruto gave the Ino-Shika-Cho Trio both scrolls and told them to meet him and Sasuke at the tower.
• Shino revealed that he had collected both scrolls and told Hinata that Naruto wanted her to give them to her brother.
• Temari tried to deflect two incoming projectiles, but Gaara caught them with a wall of sand.

Naruto rescued Karin from Grass ninja who were exploiting her healing ability, then reunited with Sasuke after collecting scrolls from rival teams. Naruto and Sasuke became curious about the forbidden scroll contents and decided to make Sakura open one, leaving her to take the blame.

• Temari wondered why anyone would discard a powerful scroll, while Kankuro recognized Naruto and envied his close companions.
• Naruto rescued Karin from two Grass ninja, learned she was an Uzumaki prisoner, and gave her a Flying Thunder God Kunai in case she needed help.
• Sasuke killed the Eight-Headed Serpent and its transformed ninja, suspecting the enemy had resembled Orochimaru.
• Naruto met Sasuke with six sets of scrolls and revealed he had gathered twelve sets before giving some away; Sasuke admitted he had destroyed the Earth Scroll he needed.
• Naruto persuaded the curious Sasuke to open a forbidden scroll, and they decided Sakura should open it for them.

Sakura was knocked unconscious by a scroll’s illusion technique, while Naruto and Sasuke dismissed the scrolls as uninteresting and left her with Sasuke to wake. Neji’s team had lost its scrolls, and Rock Lee and Tenten reached the tower without Neji, prompting Naruto to wonder what had happened to the scroll he gave them.

• Sakura opened a mysterious scroll, fell unconscious under its illusion, and Sasuke used his illusion power to wake her at Naruto’s request.
• Naruto and Sasuke found only a simple Mechanism Hypnosis Technique in the other scrolls and prepared to leave.
• Neji learned that scrolls carried by his team and other teams had vanished, panicked about failing the exam, and considered stealing another team’s scroll.
• Rock Lee carried a sick Tenten toward the tower, then put her down to rest while Neji tried to think of another plan.
• A day later, the Empire’s seven members waited in the central tower, and Rock Lee and Tenten arrived without Neji after going to seek a scroll and ambush an enemy.
• Naruto questioned Rock Lee about the scroll he had given their team and asked whether someone had taken it.

Naruto’s teammates received scrolls from him, but Rock Lee and Tenten struggled to explain their own scroll to Neji. Neji grew furious when he thought they had attacked Hinata, and demanded to know where she was.

• Hinata handed Tenten a black box containing a scroll before entering the tower with the others.
• Rock Lee accused Naruto of treating his team’s scrolls like charity, and Naruto revealed he had already collected the remaining scrolls and given away others.
• Tenten and Rock Lee decided to tell Neji they had taken the scroll from Hinata, hoping to protect Neji’s pride.
• Neji reunited with Tenten and Rock Lee near the tower, and Tenten handed him the black box when he asked about it.
• Rock Lee and Tenten claimed they had defeated Hinata to get the scroll, and Neji reacted with fury and demanded to know whether she was all right and where she was.

Neji joined the others in the tower after passing the Forest of Death exam, where Naruto’s collection of scrolls failed to end the exam early because one was missing. At the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools, Hiruzen weighed holding a Five Kage Summit against the danger of hidden villages weakening one another while facing an outside threat.

• Tenten urged Neji to accept that he had passed and enter the tower with the others, and Neji eventually agreed.
• The five teams gathered in the tower and opened their Heaven and Earth scrolls, summoning Iruka, who explained the exam rules.
• Naruto presented the scrolls he had collected, but Iruka said one scroll was missing and required the students to wait four more days.
• Neji confessed that he had destroyed the missing scroll and apologized for delaying the Empire’s mission, asking the others not to go easy on him in the matches.
• At the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools, Hiruzen considered inviting the Five Kage to a summit while worrying that the hidden villages might fight among themselves instead of uniting against invaders.

The Five Great Shinobi Villages and the Land of Iron received invitations to Konoha’s Chunin Exams, while Konoha began the third exam’s preliminaries under new promotion rules. As the contestants prepared to draw lots, Guy suspected the missing Third Hokage might be planning a surprise attack on the other villages.

• Fourth Raikage A tore up Konoha’s invitation, then agreed to send Mabui and Darui after learning the Daimyo had ordered Hidden Cloud Village to attend.
• Ōnoki decided to visit Konoha with Kitsuchi, while Kurotsuchi stayed in Hidden Stone Village.
• The Mizukage chose to attend with Chōjūrō and Ao, and Nagato sent Deva Path Pain with Konan to Konoha.
• Mifune rejected Konoha’s invitation and tore it up, dismissing the samurai’s involvement in a shinobi contest.
• Hayate Gekko explained that the fifteen contestants would fight one-on-one for ten final-exam spots, with a bye advancing automatically, and that winners could earn promotion to Chunin or Jonin.
• Guy, Kakashi, Kurenai Yuhi, and Asuma discussed the village’s strange atmosphere, and Guy wondered whether the missing Third Hokage planned to attack the other shinobi villages.

Sasuke drew the number 0 and advanced directly to the final exam, while Naruto was paired against Kiba Inuzuka. The first match began with both Genin ready to fight before the gathered Shinobi World.

• Naruto celebrated drawing number 1, but Sasuke drew 0 and was granted direct advancement to the final exam.
• Kiba Inuzuka drew number 2 and eagerly celebrated his matchup against Naruto, convinced he would win.
• The remaining draws paired Neji Hyuga with Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame with Sakura Haruno, Kankuro with Ino Yamanaka, Nara Shikamaru with Temari, Gaara with Tenten, and Rock Lee with Choji Akimichi.
• Hayate Gekko announced the matchups and gave the contestants half an hour to rest; Kurenai Yuhi predicted Kiba would beat Naruto, while Kakashi said Naruto might surprise them.
• Hayate explained the match rules to Naruto and Kiba, then announced that the first preliminary match had begun.

Naruto faced Kiba in the examination, matching the Inuzuka’s beast techniques and surprising the watching jonin. The battle continued with Kiba losing control of his Chakra as black smoke billowed from his head.

• Kiba fed Soldier Pills to himself and Akamaru, then used the Four Legs Technique to attack Naruto.
• Naruto escaped Kiba’s strike with the Substitution Technique and then copied the Four Legs Technique, astonishing Kiba.
• Kiba used Beast-Human Clone with Akamaru, and Naruto appeared to copy the move using a clone.
• Kiba and Akamaru attacked with Fang Passing Fang, and Naruto joined them with his Shadow Clone using the same technique.
• Kurenai, Asuma, Guy, and Kakashi reacted to Naruto’s copied techniques as Kiba’s Chakra dwindled and black smoke rose from his head.

Naruto defeated Kiba, and Neji defeated Hinata in the Chunin Exam matches. During Sakura’s match against Shino, Sasuke secretly used Tsukuyomi on her, causing her eyes to change into the Three-Tomoe.

• Naruto spun Kiba until he and Akamaru passed out, then Hayate declared Naruto the winner.
• Neji defeated Hinata with a single palm strike, and Hinata forfeited after realizing how thoroughly he had outmatched her.
• Kiba told Naruto that Hayate’s wife was Elite Jonin Yuugao Uzuki.
• Sakura began her match against Shino while Sasuke secretly tested his Genjutsu control on her.
• Sasuke activated Kaleidoscope Tsukuyomi within Sakura, making her eyes transform into the Three-Tomoe and startling Jiraiya and the examiners.

The preliminary round continued as Shino, Kankuro, Shikamaru, and Gaara won their matches, while their opponents forfeited or were defeated. Rock Lee faced Choji in the final match, which ended when Lee's Bicycle Kick sent Choji crashing through a wall and out of the examination grounds.

• Sasuke's Genjutsu-controlled Sakura was overwhelmed by Shino's insects, and Hayate Gekko declared Shino Aburame the winner.
• Ino's Mind Transfer Technique failed against Kankuro's puppet decoy, so she forfeited and Kankuro won.
• Shikamaru used the Shadow Solitary Binding Technique to control Temari, forcing her to say she surrendered and making him the winner.
• Gaara stopped Tenten's weapons with Magnet Release and sent them flying around her, prompting her to forfeit.
• Rock Lee attacked Choji's Human Boulder with a Bicycle Kick, sending Choji through a wall and out of the examination grounds.

The Chunin Exam preliminaries ended after Rock Lee knocked Choji through a wall and Sasuke used genjutsu to make Temari attack Hayate. Underground, Orochimaru emerged from Kabuto Yakushi and implanted him with Hashirama Cells, leaving Kabuto to pursue Ryūchi Cave Sage Mode as Orochimaru foresaw great changes in the Shinobi World.

• Rock Lee accidentally kicked Choji through the arena wall, and Choji surrendered after confirming he had only superficial injuries.
• Sakura, Choji, and Kiba declined to challenge the finalists, but Temari challenged Sasuke and was caught in his genjutsu, causing her to attack Hayate before he knocked her unconscious.
• Hayate declared the preliminary matches over, and Guy and Kakashi wagered on which of their teams would win the finals.
• Temari woke while being carried by Gaara's sand and learned from Baki that Sasuke had trapped her in genjutsu.
• Orochimaru emerged from Kabuto Yakushi through a three-tomoe Curse Seal, then implanted Kabuto with Hashirama Cells and left him information about Ryūchi Cave Sage Mode.
• Orochimaru recalled the young man whose eyes resembled Itachi's and warned that the Shinobi World might soon undergo a great change.

Jiraiya faced the visiting leaders and representatives as the Hidden Leaf’s acting Hokage, explaining that the Fifth Hokage candidate was away on a secret mission. He planned to prepare Naruto for the Chunin Exams, then noticed Konan among the visitors and saw her react to his new position.

• Ōnoki criticized the Hidden Leaf for making Jiraiya receive the guests instead of the Hokage, stirring up resentment among the visiting leaders.
• Jiraiya donned the Hokage robes and introduced himself as the Hidden Leaf’s current Hokage, the Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku.
• Mei Terumi teased Jiraiya and invited him to discuss village governance, while the Kazekage questioned whether Jiraiya was only a temporary Hokage.
• Jiraiya said the Fifth Hokage candidate was away on a secret mission and asserted that he represented the Hokage and the Hidden Leaf.
• Jiraiya considered giving Naruto intensive training before the Chunin Exams, including teaching him the Summoning Technique and possibly adjusting his seal.
• Jiraiya spotted Konan among the visitors, and Konan lowered her head as she wondered whether Jiraiya-sensei had become acting Hokage.