Chapter Summaries

Sarutobi Hiruzen and Konoha’s leaders approved a Joint Chunin Exam and planned to have Shuichi participate, while Orochimaru refused to decide for his disciple. Shuichi continued training, assessing his progress in Chakra Nature Transformation and Shape Transformation.

• Sarutobi Hiruzen explained the Joint Chunin Exam’s purpose and benefits, and the Jonin approved holding it on July 1st.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen asked Orochimaru to agree to Shuichi’s participation, but Orochimaru told the leaders to ask Shuichi directly.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen promised to speak to Shuichi himself, then asked Danzo whether they should draw candidates from the Anbu reserve unit.
• Ishikawa Tatsuki and Yūhi Kurenai trained harder, and Shuichi gave them extra instruction when he was in the village.
• Shuichi continued practicing his Body Flicker Technique and chakra transformations, judging both of his transformation abilities to be near the peak of B-rank difficulty.
• Shuichi had mastered wind, earth, and water transformations but had not begun training in Lightning Element ninjutsu.

Shuichi trained Water Release while carefully avoiding techniques that could harm his still-developing meridian system. The Third Hokage summoned him to discuss Konoha’s first Joint Chunin Exam, leaving Shuichi to decide whether to participate in a contest the Hokage wanted him to use to showcase Konoha’s strength.

• Shuichi reviewed his mastered techniques and planned to focus on Water Formation Wall while postponing the Rasengan and creating new ninjutsu until his body had grown.
• Shuichi practiced Water Formation Wall and considered how Water Release could draw on Chakra, moisture in the air, or water already in the environment.
• An Anbu summoned Shuichi to the Hokage’s Office at the Third Hokage’s request.
• The Third Hokage praised Shuichi’s mission performance and told him that Konoha would host the first Joint Chunin Exam in two months.
• Shuichi understood that the Third Hokage wanted him to enter the exam and represent Konoha, though promotion offered him little practical benefit.

Shuichi agreed to lead Konoha’s team in the Joint Chunin Exam after the Third Hokage offered him rewards and access to ninjutsu. He met his teammates, Sarutobi Kohei and Hyuga Akiha, and surprised them by revealing his skills.

• The Third Hokage persuaded Shuichi to join the exam by appointing him captain and promising rewards, mission credit, and a choice of ninjutsu.
• Shuichi accepted and studied the participating villages and their abilities before the team’s first meeting.
• At Training Ground 10, Shuichi met Sarutobi Kohei and Hyuga Akiha, his new teammates.
• Kohei described his Fire Release, shurikenjutsu, and taijutsu, while Akiha explained her Gentle Fist and Byakugan reconnaissance range.
• Shuichi said he was proficient in wind, earth, and water transformations, shocking Kohei and Akiha.

Shuichi sparred with Sarutobi Kohei and Hyuga Akiha to demonstrate his strength and test their teamwork. After countering their attacks and impressing them with his ninjutsu, he continued the fight, and Hyuga Akiha launched a Gentle Fist attack as his Water Formation Wall fell.

• Shuichi invited Sarutobi Kohei and Hyuga Akiha to attack him in a spar, and they opened with a coordinated taijutsu assault.
• Shuichi used the Body Flicker Technique to escape their close-range attacks, then deflected Sarutobi Kohei's Shuriken.
• Shuichi used the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique to attack both opponents, cutting Sarutobi Kohei's thigh and forcing Hyuga Akiha to deflect the Kunai.
• Shuichi urged the pair to continue, and Sarutobi Kohei used Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique while Hyuga Akiha closed in.
• Shuichi blocked the fireballs with Water Release: Water Formation Wall, and Hyuga Akiha attacked as the wall fell, but Shuichi dodged her first Gentle Fist strike.

Shuichi defeated Hyuga Akiha and Sarutobi Kohei with a Shadow Clone and Earth Release feint, leaving both impressed by his skill and Chakra reserves. The three then planned how their team would approach the Joint Chunin Exams two months away.

• Hyuga Akiha struck Shuichi's Shadow Clone, and Shuichi used Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu to trap her underground.
• Shuichi explained how he had hidden his real body underground while his Shadow Clone used Water Wall, shocking Hyuga Akiha and Sarutobi Kohei with his Chakra control and reserves.
• Sarutobi Kohei conceded that they could not continue fighting Shuichi, and Hyuga Akiha emerged from the soil without her earlier arrogance.
• Shuichi, Sarutobi Kohei, and Hyuga Akiha discussed the likely difficulty of the Joint Chunin Exams and prepared codes and Byakugan reconnaissance for the written test.
• Shuichi told his teammates to follow the exam rules in the Forest of Death and have Hyuga Akiha conceal her Byakugan before scouting opponents.

Shuichi learned about the Byakugan and the Hyuga Clan’s combat abilities from Hyuga Akiha while sparring with his team. As the Joint Chunin Exam approached, he prepared for the event in new ninja attire.

• Shuichi sparred with Hyuga Akiha and asked her about the Byakugan and the Hyuga Clan.
• Hyuga Akiha explained the Byakugan’s scouting and combat ranges, the Hyuga Clan’s unusual Chakra and meridian system, and how the Gentle Fist disrupted opponents’ Chakra.
• Shuichi recognized the Hyuga Clan’s strength and its advantages in scouting and combat.
• By late June of Year 44 of Konoha, unfamiliar ninjas arrived in the village as Konoha Ninja and Uchiha Guard increased their patrols for the Joint Chunin Exam.
• Shuichi told Orochimaru he would participate in the Chunin Exams, and Orochimaru reduced his mission workload.
• Shuichi dressed in his newly prepared purplish-black ninja outfit and wore his forehead protector on his head.

The author explained how Chakra reserves could be understood through the Byakugan, arguing that Chakra was stored in the meridian system while physical stamina supplied the energy to produce it. The chapter left the numerical quantification of Chakra reserves for a later discussion and noted that Shuichi’s limits would ease as he grew older.

• The author argued that the Byakugan revealed a ninja’s meridians and extracted Chakra, not their full reserves or physical stamina.
• The author used Kisame Hoshigaki’s Great Waterfall Technique and Naruto Uzumaki’s Shadow Clone Jutsu to explain why Neji Hyuga judged their Chakra reserves to be enormous.
• The author concluded that Neji inferred their high reserves from the great amounts of Chakra they used and the likely capacity of their meridian systems.
• The author explained that Shuichi had abundant physical stamina but was limited by his young, underdeveloped meridian system.

Takeda Shuichi arrived at the written Chunin Exam with Sarutobi Kohei and Hyuga Akiha, drawing attention because of his small stature and unusual position as team captain. As the hall filled with contestants from five villages, Shuichi observed their reactions and resolved to prove himself in the later exams.

• Takeda Shuichi decided to leave his sword at home and rely on ninjutsu in the Chunin Exams.
• A Kusagakure instructor mocked Shuichi's age and appearance, and a Konoha instructor defended him.
• Takeda Shuichi entered the exam hall with Sarutobi Kohei and Hyuga Akiha, then greeted Nara Rokujin and his Ino-Shika-Cho teammates.
• Nara Rokujin and the other contestants inferred that Takeda Shuichi was strong or clever because his teammates deferred to him.
• The hall filled with forty squads from five villages, and Shuichi realized he was the shortest contestant by far.

Yamanaka Yuichi began the Joint Chunin Exam’s written test by using strict rules to test the examinees’ discipline, observation, and memory. He eliminated a Takigakure squad after one member failed to remember his teammates’ seat locations.

• Yamanaka Yuichi introduced himself as chief examiner and warned that any examinee who broke discipline could be disqualified.
• Yamanaka Yuichi ordered each squad to draw seat numbers from different boxes and move to their desks without speaking or looking around.
• Shuichi and his teammates used coded communication to memorize one another’s seats and realized the scrambled desk numbers tested their observation and memory.
• Yamanaka Yuichi called on the Takigakure Genin in seat 46 and then ordered his teammates to stand.
• Yamanaka Yuichi eliminated the Takigakure squad, telling them the Genin in seat 46 had forgotten his teammates’ locations.

Yamanaka Yuichi began the written Chunin Exam by using the seating arrangement and strict rules to test the Genin's intelligence gathering and teamwork. After explaining the scoring and cheating penalties, he started the forty-five-minute exam, leaving Shuichi to wonder whether more tests were hidden in it.

• Yamanaka Yuichi eliminated the Takigakure team after one Genin turned around, prompting Shuichi to recognize the seating arrangement as a test of teams' intelligence exchange.
• Yamanaka Yuichi had Assistant Examiners distribute the papers and explained that each contained ten questions, with teams judged partly by their combined scores.
• Yamanaka Yuichi warned that each Genin could receive up to three cheating violations, but a team's total violations could not exceed five.
• Shuichi reasoned that the rules tested trust between teammates and suspected that the exam might contain additional challenges.
• Yamanaka Yuichi started the forty-five-minute timer, and the Genin turned over their papers and began answering.

Shuichi and Hyuga Akiha used their intelligence-gathering abilities to obtain answers during the Chunin Exams written test. Akiha passed the answers to Shuichi, who copied them and sent them on to Sarutobi Kohei as the exam continued.

• Shuichi recognized that the difficult test was designed to assess intelligence-gathering and teamwork, and waited for Akiha to act.
• Shuichi observed the examinees and identified an answer provider in the fifth row, while concluding that Kohei would rely on his teammates for information.
• Hyuga Akiha activated her Byakugan, monitored the three planted answer providers, and noticed they had slowed their writing before finishing together at the twenty-fifth minute.
• Akiha flicked a tiny paper ball beneath the desks to Shuichi, who received it with a small snake and copied down the answers.
• Shuichi put the answer sheet back in the snake's mouth and sent it crawling toward Sarutobi Kohei.

Yamanaka Yuichi announced the results of the written exam and explained that only teams scoring a perfect thirty points had passed. He revealed that the exam tested observation, teamwork, intelligence gathering, and the speed and reliability of communication.

• Yamanaka Yuichi's alarm ended the exam, and assistant examiners tallied violations and scores.
• Yamanaka Yuichi eliminated teams that exceeded the violation limit or failed to meet the required score, then congratulated all remaining teams on passing.
• Yamanaka Yuichi told the eliminated candidates that only teams with a perfect score of thirty points passed.
• Yamanaka Yuichi explained how scrambled seats and communication rules tested candidates' observation and teamwork.
• Yamanaka Yuichi explained that the answer providers' timing tested the completeness, efficiency, and transmission of intelligence.

Yamanaka Yuichi explained how the First Exam tested teamwork and obedience to its rules, then sent the surviving teams to prepare for the Forest of Death. At their lodgings, the smaller villages’ leaders reacted to their losses and ordered their remaining teams to cooperate and advance.

• Yamanaka Yuichi explained that teams needed every member to earn full marks to pass safely and warned that exploiting loopholes would have led to elimination.
• Shuichi reflected on how the ninja world’s views of rules and ninjas as tools changed after the Third Great Ninja War.
• The surviving Genin were told to gather at the Forest of Death entrance at three in the afternoon for the Second Stage.
• The Kusagakure team leader berated his teams after learning that only Hirama’s team had qualified, then ordered Hirama to pass the next stage.
• The Amegakure team leader ordered his two remaining teams to work together and ensure at least one reached the third stage.

Sunagakure’s lead Jonin, Tosha, assessed Konoha’s teams with the Genin who passed the First Exam and prepared them to target Konoha’s clan squads in the Second Stage. He told them to prioritize reaching the Third Exam and advancing Sunagakure’s military standing, while Amegakure’s remaining teams faced the pressure of salvaging their own mission.

• An Amegakure Chunin recognized that most of his village’s teams had been eliminated before fighting and hoped one of the two remaining teams would reach the Third Exam.
• Tosha questioned Sunagakure’s surviving Genin about Konoha’s participants, and Yazo reported the Ino-Shika-Cho squad and Konoha’s Uchiha and Hyuga teams.
• Yukari told Tosha that the Hyuga squad had a captain who appeared younger than ten, prompting Tosha to worry that Konoha had another exceptional talent.
• Tosha ordered the Sunagakure teams to gather in pairs and eliminate as many opponents as possible, while most teams were to retreat if they encountered Konoha squads with clan members.
• Tosha told Yazo’s and Yukari’s teams to fight those Konoha squads with full force, as Sunagakure aimed to demonstrate its strength and improve its standing.

Sunagakure planned to conceal its Chunin-level examinees during the Second Stage, while Shuichi's squad planned to use Hyuga Akiha's Byakugan to gain an advantage in the Forest of Death. The chapter ended with all twenty-four squads gathered at the forest entrance, awaiting the exam.

• Sunaki told Tosha that one Konoha squad seemed likely to include hidden Chunin, and Tosha ordered him to avoid exposing Sunagakure's strength unless necessary.
• Shuichi, Sarutobi Kohei, and Hyuga Akiha discussed the dangers of starting the Second Stage at night and planned to use Akiha's Byakugan to find enemies and traps.
• Shuichi decided the squad would search for an isolated enemy and sleep in the Tower at the center of the Forest of Death.
• The examinees gathered at the forest entrance and saw its high fence, enormous trees, and difficult terrain.
• Shuichi counted twenty-four squads: thirteen from Konoha, six from Sunagakure, two each from Takigakure and Amegakure, and one from Kusagakure.

Shuichi and the other Genin learned the rules of the Second Chunin Exam, a three-day survival test in the Forest of Death where teams had to seize both Heaven and Earth Scrolls. The examiners made clear that casualties were unlimited, and the teams prepared to enter a contest expected to turn violent immediately.

• Shuichi agreed with Sarutobi Kohei and Hyuga Akiha that Konoha's teams might be targeted by alliances from other villages, so they should act quickly.
• Umino Ikkaku arrived at the Forest of Death and warned the examinees that the Second Stage could result in any number of deaths.
• All participating teams signed the Death Consent Form and submitted it to the Assistant Examiner.
• Umino Ikkaku showed the examinees a map of Training Ground No. 44 and explained that they had to reach the Tower at its center.
• Umino Ikkaku announced that teams had three days to collect both a Heaven Scroll and an Earth Scroll, urging them to fight for their villages.

Shuichi and the other squads collected their concealed scrolls and kept their Forest of Death entrance locations secret before the exam began. A Konoha team led by a mature-looking young ninja secretly tagged Sunaki’s Sunagakure squad with a parasitic insect, suspecting they were not Genin.

• Umino Ikkaku explained the exam’s scroll, team-survival, and entry rules, then led the Genin to collect their scrolls.
• Shuichi received an Earth Scroll and told Hyuga Akiha not to use her Byakugan while other squads were nearby.
• Shuichi’s squad and the others concealed their starting locations by heading away from the examination grounds before turning toward their entrances.
• Sunaki’s squad passed a suspicious Konoha team while both squads continued toward their separate entrances.
• Shihei revealed that he had placed a Female Parasitic Insect on a Sunagakure ninja so they could track the squad once the exam began.
• The Konoha captain and his teammates said they suspected Sunaki’s squad were not Genin and had been sent by the Hokage to watch for trouble.

Shuichi's squad entered the Forest of Death and searched for rival teams while other squads chose their own routes. Hyuga Akiha detected a relatively weak squad about five hundred meters away, leaving Shuichi's team poised to approach its first encounter.

• Shuichi's squad presented its entrance number and entered the Forest of Death when the Second Chunin Exam began.
• Shuichi led his teammates southeast as Sunaki's team and a Konoha team also set out to search for enemies.
• Hirama guided Kusagakure's remaining team toward the river, choosing a cautious route between the forest's edges and center.
• Shuichi asked Hyuga Akiha to activate her Byakugan and scan for enemy squads after his team had traveled for some time.
• Hyuga Akiha detected a squad with relatively weak Chakra signatures about five hundred meters to the north.

Shuichi’s squad used Hyuga Akiha’s Byakugan to ambush Hirama’s Kusagakure team and quickly defeat them. After taking their Earth Scroll, Shuichi faced Sarutobi Kohei’s question about whether to kill the defeated Genin.

• Hyuga Akiha spotted Hirama’s Kusagakure team, and Shuichi ordered his squad to surround and attack them.
• Shuichi and Sarutobi Kohei struck the Kusagakure Genin while Hyuga Akiha joined the fight against Hirama.
• Hyuga Akiha used Gentle Fist Style: Eight Trigrams Sixteen Palms to block Hirama’s Chakra, and Hirama offered up his team’s Scroll.
• Shuichi collected the Earth Scroll and tossed the two defeated Genin beside Hirama.
• Sarutobi Kohei asked whether Shuichi intended to kill the Kusagakure team, and Hirama begged the squad to spare them.

Shuichi spared the Kusagakure squad after defeating them and led his team toward the central river, where Akiha spotted a stronger group ahead. The group was Yazo’s Sunagakure squad, which had already secured both Scrolls and was following a coordinated reconnaissance plan.

• Shuichi told the injured Hirama that he had attacked the Kusagakure team to punish their teacher for insulting him, then left them alive.
• Hirama decided to rest before treating his teammates’ injuries while Shuichi’s squad continued toward the central river.
• Shuichi, Kohei, and Akiha reasoned that teams were likely gathering near the Central Tower and adjusted their condition as they approached the river.
• Akiha used her Byakugan and spotted a powerful team five hundred meters away, which Shuichi identified as likely Konoha or Sunagakure.
• Yazo told Saki that his squad would rest rather than rush to the Tower, since they already had both Scrolls and darkness could make travel dangerous.
• Yazo’s squad had previously defeated a Konoha team through coordinated attacks and obtained its Scroll without killing the defeated Genin.