Recaps

Sasuke and Naruto found the surviving Uchiha in Rōran, where Izumi’s Mangekyō abilities kept the unstable Ryūmyaku chakra contained. Naruto and Kushina used the Reincarnation Seal to stabilize it, while preparations began for the Three-Village Joint Exams and Gaara reacted strangely to Hinata.

• Sara led Naruto and Sasuke into the ruins beneath a purple barrier, where Sasuke met the surviving Uchiha and learned how they struggled to sustain their hidden community.
• Sasuke rejected the Uchiha survivors’ revenge and refused Izumi’s request to become clan head, declaring that he would kill Itachi for his own family and relocate those who wished to leave.
• Izumi explained how her Tsukuyomi and Daybreak abilities had contained the Ryūmyaku chakra, and Naruto realized that the barrier was keeping her alive even as it damaged her eyesight.
• Naruto devised a Reincarnation Seal to stabilize the Ryūmyaku chakra without sacrificing Izumi, and Sasuke told him that some Uchiha had moved to the Land of Snow while others chose to remain in Rōran.
• Izumi released Naruto’s Eight Trigrams seal, allowing Kushina to reunite with Minato and Naruto before Kushina used the Reincarnation Seal to fold the Tsukuyomi space and its chakra into Sasuke.
• Hinata and Karin began training for the exams, and Hinata intervened when Kankuro threatened Hanabi and the other children, and Gaara arrived to apologize, then reacted violently when he heard Hinata’s name.
• Izumi chose to leave the Land of Snow for Konoha after several more days, while Koyuki agreed to attend the joint exams and bring Izumi with her.
• The Third and Jiraiya organized Konoha’s exam candidates, Naruto relayed Kakashi’s recommendation for Sasuke and Hinata, and Jiraiya announced that the first three rounds would eliminate 99 percent of candidates.

Naruto and the other examiners put the three-village Chunin Exams in motion as a trap for infiltrators, while Sasuke’s team survived the written test and entered the Forest of Death. Sasuke fought Orochimaru, Naruto rescued the supposedly dead Anbu examiners, and Jiraiya began a plan the Third Hokage refused to accept as the exams continued.

• Jiraiya raised the exams’ difficulty and warned the chief examiners that Akatsuki might exploit them to attack Konoha.
• Naruto sealed Neji’s Caged Bird Seal inside him without damaging his Byakugan, and Sasuke, Hinata, and Karin entered the academy as examinees.
• Naruto and Ibiki used intimidation, cheating penalties, and an impossible tenth question to test candidates’ judgment, and fifty-eight candidates passed the first exam.
• Orochimaru ordered Kabuto to get his team’s child to the final venue safely, while Anko announced the Forest of Death survival test and its scroll requirements.
• Sasuke pursued a masked examiner, took his scroll, and then confronted Orochimaru, who had killed three examiners and attacked him with snakes.
• Hinata and Neji drove back Orochimaru’s Giant Snakes, and Sasuke unleashed Sage Art: Fire Release: Suzaku before collapsing from exhaustion.
• Jiraiya fought Orochimaru while Naruto found the three supposedly dead examiners and sent them away for treatment, then Jiraiya told the Third Hokage he would begin his plan on the exams’ final day.
• Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten set a Forest of Death record by reaching the tower in sixty-eight minutes, and Naruto vouched for them when examiners suspected infiltrators.

The preliminaries exposed new threats and tested the candidates, while Naruto grew closer to Hinata and arranged their engagement. The arc left Naruto at Mount Myōboku, where the Great Toad Sage recognized him as Kurama.

• The examiners uncovered Shikamaru’s exchange with Kabuto’s team, and Jiraiya declared that the Chunin Exams would continue as usual.
• Sasuke, Hinata, and Karin passed the Forest of Death exam, and Naruto explained how their scrolls had marked them for surveillance.
• Jiraiya and Gekko Hayate began the preliminaries, where Sasuke, Temari, Gaara, Rock Lee, Hinata, Ino, Tenten, and Shirakumo won their matches.
• Karatachi Gui revealed Isobu’s chakra during his fight with Hinata, while Taki Metsu retrieved a damaged core from Kankuro’s puppet debris.
• The candidates drew their Third Match opponents as rumors of a joint Chunin Exam and village alliance drew factions toward Konoha.
• Naruto introduced Hinata to Minato and Kushina in his Inner World, and Kushina welcomed Hinata as Naruto’s girlfriend.
• Hiashi agreed to Naruto and Hinata’s engagement, and Jiraiya began teaching them the Summoning Technique.
• Naruto summoned himself to Mount Myōboku, where Gamabunta offered to take him to the Great Toad Sage, who greeted him as Kurama.

Naruto and Hinata trained at Mount Myōboku as the joint Chunin Exams began, where Sasuke, Neji, Tenten, and Lee fought their matches. Gaara’s rampage and Orochimaru’s invasion plunged Konoha into crisis, but Jiraiya’s preparations contained the attackers for the moment as Orochimaru summoned two coffins.

• Gamamaru sent Naruto to train in Mount Myōboku’s senjutsu with Fukasaku and assigned Shima to train Hinata, while Jiraiya learned of Gamamaru’s troubling dream about Naruto and Kurama.
• The joint Chunin Exams began in Konoha, and Sasuke defeated Neji after Neji conceded rather than face Sasuke’s Kirin.
• Temari defeated Tenten, and Rock Lee defeated Kakuzu after opening his gates and striking with his Azure Wolf technique.
• Gaara’s sand turned against him and attacked the arena, and he declared that he wanted destruction and slaughter as the Land of Fire’s Daimyo was reported missing.
• Orochimaru revealed himself after taking the Third Hokage hostage, while Sound and Sand forces attacked Konoha and giant snakes struck the village.
• Hinata severed Gaara’s arm with a golden slash, and Sasuke and Neji pursued Gaara after he fled toward the forest.
• Jiraiya used Flying Thunder God: Suppression to transport marked people into the Tower and activate Naruto’s sealing formula, containing the invasion as Orochimaru summoned two coffins with Impure World Reincarnation.