Chapter Summaries

Kiyoshi’s team entered the Training Ground with an Earth scroll and quietly navigated the forest, conserving water and avoiding the crowded routes. After camping through their first night, they heard a scream cut off deep in the forest, and Kiyoshi memorized the direction it came from.

• Kiyoshi’s team received an Earth scroll, and Anko sent the teams through the gates for the five-day test.
• Sasuke took the rear as the team turned toward thicker trees and followed the water away from the crowds.
• The team avoided fresh tracks, checked its waterskins, and rested at a sheltered spot while Kiyoshi planned how to divide the five days.
• At a stream, Kiyoshi’s team spotted a complete shed snakeskin on a stone and skirted around it without touching it.
• The four camped without a fire, took turns keeping watch, and secured the scroll for the night.
• A scream sounded and abruptly stopped in the forest; Kiyoshi stayed still and aligned its direction with the stars.

Kiyoshi and his team followed fresh tracks upstream and were ambushed by a group trying to drive them along the path. They escaped without injuries or taking a scroll and continued north, leaving the attackers behind.

• Kiyoshi examined fresh footprints and signs of a recent camp, then led the team upstream after the tracks.
• Attackers launched kunai volleys that blocked the path ahead and behind, forcing the team to take cover as figures closed in from both sides.
• Kiyoshi used a Substitution Technique and a Joint Lock to pin one attacker, while Sasuke and Naruto’s shadow clones cornered the others without seriously injuring them.
• When Sasuke asked whether they were taking the scroll, Kiyoshi said they were moving on, and the attackers withdrew into the woods.
• Kiyoshi found a broken Forehead Protector and discarded kunai but no blood or injuries, then warned the team, “No greed,” before they continued along the stream.

Kiyoshi led the group away from the stream and camped on a ridge, where a strange sound approached from the north during the night. When the forest fell into unnatural silence before dawn, he ordered everyone to break camp and change course, leaving the silence behind.

• Kiyoshi directed Sasuke and Naruto away from the stream and onto a ridge, where the group found no fresh tracks or signs of people.
• The group made a cautious camp, rationed their food and water, and assigned Naruto the first watch and Kiyoshi the second.
• During Kiyoshi's watch, a tremulous sound came closer from the north before fading into the darkness.
• Naruto briefly joined Kiyoshi at the watch post, then returned to sleep while Kiyoshi monitored the forest.
• Before dawn, the insects, wind, birds, and other forest sounds stopped, and Sasuke shifted his shoulders without speaking.
• Kiyoshi ordered the group to break camp and take a new route northwest, away from the stream and old trail.

Kiyoshi’s group was ambushed by Zaku, Dosu, and Kin in the valley, and Naruto took the first blast while protecting someone. When the enemies aimed another attack at Naruto, Kiyoshi drew his sword and stopped Zaku with a lightning-charged slash, but the enemy ring remained closed.

• The group’s silent trek through the valley ended when a blast scattered them and Naruto shoved someone out of its path, taking the hit himself.
• Zaku, Dosu, and Kin closed off both ends of the valley and attacked the surrounded group.
• Sasuke attacked Zaku but faltered when Dosu struck him with a burst of sound.
• Sakura threw herself in front of the injured Naruto as Zaku charged his tubes for another blast.
• Kiyoshi drew his sword and used the Thunderclap Blade to split the incoming force and disable Zaku’s forearm.
• Dosu, Kin, and Zaku tightened their positions around the group while Kiyoshi held his stance and the valley fell quiet.

Kin, Dosu, and the others attacked Kiyoshi’s group in a ravine, but a silent presence from the woods forced the attackers to retreat. After tending Naruto’s injury, the group traveled through the night, and Sasuke recognized that the lingering chill on his sword had not come from their enemies.

• Kin used her bells to disorient the group while Dosu probed their defenses, and Kiyoshi and Sasuke held them off.
• A shadow passed over the ravine, silencing its sounds and revealing a vertical pupil reflected on the iron around Dosu’s wrist.
• Kin, Dosu, and the half-kneeling attacker retreated into the darkness as the pressure in the ravine lifted.
• Sakura bandaged Naruto while Kiyoshi glimpsed a white mask near the ravine mouth and kept the sight to himself.
• The group walked through the night, and Sasuke said the chill remaining on his sword had not come from their attackers.

Kiyoshi led his team through a fog-filled ravine while steering them away from a mysterious glint, then encountered a courteous stranger whose terrifying presence tested their resolve. After the stranger disappeared into the mist, the team continued onward and heard a branch snap ahead.

• Kiyoshi guided Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke around the area where they had seen a glint, choosing firm ground and avoiding slippery rocks.
• A friendly man wearing a scratched grass-woven Forehead Protector approached with two followers, offered water, and asked the team questions about their route and supplies.
• Kiyoshi refused to accept the man's route paper at close range and grew suspicious when the man asked where the team would replenish its supplies.
• The man peeled a damp layer from his face, revealing a bloodlessly white face, and overwhelmed the team with a crushing force before reminding them that no one could die in the forest.
• The man and his followers vanished into the fog, and Sasuke moved closer to Kiyoshi as the team resumed walking.
• A snapped branch landed ahead of the team.

A cloaked man ambushed Kiyoshi, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura in the mist, overwhelming Naruto and Sasuke before Anko drove him away. Kiyoshi carried the unconscious, marked Sasuke toward the valley mouth with medicine from a leaf-clad stranger, while the markings on Sasuke’s neck began to stir.

• The cloaked man drained Naruto’s strength with a hand on his head, then turned his attention to Sasuke as Sakura and Kiyoshi were held back.
• Sasuke’s fire attack missed, and Kiyoshi’s Thunderclap Blade was stopped between the man’s fingers.
• The man appeared behind Sasuke and felled him, leaving a red dot and spreading black markings on his neck.
• Anko confronted the man and ordered him to leave; he departed with his two lackeys as a masked figure vanished from the slope.
• A leaf-clad stranger gave Kiyoshi medicine and warned Sakura not to move Sasuke’s neck.
• Kiyoshi checked Sasuke’s pulse, carried him toward the valley mouth with Sakura and the others, and saw the markings stir as they left.

Kiyoshi’s team reached the Tower with Sasuke still feverish, and the scrolls revealed that passing the forest required teamwork. After Iruka registered the surviving teams and announced a preliminary round before the finals in a month, Kiyoshi watched Kabuto’s group leave, still puzzled by their help.

• Kiyoshi’s team followed the suspiciously precise directions of Kabuto’s group through the forest and reached the Tower before dark.
• Anko inspected claw marks on the Tower wall as the team arrived, while Sakura counted their scrolls and discovered an extra one had been slipped into their supplies.
• Sakura opened the Heaven and Earth scrolls, summoning Iruka, who explained that the test required teamwork and announced a preliminary round before the finals in a month.
• Iruka registered Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kiyoshi, then confirmed that their team and the other present teams had passed.
• Kabuto and his companions left the Tower, and Kiyoshi remained uncertain why they had guided his team through the forest.

The candidates drew lots for the preliminary matches, and Hayate announced the pairings as the field prepared for the village exam. Sasuke remained unconscious as Zaku answered the call to their match and entered the light alone.

• Hayate explained the rules for the preliminary matches and began drawing lots after the Hokage ordered him to start.
• Choji Akimichi drew a blank lot and received a bye, while the other candidates were paired, including Sakura with Ino, Naruto with Kiba, and Rock Lee with Gaara.
• Dosu was paired with Kiyoshi, but Dosu withdrew after saying he was still thinking about Kiyoshi's golden move.
• Kakashi arrived as Hayate finished the final pairings, and Anko spoke with him quietly by a pillar.
• Hayate called Sasuke and Zaku for their match, but Sasuke remained unconscious while Zaku answered and entered the light alone.

Sasuke defeated Zaku, experiencing a brief surge of strength and markings that vanished after the fight. Sakura and Ino drew, while Shikamaru and Temari won their matches; Kakashi noticed Sasuke’s covered hand and neck as the crowd began to leave.

• Sasuke overcame Zaku in three exchanges, briefly developing burning markings on his right hand before they disappeared.
• Sakura and Ino exchanged blows and fell together, so Hayate declared that both advanced.
• Shikamaru immobilized Kin with his shadow, then Temari swept Tenten and her weapons out of the arena.
• Kiyoshi watched the matches and told Naruto to save his questions for later.
• Kakashi noticed Sasuke’s sleeve and the back of his neck before passing Kiyoshi without speaking.
• The spectators began moving toward the exit, leaving Sasuke beside a pillar at the edge of the light.

Kiyoshi defeated Dosu in the opening match by exploiting the rhythm of his Iron Apparatus and pinning his sleeve before locking his arm. Naruto then beat Kiba, Shino defeated Kankuro, and the chapter ended with Kiyoshi watching the Sunagakure visitors as Temari told Kankuro to stop humming.

• Kiyoshi studied Dosu's sound-based timing, pinned his sleeve to the ground, and forced him to yield with a wrist and elbow lock.
• Dosu bowed and left the ring as the crowd reacted to Kiyoshi's technique.
• Naruto arrived late and defeated Kiba by using clones to wear him down before striking him from behind.
• Shino overwhelmed Kankuro's wooden shell with insects, and Kankuro gathered the scattered insects after losing.
• Kankuro hummed as he packed away his shell, and Temari snapped her fan open and told him to stop.

Hinata and Neji fought to a draw in the preliminaries and both advanced to the finals, while Gaara nearly crushed Rock Lee’s hand before Might Guy intervened. As the ten finalists were confirmed, Kiyoshi gave Hinata water and drew the attention of the Hyuga spectators, while Gaara watched him from across the arena.

• Hinata and Neji exchanged strikes until both fell to their knees, and Hayate ruled that they had drawn and would both advance to the finals.
• Rock Lee attacked Gaara with increasingly powerful kicks, but Gaara’s sand blocked him and then trapped and crushed his hand.
• Might Guy stopped Gaara’s attack and caught Rock Lee as he collapsed.
• The finals roster was read, including Choji, who advanced without fighting.
• Kiyoshi brought Hinata water, and the Hyuga spectators watched him as he stood beside her.
• Gaara stared at Kiyoshi while sand trickled from his gourd and spread across the tiles.

After the exam, Kiyoshi returned with the group as Rock Lee was carried to the hospital, then received an unsigned note folded like a letter from the Land of Snow. At dusk, he met Izumi and promised to bring her a copy of the finals bracket, leaving the names section of her notebook blank.

• Might Guy carried the unconscious Rock Lee through the village to the hospital while the group endured onlookers’ whispers.
• Iruka completed roll call, and Kakashi explained that Sasuke Uchiha would be away from the team for several days under separate disciplinary supervision.
• Kiyoshi helped bring Rock Lee to the hospital, then signed the injury and team-return records.
• A quiet messenger gave Kiyoshi an unsigned folded note that he recognized as being folded by the same hand as the letter from the Land of Snow.
• Kiyoshi met Izumi at dusk, confirmed that everyone who took the exam had survived, and told her Rock Lee was asleep in the hospital.
• Izumi handed Kiyoshi her copied notebooks and asked him to copy the finals bracket; he filled half a page with lines and told her to pick it up that night.

Kakashi put Sasuke to sleep so he could recover, while Mikoto oversaw the village’s formal confiscation of the Sample Case and its Insignia. The chapter ended with Kiyoshi recording the handover, Sasuke’s return home, and receipt of the Folded Note as the Finals column remained open.

• Kakashi pressed Sasuke’s neck and put him to sleep, then told Kiyoshi not to let him train for the next few days.
• Kiyoshi carried Sasuke to bed, where Sakura sat beside him.
• Mikoto signed the records as village officials removed the Insignia from the Sample Case and filed the item as confiscated.
• Anko showed Mikoto a rubbing whose claw marks matched and submitted a report naming someone without speaking the name aloud.
• Mikoto told Kiyoshi that the exam belonged to the village and the family belonged to her, and Kiyoshi offered to help if needed.
• Kiyoshi recorded the completed handover, Sasuke settled at home, and the Folded Note received but unopened.

Kiyoshi readied himself for the next month’s exam by researching Kankuro, while the finalists were assigned their matchups. Rock Lee learned his leg might never withstand strenuous activity again, and Might Guy left his question about whether he could still stand unanswered.

• Hayate read the five matchups from the noticeboard, including Kiyoshi versus Kankuro and Sasuke versus Gaara, and Jonin collected their students.
• Kiyoshi's Jonin told him to investigate Kankuro, and Kiyoshi found a nearly blank file that depicted a puppet, noting its thread-control points and blind spots.
• Kiyoshi passed Choji leaving a family gathering after he quietly said he was full.
• A doctor told Rock Lee that his leg would no longer be able to withstand strenuous activity, while the silent visitor outside his room never entered.
• Hinata wrote out a practice schedule and hid the copied match list inside her Wrist Guard, while Baki folded a paper at the guesthouse.
• Rock Lee asked Might Guy whether he would still be able to stand at the exam next month, but Guy set down medicine and left without answering.

Kiyoshi accepted and examined cards containing detailed observations of the exam fighters, then secretly kept several, including a card that appeared to come from inside the Tower. He recorded Kabuto Yakushi as under observation and left the chapter with the card hidden in the case file.

• Kabuto Yakushi offered Kiyoshi a stack of cards compiled by examinees who had withdrawn from the preliminaries.
• Kiyoshi noticed the cards contained precise observations from someone who had watched the fights closely, kept three cards, and secretly slipped another into his sleeve.
• At the Konoha Military Police Force records room, Kiyoshi added Kabuto Yakushi's name to a case file and marked him under observation.
• That night, Kiyoshi copied the cards into his notebook and made one draw, receiving Fine Hemp Thread while the pity counter remained unchanged.
• Kiyoshi found the card he had hidden in the file and recognized its Exam Preparation Guide format as one used inside the Tower.

Kakashi brought Naruto to Hot Spring Street, where a checkpoint stalled over a white-haired stranger’s unlisted identity. After the stranger was revealed as Lord Jiraiya, he examined Naruto and left with him, while Kiyoshi marked the register page and drew Jiraiya’s attention to his hands.

• Kiyoshi and the guards stopped the white-haired man for an identity check, but his card did not match the register and the procedure stalled.
• The man said his occupation was novelist and pointed toward the Hot Spring Shop as his destination, while a guard went to fetch help.
• Kakashi arrived with Naruto and identified the white-haired stranger as Lord Jiraiya, prompting the guards and bystanders to stand aside.
• Jiraiya touched Naruto’s abdomen, said someone had fastened a button on him, and heard Kakashi ask him to train the boy.
• Jiraiya left with Naruto, then looked at Kiyoshi’s hand and told him to show his hands later; Kiyoshi closed the register after creasing the page.

Naruto’s hidden fastening was removed in the ravine, restoring his strength, and he agreed to train under the white-haired man’s strict rules. That night, strange cries and coordinated footsteps drew Kiyoshi’s attention toward the ravine.

• The white-haired man removed the fastening from Naruto’s body, and Naruto tested his restored strength.
• Kiyoshi watched from the slope as Naruto recovered, while someone stood silently at the distant lookout post.
• The white-haired man asked Naruto about the night in the woods, but Naruto focused on learning why he had been weak.
• Naruto signed the old scroll with his blood and accepted the white-haired man’s three training rules.
• At midnight, strange cries sounded from the woods, and groups of footsteps hurried toward the ravine and stream ravine.
• Kiyoshi finished writing, closed his book, and stood after hearing the nighttime sounds and footsteps.

Kiyoshi trained with Might Guy, visited Rock Lee in the hospital, and used his saved allotments to make five draws. The final draw gave him a mysterious card called “Wire Sense.”

• Might Guy attacked Kiyoshi in three training exchanges, and Kiyoshi used a training card to read his movements and avoid a direct hit.
• Kiyoshi sat with Izumi, who asked whether Neji’s eyes were really the ones his clan talked about.
• Kiyoshi visited Rock Lee, who exercised beside his bed and told him that Teacher Guy had said to let tears run like sweat.
• Might Guy waited outside Rock Lee’s room but stopped himself from entering, and another visitor also withdrew without going inside.
• Kiyoshi returned to the blue stone, made five draws with his saved allotments, and received a card named “Wire Sense.”

Kiyoshi trained the nameless movement with Shisui on a mist-covered slope, learning through three exchanges how to deceive an opponent’s hand and eyes. Shisui told him to use the technique on the day of the finals, and Kiyoshi agreed.

• Kiyoshi demonstrated his practiced footwork, and Shisui explained that the shadow was an opening rather than a step.
• Shisui tested Kiyoshi in three exchanges: Kiyoshi evaded the first reach, was caught by the second, and moved with the mist to evade the third.
• Shisui said the village might call the move Afterimage but that it had no name once it left the slope, and Kiyoshi accepted it as nameless.
• Kiyoshi told Shisui that he had passed the written test and that the next stage was beyond his to discuss.
• Shisui told Kiyoshi to use the move on the day of the finals, not before, and Kiyoshi answered that he would.