Chapter Summaries

Lin Chen’s domain subdued the Chunin Exam arena, leaving every contender unable to fight and prompting Konoha, Orochimaru, and the Akatsuki to avoid confronting him. Sasuke chose to abandon his bonds and pursue forbidden power, while all contestants advanced to the Forest of Death trial.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi and the assembled Konoha shinobi recognized Lin Chen’s overwhelming authority, while Orochimaru indefinitely shelved the Konoha Crush.
• Pain ordered the Akatsuki to lie low and forbid all activity involving Konoha until Lin Chen reached the pinnacle of Kage Level.
• The Genin recovered from Lin Chen’s domain, and Naruto, Sakura, Gaara, and Sasuke each confronted the gap between themselves and Lin Chen.
• Sasuke decided to sever his bonds and pursue the darkest forbidden power, and Kakashi realized Sasuke had willingly embraced the abyss.
• The proctor announced that every contestant had advanced to the next round, with three days of rest before the Forest of Death trial.
• Sasuke vowed to reach godhood through darkness and someday stand on equal footing with Lin Chen.

During the three-day break, Konoha, Orochimaru, and the Akatsuki prepared for the Forest of Death examination while Sasuke embraced the Cursed Seal and turned further from Konoha. The second examination began with Lin Chen at the forest entrance and Sasuke poised to follow his dark path.

• The Third Hokage ordered ANBU and Jonin to guard the Forest of Death, watch the Otogakure squad, and protect Team 7, especially Sasuke Uchiha.
• The other villages told their examinees to focus on survival, while Temari and Kankuro kept cautious and Gaara watched the forest as a trial of strength.
• Orochimaru secretly filled the Forest of Death with barriers, traps, and Cursed Seal arrays as he prepared to push Sasuke into darkness.
• Zetsu watched the forest from above for the Akatsuki, while Pain stayed in seclusion and Konan monitored Konoha.
• Naruto trained, Sakura prepared tactics and medical contingencies, and Sasuke spent the three days embracing the Cursed Seal and cultivating brutality; Kakashi failed to reach him.
• The three-day rest ended, and Lin Chen stood at the Forest of Death entrance as the second examination and Sasuke's path toward defection began.

The second round of the Chunin Exams began in the Forest of Death, where Sasuke entered the trial consumed by darkness and intent on breaking from the Will of Fire. Lin Chen followed into the forest, suppressing its dangers effortlessly as the trial’s schemes proved powerless before him.

• The examiner announced that teams had three days to obtain matching Heaven and Earth Scrolls, while the other villages avoided conflict and Team 7.
• Naruto urged Sakura and Sasuke to work together, but Sasuke, consumed by his Cursed Seal and dark ambitions, charged into the forest alone.
• Naruto and Sakura hurried after Sasuke, leaving Team 7 divided in purpose despite remaining together.
• Lin Chen surveyed the hidden plots and dangers surrounding the forest, including Orochimaru’s traps and the Akatsuki’s surveillance.
• Lin Chen entered the Forest of Death, and his presence suppressed the miasma, beasts, traps, and forbidden techniques around him.

Lin Chen annihilated the enemies from the Level Two Rift and absorbed their Origins, breaking through to Kage Level. As the rift showed signs of expanding and stronger threats stirred within, Kakashi saw Lin Chen as the Shinobi World’s decisive trump card.

• Lin Chen devoured four Sea King Beasts and two Cursed Spirit Mutant Beasts, while the three pirates were also eliminated or incapacitated, ending the threat from the Level Two Rift.
• Lin Chen absorbed the battle’s plundered Origins and broke through the limits of Elite Jonin to reach Kage Level.
• The four surviving Anbu Ninja recovered from their wounds and regarded Lin Chen with awe, while Kakashi recognized the scale of his power.
• Lin Chen’s Haki, physique, Cursed Energy, and Seastone Resistance matured, and he demonstrated that Haki, Chakra, and Cursed Energy could coexist within him.
• The Level Two Rift continued to tremble as stronger presences stirred beyond it, but Lin Chen remained confident he could defeat whatever emerged.

During the Chunin Exam, Sasuke accepted Orochimaru’s Cursed Seal and slaughtered the Otogakure shinobi in an isolated barrier, rejecting Naruto and Sakura’s bonds as powerless. Lin Chen watched without intervening, while Sasuke’s descent into darkness continued under the belief that forbidden power could help him catch up to a god.

• Three Otogakure squads trapped Sasuke in a barrier that blocked sound and surveillance, while Naruto and Sakura prepared to defend him.
• Sasuke told Naruto and Sakura to stay out of the fight and questioned whether their bonds could give him the strength to catch up to Lin Chen.
• Sasuke unleashed his Cursed Seal, embraced its pain, and ordered the Otogakure shinobi to attack.
• Sasuke’s strength surged toward jonin level, and he brutally killed the attackers as Naruto and Sakura watched helplessly.
• Orochimaru praised Sasuke’s transformation, while Zetsu observed that Sasuke had become a pawn of darkness.
• Lin Chen arrived outside the barrier and chose not to interfere, regarding Sasuke’s struggle to reach him as futile.

Lin Chen effortlessly erased Orochimaru’s barrier and suppressed Sasuke’s Cursed Seal, then condemned Sasuke’s pursuit of darkness as another cage. Sasuke took Lin Chen’s words as proof that he had to escape the Shinobi World entirely, and resolved to defect from Konoha and seek forbidden power.

• Lin Chen’s arrival shattered Orochimaru’s High-Level Forbidden Barrier, stunning the Otogakure ninjas, Orochimaru, and Zetsu.
• Lin Chen dismissed Sasuke’s Cursed Seal power as inadequate, and Sasuke angrily defended his choice to follow the Dark Demonic Dao.
• Lin Chen said Sasuke was chasing an imagined shortcut and used the laws around him to suppress the Cursed Seal chakra.
• Lin Chen called both light and darkness cages within the Shinobi World, then left Sasuke behind.
• Sasuke concluded that he had to escape the Shinobi World, and his resolve to defect from Konoha became final.

After Lin Chen left, Orochimaru decided to use Sasuke’s rejection of the Shinobi World’s “cage” to pursue a path to transcendence, while Akatsuki observed Konoha’s collapse from within. Sasuke rejected Naruto and Sakura’s pleas to remain with Team 7, leaving them behind as he chose to pursue power elsewhere.

• Orochimaru ordered the Otogakure ninjas to retreat and resolved to use Sasuke’s darkness to seek transcendence.
• Zetsu reported that Sasuke’s convictions had been shattered and that Akatsuki’s plan had advanced sooner than expected.
• Naruto pleaded with Sasuke to stay in Konoha and grow stronger together, while Sakura gave up trying to persuade him.
• Sasuke said Konoha was a cage that could not give him power and declared that he would not stay.
• Sakura accepted that Sasuke had made his choice, leaving Team 7 divided in the forest clearing.

Gaara’s despair over Lin Chen’s overwhelming power triggered a full Tailed Beast rampage that turned the Forest of Death into a battlefield. As Orochimaru and Zetsu saw an opportunity in the chaos, Lin Chen watched from safety and decided to quell it.

• Gaara’s repressed despair erupted into a partial Tailed Beast transformation, and his quicksand overwhelmed Kankuro and Temari’s attempts to stop him.
• Gaara’s rampage spread across the northern forest, forcing Genin from every village into a desperate melee for survival.
• Naruto and Sakura reacted with fear to Gaara’s rampage, while Sasuke watched with disdain and dismissed the chaos as meaningless.
• Orochimaru used the turmoil as a chance to pursue Sasuke, while Zetsu told Pain that the Shinobi World’s disorder had created an opportunity.
• Lin Chen remained untouched by the destruction and decided to end the chaos with a thought.

As Gaara’s rampage turns the Forest of Death into a battlefield, Lin Chen suppresses the entire catastrophe with a thought and brings the Chunin Exams to a halt. Sasuke witnesses Lin Chen’s power, and his resolve to defect from Konoha and pursue godhood grows stronger.

• Gaara loses control of Shukaku, unleashing a sandstorm that devastates the Forest of Death as the exam contenders and reinforcements struggle to survive.
• Orochimaru uses the chaos to advance his plans for Sasuke, while Zetsu watches and anticipates Konoha’s collapse.
• Lin Chen extends an invisible domain across the forest, freezing everyone and suppressing Shukaku’s power until Gaara’s Tailed Beast Chakra fades.
• The contenders, Orochimaru, and Zetsu are struck with fear by Lin Chen’s authority, while Sasuke becomes more determined to leave Konoha and seek transcendent power.
• Lin Chen walks through the battlefield, declares the farce over, and withdraws his domain, leaving the forest silent and the future of the Shinobi World altered.

The second stage of the Chunin exam ended after Lin Chen’s overwhelming power shattered the candidates’ convictions. Sasuke accepted Orochimaru’s influence and defected from Konoha, while Orochimaru and Akatsuki prepared to exploit the turmoil.

• After Lin Chen left, Gaara stood numb and hollow as Kankuro and Temari recognized that he had lost his reason to live.
• Orochimaru decided Sasuke was the ideal vessel for pursuing transcendence and sent snake-shaped chakra toward him, while Zetsu reported the trial’s results to Akatsuki.
• Naruto urged Sasuke to return to Konoha, but Sasuke rejected him and accepted Orochimaru’s dark guidance.
• The examiner announced that every candidate had passed the second stage, though none celebrated.
• Back in Konoha, Sasuke removed his forehead protector and village emblems, then resolved to break free of Konoha and defect.