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Chuunin Exams

The Chuunin Exam occur two times a year. Gennin-level students who enter the Chuunin Exams have a chance to increase there rank from a Gennin to a Chuunin. High ranked ninja called Jounins act as proctors for the exam. They watch not only for a Gennin's physical power, but their will and mind power as well. That's why there are typically three stages in the Chuunin examination. In NARUTO, we only had a chance to see one Chuunin Exam in place. This Chuunin exam included a preliminary round before stage 3 to lower the amount of participants because it was being watched by different nations in the world of NARUTO.

Chuunin Exam Stage One: The Written Test

The first part of the Chuunin Exam was a written test, that tested the Gennins intellectual skills. In NARUTO, the exam we saw was proctored by a man named Ibiki Morino, who is a Jounin with a very interrogating personality. The tests which he gives are impossible to pass by a normal Gennin. Ibiki's rules include that there is no cheating allowed, and if they even try to cheat they will be caught by his assistants who have an excellent eye to notice suspicious activity. If he or any of his assistants (whom are watching the exam from round the room) catch a test taker they will get thrown out with his team mates.

The written test consists of ten questions. Participants will be graded as a team. So the grades will be based on for Naruto's team, for example, on the collective scores of Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. Ibiki hands out to the test to the participants, and said that there are only nine questions written on the test. The tenth question will be asked verbally at the very end of the exam and at least one of the ten questions must be anwsered correctly by every team member, or else the whole team fails. When the test begins the participants are surprised by the difficulty of the exam. There are things on there that they have never seen before. Eventually some of the participants begin to cheat with some being caught. The ones that were not caught realized they had to cheat by using there special abilities. Sasuke, for example, used his Sharingan to view the pencil movements of a fellow test taker in order to get the answers.

Naruto is become angry, frustrated, and scared because he is about to fail the exam and make his team mates fail with him. Hinata who sits next to him, offers Naruto her test paper, but Naruto in fear, does not copy it. He only needs to get only one question write to get to the second stage of the exams. Because Naruto can not answer any of the questions and is afraid to cheat, he decides he'll wait for the 10th question and get that one right. Naruto thinks he can get it right and pass, but when Ibiki explains later on that if the person stays after being given the 10th and final question, and gets the question wrong, that person will remain a Gennin forever. Fortunately, for Naruto, the tenth question was to choose whether or not to leave the examination to avoid being a Gennin forever. Ibiki explains after the test that this part of the test was to determine ones will and mental strength in pressure situations and that the written test itself is not graded. The choice to continue on to take the test after being threatened that they will never rise in rank if they answer the tenth question incorrectly was the only question that attributed to the passing of the exam.

Chuunin Exam Stage Two: The Forest of Death

The second part of this exam is a test to survive in harsh conditions and is proctored by Anko Matarshi. Gennins who passed Ibiki's test can now enter The Forest of Death They call it the Forest of Death because of all the dangers that lye in it. Each team of three are given either a Heaven or Earth scroll. To pass this stage, they must get both scrolls. So, for example, if one team had the Earth scroll, they must fight another team that has a Heaven scroll in an attempt to take there scroll. After they have both scrolls, the team must report to the main tower in the middle of the forest by one week. Only 13 teams at most can pass this exam because there are a total of 26 scrolls with 13 Heaven scrolls and 13 Earth scrolls. Gaara and his teammates reach the tower in record time with both scrolls. During this exam a new villain by the name of Orochimaru appears. He eats the scroll given to Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke thus allowing for only 12 teams at most to pass. During the process Orochimaru bites Sasuke, giving him a cursed seal which gives Orochimaru the ability to control Sasuke.





Chuunin Exam Stage Three Preliminaries

Many students passed the Death Forest test, and since there were too many Gennins left it was decided that a preliminary round must be held. The preliminaries were held right after the completion of stage two without a break in between. A Jounin by the name of Hayate Gekko announced that there would be one on one fights, in which the winner of those fights gets to advance to the third and final stage. The rules were that the fight goes on until someone gives up, dies, or is unable to battle as decided by the proctor, Hayate Gekko. Each Gennin wanted needed to win no matter what, however, one by one people got eliminated and there were only 9 Gennins left at the end. The results are as follows:

Fight 01: Sasuke Uchiha defeats Yoroi Akado
Fight 02: Shino Aburame defeats Zaku Abumi
Fight 03: Kankuro defeats Tsurugu Misumi
Fight 04: Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka knock each other and both do not advance to Stage 3.
Fight 05: Temari defeats Tenten
Fight 06: Shikamaru Nara defeats Kin Tsuchi
Fight 07: Naruto Uzumaku defeats Kiba Inuzuka
Fight 08: Neji Hyuuga defeats Hinata Hyuuga
Fight 09: Gaara defeats Rock Lee
Fight 10: Dosu Kinuta defeats Choji Akimichi


Chuunin Exam Stage Three: The Final Exam

This final exam is a tournament where Gennins fight one one one with their opponents, in an arena full of thousands of people. They got a one months heads up after the preliminaries on who they are suppose to fight. There were suppose to be nine participants, however Dosu Kinuta did not show up and was, as a result, disqualified. The most awaited fight was Sasuke vs. Gaara due to all the fuedal lords, Kage's, and other people of power who came to see it. This exam had the becoming a Chuunin. If you win, however, it does not mean that you will be a Chuunin. It was to be decided by a committee of people in power who would be given the rank of a Chuunin. Because of Orochimaru, this Chuunin exam was never completed. During the fight between Sasuke and Gaara, Orochimaru began his terror. Gaara ran away and Sasuke ran after him. At the end, only Shikamaru Nara became a Chuunin because he was designated to not only be a great fighter, but an excellent strategist.