Chapter 34: the Chunin exams (part 1)

The first part of the exam (proctored by Ibiki Morino) was written, but it was not a test of knowledge as much as a test of information-gathering and willpower. The first nine questions were supposed to be obtained by cheating, where the genin must use any techniques to find out the correct answer without being caught. Naruto, who did not realize this, went into a traumatic state in which he felt that he would cause his entire team to be eliminated, as he did not know the answer to any of the questions. Sasuke realized that he, too, did not know the answers, but immediately activated his Sharingan to copy someone else's answers. Sakura, as a testament to her incredible intellect, answered all of the questions quickly (a feat which the examiner later said could not be accomplished at the genin level). The last question was a do or die question: if one didn't answer, one's entire team failed the Chūnin Exams, but if one answered incorrectly, one would remain a genin forever. Naruto showed that he was not a quitter when he exclaimed that he didn't care if he stayed a genin forever, and that, even if that came to pass, he would still become Hokage. The genin who chose to answer the question all passed the first part of the Chūnin Exams — including Naruto, who didn't answer a single question on the written part of the exam.

...

The second part of the exam (proctored by Anko Mitarashi) was a survival exam in the Forty-Fourth Training Ground, also known as "The Forest of Death". During this part, Naruto found himself in a desperate situation against Orochimaru, an S-rank missing-nin from Konoha so powerful that the Third Hokage later mentioned that there was nobody in Konoha that could fight him equally. It turned out that Orochimaru used to be one of the Third Hokage's pupils, also known as the Sannin. Naruto and Sasuke's reactions to the situation were a complete reversal of what had happened in the Land of Waves mission — Sasuke was frozen with fear while Naruto fought on fearlessly, at one point stopping Orochimaru's huge summoned snake in its tracks on his own (with the help of some demon fox chakra), and muttering to Sasuke, in a moment of glorious retribution that marked another milestone in their rivalry, "You're not hurt, are you… scaredy-cat?" Naruto eventually snapped Sasuke out of his panic. However, Orochimaru used the Five Elements Seal on Naruto, disrupting the flow of the demon fox's chakra, as well as Naruto's own.

However, Orochimaru was too much for Sasuke as well. In the end, Orochimaru put a Cursed Seal of Heaven onto Sasuke's neck, saying that Sasuke would eventually come to him for the power he needed to kill his brother, Itachi Uchiha. Orochimaru then left, sending his three genins, Team Dosu from Otogakure, to go after Sasuke.

...

Meanwhile, Anko was informed about the corpses of three genins from Kusagakure. She recognized one of them as Shiore. She found out that someone must've killed the genin and used their faces to disguise themselves and enter the exams. She suspected that the Shiore who took the exams was actually Orochimaru. She ran off to confront Orochimaru, only to have her Cursed Seal of Heaven reactivated by him. Orochimaru warned her not to stop the exams.

...

While both Naruto and Sasuke were unconscious from the fight against Orochimaru, Sakura had to take care of them. It was there that Sakura's personality reached a turning point. As Kin Tsuchi of Team Dosu trapped her by roughly holding her by her hair, Sakura realized how pathetic her behavior was, always blindly praising and criticizing others, when she was the one who hadn't improved at all. She reflected on herself, thinking how she was always telling Naruto that she was better than him when he had been the one who was consistently improving and telling Sasuke she loved him when she couldn't even muster up enough strength to protect him as a team-mate before she symbolically freed herself by cutting off her long hair with a kunai, which she had initially kept long because it had been rumored that Sasuke liked girls with long hair. She also decided to fight against the Oto genin and resolved to no longer be dependent on her team-mates. At this point, Team 10 arrived on the scene. Rock Lee fought the Oto ninja and used the Front Lotus on Dosu, who was saved by Zaku but admitted that the Lotus still almost killed him. Rock Lee is then defeated by Dosu. Team 10 fights the Oto ninja to save Sakura but ultimately fails. The rest of Team 9 arrives at the scene. Dosu Kinuta, the leader of Team Dosu, mentioned that Neji could "see through them", but before Neji could attack, an awakened Sasuke intervened.

The cursed seal on Sasuke had by now started to take effect, and, in a state of insanity and murderous intent, Sasuke defeated Zaku Abumi of Team Dosu, going as far as to dislocate his shoulders for no other reason than to cause him pain. Before he could do any more damage to anyone else, however, Sakura hugged Sasuke, crying and begging him to stop, allowing Sasuke to regain control of the seal. Dosu left with his team-mates, wondering why Orochimaru had sent him to kill Sasuke if he had known that Sasuke would have the cursed seal. Team 7 still managed to make it past the second stage by defeating Team Oboro of Amegakure, with a little help from Kabuto Yakushi, a fellow ninja from Konoha.

...

During the time that the Chunin exams were taking place, Raven was doing a light exercise. When a disturbed Yukino came and disturbed him.

"RAVEN, were are you?"

"Yukino, what's wrong?"

"ANKO, Anko, ..."

"She is overseeing the Chunin you know this."

"No, she was brought in today in the hospital. She wasn't unconscious."

"WHAT? Lead the way. Lucky, Saph is still at the academy."

...

After a few hours, they were allowed in the room of Anko. Inside the room, Anko was laying on the bed. She wasn't conscious. Raven stayed in the room when the academy was over. Yukino went to get Saph. When she came into the room, Saph was crying a lot. At the end of the day did Kurenai come over. She heard about the exams. She took the two girls home, Raven was going to stay. Kurenai couldn't stay over as well, because tomorrow was the last day of the second task. Her team was still competing. They didn't blame her. Raven stayed over the night. At midnight did Anko woke up. Raven then went over to her bed.

"Ha, Raven you finally got me in bed."

"Dumb Sensei, that's the first thing you say at me after you were out for a day."

"What you want me to say. Hey Raven, sorry but I got my ass handed to me. No big deal."

"Your in Luck that Saph didn't stay, or you would be in trouble."

"Ah crap, she saw me didn't she?"

"Yes, she did."

"Damn, I hope she won't hurt that much."

"You can help her tomorrow when she comes over to visit."

"Yeah, yeah, damn I didn't want her to see me like this."

"What happened?"

"Promise not to freak out and tell anybody."

"Yes, I promise."

"I fought my old Sensei today. That's why I got my ass kicked. he's here."

"WHAT, Orochimaru is here? At the Chunin exams, why?"

"That Raven, I can't tell you. S-ranked secret."

"I understand. But this sucks."

"Yes, it does."

"But Sensei, how come you don't seem wounded but were taken down?"

"Ah, yes. That. I will tell you that when you reach the second or third level in your sealing. Because I will need you at least at that level to one understand, and maybe help me out."

"Why not tell me now?"

"Because you are still too weak to know and help."

"Then I'll get started right away. I was almost there anyway. Sleep well Sensei. You'll see tomorrow you'll tell me."

"Keep dreaming, brat." But Raven already jumped out the window to his house. Something he learned from his Sensei.

"Hope you can help me, Raven, I really do...

...