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Part 1

3 - Chunin Exam

Written Exam

 Team 7 returned to Konoha to continue with their lives as regular Genin. One day, whilst playing with Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi, Naruto met two of the three Genin from Sunagakure, the Hidden Village in the Sand - Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari - and learned that they were in Konoha to participate in the Chunin Selection Exams. Meanwhile, Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai all volunteered their teams for the exam as well. Naruto was thrilled at the possibility of becoming a Chunin.

 The first part of the exam is written, but it is 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 Genin level). The last question was a do or die question: don't answer and your entire team failed the Chunin Exams, answer and get it wrong and you would stay a Genin forever. Naruto showed that he was not a quitter when he burst out that he didn't care if he stayed a Genin forever, he would still become Hokage. The Genin who stayed behind all passed the first part of the Chunin Exams (including Naruto, who didn't answer a single question on the exam).

Forest of Death

 The second part of the exam is a survival exam in the 44th Battle Zone, aka "The Forest of Death". During this part, Naruto found himself in a desperate situation against Orochimaru, an S-Class 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 Wave Country 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 Genin, Team Dosu from Otogakure, to go after Sasuke.

 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 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 teammate, before she symbolically freed herself by cutting off her long hair with a kunai, which she had initially kept long because Sasuke supposedly liked girls with long hair. She also had to fight against the Sound Genin, and resolved to no longer be dependent on her teammates. The three Sound Genin were pushed back, with the aid of Team 10 and Rock Lee, whose efforts seemed to be worthless before Neji Hyuga and Tenten showed up. 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 Sasuke now had started to take effect, as, 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 teammates, wondering why Orochimaru had sent him to kill Sasuke if he knew Sasuke had the Cursed Seal. Team 7 still managed to make it past the second stage by defeating Oboro and his team with a little help from Kabuto, a fellow ninja from Konoha.

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