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Episode 23; Defeat The Rivals! All Nine Rookies Have Assembled: Kakashi explains that the Chuunin exam can only be taken in teams of three. Sakura is shocked that Kakashi lied to them about their free will to choose whether or not they wanted to participate. Kakashi explains that if he didn’t say that, Naruto and Sasuke would have forced her to participate. He, however, is very proud that each member of his team agreed to participate. Inside, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura find themselves among many Chuunin exam participants. Seeing the rookie Genins, Ino runs up to Sasuke and throws herself at him, much to the dismay of Sakura. Naruto then starts his round of introductions. First up is Asuma Sarutobi’s team, made of Nara Shikamaru, who always complains and is lazy Akimichi Chouji, who is always eating and Yamanaka Ino, who is always fighting with Sakura. Next up is Kurenai Yuuhi’s team comprised of Hyuga Hinata, a shy girl who always blushes when Naruto is around Inuzuka Kiba and his puppy Akamaru, who acts like the boss of the team and Aburame Shino, who Naruto doesn’t know very well. The three rookie Genin teams talk shit at each other until another Genin approaches them. Yakushi Kabuto, who is participating in the exam for the seventh time, warns the rookies to be careful. Thus begins his explanation of the Chuunin exam. The exam takes place twice every year, and Kabuto admits that this is his fourth year participating. That statistic causes the rookies some angst over how difficult the exam may actually be. Kabuto then pulls out his deck of recognition cards and starts his newbie lesson on the info he’s collected over the past 4 years. To extract the info from the blank cards, Kabuto tunes them in to his chakra. Soon an image of the exam’s total number of examinees and countries participating appears. Kabuto explains that they take the exam in teams to deepen their friendships with other villages and to heighten the level of the ninja. However, he thinks the real purpose is to confirm the level of the ninja in each adjacent country and to try to balance out the power. They do this to check and restrain each country’s powers. Sasuke asks for information on Gaara of the Hidden Village of Sand and Rock Lee from Konoha. Rock Lee is a year older than Sasuke. He’s done 20 D-rank missions and 11 C-rank missions. The squad leader is Gai-sensei and his teammates are Tenten and Hyuuga Neji. His hand to hand combat skills have increased dramatically this past year, but his other skills are terrible. This is the first time taking the Chuunin. Gaara of the desert completed 8 C-rank and 1 B-rank mission and returned from all his missions unharmed. This is his first time taking the exam. The participants for this bi-annual Chuunin exam include: Fire Country, Hidden Konoha (Leaf Village) - 72 participants Wind Country, Hidden Sand Village - 30 participants Grass Country - 15 participants Waterfall Country - 12 participants Rain Country - 21 participants Sound Country - 3 participants Also of note, the Hidden Village of Sound was just created recently. Meanwhile, Kakashi stands outside the main room reconsidering his prior actions in which he demanded that Gai-sensei and Iruka-sensei respect his decision to allow his Genin into the tournament. He wonders now if he was too curt. Back inside, Kabuto warns the rookies to keep a low profile. Not being one to remain quiet, Naruto immediately grabs the room’s attention to introduces himself and vow that he will not lose to any one of them. Ino runs up to Sakura and accuses her of provoking him. Meanwhile, the rest of the ninjas contemplate how they will show Naruto a thing or two. The Sound team, already annoyed with Kabuto’s description of their small country, takes immediate action. They stealthily creep up to Kabuto and take a swing at him. At first it seems as though he dodges the attack, but soon his glasses break and he kneels down to vomit. Not long after, Morino Ibiki, the examiner of the first test of the Chuunin Exam, shows up. Episode 24; I Fail Already? The Extremly Difficult First Exam: Morino Ibiki enters the room and reprimands his Sound team for acting before the exam starts. He mentions that no one is allowed to fight another during the exam unless given permission by the examiners. Even if permission is given, they are not allowed to kill their opponent. If they break the rules, they will fail. The first exam is a paper test. Naruto is getting more and more anxious until Hinata encourages him. Ibiki explains the rules and states that he will not accept any questions, so they’d better listen carefully. 1.) Each participant is given 10 points at the start. The written exam consists of 10 questions, each worth 1 point. The test is a deduction based test, so if you get all problems correct, your point total remains at 10. If you get 3 problems incorrect, your point total is reduced to 7. 2.) The pass/fail decision is determined by team’s total points. 3.) If a participant is caught cheating, each action will cause him / her to lose 2 points. If they drop to 0 points, they are kicked out of the exam. 4.) If anyone on the team gets a 0, the entire team will fail. 5.) The last problem will be given 45 minutes after the test begins. They have 1 hour to complete the exam. A few minutes into the exam, Sasuke recognizes that he can’t solve any of the problems and starts to realize the true purpose of the test. Naruto, on the other hand, panics. Sakura, being the brainiac she is, is one of the only ones in the room that actually knows the answers and is determined to get as many points as she can. Sasuke soon fully realizes that the test’s purpose was not to test knowledge, but to test how well they can conceal their cheating. Do it like a first rate ninja and not get caught while gathering the correct answers. Several of the ninjas start their information gathering technique as Naruto continues to flip out that he can’t answer any questions. Hinata notices Naruto’s frustration and even offers to show Naruto her exam. At first, he wants to know why. She answers she doesn’t want him to fail. As Naruto turns to view Hinata’s exam, the examiners kick out several people for failing. Naruto then decides to refuses her help. Meanwhile, everyone else starts to use their powers to find answers. Sasuke uses his Sharingen to copy another. Ino performs Ninpou Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Transfer Technique) to slip into Sakura’s mind for a while. Gaaru creates a sand eye, and Kankuro uses an examiner replica. |
