Naruto

Naruto Uzumaki is a twelve-year-old ninja living in the Hidden Leaf Village under harsh ridicule from the villagers, having defaced a monument dedicated to the four Hokage leaders out of a need for acknowledgement. Naruto's teacher Iruka Umino reprimands Naruto for putting graffiti on each face statues, later hearing Naruto's aspirations of becoming Hokage to become respected by the villages.

While Naruto gets into an argument with Hiruzen over how he wanted to present himself on the photo of Ninja Registration Form, the Hokage is attacked by a small boy, who is revealed to be his grandson Konohamaru Sarutobi. Konohamaru reveals his own reasons for wanting to become Hokage and his desire to be recognised for his own achievements.

Naruto formulated a scheme to dispose of his rival and pose as Sasuke to get close to Sakura. But at the last second, Naruto is forced to go to the bathroom while the real Sasuke somehow escapes and runs into Sakura while searching for Naruto. Sasuke finds Naruto after he was forced to ditch a guilt-driven Sakura to go to the bathroom again.

After Naruto sets up a juvenile trap, he and his group meet their instructor: Kakashi Hatake. Kakashi takes the day to let his students each introduce themselves and tell each other their desires and aims: Naruto states that his dream is to become Hokage, Sasuke declares his intent to restore his clan by killing an unnamed person.

As Kakashi apparently prepares to punish them all, Sakura and Sasuke stand up to him, explaining that they gave Naruto food because he's a member of their team. Kakashi decides to pass Team 7 and accepts them as his students. Because of their inability to see through the deception and work as a team. He explains the essential need for ninja groups to work as a unit.

Demon Brothers learned that Kakashi was aware of their presence and faked his death to catch them off-guard and see his students in action. Kakashi expresses disappointment in how poorly Naruto handled the situation and got himself poisoned. But Naruto refuses to quit the mission, uses a kunai to stab his hand to bleed out the poison while making a promise to never back down again.

The group is ambushed by Zabuza Momochi, a rogue ninja from the Hidden Mist Village who works for Gato. Refusing to hand Tazuna over, Kakashi is forced to reveal a strange eye. The former confused as to how Kakashi obtained it, Sasuke and Zabuza both recognise the strange eye as a Sharingan.

Kakashi is eventually caught off-guard and is captured in the Water Prison Technique. With Kakashi immobilised, Zabuza creates a water clone to go after the rest of Team 7 and Tazuna. With Naruto using his transformation skills with Sasuke's expertise with a Fuma Shuriken, the two youths succeed in forcing Zabuza to release Kakashi in order to avoid Naruto's kunai.

Kakashi uses his Sharingan to replicate many of Zabuza's water-based attacks, causing him to become agitated and is easily defeated. Naruto is angry and jealous that someone so young could easily defeat an opponent that gave Team 7 so much trouble, but Kakashi says that there are many ninja younger than Naruto yet stronger than himself.

Brought to Tazuna's home to recover from his fight with Zabuza, Naruto meets the bridge builder's grandson Inari, while Kakashi awakens realizing that there were numerous inconsistencies between the actions of the masked youth and that of other hunter-nin. Kakashi decides to take Team 7 to the woods to teach them chakra control by having them walk up a tree by focusing chakra beneath their feet.

Sakura goes out to town with Tazuna and discovers the hardship that the people of Land of Waves suffer under Gato’s rule. It is because of this reason that Tazuna risks his life building a bridge that crosses the ocean. He believes that by constructing a bridge, people will no longer have to rely on Gatoh, who controls all imports.

While Naruto concentrates on the training to control his Chakra, a mysterious person suddenly appears before him. The person tells Naruto that as long as one has the desire to protect what he loves, there is no limit to becoming stronger. The mysterious figure echoes the sentiment inside Naruto and the two feel a sense of connection.

At Tazuna's house, two of Gato's thugs arrive to kidnap Tsunami. Inari musters his courage in an attempt to stop them, but is saved when Naruto defeats them. Before leaving to join the others at the bridge, Naruto apologises to Inari for calling him a coward and acknowledges his bravery.

Having arrived, with Kakashi preoccupied with Zabuza, Naruto attempts to help Sasuke by attacking the Crystal Ice Mirrors from the outside while Sasuke attacks from the inside. But Naruto's unfamiliarity with Haku's abilities traps him as he and Sasuke are forced to work together against Haku, who sees that he must make an exception to his no killing policy.

Kakashi understands the situation of the battle. For a ninja, battle experience is an absolute necessity and Naruto and Sasuke lack the experience to defeat Haku, who has fought numerous battles alongside Zabuza. Realizing time is of the essence, Kakashi decides to use Sharingan once again to defeat Zabuza. Zabuza is a ninja that has also experienced many killing battles.

Naruto and Sasuke are both injured severely from Haku's Crystal Ice Mirrors before the latter reveals his Uchiha lineage by awakening his clan's own inherit ability: the Sharingan. With Sasuke's Sharingan allowing him to track Haku's incredibly fast movements, he is deemed a bigger threat than Naruto and a volley of senbon [fr] is used to force Sasuke to take a hit meant for his teammate.

Naruto finally explodes! His anger against Haku, who defeated Sasuke, unleashes the power of the Nine-tailed Fox . Naruto’s Chakra becomes so intense that even Kakashi and Zabuza, fighting off in the distance, take notice. Haku is unable to do anything in the face of Naruto’s hidden power. Understanding that there is no chance of victory now, Haku implores Naruto to finish him off.

Inari is shown running from door to door throughout the Land of Waves, trying to rally the villagers into defending Tazuna and the bridge. Though he agrees to kill Haku, Naruto instead witnesses Haku sacrificing himself to protect Zabuza from Kakashi's Lightning Blade. Unfazed by his apprentice's sacrifice, Zabuza continues attacking Kakashi while Tazuna accompanies Sakura to Sasuke's body.

Thinking of Haku, Naruto angrily confronts Zabuza. Even though he appears to have no emotion, Zabuza actually sheds tears at the death of his partner. Contrary to his spoken words, Zabuza cared about Haku more than anybody else did. The loss of Haku devastates Zabuza, taking away the only person he could trust in the world.

Naruto and his team return to the Village Hidden in the Leaves after their battle in Land of Waves. Even though they complete new missions that are assigned to them, Naruto is not satisfied with the daily routine. Traveling beyond the village for the first time and engaging in a fierce battle against Zabuza and Haku.

The Leaf Village decides to choose representatives of their own for the Chunin. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura are among those who are chosen to take the examination. He argues that the members are too young and lack the adequate level of experience and skills for the challenge. There are rookie teams in the test that already passed it once before and refined their skills since then.

As Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura prepare for the examination, a Ninja with short bobbed hair and thick eyebrows named Rock Lee appears. Lee then proceeds to challenge Sasuke to a duel. Lee wants to fight Sasuke, who holds the power of the Uchiha tribe. Sasuke accepts Lee’s challenge, but his opponent attacks with such quickness that he can only stay in defense.

Kabuto is attacked by Team Dosu from the Hidden Sound Village for his earlier remark about their village. Although it appears that Kabuto dodged the attack, his glasses suddenly break and he becomes nauseated. Before the confrontation escalates any further, the examiner Ibiki Morino and his team enter to commence the Chunin Exams.

As everyone takes their seats, Ibiki explains that the first phase of the exam will be a written test where the teams with higher points continue to the next phase. Ibiki's assistants line the sides of the room to observe the Genin to ensure they do not cheat, with teams removed from the room if any member is caught cheating five times.

Ibiki reveals that the first nine questions were to test their skills in intelligence gathering while the final question was to test their resolve. The proctor was amused to find that Naruto passed without answering any of the questions, while the remaining Genin meet their next examiner Anko Mitarashi the next day at the site of the second phase of the exam: the Forest of Death.