The Chunin Exam arc in Naruto was the second major thing to happen in the series beyond Team Seven going to the Village of the Mist and fighting Zabuza and Haku. To many, the Chunin exam arc was the first time things truly began in the series, as all the main bad guys were slowly being introduced.
The Chunin exam also took time to focus on each of the major characters from Konoha village, team members that would later be vital to Naruto Shippuden and become close friends with Team Seven, and constantly be allies in battle. This arc was intense and lasted for nearly 50 episodes. The preliminary fights and third exam fights were some of the greatest in the original series.
13 Temari Vs Tenten
Temari and Tenten went head to head in the preliminary fight just after the forest exam. Temari was extremely mysterious at this time as she was just one of the Three Sand Siblings that seemed utterly ruthless. She fights against Tenten, who many fans had come to vaguely know by this time due to her being partnered with Rock Lee and Neji.
Tenten is often thought to be the weakest character in the show as she really only excels at weaponry unlike many of the other characters in the show. Her fight against Temari ends rather quickly and left little fans impressed.
12 Dosu Vs Choji
This was the final battle of the preliminaries and was also a little bit uneventful. Choji had already been tired from the earlier exam and was actually planning on forfeiting before his sensei offered to buy him food is he succeeded.
Choji fought against Dosu, using his body to protect his ears from the sound waves Dosu was able to manipulate, but Dosu had a backup plan. He ended up sending sound waves through the water in Choji's body, defeating him.
11 Shino Vs Zaku
Shino was a pretty interesting character upon first being introduced and fans always seemed to expect more and more from him. He was mysterious and quiet, while Zaku was loud and abrasive. After the battle in the forest, Zaku was only operating with one arm as his other had been broken by Sasuke while defending Sakura. But that didn't make him any less confident he would win. Shino sent his bugs to attack Zaku from all around before Zaku revealed that he actually could use both arms.
But it was too late, the bugs were already on his arms and caused a blockage of chakra, causing the sound ninja's arms to explode. This fight would have been much higher on the list, but there were several moments when it cut to Kakashi and Sasuke working on the curse mark that would continuously take fans out of the moment.
10 Kankuro Vs Misumi
Kankuro is another sibling in the Three Sand Siblings triad. He fights against Misumi, a member of Kabuto's team who is rather mysterious. This fight was super fun to watch Kankuro in action, as he used his puppet as a decoy the entire time.
Misumi continuously thought he had the Sand ninja in his grasp, but just as he was about to crush him, it would be revealed that it wasn't Kankuro but rather his puppet. In the end, Kankuro used the puppet to crush Misumi's bones and won the match.
9 Shikamaru Vs Kin
Shikamaru is a fan-favorite character for a reason, and this is one of the first fights that really made fans fall in love with him. He fights against the third sound ninja, Kin. This battle proved that Shikamaru is incredibly intelligent and incredibly lazy.
He had already revealed his power to Kin in the forest exam and knew he was at a disadvantage. But after merging their shadows together, Kin mimicked all of Shikamaru's movements, which he used to his advantage after dodging a shuriken and having her hit her head against a wall, knocking her out.
8 Sasuke Vs Yoroi
After receiving the curse mark in the forest, and nearly pulling Zaku's arms off in defending Sakura, Sasuke was a bit wary of battling with the new powerful mark on his neck. Kakashi suggested he not use any kind of chakra for the battle, if not he would stop it and pull him out. Sasuke fought against Yoroi, a member of Kabuto's team who specialized in chakra absorption.
This was also the first fight of the preliminaries, and it seemed hopeless for Sasuke until he had the idea to partially mimick Rock Lee's Front Lotus that he copied used his Sharingan, making it his own Lion Combo. With the one move, he took Yoroi down and won.
7 Sakura Vs Ino
The battle between Sakura and Ino was also a battle between two good friends who had long been rivals. The two were continuously angry at each other over super dumb reasons, and just needed to get past their frustrations. Ino thought Sakura was weak, Sakura was determined to prove Ino wrong.
The battle became filled with mental warfare as Ino tried to take over Sakura's mind, but was unsuccessful as the "Cha spirit" was too powerful. In the end, the two punched each other at knocked one another out with no victor.
6 Naruto Vs Kiba
Kiba proved to be a difficult opponent for Naruto and showed off what he and Akamaru were made of. But this fight is also super silly and perfectly "Naruto." Throughout the battle, Naruto was still super weak from the seal Orochimaru had placed on him, and it seemed like Kiba might actually win.
But because Kiba has a heightened smell, when Naruto accidentally "broke wind," Kiba became super distracted which gave Naruto the perfect opening.
5 Hinata Vs Neji
The battle between Hinata and Neji gave us the first insight into what the dynamic was between the Hyugas. It was intense and ruthless though the two were cousins. Initially, the two Hyugas seemed evenly matched, both using their clan's abilities and fighting style.
But Neji countered Hinata and rendered her unable to use the fighting style. She refused to give up, as did he, and a proctor had to step in before Neji would kill Hinata in battle.
4 Sasuke Vs Gaara
Sasuke and Gaara had been gunning to fight for a while as they constantly made eyes at one another throughout the exam arc. In the third exam, they finally get the opportunity to do so just before the fight is stopped by the Konoha Crush began.
Sasuke once again imitates Rock Lee, he uses Chidori for the first time which is a Sasuke staple, and Gaara had a hard time keeping up with Sasuke and his speed, leaving him often unable to defend himself until he made his own cacoon.
3 Shikamaru Vs Temari
This is another fight that shows just what Shikamaru is all about. Temari and Shikamaru face off during the third exam and the shadow ninja spends the entire time running away, hiding, and trying to capture Temari with his own shadow.
But what is most interesting is that right when he finally catches her, he raises his hand to forfeit the match because it was all "such a pain," making it perfectly "Shikamaru."
2 Naruto Vs Neji
Naruto versus Neji is another amazing battle that acted like retribution for Hinata's fight against her cousin. It was the first actual match of the third exam and set the ball rolling for what was to come. This battle was intense.
Neji lectured Naruto the entire time while Naruto also changed Neji's outlook on life, making him a better character. Using the Demon Fox chakra and his sheer determination, Naruto successfully won the battle.
1 Gaara Vs Rock Lee
Gaara versus Rock Lee during the preliminary fight is arguably the greatest fight throughout the chunin exam arc. Though this battle didn't have anyone from Team Seven, bushy brows facing off against the sand ninja sparked so much hype and excitement amongst audiences.
Rock Lee's utter determination made him a fan-favorite character and the reveal that he had been weighing himself down the entire time caused so much hype.