Naruto is the shonen giant that was responsible for a lot of people's late nights with Toonami and a huge portion of the new generation of anime fans. It's because of this series that a few people struggle to run through a hallway without swaying their arms to their back. While this series has a decades-spanning legacy in the shonen industry, its peak has arguably been its Chunin Exams Arc.
One of the best tournament arcs around and a preliminary stage before the Konoha Crush Arc, the Chunin Exams offered a great foray into the world of and outside Konoha while also facilitating a bunch of genre-defining fights. Plenty of series mainstays went into this arc, but only a few came out of it looking like true legends.
10 Kiba Inuzuka: Aggressive Fighting-Style With Help From Akamaru
Kiba may have been eliminated during the first stage of the fighting portion of the exams; but with what little time he did have, he showed some incredible potential and helped give a career-defining showcase for one of the main characters. Far from a pushover, Kiba is one of the gruffest members of the Konoha's Rookie 9, rivaling even Naruto in terms of in-your-face attitude.
Partnered with his dog, Akamaru, Kiba takes up one of the most aggressive and primal fighting styles ever seen in the series. Beginning with the two preying on their opponent like an actual pack of dogs, they slowly become more ravenous and manifest into a literal tornado of claws.
9 Temari: Defeated Tenten Instantly & Pushed Shikamaru To His Limit
Upon her debut in the Chunin Exams, Temari immediately came off as one of the strongest female characters in the entire series. In her first round of the fighting tournament, Temari made quick work of Tenten, one of the best, pure martial artists of the rookies. Despite Tenten coming equipped with an entire arsenal, Temari was able to literally fan everything away with her Wind Release techniques.
In the finals, Temari took on Shikamaru Nara in a battle truly befitting for ninjas, coming down to a battle of attrition and wits rather than hard fists. While Shikamaru would become the only one to actually become a Chunin, he really had to earn it through hard decision making against the walking storm that was Temari.
8 Shikamaru Nara: Won His Battles With Unmatched Intelligence & Strategies
True power is being able to half-sleep one's way through an intense exam and still be better than everyone else. Shikamaru Nara may be a classic slacker but his intelligence and maturity really shined through against the impatience and brute force of his opponents.
In his fight against one of the sound ninjas, Shikamaru gave fans a taste of his human chess style of fighting and made quick work of his overzealous opponent. During his much tougher fight with Temari, Shikamaru came up with contingency after contingency to keep Temari on the ropes. Though he'd inevitably forfeit, even his loss was an example of great strength and leadership befitting of a true Chunin.
7 Rock Lee: One Of The Best Taijutsu Users
If he faced literally any other opponent during the early stages of the exams, Rock Lee would've likely skirted through with minimal effort. While being a ninja preys on the idea of using the shadows and illusions to get at one's opponents, Rock Lee's lack of a chakra robbed him of most subversive arts.
However, having trained exclusively in taijutsu, Lee easily became one of the physically strongest members of the Rookie 9 and Konoha as a whole. It'd be a while before fans got to see Rock Lee use his skills in a practical setting; but during his bout with Gaara, even Lee managed to intimidate one of the literal monsters of the series with his brute strength.
6 Neji Hyuga: A Genius Despite Being Born As A Lower Member Of His Clan
Neji Hyuga may be the prime example of a stuck up, self-righteous noble in the story, but it's not as if he didn't have the talent and strength to back it up. As the prime progeny of the Hyuga Clan, Neji always had high expectations of himself and strived to live up to and surpass his class roles as a lower member of the Hyuga Clan.
This drive for superiority was at full display during the total squash between him and Hinata Hyuga. However, it wouldn't be until the finals where he'd really get to show his stuff. While Naruto, as the Shonen protagonist, inevitably humbled Neji, he really had to prove himself against Neji's sheer power, skill, and intelligence.
5 Sasuke Uchiha: With The Power Of His Cursed Seal & Chidori
It's no secret that the chief rival of the entire series had a fantastic showing during the Chunin Exams. During the utter battle royal of the early stages, Sasuke Uchiha showed incredible decision making and skill, almost carrying Team 7 to the next stages. While his fight during the first part of the fighting tournament wasn't much, it did display his utter dominance as a ninja as he was succumbing to Orochimaru's curse.
His true progress and strength in this part of the story wouldn't be truly see, though, until his fight with Gaara. Against an opponent with otherworldly offensive and defensive abilities, Sasuke was still able to control most of the match and even give Gaara one of his worst injuries with his newly-learned technique, the Chidori.
4 Gaara: Defeated Rock Lee & Never Hesitated To Crush His Opponents
Gaara came into the Chunin Exams ominously as one of the series' strongest characters and didn't leave the arc much different. Ever since his debut, fans could tell that he was never truly going all out and was just simply toying with his opponents. A lot of kids' first sleepless nights happened because Gaara wanted to show off his Sand Coffin technique.
During his fight with Rock Lee, Gaara showed that even pure, unadulterated strength was no match for his concentrated sand. While his full powers wouldn't be seen until the Konoha Crush Arc, he also gave fans a good taste of his potential in his bout with Sasuke in the finals. There really were few times during this arc where Gaara didn't appear as an absolute monster.
3 Naruto Uzumaki: Received Training From Jiraiya & Defeated Strong Opponents In Kiba & Neji
Naruto Uzumaki really didn't enter the Chunin Exams that hot. He essentially got through the written portion by inadvertently calling the proctor's overlying bluff and was, at times, even an obstacle in the Forest of Death. It wouldn't be until he stopped Orochimaru's snake in a legendary scene that he'd show how serious he could be. During the first round of the fighting stages, he displayed his actual fighting abilities against Kiba in a furious battle.
Afterward, he'd get to train under one of the Three Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya, and learn a couple of new techniques. While said techniques wouldn't come into fruition during his actual, tournament battle against Neji, he did display his newfound chakra control and used his new power and inherent perseverance to overcome one of the village's fastest rising stars.
2 Jiraiya: One Of The Legendary Sannin Who Taught Naruto Well
Jiraiya wouldn't get a proper fight that most other characters during this arc had, but he did easily come off as a big deal, despite some of the wackiness that he premiered with. Jiraiya was a clear master of the ninja arts and was an exceptional tutor to Naruto.
He was able to pick out both his abilities as the Nine-Tailed Fox as well as Orochimaru's curse mark on him and managed to deal with them with expert tact. While few other teachers could truly coach Naruto, Jiraiya was able to teach Naruto both chakra control as well as an advanced jutsu during the short time he had prior to the finals.
1 Orochimaru: Struck Fear Into All Ninja Without A Full Display Of His Power
In addition to snake slime, Orochimaru was oozing with a total, final boss aura throughout the entirety of this arc. He gave fans a great taste of his devilish wit and danger when he went after Sasuke and Team 7.
His influence would permeate from there as the early stages of his conspiracy would be increasingly hinted at from there, and his curse marks on both Naruto and Sasuke would begin to haunt them. Though he was pretty quiet throughout the rest of the arc, he'd begin to slither out of his hole at the end of the Chunin Exams, giving way to the infamous Konoha Crush.