Why the Chunin Exam Arc Is Still Naruto's Best (2024)

The sprawling Naruto anime franchise is split into a rich variety of canon story arcs, and fans all have their own favorites from both the original anime and Naruto Shippuden. Many fans agree that the Pain arc is Shippuden's best, while fans may be a bit more divided about the original Naruto anime's best arc. The Sasuke Retrieval arc and the Konoha Crush arc are both strong contenders, but ultimately, the Chunin Exam arc stands as the original Naruto anime's best storyline.

The famed Chunin Exam story arc is the third overall arc in Naruto, with the brief introductory arc and the short but sweet Land of Waves arc preceding it; those first two storylines helped establish the world of Naruto and its main themes and characters. The Chunin Exam arc generously expanded upon the cast of characters and jutsu-based combat system while also delivering some of the anime's best character moments. While the Naruto anime didn't exactly peak early with the Chunin Exam arc, this popular story arc did help put Naruto on the map and establish it as a shonen giant, paving the way for many more excellent storylines down the road.

The Chunin Exam is a Ninja-Style Tournament Arc

Shonen anime series like Naruto are a curious mix of fresh, new ideas and well-established tropes that anime fans don't just expect to see, but hope to see. The anime industry is known for its "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" approach with many tropes, and anime fans are used to it, so seeing tropes like a tournament arc is comfortingly familiar in series like Naruto. Sure enough, the Naruto anime delivered its first and best tournament arc with the Chunin Exam story arc. It may sound odd for the best Naruto arc to rely on such a basic and common trope, but the key factor is how fresh and meaningful that trope is with its execution. Fortunately, the Chunin Exam arc is far more than an obligatory single-elimination tournament for the sake of writing action scenes.

The Chunin Exam story arc also served as a piece of worldbuilding, since that tournament/exam showed anime fans how ninjas are evaluated and promoted. The anime's simple but effective ranking system of genin, chunin, and jonin had to be more than just three names for characters to care about — the Naruto anime had to show what being worthy of the chunin rank really meant. Combat prowess was a major factor, of course, but that exam also involved ninja-style trickery and mental games, mainly in the first phase. The Naruto anime truly refreshed the tournament formula when it asked the participants to sneakily cheat on a difficult written test, with the examiners evaluating the examinees on how well they can covertly obtain information. Then came the Forest of Death sequence, challenging the examinees to survive in a hostile environment where anything could happen.

The later stages of the Chunin Exam story arc were a more conventional tournament narrative, which felt comfortingly familiar to anime fans who are used to the likes of Dragon Ball martial arts tournaments or obligatory sports festival arcs in high school anime series. It's true that the overall plot didn't advance much in this arc, but it was worth the trade-off of seeing an entertaining tournament unfold, among other benefits.

Having the Chunin Exam tournament at that point in Naruto's narrative also gave the anime a curiously innocent feel, because starting with Operation Konoha Crush, the world of Naruto felt too dangerous and unpredictable for quaint tournaments. Naruto Uzumaki would later deal with threats like the Akatsuki organization, Madara Uchiha, and Orochimaru's schemes, so the tournament arc felt like the last phase of an idyllic, relatively safe era. That helped make the Chunin Exam arc feel like "the good old days," where the worst thing Naruto had to worry about was advancing through the tournament's brackets to become worthy of the chunin rank.

The Chunin Exam Story Arc Introduces Essential Heroes Like Jiraiya and Hinata Hyuga

Most story arcs in a shonen anime will introduce a few new characters, but some arcs, such as the Chunin Exam story arc, usher in a whole crowd of new characters at roughly the same time. It can be a bit overwhelming at first, but in arcs like those, it's worth the effort of keeping track of all those new faces and seeing what they can contribute to the narrative. The Chunin Exam story arc thus became the original Naruto anime's best arc because it rotated in so many essential and fan-favorite characters who only made cameos in earlier episodes at best, including every member of the Konoha 12 (later 11) as well as Naruto's next mentor, the toad sage Jiraiya. By comparison, the Land of Waves arc had a limited cast of characters, few of whom were important in the long run.

The Chunin Exam arc helped give the Naruto anime an ensemble cast feel, similar to what My Hero Academia does with class 1-A; this proves that even when a shonen anime has a well-defined lead like Naruto Uzumaki and Deku, there is ample room to meet and root for everyone else in those shonen worlds as well, creating a balanced narrative. Every shonen hero has sympathetic motives, goals, and backstories, but they don't have a monopoly on such things. The Chunin Exam arc shone because a variety of heroes around Naruto's own age had protagonist traits too, from Rock Lee's fierce determination to succeed with taijutsu to Hinata Hyuga's "ugly duckling" arc as a talented ninja who needed to start believing in herself to reach her potential with her Byakugan eyes.

Best of all, the Chunin Exam story arc didn't just dump all those characters into the story to deepen the jutsu-based combat system and fill out the tournament roster. The Naruto anime did some heavy lifting to make those characters highly relevant to each other as ninjas and as people, with many character arcs being intertwined or affecting one another in the famed Chunin Exam story arc. Examples are many, including Sakura Haruno's personal feud with her friend/rival Ino Yamanaka and the clash between Neji and Hinata previewing the grim traditions of the Hyuga clan. That arc also introduced some of the series' best and most memorable friendships, such as between Shikamaru and Choji, with those friendships inspiring the characters to be braver and fight that much harder in future arcs.

Naruto Uzumaki Grew Up a Lot in the Chunin Exam Story Arc

In most story arcs, protagonist Naruto Uzumaki did a lot of growing up, which always made his adventures rewarding to watch. That included the formation of Naruto's shonen-style rivalry with Sasuke Uchiha in the Land of Waves arc, and Naruto's growth was even better in the Chunin Exam story arc; it was the arc where Naruto met his most helpful mentor, Jiraiya, who helped Naruto understand his half-other powers as Kurama's jinchuriki. Jiraiya taught Naruto how to control his chakra better and even use Kurama's chakra to perform powerful summoning jutsu, which was a game-changer for Naruto as he got a grasp on his half-other powers at last. Naruto put his powers to good use when he fought Neji Hyuga in the Chunin Exam's final stage, where he used Kurama's chakra to defeat the seemingly unstoppable power of Neji's Gentle Fist style and Byakugan eyes.

Naruto also started growing up as a person in the Chunin Exam story arc, honing his teamwork to the next level as he trusted Sakura and Sasuke more than ever to support him. In that arc, Naruto fought not just for self-centered reasons like earning people's respect, but also for the sake of others — most of all Hinaga Hyuga. Naruto proved that he could use his so-called talk jutsu not just to sway his enemies, but also to empower his friends, such as when he gave those words of encouragement to Hinata during her match against Neji.

Naruto had to inspire others so they could look up to him, and it all started with the Chunin Exam story arc. That was when Naruto started being a true symbol of hope, empathy, and courage in a vicious and unforgiving ninja world, and he was repaid generously when the audience cheered for him after defeating Neji Hyuga in their match. On an idealistic level, Naruto Uzumaki made his first serious strides toward growth in the Chunin Exam story arc, putting him on the path to being the heir of Jiraiya's dream of world peace and unity when fighting the Six Paths of Pain, and not just being an attention-seeking kid with years of mistreatment to make up for.

Naruto

TV-PG

Action

Adventure

Naruto Uzumaki, a mischievous adolescent ninja, struggles as he searches for recognition and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the village's leader and strongest ninja.

Release Date

September 10, 2002

Cast

Junko Takeuchi , Maile Flanagan , Kate Higgins

Main Genre

Anime

Seasons

1

Creator

Masashi Kishimoto

Production Company

Pierrot, Staralis Film Company

Number of Episodes

220