However, Orochimaru was too much for Sasuke as well. However, Orochimaru used the Five Elements Seal on Naruto, disrupting the flow of the fox's chakra, as well as Naruto's own. Naruto and Sasuke's reactions to the situation were a complete reversal of what had happened in the Land of Waves mission - Sasuke was frozen with fear while Naruto fought on fearlessly, at one point stopping Orochimaru's huge summoned snake in its tracks on his own (with the help of some fox chakra), and muttering to Sasuke, in a moment of glorious retribution that marked another milestone in their rivalry, 'You're not hurt, are you… scaredy-cat?' Naruto eventually snapped Sasuke out of his panic. It turned out that Orochimaru used to be one of the Third Hokage's pupils, also known as the Sannin. During this part, Naruto found himself in a desperate situation against Orochimaru, an S-rank missing-nin from Konoha so powerful that the Third Hokage later mentioned that there was nobody in Konoha that could fight him equally. The second part of the exam (proctored by Anko Mitarashi) was a survival exam in the Forty-Fourth Training Ground, also known as 'The Forest of Death'. The genin who chose to answer the question all passed the first part of the Chūnin Exams - including Naruto, who didn't answer a single question on the written part of the exam. Naruto showed that he was not a quitter when he exclaimed that he didn't care if he stayed a genin forever, and that, even if that came to pass, he would still become Hokage. The last question was a do or die question: if one didn't answer, one's entire team failed the Chūnin Exams, but if one answered incorrectly, one would remain a genin forever. Sakura, as a testament to her incredible intellect, answered all of the questions quickly (a feat which the examiner later said could not be accomplished at genin level). Sasuke realised that he, too, did not know the answers, but immediately activated his Sharingan to copy someone else's answers. Naruto, who did not realise this, went into a traumatic state in which he felt that he would cause his entire team to be eliminated, as he did not know the answer to any of the questions. The first nine questions were supposed to be obtained by cheating, where the genin must use any techniques to find out the correct answer without being caught. The first part of the exam (proctored by Ibiki Morino) was written, but it was not a test of knowledge as much as a test of information-gathering and willpower. Naruto was thrilled at the possibility of becoming a chūnin. Meanwhile, Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai all volunteered their teams for the exam as well. One day, whilst playing with Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi, Naruto met three genin from Sunagakure, Gaara, Kankurō, and Temari, and learned that they were in Konoha to participate in the Chūnin Selection Exams.

Team 7 returned to Konoha to continue with their lives as regular genin.

Naruto vs sasuke original episode