After passing the final test to become junior ninjas, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura find themselves protecting a cranky old man from the Land of the Waves who is the target of an elite assassin.
Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke have signed up for the Journeyman Ninja Selection Exams, which they must pass as a group; if the tests of skill, stealth, and battle prowess don't kill them, the other junior ninja just might.
Sakura feels trapped in the middle when her long-time teammates Naruto and Sasake, now young men and accomplished ninjas, seem headed for separate destinies.
While Naruto studies with Jiraiya to harness the power of the Nine-Tailed Fox chakra locked within him in preparation for the Ch?unin Selection Exams, other ninja villages are secretly forming alliances against Konahagakure.
The preliminaries to the third portion of the Journeyman Ninja Selection Exams continue, and with tensions at an all-time high after one of the last combatants was rushed to the emergency room, the much-anticipated bout between mysterious Sand ninja Gaara and Konoha ninja Rock Lee begins.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura battle their classmates one-on-one to advance to the third round of the Journeyman Ninja Selection Exams. Presented in graphic novel format.
The shinobi learn that there have been casualties from Orochimaru's attack and, in the midst of their mourning, make an unlikely choice for the next great ninja, while a long-lost ninja returns with a dangerous entourage.
