The Chūnin Exams Resume

Sai runs the written portion of the exam while Naruto explains in an interview that recent crises have made qualified shinobi more urgent than ever, prompting other villages to hold their own exams too. The genin lean on their varied skills to trade answers, and Sai disqualifies one caught cheating through a puppet. Denki frets that he will drag his teammates down in the practical stage, and Boruto works to shore up his confidence. When the results post and the surviving teams celebrate, a haughty senior named Kaito Kawanami looks down on Boruto, who does not even remember him.

That night Boruto struggles to sleep, haunted by embarrassing himself in the previous exam, until Naruto reassures him to simply do what he does best, and Boruto resolves to give it everything.

The second stage unfolds in the Forest of Death under simulated battle conditions, where each genin must rescue an injured subordinate, with only ten subordinates available for twenty-six candidates and chūnin planted as enemy shinobi. One team charges in before instructions finish and is disqualified after being captured by wildlife. As the exam runs, Naruto, Sai, and Shikamaru monitor the field through cameras. Kaito, having secretly tagged Boruto with a transmitter, lays a trap and steals his subordinate, but a bear frightens him off a ledge. Boruto's freed subordinate helps release him, and rather than race the clock, Boruto chooses to bandage the injured Kaito and carry him out with a shadow clone.

Boruto nearly reaches the exit before time expires, and along with Tsubaki, Hōki, Inojin, Chōchō, Denki, Wasabi, Iwabee, Sarada, and Mitsuki, he passes. The proctors reveal the candidates were graded on overall performance, so refusing to abandon a hurt teammate counted in his favor, since a mission cannot always be completed. Sarada also sees through Mirai Sarutobi, who plays an enemy shinobi disguised as Mitsuki, and engages her. The group is then surprised to learn the final stage will be one-on-one bouts, meaning only half of them can become chūnin.