Why The Chunin Exams Are So Awful & Don't Work

The Chunin Exams is one of the most iconic Naruto Arcs. It's split into the Written Test, Forest of Death, and the 1v1 fights in the Finals of the Chunin Exams and prelims. We see amazing moments like Orochimaru's introduction and Gaara vs Rock Lee. But the Chunin Exams are also awful. The Naruto Anime and Naruto Manga depict a world where Ninjas are used as tools and children are discarted as if they for good of the great ninja nations.
We see this especially with the Forest of Death, where a great number of the Chunin Exams candidates die trying to get a promotion in the Shinobi World, and it doesn't even advance the agenda of the Chunin Exams. So let's take a closer at look as to why Ninja nations are willing to waste their Shinobi in a seemingly futile exercise that is the Chunin Exams.
Become a member to get cool perks:
/ @dygoknight
Like the video!
Subscribe:
/ @dygoknight

[@DygoKnight]

What's the best part of the Chunin Exams?

[@_nobody_865]

Orochimaru vs hiruzen

[@apollosroman8784]

What if the 2nd part was a way for the large nations to eliminate ninja from the smaller villages?

[@Eddie_Roxo]

The written test but the Konoha crush arc is better (out of the official 3 trials written test is best)

[@anierikidemona]

@@DygoKnight back then? the end. It was a good work don't get me wrong. But I could not be happier to get started on the retrieval Arc by the time it rolled around. I wanted more shino and more hyuga screen time. Now? Neji vs Hinata. Byakugan, soresu from star wars, ECT. I like martial displays of perfect defense. Especially when brought to bear upon each other by basically 100% accurate enemies.

[@yardenl1998]

Nothing can top Forest of death Orochimaru for me

[@AhmedHussain-ju6xd]

Tobirama: "I made the chunin exams so kids won't have to die in war" *kids die in chunin exam instead* Tobirama:

[@josesosa3337]

"I made the chunin exams so LESS kids die in war". 💀 Just adding to your comment bro.👍

[@Archer170]

In all fairness they can at least leave in the middle of the chunin exams.But not in a war.

[@LilShaqi]

He knows the uchiha will likely score high so they can fight and die faster

[@aliastheabnormal]

Tobiraman created the hunger games. Panam just ripped him off.

[@17jehovah]

I mean had they never trained in the chunin exams they’d be completely confused when they see someone actually trying to hurt them

[@lisboah]

Btw, Naruto being in the Forest of Death would have been the perfect chance for Obito to capture him. He could use Kamui to appear, capture him, and leave in less than a minute. And no one would ever know.

[@floodinmon14]

wait, that's a fantastic point. wtf didn't he do that?! o.0

[@subratanandy2142]

​@@floodinmon14 because Obito's character wasn't created at that point. He was just Kakashi's one of the two dead friends.

[@titankronos6517]

​@@floodinmon14 because it's a fictional show, if it was real life then obito would have captured Naruto long ago, considering how much negligence the leaf village showed towards Naruto.😅

[@lordlittletoeq8537]

Would have been funny af

[@bradygoldblatt560]

Agreed, but to be fair tho, he basically could do that at any point. Naruto’s spending weeks training alone in the woods? Taken. Naruto’s sleeping alone in his room every night? Taken. Naruto got clapped in the final valley? TAKEN. So yeah, other naruto fans hate the idea of a plot hole, but tbh that might be one.

[@VAOdin]

Hundreds of cadidates, spread over several weeks, from several countries, to help build each country's ranks of ninja and they only made 1 chuunin. That never made sense to me.

[@hanu9830]

tbf shikamaru was the only chunin promoted by the leaf. the other villages are free to promote their own students at their discretion

[@jaybronx98]

That’s not always the case tho. During the timeskip literally everyone got promoted. You have to rmm the finales were all rookies so hiruzen prob thought even tho they made it this far they still weren’t chunin level on all aspects. Also since they weren’t in war, he likely didn’t feel the need to promote child soldiers if it wasn’t necessary unless they were truly exceptional.

[@Porygon3-D]

The exams we got in the series was a special case; We learn during Shikamaru's promotion that the were planning on promoting no one because of the Konoha Crush, and that Shikamaru was only promoted because Hiruzen's notes were so glowing. During a normal exam, most of the finalists probably end up promoted (still a small amount compared to those participating, but better than 1)

[@subratanandy2142]

The winner is one , the villages are supposed to promote one of theirs as their own Chunin regardless of the outcome and based on their performance. Shikamaru didn't win but got promoted by Tsunade because he would've been a useful tactician who would get the jobs done .

[@InfiniteSpaceRanger]

Why did so many people like this when that’s not how it worked Lmao

[@armorbearer9702]

The funniest part is that there are no repercussions for killing anyone in the exams. Some ninja from the Hidden Clouds is killed trying to kidnap Hinata. Prepare for war! A whole bunch of our children are slaughtered during the Chunin Exams. It is a minor inconvenience.

[@lordlittletoeq8537]

They were after the secrets of her clan's eyerection

[@yahboysim1231]

Wym there were no repercussions? Nejis father was killed because they tried to kidnap Hinata

[@nomesobrenome9027]

​@@yahboysim1231yeah that's what they meant, there were serious repercussions for the whole "trying to kidnap Hinata" thing, but there are 0 repercussions for killing another village's genin in the exams

[@yahboysim1231]

@@nomesobrenome9027 I just saw I misread 😴

[@fredcavalcante1887]

​@@nomesobrenome9027It is because Hinata is not "another genin", she was royalty. Kidnapping her from Hyuuga is an attack on the clans efficient/honor, and was with the intention of steal her exclusive doujutsu, the Byakugan. If a random kid dies, no one cares. It is not the same thing for us to compare. If Hinata died during the exams AND someone stole her eyes, you can for sure expect the Hyuuga to react if they could. Also, it wasn't Konoha wanting war for the kidnapping, but Kumo for the death of their ambassador.

[@ivanbluecool]

Pain should have made the chunnin exams a talking point for his cause. I bet a lot of ninja like might dai or survivors of the Forrest would probably have went to his side like the smaller villages in how these exams are structured or even against the leaf alone just by how they sent over their top potential future soldiers and got washed in a foreign land

[@lisboah]

I am surprised that the Akatsuki didn't create some sort of secret alliance between the small nations even if only to have a web of agents and spies.

[@doejhonny]

I wonder if pain practiced his speeches (or at least the bullet points) before hand, or if he was just winging it.

[@footballstats9127]

Naruto didn t do politics. Which is a shame

[@tolkienblack]

I get what you mean but not dai. The will of fire is a powerful thing in naruto. The guy who was willing to die to save his friends wouldn’t also be the guy to betray the village over a rank

[@ivanbluecool]

​@@tolkienblackDAI is just an example of a genin adult that never managed to pass. I'm sure there are many that felt they should have been promoted. I mean Naruto for example was a genin until going hokage or if you want to use filler signing some papers to be jonin. He honestly should have been chuunin to make Sasuke even more enraged as he's falling behind and coming back everyone is on the equal playing field. Kakuzu or pain should have promoted him to jonin showing he's that strong and his rank should reflect it. Heck he probably could have become hokage by popular vote after pain since danzo did nothing and would be his only running opponent

[@a1saucin221]

The leaf left two genin (strongest bijuu, sharingan user) in a forest with spies, terrorists and other foreign agents. It’s a miracle that the leaf didn’t get kaboomed pre time skip.

[@seekeroftruth45]

Naruto has never really had a good representation of political consequences.

[@daelanbro]

@@seekeroftruth45it’s a show for teenagers lol find a different medium if you’re looking for themes this complex. It’s a fucking cartoon.

[@phillipanselmo8540]

that's a weird way to say poor worldbuilding ​@@seekeroftruth45

[@VinTheDirector]

meh, they could handle it

[@kmgyening]

I actually think this is one of Dygo's weaker points. It's like yea, you could argue that was logistically unwise, but then you could make that same argument every time that Naruto and Sasuke are allowed to go on missions outside of the village. Sure, most times they're supervised in the latter case, but that doesn't mean there's necessarily less risk in losing both assets. I would think that if we take this argument (or the implications thereof) to its logical conclusion, then Danzo and the other elders would at least be most justified in keeping Naruto and Sasuke confined to the village at all times. Idk what Dygo's position is on that, but the series seems to largely disagree with Danzo's and the elders' approach on that matter.

[@jamesturner6979]

What amuses me is that the Chunin exams are completely pointless as they don’t test for the biggest distinction between a Genin and a Chunin - the ability to lead a squad of other ninja. 🤔

[@MustacheDLuffy]

I think they do but I don’t think most of Naruto’s group was ready

[@ZzZz-fx7zb]

The reason for the chunnin exam is to collect money from other nations flooding in like hosting the Olympics. Especially the 1v1 finals where feudal lords place large wagers on combatants outcomes.

[@ManeInDaHat]

I’ve never understood why they didn’t just have a bunch of Anbu patrolling the forest

[@WalkWithMeCord]

When did the Anbu first appear on the show?

[@ManeInDaHat]

@@WalkWithMeCord it’s not like they didn’t exist before their intro lol

[@Planetdestroyer.138]

They actually did when they heard about orochimaru

[@neonoah3353]

Imo, the real problem with the exams is that the villages send their gennin to another village to get promoted in an exam that can, and probably will, kill them, which is stupid in the point of view of the other villages.

[@Glept5542]

Realistically if you were to be a ninja participating in an exam to allow you to go on more dangerous missions, I’d assume you’d want to have a little real experience before you step out onto the fucking war torn battlefield where people die 50x as often as in the chunin exams…like be fr it’s nothing like the mist village’s procedures they make them kill their classmates. Where as during the exams there’s just a chance of you dying if you’re not a good enough ninja. So yeah let’s baby the fucking ninjas that are being trained to literally kill…what is the Naruto community anymore everyone is just an idiot

[@neonoah3353]

@@Glept5542 its stupid not because it can kill them, but because you are sending the future force of your village to another village to evaluate, said village not only can kill your ninjas on purpose and cover it up, but they also have the full saying if they passed or not, not to mention that they will also have a grasp on what your future military is capable of.

[@sunwukong5518]

​@@neonoah3353The last thing is the point of the exams. If every village performs well then it deters them from attacking each other. Even if a village gives out low scores on purpose they will still see actual results during the exams.

[@tomraineofmagigor3499]

​@sunwukong5518 ok but at the very least every kage should be there

[@yami122]

​@@Glept5542 Even brutal dictatorships throughout history are not killing their men in such large numbers during training sure death is a possibility but it's no one and the vast majority of its individuals are going to survive It's just not smart to be losing a percentage of your force from a mere exam your weakening yourself rather nation Vietnam era military train was pretty brutal But you didn't see the US having cadets Fight to the death To graduate because why would you that would lead to basic application portion of the US military that it needs to be sending into Vietnam i'm just dying outside a battle Unnecessarily and that is The problem is that the soldiers are dying outside of battles they're not being sent on some mission that they failed they're just failing in exam And this is a point in their careers where they're going to be at their weakest look at the missions that the lowest ranking ninja are supposed to be doing it's finding lost puppies so going from that to a death matching the forest is a pretty unnecessary jump most of the participants are also underage still developing still growing they're not at their full power So you could lose a itachi or a minato when there's Still rescuing puppies and are still relatively weak i'm sure they were extremely talented for their age group but considering there's nothing stopping a village from sending in in a super elite Ninja Who's still technically a genin heck kabuto was apparently extremely powerful he was able to keep going to that exam because he just always quit right at the end before being promoted By the way calm down with the insults and honestly you're kind of the one who came off as an idiot with the idea of wasting military force Because you don't want a baby That's not how military force works you want to preserve and build up as much of it as possible

[@averyhaferman3474]

Land of waves is the best arc. It sets up everything about what it means being a ninja and what theyll be doing. Then the entire premise of the show gets derailed and never has the same vibe as zabuza

[@Briskeeen]

Fr, the fight are cool, but that's the only reason I care past Waves.

[@SunlightGwyn]

Having a promotion exam where your young ninja can die is a dumb way to promote ninja to higher ranks anyway. After a certain amount of high risk missions you should get a hard but non-lethal test to promote. That’s what real special forces do.

[@Saintjackoftrades]

I dunno what country you're talking about but that's not at all how US special forces earn promotions.

[@SunlightGwyn]

@@Saintjackoftrades The non lethal test part is what real special forces do to promote regular soldiers into the ranks of special forces. Higher ranking ninja are the equivalent of special forces since they go on specialized missions like assassinations.

[@Saintjackoftrades]

@@SunlightGwyn special forces is not a rank.. it's a job. You don't get promoted to it.

[@SunlightGwyn]

@@Saintjackoftrades Now you are playing with semantics. You still get in to special forces that way and the higher ninja ranks are like special forces.

[@Saintjackoftrades]

@@SunlightGwyn no I'm not. I was in a jsoc unit for 8 years. It's not semantics. What you said was inaccurate past the point of semantic difference. Anbu are special forces.

[@LinktoSonic]

15:10 “They have to sign a waiver” The idea that there could be ninja lawyers going to ninja court is the funniest thing to me 😂

[@Fernybun]

The ultimate Talk Jutsu

[@BrandonHeat21]

Objection!!! *throws Kunai*

[@pc_screen5478]

You're hereby sentenced to 5 years of tsukuyomi torture

[@gubbothehuggo2771]

The premise of there being a ninja president with their own mt rushmore shouldn't make it too surprising that there would also be ninja lawyers. and ninja supreme court. and ninja attorney generals. and ninja ted cruz

[@SwiftDeath0608]

During the forest of death, they could have had proctors on standby, while a couple of Aburame members watch the forest with a big swarm of bugs across the whole place.

[@loganangell9905]

In my opinion, they should have been genin while going through the academy. They do their d ranks with a set team or random teams, then they become chunin after they graduate and get their jonin teachers. Then the chunin exams could be the jonin exams. And that would make more sense, in my opinion, than having children show what a village is capable of

[@matijasostojic4288]

Yea its really kinda dumb when you think about it.

[@anierikidemona]

Not a true defense of the system as a whole. But having them compete as adults would make the battle impossible to follow for the average prospective client. This would also put a lot of hidden jutsu, secret skills, and even tools directly in the eyes of ONLY your enemies, as again the average person wouldn't be able to keep up. In his late teens for example Sasuke is on the regular using sharingan just to see (not react to) some jutsu/attacks in time. Making kids fight is pretty shit. But having all these elite civilians show up or burn time on battles they can't even see is actually pointless. To further this. It's a display of the potential of the NEXT generation of people they will hire. From there they will be picked for employment based on their combat type without having all their tricks exposed. Most adult battles also have one of two results. 1no body gets hit then someone takes a lethal shot out of no where (which you can't stop) 2 death by 100000000000 cuts. Which is both extremely brutal for an average onlooker and cool. But also means that much more time for enemies (yes I mean enemies) to study form and skills.

[@loganangell9905]

@anierikidemona I see where you're coming from, but overall, it makes more sense to show off your current strength than your potential strength. Like if we're being real early naruto kinda broke their power scaling with zabuza and Haku. Cause either zabuza was, in fact, a nobody or Kakashis team as dysfunctional as it was was just built different. And to your point about showing off techniques to your enemies. They would know about their techniques regardless they just wouldn't have a fundamental understanding.

[@anierikidemona]

@@loganangell9905 like I said. It's not a defense of the system. It's purely why they don't use full fledge jonin to show off. Everything else makes almost 0 sense. I'd also rather a sharingan copy a teenagers skills than my best warriors

[@serendipitouscomet]

The characters should have been much older as well. 16 in part one and 19 in part two at least.

[@mune.t8691]

For me, the Forest part of the exam can make sense if you twist a little the intentions of the exams. As a ninja nation/village your main objective is to make your ninja get jobs from people, therefore the less "enemy" or "rival" ninjas the better right? Well, since you cannot kill them directly, you can maken them go to a forest filled with flora and fauna that can kill you in minutes if not seconds, like the giant worms that can drain your chakra or even snakes, spiders or any insect that can inject venom (like when your sleeping for example) or even something that may look tasty or safe to eat can kill you after lets say 3 days withouth any symptom. By this premise, ninjas from other nations WOULD NOT KNOW anything about the flora and fauna of the fire nation, while ninjas from the leaf village may have gone through lessons in the academy or in school (maybe in biology or natural sciences), so you could easily take out many ninjas from other nations/villages so that you dont have much oponents looking for ninja jobs. The sand village would be one of the main targets, because their eviroments is the total opposit from the hidden leaf village. The mist village wouldn know how to properly act in a forest since they are acostume to lands with a lot of water and would be a much easier target for other ninjas. Remember when Kakashi spot the 2 assassins in the first mission in the Zabuza arc, something like that could happend in the forest with eveyone on high alert at all time. And your ninjas would be (relatively) safe since they know what to eat from the flora, how to travel the scenario since they are used to forests and trees, how to keep the local fauna away from them, etc. I dont know, maybe Im just overthinking. If you read all of this, thanks :)

[@wtfdid_i_justsee]

This is exactly what I thought the forest of death was for! Since you can't really kill any competitors in a written test and killing any ninja during the one on ones might cause a diplomatic incident due to all the onlookers. The forest of death is the perfect place to get rid of your competition because there are no witnesses (and maybe general lack of scrutiny), and the lack of surveillance makes sense in this view point because they dont want any witnesses or anything that others can use when investigating the deaths

[@kingbowserchannel1585]

Yes You're both overthinking Hence why our favorite snake man got what he wanted not being detected. Which is not part of the exams in the end.

[@Brutalyte616]

I haven't dug into the video yet, so here's my initial thoughts. Hiruzen actually admits that the Chunin Exams are something of a war game. Each Hidden Village sends participants to represent them and show off their strength, especially during the final phase where they're having exhibition matches in a tournament in full view of civilians and visiting dignitaries, who will ultimately become the Hidden Vilages' clients in one way or another. Ultimate victory is not required to become a Chunin, but Genin are evaluated based on their performance in the exams, again typically during the exhibition matches, so clearly 'passing' the exams is encouraged but not strictly required, and the actual promotions are apparently done after the exams with no input from the other villages, so the Chunin Exams are just a show. Moreover, promotion to Chunin is optional, entirely voluntary, and Genin can already earn a living wage doing D-rank missions, in addition to the riskier C-rank, the occasional B-rank, or even the rare A-rank missions a Genin might stumble into like Team 7 did. In an ideal circumstance, that's all there is to the Chunin Exam; a political dick-measuring contest designed to make people want to hire ninjas as mercenaries. However, we know it's not that simple. The Chunin Exams are a bloody affair, and all participants must sign waivers absolving the hosting village of any responsibility for their deaths in order to be allowed to participate. In exchange, the Chunin Exams are an excuse for ninjas from other villages to legally enter the hosting village and kill, injure, or otherwise hinder the careers of the next crop of child soldiers from a given village, all the while being given free reign to spy and perform reconnaissance under the guise of tourism. In that regard, hosting the Chunin Exams is a village's way of asserting dominance over the others, because they're essentially throwing the doors to the village wide open and saying 'Come try something. We know you won't. And if you don't show up and participate after we publically invited you and everyone else, you're a scaredy little bitch. We, on the other hand, have huge swinging dicks, and we are so much better than you we can get away with taunting you like this to your face.' This is why rookies generally don't participate in the Chunin Exams, why the exam itself is optional and unnecessary for most career ninjas who'd just want to earn a living wage as soldiers and militia instead of in the civilian workforce, and why every facet of the exam is designed to weed out those who don't have the nerve or the ability to actually survive it; it's a free-for-all deathmatch masquerading as a friendly competition between rival nations.

[@Ironpaths]

I’m not reading allat

[@professorhawk777]

I wholeheartedly agree, and just as you...didn't watch vid before coming to comment section. Someone shares my sentiment going into this so I can just enjoy the hot takes.

[@Brutalyte616]

@@professorhawk777 Less about hot takes and more just outlining all of the in-universe reasons, both explicit and implicit, that I can think of off the top of my head to explain why it exists and why it's actually logically sound. And DK seems to share most of the same rationale, even if it is still ultimately a monstrous waste of human life and generally not the safest bet. Then again, this is a series about child-soldier mercenaries being taught magic and the art of assassination like some kind of black-ops variation of Hogwarts.

[@Dragon66898]

True TLDR: In short deadly dick measuring contest disguised as a friendly competition to the civilians.

[@subratanandy2142]

The last para ... makes Kakashi look absolutely horrible because he pushed three rookies especially Sakura who had zero skills in that hell hole , without giving them a good caution in a realistic way , and he also told Iruka off for mentioning the obvious.

[@hasseo195]

One problem is probably, because the arc wasnt planed. Kishimoto wanted to show the other genins ftom Mission to mission. The editor lead him to make the exam, so, that all can be showed in one instant. So, Kishimoto was "forced" to come with something. And created that problem. Funny part is, that the same editor sayed than, that he should blow up the exam later. And create the konoha crash.

[@dudesayshi2191]

Why do mangaka even have editors anymore shouldent they just have someone just making sure thats its alright to show to audiences and not mess with tha manga

[@hasseo195]

@@dudesayshi2191 Because, the Editor has important stuff to do. His main job is, to make sure, that the mangaka has succes (manga are cutted very fast, if they not perform well). And, because the story doesnt own the mangaka alone anymore, if he is working together with a puplisher. There exist a Clip, who Talks about Kishimotos time with the first editor (who created naruto? Kishimoto or .. ). Some short facts: The editor rejected on idea after the other, that Kishimoto send him. It happens so many times, that i would had quit allready. But, the editor engourage Kishi, to try more and learn more stuff. He was it, who lead Kishimoto to create Sasuke. He was it, who came up with the chunin exam. He was it, who created Lee, Guy and some other charas, if i heared it correctly (Kishimoto needed help with Chara design for the exam and the editor was a artist himself). He stated, that Kishimoto should watch old Jacky Chan movies, for his Taijutsu stuff. Until the Tsunade arc, had the editor very strong influence on the work. With Tsunade became it weaker and i think around Shippuuden withdraw the editor. Because Kishimoto was ready to work alone now. And to make place for a new editor. The editor was practicly Kishimotos mentor and helper.

[@Swagjutsusolosfiction]

​​​@@hasseo195 it was ikemoto the current artist for the boruto manga who drew haku, zabuza and Garra. Kishimoto written everything by himself but naruto having a rival was the editors idea. And kishimoto didn't plan on adding sakura to story because he couldn't write women so kishimoto was not only planning on adding her but he knew he couldn't write her well. And he took all of these ideas because the editor had 3 years of expirecnce while kishimoto was still a noob..but people meatride the editor just because he was the reason Sasuke exist and everyone are human and not animals. Kishimoto even said he wanted to kill off everyone(except for shikamaru and Naruto) in the Sasuke retrieval arc but obvs his editor said otherwise. His editor did more harm to the Naruto story than good, because of him the characters seem wasted and people use that as a reason to say naruto is bad or kishimoto is a bad writer. The editor left during the pain arc, if I remember it was before Itachi's death

[@Jamseth_Ingramious]

@@hasseo195Good points, but please take some English classes.

[@ratedr7845]

This one of those things that feels good in the moment, but becomes bad as time goes by. I won't fault kishimoto for this too

[@IBH94]

It’s also kind of funny how the procters at the end are surprised that gaara finished the forest part very quickly going “I’ve never seen anything like that “ while you have some leaf ninjas doing it at the age of 7

[@Paulomedi]

My headcanon is that IS a reality show, that pays the entire exam with spare to change. The difference is, the nations pay observers/ ninja teachers to watch the exam and learn about the tactics and jutsus used.

[@JohnSmith-ox3gy]

This really conflicts with the appearing of Orochimaru. If the best Anbu sensory types were broadcasting trough a similar jutsu as Hiruzen's scrying orb Orochimaru would likely have been "captured".

[@lordlittletoeq8537]

​@@JohnSmith-ox3gy"captured"? You put it in quotes like he's into it 🤨

[@JohnSmith-ox3gy]

@@lordlittletoeq8537 Because I am avoiding saying "unalived". If a comme t is too negative it won't get trough.

[@lordlittletoeq8537]

@JohnSmith-ox3gy orochimaru far more likely to be willingly captured than for the leaf to zero his health bar. But yeah, comment rules are wild.

[@lordlittletoeq8537]

@JohnSmith-ox3gy it's just, that was back when he had hands lol

[@troysinnovations4858]

I always wondered about somthing similar to this. What would have happened If kakashi failed Naruto during the bell test. Would the village have just not trained the strongest fucking jinjurichi

[@aitaziz4871]

Bro all that village is a weird mess

[@VinTheDirector]

He probably would've just been sent back to the academy. He barely passed on a technicality anyways, so either he'd have to train the basics some more, or just forever live trapped in the village so the other nations wouldn't kidnap him and steal his power

[@m.s54116]

While yes, you are right, you also have to remember that Biju and jinchuriki were a retcon that happened in/for Shippuden, the nine tails was just another strong entity in the world in og Naruto

[@SavageRush012]

When it becomes obvious that tailed beasts and Jinchuriki were not a thing in part 1.

[@xvoidxhunter2129]

They wouldve likely just hid bro away, like they tried to do during the War. If 16 yr old Naruto with a fucking Bijuu cloak after beating the Leader of the Akatsuki is being told to stay out of the war then they absolutely woulfdve preferred him to be "Safe" under lock n key

[@Make_Australia_British_Again]

Not Zaku, Dosu and Kin getting so much development in this arc and then getting killed off straight after. 💀😞😞

[@kyuubinaruto17]

What developments? They had one fight with the Konoha shinobi in the Forest of Death, 2 of them were easily defeated in the tournament proper, and Dosu got killed by Gaara. Besides Dosu giving up on Orochimaru there's really not much to them.

[@violetsparkles5453]

@@kyuubinaruto17we got Zaku lore too during his fight with shino. It’s just weird they got so much screen time just to die

[@Porygon3-D]

@@violetsparkles5453 Zaku lore was anime filler. In the original manga, Zaku was a flat character, Kin was a non-character, and only Dosu had any semblance of an interesting character.

[@jaycalibre609]

Who, who and whom? Lol (kidding btw)

[@justinarzola4584]

Wasted potential in my opinion.

[@samflood5631]

The Chunin Exams is just like Tri Wizard Tournament and the Hunger Games seeing how they’re both sending children into meat grinders.

[@josecuestas7246]

Though that at least in the Chunnin Exams, the Genins can retires before to do a Test. While in the Triwizard tournament, the Champions cannot retires, once that they are chosen by the Goblet.

[@josecuestas7246]

Also, as other analogue competetion to the Chunnin Exams, we can mention the Holy Grail War of Fate/Stay Night, and the Squid Games of Squid Games. Adding that in this three tournaments, the participants have the options and chance to retires, if they feels themselves overwhelmed for the danger.

[@jstyle7695]

Chunin exams were for the hokage and village officials. They couldn’t be there to observe every mission so the chunin exams were like a showcase for the genin.

[@user-md7qp3gf4r]

I 100% agree with you bro

[@GeorgeTooCur1ous]

The craziest thing to me are the grown ass spectators cheering for 12 year olds to battle to the death

[@DygoKnight]

I'd be doing the same lmao

[@lordlittletoeq8537]

It's like real life lol

[@xvoidxhunter2129]

They arent fighting to the death they are fighting to a K.O like Boxing rules

[@lordlittletoeq8537]

@xvoidxhunter2129 those battles were NOT like boxing rules!

[@xvoidxhunter2129]

@@lordlittletoeq8537 Not 100% exactly the same obviously but otherwise similar though

[@artydomi2466]

I love the Naruto Trading Cards Kabuto introduces...then are never seen again. It's such a dumb meta way of introducing characters. Maybe Kaburo made the Boruto Ninja Cards and that's how he's able to keep the orphanage open

[@Dragon66898]

That’s my head cannon now.

[@ieatvirgins]

With my... secret Ninja cards...

[@mitchellalexander9162]

Successful Half Snek dude who everyone magically forgave post Nearly Ending the World Starts Orphanage Funded by highly successful Trading Card company sounds like the stupidest thing ever...but it's true.

[@slkjvlkfsvnlsdfhgdght5447]

i do think that it kind of *is* "bad writing": it's a symptom of the writer coming with things up on the fly and not thinking enought about the world-building and logical consistency. i understand why it happened, and i certainly don't think it was an intentional way of showing us how rotten the shinobi system is. like you yourself said: even if you look at it completely coldly, it still doesn't make sense. let's just acknowledge it for what it is: a consequence of a lack of fore-planning

[@ayhamahmad2277]

The chunin exam wasn't kishimoto idea he wanted to have more arc like visiting each other village introduce each team but the editor forced him to cut down and kishimoto didn't know that Naruto well be this popular so shonan forced him to continue it's shonan problem even if you planned the story it depends if shonan didn't cancel it because they want hesitate to cancel any manga that didn't get good or popular enough

[@anryXcurse]

I thought kishimoto was trying to emulate Hunter exam

[@slkjvlkfsvnlsdfhgdght5447]

@@anryXcurse maybe he was, but that's not relevant to my point

[@slkjvlkfsvnlsdfhgdght5447]

@@ayhamahmad2277 he wanted to have one more arc before the exams, he didn't want not to have them altogether

[@ayhamahmad2277]

@@slkjvlkfsvnlsdfhgdght5447 he wanted to have more mission and having Naruto visit each other village

[@twelfthknight]

Kishimoto wanting to do his own Hunter exams is understandable but it doesn't really work for ninja as conceived in the Naruto universe. For one, there's the Harry Potter problem of how do these numbers make sense, as you'd have so few Chunin while having far more dead children. With Togashi's Hunters that's kind of the point as the exam is supposed to identify those capable of Nen and reign them in, all the dead applicants are merely adding to the Hunter license's prestige and allure in the market. Second, why are ninja willing to display their abilities to enemy villages? In the Edo period Samurai would participate in duels to show off their skills in order to seek employment from prospective lords, but these are ninja. They have techniques which can be analyzed and in the case of when the Uchiha were still a force directly stolen. Even just revealing their elemental affinities would be a huge loss in this universe of rock-paper-scissors mechanics. In the time of Boruto that wouldn't matter all that much, though Boruto has its own many worldbuilding problems. With Hunter x Hunter the exams happen before the majority of the participants learnt Nen and those without it can't perceive anyways, so it's not really going to breach the personal secrecy most Nen-Users have surrounding their abilities. Lastly - and this is a minor world-building issue - but why would feudal lords allow you to hire outside of their countries' Hidden Village anyways? If ninja were universally just organized mercenary groups that might make sense, but we see later that they pledge fealty to their local Daimyo and will fight wars on their behalf, Hiring ninja unaffiliated with your state would be building the coffers of your geopolitical antagonists. The exams should really be intra-village and pretty tightly controlled like the Hunter exams are, but made far less potentially deadly as you're conducting it on children of your own village. Obviously that would undermine the whole arc, but still.

[@kthy0056]

Good points , I was a bit disappointed that Dygo focused just on the second round when the chunin exams concept in general is a problem.

[@ShonTV15]

When you think about it, the Jonin should have these type of harsh exams. Most of the things you learn about being a Chunin should be learned in the academy. And then you just get on the job experience under a Jonin until he promotes you.

[@raymondbermudez555]

Can you explain the Feudal Lords in Naruto! How can these people have so much power when the villages can clearly eclipse them in military might. Why did Madara never attack these Lords to secure Konoha?

[@boredomkiller99]

Honestly I think Kishimoto forgot his own world building. Ninja villages are supposed to be only a small part of the world but half way through it is the whole world. In reality most of the Ninja United Army should have been regular soliders

[@rishisaini5269]

I think that is because The Hidden Leaf Village is the only place which contains actual military power of Land of Fire since it is the only place for Shinobis to live. So,Madara(who wants to completely wipe out hidden leaf village) wouldn't waste his time capturing those lands which only gives him tactical edge not personall power.

[@josecuestas7246]

I guess that the relationship between the Kages and Daimyos, is just like the relationship between the Emperor and the Shogun in the Feudal Japan. In the sense that the Kage and Shogun are who has the military power, yet, they are still under the authority of the Daimyo and Emperor.

[@Rojiace]

My second favorite part of the test after the prelims is the first exam. The psychological strain that Ibiki puts these Genin through is outstanding. A whole test that wants them to cheat, followed by the 10th question is legit so good.

[@inesatt1313]

I gotta agree with you in some points Glad Boruto made it a lot safer,I guess Naruto didn't want the kids to suffer the same way they did in them In other words Naruto must have remembered the exams when Pain talked to him about the curse of being a Ninja and took his words to heart

[@littenfire3563]

While not as entertaining for us watching the show, it does make sense in-universe that Naruto would make the exams less dangerous

[@inesatt1313]

@@littenfire3563 See,now somebody gets me,glad I didn't upset you by my comment

[@jaybronx98]

Facts and also since borutos era was a time of peace (before the otsutsuki showed up) Naruto prob thought it wouldn’t make sense to put kids under grueling exams like how he and his generation went through.

[@inesatt1313]

@@jaybronx98 Thanks

[@Righthand_]

I really hoped in Boruto, even tho the exam wouldn’t be as deadly as the one before it, the story more focused on missions that actually involved life and death missions against real expert ninjas or organizations instead of aliens, especially on earlier arcs. I feel like the earlier arcs of Boruto is to “cartoonish” and incompetent than the ones in Naruto.

[@Jay_daewi]

I haven’t finished the video yet so idk if he’s gonna say this, but Tobirama made the chunin exams to be a safe(ish) way to replicate war to make sure genin are ready for war. Because tobirama saw too many child soldiers die during a war they weren’t ready for.

[@justinjoseph8491]

The forest of death was inspired by the forest in the Hunter exams from HxH. Only reason it's in there.

[@4eyezwhitedragon]

Kishimotos a great writer, but why does he hate building off of the story he wrote

[@shaginus]

No he is not Samurai 8 proved that he better at drawing than writing

[@roxasdeviluke317]

Also why wasn't Sasuke ever promoted before he went rogue? He was constantly praised as a prodigy that could've helped to keep him from going with the sound ninja too

[@anvos658]

Most likely his anti-social behavior reminded them too much of his brother, the last prodigy Uchiha.

[@TheJerbro69]

The more you deconstruct the Chunin Exams,the more you realize that it was poorly planned yet is the most popular arc alongside with Pain's one.

[@Boollish]

Ninja villages: To prevent more wars, let's set up cross-village exams so our young children can grow up with the spirit of collaboration and comradery. Also ninja villages: Our adolescent rite of passage frequently results in battles where one or both parties ends up dead or seriously maimed. Also there are no restrictions or security on candidates so everyone from professionally trained assassins to those who can casually summon eldritch horrors regularly participate compete against a kid with a sharp knife.

[@Diavolo_Gieseke]

My theory is that the Ninja clans really hate each other even after Konoha's creation, the forest arc is just so they can kill each other legally.

[@RicardoKoei]

The problem of training gennins survival skills in missions is that you need clients that are willing to hire inexperienced gennins for high risk missions.But yeah, they need some jonnin patrolling the forest to avoid infiltration from other nations.

[@josesosa3337]

As a kid i remember watching naruto part 1 in elementary so the chunin exams has a very special place in my heart. Im curious to what you have to say.

[@Mortred99]

The justification for the finals works really well when you think about in terms of name recognition, like having the famous clans of Konoha show off their strength. "Yeah, we still have one last Uchiha, don't fuck with us. Oh, and I hope you did not forget that Konoha has Kyuubi."

[@xvoidxhunter2129]

Its basically College Football/Basketball, "Say this Lebron kid is really something, we should keep an eye out for him"

[@thejack5952]

When I was younger, I, too, thought that the chunin exams made sense due to being a high school student at the time (a failing student at that lol). Now that I'm older, your video really made sense. The Chunin Exams were truly ridiculous and a waste of time. It would've made more sense to have the Genin Shinobi Teams to go on more dangerous missions and once completed said mission the Kage would determine if said individual(s) were worthy of becoming Chunin.

[@thenomu]

To be fair, if I was attending the exam to see which village ninja I would hire for missions, i would most definitely like to know which teams were successful in completing the second exam. Being the fact that they had to complete a goal by obtaining a scroll, combat and or escape stronger shinobi, and make it to their destination. Essentially this test held the most information gained on the genin. This exam is theoretically where the genin defined who the they wanted to be as shinobi. Buuuut I may be biased.

[@shaulthecat6260]

I think forest of death should be kept just being watched all around making sure people dont die If they see someone abaut to die they stop them and tells the other to get out and give the scr9lls

[@matijasostojic4288]

I have a question about the shinobi system in general. So kids join the academy around the age of 6 right? Atleast that's what I've heard. And they graduate, normaly, at age 11-12. What parent in their right mind would send their child to the equivalent of military school before normal school? And you might say shinobi parents but that still raises the question of why the hell is Sakura in the academy. Her parents/family have always been civilians so why the hell is Sakura in the academy and not a normal school?

[@dylanbarrett508]

sakura's parents are actually retired ninja in canon google it. kizashi Haruno her dad retired after Mebuki his wife got pregnant

[@matijasostojic4288]

@@dylanbarrett508 Oh ok that makes sense. Kinda. Still would a non clan shinobi enroll their child? Unless her dad is more patriotic than I know I feel Like he would have reservations against making his only child a soldier/mercenary. Especially since he was probably a ninja during the war And would know how bad it could get. Maybe during wartime but still.

[@dylanbarrett508]

@@matijasostojic4288 i don't really disagree with you i just felt compelled to point out one inaccuracy.

[@xvoidxhunter2129]

Because in the Shinobi world you are a solider and only a solider, the only things you need to learn is techniques and chakra control, and how to be more efficient as a ninja. They dont have to learn about things like Taxes and the Pythagorean theorem because its nonsense info for what you will be doing 99% of your life

[@matijasostojic4288]

@@xvoidxhunter2129 I am pretty sure the ninja villages (Or atleast Konoha) want their ninja to not be ONLY soldiers. Maybe their parents could have taught them some stuff but that a big maybe. So if not then the first like 2-3 years of the shinobi academy would (or I guess should, in a realistic setting) be spent on just teaching the children the same things they would just learn in normal school but also some other stuff either removed or throw in. Like I know this is fiction but people forget that these are 6-7 year olds that MIGHT have at most been taught basic math and reading/writing by their parents. This isn't war time. Konoha isn't going to ruin an entire generation just so they could pump out soldiers. Maybe during a war but in the era of "Peace" (So part 1 of Naruto) the age of when the kids could join should have definetly been the age of 10 and then another 4 years for basics of being a ninja at the academy. Then at that point most ninja teams wouldn't be doing high level missions or becoming chunnin until a year or two of service so the standard new but experianced shinobi preped for battle would be about 15-16 which atleast makes more sense that 12 year olds.

[@maxie1199]

I always thought it weird that they held the chunin exams maybe once a year? That would mean between the 5 great villages only 1 shinobi would get promoted a year, with each village only having a 1/5 chance of it being one of their own

[@kthy0056]

I think it was twice a year but your point still stands. In the war arc there's supposedly 80000 ninjas that are chunin level at least, where did they come from if you promote only 1 or 2 at a time 😅

[@iananderson4754]

Honestly the lethalness of this exam would make more sense if it was how someone became a jonin

[@cooler2727]

I've always just viewed the Forrest of Death as a way to weed out the week and unskilled. But I do agree that the lethalness should have been dilled down a bit.

[@youcefzineeddinefellag6540]

There are cameras in the forest of death. In Obito's flashback, we see Minato watching on a TV with Sarutobi. I don't know if it's only in the anime. 

[@Zlittlepenguin]

Hmm I don’t disagree with absolutely everything you said, but I have two thoughts: 1. I don’t necessarily think it’s important for anyone to “see” the second part of the exam in order to be impressed by it. The fact that everybody they’re watching in the final portion of the exam survived and completed the second portion is proof enough that everyone still around is a big deal. As long as they understand that the second portion was “deadly,” which I would imagine would at the very least be rumoured, then there you go. Colour me impressed. 2. I don’t necessarily disagree that it’s silly to throw Naruto and sauske in there (although they would need to and definitely want to take it eventually) but I wouldn’t say they have the “least experience” - at least as far as the leaf village genin are concerned. Team 7 went on a way higher ranked mission than they were meant to go on, and they were still able to complete it without anyone dying. We don’t really know what kind of missions the other villages have going on for their genin, but I think it’s safe to say that the leaf doesn’t make a habit of asking their worst ninja’s to fight a bunch of random infamous Jonin all the time…

[@oarecefac]

Who would have thought that some of them would become war criminals, crazy kids

[@heartnet40]

The way that the Chunin Exams are structured, it almost feels like we were supposed to go back to this at some point given the ending of these exams was interuppted. I imagine if Naruto had remained a story about Ninja Politics, Missions, and acts of tyranny and terrorism as opposed to a story about bloodlines, conspiracy, and the deep dive into the powers that it ended up taking, the Chunin Exams probably would have had more of an impact in returning storylines.

[@kazamirro6705]

I think they should change forest of death assessment to something done by the jounins assigned to genin. They would be assessed by their jounin on missions and given score on things such as reconnaissance, survival skills, tactics, prowess, etc. They would also be assigned to different jonins from time to time to prevent favouritism, such as Ebisu faking Konahamaru marks to get him ahead. This would prevent unqualified genin or the ones that are only good at fighting (e.g. Naruto) from being assigned to more delicate missions when they get promoted to chunnin. Also swapping out Jounins, or putting genin in different teams ( e.g. Naruto in like team 10) for a mission or two would teach the genin to be more flexible when assigned to people they haven't worked with before. Then only after passing certain number of missions with decent enough score from like 3 different Jounins, can the Genin be allowed to take Chunnin exam, which would only be a written exam and arena like said in the video.

[@VinTheDirector]

sounds lame af, they should be sent to the woods without supervision to fight for their lives

[@DippedinGold1997]

It's a military training exercise and they took recommendations for who could compete from the team leaders, it's not like they chose them at random, only the strongest got thrown in there because they would be more likely to survive. And kakashi is the one who recommended team 7,but you keep blaming the hokage instead.

[@JJsuperJJ]

Cool video. I always thought it was crazy that no one monitored what happened in the Forest of Death. Like, part of the point of the exams is to monitor and evaluate the candidates to see if they should be Chunin. That's why things like the answers/cheating methods mattered in the first test and why losing your fight in the last test could still lead to a promotion. How you did things mattered because they were testing whether or not you'd make a good Chunin/leader and all of that kinda got thrown out in that second exam. Like, even if folks still die, at least have some Yamanaka or Aburame around to watch, lol.

[@DygoKnight]

Yeah they just didn't care lol

[@doejhonny]

The chunin exams would be a great excuse to bump off the other nations shinobi while they're still young. Like imagine if the leaf had someone like say, danzo use a transformation jutsu or something to disguise himself as a random teenager and basically execute gaara before "accidently" "dying" in a way that leaves no body or evidence?

[@kingsleycy3450]

Kabuto was the only guy who did the exam right. Hide your power and collect intel on everyone

[@yakobulol]

4:50 that makes no sense? shinobi missions can unexpectedly turn wayy worse like how their mission went up multiple ranks in the land of waves arc upon zabuzas arrival and thats too dangerous for genin to go through more and more often. most of them would prolly end up dead bro

[@darrientwyman1309]

Big problem is that people who won the exam didn't become Chunin while the one that lost did 😂

[@Nyrufa]

14:19 - Oh, yeah, wait... The Forest of Death could be used as a perfect opportunity to capture the other village's tailed beasts, by attacking the genin housing them!

[@tylercafe1260]

It can basically be summed up with Tournament Arcs don't make a school curriculum. Why is it a "Tournament" of all things? If this is what it's like for Chunin's then the Anbu must have a harder entry right? "Itachi and Kakashi are the youngest Anbu in the history of the village" How does that make sense? Especially if the Chunin exam is sizing up your strength. Anbu and Joinin seem way easier to become by comparison. Hell Hokage seems easier than the Chunin exam. Honestly? The worst arc in the series as time goes on. It has the best fights but it's story writing is straight up bad. No hyperbole. It just doesn't make sense any way you twist it.

[@DumbbestEarthling]

Also the chunin exam isn't a training exercise, its to show where you need to train, the first test isn't about intelligence they state its to hard for most people to pass you can do it the old fashion way but its about intelligence gathering, survival stage is about mission focus and stealth you can do it other ways but its main focus is to bide your time and select your moments to complete your mission in hostile environment, the tournament is more about pure strength and combat prowess it isn't worth more than any other part but i think the winner of the tournament is granted an automatic chunin rank so thats its only real benefit over the other parts

[@DumbbestEarthling]

Order of the test is actually an ode to what ninja value more it's why you if you fail out in the first parts even if you're stronger in the other two, 1 intelligence gather/stealth, 2 patience/stealth/strategy 3 raw Power/strategy

[@DumbbestEarthling]

It's Why The Hyuga Clan are considered elite Ninja, because they're Byakugan is extremely good at intelligence gathering and finding opportunity to strike an opponent even though they're training doesn't have much room for combat until they reach an older age (mid twenties in the Naruto universe I'd say) the Fact that the Hyuga Exist you could say is Why training ninja like jaraiya and kakashi where possible because they could focus more on combat prowess since the hyuga are such a sturdy backbone of konoha even though kakashi got a sharingan and isn't technically dependant on the hyuga, I'm referring to the fact he was a combat focused jonin before Obito passed away

[@DumbbestEarthling]

You know being a student of Minato he really was trained more as a strike force focused on killing an opponent

[@chrisblanc663]

I always thought it odd that they promote the skills openly of their yo young and up and coming ninjas. Isn’t the art of ninja to be deceptive, and covert? It made sense in the first arc that Naruto would choose to announce himself rather then take out the enemy because he is a showboat ninja, and shows that he doesn’t do things the way the typical ninja does. But a whole system where the ninjas show their skills in front of a huge crowd of people just leaves me confused??

[@Jarikraider]

Realistically you would need some way to evaluate a genin's abilities, power, and experience though. Since the genin teams are lead by a jonin, the jonin would be too large of a factor in the team's missions and no one except the team lead jonin would be spending enough time with the team to be able to accurately gauge the genins. For example, just because Team 7 was able to complete the mission against Zabuza, a potential A-rank threat, were the genin ready to be instantly promoted to chunins? No, they were carried by Kakashi, and they were lucky that Naruto just so happened to be the jinchuriki. Did they grow a lot from the mission? Yes, but the fact that they couldn't confidently defeat their fellow genins later shows that they were still genin, not chunin, level, and that they ultimately owed the mission success to Kakashi's prowess and Naruto's 'demon' instead of their own expertise.

[@knightmagecesar2850]

I think the problem could lie in the requirement, also in Hiruzen and the constant stream of ridiculous missions. I mean babysitting the Daimyo's children. You mean to tell me such an Ifluential man doesn't have babysitters, missions like this take time, time that the Genin could use to get stronger. In short, Hiruzen is at fault.

[@kyurei4478]

I mean, how could the second exam be filler when it has to be canon for the story to make sense? That automatically makes it canon or canon by proxy if you will. It's how it would have unfold and there is no other existing depiction of it.

[@ericLpereira1989]

Good points. But seems it could still be worked out with some aditional explanations and lore. If establishing things agreed between the villages, like a chakra barrie that would prevent strangers from entering. Plus some shared survailance by either cameras or ninjutso (like the crystal ball Hiruzen used in the first chapters), plus some special teams, specially medics, positioned in some places ready to be deployed according to need.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Love your content! Thanks For this ❤❤❤

[@shinigamikiragami6886]

The forest of death was to cut out those who weren’t fit to be chunin, it’s a survival test meant to simulate an actual mission with their goal being to retrieve the opposite scroll. The final tourney was to ONLY demonstrate the best of the best to the local lords, someone even the hokage stated in the prelims. As for the potential risks of death, THATS WHYBTHEY AIGNED THE WAVER. This is a ninja test not a wienie hit jr test.

[@jinhunterslay1638]

In Kimetsu no Yaiba there’s also a “forest of death” used as a flawed exam to select Demon Slayers, with no proctors, no rules, and ways to cheat. You just have to survive. However, the manga actually pointed out its flawed nature and it’s an important plot point for certain characters.

[@SnatchValve]

The reason I think the Forest of Death is one of the more practical parts of the Chuunin Exams is because of what it actually entails. You have to go into a forest with enemy shinobi for 5 days and collect a set of scrolls from these enemy ninja and make it to a particular rendezvous point. This is not only an environment survival test (a dangerous one at that), but it is essentially a Chuunin level mission. This part of the exam is EXACTLY what kind of missions a Chuunin would be going through on a regular basis. Think about the Land of Waves arc. This started out as a Chuunin level mission not too unfamiliar with the Forest of Death portion of the exam. A leader shinobi takes a small group of other shinobi to protect the client on his way back to his village for days on end, with a possibility of getting attacked by bandits or other ninja. To make it similar to the Forest of Death, here's the same sentence with a couple of variants; A leader shinobi takes a small group of other shinobi to protect the scrolls on their way back to the rendezvous point for 5 days, with a possibility (more of a guarantee as you need to fight another group of ninja to get the other scroll) of getting attacked by the environment or other ninja. This makes the Forest of Death one of the most important deciding factors for whether or not someone is capable of completing a Chuunin ranked mission as it IS a Chuunin mission. IDK just my thoughts on it.

[@JRDeBo]

A possible reason for things like the forrest of death, is a potential deterrent to make sure a village just doesn't send all of their genin. If the possibility of something like the forrest of death exists villages will be more calculating about who they send. The chance that there could be a forrest of death like test probably weeded out more genin than the first test did, and that was before the test even started.

[@danielpaladinthesage78bail11]

Kabuto wouldn't be able to try kill Gaara because he has absolute defense.

[@kingofpkf]

No village is going to declare war against multiple nations by killing all the genin from all the other nations. Its dumb and doesn't weaken anybody enough to be worth the war. The Ninetails would also almost be guaranteed to appear if Naruto was killed. Also the chunin exams were told to the genins to be life threatening. The courage to face death is needed for ninjas. Also normal missions for genin include a jonin watching them so its not truly a life and death battle with no one watching. Its easier to act brave with a team leader watching you not the same for a test involving no guarantees for life. Lastly the whole idea that all these ninjas can be raised in a gilded cage with no risk is crazy. A shinobi must grow and near death is a great motivator and a much higher risk on missions. Look at how strong ninjas like the old Kages were due to the constant threat of war. Like imagine sending these shinobis that were promoted to chunin by a soft team leader on a mission for an important ally. There would be major questions about their worth and how they get promoted. If your shinobi cant survive a forest and other genin, how impressive a talent are they in the first place?

[@anvos658]

That isn't how it works as shown with Rin, the tailed beast dies with its host and then has to respawn in the world.

[@anvos658]

Honestly it feels like the only reason there aren't proctors in the Forest of Death, is because the authors likely realized the plot they wanted wouldn't happen if an adult could intervene, when somebody was clearly not who they said they were, was too injured to continue, or started doing things that would count as a declaration of hostile intent towards the member nations of the event.

[@juliodonofreo]

The thing that bother me is: Naruto actually deserved to pass the exam, and i can't understand why people pretend to say that he didn't. He managed to control kyuubi's chakra and beat neji with a lot more strategy than everyone else than Shikamaru. It would actually made the story better, Sasuke has more motivation to depart from konoha and Naruto's involvement with dangerous missions in Shippuden would've actually made sense. AND I'M NOT EVEN CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT HE SAVED THE VILLAGE FROM GAARA, which is probably much more important than AN EXAM. I genuinely think that his performance in the final phase of the exam is enough to pass him, saving the village is just a confirmation

[@ProtomanButCallMeBlues]

I would say anyone that made it to the tournament should've gotten promoted. It's insane that all the villages are competing to promote 1 ninja amongst them.

[@BlueThunder1988]

And not only did he save the village from Gaara but he even turned him into a very strong ally!

[@jordynhooks1133]

I feel like it should be more team oriented. Like the forest of death is a team oriented thing but the fighting each other 1v1 doesn’t feel very “team”. I feel like the test should involve all three of them fighting together not a one V one.

[@justinarzola4584]

Kishimoto didn't really know how to write 2vs 1 fights in Part One other than the sannin fight, it isn't until Shipudden that tag team battles became more common.

[@VinTheDirector]

I feel like they had tested their teamwork enough by then right? They had their trust and resolve tested in the first stage, then their team survival skills in the second. The third was making sure each one could stand on their own two feet and not rely on their companions (so like Sakura's biggest issue). So they had to test how well they worked as a team and alone

[@slowlypassingaway1285]

This is even crazier if you think about that the tail beasts are supposed to be nuke button for each nation to protect themselves, and they just let 2 of the tail beasts go into the forest without monitor at all. This is like shipping 2 atomic bombs to France and watch Olympic.

[@calvinware7957]

You're missing part of the point of the chunin exam which is for villages to display their talent to each other in a non violent way. It's kinda a form of arms control.

[@DJPOLONESHKA]

Forest of death makes sense. 1. They make sure that only the best will pass to finals. 2. They can project power by killing other villages ninjas. Or they can do stuff under the table. 3. The marketing of the finals is stronger, they don't show the forest of death, but they most probably talk about it how dangerous it is, therefore makes the finalists look so much better.

[@nikolakrstic8079]

There is a good chance that the best will NOT pass the test because as he was saying, other villages can infiltrate and kill them all since there is no supervision inside the forest. Also teams can gang up on the best ones and take them out so you are wrong there All the other parts do make sense but not the forest of death let's be real, they just wanned to give the audience something cool and a bit dark but they didn't think it through. I heard that Kishimoto was kinda forced to make the exams by the editors or whoever so it wasn't planned to perfection

[@freemoneys8336]

It doesn’t make any sense bro Politically: Villages sending high potential ninjas to death without any prove or lead about what happen on that damn forest. If you think about it, that is insane low IQ move. Their countries and villages are basically losing money for no reason lol

[@freemoneys8336]

It doesn’t make any sense bro Politically: Villages sending high potential ninjas to death without any prove or lead about what happen on that damn forest. If you think about it, that is insane low IQ move. Their countries and villages are basically losing money for no reason lol

[@fluffernutter6633]

Honestly the biggest issue with the Chunin Exams comes from Orochimaru using them as a cover for his schemes. Pretty sure only the Sand, Sound and Leaf villages were actually present during this arc, and only because they were plotting against the Leaf village. Otherwise the Chunin exams would've just been the 12 leaf Genin (plus other Leaf Genin that were eliminated I suppose) competing against each other, no killing/maiming/cursemarks/etc. None of the stuff that makes the exams seems absurd. That would've made for a far more interesting and sensical Chunin exam IMO. I imagine Neji, Sasuke and Shikamaru would have all been considered for promotion. Not only that but the actual tests make sense, making sure you can collect information without getting caught, testing your ability to navigate deadly terrain and acquire intel while under constant threat and finally testing your actual combat prowess against similar level ninja. All in all I think the exams make a lot of sense, but the plot needed characters like Orochimaru, Kabuto and Gaara to be involved which just throws the whole system out of wack. Take those characters and the Sound village out of the equation and most of the danger in the exams disappears.

[@javonyounger5107]

The forest of death is the actual test of their abilities as a Ninja. The written if a qualifier and the fights are an after show.

[@javonyounger5107]

The thing about it is that you can actually control the parameters and you don't still your villages reputation being worsen if they fail, like you would risk in a mission.

[@pakboris2268]

I think this exam part is about one of the most important things for ninjas. Autonomous work in dangerous surrounding and full of enemies where only result is important. And about security. It's not completely awful. There are some cameras, designated squad for interception and their as I understood patrolling the Forest

[@Harmonica821]

All of this could've been solved if only the name was changed to Jounin Exams. Hell, Kakashi won the Chunnin exams and the next month he became a Jounin. Everyone who gets so far as the tournament, after the forest of death, is pretty much already high Chunin level. Not to mention, but you can just grind work hours to become a Chunnin like Iruka, or be promoted by being talented, like Shikamaru.

[@TheActualDogempire]

I'd argue that another purpose of the forest of death is to test the survival skills of the genin in an extremely hostile environment, where the scrolls simulate other ninja platoons they may run into, and verifying which one is to test how they gather intel. You can't be a Chunin if you can't survive in the wild on your own, do you know how embarrassing it would be for a Ninja Village if one of their clients had to request another ninja because the one they had died of dehydration while out on a mission or something? As a ninja you have to aware of potential ambushes, people you could run into, environmental hazards, and all of this while you're focused on your actual mission. The forest of death is just there to filter out people who wouldn't be able to handle B and A rank missions or really be outside the village for extended periods.

[@MikotoFushiguro-iu7we]

I always wondered why Hiruzen and the elders didn't get the yin part of kurama out also freeing minatos soul from the shinigami stomach. Is there a reason why they didn't do it

[@kthy0056]

People keep saying that the chunin exams were about simulated war and "flexing" on other countries but there was nothing in the rules that said you will attack only ninjas from other villages, it was free for all and over half of the participants were just from Konoha. That means you could have Konoha ninjas killing other Konoha ninjas, literarily making the village weaker just for the sake of a promotion with no repercussion for the killer. Like imagine if Neji found Hinata in the forest, he could've killed her then and there and then steal her eyes to have them as backup 😅

[@MikotoFushiguro-iu7we]

But I thought kumo try to kidnap kushina because she has a special chakra to suppress tailed beasts.

[@Cavegeckosol]

To be fair, the Chunin Exams exist because Kishimoto is a huge Yu Yu Hakusho fanboy and he wanted a tournament arc lol

[@justinarzola4584]

Chunin Exams was based on Hunter Exams.

[@yami122]

another big problem with the exams is the forest of death and that each village has multiple teams and a disproportionate number of teams which will naturally lead to the villages with more members grouping together to slaughter villages with less teams which will cause the rich to get richer as villages with less members will find it extremely difficult to have anyone get out of the forest or death you even see by two leaf teams Along with a member from a third joining together to take out a single sound team And that was the only keen sound sent so sound it's pretty much screwed the only way sound or sound could get a member through was to have a unusually strong monster like Gaara which yes does show that it's not impossible just Extremely slanted against them

[@DietyOfWind]

Lets be realistic, the anbu black ops and advisors were all over guarding Narutos team just like they were over narutos birth (after his parents died). They also prevented saskues mom from adopting him after Narutos parents deaths. The hidden rain village just didn’t care enough about their own ninjas to guard them.

[@TearThatRedFlagDown]

Lol there's some soft background music around 20:35. That's from Juperos (Ragnarok Online) isn't it?

[@ThatPazuzu]

1st Naruto Arc: Kakashi talks about how fucked up it is that the Hidden Mist makes genin kill each other 2nd Naruto Arc: Kakashi tells the genin they're about to take a very special exam

[@Wizardwarlock324]

You forgot the fact that if a genin went on a mission outside the villiage theres a chance it suddenly becomes an A or s ranked mission out of nowhere

[@ThatPazuzu]

I think it rules that the Chunin exam is so brutal. The fact that all to Jonin stop Neji from killing Hinata (who is politically important) but stand by when Gaara almost kills Rock Lee (who is a nobody)? That's great. That's A+ world building. The fact that the tournament basically exists to advertise ninja services to potential clients? A+. I love how cynical that is. The series kinda stops the "this system is fucked up and everyone is complicit" stuff by shippuden

[@kingdragoonmk10]

If there's one thing ive learned about Japanese culture (as highlighted in Shin Godzilla) Is that they are HUGE Sticklers for Hiarcy and Procedure (which often fails to respond quickly or effectively in time sensitive & emergency situations) The "Lost Generation" phenomenon is a real life example of Procedure costing many a livelihood or meaningful currier opportunities just for being born at the wrong time... Then you have the Hiarcy factor which gives Seniors and Individuals of higher stations near unchallenable authority, with a strong enfacis on never making your superior lose face for better or more often worse... Often forcing a person into taking the Burden of "Responsibility" when a controversial decision is being made, and the resulting paralysis when no one is willing to step forward... Hence the flaws of the old chunin exam system and how it fails Ninja like Naruto...

[@nunyabisniz8047]

its a brutal world. If they cant survive the forest of death, then in their thinking they werent worth training in the first place.

[@MustacheDLuffy]

The forest of death would not exist without risk of full war breaking out. The chunnin exams are meant to bring the 5 great nations together but they all hate each other. The best young ninjas compete to earn their chunnin licenses. With the hidden leaf facilitating the event this could be seen as a way for the leaf to kill off their enemies. There’s no way they’d risk an event like that occurring

[@coreypope7220]

Genins arent supposed to be given missions that would bring them into conflict with other shinobi. Even C rank missions arent supposed to involve enemy shinobi. Thats why Kakashi was interrogating the bridge builder about who was targeting him and was ready to end the mission since it was beyond the grading of the mission, since the bridge builder couldn't afford a higher grade request. Before sending shinobi to combat with other shinobi, they need to test them in controlled arena combat, and a simulation of a field mission with enemy shinobi. Just the arena stage wouldnt be enough to test the genins ability to work and fight other shinobi in the field.

[@tvau1187]

Bro made a video just like this a year ago exact same thumbnail

[@redxnightwalker]

I feel like the exams always served the purpose of mutual information gathering. A place of connections. Without it you live in a world paranoid not knowing your enemy or what they are up to, what they are like. The forest of death also serves the purpose of training ninjas to get real world expierence in warlike conditions without going to war. If a nation doesn't send the children into the exam then their nation becomes weaker. Imagine a ninja not being able take a life, gets scared or runs away when confronted with death, hesitates when it matter most because they never worked through it yet because they haven't been confronted with those type of situations yet. In addition to the battle experience an enemy could have over someone with their battlefield tested methods. The exam comes out of necessity in a world like that.