In the village of Konohagakure, school is literally a battlefield where classmates are ninjas in training competing to become the greatest ninja in the land.

Naruto's team has passed the written portion of their Journeyman Ninja Selection Exams, and now they must turn against one another in the Forest of Death in order to pass their final tests.

As the preliminaries to the third phase of the Journeyman Ninja Selection Exams begin, the student ninja face off against each other in no-holds-barred, one-on-one bouts. Deaf to Sakura's pleas to withdraw from the contest and despite the crippling effects of the curse placed on him by the nefarious Orochimaru, Sasuke enters the first match against one of the vicious Sound Ninja spies. But with his signature fighting techniques suddenly off-limits,...

Zabuza, the ninja assassin, was stopped from his first try at killing Tazuna the bridge-builder - but Zabuza still lives! While the ninjas recover from their injuries, Kakashi puts Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura on a strict training regimen to protect Tazuna's family - including Tazuna's embittered grandson Inari - and prepare for Zabuza's next attack. But the next time won't be easy, because joining Zabuza is his deadly apprentice, Haku. And as the bridge...