CH. 55 - 59 Part I

Chapter 55: "All-out War"

– Introduces Chouji and Shikamaru. Ino and her team occupy the Sound Trio, losing the advantage only at the last second. Reinforcements arrive in the form of Lee’s team. However, Sasuke awakens with a terrifying appearance and staring directly at the Sound Trio…

Chapter 56: "Granted Power"

– Back from the brink of death, Sasuke totally outclasses the Sound Trio and even goes as far as wrenching Zaku’s arms from their sockets with his bare hands. Sakura stops Sasuke before he kills someone, allowing their retreat. However, all agree that Sasuke is not the same person he was prior to Orochimaru’s “Cursed seal”.

Chapter 57: "Ten Hours Earlier"

– Introduces Tenten. The Leaf genins pick up the pieces after the attack of the Sound Trio and recover. Elsewhere, Anko returns to alert the Third Hokage of Orochimaru’s presence. While behind the scenes, she is shocked to see a genin team from Hidden Sand had completed the second test in a record time of 97 minutes without even a scratch.

Chapter 58: "Witnesses"

– Introduces Shino, Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru. Picking up a strange lead, Akamaru leads his team to see the events that spooked the examiners. Three Hidden Rain ninjas meet up with the Hidden Sand genins. After a failed attempt at killing Gaara with a rain of needles, Gaara promises to make the sky rain blood...

Chapter 59: "Tragedy of Sand"

– With his “Desert Funeral” move, Gaara instantly crushes the Rain ninjas to death. Even though he hasn’t killed enough people to satisfy himself, Gaara reluctantly agrees to simply proceed with the test. The team hidden and watching them, particularly Akamaru, are chilled to the bone by him...