Existing followers of the series will know how the last two episodes of this fight will turn out, and how devastated it will leave Rock Lee. We also get a small glimpse of Gaara's power, something we won't fully appreciate for another couple of dozen episodes or so. What we do see is that Gaara has extreme control of the sand, and that control is the reason why he is so powerful.
After that preliminary battle is over, Chouji attempts to earn a spot in the finals, but fails when Dosu's control over sound betters him and his giant-ball form, but that isn't really the focus of this episode. While the last of the preliminary bouts goes on, Orochimaru tells Kabuto to go to Sasuke's hospital room and kill the injured ninja. But when Kakashi realizes Sasuke is in trouble, Kabuto's cover is blown and the two fight it off over Sasuke's injured body.
After the last of the fights are over, we learn that the finals will take place in a month, and each of the contestants is told to go off and train and learn new tricks. Kakashi mentors Sasuke (much to Naruto's chagrin) and eventually Naruto ends up learning under one of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya, after much debating between the two, of course.
The rest of this boxed set focuses on Naruto's tutelage for the month before the Finals. After realizing he won't be able to get rid of the orange-haired kid, Jiraiya begins to re-teach Naruto some of the basics, like walking on water. Jiraiya realizes that the seal placed on Naruto to keep the Nine-Tailed Fox at bay has been altered and suspects that it is Orochimaru's doing. When he fixes the seal so that Naruto's and The Fox's chakra can mix normally (instead of the unbalanced way Orochimaru altered it), Naruto feels like he has a greater control over himself and quickly gets a handle on the basic skills he once was able to do.
But that isn't the extent of Jiraiya's teaching; ultimately, the "Pervy Sage" will show Naruto how to summon Chief Toad, Gamabunta, but as always, Naruto needs a lot of practice. Before Jiraiya finally gets Naruto to pull out all the stops and summon chakra from the Nine-Tailed Fox, it seems our hero can do nothing better than call forth tadpoles, but when The Toad Sage throws Naruto off of a cliff, it's all or nothing and Naruto finally summons the building-sized toad. Of course, now the hard part is convincing Gamabunta that Naruto is a worthy summoner, and those two start having a battle of wills.
After a month of training, it is finally time for the Final Chunin Exam, and Naruto arrives at the arena to find he will take part in the first battle. He will be taking on Neji, a fighter of great talent and skill who has mastered the Byakugan and Gentle Fist combat style. Will everyone's favorite underdog be able to take on this golden boy of the Hyuga clan? Unfortunately, the fight doesn't end by the time this boxed set does and you will have to see the next installment in order to see more of this fight, as well as what motivates Neji.
If you didn't get these episodes when they came out individually (Volumes 13, 14 and 15), but you still like to see what goes on in the Naruto world, then this is a solid boxed set since it not only finishes of the preliminary battles, but goes through Naruto's extended training and starts up the finals.
