2nd STAGE (KUNOICHI)

Intro
Those with enough skill to complete the First Stage then take on an even more grueling set of obstacles in the Second Stage (stylized STAGE2). Only 84 competitors have ever reached the Second Stage, and 60 have survived it. Like the First Stage, the obstacles alter throughout the competitions, but all hold to the same principle: if the competitor makes a single mistake they fall into the water below or not completing the stage on time

In four of the first five competitions, a competitor only had from 35 to 50 seconds to complete the entire course. The 2nd competition was the exception, having a 45-second time limit that only applied to the first half of the stage, with the remaining obstacles having no time limit.

In the 6th competition, it was turned into a time trial, with only the six fastest competitors (assuming more than six complete the course successfully) advancing to the Third Stage. In addition, the 6th competition's Second Stage carried a 70-second time limit. By the 7th Competition, the course used the original rules, which the competitors must complete the Stage under a certain time limit. In the 8th competition, it became a time trial like the 6th, but 12 best times were selected to compete in the Third Stage (even though only 5 cleared in the first place). To date, KUNOICHI 8 has the longest time limit imposed by far in both SASUKE and KUNOICHI history, having a 210-second time limit.

For KUNOICHI 9 and onward, the Second Stage has been renamed the BLUE Stage, adopting a color-based naming scheme for every stage with the exception of the Final Stage. KUNOICHI 9, would be the only competition that did not have a time limit imposed in any way due to the integration of obstacles that would normally be present in the Third Stage, which was not used in the tournament. However, from KUNOICHI 10 onwards, with the addition of the BLACK Stage, the time limit was imposed yet again, starting off with 75 seconds, while the entire stage was redesigned to be more similar to the SASUKE Second Stage format that had been in place for the first nine tournaments.

TBS Obstacle Names
^ This only applied to the first two obstacles, Daichoyaku and Kabegiwa Den. The last 2 obstacles, Tenbinbashi and Fuyuujima, had unlimited time to complete.

* Only the top six women in KUNOICHI 6 and the top twelve women in KUNOICHI 8 could advance, but anyone who did not complete the course in the time limit would be ineligible.