Decided not to do any more trials. The transmission was up and down shifting before I took the engine out for the rear cover gasket replacement. Have oil in engine and no oil drip. Started to install everything as final, torque the required items, install additional parts/pieces. Should have fuel pump installed today. Then it's back to the rear of the bike and work forward.
One of the little issues I've had is with crush washers, prefer the copper. These small, inexpensive washers are critical to sealing the various systems, especially a high pressure one such as the fuel injection system. Operates at 30 plus PSI. Nothing more annoying than installing the fuel injection system components and have a fuel spray from one of the crush washers. Recommendation - replace frequently. I am guilty of not doing this, but you can get a crush washer kit from Amazon for as little as $10.00 with a variety of metric crush washers. These kits have the majority of what you will need, but going to Honda for selective ones may be needed.
Crush washers are found on the final drive, engine oil drain plug, coolant drain plug, MC hose connections, hydraulic clutch slave, and brake calipers. You are more likely to change these crush washers if you have the small metric crush washer kit.