In the 48 overs bowled in between, New Zealand reached 2-155 after being sent in.
Devon Conway made 78 and gave the New Zealand innings solidity in an 87-run opening stand with Tom Latham (21).
Kane Williamson was unbeaten on 26 when bad light brought an end to the day's play 45 minutes before scheduled stumps.
Henry Nicholls, battling a form slump, joined him on 18no.
Heavy rain overnight continued into the morning and prevented any play before lunch on Friday.
When the covers finally came off, a bright green pitch was revealed and Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne was delighted to send New Zealand in when he won the toss.
Conway and Latham were watchful at the start. Taking time to get the measure of the pitch, they scored only 20 from the first nine overs.
The batsmen looked under no threat, until Latham - who had taken his 21 runs from 73 balls - hit out and was caught by Prabath Jayasuriya coming off the fence at backward square.
Conway reached his eighth half-century from 69 balls, scoring steadily.
He looked set when he came down the pitch to an innocuous delivery from Dhananjaha de Silva, was caught in two minds and popped the ball back to the bowler.
He was out in similar style in the second innings of the first Test in Christchurch.
"It is certainly green," Conway said after the match. "(But) it wasn't too bad out there.
"There was a little bit of tennis-ball bounce early with the new ball but when we got through that period scoring became a bit easier.
"They asked some tough questions ... (so) it was nice to get a couple of bad balls and put them away."
New Zealand lead the two-match series after winning the first Test by two wickets with a single off the last ball on the fifth day.
Williamson ran the winning run with Neil Wagner and was 121no, and he continued that form on Friday with a careful innings.
Nicholls was working hard to play his way out of a lengthy slump.
He had made two and 20 in the first Test, and notched 70 runs at 17.5 in New Zealand's previous two-Test series against England.
His last innings of 50 or more came 10 Tests ago, against South Africa in February 2022.
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