Two weeks went by in a similar fashion. Naruto would wake early in the morning and practice his taijutsu with the aid of Might Guy, and although his taijutsu wasn't as good as the likes of Rock Lee, or even Sasuke, it was getting better. He had adapted the basic stances Might Guy taught him, to fit his own personal style witch primarily involved him getting as close to opponent as he could with a Rasengan to immobilize them. Speaking of the Rasengan, he had yet to completely master the technique. According to Jiraiya when utilized properly the technique was self-maintaining, so once you put in the required amount of chakra, and shaped it correctly you hardly had to concentrate to keep it up. Which was a massive boon, because most techniques of a similar caliber required a constant amount of focus. A thing a lot of Ninja couldn't do in the heat of a battle. The problem Naruto had with the technique was that during its formation, it required a level of focus and control that he couldn't maintain. That's why three days before the final exams, Naruto was found wandering around Konoha's hot springs in search of his perverted sensei.
"Hey pervy-sage!" exclaimed Naruto as he spotted his teacher of three weeks. "I need some help with that technique."
"What did I say about you calling me that you brat! I don't need a little twerp like you killing my vibe." Stated the man in question.
"Eh, you told me not to, but the thing is it fits you perfectly!" Said Naruto "Anyway let's go to our training field so you can help me out."
"Alright, calm your horses' kid, I was just about finishing up here anyway."
Once they arrived at the training ground Jiraiya asked to see the Rasengan, and after a few minutes of talking to Naruto about what exactly his problem was he had an epiphany.
"Say kid, I want you to try and create two Rasengan's, one on each fist."
"Huh, how would that help, I can't even make one yet, and you want me two make two. What's the deal pervy-sage?" Questioned Naruto.
"Look, I'm not sure if this is going to work or not brat, but we won't know if we don't give it a try now would we." Stated Jiraiya
"Hmm, I guess you're right." Replied Naruto, and with that he concentrated on creating a Rasengan on each of his hands, and as Jiraiya thought would happen, two perfect spheres formed on each hand. "Whoa, how'd you know that was gonna happen pervy-sage?"
"Well to be perfectly honest, it wasn't anything more than a hunch, but I think I have an explanation. You use a lot of Shadow Clones right?" Upon seeing Naruto not he continued. "Well did you ever think of the reason why it was on the Scroll of Forbidden Seals?" Questioned Jiraiya
"Well. I thought it was because of the high chakra cost." Said Naruto in an uncertain voice.
"No, how dumb can you be kid. All of the techniques on that scroll are there for a very good reason. Hell The Third used that technique to master all of the basic elements to an exceptional degree before he reached the age of 20! Not to mention, he mastered a thousand techniques after that, using the very same technique, and you're telling me you don't know how? Is there something wrong with your head kid?" Yelled Jiraiya
"Wait a minute, how would you master techniques with the shadow clones? All I thought it did was make a solid clone." Said Naruto in a confused voice.
"Kid, you have a technique that rivals the Sharingan in its learning abilities and you don't even know! Look, didn't you notice that whenever a clone dispels, you get its memories?" Asked Jiraiya.
"What it can do that, no way stop pulling my leg you pervy-sage, I've been using this technique for six months now, and I've probably made over five thousand clones with it. I'd think I'd notice if I got memories from my clones. I don't, all I really get from them is a slight feeling when there dispelled or created. Nothing more." Said Naruto.
"You sure about that?" Seeing Naruto nod his head he continued. "Well, that's definitely strange, the Second originally created the technique for recon purposes, but he soon realized its potential for training. Which he then used to master his water affinity to its uttermost extremes, beyond even what most thought was possible." Said Jiraiya
"Hey, if it transfers memories back to the original how come I never noticed it?" Inquired Naruto.
"My guess is that you didn't learn it properly, it is a jonin level technique, and only those with extreme amounts of chakra can actually use it to train. That's only if you actually have the mental fortitude to even use it in that manner though, if you're not careful it puts unimaginable amount of stress on your mind. Which can lead to some serious mental trauma." Explained Jiraiya.
"So basically, I could've used it to master the Rasengan?" Asked Naruto
"No way kid, doesn't work like that, shadow clones can only really refine what you already know. For example tree walking, once you get down the first few steps, you can leave behind a few of clones to learn how to do it better. In a manner of speaking they can only really build off of what's already there, not learn stuff that you don't know." Explained Jiraiya, something he seemed to be doing that an awful lot recently.
"So basically, they help me practice things? Heh, doesn't sound all that impressive to me." Said Naruto in a disappointed voice.
"Well, of course it doesn't sound that impressive yet, your only still learning the basics, and practicing them a lot, while helpful, isn't that amazing. However, once you start learning some of the more impressive elemental techniques, it's the difference between fireballs that can barely light candles, to ones that can burn down an entire forests." Said the Toad-Sage
"Heh heh, I get what you're saying pervy-sage. So, are you gonna teach me the proper version of shadow clones?" Questioned the overexcited blond already imagining the things he could do.
"No, I have another thing that I want to teach you today, originally I was going to wait until after the chunin exams, but since you've pretty much mastered the Rasengan, I'll teach it to you now." With that he bit his thumb, did a series of hand seals, which created a small puff of smoke. From that smoke emerged a four feet tall toad with a scroll in its mouth. Then Jiraiya took the scroll from the toad, unraveled it, and laid it on the ground. "This here, is the summoning contract for the toads. When I was eight years old, I saw my sensei bight his thumb and then do some hand signs and summon a ten foot tall monkey, I thought I would do the same, and I ended up on Mt. Myoboku, the land of the Toads. Got real lucky there, anywhere else and the animals there would've eaten me, even luckier is the fact that the toads are considered one of the three most powerful summons in the Land of Fire, right next to the snakes and slugs. Anyway, if you would look at the scroll, you'd see that I'm offering you the chance to be the third person to be able to summon toads, the first being me, and the second being the Fourth." Explained Jiraiya.
"Woah, that's so cool pervy-sage, I'll be just like the Fourth with this! Just you wait, I'll be Hokage in no time!" Shouted Naruto, with a happy smile on his face.
"Calm your horses kid, don't let this go to your head, you're so far from being Hokage it's not even funny. Heck you're barley even chunin level yet." Said the Toad-Sage.
"What's that supposed to mean, I'm telling you I was defeating chunin level ninja before I even graduated. Believe it!" Exclaimed Naruto.
"Kid, being chunin isn't about power, it's about how well you keep your head in combat situations, how well you can lead, and how likely you are not to get people under your command killed. Seeing as how you can't even keep your head in a conversation, refuse to give up, and don't think before you do, doesn't say much for your chances to become a chunin." Said Jiraiya in a flat voice.
"So what, I'm supposed to give up when things get hard, not say anything when people disregard me as being useless? Is that what it means to be a chunin?" Questioned Naruto
"Sometimes, it does. You have to realise that you're responsible for the lives of your comrades, and you can't let your pride rule your actions, because that will get your comrades killed. That being said, being a chunin isn't about being a coward either, because you won't always get the option of running away, sometimes the mission will require you to make a stand, to make sacrifices." Explained Jiraiya
"Do you think I'm ready for that kind of responsibility?" asked Naruto
"Honestly, from what I've seen of you so far, no you're not. I'm not saying this because I don't want you to be a chunin, but because you aren't ready yet, and I'll give it another six months before you are. That being said, I hear that you're the number-one-most-surprizing-ninja in Konoha, so you might just pull a promotion out of nowhere." Said Jiraiya
With that said, Jiraiya asked Naruto to sign the summoning scroll in his blood, do the hand signs, and summon a toad. When the resulting smoke cleared, it revealed Naruto standing on a toad 8 feet tall, and ten feet wide.
"Not bad for the first try kid, it looks like those chakra control exercises paid off, now just a heads up, I don't want you summoning toads left and right without cause. The only time you should really summon them is if you're fighting another summon, or opponents that have techniques that require massive amounts of size or power to defeat. For example, the last time the Fourth summoned Gamabunta, the chief toad, he was fighting the Nine-tales, the last time I summoned him was three years ago, when I ran into Orochimaru, and he had summoned the snake boss Manda. That being said, the toads can also summon you now as well, they probably won't do it for a few years, and they also won't do it often, so there isn't much need to worry it about yet. One more things some of the more powerful toads and their kids have the ability to talk, chances are that these toads will require some type of sacrifice, most of the elder ones want sake and the younger ones tend to want candy, so keep some of both in a sealing scroll with you at all times." Explained the Toad-Sage.
"What about the toad I just summoned, he seemed pretty strong?" questioned Naruto.
"Oh, him, he's a decently strong toad, that being said most chunin level ninja would be able to return him to the summon realm. Compared to the toad boss however, he's barley an ant-sized, Gamabunta is so big his breath will blow that little guy away." Boasted Jiraiya.
-xxx-
The remainder of the three days Naruto had before the Chunin Exams were spent decreasing the time it took for him to form a Rasengan, and learning how to create proper shadow clones. The ladder of witch only took him around an hour to learn how to do. The former was still a work in progress, after the first day he had managed to (with considerable amount of aid from shadow clones, meaning a few hundred of them) decrease the time from 30 seconds to 10 seconds, however he wanted to be able to form it instantly. Naruto also spent a large amount of time simply trying to reduce and increase the amount of damage a Rasengan could create. At full power it would effortlessly sink into a hard rock, at its lowest level of power, it would merely push the boulder away, with a few scratches on its surface being the only sign of its usage.
-xxx-
Today was the day, it had been exactly a month since the day the preliminaries had been held, and Naruto was nervous. After his talk with Jiraiya three days ago, he had spent a considerable amount of time thinking about what the Toad-Sage had told him. He had decided that his mentality up to this point of his shinobi career had been flawed. He realized that if he truly wanted to become Hokage that he would need to grow up. While never giving up, and never going back on your word was an admirable quality, it didn't and couldn't apply to every aspect of his life. If he was to make it through his life as a ninja, his pride couldn't be involved. While his belief in himself was important, for how could you accomplish something if you didn't believe you could do it, it was also dangerous and needed to be kept within the realm of what was possible. Good thing that didn't exclude the improbable though. With this in mind he entered the arena.
Once he entered, he took note of the fact that both Dosu of the Hidden Sound ninja and Sasuke were absent. Knowing Kakashi, he should have expected them to be late, Dosu's absence however, came as a surprize. Never the less, as strange as it might be, at the moment there lack of presence wasn't his concern.
"My name is Gennma Shiranui, I will be your proctor for this part of your exam. Can all except Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji leave the arena floor." After the chunin hopefuls had left he continued. "The rules during this portion of the exams are the same as they were in the preliminaries, so basically you do as I say. That fight will end when one of you either forfeits, or can't continue. If I for any reason I tell you to stop you will stop, inability to do so will result in disqualification. Is that understood?" Seeing them nod in acceptance he started the fight.
"You should forfeit Uzumaki, it is fate that you will lose this fight." Proclaimed Neji.
"No thanks, although I didn't know that the Hyuuga Clan had a fortune teller among them, Hinata definitely never mentioned anything like that." Responded Naruto with a smirk plastering his face.
"Hmpf, one does not need to be able to see the future in order to know that you will lose this fight." Replied Neji.
"Really now, that's interesting. Too bad for you I don't exactly believe in that garbage." Said the orange clad ninja.
"Hmpf, I won't even need to activate the Byakugan to defeat you." Stated Neji.
"Enough talk, it's time to get wild!" Exclaimed Naruto.
With that said, Naruto created 100 shadow clones around himself, and taking advantage of the fact that with his Byakugan deactivated, Neji couldn't see him, discreetly dug a whole and slipped underground. With Neji occupied with his clones, he didn't notice the real Naruto accompanied by a clone directly underneath him, preparing to attack. Without making a noise, clone Naruto erupted from the ground and slammed his closed fist right into his opponents face, knocking him unconscious.
"Well, I'm not gonna deny it, it was rather easy defeating him. Idiot didn't even bother activating his Byakugan, and they call me dumb." Said Naruto with a small frown on his face as he climbed out of his whole. "I mean really, I would've rather fought Kiba again, that at least would've been fun."
"Winner Uzumaki Naruto, congratulations on your win, have a seat with the rest of the contenders, and wait for your next match." Said the proctor.
-xxx-
"That was some quick action on young Uzumaki's part." Said the Third Hokage "Not many young ninja would use such arrogance from their enemies to their advantage, most of them seem to get caught up in their own pride."
"Indeed Hokage-dono, the young ones seem to forget that a simple kunai can kill them just as well as the strongest jutsu if they aren't careful." Replied the Kazekage. "That being said, I'm disappointed in the Hyuuga, I heard he was the strongest Hyuuga to be born in many centuries, seems as if he has become arrogant."
"I must agree, but I believe that his loss here will serve as an eye opener, after all even the weakest looking enemies can defeat you should you underestimate them." Replied the Hokage.
-xxx-
After climbing onto the contestants balcony Naruto was greeted with the sight of all the remaining contestants, and the rookie nine minus Sasuke.
"Good job on your victory Naruto, even though Neji was kinda lame. Guess not all rookies of the year live up to their title huh." Said Sakura.
"Yeah I'm kind of disappointed myself, I mean, I spent all month learning this awesome technique, and I spent the past three days thinking of strategies to defeat him, and all it took was a measly little punch to the chin and he was out." Responded Naruto.
"What kind of strategies Naruto? I always thought you were an attack first think later kind of guy." Said Shikamaru.
"Oh, well I guess I still am, but I was thinking that my way of doing things wouldn't really work out for anyone I might end up leading as a chunin squad leader, so I made a plan before hand on how to engage him. I was originally gonna hide in my clones and use hit and run tactics while fighting him. While doing that, I was going to be a part of the clones that was attacking him head on, and have a clone hang back a little. Neji would've assumed that the Naruto hanging back was the original me and targeted it. While his attention was focused on the clone that held back I would've used the replacement technique from wherever I was on a clone that was about to dispel. Just as he would've committed to an attack on my clone, I would've stricken him from behind. That probably wouldn't have ended a fight however, so I had another clone discreetly laying a trap around the real me, which would've trapped Neji, in a net made of ninja wire." Said Naruto, happy to explain his strategy to Shikamaru. As this was happening, Neji who had just woken up, triggered one of the traps Naruto had set up, and as a result ended up in a net made of ninja wire. "I also had some clones make traps around the arena in case the one near me didn't catch him." Said Naruto, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.
-xxx-
Up in the stands next to her father, a little girl said, "I can't believe that Hinata-niichan lost to him, she must have fallen to sleep when he started his lame monologue."
-xxx-
"Next fight, can Uchiha Sasuke and Gaara of the Desert make their way to the arena floor." Commanded Gennma.
In response, a Ninja jumped down from the Kage booth and whispered something to Gennma. Evidently Gennma didn't like whatever the messenger told had told him because he instantly Body Flickered to the Kage box.
"Lord Hokage, I understand that a lot of the people here wanted to see the last Uchiha fight, however it would look bad for Konoha if we delayed the fight, and such favoritism will not be appreciated among the ranks of Konoha's Ninja. Even then I heard from Izumo, that last year's dead last Rock Lee managed to defeat him in under a minute on the day of the first exam. Rock Lee also fought Gaara during the preliminaries, and he lost even after opening five of the inner gates. To put it mildly the might of the Uchiha has been greatly exaggerated, he will not be able to defeat Gaara. In essence, if we were to delay the fight, and the Uchiha lost, it would reflect poorly on Konoha. Kakashi probably realizes this as well, hence he's trying to get his genin disqualified." Whispered Gennma in to the Hokage's ear.
"Yes, you are correct." Said the Hokage, a frown framing his face, following this he turned his head towards the Kazekage and said "Kazekage-dono, as much as you'd like to see your youngest son fight the Uchiha boy I'm afraid that I cannot permit this, as it will reflect poorly on Konoha. However a lot of the people have indeed come here to see him fight, so at the end of the tournament I will allow him to fight Hyuuga Neji, to satisfy the audience."
Gennma nodded and jumped down to the arena floor. "Since Uchiha Sasuke did not present himself at the time of his match, he will be disqualified from the tournament. However, we realize that many in the audience will like to see him fight, that is why at the end of the tournament he will be given the opportunity to fight Neji Hyuuga. The next fight will begin now, Konkuro of the Sand and Aburame Shino you are next, come down to the arena floor.
"I forfeit." Said Konkuro, immediately after the proctor finished talking.
"Very well, the winner by forfeit is Aburame Shino." Said Gennma. "Next fight will be between Temari of the Sand and Nara Shikamaru, unless one of you wants to forfeit as well." Stated Gennma dryly.
"Troublesome, I don't want to fight, but it would be even more troublesome when both Ino and my mother start nagging me if I forfeit. I'll fight." Said Shikamaru in his customary lazy voice.
What ensued was to a small group of people a really interesting battle of strategy, but to most was a rather dry fight. The only point of interest being when the young Nara forfeited even though he had his opponent caught in his shadow.
Just as the Gennma was about to announce the next fight both Kakashi and Sasuke flickered into the arena.
"Hehe, are we too late?" Asked Kakashi nervously scratching his head.
"I'm afraid that you are, Uchiha Sasuke has been disqualified." Said Gennma, "Now will both of you remove yourselves from the arena floor, the next fight is about to begin." Nodding his head when the tardy shinobi left the arena, "Will both Uzumaki Naruto and Gaara of the Desert come down to the arena floor." When both chunin hopefuls resented themselves Gennma nodded to himself and shouted "Begin."
-xxx-
"Sasuke, how come you came late." Asked Sakura when she saw Sasuke climbing up the steps towards the contestants' box.
"Hn, Kakashi-sensei thought that the third round was tomorrow, so we decided that yesterday would be the last day of training. We returned to Konoha a few minutes ago so I could rest for my fight against Gaara tomorrow. We only found out that the finals were today when we got here." Grumbled Sasuke.
"Don't worry Sasuke, the fights aren't even that interesting. Naruto beat Neji while he was ranting on about some destiny and fate crap, all it took was a punch from one of Naruto's clones and he got knocked out. Then Shino won his fight when Konkuro forfeited right after their match was announced. Then Shikamaru's and that Temari girls match was rather boring too, Shikamaru hid in the trees, while Temari tried to avoid his shadow, until Shikamaru tricked her into it, after that he forfeited claiming he didn't have any chakra left." Described Sakura.
"Hn." Grunted Sasuke.
-xxx-
"Begin" Shouted Gennma, and with that the fight began.
Naruto instantly created ten shadow clones, and had them surround Gaara. Two rushed forward and started to throw kunai and shuriken at him. While a third shadow clone took advantage of the fact that Gaara's sand was occupied, and tried to sneak in and land a blow. Unfortunately for Naruto, it didn't work. His opponents' sand wasn't that easy to defeat, a third tendril of sand came up and just before the Naruto clone reached him, and speared it through the chest. Naruto tried similar techniques for a while longer before he sighed in defeat.
"I didn't want to go overkill in this fight in order to show the judges that I'm chunin material, but it seems as if I don't have a choice." Said Naruto, and with that he created a similar cross shaped hand-seals, and the arena was flooded in a sea of orange. The clones were everywhere, on the trees, ground, they were even on the wall, using there chakra to stick to the surface. Then with an unseen signal, they began to attack, barrage after barrage of clones turned in to smoke, there chakra returning to their creator upon their deaths. Even a defence as strong as Gaara's sand couldn't keep up with the sheer number of clones it was trying to keep at bay. The result was him getting flung around the arena, cracks appearing in his sandy armor.
After thirty seconds of Naruto's barrage, Gaara had had enough. He recalled all of his sand and created a dense shield that completely surrounded him. The shield was so dense upon punching it the clones dispelled due to the jarring impact. Seeing this Naruto dispelled all of his clones, there chakra returning to him, he would need it for what he had planned.
Naruto formed the all too familiar hand seal once again. Instead of a thousand only one clone formed this time. Much to the confusion of those in the arena, the clone transformed in to a large windmill shuriken. Naruto then proceeded to toss the shuriken into the air, at the apex of their trajectory, the clone of Naruto, ended its transformation, and then it followed up with a series of hand seals that nearly all the ninja in the audience recognized as the ones needed for the replacement technique. Upon finishing the sequence of seals the clone, easily three hundred meters in the sky replaced the clone replaced itself with Naruto, who for the first time in the tournament was attacking in person.
-xxx-
"What's Naruto doing sensei, why did he replace himself with a clone at that height? He'll only land on the dome and get himself impaled on those spikes." Asked a frantic Sakura, worried about her teammate.
"I'm not sure, as far as I know this month he should have only trained his chakra control, and his taijutsu, learning any technique would've been nearly impossible with the meagre level of control that he did have. Even then, without the aid of the Sharingan like Sasuke, learning any technique strong enough to penetrate that barrier would be near impossible, even if he managed to get his control to an adequate level." Said Kakashi in worry. One of the reasons that he had trained Sasuke was that he didn't want him to die fighting Gaara. Scrap that, he didn't even want him to try and fight Gaara, hence he returned to Konoha nearly an hour after his fight with Gaara was supposed to be. Naruto however, he didn't count on him defeating Neji. Neji, according to Guy was stronger than nearly all chunin ranked ninja in Konoha, his taijutsu was said to be on par with some of the weaker jonin, and that was without the use of his bloodline. With it, he was said to be able to give Hyuuga Hiashi a run for his money. The fact that Naruto had defeated him in under a minute was simply outstanding.
"Kakashi!" Shouted the voice of Might Guy, and was that awe in the man's voice, what could have done that.
Kakashi had to take one look at his wayward student falling towards the dome of sand to know what had caused his best friend and rival to be speechless.
"Wh-what is that technique Kakashi-sensei?" Asked a stunned Sasuke, speaking for the first time since the fight began his Sharingan blazing in to life as he tried to get a better look at the technique his rival was using.
"That," Began Might Guy.
"Is one of Lord Fourth's most vaunted techniques…" Said Kakashi unable to keep the awe of seeing that technique once more out of voice. "And he has two formed on each hand..,"
"It is rumored that it took him nearly three years to complete that technique, even longer than it took him to master the famed Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God Technique) that Lord Second created." Continued Guy.
"It is the pinnacle of pure chakra manipulation." Said Kakashi "Even I was unable to copy it with my Sharingan, for it requires chakra so dense, and reserves twice as large as mine to even use it. It is called the… "
"RASENGAN" Yelled Naruto as he dived straight through the sand dome.
Gaara was so surprized that he didn't even register the blondes glowing fist smashing into his chest propelling him outside his own defense, where he lay unmoving. Wondering what gave the blonde the strength to defeat him, where none could before.