c9 Preparation, Chunin Exam
After completing the mission in the Land of Waves and settling everything surrounding Tazuna's bridge, Naruto and the group finally returned to Konoha Village. Even though they had expected a difficult mission, none of them imagined they would encounter Momochi Zabuza of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, much less fight against his apprentice Haku, whose Ice Release had nearly overwhelmed them. Fortunately, Kakashi's Sharingan and their teamwork kept anyone from suffering fatal injuries. Still, everyone including the higher-ups was shocked by how much Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had grown during what was supposed to be a C-rank assignment that escalated into an A-rank threat.
Once back in the village, they were sent right back to performing tedious D-rank tasks catching the feudal lord's daughter's runaway cat, pulling weeds, and completing household chores. But according to the calendar, the Chunin Exam was getting close. Team 7's uneventful routine wouldn't last long.
Naruto wasn't particularly nervous about the exam. Even if he ended up facing Gaara of the Sand the prodigy rumored to have never been scratched in battle.Naruto felt he wouldn't necessarily lose. Still, the Chunin Exam in the original manga was where the most dangerous opponent appeared: Orochimaru. With Naruto's present strength, even using the Rasengan he learned far earlier than in the original timeline, along with the Flying Thunder God technique he inherited from Minato, he knew that defeating Orochimaru head-on was virtually impossible. A jōnin-level threat was already far beyond him, and Orochimaru, a former Kage-level candidate and Sannin, existed in a different league entirely. The gap between their levels was like the chasm between a novice and a master.
Being struck by Orochimaru's Five Elements Seal would be disastrous. In the manga, the seal suppressed the Nine-Tails chakra until Jiraiya removed it. Naruto didn't want to risk losing control of his power or being left helpless in the Forest of Death. Escaping with Flying Thunder God was theoretically his best option, but Orochimaru's speed and reflexes made even retreat dangerous. This meant he desperately needed a new trump card one that could boost his physical abilities and close the gap, even temporarily. That left Lightning Release.
Kakashi, whose specialty was Lightning Release and who had copied more than a thousand jutsu with his Sharingan, understood it better than anyone in the village. When Naruto approached him to ask about Lightning Release, Kakashi patiently explained variations of the element Chidori, Lightning Cable, Lightning Clone, and more. But Naruto wasn't satisfied with simply learning a technique; he wanted to develop something unique, more akin to the Lightning Armor used by the Raikage, which boosted reflexes and enhanced combat ability.
To start, he focused on form transformation of Lightning Release. Unlike Kakashi's method, which concentrated lightning into the hand, Naruto tried to form it like armor covering the whole body. But this approach was extremely dangerous; mishandling Lightning chakra meant potentially electrocuting himself. Because of that risk, he relied entirely on shadow clones for training, letting them disperse after every accident.
Kakashi couldn't help feeling a stab of jealousy. An average shinobi could barely sustain a single shadow clone. Naruto could produce dozens sometimes hundreds thanks to the Nine-Tails' chakra, allowing him to train at a pace almost impossible for others.
Even with shadow clones, controlling Lightning chakra to such a degree remained incredibly difficult. Lightning wasn't Naruto's natural affinity his main affinity was wind so after a month of pushing himself, he could only cloak his head and torso in Lightning chakra, while his limbs refused to stabilize. According to standard training order, he should have perfected form change before working on nature change, but time was running out.
Forced to compromise, he tackled nature transformation first. Even with his talent and army of shadow clones, it still required a full week of nonstop training. But mastering nature alone wasn't enough; he had to merge nature and form transformation simultaneously. This was the true challenge.
During fusion practice, he lost control of chakra again and again. If he reduced the output, the armor weakened. If he increased it, it became uncontrollable. Only stubborn persistence would push him through.
Moreover, during his practice, Naruto discovered that the wider the range of the ninjutsu spread, the harder it became to control, especially when Lightning Release chakra flickered unpredictably across multiple points of his body. Whenever Naruto was stuck doing those dull D-rank chores again catching Tora the runaway cat for the umpteenth time or cleaning storage rooms his mind drifted back to new ideas for ninjutsu. Inevitably, he recalled the Raikage's Lightning Release Chakra Mode from the manga, a technique that not only formed a protective lightning armor but also stimulated muscle cells to drastically increase physical speed and reflexes. However, unlike Kakashi's Chidori, which compressed lightning chakra at the hand, the Raikage's technique activated chakra throughout the entire body simultaneously, making it both advanced and extremely dangerous.
Thinking about this, Naruto suddenly realized he had been stuck in the wrong mindset. He had been trying to channel chakra mainly through his hands, much like forming a Rasengan or thrusting a Chidori, focusing on the moment of release. But the technique he was attempting didn't need a one-time burst, it required continuous, stable maintenance across multiple points on the body. The true difficulty wasn't in releasing Lightning chakra; it was in sustaining it evenly. No wonder he kept failing. His strategy had been flawed from the beginning.
With this revelation, Naruto changed his approach and began practicing condensing chakra in places other than his hands: shoulders, back, abdomen, and even his legs. Although gathering chakra wasn't particularly difficult for him, maintaining it for long periods without fluctuation was the real challenge. Fortunately, thanks to his earlier experiences training with the leaf exercise, water-walking, and using shadow clones to reinforce fine control, Naruto's chakra manipulation was far better than before. Once he corrected his method, he managed to maintain stable lightning flow in a single day. It still couldn't cover his whole body, but it was enough to protect vital areas like his chest and neck. Naruto also faintly sensed that improving this control further might actually enhance his physical speed perhaps not to Raikage levels, but enough to serve as a trump card during the Chunin Exam.
However, there was no more time. The Chunin Exam was approaching rapidly, and Naruto confirmed it the moment he saw Kankurō wandering around Konoha's streets. Just like in the manga, the first thing Kankurō did was pick on Konohamaru and his friends. Before Kankurō could escalate the situation, Naruto stepped in, kicked him back, and shielded Konohamaru with a firm stance.
"I can't stand people who bully kids right after entering Konoha," Naruto said sharply.
Konohamaru looked at him with sparkly-eyed admiration, but Naruto ignored it. The moment was interrupted when Gaara suddenly appeared, perched upside-down on a tree just as he had in the original story. His cold eyes focused on Naruto with unexpected interest.
"My name is Gaara. What is yours?"
"Uzumaki Naruto."
As Gaara, Kankurō, and Temari walked away, Gaara murmured, "Uzumaki Naruto? I'm very interested in you."
Naruto couldn't help smiling slightly. In the original timeline, Gaara had been interested in Sasuke; this change meant Naruto's growth was already altering future events.
Soon afterward, the Third Hokage summoned Kakashi to submit participants for the Chunin Exam. Kakashi had complete confidence in his students especially Naruto, whose progress had already surpassed ordinary genin—so he recommended Team 7 without hesitation. Still, for procedure's sake, Sasuke and Sakura underwent the individual application tests, and both passed without issue.
Thus, all three members of Team 7 officially registered for the Chunin Exam.