The announcement came three days after their return from Wave.
Team Seven had gathered at Training Ground Three for their morning session, the five devoted girls hovering at the edges of the clearing as had become customary. Kakashi arrived only fifteen minutes late—a marked improvement that Naruto noted without comment.
"I have news," the jonin said, his visible eye carrying unusual seriousness. "The Chuunin Selection Exams will be held in Konoha in one month. I've nominated Team Seven to participate."
Sakura's eyes widened with excitement. "The Chuunin Exams? Already? But we've only been genin for—"
"Two months. Yes, I know." Kakashi's gaze moved to Naruto. "Normally, I wouldn't recommend such a new team. But given certain... developments... I believe you're ready."
"Developments meaning Naruto-kun's incredible power," Satsuki said, bouncing slightly in a way that drew attention to her impossible figure. "He defeated Zabuza! An A-rank missing-nin! The exams will be easy for him!"
"The exams aren't just about power," Kakashi cautioned. "They test teamwork, strategy, adaptability. Individual strength is important, but it's not everything."
"Our teamwork is adequate," Naruto said flatly. "Sakura and Satsuki have trained extensively with me. We understand each other's capabilities and limitations."
"That's... not exactly what I meant by teamwork, but sure." Kakashi shook his head slightly. "The point is, you have one month to prepare. I suggest you use it wisely."
Naruto was already calculating.
One month. Thirty days. With shadow clones, that could be multiplied significantly—a hundred clones training simultaneously would be equivalent to a hundred months of individual practice. Over eight years of compressed experience.
It would not be wasted.
"I will require additional training resources," he said. "Advanced technique scrolls, elemental manipulation guides, anything related to shape and nature transformation."
"I can arrange access to the jonin library," Kakashi offered. "Your performance in Wave has earned you some... flexibility with the usual restrictions."
"Acceptable."
"There's also the matter of—"
"Sensei." Naruto's flat voice cut through whatever Kakashi had been about to say. "My training methodology is established. Your input is appreciated but not required. I will prepare for the exams in my own way."
Kakashi studied him for a moment, something complicated moving behind his visible eye.
"Very well. Just remember—the exams aren't just about individual advancement. Your teammates need to pass too."
"Their development will be considered."
It wasn't exactly a promise, but it was the closest Naruto could offer.
The training began that night.
Naruto stood in the center of Training Ground Forty-Four—the Forest of Death—surrounded by five hundred shadow clones. The training ground had been chosen for its isolation and the minimal chance of civilian interference. What he planned to attempt would be dangerous, potentially destructive, and definitely not approved by any official authority.
Not that he cared about approval.
The clones divided into groups, each assigned a specific training objective. One hundred focused on elemental manipulation—wind, fire, water, earth, lightning. Another hundred worked on Gate optimization, pushing the limits of how many gates could be opened and how long they could be maintained. A third group practiced high-speed movement, developing reflexes and reaction times beyond normal human parameters.
The remaining two hundred focused on what Naruto considered the most important project.
Technique creation.
He had studied the Rasengan extensively—his father's masterpiece, a pure shape transformation technique that required no hand seals. He had also mastered the Chidori—Kakashi's creation, a nature transformation technique that concentrated lightning chakra into a piercing attack.
Both were powerful.
Both were incomplete.
The Rasengan lacked elemental nature, limiting its versatility. The Chidori lacked shape complexity, making it predictable. Each technique had reached a ceiling that its creator had never surpassed.
Naruto intended to surpass them both.
Week One: The Rasendori
The theory was simple. The execution was not.
The Rasengan's spinning shell of chakra was designed to contain and compress energy, creating a grinding force that could tear through almost any defense. The Chidori's lightning nature was designed to penetrate, its high-frequency vibrations allowing it to cut through materials at a molecular level.
Combining them should, in theory, create something greater than either.
In practice, the two techniques actively rejected each other.
Lightning chakra was volatile, unstable, prone to arcing wildly when compressed. The Rasengan's spinning motion only intensified this instability, causing the technique to explode violently in the user's hand.
Naruto's first hundred attempts ended in exactly this way.
His clones were destroyed by the backlash, their memories flooding back with data about what went wrong. Too much lightning. Too little control. Spin direction causing interference with natural chakra flow.
He adjusted. Tried again.
Another hundred failures. Different variations, same result. The techniques simply weren't compatible using conventional methods.
But Naruto wasn't limited to conventional methods.
On the morning of the fourth day, he had a breakthrough.
The problem wasn't the techniques themselves—it was the assumption that they needed to occupy the same space simultaneously. What if, instead of merging them, he layered them? The Rasengan as a core, with lightning chakra woven through its outer shell rather than integrated throughout?
The result was unstable. Dangerous. Probably not something any sane person would attempt.
Naruto created it anyway.
The Rasendori formed in his palm—a sphere of compressed chakra surrounded by crackling lightning that arced along its surface like a miniature thunderstorm. The sound was distinctive, combining the Rasengan's grinding roar with the Chidori's signature chirping into something entirely new.
He tested it on a boulder.
The boulder ceased to exist.
Where solid stone had stood, there was now a crater. The Rasengan's grinding force had pulverized the material while the Chidori's lightning nature had superheated the fragments, creating a localized explosion that vaporized everything within a three-meter radius.
Naruto observed the destruction without any sense of satisfaction.
It was merely confirmation that his theory had been correct.
Week Two: The Big Ball Rasengan
Size was power.
This was a fundamental truth of chakra-based techniques. More chakra meant larger effects, greater damage, increased area of impact. The Rasengan was limited by its standard size—roughly the diameter of a grapefruit—which constrained its destructive potential.
Naruto's reserves were vast. Virtually unlimited, thanks to the Nine-Tails sealed within him. Maintaining a standard Rasengan required perhaps one percent of his total capacity.
What if he used more?
The first attempts were crude—simply forcing additional chakra into the technique until it expanded. The results were unstable, the increased size causing the spin to become irregular and the compression to fail.
But with hundreds of clones experimenting simultaneously, solutions were found quickly.
The key was proportional expansion—maintaining the exact ratios of spin, compression, and chakra density as the technique grew. It required precise control, constant adjustment, and the ability to manage exponentially increasing energy levels.
By the end of the second week, Naruto could create a Rasengan the size of a small house.
He called it the Big Ball Rasengan, lacking any particular creativity in naming. The technique's power spoke for itself—when tested against the landscape, it carved craters deep enough to reach groundwater.
The five girls, who had taken to observing his training from what they considered safe distances, were suitably impressed.
"Naruto-kun is so strong," Satsuki breathed, her eyes shining with adoration. "That technique could destroy an entire building!"
"Multiple buildings," Sakura corrected, her analytical mind calculating the damage potential. "The chakra output is... I don't even know how to measure it."
"He's the strongest person in the world," Ino declared confidently. "No one can beat him."
"W-We should bring him water," Hinata suggested softly. "He's been training for hours."
"I'll go!" Tenten volunteered, already moving toward the supply cache they maintained at the edge of the training ground.
Naruto ignored their commentary, already moving on to the next project.
Week Three: The Rasenshuriken
This was the true goal.
The Rasengan was shape transformation perfected. What it lacked was nature transformation—the elemental aspect that gave techniques like the Chidori their penetrating power.
Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, had created the Rasengan with the intention of adding nature transformation later. He had died before completing the work.
Naruto intended to finish what his father had started.
His primary affinity was wind. The Scroll of Seals had contained extensive notes on wind manipulation, including techniques for creating blades of compressed air that could cut through steel. These blades were created through rapid rotation of wind chakra, generating cutting edges at the molecular level.
The connection was obvious.
The Rasengan already rotated. Adding wind nature would transform that rotation into a cutting force, creating a technique that both ground and sliced simultaneously.
The challenge was containment.
Wind chakra wanted to expand, to disperse, to fill available space. The Rasengan's compression worked against this natural tendency, creating instability that made the technique want to fly apart.
His first attempts did exactly that—spinning apart into wild arcs of cutting wind that carved through trees and stones indiscriminately. Several clones were destroyed by their own creations, their memories adding to Naruto's understanding of what went wrong.
The solution came through experimentation with shape.
Rather than containing the wind within the Rasengan's sphere, he extended it outward in controlled formations. Blades of wind chakra, spinning around the central mass like a saw blade, contained by a secondary shell of pure shape transformation.
The result was devastating.
A central sphere of compressed chakra, surrounded by four massive blades of wind that extended outward in a cross formation. The entire construct spun with tremendous speed, the wind blades generating a distinctive shrieking sound that drowned out all other noise.
The Rasenshuriken.
Naruto tested it on the largest tree in Training Ground Forty-Four—a massive specimen that had stood for centuries, its trunk wider than most buildings.
The tree was cut in half. So was everything behind it for approximately two hundred meters.
The technique's cutting power was beyond anything he had created before. The wind blades didn't just slice—they severed at the cellular level, disrupting biological processes in ways that couldn't be healed through normal means.
It was, he noted clinically, probably the most dangerous technique he had ever developed.
And it wasn't complete.
The current version required direct contact—throwing the technique caused it to destabilize and detonate prematurely. This limited its tactical applications significantly.
But that was a problem for future training sessions.
Week Four: Integration
The final week was devoted to integrating his new techniques with his existing capabilities.
The Gates, modified for simultaneous jutsu use, amplified everything. A Rasenshuriken formed while using the Third Gate was approximately three times larger and five times more powerful. The Rasendori's lightning component arced further, covering a wider area of effect. The Big Ball Rasengan became something approaching a natural disaster.
He also refined his tactical applications.
Shadow clones could form the techniques, allowing for multiple simultaneous attacks from different angles. The clones' memories meant that every variation tested was immediately available to all copies, accelerating adaptation during combat.
Speed techniques from the Flying Thunder God framework—he still lacked the seals for true teleportation, but the theoretical understanding allowed for enhanced movement patterns—combined with Gate-enhanced reflexes made him nearly impossible to track.
And his elemental versatility meant he could adapt to virtually any opponent.
By the end of the month, Naruto had transformed himself from a powerful genin into something approaching a one-man army.
Not that he felt any pride in this accomplishment.
It was simply preparation. Optimization. The accumulation of power for its own sake, because power was useful and having more of it was better than having less.
The night before the Chuunin Exams began, the five girls gathered in his apartment.
They had been there every night for the past month, taking turns watching over him, bringing him food, ensuring he rested when his body required it. Their devotion had only intensified as they watched his training, their adoration growing alongside his power.
"Tomorrow is the big day," Sakura said, her green eyes bright with excitement. "The Chuunin Exams. Are you nervous, Naruto-kun?"
"No."
"Of course not," Satsuki laughed. "Naruto-kun doesn't get nervous. He doesn't get anything."
"That's not—" Sakura started to protest, then stopped. "Okay, yes. That's accurate."
"You're going to be amazing," Ino declared. "Better than amazing. You're going to show everyone what you're capable of."
"The other competitors don't stand a chance," Tenten agreed. "I've watched your training. There's no one in our generation who could match you."
"W-We'll be cheering for you," Hinata added softly. "All of us. Together."
Naruto observed their enthusiasm without sharing it.
"The exams are a team event," he said. "Sakura and Satsuki need to pass as well."
"We will!" Satsuki bounced confidently. "We've trained hard. And with you on our team, nothing can go wrong!"
"Many things can go wrong. Complacency increases the probability of failure."
"We're not complacent," Sakura assured him. "We're confident. There's a difference."
Naruto didn't argue the point.
"You should rest," he said instead. "Tomorrow will require full capability."
The girls exchanged glances, apparently debating something through silent communication.
"We could stay here tonight," Tenten suggested, her voice carrying carefully casual innocence. "To make sure you get proper rest."
"All of us," Ino added. "Together."
"W-We wouldn't be any trouble," Hinata said quickly.
Naruto considered the offer.
Logically, having five people in his small apartment would be crowded and potentially disruptive to sleep. But refusing would require more energy than accepting, and the girls would likely worry about him regardless.
"Very well."
The girls' collective excitement was almost palpable. They immediately began arranging themselves—blankets appearing from nowhere, sleeping positions negotiated through rapid whispered discussion, the small apartment somehow accommodating five additional bodies without feeling cramped.
Naruto found himself in the center of the arrangement, surrounded on all sides by warmth and softness and the devoted attention of five transformed girls.
It was, he noted, not unpleasant.
Not that he would feel anything about it either way.
He closed his eyes and let sleep claim him, knowing that tomorrow would bring new challenges.
And new opportunities to demonstrate exactly how powerful he had become.