Participating in the Chunin Examinations for the second time, Naruto naturally gave his absolute best effort, determined not to let this opportunity slip away as the previous one had.
Sakura's transformation during her time training under Tsunade had been remarkable. Not only had she mastered advanced medical ninjutsu techniques, but she had also learned to channel the same monstrous physical strength that both Tsunade and Chiharu wielded with such devastating effect. Her combination of healing abilities and combat prowess made her a formidable addition to any team.
Working together with enhanced coordination and individual growth, all three members of the reformed Team 7 successfully passed every stage of the examination process. When the results were announced, Naruto, Sai, and Sakura had all achieved promotion to Chunin rank.
Remarkably, nearly every qualification spot in that year's examination had been claimed by members of their former Academy class, demonstrating the exceptional quality of their generation and the effectiveness of Konoha's training programs.
After returning home from the ceremony, Naruto clutched his official qualification certificate with obvious excitement and pride. The document represented not just personal achievement, but validation of all the training and hardship he had endured.
That evening, however, Minato brought home news that struck Naruto like a lightning bolt.
"The Sand Village leadership has made an unprecedented decision," Minato announced during dinner. "Due to his exceptional performance during recent high-stakes missions, Gaara has been promoted directly to Jonin rank."
The information hit Naruto with stunning force. Gaara was roughly the same age as himself—both had just turned twelve years old.
While twelve-year-old Jonin weren't entirely unknown in Konoha's history, the circumstances of such promotions usually involved extraordinary background factors. Minato himself had achieved the rank at that age, as had Kakashi, but Kakashi had already become a Chunin at the remarkable age of six, providing years of additional experience before his Jonin promotion.
Gaara represented the first ninja in Sand Village history to achieve Jonin rank at such a young age with less than a year separating his previous advancement. The speed of his promotion was genuinely unprecedented.
The news was particularly jarring for Naruto because he vividly remembered their confrontation during the interrupted Chunin Exams a year earlier. At that time, he had held a clear advantage in their battle, leaving him confident about his relative abilities.
However, Gaara's recent advancement suggested that his former opponent had made extraordinary progress that far exceeded anything Naruto had anticipated.
"This promotion wasn't granted on a whim," Minato explained, recognizing his son's troubled expression. "Gaara's recent mission performance saved the Wind Country from potentially catastrophic losses."
While Minato couldn't reveal the classified details of that particular assignment, he could confirm that Gaara had personally eliminated two enemy Jonin during the operation—a feat that provided clear justification for his rapid advancement.
The revelation left Naruto deeply unsettled. The thought of meeting Gaara again only to discover that his former rival had completely surpassed him was genuinely disturbing.
The following day at the training grounds, Naruto's frustration with his current progress became increasingly evident.
"Pervy Sage, isn't this basic training pretty much finished?" he asked with obvious impatience, having spent the past six months focused primarily on fundamental chakra control and basic ninjutsu refinement.
While these exercises had certainly improved his abilities, they felt increasingly inadequate given the news about Gaara's dramatic advancement.
"If you're ready for the next stage," Jiraiya replied with satisfaction, "then starting today, I'll begin teaching you genuinely advanced techniques."
Jiraiya had been genuinely impressed with Naruto's training results over the past half year. Despite the constantly disruptive influence of the Nine-Tails' chakra within his body, Naruto had achieved remarkable improvements in chakra control and manipulation precision.
If he ever learned to properly harness the Nine-Tails' power rather than simply containing it, his chakra control abilities would likely exceed everyone in the ninja world except for Minato himself.
As for Minato's current power level, even Jiraiya could only speculate. While he understood that his former student had achieved legendary status, he hadn't personally witnessed the battle with the masked man, making it impossible to judge the true extent of Minato's capabilities.
"Observe carefully," Jiraiya instructed, raising his hand with deliberate precision.
Buzz...
Azure chakra began condensing in his palm, forming the familiar sphere of the Rasengan. However, rather than maintaining its standard size, the technique continued expanding until it reached nearly twice its normal dimensions.
"This is called the Big Ball Rasengan," Jiraiya explained as the enlarged technique spun with increased intensity. "It represents an advanced evolution of your signature technique. Try to replicate it yourself."
"That doesn't look too difficult," Naruto said with characteristic confidence, assuming that creating a larger version of a technique he had already mastered would be a simple matter of increasing chakra output.
However, as he would soon discover, the greater the quantity of chakra involved, the exponentially more difficult it became to maintain proper form and control. Preserving the Rasengan's essential characteristics while scaling up its size and power was far more complex than simply making it bigger.
Meanwhile, in the forest within the Uchiha clan compound...
Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!
Sasuke stood motionless among the ancient trees, forming hand seals with practiced precision as lightning chakra condensed in his left palm, creating the distinctive sound of a thousand birds crying in unison.
Bang!
He exploded into motion, racing through the forest with the Chidori crackling around his hand like contained lightning.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The moment he entered the deeper forest area, hidden mechanisms triggered, launching projectiles at him from carefully concealed positions and unexpected angles. These were all traps he had installed himself as part of his self-designed training regimen.
His evolved Sharingan tracked the incoming threats with enhanced clarity, allowing him to identify attack vectors that would be invisible to ordinary vision. Simultaneously, he used the lightning technique in his hand to strike vital points on training dummies positioned throughout the forest.
His entire form became a streak of electric blue energy, following a complex zigzag pattern through the trees as he avoided every projectile while systematically destroying every target with devastating precision.
When the exercise concluded, Sasuke stood amid the destroyed training apparatus, his breathing slightly labored from the intense exertion.
Huff... huff...
As the Chidori dissipated and his Sharingan returned to its normal state, Sasuke surveyed the wreckage of his training course with obvious dissatisfaction.
Neither the mechanical traps nor the stationary targets could provide the unpredictability and genuine threat level of actual human opponents. During several moments of the exercise, he had nearly been struck by projectiles—situations where his Sharingan's enhanced perception had identified the threat, but his physical reaction speed hadn't quite matched his ocular abilities.
While he understood that improving reaction speed was a long-term process that couldn't be rushed, that particular limitation wasn't the focus of today's training session.
Chidori had been taught to him by Kakashi, and through extensive practice, Sasuke had gained deep understanding of both the technique's tremendous advantages and its significant limitations.
The jutsu was truly effective only for ninja with exceptional reaction speed like Kakashi, or those who possessed advanced ocular techniques like the Sharingan. For most ninja, Chidori's incredible speed and penetrating power came at the cost of tunnel vision and reduced ability to respond to unexpected threats.
However, Sasuke's current application of the technique remained disappointingly simplistic compared to Kakashi's sophisticated variations.
Kakashi's Raikiri represented an evolved form of Chidori that had been refined through years of development and practical application. Beyond even that advancement, Kakashi had created entirely new techniques based on the same lightning manipulation principles—jutsu like the Thunder Beast Tracking Fang that demonstrated creative application of the fundamental concepts.
While Kakashi had originally taken the initiative to teach Sasuke the basic Chidori technique, Sasuke's pride prevented him from requesting instruction in these more advanced variations.
More importantly, Sasuke had no intention of simply learning existing techniques developed by others, regardless of their effectiveness.
His ultimate goal remained surpassing his brother Itachi, who had achieved ANBU captain rank at the age of thirteen. Although Itachi had received guidance from both the Fourth Hokage and their father, he had never simply imitated either of his mentors. Instead, he had developed his own approach to ninja arts that incorporated but transcended their teachings.
Sasuke was determined to follow the same path of independent development.
"If I can't improve my reaction speed quickly enough," he mused, analyzing his tactical options, "then the logical alternative is to focus on defensive capabilities."
His thoughts turned to a technique he had observed during the previous Chunin Examinations—Hyuga Neji's remarkable defensive rotation.
During that demonstration, Neji had defended against attacks from multiple blind spots by spinning rapidly while releasing chakra from his entire body, creating a protective barrier that deflected all incoming projectiles.
This was the legendary technique called Kaiten—a secret jutsu traditionally restricted to members of the Hyuga main family. The fact that Neji, a branch family member, had learned the technique through independent study and innovation made his achievement even more remarkable.
The example provided Sasuke with inspiration for his own innovation.
Perhaps he could develop something similar—an absolute defense technique based on his own lightning chakra nature rather than the gentle fist principles used by the Hyuga clan.
Energized by this new direction, Sasuke assumed a different stance and began forming hand seals with both hands.
This time, however, he didn't concentrate the chakra into his palms. Instead, he attempted to release lightning-nature energy from his entire body simultaneously.
Crackle!
As the technique activated, dark blue electrical arcs began manifesting around Sasuke's form, creating a preliminary version of the defensive barrier he envisioned.
The innovation represented the first step toward developing a truly original technique—one that would belong entirely to him and reflect his own understanding of lightning manipulation rather than simply copying the achievements of others.
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