Konoha's Dream Team

Chapter 7

Ten days were left until the third exam. Naruto was sitting on the ground in the same spot he had been every day for the last few weeks. Jiraiya had felt very smug. So far, Naruto had only managed to pop a hole in the balls. The boy had managed to pop the water balloon much quicker than Jiraiya, but when Naruto took so long to pop the rubber ball, he regained a bit of pride, even though he knew Naruto should have been able to pop it a long time ago.

"Concentration isn't exactly something you lack," Jiraiya said, crossing his arms as he stood before Naruto. "You should have popped this ball a long time ago. What's the problem?"

Naruto's brow furrowed as he stared at the ball in his hand.

"I'm just... worried, I suppose..."

"Worried? Why?"

"I'm getting this bad feeling... like shit's about to hit the fan, or something like that... Plus, Hinata is facing Neji in the third exam, which is cause for worry as well... I've been able to pop it since the second day," Naruto said as the ball in his hand started bulging, and then exploded, much to Jiraiya's surprise. "I just needed some time to think about things."

"Hmph," Jiraiya huffed, crossing his arms. "Show-off..."

"So, what's the third step?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow.

Now, Jiraiya unsealed a third bag, this one containing balloons again. However, these balloons were filled with air, and not water.

"The first step was rotation, the second step was power," Jiraiya said, picking up a balloon and holding it up for Naruto to see. "The third step is this."

Nothing happened. Naruto started molding chakra, and his eyes widened when his senses picked up on what was happening.

"You're forming a Rasengan inside the balloon, aren't you?"

"Correct," Jiraiya said with a smirk. "The point of the third step is to bring out the first two steps at one hundred percent, and maintain it. In short, you not only have to keep the spinning and the power at their greatest, but you also have to make a layer inside the balloon to contain the chakra. This requires a large amount of concentration, because the higher the destructive power, the more you have to add, and the quicker you have to spin. Thus, the outer layer must be stronger."

Slowly, Naruto nodded. Then, he picked up a balloon and said, "Alright, time to get to work."

–

Naruto stood in a loose stance in the arena on the day of the Third Exam. With him were Sasuke, Hinata, Temari, Kankuro, Gaara, Neji, Shikamaru, and Shino.

"Good thing you're here," Naruto muttered to Sasuke, smirking. "I was afraid that you'd pick up some of Kakashi's tardiness."

"Well, he actually wanted to get some last-second training in, but I wanted to be here on time," Sasuke said, smirking as well.

Naruto glanced at the Suna trio as the Kazekage arrived at the top box. Gaara was staring up at the man with nothing but hatred in his eyes. The Sandaime stood up.

"Thanks, everyone, for coming to the Konoha Chuunin Selection Exam! We will now start the main tournament matches between the nine participants who made it through the preliminaries! Please stay and watch until the end!"

"There's something I'd like to tell you before the matches," the proctor, Genma, as Naruto had learned that his name was, said, turning to them. "Look at this," he said and took out a piece of paper, showing the matches. "In case you didn't pay attention the first time, these are the match-ups. Check once again to see who you're fighting."