"HUH?! NARUTO DID WHAT!?" A yelled at the light-haired jonin standing before him. "You heard me Raikage-sama. Naruto changed an S-rank kinjutsu into his own affinity and almost single-handedly killed Tsubasa Kaminari." Atsui said.

The other jonin in the room gaped in awe. They were only here because Raikage-sama was asking about the chuunin exams in a couple months, and they walk in on Atsui telling the dark-skinned giant that a genin almost single-handedly killed the most dangerous nukenin to ever come out of Kumogakure.

"I'm going to go out a limb here and suggest that team is ready for the exams." A said rhetorically. Atsui nodded.

Outside, a certain pair of blondes was walking through the village. "Oh, man!" Naruto complained, putting his hands behind his head. "What am I going to do about my staff? I can't go without it." he wailed. "Well, you could always make a new one." Yugito pointed out. Naruto shook his head. "It took me a month just to make the staff, even longer to carve it, and then I would have to inlay the chakra metal into it. Hm… I got it!" Naruto exclaimed. "To avoid another burnout, I would have to forge the staff itself out of chakra metal, but just carrying a giant metal pole would be kind of boring." he said.

"So what will you do then?" Yugito asked. "I don't know. I'm thinking possibly a naginata (1), but that won't translate well as a replacement for the staff." Naruto said, deep in thought. "Well, you could put a blade at each end, and then you could still spin it like the staff." Yugito said. Naruto's eyes widened in shock.

"That's it! Yugito-chan you're the best!" he shouted, giving her a quick hug before running off. Yugito could barely stand. "C-crap, every single damn time!" she thought angrily. "Kitten, just wait a little while. Then he will be yours." came the voice of Matatabi. Yugito smiled.

Naruto ran through the streets until he reached a shop with the kanji for "steel" written above the door. "Hey, old man blacksmith! I need a favor!" he shouted from the doorway. A middle-aged man walked out, and scowled. "Listen brat, I am not old!" he shouted.

"Anyway, what can I do for you?" he asked. "I need chakra metal, hammers and a forge space." Naruto said. "For what?" the man asked. "I'm making a double ended naginata to replace my staff." the blonde said. "You? The only thing you know how to forge is that dagger you made." the blacksmith scoffed. Naruto smirked. "I'll figure it out." he said.

Atsui sat on the roof of the Academy. "Naruto… just what are you?" he thought to himself before he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Turning around, he saw a light-skinned woman with a haircut almost exactly like his. "Hey sis, how's it going?" he asked. "Eh, it's going." Samui responded. Sitting down next to him, she looked at his face. "Atsui, what's wrong? You haven't made a hotshot joke yet." she asked, completely serious.

"It's the only shinobi on my team. I'm worried about him." Atsui said. Samui raised an eyebrow. "Why? I thought he was monumentally strong." she said, confused. Her brother nodded. "Exactly. I'm afraid that power will go to his head, and he'll forget about teamwork altogether." Samui giggled. "What's so funny?" Atsui asked with a glare. "We are talking about the same Naruto right? He would never forget his friends." she said. Atsui shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you're right." he said

Meanwhile, in a blacksmith shop somewhere in Kumogakure, a young boy was hard at work. Naruto had already shaped, forged, and sharpened the naginata blades, and was cooling the pole in a trough of water. Sliding the blades onto the pole, Naruto then riveted them down and picked up his new weapon. Feeling good, he headed out. The old man refused to make him pay, but the boy just left money on the counter and ran.

The next day, the boy was called in by the Raikage. "What's up old man?" he asked. A looked troubled. "I've decided to teach you the Lightning Style Armor." he said. "Really?" the blonde asked. "Really." said the dark-skinned man.

Later, Naruto was out in the practice field with A. "Alright, now channel all the Lightning Style chakra you can to your brain. This should speed up your reaction time, physical speed, and so on." the Raikage demonstrated.

They spent the next three months practicing their techniques, as well as going on a couple missions. At the end of the third month, the three genin were told where they were going. Naruto got very quiet. As they set out for the chuunin exams, for Konoha, they were left with smiles from all of Kumo.

As they were moving through the forest, Naruto turned to look at Atsui. "Atsui-sensei isn't Samui-sensei's team taking the exams as well?" he asked. The jonin shook his head. "From what I hear, her team is just poor Omoi stuck between two Naruto fangirls." he said with a chuckle. Naruto growled.

"I hate fangirls. They all want to impress me, but they spend more time fawning over me than they actually spend training to impress me!" he said. "Well to be fair Naruto, you are also practically impossible to impress." Karui said. "Still. I don't hold them to my standards, only you and Yugito are held in that much esteem." he said.

"That's enough hotshot, let's stop at the next inn, and we can reach Konoha tomorrow.

A naginata is a special kind of Japanese spear with a curved blade, similar to a halberd, but with sort of a wide katana blade.

Alright, next up; chuunin exams! I don't know if I should write post-timeskip, so, yeah.

IronDragon524