The day after the second round of the chunin exams was complete, Naruto was given the bad news from Kakashi, that his sensei would be training Sasuke exclusively for the finals against Gaara. As he needed the entire month to get Sasuke's speed and abilities higher in order to compete against the powerful Sand user. He apologized to Naruto for leaving him without any real training of his own, but did line up some lessons from Ebisu if he wanted to learn anything from someone else.
Naruto attended one of those Ebisu lessons just now, and afterwards was wandering around in a bit of a bad mood, as the tokubetsu jonin wasn't really the ideal trainer for Naruto, as he could already defeat him and they lacked any kind of mutual respect for one another. The only good thing to come from that failed training, was the wandering walk Naruto took afterwards, that led him by the hot springs and an odd old pervert. After Naruto made the women the old letch was perving on aware of their visitor, he happily walked away to the sounds of the white haired man getting pounded by the many upset females.
"That was a dirty thing to do," came the somewhat angry voice, that Naruto was easily and somewhat surprised to see belonged to the same old pervert, who wasn't apparently getting beat up at all despite the sounds that continued to come from the inside of the hot springs.
"It's what perverts deserve," responded the blond back with a little glare of his own, to match the one the larger white haired man was giving him.
"Are you calling me a pervert?" came the unmistakable growl of the older man in the unusual geta sandals and old timer clothes, as he glared at the young blond ninja.
"Um ...yeah," answered Naruto easily, not understanding how this guy he caught peeping on women didn't see his own perversion, "it's pretty obvious."
"I'll have you know I am no mere pervert," came the almost dramatic twist, as the older man stood up and started doing some ridiculous kabuki style dance poses, "I am the great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku ...the Sannin with the Mostest ...the Icha Icha Creator ...the Gallant Jiraiya ...the Super Pervert!"
"Super Pervert?" came the unmistakably exasperated voice of Naruto, as he watched this old timer make an even bigger fool of himself than he thought possible, though the name Jiraiya did ring a few bells, he didn't think that this could possibly be the same person who taught the Fourth Hokage, or was the student of Sarutobi Hiruzen, "more like ...super joke."
The change was quick, and if Naruto hadn't been looking directly at the white haired older man, might have missed the quick transition from goofy elder into a fierce ninja of significant skill as he glared right back at the blonde. He went on to complain that the youth of today had no respect for their elders, and even launched into a long defense of the noble tradition of spying at the hot springs for inspiration. Within minutes, Naruto learned of the man's utter devotion to anything perverted, but also realized that this was a skilled older ninja who could and should be teaching him something important.
"You don't know who you're messing with ...brat," came the response from the white haired elder as he continued to glare at the younger blonde.
"An old geezer that has to spy on pretty girls because he can't get them himself?" countered Naruto back with a heated glare of his own, regardless of how dangerous the older ninja might be.
"You little shit," growled the oder ninja, "I've gotten more pretty girls than you've ever seen in your life pipsqueak."
"I doubt that," smirked back Naruto as he brought his hands up in the familiar seal as clones appeared all around them, though these were all scantily dressed female versions of himself that turned on the white haired ninja and started draping themselves over him, instantly causing a large nosebleed as the self proclaimed super pervert was rendered speechless by the sexy display.
After that wonderful display, the older man who promised his name really was Jiraiya of the Sannin, agreed to meet the young blonde back here the following day. Naruto was pleased that he had successfully lined up some training of his own for the chunin finals, and promised to get back to work training on his own as well. That night he went down to the Facility and after one of his largest spawns of clones yet, had them divide into large groups to continue pushing his training to greater heights.
His clones division was pretty simple, as he sent a third to work on ninjutsu, a third with taijutsu, and the last third with sword fighting while he upped his training weights again and pushed through his usual physical workout that left him exhausted and heading to bed late that night. The next afternoon, after his usual early morning workout, without Guy and Lee, as his young friend was still in the hospital after his defeat at Gaara's hands, Naruto was again at the hot springs waiting on his newest instructor. He found the old white haired super pervert again peeping through a hole in the fence into the womens' hot spring, and questioned whether this was really a good idea to learn from this idiot.
Naruto had to entice and remind Jiraiya why he agreed to teach him, by performing another sexy harem jutsu, before the white haired ninja would even start asking questions about his previous training. After filling the somewhat goofy acting older ninja in about what he was studying in terms of taijutsu, sword training, and his ninjutsu and elemental techniques, Jiraiya finally got to teaching him something. That something turned out to be something incredible, and Naruto was beside himself in excitement after the white haired man summoned a toad that provided the summoning contract for all the toads.
"This is the Toad Contract?" asked Naruto in disbelief that he was being asked to sign something so well known, and previously used by his idol the Fourth Hokage, "you are letting me sign the Toad Contract?"
"Yes brat," answered Jiraiya with an exasperated shake of his head, as the blonde ninja was equal parts a skilled and dedicated ninja, and also slow at times on some of the most basic things, "that is why I asked you to sign it in your blood."
"Yessir, Ero-Sennin," saluted Naruto before biting his thumb, and using the blood to write his name on the next open line, just beneath the faded out one of Minato Namikaze, his hero.
"You need to bring him to Mount Myoboku soon Jiraiya-sama," came the unmistakable voice of the Summoning Scroll Toad, that was called to witness and provide the summoning scroll while getting a new summoner, "Gamabunta will want to meet our newest summoner."
"Sure thing," replied Jiraiya with a lazy wave as the Toad and Summing Contract disappeared in a puff of smoke to return to the summoning realm, leaving just the two ninja behind.
Jiraiya then showed Naruto the hand signs for summoning, and told him to keep at it until he could summon some of the largest Toads, while he went back to the hole in the fence to spy on naked women with a perverted little giggle. Naruto was able to get the hand signs down easily, but wasn't sure just how much chakra to use, and the first time summoned a small Toad that wasn't much bigger than his fist. The new Toad though was very happy to be summoned, and even happier to learn of their newest summoner as he introduced himself as Gamakichi and asked for candy in payment for being summoned.
For the next half an hour, Naruto continued to practice his summoning, getting to know Gamakichi quite well as he was the only Toad summoned during those first few tests and was really chatty with their newest summoner. Then Naruto decided to really put some chakra behind it, and started to build his chakra like he would for his largest spawning of clones, causing his perverted teacher to actually stop peeping on the women in the hot springs for a moment. And he had a right to notice, as the chakra was heavy, much greater than he would have thought from the young blonde and was impressed that the young ninja had advanced so far already.
"Why the hell did you summon me Jiraiya?" came the large voice of a creature that simply towered over the small forest training area they were near, as it appeared out of the smoke to the absolute shock of both ninja in the area, though for entirely different reasons.
"U ...uh ...G-gamabunta?" croaked Jiraiya, sounding more like a toad than the toad he was talking to, as he gulped nervously when the large Battle Toad turned towards him at his voice, probably wondering who was on his head then.
"WOW!" exclaimed Naruto in shock from on top of the large head on the biggest Toad he had ever dreamed about, "this is so awesome ...dattebayo!"
"Jiraiya ...what is going on?" asked the large toad, as it looked down at his summoner, trying to ignore the happily dancing young blonde ninja on his head.
What followed was a very confusing half an hour, where the toad and Toad Sage spoke cryptically in code about Naruto joining the ranks of a toad summoner. He was introduced to Gamabunta, the presumed boss leader of the Toad's that he summoned miraculously, and was given a basic rundown of the different toads and their primary functions. Naruto was surprisingly respectful to the toads' themselves, and instead kept most of his grumbling about his newest perverted teacher separate from his dealings with the larger amphibians, who he greatly valued already due to their relationship with his hero, the Fourth Hokage.
Naruto was oblivious to the many looks shared between Gamabunta and Jiraiya, especially when anything related to Minato Namikaze was brought up and discussed. Instead he asked about training methods the toads could help him with, and how he would go about summoning them to aid him in fights. A lot of that discussion was simply, which toads specialized in what function, how they could be and were used by Jiraiya to easily deliver messages or fight alongside him.
Gamabunta promised that Naruto would have to first go through Mount Kyoboku to meet all the toads personally before he could convince any of them to fight for him now, but that they would take care of that soon. The large toad spent most of his time arguing and complaining to Jiraiya about not visiting them all often enough, and had a message that Ma and Pa wanted to see him and their newest summoner soon. Naruto simply soaked everything he could up, and was quickly planning out his latest trip to the Summoning Realm in order to get to know the Toads better.
He really couldn't believe his luck, having known about the Toad Summons for years now from his extensive study of the Hokages, and especially the Fourth. That he was the newest Toad Summoner, following in Minato Namikaze's footsteps, the young blonde ninja couldn't be happier, and promised the Toads he did meet that he would work really hard to be the best summoner they ever had. To facilitate the exchange, it was decided that Gamakichi would stay with Naruto for now, to help them learn more about each other at a quicker pace.
Now, if Naruto thought having just one new visitor to his senses and thoughts wasn't enough, the addition of Gamakichi to his already full plate made for some initial amusement. The Kyuubi had for the most part been happy and content to be a silent observer over the first few days after merging more with Naruto, but with the addition of the constantly chatting and questioning toad, the Fox Demon refused to remain quiet. He went on an epic rant on the uselessness of toads, and started a sarcastic and caustic commentary on everything, as a continual foil to Gamakichi's eternal optimism.
What that meant for Naruto, was primarily a running headache as he heard it from both sides, constantly having to explain things to Gamakichi, and playing referee. Most of his time was actually spent trying to calm down the Fox, and ignore it's constant jabs at pretty much everything the Fox saw as meatbags or the work of meatbags, which wasn't a pleasant job. The Fox did however have an incredible chakra sense and senses in general, and would often point out nearby or approaching civilians and ninja long before Naruto recognized anything which turned out to be really helpful in tracking people down.
"Why don't you just tell me to meet you here every morning ...ero-sannin," came Naruto's exasperated groan, as he once again had to come looking for his latest sensei, only to find him again spying on the womens' side of the hot spring far behind Training Ground 3.
"Stop calling me that ...you little brat," grumbled Jiraiya with a low voice as he made no indication of moving from his peeping hole, "...and be quiet would ya ...I've finally got to the good stuff."
"DAMNIT PERVY SAGE!" yelled Naruto, much louder, and easily heard by everyone at the hot springs as all activity came to a halt, and the white haired pervert finally looked at the yelling blonde with wide betrayed eyes before a stampede of rushing women came charging at him.
"You've got a lot to learn kid," smirked Jiraiya at the last moment, as Naruto felt himself being pulled and swapped with Jiraiya's position at the last moment, the smoke from the switch covering the small transformation to make the young blonde appear as an old white haired man. All he could feel were the numerous and some very painful hits he was taking from some very lovely towel clad females, which at least broke the transformation allowing everyone to see who they captured. But, by that point everyone had already got their few licks in, and their attention was drawn to the snickering white haired pervert gleefully writing away in his notebook as he watched the blonde surrounded by women.
"Our young ninja thrown among the group of passionate and naked beauties is being surrounded as a buxom brunette grabs the young hero…," continued Jiraiya as he scribbled away, drooling all the while as he wrote about Naruto's exploits, " ...you're pure gold kid!"
"Get the pervert!" screamed one of the scantily clad women, causing them all to charge towards Jiraiya, who just oggled them for another long moment before moving away at the last possible moment as he switched out with a mud clone.
"Okay kid," smirked Jiraiya as he glared at the rising Naruto, ignoring the massive beatdown going on nearby with the ladies of the hot springs and his mud clone, "you want to train? ...we'll train."
Naruto barely had a moment to get himself set as Jiraiya appeared before him too fast for him to even notice the movement, and planted a straight punch that left the young blonde's rib cage shaking as he rocketed out of the nearby area and further into Training Ground 3. He continued to get beat from spot to spot as Jiraiya followed him around, pummelling him in one hit with speed he simply couldn't see, let alone keep up with. Finally Jiraiya took pity on the young blonde and let him get up on his own, and simply smirked when he saw and felt the kid drop his weight seals, and realized that maybe the kid wasn't quite so bad after all.
For the next two minutes, Jiraiya tested out Naruto's true speed, strength, and taijutsu skill as he lessened his own speed a bit to allow the younger ninja to at least compete, and traded blows with the original and six of his continually replenishing clone friends. The older Sannin had to admit that Naruto was much better than he would have thought, and better than he was in certain areas for his age too, and continued turning up the speed and power to see how well his young student could try to match it. When he found his student's limit in speed, he stayed just above it, and taunted and fought Naruto and his clones for another two minutes in primarily taijutsu only, with the older teacher throwing in some hair extensions as well.
Naruto was struggling with everything he had just to stay a float against Jiraiya, and knew the older ninja must be holding back significantly to allow him to even have a chance, which pissed him off even more. He and his clones were completely maxed out in taijutsu, and it still wasn't enough to get Jiraiya with anything, so he fell back and brought forth more clones into the fight. While a large portion of them engaged the white haired older ninja in taijutsu, the majority of them started building up their own wind attacks while a select few brought the fire for a combination attack that was the best he had at present.
Jiraiya was impressed with what Naruto was doing, his fighting skills and style were very good, he used distraction well, and thought well on his feet. The biggest problem he saw was simply speed, as even with his better than average speed for a genin, it was only mid-chunin level at best and needed to be much faster if he was ever going to be really taken seriously or advance in the chunin exam finals. His strategy was good though, as more and more shadow clones continued to engage Jiraiya in order to distract him from the attacks being prepared, though he didn't hold out hope that they would work on the skilled Sannin.
He was proven correct not long after, when Jiraiya used his speed to interrupt some of the combination attacks to be used against Naruto's own clones, and was soon finishing off the rest of the clones and pushing the original past his breaking point. It only happened for a moment, but it was completely unmistakable for Jiraiya not to notice when Naruto pulled on the power of the Kyuubi for a brief moment in preparation of their continuing fight, as his eyes turned red for just a moment. Naruto had felt the rush of incredible power, and even though it wasn't something he did consciously, he was however grateful for the Fox in trying to help him overcome a superior opponent.
"Thanks Fox," grinned Naruto, before using his newly refilled chakra stores to spawn another large batch of shadow clones, that he quickly hid behind as he sent them off to challenge Jiraiya, wondering how the explosion clones would fare.
"MOVE!" yelled the Fox in reply, getting Naruto to react just in time to avoid being flattened under a Jiraiya stomp, as he crashed onto the tree branch Naruto was just standing on.
"Shit," exclaimed Naruto, out of breath and wondering where the next attack was going to come from, and knowing that Jiraiya wasn't going to be pulling his punches.
He didn't have to wait very long to find out though, as within a few more moments of intense taijutsu, several attacks broke through Naruto's defenses and remaining clones until he was laid out flat on the ground. Jiraiya had popped over to where Naruto landed to make sure he was still alive, and after seeing him simply knocked unconscious, decided they were probably done training for the day. He hadn't walked far though when he was confronted by a pair of clones in his path, as they blocked the way back towards the hot springs they knew Jiraiya was heading towards with deadpan looks on their faces.
"He's completely fine," waved Jiraiya in dismissal over his shoulder at the lump on the ground that was Naruto, "just knocked out."
"Oh," said the one Naruto clone to the other in sheepishness, "we weren't here for the boss ...we had some questions on sealing arrays?"
"If you can keep quiet, you can tag along," spoke Jiraiya with a defeated shrug of his shoulders, as he walked around the two Naruto clones, and headed directly for the hot springs for some much needed research.
"Thanks Jiraiya-sama," spoke the first clone that had done all the talking so far, "we were working on sealing arrays and barrier seals ...and had a few questions."
"Just keep your questions quiet," grumbled Jiraiya as he got back to his peeping hole and settled in to look at the female hot springs, instantly in a better mood and giggling at what he saw.
"How does the sealing array affect a four points barrier seal, and allow it to be moveable?" asked the first clone quietly, not going to waste his chance to get some real answers to help them in their Fuinjutsu development, by pissing off their only teacher.
"The array isn't what let's it move," answered back Jiraiya almost absently, talking about seals as natural and easy as spying on women, and was soon launching into a long lesson on barrier seals, "...so, you've got into Kushina's notes?"
"Yeah," answered the only clone to do any of the talking so far, "she loved barrier seals."
"I'm not surprised," remarked Jiraiya with a fond smile, "she used them often in the field ...and on the Kyuubi."
"Did she ever mention the Kyuubi, or trying to communicate with it?" came the quiet question from the quieter clone to that point.
"She only ever said it was so full of hate that she couldn't deal with it," answered Jiraiya back deep in thought, as he tried to understand or remember of anything else was ever said, and wondered how Naruto's seal and relationship with the Kyuubi may be different from his mothers', and decided he should do a little digging of his own. "Do Naruto and the Kyuubi ever talk?"
"Ever since Orochimaru in the Forest of Death," responded the previously quiet clone with a little shiver at the reminder, and therefore missed Jiraiya's own shiver or the side-long glance he sent at the two innocent looking clones, who just went back to asking questions about seals.
When the original Naruto woke back up after about thirty minutes out, Jiraiya summoned a pair of young toads, and had Naruto put his training weights back on and start chasing them. With the original working on increasing speed and stamina, Jiraiya had the two clones studying their Fuinjutsu, and when more clones arrived, had them join their discussions on barrier seals. After an hour of this, the original spawned a large batch of shadow clones, and Jiraiya used them by providing a shadow clone of his own to teach them some of his hair manipulation techniques despite several more joining his Fuinjutsu lesson.
It was bordering on ridiculous, thought the older white haired ninja, with how many clones Naruto could make, he was picking up techniques and skills at amazing rates that were unheard of. Already within two days, had learned how to summon toads of every size, learned more about barrier seals than most Konoha ninja knew in their lifetime, and still continued to push the physical training for the original all the while. Jiraiya was mighty impressed with the young blonde, and how much he had already learned and studied to cover some of his shortcomings, and still how much more he wanted to learn, and had the skills and training method to make that a reality.
He wondered if maybe it wasn't time to teach the kid the Rasengen, created and made famous by the Fourth Hokage, as it was his right and would compliment his fighting style incredibly well. He decided to hold off on that for now, as he would spend this time before the finals getting Naruto up to speed physically, and would have an opportunity after the chunin exams to teach him anything else. By the end of the late afternoon, the original Naruto was barely able to walk back to Ichiraku Ramen, and used his clones' assistance to be led to his favorite food stop where he ordered a large special batch of ramen and couldn't wait to eat it all.
After stuffing his face to his content, Naruto felt much better physically, and again thanked the Fox for the high healing factor when it came to training muscles, as he already felt like he could start the whole day over again. Knowing how important speed now was, after the rather painful lesson today from Jiraiya, Naruto left the ramen stand and returned to his physical training after spawning another large batch of clones and entering the Facility for the evening. He had most of his clones still separated into three main groups, taijutsu, ninjutsu, and sword fighting while he pushed up his weight resistance seals and continued pushing himself.
Over the next few days, Naruto continued to push himself in his physical training, having daily sparring matches with Jiraiya, and a day spent on Mount Myoboku chasing toads, his speed had really increased. With Jiraiya also supplementing his Fuinjutsu teaching as well, and Naruto was progressing as fast as he ever had, and growing with each clone and moment. Currently they were in the summoning realm, going over their plans for Naruto to train in using the Fox's chakra, to get him better accustomed to it in a safe environment that wouldn't have all of Konoha in a panic.
"The Fox is fine with me using his youkai, but he still says I am not really ready for the first tail cloak," responded Naruto easily, causing Jiraiya to blanch somewhat at just how open the communication was between the Fox Demon and his student, not having expected it to be that easy.
"How are you speaking to the Kyuubi?" asked Jiraiya for better understanding.
"I granted him access to my senses after that run in with Orochimaru," replied Naruto easily, seeing nothing wrong with it, "we have been in constant communication ever since."
"If you call what you do communicating," grumbled the Fox inside Naruto's head, which only received a mock glare in return from the blonde.
"You don't have to listen to that meanie ...boss," came the defense from Gamakichi, who for some reason could also hear all the nasty comments made by the Fox, often causing them to bicker back and forth with Naruto stuck in the middle of it.
"Oh yes, the defence of the slimy tadpole," came the growling voice of the Fox Demon.
"Screw you demon," came the bickering voice of Gamakichi.
"How are you in constant communication?" came the follow up question from Jiraiya, after working through Naruto's response.
"The Fox has access to all my senses, and now we can talk in our minds," answered Naruto with a shrug, not at all worried about it, despite the pale face of Jiraiya.
"So it can see everything you can?" asked Jiraiya for clarification, though he didn't really seem to want to know the actual answer.
"Yes Ero-Sannin," replied a smirking Naruto, knowing that this information didn't sit well with his usually unflappable sensei, though it didn't bother him in the least as he had got to know the Kyuubi over the last few days and other than being a little violent and sarcastic, wasn't too bad. "I can also use his skill at chakra sensing now."
Jiraiya gave Naruto a long look after the explanation, and decided that Naruto appeared to have everything under control, and he would let that continue and not get involved unless he had to. He then asked Naruto to summon a new pair of toads, as he was graduating up to the next level of toad chasing and was encouraged to try and use the Fox's youkai to boost his stats. It took a while until Naruto was able to call upon the Fox's youkai consistently, and it was very difficult to deal with the psychological aspects of having demon youkai running through you as you are trying to boost your body.
Eventually, Naruto found the right balance and was able to hold the youkai and strengthen his body to almost double its usual capacity, and worked on getting that balance to feel right. Of course, with all the work he was putting in to accepting the youkai, it became easier over the next few hours, and he had to continually pull on more and try to keep it balanced never knowing that he was constantly pulling more and more of it. By the end of that first full day of trying it, Naruto was told by the Fox that he was very close to being able to attempt a one tail bijuu cloak, which Jiraiya was very excited and nervous about simultaneously, but promised to work on it with him tomorrow.
Their training the next day was put on hold however, when Naruto woke up to the memories of his Civilian Councilman Clone for Zumi Rabichen, having received the first shipment of Sound ninja to hire and place throughout his restaurants. Instead, with Naru's help getting to the Hokage, they were able to turn the tables on the arriving Sound ninja, and Naruto and Jiraiya had them all collected and sent to Torture & Interrogation by the end of the day. It pushed his personal training back a day, but was in fact a great thing for Naruto, as Jiraiya had let him go after most of the new arrivals to test himself and his growing ninja skills in real life situations, and the variety was a nice distraction and a chance to see what worked better and what still needed some training to further develop.
For the next few days, Naruto continued to visit the summoning realm every day to continue working on developing the bijuu one-tailed cloak in a protected environment, under the watchful gaze of Jiraiya and the Toads. When he finally got the one-tailed bijuu cloak to form, he felt incredible, as his speed and strength both shot through the roof to levels he was shocked at reaching. The biggest draw back to the bijuu cloak though, was dealing with the anger and malevolence tied into the Fox's chakra, and that he could only currently hold it for about a minute at a time, but would continue to grow and push that limit to make it more usable.
"Not bad kid," spoke Jiraiya after watching Naruto successfully keep up the bijuu cloak for a minute, and now trying to work off the overflowing anger that always remained long after the cloak itself, and was proud of what he had already accomplished in just the first two weeks of real training. "When you are ready, I want to introduce you to Ma and Pa, they are the Elder Toads I usually work with ...and want to meet you."
"I'm ready pervy-sage," came Naruto's boisterous voice after another few moments of catching his breath and calming down after the cloak dissolved.
The meeting of the two older and surprisingly smaller toads went quite well though, and Naruto was given a demonstration to help him understand the importance of these two elder toads in relation to Jiraiya's own sage-mode. The sage-mode he used completely blew his one-tailed bijuu cloak out of the water, but he was promised that there were plenty more tails to use in his cloak, and if he progressed well, could maybe even learn sage-mode himself in the future. Naruto really enjoyed the two elder toads, and loved how they gave Jiraiya such a hard time regarding pretty much everything, and knew they would get along great in the future.
He was also really impressed with everything Jiraiya was teaching him and helping him with, and couldn't believe just how much he had advanced in so little time, and vowed to continue growing in order to protect Konoha. Naruto didn't waste his time in the summoning realm either, as he had several dozen clones learning various skills and tricks from the many available toads simultaneously, so as to maximize what he was getting out of the training. He had toads teaching him their style of taijutsu, sword fighting, and Fuinjutsu around the clock, and had really progressed in all of those areas as well, while the original worked with Jiraiya and the bijuu cloak.
The routine was again disrupted several days later at just around the two week mark, when the Civilian Council Member, Utane Habishi was approached by a group from Sand that his newest help had arrived. Naruto's clone, still acting as the Civilian Council Member, was able to get word to Sarutobi and Jiraiya, and were able to capture the arriving Sand Ninja before they were spread out throughout Konoha. With both of the attempted infiltrations stopped by Naruto and Jiraiya, Konoha was able to learn from their many prisoners just what was being planned and why Sound and Sand had decided to work together in order to take out Konoha.
Luckily, with knowledge of their supposed infiltration on the day of the Chunin Exam Finals, they were better equipped to deal with and mark all those from Sand and Sound that were trying to get tickets on the day and planned to be ready. Naruto got to sit in with Jiraiya, Sarutobi, and Shikaku Nara as they planned the defence of their village, and how best to spring the trap and turn the tables on those planning to invade Konoha. They were all expecting that Orochimaru was the main player behind the attack, as it was definitely like him, and he would want to accomplish many things in the confusion, including co-opting the last Uchiha that they refused to allow.