(Before I get into this I would like to point out that we are not in fact given a timeframe between graduation and the Chunin exams in canon. With this in mind I am merely making a rough estimation based on context clues.)
A few days ago the announcement of the yearly Chunin exams had been spread out in the village and was a joint event this year between Konoha, the smaller villages and Suna(Village hidden in the sand) who was allied with us. Many of my classmates were planning to attend in order to try and become Chunin but in my opinion only maybe six actually deserved that rank at the moment. Sasuke, Naruto, Neji, Rock Lee, Shikamaru and Ino were the only classmates I believed should be promoted but it wasn't up to me so it was entirely possible that those that pass would include some others as well.-
The way the Chunin exams worked while always slightly different each year was roughly the same. It was designed to test your will, perception, teamwork and finally but usually most importantly your combat ability. As I said though HOW they tested these things was never exactly the same with the exception of the combat ability which was tested via tournament every year with only the winner being guaranteed promotion to Chunin. Last years Chunin exam was hosted by Suna and the tests involved a genjutsu and written test followed by a scavenger hunt in the city for a four word code phrase that the teams had to figure out before reporting to the finish line to complete. -
There was some rumors that Suna played dirty to hold back some of our genin from getting promoted but nothing came of them so they got ignored. This year we were hosting the exams however so the village kicked into high gear as everyone prepared for the exams in their own way. The restaurants and shops started stocking up on local merchandise, gambling houses and bookies piled up funds for the annual gambling pool on who was going to win this year.-
The Hokage and shinobi of the leaf tightened security of the routes in the land of fire though still lax enough that criminals could still operate if they were crafty enough. I myself was pretty much unaffected by the announcement as I neither needed to participate or take part in setting it up. For me the exams would be little more than a sporting event to watch and cheer on my classmates that were participating. Naruto complained about that quite a bit as well.-
"Ah man this sucks! Why do you get promoted straight to Chunin while we have to take this stinking exam?" he belly ached to me when we were hanging out.
"Because I was as strong as a special Jonin when I got promoted and you are all at Chunin level even if towards the middle of that level. Mind you I am referring to my own personal strength and not the strength of my beasts. You add those and I'd easily reach the upper tier of special Jonin rank at that time. It's different now as I am willing to bet my strength could count as Jonin at this moment even without my beasts and with them well, higher." I explained calmly while brewing some wild tea leaves I found in the forest.-
The leaves were quite bitter if brewed normally but if you cut it with some milk and honey it was quite nice, at least in my opinion that is. Naruto was of a different mind as he had long gotten into the habit of avoiding my tea since the flavor didn't agree with him. My blonde friend didn't argue with me at this time since he knew from personal experience that I didn't lie about stuff like this or about much to begin with.-
"Any idea whats going to be in the exams?" he ended up asking after a few moments of silence.
"I can't say for certain but I believe the first part should be a written test since I've been noticing movement in the academy that suggests part of the exam will take place there. Of course I may be wrong in which case pay what I've said no mind." I said casually.
"Ah man I hate written tests!" Naruto complained.
"Sorry to say but theres nothing I can do to help you in this regard since I have no idea whats on the test." I said with a shrug.
"Yeah I know that but that does make it any better!" he said dramatically.
"Relax Naruto, I think you'll do just fine so long as you keep your cool. You're ready to be a Chunin so this exam should be a cinch." I said with a smile.
Naruto cheered up after that and we chatted about how his time with Kakashi went and besides a few small events worth noting it was all fairly normal. One thing he did complain about was that Kakashi was rather stingy with ninjutsu and had only taught them each three jutsu and refused to teach them more until they mastered them.-
I chastised him for being greedy as there truly wasn't anything wrong with this approach as all Kakashi's job was to ensure that his students had a solid foundation to grow from which he achieved. Each of the mans students had a base from which they could build an entire fighting system around in the future if they were willing to put in the work on their own time.-
They weren't like me where my power continued to naturally accumulate as my body matured and even if I sat on my hands until I physically matured I would only grow stronger. Not to say I would ever waste my potential like that but the point still stood. Hard work was pretty much the only path a shinobi had to grow more powerful unless they were a broken existence like me, Kakashi's squad was not. Don't get me wrong Sasuke and Naruto had frightening levels of talent but neither were like myself where I broke all sorts of rules just by existing.-
Hell I recently hit a growth spurt that had my reach six feet tall which wasn't massive for my age but definitely above average and along with that growth spurt came a massive amount of pure brutal strength. It was so bad in fact that I started wearing seals on my body that restricted my strength by nearly fifty percent and I could still uproot a tree with the air pressure of a single punch. Ninja biology was damn weird when the absolute pinnacle of physical power a thirteen year old could reach was so extreme.-
I knew why I was so strong as well thanks to my iryonin training. See a shinobi's chakra was split between physical and spiritual energy and by me being a sage both those energies were pushed to their limits gradually over time. Naturally this also meant that my growth spurt also caused my already ridiculous chakra reserves to grow even further to match my new physical form. Unfortunately this also came with the downside that I had to spend some time retraining my chakra control back up to snuff.