Chūnin Exam on Fire! Naruto vs. Konohamaru! (炎の中忍試験!ナルトVS木ノ葉丸!!, Honō no Chūnin Shiken! Naruto Bāsasu Konohamaru!!, literally meaning: A Chūnin Exam of Flames! Naruto vs. Konohamaru!!) is the ninth Naruto OVA. This OVA aired in movie theatres along with the movie Naruto the Movie: Blood Prison.
Synopsis[]
Konohamaru and Naruto both participate in the Chūnin Exams hosted by Sunagakure in the Land of Wind. Konohamaru and his team begin in the area set for the second half of the Exam where they are attacked by a monster. Naruto saves them from it and they all make it to the preliminary matches where Naruto is matched up with Konohamaru. Unfortunately, due to the two bickering, both Naruto and Konohamaru miss much of the rules while Temari reads them off. After encouragement from the crowd, Konohamaru starts off the battle by throwing a smoke bomb and then uses Big Ball Rasengan, a technique that Naruto hadn't taught him before. Naruto is able to narrowly avoid it. Then, both of them use the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique and attack each other, Naruto with Rasengan and Konohamaru with kunai. Naruto's clones easily defeat Konohamaru's, and with the smoke cleared, Konohamaru appears face down on the ground nearly being considered unconscious by Shikamaru, the proctor of their fight. Konohamaru gets up and relentlessly attacks Naruto getting beaten and bruised continuously in an attempt to land a hit Naruto.
On the verge of mentally caving into defeat, Konohamaru receives cheers and support from the crowd and his opponent. Konohamaru suddenly uses the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique which forces Naruto to jump up and become exposed to his opponent's Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning. When Naruto lands to the ground, he trips backwards and Konohamaru manages to land a single punch. Though Konohamaru cheers happily that he was able to land a blow, Naruto gets up as he enters Sage Mode. However, learning that the use of senjutsu was deemed forbidden specially for this Chūnin Exam to make it more fair for other genin, Naruto is disqualified while Konohamaru wins by default. In the end, Kakashi, Gaara and the others comfort Naruto by letting him know he can become a chūnin anytime he wants, as he has already surpassed his contemporaries, including Kakashi himself. Just then, it is shown that Konohamaru has passed the exam and officially become a chūnin. He immediately declares Naruto as his subordinate, which drives Naruto crazy.