23 Chapter 23: Training With The Toad!

The day was coming to an end while Naruto walked through the streets of the village. The sun was setting over the horizon behind him casting a long shadow in front of him as he walked. Naruto had a lot on his mind, first it was finding out about Hateshi and how he was sent back in time. Then it was the Constructs that would appear every time the world tries to reject him when he changes something. Finally, it was his feelings of being weak when he witnessed Yui die right in front of him. He was so caught up within his thoughts that he failed to notice the individual standing in front of him before he walked right into them. When he looked up, he saw Jiraiya standing there looking down at him with a grin on his face.

"Hahaha, not paying attention to where you're going? What are you thinking about?? Is it about girls?" Jiraiya laughed as he leaned close for Naruto to whisper into his ear.

Naruto blinked his eyes before he leaned into his ear and yelled. "Not at all!!"

Jiraiya immediately jumped back as he held his ear in pain.

"Jeez, don't yell like that." Jiraiya said while rubbing his ear.

Then his expression took on a more serious tone as he stared at Naruto.

"It's obvious you were thinking about the girls death." Jiraiya spoke.

Naruto looked up at him and nodded his head in silence.

"Look, I understand your frustration, but during the war, I bore witness to many deaths. Sooner or later, you'll need to learn how to save your grief for another time." Jiraiya told him.

Naruto looked up into the sky as he sighed out. "I know, everyone is telling me the same thing.... But it's not that easy!" Naruto exclaimed.

Jiraiya nodded his head as he understood what Naruto meant.

"Well that's good, I'd be more concerned if it was easy for you!" He grinned.

Naruto looked back at him and smiled as well, then he looked back at the ground.

"I may be like this, but I will definitely get stronger! I won't let this stop me!" He said with determination.

"Hahaha, that's the spirit!" Jiraiya laughed.

"Now, I was worried you wouldn't be interested, but I guess I didn't need to worry."

Naruto looked at Jiraiya with a confused look before realizing what was going on.

"Naruto, I've decided that I would teach you, but I understand if you would rather have Kakashi-" Before Jiraiya could finish Naruto interrupted him.

"Of course I want you to train me! I saw your summoning jutsu, and I really want to learn that!" Naruto said while grinning.

Obviously there was more meaning behind Naruto's words, but he couldn't expose too much, and since he actually did witness Jiraiya use the summoning jutsu, it worked as the perfect excuse for him.

Naruto nodded his head as he followed behind Jiraiya as he lead the way. Even though he had a lot on his mind, being able to train and spend time with Jiraiya again made him feel really happy and excited. Jiraiya lead the them toward an area in the woods with a small waterfall and stream, the ground was covered in rocks of all shapes with the trees surrounding them.

"Now then, I'm about to teach you the summoning jutsu, which is a special ninjutsu that allows you to call upon a special animal to help you in battle. For me, I summon toads, now let me demonstrate." Jiraiya explained.

He bit his thumb are began forming hand seals.

Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram

<Summoning Jutsu>

Jiraiya slammed his hand onto the ground causing smoke to appear in the area before revealing a large toad that Jiraiya stood on top of.

"Hahahah! Are you impressed yet?" Jiraiya asked with a smug expression.

Naruto nodded his head rapidly as he remembered the first time he learned the summoning jutsu. He wondered how things would play out this time since he already had nearly perfect chakra control.

"Alright, now let me try!!" Naruto said excitedly.

"Hahah, slow down, first, you need to sign a contract with the summon animal. Lucky for you, I happen to have one for the toads right here!" Jiraiya laid down a large scroll he carried with him onto the ground and let it roll open.

The scroll rolled open and in the last two places, Naruto saw Jiraiya's name as well as Minato's name written down.

"All you have to do is sign your name in your blood, and you'll be able to summon them." Jiraiya explained.

Naruto nodded his head as he bit his thumb. Then he started writing his name right next to Minato's in the next open space. After he finished writing, Jiraiya took the scroll and rolled it back up.

"Alright, now just form the hand seals while channeling your chakra. Remember, the more chakra you use, the larger and stronger the summon will be." Jiraiya explained.

Naruto nodded as he listened and started forming the hand seals while gathering up his chakra.

Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram

<Summoning Jutsu>

Suddenly, a large cloud of smoke appeared on the ground covering the area.

"What the? Where am I?" A voice asked around in irritation.

Seriously? He summoned him of all the toads? Jiraiya thought in surprise as he jumped away.

"JIRAIYA! Where are you?! Stop hiding, why'd you summon me?" The voice asked in anger.

Seriously, why'd he have to summon Gamabunta out of all of them? Jiraiya asked himself as he felt both a headache and a sense of pride filling him.

Naruto looked down as he remembered the first time he summoned Gamabunta. He couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"Hey! Stop shouting so much, can't you feel me standing on top of you? I summoned you!!" Naruto yelled.

"What's this?!" Gamabunta said in surprise.

He looked up and stuck his tongue out wrapping Naruto up and bringing him in front of him so that he could look at him.

"What, a little twerp like you summoned me?! Don't joke around kid!" Gamabunta laughed.

"Well, it's true, it's up to you to believe it or not!" Naruto replied, causing Gamabunta to stop laughing.

He stared at the kid in front of him and felt reminded of Minato as he stared at him.

"Okay, let's say you did somehow summon me, where's Jiraiya!?" Gamabunta inquired.

Naruto looked down and soon enough, he spotted Jiraiya in hiding before looking back at Gamabunta.

"I dunno, he left shortly after I summoned you." Naruto replied as he shrugged his shoulders.

Gamabunta looked pissed as he stared at Naruto, then he set Naruto on the ground.

"Fine, I'll just go look for him, you can go run off now kid!" Gamabunta said as he started to turn around.

Naruto felt a little irritation as he remembered how Gamabunta always treated him like some punk kid, and never actually listened to him.

He grinned as he body flickered back on top of Gamabunta's head. "Hold it! I summoned you, which makes me in charge!" Naruto shouted.

Gamabunta stared at Naruto in shock as the boy sat down on top of his head.

"Hahaha, you?! Why should I listen to you?" Gamabunta laughed.

"Because I said so!" Naruto replied as he stuck out his tongue.

"Hahahaha, I like your spirit kid, but I only listen to those I respect." Gamabunta laughed.

Naruto looked down with a serious look before replying. "Then give me a chance to earn your respect!"

Gamabunta quieted down once he heard those words, and thought for a moment.

"Alright, then I'll give you a test, if you can stay on my back until the sun goes down, I'll listen to you!" Gamabunta answered.

"Alright, deal!" Naruto agreed.

"The you better prepare yourself, we start now!" Gamabunta shouted as he jumped high into the air.

Naruto quickly reacted as he created a clone and threw himself back onto Gamabunta's head where he gathered up his chakra into his feet to stay on his head. He then looked at the sun as it was setting, looks like I have about two hours, Naruto thought to himself before focusing back onto staying on Gamabunta's head.

Jiraiya was watching the situation play out from afar as he chuckled to himself. Looks like Gamabunta is going to test Naruto now. He thought, then he felt the ground shake once Gamabunta landed again, sure glad I'm not over there though, Gamabunta would probably kill me, Jiraiya thought. Guess I should disappear for awhile, I can work on my research while I wait. He thought while grinning like an idiot to himself. Then he body flickered away while Gamabunta continued to jump around crazily, trying to throw Naruto off his back.

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Sakura was walking to her home while thinking to herself. How was she going to become useful to the team. She thought about how Naruto and Sasuke fought and always got hurt. She discovered that she hated watching the two get injured and still have to keep fighting despite the injuries they received. Then she noticed that she had walked by the hospital and remembered seeing some of the nurses inside working. She thought back to their mission and remembered just how badly injured Naruto had gotten, it was to the point that for awhile, they weren't sure if he would survive. Even though Naruto did survive in the end, during the time when he was down, she had been terrified. Then, when they were in that town on the way back, she woke up to find Naruto covered in minor injuries and almost exhausted of chakra. She had no idea what had happened and only found out after Kakashi had explained everything.

She had felt that if Naruto hadn't gone off on his own and she and Sasuke had been with him, things would've been different. But according to Kakashi, the man Naruto fought was about a mid level jonin. The more she thought about the situation, the more she realized that she wouldn't have been of much help, and she might have been more of a burden instead. She stared at the hospital for awhile before walking toward it with determination. I may not be much of a help when it comes to fighting, but the least I can do is treat their injuries during missions. She then walked into the hospital and spoke to the nurse at the front desk, who directed her to the head doctor. Sakura was determined to become useful to the team in her own way.

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Sasuke was standing in the woods with his eyes closed. He jumped up and threw several shurikens at a tree. Two of the shurikens hit each other changing their direction and hitting the two trees on either side of the tree he'd thrown them at. After landing on the ground he looked at the targets and clicked his tongue after seeing that he was off from hitting the center of the targets. He gathered up his shurikens and resumed his training. I will become stronger than Naruto, he thought as he repeated the action again. This time he hit the targets dead center, he smirked for a moment, then he remembered the fight Naruto had with that thing that came from the sky. He frowned as he tried to imagine how things would have went if he'd fought. Despite thinking about different ways of fighting against it, he couldn't imagine a way of winning.

He thought back to the journey back to the leaf and when he spoke to Naruto about how he fought against it. Naruto had told him he couldn't explain most of what happened, and wasn't sure if he himself could recreate it perfectly. But he had said that he had stretched out his senses and his body moved on it's own rather than him thinking about it. But no matter how much Sasuke tried, he couldn't replicate the feeling Naruto described, which only pissed him off more. He stared up at the sky in thought while clenching his fists, then he resumed his training again.

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The sun had almost set completely and Naruto was getting tired from exhausting his chakra trying to stay on top of Gamabunta's head. But he also took notice of Gamabunta's slowed down movements. But even if they had slowed down, considering the difference in size, they were still difficult to adjust to. Gamabunta jumped again as he soared across the sky, then he rolled over and shot two water bullets into the sky. The water bullets burst within the air and the water fell back down, drenching Naruto as Gamabunta rolled back over. Naruto's foot slid toward the side as he grit his teeth and kept channeling his chakra. He had summoned two other clones to help keep him up as well.

Naruto gasped for breath once Gamabunta landed back onto the ground.

"You're pretty stubborn, I'll give you that kid. But I know you're reaching your limit, so why don't you just give up!" Gamabunta persuaded.

"Heh, you're just saying that cause you're getting tired too!" Naruto smirked tiredly.

"Why you! I was offering you a chance, but I guess you can't see what's good for you!" Gamabunta shouted.

"Heheh..... if you think.... you can make me give up..... then you'd better think again.... Because I'll never, ever give up!" Naruto replied while gasping for breath.

Gamabunta grunted as he squatted down and jumped even higher into the air.

"We'll see about that!" He yelled back.

Naruto frowned as he braced himself along with his clones. Gamabunta began rotating in air, spinning faster through each rotation. Naruto then started falling off as his feet slipped off and his chakra failed to keep him stuck to Gamabunta's back. Naruto's eyes widened as he grit his teeth and grabbed his clones. They threw him back onto Gamabunta's back while they fell off and vanished into smoke. Naruto gathered up the remaining chakra he had left and focused it into the soles of his feet. He then stood up straight as Gamabunta landed on the ground. The sun had finally set over the horizon and Naruto was gasping for air.

"See?! I told you! I'll never give up!" Naruto said as he fell backwards.

Naruto fell off of Gamabunta's back and was falling toward the ground, as he fell however, Gamabunta's tongue stretched out and caught him. You really did manage to hold on till the end... Gamabunta thought as he placed Naruto back onto his back. Then he looked over and called out.

"Where'd you find this kid? Jiraiya brat"

"Heh, we crossed paths while I was investigating in a town some distance away from here. I took a liking to him, he reminds me of Minato sometimes." Jiraiya smirked.

Gamabunta looked back down at Naruto who was sleeping. Then he smirked and set Naruto down by Jiraiya.

"I'll be expecting great things from him then." Gamabunta said before vanishing into a large cloud of smoke.

Jiraiya looked down at Naruto's sleeping face. You were able to handle Gamabunta huh? He thought, well consider me impressed Naruto, I never would have thought you could pull that off. Jiraiya grinned as he picked Naruto up and carried him to the hospital where he dropped him off which later caused a large ruckus when a nurse walked out and stumbled on Naruto's unconscious body.

"Eh? Why is there an unconscious person here?"

"DOCTOR!!!"

Author's Notes: Well, Naruto can now perform the summoning jutsu. I know there was at least one person that wanted to see a fox summon though. But fear not, cause I did some looking around, and there isn't anything that says there is a limit on the number of summing contracts one can have. Or maybe I haven't looked deep enough.... Oh well, I'm still considering that idea, since I'm not really apposed to it. But maybe I'll have that be a thing in another mini arc I do, I dunno.