My body flared with chakra, and the world around us flickered. One moment—and we were dozens of kilometers from Konoha, in a clearing right where the forest ended.
My hand grabbed that very button that fastened the two sides of Jiraiya's haori, and my chakra spread through the fabric, forming a gray, insanely tough construct—something like a Susanoo.
The ground under us trembled from the effort.
Jiraiya barely managed to open his eyes when I spun and, with force, sent him flying into the sky. Like a white-red-green comet, he instantly shot off into the distance, gaining about a kilometer in altitude in seconds. A nice, terrified scream reached my ears—still perfectly clear, even with all that distance.
I used a teleportation technique to appear above him, then immediately used flight to chase after him.
"A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a!"
Yelling, Jiraiya tumbled through the air and couldn't stabilize. So I decided to help him with that.
I drew back my hand and, without aiming, threw a punch at the spinning body—wherever it landed.
It landed right on his spine.
I didn't hit that hard, so I didn't break anything. But for one of the Sannin, it was still enough to make Jiraiya abruptly start dropping.
Bam.
Breaking a few treetops, the "Sage" slammed face-first into the ground, digging a small hollow with his body.
Groaning and wheezing, shaking on his hands, he slowly pushed his upper body off the dirt just as I landed softly beside him. I wasn't pressing him with chakra, but the faint background vibe of my irritation still made my opponent flinch.
"Sakura belongs to me. Am I being clear?"
"D-khra…" He spat out a chunk of dirt. "Y-yeah… Haaah…"
I huffed. Tough shinobi. With the force I threw him with, a normal person would've died on the spot. And the landing wasn't gentle either, not with my acceleration. He got off with pain and a couple of sprains.
"Spatial technique," he smirked to himself once he finally managed to roll over and sit up. "You're kind of similar… But more importantly, this power I'm feeling. It really could be you…"
"Old man, you hit your head too hard, yeah?" I raised an eyebrow. I always thought his forehead was solid, but did I actually mess something up?
"Hey!" he perked up. "I'm still young and hot! But what I wanted to tell you—when I was really young, I went to the toad mountain on a free summon. There, the Great Toad Sage made two prophecies. One of them said I'd become a strong but perverted shinobi…"
Something changed in my face. Noticing it, Jiraiya shut up and went straight to the point.
"But the second one is the main thing! It said I'd meet a child with sky-colored eyes who'd become my student. And depending on how I guided him, he'd either become the one who saves the world and brings it into harmony… or the one who destroys it. At first I thought it was another kid… but I was wrong. Later I decided it was Minato, but I was wrong again… I knew your parents well. And, you know… your father admired me so much he named you after the hero from a book I wrote." With a grin, he scratched his dirty hair. "Haha. I wanted to be your mentor… when they were still alive… but now you've grown up… and I don't even know what to say."
"I'm thinking you should've said something twelve years ago, when I was born," I said. "We're meeting for the first time, you know. And if you promised something to my…" I grimaced. "…father. Shouldn't you have done it earlier?"
"I…"
He couldn't explain himself.
"Don't be scared to look weaker in my eyes. Or to fall even lower. In your position, that's not so easy."
"…Naruto, I'm sorry it turned out like this. But I had a lot of missions. And—"
"You were just running from responsibility. I don't believe Hiruzen wouldn't have given you a break if you really wanted to just talk to me. Even today, you tried to act like you didn't recognize me so we would… what? Not get close, so you wouldn't have to push yourself? Or did that prophecy put a weight on you you couldn't handle?"
This time his face shifted a few times before settling into something really guilty. And it was genuine.
"Maybe… Still, we can fix it, right? Let me be your sensei. I'm an experienced shinobi," he said, then looked around, noticed he was still covered in mud, and gave a self-mocking smile.
"This sounds like a really weird confession," I said. "Relax. I'm not going to kill you. I'm not even going to cripple you. As for mentorship—yeah, I doubt that'll work out."
Jiraiya tried to butt in during my speech, but I cut him off with a wave and kept going.
"That said, there are things I do want to learn from you. I won't treat you like a sensei. But if you need it for some prophecy crap, then, in theory… it counts, right?"
"That…" He groaned as he stood up. "…isn't exactly what I was hoping for. But it'll do."
"Good. Then first, tell me about the toad contract. All the details." Without wasting a second, I started ticking off my fingers. "Hiruzen said the key to the Kyubi's seal is with a toad you're connected to. So after that, you'll hand me that key. After that, you'll teach me senjutsu—or you'll find a teacher."
From my flow, Jiraiya's eyes and mouth went wide. He raised an index finger like he wanted to argue, but I'm guessing he remembered how he ended up in this little forest and curled the finger back down. He even kind of deflated. He clearly imagined my training very differently. Usually, the sensei decides what to teach. Here I was just stating what I needed. Still, he didn't argue further.
We went back to Hiruzen to calm him down. Not that our presence was really needed. The old man, doing his usual "blub-blub-blub," was completely calm. So after a couple of phrases, Jiraiya and I headed to one of the training grounds.
There, laying out the scroll Jiraiya carried on his back, he started explaining what was what. So. It was a summoning scroll, and to form a contract with the toads, you had to write your name in it with blood. The scroll itself was a complicated artifact: it would hold the signer's chakra and use it to help tune the right summon.
To summon a creature—which, by the way, sits in another dimension—the summoner had to spill a bit of blood so the attunement to the signed scroll would kick in on its own, then form the hand seal sequence Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram, and pour chakra into the spot where the spatial rift was supposed to open. The more chakra you dump in, the bigger and stronger the creature you can summon. On top of that, a link forms with the summoned creature, and that link also eats chakra to keep it in this world. If the energy runs out, or someone breaks the link, the summon goes back.
After hearing all that, I asked one pretty important question: what do the toads get out of it?
Jiraiya rubbed his chin and still answered that their motivation was kind of like his: prophecy. The toads are a clan of sages and warriors who care about the world's fate. Their Great Toad Sage, Gamamaru, is a seer and sees his purpose as saving the world. He pushes the human world toward salvation.
That made me cringe pretty hard, but I admitted that, in principle, the goal wasn't terrible and had a right to exist. Personally, I didn't really get it, but there are people who set themselves goals like that—monks and all. So why can't toads?
Anyway, Gamamaru is insanely respected among the toads, and a lot of them follow his will, so they help humans. By interacting with humans, the toads get the chance to steer the human world toward that salvation.
Also, plenty of toads are warriors, and they just think it's fun to get summoned and beat someone's face in with you. But they're proud warriors, so they won't answer just anybody.
The contract isn't slavery. If a toad doesn't want to answer, it won't. And the toads can also reverse-summon a human into their world—but if the human doesn't want to go and knows how to do it, they can refuse the summon too.
Nodding along, already basically ready to sign the thing, I asked another question.
"Can I, after the toads, sign a contract with someone else? With snakes, for example?"
"No!" Jiraiya, who'd been squatting near the scroll, jumped up. "I mean, technically you can. But don't you fucking dare do it! I don't know how you're even planning to get the snake scroll, but it won't end well. The toads are a proud clan, and they're enemies with the snakes. If you sign with both, don't even count on summoning a toad. Nobody will answer."
Hanging nearby in the air in a lotus pose, I nodded, then kept questioning him.
"So I won't be able to summon snakes either, then?"
The "Mountain" one thought, chewing his lip.
"Snakes, as far as I know, have… a different mentality. A cruel, pragmatic community that values strength and sacrifice. That's why I… don't recommend you make a contract with them. As payment for their summons, you'll have to pay with human lives."
"Got it. Yeah, big difference," I didn't react much to the warning. Instead, I used medical jutsu to open my thumb and drew blood, and controlling it right in the air, I started writing: Uzumaki Naruto.
During the talk, I'd already thoroughly probed the scroll with my chakra, and yeah—besides helping with summoning, it had nothing else in it.
"Thanks. What about the key?"
"Are you really ready?" Jiraiya asked, doubtful.
I just rolled my eyes.
"I need to build a way scarier reputation so people stop asking dumb questions," I thought.
Then a monstrously powerful chakra poured out of my body across the training ground—but not beyond it. Storm gusts swallowed up hearing. The world filled with dense blue energy as red flares snapped through the air. Even though I was hovering above the ground, deep cracks still ran across the earth.
The air blast I caused swept the "Mountain" one away along with his scroll. When he quickly caught the precious thing and landed, we locked eyes. He swallowed, then started waving a hand in a calming gesture.
"Okay, okay! I got it!" When the gusts died, he rolled up the scroll, tossed it over his back, and walked up, unsure.
"The seal on me protects the fox from me. Not the other way around. I could've broken it myself, but I didn't feel like wasting extra time in such a boring way."
"Now…"
He gave me a weird look, formed a few hand seals, then opened his mouth wide…
And puked up a toad about seventy centimeters tall, black-and-dark-orange, with metal clasps on its belly.
"What do you want, Jiraiya?" the toad asked right away in a grumpy tone, then floated above the ground—like me—in a lotus pose. Then his eyes caught on me, and on the wrecked ground beneath me. Thought flickered across his face as he stared closer into my eyes, then checked something on my face. "Weird situation, don't you think? But I'll ask anyway. Jiraiya, are you sure the kid from the prophecy should get this now?"
"Yes," the "Sage" answered short and to the point, and the toad made a surprised face.
"So that's how it is. Good. Instead of rambling, this time you got straight to business. I'm Gerotora."
He finally introduced himself when he turned to me. And when I did the same, the toad "unfolded" upward, showing that part of his torso was a fold-out scroll, which unrolled right there in the air, revealing the seal-key.
"Here, Naruto. This is what you wanted." Jiraiya stepped up to Gerotora, and I did too, looking over what was inside.
For a long time I didn't even try to contact the Fox. I just used his gifts—accelerated regeneration, developing faster with the "feeding," and an easier time projecting killing intent through chakra overflowing with hatred. I wasn't going to change that right now; I'm on break, and I've always got other things to do. But that doesn't mean I won't deal with it in the future.
My hand reached out, and chakra streamed from it, wrapping the scroll and immediately transmitting every detail of the key into my mind.
"Got it," I said, and flicked my hand, rolling the scroll back up—Gerotora folded back up too.
"A fuinjutsu master?" he asked.
I confirmed it.
"Then my mission is over. Summon me if there's more work, Jiraiya, new contractor."
Throwing one last look at me, he vanished in smoke, heading straight back to the toad world.
"Now senjutsu," I turned to Jiraiya.
"Naruto, I think you're rushing too much."
He tried to slow me down. Useless.
"Nope. I just don't like wasting time on stuff I don't enjoy."
The "Sage" shook his head and thought for a moment.
"You know, you've got something in common with Gerotora."
"Maybe," I said in an impatient tone. One of the Sannin frowned and sighed.
"Senjutsu training isn't simple. Just signing a contract isn't enough to get that sacred privilege. You need approval from the two great elders, and from the Great Sage. But since, most likely… I'm almost completely sure now… you're the child of the prophecy, that should change everything. Wait a bit. I'll summon someone, and they'll send us to Mount Myoboku by reverse summoning."
"No need."
With a wave of my hand, a portal opened beside us, leading into a world with strange vegetation I'd never seen in the human world. Waterfalls were visible nearby, and far away, tall mountain peaks.
It was my Mangekyo technique—though of course I could use it without my eyes too, just not as easily, and definitely not as fast.
Walking through with Jiraiya, who was still looking like he couldn't believe any of this, we moved where he pointed. The "Mountain" one recognized the area, and saying we needed to go to the main seer-toad, led the way.
Soon, since our travel speed wasn't small, we reached the toad settlement. We ran into more and more toads of different sizes, and then entered a truly enormous building.
"The Great Toad Sage usually lives here, but we call him something else," Jiraiya explained as we walked down ridiculously huge corridors. Even a biju could feel at home here. "Yo, Great Venerable Old Geezer!"
Waving, Jiraiya greeted a huge, skyscraper-sized old orange toad with a white belly. On his head was an academic cap with tassels and a ball on top. He wore a necklace with the toad village symbol, "oil," and he sat in a kind of box-seat with a shallow (for him) pool inside. Behind it were massive scrolls.
"Jiraiya-boy," Gamamaru said, barely—just barely—opening his eyes, stretching his lips into a smile as he recognized who came in. "Why are your clothes in dirt? Did you crawl here? And this one with you… O-o-o-o-o… I see. I see…"
…
Starting to talk, the sage-grandpa just went silent. After waiting about five seconds and trading a look with me, Jiraiya asked:
"What do you see?"
"…Huh? I forgot. So who is this?"
My face twitched. Did Jiraiya get that irritability from the toads?
"Uzumaki Naruto. According to Jiraiya, maybe a future savior or destroyer of the world," I introduced myself. "And since I'm here, can you sign permission for me to learn senjutsu so I can, if needed, definitely destroy the world? Or save it. Depends on my mood."
"Right!" He leaned forward and stared at me with his pale slit-eyes, then declared, "I've got lunch."
The toad stood up, oil running off his body. Then, standing on two legs, he walked down toward the stairs by his seat, and like he suddenly bumped into us…
The old toad was about to say something, but got distracted by approaching slap-slap footsteps. With spherical vision, I saw an elderly toad about knee-high coming in first, with purple hair and lips the same color, in a black cloak. Behind her was another elderly toad, a darker green one, with a gray little goat beard, thick eyebrows, and a tuft of hair sticking up above his head, wearing a gray cloak.
"Ma? Pa?!" the "Mountain" one asked, surprised.
"Little Jiraiya!" the purple-haired toad exclaimed as she slapped up to us.
"You arrived unexpectedly. What happened to you? Who is this with you? What's with Oojiji-sama?" the gray toad started firing questions fast.
"Don't crowd them, you old stump!"
These two, I realized, were the local great elders—Shima and Fukasaku. And being around these toads, I couldn't shake the feeling of pure chaos and the situation being out of control. I think I'm starting to understand how people sometimes feel around me.
"Quiet, children," Gamamaru addressed the old toads, calming them down. He looked like he'd already forgotten where he wanted to go. "I remembered… The boy from the prophecy. Right, it's you. Jiraiya, this time you guessed right."
"So it's him?!" Shima shouted, making Fukasaku wince.
"Don't yell…" The one called "Pa" looked like he wanted to start arguing with his wife again, but after glancing at the oldest toad, changed the subject. "So we really have a new contractor. Why did you come?"
"To learn senjutsu," I said, finally taking control of the situation.
"Senjutsu?! No, kid, it's too early for you!" Shima started wailing. "Just look at you! So skinny! You can't! It's dangerous!"
"Hm. My wife is right. Better to start later."
"As far as I know, senjutsu needs a strong body. Mine's strong enough," I stated.
"Jiraiya-boy, tell him. He became your student, right? Use your authority."
"Ahem." At being told to use what he'd already wasted down to the last crumb, Jiraiya could only cough awkwardly, then look me over thoughtfully. "I think we should test him."
"What's so special about your senjutsu?" I sighed. "Even without sen-chakra, I think I'll beat you at it."
So I didn't waste time explaining what I could do and why they should believe me. Chakra pressure, previously hidden, leaked out of me. Much more carefully so I wouldn't wreck the building, but enough that the floor trembled and the air filled with a low hum.
"Hah?!" Shima blurted in shock. From her chakra, she was a good sensor. And before this, I'm guessing—even not using senjutsu—I'd still looked ordinary to her because I kept my energy tight.
The hum stopped at my will. Then I looked over all three toads.
"Ah, lunch, right! Teach him what he wants," the smiling skyscraper-toad said, snapping back into the situation again and, giving me his blessing, stomped off down the corridor.
"Now the prophecy's more obvious," Fukasaku noted, adjusting his cloak that got shifted by the wind off me. "With that kind of chakra… What the hell kind of youth is that?"
He grumbled, then thought.
"Senjutsu training starts at the Sacred Oil Fountain."
And so, moving to the first place we needed, my senjutsu training began.
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