Naruto had never felt so exhausted in his life. The massive drain of chakra had left him completely limp, his body refusing to move, as if all it wanted to do was collapse on the ground and rest.
He stared blankly at the setting sun on the horizon, turning his head slightly to glance at the girl who had left him in this state of utter defeat.
Sakura stood nearby, looking just as tired—but not nearly enough to fall over like him.
To her, this whole exercise had merely been a matter of exhausting Naruto's chakra reserves. Nothing more.
But Naruto knew… he had tried. He had really pushed himself. No matter how hard he went, he couldn't even get close to laying a finger on her, let alone brushing her clothes.
As Naruto was zoning out, a tall figure suddenly blocked the sun, casting a shadow over him.
"You pervy sage… what do you want now?"
Naruto frowned in annoyance as Jiraiya stepped into his view, cutting off his line of sight to Sakura.
"Get up. The real training starts now."
"…What?"
Naruto looked at him, dumbfounded. He was already this worn out—how was he supposed to train like this?
"I'm… so tired…"
He ignored Jiraiya's words, turning away with a groan. Right now, all he wanted to do was lie on the grass and not move for the next week.
Sakura stood a short distance away, her breath still a bit uneven from their sparring session. Even though there was a significant gap between their strengths, exhausting Naruto's monstrous chakra reserves wasn't exactly a walk in the park for her either.
After all, even the legendary Hashirama Senju had once commented that Naruto's chakra levels—at least when he got older—were starting to rival his own.
Though that was the Naruto of sixteen or seventeen years old.
"Naruto, get up."
"Or else all that effort will be wasted."
Sakura walked over and looked down at him with an annoyed expression. She had worked hard to wear this idiot out. If he just lay there and recovered with his freakish chakra regeneration, wouldn't all her effort be for nothing?
Naruto looked up at Sakura's stern face, and then suddenly broke into a wide grin. With a dramatic groan, he pushed himself off the ground.
"No problem!"
"Actually, I'm not tired at all!"
Jiraiya scratched his chin thoughtfully as he watched the determined, slightly trembling blond get back on his feet.
"Alright, then let's try the Summoning Technique."
He clapped his hands and gestured for Naruto to come closer.
Under Naruto's focused gaze, Jiraiya demonstrated the series of hand signs used for the summoning jutsu.
"Now, use up all the chakra you've got left and let's see what kind of toad you can summon."
Naruto glanced from Jiraiya to Sakura, then quickly bit his thumb, drawing blood. Without hesitation, he began forming the hand signs:
Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram.
Gathering the very last remnants of his chakra, Naruto focused on summoning a creature from Mount Myōboku, with which he had recently signed a contract.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Poof~
A puff of smoke—so faint it was barely visible—appeared in front of the trio. Naruto scratched his head in confusion when the smoke cleared and… nothing was there.
"Move your hand," Jiraiya said calmly.
Naruto blinked, lifted his palm… and saw a tiny, wriggling tadpole.
"Huh?"
"Why's it a tadpole?"
He looked at the little guy swimming on his palm, utterly disappointed.
Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the tadpole vanished in a small pop, returning to Mount Myōboku.
"Not bad," Jiraiya said, surprisingly satisfied. "You managed to summon a creature even after going toe-to-toe with Sakura all afternoon."
That summoning had completely drained what little chakra Naruto had left.
Which meant…
"Hey, Naruto. Have you ever sensed a different kind of chakra inside your body?"
Jiraiya's expression turned serious as he looked at him.
"A different chakra?"
Naruto looked puzzled. He wasn't quite sure what Jiraiya was getting at.
But then a memory clicked in his mind—back when he stole the Scroll of Seals and got caught by Sakura, she had said something about a fox sealed inside him.
"Back when the Fourth Hokage sealed the Nine-Tails, he put it inside you," Sakura said, seeing Naruto's confusion. "I told you about this before. Remember?"
"Oh yeah!" Naruto smacked his forehead. "You did say that!"
"Exactly," Jiraiya said. "Now, Naruto… what you need to do is sense that other power inside you. Then, use that chakra to try summoning a real toad from Mount Myōboku."
He raised a single finger in front of Naruto.
"Huh?"
Naruto tilted his head, still not getting it.
Sense that power? How? What did that even mean?
Before he could ask, Jiraiya tapped a finger lightly on Naruto's forehead—
And in the blink of an eye, Naruto was launched like a missile.
His body shot through the forest near the river like a cannonball.
Behind that forest lay a deep, pitch-black canyon with no visible bottom.
Eyes wide with shock, Naruto watched as the figures of Jiraiya and Sakura grew smaller and smaller, his mouth opening instinctively to scream—then clamping shut just as quickly.
No one knew what was going through Naruto's head at that moment.
All anyone could see was the golden blur of Naruto's body plunging into the darkness of the gorge.
Sakura stood frozen in place, her arm half-lifted, stunned speechless.
She slowly lowered her hand.
She vaguely remembered… Jiraiya had once trained Naruto like this.
"Damn it… I don't have a copy of the Heavenly Cover Seal Formation on me," Jiraiya muttered. "I'll give it to you tomorrow."
"I'll have to write a new one tonight."
He smiled subtly at Sakura as she stood silently by his side.
"Have you ever thought about what might happen if Naruto can't control the Nine-Tails?" she asked, her brows furrowing.
"He won't die. Even if Naruto tries, the Nine-Tails won't let him die."
Jiraiya sat down calmly on the ground, looking like he had all the time in the world.
Sakura pursed her lips but didn't argue further.
Just then, as if to prove Jiraiya right, a huge black silhouette burst into the sky, riding the roar of the wind.
"YAHOO!"
"Sakura! Am I awesome or what?!"
Naruto's excited voice echoed from atop the enormous figure.
Sakura breathed a sigh of relief as she saw him hopping around excitedly.
Of course… he's the main character. He wouldn't die that easily.
"Agh… you summoned that guy?"
Jiraiya groaned as he looked up at the massive creature with a short sword strapped to its waist.
It was none other than Gamabunta—the Boss Toad of Mount Myōboku.
The elder brother among the so-called "Three Delinquents of Myōboku."
And Jiraiya and Minato's most frequent battle partner among the summoning beasts.
"Jiraiya!"
With a thunderous crash, Gamabunta's hulking body landed on the ground, causing the earth beneath him to quake from the sheer weight.
"Yo, long time no see, Bunta," Jiraiya said casually, as if greeting an old drinking buddy.
"Didn't think you'd pass the contract to a brat like this."
Gamabunta's enormous eyes looked up to his head—where Naruto was standing proudly.
"Hahaha, well, what can I say…" Jiraiya chuckled. "He's the one who inherited his will…"
(End of Chapter)
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