Written at the request of Zombienuat, credit for the idea goes to him. I do not own Naruto.
Naruto was having no luck summoning toads, he had been trying his hardest for three grueling weeks. At least he had made it out of the tadpole stage, mostly, they still appeared with little tails. To top that off Pervy Sage was anything except help. Just sitting around gawking at half naked women while poor Naruto was pouring his heart and soul into getting a true tailless toad. He practically had to beg the lecher to teach him a trick. The old man made it sound like he had to put his life on the line to do this trick but what were ninja if they weren't willing to go that far everyday. Training should be no different. First thing he got dragged into was taking a bath. It wasn't the worst training Naruto ever had but what teenage boy enjoys a bath unless there is an opportunity to sneak a peek at the girl of your dreams. He was beginning to question his teachers methods already but he desperately wanted to learn this so called trick.
Next they go for food and Pervy Sage tells him to eat up. Being a growing boy, that's exactly what he does, then that cheap skate skips out on paying for the meal. What kind of cheap man was he not paying for the boy's food? Naruto was about fed up with the whole situation and wasn't sure if this trick was even worth his time. He felt like the white haired jerk was just yanking him around.
All his thoughts of revenge on the old man flew out the door when the old pervert asked if Naruto had a lovely girl. Then proceeded to tell him to go and hug her of all things. Of course there was a girl. Now, he was nervous. The girl he loved, Sakura, was known for her explosive temper. He was sure she was going to smash his face in for attempting such an invasion of her personal space but it was for training, so he would man up and hug her. Maybe this was the putting the life on the line part that the old man was talking about. He cornered her in an ally way, but he didn't know how to approach the subject of a simple hug with the girl.
"Naruto, what do you want?" she asked loosing her patients with the boy as he mumbled away, "I won't lend you money if that's what you're looking for."
"It's nothing like that," Naruto smiled trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice but failing like he did at summoning toads.
"Well there doesn't seem to be anything I can help you with so I am leaving," the pinkette announced as she got up from the wall she was leaning on.
"Hold on," Naruto yelled, panicking about not completing his training.
He grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. It looked like she was about to loose her balance and fall into his arms. That would be his chance to wrap his arms around her and embrace her like he had always wanted to. She got her footing faster than he expected her to, she was a ninja after all.
"What the hell, Naruto?" she snarled as her fist lashed out and connected with his face.
It left him with a nice sized bruised cheek and a fat lip. The female member of team seven was pissed, he dragged her to a deserted ally to cop a feel. The world was full of perverts and the biggest one was on her team. She stomped off mad but she got to thinking about it. A punch to the face was a good punishment but forcing yourself on a girl was worth a better ass beating than that. Her temper hadn't cooled and so she turned around and headed back to where she left the injured boy. She found him walking with an old man. Hearing Naruto call him Pervy Sage set the young girls mind working overtime. To her, Naruto was a typical boy, he was always wanting to prove himself on missions and seemed to have a strange relationship with the other member of their team but he wasn't a bad person. He would point out perverts with the best of them. If he was now taking lessons from the old man on how to be a bigger pervert she needed to put a stop to it now. They were heading out of the village so she followed them. She told herself it was to catch them in the act of being lecherous and punish them on the spot but her curiosity was really getting the better of her.
Naruto had just got his face rearranged by the girl he loved, he had better get a damn frog out of this or there was going to be some hell to pay. So, he called the old man out on it.
"There is no doubt about it, you'll get one," replied Pervy Sage as he turned to the boy, "anything left undone?"
Naruto just looked at the man like he was speaking gibberish. Next thing Sakura sees from her tailing them is the old pervert knock out her teammate with one hit to the gut. She was going to have to ask him how he did that one day. The old man picked up Naruto's lifeless body and started walking. Now she was conflicted, she had thought of him as a dirty old man teaching the boy bad things but now he had assaulted her teammate. Two choices waged war in her mind, follow the creep walking off with her teammate or go back and find help for the boy.
Following the pair won out over skirting home for help. She calculated her chances in a fight against the pervert and she didn't like the figures she kept coming up with. If he could turn Naruto's lights out with a single punch she wasn't going to be any better off. The old man rudely dropped the young boy on the ground. Thankfully he got up and started talking with Purvey Sage. The girl felt like they now had a better standing now if it came down to a fight to get Naruto away from him. Or maybe this was part of his sick training.
Naruto awoke not knowing where he was or what his insane teacher was trying to pull now. To top it off the old man starts going on about his training ending.
"What about the trick? Is this some kind of stupid joke?" yelled the rambunctious teen.
"Time to die and come back," the Toad Sage stated in a eerily calm manner compared to his words.
"What do you mean die?" Naruto questioned sounding leery of the man.
Pervy Sage went on to explain everything to Naruto in great detail. Bringing forth enormous amounts of chakra to escape deaths clutches and to feel it will his own body and to remember those feelings. It was a little over the poor boy's head but he did his best to listen. He was starting to think the old man just liked to hear the sound of his own voice but Naruto held on tight to the hope that the trick would be presented soon. Sakura was beginning to not know what to think about the strange couple. She was still prepared to deliver the boy's punishment for trying to grope her.
"Maybe I'll get lucky and the pervert will kill him for me," the pinkette snickered to herself.
"If you want to live, figure it out," Pervy Sage said as he touched the boys headband and sent him sailing through the shrubbery.
"What the fuck!" Screamed out in two teens minds as Naruto slowed over a massive cliff, then started his downward decent.
Shock filled her body, she would have to be more careful about what she wished for. Without thinking she moved, she had to help him, he was her teammate after all. If he was going to die it was going to be by her hand and not some crazed man sending him off a dangerous cliff. She was at the edge trying to come up with a plan when a firm hand rested on her slender shoulder.
"He has to do this on his own. He was given strength, he has to figure out how to use it," commented the deep voice she recognized as the pervert.
The young girl sprang away from the creep and readied a weapon, "you just sent my teammate hurtling towards certain death and you tell me I can't help him. What kind of bull shit is that?" she snarled. One hand holding the kunai and the other fishing for her ninja wire.
He almost laughed, if he didn't know better he would think his old teammate was reborn with pink hair the way she growled at him and was ready to fight. Naruto tried to grab the walls but he was falling too fast and the damn rocks were too slippery. The thought of dying rattled around in his brains as the ground was coming up faster and faster. Then, the rock side and ground were gone, first thing that snapped into his mind was he was now dead. He must be in Hell because it was dark, dripping water, and smelled like wet dog. There was also a raspy growl that must belong to some kind of hell hound. He began to explore and felt something familiar on the air, it was that odd red chakra that came out from time to time. In front of him appeared two massive gates, behind them was sealed a ginormous beast. His fangs were the size of Naruto's body and his eyes glowed with hate.
The beast spoke to him, beckoning him closer. The boy took a few hesitant steps, as he drew close large claws lashed out at him scaring him back. The beast talked of killing him and eating him, Naruto knew it, he was in hell.
"This damn gate won't open, I'm sealed by a stupid spell," the monster growled, disappointed that the object he wished to devour was so close yet still out of grasp.
"My hell is the nine-tailed fox?" Naruto asked as his body shook with fear. The feel of this chakra was too intimate to belong to an after life realm. This was the cause of his own personal hell in his everyday life.
"Why have to come here?" boomed the beast.
Naruto focused all his energy into a bluff, he moved his body into a more commanding posture and a glare set on his boyish whiskered face.
"Now, you listen here, you stupid fox, you've been a house guest in my body for too long, its time to start paying your dues. Let me barrow some chakra," Naruto demanded.
Laughter filled the dark halls, the beast found his jailer very amusing, "only because if you die I die but have impressed me with your bold words."
Angry red chakra seeped out from the bottom of the gates and enclosed around the boy muffling his screams.
"Consider this your reward," chuckled the fox.
Once again Naruto was plummeting to his sure death with cliffs all around him and the hard ground in his near future if he didn't do something fast. He followed his practiced moves that he had done over and over the past three weeks with little success. He used his summoning to call forth a toad. Not only did he call forth a tailless toad but he managed to bring out one that had to be the size of a building.
"Fuck me sideways," Sakura mumbled looking at the sight before her.
The man with the wild white hair blushed hearing such words coming from the tiny figure. He was starting to wonder about this generation of ninja. The odd pair watched as Naruto's toad began to yell about being summoned. Naruto was too busy inspecting the toad to worry about a small thing like its mood. His excitement bubbled over and jumping for joy ensued. The wild boy found that he had not only summon an honest to goodness toad but that he summoned the Chief Toad.
"Alright little miss, its time for us to go. We don't want to be around when that toad gets up here," the Sage warned, in one quick fluid movement he disarmed her and had her slung over his shoulder like a sack of rice.
"Put me down you pervert!" she screamed as she kicked and pounded her fists on his back.
He moved them to what he considered a safe distance, and started to spy on Naruto and the giant frog. When the toad finally made its way out of the deep cliffs it did so in one large leap. Naruto was now going up as fast or maybe even faster than he had been going down. With his landing dirt, trees, and rocks flung in every direction from the force that was the great toad.
"What the hell, old man!" screamed the girl as she was perched in the tall tree next to the Sage.
"These things are best observed from a distance," was all the reply she received as he spied through a scope at the boy and toad.
"Aren't you suppose to be his teacher or something? Shouldn't you be down there with him actually doing something productive?" she inquired with a nasty tone. Normally she was respectful of her elders but this man had pissed her off in a way only Naruto was ever able to achieve.
"Some things you have to experience for yourself," he countered still watching the exchange between summoner and summoned.
"Like near death," shot out of the girl's mouth.
"Exactly, some of us need pushed to the very edge to see what we are made of," grinned the old man who was finally looking at her.
She couldn't argue with that. Sound ninja had pushed her to her brink and she had shown what she was made of. Vowing to get stronger, she wanted to be on equal footing as her teammates but seeing what Naruto could already accomplish made her feel like a child trying to keep up with the grown-ups. Sakura decided then that she would not be satisfied until she made good on her vow to make the boys watch her from the back. Loud shouting reached her ears and pulled her from her thoughts. She couldn't make out all the words but the tone dripped with defiance and purpose. Most likely her teammate was demanding respect because he was the future Hokage.
"That a boy, Naruto," she smiled.
Looking down to see what the quiet sage was doing, he was now staring in the opposite direction of his student mumbling about research. Giggles belonging only to members of a delicate sex reached her ears.
"Pervert," she growled as her foot slammed into his backside, kicking him out of the tree.
Naruto swore to Chief Toad that the animal would see him as it's master by him staying on his back for the rest of the day. Chief Toad wasn't one to back away from any challenge. He took the boy racing across the forest, hurtling through the sky, and diving to bottom of lakes. He jumped around in the water creating a huge spray making a wonderful rainbow that went unnoticed by the exhausted boy on the monster toad's back. The Sage decided to not join the angry girl back in the tree and find a better vantage point to watch his bumbling student and the lovely ladies in barely there bikinis.
The sun was nearing its decent as two worried ninja watched a third ride on the back of a wild romping toad. The boy was well past his limits, continuing on by sheer determination alone. With a last ditch effort the toad pulled out all the stops to rid himself of his annoying passenger. He charged and sprang into the air smashing the boy to his back by the force of the wind. When the toad landed roughly Naruto lost his footing and fell, he squeezed out enough chakra to bring shadow clones out to rescue him. Sakura wanted to help but she knew at this point it would be unwelcomed, it was a battle of pride between the two. With the help of his clones he was back on the toad. He celebrated a little too early, dancing away and mocking the toad before his fatigue crashed down upon him. Fainting he fell from the mountain of a toad.
"He'll die!" Sakura cried, a small hand flying to her mouth trying to stop the words from coming true.
A large pierced tongue reached out and saved him last moment.
"You were so close, kid," chuckled the Chief Toad.
He placed the boy back on his head for safe keeping. From somewhere behind him a scroll came flying by him and opened to show that Naruto had signed it making him a summoner of toads. The old frog already knew the child had been the one to call him to this world. No one since the Forth Hokage had done that. As a reward for hanging on as long as he did he took the boy to the hospital in the Leaf. It was the least he could do after all he put him through.
Sakura didn't know to where her teammate with the blond unruly hair had been spirited away to. Not caring what had happened to her perverted companion, she worked her way back to the village. Finding out how the hell that boy summoned that monster toad was at the top of her to do list. After a long walk she was back in her home town. It was all the buzz about the giant that appeared out of nowhere by the hospital. Hoping that was where she would find Naruto she went there. He was sleeping comfortably in a hospital bed. He looked pretty cute when he was calm and peaceful like. She surprised herself thinking that way. Naruto had impressed her, she was willing to admit that she had a new found respect for his abilities as a ninja.
Making a decision to stay by his bedside all night, she succumb to sleep sometime after midnight. Half laying on his bed, her hand dangerously close to his. Naruto was still sleeping like the dead when Sakura found herself waking by his side. Her petite hand nestled safely in his. Her young cheeks turned from a lovely peach to a beautiful shade of rose. Recovering from her shock she slipped her hand away from his. She was too lost in thought clutching her warm hand to notice the lecher grinning like a pervert from the window.
"The boy has a way of growing on you" smiled the old man.
Her head snapped up to stare at the man who yanked her from her thoughts of the blond before her. His knowing look annoyed her but only because it was true, he had grown on her, slowly but he was persistent.
Trying to change the subject she asked a question, "how the hell did he manage to summon that toad?"
"You'll have to ask him that," the man dodged giving her a real answer and took off before she could pester him further.
Shikimaru popped in for a moment but since Sakura was already there he decided to not stick around. She felt like she was waiting forever for the sleeping boy to wake. When he did rouse, his heart swelled seeing his pink haired teammate sitting by his hospital bed. He gave her his best smile and she returned it with a small gentle one. Making small talk with him about how he felt and trying to draw out why he was in the hospital without having to be direct but she failed.
"Listen, Naruto," her voice worried, he began to panic thinking something terrible had happened to Sasuke and that's why she was at his bedside, "I saw you summon the toad."
He let out a breath he was holding. That wasn't as bad as what he was expecting to hear. Summoning that toad was something he was pretty proud of.
"That was pretty wild, wasn't it!" he beamed.
He didn't want to have this conversation with her, he felt like they were getting somewhere better in their relationship and he didn't want to explain that he had a demon sealed inside him. He started to move, to get out of the room that seemed to have shrunk two sizes.
"How did you do it," she asked, straight to the point.
He gave her the basic rundown of a summoning that she could have read in any book on the subject but that wasn't the question she wanted answered. He moved for the door and she blocked his path.
"I didn't ask for the text book definition of how to call a contracted animal, I ask how you did it. I want to know how that toad got here!" she pushed.
By her stance he knew she wasn't going to take anything less than the truth. It had been nice while it lasted, their new way of interacting but it was about to be over with the next words out of his mouth.
"I have the nine-tailed fox sealed in me. I used his chakra to summon that toad," he answered, blue eyes never wavering as they bore into green jewels.
Then it was there, that cold look of fear and distrust. He was use to it but seeing that look on her, it tore at his heart. He moved around her and headed out to find where Pervy Sage was hiding, anywhere really to get away from that look. She saw it on his face, deep in his eyes, she hurt him with her reaction. Villagers had always treated him cold, scorning him whenever he came around. Even her own mother had told her to stay away from him when she was really young, trying to protect her from something unknown about the boy. He was headed for the door when her quick hands reached out and wrapped around a few of his fingers.
"All I know about the nine-tails scares me," she started not sure what to tell the boy, "but you don't scare me."
"I don't understand," he confessed, he didn't see where she was going by saying that.
"We've been on the same team long enough for me to know you fairly well. I trust you with my life, you're not the nine-tails. I just need a little time to get use to the idea that there is a demon in you," she explained as best she could what was in her heart.
"I can give you time. Can you give me something?" he inquired, hope filling the hole opened by hurt.
"I think I can," she answered as she let go of his fingers and he faced her.
"Will you let me tell everyone in my own time?" he questioned, some people wouldn't be ready for the truth about him yet.
"Its your secret, I can keep it," she smiled as she stuck out her hand for him to shake.
He had been through so much, he needed more than a casual handshake. Being bold he grabbed her and pulled her into a giant hug. Her hair smelled of the forest and it was amazing to feel her body so close to his. He was prepared for whatever she was going to do to him for this. Rearrange his face again or send him flying out the window, he didn't care. He had been longing for human contact for way too long. Slowly her arms raised and placed them on his back, returning his embrace. Sometimes a little understanding can go a long way.