I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Bad News
Menma rolled out of bed, showering and getting dressed then swapped out his scroll clones, noticing they were finally almost finished, then headed out to the same spot as the last week to train with Jiraiya. When he arrived, Jiraiya was already watching the women playing in the river so Menma rolled his eyes and began to practice. As with the day before, he made barely any progress. Rather than tadpoles, however, he was getting frogs with tails.
"It's no use," Menma sighed, after dozens of failed attempts. "Hey Pervy Sage, you got any tricks to move this along faster?"
"Faster?" Jiraiya mused. "Well, let me think. You can perform the Flying Swallow Technique, can't you?"
"Yeah," Menma nodded.
"How did you learn that?" Jiraiya asked.
"I needed it to protect..." Menma trailed off.
He had learned quite a bit out of instinct when he needed to protect Hinata.
"Thanks," Menma said, closing his eyes and forming the hand seals, remembering how he felt on the first mission, when he saw Hinata about to be killed. "Summoning Jutsu!"
He slammed his hand down and suddenly, the ground felt, different. He opened his eyes, seeing the ground was now smooth and rust colored. He looked around. He was on a massive toad, comparable in size to Mount Hokage. It wore a blue happi vest, had a tanto strapped to its waist, and had a pipe in its mouth.
"Who the hell are you?" the toad growled, looking up toward the top of his head.
"My name is Menma Uzumaki," Menma said, leaning down where the toad could see him. "And I'm the one who summoned you."
"You?" the toad snorted. "A boy? No way."
"Why not?" Menma asked.
"I'm Gamabunta, Chief Toad of Mount Myoboku," the toad stated. "No mere child can summon me."
"Well I did," Menma said. "Jiraiya taught me how."
"Jiraiya?" Gamabunta growled, looking down at Jiraiya whose eyes widened.
"Oh, uh, hey there, Gamabunta," Jiraiya greeted.
"I still owe you for cheating me in cards," Gamabunta growled. "Why did you summon me kid?"
"The Pervy Sage was teaching me the Summoning Jutsu as training," Menma stated. "That way, if I ever need the jutsu to fight something, I'd have it."
"What makes you think I'd fight for you?" Gamabunta growled.
"Isn't that part of the contract?" Menma asked.
"No," Gamabunta snorted. "The contract states that you have the right to summon toads. It never said we have to fight for you."
"Oh," Menma said. "So, what would I have to do to get you to fight for me?"
"You can't," Gamabunta said. "If I want to fight, I'll fight. And if I don't, I won't."
"Jiraiya said that my father also summoned toads," Menma said. "Do you know him?"
"How would I know?" Gamabunta asked.
"My original name is Naruto Uzumaki," Menma said. "Maybe my father mentioned his son to you at some point?"
"Is that right?" Gamabunta mused. "Yes, I think I do know your father. So your his son are you? Tell you what, kid. If you can provide me with a worthy opponent when you summon me, I'll consider fighting for you, in memory of your father."
"Thank you," Menma smiled.
"Now, I'm heading home," Gamabunta said. "Kindly get off my head."
Menma slid to the ground and Gamabunta disappeared in a massive cloud of smoke.
"Well well," Jiraiya smirked. "Not only did you summon a real toad, but you summoned Gamabunta. That's impressive. And it looks like he respects you because of your family. Also impressive. Well, there's nothing more I can teach you at this time."
"Really?" Menma groaned. "You taught me one jutsu and that's all you can teach me?"
"Well," Jiraiya laughed. "If I taught you everything right away, what use would you have for me later? I'll be around, Naruto. See you."
And with that, Jiraiya left. Menma groaned, then headed home for lunch. However, when he arrived, he instantly could tell something was wrong. Yugao was sitting against the wall on his back porch, mask in her lap, simply staring at it.
"Yugao?" Menma asked, pulling his own mask off. "What's wrong?"
"He's gone," Yugao said, staring up at him as he knelt beside her. "Hayate...We found his body earlier today."
Menma's eyes widened before he hugged her. Hayate had been training Menma's clones while Menma trained with Jiraiya. However, the night before he said he had a mission, then he didn't show up that morning.
"I'm sorry," Menma said. "I can't imagine..."
"It was only a matter of time," Yugao said. "He was sick, and getting worse. We had hoped that he'd get better when the exams ended...but..."
Menma squeezed her a little tighter and she let out a sob before getting control of herself again.
"I'm sorry," Menma breathed.
"So, what are we training today?" Yugao asked, standing.
"We're not," Menma said. "You're taking time off. You need it."
"But...I can't go home," Yugao said. "If I do..."
"You could stay here," Menma offered. "There's more than enough room. And it's not like you have to worry about me bringing women home."
Yugao snorted in amusement then nodded.
"Alright," she said. "Thank you."
He smiled and nodded before picking his mask up and heading inside, making them both something to eat. Then, once they were finished, yugao went to pick a room and Menma went outside just as Tenzo arrived.
"Hello Tenzo," Menma greeted. "What are you teaching me today?"
"To make blades out of your chakra," Tenzo said.
"Like the Flying Swallow Technique?" Menma asked.
"Not exactly, no," Tenzo said. "It forms a blade of the specific Chakra Nature you use."
"So, you're going to teach me to make swords out of wind and water?" Menma asked.
"More or less," Tenzo nodded, holding out his hand.
Water formed in it, extending until it had formed the general shape of a sword, if only roughly.
"This is a jutsu from the Hidden Waterfall Village," Tenzo said. "I learned it from a Hidden Waterfall shinobi as thanks for helping him during one of my missions."
"Whoa!" Menma grinned. "You've got to teach me that. Although, what's the point of learning to use chakra to make swords when I have mine?"
"Well," Tenzo said. "To put it simply, these swords are arguably as sharp and deadly as the Flying Swallow Technique. They also don't have any weight. Your sword does, even if not much. And if you lose that sword, you can still use these."
Menma nodded and Tenzo released the sword, which fell to the ground as normal water. Then, he performed the jutsu again, this time with hand signs, in order to teach Naruto. Naruto tried but his sword fell away almost instantly.
"It requires quite a bit of chakra control," Tenzo said.
Menma nodded, creating a clone to train with Tenzo then stretching and yawning.
"I'm heading to bed," Menma said. "Good night."
"Good night," Tenzo said.
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