Author's Note

Reading the reviews of the last chapter made me realise something. Now I know that one person commented that they were glad it was frogs and not toads. Hate to dissapoint you though.

Thing is, there's no real difference between frogs and toads. At least, not different enough to justify it being a summon. I really was tempted to let Naruto have a different summon but I didn't for a couple of reasons.

It's true that Naruto needs to learn Sage Mode eventually, but I could have let him learn that from a different summon. Thing is, there are a lot of things that hinge on Naruto having them as summons.

I'm not even just talking about the whole business with Nagato. One of the toads after all, holds the key to the seal on Naruto and Hikaru. Plus I wanted Naruto to have this one thing in common with his dad.

As you can tell, both in this story and in canon, he is nothing like the Fourth Hokage. Anyway hope you aren't too dissapointed.

" FROG! I'm not a frog you dumbass! I'm a toad! The Boss Toad! Who the hell are you anyway!? " I gulped. I could feel his booming voice inside of my bones.

Sweat was trickling down the nape of my neck. I almost channeled chakra into the seal big sis put on me, but then I stiffened. No! I didn't come this far only to run away.

So I do something really stupid. I point at the giant toad while shouting. " Hey! How am I supposed to be able to tell the difference between a toad and a frog! "

" My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I'm a kickass ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village and you're gonna be my summon! "

For a moment, there's silence. Then booming, derisive laughter rings out. It goes on and on. I'm getting angrier though.

" Shut up you fatty! I tell you what, if I beat you in a fight, then you'll be my summons okay? " His laughter cuts off abruptly when I start talking, he gives a snort when I finish talking.

" Sure thing kid. He he he, if you beat me, I'll call you boss and you can summon me. " I smirk. I make a single handsign. Multi Shadow Clone jutsu.

Soon, about a hundred of my clones appear in a single burst of smoke. With that cover created, I rapidly go through more signs. Wind Style Vacuum Blast Barrage.

I finish just as the smoke clears completely. A third of my clones had immediately drawn kunai and attacked. The rest withdrew, to come up with a plan of attack.

The toad dispersed half of his attackers with a backhand. His moment of distraction was enough. My jutsu hit him square in the knee.

He roared in anger. He's far too big for that jutsu to have defeated him, even though it was B rank. It did hurt him though.

What's left of the clones that initially attacked him, throw all their shuriken and go through handsigns. Shuriken Shadow Clone jutsu.

The toad isn't caught off guard a second time however. He leaps up. If I wasn't watching his legs tense, I'd have been caught off guard.

I channel chakra to my feet and brace myself. The shockwave still almost bowls me over. The clones who attacked him are immediately dispelled.

I see movement out of the corner of my eye. All the remaining clones, who went to hide, are going through handsigns. A shadow grows over me, as the toad descends. He never makes it though.

My clones had spread out around me. Their jutsu hits him, a hundred feet from the ground. Wind Style Great Breakthrough.

His momentum is immediately halted. For a few seconds, there's a stalemate, but then he gets blasted away through dozens of trees, as I hit him with my strongest jutsu.

It's something I'd learnt behind Hikaru's back. The scroll after all, was just laying around. Wind Style Pressure Damage.

Despite all that though, with a roar of rage, the giant toad gets up and draws his sword, legs tensed. Despair fills me. I can't stop him. I prepare to channel chakra into the seal. I don't get the chance to however.

" That's quite enough Bunta boy. The tadpole has more than proven himself. " Both ' Bunta ' and I, turn to look at the speaker. It's a short, wizened old toad. He has a mohawk of white hair and a white goatee.

" But boss... " He fell silent as the old toad raised a hand? Paw? Flipper? Well whatever it was. Then he turned to me. " Naruto Uzumaki, is that what you said your name was? "

This toad was way nicer than the big one. So he decided to be respectful. " Yes sir. Now that I know that you're toads, I just remembered something. You were the summons of the Fourth Hokage. My father. "

The old toad's eyes sharpened. " Yes, we were. I wasn't aware that you knew of your heritage. " I shrugged my shoulders.

" I might be a Genin sir, but my older twin sis is a Jounin. The Hokage told her and she told me. She's actually my sensei. She taught our team how to do the summoning. Said that if we were lucky, we'd be paired with the summon most compatible with us. "

I can see he looks surprised and interested by what I just told him. " Your sister you say...where is she? "

I snort. " She's back in the village. She applied a seal to myself and my teammates. All we need to do is send a pulse of chakra through it, if we're in danger, then she'll reverse summon us. "

The toad looks even more interested now. He clears his throat. " I see...in any case, I've been remiss in my manners. I am Fukasaku, one of the Great Sages of Mount Myōboku. "

" The little one over there is Gamakichi and the big grump is Gamabunta, the chief of our battle toads. " It's then that another toad steps forward. He's just about taller than an adult man, but far broader.

" This is Gama. He will present you with our scroll to sign. " That's when the other toad unfurls his tongue, and laying upon the ground then, is the Toad Summoning Scroll.

My heart starts beating faster as I move towards the scroll. Just before I touch it though, I look towards the old sage. He looks amused and he nods his head.

I slash one of my digits and make a shallow cut, then I sign my name in blood. As I do, I look at the name above mine. Minato Namikaze. The Fourth Hokage. My father. I stubbornly don't cry.

When I finish, the toads are giving me a knowing look. Fukasaku smiles at me. " Welcome to the toad clan, Naruto Uzumaki. Our new summoner. We shall chat again sometime. "

Before I can react, he touches me and I'm poofed away.

Yakumo POV

I'm on my guard the moment I appear in the summoning realm, because it's dark. Unlike my teammates, I don't care if I have a cool summon or not.

As long as they are useful and compliment my fighting style. At this point, I'm of two minds about this whole thing.

I'm not one for direct confrontations, so maybe a summon that can fight? Then again, a summon that employs subtlety would be just as helpful.

I can feel eyes on me, but I don't see anything myself. This darkness is impenetrable. My eyes widen. Of course!

I sharpen my focus inward, for there's no doubt in my mind. With a smirk, I find it and smother it with my own chakra, then I make a single handsign.

The darkness immediately fades. For it's obvious, that I've been caught in a genjutsu. Not an intentional one though. I'd have felt it.

I'm in a massive cave. It's proportions are ridiculous. It's miles upon miles wide. Large trees, stalactites and stalagmites dot the interior. There's a faint light, illuminating the entire cave. I can't see its source however. Nor do I even look.

My attention is caught by something else. A large something. Hanging upside down just ahead of me. A bat. A giant white bat, that's watching my every move.

The bat opens it's mouth, but no sound comes out. I doubt it's meaningless however. Preemptively, I slowly go through handsigns.

The kimono-like shirt I'm wearing, has large, billowy sleeves. Lined with mesh on the inside, they are slightly stiff. Not enough to impede movement in any way, but enough to hide the signs I'm weaving.

I realise soon, just what it was that the old bat was doing. The sound of multiple wings beating and rapidly heading closer alerts me. I stay calm however. Unlike my teammates, I'm hard to rile.

Less than a minute later, half a dozen bats, twice the size of a man, surround me. The bats have blades attached to their feet.

" A human intruder has defiled our home. Kill her. " The old bat says in a weezy voice. I activate the seals sensei has put on my shoes and clothes. They muffle sound.

As the bats close in on me, I draw handfuls of kunai and throw it at my incoming attackers. They take to the air and glide out of the way.

I keep throwing more and more though. There's storage seals in my pouch. After about four volleys, I stop.

I can hear their screechy laughter, as they race towards me. About twenty feet from me, they stop, cursing. I smirk. That's when the light catches on the ninja wire that's caught them.

I remove two sealing tags and apply them to the wire, as the bats are struggling. Before they make any headway however, I make a single handsign and the tags glow.

A moment later, arcs of lightning natured chakra travels along the wire and makes contact with the bats. They scream. I don't let up however until they fall unconscious.

That's when I look towards the old bat. " So, I don't suppose that you'll be willing to be my summons now? " For a few minutes, there's absolute silence.

Then his laughter rings out. " I think not, little human girl. It will take more than that to impress me. " I smile at him and fade away, along with our surroundings. He gasps.

Too late however. When his vision clears, his six goons are knocked out still, but he's the one caught up in ninja wire. The tags glowing ominously.

I'm directly under him. " You were saying. "

That's when more laughter rings out. Not from the old bat however. This one is younger and clearly female.

" She's got you there, gramps. I think this has gone on long enough. She's certainly impressed the rest of us. " When she says that, I look around. Only now do I see the faint outlines of bats in the shadows of the trees.

For a heartbeat, there's tension. Then it's broken as ' gramps ' sighs. " Very well. She may sign our contract. Though I insist that it's a mistake. " The female bat rolls her eyes and then looks at me.

" Who are you child? " I look directly into her eyes. " I'm Yakumo Kurama, Heiress of the Kurama clan and Genin of Squad 7 in the Hidden Leaf Village. "

" Well met, Yakumo Kurama. I am Maki of the Bat clan. My gramps over there is our elder, Aki. Come forward and sign the contract. " It's then that I see the contract, in the fold of her wing.

She sets it down and I open it up. I quickly sign my name. She nods at me and then I dissapear in a puff of smoke.

Normal POV

While they were gone, I stayed alert. Who knew if I'd be needed or not after all. While I was waiting, I allowed my thoughts to wander.

The Chunin Exams will begin in a few days. I intend on entering my team. Not that it should surprise anyone. They are the talk of the town.

I'm pretty sure that Guy sensei will disapprove, but he'll come around eventually. Thing is, I've been building my team up for this moment, ever since I became their sensei.

They have so much potential. Potential that so easily could have been wasted, if I wasn't born. The great irony is that nobody will ever know that.

Yakumo is the first to return. About an hour after she left. I arch my brow at her. She smiles. " I was successful sensei, I have the Bat Summons. " I congratulate her and then she tells me how it all went.

Mentally, I'm surprised. I've never heard of her summons before. Still, this bodes well. Next to appear, is Naruto. His whole body seems to be vibrating with excitement.

" You'll never guess who my summons are sis! It's the toads! Just like dad. " If Yakumo didn't know that before, she certainly would now.

It's a good thing that I told our team about our parentage as well as our jinchuuriki status. They took it surprisingly well. Then again, considering the circumstances of Neji and Yakumo, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise.

I did smirk though. I intend on making Jiraiya completely superfluous. There are many things that I'll let my brother work on before the time.

His jabbering fills up our ears as he describes everything that happened. We end up waiting another hour, till Neji appears.

Flushed with exertion, he shoots a triumphant look at us. " I was successful sensei. My summons are the owls. I didn't even have to fight. They accepted me because of my Byakugan and because of some man called Hamura, which their leader knew. "

I couldn't contain my absolute astonishment. Hamura. The brother of the Sage of Six Paths, Hagaromo. It seems that many hidden things are coming to light.

I don't say any of that though. It's better not to burden them with my knowledge. They have more immediate concerns.

" The three of you have done well. Very well and I'm proud of all of you. That being said, none of you are to use your summons, until I give the go ahead. "

" While you having one is pretty innocuous Yakumo, the same can't be said for you Neji or for you little brother. "

" Neji, none of your clan members hold a summoning contract. That puts you in an unfortunate position. Your clan's Elders are very conservative, as you know. They will not want such power in the hands of a Branch family member. "

" So until you become a Jounin, it's best to keep your head down. For now. Naruto, you have a problem even bigger. Our parentage has been kept secret from the general public, as well as the other Hidden Villages. "

" The Hidden Stone in particular, has a hatred for our father. Without your whisker marks, you're almost his spitting image. Having the toads as your summon, which only two other shinobi in recent times has had, would lead people to connect the dots. "

" You are not yet strong enough to deal with ANBU level assassins. That being said, all three of you will practice in secret, within the Uzumaki Clan Compound. "

" The walls possess seals which nullify the Byakugan. It also will absorb any direct ninjutsu attack and it will prevent anyone from climbing it, both via chakra as well as normal means. "

" So the three of you will be able to train to your heart's content. Nevertheless, you must be sensible with who you summon. Obviously you can't summon someone too large, else we'll be caught out. "

" In a few days, the Chunin Exams will start. I intend on nominating the three of you. I believe that you are more than ready. That being said, The Hidden Waterfall Village will host this year. "

I unseal a bunch of papers and present it to them. " These are your permission slips. You are to fill them in and bring them with you, the morning after next. "

" All the Genin teams that wish to participate, must then meet up with their sensei at the village gates. You must have provisions for two weeks. I can already guess your answer, but I must ask, do you want to participate? "

Nobody was surprised when they all said yes. As celebration, I decided to treat them to some ramen. With Neji's eyerolls, Yakumo's sigh and Naruto's cheers, we set off for Ichiraku Ramen.