Authors Note: Really fucking long chapter here, like holy shit it's like the second longest in the fic. Hope you guy's are big Gamakichi fans.
Seriously though, thanks to everyone who reviewed last update. I read all of them and I really appreciate it. Whatever day it is for you now is the day I'm going to try and put a chapter out each week, usually around this time too. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
Naruto had to admit that he was tired, if only a little, as he and Jiraiya marched through the deep forest. A river flowed softly beside him, it's gentle splashing almost sounding like a light hum. This was the furthest Naruto had ever been from the Village capitol unless you counted the Wave mission. Two of hours of walking and he didn't even know if they were close to the spot. Well, if there was a spot. Jiraiya hadn't been very clear about the intent of the trip, only saying they needed to "get away from expensive buildings."
Konoha already had a lot of forest land surrounding it, but out here it was on a different level. Even the sun at it's very brightest would struggle to pierce through the shade provided by the lush weave of vegetation above. Large vines, sharp leaves and hanging branches coated the pair in a blanket of shadow, sunlight serving as only a garnish to the pleasant atmosphere of the forest.
Looking over the horizon, Naruto found he could no longer see the village anymore. Large green hills, of which grass still stuck to his soles, blocked his view. There was a lot of vertical terrain here, he'd notice. Giant mounds of grass and soil rose up through the air, often times papered with small caves or extra patches of forest. Considering how flat the Leaf Village usually was, Naruto couldn't help but feel a little bit happy that they were on nice, safe, low ground for now. If he'd known it was going to be such a long walk, he may have actually turned down Jiraiya's offer of learning a "special secret technique" (This was a lie, but being able to project any frustration he had onto his teacher made Naruto feel a little bit better about himself).
"Jiraiya-sensei, how much longer till we're there?" Naruto groaned, yet again readjusting his backpack for comfort.
The man stopped walking for a second, casting his gaze up onto the sun.
"Few more minutes I'd say." He said back, beginning to walk again.
Naruto let out a loud groan. It felt like they'd been just a "few more minutes" away from reaching it for an hour now. Predictably, this trend was not bucked. The next thirty or so minutes consisted of scaling one of the hill slopes, which was tilted at such an angle that Naruto feared any grip his feet had managed to stick may cease at any second. He wondered why he could not simply just use godspeed to clear the forest in half time, but Jiraiya replied that he needed to "conserve his chakra". Why his chakra supply was so important but the muscles in his legs weren't, he did not know.
Eventually, they reached the top of the hill, Naruto's legs aching from the elevation. However, any soreness that resided in them promptly dissipated as Jiraiya turned his gaze to him.
"Alright, we're here. How are your legs felling?" He asked.
"Fine. You know me Jiraiya-sensei, I'm built to last." Naruto lied.
"Well, let's get started on this special technique then."
With a smile, he opened his wooden box pack and retrieved a large scroll. It was similar to the one he himself wore, if only a little smaller. Positively beaming now, Jiraiya bowled the scroll outward until not an inch of it was left rolled. On its paper lay line after line of writing space and blank spots, labeled with captions such as "fingerprint" and "ID picture". Upon seeing this, Naruto felt a twinge in his brain that rung with a distinctive familiarity. The familiarity of scribbling at a piece of Academy homework minutes before class started.
"The hell is this?" He exclaimed, with a slight growl.
Jiraiya's smile quickly morphed into a defensive glare.
"Your new technique, dumbass!"
"Oh, what one? Boring release: tax write off jutsu?" Naruto squawked back.
The fact that Naruto even that something called a "tax write off" existed made Jiraiya pause long enough to calm down, albeit only slightly.
"It's a summoning contract for a summoning jutsu, actually." He said, biting his cheek to make himself sound more at ease.
This seemed to get Naruto's attention, as his scowling features faded somewhat in favor of a confused frown.
"Like, animal summoning or whatever? That needs a contract?"
Any anger in Jiraiya's face had faded. He was now staring down at Naruto as if he were the biggest idiot he'd ever seen.
"You're not just summoning regular old animals Naruto; these are creatures that pre-date even the most early human civilization. Two-way summons don't work without cooperation." He explained.
Naruto suddenly remembered Kakashi once summoning a dog that he swore he'd heard speak and began to feel very dumb indeed. His eyes yet again began to trail along the roll of parchment in an attempt to indefinity what animal he'd actually be summoning however the text proved too small to read from where he stood.
"What am I making the contract with anyway?"
"Toads." Jiraiya said back bluntly, now scribbling away at a few lines on the contract.
"Frogs?" Naruto asked, eyes lighting up.
Jiraiya looked back at him with an almost fearful gaze
"Nooo! Don't call 'em that, whatever you do."
Naruto's brow furrowed.
"Why not?"
Jiraiya scoffed as if he'd just been told a particularly funny joke.
"Look, maybe when you're a bit older you'll be able to grasp the complex social factors that differentiate toads and frogs but not today kid." He said, still laughing somewhat as he redirected his attention towards the scroll in front of him. "Now come on and help me with the identification sections."
Naruto siffled a groan and lurched towards the paper. What followed was what felt like an hours' worth of meaningless busy work. By the time it was over, his hands were stained black, covered in residual ink from when he'd had to repeatedly stamp his fingerprint and hand print. If the clinging feeling of a messy ink coating wasn't bad enough, he could feel the bones of his fingers aching from how many time's he'd had to write his name. So numerously had he written it that it was beginning to register less and less like a name at all and more and more like some made up joke word. Words could hardly express the relief that left his body when Jiraiya told him that they had finally filled it all out.
Well, except for one tiny little box at the bottom-
"Alright, Naruto, just a drop of blood there and we're done." Jiraiya said.
He was attempting to hide how taxed he was from all the form-filling, biting down on his lip to try and suppress any slight pants that may have been working their way into his tone. The stern look Naruto shot him made these attempts insignificant.
"Oh, come on- "He groaned. "A sealing contract needs a DNA sample to bond to."
"Can't I just use spit instead?"
"Wha-spit!? No, you can't use spit!"
Naruto shrugged.
"Why not?"
"Firstly, spit does not conduct chakra in the same way blood does so it's useless for sealing things. Secondly, when you're running out onto the battlefield, do you want to be a badass signing his contract in blood or the moron slobbering all over himself?" Jiraiya asked, with a questioning glare.
Naruto stayed silent for a minute before his eyes shifted upward in deep thought.
"The second one, it's the second one!" Jiraiya answered for him.
After a few more seconds of arguing, Naruto eventually caved a made a shallow cut on his finger with the edge of a kunai. A tiny drop of blood fell from the wound and splattered against the paper. Before Naruto had even realized he'd done it, the splatter of blood was already drying out into a dark, black ink. As if it were alive, the ink began to contort itself into a spiral mark. The words "Uzumaki" suddenly appeared underneath it.
"What the hell?" Naruto exclaimed.
"Clan identification system. Was useful back when they first figured out how to do it but it's outdated now with clan swapping and things like that." Jiraiya explained.
He was hardly even focused on Naruto now though. Instead, his eyes were locked onto the ground below while blood trailed down a bite-mark on his finger. Jiraiya used the red substance almost like finger paint, drawing an expertly precise circle of markings into the soil of the hilltop. The dark crimson of his blood sunk into the dirt, becoming even more unnoticeable as a hand seal converted the raw substance into a deep black ink.
"Summon!" Jiraiya exclaimed, tilting his hands into yet another seal.
A humongous cloud of smoke exploded out of the seal, force sending Naruto's hair flickering back like a strong breeze. Naruto's vision became fogged by the screen, a rather scary sensory depriving in combination with the heavy shaking of the ground and loud rumbles that roared through the hilltop. Panic ran through his body for a few seconds before a sudden burst of wind cleared his view from the clutch of the smoke. This was good, for had he seen what stood before him now with the smoke still around him, he would have most likely swallowed it in a gasp.
On the hill stood the biggest creature Naruto had ever seen (at least, in real life). There in front of him stood a toad so tall that he actually eclipsed the sun from view, coating both Naruto and Jiraiya in a blanket of shade. His face was marked with light red markings similar to Jiraiya's face paint. Naruto could not truly tell age from the face of a toad, but this one looked distinctly, skin wrinkling slightly with rough bumps protruding from his features like little mountains. A smoking pipe, becoming of his size, sat perched in his mouth while his rusty red body was covered with a large blue vest.
"Oh ho! Jiraiya my boy, it's been a while!" The toad roared with a big smile.
"It has Gamabunta, how's life been treating you?" Jiraiya asked back.
"Well, I suppose. It's been busy though, certainly- "
"I can imagine." He nodded.
Naruto noted an extra bit of poise in his voice but before he could truly notice the difference in Jiraiya's tone, the man had whipped around to face him.
"Naruto, this is Gamabunta. He's my summoning partner and, more importantly, the clan head of Mount Myoboku."
The blank stare that Naruto shot back told him that he had no idea what this meant.
"…He's the Hokage of the toads." Jiraiya simplified, muttering slightly so that Gamabunta couldn't hear.
Naruto would have laughed at the phrase "Hokage of the toads", Had a fifty-something foot one not been leering down at him. Instead, he just nodded nervously and gave Gamabunta an awkward bow. Judging by the big belly laugh that fell from Gambunta's lips, he found that more amusing than flattering.
"There's no need for that boy. I was the head of the Toad/Human relations comity when I was your age. Amphibians and sapiens, I'm sure you know it. Anyway, your name would be-?"
Naruto hesitated for a second before curbing any surreal dissonance he was receiving and speaking.
"Naruto Uzumaki." He yelled.
"Ah, yes, yes, of course- "
For a second, he could swear he saw Gamabunta's smile broaden.
"Now, Jiraiya, would you hand over that contract please?"
"Certainly." The man replied, rolling the contract up from the ground.
Gamabunta reached out a hand and he placed the parchment onto it. As the toad brought it back up to his face, Naruto briefly questioned how on earth he was going to read it. This question was silenced as Gamabunta retrieved a pair of reading spectacles from his vest pocket, and placed them neatly over his eyes.
"Hmm, hmmm…" He hummed over and over again, as his large yellow irises scanned over the paper.
After about a minute, he looked up and passed the contract back down to Jiraiya.
"Yes, yes, this seems to be perfectly in order. Assuming young Uzumaki does not break his end of the contract through its duration, the payment will be eight million ryo." He said casually, as if the number was but a meager offering.
Naruto would have screamed "what?!" had his mouth not locked together from shock. Eight million ryo? Did Gamabunta just not have any idea how human money worked or was just trying to scam Jiraiya into giving him that much? Either way, Naruto was sure to see his cheapskate teacher quivering in his boots but instead, he found Jiraiya smirking back at Gamabunta with a playful glint in his eye.
"No referral discount?" He asked.
"That price is with the referral discount in effect." Gamabunta replied.
Jiraiya shrugged, though his smirk didn't drop.
"So, there's no way I could get a cheaper price on the contract?"
Suddenly, Gamabunta's lips folded into an almost sinister smirk. Naruto felt a shiver run up his spine.
"Well…you wouldn't happen to have any more of those ancient Shinobi artifacts lying around, would you?"
Jiraiya's eye glinted with a twinkle of victory.
"As a matter of fact, I would."
He removed the large box-pack from his back and placed it on the ground before flinging open the front compartment so that Gamabunta couldn't see. After a few seconds of rummaging around, he retrieved a plastic blue package. The letters on the front read "Fairy Magic Bubble Wand, Ages 5+". Jiraiya silently tore the packaging off the wand with such speed Naruto saw his hands blur. All that was left now was a long blue wand and a small vial of the bubble-making liquid.
"This is the Wand of Akanochi, a sacred chakra instrument capable of dispelling water release without the need for any actual chakra. Just blow on it and it appears out of thin air." Jiraiya called, holding the bubble wand up high like a sacred sword.
Gamabunta looked down at it hungrily.
"Incredible." He whispered (though he was so big that a whisper was plainly audible anyway). "I haven't seen something like this since that Honotrigger you gave me. Tell me Jiraiya, where did you find this?"
"There's a cave system deep in Kiri. Around the Land of the Tide. My clothes were drenched beyond repair by the time I'd got it out of there but it was worth it." Jiraiya said back dramatically.
"Indeed."
Gamabunta's eyes still had not left the bubble wand. With a swift movement of his arm, he held his hand out to the two of them.
"May I?" He asked.
Jiraiya obliged and passed him the wand. For a second, it appeared as if he would simply destroy it in his grip, as it were no bigger than an ant would be to a normal person but, to Naruto's amazement, Gamabunta managed to maneuver the wand so that it gently popped out of the top of his fist. His cheeks expanded like balloons as he took a deep breath inward. The sound of clicking hands quickly sent Naruto's gaze back to Jiraiya, who had slammed his fingers into a final seal. The ground shifted from his feet, binding him to the ground with a thick slab of stone. Naruto, in the meanwhile, had no such defenses.
Fwoosh!
Gamabunta blew, sending both bubbles flying from the wand and, more importantly, a giant gust of wind. Naruto let out a shriek as he toppled over and began rolling down the hill, stray grass, branches and leaves trundling with him as he bounced along with the wind. It took him two minutes to stop himself and another five to climb back up to the top. His jacket was now matted with grass stains while loose leaves served as gemstones in his messy crown of blonde hair. Gamabunta still seemed to be infatuated with the wand but he noted Jiraiya's stone restraints had dropped.
"Asshole." He muttered, elbowing his teacher in the ribs as he strode by.
Jiraiya glared back at him but one eye was far too focused on Gamabunta to do anything back. The toad himself was looking at the tiny wand like it was imbued with magical properties the likes of which were previously unknown. So focused was his gaze that he barely even looked at Jiraiya as he struck down the sum.
"Alright Jiraiya, this should be more than enough to cover the cost."
Both were now wearing greedy smirks, Gamabunta because he felt the usefulness of the wand far surpassed the price and Jiraiya because he knew for sure that it did not. After a few more seconds of wonderment, he finally managed to tear his eyes from the wand and placed it in one of his vest pockets.
"Now then, shall we proceed with the test? Correct me if I'm wrong young Uzumaki, but you, as of right now, have not trained much with contractual summoning?"
"Nope." Naruto said.
He would have simply shaken his head but the novelty of a giant toad was beginning to wear off. At this point, he just wanted to get this training session over with. Gamabunta seemed to share the sentiment as he stuck a hand into another vest pocket, briefly digging around before pulling out a massive roll of parchment. To Naruto and Jiraiya, it looked big enough to cover a whole small street at least, whereas Gamabunta held it as if it were a mere sheet of paper.
"Hmmm…" He grumbled, tracing a finger over the paper before finally announcing "There!"
A tap of his fingertip brought forth a small cloud of smoke out from the paper. It bounced around confused for a few seconds, before zooming toward Naruto and Jiraiya's feet. It exploded, revealing a small seal of ink woven onto the ground as well as a stout little toad standing in its wake. If Naruto were to strike a shooting star pose, this toad would be about the size of his legs and come up to his knees. Had there not been a giant of a creature standing a few meters away from them, this would have been the largest toad Naruto had ever seen, but with Gamabunta's presence in mind, he couldn't help but see the smaller toad as somewhat puny.
"This is my son, Gamakichi!" Gamabunta roared.
"Sup?" Gamakichi asked, twirling a candy cigarette around his mouth.
He looked similar to Gamabunta but the dry red markings around his face had been replaced with deep purple ones. His skin was soft and shiny, a far cry from his fathers aged and cratered flesh. They both wore the same blue vest, though Gamakichi's was significantly smaller.
"Assuming you don't break the contract at any point, Gamakichi will be your main summoning partner for the rest of your life. Make sure to take good care of him Naruto, he can be very reckless…"
The candy cigarette in Gamakichi's mouth suddenly snapped as he turned back to his father with an angered glare.
"Dad! I'm not his fucking pet!"
"Language." Gamabunta grunted.
Gamakichi instinctively looked away, though a glare remained in his beady eyes.
At this point, Naruto had begun to tire of the explanations, especially since the only one he really cared about had still gone unspoken. Stifling a yawn, he looked up at Gamabunta and furrowed his lip.
"Hey, can we get on with this already? What sort of training are we meant to be doing?"
"Nothing difficult of course, just some teamwork building exercises. Me and Jiraiya will be hunting you two for the next forty-five minutes. If you survive through that time, you win, but if we catch you, we win." Gamabunta explained
"Is that it?" Naruto asked. "No punishments or nothing?"
Gamabunta's slanted so suddenly that Naruto forgot Gamakichi was even standing next to him.
"Well…these teamwork bonding exercises are very important in judging compatibility between the toad and the human. If they are even somewhat compatible, they should be able to conceal each other for forty-five minutes easily. If you two fail this challenge, we will have to run this exercise back later this week to try and find you a new toad Naruto."
Naruto felt his stomach rumble. He wasn't particularly interested in summoning since he doubted he would be allowed to use it during the Exams anyway. It'd been bad enough that he'd had to waste a day on this little expedition, using more time of what could be valuable wind release refinement was a worst-case scenario. As he turned away from Gamabunta, he caught a glance of a very dejected looking Gamakichi. Before he could analyze his summoning partner further, his shoulder was yanked by Jiraiya.
"It'll be good to track how much time you got, so here's a timer." He said, handing Naruto a small clock device. "You'll have two minutes to hide yourselves before we start looking, alright?"
The casualness he had said it with made Naruto briefly think this was reasonable before the true nature of what he'd said was whiplashed across his features.
"Two minutes?! I'm not even gonna be able to make it down the hill in that time."
Jiraiya simply brought a hand up to his eyes.
"One, two, three-"
Gamabunta quickly did the same, snapping Naruto into a sudden state of panic. He dumped his backpack on the ground in hopes that Jiraiya would mind it for him as his eyes darted around in search of anything he needed. It was an embarrassing few seconds until he realized what he needed was Gamakichi, who did not seem to be eager to move at all. Moving in a flash of orange, Naruto slid over to the toad and prepped his arms.
"Toads don't actually cause warts, right?" He asked.
Gamakichi's face twisted into a scowl.
"Alright, do you know how racist it is that you would even suggest-Aaaah!" His protests turned to screams as Naruto scooped him up like a piece of luggage and took off down the hill with a burst of wind chakra.
"How about a warning next time?! I mean I'm just standing there, minding my own business and next thing I know, you're running down the hill like a boulder, just boom, boom- "
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry!" Naruto growled back.
He was less focused on Gamakichi's complaining and more on the dampness that seeped into his jacket from where he'd held him. It smelled swampy, with Naruto cursing what was going to be his fourth dry cleaning visit in what felt like two months. He really needed to buy a washing machine-
"Hey, how much time we got?" Gamakichi suddenly piped up, hobbling alongside Naruto's legs.
"Why do you care dude, it's been like, less than a minute?" Naruto asked back.
"So? It takes like a second to check."
"And that'll wind it down loads, huh?"
"Look!" Gamakichi snarled. "Why you gotta be a wise guy? Just check it, will ya?"
Naruto let out a loud, pained and, most of all, unnecessarily long groan before doing as prompted. He flashed the clock back to Gamakichi, not even looking at the time himself.
"Woah! It's been ten minutes already?" The toad enthusiastically shouted.
"What, no!" Naruto shouted and snatched the clock back towards his own view.
"Time probably moves quicker than you think it does down here. We started arguing for a little bit, so that was probably a minute or two on its own but then you take into account the time spent- "
He paid no attention to Gamakichi's almost deluded background rambling and instead peered down at the clock. It had not been ten minutes; he was sure of it. A turn over of the clock brought nothing except it's time winder, useless for figuring out if it had actually been ten minutes or if it had simply been wound fast.
Then Naruto remembered something.
Shutting his eyes, Naruto began to channel chakra through them. A light buzzing, almost electrical in its nature filled his head before, with one strong blink, he released all of it into a faint blue mist. This was called a chakra flush, a genjutsu defense technique he'd learnt under Jiraiya. Even moderately competent genjutsu was designed to evade the technique's detection, so it wasn't particularly useful in combat situations, but, considering he was still a genin, it was useful enough to snuff out low-level illusions. Luckily, this is exactly what it did here.
The clock's face melted into an almost liquid before unraveling into a faint, beige mist. This revealed the true time, which was only a bit under five minutes. Jiraiya must have been applied it onto them when him and Gamakichi were back on the hill.
"Hey, flush your chakra quickly." Naruto ordered, hoping his companion also knew the technique.
Gamakichi gave a curt frown but did so anyway (not without a sigh, of course), before flushing himself of the chakra in his head. Looking back at the clock he let out another sigh and conceded Naruto's point.
The intent in this action had been simple. Had they got big headed and started to believe that ten minutes really had elapsed, they'd be practically handing themselves over to the two when forty (in reality, twenty) minutes came around. This effect could have been achieved much better had Jiraiya just used the winder to speed it forwards, but Naruto supposed he just wanted to test his basic genjutsu defense.
He had about five seconds to be proud of himself before a soft but powerful rumbling began to shake the ground beneath him.
"Hey, let's get a move on. Dad's gotta be kinda close if the ground's going all jelly-like." Gamakichi said.
Naruto nodded, and they began to march away.
The depths of the forest were far deeper than Naruto had imagined from the relatively optimized path he and Jiraiya had taken into it. The ground below them devolved into several diverse textures, from wet, sticky mud to hard, cracked stone. Streams of water trailed alongside them, sometimes disappearing for a few miles only to reappear as they emerged into a new area. It was like they were the arms of one central pool of water. Trees hung heavy over some places, while in others, they looked virtually non-existent. This made it that much harder for him and Gamakichi to make it around the place, considering Gamabunta could easily make them out if he was close enough.
Speaking of Gamabunta, his presence was always felt even if he was not close. A few sneaky peeks from the treetops would almost always reveal where his towering presence was residing for the minute. Naruto had stopped doing this after the third time, though. Coincidentally, a giant toad having a laugh was significantly less scary than him stomping through the forest in search of you.
The ground began to lose its symmetry the further you got into the forest. Some areas would be so flat they were nearly underground while others would be so steep Naruto had to shuffle upwards to keep himself from falling off. After a quiet climb through one of them, the pair eventually found themselves at a small, enclosed grotto. It was made up of large rocks, a puddle of stream swirling around it like a moat to a castle. Naruto, who was beginning to tire of walking, suggested that they take sanctuary in it.
It had meant to be a temporary solution, at least that's what he'd told Gamakichi. However, a quick two-minute break in the cave turned into five minutes and that five minutes into ten minutes. Coincidentally, the passage of time correlated almost exactly with the intensity of Gamakichi's complaints. These complaints and whining had been one of the only constants of their forest hiding, and, truth be told, Naruto's considerable empathy had already begun to wane. Maybe it was how inexplicably angry he always sounded or maybe it was that Naruto knew he could just push him onto his back if he tried to start anything, but the boy couldn't help but feel he'd be okay with loosing Gamakichi as a potential partner.
"Ya gotta be pullin' my leg or something here, when the fuck are we gonna leave?" He snarled, tapping his foot impatiently against the stone ground.
"I don't know." Naruto replied, not as much focused on Gamakichi as he was on peering out of the grotto's hole.
"What, are we just gonna stay here for the next twenty minutes?!"
Naruto shrugged, eyes casually darting back to the toad.
"Why not?"
Gamakichi's purple lips contorted into a frown.
"Why not, he says?! Pops has always had a fascination with small things and places, it's why he keeps all that human junk with him. If you don't think he's cleaning out every little ravine and cave he can find like the underside of an oyster shell, you don't know pops."
"You're right, I don't know pops." Naruto said, clearly bored.
"Well, he knows you." Gamakichi suddenly shouted. "He told me all about you and how you were supposed to be some hyped-up troublemaker or whatever, but I reckon he was playing a joke on me 'cause you're a big fucking pussy!"
A part of Naruto wanted to be mad but the humor in being bitched out by a toad was far to calming to allow him to truly fire back. Instead, he fought off a small smile and instead flashed Gamakichi a subtly amused frown.
"Man, you're one mad toad. Did someone piss in your pond today or something?"
Gamakichi's eyes furrowed.
"Firstly, no, no one, especially not myself, has pissed in my pond since I was seven years old and even back then, whoever did so by complete accident! Secondly, yeah, I am one mad toad because my dad gave me a shitty partner, who I thought was going to be good, but as it turns out, absolutely sucks. You're chucking me around like a big fucking handbag or whatever, but I'm plotting, I'm scheming and you don't even know the shit I'm about to do, man, next level shit, big shit, plays, p-playmaker stuff like I don't even- "
Gamakichi's eyes were beginning to soften but he kept on yelling, trying to cloak the fact that his outburst had devolved into literal gibberish. Being on the receiving end of this absolute clusterfuck of vernacular, Naruto couldn't help but let loose a small, amused smirk.
That did it.
That really did it.
For some reason, Gamakichi decided that was it. Instead of continuing to rant and rave, he tucked his fat head into the sleeve of his vest and began to cry. Proper, sobbing, wailing, ugly crying. Just as quickly as it had morphed into a smirk, Naruto's mouth sunk into a confused pout. He had literally no idea what to do here.
Tears ran down Gamakichi's face, streaking into similar patterns as his markings before melting into his vest. Naruto was still for a good thirty seconds before his body began to act. He crouched next to Gamakichi, awkwardly circling the toad's body and patting him on the head.
"Uh, there there?" He said, though it was more confused than reassuring.
The confusion at the situation only intensified as he felt Gamakichi beginning to hold onto his jacket for support, the young toad burying his face into the fabric like a young child would do to his mother.
"Alright, okay." Naruto groaned, trying desperately to peel Gamakichi off him should the toad essence completely dampen his jacket.
Unfortunately, he was stronger than he looked and Naruto was unsuccessful in this extraction. The boy was simply forced to sit there and wait until Gamakichi finally managed to stop wailing for a few seconds. His skin was now splotched with a darker shade of red though he managed to keep the floodgates at bay for the moment, trading out the copious tears for mere sniffling.
"You good?" Naruto asked, clearly very uncomfortable.
Gamakichi sniffled especially hard and shook his head.
"No. I'm cracking under the pressure again. I'm a fucking failure."
This would have been a good time to say "no you're not" but instead Naruto opted for the ever so slightly less gentle?
"Why?"
"I'm a descendent of the head of all Toads. No one in my families ever failed the compatibility test before and I did it few months back. I couldn't use my fire release, even though whenever I use it outside of here it's fine! Look- "
He feverishly weaved his seals together, before opening his mouth to unleash a fire ball. Naruto instinctually leapt backward, only for Gamakichi to release a cracked, screechy ribbit instead. It was almost like he was gagging, with Naruto briefly considering putting him in the Heimlich before he finally released a croak of smoke from his mouth.
"See, I can't do shit under the pressure. I fucking suck." Gamakichi whined, placing his head in his hands.
What had previously been a situation Naruto had very little personal stake in had, in the span of only a few seconds, started to hit just a little too close to home. He briefly considered concealing Gamakichi only to notice he was now smiling manically to himself.
"But it doesn't matter now that I've got this!" He yelled, reaching into his vest and pulling out an object.
It was a lighter, one of those little, solid-colored ones you could get at the corner shop for cheap.
"The hono trigger! I nicked it out of dad's study when he was sleeping and he doesn't suspect a thing! Now, I can create as much fire jutsu as I want with no chakra cost. I haven't tested it yet, obviously, but if I'm in a pinch, well-"
He let out a childish giggle at the last word, looking positively pleased with himself. Naruto just grimaced before snatching the lighter out of his hands.
"Hey! The fuck you think you're doing?" Gamakichi barked, trying to grab it back only for Naruto to stand up out of his reach.
"Sorry to burst your bubble dude, but this thing's not that powerful. "
His thumb gravitated to the trigger, sending a gasp through Gamakichi's chubby body.
"Don't touch that! You have no idea the damage that thing can do!"
The intensity in his voice briefly put Naruto off before he shook himself back to reality. He gently pressed down on the lighters switch, causing Gamakichi to leap backward as if he'd just unleashed a bomb. He sat there, writhing around and shrieking for fear of the burns that were sure to encase his body, only to snap an eye open upon realizing they weren't there. All the lighter could muster was a small, shoddy flame, weakly dancing along the top of the metal.
"See?" Naruto said.
At first, he was happy to prove Gamakichi wrong but upon seeing the toad yet again, combust into a bundle of sobs, he realized he probably should have just let him think the lighter truly was some magic fireball machine.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!" Gamakichi wailed, so loud that Naruto actually looked back out through the cave entrance to make sure no one could hear them. "He's going to disown me after this, I swear- "
Naruto looked back down at Gamakichi, observing how legitimately frightened and saddened he looked, and something began to swell inside his chest.
"No, no, no! Okay, Gamakichi, look at me!" He said, slapping the toad over the back.
Gamakichi looked up, tears still welled up in his eyes.
"We're gonna win this, big time. It's only, look, fifteen more minutes. We've already lasted thirty, that's most of it right? What's another ten?" Naruto said.
Gamakichi sucked in a sob.
"T-they've been going easy on us. This is where it's gonna get h-h-hard."
Naruto's resolve only deepened.
"Listen, you're dealing with- "
The instincts of his brain were quick to fill in the sentence but for once, his mouth did not move as fast.
A future Hokage, the hero of the hidden leaf! It beckoned but a small part of Naruto's brain forbid him to speak for the moment. Flashes of Hiruzen and his parents ran through his head but he pushed them to the side for the moment.
"You're dealing with Naruto Uzumaki. Top-level genin, master of the shadow clone at only thirteen years of age and future Hokage. There's no way we won't ace this test, dattebayo!"
Call it delusional but his confidence was undeniably infectious. Gamakichi seemed to have perked up somewhat, though he flashed Naruto a confused smile at the last word.
"What does that even mean?"
"I don't really know, but we're pumped up now so let's just go with it."
Gamakichi nodded. A slight rumble ran through the grotto, sending little bits of dust flying through the air.
"He's close." Gamakichi said.
This was their cue to depart from the grotto, should they rather Gamabunta tear the roof off and find them that way. As they left though, Naruto couldn't help but clench his fist in determination.
He was going to win this, for the both of them.
The next few minutes were relatively peaceful (though they made a few close encounters with Gamabunta). It was only upon reaching hiking upward onto higher ground that they ran into problems.
The long stretch of forest ran steeply upward, but it's sheltering trees and fauna made it so that the pair would be hard to pick out from any angle. Then, a swarm of flies came buzzing through their midst. The incessant fluttering of their wings was immediately met with the rumbling of Gamakichi's stomach.
"Snack time." He said, smiling at the bundle of black dots.
His long tongue shot forward at sniper-like speeds, sticking the flies onto it like sticky tape before retracting back into his mouth. The supreme look of pleasure on his face quickly turned to one of disgust however, as he belched them back out.
" Yuck!" He growled.
A fluid that looked far from the solid fly forms he'd just eaten seeped from his jowls, dripping onto the floor like dollops of black blood.
"Woah, are you okay?" Naruto said, raising an eyebrow at the liquid.
"I'm fine, it's just those flies tasted like paint or somethin'. I thought I'd be getting a meal, not chowing down on the fuckin' arts and crafts department."
Naruto would have laughed had he not been more focused on the "flies" Gamakichi had just spit out. They were not flies at all. It was ink. The two locked eyes for a second, both realizing what this meant.
"Run." Naruto said quickly.
Gamakichi leapt onto his back and the two took off into a wild sprint. Adrenaline shot through Naruto's body, the boy barely noticing the heavy vegetation that grazed his skin while he sprinted ahead. There were footsteps behind them. At first light, but soon turning heavy as they began to edge closer and closer.
"Shit, Naruto, your senseis on our tail!" Gamakichi screamed from his back.
Naruto let his eyes drift back for a second and there was Jiraiya, bouncing along from tree to tree with the grace of a man thirty years younger than him. Quelling his fear, Naruto continued to keep his gaze on his teacher before he saw the slightest brace in the man's legs. He slammed his hands together into seals and snapped his vision straight ahead.
"Wind release: godspeed!" He screamed.
Jiraiya pounced forward to try and catch the pair, but Naruto shot up to the tree tops with a boost of wind. Unfortunately, his teacher was quick on the uptake. Only a split-second after realizing he'd missed the pair, Jiraiya darted up the same path. He once again leapt towards Naruto, but the boy was yet again a step ahead of him. He gripped the branch of a nearby tree and swung around, unleashing a powerful dropkick at his teacher.
Jiraiya smirked, planting his feet on the same tree and tilting his body backward. The kick sent Naruto flying forward but instead of hitting anything of note, he simply rammed his feet into a different tree. By the time he looked up, Jiraiya had already been running through handsigns.
"Wind release: wind slicer!" Jiraiya called, running a hand along his elbow and unleashing a blade of gust from it.
It cut through the tree trunk like it was made of cloud fluff, sending it, Naruto and Gamakichi tumbling toward the ground. Before he'd even realized he was falling, Naruto felt a sharp tap on his back, though he was more focused on not pancaking Gamakichi to really notice. The toad screamed as they fell forward, stray leaves falling through Naruto's hair. He was about to cast a wind jutsu to save the two of them, but a sharp, suctioned feeling started tugging at his back. Suddenly, his fall had been halted, but, looking back up, he almost wished it hadn't.
A translucent, almost gelatinous tentacle of wind was holding him up, it's thick base running along to a thin thread on Jiraiya's finger.
"Wind release: gust lock." He said, as if it was a checkmate in chess.
With a flick of his finger, Jiraiya ordered the arm to toss Naruto and Gamakichi through the air. It was a miracle neither of them hit a tree, but, yet again, this was only a positive in the slimmest sense. They slammed against the ground, dirt flying up into Naruto's face as he braced for impact. He felt Gamakichi be forcibly bounced off from his back, but this weight was soon replaced with several bumps as he rolled forward. When he opened his eyes, he was treated with one of the worst sights you could be treated to after waking up from a long fall.
He laying was on the very edge of a cliff.
Like most of the hills in this forest, he'd expected this one to lead to an equally steep downward drop but not a full-on cliff. Another stretch of forest as well as a long, winding river sat below it but he doubted any ninja alive could make that drop unharmed.
The sound of sandals cluttering through leaves snapped him back to reality. He snapped upright, dusting his track jacket of any dirt and leaves that had clung to him after the fall. Gamakichi was present through the corner of his eye, but Jiraiya was jam packed at the center of it so he took priority.
"Well, it's literally either give up or take a hundred-foot cliff dive, so I'm guessing you're going to give up?" Jiraiya said, knowing full well that it would not be that easy.
Naruto flashed him a smile and unsubtly put his hands behind his back.
"Yep, I guess you're right, I give u-wind release: sticky bomb!"
The wind bomb flew forward like a baseball with Naruto chucking it as hard as he could. Jiraiya simply pressed his hands into what looked like a reverse of the signs Naruto had just done, before pointing two fingers up at the gust ball and closing one eye as to stabilize his aim.
"Defusal!" He yelled, a thin beam of wind shooting forward and stabbing through the bombs center.
Upon impact, the sticky bomb imploded in on itself, sending a much softer and spread out burst of wind running through the forest. Naruto's face was immediately filled with anger.
"Aw, what?! Why the hell are you teaching me all the moves that have counters, dummy?"
He had taken the bait. Jiraiya's face devolved into the smuggest of smug smirks, and considering that his resting face was already a smug smirk, that was saying a lot.
"That counter is a Jiraiya the Gallant original thank you very much!"
Naruto growled a number of expletives and quickly summoned a couple of shadow clones to charge along with him. Unfortunately, Jiraiya easily ducked through their blows before sending the clones colliding into each other and grabbing Naruto by the hair. His face was still smiling but a bit less playful now.
"Okay, you guys did alright, but if you're getting caught like this, it isn't gonna- "
"Crooooooooak!"
Jiraiya snapped his head sideways, thinking he may have missed a clone. It took him a few seconds to realize the sound was actually coming from his feet, where Gamakichi stood.
"Crooooooooak!"
His hands were locked in a seal, but nothing came out of his opened mouth except that pained, almost choked ribbiting. Concern ran through Jiraiya's face as he gently placed Naruto down towards the ground.
"Is he-? Are you okay?" He asked.
"Crooooooooak!" Gamakichi repeated, looking as if he were about to throw up.
Jiraiya's steely resolve only hardened.
"He's choking. Okay, Naruto reach into my box, the third compartment has a spacing seal with first aid equipment in it. I'm gonna try and push whatever it is out of his stomach. How many of those seals did he eat?"
"Croooooooooak!"
With one final push, Gamakichi's face fell into one of resignation.
"Okay, screw this."
He whipped the lighter out of his pocket and flicked the trigger. Sparks burst from it and Gamakichi stuffed it into the confines of Jiraiya's pony-tail. Before the Toad Sage had even realized what was going on, his snowy white hair was embroiled in an ever-spreading inferno of flame.
"Aaaaaaaaaah!" Jiraiya shrieked.
The perfect, almost other-worldly coordination he'd had when fighting Naruto seconds prior completely faded away. He apishly patted at his hair, trying in vain to put the fire out by hand. Meanwhile, Gamakichi sprinted over to Naruto, somewhat satisfied.
"Run!" He beckoned.
Naruto looked forwards where Jiraiya was already summoning a water jutsu (albeit sloppily), then over at the cliffside, then finally back at Gamakichi incredulously.
"Where?"
Gamakichi's face dropped. He didn't know.
There's no way we won't ace this test, dattebayo
Something about this sent Naruto's will of fire alight once more. He clenched his palm again, determinedly staring back at the cliffside. If he landed on the ground, he'd splatter into a million pieces for sure but if he landed in the river…
Without thinking, Naruto grabbed Gamakichi close to his test and began to step back for a run up.
"Wait, what are you doing- "The toad protested, but Naruto could barley hear him.
Jiraiya stumbled over to the two, his hair now extinguished (though with many strands of it now died a thick shade of black). At first, he looked tired, but upon seeing them ready to leap, his expression once again stiffened.
"Naruto, don't." He growled.
Gamakichi nodded in agreement.
"He's right, you don't gotta- "
It was too late.
"Naruto!" Jiraiya yelled.
Naruto sprinted forward and leapt from the cliffs edge with Gamakichi screaming in his arms. Rolling onto his back, the suction of the drop immediately hit him, sending his hair wobbling and the cuffs of his clothes fluttering. At any entrance it could get, the screeching wind would sneak in and sting raw against his skin but there was so much adrenaline pumping through his body that it felt no greater than a warm bath.
"We're not gonna make the river dummy, there's not enough traction!" Gamakichi screamed.
Biting his lip, Naruto strengthened his grip around his companion and awkwardly weaved his hands into seals.
Godspeed, godspeed, godspeed, godspeed.
Shotguns of wind sent him hurtling through diagonally through the air, the flow of the chakra fighting viciously against the force of gravity.
"Tell me when." He grunted; eyes locked shut as he continued casting jutsu.
Gamakichi squashed any sobs in his voice and began to direct.
"More, more, more, more, more, mor-okay, we're good! We're gonna clear it, Naruto you're a genius!"
He would have laughed if he could even hear anything anymore. At this point, the only things Naruto could really make out where the howling of the wind against his body and the nerves that stood braced against his skin. He was just awaiting the hit now.
Closer.
Closer.
Closer.
Bang.
Ripples ran through the water as Naruto collided with the ground. He opened his eyes, ignoring the sting that washed over them. It was blue, and…very dark. The only bits of light were contained to the surface of the water, refracting down through the mushroom cloud of bubbles that marked his collision.
He was sinking.
Brain snapping to life, Naruto attempted to thrash around only to realize how badly he'd hit the water. He was paralyzed essentially, the sting of the blow running through his very bones and freezing them in place. The jump had been misjudged, it'd been steeper than he thought. His soaked clothes were like iron-ton weights on his body, dragging him further into the river's abyss. The light was getting further and further away.
Then, a very important recollection popped into his head.
Oh yeah, I need to breath.
If there was any air left in his lungs, it was nearly gone. His mouth jutted open as if to beg for more air but all it got was a throatful of water. He was choking now. Dark circles were encasing the outer layers of his eyes. One thought ran through his mind.
Damn it, I died for a toad.
Considering the circumstances, it was exceedingly calm.
Then, suddenly, through the darkness of his eyes and the deep blue of the river, he spotted a flicker of red. A scarlet savior paddling through the furthest depths of water.
Gamakichi.
He swam up to Naruto, webbed fingers weaved in signs. With a stretch of his hands, he summoned a large bubble of water and tied it around Naruto's head like it was made out of bubblegum. The water around him seeped through the layer of bubble, leaving him only a fresh pocket of air. Sputters and gasps bounced through it's reflective inner-layer but it was only when Naruto felt his body being pushed up through the river top that he found the energy to move his body or speak again.
The bubble pupped, treating Naruto to a sudden, stinging explosion of light. Placing a hand to his forehead to block it out, he looked down and saw Gamakichi paddling ahead, his sticky arm wrapped around Naruto's torso.
"Gamakichi! Holy shit, you just saved my whole life!" Naruto laughed, beginning to paddle on the water.
The toad smiled back at him and began to paddle himself.
"No, no, no, you just saved my whole life. I was just returnin' the favor. I thought we were gonna die for a sec but then you were used your little wind burst and it was like woooah!"
"Not as good as your bubble thing. I thought you couldn't do jutsu!"
"I can't do fire release. That's just an old family trick."
Naruto smiled brightly.
"You're fucking awesome dude."
Gamakichi returned the smile.
"No, you're fucking awesome dude."
This same exchange continued for about twenty seconds before Naruto finally shrugged and said:
"Okay, how about we're both awesome and we're probably the best human/frog team that has ever existed?"
"Ya know, people would say you're big talking but I think that's a fair assessment." Gamakichi said without even the slightest hint of irony. "We're for sure passing now. We've got, like, three minutes left and your teach's not gonna be able to make it down here anytime soon. God, I can't wait to see the look on Pop's face when I pass, he'll be-"
Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto saw something. There were slight, soft ripples in the water.
And they were getting more powerful by the second.
"Very touching boys, very touching indeed!"
A lighting bolt of fear crackled down through the two of them as they turned to the stretch of forest. At first there was nothing…
And then Gamabunta exploded forward, sending tree trunks and hunks of stone flying high into the air. His big, beady eyes leered down at them as he sheathed a large knife from a pouch on his hip.
"However, you seemed to have celebrated a tad bit early."
He swung the blade forward, with just the force alone creating a typhoon in the river. A large wave blasted onto shore, taking a washed-up Naruto and Gamakichi with it. There was no need for words with the two's thoughts so exact at the minute. They exploded into a dash, trying to flee into the forest. Unfortunately, Gamabunta had other plans.
"Leaving so soon?"
One hand sign from him and the ground below them began to elevate, chunks of stone shooting forward and creating a ramp.
"Sage art: tree trunk pachinko!" He yelled.
The dense forest of trees began to unplug themselves from their roots, sending dense logs rolling down at breakneck speed. Gamakichi hopped on Naruto's back and the boy began to run, using godspeed to accelerate and his own natural agility to hop over the trunks. Even if he had been at one-hundred percent, the act would have been incredibly difficult, but with fatigue setting in and water bouncing around his head, it was nigh impossible. He vaulted over one, only for another to bounce upward and smash into his head.
It was lucky for Naruto that after the third log flattening them wholesale, that Gamabunta decided he'd had enough. He sunk the earth back down to its normal elevation, which stopped the trunks for the most part.
However, the pair barley had a chance to rest before Gamabunta had sunk his knife into the ground and bellowed:
" Sage art: conquering swamp!"
As if it was spreading a disease, the lush forest ground beneath the blade began to terraform into disgusting, muddy swamp. It spread fast to, too fast for Naruto and Gamakichi to react to. Before the Uzumaki had even gotten up, the soil underneath him had been replaced with muddy water and vines of some unknown plant had wrapped themselves around his torso. They compressed against his ribs, hard like iron and just as unmoving.
"Grah!" Naruto snarled, thrashing against the vegetation.
"Don't struggle, it gets tighter if you do!" Gamakichi, who had escaped the same fat by leaping to one of the muddied trees.
"Oh yeah? How do you get it off then?" Naruto groaned.
Gamakichi hesitated for a second.
"Fire."
Naruto looked up at him, with pleading eyes.
Gamakichi opened his mouth in desperation. Nothing came out, nothing except dull, worthless croaks.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Gamabunta's footsteps echoed through the background, imposing and heavy. Gamakichi croaked yet again.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
They were getting even louder now yet not a single hint of flame escaped Gamakichi's lips.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Gamakichi's eyes shot up to meet his fathers. There was miles of space between them yet there was no doubting he could make them out clear as day. He froze for a few seconds simply watching his father trudge forward…
Fwoooooosh!
And then a breath of flame shot forward, burning through the constraints on Naruto's chest.
"Alright, Gamakichi!" He yelled, shooting up to his feet.
More of the vines tried to chase after him be he drew a kunai and held them off until he got to solid land. The two regrouped on the side of a tipped over tree trunk, but there was little celebration. After all, Gamabunta was still marching towards them, practically sending tremors through the earth every time he took a step.
"Okay, we should just give up. It's fine Naruto, we did well." Gamakichi said, trying (and failing) to mask his sadness.
Naruto stared forward at Gamabunta and without taking his eyes off him, asked back:
"How much time do we have?"
Gamakichi dug through his pockets and retrieved the (admittedly wet) watch.
"A minute or two."
Naruto's hands clenched and he began to dash forward, ignoring all of Gamakichi's protests. Before he knew it, he was standing on solid ground only a few feet away from Gamabunta. Should the toad have wanted, he could have extended one of his feet and squashed Naruto, just like that.
"Come to give up have we Young Uzumaki?" He bellowed.
Naruto shook his head and stared back with fire in his gaze.
"No, I'm- "
It took a second for him to curb the ridiculousness of what he was about to say.
"I'm here to fist fight your ass, fatty!"
Gamabunta's brow furrowed.
"Beg your pardon?"
A wave of self-consciousness hit Naruto and his posture slunk.
"I mean, I'm here to fist fight your ass, sir." He said politely
There was an utter bewilderment in Gamabunta's eyes now.
"You can't be serious."
"Oh, I'm serious and you better be prepared. See, in proper taijutsu there's a little thing called leg kicks, and they are super strong. Just let me-"
He ran toward Gamabunta, prepped his foot and punted him in his giant leg. Silence presided over the area for a good ten seconds, with neither party moving an inch.
Fwoosh!
Suddenly, Naruto was scooped up, Gamabunta's gargantuan fingers holding him by the hood of his jacket (though he should've counted himself lucky that he didn't go for the head.).
"You dare mock me boy?! I am the head of the Mount Myoboku Toads, do you know who you're dealing with- "
Naruto was brave. Braver than most people his age, braver than most people any age. That being said, even if he was the bravest person in the world (which may have been a strong possibility), there was no amount of bravery that could help you when a massive fifty-foot toad was holding you over his mouth as if he was going to eat you.
"Sorry, sorry, I'm really sorry, I'm really really sorry!"
"Timmeeeeeee!"
A voice shouted out from the ground. Both Naruto and Gamabunta's gazes snapped towards it, revealing Gamakichi standing at their feet holding the timer. It was vibrating ever so slightly.
They'd passed.
"Well, it's been fun you two, it's always nice to see you Jiraiya. The contract path should be finalized by the end of the week, but I left you some practice seals in case you want to start training earlier." Gamabunta yelled, the sunset shining down on his rusty red skin.
He hadn't taken Naruto's antics personally in the aftermath. More so, he'd been overjoyed that his son had gotten himself into a contract (even if it was on the second try). He and Gamakichi waved goodbye to Naruto and Jiraiya, as the two toads stood on a large sealing circle.
"See ya Gamakichi." Naruto waved.
"See ya Naruto. Thanks for everything" He called back
There was a wide smile on his face, so far from the crying toad Naruto had seen in the grotto. If he hadn't seen it with his own two eyes, he'd have sworn they were two different people.
The toads soon disappeared into a cloud of smoke, leaving Jiraiya and Naruto sitting on the edge of the hill.
"How'd you like your secret technique training?" The old man asked, amber sunset gleaming in his eyes.
Naruto shrugged, with a playful smile on his face.
"It was alright."
"Just alright?"
That playfulness deepened.
"Yep."
"Well, if someone get's you an alrightgift, what do you say?"
An embarrassed wave washed over Naruto's face.
"Thank you, Jiraiya-sensei." He said, in a sing-song tone.
"That's the one." Jiraiya said with a smile. "We'll spend the rest of our training time working on the seals, alright?"
Naruto nodded. They stared out at the sunset for a few seconds before he whipped around to face his teacher.
"Hey, are you going to stick around to watch my match at the exams?" He asked.
He didn't want to be hopeful but he couldn't help it.
Jiraiya shrugged, biting his lip.
"Well, maybe, but I've got a date with this smoking Kumo chick coming up so- "
Naruto snorted.
"Bullshit."
"How'd you know?" Jiraiya asked, chuckling.
"You would have bragged about the date as soon as the imaginary lady gave it to you, cause you're a sad, loser old man virgin."
Jiraiya took some offense.
"Listen kid, I may be a sad, loser old man but I am not a virgin."
Naruto laughed.
It felt like the exams were just around the corner. Now all he needed to do was get that contract signed…