Naruto was sitting among a small council of toads and Jiraiya. The toads varied vastly in size: two were small enough to fit in hand, one was about as tall as Jiraiya, and one towered over all, looking down from at least ten meters above. The earth shook as the gargantuan toad shifted position, sitting back and taking a long toke of his smoking pipe. The Jiraiya-sized toad shook the smoke away from her face.
"Oye! Gamabunta, blow your smoke somewhere else!" said the toad. She was a yellow hue, with emerald eyes and black robes.
"Just stand somewhere else," grunted Gamabunta. His tough skin was dark red with spotted patterns, and it looked weathered from decades of hard work and combat.
Jiraiya stepped forward and gestured to the toads. "Everyone, this is Naruto Uzumaki, the new pupil that I told you about. He has passed the trial of the scroll."
"This has gone too far!" said one of the smaller toads. He was old and gray, but not nearly as ancient as the fourth toad. "Jiraiya, how dare you bring the Kyubi to these sacred wetlands!? It is insulting and outrageous!" The gray toad turned to the ancient toad. "I say we have them both leave at once and be done with this."
"He's more than just the Kyubi, Gamakuru," said Jiraiya.
"Indeed, but the life of a jinchuriki is a life of inner conflict, a life of imbalance," said the yellow toad. "And that is counter to the sage arts of Myoboku, of tranquility and patience. Though, I do concede that he reached the scroll, and he has Lord Jiraiya's recommendation." She squinted at Naruto, studying him.
"Why not?" said Gamabunta. "He's not strong enough to summon a tadpole, so what's the harm in finalizing the contract? If he becomes troublesome, then we can just kill him."
The oldest toad spoke in a low croak. Her body was a mass of wrinkles and spots, and Naruto saw that her blind eyes were milky white. "Naruto Uzumaki. My name is Gamatoshi. This is Gamakuru, Gamagora and Gamabunta. Do you wish to form a contract with the Toads of Myoboku?"
It took Naruto a minute to form a reply. He was absorbing his surroundings, glancing between the toads and Jiraiya, and at first he hardly realized that he had been addressed by the Gamatoshi. Gamafutoi's scroll must have held some kind of transportation jutsu, and that's how I ended up here… and now there's more that I have to do? Naruto rose from his sitting position and gave a respectful bow. "Yes!"
"For what purpose?" said Gamatoshi
"I need to be strong enough to protect those that are close to me," said Naruto.
"I sense great power within you, Naruto. As well as fear and fury," said Gamatoshi. "Gamagora is right—the sacred techniques that we offer require inner balance."
"I've been trying to control my powers," said Naruto. "How can I prove myself?"
"Sit still, and give me your hand," said Gamatoshi. "Let me get a better sense of you."
Naruto dropped back into a seated position as Gamatoshi hopped over to him. He extended an arm, and tried not to react to the wet stickiness of Gamatoshi's webbed toad hand on his own. They sat in silence for several minutes. Naruto's eyes felt heavy. A half-dream played in his mind, an epiphany of the natures of Heaven and Earth, and their harmonization. Naruto's own body was the earthly anchor to an extraordinary, unearthly force. A tempestuous sea of chakra churned, threatening to break free, but it was Naruto who kept the crashing waves from consuming the land. Naruto was the toad that swam in these heavenly waters without fully abandoning the earthly shores.
Naruto's energy returned as he meditated, as if Gamatoshi was blessing him with the spirit of Numachi Swamp. By the time Gamatoshi spoke, after a long silence, Naruto felt even stronger than he had at the onset of his journey.
"You are beginning to understand," said Gamatoshi. "You have a good heart, and a strong will. The Toads of Myoboku accept you, Naruto Uzumaki."
The true Scroll of Myoboku was set before them. It was at least ten times the size of Gamafutoi's transportation scroll, and covered in ancient texts and glyphs. Naruto left his print in blood, and at once he felt a deep connection with the swamp and its inhabitants. He took a slow breath, concentrating on the currents of his chakra, and then performed the hand seals and blood offering according to Jiraiya's instruction. Boar-dog-rooster-monkey-sheep.
Casting Kuchiyose no Jutsu was a strange sensation. In that split second, Naruto carefully guided a fragile spark of life through space. He had a further revelation about the interconnectivity of Heaven and Earth: chakra and life. There was a hiss of smoke, and Naruto saw that he had summoned a wriggling scarlet tadpole. She had a pattern of green and black spots along her sleek sides, but had not yet grown legs.
"Ha!" laughed Gamabunta. "Just like I said."
Gamakuru scowled, as if Naruto's use of their guarded technique was anathema to him.
After half a minute of squirming around on the ground the tadpole vanished with a soft puff of smoke. Naruto felt the unseen void close, the space-time ninjutsu had released.
"The duration of the summoning is dependent on the caster's mastery of the technique, the amount of chakra expended, and the distance between the caster and the summoning target," said Jiraiya. "It won't be as easy back in Konoha."
Naruto wiped away a bead of sweat. His smile was sunlight in the gloomy swamp.