"Naruto, come here, it's time to learn something really cool!" says Pervy Sage, grinning.

Naruto looks up from his celebration of the fact he can now walk on water. "Cooler than walking on water?" he asks, suspiciously.

"This is definitely cooler," Pervy Sage assures him. "But first you have to sign this scroll in blood." Pervy Sage pulls out a giant scroll and opens it up, spreading it on the ground in front of Naruto.

Naruto sees some other names already written on the scroll in blood. "Oh look," he points to the newest name. "That's my Dad's name!" Naruto does as Jiraiya told him to and bites his thumb, producing some blood and signs the scroll like the others did: His name, followed by the bloody fingerprints of his right hand.

"WOAH!" shouts Jiraiya, sounding alarmed. "Aren't you even gonna ask what the scroll is for first?"

"Nah," shrugs Naruto. "If you're okay with me signing it, it must be safe." Naruto is confident that, pervert though he be, Jiraiya would not have him sign anything in blood that will kill him. He probably would have signed it anyway, but that doesn't matter. "So what does it do anyway?"

"It's a summoning contract," says Pervy Sage. "For the toad summons."

"I like toads," says Naruto, nodding. "Toads are cool. So how do I do the jutsu?"

"You can't - at least not with your chakra control level."

"THEN WHAT'S THE POINT IN ME SIGNING THE DAMN SCROLL?!"

"IF YOU HADN'T JUST GONE AND SIGNED IT INSTEAD OF ASKING WHAT IT DOES FIRST, YOU WOULD KNOW THAT ALREADY!"

"WELL YOU TOLD ME TO SIGN A THING IN BLOOD! WHAT DID YOU EXPECT ME TO DO, STOP AND THINK ABOUT IT?"

"AS A MATTER OF FACT, YES, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I EXPECTED YOU TO DO!"

"I'M AN UZUMAKI! YOU SAY DO THE THING IN BLOOD, I JUMP ALL OVER THAT FASTER THAN CHOJI EATS A BAG OF CHIPS!"

"WHAT IF I SAID NOT TO USE BLOOD?"

"I'D STILL USE BLOOD! HOW DO YOU THINK I TURNED OFF MY OWN GRAVITY THAT TIME?"

"You what?" asks Pervy Sage, his face turning pale.

"I wrote a seal on my arm in my own blood and it turned off my personal gravity," explains Naruto. "It took me like, half a year to turn off the seal - that's why I'm so short. Not having gravity made me stop growing for a while. Sometimes I accidently turn it back on and have to switch it off before I float up too high." Naruto realizes that he has another victim for his floating prank. He better be careful, though, Pervy Sage might guess he is in control of the seal now.

"Why wasn't I told about this?" mutters Pervy Sage. "I bet I coulda helped."

"Grandpa Third said that Iruka-nii is the best sealmaster in Konoha," says Naruto. "How come you would've been able to help, but he couldn't, 'tebayo?"

Pervy Sage stares at Naruto. "Last time I checked, I was the best seal master in Konoha!"

"Well, you aren't anymore!"

"I might've been back then!"

"Who cares: that was then!" Naruto crosses his arms. "Now are you going to teach me the summoning jutsu or not?"

"FINE!" Pervy Sage relents, exasperated (Naruto learned that word from Grandpa). "But first you have to drain all your chakra."

"But you just said I don't have enough chakra for the jutsu!" protests Naruto.

"Oh so NOW he pays attention!" whines Pervy Sage. "Kid, have you ever noticed a second chakra inside you that maybe comes out when you get upset or something?"

Naruto thinks about this with his arms crossed and his face screwed up. Another chakra that comes out when he is mad. That's what happened on the bridge in the Land of Waves. Grandpa Hokage said it was the Nine Tailed Fox's chakra. "Are you talking about the Nine Tail's chakra?" asks Naruto, cocking his head to one side. "When I went to the Land of Waves with my team, I got mad in a fight and some angry red chakra came out of nowhere. Grandpa Third said it was the Nine Tails' chakra."

"Oh good, you do know about it," says Pervy Sage, sounding relieved. "The main reason I am teaching you the summoning jutsu is so you can learn how to pull out a small amount of the Fox's chakra - small enough that you can control it, but not so small that it's less than your own. To do that, you need to do a jutsu that takes more chakra or better chakra control that you currently have. Which is why you need to get rid of all your chakra before doing the jutsu: so you are forced to tap into the Fox's power. Do you understand?"

Naruto thinks about this. "So do you mean that I have to do a jutsu I don't have enough chakra for so I can learn to use the Fox's chakra instead, 'tebayo?"

"Yes," nods Pervy Sage, crossing his arms self-importantly.

"And you want me to get rid of my chakra so only the Fox's chakra is left and I have to use it, 'tebayo?"

"Exactly."

"But isn't that stealing?"

"STEALING?!" shouts Pervy Sage. "HOW IS ANY OF THIS STEALING?"

"Well, you said I have to use the fox's chakra for the summoning jutsu," says Naruto. "But if I take his chakra, then that's stealing, because it doesn't belong to me. Grandma says taking something that isn't yours is stealing, and stealing is bad." Naruto nods a few times to emphasize his point.

"B...b...but...but...but...the whole fox belongs to you!" says Pervy Sage, his eyes wide and his mouth open.

"But isn't that slavery?" asks Naruto. "Grandma said slavery is bad too."

"But you were given the Nine Tails so you can use its power!" protests Pervy Sage. "Why are you thinking so hard about this?"

Naruto stares at Pervy Sage. "I thought the fox was sealed into me to protect the village." The village. Not Naruto. But what if he is meant to be using the fox's power? Does that make his dad a bad man for imprisoning another being? Naruto is confused. Then something occurs to him. Grandpa Hokage said that all the Tailed beasts were imprisoned in people. Do those people take the tailed beasts' power? Are they bad people too?

"Earth to Naruto!"

Naruto looks up at Pervy Sage, halting his line of thought and making a mental note to come back to it later.

"Stop thinking so hard!" he says. "The tailed beasts are evil, and jinchuuriki must learn to control their power so they do not unleash great evil on the world."

Naruto frowns. Something about that statement doesn't feel right. "But how do you know they are evil? Maybe they just hate humans? Why do we imprison them in people, anyway? Couldn't we befriend them?"

Pervy Sage stares at Naruto like he's grown an extra head. "The Tailed Beasts have only hatred for the human race! Every chance they get, they will try to kill as many of us as they can! We have to imprison them to protect ourselves, since they cannot be killed!"

"But that doesn't give us the right to steal their power!" counters Naruto, angry, and very confused.

"But you have it, so why are you so against using it?" demands Pervy Sage.

"Because it feels wrong!" yells Naruto. "I'll do that stupid summoning jutsu! But I'll do it with my own chakra! I don't care if you think I can't! You don't even know me!"

"Oh yeah?" Shouts Pervy Sage. "If you think you can do it with your own chakra, show me!"

Naruto glares at Pervy Sage and says, "Show me the jutsu."

Pervy Sage bites his thumb, slaps his hand on the ground and says, "Summoning jutsu!" a rather large toad appears in a puff of smoke.

"Now you try," says Pervy Sage.

Naruto bites his thumb, slaps his hand on the ground and says, "Summoning jutsu!" while pouring as much chakra as he can into the jutsu. There is a puff of smoke, and a tiny little tadpole appears.

"That was pathetic!" says Pervy Sage. "Try again!"

Naruto glares at him, but does as he is told.

Sasuke falls face-first onto her bed. "I hate everyone," she mutters. Her kitten jumps up and sits on her back. "Yes, you too." Sasuke feels tired to the bone. She thought she trained hard before, but when Kakashi sensei is serious, he takes the meaning of intense training to whole new levels. If she is not sore all over in the morning, it will be a miracle.

Sasuke's window darkens. She looks up, barely raising her head. Naruto is sitting on her windowsill looking tired and miffed. "What do you want?" she demands half heartedly.

"How was your first day of training?" he asks.

"Exhausting."

"I learned how to walk on water."

"So did I, but then I did a lot of running with weights on."

"I have to learn summoning so I can expand my chakra."

"You already have a ton of chakra, though," mutters Sasuke. "Lucky little sod."

"Yeah, but Pervy Sage - my godfather - keeps making fun of my chakra control. He says it's terrible."

"But it's not even that much worse than mine," complains Sasuke. "Does that mean my chakra control is bad too?"

"I guess…" Naruto shrugs. "It did take you just as long as me to get the tree-walking down."

"What do you really want?" Sasuke asks.

"If…" Naruto trails off.

"If what?" Sasuke is curious now.

"If someone told you to take something that didn't belong to you," says Naruto is a rush. "And they said it was okay, but you thought it would be wrong to take that thing and use it for your own benefit without even consulting the owner, would that make you a bad person?"

"Yes," says Sasuke. "If you can, you should ask the owner. What are you talking about anyway? Did someone ask you to steal something?"

"Well, that's the thing: Pervy Sage doesn't think it's stealing."

"But you do, and it's bothering you."

"Yeah."

"I don't know what you should do. Why are you even asking me?"

"Madoka agreed with Pervy Sage, but I don't know…"

"Then asks your Grandparents, and actually explain the situation to them."

"Thanks Sasuke," says Naruto, grinning. "You're a good friend." Naruto runs off, leaving Sasuke alone with her kitten.