Author's note: Another chapter here. This one comes with an illustration. You can find it on my DA profile, well, you know the dril. Another piece of good news: There should be at least two fast updates after this one.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I write this purely for fun. Is there anyone who thinks stories on are for anything else?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battlefield~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was hard to tell when exactly the battle ended. There wasn't any great bang to announce it. But gradually, when a Konoha or Suna ninja finished off his opponent and looked for another, they realized that they had to walk far to find one. Or there wasn't one in sight at all. All the Iwa ninja were either dead or escaped.

The cost of the victory was great. As the battle was nearing its end and the Iwagakure forces realized they were about to lose, they decided to take as much enemies down as they could. Whoever knew some dangerous forbidden and usually suicidal jutsu, picked the strongest Konoha or Suna ninja they could see and used it on them. Whoever had some Explosive Tags left, slapped them to their vest and hugged an enemy before blowing them all up. Those who had neither simply attacked with their last reserves of chakra and weapons. They died, but many shinobi of Suna and Konoha died with them. The battle was over, but the nightmare was only beginning.

The medical tents were overcrowded with patients. The medical ninja were trying their hardest to treat them, but there were too many and the medics were already feeling the strain. Among them Hana was struggling to stay upright. She ignored the glares her colleagues sent her for going into the battle instead of staying behind. She couldn't regret it. Rescuing her teammate came first and she had been able to help a lot. The Haimaru brothers' noses had helped them a lot on the way back, warning them of danger even the S-rank ninja in the group couldn't detect so easily. Thanks to them they were able to reach the medical tents without having to fight really strong or numerous enemies again. She had been so relieved when they finally reached the medical tents and could hand the horribly burnt Naruto and still slightly dazed Gaara to real doctors who still had some chakra left. Her relief disappeared when the medic took one look at Naruto and declared him a lost cause, because nobody could survive without his skin, but that man knew nothing about Naruto's regenerative abilities. New skin was already growing beneath the layers of blood and dust. With a little help of medical ninjutsu, Naruto would be alright in a couple of days.

After making sure that Naruto was going to make it, she was drafted to help the doctors. She overdosed on Soldier Pills to muster at least some chakra for her jutsu and even that energy was slowly but surely running out. Soon she'd be reduced to simply bandaging the wounds, if she wouldn't outright collapse. She definitely would be out of commission comes tomorrow or maybe even sooner. But it didn't matter. Her team was alive. They won the battle. Not everything was alright with the world, but she could hope that it would be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~After the battle~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When morning came, the allied camp was still full of activity. Most of the wounded were already taken to the medical tents, but that didn't mean there was nothing left to do. All around the survivors of the battle were searching for their friends and teammates, some of them rejoicing upon finding them alive, others crying openly when they found out their precious people were dead. For once the shinobi rule #25 was being broken shamelessly and nobody cared.

Close to one of the medical tents Teono-sensei was debriefing her team, commenting on their good teamwork and bad combat abilities. She promised them tougher training to whip them into shape, but berated them not to forget strategy, lest they'd end up like certain musclehead excuses for ninja she knew and couldn't stand. Even if she didn't say any names, her team knew who she meant. Her rivalry with Youkou was legendary in Suna.

A bit away, Museitabi Asami and Mitarashi Anko were exchanging tips on being creepy, sexy and scarily creepily sexy. The men who were unfortunate enough to catch bits of their conversation turned pale and ran as fast as their legs would carry them. They still felt that it wasn't far enough. Even if they ran as far as Tea Country, it wouldn't be.

Right in the middle of the camp, Maito Gai and Youkou and their teams were deciding the result of their Youthful/Spirited contest, much to the chagrin of all the other shinobi in the camp who wished they would take it somewhere else. Preferably another continent.

"So how many Iwa ninja have you killed?" Youkou asked his students.

"We lost count," Mizue admitted sheepishly.

"We lost count too," Tenten said, looking at Gai-sensei apologetically.

"That's unyouthful!" the Green Beast of Konoha exclaimed. "How can we decide our Youthful contest now?" Youkou nodded. It was bad enough that their own private contest remained undecided. Though if he were completely honest with himself, he'd have to concede that they both lost and Teono had won. But he disliked the woman too much to ever admit she was superior at anything.

"How can we prove our Blazing Spirits are superior?" The three genin and three chuunin looked at each other. Now was the time to begin their master plan.

"We joined our forces to defeat more enemies," Mizue said.

"Together we were unstoppable," Toshiro added.

"We crushed the Iwa ninja twice as fast together," Tenten said.

"They couldn't stand against our joined forces," Neji added.

"Is that so?" Gai asked. They all nodded. "I'm so proud of my youthful students!" And he really was. He and Youkou needed Teono's intervence to begin cooperating, but their students had figured it out on their own. He hugged them tearfully. The Suna team watched them with pity in their eyes in the moment before Youkou hugged them tearfully. Then they shared a look of commiseration.

"Your spirits blaze truly brightly! Much more than ours! We old men wanted a contest, but you saw that the way to go is cooperation and friendship! You are going to surpass us soon!" The Suna team felt actually proud.

"So true!" Gai exclaimed. "Friendship is the youthful way to go! And to strengthen our bonds of friendship, we'll have a youthful training session together!"

"Yes, Gai sensei!" Lee exclaimed, already looking forward to the undoubtedly grueling training.

"Excellent idea!" Youkou agreed. "That way our bond will become even stronger and our spirits will blaze even brighter!"

Everybody else looked at each other in sheer terror. Their master plan had failed. They weren't going to escape the special training no matter what they did. They could just pray that they would survive it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Medical tent~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto woke in the afternoon. He groaned because his whole body felt as if it was on fire. He opened his eyes a crack and saw a white bedcover and his hand completely covered in bandages.

"So you're finally awake."

"Gaara," Naruto recognized the voice. A quick look around revealed that he was sharing the hospital tent with the Sand Siblings and eight more shinobi he didn't recognize. It was really overcrowded. The battle must have been really brutal. Come to think of it, how did it end? He couldn't remember. "The battle?"

"We won," the redhead boy answered.

"Good," Naruto sighed. "My teammates?"

"They stopped by earlier." Naruto sighed gratefully. So Hana and Hotaru were alright. He just regretted he hadn't been able to help them, even if they didn't really need to be protected. There were many of his comrades who needed his strength and he wasn't there to help them during the last part of the battle. Now what had knocked him out? His mind was a bit hazy on that.

He squeezed his eyes shut and remembered. The first thing he recalled was pain. Terrible pain. It almost made him stop, but he preserved. He needed to remember further back to find out what had hurt him so much. There was fighting, fighting, some more fighting... blood and gore paraded in front of his eyes, but still nothing told him what had injured him so. Ah, there it was. The Iwa kunoichi and some weird suicide technique. His whole body hurt even more when he remembered that.

"I'm so pathetic," he said opening his eyes. Gaara stared at him blankly. "Just one ninja nearly took me out."

"You were tired from the battle," Gaara pointed out.

"Still, I should have been better," Naruto insisted. "You could kill assassins when you were six and I couldn't even beat one kunoichi now that I'm ten."

"My sand helped a lot."

"Yeah, your sand," Naruto sighed. "You know, I feel jealous. You get a kickass power from your demon and I got nothing. I got the Kyuubi and it gave me no super ability. It just isn't fair." Gaara didn't know what to say to that, so he stayed silent.

"I'm rambling like some old man," Naruto shook his head after a while. "I really shouldn't be complaining. I got a lot of strength, so who needs some cheap ability."

"You don't sound very convincing," Gaara spoke.

"You're right," Naruto admitted. "I feel cheated. I know it's stupid. I'll just have to work hard to become stronger."

"You already are strong."

"Not quite enough." There was no way to argue that.

"You can become stronger. We both can," Gaara spoke.

"You're right," Naruto smiled. He will become stronger. He could only hope that he'd manage it soon enough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The camp~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Sand Siblings were leaving that day, alongside with most of the Suna forces. Temari and Kankurou were cleared for travel, but Gaara was going to carry them in his sand, much to their mortification. Temari protested that she could walk on her own and Kankurou wanted to ride one of his puppets, but Gaara ignored their protest, saying that they were still injured and he was going to take care of them, like a proper brother should. Naruto, who was finally well enough to get out of bed and had limped to bid them farewell, fell over laughing at their antics. Eventually Kankurou and Temari were seated in Gaara's sand and after a last goodbye the trio took off. Naruto slowly limped back to his bed. He had still a lot of recovering to do before he could train again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Near the battlefield~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as he was released from the infirmary, Naruto headed for a clearing not far away from the fortress. His freshly-regenerated skin was still overly sensitive, but he didn't let the occasionally painful sensation deter him. The last battle gave him a lot to think about. Among it was prominent the thought that he might have to do something like this again. He really didn't like the idea. There were too many close brushes with death. He knew that he was still alive only through sheer dumb luck. Next time it might not hold. And Naruto really didn't want to die.

That brought him to the next conclusion: he was too weak. He could deal with most chuunin no problem, but whenever his clones ran into a jounin, they got dispelled fast. This wasn't a new realization, he had known he wasn't strong enough to defeat a jounin without Kyuubi's assistance before, but this battle brought home just how much it mattered.

"I have to get stronger," he said to no-one in particular. "And I have to do it fast."

He decided that a good way to go about it would be completing his Wind Rasengan, as he called the yet hypothetical jutsu in his mind. If he could do that, he could have torn down the fortress' walls easily. He could have shredded all the Earth Walls and Stone Skins the Iwa ninja used to defend against his attacks. If he just had such an awesome jutsu, he would be unstoppable. The rational part of his brain was telling him that there's no way it would be so easy, but he told it to shut up. The Wind Rasengan just sounded too awesome to worry about such details as its practical use. And besides a trump card was exactly what was missing in his technique arsenal. So working on this was the smart thing to do. And if Kyuubi wouldn't grant him some kickass power, he'd have to develop his own. At least he could say so to anybody who would ask.

With that thought he started the actual training. He extended his hand, palm upwards, concentrated Wind chakra and started spinning it. It was a bit easier than when he had first begun his training. Or maybe it was just his wishful thinking. It had been only about two weeks and he didn't have the opportunity to train every day. But whether he was really improving or not, he was still at the beginning. The chakra wasn't concentrated enough and didn't spin nearly fast enough. He didn't even want to think about how long it would take before this technique would be anywhere near completion. Was it even worth it? Then he thought about how awesome the result would be. Hell yeah, this was totally worth years of effort. And in the meantime this training could help him improve his Whirlwind Fist. Probably.

"What are you doing, gaki?" Naruto nearly jumped as the voice spoke right behind him. The chakra in his palm dissipated.

"Jiraiya! What are you doing here?"

"Testing your situational awareness. If I were an Iwa ninja, you would have been dead already. And you know there might still be Iwa ninja around."

"Yes," Naruto answered sheepishly. "But I didn't want anyone to see this."

"Gaki, you can train in private in Konoha, but not here," the Sannin chastised him.

"I laid traps around," the chuunin defended.

"They weren't much," Jiraiya countered. Naruto looked ashamed. "So what are you practicing? Or is it a secret?"

"Well..." the blond boy mused for a moment whether he should answer or not. "I thought about making the Rasengan from Wind chakra."

"We already talked about it. You have to first master the regular Rasengan before you can add elemental nature to it."

"Now you mention it, we did," Naruto spoke. "But I already mastered the Rasengan. See?" He created a perfect chakra sphere in his right hand.

"Well, that's really good," Jiraiya praised him. "You can start adding elemental nature to it now. But it's something even the Yondaime couldn't do."

"I don't get it," Naruto frowned. "Why do you insist I have to first make the Rasengan and then add chakra nature? That's backwards. I start with the element first and then mold it into shape."

"That's extremely difficult," the Sannin pointed out.

"I noticed," the boy grimaced.

"No progress?"

"Well, yes," Naruto admitted, "but I barely started."

"I still think you're going at it the wrong way," the white-haired man insisted. "You should start with the shape first and then add element."

"But that's something even the Fourth couldn't do. So maybe that's the wrong way to do it," the boy speculated.

"Maybe," Jiraiya shrugged. "When you work on a new jutsu, you never know what's right and what's wrong until you try. It took Minato three years to complete the basic Rasengan. This is bound to take even longer."

"I know," Naruto sighed. "Even if I reduce the time using Shadow Clones, it's still too long."

"So what do you want to do in the meantime?" Jiraiya inquired. "You can't concentrate on a jutsu you might not even complete and neglect other training. That would get you killed, especially during wartime."

"I know. I train other things too. That's why this is going so slow."

"And you need to improve fast," the white-haired man pointed out.

"I know," Naruto sighed.

"So what do you say I'll teach you an awesome jutsu?"

"Really?" the boy perked up. He was always all for learning a new technique, especially if it was supposed to be awesome.

"Really," the man confirmed. "It's something very few people can do."

"So what is it?" Naruto asked with stars in his eyes. Instead of answering, Jiraiya removed the giant scroll from his back and unrolled it dramatically. The white-haired pervert just couldn't help it and had to do everything dramatically, though now it seemed appropriate. Naruto peeked into the scroll. There he saw a list of names written in... was it brown ink? The boy decided that it was safer to think so. Under each name was a handprint. Naruto saw Jiraiya's name among them.

"Impressed?" the Sannin asked. "You should be. This is the one and only Toad contract."

"Really?" Naruto's eyes were shining with excitement. Summoning contracts were rare, almost legendary, and highly prized. Those who held them chose very carefully who else would be allowed to sign them. Naruto had never expected to as much as see one.

"Of course," Jiraiya nodded. "What are you waiting for?" he asked when Naruto was just staring at the scroll in reverence. "Sign it in blood and then make a handprint under it."

"I can?" Naruto still couldn't believe his good fortune.

"Of course," Jiraiya nodded.

"Thanks!" Naruto laughed and sliced his palm. He quickly signed his name and pressed his palm underneath before Jiraiya could change his mind.

"Now the handseals are Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram," the Toad Sage explained. "Smear some of your blood on the palm you had signed the contract with and then slam it onto the ground. Watch." He summoned a man-sized red toad. "Did you catch it?" Naruto nodded. "Now it's your turn."

Naruto took a deep breath, cut his finger again, smeared the blood on his right palm, concentrated his chakra, performed the seals, slammed his right palm into the ground and watched what would happen. There was a cloud of smoke, a rather small one. When it dispersed, it revealed a tiny tadpole writhing on the ground. Naruto looked at it in dismay.

"Looks like you have no talent for this," Jiraiya commented. The big red toad croaked. It sounded as if it was laughing at Naruto. The boy dismissed the poor tadpole.

"I'm going to do it, watch it," the chuunin said. He tried the jutsu again, this time using more chakra. The result was the same. "Again," Naruto scowled dismissing the tadpole. Three times is the charm, so he was going to do it now. He used as much chakra as he could muster. This time he summoned a bigger tadpole. He stared at it with disbelief. Why wouldn't the jutsu work?

He was about to ask when a small green toad suddenly appeared and spat out a scroll. Jiraiya unrolled it and read it quickly. His face turned serious.

"I have to go," he said. "Continue training. Bye!" And then he was gone and the toads too. Naruto sighed. Now he had nobody to ask for tips. He returned to summoning tadpoles.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Training~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto grunted in frustration as the tadpole disappeared in a puff of smoke. At least this one had hind legs, though it wasn't much of a progress. What was he doing wrong? He had the handseals right. He was putting in enough chakra. He was sure he was putting in more chakra than Jiraiya did to summon his man-sized toad. His control was adequate too. So why didn't a fully-formed toad appear? He'd think that with all the effort he put into it, he should get one at least as big as a dog. Even if said dog was one of those tiny floor brushes with legs some rich ladies liked to keep. He wished he could ask someone to help, but with Jiraiya off to who-knows where there was no-one else who would know how this particular summoning worked. And even if he felt desperate enough to actually read about it, there was no library around he could find a book or a scroll in. He had no choice but to figure it out on his own.

'Back to basics,' he thought. So what was he doing wrong? He got the handseals right. He pushed in enough chakra. And... hey, that might be it. He didn't really envision what the chakra was supposed to do and will it to do so, because he had no idea what exactly it was supposed to do. If he could just ask Jiraiya... but the Toad Sage would probably make him figure it out on his own anyway.

So what should he imagine the chakra doing? Forming a toad? No, Kuchiyose no Jutsu didn't create toads, it summoned them. Took them from one place and made them appear in front of the summoner. But how exactly was he supposed to envision this? He had no prior experience with space-time ninjutsu. Well, aside from summoning tadpoles, he thought looking at the small puddle the water dripping from the tadpoles left on the ground. He could use this as a guide.

He concentrated his chakra again and slowly performed the required seals. This time he thought hard about what was supposed to happen. A red toad was sitting near a puddle. He calls on it. The place near the puddle and here become the same spot. The toad appears here. He slammed his bloodied palm on the ground.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" This puff of smoke was noticeably bigger than the previous one. That seemed promising, but Naruto didn't dare to hope, just waited for what the cloud would reveal.

The being inside was red. It was also small. Tiny, indeed. But as Naruto examined it carefully, he saw that it had four legs and no tail. It was a fully-formed toad. Finally! Naruto punched the air in excitement.

"Yo!" the toad said. "So you're the new summoner I've heard about?" Naruto looked at the toad closely. It was about as big as a regular toad, bright orange with deep purple markings and it was wearing a blue vest. From its general appearance and manner of speech Naruto deduced that it's a very young one and a boy. Probably. Now that Naruto thought about it, he realized he had no idea how to tell apart male and female toads. That might lead to some awkward situations in the future. Not that Naruto had a problem with awkwardness.

"Hello," the blond boy greeted. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

"I'm Gamakichi," the toad replied. "Do you have any sweets?"

"Uh, I have just some field rations," Naruto answered.

"Well, that's good too," Gamakichi shrugged. He looked at the young summoner eagerly, obviously expecting a treat.

"Really?" Naruto asked dubiously. "Did you ever have a field ration bar before?"

"No," the tiny toad replied. "I can't wait to try them." The expression on his face made it clear that he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Alright," Naruto said, reaching into his pouch for some ration bars. He hoped that his summon wouldn't start hating him the moment he tried them and tasted just how yucky they were. "Here you are."

"Thanks!" Gamakichi exclaimed. Then he shot out his really long tongue, grabbed the ration bar that was about as big as his body and swallowed it whole. Naruto just blinked. How did it even fit inside? Did he see that right or were his eyes playing tricks on him?

"It's great," Gamakichi smiled. "Have more, bro?" Naruto blinked again. Now his ears were playing tricks on him as well. Never ever he had heard about somebody actually liking the taste of field rations. Sure, many people praised their nutritional qualities and were grateful for them when they were starving, but they all swore they would rather eat their shoes than another ration bar. But this little toad was staring at him hopefully, sincerely wanting another taste. Naruto couldn't understand it until he realized that Gamakichi was a toad and probably had quite different tastes from humans.

"Sure," he said, offering another bar to the small summon. The toad grabbed it, but didn't even try to eat it. Maybe he didn't like it after all?

"I have to bring one home for Gamatatsu," Gamakichi said. "He's just a tadpole, but he already eats more than a grown toad. He'll love this."

"Who's Gamatatsu?" Naruto asked.

"My little bro," Gamakichi answered. "He must be worried where did I go. I have to go. Bye!" And he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto stared at the empty space he used to occupy for a while longer. He didn't like his summon leaving him like this and he didn't like his first summon being a useless baby, but hey, he had finally summoned a real toad. He grinned. He finally got the summoning right. Now it was just a matter of some more training before he could summon huge toads at will. He wanted to try right away, but he had already bled enough in the last two days. Any more and he'd feel the blood loss. Summoning could wait. He should train something else. Like the Wind Rasengan. He started spinning Wind chakra in his hand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Konoha~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When they returned to Konoha, they saw a figure waiting for them at the gates.

"Tenzo-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed. "You're alright already!"

"Did you think I'll stay in the hospital forever?" the jounin smiled.

"Our team is complete again," Hana smiled. Her dogs barked in agreement.

"Still, took you too long," Hotaru remarked. "We could really use you in the battle."

"What was it like?"

They spent next twenty minutes telling him about it.

"So where's your sword?" Tenzo asked after a while.

"Wish I knew," Naruto sighed with a shrug.

"A ninja should keep track of his weapons," Tenzo scowled. "Otherwise he's a dead ninja."

"I was too busy keeping track of incoming jutsu," Naruto replied. "Otherwise I'd be a deader ninja. And I couldn't find it after the battle."

"You still shouldn't have lost it," the jounin insisted.

"I'd like to see you try," Naruto grumbled. "Did you never lose your sword?"

"No," was the flat answer.

"You should have known better than to ask that," Hotaru smiled. "He's the awesome former Anbu after all."

"Don't you ever forget it," Tenzo reminded them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Training grounds~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Naruto was training a few days later, he was startled by Jiraiya suddenly appearing next to him.

"A ninja should keep better track of his surroundings," the Toad Sage lectured.

"We're in Konoha!" Naruto replied.

"That doesn't mean we're safe," the white, haired man pointed out.

"I know," the boy sighed.

"So have you learnt the Kuchiyose no Jutsu already?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yes," Naruto grinned.

"Show me," the Sannin prompted. Naruto nodded and bit his thumb. Five handseals later he slammed his blood-smeared palm on the ground.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" he called. There was a small puff of smoke and Gamakichi appeared.

"Yo!" he greeted cheerfully. "Got any sweets?" Naruto threw him the candy he had prepared just for this occasion. Whenever he trained the summoning, he usually got Gamakichi instead of some actually useful toad. It was a bit frustrating. But he really liked the tiny toad.

"Hello Gamakichi," Jiraiya greeted. "Last time I saw you, you were just a tadpole."

"Hi, Jiraiya. Have you any snacks?"

"Uh..." the Sannin searched his pockets frantically. Naruto sighed and pulled out a bag of sweets he had began carrying around for just this occasion.

"Thanks!" Gamakichi didn't care where his food came from. "So what are we doing today?"

"Jiraiya just wanted to see if I can summon."

"Oh," the toad looked a bit disappointed. "Then I'll bring these to Gamatatsu." He grabbed the bag of sweets and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"I guess it was alright," Jiraiya assessed Naruto's performance. "Now you just need more training. But don't annoy the Toads by calling them too often."

"Alright," Naruto nodded. "So what do you want?"

"Why do you think I want something?" Jiraiya made an effort to look hurt.

"You usually do when you show up. So what is it this time?"

"You're right." The self-proclaimed Super-pervert sounded serious for once. "I came to tell you we're going on another mission. And it's a big one."

"Another big action?" Naruto groaned. "So soon?"

"Yes," Jiraiya confirmed. "Remember how I told you about the Raikage's competence being questioned?" Naruto nodded. "Well, he decided that the best way to show his prowess would be to start a new offensive. And he can't afford to lose, so he's going all out. He even sent Bee with the attack force."

"Bee?"

"You might have heard of him. Jinchuuriki of the Hachibi. He's known as the perfect host. And it's true. No-one else can control their Bijuu as well as he does."

"How does he do it?" Naruto asked, thinking about his trouble with the Kyuubi. If he could make the beast obey him...

"Nobody knows," Jiraiya shrugged.

"So Kumo is attacking Oto?"

"No," the Sannin shook his head. "As they don't know where Oto is either, they did the next best thing and attacked us."

"That sucks," Naruto commented. "So I'm supposed to fight Bee?"

"No," the Toad Sage shook his head. "You'd get slaughtered. Killer Bee is an elite jounin even when he isn't using his tenant. Leave fighting him to others."

"So what do you want me to do?" the boy questioned.

"You know what it means that the Kumo's latest attack is all out?" Jiraiya countered the question with another question.

"That it's really strong and hard to stop?" his pupil guessed.

"Well, that's unfortunately true, but it has another meaning. Can you figure out what?"

Naruto thought about it for a while. "Where did he suddenly get so many ninja?"

"Now you're getting it," Jiraiya smiled. "He weakened the garrison of Kumogakure. So we're going to show him why it was a bad idea."

"Are we going to siege Kumo?" Naruto asked fearfully. Fighting the perfect host of the Hachibi suddenly didn't sound so scary.

"We don't have enough manpower for that. We're going for a simple hit-and-run attack. Sneak in, cause havoc and as much damage as we can, get out before they can retaliate."

"That still sounds dangerous," the chuunin remarked.

"It is," Jiraiya admitted. "But now you've signed the Toad contract, you can get out of there using reverse summoning."

"I've never done that before."

"It's easy," the white-haired man reassured him. "You don't have to do anything. The Toads will take care of it."

"I still don't like it," Naruto frowned.

"You don't have to like it," Jiraiya sighed. "I don't like it either, but unfortunately it's an order."

And that's it for today. The fight for the fortress is finally over.

Next time: The attack on Kumogakure