Gamabunta sucked on his pipe a bit and sighed.
On the other side of the valley was the little blonde kid, he'd 'snuck out' to practice one of his techniques, one that actually caused considerable damage to himself as well as his enemies.
However, it seemed that being in Sage Mode negated that damage considerably, or at least... the enhanced healing factor aided in reversing the damage, because he had no problem throwing a few of them around. Once the Nature Chakra in his body ran out, he simply popped one of the Shadow Clones sitting off to the side, gathering more Nature Chakra for him.
He was glad they'd figured that aspect of Shadow Clones out, otherwise the kid would have been in trouble, since the Fox kept Ma and Pa from 'fusing' with him to continue gathering Chakra while he fought.
Five minutes may seem like a lot of time in a Ninja battle, where speed was everything (speed in movement, where finishing them quickly was paramount), but when fighting against stronger opponents, where using Nature Chakra was necessary, every second of those five minutes counted even more. Once those five minutes were up, that was it. You will have used your trump card, and it was gone, your opponent would know it.
But with a few Shadow Clones waiting off to the side, simply pop one either just before, or just after the time was up.
Of course, that five minutes didn't factor in when he started using Chakra and throwing Jutsu around. That would greatly lessen the time.
"Persistent, isn't he?" Pa asked from beside him. Gamabunta just grunted.
"He should be in bed. Nature Chakra or not, Fox or not, he's not doing himself any favors by training like this instead of sleeping." He said.
"Ah, to be young again." Pa sighed, and looked at the Toad chief slyly. "I seem to recall you sneaking out all the time to train more, back when you were barely out of tadpole stage." Pa raised an eyebrow at the other toad.
"And how many times did I collapse and have to be treated for exhaustion, setting back my training time?" Gamabunta asked with a glare.
Pa shrugged. "I'll let him go for a bit longer before dragging him back to bed." He assured. "What are you doing up?" He asked after a moment.
"Thinking." He said, and Pa just stared at him. "Gamakichi was talking in his sleep again." He muttered after a moment.
"Didn't you get earplugs for that?" Pa asked in amusement.
Gamabunta scowled. "I thought I did. Can't find them." He was pretty sure Gamatatsu hid them again.
Pa chuckled, earning a glare from Gamabunta, which died down when he saw Naruto pop his last Clone and start throwing more Rasenshuriken. "He didn't make more clones." He noted. "He'll probably go back in on his own soon." Pa yawned and stood up. "I will see you in the morning, 'Bunta." He said, and left.
"Good-night." Gamabunta said, almost absently as he watched Naruto train, and flashed back to when he first met the little brat.
He snorted. "Persistent, indeed." He muttered, and sucked on his pipe again, watching the stars.