"Kaa-chan, I did it... I made it to the finals of the chunin exams," Naruto said as he sat by his mother's grave. "I wished you could see me now, or maybe you are seeing me now… I'm going to train my hardest and win my fights. If only to go to the finals and fight Sasuke. How do I know I'm going to fight him in the finals? Well, he is my rival. It's not right if you don't believe a rival can meet your level."
He placed a bouquet of white lilies on her grave and gave her a silent prayer. He found out that lilies were one of his mother's favourite flowers from Hiruzen. "Kaa-chan, don't worry about me too much. I remember all your advice and will keep myself safe. Just enjoy your time in the pure world and take care. I know Tou-san is not with you and is technically in the stomach of a god but I know you're not lonely either. There's probably many past friends and comrades there to keep you company. I love you. I'll see you again, Kaa-chan." With that, Naruto disappeared with the wind. The flowers and the tears that stained her grave were the only evidence he was ever there.
Naruto was heading to an area in the nearby forest where he could train. Kakashi said that he would be training Sasuke alone while Shikamaru would be training with his father. Naruto was quite disappointed that he was essentially left alone but Kakashi said that the Hokage had someone who called dibs on training him. 'I wonder who will be training me?'
Naruto reached a clearing in the forest of Konoha. The evergreen trees surrounded him as the leaves danced in the light. The clearing was near a river where he could get food if needed and it was also near his home. He summoned several clones that practised on his taijutsu. He had one working on his father's taijutsu, one working on his mother's taijutsu, another practising the basic academy style taijutsu. After dispelling these clones, he would slowly integrate them to create his own unique style.
His fight with Orochimaru made him realise how much more his taijutsu needed to improve. He had an idea of the style he wanted but it was still long before he completed it. While the clones practised on taijutsu, he had another clone climb a tree and stick upside down to it. In his palms were leaves which he stuck to various parts of his body. His goal was to remain stuck to the tree while the leaves stuck to him with chakra until the clone fully exhausted its chakra.
Meanwhile, he was learning a new water jutsu, Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu (Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu). It was easily the hardest jutsu Naruto had to perform to date. It was a B-rank jutsu that had 44 hand seals to make. It also needed an external water source to create unless he had a complete mastery over water manipulation like the Nidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju. He didn't make any clones to help him with the jutsu as he needed to gauge the amount of chakra it needed first.
After a few hours of training, he was panting and sweating profusely. He took off his shirt which was now drenched with sweat and sat in a meditative position. He dispelled his clones and gained nearly 10 hours worth of memories. Kurama had taught him how to organise his memories such that he need not dispel the clones one at a time. As he sorted out his memories, he created another clone to catch some fish and another to start a fire.
With Clone Naruto
Naruto walked to the nearby river and he heard some giggling. He pushed through some bushes and saw that a group of girls were having fun playing in the water. However, the giggling didn't seem to come from them and instead to his right. He walked towards the sound and saw a man with long white hair and a red haori perched on a rock behind some shrubs. He had binoculars on the girls and was writing some things down while perversely giggling.
Naruto shook his head and ignored it. He went to the river and walked on the water ignoring the girls who were staring at him with blushes on their cheeks. He forgot that he was shirtless but it was too late now. He waited for a few minutes before he reached into the water and quickly grabbed the three fish that swam under him. As he turned away, he whispered to the girls, "do you guys see the bushes behind me?" He asked. They nodded in return. "You guys might want to check it out. You might find something or rather someone," he said with a wink and left in a shunshin.
Naruto appeared back at the clearing where a fire was ready. He left the fish for the original as he dispelled himself.
As Naruto gained memories of his clone, he smirked and a few moments later, he could hear shouts of pain coming from the direction of the river.
Naruto sat by his fire eating the fish he caught when he felt someone watching him. "Want some fish? I have extra," he said as the man walked towards him and sat beside him.
"Thanks gaki or should I say no thanks after you destroyed my research," he said as he took a bite of the fish. "Don't you know it's common courtesy to not disturb a man doing research?"
Naruto scoffed.
"What?! You dare insult my ways, do you know who I am?" the man said, clearly taking offence.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked as he looked at him quizzically.
'Tsk, the brats nowadays.' The man jumped and took a pose, hands outstretched. "I am the legendary Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku, one of the Legendary Sannin, the toad hermit, Jiraiya! That is who-" before he finished, he was sent flying into a nearby tree by Naruto. Jiraiya stood from the broken tree he crashed into and stared at the boy who just punched him. "What the hell?!"
"Oh I knew exactly who you were, I just needed to make sure. That's for leaving me alone after my parents died, Godfather…" Naruto said, staring at him with the same blue eyes his father had before he let out a sigh. "It's fine, we're good now. I just promised myself to deck you once when I saw you. I don't hold any grudge towards you," he continued.
Jiraiya looked at him with guilt. He abandoned the boy at his time of need and here he was forgiving him easily. Not everyone had the strength to forgive easily and move on. "So you know about your parents, huh?" He asked as he sat beside him.
"Yeah, since I became a genin. What are you doing here? Orochimaru?" Naruto asked.
"Sensei called me back when my ex-teammate made an appearance. He said you fought him and managed to escape with your team. That's quite impressive. Not many fight against an S-rank shinobi and live to tell the tale," he said. There was a silence between them as they stared into the fire in front of them before Jiraiya spoke, "I'm sorry, gaki. I should've been there with you but I left the village."
"Honestly, the reason I probably don't hate you like I should is because there were people with me in the village who helped me and cared for me," he said as the faces of his precious people flashed through his mind. "Besides, I asked Jiji about you after I found out about everything. I was pretty pissed but then he explained your job and its importance and how you kept tabs on me once in a while. It took a while before I let go of my anger towards you." 'And a lot of clones too…' he thought. "Although…you can help me now."
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow; however, internally he already knew what Naruto was going to ask. "Will you train me for the Chunin exams finals?" He asked.
"No," he said as a look of disappointment washed over Naruto's face. "Unless, of course you prove yourself worthy of training under the great Toad Sage!" He continued as he stood up and got into a fighting stance.
Naruto raised an eyebrow at this before he nodded. "Should I take off my weight seals?"
"No, we will spar with them on at first and you can deactivate them later on," Jiraiya said after a bit of consideration.
Naruto smirked as he knew he need not hold back against Jiraiya. He is one of the sannin after all. His heart started pumping faster at the prospect of battle and he could feel the adrenaline running through his veins. Naruto launched at Jiraiya with a right kick aimed for his head. Jiraiya easily blocked it with his left arm as he tried to grab Naruto's right leg. However, Naruto threw a kunai which caused Jiraiya to dodge.
Jiraiya rushed in and engaged Naruto in a bout of taijutsu. Punches, kicks, jabs, grabs none of them seemed to hit Jiraiya. It was just like his battle with Oroxhimaru. However, he was also unharmed as he used his speed to dodge and move. 'Move like water. Flow and move in sync with your opponent. That is the main aspect of the Uzumaki Clan's taijutsu,' were some of the words Kushina used to describe her taijutsu style .
'Impressive taijutsu, I can see that he uses his speed well like his father. His movement is also very fluid. Now let's see that ninjutsu,' Jiraiya thought as he jumped away and went through hand seals. " Katon: Endan (Fire Style: Flame Bullet)! "
Naruto saw the large fire ball moving towards him and knew that Jiraiya was stepping up a level. He made the tiger hand seal and spat out a large volume of water, " Suiton: Sujinheki (Water style: Water Wall) ".
'He knows Suiton? And was that one hand seal?' Jiraiya thought before he turned as his instinct blared at him. He blocked a kick from Naruto before he threw a punch back which caused Naruto to dispel in smoke. The real Naruto appeared behind him with his chest puffed out. ' Futon: Daitoppa (Wind Style: Great Breakthrough) ' Naruto thought as a ball of wind was sent at Jiraiya at point blank range.
It seemed to have hit but Naruto knew better as he could feel Jiraiya's chakra several metres away. His thoughts were proven true when he saw a log shredded into pieces where Jiraiya was previously. Naruto released his weight seals and shot towards Jiraiya.
Jiraiya had used a kawarimi in time to dodge. 'He knows Futon too? What did Kakashi teach this gaki?' Jiraiya saw Naruto speeding towards him as he realised Naruto had taken off his seals. Jiraiya was about to meet Naruto in his run but was caught off guard when the Naruto in front of him disappeared in a blur and was behind him. Jiraiya turned and placed his arms in a cross as he was sent flying back by a kick. 'What was that? It was like a shunshin but at the same time it wasn't?'
Jiraiya righted himself as he landed smoothly, his mouth gaping open. To think that Naruto had grown into such a great shinobi like his father and somehow, Hiruzen had not told him any of this was shocking. The only thing he was told was that Naruto lived with Kakashi and was training under him. He shook his thoughts away as he saw Naruto coming towards him.
Jiraiya prepared himself for anything that Naruto threw at him. Currently, he is very unpredictable. Naruto smirked and prepared the first ever jutsu that he created. 'Let's see how you handle this jutsu, pervert.' " Henge: Oiroke no Jutsu (Transformation: Sexy Jutsu)! " Naruto exclaimed as Jiraiya's eyes widened to extreme ratios. Naruto transformed into a beautiful blonde woman with an exceptional figure and the most powerful part of the jutsu being that she is naked. Blood streamed from Jiraiya's nose as he fell back and fainted from the blood loss.
'Hmm…Maybe I should've used the jutsu from the start…' Naruto thought as he summoned two clones to carry Jiraiya and place him in much more comfortable position.
Jiraiya came to fifteen minutes later and was immensely impressed with Naruto. "That was an interesting jutsu, Gaki! You have to teach-" Jiraiya was cut with a swift no from Naruto. Jiraiya hung his head in sadness before he perked up again and addressed some things he learned from the fight. "You can use Suiton and Futon jutsu with one hand seal?" He asked.
"Yup, have been for a while," he replied.
"How? It usually takes months or even years for someone to master jutsu like that," he said.
"Did Jiji not tell you?" He asked as he tilted his head to the side.
"Tell me what?"
Naruto made the half ram seal and 300 clones appeared around them. Jiraiya's eyes were popping out of his head and his mouth was gaping. "That monkey bastard! How did I not know this?! Oh ho ho I'm going to get him back for this." 'It technically did take him months to master the jutsu. Only those months were hundreds of clones.'
"How would you like to become my apprentice, Naruto? It's been a long time since I taught the Yondaime. How would you like to be my next student?" Jiraiya asked with hope in his voice.
Naruto's eyes lit up. "Really?"
Jiraiya nodded. He was going to make a goddamn great shinobi out of this kid, maybe even the greatest ever. He had the potential greater than that of Minato.
"YATTA!"
"Come back here tomorrow morning at nine and we'll discuss the details. I have some "things" to tend to right now," he said as he jumped away.
"I'll see you, Ero-sennin!" Naruto exclaimed.
"That name better not stick Gaki!" Jiraiya's voice was heard from the distance.
'Oh it definitely will…'
'Should I cook?' Naruto thought as he was in the shower. 'Nah… I'll eat some Ichiraku's.' Naruto stepped out of the shower and decided to dress casually. He wore black pants and an orange tee with the Uzumaki clan symbol on the back. Of course, he never forgot to wear his mask. He shunshin onto the roof before he made his way to the best ramen stall in the world.
"Yo, Teuchi-ossan. I'll have my usual," Naruto said as he took a seat.
"OK!" Teuchi replied as he started cooking three bowls of ramen.
"Naruto-Kun, it's been a long time since I've seen you this casual," Ayame said as she took in Naruto's appearance.
"Well, since I'm part of the chunin exams finals, I can't take any missions and I'm already done with training so no reason to be so serious," Naruto said as the first bowl of ramen was placed in front of him.
After going through his bowls of ramen, he sensed a familiar chakra signature behind him. He turned around to see a square rock. "Konohamaru…There are no square rocks," he said as smoke bombs were thrown from the rock and three figures appeared.
"HA! You've spotted me, just what I expected from my rival!" Konohamaru, who was in between two other children his age, exclaimed.
Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Who are your friends?"
"Hi boss, I'm Moegi Kazamatsuri!" Introduced the girl with orange hair tied up in pigtails.
"Hello boss, I'm Udon Ise," said the boy with snot running from his nose rather shyly.
"And together we are the Konohamaru Army Corps!" They said together as they posed.
Naruto and the Ichiraku family chuckled as they watched the three of them. "What are you guys doing here?" Naruto asked. "Shouldn't you be at the academy?"
"Aww come on boss, the academy is so boring. Iruka-Sensei just keeps droning on and on and it's soooo boring," Konohamaru said. "Can you play with us?"
"Play what?"
"Play ninja with us!" They exclaimed.
Naruto shook his head as he placed his money to pay for the ramen. He walked up to them and hugged them before using a shunshin. They appeared on the third Hokage's stone head. The three academy students were very disoriented from their first time using a shunshin. "My bad, I should've warned you. The shunshin can be quite a lot for the first time."
After the three of them got their bearings, he asked them to sit down. "What do you think of the view?" He asked as he leaned against one of the Hokage's stone hair.
"It's very pretty boss, you can see everything from here!" Konohamaru exclaimed.
Naruto nodded in agreement as he stared out at the village. After a few moments, he asked, "I have a question, what do you guys dream to be in the future?" He got confused looks from the children, wondering what brought such a sudden question.
Although confused, they still answered, "I want to be the greatest Hokage ever! Just like my Jiji!" Konohamaru exclaimed.
"I want to be a jonin sensei," Udon said, surprising Naruto. Not everyone wants to be a jonin sensei.
"I want to be a great Kunoichi like Tsunade Senju! The best of the sannin!" Moegi exclaimed.
Naruto smiled, they were all amazing dreams to aspire for. "Those are good aspirations, but how do you plan to achieve them? Obviously, you need to first graduate from the academy. You see, I used to think that the academy was boring and useless too. I wanted to just learn jutsu and become a shinobi already. However, I soon realise that you learn many things at the academy books can't teach you. You learn the importance of bonds, the history of the great village you see in front of you, the basics of all shinobi. Someone always told me that a strong foundation creates a strong shinobi," he said as he pointed towards the village. "You should not skip the academy just to play ninja. It's never too early to train to be actual ninjas."
The three of them hung their heads in embarrassment and guilt. Although, Naruto was not scolding them directly, to them it sure felt like it.
"However, that doesn't mean you can't have fun. Use your recess and lunch times to spend time with your friends. Play with them. After the academy ends, spend time with your families, go out and eat with others, build bonds. What I'm trying to say is don't underestimate the academy and it's never too early to start. You get me?" Naruto got three nods and ruffled their hairs.
"Boss, how did you have fun?" Udon asked.
Naruto smirked under his mask. He urged them to come closer and whispered, "have you guys heard of the Academy's Devil's Prankster?" Three sets of eyes widened as they looked towards Naruto who nodded and placed his finger on his lips as a sign for them to keep it a secret.
"There are many things you can do when you master the basics of shinobi. If you do need any help with some "stealth", you can always ask me," he said with a wink.
Their eyes lit up and they nodded furiously. "OK, good. Now let's return to the academy," he said as he shunshin them to Iruka's office.
Iruka was sitting at his desk eating some instant ramen as he thought about his students. Three of his students skipped the academy and he didn't know what to do about it. He already tried talking to them but to no avail. Suddenly, a group appeared in a shunshin beside him. Iruka was shocked to see the three students on his mind and Naruto.
"Hey, Iruka-sensei! I have a delivery for you. I don't think they will skip any more lessons. Now what do you say?"
The three academy students looked towards Iruka and bowed, "sorry, Iruka-sensei..."
Iruka was stunned. "Oh… apology accepted."
Naruto nodded his head. 'I've done good today,' he thought proudly. "Iruka-sensei, I'll leave them to you. We should get ramen some day," he said as he disappeared in a shunshin.
Iruka wanted to speak more to Naruto but he already disappeared.
The next day, Naruto met up with Jiraiya as planned. They came up with a training plan, Naruto would create three clones to practise taijutsu with one Jiraiya clone supervising them. Another Jiraiya clone would supervise about 50 clones as they practise elemental jutsu. As a Sannin, Jiraiya had access to jutsu that Naruto didn't so he could learn stronger and more powerful jutsu. Naruto himself would practise fuinjutsu with the real Jiraiya. Although he was good at fuinjutsu, he still had a long way to go before becoming a master.
After training for a while, Jiraiya called for Naruto to take a break and dispel all his clones. Jiraiya was quite impressed with Naruto's mental capabilities. If anyone else had gained the memories of 50 clones, they would've fainted. "So, what are we doing next Ero-sennin?" Naruto asked as he chugged down some water.
Jiraiya unscrolled the large scroll on his back for Naruto to see. "This is the Toad Summoning Scroll. I plan for you to sign the scroll and become a toad summoner," Jiraiya said.
Naruto had sparkles in his eyes, "really?" He asked.
"Of course. You're going to be an apprentice of mine, of course I will make you a toad summoner!" Jiraiya exclaimed as he ruffled Naruto's hair. "Now all you have to do is write your name on the scroll in your blood."
Naruto nodded and opened a wound on his palm. He swiped some of the blood with his thumb and bent down to write on the scroll. Before he started writing, something caught his attention. 'Tou-san…' He saw his father's name as the most recent summoner. 'I'm going to be a toad summoner just like you tou-san,' Naruto thought as he wrote his name in blood.
After writing down his name, Jiraiya taught him the hand seals. "Ok, all you need to do is try to summon a toad. The best would be to summon the chief toad but he needs a lot of chakra to summon. So let's start small," Jiraiya said aas Naruto nodded.
Naruto weaved through the hand seals and slammed his hands on the ground, " Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu) !" he exclaimed as a seal array appeared under him and puff of smoke. A small orange toad appeared from the smoke. "Yo," the toad said with a wave. "Yo," Naruto replied.
"Who are you?" The toad asked.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the new toad summoner. You're the first toad I summoned," he said.
The toad looked towards Jiraiya who nodded, ensuring that it was the truth. "I see…I'm Gamakichi and since I'm the first toad you summon, that means I'm going to be your familiar." Gamakichi said as he extended a fist out.
Naruto bumped fist with him. "I think we'll get on just fine, Gamakichi."
"You got that right bro. But looks like you still need to summon my father first, the chief, to get his blessings," he said as he hopped onto Naruto's head.
Naruto concentrated and put in three times more chakra than he used previously and went through the hand seals. " Kuchiyose no Jutsu !" A much larger sealing array appeared and a giant puff of smoke appeared.
"Jiraiya, why did you summon me?!" The large red toad spoke as it smoked from a pipe.
"Hello, Chief toad sir!" Naruto called from on top of his head. "I was the one who summoned you!" At the same time, he extended his senses to find that Jiraiya had run far away. 'Wonder what's got him spooked?'
"That's right tou-san, I saw him summon you!" Gamakichi exclaimed.
'This must be Minato's kid. The resemblance is uncanny.' "I am Gamabunta the Chief Toad. Why did you summon me boy?" He asked.
"I was told that I needed to summon you to fully become a toad summoner. So how do I do that?" He asked.
'Since he's Minato's kid, let's play around with him for a bit…' Gamabunta thought. "I don't let anyone stand on my head, boy. If you manage to stay on top of my head, you will become a toad summoner." He said as he started leaping around. Naruto was shocked but quickly recovered and used chakra to stick onto his head. Gamakichi also had to hold onto Naruto's hair with dear life. Gamabunta took a large leap and Gamakichi started slipping. Naruto saw this and took him into his jacket pocket as he held onto Gamabunta with both his hands.
After a while, Gamabunta stopped leaping and Naruto's world was spinning from the motion. After a while, he regained his bearings and gave a thumbs up to Gamabunta. "I did it, boss!"
'Impressive. Minato was the last man to ever stay on my head and his son is much like him. Now let's see if he really is like Minato or maybe he has his mother in him…' "One last test, boy. You must drink with me," he said. 'Minato was too cautious to drink at such a young age. The kid's still a teen, let's see if he'll drink.'
Naruto contemplated for a while before he said, "Ok, I'm in. You providing?" He asked, shocking Gamabunta before he smiled.
Gamabunta placed him and Gamakichi on the ground before disappearing in a puff of smoke. "You did it, bro. You're now officially a toad summoner!" Gamakichi exclaimed from on top of his head.
Jiraiya came out from the tree line looking sheepishly. "I heard you guys were drinking?
Fast forward two weeks
Naruto was meditating by a lake with Gamakichi by his side. Jiraiya had a mission to run for a few days so he was on his own. Naruto was regulating his breathing and calming down his emotions. A figure could be seen dashing through the forest towards Naruto's location. Gamakichi was about to warn Naruto but Naruto placed a hand on his head, indicating that he knew. Naruto took a deep breath in before he turned swiftly and his blade met head on with another's.
"Long time no see, Nee-chan," Naruto commented as he relaxed his stance.
"Good to see that you're not letting your guard down Naruto-kun," Yugao said before her eyes panned to Gamakichi. "You're a toad summoner now?"
"Yup. Ero-sennin made me sign the contract and now I'm a summoner," he said. "This is Gamakichi, my familiar."
Gamakichi waved and gave his customary "yo".
Yugao raised an eyebrow at Naruto's nickname for Jiraiya but never commented further on it. 'The toad's just like him and Kakashi with their carefree attitude. Not another one…' Yugao thought with a sigh.
"Hokage-sama said that Jiraiya-sama was on a mission and sent me here to help you out," she said as she got into her stance.
"Oh how nice of him," Naruto said as he got into his stance. He had yet to have a proper fight with Yugao since his mission to the Land of Iron. So Yugao had yet to see the full extent of his style. He released his weight seals as Yugao wouldn't have it any other way. Gamakichi stood in between the two and started the spar. The two of them rushed towards each other, weapons drawn and ready to strike. "Clang!" Their blades met in the middle.
Naruto was sprawled out on the ground, heavily breathing. "Damn I still lost even with my new style," he said.
"Don't be so down, Naruto-kun. You certainly have improved. You can't just go and be a master swordsman overnight," Yugao said as she gave Naruto a bottle of water. "The style fits you well. In a few years, you will be a force to be reckoned with for sure."
Naruto stood up with a sigh. "OK. That was a great session though, nee-chan. I came quite close a few times. Come on, let's go eat some ramen. I'm starving," he said as they made their way to Ichiraku's. It was currently late into the afternoon, nearly evening. Gamakichi had gone back home during their training as the summon time ended.
Naruto would train with Yugao for the next few days or so before Jiraiya returned for the last few days to continue. 'I wonder how Sasuke and Shikamaru are doing,' he thought.
In a cave near konoha, Sasuke sneezed and fell into the water he was standing on causing him to electrocute himself. Meanwhile, at the Nara household, Shikamaru sneezed and dropped a cup of coffee he was holding and got beat by his mother for staining the carpet.
