Hello, thank you for continuing this fic. I hope you enjoy it.

True to Captain Madoro's word, six days had passed when his boat docked in the westernmost island in the Land of Water. Jiraiya and Naruto stayed below deck until after sunset before leaving, taking advantage of the cover of night to minimize suspicion. Naruto kept quiet as they disembarked at Jiraiya's request. He paid little attention to the small conversation his master had with the captain as he developed a migraine while packing up his things.

The near-constant squawking of seagulls above his head did nothing but make it worse.

Jiraiya led his student by the hand past the merchants and their cargo, keeping a low head and a wide berth of the Hidden Mist shinobi who worked as peacekeepers for the island. Only once they were away from the docks and out of earshot of strangers in a secluded alley did Jiraiya take note of his student clutching his head.

"What's wrong, kid? Did you get too used to sea life?" Jiraiya asked.

"I don't think so, Pervy… Gaeru," Naruto said as he sat down and massaged his temples with renewed vigor, "My head has been splitting ever since I started packing away all the books my clones were reading…"

Jiraiya stared at the boy, obviously in pain, before he decided against chiding his student. Instead he began rummaging through his vest. "Hold on, boy. I have some dried ginger for problems like this. We can also find a place to refill our canteens while we check on something," Jiraiya explained.

Naruto looked up with a confused look as his teacher shoved a chunk of ginger the size of his thumb in one hand and helped him back to his feet with the other. Focusing through the pain, he asked, "What gives? Can't I take a breather before we go out, ya know?"

"We can't stay here for long," Jiraiya explained, "This isn't our final destination and this island has shinobi. This port acts as a border of sorts for the Land of Water, so foreign agents like ourselves will need to do our business quickly and move further into the archipelago."

"Uh, I think I understand what you are saying…" Naruto said as he began chewing on the ginger, "But can you use smaller words? My head hurts too much to be hearing words with that many letters, ya know." Naruto continued as he began to walk out of the alley.

"I'm not using that many big words, kid. Just focus on getting your head clear while I find out where this island's holy sites are. You can sleep off your headache there."

"Holy sites? Why are we trying to find shrines?"

"Our cover story is that we are monastic monks on pilgrimage across the shrines of this country," Jiraiya explained, "We will actually be going to these places to not raise suspicion."

"Will these places at least have good beds?" Naruto asked with a grimace.

"The one I am taking us to will," Jiraiya said, "That is a safehouse where you can read and train in peace. I can't make a promise about any of the others."

With a groan and a yawn, Naruto asked, "Can't we just go into the wilderness for an hour and pretend like we did? Seems like it would be easier for us."

"There are a few reasons why we won't do that," Jiraiya explained with a short laugh, "First, it is to make absolutely sure that our cover is not called into question. Complaints like that are not something most monks do, by the way."

Naruto merely rolled his eyes at that and continued massaging his temples.

"Second," Jiraiya continued, "I am using our pious pilgrimage as a way to speak to the common people. We are in the land to gather information, after all. Third, this will give you a better idea how a shinobi of my caliber operates."

Naruto's ears perked up and he straightened his posture in attention at that last remark. While his mind filled with questions, his master continued before he had the chance to speak, "Hopefully your headache passes quickly. In the worst scenario, you will have to tough it out over the next few days. Now that we are in the Land of Water proper, moving about will be easier," Jiraiya explained.

"Easier? But isn't this a war zone?"

"I said nothing about safety, Menma. Only ease," Jiraiya said, "The borders are where shinobi forces are the strongest, second only to the Hidden Mist itself. Now that we have passed that hurdle, I expect to face almost no shinobi or common soldiers going from island to island, so long as we keep a low profile."

"So then are we not going straight to this safe house?" Naruto asked.

"One can never assume they are not followed, boy," Jiraiya confirmed, "If we face no opposition as we travel across a few more islands, then we shall go to our destination."

Naruto nodded in understanding as stood. Taking a relaxed posture, he walked out of the alley into the cool November air. Turning back to Jiraiya with a restrained smile he said, "Lead the way, master. These shrines aren't going to visit themselves you know!"

It was four days and three islands later that Jiraiya informed Naruto that they reached their destination at last. The island was smaller than any of the others they had been to, with a population contained to a small fishing town on the shore. As the pair walked around the town and Jiraiya pretended to ask for directions further inland, Naruto was in awe of the state of the people.

The town looked to be in disarray, with unpainted rotting wood being the main material used for most of the houses. And while the piers that gave the townsfolk access to their boats were well kept, the boats themselves were in just as poor condition as the buildings. These boats had sails instead of engines, appeared to have only one deck, and more than a quarter of the boats Naruto saw were floating low enough to threaten capsizing if the waters were stormy. The people they were speaking to were just as bad. Everyone, even the ones as young as Naruto, had a tired and hardened look on their tanned dirty faces, with plain clothes barely hiding their gaunt builds.

Naruto thought, morbidly, that the seagulls looked to be healthier.

The 'shrine' that Jiraiya brought Naruto to was an hour's journey from the coast. It was located at the base of the small mountain that dominated the island, in a clearing of the forest of breadfruit, screwpine, and tamarind trees that blanketed the island's interior. It was a simple thing to behold after entering through the torii gate, consisting of two buildings of classic architecture and a zen garden. The larger building directly past the gate and garden had large double doors, to which Naruto assumed held the actual shrine. The smaller building to the right of the garden was along the tree line and where Jiraiya immediately approached. It was overall a very quaint and unassuming place, if not for the fact that it was completely abandoned and appeared to be halfway consumed back into nature.

"This shrine is a safehouse that I created in the Third Shinobi World War," Jiraiya explained as he led his student through the dilapidated sliding door, stunning Naruto that it was functional at all. As they entered into what appeared to be a sitting room however, he was taken aback at how pristine the interior turned out to be. It was sparsely furnished, with only thin sitting cushions and a low table in the center and blank walls, but it was pristine in sharp contrast to the exterior.

"That is cool," Naruto said as he began exploring the safehouse, "Can you give me back my headband now?"

With a small laugh, Jiraiya tossed the headband to his student.

"Just make sure you aren't actually wearing that, okay? No one can know that we are shinobi, ESPECIALLY foreign ones."

"I won't, Gaeru!" Naruto shouted from another room, already scurrying off to explore the rooms. After going through more than half without finding the kitchen, Naruto returned to the entry room where his master still stood.

"Is there any food here? I figured that we would have to forage for meat but I want to make sure there is other stuff, ya know. It's hard to figure out what all the rooms are for, by the way, they are all decorated the same. Are we sleeping in separate rooms? I need to put my backpack somewhere. Where is all of your stuff anyway? You haven't had your giant storage scroll since before we got on the first boat, ya know."

Jiraiya waved off his questions as he motioned for Naruto to sit as he spoke, "Yes we will have separate rooms. As for my gear well, that, Naruto, is part of your first lesson now that we are in a secure location. Now watch, there is someone I want to introduce you to," With that, Jiraiya bit his thumb, weaving through hand signs; boar, dog, bird, monkey, ram. He then slammed his hand on the ground shouting, "Summoning Art!"

A cloud of smoke appeared the size of Jiraiya, dissipating as quickly as it appeared, revealing an odd shaped toad. It was black with a blue belly and markings around its eyes and mouth sitting in a meditative position. What Naruto found odd however was that it would have been barely larger than Gamakichi, if not for the fact that its abdomen was encircled in three funny-looking folds that Naruto was almost certain were metallic.

"Hello, Jiraiya! And is that your new apprentice Naruto? I take it that you made it safely to your destination?" the toad asked.

"Indeed! Thank you, Gamaki, for watching over my things," Jiraiya said as he turned to his student before continuing, "Naruto, this is Gamaki. He is one of the scroll toads of Mount Myōboku."

"A what?" Naruto asked with a confused expression on his face.

At that, Jiraiya had a short laugh. "A scroll toad! Do you remember asking me how many toads there are on the mountain? Well Gamaki and the scroll toads are one such example! They are toads that are able to protect things by sealing them away in their bellies, which happen to be scrolls."

"Lord Jiraiya and I have a long history of cooperation," Gamaki explained as his abdomen extended between his folds. He became as tall as Jiraiya when the middle fold began to rotate, revealing to Naruto that his abdomen was indeed a scroll as it unraveled, revealing a storage seal, "Whenever he goes into areas that require more shrewdness than an oversized storage scroll allows, he summons me to secure his personal effects."

Naruto's eyes widened at the display and his mouth turned into a wide grin. "That is so cool! So Gamaki, I would be able to use you to keep all my things as Pervy Sage and I travel?"

Gamaki's face grimaced at the question as he answered, "Sorry Naruto, but I would turn down a request as demeaning as being someone's backpack. When Jiraiya goes on important infiltration missions like this, that is when I am happy to carry his burdens."

"Even if a toad was willing to be your pack animal, I'd shoot it down. A shinobi must travel light after all." Naruto heard Jiraiya say from behind him. Turning around to face him, Naruto addressed his master.

"Okay, so there are cool toads that can keep things in a safe unstealable place. Are there any other kinds of toads that you are keeping from me?"

"I am not keeping any information from you, my student. Anything you want to know is at your fingertips" Jiraiya replied with a smile as he unsealed his things from Gamaki and began rummaging through his satchels.

"Right…" Naruto said in confusion. He moved to sit beside Jiraiya as he continued, "So what is the first thing that we are going to do now that we are in our base? Infiltrate the capital city? The daimyo's secret compound? Wait, are we actually going into the Village Hidden in the Mist itself!?" Naruto asked with a smile that grew wider with each speculation.

"Well I will be going out to pick up some dead drops," Jiraiya said, "You are going to stay here and make sure that our cover story is maintained."

"What?!" Naruto said as he leapt back to his feet, "What, you mean I'm not coming along to help with your super cool, super stealthy spy mission?"

"Yes, I mean exactly that. And I have my reasons for why we are doing this since I just know you are getting ready to back-talk me," Jiraiya said as Naruto crossed his arms in frustration. Ignoring that, his master continued, "Firstly, because you still have books to read. Secondly, you don't know the first thing about advanced infiltration and stealth tactics."

Naruto threw his arms up in frustration. While staring at the corner of the room, he replied, "What?! I managed to lose ANBU pursuing me back in the Hidden Leaf, you know. And anything advanced I would know if you taught me that!"

"You know how to lose track of ANBU in an urban environment, not the Land of Water," Jiraiya retorted, "And I need to go to these meetings NOW and teaching you these skills takes time."

"Well how long will you be away?" Naruto asked as he sighed in resignation.

"It is hard to say," Jiraiya mused as he began rubbing his chin, "I will need to move unseen. I would think at least a week."

"A week!" Naruto balked, "Well what if I finish all of the books and get bored?"

"Even with a clone for each book it will take more than a month to read all the books I left for you. And if you get bored you can summon a toad for company. You have met a handful already so I'm sure the entire mountain knows of you by now."

Naruto found himself at a loss for words, agreeing with the logic of his master. Despite this he was still angry at the situation he found himself in, so in protest he let out an exasperated sigh as he summoned a dozen clones to continue reading his assigned books.

As Naruto stared at the building now full of clones, he shuddered at the idea of actually reading personally at the moment. Deciding to use the remaining daylight, he walked outside into the small garden. His master said himself that he could use summoning for entertainment, so he was going to do exactly that. After all, that small toad Gamakichi seemed to like him. As Naruto bit his thumb and formed the sign of the boar, he froze as a thought flashed through his mind.

'How do I even summon a specific toad? It's always been a random toad or tadpole if I'm not putting everything I have in addition to the Kyubi... Pervy Sage said it's a combination of chakra and focus… Well I know how much to summon the Chief Toad, but I can only do that if I call on the Kyubi's chakra… Guess I'll just use slightly less than that!'

Channeling every gram of chakra he had within him, while keeping just enough so as to not invoke the Kyubi's chakra, he began weaving through hand signs; boar, dog, bird, monkey, ram. While kneeling down to fully place his hand on the ground, he gleefully shouted, "Summoning Art!"

Almost instantly, Naruto got a sinking feeling in his stomach. There was far too much smoke for a toad the size of Gamakichi. This completely blinded him and threatened to send him into a coughing fit. As he began using his hands to fan away the smoke, he noticed that the ground he stood on was no longer the river rocks of the zen garden he was originally standing in when he summoned the toad. This was a bright magenta, slightly squishy, and bumpy. This was almost like… toad skin.

"Oh fuck, I screwed up," Naruto said to himself as he looked up from the toad's head he was on and saw that he now had a clear view of the false shrine, the surrounding forest, and the side of the island as a whole from how high up he was. He tentatively walked to the edge of this head to see if he had destroyed either of the buildings. Any relief that this toad fit, barely, into the courtyard between the buildings and torii gate ended when he saw Jiraiya sprint out of the safehouse.

"Brat! What have you done?" Jiraiya screamed as a look of terror went over his face.

"Jiraiya, why have you summoned me? I fear I am too clumsy to see the enemy…" The giant toad muttered as he looked around wildly, forcing Naruto to jump off his head and slide down his body onto the ground.

"False alarm, Gamaken! Get out of here! My idiot student summoned you by mistake," Jiraiya said as Naruto stared on in horror at the situation, trying to shrink into himself at this blunder.

"Oh really? Well I am glad to hear that you found someone more clumsy than I, though are you sure it was right to make him your apprentice?" The toad, Gamaken apparently, asked.

Jiraiya clenched his fists as he glanced over to his student, "Well right now I am REALLY having second thoughts! So please, just return to the mountain."

With a nod and a giant puff of smoke, Gamaken was gone just as quick as he arrived. Jiraya immediately began stomping back over to the safehouse, muttering something that Naruto hoped against hope was unrelated to his antics. A minute later he exited again, with a small canvas bag and a walking staff with a metal circle on the head with four metal rings attached to the main circle like a chain. Jiraiya shoved the two objects into Naruto's hand as he gave out an order.

"Naruto, go to the fishing town. Pretend to be asking for alms for a few hours while you confirm that no one saw this."

"Are you sure? I can-"

"Naruto," Jiraiya muttered through gritted teeth, "I really do not want to see nor hear you right now. For both our sake, please do as I ask"

Naruto gave a quick salute before running away from the scene, hoping he didn't screw up his chance to learn from his master before his training had even truly begun.

As Naruto got close to the outskirts of the town, he slowed down from a run into an even walk, using the walking stick Jiraiya gave him to keep a slower pace. It was setting in finally that Naruto had not actually ever had to act like a monk so far. Pervy Sage had handled interacting with the locals exclusively. Naruto had never even seen a monk in the Hidden Leaf before, and all Pervy Sage ever told him when it came to acting like a monk was just to speak plainly and mention 'matters of the spirit' occasionally. Naruto was not even sure if Pervy Sage knew what that last part ment.

The jingling of the rings on the walking stick kept taking Naruto out of his thoughts, and when he finally approached the first house he gave up on acting like whatever his master assumed a monk would act like. Standing still and squinting in concentration, he instead made a plan for sneaking in a question to these people about seeing a massive toad almost five times the size of the largest building here.

'I can't just ask that, it would blow our cover immediately. And Pervy Sage is already mad at me… Well these people do know that we are going to be here for a bit, and the safehouse is a mess from the outside… A tree fell over! Multiple trees fell over and we were clearing them out the way! That should work, falling trees make a ton of noise!'

With a solid plan of attack now made, Naruto approached the first house ready to ask for alms.

As it turned out, Naruto did not need to plan out how to sneak in a question about falling trees, as no one seemed to want to talk to him once they heard the jingling of his walking stick. It was simultaneously an old and new experience for him. He was used to being ignored in the Hidden Leaf, but this was without any kind of disdain. That at least kept Naruto from instinctively lashing out at these people.

Holding strong, Naruto was determined to talk to at least one person in this town as walked away from a home that apparently had another deaf family. Looking around, he saw that there was a girl not much older than him exiting a house across the way and began taking firewood from a rack along the building. Deciding that she was as good a target as any, Naruto started walking over to the girl, the rings on his walking stick jingling to announce his presence. The girl stopped what she was doing when she heard it but did not take action to avoid Naruto.

Naruto approached the girl with what he thought was how a monk ought to act; with a reserved smile and a relaxed posture. He was still not sure how a monk his age would talk so he simply said, "Hello, how is this day treating you?"

"Hello, monk," The girl said with a smile, "When I heard that a pair of monks had come to revitalize the old temple I did not think that someone my age was one of them. I would think that we would not see or hear from you for at least a week"

Naruto's smile grew wide at her willingness to talk as he replied, "Well you see my master sent me to collect alms. You see we came all the way from the Land of Fire and we used up everything on the journey."

"The Land of Fire?!" The girl exclaimed with a newfound shine in her eyes, "You really came all the way from the mainland just for our old abandoned shrine?"

Naruto began rubbing his head in embarrassment, both from the attention this girl was giving him and the fact that his lies were causing it. Realizing that a monk should probably have more humility than what he was showing, he put his hand back to his side and threw up his other hand holding the walking stick and empty sack.

"Well if you appreciate our work, my master and I would appreciate a small donation of food or coin, you know."

"I don't know about in the Land of Fire, monk," The girl said, "But here it is custom for you to give your name before asking for things."

Naruto blinked momentarily before happily saying, "My name is Nar-Menma," He quickly corrected his mistake with a cough, "My name is Menma. Menma Uzumaki."

"Matsuri Ryōshi," The girl said with a small smile. After a moment her face became somber and she continued, "I'm sorry but my family can't give you anything. This island can barely survive with the taxes and tribute we have to give."

"Don't speak as if you are your mother, Matsuri. She is alive and able to speak for the family when I am on the boat," Naruto heard a man say from a few paces behind him. Turning around he saw a middle aged man that looked like everyone else in this town, tanned and dirty and slightly emaciated.

"She is in the marketplace trading for rice so it is just me," Matsuri replied to the man Naruto assumed was her father. Matsuri apparently could read his face as she stepped between the two.

"This is my father, Genki," Matsuri said as turned to him and replied, "Father, this is Menma Uzumaki. He is one of the monks that is here for the temple on the mountain."

"Uzumaki? That is your name?" Genki asked.

"Uh, yes it is. Is that a problem, sir?"

Matsuri's father stared at him for a moment before he said, "No, it is just a name I have not heard since I was as young as my daughter."

"Um…" Naruto found his mouth to be exceptionally dry after hearing that. Why would his last name be familiar, even vaguely, in the Land of Water? It would have to wait for later, he concluded as he realized that he was taking far too long to respond, "Well I was just speaking to Matsuri about how my master and I are seeking alms for repairing the temple at the foot of the mountain."

"Bah, I appreciate you monks returning to our island to look after that shrine. It's rather remote and I do not think that there was anyone living there since the Third Shinobi World War," Genki said as he stared off towards the direction of the mountain and the false shrine, "But with the daimyo's men, rebels, and pirates coming without warning to take from us I cannot afford to give you anything but some of today's catch. You can continue asking around but I fear you will not get much more."

While Naruto gave a smile and a small bow to build time to consider a proper response, Matsuri spoke her mind, "Damn it, if it weren't for the daimyo and the Mizukage and their stupid fucking war we'd be able to visit that shrine and keep it from falling into decline!"

"Matsuri! You know how I feel about that kind of language!" Her father said.

"Yeah," Naruto interjected, "And I'm sure that there are shinobi there who are actually protecting this island, even Hidden Mist ones, ya know."

"Shinobi, rebels, taxes, tribute, pirates, soldiers, those words don't matter to me," Matsuro all but growled out as she stared at Naruto, "They're all the same. People just come to our island and countless others like it and take everything from us. We can't go more than four days without a massive ship demanding everything from us so they can protect us. I hate this war! I hate that the daimyo conscripted my brother! I hate shinobi!"

As Genki tried to calm his daughter down, Naruto could not help but stare at her. He had never heard someone speak ill of shinobi like that. Being raised in a hidden village, there was never any reason to think poorly of them. Naruto supposed that if one was raised away from that world that one might have opinions like that, however wrong that might be. Though that thought was quickly replaced with another.

Naruto did not like the idea of someone disliking shinobi. He was not entirely sure if it was because he himself was a shinobi or not, but that concept felt deeply wrong to him. Wrong enough that he did not want to leave this island without Matsuri at least reconsidering this mindset, but that was where Naruto had his issue. What could he say to this girl without revealing that he was a shinobi she hated? He was not sure how long time passed as he thought, but when he saw that Matsuri was wiping away tears he remembered a bit of information that one of his clones had read on the boat to the Land of Water. Something from a book about the closing years of the Age of Warring States…

"I can see war is making it hard for you all to survive, ya know," Naruto said as he tried to sift through his memories, ignoring the two as they turned to look at him, "I can't exactly relate to having your food, money, and livelihood taken constantly, and I definitely can't relate to losing family," Naruto continued as he thought about what Sasuke told him, "But I came here from outside the Land of Water and I saw many other islands. For all the talk of war I did not see any destruction it should bring. The Age of Warring States was also a time of constant fighting but on a whole other level, towns and entire islands being stripped of all life from the violence. I am not familiar with this war, let alone your island, and I know that my opinions won't carry much weight since I'm an outsider, but I saw a battlefield not too long ago. The shinobi, on both sides, are protecting you all from something truly awful. I really want you to keep that in mind, Matsuri. Shinobi are not all bad, ya know."

Naruto finished his spur of the moment talk with a wide, genuine grin. He felt good about what he said, enough that that nagging feeling left. The silence from the two paired with their small smiles solidified to Naruto that he made the right decision.

Genki gave a short laugh then said "This new generation of monks are sure to keep up the work of your predecessors."

"I hope you are right, Uzumaki," Matsuri said as she tried to compose herself, "I just want this war to end so we can actually take care of this island and I can see my brother again."

"It may not seem like it," Naruto said as he thought about what Pervy Sage told him, "But shinobi have real potential to bring about peace."

"Here," Ganki said as he placed a half dozen mackerel into Naruto's bag, "An apology for holding you up."

Naruto smiled wide and bowed in thanks at that gesture. As Naruto started to turn to leave, he remembered the reason that he was even in this town in the first place.

"Oh by the way, my master wanted to know if any of you heard the work we are doing to the shrine all the way down here," Naruto said in what he hoped was a very inconspicuous manner. When both father and daughter made an identical confused look, he elaborated, "It's odd, you know, but he was worried about disturbing people from clearing fallen trees."

"I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary," Matsuri said as she turned to her father, "What about you?"

"No…" Genki answered once again with a far off look in his eye as he turned back towards the false shrine. Naruto tried to not make eye contact with either of the two and feign disinterest to chase off whatever suspicions this man had.

"No," Genki said again with more confidence as he turned to Naruto, "I would think that any sound would not carry over to the coast anyway. Tell your master to make as much racket as he pleases."

Naruto beamed a wide smile at this, sure of himself and his ability to act like a common monk. Bowing once again, he said, "I have a few more houses to approach so I have to say goodbye. Thank you again for your generosity, ya know!"

Naruto then turned to leave the small house, filled with new resolve to finish interviewing the remaining townsfolk.

"Thank you for your generosity," Naruto said as he walked away from the last house in town, "The spirits have seen this act and will bring bounty to your nets!"

A part of him felt bad about shamelessly lying to these people about his spiritual influence, but that was drowned out by the other part that was happy that these people apparently did not see or hear anything suspicious from the safehouse. A few dozen coins and fish was a fine price to give the Pervy Sage some peace of mind.

As he returned to the false temple, he did not announce his presence in fear that would set Jiraiya off again. Instead, he went straight to the safehouse to look for him. He was greeted with Gamaki however, back in the form of an unassuming but odd-looking toad.

"Gamaki, do you know where Pervy Sage is?" Naruto asked.

Gamaki let out a short chuckle before he answered, "So that is the name that you gave him that he hates. It is very fitting. But in case you forgot, we are deep in enemy territory and both of you are using false names."

Naruto balked at that chiding, "Oh, well I'm sorry about that. I just assumed that since we are alone and in a safe house that -"

"Never assume that you are ever alone or that a place is fully secure." Gamaki interrupted, "Unless you personally applied the privacy barrier seals a building is compromised. And there are plenty of summons out there that appear as our mundane cousins."

Naruto, still not fully used to long formal conversations with toads, decided to just agree with Gamaki. Bowing deeper than was probably needed, Naruto answered, "I apologize, Gamaki. Do you know where Gaeru is?"

The toad made a quick croak before answering, "He has already left for his meeting. He has already confirmed that the barrier seals around the safehouse and the compound are secure. I remained here at his request to relay all this to you, Memna."

"Oh," Naruto said with a downcast look in his eye. He was hoping for a chance to apologize before Jiraiya left, "Is there anything else that Gaeru wanted to relay?"

"Indeed!" Gamaki said, "He wanted to let you know that he is impressed that you managed to summon a battle toad with so many shadow clones splitting your reserves. Also, he underestimated how inexperienced you are with summoning a specific toad. This is technically a combat skill though, so he will not assist you in grasping the finer aspects of it until you finish your assigned reading."

"Well that is just great," Naruto said with an annoyed look.

"Jiraiya might not be able to help," Gamaki said with what Naruto imagined was supposed to be a smile, "But I do not need to return to the mountain for a few hours. I can give you a few pointers and you can train this independently."

Naruto's face grew a wide smile at the idea of skirting around Jiraiya's training restriction. And a rather mischievous idea began to take hold in his head.

The next few weeks went by much quicker thanks to Naruto's antics. Thanks to his large reserves and the fact that his shadow clones only read books and slept, the original Naruto had free reign to practice summoning. With the knowledge that he was able to summon a toad just as big as the Chief with the upper limits of his natural reserves, though apparently not as strong, Naruto began working backwards.

Per Gamaki's advice he started summoning tadpoles, and would then slowly increase the amount of chakra he would pump into the summoning each time. It took him a full week of summoning before he managed to summon not a tadpole, but Gamatatsu. He managed to summon Gamakichi within the next hour of that feat. After pouting about Naruto's lack of candy, the two were summoned almost daily to talk with Naruto. While it was almost exclusively to complain about how boring the books were, the toads seemed happy to converse with him.

A part of Naruto understood why Jiraiya was making him do this. The scenarios Jiraiya gave to Naruto back in the Land of Fire weighed heavily on his mind, and he struggled to disagree with the idea of avoiding catastrophe instead of weathering it. But these books did not seem to teach Naruto the 'mindset of a kage' as Jiraiya had put it. The history of the Shinobi World Wars, the history of the Land of Fire, the history of the major clans of the Hidden Leaf, the practical and theoretical knowledge around chakra manipulation, Naruto saw all the books that his clones were reading and could only feel confused at it all. He only hoped that once the clones popped and he gained the knowledge in the books that it would all add up.

The only books that the original Naruto read was about the individual Hokages, but that did not help understand his master's thoughts behind the title. He knew deep down that the Hokage was more than a public title, but sitting down and reading about their mundane deeds and boring policy agendas brought him to sleep almost immediately. He did not understand why he should know how well of a negotiator the First was, how logical and practical the Second was when it came to establishing almost everything in the village, how brilliant the Third was at military strategy, or how little the Fourth ultimately did in his short five hundred days with the title.

And the less to say about the academy textbooks that Pervy Sage snuck into the pile, the better. The only solace Naruto found was in the fact that Pervy Sage had not actually added the dictionary to his assigned reading.

Before Naruto knew it December had begun, though the only notable change he could tell was that humidity fell and the nights became cooler. It was still early in the month when he was doing his morning exercises while his clones read from his slowly shrinking pile of books inside that Jiraiya returned at last.

"Looks like this island is still above water. Good job holding this place down, you got me really worried on the first day." Jiraiya said with a smile as he approached his student.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that again. I guess I underestimated how much chakra I have," Naruto said as he tried to change the subject, "So have you learnt about how this civil war is going?"

Jiraiya gave out a long sigh before responding, "This war is reaching its apex, so in hindsight it makes sense all my reports have all been saying their side will win soon. From what I can tell the Hidden Mist has stretched themselves thin trying to keep hold of the larger islands, to the point that many of their most prominent up-and-coming chinobi have gone missing in action, or even missing entirely. The rebel forces seem to have condensed into a unified voice and are getting ready for a more aggressive strategy."

"So then have you gotten the info that you needed from this country?" Naruto asked.

"Afraid not, kid," Jiraiya said as he began walking towards the safehouse, "All of what I told you is inference from dead drop pickups. I have physical meetings with some of my best agents soon and I hope they will give me an indisputable vision for where this war is and where it's going."

Naruto ran up to his master's side as he asked, "You said you are meeting these spies 'soon'. How soon is soon?

"I will have to leave before the day's end, and you still have to watch over this place in case one of the townsfolk comes here."

"Come on, Pervy Sage! I can help you out there, and I'm a lot more competent than you give me credit for! The only toads I summoned while you were gone were Gamakichi, Gamatasu, and a bunch of tadpoles!"

"And you are sure that you won't be summoning any toad too big for the situation again?" Jiraiya asked with a degree of seriousness that Naruto had yet to see from him.

"Yes!" Naruto confidently shouted. While this tone was newly heard from Jiraiya he had still heard it from academy instructions and even the Third on occasion, "I know how much chakra it takes to summon a small toad now, ya know. And I purposefully undershoot my chakra just to be safe!"

Jiraiya raised his eyebrows in surprise at that, asking, "When did you think of that trick?"

"From one of those books you made me read! One about the chakra circulatory system written by Granny Tsunade," Naruto boasted.

"Hmm… well at least you are taking in what you are reading," Jiraiya mused, "Very well, the first spy I am to meet in person is in two days not far from here. I will allow you to shadow me. It will also give you an opportunity to meet more of the toads."

"Another toad?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow, "Does this one also have a funny ability like the scroll toads?"

Jiraiya cracked a wide smile as he answered, "You really ought not to disrespect the toads, they take pride in their work like any other creature. And diving toads are no exception!"

"Diving toads?" Naruto asked, wracking his brain to remember what he learned through his conversations with Gamakichi, "Those are toads that can help us travel to odd places right?"

"I'll explain when we get to the beach. For now just grab your things and leave a half dozen clones here to read. I want to make sure you have chakra at the ready in case of the worst. You are going on an S-Rank reconnaissance mission after all!"

"Yes, Master!" Naruto replied with a salute before running ahead of his master.

Author's Note:

I would like to give all you readers a massive thank you for the warm reception to this fic! This fanfic got significantly more traction in the time between posting and this first update than I thought it would get over its entire lifetime. And an additional thanks to everyone who left a comment, I appreciate all of the support and theorizing!

A lot of things are getting set up in this chapter. More than I anticipated when I first outlined this story arc, so instead of a chapter that is double the length of previous ones I am splitting this up into two so I can get this out to you all sooner.

Please feel free to share your thoughts and opinions with me in a review or DM. I have no beta, so I have only myself with which to share ideas. Regardless, look forward to the next chapter…

The Toad's Spies: Our Eyes in the Mist!