After Jiraiya put the scroll away, he taught Naruto the hand seal sequence for the Summoning Technique step-by-step: Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram.
Naruto stood up and walked to a relatively open area on the platform. He bit his right thumb, smeared blood across his left palm, and performed the seals.
Summoning Technique!
He slammed his palm onto the ground. The marks spread rapidly in all directions, centered from his palm, covering an area a full circle larger than a standard summoning formation.
White smoke burst forth where Naruto's palm had landed. When the smoke cleared, a massive red toad appeared in the clearing.
Naruto instantly recognized this as
Gamabunta.
Gamabunta rested his hand on the katana at his waist, a large smoking pipe clenched in his mouth.
"Hmm? Jiraiya, what do you want with me? I've only smoked half my pipe, and it's still lit. If you don't have anything important, don't blame me for losing my temper."
Gamabunta looked around and didn't see Jiraiya. A flash of confusion crossed his slit pupils before he noticed the blond boy on the ground.
Naruto said, "It wasn't Pervy Sage who summoned you, it was me."
Gamabunta's slit pupils scanned Naruto from bottom to top, his pupils constricting slightly.
Blond hair, blue eyes...
He remembered the past, fighting side-by-side with a man who had the same hair.
But the next second, his lips curled slightly, and his voice carried a hint of undisguised disdain. "So, it's a brat? Brat, just because you signed the contract doesn't mean I acknowledge you."
Naruto took a step forward. "Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Uzumaki Naruto. We're partners from now on. Please take care of me."
"Partners?"
Gamabunta grinned at the word, taking the pipe out of his mouth to flick off the ash.
"Brat, you haven't earned my acknowledgement yet. If you want me to help you fight, there are only two ways."
"First, defeat me."
"Second, pass my test."
Naruto nodded, having anticipated this answer.
"That's fine. I don't need a disobedient summon either. I might as well use this opportunity to make my stance clear. Then let's play by your rules. How shall we fight?"
Seeing that Naruto didn't back down, Gamabunta's disdain was replaced by a hint of surprise.
A brat who doesn't know his place.
He set his pipe on a rock and gripped the hilt of the katana at his waist with his right hand, drawing it from its sheath.
Seeing this, Naruto stood his ground and raised his right hand, palm facing up. A blue ball of Chakra condensed in his palm, then began to expand rapidly.
Five meters, eight meters, ten meters...
Finally, a giant Rasengan with a diameter of ten meters hovered in Naruto's palm, rotating at high speed.
Jiraiya's eyes widened the moment he saw the giant Rasengan.
"Th-th-this...?"
Gamabunta felt a jolt in his heart when he saw this massive amount of Chakra. He pushed the half-drawn katana back into its sheath.
"Ahem! Naruto, was it? I acknowledge you. Next time you need something, just call me directly. Don't be a stranger."
Without waiting for Naruto to answer, he immediately performed the Reverse Summoning Technique, and his massive figure quickly disappeared into a puff of white smoke.
Before leaving, Gamabunta's voice rang out from the white smoke. "Jiraiya, you bastard! Why didn't you introduce me to such a fierce kid sooner?!"
After the white smoke dissipated, the scene returned to silence, leaving only the giant Rasengan's sound.
Sensing Jiraiya's gaze, Naruto calmly dissipated the giant Rasengan and then said to the petrified Jiraiya, "Pervy Sage, I discovered that if I add more Chakra into the Rasengan, I can make it bigger."
Jiraiya stared at Naruto, dumbfounded.
Adding Chakra makes it bigger? What kind of understated explanation is that?
Any ninja knows that pouring Chakra into a Ninjutsu increases the output, but the pressure increases exponentially. Forget about maintaining a stable rotation, not having it explode in your hand is already a sign of extraordinary talent.
Jiraiya took a deep breath, forcibly swallowing the words "Are you a monster?" that had jumped to his throat, and then said in a self-hypnotically calm tone, "Naruto, at this stage, there's nothing left for me to teach you."
"There are twenty days left until the Chunin Exams. Spend this time training on your own, and come ask me if you don't understand anything."
After saying this, he turned around at high speed and ran down the mountain, his retreating figure exuding a sense of determination that screamed, "I need to leave this place that makes me question my life."
Watching Jiraiya's figure disappear into the twilight of the sunset, Naruto shrugged, confused.
Although he didn't know why, this was perfect. He needed a window of time without anyone watching to focus on systematic, intensive training.
"Kurama, I need your Chakra."
"Just take it yourself."
Naruto performed hand seals with both hands.
Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!
Two hundred puffs of white smoke exploded on the ground simultaneously. After the smoke cleared, dense crowds of Naruto filled the entire mountainside.
Naruto stood in front of the two hundred Shadow Clones and quickly assigned tasks.
"Fifty Shadow Clones per group."
"The first group will practice the Flying Thunder God Technique, focusing on overcoming the Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder. Get the preliminary framework for coordinate expansion and simultaneous multi-target transfer set up as soon as possible."
"The second group will practice the Rasengan, incorporating Wind Release nature transformation into the Rasengan. The goal is to get the Rasenshuriken."
"The third group will practice Lightning Release nature transformation, striving to develop the basic Lightning Release as quickly as possible to pave the way for future Kekkei Genkai Fusion."
"The fourth group will practice Fuinjutsu, prioritizing the stabilization of existing theories and gradually converting them into practical combat abilities."
"Leave it to us, original!" X200
The two hundred Shadow Clones replied in unison, then quickly split into four groups and dispersed.