After his outburst, Gamabunta glared at Minato, still shaking his head in denial. "There's no way! With the pittance of chakra inside this kid, it should have been impossible to pull me out!"
Katsuyu leaned her head down slightly. Her senses were more delicate, and she could feel that the one who had summoned her was the boy with the hair color she found quite pleasing to the eye.
"Truly remarkable," she murmured. "Though, it does seem you lack the massive chakra reserves normally required for such a feat."
Tatsuma and Minato exchanged a bewildered look. Tsunade was the one who had told them to go all out and not be stingy with their chakra; they hadn't expected the Summoning Jutsu to nearly crush them to death. As for why their chakra was "insufficient" to summon these two, neither boy had a clue.
At that moment, Uzumaki Mito, who was still sitting calmly in her chair, spoke up. "I believe I understand the reason. Years ago, Tobirama had a theory regarding this."
"In its essence, the Summoning Jutsu was created to compensate for the fact that most shinobi lack a natural talent for Space-Time Ninjutsu. Sealing scrolls serve the same purpose," she explained. "However, his hypothesis was never truly proven because, before Tobirama, almost no one had ever formally defined or categorized Space-Time talent and techniques. It remained mere speculation."
She paused, looking at the two boys. "But looking at this... perhaps it is because both of you possess the Space-Time talent Tobirama spoke of. Using the Summoning Jutsu for you two is like irrigating a field on a rainy day."
"The chakra you expend is the water you pour from your bucket, but your Space-Time talent is the rain itself. You don't need to provide as much 'water' as a normal person to achieve a far greater result."
Mito's theory sent everyone—including the two Great Summons—into deep thought. It sounded logical, yet such a concept was unheard of in the shinobi world.
Tsunade frowned. "If we follow Second Granduncle's logic, does that mean they could eventually call forth summoning beasts without using the jutsu at all?"
"Who knows?" Mito replied with a small shrug. "Tobirama spent his entire life without achieving that. After all, there are precious few Space-Time techniques in this world. If we go strictly by his definitions, only his Flying Thunder God and the Cloud Village's Heavenly Transfer truly qualify."
She waved a hand dismissively. "Of course, his definitions were far too rigid. In my view, both Summoning and Sealing arts are saturated with Space-Time principles; it's just that no one has bothered to distill and organize that knowledge yet."
Mito stopped herself, realizing she was drifting off-topic. She quickly reined the conversation back in. "I haven't studied Tobirama's specific research, nor have I had much contact with the Three Great Sage Regions. You two, as their teachers, should find the time to ask the Sages there if they know the cause. For now... allow me to introduce them."
As Mito stood up from her seat, the pipe in Gamabunta's mouth suddenly gave a violent twitch. The boss toad involuntarily shuffled back half a step. He didn't know why, but he was suddenly... terrified.
Mito made a small downward gesture with her hand, as if soothing a restless child. Gamabunta's heart settled, but the arrogance and bravado on his face vanished instantly.
Seeing his softened stance, Mito pointed toward Minato. "This is Namikaze Minato, Jiraiya's disciple. He is a very good boy. If he ever requires your aid in the future, I hope you will put your heart into it. I'm counting on you."
Gamabunta began to nod reflexively, his mind racing. There weren't many enemies who could make him feel instinctive dread, and within Konoha, there were even fewer...
He quickly pieced together the identity of the elderly woman before him. "No problem!" he barked, his voice much more respectful. "From now on, this kid is my little brother. If he's in trouble, I'll definitely be there."
Jiraiya's eyes widened. Even his hungover, puffy eyelids couldn't hide his shock. Back when he first signed his contract, Gamabunta's attitude had been nowhere near this pleasant. Even now, Bunta usually came and went as he pleased and cursed Jiraiya out whenever he felt like it. How could the toad be so polite to a new contractor?
In his alcohol-addled brain, Jiraiya failed to realize that Gamabunta wasn't acknowledging Minato—he was simply terrified of offending Uzumaki Mito.
Having settled things with the toad, Mito turned her gaze toward Katsuyu. "Katsuyu, let me introduce you. This is Sakamoto Tatsuma, Tsunade's disciple. He is also a wonderful child. However, much like Tsunade, he tends to neglect his own well-being. Please look after him in the future. I'm counting on you as well."
"Of course," Katsuyu replied gently. "Sakamoto Tatsuma... I look forward to working with you."
She lowered her head again, touching her feelers to Tatsuma's outstretched hand. As she pulled back, Mito nodded with a satisfied smile.
"Thank you both for making the trip. I forgot to prepare anything to entertain guests of your stature. The next time Tsunade and Jiraiya visit the Shikkotsu Forest or Mount Myoboku, I'll have them bring along some gifts."
Though her words were polite, the intent was clear: she was dismissing them. Gamabunta nodded and vanished in a cloud of smoke. Katsuyu looked at Tatsuma one last time. "If you ever need assistance, please do not hesitate to summon me."
With that, she too dissolved into a cloud of white smoke, returning to the Shikkotsu Forest.
The moment the summoning was released, Tatsuma felt a strange, fleeting sensation. It was like a childhood memory of a delicious meal—he knew it was something wonderful, but he couldn't quite recall the taste or what it actually was.
With the summoning beasts handled, Mito had no further instructions. Tsunade and Jiraiya retreated to their rooms to sleep off the rest of their hangovers, leaving Tatsuma and Minato to finish inventorying their haul.
They pulled out the items they could begin studying immediately and categorized the rest by difficulty. Tatsuma picked up the chakra metal short sword gifted by Hatake Sakumo, wondering if he should take up Kenjutsu.
The problem was a lack of a teacher. His current master was Tsunade; if he asked her about Taijutsu, she could give him a masterclass, but swordsmanship was out of the question. With her "Monster Strength," she had no use for blades.
Jiraiya, on the other hand, was essentially a "human turret"—his mastery of Ninjutsu was profound, but he wasn't particularly skilled in Taijutsu, let alone Kenjutsu.
After a moment's thought, Tatsuma decided to seal the blade back into a scroll. He could take it out when the opportunity arose, but there was no need to waste his mental energy on it right now.
By the time they finished, the sun was beginning to set. Kushina, who had been out playing all day, and Nawaki, who had left that morning, both returned. As dinner approached, Tatsuma took a break from his thoughts and looked at Minato, who had also finished organizing his gifts.
"Minato, what are your plans for the near future?"
Minato thought for a moment. "I'll probably be following Sensei out of the village to perform missions. My actual combat experience is still too low; I need more tempering. What about you?"
Tatsuma glanced toward the room where Tsunade was sleeping. "Sensei hasn't made any arrangements yet. But I suspect that since she hasn't taken a mission in a year, the village will likely assign her some mid-level tasks to get her back into the swing of things. Though... she did mention she might be heading to the border soon. I don't know if she'll take me along."
"The border..."
Given Minato's intelligence and the worry etched on Tatsuma's face, he could guess the implications. Even if neither of them knew exactly what was brewing, they knew it wasn't anything simple.
"Good luck, Tatsuma," Minato said with a smile, extending his fist. "The next time we spar, I'm going to win decisively."
Tatsuma pushed aside his lingering worries and met Minato's fist with his own. "Spoken like a true genius. You're as confident as ever, Minato—but I'm still going to be the one who wins."