"Of course. You might not know this, kid, but the Toad Sage is an incredibly great being."
The mention of this seemed to restore Jiraiya's spirits.
Ever since he had first stumbled into Mount Myōboku and met the legendary Toad Sage,
and over the past several decades, he had traveled across every corner of the Shinobi World to complete his missions.
Although he had yet to achieve any results, he felt that he was getting close.
That was because the Toad Sage had recently been dreaming constantly, saying that the Child of Prophecy would appear by his side.
Eiji felt a headache coming on. The Child of Prophecy is sleeping right over there. How do you not know that?
Jiraiya suddenly patted Eiji on the shoulder.
"How strange. I don't know why, but I feel like teaching you a little ninjutsu."
"Teach me."
There was no harm in learning. Though Jiraiya acted carefree all day long, he had been quite fierce when fighting the giant toads of Mount Myōboku.
Jiraiya formed hand seals and slammed one palm onto the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu."
A black magic circle slowly appeared, and a cloud of smoke rose from it.
When the smoke cleared, a toad wearing a sign appeared inside.
It delivered a scroll to Eiji.
"This is the summoning scroll that our family has signed with Mount Myōboku for generations. Write your name on it with your own blood, and you'll establish a contract with Mount Myōboku..."
Eiji bit his finger and wrote his name in the blank space at the top of the scroll.
The name above his was Minato Namikaze.
"Summoning Jutsu is fundamentally a form of Space-Time Ninjutsu. Since you've mastered the Flying Thunder God, this shouldn't be difficult for you either."
Ninja World Scientist: You have mastered Summoning Jutsu.
Jiraiya was wondering which toad Eiji would summon.
Gama Bunta could take hits and dish them out, but he had a strange temper.
He was a very powerful assistant.
Gama Ken or Gama Hiro would be good choices too. One excelled at both offense and defense, while the other was proficient in Swordsmanship.
If Eiji could summon Fukasaku or Sage Shima, that would be even more impressive.
With the help of the Ninja World Scientist, Eiji quickly mastered Summoning Jutsu.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
He slammed his hands down!
At the same time, the many toads of Mount Myōboku sensed the summons.
Fukasaku looked toward the sky. "Someone's summoning us again. Is it Jiraiya, or one of his students?"
"Perhaps it's Little Jiraiya's student practicing. There's no need to panic too much, right, Toad Sage?"
The Toad Sage?
The Toad Sage had disappeared!
Shima and Fukasaku's heads buzzed.
Was this some kind of joke?
The most, most, most amazing and highest-ranking toad in Mount Myōboku had disappeared!
What on earth was that person planning to do?
At the same time, a gigantic toad suddenly appeared atop Konoha's Back Mountain.
It opened its eyes groggily, still unaware of what had happened.
"I think... I had a dream. What was it about again? I can't remember."
When he saw the Toad Sage in front of him, Jiraiya nearly fainted from fright.
"You—you—you! How did you summon the Toad Sage here? What exactly did you do?!"
Eiji looked innocent. "I just clapped my hands. First like this, then like that..."
"Who's asking how you formed the hand seals? I'm asking what method you used to summon the Toad Sage!"
"I have no idea."
At that moment, the Toad Sage woke up too.
He shook his head and noticed someone sitting on top of it.
"Who are you?" Then he pointed at Jiraiya. "And who are you?"
Jiraiya finally remembered that Eiji was still sitting on the Toad Sage's head. He immediately pulled Eiji down, then apologized to the Toad Sage.
"I'm truly sorry, Toad Sage. Today's incident was purely a misunderstanding. I'll send you back right away. Please, don't get angry."
Jiraiya apologized profusely, but the Toad Sage still wore a look of confusion.
This little fellow seemed vaguely familiar, as though he had seen him somewhere before.
But the other one, who was even younger, was completely unfamiliar.
Nor had he appeared in the Toad Sage's dreams.
"Hm?" The Toad Sage strained to open his eyes wide. "Your Chakra feels very familiar."
"I remember now. You're Little Jiraiya! No, wait... this isn't Mount Myōboku either."
For the first time, Jiraiya felt that being forgotten was actually a pretty good thing.
"Toad Sage, I'll send you back right away. Just pretend today never happened."
As Jiraiya spoke, he frantically signaled to Eiji with his eyes.
Hurry up! What are you spacing out for? Are you waiting to invite the Toad Sage to afternoon tea?
Very quickly, urged on by Jiraiya, Eiji sent the Toad Sage back to Mount Myōboku.
"Phew."
Jiraiya dropped heavily onto the ground, only then realizing that his clothes were soaked through.
Something Jiraiya could never do—not even something he had ever heard of—had actually been accomplished today by a kid barely in his teens!
How absurd was that?
Eiji asked Jiraiya curiously, "Lord Jiraiya, is this Toad Sage very powerful?"
"How do you still not understand? He isn't merely powerful. He's the greatest of them all!"
"Oh. So can I summon him to help me fight?"
Jiraiya nearly fainted. "Listen carefully, Eiji. You must never summon the Toad Sage, no matter what. He has no combat ability and can't help you in a fight.
"But without him, no one knows what Mount Myōboku would become.
"Do you understand?"
Eiji spread his hands. "Got it."
If he can't fight, what's the point of summoning him? To use him as a shield like Manda?
That actually sounded like a pretty good idea.
Jiraiya wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"All right, that's enough for today. I have to go to Mount Myōboku and apologize to the two sages."
"When will you teach me ninjutsu again, then, esteemed Lord Jiraiya?"
"We'll see. You take care of your own business for now."
Jiraiya no longer dared teach Eiji.
This time, he had summoned the Toad Sage. Who knew what he might do next time?
As he spoke, Jiraiya used Reverse Summoning Jutsu and arrived at Mount Myōboku.
The moment he landed, a barrage of toad beatings came straight at him.
"Jiraiya! Do you have any idea what a huge disaster you caused? That was the Toad Sage! You actually had him summoned to help you fight!"
Jiraiya covered his head. "Please, let me explain! How could I possibly do something like that? It was a kid who summoned the Toad Sage!"
"Stop! Don't hit him yet. Let's hear what he has to say."
The two sages, Fukasaku and Shima, stood before Jiraiya. After hearing his explanation, their expressions became as complicated as a pie chart.
"Senior sages, have you ever heard of anything like this?"
The two toads looked at each other and seriously recalled the matter for a long time, but eventually shook their heads.
"We've never heard of anything like this. Why don't we wait until the Toad Sage wakes up and ask him?"
Jiraiya sat cross-legged on the ground, his mind already blown to pieces.
"There's one very important question. What do we do if that kid Eiji summons the Toad Sage again someday while he's in the middle of a fight?"
"Is there any way to cancel the contract?"
"No. Jiraiya, you really did take on a fine student!"
Jiraiya lay flat on the ground. How could this be my fault?
Who the hell would've known something like this could happen?
Before you continue