"I wanted to become stronger so I could protect my comrades and Konoha. Ever since I could remember, my greatest dream had been to become Hokage, and even now, that hadn't changed.
"But everything that had happened over the years had made me realize how weak I was. That was why I wanted you to take me on as your student, so I could become stronger and protect the village and my comrades...
"So please, Sensei, take me on as your student..."
Josuke: Who'd want to be Hokage? I'm not protecting Konoha. When I play Naruto, I only play as a regular person. I'd rather just wrap my arms around an ordinary girl.
Jiraiya fell silent. Josuke really did remind him of himself as a boy: determined to protect Konoha and become Hokage.
Hadn't he once been a dashing young man with the same fiery spirit? But he'd gone through too much, and that old passion had faded away, hadn't it?
To be honest, Jiraiya felt a little sympathy for him.
Naruto was moved by Josuke's words. They shared the same dream—to become Hokage—and Naruto felt eager to prove himself. After all, aside from Sasuke, he now had another person he wanted to surpass.
(That's right. Naruto had always thought he wasn't as good as Sasuke or Josuke, and had always wanted their approval—especially Sasuke's.)
So Naruto used Ninjutsu!!!
A cloud of white smoke appeared, and Naruko made her entrance. Jiraiya's nose started gushing blood at the sight.
Naruko spoke in a sweet, coy voice. "Pervy Sage, just say yes~~~ Please?"
Oh, man!!!
Josuke nearly got a nosebleed too.
Who could resist that? Never mind Jiraiya—he'd almost lost it himself.
The scene had been rather heavy, but Naruto's performance turned it into something ridiculous and hilarious. Even the whole mood had changed. Jiraiya had planned to play it cool, but he broke immediately.
Jiraiya gave a lecherous smile. "Ehehe... Sure, sure!!!"
And just like that, Josuke became Jiraiya's student. It was ridiculous.
Ahem, ahem.
Naruto ended Sexy Jutsu. Jiraiya was a little disappointed, but he still accepted Josuke as his student.
Wanting to make a grand impression on his new student, Jiraiya decided to show off one of his signature techniques.
A rapidly spinning sphere appeared in his hand.
Naruto and Josuke looked over.
Josuke recognized it at once. Wasn't that the Rasengan?
"Pervy Sage, what's that?"
Naruto asked curiously.
"Heh, heh, heh," Jiraiya chuckled.
"This is the A-rank Ninjutsu, Rasengan! So, what do you think? Want to learn it?"
Whoa, he was busting out a big move right from the start? Josuke was thrilled. Now he had no choice but to learn it!
Still, compared to the Rasengan, he wanted even more to sign a Summoning Contract. Summoning was just way cooler.
Who wouldn't want to ride on a toad?
Ahem, ahem.
"Pervy Sage, I want to summon a giant toad!" Josuke said to Jiraiya.
Jiraiya looked like he'd nearly forgotten, then patted his head.
"Right, right! I almost forgot."
With that, he took a Summoning Scroll from behind him and unrolled it. Jiraiya and Naruto's names were already written on it. Between their names was another: the Yellow Flash, the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
Josuke fell silent.
Jiraiya took out a pen and a small needle.
"Come on. Write your name, then press your bloodied fingers onto the scroll. After that, you'll be able to summon toads from Mount Myōboku to fight."
Josuke could hardly believe it.
He was one step closer to Senjutsu.
Without hesitation, Josuke carefully wrote his name, pricked his hand with the needle, and pressed all five bloodied fingers onto the scroll.
The contract was complete.
Jiraiya nodded.
"Good. Now say 'Summoning Technique,' gather Chakra in your hand, and press down to release it."
Josuke quietly recited the Summoning Technique.
A summoning pattern appeared on the ground.
"Poof!!!"
A small toad appeared.
It was Gamakichi.
Josuke recognized him at a glance.
Gamakichi looked around.
"Naruto, Jiraiya, did you summon me? Is there anything you need help with?"
Gamakichi looked confused.
Naruto quickly explained.
"No, no, Josuke summoned you. He's signed a Summoning Contract with Mount Myōboku now, too! Josuke's amazing—he summoned a toad on his very first try."
Gamakichi understood.
"Got it. I'll head back and let Mount Myōboku know."
Jiraiya nodded. They really should let them know, so they wouldn't cause any unnecessary trouble.
Not bad!
Josuke exclaimed. He'd summoned Gamakichi on his very first try. That was better than Naruto summoning a tadpole—wait, wasn't a tadpole just Gamakichi?
Tsk.
In the end, there was no escaping it.
With the summoning business taken care of, Jiraiya began teaching him the Rasengan.
Put simply, the Rasengan worked by gathering Chakra in the hand, making it flow continuously in different directions, and compressing it.
This created a highly condensed, rapidly rotating "Chakra sphere" with tremendous destructive power.
It looked simple enough, but it required extremely precise control over Chakra.
The initial training was bound to be difficult.
Josuke was no exception. Even though he considered himself among the top tier of Konoha's young powerhouses, he struggled quite a bit when using the Rasengan.
He still wasn't good enough at controlling the flow of Chakra.
But he was doing much better than Naruto.
After one day, Josuke could just about make his Chakra flow, while Naruto was still working on gathering it.
That was Naruto for you. He really hadn't had much talent as a kid, but after he started training with Jiraiya, his life seemed to turn into one lucky break after another.
Speaking of Jiraiya...
Josuke thought of something.
In the original story, the main cast had apparently been taught by Konoha's Yellow, Gambler, and Lecher—no, the Sannin. First Kakashi had led the team, and then they'd gone straight to the Sannin.
Ridiculous.
No wonder they were the main cast. It was no surprise people joked that Naruto wasn't a story about an underdog making a comeback, but about a fallen young lord.
Sticking with the main cast was always the right move. Josuke believed that as long as he kept on good terms with the Yellow Flash, even if he defected and became a handsome Rogue Ninja,
Naruto wouldn't abandon him. o(*￣︶￣*)o
Naruto would be so heartbroken that he'd never stop thinking about him.
Sigh.
No point thinking about all that.
Josuke continued to focus on his Rasengan training.
Time passed slowly like that, and the people of Konoha gradually emerged from the shadow of the Third's death.
The Third's death had been a heavy blow, but life had to go on. So the Konoha High Command proposed that Jiraiya become Hokage, but he firmly refused.
Instead, he suggested that Tsunade, who had been away from the village for many years, return to Konoha and become Hokage.
The mission naturally fell to Jiraiya, and he set off with Naruto and Josuke to find Tsunade.
After all that practice,
Josuke had learned the Rasengan, and Naruto could just about shape his Chakra into a sphere. That was much faster than in the original story, probably because having Josuke around had motivated Naruto.
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