Konoha, at a training ground.
Naruto scratched his head. "Hey, mister, is it really okay if I don't go to school today? If Teacher Iruka finds out, he'll definitely give me a hard time!"
Jiraiya smiled. "Don't worry. I already got you excused!"
Naruto asked, "Oh, then why did you bring me here?"
"Obviously, for secret training to help you beat Sasuke!" Jiraiya struck a strange pose. "I'm the Toad Sage! With me training you, beating Sasuke Uchiha will be a piece of cake!"
"Really?"
Naruto perked right up.
"Of course!" Jiraiya nodded. "First, try the Three Body Technique. I want to see how solid your ninjutsu basics are."
Naruto looked confused. "The Three Body Technique!? What's that?"
"Huh?"
Jiraiya had seen Sasuke, Shinji, and the others use all kinds of ninjutsu so often that he'd assumed Naruto knew at least a little. He hadn't expected Naruto not to even know what the Three Body Technique was.
After explaining what the Three Body Technique was, Jiraiya demonstrated the hand seals a few times. "All right, give it a try!"
Naruto rolled up his sleeves and got to work.
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't perform a single jutsu. His Clone Technique was especially bad: it produced a whole bunch of bizarre things, not one of them even remotely human.
Jiraiya pressed a hand to his forehead.
He'd spent years traveling outside the village, either searching for the Child of Prophecy mentioned by the Great Toad Sage or gathering information about Orochimaru. He'd neglected training Naruto.
He'd assumed Naruto would have decent talent, since he was Minato and Kushina's son. He hadn't expected him to be almost eight years old and still unable to use the Clone Technique.
When Minato had been this age, he'd only needed to