Cultivation Begins

After eating and drinking their fill, everyone said their goodbyes to Jimo one by one.

"Aren't you going back?" Jimo looked at Anko, who was sprawled drunkenly on the sofa, a line of black marks on his forehead.

Half an hour into the meal, the three adults had entered the wine-tasting phase. This female drunkard had somehow dug out the liquor he'd distilled himself, and from there it was all downhill...

"Drink... drink!"

Anko flailed and shouted drunkenly on the sofa.

"I, Jimo, swear to the heavens... from now on, no gathering will ever be held at my place again..." Jimo carried Anko to the bed, but she went on a drunken rampage, pinning him beneath her and clinging like a body pillow, strangling him tight...

The next morning...

"You little pervert, I'll kill you!"

Jimo caught the furniture Anko threw at him while dodging the kunai and shuriken she hurled his way.

"I told you, you were the one who hugged me!" Jimo retorted.

"Me hug you? As if I'd take a liking to some shorty like you!" Anko chased him in a fury, her hair practically standing on end, sparking gossip among the nearby ninjas.

"That chunin kid's got guts, actually daring to drink with Anko..."

"Doesn't he know her reputation for being a mess when drunk..."

"Don't say that, I heard that guy was already hooking up with Anko back when he was a genin."

Three people make a tiger—no matter where, people always latch onto gossip like this... so it spread from one to ten, ten to a hundred, until the final version had them living together.

"Oh, you want to train alongside Naruto?" Jiraiya looked at Jimo, who had come to seek his guidance.

"Your current strength... I'd be hard-pressed to teach you any other jutsu..." Jiraiya thought it over. "Would you be willing to sign a summoning contract?"

With that, he summoned a toad bearing patterns like cyan flames. From its tongue, he took a scroll half as tall as a person.

"Can I sign too!" Naruto, spotting something new, quickly hopped out of the river, shirtless.

"Sure!"

The two used their blood to sign their names.

"When you use the summoning technique, you need to output a stable, continuous amount of chakra! That'll let you summon the toads of Mount Myoboku to aid you in battle..."

"Boar—Dog—Bird—Monkey—Ram! Summoning Jutsu!"

Naruto cut his finger and formed hand seals. After a puff of smoke, everyone looked around but found no sign of a toad.

"Strange, your technique should have worked!" Jiraiya muttered, puzzled.

"Ah! Found it!" Jimo pointed at the ground.

There, a tadpole was hopping around, looking like it was about to... Jiraiya quickly had the toad take the tadpole back to Mount Myoboku...

"You idiot! That's not a toad!" Jiraiya complained.

Jimo did the same, cutting his finger and forming seals. After a puff of smoke, a massive shadow loomed over Naruto and Jiraiya, still on the ground... A toad the size of a small hill appeared before them.

"Who're you?"

A vermillion toad, pipe in mouth, glared irritably at Jimo on its head.

"This kid actually summoned him... damn it, damn it... this one's even hotter-tempered than Gamabunta..." As Jiraiya tried to sneak away, Naruto, unwilling to be outdone, triggered his passive—clap hands and borrow.

Another toad, equally hill-sized, appeared in everyone's sight.

"This damn mouth of mine..."

Jiraiya stared at the two toads, a line of black marks on his forehead.

"Isn't that Gamabunta? Rare to see you!" The vermillion toad blew out a puff of smoke, shrouding nearly a hundred meters in haze.

"Your taste in smoking is still as lousy as ever... Gamamo," Gamabunta shot a glance at the vermillion toad's pipe, took a drag from his own pouch, and blew smoke back.

"Cough, cough! The problem's you!" The toad named Gamamo coughed a couple of times.

"So... what happened? Both of us got summoned at once..." Gamabunta looked around. "Jiraiya! What did you call me out for!"

"Yeah! Jiraiya, what did you call me out for!"

Jiraiya, hiding atop a tree, had a forehead full of black lines.

"One's bad enough, and these two got summoned together."

After some searching, the two toads noticed the people on their heads.

"Hey, kid, where's Jiraiya..."

Through the toads' self-introductions, the one with bandages around its waist was named Gamabunta, currently the leader of the toad clan.

This vermillion toad with the pipe was the second-in-command, who usually hated moving.

When Gamabunta heard that Naruto had summoned him, he expressed deep doubt...

Then he made a bet: if Naruto could stay on his body without falling off before nightfall, he'd accept Naruto as his little brother... and lend him his power.

Gamamo the toad was much more rational.

"Kid... I can feel it, you're strong..." Gamamo curled his tongue, scooping Jimo up to rest on his nose.

"Go on, what business do you have seeking out your big bro Gamamo?"

This toad was unexpectedly gentle.

"Nothing too major... it's just that when Lord Jiraiya taught me the summoning technique... I wasn't sure how much chakra to put in... went a little overboard." Jimo pinched his thumb and index finger together to demonstrate.

"Hahaha! Is there really someone as dumb as you in this world!" Gamamo clutched his belly, laughing.

"Alright, kid. It's been a long time since anyone managed to summon me out... Since you've let me take a breather in this world, feel free to call on me whenever you need! It'll be a good excuse to come out and play anyway!"

One man and one toad chatted idly, watching Naruto in the distance, who was nearly half-dead from Gamabunta's rough handling.

"That kid's really stubborn..."

Gamamo scooped a few fish out of the river and stuffed them into his mouth as a snack.

"You can say that again..."

"Hey, Gamamo, between you and Gamabunta, who's stronger?"

"Me, of course! Don't let that guy fool you with his pipe and sword—I could take him down anytime!" Gamamo hoisted the two giant nunchucks strapped at his waist, boasting proudly.

"Then why doesn't anyone want to summon you?" Jimo asked curiously.

"You can tell from the size—I'm even bigger than Gamabunta, so I need more chakra... ordinary people don't have that kind of monstrous chakra... after all, we're mainly summoned for combat..."

Jimo listened and glanced at Gamabunta in the distance—about thirty meters tall... while Gamamo was at least forty meters high.

"I see..."

"Those two are getting along pretty well..." Jiraiya watched Jimo sitting atop Gamamo's head.

He tossed the scroll bearing both their names to Gamabunta, who had already finished their bet.

"Jiraiya... you're such a busybody..."

Gamabunta glanced at Naruto, who had collapsed from chakra exhaustion, and showed a satisfied grin.

"Mo! Stop fooling around! Time to go home!"