Spirit Contract

The next morning.

Having enjoyed a restful night, Qiuyang was jolted awake from a pleasant dream, nearly tumbling from the tree where he had been sleeping.

A grave problem suddenly occurred to him:

Exactly where was this "old haunt" that Jiraiya had mentioned before leaving yesterday?

Strictly speaking, yesterday was their first meeting as master and apprentice, so how could there possibly be any place that qualified as an "old haunt"?

Was it the spot where they ate fish? Or perhaps that hot spring bathhouse where Jiraiya liked to peep?

Qiuyang pulled a long face, guessing to no avail, until he finally formed the hand seals to create a shadow clone.

"You go wait at the spot where we ate fish—the lower probability one—and I'll head to the hot spring. Any objections?"

The clone had no complaints; it nodded in agreement and vanished into the distance with a few leaps.

Qiuyang returned to the street from the day before, carefully avoiding the stall he and Jiraiya had overturned, and paid a small fee to enter the hot spring, his heart aching at the cost.

Looking at his now-shriveled wallet, Qiuyang felt like crying.

This won't do, this won't do at all. Once this training is over, I'll have to take on some B-rank missions in Konoha.

It would be best to pick up missions like exterminating bandits where there's some profit to be made.

Otherwise, as a transmigrator who knows the plot in advance, it's truly pathetic to be held back by something as trivial as money.

Back at the same bathing spot, Qiuyang treated the scars on his right hand from yesterday's fight with basic medical ninjutsu while patiently waiting for Jiraiya to appear.

He waited from morning until noon, yet Jiraiya was nowhere to be seen.

There was no word from the shadow clone either; if it had spotted Jiraiya, it would have dispelled itself to pass the memory to the original.

Fortunately, there was no time limit at this bathhouse, and the area he occupied was empty, otherwise, Qiuyang might have felt embarrassed.

Just as he was wondering if there were any other locations, Jiraiya's relaxed voice finally drifted from behind him:

"Oi, little one, you're here early! I thought you'd be late after such a long bout yesterday."

"..."

It's already noon, old man!

Almost simultaneously, both of them received the memory from the clone waiting at the fish-eating spot.

It was clear that both master and apprentice had arrived at the same interpretation of "old haunt," and both had feared the other would go to the wrong place.

The atmosphere turned subtle and awkward, until the source of all evil, Jiraiya, scratched his head and laughed heartily, claiming they were clearly on the same wavelength, just to gloss over the situation.

Qiuyang was speechless:

Can we please be more specific next time?

However, this little interlude actually brought them closer together.

Once Jiraiya formally accepted him as a disciple, he became quite serious about his instruction, starting by asking about Qiuyang's current status.

Aside from his theft of the Scroll of Sealing and the Mangekyo Sharingan that had yet to recover its ocular power, Qiuyang laid his entire situation out for his teacher.

As for how he escaped the night of the massacre, he claimed his parents had used their final strength to send him away via a teleportation formation, allowing him to survive.

Jiraiya sighed deeply at the story.

He felt particularly pained upon hearing that Qiuyang had to hide his identity as a refugee upon returning to Konoha.

The fate of this little one was almost as tragic as the backstories of his other three students.

It was hard to imagine such things happening within the village of Konoha during a time of peace.

"That old man... I told him long ago that we should use a policy of conciliation toward the Uchiha Clan rather than confrontation and segregation. How many talented children has this wasted?"

Jiraiya muttered to himself, grumbling about his teacher, but when he looked up and saw Qiuyang's white hair, it just didn't sit right with him.

Black hair and red Sharingan were supposed to be the standard for this clan.

With that, he grabbed Qiuyang by the collar, dragged him out of the hot spring, found a barbershop, and demanded the owner dye Qiuyang's hair back to its original black.

Qiuyang went with the flow, allowing the barber to restore his hair to its natural color.

Fearing that Qiuyang might overthink it, Jiraiya chattered on behind him to explain:

"As a student of Jiraiya, you don't need to hide your identity like before. I am your solid backing."

"You don't need to fear that Uchiha Itachi who awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan; your teacher's strength is no match for his."

Qiuyang's heart swelled with emotion, and he replied with a smile:

"I know, Teacher Jiraiya. From last night on, I have also decided that I will no longer hide my identity as a member of the Uchiha Clan."

Since Jiraiya was willing to take him as a student, he would never tarnish the legendary reputation of the Sannin.

Hearing this, Jiraiya couldn't help but nod in satisfaction, growing even fonder of this disciple he had picked up along the way.

Once Qiuyang's hair was dyed black, Jiraiya took him back to the spot where they had eaten fish the night before.

After tricking Qiuyang into treating him to another meal of delicious grilled fish and beer, Jiraiya folded his arms and began to inquire about the ninjutsu Qiuyang currently knew.

Qiuyang naturally didn't hide much; excluding the techniques he had learned from the Scroll of Sealing, he told Jiraiya everything else he knew.

"Not bad, little guy. You've got quite a rich repertoire of ninjutsu."

Jiraiya didn't have many schemes when it came to his own villagers; he never suspected that Uchiha Qiu Yang had learned heaven-defying ninjutsu like the Rasengan and Flying Thunder God by peeking at the Scroll of Sealing.

After a moment of contemplation, he had a general direction for his instruction:

"Listen, your teacher has a mission to attend to, so I can only teach you for about... three days this time."

Uchiha Qiu Yang nodded earnestly.

Three days was already enough; after all, what he wanted to learn for the time being was only the Summoning Jutsu and techniques to increase his chakra reserves.

The experienced Toad Sage had, of course, noticed Uchiha Qiu Yang's chakra deficiency during their spar yesterday.

He pulled a scroll he had prepared earlier from his robes and said:

"These are some insights I've gathered over the years regarding chakra condensation. I don't know how much use they'll be to you, but they will certainly help."

Uchiha Qiu Yang was delighted to hear this, his face glowing with uncontrollable joy as he solemnly took the scroll from Jiraiya's hands:

"I will definitely study my teacher's experience carefully. To be honest, this is exactly what I'm lacking. You're giving me the chance to stand on the shoulders of a giant to see the world!"

I'm a giant? Hahaha!

Having been flattered into a daze by Uchiha Qiu Yang once again, Jiraiya was very pleased, his eyes squinting happily.

Hmm, having a student who knows how to praise people feels pretty good, unlike those previous students of mine...

"Take your time reading and contemplating this, and then... the Summoning Jutsu."

A large toad wearing a necklace with the character "Loyalty" appeared before Uchiha Qiu Yang. It flicked its tongue, placing the summoning scroll from its mouth in front of him.

"Since you've become a student of the Toad Sage, you must, of course, sign a summoning contract with my summons."

"Yes, Teacher Jiraiya."

Uchiha Qiu Yang naturally wouldn't refuse. Following Jiraiya's guidance, he bit his finger and wrote "Uchiha Qiu Yang" next to the name of Namikaze Minato.

After the successful signing, Jiraiya, standing atop the toad's head, simply sat down:

"Listen, the hand seals for the Summoning Jutsu are Boar, Dog, Bird..."

Am I about to summon my first summoning beast in the Naruto world?

Uchiha Qiu Yang nodded excitedly. After biting his finger and smearing blood on his palm, he formed the seals as his teacher instructed and slammed his hand onto the ground:

"Summoning Jutsu."