Friend

After returning to Mount Myoboku, Uzumaki Naruto created several Shadow Clone, and with Hinata Hyuga in tow, he pulled several large carts of snacks toward the place where the Rock-Dwelling Toad resided.

Jiraiya shouldered a large jar of wine and set off in the direction they had in mind. That was the dwelling of the Mount Myoboku troublemaker-in-chief, Gamabunta.

He wasn't carrying this jar of wine for Gamabunta to drink; it was for himself. The wine that Gamabunta and the others drank was produced right here on Mount Myoboku.

Before long, Uzumaki Naruto and Hinata Hyuga arrived at the Rock-Dwelling Toad's dwelling. It was called a dwelling, but it was actually just a massive lake, and the Rock-Dwelling Toad was soaking inside it.

Although the lake was vast, it was not enough to submerge the Rock-Dwelling Toad's entire body.

At this moment, he was half-reclining against the edge of the lake, legs crossed, eyes tightly shut, humming an unknown little tune.

After Uzumaki Naruto and Hinata Hyuga approached, the Rock-Dwelling Toad sensed someone had arrived. He quickly put his legs down and sat upright in the lake, putting on a serious expression.

Seeing the Rock-Dwelling Toad suddenly strike such a pose, Uzumaki Naruto gave a dry cough and then said, "Hello there, Rock-Dwelling Toad. I am Uzumaki Naruto, and this is Hinata Hyuga."

Hearing Uzumaki Naruto introduce her, Hinata Hyuga waved at the Rock-Dwelling Toad and said, "Hello, my name is Hinata Hyuga. Please take care of me."

"Greetings to you both. Just call me Rock-Dwelling," a deep voice reached their ears from the Rock-Dwelling Toad.

Uzumaki Naruto nodded quickly and said, "Mm-hmm, alright. Um, I'd like to be friends with you. Is that okay?"

Upon hearing the words "be friends," the Rock-Dwelling Toad couldn't help but fall into memories.

Back then, he was still small, and he had many companions by his side. Every day, they would play and frolic in the pond, carefree.

But this situation did not last long. As he grew faster and faster, gradually surpassing the other toads of his age, his little companions became fewer and fewer.

By the time his tail faded, his limbs grew out, and he left the pond, his peers were still in their tadpole stage.

Just like that, he slowly found himself without companions of his own age, and those toads older than him had all begun their own paths of cultivation after leaving the pond.

After squatting by the pond for a long time, the Rock-Dwelling Toad left that place and began to wander through the small world belonging to Mount Myoboku.

As time passed, his body grew more and more massive. Even now, Gamahiro, the largest of the three toad brothers, only reached as high as his front claws.

He had lived alone like this for a very long time.

After the memories faded, the Rock-Dwelling Toad asked with a hint of disbelief, "Is it really okay?"

Uzumaki Naruto quickly replied, "Of course it is! Everything behind me is a gift I brought for you."

The Rock-Dwelling Toad looked down behind Uzumaki Naruto. By this time, Uzumaki Naruto had already dispelled his Shadow Clone, and only a few large carts of snacks remained.

Then, the Rock-Dwelling Toad said, "Thank you. I am willing to be friends with you, but I..."

The Rock-Dwelling Toad didn't finish his sentence, but Uzumaki Naruto knew what he was going to say, so he spoke up, "Why don't you try these snacks first to see which ones you like? I'll bring you some more tomorrow."

Uzumaki Naruto didn't know why, but whenever he saw these massive creatures, he wanted to be friends with them because he thought it was incredibly cool.

The Rock-Dwelling Toad said with some hesitation, "But... my appetite..."

Uzumaki Naruto knew without him saying it that his appetite was huge; after all, his size was right there. If the amount of food wasn't enough, it wouldn't be enough to sustain his movements.

Uzumaki Naruto then said, "I have a technique here that can make your body smaller."

After deciding to be friends with the Rock-Dwelling Toad, Uzumaki Naruto had flipped through the techniques in his mind. Through his tireless efforts, he found a technique called Ruyi Body.

The function of this technique was just as its name suggested: it could enlarge or shrink the practitioner's body according to the desired proportions.

Of course, this required the use of spiritual energy to maintain the change. After enlarging, one's strength would also increase accordingly, and the required spiritual energy would become greater.

As for shrinking, this ability was a bit of a chicken rib. After using it, the body's weight and strength would weaken to match the size. Of course, this only required a tiny bit of spiritual energy.

However, this technique was perfectly suited for the current Rock-Dwelling Toad. Uzumaki Naruto wanted to take him out of Mount Myoboku, which would be very difficult given his current size.

As long as the Rock-Dwelling Toad learned this technique, he could shrink himself whenever Uzumaki Naruto took him out, and then restore his original form or use enlargement when he needed to fight.

The Rock-Dwelling Toad asked hurriedly, "Is there really such a technique?"

Uzumaki Naruto nodded and told him to lie on the ground, preparing to pass the technique to him.

But after the Rock-Dwelling Toad lay down, Uzumaki Naruto discovered a problem.

Even though the Rock-Dwelling Toad was already lying on the ground, he was currently only as tall as the thickness of the Rock-Dwelling Toad's lower lip.

Embarrassed, Uzumaki Naruto asked the Rock-Dwelling Toad to lift his claw, then jumped onto it and had the Rock-Dwelling Toad lift him to the level of his brow.

Then, Uzumaki Naruto passed the technique to the Rock-Dwelling Toad. After being returned to the ground, he immediately began to practice the technique in his mind.

After a long while, the Rock-Dwelling Toad began to try circulating his spiritual energy according to the path recorded in the technique.

Slowly, his body size began to shrink at a speed visible to the naked eye.

When his size had shrunk to that of Gamahiro, the Rock-Dwelling Toad stopped. It wasn't because he didn't want to continue shrinking, but because he had reached his current limit.

Only then could Uzumaki Naruto on the ground see the full appearance of the Rock-Dwelling Toad.

He had earth-yellow skin, and beneath the skin were blocks of muscle resembling granite, with a row of thorn-like substances on his back.

The entire toad looked full of rugged, fierce energy.

At this moment, Uzumaki Naruto's eyes lit up as he said to the Rock-Dwelling Toad, "Rock-Dwelling, you look so cool!"

The Rock-Dwelling Toad didn't respond, only shook his head bashfully and said, "Sorry, I can only shrink to this extent for now."

Uzumaki Naruto quickly said, "It's fine, it's your first time practicing. Once you get more proficient, you'll be able to shrink even smaller later on."

The Rock-Dwelling Toad nodded earnestly and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely work hard."

"From now on, I'll come over to accompany your training during the day until you can shrink your body down to the size of a fist," Naruto Uzumaki said.

The Rock-Dwelling Toad looked at Naruto Uzumaki with gratitude and replied, "Mm-hmm, sounds good. I'm usually all by myself here, and it gets quite boring."

"Hehe, once you shrink your size a bit more, I'll take you out for a stroll," Naruto Uzumaki said with a grin.

The Rock-Dwelling Toad nodded, a look of anticipation on its face.

Afterward, Naruto Uzumaki moved all the snacks he had brought behind him and sat down in front of the Rock-Dwelling Toad with Hinata.

The two of them and the toad began to feast on the snacks. Most of them ended up in the Rock-Dwelling Toad's stomach, not just because of its massive size and appetite, but because these were foods it had never tasted before.

As time passed, Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata, and the Rock-Dwelling Toad gradually grew familiar with one another.

Slowly, the Rock-Dwelling Toad began to chat with them about its past and the hardships it had endured over the years.

Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata listened and offered words of comfort throughout.

By evening, the snacks they had brought were all gone. Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata planned to return to their lodging to train. After waving goodbye to the Rock-Dwelling Toad, the two followed the path they had taken earlier and returned to their quarters.

At this time, Jiraiya had already returned. As soon as they entered the house, the two were hit by the strong scent of alcohol.

Seeing Jiraiya fast asleep on the bed, they closed his door and returned to their own rooms.

Tonight, Naruto Uzumaki prepared to train seriously. Sitting cross-legged on the bed, he began to circulate the Supreme Demon Sutra, and the surrounding spiritual energy rapidly converged toward him.

As he slowly absorbed the spiritual energy into his body, Naruto Uzumaki discovered a problem: the spiritual energy of Mount Myoboku was not only denser than that outside, but its quality was also far superior.

Once absorbed into his energy vortex, these spiritual energies didn't even need much refining before they slowly converted into his own reserves.

Moreover, he could clearly feel the spiritual energy within the vortex condensing into spiritual liquid at a slow pace.

Although the speed was still quite slow, it was incomparably faster than it would have been in the outside world.

After training for the entire night, Naruto Uzumaki checked his vortex and saw that more than half of the spiritual energy inside had condensed into spiritual liquid.

With a bit more effort, he would be able to condense all the spiritual energy in the vortex into liquid. That would mean his cultivation technique had broken through to the perfection of the second level.

Once he reached the perfection of the second level, he would be able to summon another demon statue.

After washing up, Naruto Uzumaki went to the living room, where a hungover Jiraiya and a Hinata who had finished her training also emerged.

Seeing Hinata, Naruto Uzumaki asked, "Hinata, how does it feel training in Mount Myoboku?"

Hinata thought for a moment and replied, "I feel it's much faster than training in the ninja world, and I vaguely feel something flowing within my eyes."

Upon hearing this, Naruto Uzumaki immediately used his primordial spirit perception to examine Hinata's eyes, discovering that a powerful energy was gestating within them.

He then said to Hinata, "This is a good thing. Your eyes are slowly evolving, though the direction of this evolution isn't clear yet. Keep working hard on your training; it shouldn't be long before we can tell."

Hinata said happily, "Mm-hmm, I will definitely work hard."

Naruto Uzumaki nodded and then looked at Jiraiya, asking, "Pervy Sage, what about you?"

"Although I can feel an increase in my training speed, it will still take some time to break through to the fourth level. However, I've made significant progress in artifact refining. I can spare some time to go back and forge the storage rings," Jiraiya replied.

Hearing this, Naruto Uzumaki's eyes lit up. "Then let's head back this afternoon and try to get those storage rings finished."

Jiraiya nodded in agreement.

Naruto Uzumaki then used the Flying Thunder God to bring the two of them to Muyuan Town.

After purchasing a large batch of snacks, they returned to Mount Myoboku and went to see the Rock-Dwelling Toad. They stayed until the afternoon, when Naruto Uzumaki stood up to say his goodbyes and returned to their lodging.

Hinata and Jiraiya were already waiting for him there. Seeing this, Naruto Uzumaki nodded to them and led them back to the Altar.

... The above is provided by the great Ti Ta regarding Naruto: Starting with Asura Chakra.