Summoning Jutsu

"How was that? Weren't you moved to tears?"

Seeing Naruto remain dazed for a long time, Jiraiya assumed he had been touched by his actions and burst into hearty laughter.

"More or less." Naruto fell silent for a moment, then slowly nodded.

He couldn't exactly say that he had just been chatting with a fox...

"Let's see, what should I teach you?" Jiraiya stared at him carefully for a while. Then, suddenly, he bit his finger and formed a series of hand seals.

Poof!

A cloud of smoke as tall as a person erupted.

"I'll teach you the Summoning Jutsu." Jiraiya stood with his arms folded atop a giant toad over two meters tall.

The giant toad curled out its tongue and handed over an enormous scroll.

"They should have taught you the basics of the Summoning Jutsu at the Ninja Academy. Write your name in blood and press your handprint onto it," Jiraiya said.

Naruto nodded slightly. Summoned beasts were not something as unattainable as Chakra Metal. The Summoning Jutsu was highly practical and readily achievable.

A practical-minded Ninja Academy naturally would not neglect training in such knowledge.

A summoned beast did not necessarily need to be powerful. As long as it could enhance a ninja in some way, it was worth cultivating.

For example, Kiba Inuzuka's Akamaru could also be considered a type of summoned beast.

Although Kiba always kept Akamaru by his side, the boy and dog had indeed formed a summoning contract.

As far as Naruto knew, many Konoha ninja raised ninja hounds as summoned beasts.

The powerful tracking abilities of ninja hounds were extremely useful to many ninja.

"Boar—Dog—Rooster—Monkey—Ram, Summoning Jutsu!"

Naruto clumsily formed the hand seals for the Summoning Jutsu. Since it was his first time using it, he had no idea how to control the amount of chakra. He could only go by the feeling that more was better.

Poof!

A figure nearly twenty meters tall suddenly appeared.

Naruto looked down and saw a gigantic purplish-red toad beneath him, carrying a pot-lid-shaped shield on its back and wielding a massive spiked trident.

"Hello, my name is Naruto Uzumaki."

The purple toad looked up. After seeing the figure standing atop its head, it said softly, "Hello. My name is Gamakichi."

After seeing who had arrived, Jiraiya secretly breathed a sigh of relief. At least it wasn't Gamabunta and his explosive temper.

"Gamakichi, long time no see!"

"Long time no see, Jiraiya!" Gamakichi lowered his head in greeting.

"This little guy will be your contractor from now on." Jiraiya pointed at Naruto.

"I understand." Gamakichi spoke to the contractor standing on his head. "Although I'm rather dull-witted, I'll do my best to help you, Naruto."

"Thank you, Gamakichi."

Naruto relaxed slightly. The Ninja Academy textbooks had said that the more powerful a summoned beast was, the harder it was to tame. He had not expected Gamakichi to have such a good temperament.

Poof!

Gamakichi's enormous body turned into a cloud of smoke and vanished.

"You got lucky. You actually summoned Gamakichi, the most good-natured one," Jiraiya said. "Remember the amount of chakra you used just now."

Everyone wanted to form contracts with powerful summoned beasts, but rewards were proportional to effort.

The stronger the summoned beast, the more chakra it took to summon.

For instance, the chakra Naruto had expended to summon Gamakichi was something an ordinary chunin could not produce even if they squeezed themselves dry, let alone successfully summon him.

Summoning contracts were divided into individual summoning contracts and clan summoning contracts.

An individual summoning contract, as the name implied, was a one-on-one contract with a summoned beast.

A clan summoning contract was the kind Naruto had just signed, allowing him to summon the toads of Mount Myōboku.

Unlike individual summoning contracts, which could summon only one summoned beast, clan summoning contracts could summon multiple summoned beasts.

The benefits were obvious, but there were plenty of complications too.

For example, if Naruto wanted to summon Gamakichi again, he would need to input the exact same amount of chakra into the Summoning Jutsu.

If the difference was too great, he might summon another giant toad instead.

But overall, the advantages outweighed the disadvantages.

For the rest of the time, Jiraiya did not teach him any new ninjutsu. Instead, he had Naruto repeatedly summon different toads and introduced them to him one by one.

Naruto's eyes were truly opened that day. Mount Myōboku deserved its place as one of the Three Great Sage Regions.

With its wide variety of toads and their different abilities, it could practically be regarded as a miniature ninja village.

Mount Myōboku's summoning contract could absolutely be considered the protagonist's cheat in a worldly novel.

Even a ninja with terrible aptitude could rise to the peak of life and marry a beautiful, wealthy woman as long as they signed Mount Myōboku's summoning contract and relied on its various toads.

Chunin Exams arena.

The ten people who had advanced from the Preliminary Round, including Naruto, stood in a neat line at the center of the arena.

There should have been eleven people, but Sasuke had failed to show up for some reason.

As they looked at the packed spectator stands above them, everyone had different thoughts.

When a ninja stood openly at the center of the spotlight, could he still be called a ninja?

Naruto silently asked himself.

One thing was certain: whether this was right or wrong, thinking about such things with his current status and position was nothing more than needless worry.

"Look, aside from the three Sand ninja, everyone else is from Konoha!"

"I think that's perfectly normal."

"It's not normal at all! Why are there three Sand ninja?"

"..."

With the advantage of home turf, Konoha's residents enthusiastically discussed the competitors.

As the victor of the First, Second, and even Third Shinobi World Wars, Konoha was proud. That pride was reflected not only in its ninja, but even more so in its ordinary villagers.

"Your side's teaching ability is truly excellent," the Fourth Kazekage said with a faint smile.

"Your side's level of instruction is not bad either," the Third Hokage replied with equal flattery. It cost nothing, so he could say whatever pleased him.

The Third Hokage found the ratio of participants quite pleasing as well.

Having twice as many contestants as the Sand ninja fully demonstrated Konoha's strength to the various Daimyo and the uninformed spectators;

The modest yet not insignificant number of Sand ninja also fully demonstrated Konoha's magnanimity as the host.

What?

You said Konoha had too many people, that there was something shady going on?

Hiruzen Sarutobi would say that they had upheld fairness and justice throughout the Chunin Exams. Konoha simply had many genin because it was so good at training them.

Why did the other ninja villages have so few participants, or none at all?

Because their basic education still needed improvement.

"For some reason, I don't see Uchiha Sasuke?" the Fourth Kazekage asked with a smile.

"The Fourth Kazekage certainly cares about Sasuke," Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a laugh. Could he admit that he did not know either? Of course not.

He gave a meaningful look to a Konoha ninja beside him. Most of the guests at these Chunin Exams had come because of Sasuke's status as the last descendant of the Uchiha Clan. Even if they truly could not find him, Hiruzen needed an excuse to pacify them.

The ninja standing nearby understood at once and vanished with a Body Flicker Technique.

"The first match: Naruto Uzumaki versus Temari!"

An unnamed jonin checked the time, then looked up and said, "All unrelated personnel, wait on the second floor."

I wasn't satisfied with this chapter's content, so I made some revisions. The update was late.

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