Protecting the Best Hidden Leaf Village

"The reason I want to become stronger is to protect my companions, to protect the Hidden Leaf Village. Ever since I could remember, my greatest dream has been to become Hokage. Even now, that has never wavered.

"And everything that has happened these past few years has made me feel how weak I am. So I want you to take me as your disciple, make me stronger, so I can protect the village and protect my companions...

"So please, Sensei, take me as your disciple..."

Josuke: I wouldn't be Hokage even if dogs could do it. I wouldn't protect the Hidden Leaf Village even if dogs did. When I play Naruto, I only play ordinary people. As an ordinary person, I'd just hold them close.

Jiraiya fell silent upon hearing this. Josuke really resembled him as a child—wanting to protect the Hidden Leaf Village and become Hokage.

Hadn't he once been a bright-eyed, spirited young man like that? It was just that he had experienced too much, and that old passion was gone, wasn't it?

To be honest, Jiraiya felt a little sympathy.

Naruto, standing to the side, was deeply moved. Josuke shared the same dream as him: becoming Hokage. His heart stirred with competitive spirit. Aside from Sasuke, he now had another target he wanted to surpass.

(Yes, Naruto had always believed he wasn't as good as Sasuke or Josuke. He had always wanted their acknowledgment, especially Sasuke's.)

So Naruto used a ninjutsu!!!

A cloud of white smoke appeared, and Naruko made her entrance. Jiraiya's nose immediately gushed blood.

Naruko said coquettishly, "Pervy Sage, just agree already~~~ okay?"

Holy crap!!!

Josuke nearly got a nosebleed too.

Who could withstand that? Forget Jiraiya—even he had almost fallen for it.

The somewhat heavy atmosphere became absurd and hilarious after Naruto's performance. Even the art style changed. Jiraiya had originally intended to play hard to get for a while, but he immediately broke character.

Jiraiya flashed a lecherous grin. "Hehe... okay, okay, okay!!!"

And just like that, Josuke became Jiraiya's disciple in the most ridiculous way possible.

Cough, cough, cough.

Naruto ended the Sexy Technique. Though Jiraiya found it somewhat regrettable, he still accepted Josuke as his disciple.

To establish a grand image before his newly accepted disciple, Jiraiya decided to show off one of his signature techniques.

A rapidly spinning sphere appeared in his hand.

Naruto and Josuke looked over.

Josuke instantly recognized it. Wasn't that the Rasengan?

"Pervy Sage, what is that?"

Naruto asked in confusion.

"Heh heh heh." Jiraiya laughed.

"This is an A-rank ninjutsu, the Rasengan!! So? Do you want to learn it?"

Holy crap, he's bringing out the big move right away? Josuke was thrilled. Now he had no choice but to learn it!

But compared to the Rasengan, he still wanted to sign a summoning contract more. Summoning was just more appealing.

Who wouldn't want to ride on top of a toad?

Cough, cough, cough.

"Pervy Sage, I want to summon a giant toad!"

Josuke said to Jiraiya.

Jiraiya looked as though he had nearly forgotten, then slapped his forehead.

"Right, right, right. I almost forgot."

As he spoke, he removed a summoning scroll from behind his back and unfurled it. Jiraiya's and Naruto's names were clearly written on it, and between them was another name.

Josuke fell silent. The Yellow Flash, the Fourth Hokage—Minato Namikaze.

Jiraiya took out a brush and a small needle.

"Come on. Write down your name, then press your blood onto it. After that, you'll be able to summon toads from Mount Myoboku to fight for you."

Josuke felt as though it wasn't real.

He had taken another step closer to senjutsu.

Without any hesitation, Josuke carefully wrote down his name. Then he pricked his hand with the needle and pressed all five bloodied fingers onto the scroll.

The contract was complete.

Jiraiya nodded.

"Good. Now say the Summoning Jutsu, gather chakra in your hand, and press it down to release it."

Josuke quietly recited the Summoning Jutsu.

Summoning patterns appeared on the ground.

Poof!!!

A little toad appeared.

It was Gamakichi.

Josuke recognized him at a glance.

Gamakichi looked around.

"Naruto, Jiraiya, did you summon me? Is there something you need help with?"

Gamakichi sounded confused.

Naruto hurriedly explained.

"No, no, it was Josuke who summoned you. He's signed a summoning contract with Mount Myoboku too. Josuke is amazing—he summoned a toad on his very first try."

Gamakichi suddenly understood.

"Okay, then I'll head back first. I'll go notify Mount Myoboku."

Jiraiya nodded. They really should tell them, lest it cause unnecessary trouble.

Not bad.

Josuke exclaimed in surprise. He had summoned Gamakichi in one go, which was better than Naruto summoning a little tadpole. No, wait—wasn't that little tadpole Gamakichi?

Damn it.

In the end, he still couldn't escape it.

After resolving the summoning matter, Jiraiya began teaching the Rasengan.

Simply put, the principle behind the Rasengan was to gather chakra in one's hand, make it flow continuously in different directions, and compress it.

This formed a high-density, rapidly rotating "chakra sphere" with tremendous destructive power.

It looked simple and easy to understand, but it demanded extremely precise chakra control.

The initial training was bound to be difficult.

Josuke was no exception. Though he considered himself among the upper tier of the Hidden Leaf Village's rookie elite, he still encountered no small amount of hardship while using the Rasengan.

His control over chakra flow was still not good enough.

But he was still much better than Naruto.

After a day had passed, he could barely make his chakra flow, while Naruto was still gathering chakra.

So this is Naruto. His talent really wasn't that great when he was little, but after following Jiraiya, his life seemed to turn on cheat mode.

Speaking of Jiraiya...

Josuke remembered something.

In the original story, wasn't the protagonist group taught by the Hidden Leaf Village's porn, gambling, and poison—ptui, the Three Sannin? First Kakashi led them, then it was straight to the Three Sannin.

Ridiculous.

As expected of the protagonist group. No wonder people joked that they had thought Naruto was a story about a loser rising to greatness, only to find out it was the story of a fallen young master.

There was no way he could go wrong by following the protagonist group. Josuke believed that as long as he got along well with Huang Yuan, then even if he defected and became a cool rogue ninja...

Naruto wouldn't give up on him.

He would ache with grief and never forget him.

Sigh.

No point thinking so much.

Josuke continued to work hard on his Rasengan training.

The days slowly passed, and the people of the Hidden Leaf Village gradually emerged from the shadow cast by the Third Hokage's death.

The Third's death was indeed a heavy blow, but life had to go on. The Hidden Leaf Village's higher-ups proposed that Jiraiya become Hokage, but Jiraiya firmly refused.

Instead, he suggested that Tsunade, who had left the village many years ago, return to the Hidden Leaf Village and become Hokage.

Naturally, the task fell to Jiraiya, so he set off with Naruto and Josuke on a mission to find Tsunade.

After all that training, Josuke had learned the Rasengan, and Naruto could barely shape a sphere as well. This was much faster than in the original story, probably because Josuke's presence had encouraged Naruto.