Jiraiya's Bathhouse

Naruto found Ringo at the entrance to the bathhouse.

Not inside the bathhouse, but in the bushes across from it. Ringo was crouched behind a tree, holding a white fragment he had just picked up, dropped by a chunin practicing Water Release. Naruto sprang out from behind the tree and grabbed his arm.

"Ringo! I found someone super amazing! He says he can help me get stronger—but you have to come with me, because the way he looks at me is way too weird!!"

Ringo slipped the fragment into his card slot. "What kind of look?"

"The kind—like he's looking at an experiment!" Naruto dragged him around the bathhouse wall. "And he keeps peeking at the women's bath—anyway, it's a bathhouse! Pervy Sage! The old man Third said he's one of the Sannin, but I think he's just a pervert!"

"The Sannin?"

Ringo's steps faltered.

The white fragment Orochimaru had left behind still sat in the corner of his card slot. The Sannin—he had met one of them. A tongue descended from a tree, Sasuke collapsed, and Naruto was sent flying. That level of pressure wasn't something steam could withstand.

Naruto did not notice that he had slowed for half a beat and dragged him around the corner.

A tall, white-haired man was crouching outside the bathhouse's bamboo fence, his face pressed to a gap in the slats, his shoulders twitching.

"The angle—this angle has just the right lighting—no, wait, move over a little—there—"

Naruto punched him in the back of the head.

"Pervy Sage!!"

Jiraiya turned around clutching the back of his head, a trail of blood hanging from his nose to his chin. He glanced at Naruto, then looked past him and fixed his gaze on Ringo.

It was not the look one gave a genin. It was the look one gave a medical chart.

"So—you're that synthesis brat the old man Third told me about." He stood, half a head taller than Kakashi. He had not wiped away his nosebleed, but his tone had changed. "Show me your steam. Let me see it."

Ringo did not move.

"What did Lord Third tell you?"

"He said Konoha had produced a strange ninja. Not a bloodline limit, not a secret technique, but something you made yourself. You kneaded ice and fire together, and even created Boil Release. The old man Third rarely misjudges people—so I wanted to see whether you're really a genius, or a bomb waiting to explode."

Ringo raised his right hand.

Steam poured from his palm—not white, but gold. The heat of Boil Release began to warp the air around them, and Jiraiya's white hair streamed backward in the hot wind.

Jiraiya's playful expression went utterly blank.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds.

He reached out, not to catch the steam, but to grip Ringo's wrist. The steam went out at once.

"Enough."

There was no laughter in his voice now.

"It's not just chakra. Inside you, it feels like two opposing things are barely holding each other up. Ice and fire—and not only that. There's wind, and sound waves too. You didn't merely knead them together. You forcibly crammed them together. Like stuffing seven cats into a sack. The sack hasn't torn not because you're skilled, but because you're lucky."

Ringo withdrew his hand. The spot on his wrist where Jiraiya had gripped him was still numb.

"What are you trying to say?"

"Your balance—it could collapse at any moment. It isn't that the ratio between ice and fire is wrong. The proportions of everything are wrong. Every time you synthesize a new card, you stuff another cat into that sack. Once there are too many cats, the sack will explode. And it won't be the sack that explodes—it'll be you."

Naruto stood beside them, completely stunned. "Pervy Sage—what are you saying? Is Ringo going to die?!"

"Not for now." Jiraiya released his hand. "But if you don't learn how to balance them, then during the finals a month from now, the instant you release that steam, it may blow through your own blood vessels before it blows through your opponent."

Ringo's Adam's apple bobbed.

"How do I learn?"

Jiraiya took a step back and leaned against the fence he had been peeping through. The blood from his nose had dried at the corner of his mouth, but he did not wipe it away.

"Sage Mode—have you heard of it?"

"No."

"Normally, no one has. It's something even I haven't fully mastered yet. But you can first learn how to safely put things of different natures together. Meaning: it's not about balance. It's about accepting imbalance. Ice and fire don't have to be half and half. Sometimes three parts ice and seven parts fire can still synthesize. The ratio isn't the issue. The point is to keep them from fighting while they occupy the same space."

Ringo said nothing.

Inside the card slot, the system suddenly displayed a line of text.

Detected—senjutsu fragment—gold—from—Jiraiya—personal demonstration—collect?

It had not dropped from battle. It had not dropped from instruction. While Jiraiya spoke, chakra had unconsciously leaked from his body, carrying the aura of Sage Mode. He had not given it willingly; he had simply been speaking too seriously, and his body had leaked it on its own.

Ringo selected "Yes."

The golden fragment fell into the card slot. It was unlike every fragment he had collected before. It was neither an attribute fragment nor an ability fragment, but something he still could not understand. Like a seed. It could not be used right away; he had to wait for it to sprout on its own.

Jiraiya watched Ringo's movement. Though he could not see the system panel, he saw the flash of gold in Ringo's eyes.

"You picked it up?"

"Yeah."

"A senjutsu fragment isn't an ordinary thing. You can't use it yet—not because your level isn't high enough, but because your body isn't ready. Sage Mode requires natural energy, not chakra. It's the thing this world breathes. If your current body takes in even one breath of natural energy, your blood vessels will burst. But keep it. Once you reach that stage, it'll tell you on its own when you can use it."

Jiraiya straightened and patted Ringo on the head. His palm was huge, and the pat made Ringo stagger forward a step.

"Kid—the old man Third rarely misjudges people. He said you're Konoha's future. Not the next me, nor the next Fourth Hokage. You're yourself, a one-of-a-kind synthesis ninja. Ringo. Remember this: don't try to balance everything. Accepting imbalance is what's normal."

He turned and left.

After taking two steps, he looked back.

"Oh, right, Naruto—special training starts tomorrow. Not peeking at the women's bath. The first lesson is the Summoning Technique."

Naruto jumped up. "Really?! Pervy Sage, you finally—no, wait! You're not tricking me again, are you?! Last time you said you'd teach me, but you just made me keep watch for you!!"

"That wasn't keeping watch. It was material collection. That's also a form of training. You need to treat training with reverence." Jiraiya's voice grew more distant, and the rustle of his footsteps came from behind the bamboo fence again. A scream came from inside the bathhouse. The splash of water. Jiraiya's shriek. "Misunderstanding! Material collection! It really was only material collection!!"

Ringo stood outside the bathhouse.

Naruto had already chased inside. Ringo did not know whether he was going to save Jiraiya or help the women beat him up.

Ringo lowered his head and looked at his card slot. The senjutsu fragment lay quietly in the corner, neither glowing nor vibrating, merely warm. Not hot enough to burn, but the warmth of something that had spent an entire day in a pocket.

"Imbalance is what's normal."

He repeated it once.