On the Eve of the Chunin Ninja Exams

Kakashi had thought this would be a long battle.

The Summoning Technique was not basic chakra control.

It required precise blood-contract binding, flawlessly connected hand seals, and perfect coordination between chakra volume and timing of output. Even a highly talented ninja would need three to five days of practice before they could summon even the lowest-level summoned beast.

When he had first learned under Jiraiya, it had taken him two full days before he could reliably summon a ninja hound for the first time.

Not to mention, the contract scroll he had brought out was exclusive to the Mount Myōboku toad lineage, a top-tier summoning channel only the Hokage's direct line could access. The threshold was terrifyingly high.

Kakashi had barely spread the contract scroll across the ground before biting his fingertip and demonstrating the hand seals to Naruto. "Watch carefully. The seal sequence for the Summoning Technique is Boar—Dog—Rooster—Monkey—Ram. The crucial part is the final step: you have to channel enough chakra through your blood and into the contract markings..."

Before he could finish.

Naruto had already bitten his own fingertip. The instant a drop of blood landed on the contract markings, his hands flew through the seals like flowing water before he slammed his palm heavily onto the ground.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

"Summoning Technique!"

Boom—!

A deafening explosion instantly blew apart the camp tents. Smoke and dust surged into the sky as an enormous shadow completely covered the clearing.

Kakashi was blasted three steps back by the shockwave. His Sharingan widened to its limit as he stared at the massive figure slowly taking shape in the smoke, his face beneath the mask going utterly stiff.

That was no young tadpole, nor was it some little toad from Mount Myōboku.

It was Mount Myōboku's top dog, Fukasaku's own grandson, the Fourth Hokage's personal summoned beast and former comrade-in-arms—Gamabunta!

Gamabunta had a massive pipe clenched between his teeth. He swept his gaze around, then finally looked down at Naruto by his feet and spoke in a gruff voice. "Hey, brat. You the one who summoned me?"

Naruto scratched his head, looking as if it were only natural. "Who else would it be?"

Kakashi was completely numb.

He looked at Gamabunta, his throat tightening as he instinctively bowed. "Senior Gamabunta!"

What kind of joke was this?!

This was someone even he had to respectfully call senior. During the Nine-Tails incident, Kakashi had personally watched Gamabunta stand alongside the Fourth Hokage and withstand a Tailed Beast Bomb. He was one of the top summoned beasts in the entire Ninja World!

This kid Naruto had used the Summoning Technique for the first time and summoned Gamabunta directly before he had even heard the full explanation of chakra channeling?!

Gamabunta glanced at Kakashi, then lowered his head to inspect Naruto again, blowing out a huge ring of smoke. "Interesting. You've got some strength in those hands. Fine, I'm going back to Mount Myōboku to sleep if there's nothing else. Next time you summon me, bring me some good sake in advance."

As soon as he finished speaking, his enormous body dissolved into white smoke.

Only a petrified Kakashi and a Naruto with a "That's it?" expression remained behind.

It took Kakashi a full half minute to recover his voice. Looking at Naruto, his tone was full of collapse. "You... have you practiced the Summoning Technique before?"

"No," Naruto replied innocently. "Didn't you just teach me? It was pretty easy."

It was pretty easy.

Those five words were like five poisoned kunai, stabbing viciously into Kakashi's heart.

In all his life, he had never seen such an absurd talent.

After Kakashi went off in a daze to arrange the rest of their training, Naruto found an empty patch of shade beneath a tree, leaned against the trunk, and called out in his mind, System, how much Darkness Value do I have now?

"Host, you have 2,700 Darkness Value remaining." The system's cold mechanical voice immediately sounded.

Naruto clicked his tongue, tapping the tree trunk with his fingertips as a calculating glint flashed through his eyes.

2,700 points was still far from enough for the thing he wanted to exchange for.

Not to mention, once that reward was exchanged, his current Darkness Value would be reset to zero. If he did not save up enough extra points, he would be knocked right back to square one. That would be truly embarrassing.

He needed to push harder down the path of darkness.

Who should he use to farm some Darkness Value?

Naruto's eyes shifted as his gaze swept over Sasuke and Sakura, who were sparring not far away. A wicked smile curled across his lips.

"Hmm... Sasuke, Sakura, my tool couple. You two will do!"

Over the next two and a half weeks, Team 7's training ground became Sasuke and Sakura's personal hell.

Whenever Sasuke practiced the Great Fireball Technique and had just finished a round, Naruto would stand nearby with his arms folded and complain, "That's it? Your Fire Release couldn't even burn a mosquito to death. Your chakra's scattering everywhere like piss. With your level, you want to kill Itachi? If I were Itachi, I'd laugh so hard I'd awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan on the spot."

Sasuke's face immediately darkened like the bottom of a pot. He nearly crushed the Chidori in his hand as Darkness Value notifications crazily flashed through his mind: +5, +8, +12.

Whenever Sakura recited her ninjutsu formulas and had just stammered through two lines, Naruto would yawn directly in her face. "Forget it. With that memory of yours, you'll be lucky if you can remember the hand seal order during the exams. Don't end up bowing to the enemy and greeting them, embarrassing Team 7."

Sakura's eyes turned red on the spot. Furious and aggrieved, her Darkness Value rose again by +3, +4, steadily pouring in.

What was worse was that this guy came up with new ways every day to stab them in the heart. From taijutsu to ninjutsu, from chakra control to tactical thinking, he targeted their weaknesses from every direction without a blind spot. Yet every word he said struck exactly where it hurt, leaving the two of them unable to find anything to refute.

After two and a half weeks, Sasuke and Sakura had been roasted into having no temper left. They buried their heads in frantic training every day, cursing their guts out inside.

"Damn it, Naruto's been like he swallowed gunpowder lately! He barks at everyone he sees and bites anyone he meets!"

Sasuke gritted his teeth and punched a tree trunk, cursing Naruto hundreds of times in his heart. Yet he had to admit that after being provoked by Naruto like this, his training progress had become more than three times faster than before.

Sakura trained while crying, swearing to herself that one day, she would pin Naruto to the ground and beat him up.

Meanwhile, Naruto watched his Darkness Value climb all the way to 4,200 and grinned from ear to ear.

"Tools really are the greatest productive force."

That day, the payment for the Land of Waves mission finally arrived.

Naruto took the money he had just received and rushed straight to Ichiraku Ramen. After wolfing down three huge bowls of miso chashu ramen and burping from being stuffed, he strolled out of the shop, pondering where he could find some trouble, show off a little, bully someone, and farm more Darkness Value.

The moment he rounded a street corner, he ran into three strangely dressed ninja from another village.

One woman and two men.

The woman wore a shoulder-baring Hidden Sand Jonin uniform. Her face held a trace of wariness, and she gripped an enormous fan in her hand.

The man beside her had face paint on and carried Puppetry gear on his back, his expression arrogant and unruly.

The boy walking in the middle had short dark-red hair, a glaring "love" character carved into his forehead, and a huge gourd strapped to his back. His entire body gave off a chilling aura that warned strangers to stay away.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and whistled before opening with a tease. "This kid's pretty edgy. Walking around with a giant gourd on his back—anyone who didn't know better would think he sold liquor... Wait, isn't this little cat Gaara?"

The moment those words came out, the air instantly froze.

Temari and Kankuro stiffened on the spot. Every hair on their bodies stood on end as they stared at Naruto with pale faces, only one thought in their minds:

This kid is way too arrogant! It's over! Gaara is going to kill someone!