The Tricky Business of the Scroll of Seals

Naruto stared at the Scroll of Seals and froze all at once.

He flipped the scroll over and shoved it straight into the face of that ANBU operative.

"How is this thing on here? Does the Scroll of Seals have this too?"

The ANBU shifted his gaze to the spot Naruto pointed at, where A-rank Summoning Jutsu: Slug Summoning was written down clear as day.

"Oh, this. The summoning scroll passed down through generations in the Senju Clan. If you want to choose it, the Hokage will give you the scroll and let you sign the summoning contract. Whether you succeed or not, the Hokage wouldn't dare guarantee it, but win or lose, it still counts as one of your jutsus."

The ANBU made things crystal clear.

Naruto's eyes lit up. He had always assumed the summoning scroll for this thing was in Tsunade's hands, never imagining that Hiruzen Sarutobi was the one clutching it.

"Fine, I'll take it. Also, bring me the jutsu scrolls for the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu and the Adamantine Sealing Chains. Damn it, you made a crappy table of contents this thick, are you out of your mind?"

Naruto tossed the table of contents scroll of the Scroll of Seals back to the ANBU with a look of utter disgust.

Damn it, it turned out to be nothing more than a table of contents for half the day. Naruto had originally planned to memorize a few more jutsus, only to find that the hand seals and training methods inside basically just had an opening paragraph written down.

He was one hundred percent certain now that the Scroll of Seals the original-timeline Naruto stole was probably pretty much the same as this piece of junk.

At most, the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu was complete, while the rest were probably just scribbled a few random times.

Such crucial items were swiped out by a rookie who couldn't even reach the level of a Genin—just thinking about it was fucking ridiculous.

The ANBU put away the table of contents of the Scroll of Seals and nodded.

"Tonight I'll bring you the contract scroll and the jutsus. You should go head to the gathering place now."

With those words left behind, the ANBU vanished in a Body Flicker.

Naruto raised a middle finger in the direction where the ANBU had disappeared.

He had actually been quite looking forward to the Scroll of Seals, seeing as his cheapskate old man had left behind the Flying Thunder God.

He didn't know if Minato Namikaze really had become the Hokage, but the jutsus Hiruzen Sarutobi fished out this time were just plain lousy.

Fortunately, the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, the Uzumaki Clan's Adamantine Sealing Chains, and the Senju Clan's slug summoning could still be considered pretty handy methods for the current Naruto.

Even though it was impossible to make his strength shoot up a notch with a bound like the Flying Thunder God.

Still, the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu was definitely the most suitable cheat for Naruto to train with right now. The mental energy he had accumulated living two lives could withstand having even more clone memories poured back into him.

He might not have much use for the Adamantine Sealing Chains himself, but when it came to dealing with other Jinchuriki, they would be massively useful.

What surprised Naruto the most was that Hiruzen Sarutobi had actually thrown in the slug summoning, one of the three great sage regions.

Compared to the toads of Mount Myoboku, Naruto vastly preferred the slugs of Shikkotsu Forest. Just think about it—who could resist that sweet, mature-woman voice?

Of course, the most crucial thing was that Naruto felt wary of that old toad from Mount Myoboku.

Who the hell knew if Gamamaru's prophecy would get ruined because of a transmigrator like him?

Back then, Kaguya unified the ninja world, and creating White Zetsu was originally meant to fight off the impending invasion of the Ōtsutsuki Clan.

However, the God Tree would grow by absorbing the natural energy of the ninja world, which would end up ruining the environment.

Thus, to protect the natural energy from being trampled upon, Gamamaru, an indigenous old toad of the ninja world, instigated those two extremely filial sons, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki and Hamura, into sealing away their own mother, Kaguya.

Once Kaguya lost power, the chaotic wars over the next thousand years meant the number of dying ninja was far beyond what ten thousand White Zetsu could compare to.

Therefore, in Naruto's eyes, that old toad from Mount Myoboku was definitely no good bird.

Setting aside whether its motivation to preserve the ninja world's natural environment and keep natural energy from being desecrated was good or bad.

This bastard was a natural-born adversary to Naruto's ambition to recreate the Ten-Tails, become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, and march toward the Six Paths level.

Who knew when it would trip him up behind his back? Naruto had made up his mind early on: the senjutsu of Mount Myoboku, he wasn't going to learn it.

What he had his eyes on was the senjutsu training path in the hands of Sage Katsuyu of Shikkotsu Forest.

Neither the manga nor the anime ever clearly drew the Sage Mode of Shikkotsu Forest, but all sorts of signs pointed to one thing—the Sage Mode Hashirama Senju practiced came straight from Shikkotsu Forest.

Even if it wasn't a direct copy, it was definitely modified based on Shikkotsu Forest Sage Mode.

Compared to the ones from Mount Myoboku and Ryūchi Cave, Hashirama's Sage Mode was much more suitable for humans to practice, and the abnormal features that popped up on his body were far fewer.

What was even more important was that this Sage Mode lasted longer, and its power was obviously much fiercer than those two holy regions.

With a clap of his hands and the appearance of eye shadow, he could instantly whip out a giant wooden Buddha to clash with the Susanoo. After all, Shikkotsu Forest only had Sage Katsuyu as its single living creature, so no matter how you thought about it, it felt way less terrifying than the other two holy regions.

Naruto had originally thought he would have to wait quite a few days to get the contract scroll from Tsunade, and he had even prepared himself to grovel and trade on his face.

He never expected Hiruzen Sarutobi to hand him such a pleasant surprise.

The more Naruto thought about it, the happier he felt. He casually tied his forehead protector around his arm and sauntered cheerfully toward the training ground.

This wave was a massive profit—the examiner sent forbidden jutsus, what a good guy.