What Did You Summon?

Naruto Uzumaki nodded.

"How do you plan to teach me?"

His question was very direct.

Jiraiya smiled. He knew that the usual master-disciple routine would not even get him through the door with this child.

Instead of answering immediately, he copied Naruto Uzumaki's posture, folding his arms across his chest as he examined the vicious Chainsword.

"What do you think is the fundamental difference between that 'saw' in your hand and an ordinary shuriken?"

The question made Naruto Uzumaki fall into brief thought.

Jiraiya cleared his throat. His usual frivolous air vanished, replaced by a feigned rigor befitting a technical specialist—an image more likely to earn Naruto Uzumaki's approval.

"First, the center of gravity. A shuriken's center of gravity is stable and singular, allowing chakra to adhere evenly. But your weapon—the hilt, the blade, the saw teeth—each part has a different mass distribution. Its center of gravity shifts dynamically. If you inject chakra using a single pattern, it will inevitably destabilize the energy flow."

He raised a finger and traced shapes through the air.

"Second, the chakra adhesion area and structural complexity. A shuriken is a flat surface, while your sword is a complex three-dimensional structure. Treating it as a single whole when duplicating it is like asking a craftsman to carve a precision clock from one solid block of wood in one go. That violates the basic principles of 'manufacturing.'"

"Finally, the stability of energy flow. Chakra conducts differently through the metal saw teeth and the main body of the blade. If you force chakra into it, the clone will be like an appliance with an internal short circuit, collapsing the instant it takes shape."

Every word Jiraiya spoke was like a precise Senbon, striking directly at the cause of Naruto Uzumaki's failures.

He did not understand those specialized physics terms, but through decades of battle-honed instinct, he had forcibly pieced together an explanation that best suited Naruto Uzumaki's way of thinking.

He did not speak of willpower or emotions. He spoke only of technique, efficiency, and principles.

For the first time, an emotion called "approval" stirred in Naruto Uzumaki's ice-blue eyes as he looked at the "perverted sage" before him.

This man possessed "communicative value."

Hinata watched quietly from the side, covering her mouth, her eyes filled with surprise.

She had never seen a scene like this before.

Naruto Uzumaki, who dared to argue even with the Hokage and kept nearly everyone at arm's length, was now seriously and intently listening to an elder's "lesson."

Two hours later.

The dull scrape of metal echoed through Training Ground Seventeen.

Under Jiraiya's theoretical guidance, Naruto Uzumaki changed his strategy.

He no longer poured chakra into the Chainsword like a flood.

Instead, he first used the most precise chakra to construct a transparent energy "mold" in his mind, one perfectly identical in structure to the Chainsword.

This mold represented the ultimate expression of his understanding of the weapon. From the counterweight in the hilt to the tiny nicks on every saw tooth, it was exact in every detail.

First construct the framework, then fill in the details.

After dozens of failures caused by unstable chakra output—

Naruto Uzumaki formed the hand seals once more.

"Chainsword Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

He carefully injected an immense, stable stream of chakra into the invisible mold floating within his imagination.

Bzzz—

The air shook violently.

Ten Chainswords identical to the original appeared out of thin air, hovering around Naruto Uzumaki.

Each one buzzed as its saw teeth spun at high speed, throwing off intimidating arcs of electricity and crushing gusts of wind.

The entire training ground became saturated with killing intent because of the presence of those ten murderous weapons.

Though they still flickered faintly, showing signs of instability, they had succeeded.

Jiraiya watched the scene, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty.

He was shocked by Naruto Uzumaki's terrifying learning ability and chakra control.

Yet deep in his heart, an even deeper worry wrapped around him like creeping vines.

He felt as though he was not guiding a lost boy, but rather installing deadlier components onto an already completed, hyper-efficient killing machine.

With his goal achieved, Jiraiya did not give Naruto Uzumaki much time to savor the result. He immediately struck while the iron was hot.

"Kid, this is still far from enough. Even with new weapons, Shadow Clones are still too fragile when it comes to taking hits."

He spoke in a more solemn tone.

"Do you want to acquire a truly independent strategic support unit with high intelligence?"

"For example, a summoned beast. Or perhaps a toad from Mount Myoboku—powerful and... loyal."

Jiraiya smiled. Before meeting Naruto Uzumaki, he had done extensive homework, carefully analyzing everything from Naruto Uzumaki's speaking habits to his way of thinking.

Those words were like a precision-guided missile, instantly striking the center of Naruto Uzumaki's needs.

Naruto Uzumaki dispelled the Chainsword clones in the air and turned around, analytical light gleaming in his ice-blue eyes.

He immediately reached a conclusion.

A powerful summoned beast capable of independently judging the battlefield would hold tremendous strategic value in many complicated combat environments.

It would be a true "allied unit," rather than merely a "consumable."

"Fine."

Naruto Uzumaki agreed.

Jiraiya was ecstatic inside, though he kept an inscrutable expression on his face.

He believed that as long as he brought Naruto Uzumaki to Mount Myoboku and let Gamabunta and the other forthright, righteous toads influence him properly, they would surely melt this eternal block of ice.

Jiraiya took a massive scroll from his robes and spread it across the ground.

The ancient scroll was covered in densely packed names.

"Use your blood to sign your name here."

Naruto Uzumaki did not hesitate in the slightest. He bit his fingertip.

Using that bloodstained finger, he solemnly wrote his name in the blank space, stroke by stroke.

Naruto Uzumaki.

Every character carried his unquestionable will, hard as steel.

The contract was formed.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

Naruto Uzumaki formed hand seals with both hands, then slammed his palm onto the ground without a single unnecessary movement.

Jiraiya watched expectantly.

However, the familiar huge cloud of white smoke he had anticipated did not appear.

Instead, there came a dull sound of spatial distortion, like countless metal components grinding and crushing against one another.

Black mist slowly rose from the summoning array.

The mist carried thick gunpowder smoke, pungent ozone, and the stale scent of blood so old it had turned black.

The ominous, oppressive aura instantly froze the smile on Jiraiya's face, and his expression changed drastically.

Having held the toad contract for decades, he had never seen or even heard of such a bizarre summoning phenomenon.

This was not a passage leading to Mount Myoboku.

This power completely exceeded every category of contract he knew.

"Something's wrong! Naruto Uzumaki, dispel it now!"

Jiraiya shouted anxiously.

But Naruto Uzumaki did not move.

From that ominous black mist, he sensed no threat—only an incomparably familiar, cold sense of Order belonging to iron and blood.

And an absolute loyalty toward some supreme "leader," etched into the deepest part of his soul across countless realms of time, space, and dimensions.