With Naruto in tow, Jiraiya first went to a nearby shop and bought an entire bag of water balloons.
Only then did the pair, one big and one small, slowly make their way to the Outskirts Training Ground.
Under the setting sun, Jiraiya sat on a massive boulder.
A little cold sweat beaded at his temples.
His eyes, however, were fixed firmly on Naruto Uzumaki in front of him.
Just now, the little brat had squeezed the water balloon in his hands until it burst through sheer force-for the fourth time.
Those balloons were filled with water, and their skins were plenty thick.
Yet the kid used no technique at all. With nothing but his two hands, he burst every single one he squeezed.
Who on earth did he get that monstrous strength from...?
"Hey, hey."
"You little brat, you're not supposed to burst those with brute force."
"Huh? Pervy Sage?"
Naruto fiddled with the torn plastic skin of the water balloon in his hands, giving Jiraiya a sheepish look.
"I don't really get it. I just kept squeezing, and the balloon burst on its own."
Bursting it by squeezing wasn't mastering the exercise. That was brute force, damn it!
Jiraiya slowly hopped down from the boulder, picked up one of the water balloons he and Naruto had just bought, and held it in front of Naruto again.
"Didn't I have you practice Water Walking before?"
"You need to control your chakra!"
"Control your chakra, understand?"
After repeating the important point twice, Jiraiya made the water balloon in his hand begin to bulge in all sorts of strange ways before Naruto's eyes.
Beneath its translucent skin, a tiny whirlpool first rose in the center of the water.
Then the whirlpool spun faster and faster, dragging all the water inside