The Random Approach

Just like that, a month passed. (Uzumaki Gamu: That flew by~)

Besides continuing his training, Uzumaki Gamu also researched summoning beasts.

Reading a secret scroll passed down within the clan, Uzumaki Gamu grumbled, "How should I put this... there are plenty of options, but hardly any of them are impressive!"

The Summoning Technique was a form of Space-Time Ninjutsu that allowed the caster to summon a summoning beast after establishing a blood contract with it.

Summoning beasts served as combat tools for ninja. After signing a contract, a ninja could summon their contracted beast at any time. Summoning beasts could be used in a wide variety of situations, including direct combat, relaying intelligence, reconnaissance, and supporting a ninja in battle.

Summoning beasts were also divided into higher and lower grades.

Lower-grade ones were generally wild summoning beasts. A ninja signed a contract with an animal captured in the ninja world, such as Sasuke's hawk, or a modified beast, such as Pain's Animal Path summons, then summoned it when needed to help fight. Such summoning beasts were usually temporary arrangements. They could neither think nor speak. They were purely tools!

Higher-grade summoning beasts, on the other hand, could think, analyze, and speak. Some lived apart from the ninja world in their own habitats, such as the toads of Mount Myōboku, the snakes of Ryūchi Cave, and Katsuyu of Shikkotsu Forest.

"Ordinary animals don't interest me, and I don't have the Rinnegan's modification abilities. So... I really should go straight for the summoning beasts of the Three Great Sage Lands... no, Mount Myōboku would be best!"-Uzumaki Gamu disliked settling. If he was going to look, he would look for the best!

And to him, Mount Myōboku was the best!

Mount Myōboku not only had powerful summoning beasts, but also offered the chance to learn Sage Mode. However, Ryūchi Cave also passed down Sage Mode, so why not go there?

Well, mainly because Uzumaki Gamu didn't particularly like snakes. Their cold bodies felt unpleasant, and a body covered in snake scales looked rather creepy. (Keeping a snake as a pet would be tolerable. Turning into one? No thanks~)

Mount Myōboku, by contrast-perfect Sage Mode only added eye shadow, and it looked cool as hell... sure, its standalone duration was questionable, but looking cool was a lifelong affair!! Between power and lifelong good looks, obviously he would choose good looks~ (Wasn't there an option where power itself looked good?-Yes, Hashirama was exactly that!!)

Back to the point: although Uzumaki Gamu had made his decision, a problem arose-how was he supposed to get to Mount Myōboku?

Mount Myōboku wasn't somewhere in ordinary space that he could reach on the number eleven bus-his own two legs. Well, perhaps walking there was possible, but at present, Mount Myōboku was little more than an urban legend. Getting there would require a miraculous encounter... about as likely as Uzumaki Gamu's system suddenly activating!

"But I should still take a shot. As the saying goes, take a chance and turn your bicycle into a motorcycle! What if it works?" With that thought, Uzumaki Gamu resolved to try. "I remember Jiraiya used the Summoning Technique without having signed a contract with anything, and the technique activated in reverse, accidentally sending him to Mount Myōboku... okay, so I just need the Summoning Technique, right? My seals are... Pig, Dog, Rooster, Monkey, Ram... wait, are you kidding me?!"

Halfway through the hand seals, Uzumaki Gamu stopped. The reason was simple... this teleportation was actually random. (Of course, it might not teleport him away at all, but randomly bring something over instead.)

Who knew where Uzumaki Gamu would end up if he did this? What if he landed somewhere dangerous and died on the spot? And what if he ended up in some deserted wilderness and couldn't get back?

"This kind of lottery is like getting a complete S-rank ninja in a single Ten-Pull in the Naruto mobile game... completely impossible!!" Uzumaki Gamu collapsed onto his bed. Only someone chosen by destiny could pull this off-or an insider with connections to the beta testers... why did it feel like Uzumaki Gamu qualified as both?

Yet after lying there for a while, Uzumaki Gamu suddenly sprang up. "One try might be unlikely, but I can keep trying!"-As long as he didn't die, he could keep using this random Summoning Technique and boost his chances through sheer numbers. If I pull a thousand times, surely I'll get a complete character? Even if I don't, shouldn't there be a pity guarantee?

Uh... since when did the real world have a pity system? Still, to fulfill his dream of entering Sage Mode-looking cooler-Uzumaki Gamu decided to gamble!

With his plan settled once again, Uzumaki Gamu immediately got moving!

Since he had no idea what godforsaken place he might land in, Uzumaki Gamu first prepared emergency equipment, several days' worth of rations, and so on. In short, once everything was ready, Uzumaki Gamu created a Shadow Clone.

"I'm counting on you to watch the house... honestly, I don't know when I'll be back. If I haven't returned before you disappear, remember to tell the family what happened!" Uzumaki Gamu instructed.

Uzumaki Gamu's clone nodded. "Understood!"

"All right, let's go! Summoning Technique!!" Without hesitation, Uzumaki Gamu used the Summoning Technique, and Reverse Summoning whisked him away!

After Uzumaki Gamu left, his clone sat on the floor and quietly read a book like a refined, handsome gentleman!

Just then, however, the door to Uzumaki Gamu's room suddenly opened-Mito hurried in from outside.

Uzumaki Gamu's clone greeted her gently. "Good afternoon, little sister!"

Looking at this handsome Uzumaki Gamu, Mito frowned. "So what I sensed just now was right. The one left here is a Shadow Clone... where did my second brother go? Why did his presence suddenly disappear?"-Apparently, Mito's earlier success in intercepting Uzumaki Gamu involved more than patiently waiting. She had another ability.

Yes, powerful sensory abilities!

"Well... let me explain!" Uzumaki Gamu's clone hid nothing and told her exactly what Uzumaki Gamu had gone to do.

After hearing him out, Mito felt a massive headache coming on. "Whatever I worry about, he insists on doing... how could he be so reckless?! No, I have to find Father..." Without another word, Mito went straight to her father.

Meanwhile, Uzumaki Gamu's clone continued reading quietly-truly oblivious to everything happening outside his window.

Mito found her father, with her eldest brother there as well, and reported the matter to both of them.

After listening, Ashina fell silent for a moment, then... clutched his forehead and toppled backward. Had the anger finally given him high blood pressure?

Honestly, driving a man in his prime, only in his thirties, into hypertension proved that Uzumaki Gamu's talent for causing trouble was absolutely first-rate!

"Father!!"-The brother and sister rushed forward in a panic to catch their father before he fell backward.

"Why would he do something like this?!" Ashina asked, holding his forehead. He had experienced his youngest son's excessive initiative long ago. Although it infuriated him every time, it had always been tolerable. But today... honestly, his son could very well die in some unknown corner of the world.

Was one redhead about to bury another? (After all, Ashina was still young, and his hair remained a brilliant red~)

Still, to be fair, he had already sent several children to the other world. Hadn't he gotten used to it yet?

Ashina: "How could anyone get used to something like that?"-Uchiha Tajima and Butsuma Senju seemed pretty used to it! They were thoroughly accustomed to selling out their sons!

Back to the point, Daigu immediately offered, "I'll organize a search party for my second brother right away!"

"No, don't!" Ashina hastily stopped him. "The mission commissioned by the daimyo is about to begin. The clan must send quite a few experts to help, so we have no spare manpower to search for Gamu... besides, nobody knows where using the Summoning Technique without a contract will send someone... all we can do now is hope Gamu has good luck and lands somewhere safe!"

Hearing this, Daigu bit his lip. Emotionally, he wanted to search for his younger brother, but his head was clear enough to know it would be like finding a needle in a haystack... a mission impossible!!

Perhaps Tom Cruise could pull it off?

Mito suddenly said, "I have sensory abilities. Let me go!"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Ashina said. "If he's somewhere we can sense, he can walk back himself. If we can't sense him... searching won't accomplish anything! What you can do now is go to the ancestral hall and pray that our ancestors protect him and bring him home safely!"-At a time like this, there was nothing they could do except pray to their ancestors and hope they would protect their resident troublemaker!

"...Yes, I'll go right away!" Mito obediently went to the ancestral hall to pray!

After Mito left, Ashina still couldn't help slapping the table and shouting, "...What a curse!!!"-He was so furious that he had started turning into Shen Teng!

Daigu beside him was equally helpless. There was nothing they could do now except pray that Uzumaki Gamu was all right!

So, how was Uzumaki Gamu doing now?

He had fallen into the sea!-Not an auspicious start!

"My luck isn't great... whatever, again!!" Uzumaki Gamu had sealed all his emergency equipment and food inside scrolls, so he wasn't afraid of getting soaked. Next, he simply needed to use the Summoning Technique to change locations... but just as that thought crossed his mind, danger struck!

An enormous shark suddenly burst up from underwater and lunged at Uzumaki Gamu.

"Holy crap, it's huge!" Uzumaki Gamu immediately jumped onto the water, used chakra for Water Walking, and sprinted away from the shark's attacks. His hands were busy too, forming hand seals. Then the Summoning Technique activated again... this time, it sent him into a bird's nest high on a mountain!

"Huh? A mountain this time? And beside me... a bird's egg?" Uzumaki Gamu suddenly noticed an egg larger than himself beside him and couldn't help complaining. "Does this teleportation only send me to places suited for finding summons? Uh... fine, I guess this is one way to choose a suitable summon, but I don't want this kind..." This thing would make decent emergency rations. For fighting... it wasn't cool enough!!

The moment he finished speaking, Uzumaki Gamu spotted an enormous bird flying toward him. Presumably, she owned this nest and had likely mistaken Uzumaki Gamu for a thief stealing her child, prompting her to rush back and drive him away!

"That looks like something I can't beat. Time to move again!" The Summoning Technique activated once more! Uzumaki Gamu was teleported away again!

This time, he landed inside a volcano-with steaming lava burning below him~

"Holy crap, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot! Move!" The instant he arrived, Uzumaki Gamu felt as though his backside were on fire and hurriedly changed locations again-thus beginning his grand journey of switching, switching, and switching.

This journey shook heaven and earth and made ghosts and gods weep... all right, it wasn't quite that dramatic. But Uzumaki Gamu did visit many places he had never seen before and encounter unfamiliar giant beasts. He even... fell into a women's bathhouse! A pack of older women promptly beat him out! (Uzumaki Gamu: I urgently need the Reverse Harem Technique to escape these hideous harpies!!)

"What a mess..." After fleeing the women's bathhouse, Uzumaki Gamu wiped his wet hair. "That was too much. It wasn't even intentional, so why hit me... and so hard, too... anyway, should I keep moving? Uh..." His stomach growled.

Repeatedly using the Summoning Technique had consumed a great deal of chakra, so it was perfectly normal for him to be hungry now.

"Guess I should rest a while!"-Just as Uzumaki Gamu thought that, he noticed the middle-aged women who had chased him out of the bathhouse catching up!

"Holy crap, you're persistent! Didn't I only touch your breast? Forget it, a gentleman doesn't fight women. I'm out!!" Unwilling to get tangled up with them, Uzumaki Gamu activated the Summoning Technique again and relocated.

When he reappeared this time... he was inside a cave so dark he couldn't see his hand in front of his face!

Uzumaki Gamu released a faint glow of chakra from his palm to illuminate his surroundings. He didn't dare light a fire immediately in a place like this. If it was completely enclosed, lighting a fire would leave him ready for some oxygen-free exercise!

Using the faint light from his hand, Uzumaki Gamu studied his surroundings. "Where am I this time? Hmm? Why do I sense Sealing Jutsu?"-As a member of a family specializing in Sealing Jutsu, he was quite sensitive to it.

Uzumaki Gamu sensed Sealing Jutsu deeper inside the cave. "Honestly... if there's Sealing Jutsu here, something must be hidden... should I explore?"-Fortune favored the daring. Given a chance to play tomb raider, Uzumaki Gamu wanted to try. If he happened to find some divine artifact belonging to the Sage of Six Paths, he would be set for life!

But... honestly, exploring a pitch-black cave without adequate preparation was rather dangerous. So Uzumaki Gamu decided to leave the cave first, inspect the outside, and then consider his next move.

Thus, Uzumaki Gamu headed in the opposite direction... but that didn't work! The path was blocked.

"Great, a one-track mind has become a track blocked at both ends... makes sense. If something important is sealed here, they wouldn't use just one layer of protection... but if it's completely blocked, wouldn't this be an enclosed space? No, there seem to be cracks in the mountain. I can feel a breeze, so I don't need to worry about oxygen." With that thought, Uzumaki Gamu took out the sealing scroll he carried, undid its seal, retrieved a torch, and lit it.

"Well, since I can't get out, let the exploration officially begin!" The bold Uzumaki Gamu prepared to get to the bottom of this sealed chamber.

And so, Uzumaki Gamu headed deeper inside. He didn't walk far before reaching the deepest part.

At the far end was a large rock covered in intricate sealing formulas. Uzumaki Gamu examined it. "Uh... the conditions aren't great. This feels like a prison... and this sealing formula is... uh, I can't understand it. It's a bit too complicated for me right now. But this Sealing Jutsu is in the Sarutobi Clan's style... did they seal something here?"

Although curious, Uzumaki Gamu couldn't undo it with his current skill in Sealing Jutsu. So had this entire journey been... a waste of time?

"No, no, no. How could I possibly leave empty-handed?" Uzumaki Gamu went to a corner of the chamber and left his own Sealing Jutsu on a rock. "I'll leave my chakra here! If I pass nearby someday, perhaps I'll sense it?" Uzumaki Gamu believed he would definitely be able to break this seal in the future, so he left a marker. If luck brought him nearby, he would absolutely return to see what was sealed inside!

After leaving his sealing mark, Uzumaki Gamu ate and drank a little. Once he had recovered some chakra, he resumed his journey to find Mount Myōboku through the Summoning Technique!

Then he began relocating over and over again.

On the thirty-ninth attempt, Uzumaki Gamu finally arrived at the place he remembered!

"Mountains, water, and toads!! This is the right place!!" Uzumaki Gamu cried happily. "Looks like thirty-nine is my lucky number!! Thanks for your blessing, Utopia!!"

After inwardly thanking Number 39: Utopia for his blessing, Uzumaki Gamu began examining his surroundings. Plants, insects, mountains, water, toads... yes, nothing else~

"Other than being a little damp, it feels pretty good... now, where do I find whoever's in charge?" After looking around for a while, Uzumaki Gamu began searching for someone. After all, he wasn't here to sightsee. He should get down to business!

So Uzumaki Gamu began looking for people... no, frogs!

Just as Uzumaki Gamu was thinking this, an enormous creature descended from the sky. The powerful gust from his landing left Uzumaki Gamu swaying like seaweed in the wind!

"Wow~~ so big~" Uzumaki Gamu said, looking at the toad before him, who stood two heads taller than he did even while crouching. Mount Myōboku produced enormous toads in abundance. One only two heads taller than a nine-year-old child was considered small!

The toad opposite him asked curiously, "A human? How did you get here?"-How long had it been since a human had appeared on Mount Myōboku?

"Through the Summoning Technique... I came to Mount Myōboku to find a teacher and learn!!" Uzumaki Gamu hid nothing and got straight to the point.

"...Huh? The Summoning Technique? I've never heard of us signing a contract with a nine-year-old brat. That sounds like complete nonsense..." the toad said disdainfully. But then, as if something had occurred to him, his tone suddenly softened. "Although I don't know where you came from, since you want to study here on Mount Myōboku... we don't accept brats like you. Still, seeing as fate brought us together, if you acknowledge me as your boss, I could reluctantly teach you a trick or two... hey, don't walk away!"

Uzumaki Gamu ignored the toad, turned around, and left! This thing was clearly a talentless poser! Who would bother with him?

The toad immediately chased after him and asked in confusion, "Why are you leaving?"

Uzumaki Gamu said as he walked, "Do you take me for a ten-year-old? One look tells me you're some nobody without any standing. You finally met someone weaker than you, so you want to make him your lackey? Come on, could you at least be less obvious?" (Note: Uzumaki Gamu had celebrated his birthday during these past few months and was now ten.)

"Huh? Who are you calling a nobody?!" The toad flew into a rage and jumped in front of Uzumaki Gamu. "How dare you call me a nobody! If I don't show you what I'm capable of, I..."

"Multiple Shadow Clones!!"-With several rapid swishes, Uzumaki Gamu created five clones, which used ninjutsu simultaneously.

"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"-A very basic Wind Release technique that transformed chakra into wind, then used a clap of the hands to compress that wind into a violent gale.

"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!" After forming hand seals, the caster transformed concentrated chakra inside their body into water and spat it out, creating a small pool that surged into the opponent.

"Lightning Release: Thunder Arrow!" Lightning Release chakra gathered in the right palm, then shot from it as multiple arrow-shaped bolts of white lightning to attack the opponent.

"Earth Release: Rock Iron Cannon!" The caster spat out a small pebble, which continuously grew in midair before smashing into the target like a solid cannonball!

"Fire Release: Small Fireball!" A weakened version of the Great Fireball! It spat out a small fireball to bombard the opponent!

Uzumaki Gamu's five clones attacked the toad using the Five Basic Nature Transformations. These five ninjutsu were all extremely basic, and their individual power was limited, but using all five together could produce unimaginable force!

Sure enough, this Five Releases: Mini Combo Barrage blasted the toad flat onto the ground!

Uzumaki Gamu's original body sat right on top of the toad and asked, "Do you still think you can teach me?"

"...Despicable, catching me off guard... don't you have any pride as a warrior?" The toad clearly refused to concede. After all, Uzumaki Gamu's fighting had no honor whatsoever... who launched an attack while their opponent was talking?!

"Buddy, do you expect your enemies to fight you fairly? I don't know about anyone else, but I don't have any pride as a powerhouse. Or rather... I'm weak. Why the hell should I worry about pride? Winning is enough~" Uzumaki Gamu said casually.

"But... won't people look down on you for that?" the toad argued.

Uzumaki Gamu puffed out his chest. "Who cares whether they look down on me? When you're alive... or when you're a living toad, what matters most is always what you think. As long as you respect yourself, that's enough! Or rather... as long as you're enjoying yourself, why bother about anyone else?!"

"As long as I respect myself?" The toad sank into thought, then spoke as though he had suddenly attained enlightenment. "I understand. I understand everything!"

"???"-What do you understand?-Uzumaki Gamu's face was full of question marks.

He had just said whatever came to mind. What had this fellow understood? Wasn't his imagination a little too powerful?

"You're right, brother. I don't need to care what anyone else thinks. I just need to devote myself to being myself!" the toad suddenly said gratefully. "Your words cleared away the clouds and opened my eyes! I, Toad King, have wandered for half my life, and my only regret is not meeting you sooner. If you do not reject me, brother, I would gladly become your sworn brother!"

"...Huh?!" Uzumaki Gamu was dumbfounded. How had this suddenly turned into becoming sworn brothers? And those lines... was this guy the reincarnation of Lü Bu?

"Huh? You don't want to?" Toad King asked in surprise. "I can be your little brother instead!!"-How had he jumped straight to being a little brother?

"Uh... that works too!" Becoming sworn brothers would give him a connection on Mount Myōboku. After this, they probably wouldn't kick him out, right?

Feeling he had nothing to lose, Uzumaki Gamu immediately took out the yellow paper and roast chicken he had prepared long ago, ready to swear brotherhood!! Ever since his previous oath of brotherhood, Uzumaki Gamu had kept these supplies on hand.

Huh? Why keep those things ready?

Well, Uzumaki Gamu felt he should learn from the famous Jin Yong protagonist, Wei Xiaobao, and shamelessly swear brotherhood with people wherever he went!

As mentioned before, the martial world wasn't about fighting and killing-it was about relationships! Making more friends could never hurt!