Time: One year ago
Location: Earth, in someone's home.
Huh? Insta-locking Yasuo to steal my position, are you? And you're trash-talking too? You think I can't deal with you?
A young man sneered and adjusted the glasses on his nose.
In a situation like this, there was only one way to teach his teammates some manners: pick the great River King, Tahm. With the soul-stirring skill Devour, he could guarantee that every teammate who cursed would learn what it meant to bring disaster upon themselves with their words. The young man silently selected the hero, then heavily clicked the mouse to confirm.
Kneel before my great Tahm tongue! Hahahaha!
The sneer on the young man's face became increasingly sinister.
Time: Present.
Location: the Naruto World, Mount Myoboku.
Mount Myoboku truly deserved to be the sacred ground of one of the three great Immortals. Its mountains and waters were beautiful, and the natural energy drifting through the air was so rich that breathing it in made one want to cultivate immortality. The lake was crystal clear as well, its amber-like surface distinctly reflecting the figure of the protagonist.
No. A frog's reflection—
He stared at the fat, dark-skinned frog in the reflection, then looked at his own stubby limbs. The slightest movement of his chubby body sent ripples spreading across the water. His enormous mouth was too large to describe even as a basin, and it hung open, with a massive long tongue lazily dangling halfway outside.
"Looking at it this way, I'm kind of cute, hehe."
"No! How could I think that?" Tahm covered his face with his tiny hands, though they could not cover that huge face at all. "Has being transmigrated for too long ruined my sense of beauty?"
Tahm could not help recalling that League of Legends match from a year ago that had changed his fate. "If I'd known I'd turn into whatever I picked, I wouldn't have chosen Tahm! At the very least, I should've picked a fresh-faced guy like Ezreal, or a muscular hunk like Garen. Sure enough, you can't play games on impulse. You can't play while emotional!"
Thinking about his experiences over the past year, he had nowhere to vent all his bitterness and tears.
He had inexplicably appeared on Mount Myoboku, only to be violently beaten by the local toads as soon as he arrived because they had mistaken him for an invader. Then, just as inexplicably, Sage Fukasaku—firmly seated as Mount Myoboku's second-in-command—had saved him and taken him as a disciple. For an entire year, he had trained in chakra, yet no matter how hard he studied, he had only mastered one ninjutsu—the secret technique Mount Myoboku toads used to catch flying insects, Tongue Stretch Technique. Most horrifying of all, every meal here consisted of tender, delicious, crunchy live bugs!!!
"Tahm, it's your turn." Sage Fukasaku silently appeared behind Tahm, interrupting his trip down memory lane.
"The day has finally come, haha!" Tahm laughed loudly, his big tongue swaying uncontrollably. "If I win this trial, I'll be qualified to go to the Shinobi World, right?"
That was right. Over the past year, Tahm had repeatedly applied to go work in the Shinobi World, only for Sage Fukasaku to refuse him every time with excuses like, "You're not strong enough, you'll die, you need to pass the clan trial," and so on. Only now did he finally have the chance to participate in the Ninja Toad Trial Tournament, which was held only once every many years on Mount Myoboku.
"Of course. But with your strength, where you only know one ninjutsu, I'd advise you to train for a few more years." Sage Fukasaku was somewhat worried. Did his disciple not understand? He could not even learn the Toad Water Gun that Mount Myoboku children could use, and had only learned a bug-catching skill. With that kind of strength, all he could do on Mount Myoboku was cook!
"It's fine, don't worry, Master." Tahm was quite confident in himself. Although his body had become that of a toad after transmigrating, it was genuinely the body of a Rift hero. A flick of his tongue could shatter rocks. Though his legs were short, they were authentic frog legs; one jump could carry him dozens of meters, instantly crushing any human Olympic champion. Though he was a fat, two-meter-tall frog, he was exceptionally agile and could outrun motorcycles. He had truly gotten to experience what it felt like to be a superhuman. Still, if he could choose, he would rather have remained an otaku on Earth. At least he would still have had a human form.
This kid has never fought in actual combat before. He probably thinks his physical abilities are pretty impressive, Sage Fukasaku thought expectantly. Once he gets beaten up in the trial arena, he should settle down and cultivate properly here.
Let's go! Tahm happily supported his huge belly, his long tongue swinging freely through the air. With his actions, he demonstrated what it meant to be an agile fat man as he charged toward the trial grounds.
As he ran, he shouted, "Old man Fukasaku, hurry up! I'm going all out! Don't get left behind!"
Sage Fukasaku, the old Immortal who had lived for countless years and had even personally trained Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin, was left speechless. This brat actually thought he was running fast at that speed?
But Tahm was completely immersed in his own world. With one step, the space before him shifted. The scenery vanished from his sight like a flying shuttle, yet his dynamic vision caught it all without any afterimages. The entire world seemed to slow down, then speed up again. The sensation was profoundly mysterious. If the figure had not been a frog, this posture of racing through the mountains would have made people from his previous life cry out, "An ancient martial arts master has emerged! Master, please accept me as your disciple! Fellow Daoist, please stay!"
Before long, Tahm reached the trial arena. A crowd of toads had already taken seats around it. The grounds were covered in craters, as though several mammoths had trampled them. One toad, covered in injuries and unconscious, lay sprawled on the ground while a worker toad dragged him out of the arena by the feet.
This trial was kind of violent. Tahm's huge face twitched, and even his big tongue stopped swaying. After all, he had never actually fought before. Was it really okay for his first battle to be this bloody?
"Next match!" the host toad shouted. "Tahm versus Toad White!" Cheers erupted all around. The watching toads generously applauded and muttered among themselves.
"Ribbit, is Tahm the toad who lucked into becoming Sage Fukasaku's disciple?" said a certain jealous and envious toad.
"Yeah. If Sage Fukasaku chose him, his strength must be extraordinary. This match will be exciting," said a battle-loving toad.
"He looks so handsome too. I want to date him," said a lovestruck toad.
Well, Tahm's smooth, dark skin was actually very popular on Mount Myoboku. He was unquestionably a handsome man. Uh... a handsome frog?
Tahm could not help relaxing. It was not only because the audience was supporting and favoring him, but also because he knew Toad White, his opponent. Toad White was a dull toad who could barely speak clearly, though he was sincere by nature and never lied. He looked like the typical disposable sidekick character for a protagonist, not someone with the image of a powerful expert.
"Come on, give it everything you've got! Toad White, I won't hold back." Tahm spoke confidently. After all, novels always said that this was how one respected an opponent and displayed the bearing of a great expert like Tahm.
"Ribbit, okay. Please advise me." Toad White slowly drew an iron staff as tall as a man from behind his back. "I... am going... to attack. Please... be careful."
Stop talking and fight already! Tahm was getting impatient. He grabbed his long tongue and used Tahm's personal taunting skill. With a flick of his hand, he snapped his big tongue, producing a strange sound like plucked strings—"Twang—"
Before the sound had faded into the air, a frog-shaped shadow suddenly appeared in his vision, rapidly growing larger. It was accompanied by the ripping howl of an iron staff tearing through the air.
Huh? How was he so fast? The dynamic vision Tahm had been so proud of since transmigrating had not reacted at all. In that split second, all he could do was feel shocked.
Yet before his thoughts could even unfold, a massive iron staff arrived first and smashed viciously into Tahm's huge face. Tahm's enormous body deformed like a ball being struck and flew outward.
It hurt!
As Tahm flew backward through the air, he wanted to cry but had no tears.
That guy was actually pretending to be weak!
What kind of creature was Tahm, exactly? According to the official materials, the designers had created him by combining the traits of more than a dozen aquatic animals. In this novel, because he had come out of Mount Myoboku, the entire Shinobi World called him a toad. Don't dwell on it, okay? (/ω＼)
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