Gamabunta Sent Flying

Jiraiya's test had not been without purpose.

After the chakra from two Fire Style Ninjutsu techniques had been absorbed in succession, Jiraiya noticed Naruto's weakness and immediately changed his approach. "Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet Technique!"

A dragon head made of earth emerged beneath Jiraiya's feet, continuously spitting out clumps of mud. With this kind of sustained, wide-range attack, there was no way Naruto could absorb them all in time!

Naruto realized the problem at the same time. After his body was finally struck by the Earth Dragon Bullets, he fell to the ground in a sorry state!

A Rasengan gathered in his palm, chakra spiraling around his hand as he fiercely unleashed it toward the dragon head. "Rasengan Impact Wave!"

The chakra instantly destroyed the earth dragon's head!

Even Jiraiya had no choice but to retreat from the high-speed shockwave. Watching Naruto casually unleash a technique more powerful than an A-rank forbidden jutsu without even needing hand seals...

He knew where the problem lay.

Whether it was that strange technique that absorbed chakra or Naruto's development of derivative Rasengan techniques, Naruto was no ordinary Genin now. Even without using Nine-Tails Chakra, he was already a powerful ninja!

Even Jiraiya found it rather difficult to take Naruto down...

No wonder the kid was indifferent to using Nine-Tails Chakra. It was confidence born from immense strength!

If he did not encounter a genuine crisis, how could Naruto possibly think of using the Nine-Tails' chakra? And a battle capable of pushing him into a life-or-death crisis...

"Pervy Sage, don't tell me that's all the ninjutsu you've got?"

Naruto glanced at Jiraiya and frowned. "I thought I'd get to see some new form of the Rasengan that you developed yourself..."

"..."

A helpless smile appeared on Jiraiya's face. He lowered his head and muttered to himself, "Your son is truly incredible, Minato... Then let your friend join in too! Only by showing him true power can he experience true despair!"

Even though Jiraiya could gain an overwhelming advantage with taijutsu, Naruto's instant-cast ninjutsu could still turn the tables from time to time...

At a time like this, he needed an enemy Naruto could absolutely not defeat, one he could never even imagine. Whether in size or strength, it would be enough to give the kid a huge shock.

Boar—Dog—Rooster—Monkey—Goat!

Jiraiya rapidly formed hand seals, bit his finger, and slammed a palm onto the ground. "Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu!"

Boom!

An enormous dark-red toad appeared before everyone. Its body was like a small mountain, and it held a massive pipe in its mouth, its expression somewhat arrogant.

The dark-red toad tightly gripped the short sword on its back and shouted, "Hey, Jiraiya, who's the enemy this time?"

"Yo, Gamabunta, see that kid over there?"

Standing atop the toad's head, Jiraiya pointed at the stunned Naruto below. "Go! Force him to use all his strength!"

"Jiraiya, I'm not here to help you train some brat!"

"Trust me, he won't be so easy to train!"

Jiraiya's eyes were full of amusement as he gently shook his head. "If he's facing me, he'll never truly feel the gap in power, because that kid can always turn the tables!"

"Heh heh, you want a kid to experience despair?"

Gamabunta puffed out a huge ring of smoke from his pipe. "If I accidentally kill him, don't blame me!"

"That's absolutely impossible!"

Jiraiya could not help laughing. This time, in a sense, the Gamabunta he had summoned was also an old rival of the Nine-Tails!

Meanwhile.

Compared to the talking Pakkun Kakashi had summoned, Gamabunta's massive size was clearly on an entirely different level when it came to shocking people.

Naruto gradually recovered from the shock of seeing Gamabunta and forcibly stopped his mind from digging through old memories, instead considering how he should fight...

At that moment, the Nine-Tails seemed to sense an opportunity and began repeatedly offering its advice. "Those fellows from Mount Myōboku... are not easy to deal with!"

"Kid, as long as you open the seal and we fight together, dealing with this toad would be effortless!"

"Isn't that man doing all this because he wants you to open the seal and use my chakra?"

"We are one and the same. How could I possibly harm you?"

"..."

The Nine-Tails was gradually showing signs of becoming a chatterbox.

As Naruto grew stronger and stronger, the Nine-Tails also sensed a crisis. It could still find chances to deceive Naruto now...

Once this kid grew up, what if he became like the previous two Jinchuriki and looked down on its power? Wouldn't it be sealed away again?

Naruto's consciousness sank into his mental space. "Hm? Nine-Tails, do you know where this toad comes from? Is he hard to deal with?"

"For me, he's nothing."

The Nine-Tails glanced at Naruto and quietly advised, "But for you as you are now, defeating him is nothing more than wishful thinking."

The young Genin nodded, then abruptly changed the subject. "Since you know him, can you provide some information about him?"

Nine-Tails: "..."

This Jinchuriki had something wrong with his head!

Why was he not thinking about using its power? Treating it like a chakra battery was bad enough, but now he actually wanted to get intelligence out of it?

After a moment of silence.

The enormous demon fox suddenly stood up, looking down at the boy beyond the bars before finally letting out an earth-shaking roar. "Get lost!"

How could there be such an infuriating Jinchuriki!

Every time, he only thought about taking from it. He never showed the slightest intention of releasing it, and every time the seal was mentioned, he changed the subject!

Playing dumb? Did he think it was dumb too?!

Naruto was speechless. "..."

What a waste. He had thought their relationship was gradually improving!

Outside the battlefield.

Kakashi Hatake's expression grew more worried. "Jiraiya-sama, won't this be dangerous if it continues?"

"Don't worry. Gamabunta knows his limits."

Jiraiya had already handed the battlefield over to Gamabunta. He leaped down beside Kakashi Hatake and kneaded his shoulder. "I only want to determine whether Naruto can use Nine-Tails Chakra after encountering a life-or-death crisis..."

"If he still can't use it..." Jiraiya looked over his palm and gave a soft laugh. "Then I'll cancel the Summoning Jutsu at the critical moment."

The jonin instructor was somewhat confused. "What is the point of doing that?"

"At least it will prove one thing: if we encounter enemies on the way back to Konoha, we won't need to worry about the Nine-Tails losing control."

Jiraiya clenched his fist.

But just when Jiraiya thought everything was under control, Gamabunta leaped high into the air, his enormous body crashing down toward Naruto...

A brilliant azure light suddenly bloomed!

Naruto clenched his fist as a Chakra Star Ring Fragment circled around it. He fiercely punched toward Gamabunta. "Rasengan Punch!"

The gigantic Gamabunta was instantly sent flying by that single punch!

Even he could not withstand such an overwhelmingly powerful Nintaijutsu attack!

Rumble!

Gamabunta's body crashed into the cliff wall on one side of the canyon, sending countless rocks flying. His form instantly turned into a cloud of smoke and vanished from everyone's sight!

First Update

Jiraiya: Gamabunta, were you holding back?

Gamabunta: Come on, you try it! You try it!

Jiraiya: No, but you still can't just get sent flying by one punch!

Gamabunta: My body was too big. I couldn't dodge it.

Jiraiya: Then why did you leave in such a hurry...

Gamabunta: I'm covered in injuries. What else was I supposed to do?

Jiraiya: Then next time...

Gamabunta: Don't come looking for me next time. I thought I was helping you train a kid, not coming here to be turned into grilled frog!

Thanks to Pressure Cooker and JET for the tips, and thanks to Haitang from QQ Reading for the tip! Thank you all for supporting the new book!