The "Oil" Forehead Protector

"Teacher Jiraiya, hurry up."

Yongqiao, Land of Rain.

With a rain cover over his head, Liumu gazed helplessly at the sky and muttered to himself.

"This goddamn place is seriously messed up. It hasn't stopped raining since the day we entered the Land of Rain."

Jiraiya led Liumu into a cave and shook the rain off himself. Seeing Liumu still brimming with energy after days of travel, he could not help smiling. "Young people really do have stamina."

Liumu chuckled, took two portions of rice balls from his pack, and handed them to Jiraiya.

"Teacher Jiraiya, where are we heading?"

"To find your senior fellow disciples." Jiraiya looked out at the pouring rain, his expression suddenly turning serious. "It's been so long, and the Land of Rain is such a mess. I wonder how they're doing now!"

Although he had not asked, Liumu knew exactly which senior fellow disciples Jiraiya meant.

After all, as one of the few senior fellow disciples of Naruto, the future crown prince, Nagato had long since been chosen by Madara as an indispensable pawn in his future resurrection plan. Madara had even given him the Rinnegan evolved from his Sharingan.

His background was bitter, and his fate was tragic too.

But now that he had somehow become Liumu's own senior fellow disciple as well, Liumu had to do something to change their regrettable ending.

Just then, Jiraiya suddenly stopped eating his rice ball. He drew a kunai from behind him and whispered to Liumu, "Careful. Someone's approaching."

Liumu: ???

Although Liumu had inherited the template of Saitama, One-Punch Man, his sensory abilities were not particularly outstanding by ninja standards.

So, seeing Jiraiya suddenly tense up, Liumu stood as well, bewildered.

Suddenly, with a whoosh, a dark figure flashed past. Holding a sharp weapon, the newcomer shot straight at Liumu's chest like lightning.

Jiraiya's expression turned urgent, but the sudden attack left him no time to defend. All he could do was shout, "Liumu, watch-!"

But before he could finish, he saw Liumu suddenly strike...

Jiraiya heard only a smack before he saw Liumu standing there with his hand raised in a knife-hand strike, looking utterly baffled and indignant. Looking down at the black-clad man already unconscious at his feet, Liumu angrily lifted his leg and kicked him between the legs, cursing, "What the hell? You scared me! Don't you know you can scare someone to death like that?"

Jiraiya: ...

"No forehead protector, and no obvious identifying marks."

Jiraiya pulled aside the black-clad man's clothing, but could not tell which faction he belonged to.

After all, the black-clad man had neither used ninjutsu nor spoken during his ambush. Otherwise, with Jiraiya's experience traveling far and wide, even his accent would have given Jiraiya a rough idea of where he came from.

But when Liumu heard the words "forehead protector" from Jiraiya, something suddenly clicked in his mind, and he immediately thought of something.

The first mission the system had issued him had been to become a genin.

He had clearly already passed Jiraiya's assessment, so why had the system still not marked the mission complete?

I waited five years for you, almighty system. You can't be this unreliable!

Ding. The Strongest Template System reminds you: the host has not yet obtained the item signifying his status as a genin. The mission will not be considered complete for now.

As that trace of doubt flashed through his mind, the mechanical voice that suddenly sounded in his head startled Liumu.

But when he realized what the system meant by the identifying item obtained upon becoming a genin...

Liumu paused, finally seeming to understand, and asked doubtfully, "Could the system mean that I haven't obtained Konoha's ninja forehead protector yet?"

According to the scene he had watched in Naruto: Shippuden, the moment Naruto received his forehead protector from Iruka had officially marked his becoming a ninja.

But now...

Watching Jiraiya still searching the black-clad man for clues, Liumu crouched down and asked curiously, "Teacher Jiraiya, why do you wear a forehead protector with the character for 'oil' on it instead of one from Konoha?"

"Oh?"

Jiraiya had not expected Liumu to suddenly ask about this. But seeing his curious gaze, Jiraiya smiled faintly and replied, "There isn't really any special reason."

As he spoke, Jiraiya bit his finger and suddenly formed hand seals. Under Liumu's gaze, he slammed both hands down, and a web of chakra instantly spread across the ground as he called softly, "Summoning Technique!"

With a bang, a cloud of white smoke burst forth. As the breeze dispersed it, a red toad half the size of a person appeared beside Jiraiya.

Looking at the creature, Liumu actually felt a sense of familiarity.

"This is Gamabunta, my summoned beast. Say hello to each other."

"Gamabunta..." A trace of doubt flashed through Liumu's eyes. Then he suddenly hopped over beside Gamabunta, looked him up and down, and asked with a frown, "Why are you so small? I remember..."

At that, Liumu abruptly shut his mouth. He had nearly blurted out what was in his heart.

In his memories, Gamabunta's body had been enormous. In Naruto: Shippuden, his size could even rival that of a tailed beast.

As a human, when Jiraiya stood atop Gamabunta in the anime, he was not even as big as one of his eyeballs.

But now...

"My summoned beast comes from Mount Myōboku, where the Toad Sage resides. As the only person who can perform space-time summoning with that place, I naturally became its representative." Pointing at his forehead protector, Jiraiya said, "This character for 'oil' is the symbol of Mount Myōboku."

"What a rude brat!" Gamabunta snorted, his horizontally pupiled eyes fixed on Liumu's hand pressed against his head. He barked, "Jiraiya, you didn't summon me just to introduce me to this brat, did you? Could you be planning to..."

"Oh, no!" Before Gamabunta could finish, Jiraiya directly rejected what he was about to say.

"Liumu is my new disciple, so as family, of course I have to introduce you to him." Jiraiya smiled and patted Liumu's shoulder. "As for whether he can sense Mount Myōboku's sage energy and become the next generation of summoner, that will depend on his own ability."

"A summoned beast?" Liumu seemed to pick up on something from the exchange between the man and the toad.

But as someone whose soul had transmigrated, and who even had a system at his side, Liumu naturally would not choose the Mount Myōboku clan, who could not even defeat tailed beasts.

At that thought, Liumu smiled awkwardly. Right now, he had pitifully little chakra even for ordinary ninjutsu. How could he learn a Summoning Technique that required vast amounts of chakra to sustain it?

After Jiraiya finished explaining his forehead protector and exchanged a few pleasantries with Gamabunta, Gamabunta vanished from the spot amid a cloud of white smoke.