Chapter 62: The Poor and Helpless Jiraiya
In the familiar mountain behind the village, Natsuro was fully prepared.
"Alright, go ahead and use all your strength to try the Summoning Jutsu." Jiraiya said seriously, watching him. There's no risk if the Summoning Jutsu is performed correctly—at worst, the summoning would fail due to insufficient chakra. But if used incorrectly, it could lead to serious problems.
Hearing this, he nodded, bit his finger, and began forming the seals. He knew well that, with his current chakra levels, summoning Gamabunta was a pipe dream. He shouldn't even think about summoning the two smaller toads beside Gamabunta.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Jiraiya watched from the side and nodded approvingly. Natsuro's hand seals were precise, and his chakra control was flawless. With such a level of proficiency, the Summoning Jutsu wouldn't fail—what remained to be seen was which toad would appear.
As the white smoke cleared, Jiraiya's face showed a hint of surprise. It wasn't that he didn't recognize the toad—it was just that he was very familiar with this particular one!
With an orange body adorned with blue-green patterns and a round jewel inscribed with the word "Loyalty" hanging from its neck, it was none other than Gamachū, a toad Jiraiya frequently summoned.
Gamachū wasn't the largest in Mount Myoboku, but it was far from small. For Natsuro to summon him on his first try not only indicated his high level of chakra control but also suggested that the amount of chakra he could extract at once was significant.
Initially, Jiraiya thought that if he could summon even a small toad on his first try, it would be impressive, as most people start by summoning tadpoles. But now, Jiraiya realized he had underestimated him.
Gamachū, having just been summoned, wasn't surprised. Though it noticed its head felt lighter than usual, habit led it to prepare for its usual dramatic entrance with Jiraiya. But before it could make its move, it spotted Jiraiya and froze.
"Jiraiya? What are you doing here?" Gamachū asked, puzzled. It then glanced upward. "If you're here, who's on my head?"
"Haha, that's my new disciple. I hope you'll look after him from now on." Jiraiya laughed heartily.
"Hello, I'm Natsuro." He introduced himself, standing on Gamachū.
"Natsuro, huh? Since you're Jiraiya's disciple, you can summon me in the future. I'm Gamachū." He replied back.
"Alright." Natsuro smiled. Although summoning is generally irreversible, a summoned creature don't always agree to assist in battle. For instance, when Naruto summoned Gamabunta with the Nine-Tails chakra, even Jiraiya couldn't always get Gamabunta to cooperate willingly.
It seemed that Gamachū, whom he had summoned, was a very obedient and gentle toad.
"Well, since there's nothing else, I'll be going back now." Gamachū said, looking around. Seeing no enemies and not needing to assist Jiraiya in any performance, it had no reason to stay.
"Thanks for your help, Gamachū." Natsruo said, feeling that Gamachū looked pretty cool, though its combat abilities weren't outstanding.
No, actually, in the world of Mount Myoboku, most toads aren't particularly powerful in direct combat. They mainly rely on their size, which can be quite overwhelming in the early stages, but against the more powerful foes later on, they usually end up being pummeled.
After letting Natsuro off its back, he vanished in a puff of smoke.
"It seems he has a good impression of you." Jiraiya said with a smile.
"Gamachū is pretty good, but I probably can't summon him for battle for a while." Natsuro replied.
Jiraiya nodded. In battle, the chakra available for a Summoning Jutsu is limited, meaning he would need a lot more time before he could rely on Gamachū in a fight. As for Gamachū's combat strength, it could handle an ordinary Chunin under normal conditions.
"Sensei, does this mean I've successfully learned the Summoning Jutsu?" He asked.
Jiraiya nodded and said, "Yes, that's right. Whether you can summon stronger toads now depends not on your ninjutsu but on whether you have enough chakra."
"Everything comes back to chakra, huh?" Natsuro sighed, feeling that many of his abilities were limited by his chakra reserves.
"Haha, there's no helping that. Even if you're a genius, chakra has to grow gradually." Jiraiya laughed, trying to console him.
He glanced at Jiraiya. The Uzumaki and Senju clans don't have that problem, and even the Uchiha, while not as strong as the first two, aren't too bad either. Oh wait, they also grow their chakra bit by bit—it's just that "bit" is a lot by normal standards!
"Next, let's start learning sealing techniques." Jiraiya suggested after some thought.
"Great! I actually have a few questions about sealing techniques to ask you." Natsuro replied with a nod.
"Wait, you mean you've already looked at those sealing scrolls?" Jiraiya asked, his mind suddenly struggling to keep up.
"Yes, I skimmed through them. I haven't gone into detail yet, but I have many questions that need your guidance." He said with a smile. Since he had a sensei, and he probably wouldn't stay in the village for long, do Natsuro had to make sure to extract as much knowledge as possible!
"You…you've already finished them?" Jiraiya stared at him, wide-eyed. Those densely packed words gave even Jiraiya a headache. If not for the necessity of learning, he wouldn't have bothered to read them himself.
At that moment, Jiraiya, who had always been a poor student, looked at Natsuro and felt that, after all these years, he thought he was done being overshadowed by Orochimaru. Yet, here he was, being outshone by his own disciple.
This was…the fear of a poor student in the face of a top student!
And as the day went on, Jiraiya realized that this day was actually his day of suffering, as he had prepared many questions. And as a teacher, could he refuse to answer them?
Originally, Jiraiya had planned to throw out a few questions for him to ponder while he finally had some time to go "gather materials." After all, he hadn't had much time for that lately, having spent it all taking Natsuro around. Today, when he expressed his thoughts, Jiraiya thought he would finally have some free time. But he hadn't expected…
As the sky darkened, Natsuro finally bid Jiraiya farewell, satisfied with the day's progress. If he wasn't worried about his mother, Shinai, he would have stayed up all night studying.
As for Jiraiya, by now, he had lost all his usual vigor, resembling a withered tree, drained of all its vitality—poor and helpless.
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