Naruto, having leapt from the toad's back, turned around to get a good look at the creature he had summoned. It stood around six foot tall or so, by his estimation, and was easily big enough for the blonde's relatively small frame to stand on, though he imagined it would make it rather difficult for the toad to move around a battlefield with any kind of ease. However, it's size wasn't it's most striking feature. The very first thing that caught Naruto's eyes, and indeed the thing that still held his attention - it's colour. The toad's entire upper half was one of the most magnificent looking shades of regal blue that Naruto had ever laid eyes upon. The toad's claim of being a 'shaolin toad' were seemingly verified by the fact that it also wore an orange gi, just a touch darker than his own old jumpsuit; and had it's wrists tied with tape - a sure sign of a taijutsu practitioner.

"Got enough of an eyeful, yet? Or are you just gonna stand there gawping, rather than introduce yourself?"

Naruto's hand instinctively went to the back of his head, and he sheepishly smiled back the toad he'd summoned.

"Heh, I'm really sorry Gamasensō. After summoning Gamakichi so often, I don't think I really expected to summon a toad quite so... impressive. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I guess we should probably get to know each other a little bit so we can work together in battle - that is, if you don't mind me summoning you to help out every now and then?"

The toad grinned at his question, seemingly pleased that the blonde summoner before him respected him enough to ask, rather than expect, his assistance.

"As a toad of Mt. Myōboku, it would be my pleasure to fight alongside the student of Jiraiya; all though it would probably be wise for me to point out that I am quite a young toad, only just entering maturity, so to speak. It's quite likely that a great many of the larger and more powerful toads will not exactly be so willing, at least not straight away."

"So I'd need to prove myself or something before they'd fight with me?"

"I suppose you could say that." The toad nodded, scratching his chin thoughtfully, something Naruto wasn't sure should even be possible.

"But you should be aware that some will simply outright refuse to help. Gamabunta, the Boss Toad, for example, is both the strongest of all of us, and also the most notorious for outright refusing to aid summoners. Even Jiraiya struggles to convince him to fight alongside him. But as for getting to know each other..." Gamasensō grinned, looking directly into Naruto's eyes.

"I believe strongly that a spar can tell you everything you need to know about a person - If you think you can handle it, that is."

"You know Gamasensō..." Naruto began, flexing his limbs trying to get himself somewhat limbered up for a spar. "I think you and I are going to get along just fine."

----

"So, thanks to Kakashi, we know Suna are mobilizing, and according to Jiraiya's sources Orochimaru's forces have gone underground in recent months. All conveniently timed with the Chunin exams held within our walls, at which Sound plans to send their very first team? I agree that this seems far too much of a coincidence to be ignored. The biggest question is: what's the overall objective here? I don't believe that even Suna and Sound combined have enough force to pull off an attack that ends in anything other than a victory for Konoha." The Sandaime brought his pipe up to his mouth as he finished speaking, turning his attention to the other two people in the room, Jiraiya, and arguably his most trusted Jonin, Hatake Kakashi.

"Well, given that it's Orochimaru pulling the strings here, it's likely that we are supposed to believe a successful invasion is the aim. But he's too clever for that, this is a diversion, with the bonus of doing a lot of infrastructural damage to the village, and possibly taking out one or more of our best along the way."

"He intends to make a move on Hokage-sama, then?" Kakashi queried, vocalising the implication of Jiraiya's words.

"It's likely. Sarutobi-sensei over here is one of the few people left in the village that is capable of giving him pause for thought. Although, it's too obvious to be his main aim, and if it was just Sensei's head he wanted, he'd likely just come for it himself, rather than go to all this trouble. He's after something more. We only know what we know because he's allowed it, I'm sure of that. He's intending us to focus on the defence of the village and protecting Sarutobi-sensei, at the expense of something less important to Konoha."

"Uchiha Sasuke."

The Sandaime's intervention took both Jiraiya and Kakashi by surprise, though Jiraiya considerably less so.

"You think he's finished that jutsu, Sarutobi-sensei?" Jiraiya asked, his face set into a frown that looked surprisingly natural for a man so normally irreverent.

"I wouldn't put it past him. If he has, acquiring Sasuke would likely take him to a level beyond what I, possibly even you Jiraiya, is able to defeat without great cost. What's more worrying is that the Chunin exam is a ideal opportunity for Orochimaru to accomplish that. He will be totally unsupervised for the second test, should he make it that far, and possible days inside Training Ground 44. It would be almost impossible to keep Sasuke from him without infringing upon the rules of the exam, which would be a political nightmare with so many villages attending this our exams."

"I don't entirely understand why Orochimaru would place so much importance in Sasuke, though it's clearly to do with his Sharingan, and I'm going to need a proper explanation later. But what is really confusing me, is why not just take him while out on a mission? I certainly couldn't stop him, though I'd be willing to die trying." The masked Jonin asked, trying to make sense of what the two older shinobi were saying.

"That's not the way he works. For a start, as far as I know at least, my old team-mate needs to mark Sasuke with a unique fuuinjutsu in order to accomplish what he needs, but that's not all. Sasuke needs to actually come to him of his own volition - sell his soul, if you like. The mark is only the first stage of that, it feeds of your negative emotions, your doubts; whispers in your ear about power, and darkness, and amplifies your own insecurities."

"Next Orochimaru needs to indicate to Sasuke that the power he craves is out of his reach for as long as he stays in Konoha. That's where the invasion, and sneaking into the exams to get to Sasuke comes in. He displays his own power by severely wounding the village, highlight our weakness, and essentially offers Sasuke a slice, all the while preying on the boys doubts and fears. It's a pretty sound plan, if I'm honest. He's a bastard, but he's good."

Kakashi took a few moments to process Jiraiya's explanation. There was no way Sasuke could stand up to that kind of mind game. He already craved strength more than anyone his age should, perhaps even more than Naruto did. Except that the Uchiha's motivation was revenge. Revenge against the man who killed his entire clan, Sasuke's family. Revenge against his own brother.

If something couldn't be done; Sasuke wouldn't fall victim to the hunter, he'd walk willingly into his jaws.

"So what exactly can we do to stop this?" Kakashi asked, not even realising that he had allowed his carefully maintained façade of casual indifference to be replaced with obvious intense worry for his student.

"That, kid, is a question I don't have an answer to, at least not yet. Still, we have a month to prepare. We'll think of something."

Kakashi failed to find any solace in the Sannin's answer.

----

Naruto ducked under a punch aimed at his head, and immediately had to jump back to avoid a horizontal follow up blow; however, he was immediately set upon by Gamasensō, who had used his powerful hind legs to immediately press the blonde, not giving him time to recover. He moved at speeds that Naruto previously would have said were impossible for such a bulky creature. He was perfectly balanced on his hind legs, and the attacks from his hands flowed perfectly from one to the next, giving Naruto absolutely no time to compose himself or even think.

Worse still, the toad didn't even appear to be straining to push Naruto as far as he was. He raised his arms for a cross block as Gamasensō brought down one of his fists for a hammer blow to Naruto's shoulder, and only just managed to roll sideways in time to avoid the next attack. Block, dodge, block, block, dodge. He desperately tried to find some kind of rhythm as he defended himself on sheer instinct, but failed each time.

Two Kage Bunshin sprung into life behind the toad, one to his left, the other the right, but Gamasensō appeared infuriatingly un-phased. Once again doing what would appear to be anatomically impossible, he shifted all his weight onto one leg and leaping into the air, he launched into a violent sweep, destroying both Bunshin with practiced ease. Touching down onto the leg he had used to kick out at the Bunshin, he used his natural agility to spring himself at Naruto, who had attempted to create some distance between the two.

They began their previous game once again, this time with Naruto using his clones to try and unbalance and find openings on the toad, to no avail. Gamasensō possessed grace and flexibility beyond any of Naruto's wildest expectations. However, much to Naruto's pleasure, the toad had lost that image of effortlessness since the arrival of his Kage Bunshin. The toad was pushing Naruto much more than he was being pushed of course, but no longer was he finding it easy to do so. The blonde was even more pleased that ignoring his clones, the toad hadn't actually landed a hit on him. Of course, Naruto hadn't either, but such insignificant details were easily ignored by the blonde.

Suddenly, without warning, the toad leapt back from their melee, indicating a pause.

"I believe you were right to predict that we would get along, Uzumaki Naruto. I think I would very much enjoy fighting alongside you."

Naruto inclined his head slightly at the implied compliment, pleased that he had made a positive impression on his newest comrade.

"You're incredible at taijutsu, Gamasensō. I would be delighted to be able to call someone as skilled as you a comrade, or even friend." The blond replied, doing his utmost to sound as polite and respectful as possible. The toad had made a strong impression on him, both with his skill, and his acceptance of Naruto's own ability, and Naruto wasn't about to let that go without repayment. Gamasensō too, it seemed, understood that a mutual respect had formed between them, and at the very least, the seeds of a friendship had been laid.

"If you would agree to summon me for a spar on occasion, then I can see us becoming fast friends, Uzumaki Naruto. Not many toads practice hand to hand combat, at least in the manner I do, and it gets terribly terribly tiring practicing against the same opponents."

"I think I can do that, it would be really great to be able to spar against someone as good as you are." Naruto replied, with an incredibly earnest grin on his face.

"Excellent! I shall look forward to our next meeting. However, for now, I must return home. Until next time, Uzumaki Naruto."

And with that, the toad disappeared, apparently returning to it's own realm, leaving only a small cloud of smoke, as the chakra that bound it to this realm a few moments, the blonde let out a breath he didn't even realise he had been holding. The meeting with his first 'combat-ready' toad had gone far better than he had expected it to, though he'd apparently gotten lucky by summoning one of the more reasonable toads. Most importantly, they had gotten along fairly well, and had a pretty good measure of what the other could do. The toad was powerful. Fast enough to keep up with his Kage Bunshin taijutsu without too much effort, and strong enough that Naruto could still feel where he had blocked the toad's attacks, even though it had been holding back due to the friendly nature of the spar.

Not for the first time in recent times, Naruto felt a warm feeling wash over him, and he couldn't stop himself from smiling widely, and if only for a few seconds, basking in his accomplishment. That feeling was pride. Pride in his accomplishment. Pride in all of his accomplishments since he'd graduated.

Inch by inch, he was making up ground on those at the academy. And inch by hard-fought inch, he was edging slightly closer to his dream.

He had a very, very long way to go, but the blonde vowed he would relish each and every one of those inches along the way.

----

"So Naruto, what's with the new get-up? Finally get sick of the clown suit?"

Naruto looked up from his section of the fence he and Team 8 had been panting for long enough to catch Kiba's smirk, and had to actually resist reverting to type and sticking his tongue out at the Inuzuka.

"You surprised, Kiba? Personally, I'm more surprised your team-mates haven't gotten sick of the smell of wet dog. In fact, I'm sure Kurenai-sensei knows at least one water jutsu, we could get you cleaned up right now if you wanted."

"Coming from the guy who stinks so badly of ramen that if I didn't know any better, I'd say he kept miso in his weapons pouch instead of kunai."

"Really, dog-breath? You mean it? That's gotta be the nicest thing you've ever said to me!"

Kiba couldn't help but roll his eyes at that. Only Naruto could ever take that as a compliment. Still, the back and forth between the two so far had been more fun than Kiba had been able to have in a while. Of course, he had already grown incredibly attached to his team in the short time they had been together, he fully considered them part of his pack, his family. But he missed the banter, and friendly competition of some of the people he knew in the Academy, and Naruto at the moment, was fulfilling that particular want.

The Inuzuka could practically smell the change in the blonde, who although Kiba had known for a while, he had never really considered a friend for some reason. He was a lot more controlled in his movements - less clumsy, more sure of himself. At first, it seemed like he had lost his massive over the top exuberance, but that wasn't quite true. It was still there, but channelled differently. It was focused into whatever he was doing, whether that be whatever menial crap they were doing as a D-rank, or exchanging barbs with Kiba. Kiba liked this Naruto, a lot.

"Seriously though, man, what gives with the change of clothes. I thought 'Orange was the most awesome colour ever' or something?"

"Still is, mutt." Kiba bristled at the jab, but let it slide, seeing the blonde was about to continue. "It's just, after the exam, I sort of decided to take things a bit more seriously. I'd been slacking before then, not really paying attention to anything. I guess I felt I needed to make a change, so I worked my ass off until the team assignments trying to get myself up to scratch, and have carried on doing that since. I suppose a change of clothes was just part of that, though it was my sensei who actually suggested I do it."

"Working your ass off, huh? Once a dead-last always a dead-last, until proven otherwise."

"Oh really?" Naruto replied, smirk firmly in place. "I haven't seen anything from you that says your any better than you were at the academy. I'd wipe the floor with you and your puppy."

"Please, you're not the only one that's been training you know, Naruto. We've learnt some jutsu that would have you begging me to let you off the hook in seconds."

"Well, how about this, dog breath. You get good enough to get entered into the Chunin exams, and we'll settle this there. You better hope there's no audience though Kiba, or I'll have to put you to sleep in front of a crowd, and I don't wanna get a rep for animal cruelty."

"The Chunin exams?!"

Naruto paused painting the fence once again to glance over at Kiba. He looked and sounded surprised to hear about the Chunin exams. Naruto supposed that he shouldn't really be all that surprised. He had only found out by way of a death threat from a bloodthirsty Jinchuuriki - not exactly the norm for a rookie Genin to receive the news, and he seriously doubted that Jiraiya would have told him before he absolutely had to.

"Yeah, the Chunin exams are being hosted here in Konoha in a months time. My sensei plans to enter me, so if you want to prove that your not all bark and no bite, you'd better prove to your Kurenai-sensei that you're up for it." Naruto stated, never losing his cocky front, even though his thoughts had already been taken up with thoughts of Gaara. Naruto was well aware that it wasn't a confrontation he could avoid, especially if Gaara was going to be making a point of hunting down Konoha shinobi. And Naruto knew killing intent when he felt it, the red-headed Genin was after one thing, and one thing only. Blood.

Or, if you wanted to be really specific, his blood.

"Huh... no kidding..." Kiba appeared to be mulling something over in his head for a few moments before continuing on. "Well, I don't see why we can't get ourselves entered! I mean, if Naruto is good enough, then we sure as hell are, right guys?"

Hinata who had been painting a section off to left, all the while paying close attention to their conversation, smiled softly as she nodded in agreement.

"Of course. Logically speaking, it is impossible for Uzumaki-san to have improved enough to be better than the three of us together; therefore as a team, we stand an equally good chance of being nominated for the exams."

It had taken absolutely every single ounce of composure Naruto had to not jump out of his skin at Shino's words.

The guy was standing right behind him. As in, directly behind him.

Naruto could feel the bug-user's breath on the back of his neck.

Man, Shino was creepy.

"Huh." Kiba said, casually, as Naruto tried his hardest to avert a panic attack. "Sasuke jumped out of his skin when Shino did that when we saw them at the mission hall the other day. You really must have gotten better, Naruto."

The blonde felt his eyebrow twitch.

Had he just been pranked? By Shino?

Oh.

He'd regret that. Maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not even next week. But he'd definitely regret pranking Uzumaki Naruto.

He had a reputation to maintain, after all.

----

3 Days Later

Naruto looked at the toad in front of him with a considerable amount of pride. Jiraiya had said that this was would be one of the harder summoning techniques for him to pull off, because while also requiring a good amount of chakra, it required a pretty decent level of control because of the toads own small size. It only came to around the blonde's knee, and was a deep red in colour, and around it's stomach was a green belt, made of rope, that caused the toad's body to be shaped curiously like a gourd. Fittingly, it had a cork in it's mouth, identical to the ones used to keep gourds sealed.

"Okay then, Gama Hyōrō, me too, okay?"

The toad simply nodded, and raised his hand to his mouth, removing the cork from his mouth. Naruto felt the strangest sensation of initially his chakra being pulled away from his own body, towards the toad, with his physical body feeling the very sensation almost immediately after. Within the blink of an eye, the only thing left in the clearing, was the toad itself. Moving over to the closest tree, the toad formed a hand seal that only perhaps Jiraiya would recognise, and disappeared from sight, blending in perfectly to the background.

Naruto blinked in shock as he took in the space around him. The space inside the toad was absolutely cavernous, the Sannin had said it would be bigger inside, but this was just ridiculous. He stood on a small island made of stone, in the middle of a veritable putrid green sea of what Naruto guessed, was stomach acid. Around him, littered in amongst the acid were several oddly colored rocks, and unusual structures that looked unusually like giant vines.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Jiraiya shouted towards his student from a perch atop one of the rocks within the toad's stomach. "Kekkai: Gama Hyōrō is essentially a combination of a barrier ninjutsu, and time/space manipulation. There are very few beings on the planet as good as the toads in working time and space into their ninjutsu, and this kind of thing is actually pretty simple by their standards. The main use of this jutsu is to isolate an enemy from his comrades, and defeat him within this chamber, separately. On the outside, the toad hides itself to prevent attacks from the exterior."

"There are very few shinobi I'd place bets on being able to get out of this toad's stomach, and the only Genin I'd say that was capable of it would be Gaara if he ever fully transformed into the Shukaku. If you need to keep him away from your allies, this is your best bet. Though if it looks like he'll be able to escape, you must allow him to leave. If he punches a whole through the wall, the toad itself suffers the injury, and will likely die."

Naruto nodded slowly. He had read that it was difficult to remember that summons were not simply tools for a shinobi to use, but also fully sentient life - comrades, and friends. It rang particularly true with jutsu like this. It was difficult to associate the small toad he had summoned with the enormous space he was inside now, and Naruto knew it was a lesson he may not get a second chance to learn. If he allowed a toad to die fighting alongside him, not only would he be losing a comrade, the toads may also decide to refuse him aid.

Still, what a jutsu. Better yet, the blonde had pretty much got it mastered - he had done it perfectly every time he had tried it today. On top of that, he also had figured out exactly how to summon particular toads. He could summon Gamakichi, Gamatatsu, Gamasensō and a fourth toad, one of a similar size to Gamakichi, though apparently much older, Gamamirā; on command, as opposed to using the rough amount of chakra, and hoping for the best. Not too shabby for a only a few days (and naturally, a good few more Kage Bunshin) work.

"Now, as impressive as it is in here, don't suppose you could let us out, gaki? It's awfully stuffy, for a place so big."

Naruto flared his chakra in the way Jiraiya had explained to him when he first learned the technique - a signal to the toad to let those inside him free, and the pulling sensation on his chakra returned. In a flash, he and Jiraiya were back in their training ground, within Konoha's walls.

"You can head back now, Gama Hyōrō. Thank you for your help in my training." Naruto spoke to the small toad, who had become visible again, giving a small bow to emphasize his thanks. The toad simply bowed it's head in return, and vanished back to it's own realm.

"I have to say kid, even with your Kage Bunshin, you're coming along awfully fast with the summoning techniques I'm showing you. To be able to summon specific toads, and to have learned 'Kekkai: Gama Hyōrō' and 'Gamagakure no Jutsu' in such a small space of time, is no mean feat, Naruto."

"Well if I wanted to be modest, I'd say that having the Great Toad Sage teach me probably helped; but modesty never suited me, and you're nothing but a pervert, so it's probably just because I'm that good."

Jiraiya chuckled, but took the ever so slightly back-handed compliment without complaint. His speedy uptake of the summoning techniques really was impressive, and his chakra control had come on further than even Jiraiya could have predicted. It would only ever be possible years from now, but one day, some of the simpler genjutsu may not be as far out of reach for the blonde as he had once thought.

"How about your other ninjutsu? How are they coming along? A little birdie tells me you've been trying to use some of the without seals."

"Not trying, you no-good pervert - you need better spies. I can comfortably perform Goukuuhou, and Kaminari Muchi totally without seals; and barring summoning, I comfortable enough with Fuuton: Daitoppa that I think I can make the jump to using it seal-less with a day or two of practice. Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu, I can use pretty well, I think. I can control the size and heat of the fireball pretty effectively, and aiming it is a cinch. Oh, and I had a lot of fun using it with Daitoppa."

Jiraiya smirked at that - like father, like son he supposed. Hell, what ninja didn't enjoy being able to conjure high-powered firestorms?

"Excellent, my apprentice. Now, I will teach you one of my greatest and most important skills; a lesson that if he were here today, your father would say was the most important lesson I ever gave him."

Naruto raised his eyebrow at Jiraiya's grandiose proclamation. It wasn't unlike him to make similar statements, but he hadn't started posing yet, so Naruto was pretty sure he was being at least partially serious.

"Today, and for the rest of this week, we will together take part in the most difficult and taxing training you have ever, and will ever do. Today, you will begin to master the art of..." Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes as his sensei paused for 'dramatic effect'.

"Calligraphy!"

Jiraiya grinned widely as his student sweat dropped heavily, before palming himself in the face. Hard. Now he just had to wait for the blonde to figure it out... There it was. Widened eyes, mouth open, penny dropped. Like father, like son indeed.

"Your going to start to teach me fuuinjutsu already?!" Naruto exclaimed, not even trying to hide his excitement.

"Not quite, Naruto. You're going to first learn how to copy seals exactly. Teaching you fuuinjutsu would mean I'd be teaching you how to construct seals, and the theory behind that. You can teach that to yourself, or we'll do it together, later. For now, I'm just going to teach you to write them exactly, and have you memorize and copy several one that I think you'll find useful." The Sannin explained carefully, trying to manage the blonde's expectation whilst also not dampening his enthusiasm.

"But I wasn't kidding when I said this would be some of the hardest training you will ever do. It's a 99% mental task, and requires unbelievable focus, determination and concentration. You have to be in complete control of your brush strokes, a single mistake, no matter how tiny, will render your seal useless or worse. Normally this would be a process that would take months, if not longer. But with your Kage Bunshin, I think we can get your calligraphy to a decent standard before the end of the week. Then, I'll give you the designs, and it'll be up to you to learn and memorize them. Just always run them by me the first couple of tries of each seal. Wouldn't want you blowing yourself up, no matter how funny that would be."

"Okay, so let's get started. I want you to create 30 Kage Bunshin, and divide them into groups of three." Jiraiya commanded, as he removed a scroll from a pocket in his jacket. Unraveling the scroll about a third of the way, he placed his palm against a seal on the parchment, and un-sealed what appeared to be a veritable mountain of sealing supplies. "Now, each clone needs to take enough to get started with their practice, and then form into groups of three. I'm going to create ten of my own Kage Bunshin to monitor the progress of the clones in the group. Each group will dispel after an hour of work, but five minutes apart from each other so the original isn't effected negatively by the dispelling."

Is that why I'm only making thirty? So that you can create enough Kage Bunshin to be able to monitor all of us properly?"

"Precisely, gaki. Once you're at a point where you can judge your own success, I'll have you make more, and have my own Kage Bunshin move through you checking the work, rather than having one constantly watching."

Naruto nodded before summoning thirty Bunshin as per Jiraiya's instructions. "Well you heard the man.. Get to it!" Naruto ordered, before turning to his sensei. "I take it you have something different in mind for me?"

"Not quite. You'll be doing the same, but with the original me giving you one to one tutoring. You're going to be the test as to how much the Bunshin are speeding up the practice. After the first cycle of clones, we'll have you try and write, and compare to your efforts before to see how far along you've come. That gives me a good idea of how long we'll need before I can move on to other things."

Naruto nodded as he reached for his own set of calligraphy supplies.

"Well, no time like the present I guess. Let's get started."