Chapter 42 (Patreon)

Naruto trained until late, but he still couldn’t summon a proper toad.

The repeated failures left him frustrated. Was his talent really no better than this?

Late that night, he lay in bed and waited until he sensed that Jiraiya had left. Once he was certain the ANBU watching him couldn’t see him directly, his eyes turned crimson. The pattern of an eight-pointed star appeared in each pupil as he activated his Mangekyō Sharingan.

The Mangekyō Sharingan was particularly effective against tailed beasts. Naruto steadied his mind and, using its power together with his sealing skills, quickly located the Nine-Tails sealed inside him.

His vision went dark. When it cleared, he was standing in a dim, damp space before an enormous iron gate. A huge sealing tag was attached to it.

This was where the Nine-Tails was imprisoned.

“Come closer, brat.”

The fox’s enormous face emerged from the darkness behind the gate. Its red eyes gleamed with malice, and its voice took on a tempting softness.

“I’ve seen everything you’ve done these past few months. I don’t know where you found those powers, but I can tell how much you’ve come to crave strength.”

“Come here. I can give you even greater power.”

Naruto walked toward it as though entranced, drawing closer to the gate one step at a time.

The Nine-Tails’ mouth curled into a cruel grin.

Just as it raised a claw to strike Naruto’s head, he sprang backward, slipping out of reach. He looked up at the fox with an amused smile.

“I was just playing along! Did you really think I’d fall for that?”

“Damn you!”

The Nine-Tails glared at him. Vast amounts of chakra surged outward, only to be stopped by the seal.

Naruto raised one finger.

“There are two things you need to understand, Nine-Tails. First, stop acting like I can’t do anything to you. If I wanted to hurt you, it would be easy.”

The fox’s fury flared again.

“Then try it! Let’s see you do it!”

“You asked for it.”

Naruto sneered and flicked his right hand forward. A rope of black and gold shot through the gate, winding around the Nine-Tails’ massive body and binding its limbs and head.

The fox struggled furiously, then realized it couldn’t draw on any of its power.

The Immortal Binding Rope was a supernatural ability created by fusing his fully upgraded Adamantine Sealing Chains with his fully upgraded Sealing Talent. It was over ten times stronger than the chains alone.

Once bound by it, the Nine-Tails in its current state had no chance of breaking free. It was completely at Naruto’s mercy.

Naruto leaped onto its muzzle and landed hard on its nose. Tears sprang into the fox’s eyes from the pain.

It glared at him with undisguised murderous intent.

Seeing that look, Naruto raised his right foot and kicked at its eyes.

Thud! Thud!

“Aaargh!”

This time, the Nine-Tails couldn’t even cry properly. It could only let out a muffled whimper. With all its power sealed away, it had no way to retaliate, and it no longer dared provoke him.

When the fox finally settled down, Naruto held up a second finger with a satisfied smile.

“Second, take a look at this.”

He let it see the eight-pointed star pattern of his Mangekyō Sharingan.

Anger surged through the Nine-Tails again, but it froze almost immediately.

Over its thousand years of life, it had learned to fear those eyes inherited by Indra’s descendants. Madara Uchiha had controlled it with them. So had Obito Uchiha.

Its hatred of those eyes ran deep, but so did its fear. Bound as it was, there was nothing it could do.

Naruto watched its reaction with a mocking smile. He did want the Nine-Tails’ power, but there were only two ways for him to obtain it.

The first was to follow the original Naruto’s path: cleanse the darkness from his heart, then battle the Nine-Tails for control of its chakra. The best outcome would be gaining the fox’s trust so it would share its power willingly and cooperate with him.

The second was to use the Mangekyō Sharingan, forcing the Nine-Tails under his control whenever he wanted to draw on its chakra.

The first route was out of the question for Naruto as he was now. He’d chosen a dark path from the very beginning, and he would also need Killer Bee’s help to find the Waterfall of Truth.

The second would place too much strain on his Mangekyō. Every use would consume its visual power and further damage his eyesight.

If he was going to pay that price, he would rather use Time Acceleration or Time Reversal directly in battle. Those were abilities he could use to finish a fight outright.

For now, forcing the Nine-Tails to lend him chakra simply wasn’t worth the cost.

“I didn’t come here to take your chakra or control you,” Naruto said. “I was just curious. I wanted to see what you were like.”

He shrugged.

“Well, I’ve seen enough. You’re nothing special. This is boring, so I’m leaving.”

Without waiting for the Nine-Tails to reply, he left the seal space.

Only the fox’s furious roar followed him.

“You damned brat! If you’re leaving, take this stupid rope with you!”

…

Naruto already had a plan for solving his summoning problem.

He opened the system shop and checked the skill listed on his status panel.

[Summoning Jutsu: Untrained]

He currently had 448 points.

“System, buy two Skill Upgrade Scrolls and use them on Summoning Jutsu.”

[Ding! Summoning Jutsu has advanced to the Proficient level.]

[Total points spent: 200.]

The next morning, Jiraiya watched Naruto successfully summon a large toad, and his eyes filled with admiration.

It had taken Jiraiya seven days to perform his first successful summon. Naruto had managed it in just one. As far as he could tell, the boy had remarkable talent.

He never suspected that Naruto had cheated.

“Summoning Jutsu!”

Naruto formed the hand seals and slapped his right palm against the ground, releasing most of his chakra through it.

A huge cloud of smoke erupted around him.

When it cleared, Naruto found himself standing tens of meters above the ground, atop the head of an enormous toad.

“Jiraiya, what did you call me out for?”

Gamabunta glared down at Jiraiya, his tone anything but friendly.

Much like Manda, Gamabunta was an immensely powerful summon with a difficult temper.

He had assumed Jiraiya was the one who’d summoned him. It hadn’t occurred to him that the boy on his head was responsible.

“Ah… well…”

Jiraiya scratched his head awkwardly. He was wary of Gamabunta’s temper and often found himself at a loss when dealing with him.

Against powerful enemies, or in certain difficult situations, Jiraiya needed Gamabunta’s help. Gamabunta, on the other hand, rarely needed anything from him. Their relationship gave Jiraiya little room to make demands.

Manda was even worse. He usually greeted Orochimaru by berating him, though Orochimaru was thick-skinned enough not to care. He could always appease the snake with living human sacrifices.

“Hey, big toad! I’m the one who summoned you!” Naruto patted Gamabunta’s head with a grin. “Jiraiya had nothing to do with it!”

“Who are you supposed to be?!”

Gamabunta shook his head violently, trying to throw Naruto off.

Naruto kept the chakra in his feet steady and fought to maintain his balance, refusing to fall.

After several attempts, Gamabunta realized he couldn’t shake the boy loose. His irritation only grew.

“You’re testing my patience, brat! What’s your name?”

“Me? I’m Naruto Uzumaki. Does that name mean anything to you?” Naruto asked pointedly.

“Naruto Uzumaki?”

Gamabunta was taken aback.

He had heard the Great Toad Sage mention that name recently. This was the boy Jiraiya had been searching for—the one who might be the Child of Prophecy. The sage considered him important.

That gave Gamabunta pause. He was still annoyed, but now he had something else to consider.

After a while, he spoke again in a calmer tone.

“Since you’re the one who called me out, let’s see whether you’re fit to give me orders. Stay on my head until nightfall.”

Naruto laughed.

“No problem! I can do that!”

He grinned and lay flat against Gamabunta’s head, feeding a controlled amount of chakra through his hands and feet to hold himself firmly against the toad’s skin.

At the same time, he secretly placed a Flying Thunder God mark on top of Gamabunta’s head.

Gamabunta began leaping about, trying to shake him loose.

Naruto fought to hold on. Whenever he lost his grip and was flung into the air, he quietly used the Flying Thunder God Jutsu to return to the mark on Gamabunta’s head.

With his secret cheating and the vast chakra reserves and rapid recovery of his Uzumaki Sage Body, Naruto finally made it to nightfall.

“Hmph… All right. You win,” Gamabunta said, breathing heavily.

He vanished in a burst of smoke.