Déjà vu? Not Quite.

Chapter 3

Naruto gaped at what she saw before him. A massive, tall, bear of a man stood proudly across the trees, his white mane of hair billowing ever so slightly in the windy morning air. A massive scroll was attached to his back horizontally, casting foreboding shadows onto the tree branches before him. His green clothing, open slightly at the front to expose his armored chest, looked just as it did over five years ago.

Jiraiya.

And it was a spot-on impersonation, too.

Naruto frowned at the Toad Sannin less than amicably, her cold blue eyes cutting across the clearing like steel. "I don't appreciate it when the dead aren't left to rest."

A raised eyebrow was his response. "What's that supposed to mean?" Jiraiya said with a confused look on his face, otherwise not moving an inch.

"Who are you," Naruto suddenly stated emotionlessly, her voice holding none of its typical carefree mirth.

Jiraiya couldn't help but shiver slightly at the palpable aura that was beginning to build in the atmosphere.

Jiraiya's eyebrow grew more annoyed. "I already told you. Do you have short-term memory loss or something? Need I remind you already?"

"No."

The eyebrow continued to raise. "Oh?"

"You are not Jiraiya," Naruto hissed out through clenched teeth, her eyes still completely unforgiving.

"Now this is just getting ridiculous," the Toad Sage said with an eyeroll, shifting his weight ever so slightly across his feet. "I think that I of all people should know who I am." Then, he matched Naruto's seriousness, pound for pound. "And I, at the very least, know who you are."

Another moment of silence echoed throughout the forests. Killing Intent the strange white-haired man was exuding like a geyser.

But Naruto didn't flinch - not in the slightest. Instead, she merrily frowned. "And who, pray tell, do you think I am?"

"An intruder," Jiraiya replied effortlessly, the oppressive atmosphere dissipating ever so slightly, just as quickly as it had appeared. "An attacker. An assailant. An overall bad influence on society. Need I break out the thesaurus for you?"

"I've had just about enough of this," Naruto spat out, clenching her fists at her sides. "First, some idiot mess with the Hokage stone and now you? You, of all people?"

Then, her eyes flickered in what could only be described as twisted understanding. "Oh. I see."

Then, to the surprise of Jiraiya, the blonde teen let out a chuckle. "I see now. You are attempting to use emotional appeal to fight me. Is that the way it is? Take the form of my- the form of my sensei. Try and get under my skin." She let out another single laugh. "You know, I've experienced a lot worse. I doubt anything can phase me at this point."

Naruto eyes narrowed dangerously. "And I'm having areally shitty day. So just try me."

For not the first time that encounter, the entire forest seemed to stand completely still in the tenseness, as the two shinobi stared each other down.

The winds began to rustle through the tree branches again, whipping Naruto's hair around his face and around her forehead protector like the grain in an expansive field in the late summer months.

Then, as if by some sudden signal unseen to the genin, both Naruto and Jiraiya leapt into action - each running through a series of hand seals with practiced ease.

"SUMMONING JUTSU!"

"SUMMONING JUTSU!"

Two massive puffs of smoke proliferated within the clearing, blotching out the steadily rising sun. Dark, foreboding shadows cast across the trees like demons in the mist, deepening with each passing second. however, that the winds of the forest banished the smoke from the battlezone, revealing something rather surprising.

Across the clearing, arms still crossed defiantly, stood the man called Jiraiya. What was genuinely jaw-dropping to the toad sanin, however, was what was standing in front of him was-

A massive, four-story tall toad, armed with a colossal two-pronged blade of some sort, perched defensively among the treetops.

Naruto blinked. She may have been a bit rusty, and her chakra control may have been out of whack, but still -still - something should have happened.

But nothing did. And when the dust settled, all he had to show for his summoning was a massive plume of smoke, and an empty treetop - a place where a massive battle toad should have been standing.

Sh frowned to herself at the thought. The blonde's first reaction had been to show the Jiraiya impersonator what a real Toad Sage could do by wiping the floor with the toads he so brazenly claimed to represent.

But instead, they were alluding her.

Strange.

'Yet another thing to add to the growing list of weird shit that's going on,' Naruto thought to herself with a sigh, as she began to prepare for whatever came next. Lizards? Dogs? Weasels?

Just what exactly would this Jiraiya impersonator summon?

As the smoke cleared away, she got her answer.

And her eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

There, standing across the treetops, ready for battle, was Gamaken - the legendary brother of the Toad Chief Gamabunta, and esteemed warrior from Mount Myouboku.

He looked a little smaller than what Naruto had remembered, but Gamaken was Gamaken. Perhaps Jiraiya had summoned him with a little less chakra than normal-

Naruto's brain suddenly lurched into gear, as question after question began to form in her mind. 'Who is this man? How can he have the summoning contract?'

'And why are the toads willingly cooperating with him?'

Gamaken's eyes widened at the sight of Blonde teen, "Naruto! What you doing here?!"

Jiraiya's head snapped at the frog, "Gamaken, did you forget or something? This isn't-"

"It is." The frog's voice grave. He turned to Naruto.

"I don't know how you end up in here, brat. Jiraiya, this is Naruto. But she's from the alternate universe that only us summons can cross."

Jiraiya reeled in shock. He stared at the long blonde hair like his student.

Naruto was gaping, "A-alternate?"

Jiraiya snapped out of his daze and cleared his throat, "We should go to the Hokage office." With that he grabbed the blonde teen's arm and disappeared in a dramatic poof