A Growing Affection

Chapter 49: AAAnnnddd CUT!

Why he wanted Hinata was cut off, as two clumps of trees at the edge of woods exploded. As the oaks fell forward, they revealed the sources of their destruction, two huge animals. On the right was a porcupine, almost thirty feet high; its razor quills longer than Naruto was tall. The other beast was an immense frog, its smooth skin patterned in two distinct shades of green. The amphibian was only twenty feet tall at the top of its protruding eyes, but was longer and wider than its mammalian counterpart. On the head of each summoned creature stood a slightly built ninja. They were either young or short, their masks made it impossible to tell. But their Cloud Village crests were easily visible. The female shinobi stood easily on the frog's flat skull, while her male teammate was perched much more precariously amongst the porcupine's spikes.

Kakashi's eye narrowed in recognition, and he stopped his student.

"On second thought, I will guard Yukie," he told the Chunin, switching back to the actress's pseudonym, "I will send Sakura and Hinata to assist you. Stall until they arrive."

"Right," Naruto acknowledged, his face growing dark.

"Hey," the impetuous teen pointed at his female opponent, "Who the heck are you, and where'd you learn the Toad Summoning technique?"

"Toad?" the frog's voice was deep, wet, and angry, "How dare you refer to me as one of those lumpy-skinned, oil spewing, disrespectful excuses for amphibians?"

"What was that?" Naruto growled.

"Judging by your outrage and lack of intelligence, you must be a Toad summoner. Know fool, that I am Kawazuomo of the noble Frog Ninja clan, and I am far superior to any toad."

"Oh yeah, let's just see about that!"

Even as Naruto slit his thumb, he turned his attention inwards to his tenant.

'Hey, Fox, give me some chakra,' Naruto commanded. Behind the bars of her cage, the Kyubi regarded him with a mix of annoyance and amusement.

'Why should I do that?' she asked him harshly.

'You got to have your fun in the Hidden Sound, and you haven't been keeping up with your rent lately,' he informed her, 'I need to summon the chief to teach this guy a lesson, and I need some of your chakra to do it.'

'By my estimation, you should have enough chakra of your own now to summon that over inflated tadpole,' she countered briskly.

'Maybe,' Naruto capitulated, 'But only if I don't want to have any left for anything else.'

'I don't see where as that is my problem,' the demon shrugged, 'If you don't want to run dry, try something else.'

'I don't think so,' the teen snapped back. He reached through the bars. Within the illusion of their interaction, he tore out some of the fox's hair. In reality, his soul reached through the seal and stole some of the spirit's energy. The demon's eyes expanded more from surprise then pain.

'Try that again, and I'll keep your hand,' she warned him. Despite her murderous anger, a slight amount of admiration crept into her voice. The teen ignored her, as in the real world he intoned.

"Summoning Jutsu."

He jammed his blood stained hand to the ground. Smoke billowed out, and Naruto rose into the air.

"OK, now prepare to eat your words..." Naruto started to taunt, until he realized the summoning was complete, and he was still looking up at the frog from his new perch. He looked down and realized he was on the head of an unfamiliar toad. Uzumaki's summoned ally was only fifteen feet tall, twenty-five feet wide, and thirty feet long. The toad's medium orange skin was covered by a shirt of yellow chainmail, and the leather belt strapped to its waist had five short swords in scabbards along its lower back. Which is to say, they were short swords to the giant toad, each one was slightly longer than the Chunin was tall.