"Summoning Jutsu!" He yelled. In an instant, a gigantic toad had appeared inside of the canyon, it's brown complexion camouflaging in with the canyon's colour, the pipe it smoked as big as the toad that Jiraiya had summoned, the scar on its eye reflecting the battles and hardships that it had been through. His sheathed sword on his back made a reflection that he wasn't a joking toad; he wasn't a happy-go-lucky toad; he was a killer, born and bread. Naruto appeared on top of the huge beast, surprised at what he had summoned.
"Who the hell had the audacity to summon me? It better not be that pervert, Jiraiya!" Gamabunta's low tongue lashed out.
"Nope! It was all me, Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto proclaimed loudly, as he regained his senses.
"What? Get down here, brat, so that I can see your face properly." Gamabunta didn't really believe him.
"He's telling the truth, Bunta'. There are no lies in his conviction!" Jiraiya's voice resonated from the top of the cliff.
"Is that you, Jiraiya? You knew that you had to have a good reason to summon me! Remember our summon contract? I have to kill you now!" Gamabunta rambled. Jiraiya jumped down the cliff to land on top of Gamabunta's back.
"Don't be like that, Gamabunta. Naruto wants to have a contract with you, so I want you to give one to him. You do know who Naruto is, right?" Jiraiya questioned. Gamabunta grumbled.
"But I'm asking you, Jiraiya, who summoned me?"
"And I'm telling you out of the purity of my heart, that it was actually Naruto Uzumaki!" Jiraiya rebutted, much to the annoyance of Gamabunta.
"Goddamnit! Fine, we can make a stupid contract." Gamabunta relented.
"Woohoo!" Naruto cheered.
"Now I can finally beat Sasuke!" He continued.
"Is that was this is about? You just want to be able to be at Sasuke Uchiha?" Jiraiya asked.
"Well, yeah, I do. We have this rivalry, and he keeps beating me at everything, so I want to show him that I can beat him too." Naruto answered.
"I see."
"CAN I GO NOW?" Gamabunta exclaimed, as he popped away in a cloud of smoke. This made Jiraiya and Naruto fall to the bottom of the canyon, as they had nothing to stand on. They collapsed to the ground with a thud.
"Should we go back now? Or should I teach you another move?" Jiraiya panted.
"Teach me another move." Naruto answered before falling unconscious on Jiraiya's lap. He was surprised by this action at first, but he knew this feeling well. He smiled and moved on.
"Why did you have such a standoffish child, Minato? I've got my work cut out for me, here." Jiraiya muttered as he then fell asleep as well.
-
Dum dum dum dum dum dum dum.
"Huh? What's that noise?" The voice of Jiraiya thought as he opened his eyes.
When he opened his dilated pupils, he saw no sign of the canyon he had just been inside. No rocky crevice, no brown walls, no Gamabunta, and no...Naruto. He looked around to see if Naruto was possibly next to him.
Nope. The only thing that he found was a white room that he was inside.
White walls. While carpet. White beds. Even the bedsheets he was sleeping inside were white.
Literally everything was white. Even the door, which had a lock on it. Everything was-
Wait.
A door with a lock on it? Jiraiya was sceptical about this, so he got out of bed to check the lock that was keeping the door intact, the lock that was indeed, white.
Was he trapped in here? A padlock. A white room. No Naruto. No items inside the room except for a bed.
So he probably was trapped in here. He was surprisingly calm about this, albeit, having enough power to simply break down the door with brute force.
Odd. But that's when he noticed it.
A camera that was tracking and recording his every move. He knew then who he was captive for.
"Oi! Tsunade! Let me out of here, you stupid gambler!" He shouted out into the camera. At once, a loud voice rattled out of a speaker hidden inside the walls.
"Nope. I need to pass the time." Her voice was soft but sharp with every syllable she spoke.
"Are you kidding me? There's no way I'm staying here anymore! You've basically put me in a torture chamber! How did you even manage to find me?" Jiraiya screamed.
"I just asked Shizune to track you. I was bored, so I decided to make my own fun. Oh yeah, I put some seals on the door and lock, so don't even think about trying to get out. Mind you, there's another lock outside and the door's bolted. I ain't taking any chances at all." There was a distinct pause after Tsunade had spoken. Jiraiya could've sworn that he heard a bit of scuffling behind the speakers.
"I've got your precious student here, Jiraiya. I was astounded to learn that this child was Uzumaki Naruto. For one, he doesn't look anything like his father." Tsunade blurted.
"Why would you say that, you-"
"It's okay, he's still asleep. I even gave him a dosage of Toxination to make him go to sleep, ensuring that he doesn't wake up." Tsunade smirked behind the speakers.
"She really did think this through, huh?" JIraiya thought.
"So why are you doing this again?" Jiraiya asked in an inquisitive tone.
"I told you already, I wanted to make my own fun; I was getting bored." Tsunade told Jiraiya through the speaker's that droned on throughout the white room.
"You surely should've had another reason for doing this right?" Jiraiya questioned.
"Nope. Right now, what I'm witnessing is a reality show, and damn, it's starting off good." Tsunade chuckled.
"So I'm just your pawn inside this reality show, that isn't a reality show but it's just a knock-off show of Awake?!" Jiraiya questioned.
"Yep. Except Awake was absolutely horrible. The acting, the emotion, all of it felt like it was made from a garbage can stuffed inside of a shredder." Tsunade retorted, devoid from any emotion.
"Can I-"
"No." Tsunade automatically answered, cutting Jiraiya off, like the NPC she was.
"Why?"
"This is my game show! Slowly I'll invite more people and maybe I can put this on a global TV show, get rich, and settle down somewhere nice. That's what old people do." Tsunade gloated.
"But aren't you old already?" Jiraiya blurted out without any resentment. Tsunade paused for a few seconds before speaking into the microphone she held, her voice as cold as ice.
"You're lucky that I ain't coming down there to kick the stuffing out of you, or we'll see just who exactly is old, you hear me, you pervert?"
"Hey, I ain't a pervert, I'm an author. There's nothing wrong with people enjoying a little...erotica." Jiraiya shrugged his shoulders.
"Are you sure about that?" Tsunade grinned.
"Yes." Jiraiya answered at once.
"Hm."
After a few seconds, Naruto began to wake up, his drowsy mind spinning back and forth to find the right way forward. Tsunade chucked him off her lap and he landed flat on the ground.
"Ow! Who the hell did-" Naruto opened his eyes and saw the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen in his life. She had a painted diamond at the top of her head, and her green draped cloak made her look like the oldest woman in the world.
But she wasn't the oldest woman in the world.
Her toned complexity made her look young. Young, dumb and broke.
"Hey, Naruto! You awake?" Jiraiya's voice came from the microphone Tsunade had placed in front of her.
"Pervy Sage?" Naruto screamed into the microphone.
"Naruto! Say, do you want to join me in here?" Jiraiya exclaimed from the white room he was in.
Jiraiya chuckled as he then became more desperate for attention.
"Please?"
"Are you kidding me? This is like that cartoon that we watch everyday! Classroom of the Poor or something?" Naruto screamed.
"Classroom of the Elite..." Jiraiya mumbed out.
"That's it!" Naruto pointed at Jiraiya through the screen in Tsunade's room.
"I ain't going in a white room ever again since seeing that show! That guy Amanotejiyoji was the main character, so of course he would survive it. He just made it look easy!"
"His name's Ayanokoji, dummy! And he survived because he's the protagonist! He's supposed to do that!" Jiraiya called out from the white room.
"This is exactly what I mean, Jiraiya. I need some entertainment, and gambling isn't cutting it for me." Tsunade said.
"Funny, because when we were kids, I remember you saying that you wanted the exact opposite of that." Jiraiya rebutted.
"People have differing opinions. Mine is as such."
"Can you send Naruto down here? I need some company." Jiraiya asked.
"Sure, this kid's so weird and annoying, you can have him back." Tsunade chucked Naruto down a chute that was just there...and Naruto went spiralling down the cute before landing at the bottom of a hole. There was a little crack inside the hole, so Naruto, out of pure curiosity, started chipping away at it and arrived at the white room.
"Jiraiya - Sensei?" Naruto asked.
"Hey, Naru-chan!" Jiraiya waved.
"Naru-chan?" Naruto questioned.
"Tsunade, I've got an idea. If Naru-chan here can beat you in a duel, you let us go. We'll give you some money if you win, alright? I'll even give you a voucher to the stupid bar that you go to."
"DEAL!" Tsunade exclaimed excitedly. She pressed a button that opened a mechanical door, that Jiraiya and Naruto hopped through.
Jiraiya then turned to Naruto who was stretching himself and puffing as an exercise, and turned around and saw Tsunade smiling devilishly at him.
She was ready.
Naruto got into a fighting stance Sasuke taught him a few weeks ago, before he had left, he stared into a pair of ice-cold eyes, as Tsunade's vision pierced his pupils and-
"Well? Are you going to begin or not, Naruto?" Jiraiya asked.
"Yeah!"
At once, Naruto charged forward, his main hip leading the way on his way to victory against Tsunade.
He knew that he couldn't possibly win by strength alone, he knew that by himself. This woman was way stronger than him, and he knew it. He had heard tales from Jiraiya himself about Tsunade.
Naruto concentrated his power into his fist, just like Sasuke had taught him before.
He closed his eyes and breathed in slowly, and then he let his fist slide from his clenches. It sped forward, along with Naruto's body and head, and was then stopped by the whole of Tsunade's finger.
She smirked wholeheartedly as she put more force into pushing the finger of the yellow haired boy backwards as the Uzumaki was sent flying backwards, making a pile of rubble.
Tsunade looked at Naruto as she tutted her tongue and shook her head. She had been to revved up by the agreement.
She looked at Jiraiya, who was staring at the battle with hopeful eyes.
"I'll take that money, and that vou-" Tsunade stopped herself.
Jiraiya was snickering. This confirmed Tsunade's thought.
"It's not over yet." Tsunade thought.
She looked back at the pile of rubble stationed a few metres away from her. It started to move as she saw the boy pull himself out of the rocks around him, and get up from the punch she had given him about a few seconds ago.
"That was a good punch. Wanna try it again?" Naruto taunted, as hes wiped some blood from his lips. He smirked as he started to charge back at Tsunade with his fist still charging up against his palm.
She smiled as she dodged the punch and punched Naruto straight into the ground, as a cloud of dust streaked out of the ground. Tsunade admitted, that she probably punched him too hard and then started to kick around for the kid she had punched.
She couldn't find him. He was gone.
The yellow haired boy had slipped out of Tsunade's grasp at the very last second. The very last second.
Tsunade sensed the boy around her, and turned around just in time to see him punch her in the head, and to send her flying back into a pillar.
She looked up and she saw the kid holding kunai in different ways at her.
She was astounded. This kid...had she seen him before? No, that wasn't it...she reminded him of somebody...somebody very interesting.
"I give up." Tsunade put her hands up in surrender. Jiraiya smirked in victory. JIraiya walked over and looked to Tsunade. She looked out to him, and her eyes were filled with tiredness and desperation.
She was tired.
She was hungry and hadn't had anything to eat except for some sakè and bread.
She needed a medic, Jiraiya though, as she then collapsed to the ground in a heap of sweat.
"Come on, Naruto. She's going back to Konoha."
-
"All you think about is getting stronger to beat Itachi. So let me ask you something, Sasuke. What are you going to do after you beat Itachi? With all the jutsu you have now, it shouldn't be so hard, should it?" Kakashi asked, peeking up from his book.
"Hm." He murmured.
"Very well said. Now I hope you understand the consequences if you work too hard, right?" Kakashi pressured.
"Hm."
"Good. But for real, answer my question. What are you going to do after you defeat Itachi?" Kakashi questioned.
"Hm."
"Alright, that's reasonable."
"Hm?"
"You told me you wanted to be Hokage, right? That seems reasonable." Kakashi didn't look up from his book this time.
"...I know. I'll be a Hokage that rules the village good enough to not hurt any of its citizens. That includes Naruto. We'll compete...and maybe he'll surpass me." Sasuke clenched his fists. Kakashi looked up from his book as he quietly smiled under his mask.
"But why am I here again? The Chunin Exams are starting soon, are they not?" Sasuke asked.
"Ah, yes. Lord Third has shortened the time of training. He hopes that we can wrap the Chunin Exams on a GOOD note." Kakashi exemplified, as he eyed Sasuke once more.
"You...don't remember anything about your time with Lord Third? No Curse Mark, no seizure, no nothing?"
"No...?"
"Hmmm. I see..." Kakashi finished.
"When you feel better, come outside. I have a surprise for you." Kakashi began to walk out of the hospital.
Sasuke's gaze followed Kakashi out of the room. He wondered how Naruto was doing. Was he getting stronger? He hoped he was.
Sasuke saw above the system.
Above the system.
He slowly got out of his bed.