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Jiraiya knew Naruto was nervous, but that was exactly what he wanted.
Naruto was the kind of person who didn't realize his own potential unless pushed to the limit.
That's where external pressure came in.
And Sasuke was the perfect candidate to apply it.
Whenever Sasuke was involved, Naruto would get fired up.
Jiraiya had no intention of giving Naruto too much time to prepare. He was well aware that Naruto hadn't rested well the previous night, and he didn't plan to remind him to take it easy.
You're nervous? Good. That's exactly the effect I'm going for.
Go for it, Naruto. You won't let everyone down.
"Okay, okay, Pervy Sage," Naruto said, nodding nervously. He took a deep breath and began preparing his hand signs.
But judging by his technique, Tsunade was already shaking her head.
It was too clumsy. In this regard, Naruto couldn't hold a candle to Sasuke.
When it came to the Summoning Technique, Naruto was already losing spectacularly.
With his shaky, halting movements, an enemy could interrupt him countless times in a real battle.
Even if he managed to summon a powerful beast, it would be useless if he couldn't complete the technique properly.
Enemies weren't idiots. They wouldn't stand around politely, waiting for him to finish his summoning while spouting nonsense about honor and morality.
Naruto's hands trembled from his nerves, making his hand signs even more difficult and slower.
The only silver lining was that, despite his sluggish pace and clumsy execution, he at least got the sequence of signs correct.
By the time he finished the hand signs for a single Summoning Technique, Naruto was so nervous he was drenched in sweat.
What kind of scheme are you cooking up?
Tsunade shot Jiraiya a questioning look. Jiraiya scratched his head, signaling her to be patient and keep watching.
Boom!
The Summoning Technique was finally successful, though the execution was painfully slow and riddled with mistakes that made it seem like he might mess up at any moment.
Still, Naruto managed to pull it off.
A cloud of smoke appeared, and a toad materialized on the ground.
A relatively large toad, about the size of a millstone.
Why me?
The toad Naruto summoned looked utterly exasperated.
Jiraiya had already coordinated with Mount Myōboku, but none of the toads there were particularly eager to answer Naruto's call. After some back-and-forth, this poor toad had been chosen as the unlucky one.
"Are you Naruto?" the toad began, intending to say more, but then it suddenly leaped high into the air, landing beside Naruto and staring nervously at the snake by Sasuke's side.
"Damn it! When you guys were discussing this yesterday, you didn't mention there'd be a snake hereQ And it's one of those snakes that toads hate the most!"
The snakes of Ryūchi Cave and the toads of Mount Myōboku were sworn enemies.
The snakes had a habit of sneaking into Mount Myōboku to eat toads, and over time, their relationship had grown extremely tense.
"My goodness, how did we end up with this idiot toad?" Jiraiya muttered, slapping his forehead, worried his plan was about to unravel.
"Little Naruto, Jiraiya, if you're going to pull strings to help him, you'd better make sure I'm safe," the toad, named Gamari, shouted nervously. "I'm not a fighting toad!"
Seeing Aoda, Gamari's panic grew louder.
Jiraiya slumped forward, his arms dangling limply.
He was beyond exasperated now.
There was no need for anyone to guess what was going on—Gamari had spilled the beans himself.
This is getting interesting.
Kazuki smirked silently.
Tsunade's forehead creased with frustration as she glared at Jiraiya.
Look at the mess you've made! Don't you know this could leave a huge scar on the kid's psyche?
If you're going to cheat, at least coordinate properly! Is this how you do things?
Unreliable as always, even at your age.
"Pulling strings… what does that mean?" Naruto asked, not catching on.
Sasuke responded coolly, "It means cheating. They're helping you so you can successfully use the Summoning Technique and bring out a toad."
"…"
Sasuke's blunt explanation sent Naruto's heart plummeting.
He had been overjoyed when he summoned a large toad, thinking he'd finally done something impressive.
But before he could savor the moment, Gamari, spooked by Aoda, had blurted out Jiraiya's scheme.
Did I say something I shouldn't have?
Gamari finally realized something was off.
Aoda wasn't trying to attack, just staring with those vertical pupils, like it was eyeing a meal.
And the looks on Naruto and Jiraiya's faces…
Oh no, I messed up. I'm not going to get beaten up for this back home, am I?
"Uh, I just remembered I have something to do at home. Gotta go see the wife. You guys carry on!" Gamari stammered, realizing he'd caused a disaster. With a poof, he vanished in a puff of smoke.
"…"
Jiraiya opened his mouth, wanting to comfort Naruto, but the boy stood there with his head lowered, silent, showing no signs of anger.
This isn't good.
"Should we continue?" Sasuke asked, frowning as he noticed Naruto's state.
Kazuki stepped forward, patting Naruto's shoulder. "I remember you saying you'd never lose to Sasuke. Is losing to him really that humiliating? Losing isn't scary. What's scary is not being able to handle it. So keep going. Even if you only summon a tiny tadpole or a small toad, it shows you're improving."
Let's hope this doesn't push Naruto over the edge.
See, you wanted to play with fire, and now the entire forest is burning...
Jiraiya gave a bitter smile, unable to respond.
"I won't lose," Naruto said, clenching his fists and raising his head, starting to form hand signs again.
"Kid, you need someone to cheat for you just to use the Summoning Technique?" a voice taunted.
"Hahaha…"
Inside the sealed space, the Nine-Tails mocked Naruto relentlessly.
It was thrilled to see Naruto's emotions in turmoil.
The more Naruto's emotions fluctuated, the better its chances of breaking free from the seal.
"Hahaha, go for it, kid. Use my chakra to finish this competition. Don't you want to beat Sasuke?" the Nine-Tails goaded, generously offering its chakra to Naruto.
Naruto, his emotions at rock bottom, didn't care where the chakra came from. He focused solely on gathering the chakra within him, heedless of its source.