After understanding what Jiraiya meant, Naruto used the random summoning version of the jutsu right away.
Boar – Dog – Bird – Monkey – Ram!
*Poof!*
Smoke burst out, and a toad with a brown back, green limbs and head, a tail, and a chair strapped to its back appeared from nowhere.
"Ribbit?"
"..."
"A riding toad?"
Jiraiya looked at the toad Naruto had summoned and couldn't help but smile awkwardly. "That's Fukasaku's ride."
"Oh."
After hearing that, Naruto realized he couldn't form a summoning bond with this toad—if he did, Fukasaku might lose his ride whenever he needed it.
So he canceled the summon and sent the riding toad back, then tried summoning a new one.
Boar – Dog – Bird – Monkey – Ram!
"Summoning Jutsu!"
*Poof!*
A huge purple-red toad appeared under Naruto's feet. It had a "U"-shaped marking on its face, a shield like a pot lid on its back, and a giant spiked spear in its hand.
"Gamaken? You actually summoned that guy? Not bad!" Jiraiya laughed.
"This guy's really strong. He's good at both offense and defense. If you ever need a toad to buy you some time, he's someone you can count on."
"No, you're too kind… I'm actually not that good," Gamaken said quietly.
Naruto looked at the big toad under him. He knew just how strong Gamaken really was.
Back then, Gamaken had held off multiple summoned beasts from the Animal Path all by himself, giving Jiraiya enough time to use his big jutsu.
"Want to become my summon?" Naruto asked straight out.
He didn't really need Gamaken's strength, but having one more summon wouldn't hurt.
Plus, Gamaken's personality was interesting—quiet and unsure of himself. Compared to that grumpy old Gamabunta, this guy seemed a lot more fun.
"If you ever need me, I'm willing to do what I can… even though I'm not very good," Gamaken answered softly.
It was kind of hard to imagine such a huge toad talking in such a small, shy voice. That contrast made Naruto find Gamaken pretty funny.
Since he chose Gamaken as his second summon, the next part of his training focused on working with Gamaken.
Jiraiya, who was Gamaken's first summoner, knew him well and taught Naruto a lot about his strengths, helping the two grow closer.
A week passed quietly.
Naruto had gotten very used to working with Gamaken, but now he didn't plan on summoning him again. Instead, he used random summoning once more.
To Naruto, Gamaken still felt like Jiraiya's summon in the end.
What he really needed was a strong toad that was completely his.
If he could, Naruto actually wanted to switch to a whole different kind of cooler summon creature—but since he didn't have that chance, he could only stick with toads for now.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
*Poof!*
This time, Naruto used even more chakra, hoping he could summon a stronger, battle-type toad—something even more powerful than Gamakichi.
But clearly, he failed!
Even with that much chakra, Naruto didn't summon a powerful fighter, but instead… an old toad with green skin.
"Fukasaku, the Sage?"
"Little Jiraiya! Long time no see! Why did you summon me this time?"
"Uh…"
This scene reminded Jiraiya of the time when Gamakichi was first summoned by mistake.
"Ahem… well, Fukasaku-sama, I didn't summon you."
As Jiraiya said that, he pulled Naruto over. "This is my new student—Uzumaki Naruto!"
"Uzumaki Naruto?" Fukasaku looked Naruto up and down, feeling like the kid looked familiar. "For this kid to be able to summon me, that's impressive! Looks like you've taken on quite the student!"
"But a while back, my ride got summoned out of nowhere, so I had to walk when I went to visit my wife… I thought it was one of your pranks, but now I'm guessing that was your student's doing too?"
Thinking of that toad mount, both Naruto and Jiraiya felt a little guilty.
"Forget it, it's not that big of a deal. If there's nothing else, I'll head back now."
Fukasaku waved at them, and with a puff of smoke, disappeared.
Watching him leave, Jiraiya gave a small cough and said to Naruto, "Next time, don't use that much chakra. Just use the same amount you used when summoning Gamabunta—that's enough!"
He was seriously worried Naruto might end up summoning the Great Toad Sage!
Even though the Great Toad Sage probably wouldn't respond to the summon, he still didn't want Naruto trying.
Naruto nodded to show he understood, and then tried the summoning jutsu again...
Three days later—
After summoning toads who-knows-how-many times, Naruto suddenly summoned one that was very different.
"A gold toad? That's new~"
Jiraiya looked at the huge golden toad in front of them, curiosity all over his face.
Even in Mount Myoboku, he had never seen this one before. Could it be some hidden or reclusive toad?
Naruto stood on its head, the two just staring at each other without saying a word.
After a while, the golden toad finally broke the silence. It stuck out its tongue, rolled out a gold coin, and placed it in front of Naruto.
Naruto picked it up with a puzzled look and saw four characters on it—"Gold Gamaken!"
A toad… that spits out gold coins?!
Naruto's eyes lit up. He looked down at the golden toad like he'd just met a beautiful woman.
"Your name's Gold Gamaken?"
"Gold coin."
"You can't speak human language?"
"Gold coin."
"Uh… and this coin is?"
"Gold coin."
"…"
While Naruto was trying to figure out how to talk with the Gold Gamaken, Jiraiya jumped over, grabbed the coin from Naruto's hand, and looked at it.
"This coin probably means the Gold Gamaken has accepted you. That means you can summon it anytime now," Jiraiya explained, then handed the coin back.
He really hadn't expected Naruto to summon such a weird toad.
A gold coin?
"Really?"
Naruto looked at the coin again, then carefully tucked it into his shirt. "So… I shouldn't spend this coin, right?"
Jiraiya gave him a side-eye. "It's a symbol of your bond. What do you think?"
"Alright then~"
Naruto sat down and looked at the Gold Gamaken. "Can you spit out more coins? Like, the kind I can actually spend?"
"Gold coin!"
The toad croaked, then spat out another coin from its belly and placed it in Naruto's hand.
Naruto took a close look—there were no words or marks on it at all.
Just a plain old gold coin!
"I'm rich~"
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