Outside Konoha.
On this day, Jiraiya was incredibly glad he had chosen this location. As a teacher who had some understanding of Naruto's power, Jiraiya believed there was a very high chance Naruto would summon one of the three Gamabunta brothers.
Given Gamabunta's temper, a meeting between him and Naruto would probably cause trouble. So, Jiraiya decided to teach Naruto the Summoning Jutsu outside the village to avoid attracting the attention of Konoha's villagers.
Jiraiya taught him the hand signs for the jutsu and said with a light laugh, "Since this is your first time, you should try with all your might. Let's see which toad from Mount Myoboku you can summon..."
"Are there a lot of sages on Mount Myoboku?" Naruto looked at his palm, feeling the endless chakra welling up inside him. After the Nine-Tails' seal was undone, he could now draw upon all of its power.
He felt a bit ashamed of his earlier thoughts. He had originally thought the Nine-Tails was trying to trick him, but it turned out the tailed beast genuinely wanted to be on friendly terms. Naruto felt like he had been small-minded for judging him so harshly.
And the Nine-Tails didn't even hold it against him. This fox was far more generous than he had ever imagined.
As for whether the Nine-Tails was truly so generous, one could ask its other victim back in Konoha, Shukaku...
Jiraiya interrupted Naruto's thoughts and began to explain the many toads of Mount Myoboku and their hierarchy. "The founder of Mount Myoboku is the legendary Great Toad Sage," he said in a deep voice. "He established the holy land of Mount Myoboku a thousand years ago. The Great Toad Sage has the ability to see parts of the future and is highly respected.
"Next are the two elder toads who serve him, Fukasaku and Shima. They have been a couple for hundreds of years and are mainly responsible for selecting those who will undergo the trials of Mount Myoboku. They are extremely powerful and will be your teachers in the future if you want to strengthen your Sage Mode.
"After them are the three brothers: Gamabunta, Gamaken, and Gamahiro. They all possess great strength, especially that fellow Bunta. He has saved my life many times and is a partner I can always rely on.
"Besides them, there are many other summons with special abilities, like the Great Stone Toad, the Shop Toad, the Gourd Toad, and the Iron Wall Toad.
"If you can master the Summoning Jutsu as well as I have, you'll be able to summon the right toad to counter any enemy you face!"
Jiraiya spoke with extreme seriousness, and he was right. It was because he was so skilled with the Summoning Jutsu and trained often on Mount Myoboku that he could summon toads with different abilities for any situation.
Naruto listened very attentively, unconsciously rubbing his brow as if to hold back a flood of restless memories. "Sounds amazing... The one I sent flying with a punch that day, was that Gamabunta?"
"..."
Jiraiya nodded with a strange expression and defended his partner in a low voice, "Don't underestimate his strength just because he was careless for a moment..."
During the Great Ninja War, Gamabunta was the summon who accompanied Jiraiya into battle the most. On the battlefield, his enormous size, great strength, agile movements, and coordination with Sage Arts made him a terrifying presence.
The reason Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade—the three Sannin of Konoha—had made such a great name for themselves was precisely because they each had a powerful summon.
It was just that in recent years, with the wars over and the Sannin going their separate ways, the younger generation didn't really know their stories.
"Well, let's see then!" Naruto Uzumaki clasped his hands together and slowly formed the signs for the Summoning Jutsu: Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram!
"Summoning Jutsu!" Naruto shouted. The chakra in his body instantly erupted, and an immense amount of it gathered in his palm.
Even the Nine-Tails, watching from within the seal, was a bit surprised by the surge of chakra. What on earth were those toads from Mount Myoboku up to? By his estimation, summoning Gamabunta would only require a tiny bit of chakra. Even for Fukasaku and Shima, Naruto's own chakra was more than enough.
"This kid... he's not actually going to summon that ancient old toad from Mount Myoboku, is he?"
After a moment of shock, the Nine-Tails suddenly lay down and grinned. If Naruto really did summon the Great Toad Sage... this was going to be fun to watch.
A vast summoning formula appeared under Naruto's palm, so large that its edges couldn't be seen. Seeing this, a smile appeared on Jiraiya's lips. Judging by the size of the formula, it was likely Gamabunta...
"The ground... it's shaking!"
Jiraiya's smile vanished. A mountain-like object suddenly appeared beneath him and Naruto, lifting them both high into the air.
"This is..." Jiraiya's eyes narrowed as he stared at the skin of the toad beneath his feet. The lumpy, brown protrusions made him exclaim in surprise, "The Great Stone Toad?"
How was this possible? The Great Stone Toad was so enormous that even Jiraiya could only ever summon a part of its esophagus, yet now he was seeing its true form!
Moreover, the Great Stone Toad was special. It wasn't a purely biological creature; it was integrated with the entirety of Mount Myoboku. Jiraiya had once guessed that the Great Stone Toad might be the very place where the toad clan lived, with the Great Toad Sage having transformed their home into a giant toad.
This kind of thing wasn't so strange. The legendary Sage of Six Paths could grant life to objects, so who knew what unknown powers a being like the Great Toad Sage, who lived in the same era, might possess.
"No, it's not the real body," Jiraiya breathed a sigh of relief. What Naruto had summoned was probably only the size of Konoha's main district—likely just a part of the Great Stone Toad's body.
But even so, it was astonishing. Honestly, his disciples just kept getting more and more terrifying. Jiraiya found himself missing Yahiko and Konan; those two were the most normal students he had ever taken in.
Naruto pointed down and shouted, "Pervy Sage, come look! What's going on? Did the Summoning Jutsu work?"
"Judging by the result, it was a success," Jiraiya walked over and patted Naruto's shoulder, praising him with a loud laugh. "Hahahaha, that's amazing, Naruto! You were actually able to summon—"
Jiraiya's laughter came to an abrupt halt.
In his line of sight, he saw an extremely familiar environment. It was the place where he often spent time on Mount Myoboku, the very place where the toad clan gathered to live.
A group of toads, big and small, were looking up at Jiraiya.
Among them, a giant and ancient toad curiously lifted its mortarboard hat, looked at the two people on the mountain, and pushed up its glasses. "Hmm? Little Jiraiya, are you in some kind of trouble?"
"...Great Toad Sage..."
Jiraiya's mouth slowly fell open. At this moment, his first thought was that his guess had been right all along: the home of the Mount Myoboku clan was the Great Stone Toad.
-----
Bonus:
Jiraiya: How did you all get here?
Gamabunta: The Great Sage sensed that the place we live was about to be summoned away, so we just came along for the ride. There was enough chakra, anyway.
Jiraiya: Uh, did I interrupt you?
Gamabunta: What do you think?
Jiraiya: Ahem, I don't know...
Gamabunta: From the Great Sage himself, all the way down to the tadpole Gamakichi in this basin, every single one of us from Mount Myoboku was summoned. Not one was spared. So, you tell me. Do you think you interrupted us?
Jiraiya: ...