"You really want to know?" Jiraiya stopped, turned, his white hair blazing like fire in the setting sun. He drew the words out, mysterious and teasing.
Naruto bobbed his head like a pecking chick, blue eyes shining with hunger and urgency.
The secret to becoming Hokage!
It was the thing he craved more than anything.
He had to become Hokage, to make everyone acknowledge him—so no one would ever shut him out again.
"Very well." Jiraiya folded his arms, striking the pose of a sage above the mortal world—though the bruises on his face rather spoiled the effect.
"I'll teach you, but first you must become my disciple."
"After all, this is my private art, passed only to my chosen heir!"
Take him as master?
Naruto almost blurted "I do!"
But a scrap of sense slammed the words back down. He studied Jiraiya with suspicion. "I… I don't even know who you are! How can I just take you as master? What if you're some crook?"
"Ha-ha-ha!" Far from angered, Jiraiya roared with delight. "Good question, kid—looks like you're not completely brainless!"
He cleared his throat, stepped back, struck an exaggerated pose, and snapped his hands through seals.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Poof!
White smoke cleared to reveal a small toad in a blue vest, puffing a pipe, standing beside Jiraiya's foot.
Naruto's eyes popped. "A… a toad? It's huge!"
How many meals could I get outta that if I grilled it?
Before Naruto could finish the thought, Jiraiya struck a flamboyant pose—one hand on hip, the other flung skyward—and proclaimed like a wandering bard:
"Roaming heaven and earth!"
"A carefree immortal!"
"Guest of Mount Myōboku!"
"The Wild Toad, Jiraiya!"
With the final word he flipped his white mane, trying for celestial grace; to Naruto it looked more like dandruff in a windstorm.
The display left Naruto dumbstruck.
His mouth hung open, his popsicle melting unnoticed onto his jacket, blue eyes round as coins, one thought pounding in his skull:
'This guy… kinda awesome… but also kinda nuts!'
Summoning toads!
Reciting poetry!
And that grand title—"The Wild Toad Jiraiya"!
For a kid, the impact was overwhelming.
Weird as it was, the white-haired man was clearly no ordinary Ninja.
Seeing Naruto's stunned, world-shaken face, Jiraiya swelled with pride—sure his entrance had been flawless.
He relaxed his stance; the summoned toad calmly puffed another smoke ring, plainly used to its master's theatrics.
Jiraiya stepped up to the dazed boy, thumbed his own chest, grinning. "Well, kid? Now you know who this sage is. Think I'm qualified to be your teacher?"
Naruto nodded dumbly.
The oddball in front of him might act like a crackpot, but anyone who could summon toads and carried such a title had to be legendary!
With him training me, I'll get strong fast—and then that stuck-up Sasuke'll eat dirt!
The thought of flooring Sasuke filled him with fire. He grabbed Jiraiya's sleeve. "Toad Sage! So how do I become Hokage? Tell me the secret!"
Toad Sage?
The name made Jiraiya shrug.
He picked his nose, mysterious again. "That… you'll have to discover for yourself. Everyone's path to Hokage is different; mine may not suit you."
"What?!" Naruto's face fell; he felt cheated. "You dragged me into becoming your student and you don't even know?!"
"Idiot!" Jiraiya flicked him hard on the head.
"Who says a teacher must spoon-feed answers? My job is to teach you how to live, how to think, how to grow strong on your own!"
"So you don't keep yelling empty slogans and getting thrashed, disgracing your master!"
The first part almost moved Naruto—this Toad Sage might be flaky, but his words rang true.
Then came the jab about "getting thrashed" and "disgracing" him—and Naruto exploded.
"Say what?! Who's getting thrashed!" He bristled like a little lion, cheeks burning at the memory of his latest "sparring" loss to Sasuke.
Old grudge, new shame—forget the master-disciple thing; he leapt up, fist clenched, and smashed Jiraiya's already bruised nose with everything he had.
Kind-hearted or not, calling Uzumaki Naruto "well-behaved" would be a lie.
Smack!
"Ow—!"
But the yell came not from the ready-tensed Jiraiya; it came from the attacker.
It felt like punching solid rock. Naruto hopped, clutching throbbing knuckles.
Jiraiya rubbed his unscathed nose, laughed at the reckless, spirited brat. "Haha! Feisty, aren't you? Fire's good—but you're a century too early to tag me, kid!"
"Tch!" Naruto glared—yet, without realizing, the wariness in his eyes had given way to a hint of trust… and something like reliance.
Far away, from the Hokage Office window, an Old Man watched, a rare, satisfied smile creeping across his face.
"Jiraiya… guide him well," he murmured. "teach him the right path."