Chapter 98: Gamabunta
“Mhh, where am I? Jiraiya, where are you and why did you summon me here? You better come out and explain yourself!”
“Ohh! To think you would summon my dad! As expected of my friend.”
“Oh? So, this is your father? Nice to meet you, my name is Naruto, I became Gamakichi’s friend a few moments ago.”
While talking, Naruto, who still had Gamakichi on his shoulder, left the top of the toad’s head and jumped on the ground in front of him. He swiftly went through some hand signs and gathered another massive chunk of chakra before slamming his hands on the ground.
“[Earth Style: Massive Earth Pillar Jutsu]”
A massive pillar was created underneath Naruto and raised him up to the same level as his newly summoned toad’s eyes. Yuna told Anko and Hinata that they should at least learn a few earth-style jutsu since they excelled in defense, but for someone with a chakra pool as massive as Naruto, Yuna decided that he should also learn more powerful stuff that affect a much larger area and are on a bigger scale in general. The pillar he just created could give Naruto and possible teammates an advantageous position in case they are surrounded. Now, however, Naruto only used it to adjust his eye level.
After Naruto finished his jutsu, and everyone was at the same eye level, Gamakichi waved towards his father.
“Yo, dad! This is Naruto, we just became friends. Naruto, this is my dad, Gamabunta. The Toad Boss.”
The huge toad chuckled a little when he saw his energetic son and then looked at Naruto.
“Hello, kid. At first, I had some doubts that such a young kid could summon me, but the chakra depletion of that earth-jutsu is no joke either. Just how much chakra do you have, kid?”
“Haha, nice to meet you as well, Toad Boss, as for my chakra, let’s just say a lot.”
Naruto flared Kurama’s chakra for a moment and the toad nodded in understanding.
“Even if I acknowledge that you are the one that summoned me, Jiraiya should still be around. Where did he go?”
Naruto nodded his head and pointed in a certain direction.
“He is over there, using a jutsu to make himself invisible.”
With lightning speed, Gamabunta turned around and shot his tongue in the direction where Naruto was pointing.
A loud explosion echoed over the clearing, followed by a string of curses and then Jiraiya jumping away from the point of impact.
‘How the hell did that brat know where I was hiding? I can even infiltrate other hidden villages with this jutsu, yet I was found out by him.’
Naruto, on the other hand, nodded in satisfaction at the power and speed of the attack he just witnessed.
‘Seems like I made the right decision. This guy packs quite the punch and his speed is pretty good as well.’
Gamabunta, meanwhile, was glaring at Jiraiya.
“Oi, Jiraiya! Why were you hiding from me?”
Although Jiraiya had some cold sweat flowing down his back, he wasn’t a master of infiltrator for nothing and quickly came up with an explanation.
“Haha, don’t be like that Boss Gama. I thought it would be reasonable to have your first meeting with Naruto on your own. After all, from now on he will also be someone that can summon you guys. There is no way you would acknowledge him just because I was there, so I thought you might as well get a proper first impression and meet him alone.”
Although Gamabunta was still glaring at Jiraiya, he nodded his head, indicating that he had accepted the explanation.
Naruto, meanwhile, was surprised by Jiraiya’s words.
‘This pervert’s shamelessness and bullshitting skills have reached quite the high level. Without nee-san’s training, he might have actually tricked me as well. Oh well, time to stab him in the back.’
[You do realize that you don’t need to pick up every single one of Yuna’s habits, right?]
‘I have no idea what you are talking about.’
[I take that as a “no”.]
“Haha, what are you saying, old pervert. Why are you suddenly buttering up to the Toad Boss? Didn’t you tell me that I could just go all out since you can easily control all the toads anyway?”
“Ah! Now that Naruto mentions it, that weirdo over there did really say that. I didn’t know that you would obey someone that easily, dad.”
‘Nice assist Gamakichi.’
“Oh? Is that so Jiraiya?”
“B-Boss Gama, calm down. I didn’t say it like that.”
‘This damn brat ratted me out again!’
“So, you are saying my kid is a liar?!”
‘Shit that made it worse. No other choice. Got to use my secret move.’
“What! No! What I mean is… what I mean…OH MY GOD, WILL YOU LOOK AT THAT!!!”
Jiraiya pointed at something behind Gamabunta. Gamabunta, however, didn’t move at all and was still glaring at Jiraiya, while Naruto couldn’t help but facepalm.
‘Well, seems like my secret technique failed, guess I need to try another one.’
“*cough* Sorry about that. I thought it would be funny, haha… A-Anyway what I actually wanted so say was…Gottagoseeyabye.”
Without saying another word, Jiraiya detonated a smoke bomb, turned around and started to run away at full speed.
‘Behold my secret move: Running away as fast as I can.’
Gamabunta snorted at the fleeing Jiraiya but didn’t bother chasing after him. He turned around and returned his attention to Naruto.
“Anyway kid, don’t think just because you became friends with my son that I will acknowledge you and help you fight. I only acknowledge people after I exchanged good alcohol with them.”
Naruto’s eyes shone when he heard that, he started to rummage around in his weapon holster and pulled out a scroll. He unfolded it, put it on the ground, and then injected some chakra into it. With a puff of smoke, a huge, five-liter, bottle gourd appeared.
‘Nee-san said that I should always carry around some good alcohol “in case I need it”. I had no idea what she meant by that but, as expected of nee-san, she was right.’
“Although I don’t know much about alcohol, I was told that this one here is good. Why don’t you give it a try?”
“Oh? you even prepared alcohol for me. Not bad, kid. I warn you, however, that I am not easy to satisfy if it comes to alcohol.”
Gamabunta carefully picked up the gourd, which, considering his size, wasn’t easy, and took a sip from it. A sip, in this case, means that he emptied half the bottle.
“Puha! Good stuff! Haha, not bad, kid. Not bad at all.”
Gamabunta reached for his back and took out a gigantic bottle of his own. This one, however, was easily bigger than Naruto.
“Very well, kid. Let’s share drinks and after that, you will be allowed to summon me and I will help you fight.”
At first, Naruto hesitated a little, after all, he has never drunk alcohol before. After a short moment, however, he just shrugged his shoulders.
‘Nee-san said drinking alcohol can be fun, so I might as well give it a try. What is the worst that could happen?’