What puzzled Jiraiya was that even after a long time had passed, they still hadn't seen any Anbu's Ninjas coming to check the situation.
'It seemed someone must have already given them a heads-up.'
As Jiraiya was thinking this, he suddenly felt Naruto tugging at his sleeve.
"Jiraiya-sensei, tell me, what's the principle behind that Summoning Technique of yours?"
The shameless uncle even batted his eyes at Jiraiya, putting on a starry-eyed act.
Under Naruto's sincere gaze, Jiraiya quickly caved.
There was no helping it.
Naruto is a fan of his works, the son of his apprentice, a poor orphan, and Jiraiya himself is over 50 years old and has no children.
The buffs were stacked to the max. If it were you, you wouldn't be able to hold out either.
"Ha ha ha, fine, fine! Since you're so eager, this Sage will enlighten you."
Jiraiya grinned so wide his mouth nearly split his face.
As Jiraiya explained, Naruto finally understood the essence of the so-called Summoning Technique.
Simply put, it was a Space-Time Ninjutsu where the user formed a contract with a certain creature, then temporarily summoned it to their side using their own blood and Chakra.
The targets weren't limited to living beings, as even weapons could be summoned with the Summoning Technique.
As for humans… according to Jiraiya, they couldn't be summoned by another human user, but the summoner could be reverse-summoned by their contracted creatures.
Of course, Jiraiya didn't know yet that in the original work, his disciple Nagato had used the Animal Path Pain to form a contract with Konan and successfully summoned her to the battlefield.
However, that was a special case and couldn't be taken as the norm.
"Oh, so that's how it is. Can summon things no matter how far apart they are?"
Naruto pondered thoughtfully, 'Does that mean that if I get a good devil fruit in the other world, I can also 'bring' it to the Ninja World in this way?'
"Of course! But the farther the distance and the stronger the summon, the more Chakra it consumes."
"Just like the toad that I summoned, they actually come from Mount Myoboku, a hidden realm separate from this world. It's a direct cross-dimensional summon."
These so-called 'hidden realms' were essentially alternate dimensional spaces attached to the Ninja World, and the same applied to the other two Great Sage Regions.
It was nearly impossible to physically enter them from the real world. Even Jiraiya and Minato traveled between Mount Myoboku and the Ninja World using reverse summoning.
"If you're just summoning inanimate objects like weapons, you only need to leave a Chakra mark… no blood contract is necessary."
Even Minato's signature technique, the [Flying Thunder God Technique], was essentially an application of reverse summoning objects.
"Eh… I see."
Naruto nodded, indicating he'd learned something new.
'Once I finished his business here and left Konoha Village, I'd test this out in the other world.'
In fact, apart from Summoning Technique, Naruto had other ideas.
For example, Sealing Technique.
If he treated his own skin as a sealing scroll, sealed a Devil Fruit into it, and then returned to the Ninja World, could he transport the Devil Fruit across worlds that way?
Similarly, he'd also thought about using the power of a Devil Fruit itself to carry items. After all, there were so many Devil Fruits out there… maybe one of them would grant him the ability to store objects or even living beings.
After all, Naruto had only spent a short time on Roger's ship, unlike Shanks, who had been deeply influenced by Roger.
Plus, he could rely on Chakra to avoid being weakened by seawater, so he didn't have any aversion to Devil Fruits.
If it was useful, he'd take it.
With Jiraiya's help, Naruto also left his name on Mount Myoboku's summoning contract.
Whether it'd be useful or not, it was good to have it ready just in case.
Aside from that, Naruto also spotted the name, Namikaze Minato on the contract, and his gaze paused for a moment.
Jiraiya noticed this too.
To avoid Naruto getting emotional, he quickly changed the subject.
"Ah… after talking for so long, I'm getting hungry. Let's go, Naruto, let's grab something to eat."
The abrupt change of topic made Naruto glance at him, quickly understanding his intentions, and a gentle smile appeared on his face.
"Yeah, sure. I happen to know a good barbecue place in the village."
As he said this, he walked side by side with Jiraiya along the path leading to the center of the village.
Despite having just met for the first time, their silhouettes looked as harmonious as a real grandfather and grandson.
Naruto instinctively pulled out his flask and popped the cork, but before he could take a sip, a large hand snatched it away from him.
With Naruto's reflexes, he could have easily dodged, but he chose not to.
"Honestly, what's a kid doing drinking? Come on, I'll take you for ramen instead."
Jiraiya frowned as he caught the scent of alcohol from the gourd, silently cursing Hiruzen for letting Naruto pick up drinking at such a young age.
Hiruzen, who was innocently blamed, had already turned off the Telescope Technique, so he naturally could not defend himself.
Naruto let Jiraiya take the gourd, as he felt the man's genuine, unfiltered concern.
After a few seconds of silence, his smile grew even more sincere, and he readily agreed, "Sure, let's go for ramen."
Even though Naruto had just eaten before coming to the bathhouse, he was more than happy to share another meal with Jiraiya.
Perhaps this was the difference between Jiraiya and Hiruzen.
While both cared in their own ways, one always hesitated and overthought things, while the other acted straightforwardly and decisively.
Between the two, Naruto definitely preferred the latter.
…
Leaving aside the leisurely bonding between Jiraiya and Naruto, the scene shifts back to the forest.
At this moment, Sasuke was fully immersed in his training, wearing weights while practicing a particular fist technique.
Sweat had already pooled beneath him, but he showed no signs of stopping.
Even Konohamaru and his two friends had gone home for lunch, but Sasuke gritted his teeth and pushed on.
Bang!
His fist struck a tree so thick it would take two people to wrap their arms around it.
The surface of the tree only showed a small dent, but then, a faint crackling sound came from deep within.
When Sasuke heard the voice, a look of joy unconsciously appeared on his face.
If he had used Chakra, destroying a tree like this would have been easy.
But the key point was… he had just struck it with pure physical strength.
This fist technique, which Naruto had taught him and called the [Hasshoken], allowed his power to bypass an opponent's external defenses and strike directly at their insides.
Against Ninja, who relied heavily on Chakra to defend but were generally fragile in body, this was devastating.
In the Ninja World, aside from certain special groups, most Ninja relied on their all-purpose Chakra to enhance their physical attacks and defenses.
A technique that could bypass defenses and strike internal weaknesses was unheard of… only the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist could achieve something similar.
And this was without him reinforcing his body with Chakra!
During his training, Naruto had emphasized something to him:
Ninjas rely too much on Chakra and tend to neglect the training of their own bodies.
That didn't mean they should abandon Chakra and train like the monstrously tough fighters of the One Piece World.
Adults didn't have to choose, they could have both.
Combining all-purpose Chakra with a powerful physique, plus the mysterious Haki, would undoubtedly create a qualitative leap in strength.
Crack…!
The tree could no longer hold itself together, splitting down the middle before toppling backward.
Clenching his fist, Sasuke felt like he had grown leaps and bounds.
The concept of Hasshoken wasn't complicated, and with his talent, he had grasped it quickly. Now, all he needed was more training to refine it.
'Next, if I could master the Observation and Armament Haki Naruto had mentioned, my chances against that man would increase even further!'
Poor Sasuke had no idea just how vast the gap between him and Itachi truly was.
But perhaps that was a good thing, at least it kept him motivated to keep pushing forward.
Meanwhile, the very man he was fixated on was already on his way to Konoha.
Danzo, Orochimaru, Sunagakure's Ninjas… and perhaps some overlooked players were all preparing for this Chunin Exams.
Even the Daimyo of several nations had arrived in Konoha to watch this 'performance' by the Ninja.
Amidst this charged atmosphere, the Chunin Exams were about to begin.