What puzzled Jiraiya was that after such a long time, they still hadn't seen any ANBU ninja come to investigate the disturbance.
Someone had clearly given them advance warning.
While pondering this mystery, Jiraiya felt a gentle tug at his sleeve.
"Jiraiya-sensei, tell me—what's the principle behind your Summoning Jutsu?"
The shameless uncle was even putting on an innocent voice, gazing up at Jiraiya with sparkling eyes full of curiosity.
Under Naruto's sincere offensive, Jiraiya quickly surrendered.
How could he resist? Fan of his literary work, his beloved disciple's son, a pitiful orphan—and here he was, over fifty with no children of his own.
All the emotional buffs were perfectly stacked. Anyone would crack under such pressure.
"Hahaha, I really can't refuse you anything. Very well then, this great sage shall enlighten you!"
Jiraiya's grin stretched from ear to ear as he transformed into the very picture of a doting grandfather.
Through Jiraiya's patient explanation, Naruto finally grasped the true essence of Summoning Jutsu.
In simple terms, it was a space-time ninjutsu where the practitioner formed a blood contract with certain creatures. When activated, the technique could temporarily summon them using the user's blood and chakra as catalysts.
The targets weren't limited to living beings either—ninja tools and weapons could be summoned as well.
As for humans, according to Jiraiya, they couldn't be summoned by fellow human practitioners. However, practitioners could be reverse-summoned by their contracted beasts.
Of course, Jiraiya had no way of knowing that his future disciple Nagato would eventually use the Animal Path of Pain to form a contract with Konan, successfully summoning her to battlefields. But that would be an exceptional case, hardly suitable as a reference point.
"Eh, is that so? Can you summon across any distance?"
Naruto pondered this thoughtfully. Could this mean that if he obtained powerful Devil Fruits in the pirate world, he might be able to "transport" them to the ninja world through this method?
"Naturally! However, the greater the distance and the stronger the summoned entity, the more chakra the technique demands."
"Take the toads I summon, for instance—they actually originate from Mount Myoboku, a separate sacred realm, reached through direct spatial summoning."
These so-called "sacred realms" were alternate dimensional spaces tethered to the ninja world. All three legendary locations shared this characteristic.
Physical entry from the material world was virtually impossible. Even Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze had traveled between Mount Myoboku and the ninja world exclusively through reverse summoning.
"For inanimate objects like ninja tools, you need only leave a chakra signature—no blood contract required."
Even Minato Namikaze's legendary Flying Thunder God Jutsu was fundamentally an advanced application of reverse summoning principles.
"Ah—I understand."
Naruto nodded, absorbing this valuable knowledge.
Once he finished his business here and departed Konoha, he would definitely experiment with this in the pirate world.
Actually, beyond Summoning Jutsu, Naruto harbored other ambitious ideas.
Sealing jutsu, for instance.
What if he used his own skin as a living sealing scroll, directly sealing Devil Fruits before returning to the ninja world? Could such a method successfully transport Devil Fruits across dimensional boundaries?
He had also considered utilizing Devil Fruit powers directly for transportation. After all, the vast seas contained countless Devil Fruits—surely one would grant the ability to store objects or even living beings.
Naruto had spent only a brief time aboard Roger's ship and hadn't absorbed Roger's influence as deeply as Shanks had.
Moreover, he could use chakra to avoid the fatal weakness of falling into seawater, so he felt no particular aversion to Devil Fruits.
As long as they proved useful.
With Jiraiya's assistance, Naruto carefully inscribed his name on Mount Myoboku's ancient summoning contract.
Whether it would prove beneficial remained to be seen, but preparation never hurt.
While signing, Naruto's eyes caught sight of four familiar characters: "Minato Namikaze." His gaze lingered there for a moment.
Jiraiya noticed this as well.
To prevent Naruto from becoming emotional, he quickly shifted the conversation.
"Ah—after all this talking, I'm getting hungry. Come on, Naruto, let's grab something to eat."
This abrupt change made Naruto glance at him. Immediately understanding Jiraiya's thoughtful intentions, a warm smile spread across his face.
"Mm, sure. I happen to know a place in the village that serves excellent barbecue."
Side by side, they strolled along the path leading toward the village center.
Though they had only just met for the first time, from behind they appeared as natural as a true grandfather and grandson.
Naruto unconsciously reached for his sake gourd and uncorked it, but a large hand swiftly intercepted the container.
With Naruto's reflexes, he could have easily avoided this, but he chose not to resist.
"Really now, what's a kid doing with alcohol? Come on, I'll treat you to some ramen instead."
Jiraiya caught the scent of sake from the gourd and frowned disapprovingly. What was that old Third Hokage thinking? How had his precious Naruto developed a drinking habit at such a young age?
The innocent Third Hokage, having already deactivated his Telescope Technique, naturally couldn't defend himself against these accusations.
Naruto allowed him to confiscate the alcohol, sensing the genuine concern behind the action.
After a few seconds of contemplative silence, his smile grew even more sincere as he readily agreed.
"Sure, let's go have ramen."
Although Naruto had eaten just before visiting the bathhouse, he was genuinely happy to share another meal with Jiraiya.
This perhaps illustrated the fundamental difference between Jiraiya and the Third Hokage.
While both acted from genuine concern, one constantly worried about countless complications, while the other remained refreshingly direct—thinking and acting without hesitation.
Comparatively, Naruto much preferred the latter approach.
Setting aside the leisurely interaction between this newfound grandfather-grandson pair, the scene shifted back to the training forest.
At this moment, Sasuke was pushing himself to his absolute limits, practicing martial arts techniques while bearing heavy weights.
Sweat had formed a small pool beneath his feet, yet he showed no intention of resting.
Even Konohamaru's trio had long since returned home for lunch, but Sasuke continued grinding his teeth and persevering.
Bang!
One devastating punch struck a tree thick enough to require two people linking arms to embrace it.
The tree's surface showed only a modest dent, but then subtle cracking sounds emerged from deep within its core.
Hearing this, Sasuke's face unconsciously revealed a hint of satisfaction.
If he had used chakra enhancement, destroying this tree wouldn't have challenged his current abilities.
But that punch had relied purely on physical strength.
This martial art called "Hasshoken" that Naruto had taught him could transmit destructive force past an enemy's surface defenses, striking directly at their internal organs.
Such a technique proved devastatingly effective against ninja, who typically relied on chakra for defense while maintaining relatively fragile physical bodies.
In the ninja world, aside from certain specialized clans, most shinobi achieved their destructive power and defensive capabilities through taijutsu enhanced by omnipotent chakra.
But this martial art—capable of "striking through mountains to hit cattle," directly targeting opponents' vulnerable internal systems—was completely unheard of. Perhaps only the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist could achieve comparable effects.
And this was accomplished without any chakra enhancement whatsoever.
Naruto had emphasized repeatedly during training that ninja relied too heavily on chakra and consequently neglected developing their physical foundations.
He didn't mean they should simply brutalize their bodies like those thick-skinned warriors in the pirate world.
Adults didn't need to choose—they wanted everything.
Omnipotent chakra combined with a powerful physique, enhanced by mysterious Haki, would undoubtedly produce revolutionary qualitative changes.
Crack!
The tree finally succumbed to its own weight, snapping at the middle and toppling backward.
Clenching his fist, Sasuke felt transformed—no longer the same person who had begun this training.
Hasshoken's fundamental concepts weren't overly complex. With his natural talent, mastering the basics hadn't required excessive time. What he needed now was simply accumulated practice and refinement.
Next, he would master the Observation and Armament Haki that Naruto had described, dramatically improving his chances when he finally confronted that man!
Poor Sasuke remained blissfully unaware of the truly staggering gap between himself and Itachi Uchiha.
But perhaps this ignorance was beneficial—at least he retained the determination to keep pushing forward.
Meanwhile, the very man who consumed his thoughts was also making his way toward Konoha.
Danzo, Orochimaru, Sand Village operatives... and perhaps other overlooked players were all positioning themselves for the upcoming Chunin Exams.
Even daimyo from multiple countries had traveled to Konoha to witness this "performance" by the ninja.
In this charged atmosphere, the Chunin Exams were about to commence.
[Chapter Complete]
***
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