Chapter 160: An Unwilling Alliance: Big Brother Naruto
The crushing, divine pressure that had pinned Gamabunta to the earth finally receded.
The skeletal hand of the colossal Susanoo, which had felt as heavy as a mountain range, dissolved into shimmering purple particles of chakra.
Absolute silence descended upon the clearing, broken only by the toad chief's ragged, wheezing breaths. He didn't dare move. Every warty inch of his body ached, but it was his pride that was truly, irrevocably shattered.
He had faced rogue Sannin, Tailed Beasts, and entire shinobi armies, but he had never felt so utterly, hopelessly outmatched. That Uchiha... he wasn't human. He was a monster.
A long, agonizing minute passed. The silence stretched, becoming its own form of suffocating pressure. Gamabunta knew the Uchiha was waiting, watching him.
"I..."
His voice, normally a ground-shaking boom, was now a gravelly, broken whisper.
"I... surrender..."
Spitting those two words out felt like coughing up his own organs.
High above, still hovering in the air, Uchiha Akira observed the defeated toad chief. His purple Rinnegan remained impassive, betraying no emotion. He nodded once, a sharp, clinical gesture of satisfaction.
"Very good."
Akira's figure descended gracefully, his black robes completely untouched by the "battle." He landed softly on the grass, just a few meters from Gamabunta's enormous head.
Only then did Gamabunta feel he could truly breathe. The suffocating aura of the Uchiha had withdrawn... mostly.
Even so, he remained completely still, splayed out on the ground in a posture of total submission. He didn't dare move a single muscle. He was terrified that the slightest twitch, the smallest hint of defiance, would bring that purple god of death back to press him into the mud and grind him into paste.
Akira stood before him, an impossibly small figure projecting a shadow that felt a mile long. "Since you have surrendered," Akira's cold voice cut through the air, "there are some matters we need to... settle properly."
Gamabunta's massive heart sank straight into his belly. Settle accounts? Still?!
His mind reeled in a flustered panic. I'm already beaten! I'm lying in the dirt like a common lizard! What else does he want?
He can't possibly be planning to squeeze all my sacred toad oil out, can he? The thought was absurd, but in the face of that kind of power, anything seemed possible.
The more Gamabunta thought about it, the more his fear spiked. A visible, uncontrollable tremor began to run through his huge, muscular body.
Akira tilted his head, a flicker of what might have been cruel amusement in his eyes as he watched the colossal toad boss tremble. "You seem to be very afraid of me."
The simple, calm observation almost made Gamabunta burst into tears of sheer frustration.
Nonsense! Of course I'm afraid! Who wouldn't be?! Did you SEE what you just did?! You pinned me down with a ghost!
"No... no!" he stammered out loud, desperate to find the right answer. "I... I am... in awe! Yes, that's it! In awe of your magnificent power, Lord Uchiha!"
He just wanted this to be over. He wanted to serve this terrifying 'lord,' agree to whatever he said, and then reverse-summon himself back to Mount Myōboku as fast as toad-ly possible.
The ninja world is too dangerous, he thought miserably. I want to go home. I want my pipe.
Akira's gaze hardened, the faint amusement vanishing instantly. "And a moment ago," he said, his voice dropping an octave, "you seemed to look down on my disciple."
Oh no.
Gamabunta's heart, which had just started to rise from his stomach, plummeted straight through the earth.
He had forgotten about that. In his arrogance and anger at being summoned by a "brat," he had been... rude. Very, very rude. He had threatened to crush him.
Naruto, who had been watching with a shocked Jiraiya from a safe distance, now saw his chance.
He puffed out his chest, crossed his arms, and tilted his chin up. He strutted forward, wearing the smuggest, most triumphant expression he could possibly muster.
"Yeah, that's right!" he chirped, though he didn't dare get too close to the giant toad. "Now you know you were wrong, don'tcha, stupid toad!?"
Gamabunta's massive eye twitched violently. This damn brat! He's really holding a grudge!
What do I do now? Gamabunta's mind raced. He can't... he can't possibly expect me to apologize. To this... this child?
He was Gamabunta! The Chief of Toads! Oyabun! He had traded blows with the great Sannin, with the Fourth Hokage himself! Apologize to a kid who hadn't even mastered the Summoning Jutsu properly?
If word of this gets out... he lamented internally. How could I ever show my face in the ninja world again? Gamaken and Gamahiro would never let me hear the end of it! My reputation will be ruined!
But... if he didn't apologize...
He risked a tiny, secret glance at Uchiha Akira. The Uchiha was just standing there, motionless, watching, waiting. His silence was more threatening than any roar.
Gamabunta had no doubt—not a single, microscopic shred of doubt—that if he dared to utter one single "no," or even hesitate too long, that terrifying purple skeleton would reappear and stomp him into a stain.
He weighed the pros and cons for less than a split second.
Dignity? Pride? Reputation?
Are they more important than life?
Gamabunta decisively, instantly, chose to be sensible. Nope. Life is much, much better.
"Uh... that is..." Gamabunta forced the words out, each one tasting like ash and dirt. "Naruto... right? The kid."
"Just... just now... I was... wrong," he grumbled, the apology barely audible, muffled by the ground.
But Naruto heard it. His smug expression transformed into one of pure, unrestrained glee.
He then did something that made Jiraiya groan and hide his face. Naruto put his hands behind his back, perfectly copying Akira's formal posture, and began to walk in slow, deliberate steps, as if he were a profound leader.
He paced back and forth in front of Gamabunta's enormous nose. "Hmm... well... seeing as your attitude is quite sincere..." Naruto said, trying to lower his voice to sound mature.
"I will... temporarily... forgive you!"
Gamabunta felt a colossal burden lift from his shoulders. It's over! He forgave me!
"Thank you! Thank you, little... uh... Naruto!"
"That's not good enough," Akira's voice sliced through the air again.
Gamabunta froze solid, the relief vanishing as if it had never been.
"Apologies, especially forced ones, show very little sincerity," Akira stated, his voice flat. "You need to take some... practical action."
Gamabunta was stunned. Practical... action? What practical action? I apologized! I groveled! What more could he possibly want?!
Akira looked at the massive toad, his purple Rinnegan glinting with a cold, almost playful cruelty. "From today onwards, your apology will be permanent."
"You will recognize Naruto... as your elder brother."
Silence. Complete, total, and deafening silence.
"From now on, he is your boss. Not me. Not Jiraiya. Him."
Akira pointed a single, definitive finger at the completely baffled Naruto. "Whatever he says, you must do. You will obey him without question, without defiance."
Akira leaned in slightly, his voice dropping. "Do you understand?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire clearing seemed to freeze in time.
Naruto was completely dumbfounded. His jaw dropped. His "profound leader" posture collapsed.
"Huh? M-me? Let... let such a huge toad... recognize me as his... Big Brother?"
"C-can I... Can I do that?" He was vibrating with a mixture of abject terror and wild, uncontrollable excitement.
Jiraiya, who had been trying to silently cringe out of existence, was also stunned. His eyes were as wide as dinner plates.
Let Gamabunta—the surly, proud, legendary Toad Boss—recognize Naruto as his elder brother?
Fifth Hokage... you... you're not just playing, you're a sadist!
Jiraiya could already picture it: Gamabunta, back on Mount Myōboku, having to explain to his wife, Shima, and her husband, Fukasaku (the Two Great Sage Toads), why he was taking orders from a genin.
The Sannin winced, physically pained by the thought. He could already imagine the socially awkward, utterly humiliating scene.
And Gamabunta himself? He looked as if he had been struck by lightning, frozen solid in place.
Recognize... this... this GAKI... as my BIG BROTHER?!
[Inorin's Note: "Gaki" (ガキ) is a Japanese derogatory term for a child, meaning "brat" or "punk".]
No! No way! Absolutely not!
He was GAMABUNTA! He had traversed the Ninja World for decades! When had he ever—EVER—suffered such a profound, soul-crushing humiliation?!
To make him, the Chief Toad, a subordinate—no, a little brother—to a snot-nosed, yellow-haired brat?
Doesn't he know I have any dignity?! I have a reputation!
"What?"
Uchiha Akira's voice was perfectly level, yet it turned the air to ice. "You're... unwilling?"
The surrounding atmosphere, which had just returned to normal, suddenly dropped by ten degrees. That faint, terrifying pressure, the precursor to the Susanoo, began to envelop Gamabunta's skin once more. It was a promise of immediate, overwhelming pain.
Gamabunta shuddered violently, snapping instantly out of his grief and indignation.
Dignity was gone. Pride was a forgotten luxury. Only survival remained.
"WILLING! I'M WILLING!" he roared, his voice cracking in pure panic.
He no longer dared to hesitate for even a nanosecond. "I am absolutely, one hundred percent willing!"
He turned his massive, desperate eye to the still-baffled Naruto. He squeezed his eye shut and forced the word out, each syllable a new low in his long life.
"Big...!"
He choked on it.
"Big... Brother...!"
His voice was an incredibly tragic, desolate, and humiliated sound, like a mountain admitting defeat.
Naruto just stared. He looked at the giant toad, who had just... conceded everything. For a moment, his brain simply couldn't process it.
He... he's my subordinate now? He called me 'Big Brother'...
"It feels... so unreal," he whispered to himself.
Jiraiya watched this whole scene, his mouth twitching so badly it looked like he was having a seizure.
He silently turned his back to them, unable to bear watching any longer. He crossed his arms and looked up at the sky, as if deeply fascinated by a particularly uninteresting cloud.
It was too tragic. It was too humiliating.
Gamabunta's dignity, his pride, his entire Oyabun reputation built over half a century... was utterly, irrevocably lost today.
Uchiha Akira, on the other hand, looked at Gamabunta's "sensible" demeanor and nodded in satisfaction again. "Very good."
"Since you have recognized him as your Big Brother," Akira continued, his voice leaving no room for argument, "then from now on, you will assist him well. When he summons you, you will come. When he needs help, you will provide it."
"If I ever find out that you are feigning compliance... or that you dare to bully him, or let him get hurt because you were slow..."
Akira didn't finish his sentence. He didn't need to.
His cold, purple gaze, which once again held the faint, rippling pattern of the Rinnegan, explained everything. It was a promise that he could, and would, find the toad on Mount Myōboku, or any plane of existence, and finish the job.
Gamabunta shivered in absolute fear and quickly pledged his loyalty, his voice now pathetically sincere in its terror.
"I wouldn't dare! Absolutely not, Lord Uchiha! I swear on my honor as Chief!"
"I, Gamabunta, will definitely... assist... Big Brother... well! You have my word!"
He just wanted this plague god, this demon in human form, to leave.
At this, Uchiha Akira actually chuckled. It was a low, light sound, but it held no warmth and sent a fresh chill down everyone's spine. He finally turned his attention away from the toad.
He looked over at Jiraiya, who was still pointedly staring at the sky. "Alright, Jiraiya-sama. Naruto's summoning matter is settled."
Jiraiya turned around, the muscles on his face twitching unnaturally. He looked at Akira, then at the "victorious" Naruto, then at the figurative grave of Gamabunta's dignity.
He could only scratch the back of his head and let out a foolish, hollow laugh. "Ah... hahaha! Well! That's... certainly one way to do it! You've really, uh... secured his loyalty, Fifth Hokage! Top-notch negotiating!"
He was trying, and failing miserably, to ease the extremely awkward atmosphere.
After another moment of silence, Akira turned his head back to the toad, who was still frozen in his submissive posture.
"Alright, Gamabunta. You can go back now."
"Remember what you promised."
It was as if Gamabunta had been granted a divine pardon from the executioner. He felt a wave of relief so strong his legs almost gave out (if they weren't already splayed on the ground).
He didn't even bother to respond. He didn't say goodbye. He didn't say "understood."
Puff—!
With a speed that defied his massive size, Gamabunta activated the reverse-summoning.
Accompanied by a huge, frantic burst of white smoke, his colossal figure instantly vanished.
He fled. Swiftly, cleanly, and utterly.
He was terrified that if he delayed for even one more second, Uchiha Akira would change his mind and make him call the brat "Master" or something even worse.
The clearing was silent again, the only evidence of the event a massive, toad-shaped impression in the grass.
Naruto looked up, his face a mask of complete confusion, first at his stone-faced teacher, then at the awkwardly-smiling Jiraiya.
His small head was filled with big question marks. "Is... is that it?"
"That big, mean toad... he's really gonna listen to me from now on? He has to call me 'Big Brother'?"
His heart was still pounding in his chest, a strange, giddy mix of half-excitement and half-disbelief.
Uchiha Akira reached out and placed a hand on Naruto's head, ruffling his bright yellow hair. The gesture was almost... gentle. "How do you feel?"
Naruto's confused expression immediately exploded into one of pure, unadulterated awe. "Teacher! You... you're AMAZING! That was... whoa! You just... bam! And he was all... whoosh! And you were like... fwoom!"
He was practically vibrating, his hero-worship for Akira shooting into the stratosphere.
"Will I... Will I ever be able to become as strong as you?" he asked, his voice suddenly small and hopeful.
Akira's lips curved into a rare, faint smile. "You won't become strong like me, Naruto. You will become strong like you."
"But yes. As long as you are willing to work hard, and to listen to what Jiraiya-sama and I teach you."
His purple eyes seemed to look right through Naruto, seeing a potential no one else could. "My disciple's future achievements will certainly not be limited to just this."
Akira straightened up, his professional demeanor returning. "Alright. That's all for today's lesson in... diplomacy."
Jiraiya snorted at the word choice.
"We should go back now."
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