Inheritance

The Toads of Mt. Myōboku

Naruto, having leapt from the toad's back, turned around to get a good look at the creature he had summoned. It stood around six foot tall or so, by his estimation, and was easily big enough for the blonde's relatively small frame to stand on, though he imagined it would make it rather difficult for the toad to move around a battlefield with any kind of ease. However, it's size wasn't it's most striking feature. The very first thing that caught Naruto's eyes, and indeed the thing that still held his attention - it's colour. The toad's entire upper half was one of the most magnificent looking shades of regal blue that Naruto had ever laid eyes upon. The toad's claim of being a 'shaolin toad' were seemingly verified by the fact that it also wore an orange gi, just a touch darker than his own old jumpsuit; and had it's wrists tied with tape - a sure sign of a taijutsu practitioner.

"Got enough of an eyeful, yet? Or are you just gonna stand there gawping, rather than introduce yourself?"

Naruto's hand instinctively went to the back of his head, and he sheepishly smiled back the toad he'd summoned.

"Heh, I'm really sorry Gamasensō. After summoning Gamakichi so often, I don't think I really expected to summon a toad quite so... impressive. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I guess we should probably get to know each other a little bit so we can work together in battle - that is, if you don't mind me summoning you to help out every now and then?"

The toad grinned at his question, seemingly pleased that the blonde summoner before him respected him enough to ask, rather than expect, his assistance.

"As a toad of Mt. Myōboku, it would be my pleasure to fight alongside the student of Jiraiya; all though it would probably be wise for me to point out that I am quite a young toad, only just entering maturity, so to speak. It's quite likely that a great many of the larger and more powerful toads will not exactly be so willing, at least not straight away."

"So I'd need to prove myself or something before they'd fight with me?"

"I suppose you could say that." The toad nodded, scratching his chin thoughtfully, something Naruto wasn't sure should even be possible.

"But you should be aware that some will simply outright refuse to help. Gamabunta, the Boss Toad, for example, is both the strongest of all of us, and also the most notorious for outright refusing to aid summoners. Even Jiraiya struggles to convince him to fight alongside him. But as for getting to know each other..." Gamasensō grinned, looking directly into Naruto's eyes.

"I believe strongly that a spar can tell you everything you need to know about a person - If you think you can handle it, that is."

"You know Gamasensō..." Naruto began, flexing his limbs trying to get himself somewhat limbered up for a spar. "I think you and I are going to get along just fine."

----

"So, thanks to Kakashi, we know Suna are mobilizing, and according to Jiraiya's sources Orochimaru's forces have gone underground in recent months. All conveniently timed with the Chunin exams held within our walls, at which Sound plans to send their very first team? I agree that this seems far too much of a coincidence to be ignored. The biggest question is: what's the overall objective here? I don't believe that even Suna and Sound combined have enough force to pull off an attack that ends in anything other than a victory for Konoha." The Sandaime brought his pipe up to his mouth as he finished speaking, turning his attention to the other two people in the room, Jiraiya, and arguably his most trusted Jonin, Hatake Kakashi.

"Well, given that it's Orochimaru pulling the strings here, it's likely that we are supposed to believe a successful invasion is the aim. But he's too clever for that, this is a diversion, with the bonus of doing a lot of infrastructural damage to the village, and possibly taking out one or more of our best along the way."