Naruto: Different Path

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There was some time before the finals, allowing the participants to improve their skills. 

Although Naruto was confident in his abilities, he knew training was necessary. 

However, what frustrated Naruto was that Kakashi had asked a so-called elite teacher, a special Jonin, to guide Naruto in his training. 

Meanwhile, Kakashi himself went off to train Uchiha Sasuke in the Chidori. 

Despite his annoyance, Naruto realized that if he was heading to a hot spring for training, he might run into Jiraiya, which could be a great opportunity.

Since Kakashi had made the arrangements, Naruto decided to go along. 

Luckily, the upcoming training session involved walking on water, and the location was a hot spring. 

Naruto was already well-versed in this training but was focused on whether Jiraiya would show up. 

Yet, there was no sign of him, and if Jiraiya didn't appear, all this might be a waste of time.

Naruto's display of water-walking left the so-called elite teacher in utter disbelief, his jaw practically hitting the floor. 

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!" "A kid?!" "How could this be?!"

Finally, the voice Naruto had been waiting for called out, "So noisy." 

You're interrupting my research. Seems like the student might be stronger than the teacher, huh?" 

Jiraiya took down the "elite teacher" with just one move as he entered. 

As one of the legendary Sannins, his strength was clearly on another level.

After casually knocking out the teacher, Jiraiya turned his attention to Naruto. 

"Kid, you must be the genius of Konoha that Kakashi was talking about, Uzumaki Naruto, right?" 

"Your chakra control isn't bad." He continued, "After seeing you, I've made a major decision."

Jiraiya cleared his throat and said, "I've decided to take you on as my student. Are you willing?" 

Naruto, who expected some trial or test, was surprised by Jiraiya's straightforwardness. 

He quickly replied, "Thank you, Jiraiya-sensei. I look forward to learning from you."

Despite his playful demeanour at times, Jiraiya was incredibly focused on serious matters. 

His reputation for gathering intelligence on dangerous missions spoke for itself. 

Moreover, his decision to take Naruto as a disciple was likely something he had planned for a long time. 

After all, Naruto was the only son of the Fourth Hokage, Jiraiya's former student. 

Before the Fourth Hokage's death, he had entrusted Jiraiya with some important matters, making it almost inevitable that Jiraiya would come looking for Naruto.

Jiraiya continued, "I'm Jiraiya, but you can call me the Toad Sage. I'm one of the legendary Sannin. Impressed, right?" He grinned. 

"Now, show me your skills!" Without hesitation, Naruto grabbed a kunai and launched himself at Jiraiya, attacking with a flurry of punches and kicks. 

Jiraiya fended him with one hand, casually commenting, "Your chakra control isn't bad, and your taijutsu is decent, but you lack experience." 

"Also, don't use large-scale jutsu in a place like this." He waved his hand. 

"That's enough. I'm going to teach you a new jutsu."

Naruto stopped attacking, and Jiraiya pulled out a scroll, asking Naruto to write his name on it. 

Naruto immediately recognized that he was about to learn the Summoning Jutsu, a powerful technique for which Jiraiya was well-known. 

Plus, there was the possibility of learning Sage Mode. The Great Toad Sage, Fukasaku, had even been acquainted with the Sage of Six Paths. 

Naruto bit his thumb and signed his name on the scroll without thinking twice.

Jiraiya then began teaching him the hand seals, and Naruto memorized them after watching them once. 

As Naruto observed Jiraiya's demonstration, he noticed that the size of the summoned toad seemed to depend on the amount of chakra used. 

In the original story, Naruto had only managed to summon a tadpole initially. 

While Naruto was confident in his abilities, he didn't want to embarrass himself before Jiraiya.

Following Jiraiya's instructions, Naruto began making the hand signs. To avoid failure, he kept increasing his chakra output. 

Under his strong will, Naruto's latent potential awakened, releasing chakra far beyond his usual limits. 

By the time he finished the hand signs, his chakra output had peaked. 

The sheer power of his chakra caused even Jiraiya to take a step back in surprise.

Jiraiya, despite his vast experience, was stunned. This is insane! he thought. I hope he doesn't summon Gamabunta... I need to get out of here... Too late!

Naruto slammed his hand onto the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!" Jiraiya, unable to dodge, silently prayed that Gamabunta wouldn't appear. 

As the smoke cleared, he breathed a sigh of relief when he realized he wasn't standing on top of some enormous creature. 

However, given the immense amount of chakra Naruto had used, something felt off.

Suddenly, a familiar voice echoed, "What in the world? Who summoned me? I was in the middle of preparing dinner for the kids." 

"Jiraiya, are you facing a powerful enemy or something?"

Jiraiya froze like a statue. No way! This is impossible! Naruto had accidentally summoned none other than Lady Shima, one of the great sages of Mount Myoboku.

Regaining his composure, Jiraiya immediately bowed and apologized, "I'm so sorry, Lady Shima! This is Naruto's first time learning the Summoning Jutsu, and I didn't expect to disturb you. I deeply apologize."

Lady Shima looked sceptical. "Jiraiya, you've gone too far! It takes considerable chakra to summon me, even for you!" 

"This boy is just a kid. How could he manage that?"

Naruto, standing nearby, felt embarrassed, unsure of what to say. He hadn't expected to summon Lady Shima. 

While he hadn't made a fool of himself, the outcome was still too unexpected.

Jiraiya knew no amount of explanation would make Lady Shima believe it was a coincidence. He showed her the scroll with Naruto's name on it. 

Upon seeing Naruto's name, it was Lady Shima's turn to be shocked. This boy managed to summon me on his first try. What kind of talent is this?

Lady Shima hopped over to Naruto, saying, "Naruto, you've got an impressive amount of talent, but hard work is still essential."

She then turned to Jiraiya. "Jiraiya, this kid has great potential. Make sure to train him well. Soon, he'll be ready for that kind of training." 

"His chakra is incredibly powerful." She added, "Alright, I've got to get back to preparing dinner," and with a puff of smoke, she disappeared.

Jiraiya let out a huge sigh of relief and turned to Naruto. 

Seeing Jiraiya's relieved expression, Naruto couldn't help but tease, "Jiraiya-sensei, did I mess up the Summoning Jutsu? Should I try again?"

Jiraiya quickly waved his hands, alarmed. "No, no, no! It was perfect! Perfect!" 

"No need to practice any more. Just focus on controlling the amount of chakra next time."

Naruto stifled a laugh but kept a straight face. "Got it. So, should we move on to another jutsu now, Jiraiya-sensei?"

Jiraiya, still shaken, said, "That's enough for today. I'll treat you to dinner tonight, and we'll work on a new jutsu tomorrow." 

Given Naruto's "impressive" performance, dinner was on Jiraiya. 

Due to Naruto's immense chakra use, Jiraiya spent quite a bit, but Naruto wasn't worried—Jiraiya was known to be wealthy.

As they ate, Naruto wondered what jutsu Jiraiya would teach him next. If his guess were right, it would be the Rasengan. 

Although Naruto had mastered the basic Rasengan independently, he still needed Jiraiya's guidance for advanced techniques like the Giant Rasengan.

Naruto thought about how he should pretend to learn quickly so as not to make Jiraiya too suspicious. 

He wanted Jiraiya to think of him as a prodigy, but not to the point of being unreasonable. 

What Naruto truly wanted to learn, though, was Sage Mode. 

His power would increase exponentially with Sage Mode, taking him to an entirely different level.

But since he didn't want to bring it up, he decided to wait. Based on what Lady Shima had said, it wouldn't be long before that training began. 

After a good night's rest, Naruto was ready to start his next training day.

On another bright and sunny morning, he arrived. After a good night's rest, Naruto felt full of energy again. 

Early in the morning, he was already pestering Jiraiya to teach him a new jutsu. 

Having spent the entire night working on his novel's material, Jiraiya had barely slept. 

With dark circles under his eyes, he was not enthusiastic about getting up so early. 

However, when Naruto mentioned "reviewing" yesterday's jutsu, Jiraiya immediately sprang to his feet and dragged Naruto off to learn something new.

As usual, they went to the riverbank. Jiraiya gathered blue chakra in his palm and slammed it against a nearby rock, shattering it to pieces. 

Even though Naruto was already familiar with this move, he couldn't help but be impressed by its sheer power. Then, Jiraiya began showing off. 

"This technique has an A-rank difficulty level. Simply put, it's all about chakra release and control. To master it, you need to go through three stages." 

With that, Jiraiya took out a water balloon, and with just a bit of chakra, it burst with a pop. 

He tossed the water balloon to Naruto, saying, "First, complete this stage. Come find me once you've mastered it." 

With that, Jiraiya was ready to go off and "gather material" for his novel. But just as Jiraiya turned around, he heard a loud pop. 

Then came Naruto's voice: "Like this?" What? Jiraiya spun around to see Naruto holding a burst water balloon. 

He tried to play it cool, but inside, he thought, "Even for a genius, this is too fast! Could this kid surpass the Fourth Hokage?"

As one of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya could no longer stay calm. He almost tripped over himself. 

Compared to him, Naruto's talent was nothing short of monstrous. 

"If that's the case," he thought, "I might as well make things a little harder for him." 

Jiraiya said, "Hold the chakra steady in your palm, then release it with all your power. Once you do that, you'll have completed the Rasengan."

Hearing this, Naruto could tell Jiraiya was eager to go off and "research" again, so he pretended to struggle with the chakra in his palm. 

Sure enough, Jiraiya left him with a quick reminder to "practice slowly" and dashed off to gather material. 

Watching Jiraiya disappear in the blink of an eye, Naruto started thinking about what was coming next.

Orochimaru would soon attack Konoha during the Chunin Exams if things stayed the same. 

This would affect the village, and the Third Hokage would also die. Naruto wanted to save him, but if he did, there was a high chance Gaara would kill Sasuke. 

More importantly, Sakura could also be in danger. At this time, having overwhelming strength wasn't enough; difficult decisions would have to be made.

Realizing that Jiraiya probably wouldn't teach him anything new today, Naruto settled for some basic chakra control training. 

Afterwards, he returned to the inn where he and Jiraiya were staying. 

Jiraiya, still out gathering inspiration, seemed to be in good spirits; Naruto could hear his laughter from afar.

Suddenly, Jiraiya felt a sense of danger. "Rasengan!" Naruto's voice rang out. 

Jiraiya was in such a great mood that he didn't notice the blue chakra orb spinning toward him, closing in on his face. 

Although Jiraiya could have easily blocked it or countered with another jutsu, the sheer intensity of the chakra made him hesitate. 

Plus, the attacker was hidden in the dark, and the surprise left him with no choice but to jump back on instinct.

Naruto's Rasengan missed and struck the ground before the inn, leaving a crater deeper than a person. 

The immense power shook the building's foundation, causing the entire inn to tremble before it collapsed. 

Jiraiya barely escaped in time but couldn't catch his breath before a massive shadow loomed over him again. 

However, being the skilled ninja he was, he and Naruto quickly leapt to safety.

Standing side by side, Naruto asked, "Jiraiya-sensei, did I master the Rasengan?"

"Yes, you… you mastered it," Jiraiya stammered.

Naruto grinned, "Since no one's around, let's get out of here." Just as Jiraiya was about to sneak away, the innkeeper's voice boomed behind them: 

"Which ninja was practising jutsu here? Show yourself!"

The innkeeper, recognizing Jiraiya, shouted, "Hey, you pervy old man with the white hair! I knew it was you!" 

"You tried to spy on the women's bath last time and escaped. Not this time!"

The inn's staff quickly surrounded Jiraiya and Naruto. According to Konoha's rules, using ninjutsu in such situations was prohibited. 

With no way out, they had to surrender. The innkeeper, a rotund man, stormed over to Jiraiya, slapped a bill on the table, and fumed: 

"This bill covers the damages from this time, the last time, and the time before that! You got away before, but you're paying for everything this time!"

Jiraiya looked at the long string of numbers on the bill, followed by endless zeros. 

Remembering all the "surprises" he'd experienced with Naruto over the past few days, Jiraiya fainted on the spot! 

Luckily, Naruto caught him just in time. Being a ninja, Jiraiya's mental strength was far greater than an ordinary person's. 

Feeling like he'd lost half his life, he regained consciousness briefly and weakly told Naruto, "From now on, let's train in the wilderness."

Naruto hadn't expected things to turn out this way. He had only wanted to show Jiraiya that he had mastered the Rasengan and was ready for the next stage of training. He never imagined it would cause so much chaos.

The next morning, Jiraiya took Naruto camping. Judging by Jiraiya's tired face, he hadn't slept well. 

Still, Naruto was excited for the next phase of training. This time, it wouldn't be like the Rasengan, which he had already figured out. 

It also wouldn't be as straightforward as the Summoning Jutsu, which only required a large amount of chakra at once. 

This new training would be more challenging, but fortunately, Naruto could speed up the process with his Shadow Clones.

When Jiraiya saw Naruto's training method for the first time, he couldn't help but praise him. However, this was a method that others couldn't easily copy. 

After all, very few ninjas had enough chakra to use it so freely. 

Naruto enjoyed the wild training—eating meals cooked in the wilderness, occasionally sparring with Jiraiya, and honing his skills. 

Training with a powerful ninja-like Jiraiya not only allowed him to learn new jutsu but also gave him valuable combat experience.

Time flew by. As Naruto's strength grew, the Chunin Exams drew nearer. This time, how would Naruto change? 

What exciting moments would he bring to everyone? And what difficult decisions would he have to face afterwards?

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