Jiraiya's probing was deliberate.
After Naruto absorbed two of his Fire Style jutsus in a row, Jiraiya sensed a weakness in the ability and immediately switched his approach. "Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet Jutsu!"
An earth dragon's head emerged from the ground beneath Jiraiya, continuously spitting out mud projectiles. It was a sustained, area-of-effect attack that was impossible for Naruto to absorb completely.
Naruto realized this at the same time. When one of the mud bullets finally hit him, he stumbled and fell to the ground.
A Rasengan formed in his palm, chakra swirling violently. He aimed it at the dragon's head and unleashed it with a roar, "Spiral Shockwave!"
The blast of chakra instantly obliterated the earth dragon's head.
The high-speed shockwave forced Jiraiya to retreat. He watched as Naruto, without any hand seals, easily unleashed a jutsu with power exceeding that of an A-rank forbidden technique.
He understood the problem now.
Whether it was that strange chakra-absorbing jutsu or his development of new Rasengan techniques, the Naruto in front of him was no ordinary genin. Even without using the Nine-Tails' chakra, he was already a powerful ninja. Even he was having a hard time taking Naruto down.
No wonder this kid was so indifferent to using the Nine-Tails' chakra. It was the confidence that came from real strength. Unless he encountered a true crisis, why would Naruto even think of using it? And a battle that could put him in a life-or-death crisis…
"Pervy Sage, is this all you've got?" Naruto looked at Jiraiya and frowned. "I was hoping you'd show me a new type of Rasengan that you developed yourself..."
"..."
A helpless smile appeared on Jiraiya's face. He looked down and muttered to himself, "Your son is truly amazing, Minato... In that case, let's have your friend join in. Let him witness true power so he can feel true despair!"
He could gain an overwhelming advantage with taijutsu, but Naruto's instant ninjutsu could always turn the tables. What was needed now was an enemy that Naruto absolutely could not defeat—one he couldn't even imagine.
An opponent whose size and power would be enough to completely shock the kid.
Boar—Dog—Bird—Monkey—Ram!
Jiraiya quickly formed the hand seals, bit his thumb, and slammed his palm on the ground. "Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu!"
Poof!
A massive, dark-red toad appeared before them. Its body was like a small mountain with a giant pipe clenched in its mouth, and its expression was pure arrogance.
The toad, Gamabunta, tightly gripped the short sword on his back and bellowed, "Hey, Jiraiya! Who's the enemy this time?"
"Yo, Bunta! See that kid over there?" Jiraiya stood on the toad's head, pointing at the astonished Naruto on the ground. "Go! Force him to use all his power!"
"Jiraiya, I'm not here to help you train some brat!"
"Trust me, he's not that easy to train!" Jiraiya's eyes were full of amusement as he shook his head. "If he were just facing me, there's no way to make him feel the gap in our power. That kid can always find a way to turn things around!"
"Heh, you want a little kid to experience despair, huh?" Gamabunta held his pipe, blowing out a huge ring of smoke. "If I accidentally kill him, don't blame me!"
"That absolutely will not happen!" Jiraiya couldn't help but laugh. This time, he had summoned Gamabunta, who was, in a sense, an old rival of the Nine-Tails.
On the other side, Gamabunta's sheer size was on a completely different level of shock value compared to the talking pug, Pakkun, that Kakashi sometimes summoned.
Naruto gradually recovered from the shock of seeing the giant toad. He forcibly pushed aside his memories and began to think about how to fight.
At this moment, the Nine-Tails seemed to sense an opportunity and began rapidly offering suggestions. "Those guys from Mount Myoboku... they're not easy to deal with!"
"Brat, just open the seal. If we fight together, getting rid of this toad will be a piece of cake!"
"That man keeps doing this just so you'll open the seal and use my chakra, right?"
"We are one and the same. How could I possibly harm you?"
"..."
The Nine-Tails was becoming quite the chatterbox. As Naruto's strength grew, the demon fox sensed a crisis. It could still find opportunities to trick Naruto now, but what about in the future? When this kid grew up, what if he became like the previous two jinchuriki, disdainful of its power? Would it be sealed away again, forever?
Naruto's mind sank into his spiritual space. "Huh? Nine-Tails, you know where this toad comes from? Is it really that hard to deal with?"
"For me, it's trivial." The Nine-Tails glanced at Naruto and persuaded him in a low voice, "But for you right now, trying to defeat it is just wishful thinking."
The young genin nodded, then suddenly changed the subject. "Since you know about it, can you give me some information on it?"
Nine-Tails: "..."
This jinchuriki has a screw loose!
Why wasn't he thinking about using its power? It was bad enough that Naruto used it as a chakra battery, but now he wanted to get intelligence from it too?
After a moment of silence, the giant demon fox suddenly stood up. It looked down at the boy outside the bars and finally let out a world-shaking roar, "GET OUT!"
How could there be such an annoying jinchuriki!
He only ever thought about taking, never showing any intention of letting it out. Every time the topic of unsealing came up, he changed the subject!
Was he playing dumb? Did he think the Nine-Tails was an idiot?
Naruto was speechless. "..."
And here he thought their relationship was gradually getting better.
Outside, on the battlefield, Kakashi's expression grew more worried. "Jiraiya-senpai, if this goes on, won't it be dangerous?"
"Don't worry, Bunta knows his limits." Jiraiya had already handed the fight over to Gamabunta. He jumped over to Kakashi's side, kneading his own shoulder. "I'm just trying to see if Naruto will use the Nine-Tails' chakra when he's facing a life-or-death crisis."
"If he still won't use it..." Jiraiya looked at his palm and chuckled. "Then I'll cancel the summoning jutsu at the last second."
The Jonin instructor was puzzled. "What's the point of all this?"
"At least it will prove one thing," Jiraiya said, clenching his fist. "On our way back to Konoha, if we encounter an enemy, we won't have to worry about the Nine-Tails going out of control."
However, just as Jiraiya thought everything was under his control, Gamabunta leaped high into the air, his huge body about to crash down on Naruto.
A brilliant azure light suddenly erupted.
Naruto clenched his fist. A fragmented ring of chakra swirled around it as he swung it violently at the giant toad. "Spiral Punch!"
The massive Gamabunta was instantly sent flying by that single punch. Even he could not withstand this incredibly powerful nin-taijutsu attack.
BOOM!
Gamabunta's body crashed into the cliffside of the canyon, sending countless rocks flying. His form instantly vanished in a cloud of smoke, disappearing from everyone's sight.
-----
Bonus:
Jiraiya: Bunta, did you go easy on him?
Bunta: You try it! Come on, you try it!
Jiraiya: I'm just saying, you can't get sent flying by one punch!
Bunta: My body's too big, I couldn't dodge.
Jiraiya: Well, you didn't have to leave so quickly...
Bunta: I was covered in injuries! What was I supposed to do?
Jiraiya: So next time...
Bunta: Don't call me next time. I thought I was helping you train a kid, not coming here to be made into grilled frog.