Jiraiya had spent decades navigating the Ninja World, but his patience could never last more than three rounds in front of this kid.
"What do you mean 'exactly what it sounds like'? You said you fused the Wind Release Nature Transformation into the Rasengan. What kind of changes happened to the Rasengan after the fusion?"
"Did it get bigger? Faster?"
Jiraiya's voice carried a hint of caution. "The Rasengan is a Jutsu left behind by the Fourth Hokage, but if someone adds something else to it and doesn't tell me what kind of crazy shape it has turned into, my blood pressure is going to get very unstable."
"Pervy Sage, you don't happen to want to see it with your own eyes, do you?" Naruto tilted his head, a faint smile appearing on the corner of his lips.
Jiraiya was taken aback for a moment, then nodded vigorously.
Of course he wanted to see it. Fusing nature transformation after completing the Rasengan's shape transformation was something Minato had envisioned back then but hadn't had the chance to complete himself.
If Naruto had truly achieved this step, it meant that his talent in Ninjutsu development had already surpassed that of the Yellow Flash back then.
As someone who had personally witnessed Minato create the Rasengan, Jiraiya wanted to see the Rasengan in its completed, advanced form with his own eyes.
"I suppose I could."
Naruto slipped his hands into his pockets. "But on one condition. In exchange, you have to teach me a more advanced move."
Jiraiya frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "Aren't you going to practice other Chakra nature transformations? How do you still have the energy to learn advanced moves?"
"Don't you understand the saying 'biting off more than you can chew', Naruto?"
"Right now you have the Rasengan, Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique, Wind Release: Vacuum Blade, and Summoning Technique. These, along with your Shadow Clone training methods, are already enough to keep you busy twenty-four hours a day."
Naruto shook his head. "They don't conflict. The practice of other Chakra nature transformations can be slowly accumulated during daily basic training. There is no direct conflict in time with learning new moves from you."
"And what I want to learn is not ordinary Ninjutsu, but the kind of move that can enhance the lethality of my entire Ninjutsu system."
Jiraiya fell silent for a moment, then directly refused, "There indeed is such a move. But its too dangerous for your current stage."
"With the slightest carelessness, your body will turn into a stone statue, and by then, even Orochimaru won't be able to do anything with your corpse."
Naruto showed a curious expression. "What jutsu is so dangerous?"
Jiraiya lowered his arms from his chest, his tone serious. "The Senjutsu of Mount Myōboku. The principle of Sage Mode is to absorb the natural energy from nature, and fuse it with your spiritual energy and physical energy in a strict ratio to create Senjutsu Chakra."
"The power of any Ninjutsu activated using Senjutsu Chakra will be amplified to a level that ordinary ninjas cannot even imagine."
"But this power comes with a price. Natural energy cannot be directly absorbed and utilized by the human body. Once you fail to control the ratio during the absorption process, natural energy will backlash against your body and turn you into a stone frog that can never be restored."
"Some old toads in Mount Myōboku who have been practicing Sage Arts for decades have several of their own turned into stone, standing in the training grounds as warning monuments."
"So, I won't teach you this now, at least not at this stage."
Naruto said, "Pervy Sage, don't you want to see the Rasengan fused with Wind Chakra?"
Jiraiya's footsteps faltered for a moment. "You brat... you're taking advantage of me."
Just as Jiraiya was organizing his words to counterattack, Naruto had already walked more than ten meters ahead.
"Hmph, isn't my power enough for you to use? Why do you still want to learn that dangerous thing that turns people into stone statues?"
Just then, Kurama's voice rang out in the Mindscape, its tone carrying a sleepy irritation.
It had woken up when Jiraiya said the word 'Senjutsu' just now.
'Kurama, it's not just me who needs to learn it, you need to learn it too.' Naruto smiled lightly and said.
Kurama was stunned to hear Naruto say that not only did he want to learn it, but he wanted it to learn it too.
"What? I have to learn it too? Naruto, what did you say?"
"I am the strongest Tailed Beast, I have my own Chakra. I don't need that stuff called natural energy."
Kurama sprang up from the grass, its nine tails flaring out, eyes wide.
"Kurama, did the Sage of Six Paths teach you to be so afraid of learning new things?"
"The fusion of natural energy and Tailed Beast Chakra is theoretically possible, and don't you think Kurama Sage Mode would be cool?"
Kurama wasn't convinced, but Naruto had mentioned the Sage of Six Paths.
"Hmph."
It laid back down on the grass and snorted.
"Let's go, Pervy Sage." Naruto turned his head and smiled at Jiraiya, who was trailing behind.
Jiraiya only then realized that he had actually been led by the nose the whole way by a twelve-year-old brat using Ninjutsu as bait. Yet, he couldn't refuse this bait.
He quickened his pace to walk side-by-side with Naruto, his mind already calculating how to adjust Naruto's introductory Senjutsu training plan, so that the brat would be scared off and give up automatically on the very first day he touched natural energy.