AND BACK AGAIN [ NARUTO ]

[ 16 ] mount myoboku

previously. . .

Naruto flipped around, momentarily taking in his surroundings. "You reverse summoned me!" he exclaimed accusingly.

Fukasaku sat, a permanent frown etched into his aged face. His beady, murky yellow eyes considered Naruto for a few tense moments before he spoke.

"Who are you?"

///\

Naruto scratched his whiskered cheek sheepishly. "Eh. . .for a moment there, I forgot you're not the Geezer Sage from my time. . ."

Fukasaku, still perched at his feet, shook his head. "I sense Jiraiya-chan behind all of this," he said. "Follow me."

Naruto hesitated as the toad began to hop further into the colorful mass that was Mount Myoboku before he scrambled after him. (For a small geezer, he was awfully fast.) It soon became clear they were headed towards the small hut that was his shared home.

"Pa! Is that you?"

Fukasaku stopped at the entryway, shaking his head. "Yes, Ma, I'm back."

"Well?" Her voice gradually grew louder as she approached. "Did you get to the bottom of this nonsense?" She stopped when she spotted Naruto, standing awkwardly behind her husband.

"It seems we have a lot to talk about."

Soon, Naruto was seated in front of a small round table across from the Toad Sage. Shima bustled around, working on an impressive spread before them--that, had it not all been insects of various kinds, Naruto would've partaken of happily.

Fukasaku seemed to be disregarding the food as well, much to his wife's annoyance. His eyes bore holes into the blond, scrutinizing him as if he could read everything he wanted to know right from his mind.

"So?" Naruto leaned back on his folded legs, unable to hold in his curiosity. "Why'd you call me here, huh? I was in the middle of something important."

The toad sighed. "I summoned you for good reason. . .but, first, tell me when you signed the summoning contract for toads."

Naruto wrinkled his nose. "Eh, it was back when Ero-sennin first started training me." He could always recall the small tadpoles he'd mastered right before Ero-sennin shoved him off a cliff and he'd instinctively summoned one of the largest toads at his disposal, Gamabunta. It was a dirty move on his master's part, but everything Jiraiya had done was a step forward for Naruto.

Fukasaku nodded, looking down. "Tell me how you're here, Naruto."

Naruto paused. How am I here?  Was he supposed to go with the 'I was thrown from the Fourth Shinobi World War by a jutsu cast by a thought-to-be-long-deceased Uchiha' explanation? Was that what Fukasaku was expecting to hear?

"Tha senile old toad left out tha part having to do with you yourself," Fukasaku muttered. "I suppose it's not tha time to be asking questions, however curious we are." He paused shortly before continuing. "I summoned you here because Ojiji-sama saw your future."

He had Naruto's attention. No matter how stuck in the past he currently was, his mind seemed to think only of the future. Or, at least, what had previously been his present. Leave? Or stay? Leave or stay leave or stay leave or stay--

"His words were unclear for tha most part," Fukasaku admitted. Since when were they not? "But he made one thing clear: the future is at a standstill."