Desert Flower

Deal

  "Oi, Pervy Sage! Weren't you going to watch our training?!" Naruto huffed while the old man was peeking through the bushes at some women playing by the waterfall.

  "I'm researching now. Do it yourself!"

  "All right, then I'll summon a frog, a frog so big you'll be shocked! Summoning Jutsu!"

  "Hmm? What's wrong? Did a frog appear?"

  "W-Wait a minute!" Naruto waved his hands as a tadpole was squirming on the rocks.

  "What part of that's a frog?!" The old man shouted. "If you don't get serious, I won't help you!"

  "Shut up! I am being serious!"

  "Then somehow find your chakra as if your life depended on it!"

  "That's what I'm doing!" The blond pointed, and we spent all day trying to get something different than what we first got. The sun was setting, and the old man sighed.

  "Oh....how boring. Hey, Naruto! Sayuri! The swimsuit gals have gone, so why don't we call it a day?"

  "What? Let's stay a little longer! Come on, a little longer.... Just a little longer!"

  "I'm hungry. And I'm pretty tired too."

  "You haven't even done anything."

  "You should be thankful I hung out with you!" The old man shouted.

  "Lemme try one more time!" I raised my voice, taking them both by surprise.

  "....All right, all right.... Then try it out." The old man crouched, and Naruto managed to get a tadpole with hind legs this time. Seeing him progress made me want to try even harder.

  "Summoning Jutsu!" I put my hand down while they were arguing over the tadpole. I paused, seeing a little ball of fluffy fur standing in front of me while looking proud and its tail raised. "I did it! Pervy Sage, Naruto, look!" I scooped up the animal and excitedly showed it to them.

  "It actually has teeth this time." The old man raised his brows and walked over. Pulling up the animal's lip, he looked at the small teeth that were like tiny toothpicks. "Well, at least we have confirmed it's a carnivore. Ow!" He hissed, pulling back his hand when the animal bit him.

  "I still think it looks like a dog."

  "Well, even at this stage, it could be a number of things. Hyena, bear, coyote, whatever."

  "Well, whatever it is, it's cute."

  "For now." The old man glared at the animal while holding his bitten finger, and he got growled at in return.

~

  Yet again, Naruto and I were training with the summoning Jutsu while the old man was watching the girls at the waterfall. Kami-sama was sighing and whining about being hungry, and I tried ignoring them until Naruto yelled.

  "What's a frog anyway?!" He was holding his head. "From which stage do you call it a frog?!" Sighing, I was still stuck on getting balls of fluff and teeth since I wasn't getting the help I usually did with a new Jutsu. Naruto, however, basically had a frog with a little tail by now.

  "Naruto fainted again." I told the old man before summoning again. He sighed and went to the river to get some water. As the smoke cleared in front of me, I plopped down on the rocks. "Pervy Sage....I know what the scroll summons." My voice was low and calm as I looked at the animal looking right back at me.