Part 32

                                    

                                          
"Huff...Huff...Huff..." Naruto gasped for breath, his lungs feeling like they were about to collapse in on themselves although his will and determination remained as strong as ever.
                          
"Had...enough?" He gasped, lying face down on Gamabunta's warty head.
                          
The toad roared with laughter. His anger had long since vanished with only frustration left behind when the blonde ninja challenged him by staying on his head until the toad gave in and accepted him as his summoner.
                          
Naruto groaned, sweat dripping down his forehead in copious amounts. He could feel the toad judging him and looking down on him. He was used to it. The feeling of being lesser than a human being was so familiar to him, he'd almost confused it with the feeling of love once.
                          
"I'll show you..." Naruto muttered, halting the toad's laughter as Gamabunta hummed in curiosity.
                          
"I'm not giving up. I'm the future Hokage, dammit!" Naruto yelled, tears of frustration and anger swelling up the corners of his eyes.
                          
Gamabunta remained silent for a moment, in thought. His respect for the small boy was growing by the second but that didn't mean he'd start going easy on him.
                          
"Tch!" Naruto grunted as Gamabunta seemed to ignore his slight mental breakdown by sailing through the air again, only to come back down on a rough landing.
                          
Naruto coughed, his breath was still trying to catch up from way up in the air.
                          
"Had enough?" Gamabunta patrionizingly questioned with a smug smirk.
                          
"Never!" Naruto yelled back, a stupid grin of his own on his lips.
                          
Gamabunta wondered why the boy was grinning - he was losing after all but that didn't seem to deter the genin as his grip never loosened. Not even for a moment.
                          
The toad boss was impressed. Never had he encountered a human that could challenge him the way this mere boy was doing.
                          
"Just give up boy" Gamabunta grunted, his pierced tongue twisting around in frustration.
                          
"Accept me as your summoner!" Naruto shot back and stood up, using his chakra to stay upright.
                          
Gamabunta didn't respond as he jumped into the air again, landing in the nearby lake where Jiriya was, coincidentally, doing his 'research'.
                          
The girls that surrounded the lake screamed in panic and ran away as Gamabunta appeared before them.
                          
Naruto, who was still standing, suddenly lost his chakra focus and fell backwards onto the toad's back.
                          
"No!" Naruto grunted as he continued to fall. The blonde was quick to use his shadow clone jutsu to create a chain of clones, hurling himself back up to the top.
                          
The sky was orange by now, signalling the near end of the day when Naruto realised he'd depleted his chakra. The strength to even lift a finger had abandoned him, he'd never felt so weak in his life.
                          
The genin didn't realise it until it was too late, his feet no longer stood on top of Gamabunta's head. Instead, his eyes slowly focused in on the ground growing closer and closer to him. It was just before the darkness overtook his conciousness that he realised he was falling.
                          
Gamabunta, feeling enough respect for the boy, caught the blonde with his tongue just before he could hit the ground.
                          
"Amazing. This child...no one since the Fourth Hokage has lasted that long. He really is your child...Minato" Gamabunta murmured to himself, sadness lingering in his tone.
                          
The great toad jumped into Konoha, taking the boy to the hospital. It'd be a shame if he were to die after all that effort.
                          
After a short while later, Naruto had woken up and spoke with Jiraiya again, though he voiced his dissaprovement at being treated so low, the boy quickly moved on as he did gain something out of it.