Chapter 485: Clever Konohamaru
"Ho—ha—ha—ha—hoooo—!"
Ebisu was burned so badly he started jumping in place, letting out a scream that sounded like Tom from 'Tom and Jerry'.
Konohamaru had indeed tested the power of Fire Release: Ash Chicken Burning with his Shadow Clone beforehand—but he overlooked one crucial detail.
He used a Shadow Clone for testing.
After taking a certain amount of damage, a Shadow Clone would simply disperse. A real human being would not.
And more importantly, different people had different physical tolerances.
Konohamaru? What kind of condition was he in?
A pure, untested, completely "innocent" body.
And Ebisu?
A man more repressed than even Kakashi.
Extremely tightly controlled. Extremely suppressed.
So at first, Ebisu could still endure it for a brief moment.
But as soon as his clothes were completely burned away and the ash and sparks began crackling violently across his body, he completely lost it.
He had originally tried to maintain his cold, composed instructor image—but now he was rolling on the ground screaming.
Even worse, Konohamaru's newly developed Ash Chicken Burning technique had a tracking adhesion effect.
This was because earlier, when Naruto explained Sage Mode, he mentioned Jiraiya's original version of Sage Mode.
When choosing how to enter Sage Mode, if possible, you had to account for entering it during combat.
Naruto's Multi Shadow Clone technique, for example, didn't matter whether it was used in battle or not—it worked either way.
But Kakashi's Purple Electricity required consideration of tracking and attachment if used from a main body against a Shadow Clone.
A Shadow Clone might dodge or escape enemy attacks; if it got destroyed before the technique even hit, chakra would be wasted.
Purple Electricity could handle this because its precision control was extremely high.
And Konohamaru followed the same logic.
If he wanted Ash Chicken Burning to hit a moving Shadow Clone, it also needed tracking capability, so he added adhesion.
After being released, the ash and sparks would stick to any nearby target.
Just like now, at first it stuck to Ebisu's clothing and then… "Ebisu-sensei, is this suffering or enjoyment…?"
Naruto scratched his head as he watched Ebisu screaming on the ground, unable to tell what was going on.
"Help… help me!"
Ebisu seemed to hear Naruto and forced out a cry for help.
"Eh? Something actually went wrong? Then you should've said so earlier. If you don't say anything, how am I supposed to know you're in trouble?"
"H-help me—quick!"
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Naruto bit his finger and slammed his hand on the ground. A yellow toad appeared in front of him.
"Go, Gamatatsu! Use Water Release on Ebisu-sensei!"
"Gah, I can't use Water Release, but I can spit water. Wait a second."
Gamatatsu hopped over to the riverbank, took a deep breath of water, then turned to aim at Ebisu.
"Hold on!"
Kakashi quickly stepped in front of Gamaru.
"You can't use water! When water hits extreme heat, it turns into steam. It'll burn Ebisu even more!"
"Oh, really?"
Gamatatsu spat the water out onto the ground.
He tilted his head, feeling like he had just learned something new.
"Then what do we do?"
Naruto asked.
"Use isolation. Find something non-flammable and completely block off the area covered by the ash."
Kakashi said this while scanning the surroundings for anything usable.
But in the middle of nowhere, all there was… was grass and wood. What could possibly isolate it?
"I've got it!"
Naruto's eyes landed on Gamatatsu.
He was about to say they should just send him back to Mount Myoboku, but then he noticed fish in the water Gamatatsu had spat out.
Naruto immediately grabbed one and threw it at Ebisu.
Smack.
It hit him squarely.
Naruto looked a little awkward.
His aim was clearly off.
"I get it now, Naruto-nii! Leave it to me!"
Konohamaru saw Naruto's action and immediately understood the idea. He also grabbed a fish and threw it at Ebisu.
"Phew…"
Ebisu, now "rescued" by the fish, finally collapsed on the ground, drenched in sweat.
But the crisis wasn't over.
The fish had simply taken over the burning damage instead of Ebisu.
Once it was fully cooked and carbonized, Ebisu would still suffer severe injury.
This wasn't Ash Chicken Burning anymore—it was basically Amaterasu.
Speaking of Amaterasu, there was actually another solution.
This technique wasn't an endless-burning fire. As long as they kept replacing the fish, swapping in a new one before each one was fully burned, Ebisu could be kept safe.
But over time, there would inevitably be slow, low-temperature roasting.
Fortunately, Konohamaru really was clever. His battle intelligence was comparable to Shikamaru's. In such a short time, he even came up with a use for wire-controlled shuriken techniques, attaching a steel wire to the fish's tail.
Once the ash had fully adhered and started burning the fish, Konohamaru pulled the wire, dragging the fish and the attached ash away from Ebisu in one motion.
"Aah… I'm dead."
The pulled-away fish felt like the final straw that broke the camel's back, and Ebisu passed out completely.
"What a shame. Ebisu-sensei's willpower is too weak, and he doesn't have a summoning beast. Otherwise, he might've already been able to master Sage Mode."
Konohamaru took a picnic blanket from his ninja pouch and covered Ebisu with it—just in case someone passed by and thought he was some kind of pervert.
With Ebisu out of the way, Konohamaru demonstrated again and received Kakashi's approval.
Naruto, treating Konohamaru like a junior disciple, had already taught him Shadow Clones and Rasengan—so of course he didn't forget the toad contract either, and directly allowed Konohamaru to sign it.
In the original story, Konohamaru was one of the rare ninjas, aside from those who specialized in summoning, who contracted two summoning beast clans.
The Monkey Clan's Enra, and the Toad Clan's Gamagorō.
Interestingly, rapid growth was not a common trait among the toad clan.
Enra was the son of Enma, the Monkey King that Sarutobi Hiruzen had contracted.
The same Enma that was infamously misquoted as "the one who stabbed the Third Hokage with a sword."
As the son of Enma, he shouldn't be too far off in age from Naruto's second-generation toads.
And yet, even by the Boruto era, Enra still looked extremely small and young.
Enra's age was roughly the same as the Third Hokage's timeline.
Even if, for argument's sake, Enra had been born after Hiruzen's death, because Enma retired and went home to "start a second life", he still should've been bigger by now.
But instead, Enra looked like he might even be younger than Boruto.
In any case, Enra was confirmed to exist now, which suggested that the Monkey Clan and Toad Clan truly did have different growth rates.
"That's it, exactly like that."
Naruto directed Kakashi and Konohamaru.
Konohamaru was fine, he had Enra on one shoulder and little Gamagorō on the other.
Kakashi, meanwhile, had eight dogs hanging off him directly.
(End of this chapter)