The sun blazed gently over Konoha's training grounds as Team 7 stood lined up, serious and attentive.

Kakashi stood in front of them, his familiar silver hair gleaming in the light, arms crossed lazily over his chest.

"You all passed the preliminaries," he said, his uncovered face showing a rare smile. "Now, it's time to get serious."

"Heck yeah, Kakashi-sensei! Let's start already! I'm gonna beat up that Neji!" Naruto bounced eagerly on the balls of his feet.

Sasuke simply nodded, his dark eyes focused and determined. Sakura stood straighter, gripping her kunai pouch.

Kakashi held up a big scroll.

"Before we begin… there's something important." He tossed the scroll to them. "You're all going to sign this."

"Except you Sakura, I have something else for you, and you are going to love it!" Kakashi said as he had planned to have Tsunade train both Karin and Sakura so the Snake summons wasn't necessary for her.

Sakura nodded in response, she trusted Kakashi very much so she didn't have an objection to this.

"Whoa! A summoning contract!" Naruto opened the scroll and gasped.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"They're summoning contracts for serpents," Kakashi explained.

"Specifically, a special branch connected to Garaga whom you know." He added.

"This contract isn't a toy. But with them, you'll have powerful allies." His gaze sharpened.

"Snakes are awesome! I'm gonna get the biggest one!" Naruto grinned widely.

"Tch. As long as it's useful." Sasuke gave a rare smirk.

Sasuke and Naruto bit their thumbs, smeared blood across the scroll, and signed their names.

Instantly, they felt a surge of chakra connecting them to a distant place.

"Good. Now we can begin real training."Kakashi smiled approvingly.

High above the trees, hidden behind genjutsu and clever chakra suppression, a man with long spiky white hair watched the scene before him unfold.

Jiraiya of the Sannin narrowed his eyes.

'The old man had said the kid was a slacker… But what is this?' He thought.

He watched Naruto effortlessly performing advanced chakra control exercises, molding wind chakra into shapes and even practicing Rasengan with surprisingly decent form.

'That's… definitely Rasengan!' Jiraiya thought, not expecting Naruto to have learned it this early.

He turned to Kakashi, whose sharp eyes were already looking directly at his hiding spot.

Caught.

Jiraiya coughed awkwardly and dropped down into the clearing, making an overly flashy entrance.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura blinked at him.

"Yo!" Jiraiya said with a wide grin. "Name's Jiraiya. I'm a famous, super amazing, handsome ninja, known far and wide as the Toad Sage!"

Naruto stared at him blankly.

"Toad Sage?" he repeated, confused.

Jiraiya laughed, striking a ridiculous pose. "You should be honored! Kids these days… No respect for legends!"

"Eh, whatever. You look kinda weird, old man." Naruto tilted his head and said.

Sasuke said nothing, simply studying him carefully.

Sakura fidgeted, as someone who read a lot at the academy, she clearly knew who Jiraya was.

Jiraiya chuckled and created a puff of smoke two small frogs appeared next to him, croaking loudly.

"These," he said proudly, "are some of my loyal summons!"

"Whoa, they're kinda cute!" Naruto's eyes sparkled.

Jiraiya puffed up proudly, expecting the usual awe.

But Naruto grinned wider and said, "Still, I like snake summons more! They're cooler! Especially Kakashi-sensei's one although he is a little grumpy, but he is very cool.

Jiraiya blinked.

"Snakes?!" he blurted.

He turned sharply to Kakashi, who had his hands tucked into his pockets as usual, looking unfazed.

"I let them sign a contract with the Snakes," Kakashi said smoothly. "I obtained it after a visit to Ryuchi Cave."

"You… what?!" Jiraiya nearly tripped over himself.

Naruto grinned. "Yeah! Now I wanna try summoning huge snakes! Way cooler than these cute frogs!"

Kakashi chuckled softly.

'Looks like the old perv didn't expect that,' He thought. At this point, there was nothing Juraiya could teach Naruto.

'What can I even teach him?' Jiraiya thought. He knows Rasengan, can control chakra, and can use summoning. He didn't know how to proceed at this time.

Despite Jiraiya's interruption, Kakashi immediately put the trio through a brutal training regimen.

He paired Naruto with intense chakra control and Rasengan refinement, helping him focus his chaotic energy better. Naruto trained until his arms felt like jelly, but his Rasengan was growing more stable, denser, and sharper.

Sasuke trained on his speed and power.

Kakashi pushed him to master his Chidori fully, polishing the technique's execution and accuracy. Even more, Kakashi once again made Sasuke practice without relying on his Sharingan, sharpening his instincts and natural combat sense.

Sakura, on the other hand, underwent tough genjutsu and water-style training.

Kakashi and Kurenai who came later and together helped her develop genjutsu countermeasures, making her mind sharper and tougher. Sakura's chakra control allowed her to learn faster than expected.

Naruto, between breaks, often summoned his snake partner, a small but fierce scarlet viper and wrestled with it comically.

"Oi! Watch it! I'm not a toy! I'm a might snake!" the snake hissed at Naruto.

"C'mon, you're my friend now!" Naruto just laughed.

"I refuse! I don't want a dumb friend like you!" The snake hissed.

"Ha!? Who are you calling dumb?" Naruto said as he tried to catch the snake by its tail.

The snake saw Naruto going for his tail, and he immediately slithered into his arm and slapped him in the face with his tail.

"Damn it! I'm going to stew you!" Naruto said and prepared to catch the snake but it slithered away and went to Sasuke who he found cooler than Naruto.

Sasuke watched silently as the snake curled at his feet, deep in thought.

The snake summons are powerful… and he thought that all snakes were grumpy like Garaga, but today they had summoned all kinds of snakes with different personalities and there were not many bloodthirsty ones.

'Trust Sensei… He always knows what he's doing.' Sasuke thought as he caught the Snake and put it on his neck.