The moment the Junior Evasion title was unlocked, Naruto distinctly felt his mind clear up, and his reaction time seemed to have improved beyond its previous baseline.
The most intuitive result was that after dodging a kick from Jiraiya, Naruto was able to counterattack with even greater speed, and when Jiraiya followed up with another offensive, Naruto smoothly dodged that as well.
"My whole body feels refreshed, and even my physical form feels much lighter. This feeling is really not bad," Naruto thought with a secret thrill as he began to handle the battle with Jiraiya with ease.
Although he temporarily had no time to check the attributes of his newly acquired title, Naruto could personally feel through actual combat that this title must have granted him a higher evasion stat.
The faster one's evasion, the easier it was to find one's own offensive and defensive rhythm in battle. In a life-or-death battle, this would undoubtedly be a major trump card for saving one's life!
Meanwhile, Jiraiya was also gradually sensing the changes in Naruto.
"What's wrong with this kid? How did he suddenly become as slippery as an eel?" Jiraiya thought with some perplexity after Naruto once again dodged his attack. He had clearly noticed by now that, compared to the beginning, Naruto's reaction speed seemed to have increased quite a bit.
"Could it be that this kid Naruto's growth rate in actual combat is actually this astonishing?" While jumping left and right and exchanging blows evenly with Naruto, Jiraiya muttered silently to himself, "How come I never noticed this talent of Naruto's before? It looks like I need to fight Naruto more seriously from here on out; maybe I can awaken the potential hidden inside the kid's body."
With this thought, the look in Jiraiya's eyes during the battle turned slightly more serious. When Naruto launched another Rasengan at him, Jiraiya countered with a Rasengan of his own: "Take this, Naruto, Rasengan!"
The two Rasengans collided mid-air, and a fierce turbulence of Chakra instantly expanded violently in all directions with the two of them at the center. After clashing head-on with Naruto's Rasengan, Jiraiya felt a secret shock: "The power of Naruto's Rasengan seems to have grown quite a bit stronger."
As the mentor who taught Naruto the Rasengan, Jiraiya should have known Naruto's mastery of the technique inside out. Yet right now, the destructive power of Naruto's Rasengan seemed to have surpassed Jiraiya's original understanding.
How could Jiraiya possibly know that Naruto was a man who used system cheats!
***
The intense battle that broke out at Training Ground 58 continued for a long time, finally coming to an end only when the setting sun gradually dipped below the horizon.
When Naruto pressed his final Rasengan against Jiraiya's Shadow Clone, reducing it to a puff of white smoke that dissipated, his initially acquired Ultimate Rookie title finally ushered in its first upgrade!
"Congratulations to the host for achieving a deeper understanding of using ultimate techniques. The 'Ultimate Rookie' title has successfully upgraded to the next stage: 'Size Control Expert'!"
With a battle full of fruitful gains, Naruto looked at Jiraiya and expressed his heartfelt thanks: "Pervy Sage, thank you very much. This battle has been a huge help to me."
At this moment, Training Ground 58 could be described as utterly devastated. The ground was pitted everywhere, looking as though it had been carpet-bombed by missiles. This was the result of Naruto and Jiraiya scrubbing the training ground with Rasengans along the way during their fight. One could only imagine how unsparingly Naruto had thrown out his ultimate techniques in order to level up his title.
Jiraiya swept a gaze across the agonizingly ruined expanse of the training ground before finally letting his eyes fall back onto Naruto. After watching quietly for a moment, Jiraiya stepped forward and smiled with gratification: "Naruto, you really have grown up a lot."
As he spoke, Jiraiya reached his right hand into his tunic: "To celebrate your growth, I have a gift for you."
Reaching into his tunic, he pulled out a book and handed it directly to Naruto.
Naruto reached out, took it, and looked down. Bold characters were unmistakably printed on the cover of the book:
*The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi: The Legend of Jiraiya the Gallant*
***
Three days later, in the morning, inside the Hokage's office in the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
"Naruto, you want to leave the village to train on your own?" Sitting behind her desk with her hands supporting her chin, Tsunade, now the Fifth Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, looked at Naruto and furrowed her brow slightly.
"That's right, exactly like that," Naruto replied with a smile, nodding without the slightest hesitation.
"Jiraiya, are you not planning to go along with him?" Seeing Naruto nod, Tsunade turned her gaze to Jiraiya, who was standing beside Naruto, and asked.
"No, this is Naruto's own request, and I choose to respect his wishes," Jiraiya replied in a rare serious tone, completely devoid of his usual cheeky grin in front of Tsunade.
"No way, this is too reckless!" Seeing both Naruto and Jiraiya give affirmative answers, Tsunade found herself unable to sit still. "If you were going along with Naruto, Jiraiya, I could agree to it. But if Naruto is going out to train all by himself, it's simply too dangerous. I don't agree."
Tsunade's words were delivered with ringing finality, leaving seemingly no room for negotiation. Seeing this, just as Naruto was about to speak, Jiraiya stepped in ahead of him: "Tsunade, I know what you're worried about. Don't worry, before setting off, I will give Naruto something to ensure his safety in the event of a crisis."
As soon as Jiraiya said this, Tsunade's expression improved ever so slightly. From Tsunade's perspective, Naruto, as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, had already been targeted by that organization called Akatsuki. Earlier, Uchiha Itachi had returned to the Village Hidden in the Leaves after many years, claiming he was there to capture the Nine-Tails inside Naruto for Akatsuki. Knowing full well that there was an unknown beast like Akatsuki lurking in the shadows, letting Naruto travel alone would be far too dangerous.
However, since Jiraiya could make such a statement now, it meant he was certainly confident in guaranteeing Naruto's safety. That alone dispelled a large part of Tsunade's concerns.
Otherwise, both for official reasons and personal ones, Tsunade would have done everything in her power to stop Naruto from leaving the Village Hidden in the Leaves alone.
But now, under Naruto's persistence, Tsunade ultimately had no choice but to compromise: "Fine, since that's the case, I'll agree to it. Naruto, you must be extremely careful in everything while you're out on your own. You have to rein in that careless personality of yours, or it will be very dangerous."
"Got it, Granny Tsunade. With how pretty you are, whatever you say must carry a ton of weight. I'll treat it as words of wisdom and keep it in mind at all times," Naruto grinned as he looked at Tsunade's serious expression.