Episode 57 - He Flies! He Jumps! He Lurks! Chief Toad Appears!

You remember that Kaiju Toad that saved Naruto at the end of last episode? Good! He's still here, and he smokes a pipe and talks. It apparently has a large scar on its face, too. Just to check, he makes sure it is not, in fact, a tadpole and celebrates while the Toad displays remarkable paitence with the whole enterprise. Jiraiya's impressed, but knows that Naruto's still got a long way to go to master the Demon Fox's Chakra, and amused that it's THIS Giant Toad he's summoned. Speaking of Giant Toads, this one's name is Gamabunta, and he is the Chief Toad, thank you, and doesn't like Naruto bouncing on his head. Gamabunta complains about having been summoned for the first time in ages, and an orange jumpsuited lunatic kid's bouncing on his head. He starts bellowing for Jiraiya, who decides to make himself scarce. He asks Naruto where the Toad Sage is, and Naruto tries to cover for him, but Gara's very angry and quickly rolls over on the Pervy Sage. Naruto wants to know what Jiraiya's doing him summoning here of all places, and Naruto haltingly explains HE summoned the Chief Toad. It is the first time I've seen a giant amphibian break into gales of laughter. He doesn't believe Naruto could summon him, which irriates Naruto into calling him a jerk. This followed up, somewhat unwisely, by saying since he summoned Gama he's Gama's master. Gama's incensed by such arrogance! He grabs Naruto with his tongue, then leaps out of the cavern at super-sonic speed and levels half the countryside with his landing.

On the surface, Gama lays down the law to Naruto, saying that there's no way in hell he'd serve a punk like him. Having no further business with our hero, Gamabunta proceeds to lumber off and fight Gamera, or something. Naruto's not one to let this lie, hopping on the Chief Toad's back and vowing to stay on Gama until the big frog recognizes Naruto as his master. Chief Toad has what might be precisely called a fit and starts to buck like the world's largest cold-blooded bronco. Far away, Jiraiya's amusing himself with Naruto's plight, until the delighted squeals of barely-dressed girls force him to reprioritize Naruto down the list.

At Hidden Leaf, which apparently has yet to feel the toad-based tremors, Kankuro watches Team Ten hit Choji's favorite BBQ place again. Temari gets on her brother for letting Gaara out of his sight, but he says even Gaara wouldn't try something in broad daylight. What's Kankuro's reasoning, exactly? He gets on Temari's case for blowing off facing Shikamaru, saying if she's taken the test when she ought've, she'd already be Chunin. Flashback to the Village Hidden in the Sand and their sensei telling the Sand Squad they're headed for Leaf Village's Exam, but it's not to become Chunin. The Sand Ninja are upset that their... budget was cut by the leader of the Land of the Wind. Hah! Some of their contracts were even given to Hidden Leaf. Strength is important to the Sand Village - it's why they made Shinobi like Gaara. Made? Yeep. It's been decided their daimyo is an idiot, so the Kazekage made a deal with the Hidden Sound Village to crush the Hidden Leaf Village. This will convince their daimyo that keeping the Sand Village's strength at maximum is important. Temari realizes this will lead to war, and is suprisingly upset about the cost in human life. We get a reiteration of Shinobi being tools, and this seemingly convinces the Sand Ninjas.

The Chief Toad's doing everything he can to shake Naruto off, and to his credit, Naruto's still hanging on. Their struggles have even formed a rainbow, which the pretty girls admire, giving Jiraiya something to admire. At the present-day Hidden Sand Village, the Genin's sensei delivers the Sound Village's battle plan to Kazekage. The sensei wants some extra troops, but this gets shot down for fear it'll tip their hand to the Hidden Leaf, and besides, they already have Gaara. At the Chief Toad Riding Finals, Naruto points out it's almost the deadline for his completely arbitrary contract of servitude for Gamabunta. Gama's tempted to just ignore Naruto, like many are, but the kid's starting to get under his skin. Again, like most people. He finally asks Naruto's name. and goes for one last mad attempt to get the kid off his back. Naruto has to Shadow Clone himself into a human chain to keep him from falling off, and Jiraiya's amazed at how he can keep using Chakra. He's also despondent that Gama landed on the spot the girls hang out. Right at sundown, Naruto finally gives out and falls unconscious, although Gama catches him before he can fall to his death (for real). The Hermit Sage surreptiously leaves the Summoning contract that Naruto signed so Gama can see it, which by now the Chief Toad will admit to. It's the first time since the Fourth Hokage called him that somebody's ridden his head. Hmmm. He leaves Naruto back in Hidden Leaf alongside a footprint they could use as a reservoir, our boy with an exhausted smile on his face.

Next Episode: Visiting hours for Gaara. Crap!