Return and Summoning

On Konoha's side, Tenzo stared at Zi Xu's head, which had vanished along with the summoning seal, and felt his mind go blank. After checking several times, he finally accepted that Zi Xu had disappeared into thin air.

"So there's only one possibility: that kid performed the Summoning Technique in reverse order and reverse-summoned himself somewhere..." Tenzo paced back and forth, clutching his hair, his lips pressed tightly together.

"Reverse Summoning? How does that work? Where is Zi Xu now?" Hatsumi clenched her fists nervously. She had never seen a Summoning Technique that made someone vanish like that.

Chino looked thoughtful. She glanced at the summoning formula on the ground, which had not yet completely disappeared, and tried to explain it to Hatsumi:

"Normally, we perform a technique to communicate with Summoning Beasts in another space, then use the technique to summon them into our own space. Zi Xu must have reversed the formula, making himself the 'Summoning Beast being summoned' and transporting himself to another space..." The more Chino spoke, the tighter her brow furrowed. She didn't understand why Zi Xu, who was usually so levelheaded, would do something like this. He sometimes did strange things, but this was especially strange.

Tenzo nodded solemnly, his voice heavy with concern:

"She's right. Reverse Summoning is highly unpredictable and dangerous. The space between dimensions is full of spatial currents, and most people can't withstand the tearing force of dimensional travel. Even if the transfer succeeds, there's no guarantee where you'll end up. Finding your way back... is incredibly difficult..."

As he spoke, he thumped his thigh in self-reproach, biting his lip in frustration. Meanwhile, Great Ferocity, in the nearby water tank, had a knowing look in his eyes. He had already seen through everything.

"Damn it, I let my guard down. How could I, as their teacher, fail to notice one of my students acting strangely? I was assigned to teach them, yet something went wrong on the very first lesson. Tenzo, how could you be so careless? No, I have to report this to Lord Hokage. This accident happened because of my mistake..." Tenzo's expression darkened. He felt as though his whole life had grown a little bleaker because of this.

Chino and Hatsumi still hadn't quite come to terms with the news that Zi Xu might be in grave danger. Just as Chino bit her lip, seeming about to lose her temper, the black summoning seal on the ground, which had nearly faded away, suddenly flared back to life. The black markings gradually became whole again, and soon formed a complete summoning array.

This time, Tenzo was on guard. He moved in front of Chino and Hatsumi and, before the summoning seal could do anything, swiftly formed hand seals. Thick wooden stakes sprouted from his arms and, as if alive, enclosed the summoning array. In just a few breaths, they had formed a cube-shaped wooden cage.

From behind Tenzo, Hatsumi watched him use Wood Release. As expected of a Jonin—she'd need a long time to learn hand seals that fast.

Zi Xu felt that his transfer hadn't gone very smoothly. At first, everything had been fine. He'd watched the energy clusters along the way, as if sightseeing, but just as he was about to reach the summoning array's markings, several yellow-green rays of light appeared at its entrance, forming what looked like... a cage?

"Poof!" White smoke billowed once more, and Zi Xu appeared inside the wooden cage. Because of where he landed, his neck was caught between the wooden bars. The little black snake was coiled on his red hair, staring blankly at the cage with wide eyes. All three of them looked utterly dumbfounded.

Tenzo and the others, now on alert, saw Zi Xu emerge from the summoning array. They hurried over to free him from the cage, then bombarded him with questions.

"Where did you go? Are you all right? What's with the little black snake?"

"Be careful next time. Don't reverse the Summoning Technique. You were lucky nothing happened this time, but who knows what might happen in the future?"

"As long as you're safe. We'll have to keep a close eye on you during training from now on."

Tenzo let out a huge sigh of relief when he saw that Zi Xu was unharmed. He hadn't expected one lesson on the Summoning Technique to cause so much trouble. From now on, he'd have to keep a much closer watch on them to make sure nothing else went wrong.

In the water tank nearby, Great Ferocity's eyes gleamed with wisdom. Everything had gone exactly as he'd predicted, just as Great Ferocity had planned.

Watching everyone's reactions, Zi Xu guessed that not much time had passed on this side since he used Reverse Summoning. He'd spent most of his time in Ryūchi Cave inside a dream, so his sense of time had been somewhat hazy.

He explained what he'd experienced, but didn't mention Orochimaru or Ryūchi Cave. He didn't know whether Konoha knew about Sage Mode, but he was certain that if he revealed he could communicate with Ryūchi Cave, he'd be investigated and placed under control.

Orochimaru had once hinted during a casual conversation that, when he was young, he and Danzo had studied transplanting First Generation Cells into living people. That showed that Konoha had no qualms about human experimentation. Zi Xu had no desire to become a test subject lying in a laboratory.

"After I finished forming the hand seals, I felt like I'd been summoned somewhere. There were all kinds of glowing energy clusters there. I didn't know where I was, but I found the clusters interesting, so I watched them as I floated along to pass the time. That's when I met this little guy..." Zi Xu lied without missing a beat. His expression was so righteous that he didn't look guilty at all.

"Later, I felt something pulling me from behind, so I followed it back. I came out through what looked like the entrance to a Summoning Technique, but some yellow-green energy seemed to be stopping me from returning. When I looked again, I was stuck in the cage..." He did his best to come up with a reasonably plausible explanation. Tenzo and the others didn't suspect him. As long as Zi Xu was safe, the rest could wait.

"As long as you're all right. Now each of you has contracted a Summoning Beast, so this lesson has gotten off to a pretty good start." Tenzo's lack of experience as a professional teacher showed. Having worked in Anbu for so long, he'd always treated missions as his top priority. Now, he only wanted to teach them the Summoning Technique properly.

Fortunately, Chino and the others were all easygoing and didn't need time to recover from the shock. Even Zi Xu, who had been at the center of it all, simply brushed the wood shavings off himself and sat back down.

The four of them and their four beasts continued the lesson as if nothing had happened. Great Ferocity still wore a confident look, Xiao Chan lay dazed in Hatsumi's palm, the Panda Cub clung to Chino's leg, and the tiny black snake, only as long as an arm, sprawled across Zi Xu's head, flicking its tongue.

"Now that everyone has their own Summoning Beast, let's go over the specifics of using the Summoning Technique. Don't be fooled by its low rank; that doesn't mean it's weak. The Impure World Reincarnation, which is said to bring the dead back to the living world from the Underworld Path, also falls under the category of Summoning Techniques. But it's a forbidden technique, so we won't be discussing it further..."

Tenzo spoke at length. His experience working in Anbu and Root had given him knowledge of many secrets. When he mentioned Impure World Reincarnation, he glanced at their faces, and only continued once he saw no obvious reactions.

"Summoning Beasts generally fall into three categories: combat types, sensory and analytical types, and support types."

"Each type has its own strengths. Combat-type Summoning Beasts excel at direct combat. They're usually enormous and know several ninjutsu, but they tend to have violent temperaments. Unless they've been raised from a young age, they can be dangerous. Sometimes they even turn on their summoners."

As he said this, Tenzo looked at the three Summoning Beasts belonging to Zi Xu and the others. They were all young, harmless, and gentle—not like Great Ferocity, who was extremely bad-tempered.

He pointed to the little black snake on Zi Xu's head, indicating that it was the sort of beast that belonged to the combat type. But Zi Xu remembered that he'd intended to use the snake as a beacon. Maybe it should count as a support type instead?

"Sensory-type Summoning Beasts are like Hatsumi's Xiao Chan. Their combat ability is negligible, but they're excellent at sensing and analyzing information. They can usually speak, so when you run into problems in the future, you might want to ask their opinion..."

Finally, Tenzo pointed to the little panda clutching Chino's pant leg and gazing up at her with tear-filled eyes.

"Support-type Summoning Beasts combine the other two types. They can assist the summoner in battle, provide senses and vision, offer healing, and so on... Uh, the Iron-Eating Beast should count as a support type..." Tenzo felt that the Iron-Eating Beast, whose eyes were always full of tears, seemed to stick its tongue out at him when it heard him call it a support-type Summoning Beast. He felt like it was looking down on him, but he had no proof.

"But don't worry. They can grow stronger, too. Summoning Beasts don't necessarily have to obey their summoners; you'll have to build that relationship yourselves. One more thing: it's best to summon them during battle. Normally, Summoning Beasts live in their own space. Of course, you can also spend Chakra to keep them by your side for a long time. The choice is yours."

"And the most important thing: don't use Reverse Summoning casually. That covers the key points of the Summoning Technique. Does anyone have any questions?" After feeding Zi Xu and the others a whole lecture's worth of information about the Summoning Technique, Tenzo took a drink of water.

It was a lot to take in at once, but they were all quick learners—far more capable than their peers. Hatsumi nodded and wrote the key points Tenzo had explained into her notebook. Zi Xu hadn't been paying close attention, but he'd still caught most of it.

Chino, however, looked thoughtful. She lifted the furry little ball from her lap and held it in her arms, then asked Tenzo about something that had been on her mind.

"Every ninjutsu has techniques that develop from it. If you train the most basic technique to its absolute limit, then could it be possible to..."

Tenzo seemed to know what Chino was about to say and cut her off. His tone was more solemn than ever.

"That's true in theory, but the price is too high. Who would spend their entire life studying a single technique? In this era, hardly any Ninja even live peacefully to a natural death. Don't dwell on that. Besides, without the necessary knowledge, it's impossible to produce a qualitative change..."