Summoning Jutsu!

"What? You're not willing?"

Yo's expression darkened. "Orochimaru, I've been giving you the benefit of the doubt. You think you can take advantage of me?"

"I was willing to make a fair trade, with both of us getting what we wanted. Why insist on making things difficult?"

Orochimaru's expression turned grim.

The pride of a senior ninja made it impossible for him to tolerate a threat from a twelve-year-old brat.

"Kid, what are you planning to do? Don't forget your situation!"

"My situation?"

Yo sounded as though he'd heard a joke. "Orochimaru, I always thought you were a smart man."

"Now it seems you're just too arrogant to see what's really going on!"

As he spoke, Yo stepped forward, and an immense, terrifying chakra burst from his body.

Kabuto's expression changed. He stumbled back half a step, as if facing a formidable enemy.

Yo stared at Orochimaru and said each word distinctly: "If I kill you, I can still get the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu!"

"I'll find a way to track down your research notes."

"The only difference is whether you hand them over alive, or... become a corpse I can search at my leisure."

"Kill me?!"

Orochimaru seemed to take it as a grave insult. He laughed in fury, his golden, slit-pupil eyes glinting coldly.

"Kid! Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

Even with both hands crippled, he was still one of the dreaded Sannin, a veteran who knew countless Forbidden Jutsu!

Being treated with such contempt by a junior filled Orochimaru with humiliation.

"Looks like I need to make you understand the situation."

Yo snorted and stopped wasting words. His right eye suddenly narrowed!

The three black tomoe that had been slowly revolving abruptly spun faster, transforming into a Four-Pointed Pinwheel Pattern.

Against the deep crimson of his eye, the pinwheel pattern revolved slowly.

"This... This is... the Mangekyō Sharingan?!"

The anger on Orochimaru's face froze, replaced by shock and fear beyond measure.

The terrible memories of being tortured by Uchiha Itachi's Tsukuyomi until he wished he were dead came rushing back. Even his soul seemed to ache.

"Orochimaru, before these eyes... all your jutsu... are useless..."

Those terrifying words echoed in Orochimaru's ears once again.

"Damn it!!!"

Orochimaru forced an unwilling snarl through his teeth, his heart burning with resentment!

He really wanted to charge forward and tear the Uchiha brat apart.

But reason told him otherwise.

He couldn't form hand seals now, his strength had been greatly diminished, and he was facing a Mangekyō Sharingan with unknown abilities.

His odds of winning were next to nothing. He might even die here.

Weighing the risks and swallowing his pride had always been his strong suit.

After several suffocating seconds of silence, Orochimaru seemed to have been stripped of his backbone. His voice was filled with humiliation.

"...Fine!"

"I... accept!"

"Couldn't you have said that sooner? You're wasting everyone's time!" The chill vanished from Yo's face at once.

Orochimaru's chest heaved. Suppressing his anger, he tilted his head toward Kabuto.

"Kabuto, bring me the summoning contract scroll for Ryūchi Cave and the complete scroll for the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu!"

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru!"

Kabuto gave Yo a long look, then quickly turned and went deeper into the chamber.

A short while later,

he returned with two scrolls of different designs and handed them to Yo.

Yo took the summoning contract scroll first and unfurled it.

Several names had already been written on it. The last one was Orochimaru.

Yo bit his thumb, then carefully wrote his name in the space after Orochimaru's.

Uchiha Yo!

A faint glimmer passed over the scroll as his name settled into place. The contract was sealed.

Yo returned the summoning scroll to Kabuto, then took the scroll containing the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu and skimmed through it.

He compared it with the Impure World Reincarnation scroll he'd found at the Root Base and saw that Orochimaru's version was more detailed.

Clearly,

this was an improved version!

"Pleasure doing business with you, Lord Orochimaru!"

Yo smiled faintly, then waved at the two of them.

"Hopefully, by the next time we meet, you'll have healed your hands and won't be so... bedraggled!"

"After all, you're a senior I respect. It'd be a shame if you looked so wretched that it ruined the image I have of you!"

"See you!"

With that, Yo vanished completely, as though he'd never been there.

Orochimaru stared at the spot where Yo had disappeared. His golden, slit-pupil eyes gleamed with humiliation, venom, wariness, and, of course... greed.

"Uchiha... Yo... I'll remember you! I hope you don't fall into my hands next time we meet!"

Orochimaru murmured the name as though he wanted to chew it to pieces.

Yo returned to Konoha and headed straight to the depths of the forest behind the hills downstream from the Naka River.

The trees grew thick here, and a stream burbled nearby. It was a good place to train.

Yo found a relatively flat patch of ground and began studying the Summoning Technique.

The Summoning Jutsu was, in essence, a space-time ninjutsu.

First, a blood contract had to be signed, establishing a connection to the special space or habitat where the Summoning Animals lived.

Then chakra and a jutsu formula were used to pinpoint and summon them.

Which Summoning Animal appeared depended on which one was "available" or "willing" to respond to the chakra.

Of course,

once he'd grown familiar with the Summoning Animals, he could summon the one he wanted.

But at the beginning...

it all came down to luck!

The jutsu itself wasn't complicated. The key was sensing the connection to the contract scroll and precisely controlling the chakra he sent out.

"Let's try it!"

Yo took a deep breath, bit his thumb, drew a line across his palm, and rapidly formed the hand seals for the Summoning Jutsu:

Boar! Dog! Bird! Monkey! Ram!

"Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu!"

He slapped his palm against the ground.

Poof!

A cloud of white smoke burst open.

When the smoke cleared, a small snake lay coiled on the ground. Its body was emerald green, and it was barely thicker than a finger.

It raised its tiny triangular head and stared at Yo with beadlike eyes. Then, to Yo's surprise, it spoke.

"Hey, brat over there! You're the one who summoned me? You know the rules, right? Where's the sacrifice?"

"A hundred living sacrifices! Not one less!"

Yo was at a loss for words.

Were all the Summoning Animals in Ryūchi Cave like this?

Demanding sacrifices right off the bat, with an even bigger mouth than Manda's. And a hundred living people? Could it even eat that many?

"Is your dad Manda?"

Yo couldn't help making the crack.

"Lord Manda is one of the most important members of Ryūchi Cave! You think a brat like you can just talk about him?"

The green snake flicked its tongue and hissed, its attitude arrogant. "Enough talk! The sacrifices! Or I'll cancel the summoning and go back right now!"

Yo couldn't be bothered arguing with a snake that wasn't even as long as his little finger. He simply cut off the chakra supply.

Poof!

The green snake vanished in a cloud of smoke, its face frozen in disbelief that someone had dared to ignore it.

"Honestly..."

Yo shook his head.

"Again!"

Yo formed the hand seals again, this time pouring in plenty of chakra.

"Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu!"

POOF!!!

A cloud of white smoke hundreds of times louder than before erupted with a roar. The blast of air flattened the grass around it.

The smoke quickly contracted.

A huge blue snake coiled on the open ground.

Its body was thick and its scales gleamed with a cold, metallic sheen.

On its triangular head, a pair of pale yellow eyes calmly looked down at Yo.

It couldn't compare to Manda in size or presence, but it was still leagues beyond the little snake from before.

"Is this... Aoda?"

Yo recognized the giant snake, which had appeared in the original story. He remembered that it was Sasuke's Summoning Animal.

Aoda lowered its head slightly to examine Yo. Its voice was deep.

"A new contractor? That fellow Orochimaru actually gave the contract to a brat. How unusual!"

Aoda didn't demand any sacrifices and was much more polite. "So, why did you summon me?"