Huodou

This creature, which resembled a dog, began fawning over Kamizuki the moment it hatched.

It spent its time biting at Kamizuki's pant legs, licking his shoes, and occasionally rolling around on the ground to look adorable.

Seeing the little creature acting this way, Kamizuki was amused and pulled some food from his storage ring to feed it.

Before long, the puppy-like creature had devoured every scrap of food Kamizuki had produced, yet it still stared at him with an insatiable expression.

Seeing it like this, Kamizuki could only shrug helplessly, as all the food he had brought was gone.

Kamizuki stopped paying attention to the bottomless dog; feeling exhausted, he decided to find a clean, comfortable spot to take a nap before returning to the village the next day.

It didn't take long for Kamizuki to find a large, flat rock that looked as comfortable as a mattress, and the sight of it made him feel instantly drowsy.

Kamizuki lay down on the large stone and drifted off to sleep in no time.

The puppy-like creature, which had been following closely behind Kamizuki on its short legs, saw him lie down and immediately scrambled onto his prone body, curling into a ball before falling asleep as well.

Man and dog slept peacefully, but in his slumber, Kamizuki had a strange dream.

In his dream, a pure black female dog appeared. One month into her pregnancy, she was struck by a meteorite fragment; wounded, she gave birth to a puppy before passing away.

The scenes in the dream flashed by, and though it was unclear how many years had passed, the puppy grew up. Everywhere it went, fires would break out, and it would consume those flames as if they were food.

People often saw this dog at the sites of fires and believed its appearance was a harbinger of disaster, so they began to call it "Huodou."

One day, a large tribe living on the grasslands suffered a massive fire, whether due to the dry weather or some other cause. The people in the tribe panicked, with women and children weeping in despair while strong men ran about in confusion.

Facing such a conflagration, the people were filled with despair...

Just as they reached the depths of hopelessness, unable to struggle any longer, Huodou appeared.

The people watched as the dog they called "Huodou" swallowed the massive, uncontrollable fire in just a few gulps, let out a howl, and departed.

The dream shifted again, this time to a palace composed of various unknown flames.

Sitting upon a throne in this palace of fire was a man of great majesty and divinity, and beneath his throne, Huodou knelt in submission.

It turned out the man on the throne was the Fire God, and Huodou was his assistant. For some transgression, the Fire God was interrogating Huodou.

In the end, the Fire God transformed Huodou into an egg and cast it into the chaos.

Kamizuki's dream ended there, and he woke up to find the adorable little dog lying on his chest, watching him.

Kamizuki sat up groggily, looked at the puppy in his arms, and recalled the dream he had just experienced.

Kamizuki attempted to communicate with the puppy, and to his surprise, he found he could actually converse with it.

Through their communication, Kamizuki confirmed that this dog was indeed the Huodou from his dream—the assistant to the Fire God—and that the dream had been a connection established by Huodou to inform him of its origins.

Huodou also told Kamizuki that it could sense a certain aura within him that was guiding it.

Therefore, it wished to form a contract with Kamizuki, becoming his Summoning beast and binding their fates together.

Kamizuki thought it over; he hadn't signed a contract with any Summoning beast yet, and since the dream revealed that Huodou had once been the assistant to the Fire God, it certainly wouldn't be weak.

As for the truth of the dream, Kamizuki didn't want to dwell on it; regardless, it might prove to be a useful companion.

Seeing that Kamizuki had agreed to the contract, Huodou raised its small paw, bit a small opening into it, and let blood that looked like liquid fire flow out.

Huodou used its blood to carve runes onto the large stone that Kamizuki could not understand, finishing the task in short order.

Once the runes were drawn, the small wound on its paw healed instantly.

Huodou gestured for Kamizuki to begin the contract.

Seeing the signal, Kamizuki didn't hesitate; he bit his left ring finger, let the blood flow, and signed his name over the runes Huodou had carved.

The moment Kamizuki signed his name, a golden light erupted from the runes on the stone, shooting toward the ceiling of the cave and scattering the fireflies that had been dancing there.

After about ten seconds, the beam of light vanished, and the runes on the stone disappeared along with it—the Summoning contract was complete!

With the contract signed, Kamizuki looked at Huodou and decided the name was a bit of a mouthful, so he renamed it "Adou."

After comforting Adou, Kamizuki prepared to return to Konoha. He raised his hands, performed a few hand seals, and whispered, "Summoning Jutsu."

As the words left his lips, a thick cloud of smoke billowed up. A breeze blew through the cave, dispersing the mist, and Kamizuki and Adou had vanished from the Firefly Cave...