The next morning, after waking up, Ito Hirofumi felt sore all over!
He had no idea why. Even though his body in the Summoning Space was made of chakra, the pain he felt while fighting Uchiha Madara had somehow carried over to his real body!
Wait!
He could hardly call it a fight with Uchiha Madara. It had been a one-sided beating!
Madara might have been taking revenge on him, but Hirofumi had to admit that he'd been very diligent about teaching him while beating him up.
After just one night of getting pummeled, Hirofumi already felt he'd learned a great deal!
Madara hadn't used a single ninjutsu against him—not even the simplest Three Body Technique. He'd relied solely on his terrifying physical prowess and combat skills, leaving Hirofumi no chance to fight back!
The strong from the Warring States Period really were terrifying, especially one of its strongest warriors...
Hirofumi had fought his father and grandfather before. After all, they were both elite jonin.
But compared to Uchiha Madara, their combat skills seemed like children playing house...
Hirofumi had also come to understand why Madara always asked, "Do you want to dance too?" before a fight.
Because fighting this guy didn't look like fighting at all. It really was like watching a dance!
A dazzling dance, full of deadly intent!!!
At that moment, Hirofumi felt that the system's first summoning had been an absolute bargain. Summoning Uchiha Madara had been the best deal of his life!
After all, there was so much he could learn from Madara.
If it had been Senju Hashirama instead, Hirofumi probably wouldn't even have had anywhere to cry!
If he tried to learn from Hashirama, the man would probably just clap his hands, summon a Great Buddha, and pound him into the ground!
Hirofumi even had a feeling that if that really happened, Hashirama would cheerfully ask him, "I'm a pretty good teacher, right?"
Just imagining that ridiculous scene made Hirofumi grimace...
He slowly got to his feet and dressed.
"Ugh... My bones feel like they're about to fall apart! That rotten Uchiha Madara!!! He's never getting another pig trotter from me!"
Hirofumi had noticed the night before that Madara seemed to have a particular fondness for pig trotters.
He'd been curious and asked Madara about it, but Madara had mumbled something and refused to explain. He'd only told Hirofumi to leave a big pile of pig trotters in the Summoning Space!
Inside the Summoning Space...
After confirming that Hirofumi had left, Madara picked up a blank scroll.
Hirofumi had created it out of thin air for him using that strange ability of his...
Madara studied the blank scroll for a long time, even activating his Mangekyō Sharingan, but it really was just an ordinary scroll.
There was nothing strange about it at all!
That surprised Madara. The boy's abilities were probably even more astonishing than he'd imagined!
But Madara wasn't thinking about Hirofumi just then. He unrolled the blank scroll and inscribed a sealing array onto it.
Creating a sealing array was no challenge for Madara. A moment later, he had a brand-new Sealing Scroll.
As he looked at the Sealing Scroll, an odd little smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. If Hirofumi had been watching the Summoning Space at that moment, he would have noticed how affectionate Madara's smile looked!
The next moment, Madara packed the heaps of roasted, braised, and five-spice pig trotters from the kitchen into the Sealing Scroll.
With the scroll full of pig trotters, Madara tucked it safely against his body...
He remembered that Hirofumi, the little brat, had said he could now form contracts with the dead from Konoha. Madara himself had appeared and signed a Summoning Contract through that strange ability...
That meant the blockhead Senju Hashirama might very well end up signing a Summoning Contract in the future too. If so, he might appear in this Summoning Space as well.
Pig trotters were that blockhead's favorite food...
If Madara gave him a scroll full of pig trotters, the blockhead would be thrilled, wouldn't he?
He'd probably hug Madara and bawl his eyes out in gratitude, wouldn't he?
The more Madara pictured it, the wider his smile grew.
That damn Senju blockhead. He'd better thank Madara properly when the time came!
Ke ke ke ke ke ke ke ke...
For some reason, after spending a night with Hirofumi, Madara no longer felt that deep sense of humiliation and fury.
And when he faced Hirofumi, he had the strange feeling that he was looking at another version of himself...
It was a novel sensation for Madara!
That indescribable feeling only made him miss Senju Hashirama more and more...
Hirofumi had no idea what was happening in the Summoning Space. It wasn't as if he were the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, with a hobby of spying on people.
After getting dressed and washing up, Hirofumi sat down at the table. His father, grandfather, and mother were there too...
Ito Hanako glanced at the son sitting beside her, a hint of worry in her expression.
"Haowen..."
"What is it, Mother?"
Hirofumi was a little puzzled. Why did his mother seem so worried about him?
"Haowen... Did you sleep badly last night?"
"Ah... I slept all right. Why?" Hirofumi looked at his mother, Ito Hanako, curiously.
"You've got pretty dark circles under your eyes...
"And... you don't look very energetic either...
"Haowen, is there a girl you like? Or are you already dating someone?"
Ito Hanako looked at her son, Ito Hirofumi, a little tentatively.
"Pfft!!!!"
At her words, Hirofumi spat out a mouthful of rice...
"What are you talking about, Mother? I'm just a student at the Ninja Academy. It's too early for me to be thinking about dating, isn't it? I should at least wait until after graduation..."
Before you continue