Ninja Beasts

"Mother, that's why I want to go to the Ninja Beast Market and buy a Ninja Beast," Ito Makoto said earnestly when he got home, making his request to Mika.

Mika looked troubled.

"After hearing your reasons, I agree it's time for you to get a Ninja Beast of your own. But you know how things are, Xiao Cheng."

Mika sighed.

"We just moved, and there are a lot of expenses. I did get to keep my wages this month instead of having that man take them, but we borrowed a lot of money when you were sick. Now it's time to pay it back."

"We did get a share of the family's assets, but most of our things at home were destroyed by Explosive Tags. All we got was half a month's wages, so money is really tight right now."

Ito Makoto knew their situation was difficult. In his previous life, he had been an adult; he wouldn't make a fuss over something trivial. But a Ninja Beast concerned the Uchiha Clan Massacre and the safety of him and his mother. Every day they waited meant more risk. No one could guarantee that old Shimura Danzō wouldn't come after them at any moment and drag him off to be a test subject.

"Mother, please! This is a matter of life and death for us!"

"Hey, hey, Xiao Cheng, that's going too far. Mom understands that you want a Ninja Beast, but how did this suddenly become a matter of life and death?"

"Mom, my dream depends on having a Ninja Beast. Without one, my dream has no future. How could that not be a matter of life and death?"

Ito Makoto defended himself with a straight face. That was the advantage of being a child: he could make an unreasonable fuss, and people wouldn't hold it against him.

"You little rascal, you're quite the smooth talker."

Mika shook her head helplessly.

"You win. Fine, we can buy a Ninja Beast, but it can't cost more than fifty thousand ryō. And you'll have to eat instant noodles for the rest of the month."

Instant noodles were fine. Naruto Uzumaki had eaten them for years as a child and still became a Six Paths Level powerhouse. A month of instant noodles was nothing. Money in this world was counted in ryō, unlike in his previous life. One ryō had roughly the purchasing power of ten yen, or half a yuan. Fifty thousand ryō came to about twenty-five thousand yuan in his previous life. They really couldn't afford that much right away.

"But there's something I'm curious about," Mika said suddenly. "I understand why you want to learn the Summoning Technique. But why do you want to learn the Reverse Summoning Technique? Isn't that a jutsu for Ninja Beasts to summon shinobi? You can't use it yourself. Your summoning beast would have to use it."

What? Ito Makoto was astonished. Was the Reverse Summoning Jutsu a technique for summoning shinobi? Kakashi hadn't mentioned that. Wasn't it a jutsu that transported you to your summoning beast?

He thought carefully through the whole conversation. Sure enough, he'd only told Might Guy he wanted to learn the Reverse Summoning Jutsu, not what he planned to use it for. Kakashi had been brought along by Might Guy, so naturally, he hadn't asked any questions.

Once he understood what had happened, Ito Makoto deflated. No wonder so few people in the original story used this jutsu. There was a reason. A misunderstanding had led to this mistake.

But now that he'd learned it, he couldn't just give up a jutsu he'd worked so hard to obtain. He still had to buy a summoning beast.

Early the next morning, Mika had the day off. Mother and son dressed and got ready to go out.

As the door opened, a pink-haired little girl ran inside.

"Brother Xiao Cheng, are we ready to go?"

"Sakura?" Ito Makoto asked, bewildered. What was Sakura doing here?

"I forgot to tell you. Mebuki had something to do today, so she left Sakura with me. We can all go see the Ninja Beast Market together," Mika said.

"Is that a good idea? Won't Sakura get scared?"

Sakura wasn't the future Queen of Strength yet. Right now, she was just an ordinary little girl. The Ninja Beast Market was sure to have all kinds of wild animals, and it wouldn't be good if they frightened her.

"It's fine. Look, Sakura's excited."

Mika led the two children out and locked the door behind them, gesturing toward Sakura.

"Waku waku!" Sakura cried excitedly.

Could this really be the same Sakura who could read minds? Had she wandered onto the wrong set?

Konoha was the military center of the Land of Fire. Ninety-nine percent of the country's military forces—the shinobi—lived in Konoha. In that sense, the village was practically a military camp.

As a military city, it naturally had places that sold all kinds of consumable weapons to replenish what shinobi used during missions. For example, Tenten's family in the original story ran a weapons shop that sold Kunai, shuriken, and other weapons. Ninja Beasts, a means of support for shinobi, also had a dedicated sales venue: the Ninja Beast Market.

Certain families in Konoha made a living by traveling around, capturing powerful wild animals, raising them using secret methods, and selling them to other shinobi. The Aburame Clan were known for their Kikaichū, while the Inuzuka Clan were famous for breeding Ninja Dogs.

On the way, Mika began telling Ito Makoto and Sakura about the origins of the Ninja Beast Market.

Because it was dangerous, the Ninja Beast Market was located underground. That way, even if an animal escaped its cage, the passages could be sealed off and it could be captured again before it got away.

The building aboveground was just an ordinary shop. Mika led the two children inside and presented Kakashi's letter of introduction. After someone checked it, they opened a door in the floor and led the three of them down into the underground Ninja Beast Market.

Although it was underground, the place was brightly lit, with lamps packed closely together. The entire market was as bright as day.

Ito Makoto looked around. The Ninja Beast Market covered well over a thousand square meters, with Ninja Beasts locked inside cage after cage.

There were all kinds of fierce animals on display: bears, lions, tigers, and even giant elephants.

Mika led the two children around to look. Because the Naruto world was unusual, the animals in the Ninja Beast Market came in colors unlike those in the real world. They were all sorts of colors.

Some bears, for example, were black and white, and some tigers were white. In his previous life, they would have been considered rare animals.

The Ninja Beasts were also several times larger than normal. There were Ninja Dogs bigger than people and giant eagles capable of carrying a human.

Without exception, though, these Ninja Beasts were all extremely expensive, costing far more than fifty thousand ryō.

Ito Makoto had originally wanted to imitate Sasuke's method from the original story: hide inside a summoning beast, then release the Summoning Jutsu to achieve something like teleportation. But when he saw the prices of these enormous Ninja Beasts, he had to abandon the idea.

The animals in the Ninja Beast Market were huge and looked powerful, but they weren't the most popular. Compared to these giant beasts, the Ninja Dogs bred by the Inuzuka Clan were far more sought after.

Those animals were large, but their size was simply something they'd been born with. They didn't even have chakra, so at most they could take part in fights alongside Genin. And because their training varied, some couldn't even understand their owners' commands.

The Ninja Dogs bred by the Inuzuka Clan, on the other hand, not only had chakra but could even assist in performing jutsu. Techniques like the Body Flicker Technique were easy for them. They could leap from tree to tree just like shinobi. In terms of mobility, they could even rival shinobi. They understood human language and were obedient. Their excellent sense of smell also made them useful for tracking enemies and delivering messages. As Ninja Beasts, they were far superior to those giant beasts that had nothing but their size.

"Hey, where did Sakura go?" As they walked along, they took their eyes off her for a moment, and she disappeared.

The two hurriedly searched for her and finally found her near one of the cages.

Sakura was dangling from the tail of a tiger seven or eight meters long, swinging back and forth like she was on a swing.

"Brother Xiao Cheng, Aunt Mika, look! This big tiger is so much fun. Waku waku!"

Mika and Ito Makoto nearly jumped out of their skin. They hurriedly pulled Sakura down. Luckily, the tiger's trainer had trained it well. Otherwise, there was no telling whether Sakura would have come out of this in one piece.

Still shaken, Mika gave Sakura a thorough scolding. At last, the girl realized how dangerous that had been and promised not to run off again.

"After looking around for so long, Xiao Cheng, have you decided what kind of Ninja Beast you want?" Mika asked.

"I've made up my mind. I want to buy that Golden Eagle." Ito Makoto pointed at a huge bird of prey.

The Golden Eagle belonged to the eagle family, in the genus Aquila, and was known as the "king of raptors." In his previous life, the word "golden" in its name had only been descriptive. Its body wasn't gold, but brown, with golden feathers only on the back of its neck. But in the Naruto world, animals came in every color imaginable. The Golden Eagle Ito Makoto had pointed out was completely golden.

Mika led Sakura to the stall. The Golden Eagle was about a meter long, with a wingspan of roughly two meters and forty centimeters. It was golden from head to tail, as if carved from gold, and looked majestic.

"This eagle should be pretty fast and able to fly quite high. It can't carry a person like those giant eagles, but it should be good enough for reconnaissance," Ito Makoto explained.

"Madam, what do you think? It took a great deal of effort to catch this one. Birds of prey like this are hard to catch. Our team waited a whole month before we finally netted this Golden Eagle," the stall owner said when he saw the three of them were interested. He could tell who was making the decisions, so he addressed Mika.

Mika nodded. The eagle certainly looked good. It would make a suitable first pet for her child.

"How much?"

"Fifty thousand ryō, and not a penny less," the merchant said, naming a steep price.

Mika shook her head.

"No, that's too expensive. Fifty thousand ryō is more than the reward for some ordinary C-rank shinobi missions."

C-rank shinobi missions often involved combat and the possibility of injury. This eagle clearly couldn't fight. Anyone could see which was more important: getting injured yourself or having a Ninja Beast that couldn't take part in battle.

"Madam, look at this Golden Eagle's feathers. They'd be a rare find at a pet market. Plenty of people would probably offer over a hundred thousand ryō for it."

"Then why don't you sell it at a pet market?" Mika challenged him. "It's because this Golden Eagle is too wild to be a pet, isn't it?"

Caught out, the merchant struggled to reply.

"This Golden Eagle is too fierce to be a pet and too weak to be a Ninja Beast. It doesn't even have chakra, so it can't assist in battle. It's not big enough to ride, either, and ranks near the bottom among Ninja Beasts of its kind. At best, it could be used for reconnaissance. But judging by its reactions, it probably can't even understand its owner's commands, let alone communicate through speech. So reconnaissance is out of the question too." Mika continued, making the Golden Eagle sound worthless.

"Then, Madam, what price would you offer?"

"Twenty thousand ryō. That's all I'll pay," Mika said firmly.

"Madam, it took us a whole month of waiting to catch it," the merchant said hesitantly, unwilling to sell at such a low price.

Mika turned and walked away with the two children.

They were almost out of sight.

Only then did the merchant call after them.

"Deal! Madam, you win."