Ninja Beasts

"Mother, that is exactly why I hope to go to the Ninja Beast Market to purchase a ninja beast." Back home, Ito Makoto requested of Mika with a solemn expression.

Mika wore a troubled look.

"After hearing your reasons, I also feel it is time to buy a ninja beast that belongs to you. But you know how it is, Xiao Cheng."

Mika sighed.

"We just moved, and there are many places where money is needed. Although my salary this month wasn't snatched away by that person, you borrowed a lot of money when you were sick, and now is the time to pay it back."

"We did receive a portion of the family assets, but most of the things at home were destroyed by Explosive Tag blasts. We only received half a month's salary, so money is truly tight right now."

Ito Makoto naturally understood that the family situation was difficult. Having been an adult in his previous life, he wouldn't make a scene over trivial matters. However, the ninja beast concerned the crisis of the Uchiha clan's annihilation and the safety of both mother and son. Every day of delay added more risk; no one could guarantee that that old man, Shimura Danzō, wouldn't show up at any moment to kill them or drag him away as a test subject.

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

"Hey, hey, Xiao Cheng, you're going too far. Mom understands your desire to obtain a ninja beast, but how did you suddenly jump to life and death?"

"Mom, the ninja beast concerns my dream. Without a ninja beast, my dream loses its future. How can that not be a matter of life and death?"

Ito Makoto bit the bullet and argued. That was the nature of being a child; one could be unreasonable and throw a tantrum, and others wouldn't blame him.

"You brat, you really know how to quibble."

Mika shook her head helplessly.

"I give up. Fine, you can buy a ninja beast, but the price cannot exceed 50,000 ryo. Also, you can only eat instant noodles this month."

Instant noodles it is. Naruto Uzumaki ate them for over a decade since he was a child and still became a Six Paths Level powerhouse. A month of instant noodles was nothing. The currency in this world was different from his previous life, counted in ryo. The purchasing power of one ryo was roughly equivalent to ten yen, or 0.5 yuan. 50,000 ryo was roughly equivalent to 25,000 yuan in his past life. It was indeed difficult to come up with that much on short notice.

"But I am quite curious," Mika suddenly said. "I can understand you wanting to learn the Summoning Jutsu. But why learn the Reverse Summoning Jutsu? Isn't that a jutsu used by ninja beasts to summon ninjas? You can't use it yourself; you need your summon to use it."

What? Ito Makoto was extremely surprised. Was this Reverse Summoning Jutsu a technique for a summon to call a ninja? Kakashi didn't mention that! Wasn't it a jutsu that allowed one to teleport to the side of their summon after use?

Recalling the whole process in detail, it was true—he had only told Might Guy that he wanted to learn the Reverse Summoning Jutsu, but never said what he intended to do with it. Kakashi had been dragged along by Might Guy, so naturally, he wouldn't have pried.

Realizing the reason, Ito Makoto instantly wilted. No wonder this jutsu was rarely used in the original story; there were reasons for it, and it was a misunderstanding that led to this mistake.

But since he had already learned it, he couldn't just give up on a jutsu he had worked so hard to acquire. The summon still had to be bought.

Early the next morning, Mika was on her day off, and the mother and son dressed neatly, preparing to head out.

The door opened, and a little girl with pink hair ran in.

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

"Sakura?" Ito Makoto was confused. Why was Sakura here?

"I forgot to tell you. Mebuki had something to attend to today, so she entrusted Sakura to me. It just so happens we can go to the Ninja Beast Market together," Mika said.

"Is this appropriate? Won't Sakura be scared?"

Sakura at this time was not the future "Sakura-go." She was just an ordinary little girl, and the Ninja Beast Market would surely have many wild beasts; it wouldn't be good if she got frightened.

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

Leading the two out of the house, Mika locked the door and pointed at Sakura.

"Waku waku," Sakura chirped excitedly.

Is this Sakura really not Anya the mind-reader? Did she walk into the wrong show?

Konoha is the military center of the Land of Fire, and 99% of the country's military power—the ninjas—live in Konoha. So, calling Konoha a military camp is no exaggeration.

As a military city, it naturally has places to sell various consumable weapons to replenish what ninjas use during daily missions. For example, in the original story, Tenten's family runs a weapon shop selling Kunai, Shuriken, and other gear. And as an auxiliary means for ninjas, ninja beasts naturally have specialized sales institutions. That is the Ninja Beast Market.

Konoha has specialized clans that capture powerful wild beasts everywhere, using secret methods to cultivate them into ninja beasts to sell to other ninjas. For instance, the Aburame Clan is famous for their Kikaichū, while the Inuzuka Clan is famous for cultivating ninja dogs.

On the way, Mika began to explain the origin of the Ninja Beast Market to Ito Makoto and Sakura.

Because of the danger, the Ninja Beast Market is located underground. This way, even if a beast escapes its cage, the passages can be sealed to capture it in time, preventing it from getting out.

The surface structure of the Ninja Beast Market is just an ordinary shop. Mika led the two inside, took out the note of introduction from Kakashi, and after someone verified it, they opened a large door on the ground floor, leading the three into the underground market.

Although located underground, the lighting was arranged very densely, illuminating the entire market as if it were broad daylight.

Ito Makoto looked around; the entire Ninja Beast Market was over a thousand meters in size, with iron cages imprisoning the beasts inside.

All kinds of fierce wild beasts were on display: bears, lions, tigers, and even giant elephants.

Mika led the two around to look. Due to the unique nature of the Naruto world, the colors of the beasts in the market were also different from the real world—they were colorful.

For example, black and white bears or white tigers would definitely be rare and exotic beasts in his previous life.

The size of the ninja beasts was also several times larger than normal; there were ninja dogs bigger than humans and giant eagles capable of carrying people.

However, without exception, the prices of these ninja beasts were all extremely high, far exceeding the 50,000 ryo limit.

Ito Makoto had originally wanted to imitate Sasuke's method from the original story—hiding inside a summon's body and then dispelling the summoning jutsu to achieve a teleportation-like effect. Seeing the prices of these massive beasts, he had to give up.

In this Ninja Beast Market, although these beasts were large and looked very powerful, they were not the most popular. Compared to these giant beasts, the ninja dogs cultivated by the Inuzuka Clan were the most sought after.

Those wild beasts might be large, but they were only naturally born to be that size. They didn't even have chakra and could at best participate in some genin-level battles. Moreover, due to inconsistent training levels, some couldn't even understand their master's commands.

The ninja dogs cultivated by the Inuzuka Clan, however, not only possessed chakra but could even assist in performing ninjutsu. Things like the Body Flicker Technique were a breeze for them, and jumping between trees like a ninja was effortless. In terms of mobility, they were even comparable to ninjas. They could understand human language and were highly obedient. Their excellent sense of smell could also be used to track enemies and transmit information. As ninja beasts, they were far superior to those giant beasts that had nothing but size.

"Huh? Where did Sakura go?" As they walked, they lost track of Sakura in a moment of distraction.

The two hurriedly searched everywhere and finally found Sakura by an iron cage.

At this moment, Sakura was dangling from the tail of a seven-to-eight-meter-long tiger, swinging back and forth like it was a playground set.

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

Mika and Ito Makoto were scared out of their wits. They hurriedly snatched Sakura down. Fortunately, the trainer had done a thorough job with this tiger; otherwise, there was no telling if Sakura would have even been left in one piece.

Still shaken, Mika gave Sakura a stern, head-on lecture, finally making the child realize the danger she had just been in and forcing her to promise she wouldn't run wild again.

"After looking for so long, Ito Makoto, have you decided which Ninja Beast you want?" Mika asked.

"I've already made up my mind. I want to buy that Golden Eagle," Ito Makoto said, pointing at a massive bird of prey.

The Golden Eagle, a member of the genus Aquila, was known as the "King of Birds of Prey." In his past life, the "gold" in Golden Eagle was merely an adjective; its body wasn't actually gold but brown, with only the feathers on the back of its neck being golden. However, in the world of Naruto, animal colors completely defied such limitations, and the Golden Eagle Ito Makoto pointed to was entirely, brilliantly gold.

Mika walked over to the stall with Sakura. The Golden Eagle was a meter long with a wingspan of about two point four meters. Its entire body was gold, looking as if it had been carved from solid bullion, appearing majestic and extraordinary.

"This eagle's flight speed and altitude should be quite good. Although it can't compare to those giant eagles capable of carrying people, it's more than enough for reconnaissance," Ito Makoto explained, justifying his choice.

"Ma'am, what do you think? It took a great deal of effort to capture this one. Birds like this are naturally difficult to catch; our squad waited for a full month before we finally netted this Golden Eagle," the merchant said, seeing the three were interested and recognizing who was in charge.

Mika nodded. Judging by its appearance, the eagle was indeed impressive. It was a suitable choice for a child's first pet.

"What's the price?"

"Fifty thousand ryo, non-negotiable," the merchant quoted a steep price.

Mika shook her head.

"No, that's too expensive. Fifty thousand ryo already exceeds the reward for some ordinary C-rank ninja missions."

A C-rank ninja mission often meant participating in combat and risking injury. This eagle clearly couldn't participate in combat, and any person with eyes could see the difference in value between a wounded ninja and a Ninja Beast that couldn't fight.

"Ma'am, look at the feathers on this Golden Eagle. If you put this in the pet market, it's a rare commodity. I'm sure there are plenty of people who would pay over a hundred thousand ryo for it."

"Then why aren't you selling it at the pet market?" Mika retorted. "I suspect it's because this Golden Eagle is too wild to tame and can't be kept as a pet at all."

With his bluff called, the merchant struggled to argue back.

"As a pet, this Golden Eagle is too ferocious. As a Ninja Beast, it's too weak—it doesn't even have chakra to assist in combat. At this size, it can't even carry a person, making it bottom-tier among its kind. It can barely be used for reconnaissance, but looking at this eagle's reactions, I doubt it can even understand a master's commands, let alone possess the ability to communicate. Reconnaissance is out of the question," Mika continued, tearing the Golden Eagle's value to shreds.

"Ma'am, then you name a price."

"Twenty thousand ryo. I'm only paying twenty thousand ryo," Mika said firmly.

"Ma'am, we spent a whole month guarding the trap to catch this," the merchant hesitated, unwilling to sell at such a low price.

Mika took the two children and turned to leave.

Seeing them about to walk away, the merchant's voice finally called out.

"Deal, ma'am. You win."