Overcompensating

Unlike in his previous life, in the Shinobi World, body and soul were not inseparably bound together. With chakra serving as an extension of one's will, the soul could, to some extent, break free from the constraints of a single body. In a world where even the most basic rules were unstable, it was hardly strange for something like the Tailed Beasts—beings formed from humanity's negative emotions—to come into existence.

Mizuki stopped paying attention to the sign by the door and led Sakura into the shop.

"You'll be working here for a while?"

"Working?"

"No, I mean studying~" Mizuki could've slapped himself. He'd almost let the secret slip.

Sakura nodded without saying anything.

"Do you notice anything different about this place?" Mizuki asked.

"If I had to say, it seems unusually quiet in here." Sakura glanced at the busy street outside, but the sounds barely carried into the shop.

Mizuki nodded. "Your attention and perception are both very sharp. That may have something to do with your excellent chakra control. It'll be a real asset to you in the future."

Without explaining further, Mizuki led Sakura behind the counter. A neatly concealed little bookcase came into view. He pointed to the books and scrolls inside. "Don't touch anything with a red label. You can only look at the yellow ones when I'm here. Everything else is fair game. You've got three days; read as much as you can." As he spoke, Mizuki took out a small booklet and handed it to Sakura. "This has a reference chart and various notes I've put together. Most of the information has been verified, though I can't guarantee it's all correct. If you come across anything you don't understand, you can refer to it. I'll give you time to ask questions after three days."

"Mizuki, is this really okay?" Tsubaki sounded a little uneasy. "Kakashi entrusted his student to you, and you're just letting her teach herself?"

"I'll be keeping an eye on her, so don't worry," Mizuki said. "Smart students don't need their teachers fussing over them."

"Then I'll be off. I'll bring you lunch at noon." Tsubaki had to get back to work.

"Sure. Don't forget to bring Sakura a portion too."

As time passed and the morning rush died down, fewer and fewer people came into the shop. Mizuki glanced at Sakura, who was bent over her work. She was so focused—no wonder she was such a gifted student.

Since he had some time, Mizuki took out the payment Kakashi had given him: the Hatake Clan's inherited Ninja Dog Summoning Contract.

As payment for teaching Sakura, Mizuki had taken the opportunity to get a close look at a genuine Summoning Contract scroll.

Mizuki ran his hand over the scroll's cover, releasing a faint trace of chakra as he sensed for any potential problems inside.

"It isn't ordinary paper. It seems to be made from some kind of animal hide."

He unrolled the long scroll, revealing a string of names and fingerprints. The first one he saw was Hatake Kakashi. Further up, most of the names belonged to the Hatake Clan. At the very end, a summoning array came into view.

Mizuki studied the Summoning Contract for a long time, but couldn't find anything unusual about it.

"I guess it's no surprise that a summoning beast contract passed down by a ninja clan is much better than the mass-produced kind."

The arrangement of its runes was more efficient, and its spatial perception and means of establishing a connection were more reliable. In turn, it placed stricter demands on the user's chakra. Different quantities of chakra and different methods of releasing it might even correspond to different individuals. Still, Mizuki hadn't found anything valuable.

"Could there really be nothing wrong with it? The contract is fair. You nourish it with chakra and pay the cost of summoning. The amount is a little high, but you could consider it payment. By that measure, it's practically a model of mutual benefit. The decorative patterns and inscriptions around it don't contain any traps either. They're all completely standard. Could I really just be overthinking this?"

Still unwilling to give up, Mizuki pondered as he slowly ran his fingers over the scroll's surface. Suddenly, his hand froze. He carefully felt the spot beneath his fingertips.

"What's this?"

There seemed to be an unusual pattern. Mizuki hurriedly examined it more closely. As he gently rubbed the surface with his fingers, he noticed marks that were exactly the same color as the rest of the scroll.

"These are natural sealing symbols already present in the material itself. No wonder I couldn't detect them. But this shape looks familiar."

After thinking for a while, Mizuki set the scroll down and went outside. He studied the sign of the Four Seasons Flower Shop, recalling every detail of when he'd made it.

"So that's it. No wonder." Mizuki had finally figured out part of the puzzle.

He turned and went back inside, picked up the scroll again, and copied the natural pattern. After checking several times to make sure he hadn't missed anything, he put it away.

"Even if I was worrying over nothing, what I found was still startling."

Hidden within this Summoning Contract was a symbol with a function remarkably similar to the one Mizuki had devised for gathering collective consciousness. In other words, the summoning beasts connected to the contract could constantly collect the thoughts—or mental energy—of the people who'd signed it. In theory, this posed no harm to humans. As people thought, they continually gave off information that would gradually dissipate into the air even if no one did anything with it. It was like the sun giving off light and heat: whether you used them or not, they were there all the same. The summoning beasts seemed to be collecting this otherwise useless stuff. To most people, it would be even more worthless than chakra.

"If they aren't collecting it for some other purpose, then they must know how to turn waste into something useful. Those who have summoning beasts are either powerful forces controlled by military organizations like Konoha, or they belong to the great ninja clans, which have passed down their secret techniques for hundreds of years. They're all powerful people who've enjoyed the favor of fate."

Mizuki stopped when his head began to ache from thinking too hard. "There's a lot more to this than meets the eye. They could've openly written this into the contract, but they went out of their way to hide it. I'll have to look into what kind of treasure might be concealed here."

"Teacher Mizuki, would you like some water?" A cup was suddenly held out beside him.

"Oh, Sakura. Thanks." Mizuki took it and downed it in one go. He immediately felt more refreshed.

"You're welcome. I didn't expect you to be like this, teacher," Sakura said with a smile.

"Oh? What did you think I'd be like? Yelling and shouting like Iruka?"

"Not at all. I just think you know much more than I expected, Teacher Mizuki," Sakura said hastily. "I looked through some of the things you were studying. A lot of it I could only memorize, and I didn't understand more than half of it."

"So you understood at least a little less than half?" Mizuki reassured her. "That's better than I expected. Every ninja's personal research has its own quirks. Without the background knowledge to build on, just figuring out what you're studying is already an achievement."