Summoning Jutsu

Sarutobi Hiruzen first had to steer his disciple back onto the right path.

Thinking this, he looked at his disciple and sighed helplessly. "Honestly, you're a ninja, yet you've fallen for such obvious traps several times. What kind of behavior is that?"

"Because..."

Jiraiya pursed his lips, wanting to defend himself, but with his not-so-bright brain, he could not come up with a reasonable explanation and was left speechless.

During the bell-grabbing exercise, Sarutobi Hiruzen had realized that Jiraiya was too eager for quick success and acted without thinking. As the saying went, haste makes waste. It seemed he needed to find the boy a long-term goal. Having figured that out, he prescribed the right remedy. "What you lack is a purpose."

"What?"

"That's right..." Sarutobi Hiruzen crossed his arms and closed his eyes. After thinking for a moment, he came up with a good idea. "Right, there's this way too."

As the saying went, interest was the best teacher.

"W-What?"

Jiraiya looked utterly baffled, having no idea what his teacher was muttering to himself about.

"Don't panic. Watch carefully."

Explaining would be too troublesome, and with Jiraiya's brain, he probably would not be able to absorb it anytime soon.

Sarutobi Hiruzen simply demonstrated it in person. He extended his right hand, bit his index finger until it bled, and lightly smeared the blood across his palm. He slowly raised both hands, then formed hand seals in a blur of motion before finally stopping at the Rat seal. He slapped one hand downward and pressed it against the ground.

"Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu."

Mysterious markings spread from his palm. With a bang, a large cloud of white smoke erupted. Once it cleared, a humanoid creature stood there—imposing in build, with a pointed mouth and monkey-like face, white fur, golden eyes, dense hair all over its body, and a long tail behind it. By appearance alone, it was clearly an ape.

Not only that, it wore a standard ninja outfit: leg bindings, mesh undershirt, and a forehead protector. It looked no different from a real ninja.

Enma.

The Summoned Beast contracted by the Sarutobi Clan for generations. It possessed an indestructible body. Not only was it an excellent combat partner, but it could also transform into an impregnable Adamantine Staff. It was renowned as the strongest Summoned Beast.

Jiraiya's eyes lit up. "That's amazing!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen explained, "This is the Summoning Jutsu, a space-time ninjutsu that allows you to summon creatures when needed by entering into blood contracts with them."

Hearing how awesome it was, Jiraiya excitedly said that he wanted to make a contract too.

Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head. "That can't be done."

Jiraiya's brows drooped.

"Just as every person has a different destiny, the creatures one can form contracts with are also destined to be different."

"Then who am I supposed to contract with?"

"Before you can make a contract, you need to accumulate more Chakra and learn how to form hand seals."

Hearing how troublesome that sounded, Jiraiya complained, "More training?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen scolded him, "Hey, the answer lies within training."

"I understand."

Seeing him deep in thought, Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded in satisfaction. Interest was the best teacher. With this, Jiraiya would surely devote more attention to training and become an outstanding ninja.

Hehe, the Summoning Jutsu is so cool. I have to learn it. Once I do, won't picking up girls be easy?

Oh, right. I can also use it to knock Tsunade down a peg or two. She's always looking down on me.

Driven by those thoughts, Jiraiya began training desperately, eagerly awaiting the day he could learn the Summoning Jutsu.

One day, when he felt the time was right, Jiraiya invited his three friends, including Aokiji, to watch him show off.

In front of everyone, Jiraiya copied Sarutobi Hiruzen's hand seals, then slapped one hand against the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!"

The moment they heard the name, all three were surprised.

The Summoning Jutsu was a C-rank ninjutsu. It was something only Chunin-level ninja could learn. When had Jiraiya learned it?

However, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

Jiraiya shouted loud enough to shake the heavens, but nothing happened. There was not the slightest response beneath his palm.

Jiraiya: ...

Tsunade, Orochimaru, Aokiji: ...

"Huh? That's strange. Why isn't there a Summoned Beast?"

Jiraiya scratched his head in confusion. Sarutobi Hiruzen had summoned one so easily, and Jiraiya had been looking forward to it for so long, imagining what creature he might summon.

Tsunade glanced at him and asked a crucial question. "Don't tell me you haven't made a contract yet."

"A contract?"

Tsunade covered her face with one hand. "My mistake. I actually had expectations for you just now. Don't tell me you thought Summoned Beasts were just blown in by the wind. Before using the Summoning Jutsu, the first and most important step is making a contract with a Summoned Beast, idiot."

Jiraiya's face turned bright red from the rebuke. "Shut up! Of course I knew that. I was only practicing in advance and testing you guys while I was at it."

Tsunade clicked her tongue. "Then train properly. I'm leaving."

Orochimaru left with her.

That left only Aokiji standing there, staring at Jiraiya.

Jiraiya knew that his excuse from earlier did not hold water, so he stopped pretending. "What, you're not leaving? Staying behind to laugh at me?"

Aokiji shook his head, his tone sincere. "I believe in you."

Jiraiya was deeply moved. He excitedly grabbed Aokiji's hands. "You really are a good person."

Aokiji smiled. "So, how are you going to thank me?"

"Uh..." Jiraiya decided to hear him out. "What do you want me to do?"

Aokiji got straight to the point. "Teach me the Summoning Jutsu."

Jiraiya looked surprised. "Weren't you not interested in being a ninja? Why do you suddenly want to learn ninjutsu?"

"This technique is an exception."

"An exception?"

"It's simple. A lazy person like me needs someone to run errands and do work for me the most."

Jiraiya: ...

Using a Summoned Beast to do his work really was something Aokiji would do.

"What, you don't want to?"

"I can, but..."

Jiraiya showed a troubled expression.

It was not because it was some secret technique that could not be passed on. The problem was that he was not even sure how to teach it himself.

"Don't tell me..." Aokiji eyed him suspiciously. "You really don't know the Summoning Jutsu, and you were just putting on an act here?"

"W-Who said I don't know it? Training in the Summoning Jutsu is hard. You have to suffer a lot, so don't say I didn't warn you."

Whatever.

If Aokiji could not learn it later, Jiraiya could just blame it on his poor aptitude. It had nothing to do with him.

Jiraiya cared too much about saving face, so he could only force himself to agree.

Aokiji clenched his fist and swore, "I understand. For the sake of having an easier life in the future, I have to learn the Summoning Jutsu."

Learning ninjutsu just to slack off left even Jiraiya speechless. "You really are incredibly lazy..."

"You're not much better. You're learning to be a ninja just to pick up girls, aren't you?"

"Well, if you know, don't say it out loud. You'll make me embarrassed."

"Alright, alright, stop pretending. Like I don't know you. Hurry up and teach me the Summoning Jutsu. I can't wait to learn it and then order my Summoned Beast around like a servant..."

"I got it. Stop rushing me."

Jiraiya recalled the precautions Sarutobi Hiruzen had taught him about the Summoning Jutsu, along with the hand seals, and taught Aokiji everything he could remember.

Aokiji studied earnestly. With this body's sufficiently quick mind, he soon memorized the basic operation of the Summoning Jutsu and planned to study it thoroughly in private when no one was around. After roughly learning it, Aokiji thanked him and said he would treat him to a meal next time.

The moment he heard Aokiji was treating him to food, Jiraiya nearly drooled. "Mm, it's a deal. I want that chopped chili fish head dish. I still remember how good it was last time."

"No problem."

That night.

The moon shone brightly, the stars were sparse, and all was quiet.

While everyone else slept, the night-owl Aokiji was full of energy as he began training.

After doing over a thousand push-ups in one go, Aokiji rested briefly and took a sip of water.

Recently, Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya had all graduated from the academy, and their strength had visibly increased. Aokiji was beginning to feel more and more pressure.

To hide his strength, Aokiji usually stayed home and trained in the dead of night. The advantage was obvious: no one would discover that he was training. But the drawback was equally obvious. Limited by the space, there were many movements he could not perform properly at home. That had not mattered much when they were all still in school.

But as Tsunade and the others graduated one after another, receiving more systematic training and personal guidance, Aokiji's cautious approach of shutting himself away to train at home would soon leave him far behind them.

To prevent that gap from continuing to widen, Aokiji figured he needed to find somewhere remote to train and increase the pace of his cultivation.

But that came with its own problem. Once or twice would be fine, but if Aokiji trained like that every day for the next few years, there was no guarantee someone would not see him and expose his strength.

Before he turned sixteen, Aokiji had no desire to catch anyone's attention and be sent off to war.

For a moment, Aokiji had a headache as well, unsure what he should do.

"Ding-dong."

"Verification complete. You have checked in for one full year in the world of Naruto. The system is now activated. Reward: one pair of Mangekyō Sharingan."

"Please collect it."

After daydreaming for a while, Aokiji shook his head. Dream on. Better train step by step.

He remembered that he had talked Jiraiya into teaching him the Summoning Jutsu that morning. It was relatively safe to perform, so he could use it to practice at home.

With that in mind, Aokiji closed his eyes and carefully reviewed the hand seals for the Summoning Jutsu and all its precautions in his mind.

Once he had sorted out his thoughts, Aokiji began with the hand seals. Without using Chakra, he practiced the seals for the Summoning Jutsu several times, then began formally attempting the technique.

Before formally trying the Summoning Jutsu, Aokiji felt as though there was something rather important he had forgotten.

He thought about it but could not remember, so he let it go. Although Jiraiya had clearly been putting on an act when he used the Summoning Jutsu that morning, Aokiji still agreed with one thing he had said.

There was never anything wrong with practicing more when learning ninjutsu.

Boar—Dog—Rooster—Monkey—Ram.

Aokiji rapidly formed the hand seals, copying what he had seen, then pressed one hand against the ground.

With a bang, a cloud of white smoke burst out from beneath his hand and completely enveloped him.

This indicated that Aokiji had succeeded on his first attempt at using the Summoning Jutsu.

Succeeding the first time he used the Summoning Jutsu was a good thing. It proved that Aokiji was very talented.

But the problem was...

Staring at the snow-covered world before him, Aokiji was utterly dumbfounded as countless thoughts flooded his mind.

Who am I? Where am I?

What am I doing? A biting cold wind swept over him, and Aokiji suddenly sneezed. "Achoo—!"