Chapter 50: Jumping into a Dung Heap
A short while later, Komiya Yuki, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and Uchiha Kagami returned after collecting their commission. Hiruzen, seeing Hyuga Natsuki here, said wearily, "Natsuki, what was your mission today?"
Natsuki couldn't help but rub his lower back twice and said with some helplessness, "Farming. We planted more than ten acres of land. My back is so tired it doesn't even feel like my own anymore. What about you, Hiruzen?"
"Cleaning up the river channel," Hiruzen said with a pained expression. "I don't know how long we have to do these D-rank missions."
Yamamoto Ryusei said with schadenfreude, "Probably for a month or two. After they feel our character has been sufficiently tempered, we won't have to do these missions anymore."
Inuzuka Rō's face instantly turned into a bitter melon. "What? I have to farm for a month or two? Isn't that going to kill me?!"
Hyuga Natsuki rolled his eyes at him. "Farming is just one of them. There are other D-rank missions, like finding lost cats and dogs, picking up trash, and so on."
Rō still had a pained expression. "Those aren't good missions either..."
"It's not up to us to choose," Uchiha Kagami said with a cool expression. "And this is to train our abilities. Future missions will only be more difficult."
"That's right. This is to help us adapt in advance," Ryusei said with a mischievous tone. "For example, in the future, if you're being chased by an enemy and there's a dung heap in front of you, and you can survive by jumping in and submerging yourself, would you jump?"
"Blech..." Komiya Yuki couldn't help but dry heave at his words. After she finally recovered, she hit him a few times with a resentful expression.
The other boys' faces also turned a little pale with nausea. Inuzuka Rō, looking as if he had already eaten dung, said, "I would rather die! I would absolutely not jump!"
Hiruzen, Natsuki, and Kagami all shook their heads vigorously, indicating they wouldn't jump either.
Ryusei said playfully, "Then let me add a condition. You have obtained very important intelligence. Whether this intelligence can reach Konoha will directly affect the outcome of a battle. Would you jump then?"
This time, Rō was no longer so firm. Hiruzen thought for a moment and said, "If it's really such important intelligence, then I would jump."
As expected of someone who can become Hokage. His level of resolve is high.
Kagami said with a contemplative look, "Then I would jump too. What about you, Ryusei?"
Ryusei chuckled, then his gaze became firm. "I would choose to kill all the enemies. If I really couldn't win, then I would have no choice but to jump. However, I've thought of another way to transmit intelligence: the Summoning Technique."
"The Summoning Technique?" The surrounding children were all a bit confused.
"That's right." Ryusei had his shadow clone take out a map and pointed at it. "For example, if Yuki and I signed a contract with the same summoning beast, then after I obtain intelligence in the Land of Wind, I could summon the beast, give it the information, and then Yuki could summon the same beast in Konoha. Wouldn't the intelligence then be transmitted from the Land of Wind to Konoha?"
The children's eyes all lit up. "That's right! Why didn't I think of that?" Hiruzen said excitedly.
Kagami suppressed his excitement and shook his head. "But there's a problem. A ninja's summoning beast is usually for increasing their combat power. But powerful summoning beasts usually won't sign contracts with many people. It feels like a waste for a strong ninja to sign a contract with a weak summoning beast, but a weak ninja with a weak summoning beast wouldn't be able to gather any intelligence in another village."
Inuzuka Rō also nodded. "There's another problem. A person can only sign a contract with one type of summoning beast. You can't sign contracts with multiple types at the same time."
Ryusei looked at Rō. "So this task must be carried out by a ninja beast clan. For example, your Inuzuka clan, Hiruzen's Sarutobi clan, or Kagami's Uchiha clan would all work."
Hyuga Natsuki nodded vigorously. "That's right! The Inuzuka clan is especially good. They excel at tracking, their escape speed is decent, and their combat power is strong."
Inuzuka Rō's face darkened. Although it felt good to be praised, what were they discussing right now? Going to other ninja villages to obtain intelligence! If such a dangerous mission fell entirely on the Inuzuka clan, all the members of his clan would be wiped out. He had to dispel this idea of theirs.
Rō shook his head. "I'm afraid that won't work. It would be too difficult for our Inuzuka clan to obtain intelligence from other villages because we don't have any stealth ninjutsu at all."
"If you don't know it, you can learn it," Hiruzen said, patting Rō's shoulder like an old cadre. "We can teach you any ninjutsu."
So you, Sarutobi Hiruzen, are determined to push my Inuzuka clan into a pit of fire!
Ryusei saw Rō's concern and said, "Actually, it doesn't have to be the Inuzuka clan. We can independently cultivate a type of small ninja beast with relatively strong combat power specifically for espionage. Rō, does your family sell their ninja beasts?"
Rō pondered for a moment. "I'll have to go back and ask my dad. But I estimate that even if they do sell them, they won't sell the secret training methods."
Kagami frowned. "Then we can only buy adult dogs."
Ryusei suddenly asked, "When you summon your beasts, can they stay in that place forever?"
Hiruzen shook his head. "No. They can only stay for a period of time by consuming chakra. When the chakra runs out, they have to return to their original place."
Ryusei asked again, "And the chakra consumed is provided by the summoner?"
Kagami shook his head. "Not necessarily. The chakra for the summoning is provided by the summoner, but the chakra for maintenance can be provided by either party."
Hiruzen turned to look at Kagami with some surprise. "Then when I summon Enma, am I the only one providing the chakra?"
Kagami found this strange but recalled when he had summoned Gamasen. "Maybe Enma doesn't want to provide the chakra. Anyway, last time I summoned Gamasen, I had already completely exhausted my chakra. The chakra consumed after that was all from Gamasen."
Ryusei's expression turned grave. "One last question. Can you summon a person?"
"Of course you can," Kagami said with some confusion. "Otherwise, how did I get to Mount Myōboku? They were the ones who summoned me there."
Ryusei waved his hand. "You didn't understand my meaning. I mean, can a person summon another person?"
The children were startled by his words and fell into silent contemplation. After a long time, Kagami finally said slowly, "I don't know. There are no records of it in my clan, and I've never heard of anyone trying it. Besides, no one would form a summoning contract with another person."
"So is it possible?"
"It is," Hiruzen said with certainty. "Enma is extremely similar to us humans. Since Enma can do it, then we should be able to as well."
"Not necessarily," Inuzuka Rō said. "Don't forget that we humans can only sign one type of summoning contract, but a summoning beast can sign contracts with many people. The conditions for both sides might be different."
Hyuga Natsuki said with uncertainty, "Perhaps to a summoning beast, a human is considered a type of summoning animal."
Natsuki's words sent a chill down the spines of the others. Komiya Yuki was already squeezing into Ryusei's arms. Who is whose summoning beast? Is the ninja world still the world of humans?
Ryusei comforted Yuki in his arms and looked at his silent companions. "Let's put aside the question of who is the master and who is the subordinate in a summoning contract for now. Let's go back to the previous question. Is it possible for a person to summon another person? Or should we test it out?"
The group looked at each other in silence. Finally, Hiruzen said with a grave expression, "We should tell Teacher Hashirama first. Let him decide."
Hokage's Office
Hashirama and Tobirama looked at the group of six who had run to them with lingering fear. "What is it?"
Just as Hiruzen was about to speak, Ryusei cut him off. "Teacher Hashirama, we have important intelligence to report privately."
Tobirama, seeing Ryusei's serious expression, said to the surrounding ninjas, "You can all leave first. Stand guard outside."
"Yes, sir." The surrounding ninjas all left. Hashirama said to Ryusei, "Then tell me, what intelligence have you discovered?"
Ryusei gave Hiruzen a look, signaling that he could speak. Hiruzen rolled his eyes at the lazy Ryusei and then recounted the group's discussion to Hashirama and Tobirama in detail.