Okay, if I'm not wrong, I should be adding in a memory of Akirai's here, but I'm still working on it, so it'll come up with the next chapter next time. While you wait for it, here's another chapter! (I figured that since I've broken this chapterX2-memory-chapterX2 pattern before, it shouldn't matter if I break it once more. Don't worry, I won't do this too often... though I get the feeling quite a lot of you prefer reading proper chapters instead of memories, right? Lolz)
Disclaimer: this is fanfiction. what I don't own should be obvious, so... ON WITH THE STORY~!
Chapter 17: Summoning Jutsu
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is."
The scroll has two names written in it. Only two people have summonned this animal before, for some reason or another. I bit my thumb and wrote my name in the third column of the scroll with my blood. Then I smeared the blood onto my other fingers and pressed them onto the space below my name. There. The contract is signed.
"Naruto has already explained to you how to do this, right?" Jiraiya asked. I nodded. He watched as I performed the necessary steps, before slamming my bloodied palm onto the ground. Bloody signs appeared on the ground, radiating from my palm. There was a poof of smoke and...
Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened.
I tried it again, and again, and again, and Jiraiya got bored and went back to his 'research'. I now fully understood Naruto's frustration. And Yami was no help. She had decided it was rather warm and a fine time to take a nap.
"Ganbatte," Naruto said monotonously. No, not really monotonously. It was more like a half-whine and half-soul-flying-away kind of voice. It was the sympathetic encouragement of someone who needed as much encouragement.
"Same to you. You've tried, what? Fifty times already?"
"Fifty-two," he replied miserably. Still counting, eh? I wondered if I should start counting too, then decided against it. It'll just make me feel more stressed and frustrated.
We had lunch soon after, and resumed training after lunch. Neither of us had any success, while Jiraiya paid us little attention, except when we accidentally disrupted his 'work'... Although I did try my best not to 'disrupt' his 'work'. Really.
The day passed agonizingly slowly. It was quite boring. The two of us just quite repeating the same things over and over again with no success. Naruto kept summoning tadpoles, while I kept summoning nothing. However, I wouldn't call it a waste of time or energy, because it wasn't. If it was really necessary to keep summoning nothing first, in order to summon something, then I'd do it. I mean, might as well get 'summoning nothing' done and over with, as quickly as possible, right?
...
Time passed and we made slow progress together. Approximately two weeks later, after Naruto succeeded in summoning a tadpole with hind legs, and Jiraiya kept screaming at us to release more chakra and cursing us for having no talent, I finally managed to summon something! It was my two-hundred-and-thirty-seventh try. I didn't count, but Yami did, just to annoy me.
"Uh... Chizuki, what's that?" Naruto asked as he stared at my summon. I stared at it too.
"It's a... Well, it's supposed to be a cat..." I replied and continued to stare at the small ball of fur on the floor. It was the size of a large pomegranate, and had orange fur with black stripes, just like a tiger. Then the ball of fur uncurled itself at I saw a very cute face staring back at us with big silvery green eyes. The cute moment was immediately shattered by a loud 'mrrreow!' followed by a lot of hissing when the kitten glared at us, eyes blazing with fury and sharp little teeth bared.
"It doesn't seem to like us," commented Naruto unnecessarily. Then the kitten started coughing. And snarling. Like it was going to spit out a hairball... And it did. Kind of... Well no. It spit out a small ball of liquid fire.
A flaming ball shot out of it's mouth and landed at our feet where it began to pool, and fizz and sizzle. The grass around it began to burn and get swallowed up by the pooling fire. This was probably the first time I've seen fire acting like a liquid though, and I didn't know what to do with it.
Naruto and I quickly poured our drinking water over the small puddle of flames. The thing exploded into smoke as soon the water touched it. When the smoke cleared, all that was left was a patch of damp but burnt grass. We glanced back at the kitten who was still hissing at us, fur standing up and crackling with energy. The air around the kitten rippled, as if the kitten itself was radiating heat waves. Just as we began to sweat, the kitten gave one last 'mrrreow!' and vanished in a small poof of smoke.
"What the hell was that?! A kitten?!" Naruto demanded. Yes, it was small and cute enough to look like a frightened and angry month-old kitten.
"I really don't know. Jiraiya said-Where's Jiraiya?" I said, also feeling quite bewildered.
"He was just... There," Naruto pointed at an empty spot beside us. Right. Now where was that pervert when we need him?
"I'm back! Did I miss anything?" Jiraiya yelled as he strolled towards us. Speak of the devil and the devil appears.
"Perverted toad! What am I supposed to be summoning?" I yelled back at him. "A hellcat or something?!"
"Oh. It's a type of bakeneko actually. Forged from fire and lightning... An ancient clan of-"
"Quit the myths and legends. Why did the kitten I summoned spit uh... Liquid fire?" I interrupted.
"Because these cats come from the mountain of raining fire, also called Kazan," Jiraiya said. "It so happened that I had an old aquaintance who received this scroll from his grandfatherfor safekeeping, and didn't know what to do with it nor how to return it to the bakenekos of Kazan." (A/N: Kazan literally means 'Fire Mountain' in Japanese, although most translate it as 'volcano')
"The kitten reminded me of Aki-chan," Naruto commented. Yes, it did. A very angry Aki-chan.
"Who's Aki-chan?" asked Jiraiya. Naruto and I exchanged glances.
"Ryuusei Akirai is my teammate. Why don't I introduce you to her sometime? It'll be interesting," I said.
Interesting would be an understatement, Yami laughed. It'll be as exciting as pouring water over a kazanneko.
Right. After her analogy, I'm suddenly not sure if I should let Aki-chan and Jiraiya meet. The risk's probably worth it though. Just thinking about it makes me grin in anticipation. It actually sounded more interesting than trying to summon a kazanneko.
I waited awhile before trying to summon a kazanneko again. I gave both Jiraiya and Naruto fair warning before doing so... Unlike a certain toad who didn't inform me exactly what I was summoning and what might happen when I do succeed.
The summoning was... A little better than the last time, because the kitten I summoned was sleeping. It looked slightly older than the previous one, maybe two months old? It was black with a bluish tint in the sunlight, and reminded me of Yami, though Yami was and more... Shadowy colored, and certainly older and more demonic.
After my fourth Kazan kitten summon, I decided that it was time for a break. A looong break. A one week long break. Because I have had enough of doing liquidfire damage control. Jiraiya and Naruto agreed. Jiraiya didn't like getting interrupted by frantic yells of "Shit! Fire!" from Naruto and I during his 'research', and Naruto liked himself orange and clean, not black and ashy. At least the kittens have yet to aim high when breathing fire. I didn't want to risk it though. Plus they spoil Naruto's concentration.
The day after my week-long break (three weeks since we started training), and Naruto's 'success' at summoning a tadpole with four legs (and passed out right after that), Jiraiya told Naruto to do a hell lot of things that seemed suspiciously last-day-alive-ish. Like eat a hell lot of ramen and attempting to hug Sakura, which in itself was rather suicidal. Jiraiya tried to do the same with me but I told him I saw no point in it, since I was pretty sure I wasn't going to die anytime soon. Instead, I brought him to see Akirai.
Aki-chan was in our apartment by herself, which I knew experience, meant that she was up to no good. The first thing I did was to check the apartment for any... Major changes, such as wall-repainting, or graffiti, or replacement of furniture, or an addition of a doomsday device... One never knows with Akirai.
"What's she doing with that pile of wood?" Jiraiya asked me as we stood at the entrance of the apartment. I glanced at Aki-chan who was...
"Ryuusei Akirai! What on earth are you doing with Karasu?!"
Aki-chan looked up. "Oh, you're back."
"Akirai? Karasu?" I prompted.
"Hmm? You mean the puppet? I was just checking out its store of weapons and making modifications to it."
"You mean adding more dangerous weaponry to it or disabling it?" I asked.
"Both. Kind of. I'm making it more dangerous for Cranky to use," Aki-chan replied casually, as if she wasn't-Wait.
"Did you just call Kankuro 'Cranky'?"
"Eh? Oh, did I say that? I meant 'Kanky'," Aki-chan said. She said it so dismissively, so un-Aki-chan-ish, that I knew she had meant to say 'Kanky' in front of others...
"How is Kankuro cranky? I know he's an idiotic jerk, and a horrible brother but-"
"I let loose an army of clay ants, he was still cursing about them after I left with Karasu. Besides, the nickname sounds nice on him," Akirai interrupted, then had the grace to look sheepish. Ah, that explains how she stole Karasu. An army of clay ants? Since Akirai uses her blood when molding her chakra into the clay, it makes most of her sculptures red, unless painted, disguised or transformed otherwise. So change that to an army of explosive red ants, cuz I rarely see (rarely=two or three times in the four five years I've known her) her use her clay for non-explosive purposes.
"When was that? Does Kankuro know that you've stolen his precious puppet?" I asked, a little worriedly. As much as I hated that guy and wished to annoy him to the last day of his life, I didn't want unnecessary trouble.
"Relax. I jammed his room door. He'll need to get that lock replaced before he can get in again. Since I've had this puppet for about half-an-hour, I still have half-an-hour to return it," Aki-chan, totally in her element. Of course. When it comes to pranks, she's so methodical and precise that if she doesn't want to get caught, she won't.
"Good, now spend that half-an-hour returning that altered puppet back to it's original state and return it," I said. "I don't want him to suspect anything when he meddles with his puppet again."
"Honestly, he won't notice a thing. Not unless he tries to kill us. Then his puppet will whack out. Otherwise, if he's attacking some other poor nin, it will work fine for him," Aki-chan said. I still have yet to get used to her unusual intelligence and foresight when it comes to pranks though.
"Fine. Anyway, Aki-chan, I'd like you to meet Jiraiya. Jiraiya, meet Ryuusei Akirai," I said. Aki-chan looked, really looked, at me and the person towering behind me.
"TOAD!" she shrieked and leapt up. "Oh my Kami! It's a freakin' giant toad!"
Jiraiya and I had to dodge several fireballs and and lightning bolts soon afterwards. She even breathed fire so big and fierce that it would put an average Uchiha to shame.
"Akirai! Don't set our home on fire dammit!" I yelled at her as another furious fireball roared past and nearly killed the sofa.
"Get rid of that hideous thing!" shouted Aki-chan in return, pointing at Jiraiya, who managed to look bewildered, offended yet amused at the same time. I shoved him out of the door and he didn't quite resist. One last lightning bolt shot past before I slammed the door shut, and fried some of Jiraiya's hair.
"Phew, I didn't think she'd identify you as a toad so fast. She must have toad-radar or something," I said, more to myself than Jiraiya. Then I made a dark clone slip under the door and give Akirai the message to replace any thing that got damaged by her fight or flight response to toads.
"Alright, Naruto should be done by now. Shall we go find him?" I said as we walked away from my apartment. "Oh, and how do you find Akirai?"
"That girl is one spitfire," was all he said. Then he looked thoughtfully at me. A couple of days was enough for me to know that a thoughtful Jiraiya usually isn't a good thing.
"What kind of clone was that earlier?" he asked. Yep, definitely not a good thing. I slipped. Accidentally used Yami's shadow abilities. In front of Jiraiya.
"Uh... A shadow clone?" I replied. Hey, it was the literal truth. The clone did come from my shadow.
"Then why were its sclera black and it's irises blue and red?" Jiraiya asked. Man, he was too observant. How did he manage to see the eyes of a shadow creeping under a door?
"Does it matter?" I asked. Actually, Jiraiya should have a good guess about the secret by now. At least he's from Konoha. Wait. Orochimaru was also once from Konoha, right? Well, Jiraiya seems like he can be trusted, perverted toad or not. And Yami had yet to seriously warn me about him.
"No, I guess not," Jiraiya said, with the look of an adult that knows that a child has done something wrong but prefers to pretend he doesn't know. Except that I wasn't doing anything wrong.
After we met up with Naruto, Jiraiya brought us to a huge chasm in the woods. I was automatically attracted to the dark gigantic crack that could probably fit a few mansions. Naruto joined me in peering down into the abyss.
"What are we doing here?" I asked suspiciously without turning to face him. I should have. At least, Yami stayed silent. I took that as a good sign... Sort of.
Less than a second later, I was falling into the dark chasm. Judging from the screaming beside me, I guess Naruto must have been pushed in by Jiraiya too. Seriously, what on earth was the toad thinking? The both of us were undoubtedly gonna die unless... Oh. Unless I use Yami, or summon a gigantic kazanneko, or Naruto summon a gigantic toad.
I chose to summon the kazanneko. Yami would be the last resort. I concentrated all of my chakra and tried a mid-air summon. Nothing happened. Not even a tiny kitten appeared. I panicked.
The cats must have gotten annoyed by you summoning so many of their kittens,Yami said. She didn't seem bothered that I was gonna die with a splat if I didn't manage to summon a kazanneko in time. So was Naruto, if he doesn't manage to summon a toad for that matter. Yami knew that I wasn't suicidal and was definitely not gonna allow Naruto to die if Kurama doesn't help him either, so she also knew that I would use her in the end, or she'd step in herself. Sometimes I do wonder how long she's interested in keeping me alive, since she could easily hop host if I died.
There's no time for you to think about this kind of stuff, Kurai-ko. And since you're the only host who has lasted for thirteen years with me, not to mention the youngest and most interesting, I'd like to continue sticking around for another twenty years or so. Maybe more, Yami said. Now use my chakra and summon a cat. They'd definitely respond to my chakra. They can't possibly ignore it.
So I did. I used her chakra, performed the necessary hand signs and all, there was a biiig poof! And I was suddenly riding on a cat. A gigantic cat. It was almost as big as a... a... demon, and had orange and white fur. The cat leapt gracefully onto the rock face and clung there like a mountain cat. Then it turned its head and stared at me. It had unfriendly yellow eyes.
"Uh... Hi? Thanks for coming," I said to the expressionless cat. In a distant, I could hear Naruto yelling at someone.
He summoned the chief of toads?!Yami suddenly exclaimed. Okaaay... Konoha's number one unpredictable ninja.
"Who are you?" the cat demanded. Sounded like a 'he' from the voice but couldn't be sure.
"Yoruka Chizuki, honored to meet you," I replied, a little nervously. Please don't throw me off your back,I begged in my head.
"Yoruka? You don't so happen to be related to Yoruka Hikaru, do you?" the cat asked. I blinked.
"Who?"
"Yoruka Hikaru. Well, he's the latest descendant of my previous summoner... That I know. He's from Suna, dark hair uh... Forgot his eye color. His mother's clan is the only one that can use wind clones and use the wind release for other elemental-based attacks."
"Uh... What?" Okay... This conversation was getting weird. Yami?
Yoruka Hikaru... Yoruka Hikaru... Sounds familiar... Just a moment...came Yami's reply as she ran through her memories. Suddenly, there was a jerk and I nearly flew off the cat's back.
"Paying attention?" the cat said. I nodded.
"Good. I don't want to waste any more time with you than necessary. There are three kittens in our clan that could benefit from shinobi training. They are four months old and extremely hard to tame. If you can get them to listen to you, you can summon them any time you like," the cat said and leapt onto the ledge that Jiraiya had pushed me off earlier. He threw me onto the ground before saying, "Try summoning one of us again and we'll send them along for you to try out."
Just as the cat looked like he was about to leave, I quickly asked him for his name. "Ranne" was his reply.
Before I could summon anything, there was a loud thump and a giant toad landed beside me. It was bigger than any toad I've ever seen Jiraiya summon (hell, it was even bigger than the cat I summoned) and Naruto was sitting on it's head. Speaking of which, where had Jiraiya disappeared off to?
"You're okay!" I yelled at Naruto in relief. He gave me a panicked look.
"I have to stay on him for the whole day if I want to-aaaaaaaahhhhhh!" he shrieked as the toad jumped away. Oh dear.
Just when he finally managed to summon a proper toad, it had to be the chief, groaned Yami. But I guess it can't be helped if Kurama isn't being helpful. Probably gave him too much chakra.
I sighed and remembered I had my own task to do. So while Naruto goes off trying to ride a giant toad chief, I have to tame three kittens. How hard could that be? Judging from Yami's laughter, very hard indeed.
...
The first kitten was black and white with pale sky blue eyes. It's medium-length fur was neat and well-cleaned, and it had a haughty attitude. It's name was Rineko.
The second kitten was pale gold with greenish turquoise blue eyes. It's fur was messy and spiked up everywhere, and it had a mischievous face. It's name was Hineko. The similarities between this kitten and a friend of mine were too similar. I glanced back at the first kitten. I had a bad feeling about this.
The third, and also the last, kitten was gray with darker gray markings (a mixture of stripes and spots). It had yellowish lime green eyes, short silky fur and a nonchalant air. It's name was Kaneko.
"So... Who are you?" Rineko asked. Well, she asked politely enough, but it felt like a demand.
"Yoruka Chizuki, I-"
"Ah... you're the one in charge of us," Hineko cut in. Uh oh. This cannot be happening.
"Ranne-sensei must have dumped us on you," remarked Kaneko. Dumped?
"Well, now that we're here, iiit's... Playtime!" shrieked Hineko and went wild. She was off like a streak of lightning, breathing liquid fire as she went. One ball of lava spit shot past Kaneko, nearly singeing her fur. Kaneko frowned, stood up, made a show of licking her fur while Hineko fled, then proceeded to chase after the other kitten with a smirk. Rineko merely sighed, lay down, and went to sleep. Her fur crackled with energy, an indicator that waking her up would be a very bad idea. Did I mention that though they looked like kittens, they were slightly bigger than normal full-grown cats?
What now?I asked Yami. How was I supposed to get any of them to listen to me when they don't even listen to their Kazan feline sensei?
Find their interests or weaknesses, Yami replied. Right. Is there anything I need to know about these felines other than their abilities?
They hate veg. That's about it. Everything else depends on the individual.
Okay. Trial number one, here we go.
...
Picture this: There's me, shouting and chasing after two kazanneko, while another kazanneko sleeps in the sun. There's Naruto, yelling while clinging on to an irritable giant toad that's leaping and charging here and there. There's Jiraiya sitting out of the way, enjoying the show. That lasted the whole afternoon.
When evening came, my suspicions were finally confirmed. These kittens were very similar to and yet very different from the members of my team. Hineko loved toads as much as Akirai hates them... But she's afraid of spiders. She also loves sour candy, but cares naught for the sweet ones. Kaneko doesn't mind anything much, but she loves mint or fruit chocolate. She doesn't like any other kind of chocolate though. Did I mention that she adores tanukis? She thinks they're cute and funny. Rineko... Well, the only time I managed to wake her up was when I was nearly bitten by a scorpion that Kaneko found. She opened one eye, had the most amused expression, meowed something in a mock stern voice, and went back to sleep. To my surprise, the scorpion stop bothering me after that.
In the end, I made a dozen origami spiders and sent them after Hineko, who shrieked and panicked, running into the still-sleeping Rineko. Kaneko collapsed while trying to suppress her laughter.
"Alright guys," I said. "Here's my deal. Hine, you can play all you like so long as you listen to me when I need you to. If you don't, I've got spiders. If you do, I just may treat you to a sour lolly. Kane, I promise you entertainment if you stay around me... Plus mint chocs. Rine, you know that if I can't handle you guys, Ranne will be in charge of you guys again... Or maybe someone worse. Listen to me and you get to stay with me and probably have more fun and freedom than if you were under some other feline teacher. You could sleep all you like as long as you help me out when I need you to. I could also let Hine and Kane play somewhere else so that you can do whatever you want in peace. What about that?"
There was a long silence in which the three kittens exchanged glances, broken only by a loud splash in a distance. Then...
"We can be a team! A squad!" Hineko exclaimed excitedly.
"We need a team name," Kaneko said.
"I thought we already had one?" Rineko asked. I sighed. These kittens... At least they're cooperating...
"Let me guess, you're Team Hikari?" All of them turned to stare at me, like I-can't-believe-you-guessed-it-right! But it wasn't that hard, considering their names. I wondered who named them cuz I doubt they're siblings. All three of them looked totally different.
Rineko yawned. "Maybe we should go back. I need a cat nap."
"You've been sleeping the whole day!" Hineko protested. But it was evening, and I was getting hungry, so I said goodnight to the Hikari kittens.
On my way out of the forest, I saw the gigantic red toad from earlier. It was not as wild as before and it appeared to be carrying Naruto who was unconscious. I followed behind, making sure that the scary toad did not notice me. Interestingly, the toad dropped Naruto off at the Konoha hospital. Seems like Naruto has gained its respect.
Feeling rather satisfied, I wandered around Konoha after dinner. Shukaku gave me some updates on the Sand Siblings, none of which were pleasant. Apparently they're plotting something against Konoha. He didn't tell me exactly what, nor when and where their plot will be carried out though. He was too interested in telling me about how funny a Sound nin tastes like. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a snack recently... Wonder which poor dude got eaten.
Oh, and did you know that someone managed to mysteriously modify that puppet brat's doll? He now has to re-modify it all over again. It'll probably take him another few days to finish working on that doll of his,Shukaku said as he finished his 'report'.
Hmm... I suppose Kankuro deserves it. Hopefully, he hasn't discovered who was the culprit. Hopefully he hasn't discovered Aki-chan's more subtle modifications either. I'll have to tell my teammates about this. Then I stared up at the sky and muttered into the wind, "Thanks for the info, Shuka-chan."
Even though he was probably a half-a-mile away, I knew he heard me because the synchronized gagging of two demon's could be heard in my head.
Hmm... this chapter seems a little shorter than the others... oh well, can't be helped. That's all for now~ Next up will be a memory plus a chapter (if I can get it out fast enough) probably in one to two weeks time! Please review and let me know what you think of this chapter~! XD