As much as Daiki would love to get around to learning the new jutsu he'd just come across right away.
He couldn't exactly do that while so far outside the village. Well, it was fine either way, since it wouldn't be long before he returned to the village and got around to it.
Before then though, he had one more objective to get around to.
Done with his mission, and with the initial excitement of what he found dwindling away, Daiki made his way towards Kubisaki Pass, the former capital of the Land of Neck and where the once daimyo and former head shinobi of the land resided in a castle of his own back in the day.
From what he remembered from his geography classes in the academy, the shinobi forces of the Land of Neck was wiped out just before the second world shinobi war, by Tanigakure, the village hidden in the valley.
Tanigakure, was a once shinobi village of the Land of Rivers, and they by order of their daimyo, had invaded the Land of Necks to expand their territory. Being right in between both the Land of Wind and Land of Fire, had them feeling threatened constantly.
Tanigakure were wiped out themselves during the second war, by Konoha in fact in response to their attack on the Land of Necks, because they were allied with his his village.
"There it is." Daiki spotted his destination less than a half an hour after leaving the bandit camp behind. It was a pretty small country after all.
Jutting out high over the trees, about two hundred and fifty feet high, was a large dark coloured castle.
His target. The Chameleon summon, Shiromari.
'If I remember right, the summoning scroll should be located at the very top, within the tower.' Daiki mused, eyeing the jutting tower of the castle rising high into the air.
Destroying the scroll would send Shiromari back to the summon realm, but that would be such a waste.
He had to admit though, Shiromari was incredible at blending in. He couldn't feel anything off at all just looking at the castle form the summon had taken on.
Well, if one thing was expected of a chameleon summon, it would be blending in he supposed.
There were two ways this could go. Either way, he was probably going to get attacked by Shiromari, which wasn't of the good, he was nowhere near strong enough to fight a boss summon, and it definitely was the boss summon, no other summon would have the clan summoning scroll on hand.
The first option, was after he got his hands on the scroll, he could reason with Shiromari and calm the summon down.
'Mentioning my home village slaughtered his previous masters enemies might get me a bit of goodwill.' he mused.
The second option, was that he was unable to calm the summon down and would have to book it back to Konoha and rely on his fellow shinobi to protect him and ward the boss summon off.
That or it giving up after he fled.
Either way, he was going to sign his name on that contract tonight.
'Hmm.' Daiki's eyes narrowed as he eyed the castle in thought.
The quickest and safest method, would be to break in to the tower from the outside and get out with the scroll quickly and not risk being caught in Shiromari's stomach.
But, he'd come across as a common thief if he did that, and wouldn't exactly endear himself to the chameleon summon by smashing a hole in it.
So the best option, would probably be to just enter from the front and make his way up the tower.
Well, at the very least, Shiromari didn't immediately jump to trying to kill Naruto, Hinata and Kiba when they entered it. So he had that going for him at least.
Jumping out of the tree, Daiki walked towards the castle, up the stairs and grasped the handle of the door, before pulling it open and entering it.
A whistle left him as he stepped in, "Pretty swank design." he had to admit that.
Large, gleaming purple tilted floor, extravagant paintings, vases and such lining the walls as decorations.
Considering this was based on the previous summoners original castle, Daiki had to give the man props. Even from just the hallway alone, he admitted the man had some nice taste.
Keeping his senses alert, Daiki did as he planned and made his way over to the interior staircase and made his way up. He ignored the middle floors the stairs branched out to, and continued on to the very top.
And not long later he arrived at his destination. It was a small room located at the very top of the tower, dimly lit, with a small shrine in the middle, and atop a small pedestal, sat a very large dark green scroll.
The chameleon summoning scroll.
"It really is a summoning scroll." Daiki made a show of being surprised, and walked over towards it.
He already had a plan and convenient excuse for how he knew about it to put into action. Thank you bandit group! Thank you dead former kumo shinobi.
…What was his name again?
Eh, not important.
On the binder of the scroll, he could see the design of a dark inked chameleon with its tail curled and its long tongue stretched out.
Daiki unfurled the scroll, and in multiple different columns, he saw dozens of names, written in blood. The last one being Kubisaki Koza.
"Kubisaki Koza, I've read about this guy," Daiki hummed, making a show of it. But at least here, he wasn't lying, "I don't know how much it'll mean to you now that you're gone already, but we of Konoha got your revenge for you, we wiped out Tanigakure in retribution for you." clapping his hands together, Daiki bowed his head and said a short prayer for the mans memory.
It was the least he could do for the man that left something so valuable behind for him.
Really, Daiki was incredibly grateful to him. If he ever met the guy in the pure world, he'd be sure to buy the guy a drink.
With the prayer done with, Daiki wasted no time, he bit his thumb, cutting it and making it bleed, and then wrote his name on the scroll.
He rolled up the summoning contract scroll and carried it under his arm and waited for a moment.
He almost expected the walls to turn into the fleshy insides of a chameleon's stomach and try and digest him.
But nope.
Nothing.
Well, thank fuck for that. Today sure was a lucky, lucky day, it seemed Shiromari had no interest in devouring him like all the other poor souls that ended up trapped inside him.
Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, Daiki made his way back down the stairs, right down to the very bottom and made a bee-line for the front doors.
He breathed a deep sigh of relief that he didn't even know he was holding within himself when he got outside and made his way down the outer stairs.
He paused at the bottom of the stairs and turned around to stare up at the castle, pursing his lips in thought.
He was free to go with the scroll it seemed. But, if he didn't do anything about this right now, he wouldn't be able to summon the actual boss itself.
Well, he had a rough plan for this at least, so he could try it out, no sense in not since it seemed like Shiromari was okay with him.
"You're not a castle at all, are you?" he spoke aloud, "I know this castle was destroyed a good fifty years ago, and there's a ton of rumours going on about you. Heck, I heard a guy talking about you early on, claiming he knew you were a summon and that was why he wasn't taking over the empty castle out here."
There was no response. Just the drifting of the wind in his ears and not a shift at all in the castle.
But, he felt the hairs on his arms tingle, as if he was being watched by someone he couldn't see.
So Daiki pushed on.
"And going by the summoning scroll I just found, it kind of adds up, doesn't it?" the genin 'mused', "You're one of the chameleon clan summons, right?"
For a moment, nothing happened.
And for that moment, he thought maybe, it was a lost cause.
But then-
An audible sigh resonated through the air, entering his ears. It was loud, and rumbling, as expected of a creature that size.
"…And what of it?" a deep, masculine voice emanated from the castle, "I allowed you to take the scroll, you should just count your lucky stars you spoke up when you did before you signed your name on the scroll, or I would have devoured you like so many others."
"Z'at so?" Daiki's lips quirked up into a sardonic smile, "Am I right in assuming you're the boss of Chameleon Clan?"
A huff came from the castle, "Indeed, my name is Shiromari, proud leader of the Chameleon Clan!" the summon disguised as a castle introduced himself, "Now you may go new summoner, you can work out the deal between yourself and my clan alone, I have a duty to uphold, tasked by my former master, your predecessor."
"Yeah, thanks for letting me sign my name on the scroll by the way," Daiki replied, before frowning, "But…you have to have been here for fifty years now, why?"
"I am merely performing the task my former master gave me, I will devour all of his enemies!" Shiromari declared proudly.
Well, if nothing else, Daiki had to praise it, or rather his sheer loyalty.
"If you're talking about Tanigakure, the guys who killed off your master and his followers…they're all dead," Daiki pointed out, reinforcing what he said earlier, "Not a single person from that village is alive. We slaughtered them down to every man, woman and child, there's no enemies of your master left for you to kill."
It wasn't exactly written that way in the textbooks, but, reading between the lines, it was easy to see.
Shiromari was silent for a moment.
"…Not a s-single one?" despite how powerful and masculine the summons voice sounded, Shiromari wasn't able to hide the slack crack in his voice at the question.
"I said so before didn't I? We of Konoha slaughtered them in retribution for killing your master and his followers," Daiki replied, "That was the way of things back then. We killed them until the last man and made sure none could ever come back with thoughts of revenge, we took everything of value and burned their village to the ground. They're all gone."
It was a bit sobering actually to bring it up. It reminded him of how truly brutal this world was. And he wasn't some messiah like Naruto who could make people repent and see the light and find better ways of living.
He was just your every day shinobi, with a bit more information than the rest to use to his advantage. He didn't have the privilege of strength or inborn power or talent to worry about people like that.
"…I see." Shiromari replied simply.
Just then, a massive puff of smoke enveloped the castle, and it was suddenly just gone, all that remained being the stone base it was built atop.
And in its place, was a titanic dark green scaled chameleon, with bright yellow eyes, long-serpent like feelers reminiscent of ears stretching back from its skull, and a pair of wing-like appendages jutting out from its back.
…And its gargantuan tail, was topped with the head of a huge serpent.
What the hell?
Daiki gaped at Shiromari's true form. For one, why the hell did he have a snake as a tail?
And secondly, he recognised him! Sure, he was much darker in colour, but this was the chameleon summon of Pein's, right?
'Does that mean Pein killed and enslaved Shiromari some time before the end of the time skip?' Daiki's thoughts raced.
Bright yellow eyes stared down at him, examining him.
"…What's with the snake head tail?" he couldn't stop himself from asking.
Shiromari blinked slowly, "…It is merely a sign of my parentage," the huge chameleon replied, he was quite forthcoming, "The chameleon clan were once allied with the snake clan, an experiment on the path to becoming the 'dragon' clan as they so desire. I was born to the previous leader of the Chameleon Clan and the current leader of the Snake Clan, Manda." the one to explain the second part of that, was the snake head itself, raising up over Shiromari's normal head to look down at Daiki.
It seemed that Shiromari had a single personality controlling both heads. So, was it maybe a shared perception kind of thing then? Kind of like what Nagaot did with his Six Paths of Pein and the Rinnegan?
But still, that explained so much about the looks of Shiromari…kind of. It even explained the the wing-like appendages and feelers that if they were hardened, could pass for horns. They were dragon-like. Just like how those who mastered Snake Sage mode, would transcend being a snake to become a dragon and gain Dragon-like appendages, like horns in Kabuto's case.
"Konoha is kind of against the Snake Clan for the most part right now," Daiki settled on replying with, despite how many questions he wanted to ask, "Their main summoner is a traitor of Konoha who fled the village."
"There is no issue with that, the alliance with the Snake Clan has long since fallen through," Shiromari's huge shoulders gave somehting akin to an uncaring shrug, "And there is no love lost between my father and I, he is a vile, arrogant beast."
"Fair enough," Daiki shrugged, "So, is there any form of test you have for me? You know, to get your allegiance and all and your cooperation?"
"No," Shiromari replied, "I, and the clan will observe you, that is all. Should we find you to be unfitting as a summoner, we will simply score your name out from the main summoning scroll and bar you from summoning us, as it is, you may call upon me and my clan as you wish, for now. Though, it will be a long while before you are capable of summoning myself, you lack the chakra needed."
Huh, he'd have to look for out for that in the future and keep up good relations with them, but other than that, there was nothing to complain about there.
"Wait," he paused, a thought coming to mind, "You can sense my chakra?" Daiki asked.
"Of course I can," Shiromari rolled his huge bright yellow eyes, "The Chameleon Clan specialise in blending in, hiding from others and sensing others, every member of the Chameleon Clan is a born sensor."
Well, good for them he supposed. He was not at all jealous. Besides, now he could basically summon a sensor to help him out whenever he needed, so good for him!
"Cool, you guys are pretty amazing, huh?" Daiki praised, "Well, my name is Daiki, pleasure to be working with you."
"Yes, I suppose it is," Shiromari nodded once, "It is time for me to return home now though. So until we next meet, Summoner Daiki." the huge chameleon dipped his main head respectfully, before disappearing in a huge puff of smoke, returning to his home.
"…Well that was a thing…" Daiki chewed his lip.
Way, way easier than he thought it was going to go. And now he had his own personal summons, go him. Though, as usual, he'd need to work on his chakra capacity before he could actually do anything on that front.
…At least he already knew the hand seals for the Summoning Jutsu and it was a pretty straight forward technique.
'Time to go home.' Daiki told himself. He brought out the sealing scroll from his pouch and sealed the Summoning Contract scroll within it and hopped up into the trees surrounding the area.
He paused as he landed, his eyes for a moment drifting in the direction of the Land of Rivers.
Tanigakure wasn't the only place in the Land of Rivers after all. There was an Akatsuki base there.
But even more importantly for him, was the Katabami Gold Mine, a small mining town in the Land of Rivers, and not all that far from his current position.
And the place where Raiga and Ranmaru had taken up residence.
'Soon.' he promised himself. It wasn't time yet. He didn't have the strength to take down Raiga as he was right now.
But he would. He knew exactly where to find the man. The only thing he was missing, was the strength he needed to do so.
Daiki found himself arriving back within the Leaf Village in the early morning. He could have been back earlier, but decided to make camp and rest for a few hours before he did.
…And make a copy of both the instructions of the Electromagnetic Murder ninjutsu and the seal matrix of the chameleon clan summoning scroll.
Something interesting he'd learned about seals, was, that for the most part, one could not actually activate the seal matrix without understanding how the seal worked and triggering the effects with chakra.
Only the very basic of basic seals could be triggered by one who didn't understand how they worked, because the trigger was just that simple and could be activate just by running chakra through it.
It was a bit of a bummer to learn really at first, because, it meant he couldn't just get Naruto shirtless and copy his eight trigrams seal and bam, plop it on himself and find him a Bijuu or something to stuff in there and them gains.
Then again, it made sense, kind of. If one could just copy and use a seal, the Hiraishin wouldn't be so rare, now would it?
Anyway, copying down the matrix of the summoning contract scroll, at least allowed him to study a high level and rare type of seal matrix and expand his own knowledge.
He only understood a fraction of it when he was copying out down, but already, Daiki's head was filled with ideas.
'Perhaps I can etch a seal onto weapons and other items and connect the seal to a storage seal, a weaker version of the summoning seal to have them return to the storage seal after a set period of time.' the boy mused as he made his way through the village towards the Hokage tower.
He didn't exactly have legendary weapons on hand, but, launching tons of weapons from a seal may as well be a jutsu in of its own make.
He could make his very own bootleg Gate of Babylon.
Gate of Shining.
Now that was a sweet and totally original name. His name meant shining after all!
Or maybe Shining Gate would be better?
Granted, there were kinks that needed to be ironed out, a scroll wasn't exactly the best use of that. Perhaps if he tattoo'd the seal on his palm? He could even possibly edit the sealing matrix to add part of the force from the explosive seal, to have the option to basically point and shoot his weapons from it instead of having to throw them, like Tenten.
Further study and experimentation was definitely required on that front.
Either way, he copied them down simply because, he wasn't sure or not if he would be allowed to keep them. Summoning scrolls were incredibly rare after all, and Electromagnetic Murder was a B-rank jutsu, probably worth a pretty penny for sure.
Well anyway, he had the copies, and his name was already on the contract scroll, so even if they were confiscated, he wouldn't really be losing out on much.
It was also a test.
To see how much he could get away with. Would the Hokage take his loot from him?
Seeing as it was Hiruzen, while the possibility was always there, he doubted it. But, the pragmatic thing to do, was cover his bases and test it regardless.
A few minutes later, Daiki arrived at his destination and put those thoughts out of his mind for the moment.
The genin made his way into the Hokage tower and through the bottom floor of the building to the mission admission room.
It seemed it was early enough in the day, that once again the Hokage was in the room. Which saved time, the second he unveiled the summoning scroll, he'd probably have got directed to his office anyway.
"Ah Daiki-kun, back already?" the Sandaime greeted him warmly.
"Yes sir," he stopped in front of the main desk that the Hokage was sat behind and bowed his head respectfully, "It wasn't far to travel and the bandits were easy pickings, they didn't even notice at all."
"Splendid work," Sarutobi praised him, puffing lightly on the pipe hanging from between his lips, "I'll be sure to let the client know, so you can collect your payment."
"Thank you, but before that…" Daiki began.
"Hmm?" the elderly Hokage raised an eyebrow at him.
"There were a few hiccups that the mission details did not account for." he added.
"Is that so?" the Hokage hummed, eyeing him with interest, "What kind of hiccups?"
"The bandits were lead by a missing-nin," Daiki revealed, reaching into his tool pouch and pulling out the bingo book within and flipping to a specific, dog-eared page, "Komaya Gekazu, a former genin of Kumo."
"I see, that would indeed boost the ranking of a mission and I would not send a rookie such as yourself to deal with a missing ninja, especially not alone," Sarutobi leaned forward lightly and read over the entry within the book before looking the boy in the eyes, "I take though, since you are standing here, reporting the success of your mission, he has been taken care of?"
"His sensing abilities were poor, I plastered the hut he was taking residence in with multiple explosive tags, he didn't survive," Daiki explained promptly, "I admit, I was expecting more from him."
"I dare say it's a good thing there wasn't more to him, or you may not be standing here now," the old man shook his head lightly, "You should have returned when you noticed the change in mission parameters." the scolding was light.
Daiki winced lightly, but he'd already prepared his cover story, "I would have, but while spying on them, he revealed a piece of information that prompted me to act."
"Indeed?" Sarutobi mused in return, prompting him to continue.
"He was in possession of a ninjutsu scroll for a B-rank lightning jutsu, but not only that," Daiki continued, "He spoke of a summoning contract scroll that he had discovered hidden in a castle not far away from the outpost he and the bandits had taken over."
The Hokage blinked, that was the only action of surprise he gave, "Truly?" he asked.
Daiki nodded, "I decided to take care of him then and there, then secure the contract scroll myself." he revealed.
Hiruzen sighed, and lifted his hand up to rub the bridge of his nose, "And again, seeing as you are standing here now, I'm sure you were successful," he replied, before shaking his head and lowering his arm, "In future, do not take risks such as this lightly, your life as a shinobi of Konoha has far more worth than a mere B-rank jutsu or summoning scroll."
Daiki blinked in return.
Huh.
He was surprised.
…He was just a run of the mill nobody genin after all. A B-rank jutsu, never mind a summoning scroll was worth far more in the grand scheme of things than some career genin drop out scrub.
At least, that was what he was as far as the village knew.
"If you want, I can pass them over to you now." Daiki put those thoughts out of mind for the moment once more and carried on.
"No, it's fine my boy," his leader waved him off, "You found them, so they are yours to do with as you please."
Wait…what?!
Daiki gaped at the man, while he merely tapped his finger lightly to his chin, "I admit that I am curious as to what summon clan the contract is for." the Sandaime hummed in thought.
"The chameleon clan," Daiki answered on reflex, "The castle itself turned out to have been the boss summon of the clan in disguise, he had been there for fifty years after his last summoner-"
"Koza," Sarutobi finished his sentence for him, "I see, now it's beginning to make sense. We have long wondered what became of the chameleon clan and the boss Shiromari in particular, they have not been active for fifty years now, not since Koza and his men were killed by Tanigakure."
Wow, he caught on really fast. What a smart old fucker.
"Yes," Daiki nodded in confirmation, "It seems the only reason Shiromari approved of me, is because I'm a Konoha shinobi and mentioned that we wiped out Tanigakure in retribution for what they did in the Land of Necks."
"Ah, it's been a long time since I thought of Koza-kun and Shiromari, quite the pair they were," the old man sighed, before chuckling fondly, "Did you know one of my students even based a jutsu on the chameleon clan's abilities when I told him of them?"
"…Jiraiya-sama?" Daiki hedged.
In response, Sarutobi snorted in amusement, "His perverted reputation has even reached the new generation, I'm sure he'd be proud," he chortled lightly before shaking his head, "When you are able to summon Shiromari, but sure to let me know, I'd love to catch up with that old lizard."
"I'll…get right on that," Daiki agreed, finding the tension that had appeared in his shoulders as he approached the room beginning to ease away, "Are you sure it's okay to leave a summoning contract like this with me? A weak nobody?"
"Yes," the Hokage answered immediately and stared Daiki in the eyes, "Let me be clear though, you're hardly weak. Weaker than many other yes, but weak itself? No. You may think lesser of yourself for not gaining a Jonin-sensei, but I'm well aware of the abilities of your graduating class, you were easily within the top ten of your class and you seem to have grown staggeringly fast since then."
"…You think so?" Daiki couldn't help but ask reflexively.
"Your accomplishments so far, speak for themselves, and you are young, so very young, I can easily see you becoming a jonin by time you are twenty," the old man praised him, "Talent is not the be all and end all, drive is far more important and within you I can sense a deep burning flame. That summoning scroll will merely help you on that path, and again, I must add, you were the one that found it, it is yours, do not let anyone else tell you otherwise."
Daiki felt his throat close up with emotion a bit, gratitude filling him at the old mans words, "…Yes.." was all he managed to utter out.
Hiruzen coughed lightly, "Now, about your mission reward," the old man changed the subject, "Did you perhaps bring proof of this Kumo ninja's death at your hands?"
His figurative pockets were stocked full.
Figurative, because in general it really wasn't a mind blowing amount. But, a ninety-four thousand ryo pay out from the mission, all to himself since he did it alone, plus the one hundred and fifty thousand ryo bounty he collected, on top of the ryo he looted from the bandits after killing them?
He was back to over three hundred thousand ryo again. Specifically, three hundred and thirty eight thousand in total.
Just from one mission.
Before it had taken him some if his left over savings from his orphan stipend, a bunch of D-ranks and one C-rank to get around this much.
Truly, there was a spring in Daiki's step as he left the bright red Hokage tower behind and headed home.
He was incredibly pleased with his earnings, and he felt in general, quite happy. Especially since while Hiruzen was Hokage, he didn't need to worry about turning over his loot and could keep it in the future.
…As long as Hiruzen was Hokage.
He paused in the middle of the busy Konoha street, a pit forming in his stomach, 'He's going to die in less than five months.' Daiki grimaced at the thought.
And was surprised, at how angry that made him feel suddenly. Say what you will about some of the mans more questionable choices, but, even with the few times he'd interacted with the Hokage, he'd always treated Daiki well, better than well even going by his latest meeting.
And the old man had instilled a new confidence in him.
…But, grating as it was, 'There's nothing I can do for him.' he clenched his fists tight, before hopping up onto the roof of a shop and roof hopping his way back to his apartment.
To do anything for the man, would involve showing off knowledge of things he could not know. And he would definitely get interrogated then.
Hiruzen would definitely let him live despite all the knowledge he'd gained, probably. But…the likes of Danzo? He would find out what knowledge Daiki possessed one way or another…
And then he'd be killed for knowing about the truth of things, such as the Uchiha Massacre.
'For now, I just need to focus on getting stronger!' Daiki smacked his cheeks to make himself focus.
He arrived in his apartment not long later, threw on his weights and made a beeline straight for training ground sixty nine.
Thankfully, he had a lot to focus on training wise right now. And enough money that he could focus on his training without having to worry about that factor in his life for the next at least month, maybe two.
And here we are, back once again with the big number quarter, quarto four.
Anyway, again, shameless Pa-atreon plug. I've got one, go by the same username on there, easy to find and all that jazz. Support me if you want, it'd be swell, but don't feel pressured lads and ladies, I'll be uploading my stuff outside it regardless and not keeping it all behind a paywall or anything like that.