Chapter 38

I swear, I let myself get influenced by music I listen to way too easily.

If you ever get curious why Akari randomly sings songs on occasion, it's because I was listening to a song and decided that it fit the scene...what I decided to write was kinda dumb, and probably something I shouldn't have added, but I like it, so it's going in there.

Chapter 38

As Konoha came into view, her tired, emotionally-drained Genin made a sigh of relief.

At several points, she debated with Kurama the idea of simply using the Hiraishin to get them back home, but logic won through. Even ignoring the facts that she both wanted to keep it a secret as well as being unable to use it without being extremely nauseous on arrival, she wouldn't always be there to help them home after a hard mission. Granted, she could have eased them into things, using it for their first few missions, but since she had other reasons for not using it, her three Genin were left having to walk home after their first mission.

Each of them had a kill, she'd guaranteed that, even forcing their hands somewhat. But, while it was harsh on them, it would serve two, perhaps more roles. Firstly, it would acclimatize them to the act of killing. But it would also bring them together through their shared hardship. They all got a kill on the same evening, that would hopefully help them bond further than they already were.

They approached Konoha's gate by way of walking on the road, rather than simply dropping down from the trees nearby as Akari was used to. Not that her Genin were even capable of tree-hopping, especially not how fast she travelled whilst tree-flitting. Tachiko was walking in the lead, Aiko and Hikaru following behind her side by side, while Akari brought up the rear, only mildly distracted by the music playing in her ears.

...Walking for days on end was boring, alright? Having pretty much any song from her old world playing in her ears made it all go so much faster. As that song ended and another began, she had a funny idea, covering her out to keep quiet as he considered it. On one hand, explaining how she was doing it was going to be a bitch, but on the other hand, Fuinjutsu was the answer for everything. Plus, it meant she could do it during their travelling, which would keep her teams spirits up. "Kurama, should I do it?"

She just decided to ask her closest friend, he'd always have a better answer for her. "Sure, then I can listen as well." Or he'd let himself get influenced by what he wanted. Shrugging, Akari poked at her menu using only her eyes, setting her music to play extremely quietly, except it would actually become an audible sound, meaning other people could hear it.

She steadily rose how loud the song was, waiting until her Genin finally reacted. First, Hikaru turned around, his hearing apparently being better than Aiko's. Akari acted nonchalant, as though she couldn't hear it, even as she very steadily rose how loud it was. "Sensei...what is that?" She slumped her arms, pouting. He could tell where it was coming from.

"It's a little trick I came up with. Using this, I can play music whenever I want. I'm not even going to try and explain how it works, that's something you'll have to wait until you're fully-fledged Jonin to learn, but I kinda forgot I could do it until now." She swayed her head along to the music as she spoke. It was currently playing a long, peaceful mix of music, just some piano, strings, other light travelling musical instruments and sounds.

Turning it up loud enough that Aiko and Tachiko could hear it, she smirked as they all closed formation slightly, just to hear better. "Sensei, did you play this?" Tachiko asked, to which she shook her head. She may have claimed some things as her own, but claiming to be good enough to play music like that? If they ever asked her to actually play it for them, she'd be screwed. Besides, there were plenty of ways to explain it away if she said she didn't make the music itself.

"No, I didn't play this. I did mix it all together into this, but everything you hear individually was made by somebody else." Tachiko nodded, closing her eyes and listening for a few seconds.

"It's beautiful, Akari-sensei." Akari smiled. It certainly was. It was one of the few pieces of music she ever played when she was in her hideout back in her old world. But she shook her head before any more thoughts of her old world came about, then snorted at how close her Genin had gotten to her.

She took a deliberately delayed step, so they would space from her a little. "You know I can just turn the volume up, right?" She did so, raising it a little more. But, as they were approaching the gate, she paused the music, much to her teams dismay. "Hey, don't forget only you guys have ever heard this music, since I'm the only person, to my knowledge at least, to use Fuinjutsu like this. You can enjoy it when we're out of the village, but don't bring it up to other people. I'm not a karaoke, alright?"

Though they were all clearly unhappy at being cut off from the beautiful music, they all nodded in agreement. If it meant they could listen to beautiful music to fill their travel-time, they were happy about it, even if it meant they had to keep it a secret. "Good." Akari stepped up to the Chunin gate-guard, offering her identification to him. After a moment of scrutiny, he let her in. When they entered the village properly, she turned to her three Genin. "Now then, you three can head on home and relax, we'll meet at the usual training ground tomorrow to discuss what happened, what we'll be doing to improve, yadda-yadda get on out of here."

"Bye Sensei!" "Bye Akari-sensei!" "See ya Sensei." They all spoke, all three of them heading off in the same direction. She watched them go for a few moments, then stuffed her hands into her pockets and began wandering towards the Hokage's office, no point delaying her report after all. Plus she wanted the experience from her quest. For some reason, all quests related to missions the Hokage gave her only completed after she officially handed her report to the old man.

Akari didn't bother going onto the rooftops, instead she took her time walking through the village, taking in the sights of the unfamiliar route. Since she spent 90% of her time travelling up on the rooftops compared to walking in the streets, she wasn't actually too familiar with these roads. She knew that Terumasa's blacksmith shop was only a few roads over, but she didn't really need to pay him a visit, her knives were still in great condition after all.

She made a mental note to pop in and say hello regardless.

Meeting the Hokage went pretty normally.

She told him what happened, whilst also writing out a physical report for him to file. He questioned a few things like how each Genin reacted to their kills, among other questions, before letting her go and taking her report with a muttered grievance about paperwork. She left the room glad that he understood that she didn't want to touch that job with a ten-foot barge pole. It was a job doing good work, but it was not even remotely Akari's speciality...paperwork! She could write out a seal just fine, or do a report, but trawling through hundreds and thousands of sheets of paper each day? She'd rather take on the entirety of Iwa with one eye closed, an arm tied behind her back, and Kurama gnawing her ear off.

As she exited the tower and stretched, she looked around in consideration of how she would spend the day. She didn't want to just train more, she'd already spent ages working on her Agility training, trying to make it so she could control her speed without relying on her Mangekyo. If she could do that, activating her Sharingan would probably make her perception of time so fast that normal people would be practically frozen in place, since it amplified what was already there, meaning it could be trained.

Naruto would probably be fine spending the rest of the afternoon with Kana, her mother loved doting on him. Why she had to teach him how to say Kaa-san Akari had no idea, she'd given up trying to change it at this point, her new name might as well be that, to Naruto at least. Maybe when he hit Genin and Akari let him meet his mother he'd stop calling her that. Hopefully.

Anko was probably busy working in T&I, she didn't want to get in her way while she was working, even if she could make the excuse that she wanted to come pick Monty up. Komachi...she was either on a mission right now, or with her boyfriend, she couldn't remember. Deidara was out of the village for certain, Akari remembered him telling her he was going to Kaze no Kuni for a few weeks, for a mission at first, then when the mission was over he was going to meet his girlfriend in Suna.

Biting at her thumbnail, Akari tried to come up with something she actually needed to do...but drew a blank, wandering towards her favourite training ground on autopilot. She brought up her menu, planting her five points she'd forgotten about into Agility, raising it to 166, before tilting her head. "Kurama~!" She chirped, smiling when he was roused from his sleep and glared at her. "I need help, I can't think of anything I need to do." The fox stared at her a moment, then tipped his gaze to the sky in thought, finally meeting her gaze again after a few moments.

The fact he looked right at her eyes without fear spoke volumes, every time he did it made her so happy. "Perhaps you could investigate the randomized summoning contract you received from the Entity as recompense?" Blinking, Akari opened her inventory and input that name into the search-bar. Sure enough, there was a random scroll for exactly that purpose, she'd totally forgotten about it.

"Thanks boo..." She mumbled, unfurling the scroll and palming her chin as she looked over the maelstrom of swirls and lines painted liberally across the paper scroll. No matter what way she looked at it, none of the Fuinjutsu written on the scroll made a lick of sense to her, presumably since it wasn't proper Fuinjutsu, it was just meant to look like Fuinjutsu since it was a 'summoning scroll.' "Should I tell Bao about this?" Kurama made an unbothered noise, dipping his head back down and going back to sleep on her shoulders.

Sighing, Akari nipped her thumb, forming the hand seals to summon Bao. After a few moments and a puff of smoke, the big panda appeared in all his glory, sat on his hindquarters idly chewing Bamboo. "Akari-chan, good to see you, how have you been?" Akari grinned, patting Kurama on the head.

"Pretty good all things considered. Got this 'lil guy out of his seal...sort of." The Panda's jaw dropped, allowing the chewed-up piece of bamboo to fall to the ground as he stared at Kurama. "Before you ask, yes, this is the nine-tailed fox himself, and no, he won't hurt you, not unless I ask him to...or if he really really feels like it."

Though he was still visibly surprised, the big panda gave Kurama the benefit of the doubt. After all, if he judged him just as people judged pandas, he wouldn't be able to complain when Kurama got angry at him. "I...see. I presume you have a reason to summon me? Not that I mind being summoned that is."

Akari held up the random summoning scroll, letting it unroll so Bao could see it. "I got this...I know it's a summoning scroll, but I wanted to ask two questions. Firstly, are you able to identify what kind of animal it would summon? That'd be nice to know." She let Bao take it when he outstretched his paw, turning it this way and that as he peered at it before handing it back with a perplexed expression. "Guessing that's a no?"

The panda nodded. "Yes, I have no idea unfortunately. Being perfectly honest with you Akari-chan, I couldn't even identify the mechanism used to summon, but I know you are remarkable with Fuinjutsu, so I shall defer to your knowledge and subsequent assurance that this is a summoning scroll. What else did you wish to ask?"

Akari scratched the back of her head. "Well, I wanted to know the panda clan's stance on multiple-summoning contracts? I know some people have two or more contracted animals, but I don't know how it all works, so I wanted to ask so I wouldn't upset anybody by just using the scroll, signing a second contract, then starting a clan feud or something over who gets me as a summoner." Bao chuckled.

"Akari-chan, that's only for the big three clans. The Toads, Snakes and Slugs can never have a dual-summoner. You can have the Snake summon and also have lesser clan summons, for example my own clan, but you could never sign the Toad and Snake contracts, Snake and Slug or Toad and Slug, the contract would simply refuse to accept your name. So, you are very welcome to attempt to use this scroll. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to be present, just to assure whichever clan you summon are unable to deny that we have also signed a contract with you." Shrugging, Akari nibbled a new spot of blood from her thumb, channelling Chakra as she marked the scroll with her blood, poofing into existence...a Jackal?

Akari leaned down, staring at the coyote-like creature. "Uhh, hi there Jackal-san." The Jackal looked around a moment, then settled its eyes on her.

"Curious...how long has it been since a potential summoner has called us...?" The Jackal then looked at Bao, his jaw opening up with a burst of yipping laughter. "Bao, you old bear, what are you doing here? How have you been for that matter?" Her panda summon ambled forwards, coming to a stop then sitting down beside Akari.

"I've been well. I must say, I didn't expect to see you appear from this scroll Kohaku. In regards to your first question, approximately two decades have passed since our clans have been summoned. And I am here as Akari-chan here is our summoner, as she perhaps may become your summoner as well." Kohaku's eyes widened, turning to look Akari over closer than their initial cursory glance.

Akari folded her arms, unamused at having been underestimated so much. "A thousand apologies Akari-san, I saw my old friend Bao and my manners went into the river." The Jackal lowered their posture and head closer to the ground. Not touching the ground, of course, that would be a step too far, but even that much was a surprisingly sincere apology.

"It's fine, just...don't make the mistake of underestimating me. The other pandas did so, then they were left with jaws dropped when I shattered their expectations." The Jackal turned to stare at Bao, who nodded with a grin on his lips. It was a rather amusing day after all, and Bao got a front-row seat to it all. "Plus, I've gotten stronger since then, far stronger. Mostly faster, but hey, still a kind of strength, right?"

Considering Jackals could run at about 64 kilometres per hour, a rather impressive speed, they would likely never say speed wasn't a strength. Sure, they couldn't outrun a Cheetah, since those felines could run at over 90 km/h, but still nothing to scoff at. Akari could outrun them both quite handily. "I see. I presume you wish to form a contract with my Clan?" Akari shrugged, she wasn't too bothered.

After all, she'd only ever properly used her Panda summons a single time since signing her contract with them. "I mean, Bao here can attest to the fact I'm not a needy summoner. If I ever summon a Jackal, it'll be because I seriously need to do so. If you guys don't want a summoner, that's alright. It'd be a shame, but I really don't mind." The Jackal again glanced at Bao, who nodded his acknowledgement of Akari's words.

"That sounds agreeable to us, though the Clan would prefer you select a single Jackal from each species of Jackal to choose as your dedicated summon, to ensure they are always kept in work that would allow them to be summoned in an emergency. That would mean three Jackals you may call upon during any emergency, one Golden Jackal, one Black-Backed Jackal, and one Side-Striped Jackal. Is this agreeable with you?" Shrugging, Akari just accepted it with a nod.

It really wasn't like she had to get another summons after all. Then again, a Jackal would be far more suited to being permanently summoned, as while she loved her pandas, they were far too large for most situations. A Jackal would be able to accompany her practically anywhere. She surreptitiously used an observe on Kohaku just to sate her curiosity.

He or perhaps she was level 42, a few levels below Bao, but still stronger than a Chunin, or even a Tokubetsu Jonin. For average levels, a Genin would be between level 5-15 depending on who they were, clan kids usually were higher level thanks to their extra training. Chunin would be around level 20-35, they spanned a wide range of levels. Tokubetsu Jonin claimed the area between around level 30 to 45, a little overlap between the Tokubetsu Jonin, Chunin, but also regular Jonin.

A typical Jonin would usually be anywhere between level 40 to level 65 after all. So, level 42 placed Kohaku at a high-Tokubetsu/low-Jonin level. As long as Kohaku's abilities matched their level, they'd be able to handle a lot on their own. Kohaku nodded once, then closed her or her eyes, Akari really needed to ask, and held still for a moment or two.

A puff of smoke concealed the arrival of a scroll, presumably the Jackal summoning scroll. "If you would sign the scroll please, I'm sure you recall how to from signing the Panda contract?" Akari nipped her thumb, quickly scrawling her name on the barren paper then flicking her thumb, the hole that had been created from her bite having healed up near-instantly.

"Well, you mind reverse-summoning me so I can chat with a few Jackals of each species, try and figure out who I'd like as my summon?" Kohaku nodded, asking her if there was anything she needed to do before, when Akari shook her head, disappearing in a puff of smoke back to the lands the summon clans inhabited. A few moments later, Akari felt the tugging sensation of a reverse-summon.

She waved at Bao, then let the sensation pull her into the realm of the summons.

In the end, Akari spent a few hours with the Jackals.

She learned of their specialities, their personalities, relations, which clans they liked or hated, social structure, things of that nature. Unsurprisingly, they were very adept hunters, but what Akari didn't actually know was that they preferred hunting in packs. To encourage intra-species cooperation they always travelled with at least one member of each species for a hunt, which was probably one of the reasons she was told to select one from each as her summons.

The Golden Jackals preferred hunting in smaller groups, whereas the Side-Striped and Black-Backed Jackals preferred hunting in larger packs. Following that trend, the Golden Jackals would prefer being solitary or in very small family units, whereas the other two species would group up and nest in large packs, usually dragging the less-willing Golden Jackals in despite their protestations.

Akari had already decided which clan was her favourite...no points for guessing which one, since the Golden Jackals seemed practically made for her. She preferred being alone, 'hunting' alone, generally being solitary, even if she did have friends and wasn't totally socially inept. But since she couldn't just take three of the Golden Jackals as her summons, she still kept looking for a potential summons animal from the other two species, even as Akena trotted along behind her.

It wasn't difficult to find a Golden Jackal she clicked with, Akena was pretty much perfect. She understood that Akari probably wouldn't summon her unless she needed to, though when Akari brought up the fact that she might just summon her for companionship Akena was fine with it, since she'd gotten a bit bored of the savanna which the Jackals inhabited.

She spotted a Side-Striped Jackal lounging around on a low-hanging branch, wandering over to say hello. "Fuck off." The Jackal growled when she got near, making her snort in amusement. "Find another, I'm not gonna be some battle-summon for a useless bitch." Akena growled at that, her body tensing, though relaxing slightly when Akari waved her hand.

"You see, you saying that makes me want to choose you all the more, just because it'd be funny." The Jackal stood up, glaring down at her from his advantageous position. "Not like I plan to summon you guys often anyway, you're a bit...weak for my level of combat, no offense Akena." She turned to give an apologetic smile at the Jackal beside her, then stepped backwards and snatched the Jackal by the scruff of his neck, holding him up to look right into his eyes with a grin. "Slow. If I were to fight seriously, you wouldn't have even made it off the branch."

She released the worried beast, who quickly distanced himself as he stared at her, whilst Akena yipped her amusement. "Akari-chan, leave him, Tsuki has always been a misery-guts, tossing him around won't change anything." Humming, Akari observed the Jackal with a smirk. He was level 43, one level above Kohaku, but three levels below Akena, who was level 46, presumably because she hunted solo, rather than in a group. Of course, when hunting in a pack the experience would be spread out, as well as the fact that in a pack, getting the kill was less likely overall, thanks to all the other Jackals vying for the kill, but on the other hand, solo-hunting was more dangerous and carried a higher chance of the prey escaping.

"Kurama, what do you th-" Akari turned to look at her shoulder, then did a double-take when she realized Kurama had disappeared. She blinked, then groaned. Of course, she got reverse-summoned, but Kurama wouldn't have been brought along...whoops. "Hey Kurama, sorry about not realizing you weren't on my shoulders...hope you're okay?" She got an unamused grumble from the fox...it was better than him just staying silent and whiny she supposed.

"...It's fine."

After a little while longer, and a bit of convincing, Akari finally had her three Jackals.

Akena for the Golden Jackals, Tsuki for the Side-Striped, then finally Goma for the Black-Backed Jackals. Akena and Goma were female, while Tsuki was male. Plus, she finally found out what gender Kohaku was, he was male, so that solved that problem if she ever needed to speak to him again. "Well, thanks for everything!" She waved at Kohaku as she vanished, the Jackal lowering his head a little at her departure.

"I hope to not see you for a while." Akari laughed, that was the idea after all. If she needed to see Kohaku for some reason, there was probably something seriously bad going on if she had to summon more than just her three designated Jackals. With a cloud of white smoke concealing her vision, she disappeared from the Savanna, re-emerging in the training ground, though she grimaced when she realized the sun was now going down.

As promised, she summoned Akena, though had to dip her legs a little as Kurama jumped down from a tree onto her shoulders, slumping down and staring at her. "Hey there boo, sorry about...well, y'know." Akena tilted her head in question. "Oh, this? This is Kurama. Also known as the Kyuubi no Kitsune, Bakegitsune, or my personal favourite, 'His Royal Furriness'." She snickered at the growl Kurama let out, he knew it was just a joke to lighten the mood.

Just as Bao did, Akena had visible surprise on her face, but she didn't immediately hop to a conclusion. Considering the fact that Akari was comfortable enough around him to let the fox practically sit on her jugular, he earned at least a modicum of trust. That didn't to her from taking a jab of her own. "So, does that make you the Royal Throne?" Akari tipped her head.

"Guess it does. Hey, I'm Royalty now bitches!" Nobody was around to hear it aside from Akena and Kurama, but it still amused Akari something fierce. "Oh, right, I still need to..." Mumbling, Akari opened her menu surreptitiously, quickly opening the notification for her quest being completed. It had finished as soon as she left the Hokage's Office, she just didn't bother opening it, then forgot about it.

Quest Completed!

Crimson Sunrise.

Objectives: Take your Team on their first C-rank mission - Completed.

Ensure each member survives - Completed.

Reward: 25,000 experience earned

Hidden objective:

Have each Genin kill at least one enemy by their own hand - completed.

Defeat more than 1/2 of enemy force using only Taijutsu - incomplete.

Reward - 20,000 experience per objective, 20,000 experience earned

It was a bit bloody annoying how her second hidden objective was so specific, meaning that thanks to the fact she didn't know it, she screwed herself over, but it didn't matter much. Sure, she could have done the objective easily had she known it, but she was already a comfortable level. As long as she kept getting a steady flow of quests and experience, she would surpass Hiruzen within perhaps a years time.

Wouldn't that be incredible? At her current level, she was probably about the same level as Hiruzen in his prime. of course, as the man was growing old, if she fought him now, she would probably win simply thanks to the fact she was still in tip-top condition, whereas the old man was probably sporting his fair share of old battle wounds among various aches and pains that would hinder him in a fight.

Of course, he could totally outmatch her in a Jutsu fight, but that was simply a matter of time before she copied enough Jutsu with her Sharingan that she could use practically any Jutsu. Excluding Kekkei Genkai Jutsu of course. "Hey Kurama, can you please tell Akena here the stuff she's gonna need to know like who Narut is, my team, what kinda work I usually do, please?" Though he grumbled at her, Kurama shifted onto her left shoulder, leaving space on her right for Akena to clamber up Akari's outstretched arm and balance herself there.

Of course, if Akari didn't have a strength stat of 70, higher than Bao's by a considerable margin, she'd never be able to walk around casually with a fox and a Jackal on her shoulders, but since she did, it didn't really hinder her movement too much. With the pair anchoring themselves using Chakra, Akari was free to start heading to Kana and her brother's home, as it was certainly later than she expected, Kana was probably wondering whether she'd have to look after Naruto for another evening.

Getting to the Uchiha compound didn't take too long, nor did getting in, as Akari was certainly easy to recognize. They did stare at the two animals on her shoulders for a few moments before letting her in, but that was to be expected. She wandered through a side-street or two, arriving at the front door and giving it a knock. Only a few seconds passed before she heard the door being opened quickly from the other side, a shock of yellow hair zipping out to hug her. "I wasn't gone that long cub."

She still ruffled his hair, lifting him up and putting him on her hip, giving him a good view of Akena. A questioning look was met with a roll of her eyes an a nod, the boy immediately reaching out to ruffle Akena's fur. The Jackal looked at her as if asking what on earth to do, but Akari was busy maneuvering into the house, kicking the door shut behind herself then sitting down, Kurama hopping off and setting beside her with his head on her thigh. Akena carefully pulled away from Naruto, looping around after getting off Akari's other shoulder and mimicking Kurama.

Settling Naruto on her lap where he could still pet Akena, Akari smiled at Kana as she came in. "Hi Kaa-san." Her mother gave her a smile, planting herself down on the other sofa. "Thanks for looking after this one again." She bumped Naruto a little, making him look up, then at Kana when she tipped her head. "I know she spoiled you for ramen again, I can smell it. So, what do you say?" He dipped his head, but still had a grin on his face.

"Thank you Kana-baachan!"

Yeah, forgot one of the rewards that Akari received, whoops.

With that, I'm done. If there's something else I forgot, it's being left behind. Akari is not getting more stuff from the past.

So, who here expected Akari to get Jackals as a summon? I don't think a single story exists with Jackals as a summons clan. Hooray for unique-ness. Well anyway, next chapter will probably be another time-skip, I don't know quite how far I'll go with it, maybe right up to half a year before Naruto makes Genin, or maybe earlier...

...Probably earlier.

Name: Akari Uchiha

Level: 78

Age: 16

Experience: 55152/78,000

To Next Level: 22848

Title: Sannin-slayer - Defeating one of the three legendary sannin is no easy feat, but you managed it. Future opportunities unlocked.

Secondary Title: Jonin - +25% Experience gained working with Genin

Health Points: 18,500 - (100 Base + (Vit x End)) x 5

Regeneration Rate - 3600/m - 60/s - Vit x End - Halted when afflicted with bleed status.

Chakra Points: 36,620 - (100 Base + (Int x Wis)) x 5

Regeneration Rate - 7200/m - 120/s - Int x Wis - Halted when continuous chakra drain Jutsu in use.

Strength - 70

Vitality - 60

Endurance - 60

Intelligence - 80

Agility - 166

Wisdom - 90

Luck - 60