VII - 01.07

There was too much to be done, but not enough time to do it. Despite Kimimaro being the clan patriarch, Katsuo felt as if he were the one with more responsibilities. While his brother worked to maintain the recent peace within the clan, Katsuo worked on seemingly everything else. There were times like this where he shared sympathy towards Tobirama Senju.

His first set of actions after returning from his gathering mission was to conduct a census on the clan. During the day of the tournament there'd been 107 Kaguya, but in the month and a half since they'd seen a number of births as well as a few casualties.

The clan's number totaled 116; 59 males and 57 females. 17 including him and Kimimaro were between the ages of five and twelve. 19 were younger than five, and 25 were over the age of 40. That left exactly 55 of their members as adults, which would make up the bulk in their rank when they attacked Tanigakure.

Katsuo had scavenged 75 sheets of chakra paper, which he first distributed among his peers before moving to the adults. Katsuo wasn't surprised when his own paper began to crumble, but the dampness that followed afterwards caused him to raise his eyebrow. He should have expected the water affinity, he had been born in the Land of Waves afterall.

Kimimaro possessed an earth and wind affinity, leaving the two brothers as the only Kaguya with multiple. The majority of the clan that'd been tested possessed earth affinities, with water wind, and fire following after in that order. As he'd expected lightning was their rarest element, with only two of their members having the affinity.

Teaching those with earth affinities the Jutsu he knew hadn't been hard. He'd already familiarized himself with the chakra movements surrounding the techniques, and the others were thankfully quick to pick up on the finer details. He'd instructed them to familiarize themselves with the external usage of chakra, and focused on his own cultivation.

Finding out about his water affinity had turned him towards one direction; mud release. Earth release already used mud in a plethora of ways, but Katsuo wanted to try the release for more complex mud-based Jutsu. His end goal was to replicate Deidara's clay, but that would be a project for when he had greater mastery of the release.

Thankfully, water release was more prominent in his memories than that of earth release, so he hadn't had to bumble through the tedious tasks of trial and error. It had only taken him two days to get down the signature Jutsu of the village his clan was previously going to attack.

After familiarizing himself with the water chakra in his body through the usage of 'Kirigakure no Jutsu', mud release had come naturally to him. He knew the combination of two elements within the body wasn't supposed to be easy, and thanked the gods for his apparent second Kekkei Genkai. The experience of constantly combining his chakra had also helped him with his chakra control. It wouldn't be long before he had the control necessary to create his own Jutsu, which he desperately needed to combat his weak arsenal.

He'd have to figure a way to incorporate both the mud and water release into his fighting style, but for now he was just focused on getting the foundation of them down.

As it stood, the Kaguya were about two months away from the Land of Rivers, where it'd take an additional few days to get to Tanigakure. Konoha thankfully hadn't sent out a task force to exterminate them, but there was a new C-Ranked 'rogue' titled 'Bone-Man' in the Land of Fire's bingo book.

They were on the right track, but they still had a long way to go before they could contend with the valley hidden village. Katsuo had decided that he'd do some internal scouting on the village before their eventual conquest, but he had more pressing matters to attend to first.

Katsuo sat in the middle of the drawn seal, inspecting the lines to make sure he'd gotten them correctly. According to the scroll, reverse summoning without an already established contract was akin to gambling. The user's chakra signature as well as a hint of their blood was broadcasted out to any who listened. It was a first come, first served message that the user themselves had zero control over.

Summons looking for a summoner could compare the chakra signature and blood with their own, pulling the caster towards their location. This method saw the most success, and was a big reason why most summoners matched personality traits with their summons.

The other outcome was far less favorable. Predatory summons constantly lurked for signatures, using the broadcast as a way to identify prey. If a shinobi was particularly powerful or could successfully negotiate with the predators they'd find themselves with usually strong summons. It was a high risk, high reward scenario however, which was the lead cause of sumon-based casualties.

Katsuo wondered which one he'd prefer. A particularly strong summon could grow his strength exponentially, but the risk of obtaining one lingered around his mind. It wasn't like a predatory animal was always the best option either. Two-thirds of the Sannin could attest to that.

Katsuo pricked his finger with an extended bone, the trail of blood flowing down towards the very center of the seal. With an exertion of chakra, the black lines turned blue. For a second nothing happened, causing Katsuo to silently panic.

That panic was swiftly replaced, as the world seemed to swirl around him.

He couldn't explain the feeling of being pulled through a seal. He felt as if he was being sucked into a vacuum but was unmoving all at the same time. The feeling didn't last for even half a second before he found himself seated on a rough, harsh ground.

Giant rocky cliffs surrounded him from every side, reaching so high into the sky that he couldn't see their peak. He could see dozens of caves and crevices built within the cliffs, but they were too high to see beyond the entrance.

The ground was rocky and arid. Dull brown specs of grass decorated the landscape, matching the tone of the surrounding cliffs. A few withering trees scattered around here and there, their branches thin and their leaves nonexistent.

The canyon he found himself in seemed to stretch forward endlessly on both sides. If his cause of death weren't from that of the creatures that summoned him, the decaying lands would surely fill the part.

Katsuo scoured through his brain for animals that could live in such conditions, scorpions and other insects being the only thing that crossed his mind. The thought made him silently curse to himself. If he'd been correct, he'd likely have to venture into one of the many caves to find them.

Katsuo slowly traversed the arid lands, his eyes scanning the ground for any tunnels his summoner could've been using. The sun harshly beat at him, even through the towering cliffs surrounding him.

After a few minutes of walking aimlessly, he found himself at the foot of one of the decaying trees. Slumped against the graying bark were the remains of some sort of animal, its body either too decomposed or too eaten to tell what it had been in life.

The sound of the wind rushing forward sent Katsuo into high alert. He swiftly jumped to the side, just narrowly dodging claws the size of his hand from digging into his skull. Reddish-gold feathers fluttered as the creature swiftly changed its position, its sharp claws digging into Katsuo's bone-encased arm.

The grip on his arm was tight, unmoving even as he mustered all the strength he could to free himself. The creature spread its black-feathered wings, a single wing easily the size of Katsuo's whole body.

With a fierce squawk and a fiercer beat of the wings, Katsuo found his feet lifted from its sanctum of the dying earth underneath. A beaked face stared down on him, its yellow eyes unmoving from Katsuo's green. A vulture.

Bone encased Katsuo's free hand, striking at the lower body of the vulture. If his stabs had done any harm to the bird, it hadn't shown as the vulture continued its ascent. Katsuo ceased his struggle after he passed a point where he wouldn't survive the fall downward.

The vulture continued its climb until it saw a hole in the cliff. Katsuo could barely process the sudden change in speed before he found himself tumbling against the rough interior of the makeshift cave.

The vulture landed in front of him, its feathered face unmoving from him. "You, boy. Do that again." It ordered, its high pitched voice grating at Katsuo's ears. His eyes darted frantically around the area, but there was no point in resisting the bird's demands. He was too high up to get himself down anyways.

It wasn't until his eyes met that of the pile of bones near the back of the cave that Katsuo understood what the bird was requesting. Each bone sported a fierce crack down the middle. Some were hollow, the bone marrow sucked from inside of them, while a few others had been nearly eaten whole.

A spear of bone shot from Katsuo's palm before clattering against the floor. The vulture quickly scooped the bone up with its beak, cracking the bone in two before swallowing both sides.

"Mmm, very good," the vulture cooed, its eyes closing to savor the test. "It seems I've found myself quite the treasure. Tell me, what is your name, boy?"

"Katsuo Kaguya," the vulture nodded, beckoning for him to summon another bone to eat. The bird cooed once more after Katsuo complied. "I come here in search of a contract. Can you provide me with one?"

The vulture chuckled, the sound coming out in a series of 'coo-coo-coos'. Its fierce yellow eyes locked onto Katsuo's own once more, before it turned to face the entrance to the cave.

"No, no. I cannot do that. It was I that found you. Why would I share you with the others?" The vulture rose to its feet, preparing to take flight again.

"Please!" Katsuo pleaded, his hand gripping on the side of the vulture's left wing. The action caused the bird to look at him, its eyes hardening. "There's an entire clan of people like me. If you help me, you'll never go hungry again."

"An entire clan, you say?" The vulture's body turned so that it was facing Katsuo halfway. He'd have to stretch this half-lie as far as he could take it. Although he and Kimimaro were the only Shikotsumyaku users at the moment, they could pass down their Kekkei Genkai to their kin, and other Kaguya could manifest the ability in the future as well.

"Yes, an entire clan. I'd even pass the contract down to my future children. You'd be our lead patron for generations." The vulture's eyes shut again, its head slightly nodding. In a swift movement, its talons gripped onto Katsuo's arm again. They were back in the air within seconds.

"You'd better make due of your promise," the vulture squawked, its high pitched voice triumphing over even the intense beating of its wings. "Call me Kyofu. It's a name I expect to be carved into the brain of your kin for years to come."

Kyofu's wings seemed to beat even fiercer as their climb upward continued. Even so high up, the cliffs still seemed to be never ending. It made him wonder if the creatures even lived on the same planet that he did.

The sight of what he'd assumed to be the vulture leader's own nest was enthralling. A gigantic mass of what could only be the decaying trees of the surface sat atop one of the wider cliffs. As they grew closer in proximity, even Kyofu's large size seemed insignificant.

The large jet-black wing that could shroud a great deal of the cliffs nearby in shadows sent a bit of a shiver down Katsuo's spine. The size of the summon leaders of his memories paled in comparison to actually seeing one in real life.

Flocks of brown, gray, black, and white flew in and away from the gigantic nest, a few glancing towards Katsuo's dangling figure as they passed. Kyofu's large figure crashed into the poking floor of the nest in a thud, the vulture not softening the landing for its human passenger.

A high-pitched squawk got the gigantic vulture's attention. The feeling of its pitch black eyes staring at him made Katsuo's muscles turn to lead. The leader's gaze lingered on his form for a few seconds before turning to Kyofu.

"Ah, Kyofu. It seems you've come to me with something greater than bones for once! I was starting to think I'd raised a pitiful scavenger," The deep, smooth squawking of the vulture leader was a stark contrast to that of Kyofu's own.

"I've brought a summoner, mother," Kyofu began, the annoyance within its voice clear even to Katsuo. "He seeks a contract with us." The leader's gaze returned to Katsuo, scanning over him. After a moment, she turned back to Kyofu.

"And what makes you think I'd be willing to offer him a contract?"

"He's special, mother. He can seemingly create bones at will. I know only father and I have an appetite for them, but he'd promised an entire clan with similar abilities. They'd be a great way for the hatchlings to properly learn to scavenge, if not anything more."

The leader slowly nodded, soothing coos leaving her beak. "You make a great suggestion, but tell me what I gain from extending this contract." Kyofu turned its attention to him, signaling for Katsuo to answer its mother.

"There'd be notable things to scavenger even for you, Matriarch," Katsuo began, hoping his voice could reach the feathered ears so far above him. "Although the world isn't in as much turmoil as it was in the past, I have a feeling that won't remain true much longer. Even now, smaller scale conflicts scatter the continent."

Other vultures had begun to surround the gigantic nest, watching the event unfold. Katsuo could guess they hadn't seen a contract in a long time, if ever.

The Matriarch cooed once more, her head bobbing up and down. After a few seconds her eyes opened, unmoving from Katsuo once more. "You make a good offer, summoner, but I can't just hand contracts out. First, you must prove your worth."

The Matriarch's wings spread open, their full length shrouding everything in Katsuo's vision in shadows. Her singular flap sent great gusts of wind, so great that it lifted Katsuo off of his feet.

When he looked down, there hadn't been a floor underneath him.