Chapter 12: The Summoning Jutsu

Chapter 12: The Summoning Jutsu

For Clawtarou, life had never been better. His food supply was guaranteed, his goal of becoming stronger and avenging his parents was set, and as for the third condition—well, that was just something Yataro had sneaked in. It had nothing to do with him.

"I'm going to prick your paw now to sign the summoning contract. It'll hurt just a little, but don't be scared, okay?" Kazama pulled out a kunai, preparing for the blood ritual.

Clawtarou patted his chest, signaling that he was fine with it. He even extended his paw voluntarily.

Despite Clawtarou's small size, his paws were thick and sturdy—true bear paws, just miniature ones. Carefully, Kazama pierced the skin, squeezing out a few drops of blood.

Kosuke, who had already prepared a blank summoning scroll, quickly formed a few hand seals, activating the seal. As soon as Clawtarou's paw print was pressed onto the scroll, small black symbols swarmed over it like tiny ants, gradually forming a circular sealing formation around the paw print, with additional complex sealing patterns surrounding it.

"It's done, Kazama," Kosuke said, withdrawing his chakra. After double-checking the seal, he confirmed that the contract was complete.

"I'm ready!" Kazama took the kunai, sliced his finger, and rubbed his blood-stained fingers together before pressing them onto the scroll. "That's it? That's all I have to do?" he asked, still a little uncertain.

"I can try it now, right?" he asked eagerly.

"Try what?" Kosuke raised an eyebrow.

"The Summoning Jutsu, of course!"

Kosuke hesitated for a moment, looking at Kazama, then at Clawtarou, who was licking his paw. "Alright, give it a try. The hand signs for Summoning Jutsu are Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram."

The Summoning Jutsu itself wasn't a high-level technique. Even in the original story, Naruto had managed to pull it off on his first try. What determined the difficulty level of the jutsu was the distance and size of the summoned creature. The farther away and the larger the summon, the more chakra was required.

For example, when Naruto summoned Gamabunta for the first time, he had to borrow Nine-Tails' chakra because the consumption was enormous.

Kazama's summoning, however, was much simpler. Clawtarou was right next to him, small in size, and had low chakra demands. Kosuke had already assessed both of their chakra reserves, and he was confident that Kazama wouldn't have any issues.

"Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram… Summoning Jutsu!"

Moving slowly and carefully, Kazama formed the seals, channeling his chakra instinctively. As he slammed his left hand onto the ground, a surge of chakra erupted from him. He felt an odd sensation, as if something deep within him had been activated.

In the next instant, Clawtarou, who had been sitting a few steps away, suddenly jerked upright.

With a poof—he vanished.

And then, with another poof, he reappeared right in front of Kazama, his furry head directly beneath Kazama's hand.

"W-Wait… Did it work?! I actually did it!" Kazama exclaimed, lifting Clawtarou in excitement, rolling around in joy. "This is my first real combat ninja technique!"

"…Squeak squeak squeak!"

Yataro, completely ignored, pointed at the two of them and launched into a furious tirade—all in beast language.

"You want to try too?" Kazama finally understood his complaints. "Grandpa?"

Kosuke nodded. The summoning scroll was still open on the ground, so without hesitation, they repeated the ritual process for Yataro.

And just like that, Yataro officially became Kazama's second summoning beast.

---

Training Continues

When a person is constantly occupied, time flies unnoticed.

Kazama's training was intense, but not reckless. His focus remained on swordsmanship and archery, as they would be his main combat techniques in the future—he couldn't afford to be lazy.

His biggest headache, however, was Wind Release training. It wasn't that he wasn't improving; rather, the progress was so gradual that it felt frustratingly slow. Each day, he improved just a little, but no matter what, he couldn't seem to accelerate his progress.

With swordsmanship and archery, every breakthrough brought a moment of clarity, a feeling of sudden realization.

But with Wind Release?

It was nothing but repetition. He had become extremely proficient in channeling chakra into his swings, but he still couldn't achieve the razor-sharp cutting power that true Wind Release techniques required.

Was his training method wrong?

That didn't seem likely. The principle was the same as cutting leaves. The only difference was that he had incorporated sword swings instead of using his bare hands. If anything, using a blade should have helped him grasp the feeling of sharpness even more.

If the method wasn't wrong, then the only explanation was—he simply lacked talent.

Or perhaps, his body inherently lacked an affinity for Wind Release.

Kazama had never tested his chakra nature. Chakra paper was expensive, and he had never been willing to waste money on it.

Besides, a ninja's chakra nature could be developed, even if they didn't have a natural affinity for it. Having an innate talent just made it easier, but even without one, he could still learn it—it would just take longer.

That was the gamble he had made.

But… his progress was disappointing.

Kazama contemplated Wind Release again. The key to its nature transformation was sharpness—just like a blade.

In the original story, when Asuma taught Naruto about Wind Release, his exact words were:

"Sharpen it. Make it thinner."

A simple explanation. Almost too simple.

Wait… Simple?

Kazama suddenly realized something.

While it was true that chakra could carry a person's intent, all examples of chakra manifestation seemed to be focused on singular, pure concepts.

For instance:

Gaara's sand carried the protective will of his mother, and it always prioritized defense.

Fire Release users could develop different fire techniques, but every ninja's Fire Release nature transformation remained consistent and singular.

There had never been a ninja capable of manifesting multiple different nature transformations within the same chakra type. If someone could use Fire Release, they would only ever have one variation of it.

In other words, chakra nature transformations had to be pure and singular.

That meant… his Wind Release training had a fundamental problem.

His initial approach had been based on the anime's description—"sharper and thinner."

Then, he had tried to integrate that into swordsmanship, thinking of Wind Release as being like a blade.

But deep down, he didn't believe that any chakra nature could be so limited. He had always assumed Wind Release should have multiple properties, rather than just one simple transformation.

This conflicting mindset had led to impure chakra formation.

His chakra was trying to manifest multiple contradictory ideas at once, preventing the Wind Release transformation from taking proper shape.

If he wanted his Wind Release to succeed, then the concept he imprinted onto his chakra needed to be singular and pure.

He needed to dig deep into his subconscious and find the truest, most natural understanding of Wind Release—one that resonated completely with his being.

At that moment, Wind Release would finally take form.

"Wind Release?" Kazama thought to himself. "If I hadn't watched anime, I wouldn't even know what it was supposed to be."

Why was he training Wind Release?

Because in close combat, it could be as sharp as sword energy.

Because in long-range attacks, it could give his arrows unparalleled piercing power.

"If Fire Release had those same properties, I would've trained Fire instead." Kazama smirked to himself.

He was finally starting to understand what had been holding him back.