Chapter Thirty Three-Pantherian Sage
"So he truly has become our summoner? This boy being given the power to summon any one of us, even you elders, doesn't sit right with me." Rougias said with slightly narrowed eyes.
"Without even undertaking our clan trials, it is rather unsettling" Tugaris seemed ready to hop on the negativity train that was being driven by the Elder Pathera and the boss summon, Rougias.
"Hm, well I for one am ecstatic. Can we even call ourselves a summon clan while not having a true summoner in nearly a thousand years? There is more to this world than our island and our finned enemies." Rovix, the second strongest 'big beast' in the room, seemed ready to derail that train in its tracks. Much to my relief. I did take notice of more details of this 'enemy' they were fighting, obviously aquatic.
Which should have been obvious given that they had full control of this island. The enemies would have to come from the air or the sea. Hmm, well maybe a mole clan could exist underground,d or an insectoid clan for that matter.
"I find myself agreeing with Rovix, too little has ever been gained through minor contracts. Just looking at the Cubs gear, I can tell there will be fruits in this ordeal. And seeing as I'm not the most pretentious in this room, I'll introduce myself first. Symbasei, king of the lions, it is an honor to meet you, summoner" He finished his greeting with a respectful tilt of his head. It was official, the lion king had charged onto the train tracks and shoulder-checked it over a mountain.
"To call the boy summoner and speak to him with respect? Not even a full day since Lord Peru's decree, as well. I shouldn't be surprised by the Lion but you Rovix? I'm honestly surprised." Rougias said with a lazy drawl, combined with what he said, my annoyance began to peak.
But I stopped myself, only to be poked in the side.
"Speak your mind cub, that's what you're here for," Mufoso said with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. 'Yeah, fuck it…..'
"Then I just won't summon you two assholes. Frankly, I do not need fire release or stealth, not my style. Rovix? I believe he's so close to your level of strength that I wouldn't be too broken up about losing the ability to summon the 'boss'. For however long you manage to keep that title, with Rovix and I sharpening our skills against the anvil that are the four other armies that have challenged my country. As for the lions?" I paused to turn to their King. Uncaring by the three 'negative' felines look in absolute shock at my statements thus far. "I'm in a war, I need an experienced smith."
"I'm sure we will work something out, summoner!" That was all the big lion could last, he immediately busted out laughing, followed by Rovix. I even noticed the Lion Elder holding back chuckles despite his panther partner giving him a withering glare.
"Understood. Take the boy to his final trial, it's not like he'll even choose to go through with it. This meeting, like I said from the beginning, was pointless." Rougias said with a dismissive wave of his paw, and for once I agreed with him. Besides building a report with the lion and cheetah kings, I felt like I wasted my time.
Yet what he said made sense. As Pathera said, if I didn't complete this 'trial' I wouldn't be recognized by certain members of Panthera. It was obvious now what she meant, the tiger and panther leaders. It seemed half of these people were sticklers for rules and traditions. While the others were perfectly content to bend those rules to move forward.
I turned to the Lion elder and raised a brow. My meaning is obvious that we should just leave and get this shit over with so I can go home. Trial or not.
"Fine fine, let's head on out cub, we've got a decent amount of ground to cover anyway," Mufuso said with a shrug and turned to leave through the exit. With a hop in my step, I turned to follow the 'cool' elder.
"Hold there summoner." A rumble behind me caused me to nearly stagger, I turned around curiously to the Lion King regarding me. "You said you needed work done, give it to me."
"Oh…. Sure" I said with a note of excitement as I removed my jacket and hidden leaf flak jacket. Placing both items into his outstretched paw, nearly laughing at how my items barely covered one of his 'toe beans' as Mikoto would call them.
"I was hoping to improve this by adding some light steel on the forearms and shoulders of the haori. Please be careful of the seals. As for the flack jacket, I was looking to get some better padding, not too much to bulge and maybe darken it, or outright paint it black." I said as the Lion regarded my items with a critical gaze. Paying a few seconds to observe the seal work in the symbol at the back of my Haori.
"Understood, I should have it done by tomorrow morning. We can discuss payment upon pick up" With his goal done, he turned and rumbled out his door. I looked and noticed two other doors had already closed, leaving only one ajar.
"I expect nothing short of a great battle upon being summoned," Rovix said from the door he was prowling out of.
"I find myself in plenty of those..." I replied with a strained smile.
Five Hours Later... Deep into the Jungles of Panthera
I came to realize I had severely underestimated how large this island was. Mufuso had taken me for a run, literally. I had to body flicker just to keep up, and it didn't seem to be ending anytime soon.
He had told me we were heading to the center of the island, and I had thought we would have reached it by now moving at these speeds. I was beginning to think this was an island nation comparable to Whirlpool Village in size.
Yet despite my mental complaints we had arrived, or at least stopped. I wasn't sure how we were going to enter the sea of vines of foliage in front of us.
"So….. Are we lost?" I asked as I looked around us, the lion had gone completely still since we arrived. It was odd since most animals at least always twitch every few seconds, whether that was from a deep breath or an itch. Yet a full twenty seconds passed and he didn't respond, or move.
"Hey, old lion? That run didn't kill you, did it?" I asked with worry, as it was a pretty grueling pace the elderly lion had set to get here.
"Cubs….. So very impatient, without an elder like me you all would never find your way" He spoke but I barely heard it, my instincts were screaming at me to run.
The lion's slitted eyes now glowed a deep yellow, and the feeling I got from him being one with everything had turned on its head. He still felt just like the trees and vines around us.
Yet now, it felt like he ruled it all, the very forest around us felt as if it would answer his call and attack me from every direction.
"Great instincts young one, it seems you might have an affinity after all" Mufuso said with hope as he raised his palm towards the wall of vegetation.
He hummed and gently pushed his palm forward. It was a small gesture but whatever it did it released some of that energy into the wall.
Like magic, the vines began twisting and folding. In moments a grand archway opened.
"Follow cub. We'll see if you have the makings of a Sage" Mufuso said with a genuine smile as he walked through the hallway of vines. I didn't know what a sage was but I had a feeling it was connected to whatever strange energy that made this diminutive lion stronger than any Jonin I've ever met, possibly even Sakumo Sensei yet that might've been a stretch.
'I don't care what it is, if I even had a fraction of this power, a lot of my stress would be melted away' I resolved as I followed the lion into whatever mystical hell-hole awaited me.
The hallway of vines didn't last long, yet it ended in a large circular clearing.
The clearing was filled with stone statues of feline beasts and morbid human half-feline ones. The statues were more focused towards the center of the clearing, right next to the only construct in this place.
A small temple, with four stone columns held the roof by its four corners. Leaving it open and allowing you to see the most detailed and life-life statue in the clearing.
A tall man with spiking hair and horns? Covered by a high-collared simple kimono, the only flourish it had was a tomoe pattern on the front.
The most eye-catching parts of the statue were the eyes and the staff that the man held. Ringed eyes, a possible lost dojutsu from ancient times if I had to bet money on it. An odd third eye protruding from his forehead was especially alien. Honestly, everything about the man screamed 'not human'.
His staff was a simple Buddhist ringed staff, something you'd find any monk at the fire temple wielding. A crescent moon carved at the bottom was the only thing that marked it as unique.
I had a suspicion, one that I was so sure of that it made my Sharingan itch from how hard I was studying the statue.
"Could that be, no. Is that a statue of the Sage of Six Paths?" I asked the Elder standing a few feet in front of me, just outside a line of seals I had just noticed. The formula was spread in a perfect circle around everything, with the temple at the center.
"You are correct, it seems that you can feel a connection to your ancient ancestors, or your deductions skills would prove your apparent 'cub' status into question." Mufuso joked, but I wasn't in the mood to laugh.
'I am way out of my depth here' I should have realized it a lot sooner.
"Hm, come here young Tometsu." Mufuso waved me closer to him and despite my better judgment I cautiously walked over.
"The trial of the Pantherian Sage. A rather simple affair, all you must do is walk to the temple, sit upon the prayer mat, and meditate upon the First and only true Sage, he of Six-Paths" Mufuso had explained and pointed to a rather exquisite purple mat at the foot of the sages statue.
"It…it isn't that simple is it…" I said as I began to get a sinking feeling as I gazed upon the faces of frozen terror on many of the statues' faces.
Yet there was one statue that made my heart stop and my blood run cold. The hybrid of a human woman and a lion. That statue was the closest to the mat yet that wasn't what made me break out into a cold sweat.
It was the pair of fully matured Sharingan that rested in the statue's eye sockets. Turned to stone as if they were carved in perfect detail.
"Very astute of you Tometsu Uchiha, you've begun to understand the true stakes of this trial and senjutsu as a whole" Mufuso hummed in a sad tune after he confirmed my deduction.
"The truth is that only one in a few tens of millions of people have a chance to truly become a sage, I am speaking of you humans specifically. Us beasts have a higher chance, yet as you can see many of my 'brothers' and kin now rest here for eternity as well" Mufuso said as the sad tune he hummed was abruptly cut off. I didn't miss how he put a special emphasis on his 'brothers' who failed this trial.
"You have passed this? Is it possible?" I asked with no small amount of disbelief. This seemed like a cruel joke made up by the torture department. An impossible task to make a subject break with the promise that it was possible.
"Aye, Pathera as well. That is what it means to be granted the title of Elder of Panthera, you must be a Sage. And to be recognized as 'the summoner' by all, you must also become a Sage" Mufuso said with seriousness.
"And before you ask, no, this is the only time I will ever lead you to this place. By clan law, an Elder can only bring a person here once in his or her life." The words died on my lips. I truly wasn't ready for this, I didn't know if I ever would be.
This 'trial' was extremely morbid. But with the promise of following in the footsteps of 'he of the Six-Paths'. Could I really walk away from this? Would I go the rest of my life living with the regret of not giving it a shot?
Regret is a funny word to a person like me. I had truly died once after all. People loved theorizing what a person on death's door thought about. Was it their family? Friends? Anger at the enemy that left you in such a state?
The only truth I found that correlated with the books and diaries of shinobi we were forced to read in the academy was that regrets only ever truly hit you when your life was about to end.
Sure I felt rage at the Suna Anbu who killed my team, still did, and thought of revenge every day. But what had truly traumatized me from that experience were the what-ifs and things I wished I had done.
I wished I could've hugged my mother one more time.
I wish I could've shown father the progress I made in his absence.
I wished I would've hugged Mikoto just a little tighter if I had known it would be the last time I saw her.
What if my parents had survived and truly trained me as they wished to do so, could I have noticed the Suna Anbu's trap before we ran right over it?
What if I hadn't cheated my way to a perfect score on the written exam, and dropped to second place in class rankings? Would I even be on this cursed team?
For a kid that had only lived for twelve years up to that point….. I had too many regrets to swallow.
What would happen if I died in ten or twenty years? Could I stomach the regret of not trying this trial? I was a shinobi, my life could end at the drop of a hat. That was something I had accepted after Sakumo had taken me under his wing.
"Calm yourself, child, I am not here to force you, honestly I'm here to talk you out of this. You've seen it yourself, two of the clans agree with me. You already have half of Panthera on your side. There's no reason to risk yourself to simply please a few cubs stuck in their ways. Give it a decade or so and they'll come begging for another chance to be summoned by you." Mufuso pleaded comfortingly. Yet it had gone through one ear and out the other.
{(LEGENDARY) Hidden Quest Discovered}
A Pantherian Sage
Objective: You've been given one chance to try the final trial of the Panthera, make it to the statue of the sage, and sit upon the prayer mat at his feet.
Rewards: 2 perk points, 65,000xp, ???.
'You always seem to know when I plan on doing something completely idiotic' I said in my mind with almost a hint of fondness.