22 Chapter 22: Quietly waiting the storm

17 April- year 13 AK

DAIKI kage bunshin

Ino had required some stitches, and Shikamaru had simply exhausted himself, but beyond that team 10 had succeded with time and scrolls to spare.

They had spent the past 2 days recovering and sorting through everything interesting Choji had taken from the Suna nin.

Shikamaru had taken up a tanto with a grim expression and had secured it horizontally at his waist, while Ino appreciated the bundle if senbons coated in a poison that Choji savaged from the shattered puppet.

The various teams which had managed to pass the second stage had been herded into a big circular room with a balcony that ran around it.

I toned out Sarutobi during his speech and from my advantage place, I took in both the senseis and the genins in the room. As I had suspected, butting in int the second stage had disqualified team 7, and while I took some heat for it, mainly in the form of enraged glances from Konoha's council, which was eager to show off the jinchuriki and the Uchiha, the fact that I had bitch-slapped Orochimaru had reigned them in. I even refrained to point out that while combat-skill-wise both Naruto and Sasuke could make chunin, neither had the mentality for it.

Surprisingly, Kurenai's team (number 8) somehow made it, along with Guy's team (number 3), and obviously my team. I was just happy that they were still alive, keeping them safe would be much easier, I could make them forfeit in case they picked the wrong opponent.

My eyes trailed over Gaara and his cute little siblings, his killing intent washing over me without finding any kind of purchase.

Killing intent had always been a fascinating concept. It was the equivalent of the moment if fright a sudden growl from a rabid dog caused in any civilian, only magnified. Controlling it consciously was something instinctive for most. I had no idea how it came to be, since, from what I understood, I only mimicked it. It's probably because I do not wish to kill people. I reflected.

I spotted Kurotsuchi's team, and wiggled my fingers in a mock salute at them, noticing Kurotsuchi's eyes widening in recognition.

Otogakure's team made it, along with Kabuto's one. I carefully didn't let my eyes linger on him for a moment more than necessary. The plan was collecting the bespectacled shinobi's team after the preliminaries, Ibiki was going to have a party with them.

Otogakure's team was safe, for now, since we couldn't break the chunin charter, but any Konoha's nin could be taken in for interrogation if a higher up determined there were enough motives to be concerned.

And after my debriefing with Sarutobi, the Sandaime himself had authorized it.

The genins joined us big kids on the balcony, bar the first two facing each other in the preliminaries. They were the two teammates of Kurotsuchi.

I snorted. The Hokage is taking revenge for the stunt he pulled at my exam. I almost laughed out loud. "The higher you climb the power ladder, the more your politicking gets to resemble the behavior of a spiteful pampered kid." I muttered, knowing very well that every single jonin could pick up what I said.

Guy got the reference, if his split-second grin was anything to go by.

I smiled when Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji made their way towards me, I had kept an eye on them, but contact with the sensei for the duration of the second stage had been forbidden. I grinned, finding tired but matching smiles ones on their faces.

Faster than they could react, I ruffled their hairs: "I'm sorry you had to go through this," I whispered "But you've done well ducklings. Keep it up for today, breakdowns tomorrow, ok?"

I received nods as answers and Shikamaru spoke: "It's been horrible sensei and Ino..."

The Yamanaka slapped a hand on his mouth glaring at him fiercely.

"I know." I said in a soothing tone "I've been watching. But now scout the competition."

I stopped watching the spar between the Iwa shinobi to look at Kurotsuchi. She was near her sensei, a bulky built guy with a square jaw and black hair. He was the typical Iwa jonin, even if I guessed he was present more for keeping up the facade of his genins needing him.

Say what you want, but Kurotsuchi survived her first chunin exam when she was ten, and since then she had four years to grow in her role. I had no doubt she was going to be a ringer, very much like my team had been.

Shino Aburame, of all people, had walked up to her, and if the frown on Kurenai's face was anything to go by, he did so without her permission.

"You are an Iwa kunoichi, and yet you spared us in the second stage. Not only that, but you let us go with the extra scroll your team had. Why?" He said.

Wow, straight to the point. But asking the enemy for information is hardly the shinobi way to go about it.

In the same way, every jonin had heard me before, everyone with polished enough hearing turned their attention toward the Aburame kid. It was nothing as obvious and crass as turning heads, but glances ran between him and his female sensei with a curiosity barely hidden.

Not only for Shino's surprising revelation but also, and maybe more, to find out if his teacher was on board with it. She wasn't expressing her disapproval, but the fidgeting of her other two students gave it all away. Well, I too didn't teach my kids how to gather information, hammering them into a survival-worthy shape had required all the time I had with them. I considered.

Kurotsuchi tilted her head and looked at me while answering: "I didn't come to Konoha to kill children."

I mimicked a clapping motion and nodded to Onoki's grandaughter. Not every good action gets punished it seems. I thought.

I took out a cigarette and lit it, distractedly looking at the genins ducking it out in the arena below.

It was already Kiba's turn, and he ended up picking one of Kabuto's teammates who didn't retire. You delayed your interrogation by half an hour. I singsonged in my mind.

It was an attrition fight, the masked Konoha nin had to exhaust the chakra of the Inuzuka before either Akamaru or Kiba landed a crippling injury. The gatsuga was rightly feared.

"His sister was my teammate you know." I wistfully told to my team, "She used a combination of clan techniques and doton, very well polished for her age. He falls short in comparison, but we had years to become proficient."

I received some surprised looks from them, while Shikamaru's turned into one of... pity? Or something like that. But their eyes almost immediately returned to the fight, correctly identifying that my reminiscing was a lower level priority than scouting the competition.

I nodded to myself, they had picked up prioritizing well.

I watched, occasionally offering a comment on the several fights that followed, and soon it was Ino's turn.

She had been paired with the crazy guy with the wind blowing shit in his arms from Oto. In half a second, she had him with her clan technique and made him surrender.

"Well, that was underwhelming." She grinned at us when she skipped her way up."Do you remember the three flags I had you collect around the village?" I asked raising an eyebrow. Her blush and the flinch of her teammates were wonderful answers. Can't have them getting a big head now, can I?

"But yes, well done. Now, shush and watch." I added.

Sadly, the match between Hinata and Neji had been clearly set up in canon, and it got its repeat.

In this way, not only Konoha gets to showcase only the better Hyuga, but we can claim that there hasn't been tampering when Onoki will whine about his two genins clashing with each other. I reasoned.

It went basically like in canon, only without Naruto's cheering from the balcony. Still, Hinata kept getting up, and that was something I could respect.

Neji was all kinds of batshit crazy, I had only met Lee thanks to the hand-running around the village, but I had hoped that his character was somehow fucked up only in the manga. Sadly, it wasn't the case.

Where Hinata was hesitant, Neji was ruthless. Where she was fast, her cousin was faster. Where her hits almost landed, his blows were like a battering ram. The gentle fist is clearly the most terrifying kind of taijutsu in Konoha.

If Guy wasn't the kind of Beast he was, any Hyuga could duke it out with anyone. It wasn't only the 'I'll kill you with a tap on your heart' thing, but their immunity to genjutsu basically erased the main weakness of melee fighters, who since they passed most of their time working on their bodies, tended to be less aware of their own chakra and as such more easily ensnared.

When the moment came, along with the other four jonin senseis from the leaf, I intervened to stop the fight.

I appeared in front of the strike, too suddenly and too close for Neji to properly react. And if not for Guy grabbing the offending arm, he would more than likely have broken his finger against my armor.

"Only the weak live with rage to support them." I said with a steely expression "Who could have guessed that hate can blind even the Byakugan." I added with an ironic tone.

I returned to the balcony as fast as I left it, watching Kurenai deliver her injured student to the mednins. And I shook my head at the questioning expressions on my genins.

Fantastic, now he'll remain a douche since Naruto won't manage to beat any kind of sense into him. I reasoned. But at least Sasuke isn't one, maybe in this world, one angsty family-killer character is a must. I reasoned.

I read the display: the next fight would see Gaara facing Choji. "No." I said, placing a hand on the Amikichi.

So Choji wisely chose to surrender. Like hell I was going to have him face Gaara.

I quickly stopped caring for the fights, letting Shikamaru take note of the competition.

I turned Choji towards me and looked him in the eyes: "I'll explain tomorrow, alright? For now, simply trust me."

Lee against Kankuro had been a great showing on Konoha's part, mostly because the first kick of the next 'Majestic Green Beast of prey' shattered the puppet in the first three seconds.

And since Gaara was no longer competing, I simply kicked back and relaxed, enjoying playing with the smoke in my lungs.

I actually fell asleep, and I would do the same if the occasion repeated itself, I didn't get a second of shut-eye since the beginning of the exams, I deserved it, even if I was only a clone.

I awoke in time to see the genin extract their numbers from the urn and the tournament bracket getting established.

Shikamaru vs Neji, Gaara vs Kiba, Lee vs Kurotsuchi, Ino vs Akatsuchi, Temari vs Doku. I blinked in half surprise. They managed to weed out a shitload of people. I considered.

"See you tomorrow at training ground 11, 10:00 am. You earned the right to sleep in." I told my team before leaving the room.

I flickered back into the village and strolled aimlessly for a while. I need both to talk sense into Neji and to warn Kurenai that Gaara is a jinchuriki. I pondered.

Like I did only once before, I walked into the cemetery until I was standing in front of Asuma's grave, I could enjoy the little time I had left.

I reached Asuma's tombstone, not bothering with lighting him a cigarette this time, and sat down, letting myself reminisce a bit.

"C'mon rookie, Konoha nin among the Twelve should back each other up."

Looking at my uncertain expression, Asuma rolled his eyes. "I'm honestly curious, kid, I'm not going to tell anyone if you don't want me to. I'll give you a cigarette in exchange."

Seeing an opportunity to try to figure out his smoke-fire personal jutsu, I couldn't refuse it.

"I signed the Elephant contract." I said quietly.

Asuma actually started laughing: "Well, I would have never guessed it. And? Why does Ichika say that it's useless?"

I sighed: "Well, it turns out they dislike fighting. Only the more dim ones have ever accepted to be summoned, actually using a personalized summon."

Asuma hummed, taking a deep drag and offering me a cigarette in return: I took it and looked at him questioningly.

He lit it for me and gestured me forward: "I understand you signed the Elephant Summoning Contract and not a personalized one? Well, summoning contracts are rare stuff, you don't just happen across one, even if you can always add another personalized one, from what I know."

"I made sure to add that condition to the contract." I grinned.

He matched my grin: "So... forgive me, but I am curious, how are the they? I only witnessed Sandaime-sama interacting with Enma. How was meeting them?"

"Well I likely had it easier than others, they don't exactly 'hide'." I answered, looking for a way to describe them.

I shrugged. "I had a lot to talk about with Zōkīshiro, the boss summon, he is... I don't know, just... larger than life, you know? Not only literally. But, we talked. He doesn't want any member of his herd to get hurt over pretty squabbles, and I totally get him. It turns out they have a great memory and like stories, they have a lot to teach, I think Zōshōjokuro is a monster at fuinjutsu." I had no qualms with talking about it. Maybe it was his general laid back demeanor and approachable personality, maybe I really wanted a human friend, maybe I counted on the fact that I would become strong enough before returning to Konoha that I no longer needed to be paranoid about my true ambitions. I didn't know. I took a drag and immediately started coughing. It was disgusting.

Asuma's belly laugh filled my ears while he gave me an awkward slap on my back. "I'll need to teach you how to smoke properly, won't I?" he proposed. My eyes widened seeing him shape the smoke in the kanji for 'Fire'.

I smiled wistfully, the memory fading from my mind. I sighed and rose from my seat.

"I hope I'm doing a good job." I muttered.

Then I dispelled myself.

DAIKI

The memories of the clone's day washed over my consciousness like a handful of sand being dropped into a lake.

I was perched on the top of the Hokage's tower, taking in the wholeness of the village. Like I had been doing in the middle of training ground 44, I was in Sage Mode, scouting out possible threats. I sent out a Kage bunshin to keep an eye on my team during the preliminaries, and if it wasn't for the fact that I was perfectly still, I would have snorted at his memories of visiting the graveyard.

When I felt another presence on the level of the Hokage, but vastly different from Orochimaru's, I deduced Jiraya finally bothered to show up. I inhaled, resuming my breathing and opening my eyes. My heart thundered once and began pumping. My chakra washing over the now wary toad sage.

I brought my hands forward in s cross-shaped seal and, with barely a whisper, I created a kage bunshin before laying down once more on the tile roof and resuming my 'stillness'.

DAIKI kage bunshin

I looked around myself, I knew that I had golden eyes exactly like those of an elephant and the markings of a Sage (which still did not make sense) and that even as a kage bunshin I could barrel through an absurd deal of abuse. There are very few things that can actually stop a sage. I reasoned.

I climbed down the roof and entered the Hokage's office while Jiraya was entering through the door. Most likely only to check out the secretary.

He squared me with narrowed eyes, recognizing the frankly giant threat that I was representing before turning a questioning glance to the Sandaime, who puffed happily on his pipe. Reassured by the indifference of his old sensei, the toad sage turned towards me: "Well, how did Guy's problematic child stumble upon senjutsu?" he asked happily.

My mind easily recalled the memory of my first encounter with my summons...

With a sigh, I started walking around, looking for clues about which animal ruled over that place.I only hoped they weren't going to be giraffes. I heard them first, a low rumble reverberating through my bones, it was like an avalanche echoing through a valley until the end of it. I wasn't hearing it with my ears, and not really with my body, since the rumble made my chakra shiver.

Finding them had been easy. Outside from the patches of impossibly big trees, there was a great plain, and even from what I could estimate was a distance of 5 kilometers, I could see them.

"A fucking parade of elephants." I muttered. I really didn't know what to think, I was floored.

Even worse, I distinctly remembered fucking Danzo of all people summoning one in his battle against Sasuke.

"No wait, it was a chimaera of some sort... which was the name... oh yes! The Baku was the traditional Japanese nightmare-devouring fucked up beast originated in Chinese folklore." I corrected myself, with a relieved sigh.

"That raises the question of how the fuck one does get contracted with a mythological animal" I wondered. The elephants were walking towards the setting sun, and I started running after them.

"Like hell I'm going to miss a summoning contract." I muttered.

With my steps raised little clouds of dust while I was running, I took in the parade. Surprisingly enough, there weren't outlandish colors, even if I could spot the absolute whiteness of the one leading them. Their growing forms looked... ordinary. Shades of gray, tusks, bigass ears.

Their chakra, from my limited sensing, was fucking vast. My sensing range was around 10, 15 meters. That I could feel them from kilometers was just insane.

Another low rumble shivered over my chakra. It was intentional.

"Well, it explains why I can feel their chakra." I muttered. The elephants were broadcasting their presence. Basically exuding chakra. Scaring off others maybe?

Coming closer, I identified the head of the parade and kept running towards him.

When I was close enough, I faltered.

It wasn't the whole parade who was throwing around chakra like a fountain, only the male leading them.

Thinking about it, I shouldn't have been surprised, but huge did not even begin to describe him. I knew that toads snakes and slugs were fucking enormous summons, but the one at the head of the parade dwarfed them.

He was white, easily twice Gamabunta's size, I had to keep up my sprint to keep up with the 'walk' of the parade.

The rumbling stopped, and the eye of the titan in front of me took in my presence with a distracted glance before returning to lazily observe the surroundings.

"Human." he spoke. His voice was the rumbling of a landslide, deep, overwhelming, and yet without any inflection. There was no curiosity, no welcoming warmth, no wariness. He had apparently already deemed me 'not-a-threat', so chit-chat wasn't a problem.

I kept running, the rest of the herd was quiet. As quiet as at least fifty behemoths could be while walking.

Seriously, the air movements they were causing either with their breathing or simple walking was buffeting me.

I didn't know how to exactly react to the honestly unreadable welcome. Should I answer 'Elephant'? Call him sama? Just ask for the contract?

Eh, I'll just go with the flow, they look like laid back people. Hell, I would be if I had no natural predators. Well, lions would attack a lone elephant, but Discovery Channel isn't helping me here.

I tried to gauge something from the white elephant expression, but, and here's the kick, whatever humanization chakra brings to summon animals, it was absent on the behemoth.

"Elephant." I answered.

I ran at his side for a couple of hours, while he kept leisurely walking across the savannah. I wasn't in a hurry, and it felt somehow the right thing to do.

"You know of patience, human." The white elephant spoke, his eyes roaming over the horizon.

I shrugged, glad that he had begun the conversation.

"My name is Daiki." I answered, hoping that I passed whatever test they were going to grind me through.

"Why are you here, Daiki?" The white elephant asked.

Wow, no -san? No -kun either? Did he already dislike me?

"I want to become a sage. Signing a contract is the only way I know that would make it possible." I shrugged, playing the honest card. I didn't really need to summon giant elephants around, even if the whole Kuchiyose no jutsu had it's own kind of magic appeal. I kept running at the side of the titanic animal for another twenty minutes before he answered.

"Why should I allow it?" He asked, his voice unreadable as always.

Wow. That is unexpected. Not 'How do you know about it?' 'Why do you want to be a sage?'

Fortunately, I was ready with a lot of points in my favor.

"Do the animal summons need chakra for their self-awareness and intelligence?" I asked as an answer.

The white behemoth did not deign me of an answer, but given the fact that we were talking with intervals of at least twenty minutes, maybe he was just thinking about what my question could imply.

"Does it look like we need more chakra?" he questioned. I couldn't tell for sure, but he was almost sardonic.

"Did the animal summons exist before Kaguya Ōtsutsuki made a mess with the sacred tree and her son started to teach people how to use chakra?" I asked.

Now, That surprised him. He didn't falter, I didn't even want to think about the kind of damage he could do if he tripped.

"You know many things humans have forgotten." He grumbled after a while.

"I need to become strong enough to stop Kaguya's third son from freeing her. I don't know how animal summons came to be, but I bet that animals mutated to adapt to active chakra pathways, and that somehow senchakra created the 'summoning plane'. If Kaguya comes back, she'll take back the chakra, all of it." I elaborated.

The white elephant took another two steps, then stopped walking. "I don't feel lies. And yet you speak of the impossible."

The rest of the parade moved over to the nearby trees, which were almost as tall as them, and cheerfully, from what I could understand, started eating.

They had all ignored me, likely knowing that I wasn't a threat, and that even if I was, their boss could more than likely simply splatter me.

"For everything that begins, there is an end." The white behemoth spoke, his eye, vast and terrible, zeroing on me. It was golden, and almost burning with life. How the fuck didn't I notice that before.

"Everything changes, the world should go forward, not eat its tail." I countered.

The white elephant took a deep breath and exhaled. With the effect of almost sniffing me up his trunk and blowing me away. He rumbled again, making my chakra shiver.

"The herd could teach you what you ask, but what can you teach in return?" The white elephant asked.

"I know many things from another world, things nobody else can tell you: History, Science, Poetry, Mathematics, Physics, Philosophy, Fables..." I offered. Who would they tell? The giant elephant was hardly going to sell me to Danzō. Besides, I needed a relationship based on trust, I needed them to make a sage out of me.

"Knowledge for knowledge." the white elephant rumbled. Somehow I knew that lying to him was an absurdly stupid thing to do.

"I do not wish for my herd to be called for battle. But if you manage to talk one of the adults into it, I will allow it." He rumbled.

Acutely aware that we were already negotiating the terms of the summoning contract, I focused on whatever shit I could use summons for.

In the meantime, another rumble washed over me, this time I felt the accompanying shiver... slide away? From me. And under my eyes, a dozen or so of baby elephants appeared around the area, playing around.

Well, baby elephants of the size of two-floor houses, but still.

With his always calm and paced voice that acutely reminded me how easily he could flatten me on the ground, the white elephant spoke again: "I protect my herd, you will stop what the third son is attempting."

"If I manage to find another summoning contract can I sign it?" I asked. Something like the hawk contract would allow me to send messages, it wouldn't be half bad.

"You can if you can afford it." The white elephant answered.

"What do you mean?"

"With chakra, and as you call it, our self-awareness and human intelligence, most species took up several of mankind traits." The behemoth explained.

I nodded thinking about the yakuza-ish behavior and appearance of Gamabunta.

"Among them, the constant search for power, that they obtain in the form of a blood and chakra sacrifice. Our agreement includes a payment in knowledge, and the stopping of Kaguya's youngest. If the contract you sign will ask of you blood and chakra, you will be able to pay." The white elephant concluded.

I blinked, surprised by the lengthy explanation when I understood.

He is already taking up his part of the agreement, knowledge for knowledge. I thought.

"Knowledge for knowledge, I'll stop the third brother, and summon in battle only an adult I took an agreement with, and obviously I will not harm elephants." I repeated.

The white elephant rumbled in what I understood was... approval? With maybe a spark of amusement at the idea of me being able to hurt one if them.

"My name, young student and teacher, is Zōkīshiro." The boss summons introduced himself.

He brought his trunk against the tip of one of his tusks, lightly puncturing it and drawing blood.

Following my gut, I bit my thumb until I drew blood. Fucking hell it stings. I thought vehemently, but I schooled my expression.

Ōkīshirozō brought down his trunk until his wound stood bright in front of me, I touched it with my bloodied hand and watched with fascination as the contract wrote itself in impossibly complex seals around my arm.

I left my memories and grinned to my fellow sage, not being able to resist, I tried to mindfuck him: "I spied on Tsunade in an onsen and she punched me into the Summons Plane."