NARUTO 19

In one small corner on the far edges of the territory of the Divine Dragon Clan, there was a valley filled with grassy fields split by a meandering river. Of course, calling any place in the summoning small was merely a matter of perspective, since each blade of grass, once placed in the normal world, would be considered the size of a tree.

In the center of the valley, there was a large commotion, as a group of hundreds of slavering canines with madness in their eyes threw themselves forward, trying to bite and tear apart a small figure that stood in the air in front of them.

The dog like creatures that had no intelligence and were among the some of the common dangers for young members of the summons clans were by no means small. The over fifty meter tall mindless creatures often swarmed together and rampaged around when their numbers grew too large.

The large mountains looming up beyond the valley that Carl was fighting in was where they grew and bred. They would often mingle into large groups and swarm down the mountain into the various clan lands. As the overlords of the area, and as the patron clan of so many smaller summons clans, the Divine Dragon Clan had the duty of cleaning up many of these swarms of beasts.

While Carl was flying through the air, using the Divine Dragon's martial arts to deliver vicious and overpowered blows to kill the large dog-like creatures, Kayda floated further back, calmly watching the performance of her student.

A small frown could be seen on Kayda's face, if one were adept at reading dragon's expressions. She had been teaching this student for a bit more than three years, and she was both pleased and frustrated with his progress. His progress in learning and implementing the moves of the Divine Dragon's martial arts was simply monstrous at first. He only needed to see a move once, and practice it a few times, and he would have it down. But…

"Carl. You have done well to become adept in the moves." Kayda spoke at a normal volume, but she could tell that Carl was listening to her words attentively, even as he continued to fly through the air and dodge the bites and claw attacks coming at him. "But you have been stuck at the cusp of complete mastery for more than two and a half years. You have mastered the technical aspects, but still lack the temperament needed to fully display the power of this martial art."

Kayda could see that Carl was reflecting on her words as his moves almost became absentminded as his attacks tapered off. He still flew through the air, dodging the mindlessly violent creatures, but his full attention wasn't on the fight.

'Temperament, huh.' Carl thought as he dodged and flew circles around the dog-like creatures. 'What am I missing, then?'

Images floated through his mind. All his interactions with the Divine Dragon Clan were being replayed in his mind. He examined every interaction, no matter how small. From the gate guards on the edge of the clan lands, to the attendants in the palace, to the Azure Dragon himself.

After some time, Carl began to see a glimmer of an idea. One thing that was common among all the dragons he had seen. It was like Kayda had said, the Dragons all had a certain temperament, an awareness of where they stood in the order of all things.

Even the little attendants in the palace who served those higher than themselves had a certain awareness of being high above all other things. It was like Kayda had said on their first meeting.

"The essence of our Divine Dragon martial arts comes from our very nature as dragons. Superior power, swift and decisive action, and tyrannical strikes. We are the rulers of all we see, and our overbearing strength subdues everything below us."

At the time, while Carl had paid close attention to Kayda's words, he hadn't yet made the connection that she was passing on to him the lynchpin knowledge of the Divine Dragon's martial arts. He had simply assumed she was spouting off a simple introduction.

But now, Kayda's words reverberated through his mind. "…our overbearing strength subdues everything below us."

Carl suddenly paused midair, standing upright in the air. His form abruptly shifted, growing larger. He completed his transformation into his Silver Dragon form in an instant, floating in the air with his wings folded on his back. He indifferently looked at the slavering dog-like creatures that had paused in their attacks for some reason and were looking at him in confusion.

He had long since shown his dragon form to Kayda and the Divine Dragons. While his Silver Dragon form was much smaller and differently shaped from the Divine Dragon's long and sinuous form, he was still a Dragon. It simply affirmed that their decision to accept him as their summoner was the correct choice.

Over the three years he had been training with Kayda, Carl had spent plenty of time in his Dragon form, adapting the martial art that she taught him to his draconic form. But this time it felt different. With his focus on the temperament that Kayda mentioned, Carl felt almost a shiver pass through his very bones as something fundamental shifted inside of him.

Looking down on the dog-like creatures that dared attack him, Carl suddenly had the impression that they were weak insects. He raised an eyebrow in amusement that they even dared to attack him. They were indeed confused creatures, but that didn't mean he should let them get away with it.

Abruptly Carl shifted back to his Hyuga form, but he felt the same sense of being far above the likes of those mindless wretches of dog-like creatures. Disappearing from in front of their eyes due to the speed at which he moved, Carl appeared next to one and almost lazily swung his arm to land a blow between its eyes.

Something was different this time in his attack. The movement and power he put into the blow was the exact same as before he had his epiphany about the temperament needed, but his blow was so much more powerful, blasting a bloody hole right through the creature's skull.

Carl didn't stop there. He moved on to the next one and stomped down on its head as if he was crushing a bug. The over fifty meter tall creature was driven into the ground with a hole in its head, causing almost an explosion of dirt as it was driven into the ground.

Kayda watched with satisfaction as her pupil finally passed over the final hurdle of fully mastering their martial art. Flitting around the battlefield, Carl soon killed the rest of the horde of dog-like creatures that dared step into land that they should not have.

"Good. You have done well, Carl." Kayda said when Carl was finished. She wasn't talking about him killing off the horde of creatures, but about his advancement to mastery. "Come, we will return to the palace now to report your progress."

As they left, Kayda sent off a message to the local branch of the clan to come clean up the battlefield.

"Thank you for your guidance, Kayda." Carl replied gratefully. If it wasn't for her reminder, he wasn't sure when he would have realized the missing piece.

"Hmm. It's gratifying to see the progress of such a good student." Kayda simply replied. The two of them continued flying through the air as they followed the path back to the palace.

XX

Inhaling deeply, the embers in the pipe glowed a fiery red. Once the old man finished his inhale, the tobacco ember settled back down into an ashy mound. The old grey haired Hiruzen Sarutobi pulled the long stemmed pipe away from his mouth.

Breathing out, various shapes of smoke appeared. A ring puffed out. Followed by a kunai that pierced through the middle of the ring. A katana was puffed out of the old man's mouth and sliced through the previous smoke constructs.

With a dry chuckle, Hiruzen formed the last bit of smoke into a dragon that roared through the rest of the smoke, obliterating all the smoke constructs made from chakra.

Minato, standing next to the old man third Hokage, chuckled a bit at his dramatics. After a few moments, Minato returned his attention back to the window the two of them were standing in front of. Staring out of the window at the panoramic view of Konoha, Minato rubbed his chin in thought. Despite once more taking over the role of Hokage, he often met Hiruzen to discuss issues the village was dealing with.

"It's amazing what's happened to this village in the past several years." Hiruzen commented idly as he looked out at the changes in his village, the new buildings and shops, the increased economy, and the bustling feeling of prosperity. He loved retirement, the lack of paperwork, and being able to meddle wherever he felt like.

Honestly, he had never been happier than when he gave up the Hokage seat to Minato for the second time. All his many faults had been shoved in his face, which was a particularly unpleasant occurrence. He was old, he was tired, and he was more than sick of Danzo's shit, which he had to keep shoveling to keep the boat afloat.

It was a complete relief when he learned about how Danzo was metaphorically emasculated, and depowered. He was honestly ecstatic that other people could clean up that mess, and he didn't have to.

He was really too old for that shit.

And now, he didn't need to deal with it. He could finally relax and enjoy life.

"Every time I see the renovations of the restaraunts, or the farms surrounding us, or the clothing stores, I wonder." Minato stated. "I wonder if I haven't signed on with a devil that is slowly taking control. Everything seems so very changed from what it was before."

Over the past several years, more and more stores had been registered under the Silver Flight Trading Consortium. It seemed that Konoha was becoming the property of the SFTC, which both Minato and Hiruzen knew was owned by Carl Hyuga.

The big issue was that…anything that the SFTC controlled was perfect and allowed no room for Hokage intervention. They provided benefits to the village unmatched by anyone else, and they were owned by Minato and Kushina's personal saviors, not to mention the person that saved his daughter when he wasn't around to.

No matter how much Minato wished to get a handle on them, if only because he was the Hokage and it was the principle of the matter, it being his village and all; in the end he just couldn't make a move on them. As far as he could tell, the Silver Flight Trade Consortium was completely above board and didn't even care about making a profit with any of their activities, and yet they still made so much money. It was inconceivable!

And since they were working completely aboveboard and owned by someone that Minato owed so much to, he just couldn't order his ninja to use underhanded methods.

Everything in the village was running perfectly, Minato as the Hokage was the supreme commander of all ninja forces of Konoha, and the SFTC completely respected the boundaries, so he often wondered about just what he was worried about.

"Tch. That cocky Hyuga brat is out on a date again with so many girls." Hiruzen scoffed in a tone that completely showcased his jealousy that he wasn't able to do the same thing when he was young. "Already made Jonin, and with so many girlfriends. He must think he's pretty awesome. Little brat."

Minato looked in the direction Hiruzen was looking and saw his daughter and the Kurama girl, Yakumo, hanging on the arms of Carl as they wandered around the downtown market. They would occasionally stop by a stall, purchase snacks, and act all lovey dovey feeding each other while giggling.

Looking at the sight of his baby girl paying attention to a boy, and having seen the same kind of date scenes playing out over the past weeks with multiple different girls, who were all aware of each other's relationship with Carl and got along perfectly peacefully, Minato clenched his fists unconsciously.

'Oh, yeah. That's what I'm worried about.' Minato thought with a bit of frustration, before sighing and letting go of his clenched fist.

"You can't tell me that doesn't make you angry." Hiruzen continued to blather. "I'm not even her blood related grandfather, and it pisses me off, seeing how sweet dear Naruko is falling for his honeyed lies."

"Do you want to be the one to interfere with her dating life and cause her to go off to complain to Kushina? The currently pregnant and extremely hormonal Uzumaki Kunoichi whose nickname is the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero?" Minato pointedly asked, and felt a bit of amused smugness to watch Hiruzen freeze in fear. Just because he couldn't take his ill temper out on the source of his headache didn't mean he couldn't take it out on a blabbermouth old retired Hokage.

Hiruzen turned his head and awkwardly coughed. "I don't know what you're talking about, Minato. Naruko is a very mature and powerful young Kunoichi. Who would dare interfere in her dating life? Certainly not this old man."

"Uh huh." Minato dryly stated. "And by the way, you and that reprobate of a sensei of mine should probably be a bit more circumspect about using Naruko and Carl's love life as inspiration for those smutty books of his. I know you enjoy your student's writing hobby, but if Kushina finds out…Just a friendly observation."

Hiruzen gulped nervously. He hadn't thought that Minato was aware of his and Jiraiya's meetings where they talked about the completely envious dating life of Carl Hyuga who seemed to have at least half a dozen girlfriends, in and outside of Konoha. And now it seemed like Minato had a bit of blackmail over them.

They would have to be more circumspect in the future. Maybe make use of Kakashi? As Minato's own student, he should protect the ninja from Kushina's wrath, right?

"And don't even think of using Kakashi as your spy. Between my pregnant wife and my student, I'll choose not to sleep on the couch ten times out of ten."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Minato." Hiruzen grumbled, suddenly in a bad mood which put Minato in a pretty good mood. "I've got to get going now anyway. Got some...meeting…"

After his voice trailed off, Hiruzen disappeared from the Hokage's office in a puff of smoke. Once the old man was gone, Minato chuckled a bit. It was always good to spread the misery so he wasn't alone.

Minato carefully didn't let his eyes return to the street where he knew his precious baby girl was on a date with a boy that his wife wouldn't let him beat up, intimidate, or threaten death for having thoughts about his precious little girl.

He hoped his next child was a boy. He couldn't handle the thought of letting another daughter date those unworthy boys! If they couldn't even reach a level at which they could resurrect their date's parents, don't even think of dating his daughter!

XX

Kayda didn't waste any time when they returned to the palace. Sending Carl along to his room, she immediately left to report his final success in completely mastering the Divine Dragons martial art.

When Carl arrived at his room, he sat down to meditate and ruminate on what he had learned. Over the past three years that he had been in the Divine Dragon Clan, he had been constantly seeking to improve his technique, trying to reach that level of mastery that Kayda had demanded of him.

But he had been constantly missing the most important aspect of the Divine Dragon martial art. The temperament of a ruler, of a supreme being. An existence that would always be superior to everything else.

Thinking about that aspect of the martial art that somehow managed to empower his attacks greatly, Carl's mind drifted back to the time he was in the Against the Gods universe, when he had met the spirit of the Golden Crow.

Carl had started his life off as a completely normal human in a society that no longer had hereditary rulers, for the most part. Sure, England had kings and queens still, but their role in society had been vastly curtailed due to the changes in the world.

And even though those of royal lineage in England and elsewhere in the world were bred to rule and be leaders of society, Carl had certainly never socialized with them. So, really, in all aspects he had been an average person with an average person's temperament.

He had never been taught how to be a ruler. He had never had hundreds of servants waiting on him, all following his orders from when he was a babe to train him in how to be a lord. He had never thought that he was better than anyone else, having been born and raised in a representative democracy that espoused that all men were created equal.

So back when he had met the spirit of the Golden Crow, and she had criticized him about his lack of dignity in being a powerful being and taking what he wanted and not letting go, he had inwardly scoffed.

His first world had been the Buffy the Vampire Slayer world. That was the world he went from an ordinary and boring schlub, to a powerful mage. Through hard work and training, he had transformed himself into something much more than he ever thought he would be in life.

He had also found family, friends, and lovers that meant the world to him. He had strained his brain, worked hard, taken chances and risks to save them from the demonic dangers they faced everyday in their quest to fight the darkness.

So how dare that yellow birdy criticize him when he was thinking more for the happiness of his friends than he was for himself!

How dare she criticize him for being happy that Buffy eventually found happiness in Angel's arms once more! How could he be selfish with his family and friends? How could he be such a disgusting and domineering asshole that he would deny one of his friends all the happiness she could find?

And Carl still believed that from the bottom of his heart. He had seen how Buffy and Angel still held a torch for each other. And once he made Angel completely human once more, he had seen how happy they were together.

He definitely wouldn't change a thing he had done in the past. He would completely do the same once more.

But now that he had immersed himself in such a domineering temperament as the Divine Dragons seemed to inherently live, he understood where the Golden Crow was coming from.

The attitude and temperament that he was immersed in was telling him that it wasn't so much that he had to take everything as his. He didn't have to own and posses everything and everyone. It was telling him that what was his, was his. Completely and utterly his, no take backs, no refunds, no do overs.

What wasn't his, wasn't his; and it didn't even deserve to be looked at twice.

If he was going to take a woman as his lover, then she should be completely and utterly his. If she wasn't going to be his woman, completely and utterly, then she would never be considered for that position, ever.

If someone was going to be family or a friend, then they would be considered as that status for all of eternity; and he would treat them that way forever unless they betrayed him.

So in the case of Buffy, since her heart and mind weren't completely with him, and she only sought physical release due to the stress of their lives battling demonic forces, she should never have become his lover in the first place.

That was what his newly discovered mindset and temperament was telling him.

So while Carl never regretted his dalliance with his friend Buffy, he wouldn't ever do the same thing again in the future.

At the time he and Buffy had been lovers, way back then, he had been a completely different person than he was now, so there was no cause to regret or have any negative feelings. He cherished his friendship with her, he cherished his memories with her, and he was happy that she found happiness.

And when he finally returned to his previous worlds, he would make sure that all his family and friends had the best he could give them. Whatever they wanted to learn, whatever they wanted to do, he would be happy to make happen.

Carl relaxed as he meditated about his new temperament and reminisced about the past. While he had certainly learned everything about himself when the True Name perk kicked in, being forced to view his past in its entirety, he realized that people were ever evolving individuals.

Some things he would always hold true to his personal paradigm, his psychological makeup. He would always care about his loved ones, and want to do what he could for them. He would always treasure his personal freedom. He would always love Root Beer.

But there were little bits of learning and evolution here and there that he needed to think on periodically. One of the things he had struggled with in the past was: Where is his personal line about acceptable means of dealing with scum?

He had learned over the past 14 worlds that his line there was a bit…wavery.

If someone was a particularly nasty scum, but useful for his plans, he found it perfectly acceptable to enslave them for the duration of their usefulness. He found it incredibly amusing that forcing certain kinds of dictatorial and murderous scum to play nice and cooperate with people was more torturous to them than the Cruciatus spell. Forcing them to eat healthy and exercise was more torturous to them than imprisonment. Forcing them to be polite to people they hated was more torturous than cutting off their tongue.

So after having incorporated his new Divine Dragon temperament into his being, Carl spent his time inspecting his new attitude in relation to his attitude, values, and paradigm for living.

The Divine Dragons seemed to know that he needed time to fully digest the lesson he had learned, and left him to his meditations. Since they were so polite, Carl continued to make use of the time to examine his life in detail and consider how his newly discovered temperament would interact with his life, his past, and his future.

The journey of self discovery was ever ongoing.

XX

A fist slammed down on the desk.

"Dammit! What the hell are you assholes even doing?! Why can't you figure out the origin and intelligence feed of some simple shop!?"

The subordinate ninjas could only sigh in their minds as their large dark skinned and blond haired Raikage of Kumo went on a rampage yet again. Every week it was the same.

Who were the owners of the Silver Flight Trading Consortium?

What did they want?

What did they hope to accomplish by creating a branch shop in Kumo?

"Boss…every time we send in ninja to try to gather intelligence, no matter what time of day or night, they get…entangled in the chocolate. Even the male ninja fall into addiction and forget their primary mission. We need to abandon our current efforts and figure something else out. Otherwise our special forces will be full of chocolate addicts!"

"Grrrr!" The fourth Raikage was not someone that just anyone could provoke. Most anyone that tried got a nasty taste of his lighting lariat. Choking on their own blood as they struggled to repair their throats tended to discourage anyone from talking out of turn.

But he had long gotten word that the 4th Hokage was back among the land of the living. That damned Minato was one of the few bastard enemy ninjas that could keep up with his speed!

And now he had to deal with this damned Silver Flight Trading Consortium that seemed to be based out of New Uzushio. He was very concerned that they would work to attack the people in the former regime that encouraged attacking Uzushio in the past.

It didn't bother him much if those bastards involved in the attack on Uzushio died. But if he let them have free reign then he would be judged as an incompetent by everyone. Which would do him no good.

So he desperately wished for an enemy to provoke him into using his lighting lariat! That would stop them cold and allow him to destroy their shop!

If he could just crush some damned fools, he would feel a lot better about this insult on his country!

"Find me something I can use!" 'A' yelled angrily.

XX

In front of a large mansion there was staircase. And in front of the staircase stood the most beautiful bride in white, hanging on the arm of the most dashing man in a gorgeous suit.

On either side of her there were guests that were cheering for her wedding, happy that she had found happiness. They threw rice in the air, clapped, and drank toasts to boast the wedding of the most perfect couple.

The guests in suits suddenly stopped cheering, as they looked in a specific direction in the sky. The men in suits held their hands awkwardly in the air mid clap, while the women in their gorgeous gowns frowned at the interruption while they glared in one specific direction.

Mei Terumi stood by her groom with a gloomy face, looking in the direction that the guests were.

"Mei! Mei! Wake up! It's time for the weekly meeting!"

Mei sat up from the desk she was sleeping on, her gorgeous red hair draped over her sholders, glaring at Ao who stood to the side deferentially. His Kiri forehead protector seemed to be used for the purpose of pushing all his hair into a peak. His one good eye gleamed in the low light, while the eyepatch on his right eye blocked the sight of what his other eye looked like.

Mei seemed to catch up on what was going on, realizing that she had once more been dreaming of her dream wedding that would never take place. Who would want a woman as powerful as her as their bride? Men always seemed to want a weak and helpless little lamb that they could control.

"I'll be out in a moment for the meeting." Mei ordered Ao outside. Taking a moment to freshen up and re-center herself, Mei then strode outside and made her way to the meeting room.

She had worked so hard to fight against the injustice, the demonic evil that gripped her country. And then it had all fallen into her lap like dominos one day. The previous Mizukage had been killed and the tailed beast had been expelled from the area.

Her rebel forces had streamed into the village and took control of everything.

And a few days later, shipments of supplies had streamed in, courtesy of the Silver Flight Trading Consortium. It was thanks to them that they didn't starve or suffer too much while they had been re-organizing everything.

As a result she had authorized SFTC stores to be built in Kiri. And she herself had been conquered by the chocolate they offered. It was amazing what changes had happened in Kiri over the years. She loved her home and loved seeing the improvements.

But the one thing she wanted, a romantic partner, seemed to be forever denied her. She sighed once more and arranged her expression into the working Mizukage face that she wore during official business. Kiri was one of the big five, and she had plenty of work to do, which cut down on how much time she could spend on romance, not that there was a man manly enough to handle her.

XX

Onoki frowned down at the report as he stroked his white beard. His small stature did nothing to detract from his great power as he sat in the Tsuchikage's seat.

"Grandad!" A cheerful voice caused Onoki's face to lose the frown as he looked up to see his granddaughter step into his office.

"Humph. Who told you that you could ignore the protocol of a ninja?" Despite his fond look at his granddaughter, he still corrected her overly relaxed attitude.

"Grandad Tsuchikage!" Kurotsuchi immediately corrected herself, moving to his side and giving him puppy dog eyes. "I found some delicious food and wanted to share it with Grandad Tsuchikage!"

"What good food haven't I eaten in the land of Iwa?" Onoki grumped while still following along to placate his granddaughter as he jumped down from his seat and followed her to the low set table in front of his desk.

Kurotsuchi placed a white box down on the table, along with two plates and forks. With great anticipation she opened the box, revealing a chocolate cake inside. A moment later, two pieces were placed on the plates and Onoki had his in hand.

"Where did you get this confection from?" Onoki asked.

A few moments later, he still didn't have an answer since his granddaughter was busy enjoying the taste. Her eyes were closed, and she moaned in delight over the flavor.

"What was that Granddad Tsuchikage?" Kurotsuchi asked a moment later after swallowing the bite of chocolate cake.

"Humph. I asked where you got this cake from." Onoki grumphed a bit, annoyed that his granddaughter cared more about the cake than him.

"Oh, it's from the Silver Flight Trading Consortium shop that recently opened up! This is their Death by Chocolate cake. A bit pricy, but so very worth it! It's so delicious! In fact, you don't have to eat it, granddad, I can take care of it for you!"

Onoki smirked at his granddaughter's obvious desire to eat all the cake herself, now that she had a bite of it. He let his smirk show as he deliberately picked up the fork and transferred a bit of the cake to his mouth. Kurotsuchi frowned a bit at her grandpa's teasing. He obviously saw through her sudden desire to take all the cake for herself.

"Well, it tastes okay."

"Humph. Keep pretending, granddad!" Kurotsuchi pouted as she took another bite of the heavenly cake.

'Hm…Silver Flight Trading Consortium, huh.' Onoki, the third Tsuchikage of Iwa thought. 'They are all over the place, but don't seem to be a spy organization. I'll have to order some ninja to do a deeper investigation…'

XX

The enormous room was full of streamers of mist due to the hot spring in the center. Carl stood next to the pool, looking down at the boiling blue liquid.

"This hot spring is unique." The Azure Dragon explained. "It has existed as long as our clan has. The chakra filling the spring has taken shape, turning to liquid, and it has been imbued with the dragon essence from years of being used by our clan. You will spend some time soaking in it while using the method I taught you in order to open up your mind and body to the usage of Senjutsu energy. This is how you will enter Sage mode by using our clan's methods."

Carl nodded agreement, and when told, he hopped into the bubbling spring.

The temperature of the liquid wasn't as hot as he had feared. The bubbling must not have been due to the high temperature. It actually felt quite refreshing and energetic.

Settling down cross legged at the bottom of the pool, Carl immediately began using the method he had been taught to imbibe the Senjutsu natural energy around him and balance it against his chakra pool.

Feeling the increased energy flooding his body, Carl kept his focus and didn't let himself get distracted. A few moments later he could feel when the transformation happened. There was a deep blue colored band that surrounded his eyes.

Opening his eyes, it was apparent that his pupils were now slit shaped, like a dragons eyes were. He could feel the incredible energy flowing through him, making him even stronger, faster, and more sturdy than he was before.

Uncrossing his legs, he soon jumped up out of the pool and landed on the deck next to the hot springs.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, Carl smiled at the Azure Dragon.

"Good. It shows how talented you are that you achieved Sage mode so quickly." The Azure Dragon said, and Kayda beamed at him from the side.

"Thank you for your teachings and accepting me." Carl replied, giving a martial artists salute.

"Now that you have accomplished Sage Mode, you are considered our official summoner. Go back to your room to rest for today. Tomorrow we will go and introduce you to the other three divine clans. The White Tigers, the Vermillion Birds, and the Black Tortoises. That way they will know who you are if you have official business with them."

After exchanging a few more words, Carl departed and went back to his room to meditate and consolidate his learnings.

XX

The next day Carl joined the Azure Dragon, Kayda, and a large group of dragons as they set out to travel to the center meeting grounds, which was between the four Divine clans. The Black Tortoise of the North, the Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermillion Bird of the South, and the White Tiger of the West.

It took nearly a week for them to arrive at the meeting grounds, which was an enormous palace. The structure was divided into four parts, for each of the Divine clans.

Over the next few days Carl heard the commotion as the other three clans arrived. Whenever he heard the noise, he would go outside the building and was the processions as they arrived.

Naturally as summons creatures, each of the beings were enormous. It was a worthy sight to see hundreds of red birds gliding in on the air currents, or white tigers striding along silently and with great dignity, or black tortoises solidly striding along in concert.

The various "servants" of the group began working overtime to prepare, and the next evening there was a feast for the four leaders of the Divine clans.

It was amusing for Carl to see the oversized dishes being prepared. Any of the little snacks and cakes were large enough to be a building for Carl. Cooked fish, pork, beef ribs, and other such dishes were large enough to feed a family for weeks, yet would be only enough to serve as appetizers to the enormous summons animals.

Carl followed the Azure Dragon and Kayda to the feast, and found his own table set next to the Azure Dragon's table. There was an enormous table the size of a football field next to his table that had food set out. All he had to do was cut off what he wanted to eat. He seriously felt like a mouse among elephants, he felt so small in comparison.

The hall was set up so that the four leaders of the Divine clans were arranged in a square in the middle, and their subordinates were arranged behind them.

"So, this is the new summoner of the Divine Dragons." Once all four leaders and their subordinates were arranged at their tables, Carl found three sets of eyes focused on him. The Black Tortoise was the one who spoke first.

Carl watched as mountains of food were levitated to the four leader's mouths, enormous mounds of food disappearing into their mouths.

"What's your name, little one?" The Vermillion Bird asked.

Standing up and giving a martial artist salute, Carl replied to the question. "My name is Carl Hyuga."

"Hmm. He seems to have a spine. Good." The White Tiger spoke up before taking a deep sniff. "I smell Dragon, Snake, Chameleon, and Wyvern on you, boy. And yet, you also smell of cat. Why is that, hmm?"

Carl's lips uplifted at the edges, amused at the perception of this great big cat.

"That's because in my travels I've learned some magic. One of the feats of those magic users was to learn how to gain an extra form." Carl then shifted into his shadow cat animagus form.

Hopping down into the shadow of his table, Carl used the shadow paths to travel in a brief moment to the table of the White Tiger. Popping out of the shadow of the table, Carl looked up at the enormous White Tiger and gave a little roar.

Looking down at the tiny cat in front of him, the White Tiger began laughing.

"Good! Good!" The White Tiger joyfully proclaimed. "Very clever and talented! You, Carl Hyuga, will become the summoner of the Divine Tiger clan as well! After the meeting, you should let him come with us to our clan, Azure Dragon, so that he can learn our martial arts and Senjutsu skills as well! You don't have any objection, right Azure Dragon?"

The Azure Dragon grinned back at the White Tiger. "Carl is quite talented. It's his blessing to be chosen by more than one Divine clan. Not only does he have a dragon form, he also has a cat form. I have no objection."

Carl then turned into his dragon form and flew back to his table, before shifting back to human form. With a salute to the White Tiger, Carl thanked him for his generosity and then sat down to enjoy the feast.

Success means something special here. Not only do all the clans you have won over follow you with total CP backing, your exploits have impressed the whole Summons World so much that you may even have other races join you! Specifically, a Divine species as powerful as the one you picked, or three 'ordinary' summons as powerful or weaker than the ones you won over as part of this scenario. Take them along, help them see the world, and be the greatest summoner ever!

Carl wasn't sure if it was the scenario perk that convinced the White Tiger to accept him so quickly or not. But he suspected that it was at least influenced by the Jump Chain. At any rate, he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The banquet continued on for a number of hours, and veritable lakes of sake were drunk and mountains of food were consumed.

It was a sight to remember, seeing such large creatures devour such a huge amount of food.