Chương 122: Zhen, Would You Care for a Summoning Beast?

The young Fourth Hokage surveyed the six eager faces before him, his expression thoughtful.

"Tell me," he began, "how well-versed are you in the Summoning Arts?"

"Very!" the group chorused. They were all Chunin, after all. Even Yugao Uzuki, the youngest among them, possessed a rock-solid foundation of shinobi theory. None of them were the type of academic slackers who would turn in a blank sheet during a written exam.

"Excellent. However, allow me a brief refresher," Minato said, his tone shifting into that of a patient instructor.

"Summoning is broadly categorized into two disciplines: the Blood Contract, which calls upon living creatures, and the Inert Summoning, used for inanimate objects.

"A Blood Contract creates a bond with a combat partner—a Ninja Beast. It requires a pact signed in blood, and every subsequent summoning demands a small offering of that same blood as a medium. Summoning objects is far simpler. You merely prep the item with a specialized formula beforehand and use a hand seal to bring it to you. Like so." To ensure the lesson stuck, Minato performed a slow, deliberate sequence of seals. With a soft puff of smoke, a medium-sized scroll materialized in his hand.

Genma, still working his senbon toothpick, raised a hand like a star pupil.

"I follow you there, Lord Hokage. But what does a basic summoning have to do with the Flying Thunder God?"

"Everything," Minato replied with a sharp smile. He drew a specialized, three-pronged kunai and tossed it. It thudded into a distant tree with practiced ease. He performed another seal, and the kunai vanished from the tree, reappearing instantly in his grip.

"Observe. In this instance, I summoned the kunai—marked with the formula—to my hand. But what if we reversed the logic? What if the kunai summoned me? If I could pull myself through the fabric of space to where the marker lies, I would transcend the physical limitations of distance.

"That, in essence, is the principle of the Flying Thunder God. It is the art of communicating with a pre-placed marker, activating the formula, and summoning yourself to it. You could think of it as a sophisticated form of Reverse Summoning." To demonstrate, Minato hurled a second kunai into the distance. In a series of blinding yellow flashes, he flickered back and forth between the two markers. It wasn't the Body Flicker technique; it was true instantaneous translocation.

One moment he was here; the next, he simply was elsewhere, bypassing the space in between. Even though they had seen the Yellow Flash in action on the battlefield or heard the legends, seeing the mechanics laid bare was a different kind of awe. Zhen was no exception. In any world of the supernatural, spatial manipulation sat at the absolute apex of prestige. It was, quite simply, the height of shinobi cool. And now, the opportunity to learn it was laid at his feet. This was precisely why he had joined the Guard.

Without entering the Hokage's inner circle, certain secrets would remain forever out of reach. Perhaps if he waited until he was an unstoppable powerhouse, he could simply demand the scroll, but why wait for the distant future when he could have it now? Raido Namiashi stared at the space where Minato had just been, a look of half-realized enlightenment on his face.

"Is it really that simple? Reverse Summoning? Lord Hokage, do we just perform the Summoning seals in reverse order?" Minato realized he had a "wise guy" on his hands—someone with the same brand of reckless curiosity as his own teacher. He offered a stern warning.

"Raido, I must insist that you never attempt that. It is catastrophically dangerous. A blind reverse summoning sends you... somewhere. No one knows where, but the odds of survival are essentially zero." Jiraiya had been that reckless once. He had only survived because destiny—or sheer, dumb luck—had dropped him into Mount Myoboku, tethering him to the Toad Sage line forever. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Iwashi Tatami shot his teammate a dry look.

"If it were that simple, half the village would be flickering around like the Hokage." Minato nodded.

"Exactly. The Flying Thunder God shares the logic of Reverse Summoning, but the execution is exponentially more complex. There is a reason it is classified as S-rank. Beyond the formula itself, you must master Sealing Arts, sensory techniques, and spatial coordination. For most of you, this will be a long, grueling journey that may never bear fruit. Brace yourselves." Genma felt a surge of adrenaline.

"We're ready, Lord Hokage. Can we begin?"

"Of course. I've come prepared." Minato unfurled the scroll he had summoned earlier and handed it to Zhen.

"First, you must master the fundamentals of Fuinjutsu. I'm not sure where all of you stand, but I suspect Zhen has the strongest foundation here. You five start there. If you hit a snag, ask Zhen. If he can't solve it, then come to me."

"Leave it to me, Senior Minato," Zhen replied. With Zhen acting as the pedagogical bridge, Minato saved himself a vast amount of time. He used the windfall to return to his own training, grinding away at the stabilization of the Rasenshuriken. Minato's talent for ninjutsu was truly peerless. By the time February rolled around, he had successfully manifested the finished Wind Style orb. Standing in the center of the training field, Zhen watched the screeching vortex settle in Minato's palm.

"Impressive, Senior. You mastered it far faster than I anticipated."

"I owe that to you, Zhen. Without your insights, I might have spent years trying to bridge the gap."

"And? How does the technique feel now that it's complete?" Minato slowly dissipated the chakra.

"Precisely as you warned. It possesses two fatal flaws."

"Have you found a way around them?"

"Regarding the self-inflicted damage... I believe that with even tighter control, I can constrain the wind chakra into a perfectly self-contained system, preventing any leakage. But to do that, the technique must be launchable. In its current, unstable state, it would dissipate the moment it left my hand, making it tactically useless. As for making it fly faster and further, I have a few theories, but they require a specific kind of verification."

"That's promising!" Suddenly, Minato's expression turned serious.

"Zhen, do you have a summoning beast of your own?"

"I don't. Why do you ask?"

"Because it pertains to how you'll use this jutsu in the future. Without a companion to assist in the delivery or provide a specific type of support, this technique might remain a lab experiment for you. So, tell me—would you be interested in signing a contract with the toads of Mount Myoboku? You would be the third person in Konoha to hold the pact, after myself and Lord Jiraiya." Zhen played the part of the curious student.

"The toads Lord Jiraiya summons?"

"The very same. They hail from the Hidden Sage Region of Mount Myoboku, one of the Three Great Sanctuaries of the world." Minato didn't mention Senjutsu. It wasn't out of stinginess; rather, without a contract and the permission of the Sages, he had no right to discuss their secret arts with an outsider. The Sealing Arts and Hiraishin were Konoha's to give; Sage Art belonged to the toads. Zhen thought for a moment before shaking his head.

"I think I'll pass for now. I'd like to see if I can solve the problem using the logic of my Gale Finger first." Most shinobi would have leaped at the chance to contract with a Great Sanctuary. It was a guaranteed, massive leap in combat power. Minato was genuinely surprised by the refusal, yet a small part of him had expected it. He recalled the battle on the Northern Front—the strange, potent aura that had radiated from Zhen when he faced the Raikage.

Minato had stood in the presence of the Great Toad Sage; he knew the 'feeling' of the natural world. What he had sensed from Zhen was similar, yet fundamentally different. It wasn't a chakra pulse he could pinpoint with a sensory jutsu; it was a sixth sense, a gut feeling that Zhen was tapped into something primordial. He hadn't mentioned this to Jiraiya, nor had he asked the Sages. Minato was a man of the light, but he was no naive fool. His loyalty was to humanity first.

He had seen the snakes of Ryuchi Cave devour men; he knew the line between the sanctuaries and the human world was a thin one. If Zhen represented a new possibility, Minato felt a duty to protect it—just in case. Seeing Zhen's lack of interest in the toads, Minato pivoted, his mood suddenly soaring.

"Zhen, given the complexity of this jutsu, it's easily S-rank or higher. We've just birthed the ultimate Wind Style technique!"

"And?"

"And? It needs a name! Something that captures its majesty! I've been thinking... how about the Wind Style: Spiraling Gale Sword-Arrow Super Round-Dance Howl Formula One?" Absolutely not. Zhen offered a strained smile.

"Perhaps you should run that by Senior Kushina first?"

"…Fair point." Minato looked torn. He loved the name, but the memory of his wife's temper was a powerful deterrent. Seeing the amused glint in Zhen's eyes, the Fourth decided to change the subject.

"And how is the Hiraishin training progressing?" Zhen glanced at his five teammates, who were currently hunched over scrolls, looking as though their brains might leak out of their ears.

"Well... they're still in the grinding phase."