Capítulo 5: The Crow Summoning
I felt my right arm buckle under the weight of my Tanto, but the Tanto itself wasn't what was heavy. No, it was the black katana laid on top of it, pressing me down as I crouched.
Two months had passed since the Uchiha welcomed back our four new Chūnin, and I had spent the time tirelessly training. Most of these last months had been focused on jutsu, with a side focus on close combat, which meant kenjutsu with my Tanto for me. Gentle Fist for Hoka, and the Snake Taijutsu for Sayo, which focused on evading and escaping.
This had been working out well for her—she survived much longer in Taijutsu fights with both me and Hoka. The only downside was that if you were slower than your opponent, the Taijutsu style was essentially useless. Once you got hit, you'd be left undefended and vulnerable to a combo.
I had gotten my Earth Style jutsu down quite nicely. With experience using it in fights, especially against Sayo, the Rock Shelter was now about 35 centimeters wide, requiring the same amount of chakra as my first attempt.
While the Clone Jutsu and Hiding in the Rock jutsu had remained mostly the same, the only improvements had been to the sturdiness of the clones and reducing the hand seals for both.
I was currently sparring with Raido, and I was brought out of my thoughts as I was forced to jump back under the heavy pressure.
It was a kenjutsu-only fight, and Raido had lowered his speed to High Chūnin level.
According to the man himself, I was about Mid-Genin level, with my speed at the low-Chūnin level.
Luckily, I had a wide variety of jutsu. However, sadly, it wouldn't help me much due to my low chakra reserves. Apparently, using chakra to near exhaustion would strain your tenketsu, which could improve your chakra reserves.
My Sharingan was activated, though, and I was barely hanging on by a thread, simply because of it.
I had to jump back once again as Raido's katana cut through my previous spot, but I wasn't let off that easily as he continued his attacks.
A right slash came. I ducked under it and did a stab to counter.
He used the back of his hand to deflect it. His tip-less gloves had a metal part on the back, which redirected my stab.
He followed up with a downward slash, and I just barely managed to lift my Tanto and use it to redirect the strike.
I was a lot weaker than him, even at Mid-Chūnin, and he was currently High-Chūnin. If I blocked, the previous situation would be recreated.
As the sword passed me, I did a quick spin, aiming my Tanto at his head to sever it.
But he was faster, recovering his sword and blocking me.
The Tanto was best suited for attacks, so I wouldn't let up just yet.
I launched another wave of attacks, focusing on forcing him to overreach—aiming for the knee of his right foot, then the top of his left shoulder.
All the while, I was jumping around him, solely relying on chakra-enhanced jumps and my Sharingan to evade any counters he made.
And like this, the battle continued. Raido easily dealt with my blows time after time, effortlessly handing me my ass.
The battle continued for seven minutes until it was finally over.
My eyes widened as the Tanto just barely slipped past his head, cutting off some of his hair.
But before I could even comprehend how close I was to killing him, an elbow smashed into my nose, staggering me and forcing me to take a few steps back.
As I regained myself two steps later, a black katana was angled straight under my chin, the tip almost touching my neck.
And I finally sighed.
"I surrender," I said before slumping to the ground.
This wasn't some fanfiction where Chūnin-level was the easiest rank to achieve, and where Genins could beat Jōnin. No. I was and will be getting my ass handed to me every time.
"You did good, Katsuro. You realized your weaknesses and my strengths, and fought accordingly. There is little I could fault you for, except being weak and freezing up. But very few strategies work in the face of an overwhelming skill difference," Raido said, and I nodded.
"Thank you, Sensei," I said, and I almost thought we'd be on better terms after this, but I was quickly proven wrong.
"Now get your ass up and let's go again. I'm faulting you for being too damn weak, so let's fix that," he said with a bloodthirsty grin, and before I even stood up, he attacked me again.
This guy...
---
"He's right, I need to get stronger," I said aloud as I stared at the log planted in the middle of my compound courtyard.
Sasuke was at the academy, while Raido had been forced to head off on an assassination mission, leaving us with two weeks of free time.
As I stood there, thinking about what to do next, something I had been holding off suddenly came to my mind.
The Crow Summoning.
It was, by all means, anything but extraordinary. According to Shisui's vague explanations while still alive, the crows were more suited to spying, tracking, and flying people around.
Apparently, the largest crow to exist was about one-third the size of Gamabunta, which wasn't quite enormous, but it was good enough.
And it would open up a new area of expertise for me and new possibilities.
So, after a few minutes of going through my thoughts regarding crows, I brought out the large summoning scroll before drawing blood.
I took a deep breath as I finished writing my name onto the scroll, beside Shisui Uchiha.
The second my finger left the scroll and my name was completed, I suddenly felt a rush of energy course through my body for a split second before I disappeared.
I appeared in a large forest, with gigantic trees.
But that's not what caught my attention, even though the 50-meter tall trees all around me were indeed quite noticeable.
Right in front of me lay a crow, its head lifting from its previous position, likely sleeping, as it stared at me.
"I suppose you're the new summoner?" the crow asked in a lazy tone.
"I happen to be one, aye. But how did you know?" I asked the crow as it sighed.
"All crows of the Tenguwood Forest are bonded to the Crow Contract, and as such, we all know when one's name is signed on it," the crow said lazily.
"Tenguwood Forest? And what's your name?" I asked the crow.
"Tenguwood Forest is the sacred forest where all birds prefer to live, including hawks, crows, eagles, and owls, among others. And my name's Yoru," the now-identified Yoru answered.
"Alright, and what happens next? Do I meet your elders or something?" I asked.
"Aye, since you appeared before me, I'm supposed to be your 'personal contract,' which also means I'm supposed to inform you about the different situations and rules of the Crow Summoning. But sadly, I'm too lazy for that. So I'll simply take you to Karasu," he said before standing up and indicating with his head for me to climb onto his body.
Wordlessly, I did so, and Yoru took to the skies.
The feeling of flying was quite freeing, and I began to understand why America picked a "hawk" as their symbol of freedom. There was no freedom grander than being able to go wherever you wished and escape into the skies.
I rode Yoru for 30 silence-filled minutes until we eventually arrived.
Yoru began descending as we entered a strange plain. There were no trees for a 500-meter radius, but at the center of that radius was a humongous tree.
Perhaps 500 meters tall and 150 meters wide.
Outside stood two crows, both of them had white feathers and surprisingly wore armor around their beaks and main bodies. Sharp, sword-like armor covered the edges of their wings, specifically the edges facing forward.
"They are the White Talons, the fighters of our clan. There are many of them, and they are the only ones in the clan who can truly fight," Yoru said as we landed in front of them.
"Yoru. Is this the new summoner?" the guard on my right asked.
"Correct," was the simple answer. The two crows stepped aside silently and allowed us to pass through the 20-meter-tall entrance door.
As we entered, I found another intriguing sight.
Instead of the tree being completely hollow or full of wood, it was filled with branches—large, small, and humongous.
They were connected by the walls of the tree, but also by a smaller tree within the large tree.
I couldn't quite see the top, but I'd assume it was just as tall as the tree we were inside, though a lot smaller—perhaps 20 meters in width.
Either way, the branches. On the smaller branches, there stood thousands of crows—about the size of a normal crow on Earth.
On the larger branches, there were crows of all sizes, and the further up we went, the larger they became.
"Jump onto my back, we'll head to the Chief," Yoru said, and I nodded, jumping on his back as he took off, heading straight up.
All along the way, we got looks from the different crows. Perhaps humans weren't extremely normal here.
Yeah, that'd make sense.
We flew straight up for about 30 seconds until I finally saw the
top. Surprisingly, the top was halfway covered by what seemed like a large room that stuck out from the roof of the tree. There was a large balcony, about 20 meters wide at the largest.
We landed on it, where there stood an even larger bird.
Yoru was about 6 meters tall. The guards outside were about 12–14 meters tall.
But the white bird standing in front of me was even larger—surprisingly 20 meters. He too wore armor, a lot of it. He had a plain silver helmet that fit his head-figure quite nicely. Along with that, he had sword-like blades on the forward-facing edges of his wings.
Additionally, he wore full silver armor around his main body and extremely complicated armor around his wings. I'd assume it barely restricted his mobility.
"Lord Shirotobi, this is the new summoner," Yoru said as he bowed.
"Good job, Yoru. Remain here," Lord Shirotobi said, directing me to follow him.
We once again walked in silence through the building until we finally reached another room, with a 20-meter-tall door.
Shirotobi opened the door and stood silently, waiting for me to enter.
I took the wordless message and quickly entered.
And as I took in the size of the room, I was surprised to find a small desk in the middle—smaller even than those used by humans.
However, I was once again surprised when a normal, Earth-shaped crow flew onto the desk and turned around slowly.
And as it turned to me, it opened its eyes, revealing a Mangekyō Sharingan and a normal crow eye.
And my eyes widened at that.
This was the same crow Shisui gave his Kotoamatsukami to!
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This revised version should read more smoothly while correcting any grammar issues.
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