章節 40: Chapter 40: Sunblind
After Kiyo called her other foxes, Kannin saw dozens of fox spirits emerge out of thin air like Kiyo had done earlier. He offered them all the sandwiches Kushina had given him at the beginning of his journey.
After they had all gotten their fill, Kannin was left with three sandwiches out of the seemingly endless number Kushina had given him. Seeing the fox spirits, who covered the whole range of sizes, shapes, colors, species--he saw greys. reds, tans, whites, oranges, and many more colors munching on Kushina's sandwiches. Satisfied with becoming a soup line for impoverished spirits, he pulled out a large, blank scroll.
"Foxes!" His shout got their attention rather easily, "I have a proposal!"
Kiyo and the other foxes were curious as to what he meant, and sat attentively.
"So far as I know, you all have been down here for 500 years or so. That's a long time to go without eating delicious sandwiches, playing in the sun and snow, or simply feeling the wind ruffle your fur."
Many of the foxes had saddened faces, hearing Kannin list off all those things they hadn't been able to do for so long.
"However, if all of you sign this summoning contract, I'll be able to bring you out into the sun! I could give you all the sandwiches you want, let you hunt mice in the leaves, or whatever else. What do you say?"
The foxes listened and considered his words, many of them still didn't fully trust the human, but others warmed up to the idea. Seeing their hesitation, Kannin added,
"How about this: if I can gain your trust in the next 2 days, would you agree to sign it?"
Many of the foxes nodded, thinking of the sandwiches they might get out of it.
-
So Kannin stayed there for another two days, followed constantly by an eclectic flock of foxes, telling them about the world outside and how it had changed. Many of them were amazed with his tales of the shinobi and warring states period, talk of Madara and Hashirama, stories of the wars, and they were especially interested in how the Nine-Tails had been sealed within a human not too long ago.
Many of the foxes snickered to hear their enemy getting sealed away, "serves the demon right!" and other such things. Kannin was amused at their simplicity, and he respected it. Foxes were creatures of curiosity foremost, and they liked to play tricks--and above all, they were rather cute. Kiyo was particularly pretty among them, even with her massive size, her platinum coat and verdant green eyes really stood out. He could understand why she would call herself the greatest of them all.
By the end of the two day period, most of the foxes were simply too curious about the outside world not to sign the summoning contract. He taught them how to make a summoning contract, and eventually made a contract for the entire fox kind, which was represented by Kiyo. Kannin left a bloody thumbprint on the contract, Kiyo left a bloody pawprint.
With that, he had accomplished what he originally set out to do. He asked Kiyo if she knew how to get out of the den, and promised to summon the foxes to the overworld as soon as it was safe, to which they told him that since they have a link to the overworld through him, they could likely come and go as they pleased. Kiyo decided to follow him around even without the summoning, weaving through his legs as he walked around.
Kiyo led him back to the surface world, appearing right where he entered, by the foot of the fox shrine in the grass. Kannin smiled at the shrine, realizing that the fox that was carved into the stone was none other than his new friend Kiyo. Kiyo also recognized herself and puffed up her chest in pride. Kannin laughed at her constant haughtiness, and petted her on the head.
He walked around with Kiyo, letting her prance around and play in the sunlight; she looked beautiful. Kannin had always found foxes to be magical creatures, and now that he had contracted with them, he was excited to see them more often.
However, his reverie didn't last long, as when he was watching Kiyo play, he heard a sound unlike anything he had experienced before. He called Kiyo over, and hid in the grasses, trying to make out what was happening. What he saw made his heart sink.
Thousands of shinobi were pouring out from the craggy rocks beyond the grasslands, and Kannin could see the Iwa forehead protectors on their faces. They were wielding all sorts of weapons, preparing jutusus, and summoning their own companions. Kiyo was just as frightened, as she had never seen such a gathering of humans before, especially not ones who looked so unpleasant as the rock-nin.
Kannin began furiously writing down everything he could see about the force, their numbers, location, direction, leaders, anything, before turning to Kiyo and asking "How quickly can you foxes travel?"
Kiyo thought for a moment before answering, "If we use our underground tunnel-den system, we can get to anywhere in a moment."
"Good. Take this scroll and leave--deliver this straight to the Hokage. You remember where I said Konoha is right? From my stories?"
"I couldn't forget it if I tried." Kiyo took the scroll in her mouth and vanished with a puff of smoke, leaving Kannin to contemplate how he would get back to Konoha himself.
-
About 20 minutes later, the residents of Konoha were treated to an unusual sight, a huge, platinum colored fox with a scroll in its mouth was asking everyone it met where the Hokage's office was, and that it had a message for him. One timid boy, who, though scared of Kiyo's size, thought she was really pretty and so pointed at the building near the center of the village. Kiyo nodded and bounded off to deliver her message.
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票