Naruto : Domination: Chapter 53

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.

...

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