" You see, this here is Naruto Uzumaki, and I am his guardian. And he came here to sign a summoning contract with your tiger clan. " Izanami spoke directly as he brought Naruto close to her.
" Oh, when I said summoning contract, I meant the tribe summoning contract, " Izanami added as she looked at tiger sage with a smile.
The tiger sage's smile didn't change as with that same flattering smile, she spoke, " Ah, that is no problem. I will immediately send someone to bring the clan summoning scroll. "
Saying so, the white tiger sage immediately left the guest hall and went outside.
' Hmm, why is this old hag being so cooperative?' Izanami narrowed her eyes as she eyed the tiger sage with a suspicious look.
Don't look at how obedient this guy is, as a sage who had lived as long as Izanami, their cunningness is not to be underestimated. Especially when Izanami asked to sign a contract with the whole tiger clan.
Summoning contracts are divided into two types. One is making a summoning contract with specific animals. This type of summoning contract is like a bond between comrades. It's like when you ask your best friend to come to join in on the fight.
And this type of contract can be said to be the most frequently used in the ninja world. After all, many summoning animals are sometimes raised domestically by the ninja clans, and generation after generation would raise their spirit beasts since childhood.
But this type of summoning contract largely depends on the bond between the summoner and the summoned animal. The level of freedom in this contract is very high. And this type of contract must be done individually.
The other summoning contract is a tribe contract. This summoning contract, as the name suggests, is one that the whole tribe signs. This meant that the summoner could summon any person from the tribe without needing to sign an individual contract.
This type of contract is rarely used since there are a few drawbacks. When a person signs this type of contract, they are basically representing the stance of the summoning tribe. Furthermore, this type of contract has less freedom for the summoned animal.
It's like how a manager could command all the employees under his department. Even though the employees may have dissatisfactions with their jobs, they would still obey the orders they were given.
Nowadays, this type of summoning contract is rarely used. For one, it is because of the slaughter done during the past; there are fewer than 30 spirit animal tribes, and these spirit tribes, who barely managed to survive during that bloody era, would basically never try to gamble with their clansmen's lives.
After all, during human wars, anything is possible. What if the summoner summons the whole clan and uses them as cannon fodder, or what if they use them to kill another powerful summoning animal to shift the blame?
So, unless there is absolute certainty, no spirit animal tribe would initiate such a contract. And even then, they would still back down if the spirit animal tribe's combat power was not at its peak. Because of relying on years of experience, the spirit animal tribes knew that if things went south, they would need power to protect themselves and the legacy they guarded.
But obviously, such concerns don't apply to the tiger clan. With Izanami's protection, forget about being hunted down; they would be considered merciful if they didn't go around making trouble.
But even then, no one would willingly sign this type of contract. After all, not everyone is happy losing their freedom. This was the same even in the past when she came to make contracts with other spirit tribes.
And now this tiger sage is willingly performing a summoning contract. If someone didn't see anything wrong here, then that person is truly blind.
In less than 4 seconds, Izanami's face turned into one of sudden realization. As expected, this cunning fox still has some tricks up her sleeve.
The door opened, and tiger sage came back. And alongside the tiger sage were three more tigers. They were a black jaguar, a golden tabby tiger, and a white tiger.
'Hmm, all three of them are sages,' Izanami thought, her surprise mounting. Cultivating sages was no small feat. Unlike humans, animal sages functioned like true, ancient cultivators who had to endure for centuries. This was because, unlike their human counterparts, spirit animals were required to manually store and master every drop of chakra. Furthermore, they had to constantly circulate natural energy just to keep their internal energies in balance.
In short, if humans found it difficult to learn Senjutsu, spirit animals were playing on hell mode. However, the payoff was equally extreme; compared to human sages, animal sages were far more powerful and possessed significantly higher durability.
After all, animal sages could sustain a fight for much longer periods. While their combat capabilities might be restricted in areas where natural energy was sparse, their sheer energy capacity meant that—unless they were facing another sage-level entity—they could usually wrap up a fight with ease.
But as the saying went, cultivating an animal sage was no joke. Even in an era of peace, raising a sage-level being took at least a hundred years. Even within the Three Great Holy Lands, the number of sages in each clan rarely exceeded three or four.
"Let me introduce the sages of our youngest generation. This is Kagegane, Kinrou, and Byakusei," the White Tiger Sage announced. One could hear the unmistakable smugness dripping from her tone.
"The reason I summoned them is that I wanted them to get acquainted with young master Naruto," the White Tiger Sage continued, though Izanami didn't miss the calculating glint in her eyes.
'I see, she is trying to show dominance to fetch a higher price,' Izanami instantly realized, seeing right through the cunning creature's thoughts. Since the tiger sage knew that objecting to the arrangement was useless, she had to take on a different strategy: leveraging their strength to secure more freedom and better resources from the contract.
' Now this is interesting. ' Izanami smiled as she stood up. Far from being displeased, this stunt done by the tiger sage made Izanami very happy. Compared to playing dirty, Izanami liked opponents who came up with these unconventional strategies.
" Hmm, now then, let's see how talented these three young sages are, " Izanami spoke as she stopped holding back her aura.
Heavy pressure once again appeared on the tiger clan. But unlike before, the pressure only pressed down on the three young sages. Since she was just testing some youngsters, she only released the aura of her cultivation as one of the oldest sages.
The three sages instinctively released their own aura to contend against Izanami's pressure. But how could they, who are only a few hundred years old, contend against an old monster like Izanami?
In less than 5 seconds, all three of them were on their knees. Cold sweat ran down their backs as looks of fear appeared on their faces.
" Hmm these guys are quite good, " Izanami remarked as she retracted her aura. She was telling the truth as she noticed that even when her aura made them feel the threat of death, they still had that stubbornness to fight back.
" Now then why don't we bring that summoning scroll, shall we? " Izanami said as she gave a very cheerful smile towards the stiff tiger sage.
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