"Believe it, of course I believe it." Inoyue nodded vigorously.
Any talking animal is either the top Summoning Beast or the top female Summoning Beast.
I definitely can't afford to provoke it, so it's better to give in. As the saying goes, a wise man doesn't fight when the odds are against him. Although I'm not a wise man right now, I can't be so foolish as to seek trouble.
"Are you the Deer Sage?"
Inoyue asked timidly. The main reason she asked this was because in the original work, there were Sage Toad and Snake Sage. And in the holy lands of Summoning Beasts, the oldest ones all considered themselves Sages. So, the Great Horned Deer in front of her should be the Deer Sage.
"Deer Sage?" The majestic Great Horned Deer's voice seemed displeased. Inoyue's flattery must have backfired.
"I'm not a Sage, I'm a God, the Deer God." The Great Horned Deer's dignified and mature voice resounded again.
"Deer God?"
Inoyue's mouth hung open, feeling a bit… awkward.
It was awkward, especially awkward. Although the Great Horned Deer in front of her looked majestic and had a robust body, hearing those two words, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed.
Deer God?
Those two words instantly reminded Inoyue of something from her previous life that had poisoned countless infants: Sanlu.
...
"Hello, Lord Deer God!" Inoyue awkwardly gave another compliment. What she said verbally and what she thought in her heart were completely different.
The Great Horned Deer was very pleased with this address, its brows relaxed, and its voice lost the imposing aura it had just now. Don't ask Inoyue how she discerned its expression; it was a feeling. If it felt that way, it must be right.
"Little girl, come with me." The Great Horned Deer turned to lead Inoyue away.
"Where to?" Inoyue asked naturally. She felt a little wary, hesitating whether she should follow this deer.
In modern society, human traffickers would at least give a piece of candy when abducting children. This Deer God was too direct; it just told her to follow without even giving a piece of candy.
"Of course, I'm taking you to a good place."
This sounded exactly like what human traffickers would say when luring children.
Inoyue didn't move, just like a well-behaved modern child who doesn't go with strangers.
However, it seemed she couldn't refuse to go. Lord Deer God turned its head and narrowed its eyes, giving her a look. This look carried a hint of threat; Lord Deer God seemed a bit displeased.
"This is its territory. If it's truly a Sage or a God, I should just go along. Resistance is ultimately futile. What if Lord Deer God throws a Sage Art at me? I'd be truly finished."
After an internal struggle, Inoyue still followed, because she was genuinely a little scared.
...
"Lord Deer God, this island…" Inoyue once again displayed a child's curious nature.
"Mine!" Before Inoyue could finish, the Great Horned Deer directly interrupted with those two words, as if afraid Inoyue would try to snatch the island from it.
"En, I know. I wanted to ask about the animals on this island…"
"Mine!"
"Damn it!" Inoyue roared in her heart, multiple 'hash' marks appearing on her head. If the Great Horned Deer said 'Mine' again, Inoyue might just give it a dirty look. She was currently suppressing a surge of anger with nowhere to vent.
"What do you want to ask? Just say it directly." Lord Deer God stopped, turned its head, and its head was almost pressing against Inoyue's face.
"In the end, it was still my fault. Is there something wrong with this Deer God's head? Did it eat too much Sanlu?" Inoyue continuously cursed the difficult-to-communicate Deer God in her heart.
"I want to know your reason for preventing me from hunting these animals?"
The Deer God's behavior was infuriating. Inoyue practically yelled this sentence. One, to vent the resentment in her heart. Two, she was very worried that this Deer God, who had eaten too much Sanlu, would interrupt her again. If this continued, Inoyue felt she might suffer internal injuries from holding it in.
"Lower your voice, this Deer God can still hear you."
The Great Horned Deer's ears twitched. If it had hands, it would definitely use its fingers to dig in its ears, because Inoyue's voice was a bit deafening.
"What do you think is the reason?" The Great Horned Deer looked at Inoyue indifferently, not answering directly, but asking a rhetorical question, then continued to lead the way.
"What I think?" Inoyue gave it a killing Byakugan in her mind.
"I believe, Lord Deer God, that you are the guardian deity of this island, and those animals are naturally your subjects. Your preventing me from hunting them is precisely a manifestation of your love for your subjects!"
Smack! Inoyue delivered another heavier compliment, one that gave her goosebumps all over.
However, this chilling flattery seemed to have some effect. The usually impatient Great Horned Deer actually didn't get angry: "I'm not letting you hunt them to save you. Do you understand?"
"Save me?" Inoyue blinked, not quite understanding what it meant. It was clearly stopping her from eating meat, so how did it become saving her?
"There are no predators here. Do you know why these animals haven't become overpopulated?"
Inoyue shook her head, not speaking, because she knew that the Great Horned Deer, who called itself the Deer God, was about to explain.
...
The Great Horned Deer's explanation was very impactful, and it was indeed saving Inoyue. Because the herbivores here carried a natural toxin, and this toxin would cause sterility in humans who ate it.
"Holy crap! Sterility." Inoyue roared in her heart. Such a bizarre toxin and reason, and she had to encounter it.
Although she didn't plan to marry and have children, she also didn't want to have any physical defects. The animals here were truly ruthless; eating a few bites of their meat would lead to one's lineage being cut off. That was too cruel.
However, it seemed her master, Yuhi Kurenai, had been here before. Did he eat them? This question instantly flashed in Inoyue's mind.
"Excuse me, Lord Deer God, did my master eat the animals here?"
"Oh, that kid! When he came years ago, I didn't bother with him. He had a pretty good appetite; he ate one every day!"
"One, and every day?" Inoyue's head was full of black lines, and she silently mourned for her master for three minutes. Speaking of which, the Great Horned Deer in front of her certainly lived up to the nickname'Sanlu,' because it was truly poisonous.
Her master already had a daughter, Kurenai Yuhi. Based on the timeline, he should have arrived here around the end of the Second Great Ninja War. At that time, her senior sister, Kurenai Yuhi, should have already been born. Or perhaps her master was simply lucky to have her senior sister as a daughter.
"Sigh! At least he has an heir."
As a man in her previous life, Inoyue could very well imagine her master's expression if he were to learn this news without having any descendants.
Just as Inoyue was mourning for Yuhi Kurenai for three minutes, the Great Horned Deer stopped, because they had reached their destination.
...
A circular stone pillar in a forest clearing—this was the place the Great Horned Deer brought Inoyue. The stone pillar was very large, about ten meters in diameter, with an unknown height.
Looking up to the top, the sunlight was a bit dazzling, making it hard to see clearly. It was probably more than a hundred meters tall.
Such a large stone pillar of unknown height should be visible from anywhere on the island. However, the result was exactly the opposite; neither Yuhi Kurenai nor Inoyue had ever seen it. It was like air, completely invisible from a distance.
Seeing this smooth stone pillar, Inoyue immediately thought of Korin Tower from Dragon Ball, towering into the clouds, truly awe-inspiring.
"Lord Deer God." Inoyue called out. Then she swallowed, a little scared, and continued to ask, "You're not going to make me climb up, are you?"
"Very smart, that's exactly what I mean." The Great Horned Deer rarely praised her, answering quite straightforwardly.
"Why?"
Inoyue wasn't a real child, nor was she lacking in common sense. She wanted to know the reason for everything. She wouldn't foolishly do whatever she was told.
The Great Horned Deer's upper and lower lips twitched slightly, without any trace of impatience. However, what it said next directly made Inoyue's jaw drop.
Do you want to become stronger?
Do you want to possess the power of nature?
Do you want to become a woman who stands at the pinnacle of the world?
"If you want one, you need to climb this stone pillar. If you want all three, you must climb this stone pillar."
The Great Horned Deer spoke eloquently, each sentence higher in tone than the last. It was like a salesperson from a later era, speaking with enthusiasm, but no matter how she looked at it, it seemed unreliable. Why was that feeling of being enticed into a scam so obvious in her heart?
Inoyue felt uncertain, but the phrase 'power of nature' in the advertisement brightened her heart.
"Natural power, could it be Sage Art? If it's true, then there's a chance."
"But Sage Art comes too easily, doesn't it? Which person in Naruto who mastered Sage Art wasn't put through a grueling ordeal?"
"Even Naruto didn't learn Sage Art that easily. How did it become such a simple matter as climbing a stone pillar for me? And this Great Horned Deer, who calls itself the Deer God, even seems impatient for me to gain power quickly."
"Too strange! I feel like there's a conspiracy." Inoyue was suspicious in her heart, a little disbelieving that this Deer God would teach her Sage Art upon their first meeting.
However, the temptation of Sage Art was great. This was a weakness for her desire to quickly improve her strength. And this Great Horned Deer hit Inoyue's weakness.
So the advertising slogan that originally seemed unreliable now seemed somewhat reliable.
People are like that; often, they use their subjective consciousness to make judgments, especially concerning matters closely related to their own interests, which is particularly evident.