Over the month spent on preparations the quintet took the chance to get in some training as well, individually and as a group. Among their many ideas to expand their horizons the most recent was that they should all be able to use the summoning jutsu, a powerful addition to any arsenal. By using the summoning technique without contracts, they were all transported to creatures that they share strong affinities with.
After they all return everyone is eager to tell about what creatures they met, as if they have a distinct edge over the others now. Excited to show off, they all gather in Yo's training spot. Perform the summoning jutsu at the same time a large puff of smoke envelops the group and when it clears five new animals appear among them.
"Though he is small now my partner will become the epitome of strength. Standing beside him is a white tiger kitten the size of a large dog. Its has metallic fangs and claws. "This is Byakko."
"I am Byakko! I am strong!" The tiny tiger boasts with a loud mew when he tries to roar.
"I'm sure he will become rather fearsome," Toneri says.
"WHOA his teeth are metal! That's so awesome!" Naruto exclaims.
"Not bad, but check out my partner Seiryu!" Sasuke says with a smug smirk. In front of him is a azure serpent just over a meter long with antlers and small arms. Not a snake but a dragon! How domineering he'll be when he comes to full size! "Isn't he the coolest?!"
The little dragon snorts and settles atop Sasuke's head. "Hmph, summoned by a mere child. I assume you will be the most powerful among this group if you are able to summon me already."
"What was that snake!?" Naruto growls back but is completely ignored.
'A rather arrogant one,' Kimimaro thinks looking at him. He notices Byakko about to attack, and gives him a look saying 'Remain calm, you'll get your chance.' The tiger nodded and remained beside his master.
To dispel the tension Toneri speaks up. "This is my summon, Genbu. He can be rather fearsome despite his appearance." He gestures towards a black tortoise with what appears to be a snake coming from where its tail should be.
"Greetings, I am Genbu." The Turtle nods politely. However the snake speaks right after, "underestimate me and you'll be in a world of pain."
"So the turtle is nice and the snake is mean?" Sasuke surmises, looking at the odd beast.
"Sounds about right…" Kimimaro agrees.
"OK me next!" Naruto says going to take the spotlight, "Look at my friend Gitsune!" Naruto says holding up a fox with shiny golden fur. "You can all be in awe of me now!"
"Aww is right. He's so cute," Toneri pats Gitsune's head.
"Cute isn't what I was going for…" Naruto sighs.
"Heheh, maybe your enemies will think he's cute too." Kimimaro snickers.
"He can distract them with his puppy dog eyes," Sasuke adds.
"Shut up all of you! The foxes are strong too!" Naruto yells pulling Gitsune away from everyone.
'Just wait runts, I'll show you not to underestimate me…' Gitsune silently notes the disrespect to himself. No need to lash out now, the perfect chance to upstage them will come.
"Well, I guess all that's left is Beni," Naruto says.
"Come to think of it, you've been pretty quiet Benimaru," Toneri speculates.
A short distance away Benimaru is sulking with his back to everyone. "No…this isn't right… what happened to my contract…I had a-" He's muttering to himself almost inaudibly.
"Benimaru?"
"Everything alright?"
"What's wrong?"
"Are you sick?"
The whole group is worried that something is wrong. Getting closer to check on him they see what he's hiding. When they all see his summoning in front of him their concerns immediately fade.
"Hiya guys! I'm Suzaku! Pleasure to meet ya!" A plump red chicken jumps up and greets everyone with a jovial squawk. The others all stare blankly at the chunky bird for what seems like an eternity. The proud and powerful Benimaru has a high affinity with a chicken of all things.
A giggle crept it's way out of Naruto's mouth, "No way… a chicken."
"Don't start you guys…I'm not in the mood for this." Benimaru grumbles. Though his warning fell on deaf ears. He could hear everyone's stifled cackles slowly get louder until it became hysterical laughter.
"Phhhtttt ahahahahahahaa! I can't stop laughing! Ahahahaa!" Naruto rolls on the ground laughing.
"Hahahahaha! My side! It hurts! Hahahahahaha!" Sasuke is floored with him.
"What use does it have? Can you eat it?" Kimimaro asks, staring pitifully.
"You have to admit that is kind of funny." Toneri says still trying to keep his own laughter in check.
"I find nothing funny about this…" A steaming Benimaru says trying to maintain his composure. "Suzaku is a respectable summon. He will soon become a-"
"Tasty meal?" Seiryu says offering to cook him up.
"Or he could give us eggs," Sasuke says while trying to catch his breath.
"I will roast all of you alive." Benimaru is literally burning up at this point.
"Careful not to fry your summoning too." Kimimaro warns him, his stoic demeanor makes it hard to tell if this is a joke.
Suzaku looks around finally realizing he's being laughed at. "What's so funny?" The chicken's happy go lucky demeanor is replaced with a much more regal disposition. Jumping into the air he lets out a surge of intense heat stunning everyone to silence.
Even Benimaru was shocked to see this, tears were streaming down his face when he realized his summon wasn't a dud. "Suzaku…"
"Benimaru. You are not allowed to lose to any of these peons, or I will roast YOU to a crisp." Suzaku gave his own warning, he did not take being seen as a joke kindly. "Hold up your head with pride, you have the aid of Suzaku the Phoenix." Suzaku's change in demeanor gave everyone a new level of respect for the bird. Knowing what Benimaru actually intended to summon made everyone think twice about underestimating him.
"Not bad kids!" Before anyone could respond they were interrupted by Yoriichi who watched the whole scene unfold from a tree a little ways away. "You guys have some impressive summons!" He exclaims jumping down to them with an excessively dramatic number of flips.
"Yoriichi!" The quintet says shocked to see him, as if this isn't one of his training spot.
"Thought I'd find you guys here, I was going to ask if you ran that errand yet Beni?"
"Errand?" Benimaru looks at him quizzically.
"The technique scrolls? You didn't distribute them, did you?" Yo asks with an irritated look on his face.
"I-I…" Benimaru was embarrassed to say that he got swept up in his personal business and forgot about it. Trying to become a leader of the community and focusing on training is a lot of work. A few deliveries couldn't wait a bit longer?
Yo just sighs and shakes his head. "You're not going to beat Suijin if you can't learn to grease palms man…It's like being Uchiha is almost synonymous with being bad at business and politics…you idiots really hurt me." He throws Benimaru a scroll. "You see he's been hard at work, look how many clans have joined him in the sound village."
"I'll take care of it…" Benimaru says through gritted teeth.
"Beniiiiiii, if you don't get it together-"
"I understand Yoriichi, no need to spell it out."
"Alright man, just get it done before you leave for the sand village. These four will not be enough when shit hits the fan…he weasels his way into one mission and forgets about all of his other duties. One track minded..." Yoriichi grumbles before he stops to think about something. "Why don't you train with your shadow clones? Then you can multitask better."
"Training with the clone jutsu? Is that not a waste of time? Clones aren't even corporeal." Benimaru looks at Yo as if he's speaking nonsense.
"No I said shadow clone jutsu you-" Yoriichi stops himself from going off after he realizes it makes sense Beni doesn't know it. The jutsu was invented long after his time and is a forbidden technique kept under wraps. "The SHADOW clone jutsu has a number of uses that the regular clone technique does not. First, they are corporeal so they can actually interact with the world. Also, these clones are completely identical to you, even the best of sensors have trouble telling them apart. Most importantly anything the see or learn as well as any remaining chakra will transfer to you when they disperse."
"Such a useful technique!" Benimaru is astounded to hear all of that.
"
"You didn't know about that jutsu?" Kimimaro asks Benimaru. "My master Shisui taught me that jutsu some time ago. I use it to practice multiple techniques at once." First brother was looking like it'd be his spot.
'The old man is holding out on me…' Benimaru thinks irritated that the kids know as many of the leaf's forbidden techniques as him. He's the hokage's disciple! "It won't take me long to master.
'As of right now, Kimimaro may already be more than a challenge for Beni. Training with Shisui has to have afforded him a few nasty tricks.' Yoriichi thinks before giving them a warning. "Be careful with this technique the amount of chakra it takes to create such realistic clones is very taxing, overdoing it can put you out of commission sooner than you think. Now give it a try!" Crossing his fingers in a t shape two solid clones appear beside Yo.
Doing as instructed, Benimaru, Sasuke and Toneri successfully create the clones on their first try. Naruto tried as well but his was a sad debilitated excuse of a clone. "Ehhh what happened!? Whats wrong with my clone!"
"One second." Yoriichi looks into Naruto's eyes with his sharingan. Suddenly he and Naruto are within the boy's soulscape. A massive room with a massive gate holding the nine tailed fox. Instead of the ground, beneath their feet was water and the walls are lined with pipes. "Yo Kurama!" He yells to the massive beast on the other side of the gate.
"Whoooooaaaa what's this place?" Naruto asks astounded by the sight of the massive beast. "This isn't the place where Kitsune is from."
"No we're within your soul," that guy isn't from there. He's one of the legendary tailed beasts. Kurama the nine tailed fox spirit. Yoriichi explains. "I don't know if you've been told, but you're a jinchuriki."
"A jin-what?" The boy asks.
"Basically that tattoo on your stomach has sealed a creature of pure chakra into your body, in exchange for immense power you have to deal with a giant moody tsundere with anger issues. He's not that bad when you get to know him though."
"YOU! YORIICHI UCHIHA! WHAT DO YOU WANT!?" Kurama growls.
"See anger issues," Yo says before turning to the fox. "I'm trying to teach Naruto a jutsu, stop fuckin with his chakra!"
"WHAT DO I CARE IF THEIR BRAT CAN'T LEARN A JUTSU OR TWO?"
"Just give the kid a chance you might like him." Yo says.
"Yeah, give me a chance!" Naruto adds.
"I'M NOT WASTING MY TIME TALKING A CHILD! NOW BEGONE!" The fox roars trying to scare them (at least Naruto) off.
"Shut up fox and sell me a favor, besides I know you get bored in that cage all alone."
"NO!"
"Come ooooooooooon man just do it!" Yo nags in a purposefully annoying voice. "I'll come in there!"
"FINE! I WON'T MESS WITH HIS CHAKRA FLOW ANYMORE, NOW BEGONE!" He says turning his head away from them in annoyance.
"No was that so hard?" Yo says as they start to fade out.
"Thanks Kurama! Nice to meet you." Naruto yells. "Let's be friends!"
"FOOLISH BRAT, I'M ONLY DOING THIS SO YORIICHI WILL OWE ME A FAVOR! I DON'T CARE FOR YOUR FRIENDSHIP!" Kurama growls at them as they vanish. Despite the total difference in nature, Yo's ability to connect with just about anyone was refreshing to even the fox. His light was more inviting than even the old man, albeit far more irritating. He'd give Naruto a chance on Yoriichi's face alone.
Back in the real world Yoriichi advises Naruto once more on the shadow clone technique, well actually… "Multi shadow clone jutsu!" A huge puff of smoke appears to mark the arrival of well over twenty Narutos. "Hahahaha! I did it, I can make the most clones!"
"I can make more too!"
"You think this is all I got!"
"Mine I can make the most!"
"No I can beat you all!"
'They'll eventually figure out the difference in their chakra reserves…Naruto is going to crush them all on this one…' Yo thinks watching them try to make as many clones as they can. "Remember what I said about overdoing it guys! Alright see ya kids!" Yo gives his last warning preparing to leave.
"Oh I almost forgot!" In a flash he appears beside Sasuke and cuts Shiryu. Taking some of his blood. "I haven't got a summoning yet and a dragon sounds badass. This should make sure I end up wherever Sasuke went." He explains before anyone can say anything. "Get that done Benimaru!" And with that he uses the summoning jutsu and vanishes