Naruto Uzumaki hadn't yet figured out what was happening in the classroom when he saw Iruka-sensei rushing out. He thought class was over.
"What's everyone doing?. Iruka-sensei already left, shouldn't we start getting fired up?. Let's get this going!"
Naruto suddenly jumped onto the desk.
Sasuke Uchiha, watching this scene, didn't let down his guard, gripping a kunai tightly in his hand.
"This idiot."
Sakura Haruno, seeing this, stormed over to Naruto in anger. Naruto, seeing Sakura—his crush—approaching him, was overjoyed.
"Sakura..."
Bang..
Sakura leaped up and slammed her fist onto Naruto's head.
"Naruto...! Quiet down. Hirofumi Itou has gone missing."
"Ow—Sakura, what are you doing?! That hurts... Wait. What did you say?! Who? Who's missing?."
Naruto immediately quieted down, glancing over at Hirofumi's seat.
"Hirofumi is missing... So keep quiet. Iruka-sensei has already gone to find Lord Hokage."
"What?. How could he disappear?. What exactly happened just now?."
Naruto looked at the empty seat of Hirofumi Itou in disbelief. Hirofumi was one of his few good friends, never once scorning Naruto for being a Jinchuriki, and even sharing food with him. How could he suddenly disappear?.
Before long, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and Iruka entered the classroom quickly. At this moment, Hiruzen's expression was quite serious.
Iruka had already told him what had happened. Hearing this, Hiruzen had formed a hypothesis about Hirofumi's sudden disappearance.
"Did anyone see exactly what happened just now?!"
Ino Yamanaka timidly raised her hand.
"Lord Hokage… I saw it… At the time, Iruka-sensei was explaining the summoning technique and the hand signs required, and then I saw Hirofumi starting to perform the hand signs. Then with a bang, he just disappeared."
After hearing Ino's words, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Iruka exchanged a glance and simultaneously said three words… "Reverse Summoning."
"Iruka…"
"Lord Hokage?"
"Go notify Aoyama Ito about this. After all, he's Hirofumi's father and the head of the Ito clan. Reverse summoning has no known solution, as we don't even know where this child was summoned to, or if he'll be able to return…"
"I understand, Lord Hokage."
After Iruka left, Hiruzen took out his pipe, began to puff on it, and stared at Hirofumi's seat. This made him think of his own disciple—Jiraiya.
Back in the day, Jiraiya was reverse summoned to Mount Myoboku, and by sheer chance, he learned Sage Mode. From then on, his strength skyrocketed.
Could it be that Hirofumi Itou also has a similar fate awaiting him?
---
At this very moment, Hirofumi Itou was completely stunned.
He had just casually practiced a summoning technique, and the next thing he knew, he was in an unknown space.
Fog surrounded him, there was no sun, no light, only boundless darkness and a chilling, eerie feeling…
"What the hell is going on?. Could I have been reverse summoned?. Is this some kind of sacred place?. But there are no toads, no slugs, no snakes—there's nothing here. How am I supposed to get back?."
[Host detected, system successfully bound.
Host located in Konohagakure.
Binding Konohagakure's souls to host.
Binding complete.]
"Wait... A system?!"
Hirofumi was stunned.
"System, what's happening? Why did you suddenly bind to me? And where am I right now?"
"And what do you mean by binding the souls of Konohagakure?"
[Host was supposed to have died.
In the original timeline, the host was meant to be stillborn, and your soul should have entered the afterlife of this world.
As a result, the system encountered an unknown error while detecting the host.
The system had to infiltrate the afterlife, break through the barriers between the living world and the afterlife, and that's how it successfully bound to you.]
Upon hearing this, Hirofumi was completely dumbfounded. No wonder he didn't exist in the original story—he was supposed to have died long ago.
It turns out that his rebirth in this world allowed him to be born successfully, thanks to his transmigration.
So, according to the system, he should have been a spirit, which is why it entered the afterlife. But since he survived, the system used its power to break through the boundary between the two worlds and finally found him.
"System… what kind of system are you?"
[This system was originally the Many Children and Blessings System. However, after consuming too much energy in the afterlife, it can no longer grant the host many children and blessings. But during the fusion process with the afterlife, the system underwent an unknown transformation. It can now bind souls and allow them to become the host's summoning creatures.]
(AN: This Many Children and Blessing System is used by some Chinese novels but I don't know about this. Comment down if you know something.)
To be honest, Hirofumi quite liked the Many Children and Blessings System, but since the system had encountered an unknown error, there was no longer a way for him to have that.
However, what did it mean by binding souls?
"System, does this mean I'm currently in the afterlife?"
[Correct. When the host was practicing the summoning technique, this system reverse-summoned the host to the afterlife. The system has successfully bound the entire afterlife to the host.]
"But wait, System, didn't you say earlier that I'm bound to the souls of Konohagakure? How did it become the entire afterlife?"
[Since the host is currently in Konohagakure and is a resident of the village, the host can now summon the souls of Konohagakure. Once the host fully controls the shinobi world, the entire afterlife will be completely bound to the host.]
"I see… I understand now. System, can you explain your functions to me?"
[This system was originally the Many Children and Blessings System, but due to the unknown error, it has now been transformed into the Summoning System.
The host can use summoning techniques to summon souls to serve as your summoning creatures.
White-ranked summons can summon ninja with genin-level strength.
Green-ranked summons can summon ninja with chunin-level strength.
Blue-ranked summons can summon ninja with jonin-level strength.
Purple-ranked summons can summon ninja with elite jonin-level strength.
Gold-ranked summons can summon ninja with Kage-level strength.]