[The contract has been set! The limit is five minutes.]
A muffled, ancient voice echoes in Ishiko's mind.
"Only five minutes?!" Ishiko murmurs in disappointment.
Her expression is pale and her body is slightly haggard. She inhales sharply and forks out a special vial from her pocket.
She unscrews the cork, revealing a small green pill, full of vitality.
Shua… Shua…
The pill's aura immediately affects her surroundings. A green patch of grass appears within a meter in her vicinity. She quickly swallows the pill and closes her eyes to absorb it.
This special pill is the 'Life energy pill', a very important resource from the Shikkotsu forest. The numbers of this pill are limited and only core members of the Senju and the Uzumaki clan have access to this pill.
This pill serves only one purpose, it rejuvenates cells and restores vitality to the person who consumes it. Throughout the shinobi world, the Uzumaki clan is famous for its powerful sealing abilities.
However, the sealing abilities alone aren't what makes the Uzumaki clan so powerful and feared by every nation. The most feared aspect of the Uzumaki clan is their special summoning contracts.
These special summoning contracts allow the Uzumaki clan to summon powerful entities from beyond this world to do their bidding. This contract is a mutual agreement where the summoner pays a hefty price for the summoned being's help. This price varies from user to user and summoned entity to entity. Some summons requires a sacrifice of blood, body parts, organs, living beings, lifespan, user's life, and even soul.
Most of the time, the cost is proportional to the aid requested. After condensing her body for battle, Ishiko's expression turns serious.
"Five minutes it is then!" Her eyes turn cold as she glares at the 'Puppeteer'.
"It's an Asura!"
The 'Puppeteer' mumbles, his expression solemn as he recognizes the summoned entity in front of him.
Similar to the demons, Asuras are also otherworldly beings with close relation to them. Similar to demons, Asura also embodies ambition, anger, and raw power. While demons are inherently evil, Asura's nature varies from one asura to another. Unlike demons, Asura possesses both divine and demonic qualities. Their demonic nature makes them cold, calculative beings known for their fierce competitiveness. And their divine nature makes Asuras follow a creed, the principle of equivalent exchange.
This duality of their character makes them a hypocrite in the demon's eyes. Thus, leading to strife between both parties.
The giant three-headed turns towards Asura and frowns.
"So, it's a demon! No wonder the stench was so awful."
He turns to Ishiko and mumbles a telepathic message.
"You are in luck! Since it's a demon, I will add an extra five minutes at no cost."
Ishiko is slightly stunned to hear this, but soon her expression turns calm with a hint of relief.
She crouches on the ground and sits beside the summoning scrolls. Just like the normal summoning contract, these contracts also have a weakness: their summoner.
If the summoner dies, then the summoned being will return to their origin place. That's why it's important to ensure the summoner's safety. And the Uzumaki clan had several methods to ensure their safety.
Several adamantine chains erupt from Ishiko's back. These chains quickly dart towards the battlefield and wrap around Yugo's unconscious body. She swiftly drags his body to her location before he gets embroiled in the upcoming battle.
Swish… Swish… Swish…
She makes a series of quick hand signs and slams her palm on the ground.
"Adamantine Sealing Chain: Locking Formation,"
RUMBLE…
The Adamantine chakra chain from her back pierced through the ground and formed a sturdy, spherical barrier around her. After ensuring her safety, she turns to Yugo and examines his body.
His expression turns grim as she notices several ruptured blood vessels, multiple compound fractures, internal bleeding, organ failure, and several other serious conditions. Yugo's right arm hangs limply on the side, with all bones in the arm shattered.
"Brother Yugo!"
Ishiko grits her teeth and takes out several medicines and herbs from her storage scrolls.
She feeds a potent medicine to Yugo and grinds several herbs and medicine to create a paste. After grinding the paste, she smears the green paste around his body.
After applying the paste, she places her palm on bleeding wounds and uses the 'Mystic Palm Technique' to close his wounds and stabilize his rampant chakra.
After the initial treatment, she prepares for surgery.
Poof… Poof…
Multiple surgical tools and equipment appear beside her. She raises her palm, creating a chakra scalpel at her fingertips. Using the chakra scalpel, she makes several incisions on Yugo's body to operate on him.
As a member of the Uzumaki clan, her expertise lies in the medical ninjutsu rather than Fuinjutsu. Unlike the rest of her clan members, who are proficient in Fuinjutsu, she didn't have a high talent in this regard. So, instead, she focused her energy on learning medical ninjutsu to support others.
Under her mother-in-law Shima's recommendation, she became a student under the First Lady, Mito Uzumaki, alongside Lady Mito's granddaughter Tsunade Senju. While Tsunade was a prodigy in the healing arts, Ishiko was also a rare genius.
Her medical ninjutsu skills surpassed several known doctors and are only a level below Tsunade.
While Ishiko was frantically operating on Yugo to save his life, her Summoned Asura locked gazes with the 'Puppeteer' demon.
The left head of the giant Asura opens its eyes and a crimson gleam flashes past them. It opens its mouth and emits a high-pitched, guttural cry in 'Puppeteer's' direction.
ROOOAARR…
'Harrowed Wail of Sorrow,'
The giant Asur channels the despair and anguish of slain souls into a powerful, eerie wail that echoes throughout the desert. The haunting scream filled with sorrow and bitterness, chills the surrounding, carrying within a feeling of immense dread and hopelessness. This powerful ability embroils the surrounding creatures in a powerful 'Sound-based Genjutsu' while also inflicting severe mental damage upon the enemy.
Wham…
The sound wave quickly travels forward, stunning and paralyzing the flock of sandworms in the area. Even the Puppeteer is caught off-guard by this sudden attack.
His ears drip with blood and his vision turns hazy for a moment. Although he can shrug off the paralyzing effect of the genjutsu, the powerful sound wave still affects his body.
Shua…
The giant Asura uses this momentary loss of perception to swiftly close the distance. He wields its massive cleaver in its right hand and swings it towards the Puppeteer.
"Damn it!"
The Puppeteer clicks his tongue in frustration.
Shua… Shua…
Suddenly, several dark purple threads wrap around his body and pull him away from the strike range.
RUMBLE…
The giant cleaver smashes into the ground, creating a fifty-meter-long rift on the ground.
BOOM…
The force from the strike raises a cloud of dust and debris. The shockwaves from the attack expand outwards and hit the still retreating body of the demon.
Bang…
The purple string around his body snaps and he pukes a mouthful of blood.
"Tch… this weak human body!" He scowls in anger.
As a puppet controller and manipulator, the physical aspect wasn't his suit. Puppet control requires strong chakra control and mental strength.
The giant Asura swiftly adjusted his gaze towards him. The third eye on the central Oni-head glows dimly with a crimson light.
"Extinction Ray,"
The Oni-head channels an immense amount of blood-red energy in front of the third eye, concentrating it to the extreme. The energy hums with an ominous, vibrating frequency, slightly distorting the surrounding air. After the intense buildup, the eye fires the energy in a concentrated, searing ray that cuts through the air with a blinding light; obliterating and devastating everything in its path.
"Shimata!"
The 'Puppeteer' growls in apprehension as the beam is unavoidable.
Shua… Shua…
At the very last instance, several strings wrap his body and pull him out of the beam's path. Despite the last-ditch effort, the beam hits his legs, evaporating them in an instant.
The scorching heat from the beam rapidly travels through his body, slowly vaporizing the remaining upper body. It continues to travel forward through the desert, leaving several hundred-meter-long gully with charred ground.
Argh…
The 'Puppeteer' grits his teeth in pain and slices his legs with a purple chakra blade to avoid the extinction effect of the beam.
Without legs, he helplessly falls to the ground.
"Die!"
Just as the giant Asura is about to deal the death blow, a grin appears on the puppeteer's previously helpless face.
Bzzt… Crackle…
Suddenly, the tens of surrounding sandworms break free from the paralyzing effect of the genjutsu. Each of them channels a dense lightning beam aimed towards the Asura.
Haah…
The puppeteer twirls its finger and the color of the yellow lightning beam changes to purple, infusing them with Onibi flames.
Fwoosh…
Suddenly, several deadly beams of dense, purple demonic energy target the giant Asura from all directions. Its giant frame makes it impossible for it to dodge so many attacks.
The eyes of all its heads dart around quickly. All its four arms make several frantic hand seals.
BOOM…
The lightning death beams explode around the Asura, raising a massive sand hurricane filled with dust and purple demonic energy.
Bzzt… Crackle…
The dark clouds in the sky release a long purple lightning bolt, hitting the center of the massive sand hurricane. A thunderous roar that shakes the entire desert follows the lightning bolt.
--------------------
Outside the desert,
Ritsu and the rest of the group watch helplessly as the giant golden dragon from earlier vanishes from their sight. They feel powerful tremors as the giant sandworm's corpse falls to the ground.
"Is it over?"
The fearful merchants and the guards murmur in shock.
"It should be!" Baru hesitates and turns to Kazetsu.
Just as Kazetsu was about to confirm, the ground trembled again and three massive sandworms appeared in their vision. The expression of the entire group turns ugly.
"Mom! Uncle Yugo!" Ritsu grits his teeth and clenches his fist in anger and frustration.
However, the sudden shift in the situation isn't over yet. Just as the group was despairing, a massive three-headed figure appeared in their vision.
"That's…"
Kazetsu, Baru, and several other Senju clan members gasp in shock. They draw cold breaths and sighs in helplessness.
Ritsu notices the rapid change in their emotions, the palpitation in his heart increasing.
"U-uncle Baru, what's the matter? What's that thing? What's going on? Why do you have such an expression on your face?" He fires a barrage of questions, yearning for an explanation.
Sigh…
Kazetsu sighs and pats Ritsu's head.
"That's one of the forbidden techniques of the Uzumaki clan, 'Life Sacrificial Summoning Seal'. The user of this technique sacrifices a portion of their life span to summon a powerful entity from another world. Once the contract is signed, the powerful entity extracts the life energy of the summoner and agrees to fight on his side for a limited time. The amount of time is proportional to the life span spent in the summoning." He gives a brief explanation.
"Then does that mean, Mom… she?!"
Agony appears on Ritsu's face and the various memories of his mother Ishiko flash through his mind.
"MOM!" His eyes turn teary and his legs move toward the desert on its own.
"Little Ritsu!" Baru swiftly chases him. He quickly grabs and restricts him in a place.
"Free me! I want to see my mother!" Ritsu desperately struggles in Baru's arms.
"Ritsu, you need to calm down. You can't risk your life at this moment." Baru holds him in a place.
"How can I calm down when my mom is in danger? Leave me alone, I want to see my mother!" He struggles again.
Bang…
Baru pins him on the ground with some force.
"Don't be ridiculous! Do you think your presence will solve anything? Do you even know what kind of danger Lady Ishiko is in? Your presence won't ease her problem. On the contrary, it will raise her burden and worries. Have some faith in her!" Baru rebukes him with anger.
This is the first time he has gotten mad at the young man in front of him. Usually, Ritsu was a very calm and collected kid. But now,
'Sigh… He's only a kid after all!' Baru sighs helplessly.
Ritsu calms down upon hearing Baru's logical words. But his heart is still in turmoil. Despite his mature mental state as a reborn individual, the honest feeling of love, affection, and care for his loved one was still present in his heart.
His mind was bombarding his thoughts with reasons and logic. However, his heart was aching with pain, reminding him constantly about the loss of a loved one. It was during this constant tug of war between his mind and heart that his body involuntarily moved on his own.
He didn't want to miss the sight of his mother. His emotions overpower his reasoning and logic.
'So, what if I die again? At least I will spend my last breath near my loved one.'
Death wasn't a foreign concept to him. Having already experienced it once.
He still vividly remembered the last moment of his previous life. His body was buried and crushed under hundreds of thousands of tons of concrete. His muscles and flesh were crushed into meat paste. Blood filled his eyes as he heard the crunching sound of his bones, slowly shattering into paste. The immense pain from the ruptured organs and blood vessels. Everything ended in an instant and yet it still felt like an eternity.
He couldn't forget that moment, even in his current life. He would wake up in the middle of the night with nightmares about that event. Every time it felt like he died again for real.
He stops struggling and helplessly glances at the sky with hollow eyes.
"They are moving!" Kazetsu's sudden voice echoes in his ear.
He quickly raises his head and glances ahead.
The massive flock of sandworms blocking their entrance to the desert is now rapidly moving towards the battlefield.
"Something must have happened there!" The Senju clan members discuss.
"Let's head inside and observe the situation from a safe distance." Kazetsu, as the vice-leader of the team, takes charge.
"Yes, vice-captain!" The group swiftly follows his instructions, leaving behind Ritsu and a single Senju member to guard the group.
Ritsu also wanted to follow them, but Baru made an earth prison around him to lock him up.