Chapter 95 (Patreon)

At those words, Yakushi Nonō looked toward Roy. When he nodded, she rose and left the room.

Despite being called a country, the Land of the Sea felt even smaller than Konoha, including the forests and other non-residential areas surrounding the village. From one shore, it was even possible to make out the beach on the opposite side.

The people living there appeared quite poor. Their lives seemed harsher than those of Konoha’s ordinary civilians.

However, because of the country’s remote location, it had remained largely untouched by the previous three Great Ninja Wars. Life was difficult, but without war, the people did not carry the same grief and constant fear found in so many other lands.

Nonō attracted more than a few curious looks as she walked through the settlement. She approached several fishermen and asked them about Summoning Island, but none of them knew what she was talking about.

Roy, standing beside her, suggested that she describe the island instead.

These people were not shinobi. They might not even know what a summoning creature was. “Summoning Island” was merely a name shinobi had given the place for convenience, and the locals likely called it something else.

To them, it might simply be an unnamed island.

“Oh, you mean the little island filled with monsters,” a dark-skinned, middle-aged fisherman said as soon as he heard Nonō’s new description. “Head northeast for about thirty nautical miles. There are four islands clustered together. The largest one is the place you’re looking for.”

The man gave her a concerned look.

“But what would a young woman like you want with that place? The island is crawling with terrifying creatures. There are spiders and venomous snakes larger than grown men.”

“I’m a biologist,” Nonō replied, using the false identity she had prepared in advance. “I heard the creatures living there were unlike those found anywhere else, so I came to study them.”

She then offered to hire him to take her to the island.

“Absolutely not.” The fisherman immediately shook his head. “It isn’t only the spiders and snakes. Even the birds there can devour a person. You don’t have to set foot on the island to be in danger.”

His expression darkened as he continued.

“You should give up as well. Some people tried capturing those monsters in the past, and most of them never came back.”

Judging from the fear in his eyes, he had likely taken people there before and been left deeply shaken by the experience.

Nonō questioned several other fishermen, but not one of them was willing to take her.

With no other choice, she rented a small boat and began rowing toward the island herself.

After they had travelled several miles from shore, Roy spoke.

“Nonō, put down the oars.”

Although she did not understand why, Nonō did as he asked.

“You’ll use Kidō to propel the boat for the next part of the journey. It should help improve your control.”

Following Roy’s instructions, Nonō spread the force of Hadō #1: Shō into a fan-shaped blast. Doing so reduced its power and effective range, but greatly widened the area struck by the force.

With every attempt, she adjusted the angle of the blast.

Before long, she found the most efficient angle. Since the sea was calm, a single use of Shō sent the small boat gliding forward nearly a hundred metres.

“As expected from someone skilled in medical ninjutsu,” Roy remarked. “Your chakra control is excellent.”

Unfortunately, Nonō’s chakra reserves were not large enough to carry them all the way to Summoning Island. Once Roy estimated that she had roughly half of her chakra remaining, he brought the Kidō practice to an end.

“Rest and recover your chakra. We’ll try a different method afterward. You can consider it preparation for a new ninjutsu.”

Nonō paused when she heard that he intended to teach her ninjutsu rather than Kidō, but she had no reason to doubt him.

Filled with anticipation, she sat down and began recovering her chakra.

Half an hour later, Roy decided that she had recovered enough to continue.

“Gather chakra in your palm, make it rotate in a single direction, and maintain its shape.”

Nonō followed his instructions.

“Good. Now point that sphere of chakra toward the surface of the water.”

The moment she did, the previously motionless boat shot forward.

Nonō had effectively turned herself into the boat’s engine.

After only a few minutes, however, she could no longer maintain her position. Chakra consumption was not the problem. She had been crouching with her hands extended below her feet, and the awkward posture placed so much strain on her knees that she soon found herself struggling to breathe comfortably.

“Hmm... Try lying on your stomach instead.”

Realising that he had failed to account for her physique, Roy quickly corrected his instructions.

Nonō removed her coat, folded it into a cushion, and lay across the stern of the boat. The new position made it far easier for her to breathe.

Roy sat cross-legged beside her and began explaining the principles behind the technique he intended to teach her.

It was, of course, the Rasengan.

“You’ve already learned how to rotate chakra in a single direction. The technique I’m going to teach you requires that chakra to rotate wildly in multiple directions at once. At the same time, you must contain all that power within a sphere of this size.”

Although she understood that this was only the foundation of the technique, Nonō continued maintaining the steadily rotating chakra in her palm as she listened.

“The technique is called the Rasengan. It requires no hand seals and was developed by the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, after he observed the Tailed Beast Bomb. There’s a relatively straightforward training method for learning it. I’ll teach you once we’ve finished our business on Summoning Island.”

“Understood, Roy-sama.”

Nonō did not suspect that he was making an empty promise. He had no reason to deceive her. Even if he never taught her another technique, she would still follow his arrangements.

Besides, the Rasengan had been created by the Fourth Hokage, and Roy spent nearly all his time around Minato’s wife, Kushina Uzumaki. It was hardly surprising that he knew how the technique was learned.

They continued in this manner for several hours, stopping whenever Nonō needed to recover her chakra. Eventually, the distant outline of an island appeared ahead of them.

“Stay here and recover,” Roy told her. “I’ll scout the island first.”

With a burst of Shunpo, he crossed the remaining distance by stepping through the air and landed on the island.

The first things he encountered were the many summoning creatures inhabiting it. Although predator and prey still existed among them, the different species lived together in relative harmony.

They had clearly been bred and raised artificially, making them far more suitable for forming contracts with shinobi.

“If I remember correctly, Honoka’s research laboratory should be beneath the crater at the centre of the island.”

Drawing upon his memories of the original story, Roy soon found the terrain he was searching for.

He carefully sifted through the Reiatsu of the countless summoning creatures until he detected a single human presence among them.

“It’s only around the level of a chūnin. Could that be Honoka?”

Roy descended into the crater, hoping that he had not come all this way for nothing.

“No! It’s out of control!”

“Seal it! Honoka, hurry up and seal it!”

Two panicked voices echoed faintly from farther inside.

Roy’s expression changed, and he immediately quickened his pace.

“Could my timing really be this exact?”

He did not know whether this was merely one of the creature’s usual rampages or the final incident that had cost Honoka her life.

He could not afford to take that chance.

If this was the fatal incident, Honoka would be dead unless he reached her immediately.

Roy raced through the cavern with Shunpo and entered the underground research laboratory.

The first thing he saw was a creature that somewhat resembled Ashisogi Jizō, the Zanpakutō of Twelfth Division Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi.

Both possessed enormous eyes and a strangely infantile face.

The main difference was that the artificial summoning creature did not have Ashisogi Jizō’s golden skin.

At the centre of a large sealing formula, Uzumaki Honoka knelt with both hands pressed down as she desperately maintained her fūinjutsu. However, the baby-faced Ultimate Summoning Beast had already grown far beyond her ability to restrain.

The other researchers in white coats were seized one after another by tentacles growing from the creature’s body. Each of them was lifted into the air and thrown straight into its mouth.

“No... I can’t stop it.”

Despair filled Honoka’s voice. With her limited strength, she could do nothing but watch as another tentacle stretched toward her.

“Help me! Someone, please save me!”