"Phew Even if this is the Land of Earth, at least I am far away from any settlement."
"And who are you, boy?" a voice which was definitely not human, way too high in pitch and deep at the same time. Kaida slowly turned toward the voice and was shocked to see the owner of the voice.
In the shadow of the rock, a massive dark wolf was standing. It was only thanks to Sharingan that Kaida was able to see the complete form of the wolf; otherwise, it would have been almost impossible considering how well camouflaged that wolf was.
"Didn't you hear me, boy? Who are you?" the wolf asked once again, this time with a little impatience in his voice.
"Umm, hello. I am Kaida Uchiha from the Land of Fire. I am not an enemy," Kaida felt it necessary to make sure there was no misunderstanding here because the wolf was not looking weak at all.
"I know; otherwise, we wouldn't be having this conversation," the wolf said, coming out of the shadow, now looking much more majestic than before.
'I really hope you are my fated summon,' Kaida thought. There was something inherently awesome about having a giant wolf as your partner.
As a previous dog owner, he was more than happy enough to have that wolf as his summon, especially since the wolf was not weak at all, clearly able to go toe-to-toe against any Jonin easily. But the power of wolves was never measured alone; its power lies in the pack.
"So what's your name?" Kaida asked, coming down toward the wolf, no rushed motion, slow with his arms visible. The wolf followed Kaida's movement with his eyes but didn't speak till Kaida stopped a few meters away from him.
"I am Third of the Okuri pack," the wolf said after looking at Kaida for some time.
"Third? Is that your name?" Kaida asked.
"No, it is my rank. In the pack, we are known by our rank and not by our names."
"Oh! Makes sense, I guess, haha," Kaida said.
"Now tell me, boy, why someone from so far away is present in our territory?" Third asked.
"Umm, how should I say this... phew I am here to ask whether you guys could be my summons... my partners. We will fight side by side and help each other in need." Kaida tried to explain what a summon is when there was a change in Third's expression when he heard the word summon.
"I know what a summon is, boy," he said before looking a little conflicted. Then, making a decision, he howled.
Aawwwwoooooooo
With how loud and high-pitched that howl was, Kaida was sure it would have traveled kilometers all around the gorge. After that, complete silence engulfed the valley.
Kaida silently waited for the response from Third. After a minute or so:
Aawwwwoooooooo
A similar howl reverberated in the valley. Hearing that, Third nodded his head.
"Follow me, boy. Leader has agreed to meet you," Third said before he started moving deep inside the valley. Kaida easily followed him, moving deeper and deeper into the valley, confirming his suspicion that the howl did travel kilometers, as they almost traveled around a couple of kilometers in rough terrain before they reached something that resembled a beehive. Kaida and Third were standing in front of a large mountain with more than twenty caves visible on the surface.
As soon as they arrived there, many wolves of similar size to Third came out of their caves, and Third was large, a little larger than around 180 cm. Most of the wolves were of similar size as well, with their height and length combined with muscular builds.
They truly looked like the apex predators of the area. All of the wolves had their gaze focused on Kaida, who was surprisingly fine even in this situation, with no sign of panic at all, because he knew, even in the off chance these wolves decided to attack him at the same time, he would be able to defend himself for enough time to cancel the jutsu.
"At least the boy has some guts," a voice came from the biggest cave on the mountain. A silhouette of someone truly massive became visible.
"Holy shit, you are big!" Kaida blurted out his thoughts, seeing the wolf who came out just now.
"Hahahahaha, that I am," a massive two-and-a-half-meter-tall wolf was now standing in front of the wolf army, with its massive canines visible even though its mouth was closed. With its dark color and blood-red eyes, the wolf looked too menacing, and that too in daytime.
From their color and how they were resting in their caves in daytime, it was clear that they were creatures who get active in the night.
'That would be too cool,' Kaida clearly pictured the scene of these massive wolves patrolling the surroundings and pouncing on their prey in the darkness of the night.
"Hello, I am Kaida Uchiha from the Land of Fire. I'm sorry, I don't know how to greet a leader of the pack properly," Kaida introduced himself, bowing a little, since every other wolf did the same when the leader appeared.
"No problem. It is the emotion that matters. Now tell me, Kaida, why are you here?" The leader jumped down from the top of the mountain without producing a tad bit of sound, and Kaida was sure he didn't use any jutsu or chakra at all—it was just pure physical movement.
"I want you guys to be my summons," Kaida said, this time with full conviction.
"Sadly, I can't fulfill this request of yours. Is there anything else you wish for?" the leader asked.
"Sorry?" Kaida said, a little shocked by this sudden rejection.
"I said I can't fulfill that request of yours," the leader said one more time.
"Can you at least give me a chance to prove myself? I will not be a burden to you guys, that I can promise," Kaida said.
"Don't worry, boy. I am not in the dark about your strength. You are almost as powerful as me, that's for sure," the leader said, causing shocked expressions to appear on every other wolf's face.
"Then why are you rejecting my request?" Kaida asked once again.
"It doesn't have anything to do with you, boy. It is just because we are oath-bound to chakra to not interfere with the events in the world," the leader said, looking a little sad himself.
"Trust me, with how bored I am, I would love to become your summon for getting a chance to fight someone with my heart's content. Sadly, I can't do that," he said.
"Why did you take that oath then, and to whom?" Kaida asked, not doubting the words, as the wolf in front of him had no reason to lie. If he didn't want to be Kaida's summon, he could directly say so.
"I don't know all the details. as It was long before chakra stained this world. Back then, we ruled lands so vast, even the rivers bowed to our will.
and when the chakra came, we only grew more powerful, our teretory only increased further, Then he came — a sage. Alone, he crushed our leader, and with a voice colder than the mountains, he gave us a choice: hide... or perish.
Our leader chose survival. And so, here we rot, powerful but shackled, shadows of what we once were." the leader said, clearly reminiscing about the old days.
'So it has something to do with Hagoromo?' Kaida thought, even though he didn't understand why he did that. There were some theories in his mind.
One of them being that when chakra was introduced to the world, the predators adapted faster than humans, which may have led to the extinction of humans. So Hagoromo decided to help them a little, but a lifetime of home imprisonment is a little too harsh, even if that house is many kilometers long.
"Then there is no other way?" Kaida asked.
"Not unless I or any other wolf want to die. Now, Kaida, do you have anything else you want to ask for?" the leader asked. A small smile came to Kaida's face at that.
'Someone who had to be imprisoned because of how powerful they were, huh?' Kaida thought.
"You said you wanted to have a fight against powerful enemies if you were allowed, right?"
A ferocious smile emerged on the leader's face, not that of a predator, but that of a warrior, as he understood what Kaida was asking.