"Lady Izanami, listen to my ..."
" Okay, stop with your stupid act. I already know everything. This much isn't enough for me to kick you guys out of this realm. " Izanami said as she waved her hand and brought everyone back to their feet.
"Your mercy is boundless, Lady Izanami," the White Tiger Sage murmured, her head bowed low. Then, turning toward her clansmen, her face hardened into a mask of cold fury. "You idiots! Show some respect! Why aren't you thanking Lady Izanami for sparing your miserable lives?"
As if pulled by a single string, the tiger clan dropped their heads again, chanting in perfect, practiced unison, "We offer our deepest gratitude to Lady Izanami for pardoning our crimes!"
" Heh, you guys sure know how to adapt, " Izanami said as her eyes narrowed. As someone who considers herself the second most shameless being of this world, Izanami immediately understood the tactic the White Tiger Sage is deploying.
This wasn't just an apology; it was moral blackmail. By leaning so heavily into their own humiliation, they made it socially awkward for her to punish them further. From the looks of it, this must be something this old white tiger sage thought up herself. After all, only she could come up with such a tactic.
And from the looks of it, these guys have great practical experience doing this thing. Well, it wouldn't be surprising, as with their temper, they must have provoked more than half of the sage animal tribes in this realm.
Unfortunately, this tactic would never work on Izanami, as Izanami was never someone who cared about face. She had long thrown away her face when she was just 15 years old, when she decided to elope with Hinami.
After all, at that time, the people in this world were very traditional, and even expressing one's opinion could be declared as heresy.
" Alright, enough of this nonsense; let's go to your clan's pavilion. We are here for some business. " Izanami said, stopping this farce.
She decided to secretly investigate the crimes the tiger clan did for the last few hundred years. After she gathered enough evidence, she would then pass down her punishment. So until then, she just needs to make sure these guys sign a contract with Naruto.
" Yes, Lady Izanami, come right this way, " the white tiger sage spoke as she guided Izanami and Naruto towards the pavilion where they accept guests.
As they walked, Naruto scanned the tribal lands with curiosity. Because sage animals possessed lifespans far beyond those of humans, and because this realm was untouched by the scars of war, the tiger territory was sparsely populated. The buildings were few and far between, each one a preserved masterpiece of ancient architecture that felt like a relic from a past era way older than the Sengoku era.
"Big sis Izanami, how old are these buildings? " Naruto in order to satisfy his curiosity, asked Izanami in a barely audible voice.
Unfortunately, his voice was still heard by the tiger sage as she replied for Izanami's sake, " Well, these buildings go back 800 years. These buildings were built when we first migrated into this realm. "
" Yes, thinking about it now, that time sure was hard for you guys. "Izanami continued as a nostalgic look appeared on her face.
Back then, the war between Indra's family and Asura's family was at its peak. It was a total mess. Every day, people were killing their own relatives, and so much blood was spilled that the ground stayed red. Things were so tense that you could start a whole war just by looking at someone the wrong way.
Right in the middle of all that chaos, some "genius" had a brilliant idea: why not drag the Sage Animals into the fight to break the stalemate?
Normally, this suggestion should have been rejected by everyone. You know, at that time, although chakra was the mainstream sage, animals who were practicing Senjutsu were still powerful enough that no one human would dare to disturb them.
Especially the Toad clan, which, using Hagoromo's reputation, was rising through the ranks like a dark horse. With their propaganda, the sage animal clans were raised to a very high level.
And every sage clan had an agreement not to interfere in worldly affairs. This actually made everyone breathe a sigh of relief. After all, for them, the sage animals were like a huge mountain they could only look upto.
But strangely, when this suggestion was made, the two families didn't reject this idea. In fact, after some time, the two families actually began to scheme on how to do it. And before long, the two families were on the hunt to conquer the sage animals.
And like the battlefield that only affected the two families, it spread towards the other regions where sage animals live. In the span of 2 years, many small sage animal tribes were destroyed and forced to become subordinates to the two families. And what's worse is that these sage animals were used like cannon fodder to decrease the casualty rates of the human side.
With each tribe they conquered, the strength of each family began to grow rapidly. This was like giving out a bowl of blood to a group of sharks. And so the quest to conquer sage animals began to increase rapidly. At that time, these two families were like they were high on drugs. Every single sage animal tribe was annihilated, and their resources were devoured by them.
And during that time, many sage animal tribes came together and tried to find any secret realms to hide away in. Yes, at that moment, the sage animal tribes had no choice but to hide away.
It was during this time that they came into contact with Izanami. Izanami offered them a deal. Izanami would let them hide and recover in her shadow realm, and in exchange, they would become her summoning animals. And of course, she also said that she doesn't need their tribe members to become her cannon fodder soldiers. She only needs them to do some errands and help some people they recognize to command them.
In short, she basically made them her private summoning animals without signing any contracts. Though most of them never actually got used after the deal was done. Some summoning animals who were lucky to be used by Izanami were able to migrate back to the real world. These are the animals that stayed in Japan.
" So, Lady Izanami, may I ask what kind of business your lady requires from us? "The tiger sage asked as she looked at Izanami with trepidation. Although seeing Lady Izanami once again is a great honor, it is also a great calamity. If they couldn't help Izanami, then their future days would be way harder than ever.
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