Seeing the shadow clone agree, the white wolf let out a toothy grin once again.
The wolf genuinely thought that it was giving a warm smile. But once again, it was only warm from its own perspective.
To Seimei's shadow clone, it still looked rather ferocious, causing his lips to twitch in awkwardness.
Seimei's Shadow Clone:Please don't smile. It makes you look like a wolf with ulterior motives. Even if I understand you, others will definitely misunderstand.
After a moment of silence, the shadow clone pushed his random thoughts away and asked, "Okay. But do you have your summoning contract with you, or do you want me to create one?"
The white wolf shook its head and replied, "No need. I have already prepared a summoning contract long ago."
With that, the wolf channeled its chakra into the air and formed a special sealing technique mark.
Puff~
The sealing technique mark glowed blue and let out a puff of smoke.
At that moment, the white wolf controlled the wind around it to clear the smoke, revealing a scroll made of special parchment paper gently floating in the air.
The scroll included the summoning contract details and the related sealing techniques needed to establish the contract in a few simple steps.
"Here's the summoning contract," The wolf said as the scroll slowly floated toward Seimei's shadow clone.
The shadow clone, meanwhile, was genuinely surprised.
The shadow clone took the summoning scroll and inquired, "So, you know sealing techniques, too, huh?"
In response, the white wolf lifted its right front limb and waved it. "It's nothing. Once nature beasts reach my strength and have a better understanding of chakra, they can delve into the secrets of Fuinjutsu and create several unique sealing techniques, such as the summoning techniques and contract seals."
"Our application of Fuinjutsu may not be as sophisticated as you humans, but our techniques do have their own charm."
"Many of you think that only the Sage Beasts have their own summoning contract."
"Well, that's just a misunderstanding. They simply have a stronger, longer-lasting, and generation-spanning legacy of those techniques. And they also possess unique Sage Arts that they can pass on to humans.
"Otherwise, we nature beasts aren't much different from the sage beasts."
"As for the younger nature beasts that sign contracts created by you humans…"
"...they are actually too young, weak, and immature to understand the mysteries of chakra and hadn't created their unique Fuinjutsu and summoning contracts yet. So, they can only rely on the contracts created by you guys."
"I see," Seimei's shadow clone nodded. His expression carried a hint of surprise and understanding.
The Ninja Academy never mentioned it. And he didn't learn anything too deep regarding the history of summoning contracts and beast summons.
Perhaps the clan elders knew about powerful summoning beasts creating their own Fuinjutsu and summoning contracts.
He didn't know, and he couldn't be sure.
But all of that didn't matter now.
The shadow clone looked at the summoning contract scroll in his hand silently. Then, he opened the contract right away and carefully observed the Fuinjutsu seals and the runes of the summoning contract.
Seconds ticked by, but Seimei's shadow clone was still engrossed in the summoning contract.
This led the white wolf to let out an impatient huff and question, "What are you doing exactly?"
The shadow clone lifted his head and replied, "Nothing. I was just checking the contract."
"Interestingly, the way the runes and the seals are arranged is quite similar to the Uzumaki Sealing Technique I am practicing."
"Although the runes are a bit different and the seals here are unique, it's not hard to decipher their functions."
Now, it was the big wolf's turn to be surprised, "You can understand the function of the seals I have imprinted on the paper?"
Seimei's shadow clone nodded silently. He was still scanning the entire summoning contract with sharp eyes.
"If you understand, then why are you still so engrossed in it?" The wolf couldn't help but ask.
The shadow clone said offhandedly, "Checking if you have hidden some malicious runes or tracking seals within the contract."
Hearing the blunt remark, the corner of the wolf's lips twitched.
"We nature beasts are not some treacherous bastards like you humans. I will never do something like that. If I wanted to harm you, I would have attacked you outright." The wolf said. His voice was tinged with mild annoyance.
Seimei's shadow clone lifted his head again to look at the wolf. A slight smirk was tugged at his lips.
The shadow clone could sense that the wolf was genuinely annoyed due to his act of suspicion toward it.
However, he was not the type to lower his vigilance.
He mercilessly countered, "Really? You have never heard of the snakes from the Ryuchi Cave, have you?"
The wolf's brows were slightly furrowed in confusion as it asked, "The snakes of the Ryuchi Cave? Who are they? Are they famous?"
Hearing this, Seimei's smirk became even more prominent. "Heh! I figured. You have holed up in the Deepwood Forest for too long and don't even know about the prominent Sage Beast Regions."
"Never mind. You will understand one day."
"Kekekeke…"
Hearing Seimei's shadow clone's remark and his strange laugh, the wolf suddenly felt an inexplicable chill run down its spine.
Still, what the shadow clone of Seimei said was true. Although it knew about a couple of Sage Beast regions, it was not aware of the Ryuchi Cave and Shikkotsu Forest.
It was natural. Most Sage Beasts usually stayed within their region. Only the ninjas who wanted to master Sage Mode or gain powerful summoning companions bothered to explore the continent to find different sage beast regions.
As for the wolf…
It was only aware of the Mount Myoboku of the Toads and the Cloud Valley of the Illusory Wind Eagles.
And it only knew about the toads and illusory wind eagles because the toads were too meddlesome, poking their noses in things unrelated to them, and the eagles were always exploring new regions while flying.
As for other sage regions? It had no idea.
Meanwhile, Seimei's shadow clone continued, "Don't think too much about it. You will naturally learn more about the world after you become my summon."
The wolf, although it was curious, didn't press for any answers now.
It nodded and said, "Okay. Just make sure to take the scroll containing the summoning contract to your real body safely. If you get dispersed, it will be troublesome."
The shadow clone smiled and shook his head, "Don't worry. I will take care of it right away."
Hearing this, the wolf tilted its head sideways in confusion. "Hmm? How? To establish the contract, you need chakra and blood from your real body. You are just a clone."
Seimei's shadow clone didn't explain anything and said, "Just watch me."
With that, Seimei's shadow clone slammed his left palm on the clear layer of ice covering the ground, attracting the white wolf's attention.
Next, the shadow clone channeled chakra into one of the tenketsu (chakra points) of his left palm, causing the compact Fuinjutsu imprint sealed inside the tenketsu to flare up and cover the icy ground with a unique Fuinjutsu seal.
The seal covering the ground was black with a faint trace of blue glow. There was a slight, almost imperceptible spatial fluctuation around the seal.
Once the Fuinjutsu seal was engraved on the icy surface, Seimei's shadow clone placed the scroll containing the summoning contract in the middle of the seal.
After that, he placed his hand on the edge of the seal before channeling a large amount of chakra into it.
Once the seal absorbed enough chakra, its marking suddenly glowed with a ghostly blue light, resulting in noticeable spatial fluctuations.
Seeing this, the shadow clone knew that the sealing technique had been activated and quickly moved away.
After a couple of seconds, the scroll that was in the middle of the seal floated slightly above the ground. At that moment, the ghostly blue glow of the seal intensified, covering the scroll that was floating over the seal.
And then, with a flash of blue light, the floating scroll suddenly disappeared from the spot, and all the traces of the sealing technique vanished from the surface of the ice.
The wolf stared at the scene with wide eyes. It was visibly surprised.
"What the fuck just happened?"
----------------------------------------------------------
A/N: If you like my story and want to read ahead, you can check out my P@treon page and read up to 17 Advanced chapters!
patreon.com/Seigan
You can also help me by sharing the story around. Thank you for reading!