At that moment, Uchiha Madara's eyes narrowed slightly.
If he could get his hands on this bizarre technique, his plans would be far more certain to succeed! And who knows—maybe he could even turn that goofball Hashirama Senju into his summoned beast!
Heh heh heh heh…
The thought of Hashirama as his summoned beast brought a wicked smirk to Madara's face. With a technique like that, he could summon Hashirama whenever he was bored and mess with him just for fun! The idea alone was thrilling!
And then there was his brother. He could bring Izuna back, and they could live happily together again! As for Hashirama? Pfft—a goofy summoned beast, nothing more!
"Hey, Madara! Your smirk's practically climbing up to your forehead! What's with that creepy expression?!" Hirofumi's voice snapped Madara out of his daydream.
Damn it!
He'd just been fantasizing about turning Hashirama into his summoned beast, only to be yanked back to reality—where he was the summoned beast! What kind of irony was this?! The clown was him?!
"Damn it!" Madara growled under his breath.
"Hmph! Kid, what's your next move? Let's get one thing straight—just because I'm your so-called 'summoned beast,' don't think for a second you can order me around!"
"Honestly, I never thought I could order you around," Hirofumi admitted. "Let's be real, the only person in the world who could ever boss you around is probably Hashirama Senju…"
As he said this, Hirofumi couldn't help but picture a scene: the Ninja Alliance facing off against Madara during the war. When Madara saw the reanimated Hashirama, he was beyond excited, itching for an epic clash. But Hashirama just told him to wait because he was busy—and Madara actually sat there, waiting like an obedient puppy!
"Heh! That goofball Hashirama? Order me around? As if!" Madara scoffed. "He's just a big idiot!"
"Alright, Madara, let's save the questions for later," Hirofumi said. "I'm about to release the summoning jutsu, and you'll appear in my summoning space. We can meet up there anytime. I've been reverse-summoned to the spirit world for a while now, and I bet everyone outside is getting worried."
"Tch, fine, kid…" Madara grumbled. Truth be told, he had no way to resist this kid's arrangements—not yet, anyway. For now, he'd play along. But once he figured out the secrets behind this kid's power, he'd master this insane technique himself. And when that day came, he'd make this brat pay!
Kill him? Nah, too easy. Madara would make him a summoned beast!
Unbeknownst to Madara, his mindset had already been subtly influenced by Indra's chakra. Normally, someone as prideful as Madara would rather die than accept being a summoned beast. Yet here he was, not even considering killing Hirofumi. He hadn't noticed how much his perspective had shifted.
Hirofumi formed the hand signs to release the summoning jutsu. With a poof and a puff of white smoke, Madara vanished.
At the same time, Hirofumi sensed a new space forming within his body—the summoning space the system had mentioned! He could easily feel it with his chakra. It was similar to the sealed space inside Naruto Uzumaki, but the environment was worlds apart. Naruto's sealed space was a gloomy sewer, but Hirofumi's summoning space was a vibrant paradise with lush mountains, clear waters, chirping birds, and blooming flowers.
He could even see Madara's stunned face as he entered the space!
Not lingering on Madara, Hirofumi reached out to the system. "System! Time to send me back, right?"
[Please prepare yourself, host!]
With a poof and another puff of white smoke, the spirit world returned to its usual silence.
The next moment, inside a classroom at the Ninja Academy.
The room was packed. Iruka-sensei, all the students, the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, and Hirofumi's worried family members—Aoyama Ito and Daiga Ito—were there, constantly glancing at Hirofumi's empty seat.
But there was another figure in the room: a one-eyed man with a bandaged arm—Danzō Shimura. Somehow, Danzō had caught wind of the situation and rushed to the academy. He didn't care about the life or death of a random student. No, what interested him was the possibility that Hirofumi had been reverse-summoned to a sacred land. If that was true, this kid's potential could rival Jiraiya's! If Danzō could bring him into the Root…
Heh heh heh heh…
After all, he was the true power behind the Hidden Leaf! Surely the kid wouldn't refuse him.
Sarutobi Hiruzen shot Danzō a glance but said nothing, though his eyes narrowed slightly. News of this incident had barely spread, yet Danzō was already here? His reach was longer than expected.
Daiga Ito was frantic. "How could my grandson just disappear like that?!" He was about the same age as the Third Hokage and had even served under him in his youth. "Lord Hokage, what's going on?! How could Hirofumi vanish out of nowhere? If this is really a reverse-summoning, when will he come back?!"
Hiruzen took a deep drag from his pipe. "Daiga, I'm afraid I'm as powerless as you are in this situation. The only person I know who's experienced reverse-summoning through a summoning contract is my student, Jiraiya. But he's not in the village right now. I've already sent the Anbu to track him down."
Daiga sighed heavily, his worry unrelenting.
Just then, a poof echoed through the classroom as a cloud of white smoke erupted from Hirofumi's seat. A figure appeared, sitting right where he belonged.