Naruto: Systematic Shinobi

Chapter 9: The Castle 4

"Z'at so?" Daiki's lips quirked up into a sardonic smile, "Am I right in assuming you're the boss of Chameleon Clan?"

A huff came from the castle, "Indeed, my name is Shiromari, proud leader of the Chameleon Clan!" the summon disguised as a castle introduced himself, "Now you may go new summoner, you can work out the deal between yourself and my clan alone, I have a duty to uphold, tasked by my former master, your predecessor."

"Yeah, thanks for letting me sign my name on the scroll by the way," Daiki replied, before frowning, "But…you have to have been here for fifty years now, why?"

"I am merely performing the task my former master gave me, I will devour all of his enemies!" Shiromari declared proudly.

Well, if nothing else, Daiki had to praise it, or rather his sheer loyalty.

"If you're talking about Tanigakure, the guys who killed off your master and his followers…they're all dead," Daiki pointed out, reinforcing what he said earlier, "Not a single person from that village is alive. We slaughtered them down to every man, woman and child, there's no enemies of your master left for you to kill."

It wasn't exactly written that way in the textbooks, but, reading between the lines, it was easy to see.

Shiromari was silent for a moment.

"…Not a s-single one?" despite how powerful and masculine the summons voice sounded, Shiromari wasn't able to hide the slack crack in his voice at the question.

"I said so before didn't I? We of Konoha slaughtered them in retribution for killing your master and his followers," Daiki replied, "That was the way of things back then. We killed them until the last man and made sure none could ever come back with thoughts of revenge, we took everything of value and burned their village to the ground. They're all gone."

It was a bit sobering actually to bring it up. It reminded him of how truly brutal this world was. And he wasn't some messiah like Naruto who could make people repent and see the light and find better ways of living.

He was just your every day shinobi, with a bit more information than the rest to use to his advantage. He didn't have the privilege of strength or inborn power or talent to worry about people like that.

"…I see." Shiromari replied simply.

Just then, a massive puff of smoke enveloped the castle, and it was suddenly just gone, all that remained being the stone base it was built atop.

And in its place, was a titanic dark green scaled chameleon, with bright yellow eyes, long-serpent like feelers reminiscent of ears stretching back from its skull, and a pair of wing-like appendages jutting out from its back.

…And its gargantuan tail, was topped with the head of a huge serpent.

What the hell?

Daiki gaped at Shiromari's true form. For one, why the hell did he have a snake as a tail?

And secondly, he recognised him! Sure, he was much darker in colour, but this was the chameleon summon of Pein's, right?

'Does that mean Pein killed and enslaved Shiromari some time before the end of the time skip?' Daiki's thoughts raced.

Bright yellow eyes stared down at him, examining him.

"…What's with the snake head tail?" he couldn't stop himself from asking.

Shiromari blinked slowly, "…It is merely a sign of my parentage," the huge chameleon replied, he was quite forthcoming, "The chameleon clan were once allied with the snake clan, an experiment on the path to becoming the 'dragon' clan as they so desire. I was born to the previous leader of the Chameleon Clan and the current leader of the Snake Clan, Manda." the one to explain the second part of that, was the snake head itself, raising up over Shiromari's normal head to look down at Daiki.

It seemed that Shiromari had a single personality controlling both heads. So, was it maybe a shared perception kind of thing then? Kind of like what Nagaot did with his Six Paths of Pein and the Rinnegan?

But still, that explained so much about the looks of Shiromari…kind of. It even explained the the wing-like appendages and feelers that if they were hardened, could pass for horns. They were dragon-like. Just like how those who mastered Snake Sage mode, would transcend being a snake to become a dragon and gain Dragon-like appendages, like horns in Kabuto's case.

"Konoha is kind of against the Snake Clan for the most part right now," Daiki settled on replying with, despite how many questions he wanted to ask, "Their main summoner is a traitor of Konoha who fled the village."

"There is no issue with that, the alliance with the Snake Clan has long since fallen through," Shiromari's huge shoulders gave somehting akin to an uncaring shrug, "And there is no love lost between my father and I, he is a vile, arrogant beast."

"Fair enough," Daiki shrugged, "So, is there any form of test you have for me? You know, to get your allegiance and all and your cooperation?"

"No," Shiromari replied, "I, and the clan will observe you, that is all. Should we find you to be unfitting as a summoner, we will simply score your name out from the main summoning scroll and bar you from summoning us, as it is, you may call upon me and my clan as you wish, for now. Though, it will be a long while before you are capable of summoning myself, you lack the chakra needed."

Huh, he'd have to look for out for that in the future and keep up good relations with them, but other than that, there was nothing to complain about there.

"Wait," he paused, a thought coming to mind, "You can sense my chakra?" Daiki asked.

"Of course I can," Shiromari rolled his huge bright yellow eyes, "The Chameleon Clan specialise in blending in, hiding from others and sensing others, every member of the Chameleon Clan is a born sensor."

Well, good for them he supposed. He was not at all jealous. Besides, now he could basically summon a sensor to help him out whenever he needed, so good for him!

"Cool, you guys are pretty amazing, huh?" Daiki praised, "Well, my name is Daiki, pleasure to be working with you."

"Yes, I suppose it is," Shiromari nodded once, "It is time for me to return home now though. So until we next meet, Summoner Daiki." the huge chameleon dipped his main head respectfully, before disappearing in a huge puff of smoke, returning to his home.

"…Well that was a thing…" Daiki chewed his lip.

Way, way easier than he thought it was going to go. And now he had his own personal summons, go him. Though, as usual, he'd need to work on his chakra capacity before he could actually do anything on that front.

…At least he already knew the hand seals for the Summoning Jutsu and it was a pretty straight forward technique.

'Time to go home.' Daiki told himself. He brought out the sealing scroll from his pouch and sealed the Summoning Contract scroll within it and hopped up into the trees surrounding the area.

He paused as he landed, his eyes for a moment drifting in the direction of the Land of Rivers.

Tanigakure wasn't the only place in the Land of Rivers after all. There was an Akatsuki base there.

But even more importantly for him, was the Katabami Gold Mine, a small mining town in the Land of Rivers, and not all that far from his current position.

And the place where Raiga and Ranmaru had taken up residence.

'Soon.' he promised himself. It wasn't time yet. He didn't have the strength to take down Raiga as he was right now.

But he would. He knew exactly where to find the man. The only thing he was missing, was the strength he needed to do so.

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