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The campfire gradually dimmed. The last bear bone was tossed into the flames, letting out a soft pop. Dinner in the woods ended in silence.
Shinichi wiped his hands and pulled a rather large, blank scroll from his ninja pouch. The material was unique, catching the dying firelight with a supple sheen.
At the same time, his clone, Isshin, wordlessly handed over a small, pre-prepared glass vial. Inside sloshed a dark red, slightly viscous liquid. It was his own blood.
Shinichi popped the cork and took out a specialized brush used for drawing talismans and sealing formulas. Using the blood as ink, he soaked the brush tip in the dark crimson.
His expression was calm, his eyes hyper-focused. He rolled the blank scroll flat in front of him. With a steady wrist, he began to draw, tracing out a specific rhythm and runic structure across the parchment.
The brush glided over the scroll, leaving behind bloody trails pulsing with chakra. They slowly wove together into a complex, orderly pattern of contract characters. Any experienced shinobi watching would have instantly recognized what he was doing: drafting a brand-new summoning contract!
The origins of summoning contracts are ancient. Legend says they date back to the three great sage regions of the shinobi world, but the core mechanics have long since spread, with various factions mastering and adapting the technique.
The core function is simple: once signed, it establishes an unbreakable, cross-spatial link. It allows the contractor to ignore vast distances, using summoning jutsu and chakra to pull their contracted beast directly to their side.
This spatial summoning cheat code isn't limited to the highly intelligent, ancient beasts from the sage regions. In fact, all the standard summoning contracts scattered across the ninja world share this ability—whether it's a family's generational ninja hounds (like the Inuzuka clan) or a rare, powerful creature tamed in the wild (like Hanzo's salamander, Ibuse).
As long as the contract is signed, you get that instant, cross-spatial teleportation. However, there has always been an unsolved mystery—or rather, an accepted rule—in the shinobi world. Humans can sign these bizarre contracts with almost any creature that has chakra or special abilities in nature, but they absolutely cannot form the same summoning link with another human.
If humans want to pull off similar spatial teleportation, the only recognized method in the modern shinobi world is through highly classified space-time ninjutsu, like the Flying Thunder God technique developed by Konoha's Second Hokage. This limitation only highlights how unique and transcendent the sage region contracts truly are.
To some extent, the relationship between those beasts and their contractors is mutual. The sage regions don't just let contractors summon their beasts; the beasts can use the exact same contract to summon the human contractor back to the sage region or to their own side. That's the reverse summoning jutsu!
In the original timeline, it seemed only Mount Myoboku's contract system consistently showcased this two-way summoning. Even the other two sage regions—Shikkotsu Forest and Ryuchi Cave—never explicitly demonstrated it.
Shinichi had actually asked Tsunade about this earlier and found out that Shikkotsu Forest did have the ability. The Great Katsuyu Sage could reverse-summon a contractor to her side.
But right now, what Shinichi Higashino was attempting was something so wildly ambitious that it would shatter the world's understanding of ninjutsu if anyone found out: he was trying to sign a summoning contract with a human.
His clone, Isshin, was a highly unique existence. He was born from a copy of Shinichi's origin, fused with the bloodline genetics of the Ape Demon King—a powerful summoning species—and shaped by the rules of his system traits. He was a "human" born from Shinichi's core, but on a biological level, he was a hybrid carrying the traits of an apex summoning beast. His physical strength was overwhelmingly dominant, far surpassing normal humans.
So, could a unique entity sitting right on the line between "human" and "beast," carrying summoning blood, be recognized by a contract? Could it establish that cross-spatial link? That was the rule-breaking theory Shinichi was trying to prove.
Shinichi knew exactly what was at stake. If this worked, it wouldn't just be a standard tactical buff. Isshin was incredibly strong, born with the Ape Demon clan's raw physical power and combat instincts. He was a deeply reliable heavy hitter. In terms of pure physical stats and raw power, the clone actually outclassed Shinichi's main body.
If he could instantly summon him via contract, it meant he could drop this massive powerhouse directly from the distant Land of Iron onto any battlefield by his side. It would give him absolute local superiority, or a perfect out for sudden, lethal crises.
More importantly, Shinichi knew time was running out. Based on the intel he had been actively gathering and analyzing through various channels, the Third Kazekage hadn't made a public appearance in quite a while.
Shinichi was actually dead certain that the man hailed as the "Strongest Kazekage in History" had already been assassinated. The Third Great Ninja War, with this exact event as the spark, was imminent.
Because of this, Shinichi had even submitted a second report, further cementing his image as a genius strategist in the Third Hokage's mind.
The clone, Isshin, sat quietly across from him, the dying firelight dancing across his rugged face. He watched with calm eyes as his main body used his (the clone's) blood to draw ancient, mystical runes on the contract scroll.
If this worked... it meant the clone would gain an incredibly convenient rapid-deployment ability.
No matter what training he was doing in the Land of Iron, what plans he was executing, or what dangers he ran into—as long as the main body used the summoning jutsu, he could cross mountains and oceans to instantly appear at his side. The strategic value and flexibility were immeasurable.
Taking it a step further: what if this contract, based on the clone's unique nature, could actually achieve two-way summoning, just like the legendary Mount Myoboku reverse summoning jutsu?
If the clone could also summon the main body to the Land of Iron or another safe zone when needed, the value would be unimaginably high.
With a trump card like that, as long as Shinichi didn't intentionally throw himself into the most dangerous, suicidal situations during the upcoming meat grinder of the Third Great Ninja War, it would be almost impossible for him to die.
After all, he and Isshin were fundamentally one consciousness controlling two bodies. That connection ignored distance, letting them clearly sense the exact status of both bodies at all times.
By comparison, even the beasts from the three sage regions with legendary reverse summoning abilities could never track their contractor's status 24/7 like that.
A few minutes later.
The final stroke of the complex, blood-drawn runes on the scroll was complete. The contract characters flowed with a dark luster, radiating an ancient, profound energy.
Shinichi took a deep breath and bit down on his right thumb. Bright red blood beaded up on his fingertip.
Pressing his finger into the signature area at the bottom of the scroll, he used his blood as ink and steadily wrote his name: Shinichi Higashino.
The moment the name was set, all the runes on the scroll seemed to flare slightly, as if injected with some kind of targeted spiritual awareness.
Immediately after, Shinichi's hands blurred through the standard hand seals for the summoning jutsu.
Almost simultaneously, Isshin, sitting across from him, jolted slightly.
He clearly felt a strange, indescribable "call" materialize out of nowhere deep within his consciousness.
It felt like a "coordinate anchor" and a "summoning permission request"—born from blood and contract—acting directly on the very essence of his existence.
Without a second of hesitation, the clone gave a clear, positive response in his mind the moment he sensed the call. The next instant—
Poof!
A small but unmistakable cloud of white smoke erupted in the empty clearing right in front of Shinichi's main body.
The smoke quickly cleared, revealing the towering, heavily built Isshin standing firmly in place. He was barely ten meters away from where he had just been sitting by the fire.
Both Shinichi and Isshin simultaneously smirked.
The distance was only ten meters, but the method of travel was completely different. It was genuine, cross-spatial teleportation!
The summoning contract mechanism had successfully worked on the clone!
"It worked," Shinichi muttered, a sharp gleam in his eyes. Step one was verified: the clone could be summoned as a contracted unit.
"Let's try reverse summoning."
Shinichi looked up at the clone, ready for the next critical test. If they could pull off two-way summoning, the strategic value would grow exponentially.
Isshin bit his own finger and mirrored the exact same hand seals for the summoning jutsu. Chakra surged as he tried to act as the contractor to "reverse summon" his main body over.
Seals completed. Chakra burned.
And then... nothing happened.
The forest remained quiet. No white smoke. No spatial fluctuations. Shinichi just stood there, looking quietly at his clone, his brow furrowing slightly.
Reverse summoning was a bust!
Shinichi focused his senses. In the exact moment the clone finished the seals to activate the jutsu, Shinichi hadn't felt that strange, calling sensation that the clone had experienced earlier.
Still, one-way summoning was enough.
Shinichi didn't dwell on the failure. Being able to summon the clone to his side at any moment was already a massive trump card that could change a lot of things in the upcoming chaos.
Besides, since Isshin's core origin came directly from Shinichi, if the clone used a transformation jutsu to look like the main body, it would be a practically flawless replica. That trick alone could have incredibly unexpected uses in battle.
As for reverse summoning, he could always indirectly research it later by studying the contract mechanics of the three sage regions or space-time ninjutsu like Flying Thunder God.
With that in mind, Shinichi pulled out another storage scroll. Staring at it, his usually calm and collected eyes showed a rare, unmistakable flash of pain.
This scroll held almost all his savings from the past few years. Mission bounties, hospital consultation fees, cooking competition prizes, manga royalties—it was practically all in there.
It wasn't even just the main body's savings. To pull off this plan, the clone, Isshin, was going to have to bleed dry, too.
Shinichi set the scroll down, then created two shadow clones. He handed them an item, and the two clones quickly took off, one after the other, heading toward the northwest of the Land of Fire.
Once all that was done, Shinichi shifted slightly. Melting into the forest shadows, he silently vanished from the clearing.
The night wind swept through, leaving behind only the chilling air and the dying embers of the campfire.