Chapter 70: All Buddies
The Thunder-Wind Eagle, with "Lord of the Sky" activated, had covered several thousand meters in less than ten seconds on the way there. But on the return trip, under Kael's strict orders, its speed was much, much slower.
Even so, after just one minute, it descended with Kael and Jade into a walled-off area of ruins.
Jade looked around. He couldn't see a single intact building. His old face twitched. He finally realized Kael hadn't been joking earlier.
Kael, however, didn't notice Jade's expression. He walked to a massive hole in the center of the ruins and shouted, "Everyone, come out and say hello to the Village Leader!"
The Thunder-Wind Eagle instinctively shuffled back a few steps.
RUMBLE!
The ground beneath their feet began to shake as if the earth's crust was shifting. Then, a dragon burst from the earth. A colossal, brown, segmented creature, nearly twenty meters in diameter, erupted from the ground, its body covered in an assortment of "small" animals, all dangling precariously.
A cloud of sand and dust blasted Kael and Jade in the face.
The Earth Dragon lowered its upper body, and the various summons leaped off, running toward Kael, clearly wanting to be held.
But from Jade's perspective, it was a terrifying sight. A stampede of ferocious beasts was charging right at him. His heart nearly stopped, and his face went pale. The giant earthworm, with only half its body exposed, already blotted out the sky. A massive yellow dog, twice the size of a rhinoceros, its lantern-sized eyes glowing with a startling, seven-colored light that nearly blinded Jade as it ran. A tiger-sized hedgehog, curled into a spiky ball, rolled toward him, punching countless holes in the ground. A black beetle the size of a basketball clicked its massive pincers as it scuttled his way.
Jade forced himself to remain calm, his eyes darting from one creature to the next. Suddenly, he froze.
A small, gray wolf pup, dragging a crimson... thing... in its mouth, trotted up to Kael's feet. It flopped down, tongue lolling, and began to complain.
"Woof, woof, woof! —Old-timer! Little Red won't move! None of them want to play with her, so they're bullying me 'cause I'm small and making me carry her!"
Kael chuckled. Perhaps because they were all born from the system, his summons treated each other like siblings. As they evolved and their intelligence grew, they all seemed to get along remarkably well. Little Gray even knew how to tattle.
"You're the best one. Don't worry about them. Next time I have good materials, I'll think of you first, how about that?" Kael said, smiling as he patted the pup's small head.
Little Gray, who had already scrambled up onto Kael's shoulder, looked at him in terror, shaking his head frantically.
"No! I don't want to grow up! I feel like something terrifying is waiting for me if I do!"
Kael paused, curious. "What terrifying thing?"
Little Gray looked pale, still shaking his head as he whimpered, "In my dreams... there's this... this female wolf in a red trench coat! And she's always carrying a frying pan! She never uses it to cook, she just... hits me on the head with it!"
Kael: "..."
He turned to Jade and asked, uncertainly, "There's no place in the Shinobi World called 'Green Green Grassland,' is there?"
Jade shook his head. In his sixty-plus years, he'd never heard of such a place.
Kael turned back to Little Gray. "See? This is the Shinobi World, not Green Green Grassland. That female wolf already beat you to death, and you were reincarnated here. In this life, you don't have to be a henpecked wolf anymore."
"Phew..." Little Gray let out a sigh of relief, though he didn't really understand. He tilted his furry head, looked at Jade, and then asked Kael, "Old-timer, is this your old-timer? He looks really old. Pretty impressive he could still make you at his age!"
Before he could finish, Kael smacked him across the face, a vein throbbing on his forehead. He finally understood the apoplectic rage Inoshita and Watanabe Musashi felt when he talked to them. Little Gray hadn't learned much, but he had perfectly mastered Kael's smart mouth, and even surpassed him.
"Woof... —What was that for? Ow...!"
Kael's face twitched. Of all the things to become, why did Little Gray have to become an Idol Trainee? Kael would not allow his summons to be uncultured!
He was about to teach him a proper lesson when a loud, intense buzzing filled the air. He looked up. The sound was coming from the tunnel under his ruined house.
BZZZZZZZ!
The sound grew louder and louder, shifting from mere noise to a deafening, demonic hum that made both Kael and Jade wince.
Then, a dense swarm of Explosive Flies poured out of the tunnel, arranging themselves in the sky to form a single, massive black word:
"SURPRISE!"
"Could you be any cringier? Who even does this anymore..." Kael muttered, his face burning red as he felt Jade's incredulous stare.
"Are those your... exploding flies?" Jade asked, his voice filled with surprise. "I saw them in Freyal City, but... there are so many of them now!"
"Yeah," Kael mumbled awkwardly.
Jade's eyes darted left and right, his shock growing by the second. "These summons... all of them, except for the wolf pup, are pulsating with massive amounts of chakra. While chakra volume isn't the only measure of strength, anything with this much chakra is definitely powerful..."
Jade felt that with these terrifying summons alone, Kael might have the power to destroy the entire Hidden Hot Water Village. He had no idea that in terms of raw potential, Little Gray, the future "Wolf Sage," was the true ace among them all.
He clapped Kael on the shoulder, his voice filled with emotion. "You truly haven't disappointed me. My decision to entrust the village to you... it seems it was the right one."
Kael said nothing, but a faint smile touched his lips.
"Well, I've seen what I needed to see. I can finally rest easy..." Jade said, his gaze growing distant again. After a long moment, he spoke. "Old people get lost in thought easily. Now, tell me, where do you want to move? I'll arrange it for you."
Kael had already thought about this. "Somewhere remote would be best," he said without hesitation. "But it needs to be big. My summons are a rowdy bunch, and... they're large."
Jade nodded in complete understanding. The debut of Kael's summons had given him quite a shock. He hesitated for a moment, then looked at Kael. "I have a retirement spot in the deepest part of the village. It's nothing special, but it's quiet and spacious. If you don't mind..."
"That's the one!" Kael waved his hand, cutting him off.
Jade's face twitched. He was silent for a beat. "Aren't you even going to pretend to refuse?" he finally asked, exasperated. You have no shame!
"What's our relationship, old man? We're buddies!"
SMACK!
Kael clutched his head, feigning immense pain.
Jade took a deep breath. He was furious, but he couldn't help the smile tugging at his lips. He retracted his hand, pretending to be angry.
"Impudent brat! Who's your buddy?!"