Naruto: Kurotsuchi Mayuri

"Hello there," Minato said warmly, waving at Kagetsu and Anko. Under their curious gazes, he pulled out two uniquely shaped kunai with forked ends from his pockets and handed them over.

"I don't have much to give you right now, so take these kunai," Minato said kindly, scratching his head.

Kagetsu fiddled with the special kunai. They had strange, almost scribbled symbols on them. Since he hadn't yet learned about sealing jutsu or other techniques beyond his clan's shadow techniques, he couldn't decipher what the symbols meant.

But he liked the gift anyway. The symbols might be worth studying when he eventually learned sealing jutsu.

Kagetsu glanced at Minato and felt a sense of comfort and trust coming from him. People who are very sensitive to chakra can often tell a person's character through it. 

For example, Karin Uzumaki, in the future, could determine someone's emotional state based on the warmth or coldness of their chakra.

"Minato-senpai is so kind!" A sudden, overly enthusiastic voice interrupted Kagetsu's thoughts. He looked over and saw Anko's eyes sparkling, leaving him speechless.

Is Anko really this much of a fangirl at this stage?

"Would you like to join us for a meal? Consider it a joint dinner for our two teams," Jiraiya said with a hearty laugh, extending the invitation.

Orochimaru didn't answer right away. Instead, he looked at Kagetsu and Anko. Sensing her teacher's unspoken question, Anko quickly nodded and gave Kagetsu a slightly threatening look.

Kagetsu, not wanting to cause trouble, nodded as well.

The atmosphere in the room quickly livened up again. Jiraiya grilled meat while chatting non-stop, boasting about his adventures and the different cultures and places he had seen over the years.

It was clear that Jiraiya's experience as a writer and his travels around the world collecting information made his stories captivating. 

Kushina, who was confined to Konoha under surveillance, and Anko, who was just curious and impressionable due to her young age, were quickly drawn in by his lively storytelling.

Even Kagetsu, while trying to regain his strength by eating, was also listening intently.

After they were full and satisfied, one side was happy to speak, and the other was glad to listen. Both sides left feeling content.

After being sent home, Kagetsu went to his research lab to feed his hungry blue-white bugs. Then, he decided to test the summoning technique he had just learned in the open area of his yard.

He bit his finger and smeared the summoning contract's medium—his blood—onto his palm.

"Boar-Dog-Rooster-Monkey-Sheep!" He performed the summoning on the ground.

With a puff of smoke, a snake, as thick as a baby's arm, was summoned from the distant Ryūchi Cave.

Kagetsu felt the chakra in his body begin to drain again, and he also sensed a mysterious connection with the summoned snake.

The summoned snake slithered on the ground, coiling its body into the shape of a mosquito coil under Kagetsu's gaze. It raised its head, its forked tongue flicking out with a hissing sound. Its golden eyes swayed, eventually locking with Kagetsu's gaze.

Kagetsu felt that he could control this summoned snake; its limited intelligence was not enough for it to think or resist.

This snake seemed to be the most ordinary and lowest-level venomous snake from Ryūchi Cave.

After testing his control over it, Kagetsu felt a bit disappointed. Although the snake was obedient, it wasn't smart enough to understand even slightly complicated commands.

Commands like "Attack a specific target" or "Search for living creatures nearby" were easier for it to follow. The simpler the command, the faster it executed it. However, if the command was slightly more complex, like adding a label of "ninja" or "beast" when searching for creatures, it would become confused for a long time.

Conclusion: Summoning this snake was a waste of chakra and served no real purpose. To create any real damage, he would need to use a large amount of chakra to summon a sea of snakes, causing an indiscriminate poisonous disaster.

Kagetsu continued experimenting multiple times until his chakra was completely drained. Only then did he gain a more realistic and profound understanding of the summoning technique from Ryūchi Cave.

The more chakra consumed, the stronger the summoned snakes from Ryūchi Cave would be. This includes giant, destructive snakes! Among these snakes, there are higher-ranking ones with intelligence.

These intelligent snakes understand human language and can communicate with people. However, they also have the right to refuse a summoning contract. During his experiments, Kagetsu once tried to summon one but was refused.

The next day, when Kagetsu's team gathered at the training grounds, the first thing he did was ask Orochimaru about tried doubts and theories, hoping to get confirmation from him.

Orochimaru glanced at him and agreed, "The true power of Ryūchi Cave lies in the intelligent snakes that can communicate with humans. But these snakes have their own personalities and tempers. If you want to summon them for battle, you must first satisfy their desires."

"So, signing a summoning contract is just the first step. To summon those powerful, intelligent snakes, you need to make a specific agreement with them. Is that correct, Orochimaru-sensei?" Kagetsu asked for confirmation.

"Yes! For example, when I summon Manda, the agreement is that he will respond to my summons and fight for me when needed. In return, after the battle, I must offer him an adequate sacrifice," Orochimaru confirmed Kagetsu's understanding and gave an example.

"Sacrifice?" Anko was puzzled.

"Humans!" Orochimaru stated flatly. His raspy, magnetic voice made Anko's skin crawl. "Manda likes to eat humans, but there are no humans in Ryūchi Cave."

Anko shivered again.

"If you want to summon a giant snake with power like Manda's, you must go to Ryūchi Cave and negotiate directly with one of them. During the negotiation, you must have the strength to protect yourself! Otherwise, even if you are the summoner, there's a good chance you could become their food."

Orochimaru hinted, "Equal strength is the basis for negotiation."

"Is summoning really this dangerous? Then…" Anko felt conflicted.

"It's just that Ryūchi Cave is special. If your contract is with Mount Myōboku or Shikkotsu Forest, you generally won't encounter much danger there. 

The toads have much better personalities than the snakes, and Tsunade's slugs are the most gentle of all."

At this point, Orochimaru decided to explain a bit more to Kagetsu. He even compared the other two summoning beasts of the Sannin. Finally, he squinted slightly, looked at Kagetsu, and with a cold smile, added one last thing.

"Although Ryūchi Cave follows the cruel law of survival of the fittest, if you are strong enough, you can conduct any research or experiments on the snakes there! You won't have to worry about retaliation or complaints from the Ryūchi Cave's White Snake Sage."

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