Small Friends in Big Places[Closed/Training]

Age : 34 Posts : 718

Note: The premise of this thread is based entirely upon the events of a filler episode about Jiraiya's training and how he contracted with the toads. [Link] Hopefully it won't get voided just because they aren't canon events within the manga.

During Mugen's exile from his clan's headquarters, Mugen spent much of his time training to become stronger. Unfortunately, he was under strict orders from his father to keep his identity as a Kousen clan member hidden from the rest of the world. This meant that whenever the young Genin wanted to practice his clan's Ranton techniques or develop his own jutsu that made use of the clan's bloodline limit, Mugen needed to seclude himself somewhere no one would stumble upon him. While searching for good places to train, Mugen happened to stumble upon a Chunin whom was doing his own secret training. The man looked to be in his mid twenties and he was kneading chakra in meditation under a tree. Mugen felt awkward about eavesdropping on someone when he himself had come out here to avoid unwanted eyes. From his hidden position behind a distant tree, Mugen started to take his leave. But curiosity made him stay when suddenly the Chunin jumped to his feet.

The man brought his thumb to his lips and bit himself in an act which Mugen could not understand. Why was he smearing blood over his palm? This question among others made Mugen's thoughts about giving this man his privacy fade away like the morning dew. Then a few hand seals were produced followed by an open palmed thrust to the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" A great puff of smoke appeared and suddenly the man was replaced with a gigantic bird. No, not replaced, he stood atop its head. Mugen looked on at the sight of the great summoned beast utterly stunned. While he stared dumbfounded the bird and man exchanged some words before the avian's wings beat the air causing powerful gusts. Mugen was sent flying by the force of the bird taking off and he was left tumbling on the ground while the stranger and his summon took to the air.

"Whooooa!"

Impressed by the technique, Mugen found himself dazzled with imagination. Thoughts of what it would be like to summon a large bird to aide him in battle filled young Mugen's mind. Filled with envy and an ecstatic excitement at having witnessed something new, Mugen jumped up from the ground. Then the thought struck him, if he could do such a thing then surely those in the clan who doubted him would find it harder to shun the Kousen genin. Even if they held a grudge, they would be unable to deny him as a member of their clan for his prodigal talent...right?

Mugen went over the hand seals he watched the man perform several times until the sequence was burned into the screen of his mind. "Hmm...let's see...boar, dog, bird...what was that next one..." With diligence, Mugen worked out each of the seals remembering the final two to be monkey followed by sheep. He performed the seals a number of times without any chakra for a few practice dry runs until Mugen felt confident he could perform them with relative ease. Then, when he felt ready, Mugen began molding his chakra in preparation to give the technique a try. "Now then, time to see what kind of awesome bird I end up with..." Mugen thought to himself. Mugen bit his thumb and spread blood across his palm. Chakra concentrated throughout his body. The seals were completed. "Now! Show me something that will blow everyone's mind!" Mugen shouted as he slammed his palm unto the earth. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

CP: 65/70

Spoiler:

Age : 34 Posts : 718

There was a great cloud of smoke and then the boy was gone. Mugen unexpectedly found himself tumbling through a strange vortex of darkness, screaming in confusion and fear. Another poof of white smoke dropped the young Kousen into a strange and unknown land. "Whaaaaaaaa!" Mugen appeared in the middle of the air and fell a few feet to land butt first upon a cold rocky ground. Getting to his feet with a grunt, Mugen rubbed his sore bottom and looked up to see a fascinating sight. "Nnng....ouch, what happe...whooooooa. Where am I?"

Small Friends in Big Places[Closed/Training] 2gtcAE2

Mugen found himself inside of a massive cavern with a ceiling several dozen meters above him. There were strange blue lights all over the place positioned in an orderly manner that suggested civilization and it appeared as though many sculpted structures were hanging from the ceiling or shooting up from the ground. Mugen's jaw dropped from the view and he began looking around once he realized that there was no clear exit in sight. Upon closer examination of the closest blue light, Mugen came to realize that it was a luminous fungi. A gleeful look came over Mugen's face as he love for discovering new things triggered but it was quickly washed away. A large crashing noise made Mugen's head turn so fast he almost gave himself whiplash. There was a large dust cloud rising not to far from where he was. "A battle?" Mugen rushed off to investigate.

It didn't take long for Mugen to dash to a vantage point that allowed him to see what was going on. A gigantic ant easily the size of a house was getting up from the ground to dodge a glob of acid released from an even bigger snail. The ant lashed back at the snail with a giant shuriken and suddenly Mugen realized that both of these animals were beastial shinobi. Mugen didn't dare get involved in the fight between these two massive creatures and instead simply watched from his perch atop a stalagmite. Eventually the snail retreated after being struck with an earth jutsu the ant performed and the battle ended. But even with the snail leaving it was not safe for the ant, the force of its battle caused some instability in the stalactites above and one began to fall right where the tired ant was resting.

Mugen was never a big fan of insects, but his compassionate nature made his body move before his mind could give any thought. "Look oooooooout!" Mugen swiftly moved towards the ant and leapt into the air dealing a powerful kick to the largest of the falling rubble. Mugen was far from strong enough to destroy the mass of stone, but he did manage to redirect it's fall enough that it crashed into the ground next to the ant rather than on top of it. Alas, Mugen's luck ran out. He landed on the ant's back only for a smaller stone to crack him across the skull. Mugen's vision went dark in an instant. He didn't know how much time was passing, but his consciousness faded in and out a few times to see a giant ant face in front of him and to hear a strange voice mutter, "Stran...where did...uman...come fro...?" Then the boy fully passed out leaving him at the ant's mercy.

Age : 34 Posts : 718

The eyes of the young Kousen slowly blinked open only to squint closed almost immediately in response to a sharp pain coming from his skull. Mugen reached up and gingerly touched his head to find a gross slime of sorts in his hair and covering his wound. It was making his injury itchy and felt like a non-sticky version of the starch syrup jutsu he knew. "Ugh...what happened?" Mugen said aloud to himself as he tried to sit up and open his eyes once more. The throbbing in his head got stronger and didn't seem like it was going away anytime soon, but Mugen was expecting it this time and only winced a little bit as he looked around the room. He was clearly still underground as evident by the earthen walls, floor, and ceiling. Lighting was still coming from the luminous blue fungi as well. It seemed that fungus was used in many ways here as Mugen found himself sitting upon a bed of springy moss-like fungi. It was a strange place indeed and taking it all in brought memories rushing back to the boy. "That's right, I was copying that jutsu...and then I ended up here..." It hurt more to recall what had happened, but Mugen kept retracing his most recent memories. "Oh yeah, wasn't there a-"

"Oh, you're awake! Are you feeling better?" An odd voice spoke interrupting Mugen's train of thought. It was human language, but the vocals sounded like they were being unnaturally vibrated when compared to a human voice. Mugen turned his head to look at the person who was speaking as he finished his train of thought. "-giant...AAAAAAAANT!?!?!? AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!" Shock filled Mugen's expression as he laid eyes upon an ant about the size of his head which was poking its own head through an open doorway. The ant seemed equally panicked by this outburst and it screamed as well. "AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!" The insect's head pulled away into the hallway and it went scurrying away. Mugen calmed down and looked after it in disbelief. "D-Did that ant just...talk? Come to think of it, I kind of remember the one from before saying something too..." Mugen's head pulsed again and he grit his teeth to bare the pain.

Figuring that he needed to find a way back home, Mugen forced himself to his feet and found that despite all the pain in his head, the rest of his body was moving fairly well. The room he was in was fairly spartan and aside from the bed he was on there was little in it other than a small basin filled with water. Mugen stepped out into the hallway to see a row of windows lining the outer wall. Looking through them revealed that Mugen was inside of one of those large mound-like structures he'd noticed before. He looked out the window for a good many long seconds that felt like they dragged on longer than should be possible. That is until the sound of more ants scurrying around the corner caught his ear. Not sure of whether these animals were friend or foe, Mugen turned and ran down the other way. Fleeing as fast as he could within the tunnels of the mound, Mugen found himself quickly getting lost among all the twists and turns. But eventually he found himself stepping onto a balcony overlooking a massive chamber with a great many giant ants in it along with a queen ant that was singularly far larger than the rest surrounded by countless grubs.

Mugen stepped back and moved to turn around, but the ant from before had followed his scent and chased after the human boy. "There you are, you can't be in here. Quick, come with me!" The ant said with urgency in a hushed voice. But Mugen was still afraid and he stumbled backwards over the balcony edge. The boy screamed as he rolled painfully down a sloped wall ending up directly in front of the queen ant. Mugen sat up with an agonized groan and blinked his eyes open to see the queen's giant face, her feelers twitching slightly. "AA-" He tried to scream but before he could really begin, two large ants pounced upon the boy and slammed him to the ground, their exoskeleton legs pinning him in place. "Quiet human, the queen is trying to smell you." One of the strange voices said. Mugen tried to struggle a bit but realized it was futile and settled down.

The queen took her time examining the boy until at last, she spoke, "You...are from Kumogakure. I can tell from your scent, it reminds me of several shinobi my daughters have served in the past." The ant's holding Mugen down were gestured away and the boy slowly sat up once more looking awestruck. He'd never heard of an ant so large before, nor of speaking animals. There were so many "firsts" here that the boy's young mind was having trouble processing it all. Of course, his thoughts being dulled by a pulsing pain did not help him take it all in. The queen continued, seemingly aware of Mugen's bewilderment. "We, of the ant clan, have always had good relations with your village. But for a human child to find his way here...it is...unprecedented. But not unheard of. Your coming was foretold when we first began lending our help to those of the cloud village."

Hearing this, Mugen had a moment of delusionary grandeur and his face lit up. "Does that mean that I'm special? Like, is there some kind of prophecy about me!?" The queen let out a deep laugh that filled the whole chamber, "Fufufufu~! Not even close, it means you're an idiot. My advisor who served the previous generation's queen warned that a human without a contract might end up here one day. You used the summoning technique without a contract, didn't you?" Mugen looked down feeling shamed by the queen's words. It was true. "I heard you helped one of our soldiers when you arrived. But you're lucky your injuries were from an accident. Had you shown up when we were under a full attack from the slugs, you probably would have been melted in the crossfire." Mugen thought back the the giant slug he'd seen and the acid it sprayed and knew that the queen was not exaggerating.

"My deepest apologies!" The ant from before that was relatively small in comparison to all the rest Mugen had seen thus far jumped from the balcony above and landed next to Mugen with its head low in a bow. "I said I would watch the human, but I have blundered and allowed it to disturb your grace. Please forgive me!" The small insect was quivering in fear but it appeared to be misplaced. The queen was not wrathful and instead made a small giggling sound. "Fear not, little Ariko. I would have asked to see the human once he was well anyways. Lift your head." The small ant, now known to be named Ariko, did as he queen said and a look of admiration seemed to be on its face. Mugen cleared his throat to interrupt, not really aware of how to act before a queen, let alone an ant queen.

"Ahem...My name is Mugen. It's as you said, I came here by accident. I saw someone use the summoning jutsu and copied it thinking I would just...summon something." Embarrassed by his foolishness but eager to correct it, Mugen went on. "You mentioned a "contract" before. If I get one, will I be able to use the jutsu properly?" The queen nodded and Ariko jumped in place. "Oh! Contract with me!" But seeing her size in comparison to the others Mugen assumed she was weak. "How about one of those guys?" He asked as he pointed at one of the guards that pinned him down earlier ignoring Ariko's excitement. "Impossible, a brat like you isn't strong enough to earn their respect. You won't be able to get a contract unless your partner is willing. Perhaps you should stop underestimating little Ariko her and be thankful she's so interested in humans." The queen stated. Mugen looked to Ariko who beamed back at him beggingly, "I can fight! I'm trained as a shinobi too, you know. Please contract with me, I've been waiting my whole life to see the human world and what human shinobi are like!"

Reluctantly, Mugen took Ariko up on her offer and a scroll was brought out. The boy signed the scroll with his blood and the contract was sealed. He spent a few days among the ants getting to better know his new partner while his wounds were allowed to heal. Mugen eventually came to learn that the slime in his hair was saliva from another ant possessing medical ninjutsu and that it could accelerate healing and clean wounds. He learned a number of other things about the ants such as their feud with the slug and caterpillar clans, how they farmed and cultivated many types of fungi for all sorts of uses from food to lighting, how many Kumogakure shinobi including a couple Kousen had made use of their shinobi talents. It was a short, but educational stay until eventually Mugen was in top shape once more. With the help of the ants, Mugen was reverse summoned back to the Land of Lightning where he returned to Kumogakure with a newfound jutsu and a small friend in tow.

[Exit]