Ten Days Later – Konohagakure, Hokage Office

  "in Link, regarding your request for ninjutsu training scrolls—"

  Even the elderly Third Hokage couldn’t help but smile wryly, recalling the stack of requests Link had submitted. "Some of them have been approved."

  He pulled two scrolls from his desk drawer and slid them across the table, adding with a note of praise, "You did an excellent job on the mission in the Land of Rivers."

  Only two?

  Li a twinge of disappoi but quickly soled himself. Something was better than nothing. He accepted the scrolls with gehusiasm and bowed deeply. "Thank you, Lord Third."

  His gratitude was sincere. Without es, he doubted he would have gotten even a single scroll.

  Typically, acquiring ninjutsu scrolls required purchasing them, and receiving them for free was akin to being handed a signifit amount of money. Konoha was a military anization, not a charity. Handing out free resources without reason was unthinkable.

  The Third Hokage chuckled softly, no further expnation, and said wistfully, "The future of the vilge rests with young talents like you, Link-."

  He’s really getting old.

  "I’ll do my best," Link replied, bowing slightly. "If you’ll excuse me, Lord Third."

  With that, he turned a. As soon as he exited the Hokage’s office, he could no longer tain his excitement and immediately unrolled one of the scrolls—

  Inside was not a code but a diagram of interected bck runes of varyihs encirg a tral symbol that read "忍" (Shinobi).

  "A summoning scroll for objects?!"

  After a moment of fusioement surged through him. He quickly opehe sed scroll, whideed taihe encoded instrus for the Summoning Teique.

  [Note: Summoning isn’t limited to animals or people. It also includes objects, such as Tenten’s on summoning from scrolls.]

  The fact that it required ste in scrolls meant it wasn’t just one or two teiques—it was likely a signifit colle.

  "Thank you, Lord Third. I promise I’ll save your life someday!"

  Beaming, Link carefully closed the scrolls and hurried out of the Hokage building. He used his Flying Thunder God teique to zip home.

  [Konoha kids: Mom, there’s another head flying through the air again!]

  As for whether he should train ter or if basic drills were important—

  Who cares about training when I’ve got a whole treasure trove of jutsu to study?!

  Link ractically giddy as he arrived home, immediately diving into the summoning scroll.

  The Summoning Teique was incredibly versatile. Whether it was summoning sealed objects, tracted beasts, specialized tools like the Rashōmon gate, or even summoning people or the deceased, it had endless applications.

  However, learning it wasn’t difficult. It was cssified as a k jutsu with straightforward hand seals.

  [k? Like Fire Release: Great Fireball Teique?]

  The process for that jutsu was: refine chakra, form hand seals, gather chakra in the mouth, and release it. That was it. Even the Uchiha , known for their fire teiques, taught it to their children with just those steps. The rest ractitil the fireball’s size was suffit.

  For Link, a jutsu of this difficulty was child’s py. After casually studying the scroll for a little over an hour, he had a rough uanding of how to perform the teique. Ag on impulse, he refined his chakra, formed the seals, and activated the jutsu—

  Pg his hand oe scroll, he felt the chakra drain from his body. Only then did his overexcited mind cool down, realizing there might be something off about his version of the teique.

  [What the heck did I summon?!]

  The thought had barely formed when he sensed tless faint presences surrounding him. A familiar voice echoed in his head—

  "Huh? Is that...?"

  "Son!"

  "Dad...?"

  Link froze, c his face as he felt a distant sciousness link to his own. Somehow, he had mao summon his deceased father.

  "Wow, a teique that ect with the dead…" His father’s voice sounded lively, likely because he had died young, in his twenties. "Our Link- mastered something like this?"

  "Link, you—"

  "Zzzzz~" The e abruptly cut out, leaving only static as the sensation of linked sciousness faded.

  While the ability to unicate with the dead was undeniably impressive, Link hadn’t been aiming for that. He wahe scroll’s other jutsu!

  Frustrated, he took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves.

  “Maybe I should ask Ensui-sensei for help,” he muttered to himself. At this point, he was out of better options. Involving his less experieeammates wouldn’t work, and going back to the Third Hokage to pin seemed out of the question.

  …

  Nara Ensui’s Residence

  "Ding-dong~"

  Carrying ay bag and a box of wagashi sweets, Link rang the doorbell.

  “Click.” Ensui opehe door, raising an eyebrow at his subordinate. "What brings you here, Link?"

  Knowing his diligent student’s usual habits, Ensui found it unusual for Link to drop by unannounced. Surely this wasn’t a casual visit.

  “e in.” Ensui stepped aside. "What do you want to drink? Tea, juice, or beer?"

  “…ht, you ’t drink beer." He caught himself, fetting that despite Link’s maturity, he was still a child.

  “Thank you for having me,” Link replied, stepping inside and removing his shoes. “Water is fine.”

  It wasn’t his first visit—he had stopped by after his in promotion—but he still felt a bit formal.

  Ohey were seated in the living room, Ensui sipped his hot green tea and asked casually, "So, what’s this about?"

  "Well," Link chuckled awkwardly, pushing a scroll across the table. "I need your help retrieving the jutsu scrolls from this."

  “Didn’t they give you a summoning scroll?” Ensui asked, unrolling the scroll and skillfully f the seals. Pressing his hand on the tral "忍" character, a puff of smoke appeared.

  "Bang!" Over twenty scrolls tumbled onto the table.

  “Wow, that’s quite a haul. How many did you request?” Ensui asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "Not that many..." Link quickly opened his bag, gathering up the scrolls. “The Third did give me a summoning scroll, but, uh… I think I might’ve done something slightly wrong, so I thought of asking you for help.”