Sage

Ch.18

"Animal path, Kuchiyose!"

Smoke enveloped the room causing Naruto to cough violently into his hand as he waved the other in an attempt to clear the suffocating white smoke. When it did clear a confused frown spread across his face; standing there, looking rather confused himself, was Marseru. Strangely enough the little monkey was holding onto one of his Chakra rods, one of the ones he had created earlier and left in the room to see how long they lasted.

"Huh?" It wasn't the most eloquent thing he had ever said but it summed up the situation quite nicely. Frowning he picked up the little Capuchin and once again placed him across the room; by now the little simian had dropped the rod so Naruto quickly created another. He tried to hand it to Marseru but he seemed wary of the innocuous black stick but in the end accepted it anyway, lightly nibbling on it.

Naruto retreated across the room and once again ran through the hand seals before pausing at the last one. He stopped, allowing his Chakra to settle before doing it again but this time just manipulating his Chakra instead of using the hand signs. He wasn't sure why but for some reason it just felt more natural this way; slamming his hands down he was once again enveloped in smoke, but less this time. Just as confused as before Marseru stood in front of him, this time quickly throwing the Chakra rod across the room.

"Wow, this is so cool." He again moved across the room, staring intently at Marseru who by this point was hopping up and down while chattering excitedly. He once again moulded the Chakra, focusing intently on the monkey, although this time it felt more difficult, like he was actually having to force it instead of it coming naturally. A third time Marseru appeared in front of him out of a veil of smoke but it confirmed it was far more difficult.

'Hmm, so I can summon him, but if they have one of my Chakra rods it's easier.' He frowned again before walking over to the monkey, quickly pushing some of his own Chakra into the monkey's system. It wasn't too dangerous, as far as he could tell the Chakra between all living things besides plants was fairly similar and his Preta path automatically adjusted to the new body. He walked back and tried the summoning again, this time smirking as it once again flowed naturally, resulting in yet another instance of Marseru travelling across the room.

'Okay no, it's not my Chakra rods, but my Chakra; I can summon anything connected with my Chakra with ease.' He smiled at the new discovery and if the words that had appeared in his head were any indication he had discovered a new path which made three down and three more to go. 'Hmm, I wonder if I can summon anything else.' He focused instead on a lamp that was across the room from him, once again moulding his chakra in the correct way.

However this time it was almost as if his Chakra refused to flow, making his hand stutter from the build up before he allowed it to re-disperse into his body with a small sigh. That time it had felt more exhausting than he thought possible, forcing him to sit back on the bed. The lamp hadn't budged an inch, causing the blonde to frown. Just to check he re-tried it, only for the exact same results and another rush of tiredness to sweep over him.

'Okay, so I either can't summon objects or I don't have enough Chakra to do it. Even so it seems like an enormous waste even if I could get it to work, it's too tiring.' Naruto spent another few minutes experimenting with his new found ability trying to discover everything he could about it. Quickly he managed to learn that if he implanted a Chakra rod into anything then he could then summon it, likewise if he pushed enough Chakra into an object he could summon that too, although it was still very exhausting.

'So I can summon animals and anything with my Chakra in; but what about people?' Curiously he began to mould his Chakra again, for some reason his thoughts instantly going to Fuu. Without even thinking it through all the way he slammed his hand down, the usual summoning matrix spreading out from his palm on the floor. He nearly fainted as the resulting smoke cleared only to reveal a confused, and very naked Fuu.