Uchiha Aozora chuckled to himself and quickly snapped out of his thoughts.
He had his own chakra nature, so he couldn't possibly master every ninjutsu in the ninja world. He'd been learning everything so fast lately that he'd forgotten he was just an ordinary person too.
"I actually forgot to check my chakra nature. That's seriously careless."
Aozora added checking his chakra nature to his to-do list before pulling out the Ninja Raven's contract scroll.
He unrolled the scroll and saw only one name written inside—Shisui Uchiha.
"Where exactly did Aoba Yamashiro summon the Ninja Ravens from? Or maybe he summoned a different kind of Ninja Raven?"
Pushing aside those wandering thoughts, Aozora focused back on the scroll.
Contracts for summoning beasts were no ordinary scrolls. They contained powerful and unique sealing formulas that allowed humans and beast clans to form equal partnerships and work together.
Groups that possessed such summoning scrolls typically held considerable strength or influence—for example, the Toad faction of Mount Myoboku or the Snake faction of the Ryuchi Cave.
Though the Ninja Raven lacked fame within the ninja world, judging solely by its contract scroll, it was clearly no weakling.
Following the instructions on the scroll, Aozora used his finger as a brush and his blood as ink, writing his name into the blank space.
The moment he finished writing his name, Aozora felt a strange pull coming from the scroll. Some of his chakra was drawn into it.
Since he detected no danger, Aozora didn't resist.
Just as suddenly as it began, the sensation vanished. When he checked again, there was nothing unusual left to sense.
Deciding not to dwell on it further, Aozora started learning [Summoning Technique].
[Summoning Technique] itself wasn't difficult. After a bit of practice, Aozora quickly got the hang of it.
"[Summoning Technique]!"
His chakra flowed along a special path and surged outward from his hand, forming a complex sealing formula on the ground.
Blood dripped from his fingers and landed precisely at the center of the seal. Faint waves of chakra pulsed outward, and Aozora sensed multiple threads of cold chakra.
He immediately realized each thread represented a Ninja Raven. As long as he connected with one, the summoning would succeed.
Thinking briefly, Aozora increased his chakra output. He wanted something stronger than an average Ninja Raven—one that could probably talk.
Unfortunately, even as his chakra output grew, while he sensed more cold chakra around him, no particularly strong fluctuations emerged.
After waiting for quite some time, just as Aozora was about to stop channeling chakra, he suddenly noticed a chaotic but powerful chakra source. Instantly, he locked onto it and began the summoning ritual.
"Poof!"
Suddenly, Aozora felt something soft appear in his previously empty right hand.
Once the smoke cleared, a pitch-black raven the size of an eagle stood before him.
This enormous bird radiated a chilling, ominous aura. Its body was sleek and agile, with a razor-sharp beak, blade-like claws, and glowing crimson eyes.
"Kraaaah!"
Letting out a harsh screech, the red-eyed raven dove straight toward Aozora without hesitation.
The red-eyed Ninja Raven dove at lightning speed, but its attack was too predictable. Though slightly surprised, Aozora still reacted in time, sidestepping effortlessly to evade.
The diving raven crashed toward a large tree. At the last moment, it flapped its wings diagonally, avoiding direct impact. However, its sharp talons left deep scratches on the trunk.
"That's insane speed and those claws are razor-sharp!"
Aozora now began growing interested in this Ninja Raven.
According to the scroll left by Shisui, the Ninja Raven clan excelled in mental power, while physically they were only slightly stronger than ordinary crows.
This giant Ninja Raven was clearly an exception among the group.
"Speed and strength are decent—how about defense?"
Muttering to himself, Aozora casually threw four shuriken.
Although fast, the bird lacked intelligence, making it easy for Aozora to predict its flight path.
"Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping!"
The shuriken struck precisely but bounced off the Ninja Raven like they'd hit steel.
Provoked, the red-eyed Ninja Raven's eyes turned even bloodier red as it accelerated toward Aozora.
"Fascinating!"
Smirking, Aozora started maneuvering around it.
Despite being a crow, the creature resembled an eagle in build, its feathers as sharp as blades, making it extremely annoying to deal with. However, it seemed mentally unstable, attacking straightforwardly and allowing Aozora to easily toy with it.
Having tested with shuriken, Aozora decided to see how well it could withstand ninjutsu.
[Fire Release:Great Fireball Technique!]
Holding back his chakra to avoid killing it, Aozora summoned a fireball the size of a washbasin—no ordinary crow could survive such an attack.
"Boom!"
The fireball accurately hit the red-eyed Ninja Raven, sending it flying backward as flames ignited its feathers.
Aozora had expected it to fall immediately, yet instead, the bird flapped its wings and stubbornly charged again.
Watching the flaming bird dive toward him, Aozora's eyes gleamed with realization.
"Thud!"
"Crash!"
"Slap!"
"..."
Repeatedly punched, kicked, scorched, and slashed, the red-eyed Ninja Raven soon transformed into a featherless bird—charred black and covered in cuts.
Yet even so, it continued attacking relentlessly without significantly slowing down.
Eventually, the Summoning Technique's duration ended, pulling the Ninja Raven back to its original space, concluding the battle.
Before Aozora could even process the recent fight, his body's chakra was absorbed by the Heavenly Book.
Soon after, the chakra returned, revealing two faint golden Ancient Characters — "Beast Taming." Followed by "Embodiment Beyond the Self," where grayish ancient script shimmered with golden light.
"So the key to 'Embodiment Beyond the Self' is the Summoning Technique?"
Aozora felt puzzled since these two techniques seemingly bore no relation.
Though eager to claim the inheritance immediately, the outdoors felt too dangerous. Patiently, he returned home.
The moment he got home, Aozora dashed straight into his room, leapt onto the bed, and immediately started claiming the inheritance.
As if blessed by celestial beings or awakened by divine wisdom, ancient scripts flowed through his mind and ethereal visions flickered across his consciousness.
After accepting the Beast Taming legacy, Aozora finally understood why the Summoning Technique contained the key knowledge of the Embodiment Beyond the Self.
Besides its potential for growth, another crucial aspect of the Embodiment Beyond the Self was communication and control. Since embodiments possessed independent thoughts and physical forms, if the original body couldn't perceive the embodiment's mind or lacked methods to control it, the embodiment would become a separate individual.
The Summoning Technique and Contract Scrolls involved partial knowledge of soul contracts. Through these contracts, a mystical connection existed between the summoned beast and its master, even across vast distances.
Originally an equal and harmless bond, it could be transformed into a master-servant relationship through improvements made by the Heavenly Book.
Such contracts could be used for taming beasts, but also for constructing the soul core of an "embodiment."
Spirit beasts might already possess independent souls from other realms, giving them a chance to break free from the contract. But the very foundation of an embodiment's soul was this soul contract itself—practically impossible to break unless he destroyed himself.
This was how the original body controlled the embodiment in the Embodiment Beyond the Self.
Staring at the two Mystical Techniques set before him, Aozora hesitated.
Different from other Mystical Techniques, both Beast Taming and the Embodiment Beyond the Self involved splitting the soul—a risk far too great for Aozora to accept.
"Forget it, I won't rush. I'll consider this after completely restoring the inheritance."
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