If it really takes ten thousand lifetimes of prayers for one chance meeting, Ye Liang would rather he'd never met them at all.
After the "poop" incident, Ye Liang only received a compensation of one hundred thousand taels of silver—a huge fortune!
But Ye Liang would rather not have this fortune.
Once a Summoning Contract is established, acquiring other Summoned Beasts becomes extremely difficult because performing the Summoning Ritual again will only produce similar forms of the original Summoned Beast.
For instance, since Ye Liang had summoned a "pile of poop," he could only summon its close relatives—perhaps a snail or another soft-bodied creature.
But undeniably, they were all quite weak.
To summon different Summoned Beasts, Ye Liang needed the ancestral scroll—something nearly impossible to obtain.
He was crushed.
Such a huge chance and all I got was… trash!
Even though Hiruzen Sarutobi had paid him off with a hundred thousand coins, it couldn't erase the pain in his heart.
...
"Kakashi, what's wrong with our teacher lately? He keeps staring at a so-called 'poop' creature and smiling like an idiot. Maybe he's gone mad."
"Obito, don't talk nonsense! I heard from The Third that this is Master Ye Liang's Summoned Beast—it's a divine-level Summoned Beast, as powerful as the Sages of the Three Sacred Lands! I even heard that Gamabunta from Mount Myoboku isn't its match!"
"What! This thing is actually that strong?"
Obito sucked in a breath in shock.
They were heading out on a mission.
Since they'd rested for several days already, their second mission was about to begin.
Ye Liang listened carefully to his team's conversation and felt slightly relieved.
To protect his dignity, Ye Liang had not only extorted a large sum of money from The Third but also threatened him into keeping quiet about the fact that he had summoned a "piece of trash."
Publicly, everyone must insist that this so-called "poop" creature was an exceptionally powerful Summoned Beast!
Yet he hadn't expected The Third to exaggerate its strength so much—
Claiming it rivaled the Sages of the Three Sacred Lands!
"Ruan, are you really this powerful?" Ye Liang asked softly.
He'd named his soft-bodied Summoned Beast Ruan (Softie), which now sat perched on his shoulder.
After some experimentation, Ye Liang discovered that his Summoned Beast wasn't completely useless after all. Aside from lacking any combat capability, Ruan could actually mimic the appearance of any living being it touched. Although it was slightly smaller in size, Ye Liang believed that with enough time to grow, it would surely become an amazing shapeshifter.
According to the tests, not even Sensor ninjas could tell the difference between Ruan's transformed form and a real creature!
"A pleasant surprise," Ye Liang said with satisfaction.
Today, their mission was to hunt down a group of Rogue Ninjas in the Land of Waves.
Because of frequent wars, many cowardly ninjas had chosen to desert their villages—but that alone wouldn't be so bad. The problem was that these cowards went around terrorizing others, raiding homes, and stealing valuables.
That was simply unacceptable.
Ye Liang glanced at the map; they were almost at the Land of Waves.
"We'll stop by a village first to gather intelligence. Since the Land of Waves is near Kirigakure, it's too risky to reveal our identities."
"Understood, Sensei!"
Kakashi and the others acknowledged and followed Ye Liang into the village.
Their destination was the house of a fisherman named Jiu Kai. The Land of Waves was surrounded by massive moats, so boats were necessary for travel, making fishing a common profession in the country.
"This should be it," said Ye Liang, who had finally located Jiu Kai's yard after asking several passersby.
It was a run-down earthen house. Seeing its dilapidated condition, Ye Liang suddenly doubted whether Jiu Kai could afford to pay Konoha's fee.
Although this was just a C-rank mission, the reward still amounted to several thousand ryo—a considerable sum. In times like these, with chaos everywhere, several thousand ryo was nearly half a year's pay for a fisherman—if he had steady customers. Most fishermen only earned occasional income ferrying people across rivers due to intense competition in the Land of Waves.
"Let's go in."
Ye Liang signaled to his teammates behind him and pushed open the door.
However, at that moment, a wooden stick swung straight toward his face.
Ye Liang was startled but quickly noticed how weak the strike was. He slightly turned his head and dodged it easily.
"Go away! You shady dealers, there's nothing left worth taking from our home anymore! Get out!"
A child charged out from inside the house.
He was holding a thick, rotten stick—clearly what he'd used to attack Ye Liang.
"Hey kid, you got the wrong guys. We're ninja from Konoha, not some shady merchants," Ye Liang stated calmly while looking at the young boy.
"Hmph! Don't try deceiving me! This month alone, you've pretended to be Konoha ninja multiple times already. I won't fall for it!"
The child swung his stick again.
Shaking his head helplessly, Ye Liang simply reached out and snatched the stick from the child's hands.
"Give it back! Bastard!" shouted the child, hopping madly.
Just then, a dark-faced fisherman hurriedly stepped out from the earthen hut.
Ye Liang immediately recognized him as a fisherman by the strong fishy smell unique to those working daily on fishing boats.
"Kaisha, stop fooling around! These are the ninja lords from Konoha!"
The man rushed forward and pulled the boy aside.
"Honored ninja?"
Looking at Ye Liang, the child seemed stunned.
"I'm sorry, sir. I am Jiu Kai, the client for this mission. Please forgive my son; he doesn't know any better."
"It's fine. I don't mind."
Ye Liang replied in a calm tone.
He studied the fisherman more closely and felt his concerns grow deeper.
As he had suspected, the man appeared gaunt with a sallow complexion, his body reeking of sweat from days without bathing. Clearly, he hadn't eaten properly for days. How could someone like this possibly afford to pay their mission fee?
He glanced at Kakashi without thinking and saw that Kakashi had also frowned, surely seeing the same problem.
"Uncle Kai, do you have anything to eat? I'm starving!" blurted Obito suddenly.
He was a bit of a simpleton, and after traveling nonstop through mountainous regions with no chance to eat, Ye Liang was in a hurry to find his employer, so his stomach had already started growling.
"Huh..."
Jiu Kai's face immediately showed some hesitation, but after a moment's pause, he still invited everyone into the earthen house.
"Uncle! Your house is so run-down. Won't you catch a chill sleeping here tonight?" Obito looked around at the walls, which were full of holes. Obito even noticed a large missing section on the roof.
"Well, it is summer, so a little draft won't hurt anyone."
After giving the group a quick greeting, Jiu Kai led the kid toward the kitchen.
"Kakashi, what do you think?"
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