The splitting hound alone was enough to make Hagoromo extremely fond of it.
The fact that it could transform from three heads sharing one body into six heads with six bodies already made it a highly valuable summoning beast.
Based on that trait alone, it qualified as a powerful summon.
These chakra-infused beasts, which acted purely on instinct, were intellectually no more than wild animals. Naturally, they couldn't be compared to the toads of Mount Myōboku. One could say they were all brute force and no brains—and that was precisely why Hagoromo had been able to capture creatures like the Yatagarasu, the Two-Horned Rhino, and the Even-Toed Bull in the first place.
It had to be said—
Having a brain was a wonderful thing.
And yet, Hagoromo happened to like creatures like this.
If this dog suddenly started talking, who knew what kind of reaction he'd have?
After hearing Hagoromo's explanation, Namikaze Minato, wearing an expression of pure helplessness, moved with blinding speed. He flashed to each individual splitting hound and used Flying Thunder God to teleport them, one by one, stacking them together like bricks.
Before they had any chance to scatter again, Minato tossed a Flying Thunder God kunai straight into the air.
The moment the kunai reached a point directly above the stacked hounds—
Minato teleported to it.
Then, while still in midair, he formed hand seals.
Summoning jutsu!
With a thunderous boom, the massive body of Gamabunta appeared in the sky. The eight hounds didn't even have time to react before the enormous toad came crashing down, smashing them straight into the ground.
Yes.
This jutsu was known as:
Summoning: Crush-the-Stall jutsu.
Minato had only heard a brief description of the splitting hound's traits. As for its deeper nature—or the correct method to force it to recombine—he didn't know.
So he chose the most universally applicable solution.
Stack the pieces together.
Then hit them really hard.
If they were sticky enough, they'd fuse back together… right?
Behold—even elite shinobi sometimes had thoughts that were shockingly un-shinobi-like.
Fusion was only one possible outcome.
A much more likely one would've been total annihilation.
Fortunately, the splitting hound wasn't that fragile.
After being pinned helplessly beneath Gamabunta and struggling in vain, the hounds finally chose the path of least resistance—
They merged back into a single body.
"Finally got this thing pinned down," Hagoromo said with a sigh of relief from midair.
The Yellow Flash really did make everything look effortless. Even if Hagoromo had been uninjured, he couldn't have pulled something like this off—at best, he could've electrocuted the six dogs one by one.
Now, with the hound sprawled flat on the ground, limbs unable to gain leverage, and with Gamabunta's weight pressing down on it, escape was impossible.
Hagoromo let out a long breath.
These past few days, dealing with this endlessly splitting thing had taken every ounce of his ingenuity.
He guided the Yatagarasu downward, then jumped off its head.
Walking over to the splitting hound's three massive heads, Hagoromo stepped directly onto its nose—
Quite literally stepping on its face.
Even though it couldn't move, the hound still let out low, hostile growls.
Hagoromo had no intention of sparing its feelings.
He pulled a kunai from his ninja pouch. Tied to its handle was a narrow paper strip covered in complex sealing formulas—
An Uzumaki Clan summoning contract seal, specifically designed to subjugate powerful but unintelligent chakra beasts.
He lightly stabbed the kunai into the center head's forehead. Blood immediately flowed down its brow.
This wasn't to kill it. Otherwise, everything he'd done would've been pointless.
Hagoromo began forming seals—
A long sequence, well over a hundred hand signs.
When the final seal was completed, the kunai and the sealing tag slowly sank into the hound's head.
There wasn't the slightest hesitation in Hagoromo's movements.
He was practiced.
After all, he'd already done this three times before.
This was merely the fourth—familiar work by now.
Like a stone dropped into water, once the seal was complete, the hound's forehead showed no trace of injury.
Then—
The three-headed hound blinked.
Six eyes, blinking almost simultaneously.
When it looked at Hagoromo again, its demeanor had completely changed. The ferocity in its gaze vanished, replaced by docility.
Minato understood that the contract had been completed and dismissed Gamabunta's summoning.
With the toad gone, the splitting hound could move freely again—
But it didn't.
Because Hagoromo had ordered it not to.
After patting the hound on the head, Hagoromo jumped down.
For intelligent summons like Gamabunta, merely signing a contract wasn't enough. That was only the first step. If you didn't build rapport—if you didn't talk things out—they simply wouldn't cooperate.
You could summon them all you wanted, and they'd still refuse to lift a finger.
In relationships like that, it wasn't even clear who the real master was.
Highly intelligent summoning beasts possessed human-like personalities and pride.
Naruto's experiences were a perfect example—
And so was Manda, the notoriously arrogant summon of Orochimaru.
But creatures like the splitting hound were different.
Once the special contract ritual was complete, it immediately transformed from a savage beast into a docile pet.
If Hagoromo hadn't kept issuing commands, its three long tongues would've licked him half to death already.
"Thanks for the help, Minato-senpai," Hagoromo said sincerely.
"I just lent a hand," Minato replied with his usual gentle smile. "But more importantly—are your injuries really alright?"
Standing so close, Minato could clearly sense Hagoromo's physical condition.
The wounds had been bandaged, yes—but the treatment was crude at best.
"I'm fine," Hagoromo shook his head.
At this point, his biggest problem wasn't the injuries—it was exhaustion.
Still, compared to what he'd gained, he felt the price was worth paying.
The thought made him burst into laughter.
His voice was hoarse and unpleasant—he hadn't properly spoken in three days.
That was the final straw.
Kushina rushed up at top speed and smacked him hard on the head.
Was this really something to be that happy about?!
A powerful summoning beast was rare, yes—but the timing of Hagoromo's little "pet-collecting adventure" was atrocious, at least in her opinion.
Kushina sometimes wanted to punch people—and when she did, she punched.
But she'd never hit anyone with lethal intent.
She held back.
After all, besides anger and worry, she didn't feel anything else.
What she didn't expect—
Was that after taking that punch, Hagoromo's eyes rolled back, his body swayed—
And he promptly passed out.
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