Hana

We walked a bit farther before he came to a stop in front of a twenty foot tall tunnel.

“Faaaaather, She’s here” Moisk yelled.

Moments later a huge head emerged from the tunnel.

“This is my father, Mangru. Father this is….um..What was your name again?” he asked.

“You brought her all the way here without even asking her name?” Mangru yelled as Moisk cowered. When he drew up to his full height, Mangru was about 100 foot tall. His head almost touched the ceiling of the tunnel.

“My…. My name is Hana” I said.

He turned and regarded me. “Hello Hana. You have my gratitude for saving my idiot son’s life”, he said seriously. I could only nod in reply as I craned my neck to look up at him.

“I don’t know exactly what Moisk has told you. But, you’re the first human to step in here in 100 years. We stopped trusting humans, especially ninjas, a long time ago. Any rewards or help my son may have promised you will only materialise after the great elder sage has finished examining you.” He said in a serious tone.

“She knows that”, Moisk piped up.

I turned around to stare at him incredulously. I really had saved the life of an idiot. He hadn’t bothered to mention shit to me and was now acting like he had.

“Good, then follow me,” Mangru said as he started walking ahead of us.

I really wanted to hit that idiot Moisk. But, I felt that it might not be the best idea to do that infront of his 100 foot tall father.

I was fuming silently as we progressed further downwards through the tunnel. We reached our destination as the tunnel opened up to reveal a circular room that was at least 400 foot high at its highest point. There was a large pool in the centre of the room that was filled with something that I couldn't tell was liquid or gas. However, the thing that caught my eye the most was a huge mongoose lying on a cushion at the far end of the room. There were many guards flanking him. This, I assumed, was the great elder sage they were talking about.

As soon as we came within a hundred feet of the giant cushion, Mangru and Moisk stopped and bowed. It seemed like a good idea to copy them, so I did.

“Great elder sage, I bring you the human shinobi to whom my family owes a debt of gratitude”, he said before turning to me.

“Hana, this is the great elder sage of the eternal burrow” Mangru said.

I performed a short bow again as a huge head with a cap on top turned in my direction.

“Welcome to the eternal burrow, Hana”.

I was surprised to hear a deep feminine voice emerge from the great elder sage, but the power behind those words were undeniable as I felt it reverberate through my very being.

“Tha… Thank you for having me here”. I managed to stammer out.

“Moisk here was very insistent about having you over. I’m very glad that I get to meet you Hana” the elder sage lady said.

“Before we can do anything for you Hana, the great elder sage will perform a check on you. We have to be sure you won’t misuse anything that we give you.” Mangru said.

‘Checks, what checks? Am I gonna have to go through some trials and tribulations for a reward that I don’t want? Hell no’ I thought

“I think there’s been some misunderstanding. I don’t want any rewards. Moisk has already said thank you and the fact that you invited me to see this great place is more than enough”. I said.

“You stand in front of the great elder sage, where few humans have ever stood and you’re saying that you don’t want any rewards?” Mangru asked incredulously.

“Saving the life of someone in front of you is as natural as breathing for me and I don’t wish to be rewarded for something like that.”I said. I also really wanted to just get the fuck out of here.

“You are a very curious shinobi Hana. But, don’t worry my checks won’t take long. Just look at me” the sage lady said.

I looked up to stare into her eyes, which were about the size of my whole body. I could see a spiral pattern inside her eyes. This pattern seemed to be moving as I stared into it. I felt my body grow lighter and lighter until I was floating weightlessly among stars.

I felt like I was there for an eternity and also just second at the same time before I returned to my own two feet. I looked around confusedly as the sage lady leaned back into her cushion.

“I’m sorry for intruding into your mind Hana. But you are indeed a very curious ninja. Even though Hana wasn’t the name you were born with, it is the name and form you feel at home with now. You also have very interesting tastes and a very interesting life Hana.” The sage lady said.

‘Wait, did she just do what I think she did? Did she just read my mind? What the fuck?’ I thought.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Again I apologise Hana. But, we can’t blindly trust shinobi. It’s a lesson we learned a long time ago”.She said as if sensing my discomfort and outrage.

“Then I guess I don’t have to waste my time explaining why I’m not very interested in whatever it is that you’re offering,” I said.

“I respect your commitment to leading a peaceful life, Hana. I truly do. But, choosing a path of weakness may not get you to your goal. In my experience, making war is easy enough. But, it takes greater strength to achieve peace and keep it. You’ve already had to use the strength you thought you wouldn’t need to save the ones close to you. Do you really think it wouldn’t happen again? What if you fall short the next time?” She asked.

I considered her words. What she said made it sound like she intended to give more than just a small gift.

I couldn’t deny the truth of her words, but in my experience, nothing in this world was for free.

“What do you want from me in return?” I asked.

The sage lady laughed before replying “Honestly, Hana, as you are now, there’s nothing much you can do for us. All we ask is that you keep whatever you see here a secret and also just inform us if there’s anything out there that would threaten our existence. We don’t involve ourselves in the affairs of Nations and have no interest in taking any sides in any shinobi wars.”

She had a point. I couldn't really think of a way that I would be valuable to these powerful beings. Guess they really just wanted to thank me. But, I needed to clarify some things first.

“You know that I value anonymity. So I can’t take anything with me that would lead to my detection” I said..

“I understand. We want to aid you in your path Hana, not hinder it.” sage ady said.

I nodded in acknowledgement of her words.

“What is it exactly that you want to give me?” I asked.

“We’d like to offer you a summoning contract,” the sage lady said.

I was taken aback by her offer. Summoning contracts with powerful beasts was one of the characteristics of an S-rank shinobi. But, I was just a genin and with my level of chakra, It was doubtful if I could summon even a mongoose as small as Moisk.

“I don’t know how useful that’ll be,” I said honestly.

“I understand your concerns. We’ll help you train so that you can derive benefit from this” She said.

I pondered over the offer. If nothing, their reverse summoning might give me a chance to make a quick get away in a sticky situation.

“Alright, what do I have to do?” I asked.

“Extend your left hand Hana” She said.

I saw her lift her own hands towards mine until the tip of her claw was above my hand. I felt a sharp pain as a seal formula emanated from the point along with some of my blood. The sage lady waved her hand and a large scroll appeared in front of me.

“Now, take your blood in the palm of your right hand and make an impression inside the square” she said.

I did as she said and felt a rushing sensation pass through me.

“Congratulations Hana. You have made a successful summoning contract with us. The first shinobi to do so in a century.” She said,

“Thank you. Great elder sage,” I said as I bowed to her.

“The seal on your wrist acts as a dimensional storage compartment that has the dimensions of a cube with a side of 5 metres. The seal to access it only becomes visible if you pass your chakra through there.I have taken the liberty of placing a scroll inside it. Whenever you need to come back here, you can place your blood on the scroll and pass your chakra through it. We’ll summon you here instantly. Make sure you come back when you can as you still need more training before you can make full use of the summoning contract.” She said,

Wow. This was turning out to be much better than I’d expected. A dimensional storage unit and a way for a quick get away. Not to mention, the offer of additional training. I couldn’t shake the feeling that there had to be something I was missing here. But, for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what they could possibly get out of me. So, for the time I thought it’d be prudent to just graciously accept their gift.

“Thank you for these gifts, great elder sage,” I said with a bow.

She nodded before saying “We’ll meet again soon”. I felt a sudden pull, just as I’d felt in my bedroom earlier. I found myself back in my room an instant later. Everything looked normal. I wondered if I hadn’t really imagined all that. I looked at the clock to see that I’d been gone for an hour.

Wow, that had actually happened. I couldn’t help but feel a slight bit of unease as I stared at the now unblemished spot in my arm where she’d touched me.

Mangru

I held my tongue till the girl disappeared. As soon as she did, I turned to the great elder sage.

“What did you just do?” I asked, barely able to keep a growl out of my voice.

“We’ve kept away from ninjas for a century and you just handed over a summoning contract to that girl. Why on earth would you do that? When you said you wanted to meet the girl who saved Moisk, I never thought you’d go this far. And if you really wanted to have a contract with a ninja, why would you pick someone as weak as her?” I asked.

“I’ll answer the latter part of your question first, Mangru. Would you rather train a weak ninja with a good heart who’ll owe everything she has to us or a strong and ambitious ninja who’ll just look at what we give as something that’s due to him?” , she asked.

“I suppose the former is preferable. But what makes you think that someone as weak as her would ever be useful to us?” I asked.

“I’ve seen inside of her Mangru, she has a lot of potential to grow and become not just useful, but valuable for us” she said.

“And to answer your first and more important question Mangru, there is a reason why I’ve decided to invite a ninja back into our burrow. I’ve been gripped with an uneasy feeling as of late. There's something coming. Something big that will happen in the shinobi world that’ll affect us in a big way. I don’t know whether it’ll happen in 2 years or 2 decades, but I know that we can no longer afford to keep our heads buried in this burrow like we’ve done for the last century. We need someone on the outside instead of just relying on our allies on Mount Myoboku.” she said with a sigh.

“Even if she has the potential, there is no guarantee that she’ll pursue power or actually grow strong” I said.

“True, but that’s a gamble I’m willing to take. She has a good heart that yearns to protect those close to her. The shinobi world is a cruel place that'll force her into action sooner or later. I believe that she can be the shinobi we need at this hour”. The great elder sage concluded as she leaned back into the cushion for a nap.

I still had great doubts about her plan as I made my way back to my burrow. But, the great elder sage had led us for centuries and I had learned to trust her wisdom.