"Roar!"
The tiger cried out in pain from its injury, letting out a miserable shriek as it wildly shook its body.
The thin and small monkey was violently flung away, crashing heavily into a tree, but its earlier attack had almost completely destroyed one of the tiger's eyes.
The injured tiger went berserk, charging recklessly towards the monkey which had fallen to the ground and was momentarily unable to move.
The other tiger also pounced at the same time.
Seeing this, the monkeys on the rock seemed to think it was uninteresting. They chattered a few times, jumped down from the rock one after another, and disappeared into the dense forest without looking back, showing no concern for the fate of their clan member.
'Not saving a life in danger, even taking pleasure in its predicament.'
Sora's eyes were indifferent, his heart without much turbulence.
Just as he thought that thin and weak monkey was surely doomed, another sudden change occurred.
The monkey, mustering strength from who knows where, abruptly rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the fatal pounce. At the same time, it grabbed a sharp stone from the ground and, using all its strength, accurately stabbed it into the throat of the injured tiger.
Squelch.
Blood sprayed.
The tiger let out a despairing whimper and fell heavily to the ground, twitching a few times before falling silent.
The other tiger was momentarily startled by this sudden turn of events, pausing slightly.
After making this desperate counterattack, the thin and weak monkey seemed to have exhausted all its strength, collapsing limply on the ground. It could only watch as the other tiger let out an angry roar and charged towards it again.
'Oh? It actually managed to kill one.'
Sora was now genuinely somewhat surprised.
The monkey's tenacity and the precision and ruthlessness of that counterattack were absolutely unlike an ordinary wild beast, and even less like the frailty it had initially displayed.
Just as the other tiger was about to tear the monkey apart, a flicker passed through Sora's eyes, and his figure instantly vanished.
When he reappeared, he was already beside the fierce tiger, casually kicking out.
Thud.
After a dull sound, the fierce tiger weighing several hundred jin was sent flying sideways, crashing through several small trees before collapsing on the ground, motionless.
Sora did not spare another glance at the tiger, his gaze falling on the thin and small monkey lying limply on the ground.
Closer now, he noticed the monkey's unusual features.
Its ears... there were actually six of them.
Three pairs of small ears were distributed on both sides of its head, looking quite peculiar.
'Six ears? What breed is this?'
Sora searched through his memories. The world of Naruto had many strange summoning creatures, but he had no recollection of a six eared monkey.
The six eared monkey struggled to get up, its gaze towards Sora filled with vigilance, but even more so with a weak confusion.
It was severely injured, covered in claw marks and bleeding profusely. That last counterattack seemed to have overdrawn its life force.
Sora glanced at the tiger corpse not far away, then looked at the other tiger he had kicked away.
'Hmm?'
He sensed that in the direction of the kicked tiger's den, there seemed to be an extremely faint fluctuation of life force. The fluctuation was very peculiar, carrying a feeling of purity, somewhat similar to the summoning creatures he had encountered before.
Out of curiosity, Sora temporarily ignored the six eared monkey on the verge of death. His figure flashed, and he arrived at the den of the kicked unconscious tiger, a hidden cave.
The cave reeked of a strong, foul odor, but in a pile of dry grass in the corner, Sora discovered a small, furry creature.
It was a small tiger, its entire body snow white, its eyes not fully opened yet, its breathing very faint. It seemed to have been born not long ago.
That pure and peculiar fluctuation emanating from it was precisely what had attracted Sora.
'This little thing... its potential seems pretty good, has the capability to become a summoning creature.'
'Too bad it's too small, and too weak.'
Sora stroked his chin, then returned to the cave entrance, only to find that the tiger had already lost its life force. His earlier kick seemed to have been a bit too strong.
Looking at the small white tiger on the verge of death inside the cave, then looking at the six eared monkey also close to death outside, Sora suddenly felt a bit....
'Does this count... as me killing its parents?'
Sora rubbed his nose, then shook his head.
'No, the mother tiger was killed by that monkey, the father tiger was killed by me, but that was because they were trying to kill the monkey... well, the cause and effect is a bit messy.'
However, Sora felt no psychological burden about this. The strong prey on the weak, that is how nature is. He just thought it was a bit of a pity for this small tiger.
He walked back to the six eared monkey, crouched down, and examined its injuries.
Very severe. Internal organs were likely ruptured, severe blood loss. Unless there was top tier medical ninjutsu or a ninja like Tsunade here, it was impossible to save.
The six eared monkey also seemed to understand its own situation. Its intelligent eyes looked at Sora, no longer holding the earlier vigilance, but instead revealing a trace of pleading. Not a plea for survival, more like a kind of unwillingness and regret.
'This monkey's intelligence is not low.' Sora thought to himself.
He recalled the monkeys that had abandoned it and left earlier, then thought about the geographical environment of this area, and the peculiarities of this six eared monkey.
'Within the Land of Fire, monkey clans... the most famous one should be that place, right?'
A thought flashed through Sora's mind.
He focused a trace of chakra, extending his sensory perception in the direction those monkeys had left.
His sensory range wasn't particularly vast, but after the incident in the Land of Wind, he had specifically trained the precision of unidirectional perception.
Thanks to the Azure Dragon Fruit, Sora now only needed to concentrate his perception in a certain direction. Subtle fluctuations of chakra within several km, even the attributes and approximate strength level of the target, could be clearly detected.
It was just that the perception range still had limitations. He had tried training Observation Haki, wanting to use it to compensate for the shortcoming in perception range, but repeatedly hit a wall.
Sora gradually discovered that the Naruto world seemed to lack the special elements required for Haki awakening, just like there was no seastone factor. No matter how he tried, he couldn't touch the threshold of Haki, and in the end, he could only helplessly give up.
Sure enough, at the entrance of a valley several km away, Sora detected a few lingering, faint chakra fluctuations. They were of the same origin as the six eared monkey before him, but stronger and more robust.
And that valley's location was extremely well hidden. At the entrance, there seemed to be something similar to a barrier or a naturally formed illusion.
If not for the traces left by those monkeys and the faint chakra guiding him, it would have been extremely difficult to discover.
Sora did not rashly approach, only observing from a distance.
Through the gap at the valley entrance, he could see that inside seemed to be another world, with lush trees, abundant flowers and fruits, like a paradise separate from the world.
He could even faintly see some robust monkeys jumping and playing inside. They all carried faint chakra fluctuations.
'So it really is this place. The summoning creature clan of the Sarutobi clan, the clan where Enma resides, the Land of Peaceful Bliss.'
Sora understood in his heart.
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen's summoning creature, Enma, was extremely powerful. It could transform into the Adamantine Staff, both offensive and defensive, praised by Orochimaru as the strongest summoning creature.
Never expected that he had stumbled upon the vicinity of their clan's settlement by accident.
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