"You want to know about the shards of the Shikon Jewel?" Kagetsu stared at Natsume, who had suddenly lit up with realization, and said dryly, "I'm carrying a shard myself. Why didn't you just ask me?"
"Oh! Right!" Natsume smacked her forehead, her eyes sparkling as she leaned toward him. "Then give it to me!"
"No." Kagetsu refused without the slightest hesitation.
"Why not? We already signed a summoning contract!" Natsume's brows knit together, and she glared at him, crimson eyes flashing. "If you don't hand it over, then next time you try to summon me, I'll refuse! I just found out I can reject the summoning if I want to!"
"Easy, easy." Kagetsu raised both hands in surrender, instinctively reaching out to pat her head.
The warning glare in her red eyes stopped him mid-motion. He awkwardly withdrew his hand and coughed.
"The Shikon Jewel is dangerous,far more dangerous than you think. I can't just give a shard to you." His tone grew serious. "When you've mastered the Reverse Summoning Technique and are ready to return to your world, I'll explain everything. You can pass my words to your clan's leader and let her decide whether to continue searching for the shards."
Natsume frowned, her tail twitching as she pondered his proposal for a long while.
"Fine," she muttered at last. "I'll decide after I hear your reason."
Seeing her relent, Kagetsu pushed open the door to a prepared room and gestured for her to enter.
The layout mirrored his own bedroom: polished wooden floors, a clean bed, a low table with cushions neatly arranged. Everything had been prepared in advance. In one corner lay a large bearskin cushion,clearly meant for her.
"Alright," Kagetsu said, sitting cross-legged on the floor. "Let's begin with the Reverse Summoning Technique."
"Reverse Summoning Technique?" Natsume plopped down opposite him, hands on her knees in an exaggerated show of attentiveness. Only the faint swish of her tail betrayed her impatience.
"It's essentially the same as the regular Summoning Technique," he explained. "Normally, the contractor summons the contracted being. Reverse Summoning is the opposite,the summoned party calls the contractor. The name's just to tell them apart."
He paused, then continued. "Follow my instructions."
Truthfully, he wasn't completely confident. Ninjutsu relied on chakra. Natsume possessed only demonic power. Could demonic power substitute for chakra in activating the technique?
Still, he had a theory. Demonic power originated from natural energy. Sage chakra, too, was inseparable from natural energy. The toads of Mount Myōboku could perform summoning through senjutsu,so in theory, demonic power should also work.
In practice, however, they hit a wall almost immediately.
Hand seals guided the flow of chakra,but they had no visible effect on demonic power.
Left with no other option, Kagetsu circulated his own chakra, memorized the precise pathways it traveled when forming the Summoning Technique seals, and then carefully guided Natsume step by step, helping her direct her demonic power along the same routes.
Fortunately, the Summoning Technique required only five seals,Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram,and the chakra pathways weren't overly complex.
Even so, it took an entire afternoon for Natsume to barely memorize the flow.
The next phase demanded relentless practice,forcing the demonic power to move smoothly and coherently through those channels until the technique activated successfully.
Though uncertainty lingered in his heart, when he saw Natsume's hopeful gaze, Kagetsu thumped his chest confidently.
"Don't worry. You'll master it. Once you do, you can summon me anytime you want."
While Natsume practiced tirelessly in her room, Kagetsu removed the summoning scroll from his back and stored it carefully within the Kamui dimension.
What he knew about summoning contracts came from his time studying senjutsu at Mount Myōboku, particularly from Fukasaku Sage. The scroll he had signed with Natsume could currently summon only her.
If he wanted it to function like the Mount Myōboku scrolls,able to call forth an entire clan,there were two options.
First: bring the scroll to other members of the Leopard Cat Clan and have them sign it individually.
Second: wait for Natsume to bear descendants. As long as future leopard cats were her bloodline, they could be summoned under the existing contract without signing anew.
For now, though, Kagetsu was more than satisfied with Natsume alone. He had no intention of seeking out the rest of her clan.
Of course, if another cat yōkai came asking to sign a contract, he wouldn't refuse.
What neither of them expected was that such a seemingly simple technique would take Natsume over a month to complete.
After that, Kagetsu completely gave up on teaching her other ninjutsu. The compatibility between chakra and demonic power had limits. That she could even learn the Summoning Technique was already a pleasant surprise.
Natsume, however, didn't mind the time at all. To a yōkai with a long lifespan, a single month was the blink of an eye.
Once she successfully mastered the Reverse Summoning Technique, she treated it like a brand-new toy. The moment her demonic power recovered, she would immediately summon Kagetsu,draining herself completely every single time.
At that moment, Kagetsu was seated cross-legged in his room, sensing the surrounding natural energy and preparing to develop Sage Mode.
Suddenly, the familiar pull of a summoning enveloped him.
A helpless smile curved at his lips.
His body dissolved into smoke.
When the smoke cleared, he stood inside Natsume's room. Just as expected, she lay sprawled on the floor, utterly exhausted, unable to lift even a paw.
"Doesn't it feel awful, draining all your demonic power every time?" Kagetsu crouched beside the pitiful "foolish cat," unsure whether to laugh or sigh.
The chakra cost of the Summoning Technique wasn't determined by distance,it depended entirely on the strength of the summoned being. The stronger the target, the greater the energy required.
And Kagetsu's strength far exceeded Natsume's.
For her to summon him, she had to exhaust nearly all her demonic power.
"You're the abnormal one…" Natsume wriggled weakly across the floor, bumping her head against his leg. Her voice came out faint and breathy. "I have to burn everything just to pull you here… I'm starving. I want food."
After spending this time together, Natsume had completely dropped her guard. Her childish curiosity, boundless energy, and bottomless appetite were on full display.
Fortunately, Kagetsu had experience raising ninja cats. Handling her temperament was hardly a challenge.
"I already prepared it," he said knowingly. "Let's go eat."
He reached down, gripping the back of her collar, and lifted her effortlessly.
Dangling in midair, Natsume didn't struggle. Instead, she narrowed her eyes in contentment and lazily hooked her tail around his wrist. She had long since grown accustomed to being carried like this.