Shojin Want Summon And Summon Kidnap Him While He Shoot Things Because Slugs Suss (Private)

Shojin had decided to spend today in the Forest of Death, training. It was a terrifying name for a place that truly was not all that bad. The wildlife was a little extreme, but did the place really deserve a name like the Forest of Death? He leapt over a barbed wire fence. He knew he was not supposed to be in The Forest, for its apparent danger, but you really couldn't just put a fence around the place and truly expect that to keep all the ninja out. How would it? It made zero sense.

He strolled down a worn path, his head snapping from sight to sight, and he was curious about a few things. First off, how was there such a developed path when the place was off-limits? That made it obvious that people were here, and here often. If Shojin were smart, he'd realize that that probably meant that he shouldn't be on a main path, for fear of getting into trouble. Instead, he found it quite convenient that he would not have to fight his way through the shrubbery, and all of the various species of bush, trees, vines, weeds, and flowers. He wondered just how much of this stuff was poisonous.

After a bit of wandering, he found a clearing that he liked, and decided that it could be a decent spot to train for now. The clearing was around forty meters in diameter, and he wagered that he would not find anything quite so large and open for quite a bit more walking. He also wagered that it was easy to get lost in the forest, and despite his typical capabilities of being a rather good navigator, he decided that today, he would not take the chance , because tomorrow was a long day.

Shojin sat down his pack that he had been carrying off to the side of the clearing. It held a blanket, some water, and some food, as well as some of the stuff he wanted to practice with today, like Kunai and Shuriken, and some targets he could nail to trees. So, first off, he did exactly that; he wandered around, placing targets on trees, mostly at random. After about thirty minutes having done that, he ran out of targets, and, hammer and nails in hand, he headed back over to his pack where had left it in order to place those supplies back inside.

Finally, he was ready to get to work. He withdrew Hebunriamori, and for a moment, was simply excited to be using it again. He smiled, feeling rewarded for his craftsmanship. It was definitely unique; that much, at least, he knew, and wouldn't let anyone take that from him. With a small pulse of chakra, he withdrew the items he needed from the Heavenly Armory. Chakra Blade and Catalytic Pommel in one hand, Repeating Crossbow, Pathfinding Bowstring, and his custom crossbow bolts in his right.

At first, Shojin began to warm up by aiming carefully at a target about twenty meters ahead of him. He sank a few arrows effortlessly into it, and then he walked back another twenty meters. He did the same thing there. He found it a bit more challenging at first, but once he was warm, he was sinking bolts in targets over and over. Once Shojin felt good, he tried it running side to side while hitting the target. First the twenty, and then the forty again. He then practiced dropping from a branch and shooting, and this one took a few tries before he warmed up enough to start hitting consistently.

TWC: 601

It was during this exercise that Shojin heard a rather odd noise. It sounding almost like a ringing in his ears, but not quite so intense. Whatever it was, it seemed rather far. Interestedly, he stopped shooting, and started moving in that direction. He walked at first, maintaining some semblance of stealth. However, over the course of a few minutes, the ringing sort of seemed to pique Shojin's desire to help. Somehow, despite there being no words, he got the feeling that something, somewhere, needed help. After a bit of time, he had moved from a curious stroll to a full on run. Something bad was about to happen.

Shortly, Shojin was hurtling through the trees in the Forest of Death. He leapt tree to tree, branch to branch, making use of the Tree Walking Practice. He would use the technique to land surely on a branch, and then use the fact that if you used too much chakra, you'd go hurtling off of the surface that you had previously been sticking to. Using this method, Shojin continued picking up speed until he was at a blistering pace that he could never achieve naturally. He'd be fearful of crashing if he did not feel so panicked to help.

And then... silence. Shojin halted. He halted so fast, in fact, that the first branch he landed on simply shattered and barely slowed him down. So did the next few, before finally he landed on a limb that stopped him fully. It jarred his knees and his ankles, and they nearly buckled with the force of his impact, despite having already slowed down significantly via crashing through branches. Once he finally did land, however, and the branches finished moving, there was silence. Total, and utter silence.

His head darted to the left and right, up and down, in an attempt to locate what Shojin could only describe as a cry for help. He didn't know why the high pitched sound meant that to him, but it did, and he wanted to help whoever needed his help. The only thing he did see, in fact, was a giant slug. In fact, it was a really big slug. It was at least as long as his arm, and it stuck to the side of a tree, motionless. Out of curiosity, he walked up to the thing, entirely unsure of what he was actually going to do.

It was in that moment that the slug spoke to him. It spoke. "Aahh... you heard me... help me, human, for I am injured." The thing spoke with a graceful, but quite high-pitched voice.

Entirely taken aback, Shojin leapt away from the creature. "Wait wait wait! You can talk! You're a Slug and you can talk! You're talking!" The creature emitted the same sort of sound that it had before, but this time, it induced a sense of calm in Shojin.

Then, the slug spoke again. "Only select humans can hear that frequency... it means we're compatible... I just... need... for you to touch me."

For some reason, Shojin was willing to believe, at least a bit, that the creepy crawly was trustworthy. Or rather, at least that it had no malicious intent toward him. He crept forward, slowly for a moment, and he hesitantly placed his hand on the Slug. A smaller slug - a normal sized one - popped off its back and landed on Shojin's hand. In that moment, it seemed to burrow into his hand, and all of his chakra completely dissipated from his body. Then, he was unconscious.

TWC: 1196

Shojin would reawaken, and the first thing he noticed was the smell.  His eyes were nearly cemented shut from having been asleep, but the smell was terrible.  He gagged as he bolted upright, remembering what happened.  Finally, he was able to rip his eyes open and look around.  He saw trees.  But these trees were entirely different from vegetation he had ever seen.  They were absolutely gargantuan, with trunks that were ten to fifteen meters thick on average.  Leaves were as large as he was.  Just the rivets in the bark of the giant oak trees seemed large enough to live in.

He began to stand, and realized the ground seemed squishy.  Looking down, he saw some sort of... well, something.  He leapt to his feet, fighting to keep his balance.  It was useless, however, as his shoes sunk slightly, as if this squishy, white... something... were mud, and he fell over.  Now laying face-down, he realized that this substance was what smelled so bad... and it was slimy.  He tried again to leap to his feet, this time with more luck.  Instantly, the ground beneath him disappeared, and he fell.  Far.  

He screamed at the top of his lungs as he realized he was hundreds of feet high, suddenly.  He looked around for something - anything - to catch to slow his fall, but there was nothing.  In fact, there were a bunch of... things... falling.  They were slugs!!  They were identical to the one that he'd found in the Forest of Death... where was he?  What happened?  He started to ask himself all sorts of questions before he remembered he was actively fighting for his life, and possibly about to die if he did not do something about it.  He looked down again, weighing his options.  Two hundred feet to go.  

By now, the initial panic had worn off, and he was able to think clearly.  What could he do?  He reached in one of the larger pouches on his belt and withdrew some Ninja wire, then tied it, quickly, to the end of a Kunai.  Immediately, he'd throw the Kunai out to one of the trees, attempted to get it to wrap up in some of the branches, so he could swing over and activate Tree Climbing Practice.  It was no use though; the wire snapped, and hadn't altered his direction at all.  Fifty feet left before Shojin was dead.

But then... he wasn't.  He landed, and outside of having absolutely no idea what he was buried in, he was fine.  Whatever it was... it was almost wet.  It was like he was swimming in jell-o.  He could move, but not very well. And he couldn't see.  He didn't know if it was dark or his eyes were just glued shut.  Instantly, however, there was a warm sensation throughout his body, as though he'd just drank a large cup of coffee on a cold day. The strength that'd disappeared when he had his chakra stolen had returned, and the grogginess disappeared.  His chakra was restored!

Then, he whooshed.  It was like he was taken away by the current of a body of water, and was forced in a direction that he had no control over.  Then, he fell free, and thudded into something hard.  Finally, he was able to open his eyes.  He was, finally, on what was actually the ground.  And... he was covered in Slug slime.  "Shojin..." a high-pitched voice... in fact, the same high-pitched voice...  called out to him.  "I am sorry I did not have time to explain.  You helped me when I was injured, and I am in your debt.  See, I was unable to regain use of my chakra, and I was stuck in the forest near your village, incapable of going home.  So I used yours to come here.  I'm sorry for the fall... I had to get smaller, so that I could talk to you better."  In this moment, Shojin realized all the millions of slugs that had been falling around him were now in a circle around him.  And they were identical.  And they were all saying these words to him at once.  "To thank you, Shojin, I would like to give you the ability to summon me and my brethren.  When you awake, you'll find a scroll.  Sign it in blood and apply your hand print."

And just like that, Shojin awoke yet again.  This time, he was in his bed at home.  The Slugs hadn't allowed him to get a single word in.  There lay a rolled up scroll on the ground in front of him.  He rolled the scroll open, and there was a list of names, and hand prints below them.  Some of them were famous figures throughout history, but they were all dead.  More for curiosity than anything, Shojin followed the instructions he was given and signed the scroll as he was supposed to.

TWC: 2019

Slug Summon Claimed