[T/L Note at end]
Torifū's head swam, and he lost consciousness in the mist, collapsing to the ground. When he awoke again, the surrounding scenery was incredibly strange.
Torifū found himself in a vast galaxy, filled with twinkling stars, where countless celestial bodies were born and destroyed. He drifted along in this galaxy, narrowly avoiding being swallowed by a black hole he passed. These wonders dazzled Torifū; the splendor of the galaxy was impossible to appreciate while standing on the ground looking up. Only by being within this vastness could one truly experience it.
All of this made Torifū wonder if it was real, an illusion, or just a dream. To discern the truth, Torifū used the most direct method. He pinched his face, not too hard, of course. The fact that he felt pain indicated that this was not a dream. But everything around him seemed incredibly fantastical. One blink, and how did he end up in space?
"Damn it, was I kidnapped by that bitch system?!"
But after thinking it over, there was no reason for it. He had nothing of value now, so why kidnap him?
Just then, a huge meteorite hurtled toward Torifū, and in a panic, he reached out to block it. But the instant he touched the meteorite, the surrounding scenery changed again. When he opened his eyes again, the galaxy had transformed into a misty courtyard. The scene inside the courtyard was obscured by clouds, but outside the courtyard grew three green pines, and several cranes flew overhead, occasionally calling out.
"Come in, child."
A familiar voice echoed, its warmth and clarity dispelling all the distractions in Torifū's mind. He quickly straightened his clothes and stepped toward the courtyard.
Passing through the mist surrounding the courtyard, Torifū finally saw what it looked like inside. The layout was simple: a small house, a small pond with a few green lotuses. Beside the pond, on a stone table, a cup of tea was steaming. The owner of the voice sat at the stone table, beckoning Torifū to come and sit.
Torifū didn't dare hesitate and quickened his pace to the stone table. He bowed to the person: "Descendant Torifū greets the ancestor."
"Good child, sit down quickly and have some tea."
No wonder Torifū had entered the courtyard without hesitation upon hearing the person's voice. It was none other than the ancestor of the Kumotsuru clan, Kumotsuru Kajin! Just a few hours ago, Torifū had been flaunting the ancestor's name to scare Hashirama! Surely, the ancestor knew about this, or else why would he have summoned him here? He had told Hashirama that he was just a wandering soul, but perhaps he had angered the old man by posing as him!
"Haha, child, don't be nervous, have some tea."
This was the second time the ancestor had asked Torifū to drink tea. Torifū didn't hesitate, picked up the teacup, and took a small sip. The moment the tea entered his mouth, he felt full of energy, and his chakra seemed to be increasing?
Although he felt the effects of the tea, Torifū didn't gulp it down; he continued to sip slowly. If he was rude in front of the ancestor, there was no guarantee he would be able to return.
However, if he really couldn't go back, Torifū's dream would almost be realized. Living a peaceful life on a small hilltop in this unknown place.
Kumotsuru Kajin nodded secretly, seeing Torifū's demeanor. His descendants would be too incompetent if they couldn't resist this small temptation. Seeing that he had almost finished the tea, and the ancestor didn't seem inclined to speak, Torifū took the initiative to speak.
"Ancestor, what is the reason for summoning your descendant here?"
Kumotsuru Kajin smiled, looking at Torifū's somewhat apprehensive appearance. "You little rascal, weren't you quite imposing when you impersonated me earlier? You stunned your teacher."
Torifū's face turned red upon hearing this. He didn't expect the ancestor to be so direct. Shouldn't these things be said more subtly?
"Cough- cough- I had to do that because..."
Before Torifū could finish, Kumotsuru Kajin interrupted him. "I already know the reason." Then he said, "However, your fortune is truly extraordinary, to be able to capture a wisp of my divine sense left in this realm."
"This realm?" Torifū noticed the words in the ancestor's speech; perhaps it was true, as he had guessed, that the ancestor was from another world!
"That's right, I am not from this realm. I came to this world by accident, met a woman, and then stayed in this world for a hundred years." As Kumotsuru Kajin spoke, a trace of nostalgia appeared in his eyes. "After that woman died, I broke through the void and returned to my original world."
[T/N: That's a ROB for sure! Just making things up lol.]
Torifū tentatively asked, "Listening to the ancestor's words, you seem to have loved your wife very much. Why didn't you bring her back with you?"
Kumotsuru Kajin shook his head and sighed: "The people of this world are too weak, their bodies can't withstand the pressure of breaking through realms, and at that time, I didn't have the strength to take her away."
Torifū felt it was a pity, but being able to spend a lifetime with the one you love, the ancestor's wife probably had no regrets.
"I could only bring her soul back to my original world and reshape her body."
Well, that was a waste of my sympathy. Couldn't he have just said it all at once? Why did he have to pause like that?
But then Torifū realized, this ancestor of his had been talking about this and that, but he hadn't said why he had called him here!
"Ancestor, you haven't said what you summoned your descendant here for."
Kumotsuru Kajin smiled slightly. "This wisp of my divine sense was captured by your fortune a year ago, and it wasn't until just now that it was freed. However, its magical power has been exhausted, which is why I summoned you here."
Torifū didn't know what to say for a moment. So, the ancestor was imprisoned as soon as he arrived from the system. It wasn't until the experience card he exchanged for ended that he was released. But the ancestor didn't seem to be punishing him.
"This wisp of divine sense was originally created to prevent the destruction of the clan. Since it solved your crisis, it can be considered complete."
As Kumotsuru Kajin spoke, he took out two white eggs from his sleeve, the shells as crystal clear as white jade. They also released faint rays of light from time to time.
"These are crane eggs, which you can use as summoned beasts."
Torifū stared at the crane eggs in the ancestor's hand, his eyes shining with light! He had been talking about finding a summoned beast! The ancestor had given him two at once! And crane eggs! When they grow up, they will easily beat Enma and others!
Kumotsuru Kajin saw that this descendant was very satisfied with his gift, but he still reminded him. "These two crane eggs have high potential, but how high they ultimately grow depends on your own nurturing."
Torifū took the two crane eggs, nodding repeatedly: "Descendant understands, thank you, Ancestor!"
Kumotsuru Kajin nodded, looking at everything around him, his eyes seemed reluctant. Then his body began to turn into wisps of cloud and gradually dissipated.
"Without the positioning of this wisp of divine sense, I will never be able to find the location of this realm again. The future of the Kumotsuru clan is entrusted to you."
With that, he vanished into nothingness.
[T/N: Forgive me guys, I have no access to laptop, doing the translation on phone. So my translation efficiency is very poor recently. Usually I process the chapter through four AI tools - Chatgpt, Deepseek, Copilot, Gemini - and then I read these and compile our chapter. But now, I have to just use Gemini and them compile the chapter and fix names etc. Some Chinese translation jargons get left because of it, like that ancestor and stuff. It takes ages to compile the chapter on phone screen, so I just skip over these if they aren't big confusing words or idioms. Plus, reading the google mtl of raws has made me desensitized to these jargons, so I don't find issues with them. Hopefully you get used to them too lol. On phone the chapter takes ages to finish. Have to read the raws, copy the raws mtl to inkstone, fix the mistakes, then process it through AI, then proofread it and then format it and then release it. Btw, Gemini is way better than other tools in consistency for translation stuff. Other AI start making mistakes or reduce the content too much.
Gaaah too much rant. Lol. Anyways, just turn off the western culture police part of brain and enjoy the fanfic. Toodle-oo~]