The clearing was quiet, save for the faint rustling of the leaves above. Enma exhaled slowly, eyes drifting toward the sky as if remembering something long buried in time.

  “Before Konoha existed, before the First Hokage ever envisioned a vilge for all cns, I met a man named Hashirama Senju.”

  Hiro and Kaya both straightened instinctively. Hashirama Senju—the God of Shinobi, the founder of the vilge—his name carried more weight than almost any other in history.

  “We met by chance,” Enma continued, a small smile pying on his lips. “At the time, I had no ties to humans. My kind lived as we always had, deep in the western forests, untouched by shinobi conflict.”

  Hashirama, through his charisma and natural gift of connection, had formed a friendship with Enma. Over time, Enma grew less surprised at the man’s unpredictable visits. But one day, Hashirama arrived with someone else—a young boy with sharp eyes and an eager spirit.

  Hiruzen Sarutobi.

  “Hashirama asked me to test him,” Enma said, his golden eyes flickering as if reliving the moment. “To see if the boy was worthy of forging a contract with me.”

  Enma had been hesitant at first. Why would he, a creature with no ties to humanity, bind himself to a mortal? But in the end, he saw something in young Hiruzen—a fire, a will, and a heart capable of great strength and compassion.

  “And so, I accepted. I allowed him to form a summoning contract with me.”

  That contract—a new one, one made in Enma’s own name—was the beginning of the Monkey Cn’s official ties to Konoha.

  In the years that followed, Enma pyed a quiet but crucial role in Konoha’s growth. He helped the Sannin contract and grow with their summons, though he never interacted with the Snakes. “They’re a nasty bunch,” he added with a small chuckle. “Not exactly the type that enjoys guidance.”

  By the time Hiruzen became Hokage, Enma had cemented his role within the vilge. He became Konoha’s overseer of summoning contracts, ensuring that summoners upheld their pacts and that Konoha remained in good standing with the major summoning cns.

  As he finished recounting this, Enma pulled a scroll from his robes and slowly unfurled it onto the grass before them.

  The paper was aged yet pristine, inscribed with ancient kanji and intricate markings, but Hiro’s eyes were drawn to one thing above all else—

  A blood contract signed with the name Hiruzen Sarutobi.

  Kaya and Hiro both leaned forward instinctively, the weight of the moment settling over them.

  Enma let them absorb the sight before shifting his gaze to Hiro. “If I am not mistaken, young man, you have never seen one of these contracts before… nor have you ever made a blood contract yourself, correct?”

  Hiro blinked, a flicker of confusion crossing his face.

  Enma’s next words sent a ripple through the clearing.

  “And while I have met someone contracted with the Spider Cn before, the little dy in your hands does not match that family at all. Not to mention, I have never heard of a Flying Squirrel Cn.”

  A small smirk tugged at Enma’s lips as he observed Hiro’s growing confusion.

  Kaya’s brow furrowed.

  “What… does that mean?” she asked carefully.

  Enma studied her for a moment before reclining back onto the grass. “Kaya, almost no one knows this, but as Hiro’s guardian, I am obligated to tell you.”

  A pause.

  Then, his words shifted everything Hiro thought he knew about summoning.

  “Summoning Cns were not born from nothing. That is to say—you do not simply find a wild beast capable of progenating an entire cn of chakra-infused summons.”

  Kaya’s eyes widened slightly, but she remained silent, processing his words.

  Enma’s voice remained steady. “You already understand the basics, Kaya. A summoning contract allows a shinobi to form a bond with a summon, but that contract alone does not allow a summon to grow in power. A summon’s strength is tied to the head of its cn.”

  He exhaled slowly before continuing. “My children will grow stronger with training, and some may even approach my status—but I, as the head of the Monkey Cn, did not grow this powerful on my own.”

  Hiro felt his pulse quicken. What was he saying?

  Enma’s golden eyes locked onto Hiro’s, and his next words sent a chill down his spine.

  “I was once an ordinary monkey.”

  The clearing fell deathly silent.

  “Long ago, I was no different than the wild monkeys found in the forests far to the west.”

  Then he smiled, a deep and knowing expression, as if revealing a secret only few had ever been told.

  “Many decades ago, I began my journey when I became the summon of one from this young man’s ancestral cn—The Shinka.”