“Xorrion, let me tell you what’s been going on.” 

“Yes my master, I had been wondering about that” He said

“We are currently on an unknown world. I have no way to know if this is still the same universe as the one we’ve known. Judging from how hard it was to summon you however, I'm going to say we are in a different universe. There is also no mana here, there is however an energy called chakra” i started.

“We will have to do some experiments to see if my other demons can use their mana when I eventually summon them. As for me, I have no mana in…” I trailed off as I looked inside myself. I still had no mana, but my Chakra reserves had spiked, I had about a third as much chakra as I did before. That was why it was taking so long to recover. 

“...my body at all. I’ve had to re-learn how to fight without it.” I said to him.

“I apologize, my master, for not being here to help” he said sadly.

“Pssh, it’s not your fault. It’s not even Arax’s fault. It’s something that happened, and with you here we’re one step closer dealing with it” I said, trying to cheer him up. 

He’s always been the staunch protector among my demons. The Bulwark to shield me from the world. Arax was similar but he was more of a tank. Capable of defense and offense, but not as good at defense as Xorrion and better at offense.

“Tell me about this new ability you seemed to have gained in our time apart” I told him. 

“After spending so long alone and in the shadows, I seemed to have gained a greater understanding of how to manipulate them. As such I can merge with existing shadows, however it seems the only living shadow I can merge with is yours. Maybe with better usage that would change” he explained.

“Wait, what do you mean “so long”. How long have we been apart for you? And alone? Why didn’t you take another contract?” I asked him all at once.

“It has been about two hundred years since you and Arax’arad fell through the portal. I have been alone because I had no desire to serve another. I knew you were still alive through the faint connection we have” he said.

That hit me hard. He’d had no one for two hundred years, while I'd had a family, and some friends albeit they were children. I resolved to summon the rest of my demons as soon as possible.

“I very much appreciate your loyalty Xorrion. It means a lot to me. Right now though I have lost most of my power compared to my previous form. I need to get as much of it back as possible, and you are the first step. I’ll need to rely on your protection more than usual.” I told him.

“Have no worries my lady. You shall not come to harm so long as I am here.” he said. His eyes once again flashing brightly. I think he missed me. That’s okay, I missed him too.

“Thank you. The first thing we have to do is test your abilities in this world. See how the lack of mana will affect things. So tomorrow before I meet my new Sensei, we’ll go to one of the training grounds and do some testing.” I explained. 

He nodded and disappeared back into my shadow. That was going to take some getting used to. I could already imagine the possibilities.

The next day found us in training ground number three. The same one Kakashi was supposed to have done his test in. It was nice to know those three passed, even if I didn't like Sakura much. I wondered what they were doing? Probably getting into trouble. I decided to first figure out what Xorrion could do in this new world just on his own.

“Alright Xorrion, come out and attack one of those posts.” I commanded.

He did as asked, and surprisingly the result was more than I expected. Xorrion didn’t use mana, he used his own energy, or stamina, to do things. So I supposed I shouldn't be too surprised his abilities weren’t that affected. His attack made a huge gouge in the wood, his second attack hit all three wooden posts, again making huge gouges. If this was how powerful he was now, I shuddered to think how powerful he’d be after a while. After all, he was two hundred years rusty.

We didn’t have anyone else to try his other abilities on, and frankly we probably wouldn’t until there was an actual enemy to fight. His other abilities were meant to kill, not to spar. Next I had him enter my shadow again to see what he could do. I was surprised once again, because of his new command over shadows, he could control my shadow in such a way that mimicked the way Nara did it. It would appear that I had just freed up a lot of my time. Instead of spending the energy to move my shadow around Xorrion could do it for me. After some more testing, we found out that he could also attack from my shadow, but my shadow first had to be close to the enemy.

It was during my training that an Anbu found me. Thankfully Xorrion was inside my shadow so it looked like I was just practicing the Shadow Possession Jutsu.

“Lord Hokage would like to see you” The Anbu said.

“Thank you, tell him I'll make my way over now” I told him.

I decided to train some more on my way there. I had Xorrion stay in my shadow, and control it while I was sprinting full on. While he was in my shadow, he could read my intentions much better. We couldn’t speak words, but he could tell that I wanted him to knock over that can sitting on someone's counter for example.

Arriving at the Hokage’s office, I had Xorrion let my shadow behave normally. Knocking on the door, I was allowed in.

“Hello Lord Hokage, you asked for me?” I said, while kneeling. I could sense Xorrion’s confusion and I made a mental note to explain later.

“Yes, it concerns the matter of your Sensei. Currently there are no Jounin available to teach. They all have their own missions.” he said, to my utter disappointment.

“I have been assured of your excellent skill by your father, and Iruka Sensei, so while you will have to wait, you can still do some D rank Missions around the village. Would you like to take one now?” he said, kind of making me feel better.

“Yes, Lord Hokage” I said with my head lowered.

“Good, take this scroll and give it to the mission hall. They will assign you a mission they think you can handle.” he told me while handing me the scroll.

“Thank you” I said as I left.

Heading to the Mission hall, I was surprised to see Iruka Sensei sitting at the desk.

“Iruka Sensei?

“Kari?” we both said at the same time.

“What are you doing here Iruka Sensei? Don’t you teach class?” I asked.

“It’s still summer vacation, so I have no one to teach. What about you? What are you doing here?” Iruka said.

“I’m here to get my first D rank mission. Hey if you have no one to teach, could you give me some pointers on a direction to go for my training?” I said.

“D rank mission? Alone? Weren’t you with Kakashi’s team? Don’t tell me he failed the others?.” he asked worriedly.

“No, some things happened and I missed his test. He ended up failing me, but my dad talked to the Hokage to make an exception. So right now I'm waiting for a Jounin instructor. Until then the Hokage said I could do some D rank Missions around the Village.” I explained, to Iruka's relief. 

“That’s good. But without a Sensei I can't tell you much. The best thing I can say is tree climbing and water walking.” he said

“Water walking I understand, but why tree climbing? That’s easy.” I questioned, confused.

“Without using your hands?” he asked with a smirk.

“No way Iruka Sensei…” I said incredulously. Even back on azeroth, there was no way to climb a tree without your hands. Not that anyone would have a reason to do so.

To prove me wrong, he got up from his desk and proceeded to do just that. Walk on the side of the wall casually without using his hands.

“Damn, that’s cool. How do you manage that?” I asked.

“The tree climbing won’t be too hard for you, but I suspect the water walking will take some time. The answer is simple, but the application is hard. You coat your feet in chakra, and climb the object. The trick is you need to find the right amount of chakra to do so. The same goes for water walking except that you need to constantly change the amount of chakra” he told me.

“That should be enough to keep you busy until you have a Sensei to properly instruct you.” 

“Thank you Iruka Sensei. Now, about my mission?” I prompted.

Getting down from his spot on the wall, he went back to his desk and rifled through some papers.

“I think catching the lost cat Tora will be enough. Naruto’s team just caught it recently but it has already escaped again.” he explained.

“That sounds boring as hell, but hey, a mission is a mission and at least I get paid for it.” I said, ever the adventurer.

“Here, and please try not to hurt the cat. Naruto’s team did a number on it.” Iruka said with a shake of his head.

“No worries Iruka, thanks for the tip” I said, leaving his office.

‘A lot less resistance than I'd expected. Most Genin balk at the idea of menial labor. That it was beneath them to do that now that they were ninja’ Iruka thought to himself as Kari left.

Hmmm… what to do? Do I do the mission first? Or do I train first? I guess I could do both if I really wanted to. First I needed to figure out how to tree climb. Finding a random tree slightly on the beaten path, I started. It didn’t make sense that I'd have to use only my feet, so I tried with my hands only. My chakra pool had gotten bigger over the years, so I had to come up with some creative imaging on how much chakra to take.

I started with a glass full of chakra. Pulling it from my reserves, I moved it to my hands and pushed on the tree. Nothing happened. More chakra? I tried a bucket full and the tree splintered. Less chakra then. Two glasses full seemed to be the right amount. My hand didn’t crush the tree, but it still stuck without me being able to get it off. Next was to actually try to climb it now that I had an idea of how much I needed. Pooling the chakra in my feet, I tried to climb. I got about 3 steps before I couldn’t hold myself and fell on my ass. Thankfully Xorrion caught me before I hit the ground. 

It went on like this for two days, me constantly running up a tree, only to lose grip and fall. I’d like to say my Chakra Control was good, but after these last two days I was starting to doubt myself. After having some spare time I had traveled around the village, trying to gauge peoples chakra, and I came to the conclusion that both Naruto and I had the largest chakra reserves in the village. And I had more chakra than Naruto, not by much, maybe ten or fifteen percent more? That extra third of chakra I'd gained from summoning my demon had given me that extra amount. In the end though, I was finally able to climb the tree and stay there for a while. Now that I could climb things, I decided to up the ante for myself. I would do this cat capturing mission without touching the ground, only sticking to surfaces with chakra. 

The mission itself had taken two more days or so of searching. After all, there were thousands of cats in this village, and I had to sort them out. I’d been given a picture of the cat in the scroll, so it was marginally easier. I was never more thankful for Xorrion than I was now. In the last four days, every time I’d fallen due to my lack of concentration, he had caught me. I hadn’t gotten a single bruise from all my training. 

After finally finding the stupid cat, it was rather easy to catch him. I just hid in a bush downwind from him and had Xorrion control my shadow to snare the cat. Once his shadow was caught, it was easy to walk over and get him. Turns out the cat was a feisty little shit, and was continuously trying to claw, and bite me. Once again Xorrion saved me from the scratches. Every time the little shit would scratch me, he would put himself between me and the animal. Thankfully, he knew that this cat was the mission critical item we needed so he didn’t hurt the cat at all. 

Returning to the mission hall with the cat in tow, I was met with Iruka Sensei again. I wondered if he was always here, or if I'd been lucky enough to catch him when it was his shift at the hall.

“Well well, 4 days huh? It took Naruto's squad a week to find him” Iruka praised.

“Actually Iruka Sensei, two of those days were spent learning to tree climb. I then did the rest of my mission by climbing on the buildings” I corrected.

“Wow, that's impressive for someone so young. By now Naruto’s group should be on their way to the land of waves. If I know Kakashi, he probably has them doing the tree climbing thing too. That also explains the strange reports we got of a young girl climbing on everything across the village.” Iruka said with a smile.

“Hey, I needed to get the cat, and my personal challenge was to not touch the ground. I failed a few times, but in the end I mostly passed my own challenge” I told him.

“But really? Spider moneying across the power lines? Couldn’t you have found a less dangerous way across the street?” Iruka asked, still somewhat amused.

“Hey, I thought I'd seen Tora, and I couldn't let him get away. Turns out it was the wrong cat though” I said with a blush. 

“Well in any case, job well done. Here’s your payment of 2000 Ryo. If you want to get ahead of Naruto, you should try to get the hang of water walking next.” he said.

“Thank you, I will. Do you have another mission for me by chance?” I asked Sensei.

“Another one already? Don’t you want to take a break?” he questioned.

“Nah, I like to keep busy when I can.” I told him.

“Alright, here you go. This one is a construction crew looking for an extra pair of hands.” Iruka explained as he handed me the scroll.

“Thanks, see ya later Iruka Sensei” I said, leaving his office for the second time in a week.

This time I decided to do the Mission first before training. I still had some ways to go on my control, and I wanted tree climbing to feel like second nature. Doing it without even really thinking about it. Arriving at the construction site, I saw they were in the initial building stage, laying the foundation and building the walls. Finding the foreman I asked him how I could help after telling him I was the ninja assigned to this job.

I stayed at that construction site for about a week before they no longer needed me. Throughout my time there I'd hammered nails, laid bricks, built walls, mixed concrete, all the things you might expect of a construction crew. The whole time I did my best not to touch the ground. There were a few times where it was unavoidable, like mixing the concrete for example. The construction crew had quite the laugh at my expense. The laughter ended though and turned to appreciation when I had saved one of them from falling off the roof. 

The man hadn’t been strapped in and had lost his footing. I’d heard his yell of panic and rushed over, still stuck to the wall. He was dangling from the rafters with a good twenty meters (Sixty five feet)below him. The only thing I could think of was to use my shadow to catch him from so far away. Xorrion read my intention and moved before I could ask him. He snaked around the various obstacles between us and gently grabbed the man, bands of shadows holding him there so he wouldn’t fall. It gave me time to rush up and hoist him back onto the rafters. 

“Thank you young lady, for saving my life” he wheezed, still trying to calm himself after nearly dying.

“No worries, it’s what ninjas are for. Protecting the village and the people in it” I told him. I honestly didn’t really care about the village, the only reason I was here at this point was because my family was. They didn’t need to know that though.

This time upon returning to the Mission Hall, I didn't run into Iruka Sensei. It was a Shinobi I'd never met before. 

“I’m here to turn in my latest mission.” I told the Ninja.

“Very well. Name?” he asked.

“Kari Nara”

“Here is your payment. 6000 Ryo for the work, and an extra 2000 Ryo for saving the worker. Job well done” he said with some surprise, but had a smile on his face.

I decided not to take another mission right away, I wanted to master water walking, and to catch up with Shikamaru if he was back in town. 

Finding my way home, I heard yelling from within. Throwing open the door, I cast my shadow ahead of me to prepare for an attack. Getting to where the yelling was coming from, I was surprised to hear Ino hanging upside down and shrieking. 

“Put me down whoever you are, you pervert!” she yelled.

“Relax Ino, it’s just Kari” Shikamaru said. 

“Kari? What are you doing with Ino in the air?” Choji said, coming into the room with a plate of food. 

“Uhmmmm, I heard screaming and yelling, and I guess I assumed the worst.” I said sheepishly. 

“That’s some impressive control over your shadow” I heard another voice.

“Asuma, Kari has always been the best at shadow possession, right behind our dad” Shikamaru told him.

“Interesting, it doesn’t look to be causing you any strain at all, good job. Shikamaru can only do it for about 5 minutes” Asuma said.

“Why was Ino yelling in the first place?” I asked. 

“Ino was upset at how our last mission turned out” Choji said.

“This is all well and good, but can you please not pretend that I'm not here and put me down?” Ino asked.

“Oh sorry” I said, asking Xorrion to put her down. He did so gently.

“So what happened with the mission?” I continued.

“Bad luck is what happened” Ino said defensively.

“Ino lost control of her mind transfer Jutsu, and the mission target almost got away” Shikamaru said. 

“Shikamaru was there to snag him with his shadow though.” Choji said

“That’s my little brother, always coming to the rescue” I teased, putting him in a headlock and rubbing his head aggressively with my knuckles.

“Hey hey quit it Kari, and besides I'm pretty sure I’m the older one.” he said.

“No I’m pretty sure I’m the big sister here” I said with confidence

“Wow, that’s amazing” Ino said with awe.

“What is?” Shikamaru and I said at the same time.

“Shikamaru is so relaxed around you. Not at all like he is with us.” Ino told us.

“It’s just you Ino, you put him on edge most of the time” Choji said.

“Why? What did I do?” she asked, confused.

“You make things complicated. You’re unpredictable and I can't figure out what you’ll do next” Shikamaru said, finally escaping me.

“Don’t I do the same thing?” I asked

“Yes, but you can get yourself out of any trouble you cause, Ino can’t” Shika said with a sigh.

“Hey, I don't cause trouble!” Ino defended.

The four of them just looked at her blankly.

“Much” she said softly.

The lull in the conversation seemed to draw the attention of a shinobi waiting outside. He knocked and upon letting him in, he gave me a letter.

“The Hokage wishes to see you.” the messenger said.

“Why does the Hokage want to see you?” Asuma asked.

“Shit happened and I needed my own Sensei. The Hokage said he was still looking for one, so this must be about that.” I told him, also waving goodbye to everyone.

Shit, I never got to practice my water walking. Maybe I'll get the chance some time on this mission. 

“Come in” the Hokage said as I knocked on his office door some time later. It felt like I'd been in the Hokage’s office a lot lately.

“You wanted to see me?” I asked.

“Yes, I'm still looking for a Sensei for you, but this is not about that. Naruto’s team needs some help in the land of waves. Their mission turned out to be more challenging than they had thought, and need backup.” the Hokage told me. 

“How did that happen? Aren’t the mission designations correct?” I questioned.

“Sometimes the client lies about the dangers of the missions, as in this case. The client failed to mention that there would be enemy Shinobi attacking them.” he said.

Damn.

“When do I leave?” I asked.

“You assume I'll ask you to be their backup?” he asked me back.

“Why else would you have called me to the office?” I stated.

“Haha, fair point young lady.” he chuckled.

“Since I know you have no idea how to get to the land of waves, you’ll follow the Ninja Hound that Kakashi sent his message with.” he explained.

“Understood” I said.

“But before you go, I want to see that unique summon you’ve found for yourself.” he said.

“May I ask why?” I replied cautiously.

“You may always ask, child. Two reasons. I want to know you can defend yourself on this mission. I’m aware it’s unusual to do something like this, so I would be at ease. Second; a new type of summoned creature is rare. I was called the professor back in my day, known for mastering all sorts of jutsu. I would like to learn of this creature you have summoned.” the Hokage explained.

Well I supposed it made sense. I was reluctant, but the Hokage made some good arguments. Also I knew I couldn't hide Xorrion forever, and it would be good for the leader of the village to see first.

“Alright, Xorrion, come on out and greet the Lord Hokage” I sighed. I added a mental desire to have him appear strong. After all, part of what the hokage wanted was for me to be able to defend myself.

My shadow began to roil, and flicker in and out of existence. Violet tinged white eyes appeared in my shadow, before more cloudy black and dark blue smoke rose up from the ground. The room seemed to get darker as well. While I was unaware of it, the Anbu in the room shivered. The shadows continued rising until they were 2.7 meters(9 feet) tall. They coalesced into a muscular humanoid form that continuously shifted with various metal plates donning his body. The shadows below him swirled and shifted in place, billowing out and covering what would be his legs. He didn’t act hostile, but instead curled around me protectively as the Anbu in the room couldn’t help themselves anymore and jumped in front of the Hokage to defend him.

I sent an image of Xorrion remaining quiet, I didn’t want them to know yet how intelligent he was. Best not to reveal all my cards. 

“That is very impressive Kari. A summon made of shadows. Quite fitting for the Nara clan.” the Hokage said, impressed. 

“He’s not going to attack, unless I am attacked, so no need to be so defensive, Anbu-san” I told them with a toothy smile. Needless to say that didn’t reassure them, and they stayed right where they were.

“So he is mainly a defensive summon?” the Hokage inquired.

“Yes, while he can quite effectively attack, he is best at defending me. While hiding in my shadow, he could for example stop a shuriken attack that I didn't see coming. Or stop a blow that I was too slow in dodging. He doesn’t have much initiative on his own, so he mainly reacts to hostile intent. Or so I understand it. Since I summoned him I’ve been trying to understand his limits.” I explained, partly lying. I threw in that last bit as just some extra bullshit. What with the whole not showing all of my cards thing.

“Very fascinating. Well I'm convinced you will be able to protect yourself on this journey. You may go.” the Hokage dismissed. Xorrion jumped back into my shadow, the room getting noticeably lighter than before, and we left. Kakashi’s dog Pakkun leading the way.

     -     -

“What do you think?” the Hokage asked one of the Anbu in the room.

“Her summon is very dangerous. I’m not even sure I could beat it.” the Anbu said.

“Can you still teach her?” he continued.

“Yes. I saw her training her chakra control with the tree climbing exercise. If that’s her current level, then I still have much to be able to teach her.” the Anbu continued.

“Observe her on this mission, and see how she does. Do not help her in any way. I want to see what she is capable of. If i were her i wouldn’t have shown me all my tricks. I don’t want to pry them out of her, so just observe for now.” Hiruzen said.

“Understood” the Anbu acknowledged.

“Good. Now go. Prepare yourself for a journey. Remember, don’t interfere unless absolutely necessary.” the Hokage dismissed.

‘A summon made of shadows huh? How exciting. I haven’t learned anything new in ages, ' the Hokage thought to himself while looking out his window.