The first one he removed was [Diligence Compensates For Lack Of Talent (Green)].
The effect of this talent was increased focus and guaranteed a slight improvement. But for the current Shinichi, it had become somewhat mediocre.
That slight level of improvement was almost negligible compared to the leap-like progress brought by talents such as [Genius] and [Clear Comprehension].
But it was not without value.
Shinichi knew very well that the true use of this guaranteed slight improvement, talents lay in the future, when he might fall into a bottleneck and find it impossible to advance, no matter how hard he tried.
At that time, the slow but steady accumulation from [Diligence Compensates For Lack Of Talent (Green)] might instead become the key to breaking the stalemate.
However, for Isshin, who had fused with the bloodline of the Adamantine Monkey Clan, whose strength would naturally grow even if they slept every day and did nothing, it was temporarily useless.
It was better to free the slot and let a more suitable talent take effect.
The process of adjusting the talent was brief and silent, occurring within a single instant.
After finishing, Shinichi withdrew his hand, walked around the flickering campfire, and casually sat down across from the clone.
Once seated, he reached out and tore another perfectly roasted rack of bear ribs from the grill, then ladled half a bowl of steaming thick soup from the pot, and began eating on his own.
For a time, the clearing in the forest was filled only with the crackling of the campfire, the faint sounds of the two chewing their food, and the occasional wail of the night wind passing through the treetops.
There was no verbal exchange.
Because there was no need.
The flickering firelight illuminated two young faces that were subtly connected, yet completely different.
...…
The campfire gradually dimmed, and the last piece of bear bone was thrown into the fire, producing a faint cracking sound.
Dinner in the forest ended in silence.
Shinichi wiped his hands and took out a rather large blank scroll from the tool pouch he carried with him.
The scroll had a special texture, reflecting a flexible sheen under the remaining firelight.
At the same time, Isshin tacitly handed over a small glass bottle that had already been prepared. Inside the bottle was a dark red, slightly viscous liquid.
It was his own blood.
Shinichi pulled out the stopper, took out a special brush used for drawing talismans and Sealing Jutsu, and used the blood as ink, the brush tip thoroughly soaked in crimson.
His expression was calm, and his gaze focused. He spread the blank scroll flat in front of him, then lowered his wrist steadily and began writing upon the scroll with a specific rhythm and runic structure.
The brush tip moved across the surface of the scroll, leaving behind streaks of blood-red traces containing fluctuations of chakra, gradually interweaving into complex yet orderly patterns and contract characters.
If an experienced ninja were present to witness this, they would immediately recognize that he was writing a new Summoning Jutsu.
The origin of the Summoning Jutsu is ancient. It is said that they can be traced back to the three unexplored sage regions mentioned in the legends of the Shinobi World. However, their core principles had long since spread throughout the Shinobi World, partially mastered and developed into derivative applications.
Its most fundamental effect is that once successfully signed, it establishes a stable connection that transcends space, allowing the contractor to ignore vast distances and, by performing the Summoning Technique and consuming chakra, summon the contracted summoning animal to their side.
This spatial summoning convenience is not limited only to the summoning animal of the three unexplored sage regions that possess high intelligence and ancient inheritances.
In fact, all kinds of Summoning Jutsus widely circulated in the Shinobi World possess this effect, whether it is the ninja beasts that ninja clans have raised for generations and fought together (such as the Ninja Hounds of the Inuzuka Clan), or powerful special creatures that strong ninjas discovered and subdued in the world (such as Hanzo's giant salamander Ibuse).
As long as a Summoning Jutsu is successfully established with them, one can enjoy this instant summoning ability that transcends space.
However, a long-standing unsolved mystery, or rather a consensus within the Shinobi World, is this: Humans seem capable of signing such strange Summoning Jutsus with almost any creature in nature that possesses chakra or special abilities, yet they are uniquely unable to establish the same type of summoning connection with another human.
If humans wish to achieve something similar to spatial teleportation, the only widely acknowledged method in the current Shinobi World is through secret space-time Ninjutsu, such as the Flying Thunder God Technique developed by the second Hokage.
This only further highlights the unique and transcendent nature of the Summoning Jutsus of the three unexplored sage regions.
To a certain extent, the relationship between them and the contractor is mutual. The sacred lands not only allow contractors to summon their summoning animals, but the summoning animals themselves can also, through the contract, summon the contractor back to the sacred land or to their own side; this is the Reverse Summoning Technique.
In the original timeline, it seemed that only the contract system of Mount Myoboku had stably demonstrated this bidirectional summoning ability, while the other sacred lands, Shikkotsu Forest and Ryuchi Cave, had never clearly shown such a function.
Shinichi had previously asked Tsunade about it and only then learned that Shikkotsu Forest also possesses this ability.
The Damp Slug Sage can reverse-summon the contractor to her side.
(Note: The sage of the Ryuchi Cave is called White Snake Sage, while the Mount Myoboku is called Great Toad Sage. There's no official information for the sage of the Shikkotsu Forest, so I'll call the sage of Shikkotsu Forest, the Damp Slug Sage, from now on.)
And at this moment, what Shinichi Higashino was attempting was something that would overturn conventional understanding if it became known to the outside world, an almost absurd idea.
He was trying to sign a Summoning Jutsu with a human.
The essence of the clone, Isshin, was extremely special. He was created by copying Shinichi's origin and fusing it with the genes of the powerful beast race, the Adamantine Monkey Clan, then shaped through the system's rule-based talent.
He was both a human originating from Shinichi's essence and a special existence that, at the level of life itself, fused the bloodline of the top-tier summoning animal. His physical strength was domineering and powerful, far surpassing that of ordinary people.
So then, could such a unique individual, one existing between human and beast, carrying the bloodline of a summoning animal, be recognized by the Summoning Jutsu and establish that space-transcending summoning connection?
This was the unconventional possibility Shinichi wanted to verify.
Shinichi knew very well that if it succeeded, its significance would far exceed a simple tactical enhancement.
The clone, Isshin, possessed formidable strength, naturally endowed with the fierce physique and combat instincts of the Adamantine Monkey Clan.
He was an extremely reliable and powerful combat force, even surpassing Shinichi's main body in pure raw strength.
If he could be summoned instantly through a Summoning Jutsu, it meant that this powerful force could be deployed from the distant Land of Iron to any battlefield at Shinichi's side in an instant, forming an absolute local advantage or responding to sudden lethal crises.
Check my Patreon for more chapters and novels, Patreon.com/SweetestDeath