The crimson eyes of the bear shone in the darkness. Lightning momentarily revealed his vicious maw as he approached, his sharp claws tearing through the earth like a kunai through thin paper. His shadow loomed as he drew closer, swallowing me entirely. I kept my eyes locked on his, matching the viciousness in his pupils as the titan towered over me, ready to end it all.
I desperately tried to move, but my body was completely spent. Still, I growled at him. "You are lucky I came into this place already almost out of chakra, otherwise I would have destroyed you. Know that before you kill me."
The beast suddenly froze, tilting his massive head. A powerful, rumbling voice escaped his maw, rough and deep. "Is that so?"
I knew that by using a summoning jutsu, I would meet an intelligent, speaking creature. However, due to the sheer predatory intensity in his eyes, I worried that my bad luck might have led me to encounter a bear that was just a wild monster. Startled, I took a moment to collect my thoughts before answering. "Yes."
The bear growled, the cold mist around him intensifying as steam escaped his jaws. "Do you think I ask a fish if it had its full power before I tear into it? The fish is food. You are too. It is as simple as that."
I blinked, momentarily stunned. "So... you are attacking me because you are hungry?"
His deep voice vibrated through the mist. "Yes. But I also had to defend my territory. Otherwise, the other animals would think I had grown weak and band together to push me out, take my territory, or kill me."
"Well, I did not come here to trespass or steal your food," I explained. "I was sent here by a jutsu to search for a summon. As an apology, I will offer you this."
My reserves were practically dry. Using a real jutsu right now would land me in the exact same fate as Kakashi against Pain. Luckily, my storage seals required barely a spark to activate. With a slight pulse of chakra that sent a sickening wave of weakness through my body, a massive feast materialized on the ground.
The bear recoiled slightly, sniffing the food before leaning in. "How did you do that? Are you a god? Do you possess a power that brings food into existence at will?"
I shook my head. "It is food I cooked earlier. The seal simply keeps it hot and fresh until I need it."
The titan was already digging into the meal without holding back. I had summoned a ridiculous amount of food as a tribute so I would not become the food myself. Still, the bear tore through it faster than even I do, and I beat members of the Akimichi clan on a regular basis when it comes to appetite.
The bear kept stuffing his face, speaking between massive bites. "This cooked food tastes much better than dead animals do."
I nodded, though a stray piece of flying food smacked into my face. I swiped it away with annoyance and laid my head back down in the dirt right next to the ravenous animal.
In the end, the bear annihilated the entirety of the feast. Nothing was left behind. Even the veggies failed to survive his wrath. Looking thoroughly pleased, the bear turned his dangerously glowing crimson eyes back to me.
"That was a good breakfast."
A terrifying grin stretched across his maw, baring his razor-sharp teeth. "Your food is amazing. This is the first time I have ever eaten human food."
I narrowed my eyes. "How did you learn human language, then?"
The bear glanced down at the massive scar that looked as though it had nearly cut him in half, pointing at it with a thick claw. "From the animal that caused me this wound. He was a good friend. We fought very often and he taught me human language so we could communicate, it is much more expressive, and I like it. He said that my learning speed was very fast." A proud grin showed on his face.
My eyebrow twitched. I was too unsettled to ask for the story behind that before he continued.
"He taught me a bit about humans, but I had never actually met one. Most of this forest is filled with powerful opponents, so my life is never boring. However, this is not my true domain. I only come here to fight, because where I am originally from, there are not many land animals as strong as me."
A regretful look flashed in his crimson eyes, which were surprisingly expressive now that he had a full stomach.
"So, you already dominate your own territory, but came here just for a fight?" I clarified.
The bear nodded. "And food. Food is more plentiful here, with more variety." Another huge, vicious grin spread across his face before he looked regretfully at the empty ground where the feast used to be. He asked quietly, "Once you recover your strength, can you summon more of that food?"
I shook my head. "That was the last of what I had on me. I will need to return to my home to cook more."
The bear pondered this for a long time before asking cautiously, "You used a summoning jutsu to find and contact a summon, correct?"
I nodded, slightly optimistic at this line of questioning but remaining cautious. A tiny fraction of chakra had returned to my system. Stalling would allow me just enough reserves to trigger Stormdrive and force my broken body to move if I needed to escape.
The beast leaned closer. "If I agreed to be your summon, can you provide me with food like that whenever I want?"
"Summons generally work like that," I replied carefully. "I provide something you want, and in return, you allow me to bring you into battle to help me when needed."
The bear's eyes shone with deep interest as he verified the terms. "I get to fight powerful creatures, and get extremely tasty food in return." A look of pure disbelief washed over his terrifying features.
I smiled despite the pain. "Indeed. Tough, powerful opponents, and amazingly tasty food, without any need to hunt for it in between."
His crimson eyes lit with fire, and he proclaimed with a powerful voice that shook the earth. "That sounds like a dream. Human, I will allow you to contract me in return for tasty food and good fights. Like all my ancestors, I want to die in a blaze of glory, not of old age. None of my ancestors survived to be old."
I personally felt like that was a bad thing, but who was I to judge the cultural traditions of a bear?
I pulsed chakra into my hand seal, retrieving a blank scroll and a small brush from storage. Using my own blood, which there was plenty of, I mixed it with some fuinjutsu ink and wrote a summoning contract based on the example in the instructional document explaining the summoning jutsu, following its guidance. I made sure to mix my chakra into the crimson ink to bind the previously agreed upon conditions as per the rules of the technique. When I finished, I smeared my thumb with my own blood and pressed my thumbprint onto the scroll before sliding the parchment over to the giant beast.
He stared at it for a long, quiet moment, then looked at me.
"I do not know how to read," he stated flatly. A sudden, dangerous intensity returned to his eyes. "Is there any trickery in this?"
"There is none," I replied genuinely.
The bear nodded, his huge head moving slowly. "I can feel from your fighting style that you are not the lying type."
I narrowed my eyes, curious. "What is an example of a lying type?"
A hateful, suffocating aura suddenly exploded from him, the sheer pressure almost pushing me across the dirt. I thought things had instantly gone sideways as he practically roared.
"Snakes. They poison you and then slither away to observe from a distance, waiting for your death. Cowards."
He stayed enraged for a long time, pacing and grumbling. To defuse the situation, I had to send another precious pulse of chakra into my seal, summoning a pile of sweets.
Instantly, the bear's eyes ignited. He pounced on the food, groaning in profound pleasure as the sugary treats melted his anger away. He annihilated the desserts in seconds, then looked back at me with deep appreciation. Reaching up to his chest wound, he imitated my actions, mixing his own potent chakra with his blood before lightly stamping his massive paw onto the scroll.
The contract shone with a blinding light as the sealing formula activated. Black, intricate seals crawled up my arms and across the bear's massive body, binding us together before sinking into our skin and dimming away entirely. The beast curiously inspected his fur, making sure everything was in order, while I stored the scroll back into my hand seal.
Utterly spent, I lay fully back against the earth and sighed in profound relief. My eyes slid shut as I finally surrendered to my exhaustion and injuries, falling asleep almost instantly, with the last thing I saw being the bear's menacing crimson eyes reflecting the thunder in the sky.