Nothing happened...
The purple Fate Elixir seemed to exist only to mock Aoi Ren: Your destiny is sealed — failure is all that awaits you.
"Just like the System to kick a man while he's down..." Aoi Ren murmured, his spirit broken. He slowly closed his eyes, waiting quietly for death to come.
Ding! Follower — Orochimaru has conquered Hage Town. Reward received: One Random Summoning Contract Scroll.
The System's voice remained as emotionless as ever. Aoi Ren slowly opened his eyes, and something flickered faintly within his dark pupils.
"So this is fate?"
He pulled out the lowest-grade summoning contract scroll and, using the very last of his strength, slammed it hard against the ground.
"Show me then... just how powerful this 'fate' really is!"
Wooosh...
A faint glow lit up the area. The contract scroll slowly dissolved into the light and vanished — nothing appeared, and nothing seemed to have changed. Yet, Aoi Ren, whose eyes were already failing, slowly stretched his lips into a grin...
---
"Salamander, open up. We've run out of venom."
Seeing Aoi Ren's life force fading away, Hanzō chuckled and patted the giant creature's jaw.
He then climbed completely inside its open mouth, holding a glass vial to collect venom dripping from between its massive teeth.
The salamander had been Hanzō's companion since childhood. It was less like a summoned beast and more like a friend, family, or an inseparable part of his very being.
Otherwise, he would not be known throughout the world as Hanzō of the Salamander.
If there was anyone or anything in this world that Hanzō trusted with one hundred percent of his heart, it was this creature alone...
"You've gotten even fatter lately, haven't you?"
Hanzō joked as he moved deeper inside the maw. "Open a bit wider... keep acting up and I won't buy you any more meat to eat next time..."
CRUNCH!
Without warning, the salamander's jaws snapped shut with terrifying force. Its razor-sharp teeth instantly ground Hanzō into fine, bloody pulp.
Until his very last moment, Hanzō had been naive enough to believe that the slight closing of the mouth was just because the creature had grown heavy, or that it was merely playing a game with him as it always had.
However...
There was no trace of affection or warmth left in the salamander's ferocious eyes. In their place was only the wild, brutal ferocity of a summoned beast answering a new master.
As the last traces of Hanzō's aura drifted away into the air...
Aoi Ren suddenly broke into a wide grin. So this is fate? It seems to have no power at all, yet it is capable of absolutely anything.
Or perhaps... it isn't fate at all, but the natural luck of the protagonist!
Even in such a short moment, Aoi Ren understood how fortunate it was to be the main character of a story. It could be summed up in two words: Absolute Invincibility.
However, he could feel this state of invincibility fading rapidly. The effect of the Fate Elixir was incredibly short-lived...
"It seems... I have still failed this mission."
To cure the salamander's poison, a divine healer would need to drop from the sky. But looking around at this dense, isolated forest... not even a wild human would wander this deep in.
He slowly closed his eyes. In the final second before losing consciousness, he commanded all his summons to return to their home dimension.
Obtaining the salamander was perhaps the only gain from this whole ordeal... I must make sure to keep it safe.
The power of fate was dissolving, and his consciousness began to slip away.
But just then... a slender, pale hand suddenly pushed aside the thick bushes at the edge of the forest.
"Behind the shrine is the Divine Grace Compound, where they perform these inhumane experiments. Beyond that are the barracks for the test subjects... what terrifying things lie further back?"
Following the trail and the sound of voices, Tsunade — sent here by the Third Hokage to investigate — carefully pushed her way through the foliage.
"Aoi Ren!"
No matter how hard she tried, she could never have imagined finding Aoi Ren here, all alone, grievously wounded and near death.
This time, even while deep in unconsciousness, it seemed Aoi Ren had managed to grab hold of fate's tail just in time...
__________________
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