This technique requires such a deep connection with one own's chakra, that only someone like her, that didn't sleep so much as meditated on her chakra pathways, can do. Also, because of how finicky this process is, she needs a couple seconds doing nothing but concentrating even with her chakra control, and only when she is going on an empty tank, as she needs to be able to focus on the 'making chakra from the Yin and Yang' process, and if there is already chakra in her systems, then it gets harder to focus on that.
The technique also carries a moderate risk of death since the user is required to empty thier physical energy into their spiritual energy, thus temporarily leaving Rei without any chakra at all.
Beyond that however, their REAL strength is the same as the real world rats. A few rats? a total joke. Unleash a few hundred or more on a place you want to completely f***, like say, a rival ninja village? Good luck keeping all your valuables, soft targets, secrets, weaker ninja, and even your buildings and walls intact and protected in any way shape or form. So yeah, the Rat summons can be very strong, just in more unconventional ways.
So they'll lose the battle in order to win the war? Guerilla war at its finest. But despite Rei's misgivings about Konoha her Rats are actually the perfect summons for the village given their emphasis on solidarity and teamwork as we saw in this chapter. Also I noticed Rei summoned a new rat, will we see more of him in the future?
The rats would probably befriend the Slugs if it looked like the Snakes were picking a fight.
I imagine the "castle" they live in to almost be like a funhouse. Like two different sized, and styled homes rammed together. You have main rooms/guest rooms that are opulent and absolutely huge, but in places where guests don't go, the rooms and hallways are tiny and plain just past the "open" areas so that a guest who looked in would see they do not live in opulence themselves. Past those linking corridors, everything is kept dark and forboding. To look down would feel like they could swallow you up, and for the unwelcome, they can. Where guests see the best face of the rat, and only enemies who press further in, the Rats themselves learn first to navigate the harsh darkness, to trade in secrets and poison, and only once they pass their tests, are they shown the higher arts of diplomacy, and wisdom. Taught to live in the gutter, before learning how to live like a feudal lords (Most summons kind of act like japanese feudal lords as depicted. Living in castles, etc) Rats understand both the poor and the wealthy, giving them good insight into people in general. This means where they trade words with diplomats, they tend to like the low lives and scum who must get buy on much terser terms. They would also tend to be fairly wise, if rough around the edges.
I think the rats, if worms reaction to living with the slugs is anything to go by, would sooner bite off their own tails than work in tandem with one of the Sanin's summons who at one point where allied by proxy to the snakes and toads. Not to mention the likely multitudes of blood feuds that the rats likely have with all of the other summoning clans given their extreme emphasis on family.
As for the chinese interpretation of the Rat's bieng wealthy and social animals I think that symbolism has more or less been meet by Rei, the Yamanaka heiress, taking them on as her summons thus rounding out thier cutthroat doctrine of killing anything that isn't a Rat.
Wow... This is NOT going to help Rei's issues.
Well, I think that largely depends on how Gai handles the situation. Remember, Rei's previous teachers were all either very reserved keeping Rei's progression mostly to themselves or outright provocative like in Anko's case which ended up with Rei cultivating a killer's psyche.
Despite Rei saying she may not like this new teaching style it could actually be a good change of pace for her since Gai likes to throw ninja convention out the door when it comes to his students. With Gai acting as a benchmark for an S-Ranked ninja and being open and honest about Rei's progress, her mood could substantially improve.
If this was a real battle, he would probably just bust out gate 5 and punch her out while the steam exploding from his skin stops any poison from touching him.
Well in a real fight to death between Gai and Rei, the latter would have at that point acquired sage mode and would be using some form of super stealth and super poisons whilst simultaneously working with the most elite killers out of the entire family. I'm thinking something akin to the rat version of ANBU or a select few master assassins.
NGL I'm totally down for a redemption arc. I'm not 100% up to date in remembering everything about the story (Probably need to do a re-read) but IIRC Rei's obsession w/ ditching the village was a bit much.
Rei doesn't really need a redemption arc as of now since she hasn't committed any acts of evil that would warrant the need for forgiveness and self loathing. What she does need though is character growth and an evolution in her ideals of "might makes right," toward a more positive direction.
What do I mean by this? Well a few chapters back Rei pondered whether or not seeking power for power's sake was right or wrong. The chat at the time arrived at the conclusion that it wasn't wrong so long as she didn't use it for malicious purposes. But after thinking it over for a bit I've come to the conclusion that seeking power for powers sake is wrong, primarily because by accumulating power for selfish ends she is allowing the system she hates so much to continue existing.
In chapter 24, when Rei was being held in the T&I she drew comparisons between Konoha and the Nazi SS for their similarly draconian methods. However, ironically Rei's ideology is actually very similar to the same people who helped bring the Nazi's to the height of their power. Those people being the bystanders, those who did nothing either because they didn't see it as their problem or they had their own problems to worry about.
"First they came for the socialists, then they came for the trade unionists, then they came for the Jews, then they came for me." By gathering power Rei has a moral obligation to use that power for the benefit of others rather than solely benefiting herself. That's not to say Rei has to completely abandon her current ideals, in the end she could arrive at some sort of hybrid philosophy or even dedicate herself wholeheartedly to the betterment of her current home.
After all that's what we are here for right? To watch Rei grow into an S-Ranked ninja while maturing her current viewpoints to fit the mold of this world. I imagine such a character arc will culminate in her becoming the Hokage, something that she for the life of her currently can't imagine herself doing. Also imagine comedic value of Neji's smug, or at least what passes as smug for him, 'I told you' face while Rei is struggling not to throttle him whilst having her face molded for her future portrait on the Hokage mountain.
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