He Summoned Himself Away

Anyone who had been through the baptism of the modern internet would have seen that Tokiju was setting a trap for Tsunade.

But Tsunade was still young and had never seen anything like this. Her face immediately flushed with anger.

As the princess of Konoha, she had never been mocked like this before. She slammed her fist into the floor and shouted, "Who said I didn't prepare a gift?"

"You've always wanted to study the Summoning Technique, haven't you? I'm giving you permission now! I'll have you sign a Summoning Contract with Katsuyu Sage right away!"

As she spoke, Tsunade bit her thumb and immediately performed the Summoning Technique.

Poof!

A cloud of white smoke billowed out, and a slug about the size of a head appeared in the room.

After Katsuyu Sage appeared, she looked at Tsunade, then at Uzumaki Mito, and asked, "Lady Mito, Lady Tsunade, is there something you need me for?"

Katsuyu Sage had a lovely voice, and she spoke very gently.

If you only heard her voice, you would naturally assume she was a warm and understanding big sister.

But if you followed the sound to its source, the result would definitely come as quite a surprise.

Uzumaki Mito said nothing. She had seen through Tokiju's trick on Tsunade from the start, but had no intention of stopping him.

Katsuyu Sage was a healing-type summon. If Tokiju and Nawaki managed to sign contracts with her, it would help keep them safe in the future. That was exactly what Uzumaki Mito wanted to see.

As a matter of fact, this was exactly what Tokiju wanted, too.

Having read the original story, he knew that his little brother would be killed at the age of twelve when an Explosive Tag trap blew him up.

To prevent that fate, he had spent years training Nawaki in this area, teaching him to stay aware of his surroundings at all times.

Now that Nawaki would also have Katsuyu Sage as a second line of defense, if he still got blown up by an Explosive Tag, Tokiju would truly be out of options.

As for Nawaki becoming Orochimaru's student someday and signing a contract with Ryūchi Cave—

Tokiju had only one thing to say about that: Forget it!

Of the Three Great Sage Lands, Ryūchi Cave was by far the most dangerous. One wrong move, and the snakes there might eat you. If you had a choice, it was best not to choose Ryūchi Cave.

Tsunade looked at Katsuyu Sage. Now that she had calmed down, she realized Tokiju had tricked her.

She glared viciously at Tokiju, then forced herself to ask Katsuyu Sage, "Katsuyu Sage, I summoned you here to ask if my two younger brothers can sign Summoning Contracts with Shikkotsu Forest."

As she spoke, Tsunade pointed to Tokiju and Nawaki, who stood behind Katsuyu Sage.

At that, Katsuyu Sage turned around.

She looked at Tokiju first, then at Nawaki, but finally settled her gaze on Tokiju.

Tokiju immediately stepped forward and introduced himself. "Hello, Katsuyu Sage. I'm Tokiju, Tsunade's little brother."

Not to be outdone, Nawaki stepped forward too and introduced himself. "Um, I'm Nawaki. I look forward to learning from you, Katsuyu Sage."

Katsuyu Sage wiggled her antennae and said gently, "Hello, you two. From now on, I'll call you Little Tokiju and Little Nawaki."

"As for signing Summoning Contracts with Shikkotsu Forest, that's no problem. You have my permission."

As soon as she finished speaking, black symbols began to appear beneath her.

After a puff of white smoke, she summoned a contract scroll about half a person tall.

Once it appeared, Katsuyu Sage said, "Go ahead, Little Tokiju and Little Nawaki. Sign your names in blood and press your fingerprints below. Then your contracts with Shikkotsu Forest will be complete."

Tokiju immediately took the scroll and unfurled it.

He glanced at the names of the previous contractors and saw row after row of Senju.

At the same time, Tokiju felt a little surprised when he realized the Second Hokage's name wasn't on the contract scroll.

That proved the Second Hokage had never signed a Summoning Contract with Shikkotsu Forest.

It made sense. If the Second Hokage had signed a contract with Shikkotsu Forest, he wouldn't have been ambushed and killed by Kinkaku and Ginkaku.

All he would have needed to do was summon Katsuyu, then use his own Flying Thunder God. It would have been practically impossible to die.

Tokiju found the space after Tsunade's name, bit his index finger, and signed his name. Then he pressed his fingerprint beneath it.

When he was done, Tokiju pushed the contract scroll in front of Nawaki.

Nawaki happily signed his name on the scroll as well.

Once they had both finished, Katsuyu Sage immediately took back the contract scroll and said, "All right. Tokiju and Little Nawaki have both signed Summoning Contracts with Shikkotsu Forest. You can try summoning my clone now."

It was worth noting that Shikkotsu Forest was different from the other two Sage Lands.

The other two Sage Lands had countless toads and snakes serving their leaders, Toad Sage and White Snake Sage.

Those toads and snakes could all be summoned by the people who signed contracts with them.

Katsuyu Sage was different. She was the only creature in Shikkotsu Forest.

Everyone who signed a contract with Shikkotsu Forest summoned one of Katsuyu Sage's divided clones.

When using the Summoning Technique, the more chakra you spent, the larger the Katsuyu Sage clone you summoned would be.

Hearing that, Tokiju immediately decided to give it a try.

He looked at his index finger and planned to use the wound he had just made to perform the Summoning Technique, but it had already stopped bleeding.

With no other choice, Tokiju bit his thumb again, then formed the hand seals for "Pig, Dog, Rooster, Monkey, and Goat."

After forming the seals, Tokiju slapped his palm on the ground.

Then countless black symbols began to spread across the floor.

Tsunade didn't think anything of it, but Uzumaki Mito, watching from her seat, frowned.

The symbols beneath Tokiju's feet didn't seem to be those of the Summoning Technique.

Katsuyu Sage found it even stranger. Though she was only a clone, she could still sense the fluctuations caused by a summoning.

But she couldn't sense any fluctuations from the Summoning Technique Tokiju was using. Instead, she felt a strange interference.

Before either of them could think it through, the symbols beneath Tokiju's feet had already taken shape.

Suddenly, Tokiju felt the world spin around him. Then, with a poof, he vanished in a cloud of white smoke.

Tsunade was stunned. Nawaki was stunned. Uzumaki Mito was stunned.

Katsuyu Sage was even more dumbfounded. She hadn't expected someone to vanish by summoning himself away.

And he had vanished after officially signing a Summoning Contract with her. That made it all the more baffling.

Katsuyu Sage thought about it for a long time, but couldn't figure out what had gone wrong.

So she could only end the summoning for now and return to Shikkotsu Forest to look for Tokiju, hoping she might find him there.

But they were bound to be disappointed.

By then, Tokiju had already arrived in a special space where time was frozen.