Uchiha doro, I Caught the Ice Empress!

"Guga, guga. (Guga is just Guga. Guga isn't anything else.)"

"Guguga? (Patriarch, what is this thing? Is it a scorpion or a person?)"

Gugu Gaga and Uzumaki Guga huddled together, their little butts sticking out and swaying as they whispered among themselves.

"What are you gugugaga-ing about? Can't you speak properly?!"

The Ice Empress immediately frowned. Influenced by her power, the sky instantly turned jade green.

She felt that these two seemed to be looking down on her.

"Guga, gugugaga. (What exactly are you talking about? We just wanted to ask for directions.)"

"Guga. (Patriarch, I want to go home. I want cookies.)"

"Guga. (Then let's go. Let's ask someone else for directions.)"

Both Gugu Gaga and Uzumaki Guga found this green person utterly baffling.

They didn't want to talk to this person anymore. They wanted to go home and find their own people.

"Are you ignoring this Empress?!"

"What nerve!"

Watching Gugu Gaga turn to leave, the Ice Empress flew into a rage and shot a jade-green beam at Gugu Gaga and Uzumaki Guga.

Crack!

In an instant, Gugu Gaga and Uzumaki Guga were frozen in ice.

"Hmph. This is what happens when you look down on this Empress."

The Ice Empress gave a cold snort and turned to leave, but halfway through turning, she heard a voice.

"Guga. (Why did you freeze us? You're so mean.)"

Gugu Gaga broke free from the ice without a scratch, her cheeks puffed out in anger as she spoke.

"Guga. (Do you want to fight? Come on, Guga isn't afraid of you!)"

Uzumaki Guga clapped her hands together, and a massive Thousand-Handed Buddha appeared behind her.

This Thousand-Handed Buddha was far larger than the one she had summoned while playing around at Qin Qi's place before.

Looking up, there was no end in sight. Looking sideways, there were no boundaries. It was a truly sky-covering presence.

"Guga!"

Uzumaki Guga gradually rose into the air and let out an ethereal cry.

In an instant, countless giant hands seized toward the Ice Empress.

"This Empress understands now. You came to challenge this Empress's status as king, didn't you?!"

"Fine, then! Fight!"

The Ice Empress revealed her true form: an Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion so beautiful it took one's breath away!

Uzumaki Guga and the Ice Empress began to fight, and the entire Far North started shaking violently.

The other two kings of the Far North also sensed the battle and could not help turning their gazes toward it.

"Gugugaga! (Patriarch, there are so many of them! No, I need to call people too!)"

Uzumaki Guga felt that the other side had so many people. No, she had to call someone too. With a flap of her little wings, she activated the Summoning Jutsu.

Amid a cloud of white smoke, a doro wearing Akatsuki robes and possessing one Mangekyo appeared!

"Sasuguga!"

"Naru doro!"

"Sasuguga!"

"Naru doro!"

The two little ones looked at each other, then started shouting at one another. We had no idea why, and we didn't dare ask.

As for why it was Sasuguga and Naru doro, we didn't know either. Maybe the little ones had failed their cultural studies.

"Guga."

"Doro."

After shouting, the two little ones began holding hands and spinning in circles. Fighting was just play; they were actually good friends.

"Guga. (Naru doro, I saved something tasty for you.)"

Uzumaki Guga reached into her little pocket.

"Orange!"

Doro looked incredibly expectant, drool even running from the corner of her mouth.

"Guga. (Cookies!)"

Uzumaki Guga took out the cookies Qin Qi had given her earlier. Delicious food was meant to be shared with good friends.

"Guga. (Naru Guga, you're so nice.)"

Uchiha doro showed a touched expression. She took one and had a bite, finding it incredibly delicious.

"Orange, doro."

Uchiha doro prepared to give her treasured Orange to Uzumaki Guga.

"Are you... ignoring me?!"

The Ice Empress, who had been left off to the side, was utterly enraged. She had to let these three strange fellows know how powerful she was.

She charged forward furiously, and Uzumaki Guga and Uchiha doro began fighting back.

"Guga. (You just wanted to find doro to play with, didn't you? Honestly.)"

Guga Patriarch helplessly spread her hands. This clearly wasn't because they couldn't win; she simply wanted to call her little friend over to play.

Meanwhile, at the edge of the Far North, Qin Qi had already loosened the soil.

"What a pity. I don't have any normal plant seeds right now."

"I could ask the village chief for some, but our village doesn't farm. We all hunt."

"Getting some plant seeds is pretty troublesome. But Guga, do you have any? I might as well ask her for some."

"And here I was talking about my Guga?"

Qin Qi looked around and discovered that both Uzumaki Guga and Gugu Gaga had vanished.

Thump, thump, thump.

At that moment, intermittent booming sounds kept coming from the Far North.

"An earthquake? That's a bit troublesome. I need to find Guga and the others and bring them back."

"If they get lost in the snowy mountains, that'll be bad. Would it really be that bad?"

Qin Qi thought about it and felt that it probably wouldn't. Penguins probably couldn't freeze to death, right?

"Forget it. I'll take out some cookies and see if I can lure them back."

"Gugugaga! (Time to eat!)"

Qin Qi took out the cookies and loudly shouted the one phrase of Guga language he had learned.

Rumble!

"Guga! (Is it mealtime?)"

Gugu Gaga, Uzumaki Guga, and Uchiha doro instantly appeared in front of Qin Qi.

They had also brought back the Ice Empress, who had been captured and forced into human form.

"Guga?"

Qin Qi tilted his head. Wait, who were these two? How had their group grown again after just one trip out?

Although Qin Qi was confused, too many absurd things had already happened. He was used to it.

While feeling astonished, he handed each of them some cookies.

"Doro, doro. (Human, thank you.)"

"Orange. (Orange is for you.)"

Uchiha doro smiled cutely and held out Orange to Qin Qi in her little hands.

"For me? Thanks, doro."

Looking at doro's clothes, Qin Qi figured she must be Uzumaki Guga's friend.

Hmm, Uchiha doro?

"Who is this one in human form? Guga? Orange? Phoebe Jubi?"

Qin Qi looked at the Ice Empress. Unable to recognize her at first, he asked tentatively.

"What are you screeching about? Let this Empress go, or you'll regret it!"

The Ice Empress looked at the screeching human before her and spoke through gritted teeth.

"Holy crap, she can talk!"

Qin Qi jumped in fright and instinctively took a step back. He looked more closely, then recognized her.

That green hair, that tsundere expression, that petite build—wasn't this the Ice Empress, the Far North's number one lesbian?

"So... you caught her?"

Qin Qi looked at Guga and the others as he asked.