With that, Yui stopped hesitating. She pressed a bloody handprint onto the contract scroll, rolled it up, and tossed it back in one smooth motion.
"All done. Here, you can have the scroll back!" Yui clapped her hands, then turned to face Nai Hyuga.
"Yay!" Feeling a faint thread of connection form in his heart, Black Bear was filled with excitement. He caught the scroll securely and swallowed it again. At last, the weight hanging over him lifted.
"Now that the Summoning Contract is signed, Nai, can you tell me what you've been through all these years?" Yui asked.
Nai Hyuga froze at Yui's question. Lowering her eyes in thought, she murmured in confusion, "All these years? Was I asleep in there for a very long time?"
She nodded gently, stopped dwelling on it, and began answering Yui's question in earnest. "After entering this ruin, I was with Orochimaru at first..."
Nai Hyuga recounted her experiences, which largely matched what Orochimaru had described. When she finally reached the part about being trapped in a coffin, Yui began listening intently.
"After I was trapped in that coffin, I don't know how much time passed before Orochimaru found me and woke me up!"
"After that, we went looking for you together and ended up in a strange place. It was a desert, and Orochimaru ran into danger there. To find a way to deal with it, I went off on my own to explore the ruin."
"I never expected to stumble across your trail while scouting with the Byakugan."
At this, a huge question mark seemed to appear over Yui's head. "Orochimaru woke you up? That doesn't sound right..."
She had caught the odd detail. "How much time has passed since Orochimaru woke you up? A few days?"
"Uh!" Nai Hyuga pondered