She waited there for Katsuyu's main body to arrive.
With nothing else to do, Yui began quietly admiring the scenery around her.
"Why isn't she here yet?"
After she had waited a while, Katsuyu still hadn't appeared.
But she didn't dare wander around at will, so she had no choice but to stay where she was.
Oh, right! Xiao You is still in Konoha!
A figure suddenly flashed through her mind. An entire year had already passed. Was she all right?
Yui formed hand seals.
"Summoning Technique."
Poof! When the cloud of smoke cleared, a little white mouse appeared before Yui.
The little white mouse didn't seem to have gotten her bearings yet and looked around curiously.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak?"
"Haha..."
Yui chuckled at Xiao You's dazed expression.
Hearing the familiar voice behind her, Xiao You turned her head in surprise.
That voice sounds so familiar!
Taking a closer look, she spotted Yui standing before her.
"Yui?" she asked in disbelief.
"Xiao You..." Yui called softly.
"It really is Yui..." The little white mouse excitedly leaped onto Yui's shoulder.
"Waaah, Yui, I thought you'd abandoned me!"
"I was trapped in that room, and all I did every day was eat and sleep."
"I was so lonely... waaah!!!"
Xiao You complained as she recounted what she had been through during that time.
Hearing the little white mouse's aggrieved words, Yui comforted her. "It was all my fault. I left you there."
Then Yui explained the matter of the spacetime rift to Xiao You.
She hadn't meant to leave her in the sealing chamber.
After hearing that, Xiao You seemed to calm down.
"So that's what happened? Were you hurt, Yui?"
Yui shook her head.
"I wasn't hurt, but that was thanks to the Slug Sage."
"The Slug Sage?" Xiao You asked in confusion.
"Who's that?"
"Me, of course!"
Yui was just about to explain when a familiar voice suddenly came from beside her.
Katsuyu's voice? she thought. Her main body must be here! Now I'll finally see just how big she is.
The voice drew both their attention, and they turned together toward its source.
One look left Yui stunned. Even Xiao You on her shoulder stared at the figure before them in astonishment.
"So this is the Slug Sage Yui mentioned!"
"She's so pretty!"
Looking at the beautiful figure before her, Yui asked the question burning in her soul.
"You're Katsuyu?"
The figure before her didn't look like a slug at all. Instead, she was a tall, slender woman.
She wore an elaborate flower wreath on her head and a magnificent pale blue-green kimono.
A huge green scroll was strapped to her back.
Her attire was understated and elegant, yet she radiated dignity and authority.
"What, don't you believe me, Yui?" Katsuyu teased.
"Aren't you supposed to be bigger than a mountain range?" Yui asked, looking at Katsuyu in confusion. "Besides, didn't you just say your main body was huge?"
Katsuyu nodded.
"That rumor is indeed true."
"I learned the Transformation Technique from you ninja!"
"How else would you be able to meet me?"
Katsuyu sounded exasperated.
"Uh..."
"So that's how it is..."
Yui hadn't expected Katsuyu to know ninjutsu too!
"Oh, is this little white mouse your summoning beast, Yui?" Katsuyu asked curiously, looking at the little white mouse on Yui's shoulder.
Yui nodded.
"Yes, her name is Xiao You," Yui introduced her to Katsuyu. "She's a..."
"Little white mouse who knows sealing jutsu?"
In truth, even Yui wasn't quite sure what kind of creature Xiao You was.
No summoning beast like her had appeared in the original story.
"Hello, Slug... Sage. I'm Xiao You," Xiao You greeted her awkwardly.
Katsuyu smiled.
"Mm, my name is Katsuyu. We'll be good companions from now on!"
"And don't keep calling me Sage. Just call me Katsuyu!"
"I never cared about those titles anyway."
Xiao You nodded in agreement.
"Then I'll call you Katsuyu from now on."
At last, Xiao You's words no longer sounded awkward. For some reason, calling someone a sage really felt strange.
"Why did you say we'd be good companions from now on?"
Xiao You voiced her question.
"You'll find out in a moment," Katsuyu said meaningfully.
Katsuyu reached back, took down the enormous scroll strapped to her back, laid it flat on the ground, and unrolled it.
"Come here, Yui. Let's sign a Summoning Contract."
Yui nodded and stepped forward, looking down at the Summoning Scroll spread out beneath her.
"A Summoning Contract?" Xiao You exclaimed in surprise. "You're a summoning beast?"
Xiao You hadn't expected this beautiful young woman to be a summoning beast, let alone one who was about to sign a Summoning Contract with Yui.
"Of course. Would you like to see my original form?" Katsuyu asked.
Xiao You was curious now too. When Katsuyu offered to show her true body, she readily agreed.
"Yes, yes! Let me see."
"Then watch closely..." As she spoke, Katsuyu held out her arm.
Before Xiao You's eyes, Katsuyu's arm gradually turned white, then swelled, before a bug split off from it.
"Th-th-that's... a bug..."
Xiao You jumped in fright. Why was the beautiful Katsuyu's true form a bug?
"Well? Is it pretty?" Katsuyu asked.
"P-pretty. Very pretty." Xiao You gave an awkward smile and forced out a compliment.
Seeing the little white mouse's reaction, Katsuyu stopped teasing her and turned her attention back to Yui, who was studying the Summoning Contract scroll before her.
"By the way, Katsuyu, who are these people who signed Summoning Contracts with you before me?"
Yui had spotted two familiar names on the scroll, but she didn't recognize any of the names before those.
Tsunade, Hashirama Senju.
Sure enough, that man had once visited Shikkotsu Forest, though where he had learned senjutsu remained unknown.
Still, there didn't seem to have been many people. There were only four or five names on the scroll, and less than a tenth of it had been unrolled.
Katsuyu shook her head, seemingly unwilling to bring those people up.
"Apart from the most recent one, everyone else has already passed away. There's no point in bringing them up again."
Yui nodded. Since she didn't want to discuss them, Yui wouldn't ask any more.
"But you could get to know that little girl named Tsunade. She's a Konoha ninja too, and she's about your age."
Yui's next answer, however, surprised her.
"Yes, I know her. Technically, we're classmates."
"Oh, you two actually know each other?"
"It really must be fate!"
Before you continue