After seeing Gamabunta calm down and his attitude become less aggressive, Mito finally spoke. "The one I just summoned, who is now sitting on your head, is Jiraiya's disciple, Minato Namikaze. He is a very good child with excellent talent. If he needs your help in the future, I hope you can do your best. I'm counting on you."
Gamabunta nodded involuntarily. Seeing Mito, it was as if he had seen the two Great Sages, Shima and Fukasaku, and he couldn't raise any objections to what she said. He quickly replied, "You're too kind. I will definitely remember what you said. Minato Namikaze will be my little brother from now on, and I will take good care of him. Please rest assured."
Mito nodded. Since the matters with Kyuushin and Minato were settled, it was now Nawaki's turn.
"Nawaki, you can start," Tsunade said to him. "Remember, use your full power."
Nawaki also became serious. He walked to an open space, bit his finger, and quickly formed the hand signs for the Summoning Technique. "Summoning Jutsu!"
A huge cloud of smoke rose. From its size, Nawaki had also summoned a beast no smaller than Gamabunta or Katsuyu. The few people present immediately tensed up, staring intently at the smoke. If there was any abnormality, they would at least have to rescue Nawaki first.
As the smoke gradually dispersed, a huge, coiled white snake appeared before everyone.
"It's actually a white snake?" Orochimaru seemed a little surprised.
"What's wrong with a white snake?" Tsunade, who was beside him, asked curiously.
Orochimaru shook his head. "I don't know. Although Ryuchi Cave is under the control of the White Snake Sage, I have never seen any other white snakes besides her."
Kyuushin, who had just gotten off Katsuyu, couldn't help but feel a stir in his heart when he heard Orochimaru's words. He knew very little about Ryuchi Cave, as the original work described it very little. But when he heard Orochimaru say this, he thought that white snakes must be very different from other types of snakes.
"Everyone, good afternoon," the white snake said, its voice sounding like that of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl. It didn't panic when it saw them; instead, it greeted them first.
"Wow! You're my Summoning Beast?" Nawaki, standing on the white snake's head, seemed a little excited.
"Yes, the White Snake Sage knew that someone would sign a contract with Ryuchi Cave today, so she specifically ordered me to respond to this summoning. Therefore, from now on, I will fight alongside you," the white snake explained.
"The White Snake Sage knew someone would sign a contract with Ryuchi Cave today?" Mito asked.
"Yes, the Sage can know everything that happens in the ninja world," the white snake replied, its body recoiling slightly as if a little scared.
"Oh," Mito nodded, not surprised by the White Snake Sage's ability. After all, there was already a toad sage who could foresee the future in dreams.
"I've never seemed to have seen you in Ryuchi Cave," Orochimaru asked abruptly.
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru, I was not on the regular summoning list before. This time, the White Snake Sage specifically asked me to respond to the summons, and we do not live with other types of snakes," the white snake explained.
"Can I know why? The White Snake Sage seems to have never cared for a human like this," Orochimaru continued to ask. After all, this concerned Nawaki's safety, and he had to be careful.
"I don't know that, but the White Snake Sage specifically instructed me that this time is to establish a closer contractual relationship with you humans, which is why I was sent here, so please don't worry," the white snake patiently explained.
Mito nodded at the words and said to Tsunade and Orochimaru, "I indeed did not sense any malice from her emotions. She is not lying."
"If you want to know the specific reason, you can visit the White Snake Sage later," the white snake then said to Orochimaru. He nodded; he indeed had this idea. It seemed now that his understanding of Ryuchi Cave was not complete.
"Ah, right, my Old Man also said earlier that Jiraiya should visit Mount Myoboku when he has time," Gamabunta suddenly said at this moment.
"Huh? Me?" Jiraiya was a little confused; this was the first time he had encountered such a sudden summons.
"Yes, but the Old Man didn't say what exactly it was about. You'll probably only know once you go there," Gamabunta added. "But it doesn't seem to be very urgent. You can go when you have time."
"Oh, okay, I understand," Jiraiya agreed.
Regardless, today's summoning was successfully completed. Mito smiled contentedly and nodded, saying to the three summoned beasts, "Thank you for coming all this way. The main purpose of this trip was for you to meet your new contractors. Now that the matter is concluded, I will have them bring some gifts next time."
The three summoned beasts all understood Mito's intention to see them off. Gamabunta nodded, instantly turning into smoke and disappearing. Katsuyu, on the other hand, looked at Kyuushin. "You can visit me sometime if you have time. If you need help, please be sure to summon me." After saying that, she also canceled the summoning.
Nawaki had been a bit too excited when he was just summoned. Now he was introducing himself to the white snake. "Hello, my name is Nawaki. It's a pleasure to meet you. What should I call you?"
The white snake looked at Nawaki and said, "You can call me Xiaobai, or simply White Snake. If you have time, come to Ryuchi Cave, and I'll introduce you to my other brothers and sisters." After saying that, it also instantly turned into smoke and returned to Ryuchi Cave.
"Hey, hey—" Nawaki still wanted to say something, but it was too late. However, seeing his happy expression, one could tell he was very satisfied with this summoning.
With the summoning matters settled, Mito did not arrange anything else, so Tsunade pulled Orochimaru and Jiraiya to start playing cards. On the other side, the four youngsters were together, mainly because Kushina was curious about how they did their missions, so she kept asking. Nawaki was the most enthusiastic one to answer, and Minato would occasionally chime in.
"I really envy you guys. Unlike me, staying in school all the time is too boring," Kushina sighed.
After a moment of calm, Nawaki spoke. "When I was in school, I also envied those who graduated, but now that I've graduated, I've started to miss school life." Hearing this, Kyuushin and Minato both looked at him with slight surprise.
"What's wrong? Why are you all looking at me like that?" Nawaki said angrily.
"Cough, cough, nothing. It's just quite surprising that you can say something like that. It's not like the Nawaki we first met," Kyuushin said.
Nawaki sighed. "When I was in school, I just thought that becoming a ninja would allow me to make a great contribution to the village. But after truly becoming a ninja, I realized that without you guys, I might not even be able to complete a C-Rank mission well. Moreover, I increasingly feel that my abilities are insufficient. I might not be the right material to be a Hokage."
Kyuushin frowned and advised, "The fact that you can think this way shows that you've grown a lot. And many times, only when you know your own shortcomings is when you make the fastest progress. A Hokage doesn't necessarily have to be all-encompassing; a Hokage also needs the help of companions."
"I know, I'm only saying this to you guys," Nawaki said, then turned his head to Kyuushin. "Sometimes I'm quite curious. Even though you're younger than me, you're always the one teaching me, and you have profound insights into certain matters. Sometimes, I subconsciously ignore your age and treat you as an elder."
"Hahaha, then do you want to call me Uncle?" Kyuushin laughed.
"Get lost!"