"Took you long enough," Kaida said, flickering in front of Byakko, his hands still dirty from all of the work he had been doing till now.
"I can see you were not getting bored here either," Byakko said, getting a complete picture of the peak.
"Well, I was partly responsible for destroying your home, so I decided to give you a hand in cleaning," Kaida said.
"I appreciate the gesture, but there was no need for you to do all that work. With how dense the nature energy is here, it wouldn't even take half a year for this place to go back to how it was," Byakko said.
"If that's the case, then I guess with all the work I did, it will be back to normal even before that, right?"
"I guess you are right," Byakko said, wincing while he placed the scroll he had been carrying on his back. The size of the scroll was almost the same as that of Byakko, meaning twice that of Kaida.
"Wait, why are you injured?" Kaida asked, as when Byakko left the peak, he was almost completely healed with his last move of going into sage mode.
"Not going to meet your mom for a few decades and then suddenly appearing at her mountain for the scroll is not the best idea, which I found out the hard way," Byakko said, shaking his head to get the painful memory out of his mind.
"Wait, you have a mom?" Kaida felt dumb the instant those words left his mouth. Of course he would have a mother, but from how he lived and seeing no one on the mountain, Kaida just assumed Byakko was alone.
"Of course I have my mom, my aunt, even my grandma. All of those high peaks are occupied by them," Byakko said, pointing toward the distant mountains whose peaks reached the sky.
"What about your father and grandfather, or siblings?" Kaida asked, curious.
"They left. In my race, there can be only one leader, and since my grandma was more powerful than my grandpa, he left the home rather than living under her rule. Same for my father," Byakko said.
"Wait a minute, so they just left the family because they don't want to be under their wives?" Kaida asked, shocked because if the same things happened in Konoha, most of the males would have to live out of the village, as women are normally the head of every house he had seen till now.
"For us, our pride is much more valuable than family. That's why my siblings don't talk to me, or I don't talk to my elder sister. Unless we are at the same level, we will be just treated as servants," Byakko said, shaking his head.
"You have quite a unique family," Kaida said, trying to understand the workings of this family.
"I know. Anyway, let's begin with the ceremony," Byakko said, opening the scroll he had placed on the ground.
"Ah! I forgot about this part," Kaida said, smacking his head for not thinking about it at all. What would have happened if Byakko didn't have this scroll? Since Konoha and everyone was on the other side of the sea, there was no way to get their help now, not to mention if he canceled the reverse summoning jutsu and went back, he couldn't actually come back either.
Though thankfully, that problem didn't arise.
'I should stop thinking about various dangerous scenarios all the time and think more about such actual problems, which matter more,' Kaida concluded in his mind before focusing on the ceremony.
"I have to add chakra here, and then here. Okay, now it is ready," Byakko carefully inserted his chakra in various parts of the seals on the scroll, clearly following the instructions he got from someone. After completing the initial preparation, he looked up. "Come and stand in front of me, boy."
Kaida nodded and went in front of Byakko, each on the opposite side of the scroll.
"I, Byakko of the Celestial Tiger Tribe, pledge myself as the summon of Kaida Uchiha. I shall answer his call in battle and peace, so long as he bears no malice toward me or my kin. Should his intent ever turn to harm against my tribe or myself, this bond shall be broken, and our pact undone," Byakko announced, before sinking his fangs into his own paw and pressing the bloodied mark onto the scroll. Kaida also noticed a faint shimmer in the nature energy around them, like the world was agreeing to the pledge.
It was much more grand than what was in his mind, but he clearly understood the sentiment behind it, and since Byakko was doing this much, there was no way he would be able to just mark his hand and be done with it. That means he had to prepare an oath on the spot.
Though after a little bit of thinking, it was not as difficult as it seemed.
"I'm Kaida Uchiha of the Uchiha Clan—and I accept this bond with Byakko, not just as a summoner, but as someone who's honored by his trust. I swear I'll never break that trust, not now, not ever—as long as I'm alive," Kaida declared, before making a cut in his hand with the kunai and pressing it on the scroll next to Byakko.
And once again, a small pulse went around in the nature energy, which was not seen by Kaida as he had deactivated his Sharingan now, but he still felt it, like the world accepting his side of the oath as well.
With the sealing complete, Kaida had officially become the tiger summoner of the world.
"With this, the ceremony is complete," Byakko said, before carefully folding the scroll back, as he had to return it to his mother.
"Though I don't actually know how you are going to summon me. Mom said you already know about the procedure," Byakko said, after carefully placing the scroll in a safe place.
"Don't worry about it. There is a summoning jutsu on the other side, and you may also get the chance to experience this teleportation soon, though let me tell you, it is not actually a really nice experience, especially during the first time," Kaida said, remembering when he first went through that during his visit with Jiraiya to Mount Myoboku.
A thunderous chuckle came out of Byakko's mouth as he said, "Hahaha, don't worry, I am not as weak as you. Even storm can't faze me, let alone this 'teleportation' you are referring to." In his mind, if this was something Kaida was doing so easily, there was no way it was that dangerous.
"Maybe you are right. Anyway, we will soon find out about this in the future," Kaida said, looking toward the sun. When he came here, the sun was at its zenith, but now it was about to set.
"I should take my leave now. With the contract in place, I would be able to come back easily, so I will visit again soon," Kaida said, bidding his farewell to Byakko.
"Yeah, I already have enough action for the day," Byakko said, at which Kaida just chuckled. Giving the place one last look, he made the hand seal to cancel the jutsu and go back to Konoha.
poof
"Things are about to become interesting," Byakko said, looking toward the place Kaida was standing a few seconds ago.