Katsuyu

Katsuyu (カツユ) is a giant slug from one of the three unexplored sage regions, the Shikkotsu Forest, and personal summon of Sakura Uchiha and her master the Fifth Hokage Tsunade .

## Background [ ]

At some point, Tsunade signed a summoning contract with Katsuyu and summoned her during the Second Shinobi World War with the other two Three-Way Deadlock summons, Manda and Gamabunta. Many years later, the Sannin confronted each other using their summons and Katsuyu fought against her comrades.

When Pain attacked Konohagakure, the Fifth Hokage summoned Katsuyu to protect and heal everyone in the village, and gave one of the clones to Naruto Uzumaki to receive intel about the Akatsuki . After the entire village was destroyed and Naruto transformed into the Nine Tails, Katsuyu transmitted this information to everyone in the area and Sakura ordered the many slug clones to evacuate the area in fear of more destruction. She was also responsible for informing Naruto that everyone in Konoha was coming back to life. Moreover, with her instant transmission she told Sakura, Hinata Hyūga and Team Guy that Pain had been defeated.

When the Fourth Shinobi World War broke out, Katsuyu was initially in charge of connecting the battlefield and Headquarters, with many of her fragments in different divisions. She aided Shikaku in handling the problem with Naruto and Killer B 's escape from Gengo. Later, Katsuyu and Tsunade teleported to the battlefield to fight Madara Uchiha with the rest of Kage.

After the battle, Katsuyu's entire body was summoned to heal the Five Kage after their defeat. Later on, Sakura, who had just complete the Strength of a Hundred Seal , summoned another part of Katsuyu to heal the entire Allied Shinobi Forces that confronted Obito Uchiha and the Ten Tails . When Tsunade was fully healed with the help of Orochimaru , Suigetsu and Karin , Katsuyu, once again, transmitted information happening from the Allied Shinobi Forces position to the group. At the same time, the Sakura's Katsuyu clone informed her that the Five Kage were on their way to their side of the battlefield. By their arrival, Tsunade joined Sakura and both summoned a much larger version of Katsuyu with the combined strength of their seals. Katsuyu divided her body and provided a healing area for everyone in the Alliance to recover.

## Personality [ ]

Compared to her comrades from the Three-Way Deadlock, Katsuyu is more subordinate and well-mannered towards her master and other people, choosing honorifics to address people like "-sama" for Tsunade and "-san" or "-kun" for other individuals. Sakura and Shizune also address Katsuyu respectfully as "Katsuyu-sama".

On other occasions, Katsuyu has shown concern for the well-being of her allies on the battlefield and even pride in Sakura when she was finally able to complete the Strength of a Hundred seal and summon her .

## Appearance [ ]

With a white body and blue stripes that run the middle and sides of her body, Katsuyu is a giant slug whose real size has never been revealed. When summoned by one person, Katsuyu is as big as the Ninja Academy, the largest building in Konoha. Tsunade mentions that with the combined efforts of Sakura's Strength of a Hundred seal and her own, they can only summon one-tenth of her full body into the battlefield, which dwarfed the roots of the Divine Tree and the surrounding mountains; and even the entire battlefield .

Unlike the other sage regions filled with many individuals of the same species, Katsuyu is a sole entity in the Shikkotsu Forest. This means that the fragments summoned by Sakura and Tsunade are just clones of the same body.

## Abilities [ ]

Originally a support-type, with her Slug Great Division, Katsuyu can divide itself in several thousands of fragments with incredible speed to avoid attacks or serve other purposes, and also reconstruct itself quickly with ease.

Katsuyu's many clones can attach themselves to as many people as possible, using the chakra inside the Strength of a Hundred seal to heal their wounds no matter the severity of the injury. Katsuyu was able to keep Tsunade alive after being bisected, and was also able to reattach both halves of her body together, although with difficulty due to Tsunade's weakened state . Each of the clones establish a sensing connection with the person they are attached to and the user through the chakra inside the seal, making them able to monitor their health and constants in real time . The clones can also share information with each other instantly via telepathy, allowing the user to disperse Katsuyu to many areas to serve many supplementary roles like gathering and sharing intel .

Because of its genetic and physical make up, Katsuyu is highly resistant to damage such as explosions and corrosive damage, as seen when the many fragments protected Konoha citizens from Pain's Shinra Tensei or when one tiny fragment survived Naruto's Nine Tails transformation and Nagato's Chibaku Tensei . Moreover, due to the slime around the slug's body, it can deconstruct itself into liquid while still able to fulfill every single one of its abilities .

Although Katsuyu is a support-type, it can perform offensive attacks and spit acid with her mouth capable of melting rocks .

Unlike other animal summons, Katsuyu cannot be summoned without the Strength of a Hundred seal. Moreover, it does not have a summoning time limit, as stated by Gamabunta . This condition is unique to Katsuyu and its users due to the symbiotic connection both parties share through the Strength of a Hundred seal.

## Trivia [ ]

- The name Katsuyu apparently comes from slug (蛞蝓) in on'yomi.
- The first part of Katsuyu's name: Katsu (割), means "split" or "divide". This could be a reference to its ability to divide into many smaller bodies.
- A variation of the worldwide game "Rock, Paper, Scissors" in Japan presented in the early 1640s was the "Slug, Snake, Frog" variation. In this variation, the Frog is afraid of the Snake, the Snake is afraid of the Slug, and the Slug is afraid of the Frog. This is influenced by the Sansukumi way of thinking where it keeps the three objects in a deadlock. nade and Naruto summoned Katsuyu and Gamabunta, the latter swallowed the former shortly after appearing, much to Tsunade's horror.
- In English translations of the series, Katsuyu is referred to with female pronouns. In the original Japanese, Katsuyu is only referred to with gender-neutral pronouns which could relate to slugs being naturally hermaphroditic.

## References [ ]