JohnnyZ
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[Mad Tiger] Chapter 51
🕑 Added 2025-02-07 18:30:06 +0000 UTCSometimes, I really felt like a failure of a cat.
"Tora-chan, are you a spy-cat?" Ino asked for the thirtieth time, still trying to wrap her head around it. I nodded.
"Weāre not supposed to expose you?"
"Youāre on a mission?"
Kiba and Naruto fired off their questions one after the other. Another nod from me.
And yet, they were still so far from the truth I wanted them to uncover. I had to wonderāwas Ino still scared senseless after the last time she used her jutsu to not even mention using it?
"Alright, letās summarize," Shikamaru sighed, holding up the notes heād been scribbling down during our hour-long game of ā20 Questions.ā "Namaiki-chanās real name is Tora-chan. Heās a ninja cat and belongs to the daimyoās family. We donāt return him to his āowners,ā because that would mess everything up. We also canāt call him āTora-sanā in front of others or mention that heās connected to the daimyo. Correct?" He looked at me for confirmation. I gave him a solemn nod.
"Moving on. Tora-san is on a secret mission in Konoha. Andā¦ he wants us to be friends. Uhā¦ Neji-kun, are you okay with that?" Shikamaru asked, tilting his head toward the Hyuga.
Eight pairs of eyesāincluding Akamaruāsāzeroed in on him. Neji tensed slightly. I was curled up in his lap but lifted my head just to enjoy the sight of him turning pink.
"Wellā¦ I donāt mind," he muttered, fingers automatically threading through my fur.
Hinata let out a quiet breathāso soft that everyone somehow still heard it, and now there were two blushing HyÅ«gas in the room.
"Iām glad, Nii-san," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Nejiās really strong," Sasuke noted, eyes narrowing slightly. "We should spar sometime."
"Sure," Neji agreed with a nod. "I have a day off coming up."
"But what exactly is Tora-sanās mission?" Ino interrupted, bringing the conversation back to the real mystery. "Itās secret, right?"
Ughhhhā¦ What was I supposed to say to that?! This was why the ancient wisdom of "if you donāt know what to do, take a nap" existed. I was so sick of running in circles, knowing full well that explaining things in a way theyād understand was impossible unless they had some kind of mind-reading jutsu (which they do might I add!). And every time, I still got my hopes up, only for disappointment to kick me in the tail.
Wellā¦ at least I got Neji to join the group. That was something.
The next week was a blur of training and last-minute cramming for graduation exams. Naruto was jittery, throwing himself into studying like his life depended on it. The hangout sessions at Sasukeās apartment mostly stoppedāeveryone was too busy preparing. Even Iruka had stopped nitpicking at Naruto during class.
Somewhere in the chaos, I totally missed Narutoās introduction to Konohamaru. Almost blew my cover because I straight-up forgot that was even a thing in the anime.
Meanwhile, Sasuke and Neji did manage to schedule their spar. Naruto wanted to watch, but he had to pick up his stipend and food ration coupons. Everyone promised to wait for him, and I figured heād be fine on his own. Not a baby, right? Besides, I had to split the pork with Akamaru.
And yet, somewhere between the Hokageās office and Ichiraku Ramenāright where we were waitingāNaruto managed to pick up a stray.
"Hey, Kaicho(1)! Teach me that cool jutsu you used to beat my grandpa!" Konohamaru hollered, latching onto Narutoās sleeve with all the grace of a hyperactive squirrel. "Once I learn your jutsu, Iāll defecate the old man and become Hokage!(2)"
"Itās decimate, not defecate," Neji corrected absentmindedly, wondering why he even bothered.
"And who the heck are you?" Konohamaru demanded, jabbing a finger at Neji. "Iām gonna tell my grandpa youāre bullying me! Do you even know who my grandpa is?!"
"Oh my god, shut up!" Naruto snapped and smacked the kid upside the head. "These are my friends. If you canāt be polite, then scram. And anyway, wasnāt your creepy, sunglasses-wearing babysitter lurking around? Let him teach you."
"Ebisuās a dummy," Konohamaru pouted. "He wonāt teach me anything cool."
"Naru, whatās this kid even talking about?" Kiba frowned. "What did you show the Hokage?"
Naruto turned an impressive shade of red and shot a quick look at the girls.
"Nothing. Nothing. Adults are just a bunch of pervs," he grumbled.
"Are we going or not?" Ino huffed dramatically. "At this rate, we wonāt get anywhere before sundown."
Everyone exchanged glances, looked at the tiny menace that was clearly planning to follow us, and then bolted in opposite directions.
"Hey! HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS GOING?!" Konohamaru spun in circles, then turned to Teuchi like he was an informant (which he is! Canāt convince me otherwise!). "Old man! Where did Naruto and his friends run off to?! Did they say anything?"
Teuchi-san just twirled his ladle thoughtfully and shrugged. No intel from him.
I snickered to myself and sprinted toward the training field where the spar was set to take place. Hopefully, Naruto would never tell Konohamaru about his almost black ops ninja cat.
Graduation day arrived fastājust four days after Sasuke and Nejiās match. Predictably, Neji won. But honestly? It wasnāt an easy win. He hadnāt used his Byakugan to shut down Sasukeās tenketsu, which was probably the only reason Sasuke wasnāt fuming even more than he already was. Even with the handicap, losing had put him in an awful mood.
Which meant I was now splitting my time between watching two idiots who were one bad decision away from making a scene.
And then Naruto failed his exam.
The theory part had been shaky, but thanks to Irukaās leading questions, he somehow scraped by. The practical portion, though? A total disaster. Something was off with his chakra.
It wasnāt just bad controlāsomething was wrong.
This was a kid who had mastered the Henge no Jutsu five months ago like it was nothing, and suddenly, he couldnāt even manage a basic transformation? No way.
Someone had clearly decided to stack the deck against him. The real question was how.
Had it been poison? A drug slipped into his breakfast? But weād eaten at home, like usual. Maybe he was hit with some kind of chakra-disrupting attackālike a tiny needle dipped in poison, shot through a tube like those blow darts in jungle movies.
Or maybe I was just paranoid. But that didnāt change the fact that something was up.
And now I was stuck wonderingāwas this actually a bad thing?
Naruto was about to find out he was a Jinchuriki, one way or another. And letās be realāstealing that scroll was going to work out in his favor. If his chakra was out of balance, then that Shadow Clone Jutsu might be the only thing he could perform properly. Plus, if the Hokage couldnāt immediately saddle him with ābabysitter bestieā, thenā¦ what if they declared him dangerous? What if they locked him up, just in case?
Yeah, this could go very wrong very fast.
I flicked my tail anxiously and glanced over at the others.
They were waiting for him. Sasuke and Kiba were muttering about something. Shikamaru was flat on his back in the grass, while Choji sat on the swings, crunching on a bag of chips. The girls were fussing over their forehead protectors, trying to decide the best way to wear them.
Naruto was the last to take the exam. His friends had already gone first.
Shit. Do Iā¦ actually have to help the āvillainsā pull this off?
I didnāt have time to keep worrying. Naruto came storming out, face twisted in frustration.
"Wait, I canāt retake it?" he demanded, looking between Iruka and Mizuki. "Thereās something wrong! My stomach feels weird!"
"You know, I could ask around," Iruka offered kindly. "Just wait in the classroom for a bit, okay?"
"Yeah! Thanks, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto brightened immediately.
Mizuki stayed behind while Iruka hurried off.
This is exactly the kind of moment where I really regret not being able to form hand seals or use jutsu. If I could, Iād be tailing Iruka right now to see if he was actually going to bat for Naruto or just hiding in an empty classroom, counting to a hundred before coming backāgiving his buddy here enough time to mess with the kidās head.
"I feel bad for you, Naruto," Mizuki sighed, putting on the fakest concerned mentor expression Iāve ever seen. "Your friendsāwho are waiting for you, by the wayāare about to move on as full-fledged genin. Meanwhile, youā¦ Youāll be left behind. Theyāll get placed into squads. Last year, we had a girl who failed her exam, just like you. She had to wait six whole months for a retake and ended up on a team with a completely different set of students. She had friends too, you know. I actually saw the preliminary squad lists. If you had passed today, you would have been in a team with Uchiha Sasuke. A real shame, huh? You guys wouldāve made a solid team."
Wow. Justā¦ wow. He really twisted the knife just right. I almost wanted to applaud the technique.
"Butā¦" Narutoās voice was barely above a whisper. He glanced at the window, looking like a kicked puppy. "I canāt wait six months. I have to pass now. And I want to be on Sasukeās team!"
"Wellā¦ I donāt know if youāre ready for the kind of secret mission that could prove youāre genin material," Mizuki mused, stroking his chin like he wasnāt about to pull the slimiest con job of the century. "Itās an old tradition. Most people donāt even remember it anymore. Iām sure if you ask Iruka about it, heāll just try to talk you out of it."
Naruto took the baitāhook, line, and sinker. "What do I have to do?"
Mizuki was just about to deliver his grand pitch when Iruka came barreling back into the room, slightly out of breath.
"I talked to Director Michokado," Iruka announced, straightening up. "You can retake the exam next term."
And just like that, weāre at the finish line. Orā¦ maybe the starting line.
Naruto gave a small nod. "I see," he said, before sneaking a glance at Mizuki, who had on the most I told you so face Iād ever seen.
The kid left the classroom, and I watched as he made his way downstairs. I hesitated, debating whether to follow him or stick around to eavesdrop on the teachers. But they were just silently packing up their papersāno juicy conversations. Damn it.
I jumped down and slipped through the bushes toward my little troublemaker and his crew.
"ā¦So you guys go on ahead. Iāve still got this stupid cleanup duty," Naruto was saying, laughing a little too casually. "Gotta stick around for a couple more hours, so donāt wait up for me, alright?"
"Alright," Sasuke shrugged. "But weāre still doing Ichiraku, right? We were gonna celebrate our promotions."
"Yeah, but letās push it to tomorrow," Naruto hedged, rubbing the back of his head. "Itās almost sunset, and the place is gonna be packed. Better to go when we can just relax, yāknow?"
"Fine. See you tomorrow, then," the others waved and started to leave. Sasuke lingered for a second, studying Naruto with a look that clearly said somethingās off, but he didnāt push it. He just nodded and walked away.
Naruto sighed, then turned and stared directly at the bush I was in.
"Namaiki-chan, I know youāre there," he called out.
Busted.
I slinked out of the foliage and hopped onto the swing next to him. His blue eyes were steadyāno hesitation, no second-guessing. His jaw was set, his fists clenched.
"Donāt tell them, okay?" he said quietly. "Iāll figure this out myself. I donāt wanna be a failure."
I held his gaze for a long moment before finally giving a slow nod.
He settled back onto the swing, watching the Academy entrance. Waiting.
Everything was happening just like before.
And yet, somehow, everything was different.
(1) In the original, Konohamaru calls Naruto Oyabun, a term used to refer to the boss or chief of a yakuza gang. I replaced it with KaichÅ, which can have a similar meaning depending on the context but is a more familiar term for anime fans. Another alternative is Aniki which I could use if you find it more appropriate.
(2) In the original the joke goes like this:
"ŠŠ¹, Š¾ŃŠ±ŃŠ½! ŠŠ°ŃŃŠø Š¼ŠµŠ½Ń ŃŠ²Š¾ŠµŠ¹ ŠŗŃŃŃŠ¾Š¹ ŃŠµŃ Š½ŠøŠŗŠµ, ŠŗŠ¾ŃŠ¾ŃŠ¾Š¹ ŃŃ ŠæŠ¾Š±ŠµŠ“ŠøŠ» Š¼Š¾ŠµŠ³Š¾ Š“ŠµŠ“Š°!" Š²ŠµŃŠµŃŠ°Š» ŠŠ¾Š½Š¾Ń Š¾Š¼Š°ŃŃ, ŃŠµŠæŠ»ŃŃŃŃ Š·Š° ŃŃŠŗŠ°Š² ŠæŃŃŠ½ŠøŃŃŠ¾Š³Š¾ ŠŗŠ¾ŃŃŃŠ¼ŃŠøŠŗŠ° Š£Š·ŃŠ¼Š°ŠŗŠø. "ŠÆ Š½Š°ŃŃŃŃŃ ŃŠ²Š¾ŠµŠ¹ ŃŠµŃ Š½ŠøŠŗŠµ, ŠæŠ¾Š±ŠµŠ“Ń ŃŃŠ°ŃŠøŠŗŠ° Šø ŃŃŠ°Š½Ń Š„Š¾ŠŗŠ°Š³Šµ!"
"ŠŃŠ°Š²ŠøŠ»ŃŠ½Š¾ Š³Š¾Š²Š¾ŃŠøŃŃ Ā«Š¾Š“ŠµŃŠ¶Ń ŠæŠ¾Š±ŠµŠ“ŃĀ», Š° Š½Šµ Ā«ŠæŠ¾Š±ŠµŠ“ŃĀ»," Š¼Š°ŃŠøŠ½Š°Š»ŃŠ½Š¾ ŠæŠ¾ŠæŃŠ°Š²ŠøŠ» ŃŃŃ Š±ŠµŃŃŠ¾Š»Š¾ŃŃ ŠŠµŠ“Š¶Šø.
Tbh, I have no clue how to explain this in English, let alone translate it properly.
