[Mad Tiger] Chapter 71

I was sitting proudly on Lord Minoruhi’s desk, ears perked, soaking in a very private conversation between my human—currently fanning himself like a bored noble—and an older man in a blindingly colorful kimono collection who’d shown up with Orochimaru. This old guy wasn’t just some random senior citizen with a fashion problem—he was the ruler of the Land of Rice Fields, the country just north of the Land of Fire. The valley river called “The End,” where Sasuke and Naruto famously had their dramatic anime deathmatch, just so happened to be the border.

“The Land of Rice Fields is prepared to become a province under the Fire Country,” the old man confirmed with a sly grin. “Honestly, not much changes for us—if anything, our rice export tax will go down. Plus, we’ve already got a standing garrison managed by Orochimaru-dono.”

“A mutually beneficial arrangement, no doubt,” said Minoruhi. “I take it you’d like to stay on as provincial governor? And I’d need to formally recognize… let’s say… the Oto garrison, which Konoha’s intel believes is, let’s be real, a newly forming hidden village.”

“I’ve no heirs to worry about,” the old guy creaked. Though to me, he didn’t feel that old. His chakra flow was strong—definitely not shinobi-tier, but robust enough to suggest he was spry beneath all the grandpa cosplay.

“It’s smarter to ally than to clash. The times are… turbulent,” Orochimaru added with his signature silk-and-snake charm.

Now, if Gaara and Shisui weren’t chilling up in the rafters and if my human wasn’t wearing enough defensive fuinjutsu to light up a bingo book, I might’ve mistaken this for a veiled threat. But as it stood? Just ominous suggestion. The political scene really was heating up lately. The Land of Hot Springs, for example, had recently disbanded their hidden village, turned themselves into a “neutral tourist hub,” and stopped trying to keep up military spending. Tiny nations just couldn’t afford real garrisons—and let’s face it, a couple squads of low-level ninja weren’t stopping any of the Big Five or rogue super-nukes.

But call it a “provincial garrison” under a major country? Boom. Legit. Plus, those garrisons could send their recruits to Konoha’s Academy for training upgrades from proper jonin-sensei.

…Man, when did I start getting good at politics?

“I’ll give provisional approval,” Minoruhi nodded. “But it’ll still need to pass through the jonin council. My staff will draft a formal treaty.”

The future governor of Konoha’s 12th province took his leave. Orochimaru slithered off with him. Minoruhi set aside his fan, sighed, and scratched me behind the ears.

“I hope that was the right call, Tora-chan…”

I gave a sage nod and hopped into his lap with a purr. Optimal petting position achieved.

“…This wing’s got a couple of baths, that’s the dining hall—and sometimes doubles as a meeting and training room—and those three rooms at the back are free,” Naruto explained, proudly giving the newcomers a tour of the Guardian Shinobi residence.

Shikamaru, Choji, and Neji had accepted Lord Minoruhi’s invitation. I personally ran back to Konoha to fetch them—had to stay in the loop, after all.

Kiba had been invited too, but his mom Tsume-chan put her foot down. Said they needed to stay with the pups. Both he and Akamaru promised they’d train night and day until the gang was back in the Leaf. Respect.

“I’m so glad you guys are here now!” Naruto beamed wide enough to split his face. “Seriously, it’s awesome. So many new jutsu to learn! Kushina-sensei said jonin from your clans will be invited here from time to time, so you’ll still get top-tier training. And we’re learning etiquette, diplomatic stuff, advanced strategies—it’s not like Iruka-sensei’s endless droning back in the Academy. Plus, we’ve already been sent on a few missions with Kuroumi and Akai.” (That’d be Sasuke and Gaara’s new code names, respectively. Naruto went by “Kin” now.)

“Guardian Shinobi training’s been around forever,” Neji noted. “An elder from my clan trained under the daimyo too—learned not just combat, but economics, politics, and leadership. But the tradition stopped generations ago… I don’t even know why.”

Almost two months had passed since I came back to the palace.

Kushina-san was now officially the mentor for Naruto, Gaara, and Karin—the girl from the Grass Country. Karin hadn’t joined the Guardian Shinobi, but she was studying under the palace’s medical-nin and learning fuinjutsu from Kushina. We’d become friends—she’s a good kid. Orphaned. Her mom died after a long illness, and Karin had been going on missions with adults since she was like, nine. She had some rare chakra-based healing technique that kicked in when she was in pain. The absolute psychos from her village used to bite her to suck out her chakra for healing. I saw her once in the bath—poor girl’s body was covered in old bite scars.

But apparently, once she learns to fully control her chakra, she might be able to heal all of it.

Kushina still hadn’t worked up the courage to tell Naruto she’s his mom. Ninja brain-melt. “Who am I now?” “How can I just drop that on him?” “Things are stable right now—I don’t want to ruin it.” I try to talk her into it daily. Sometimes I just whack her with a paw until she promises she’ll tell him soon.

At least she talks to me about everything.

Turns out they handed Uchiha Obito—the same one who used to help Minato—over to Orochimaru to win him over. But Kushina had sealed him up in some clever way to keep him from acting out.

The sannin might’ve gained a Sharingan and the ability to finally live out all his creepy science-fantasy dreams, but he was now firmly on our side—because the key to unsealing Obito was in Kushina’s hands. Classic hostage insurance. She said Orochimaru still had a grudge against Konoha, and as a former Hokage, she couldn’t let anything happen to the village.

And from a few things she let slip, I pieced together that old man Hiruzen… yeah. Pretty sure he ended up on Orochimaru’s dissection table. Creepy snake bastard probably got real hands-on.

Shisui was still working as a Guardian Shinobi, now going by “Sho.” Itachi, meanwhile, had way bigger fish to fry. He was infiltrating the Akatsuki. But when they captured Obito, he also learned something huge—on the night the Uchiha clan “died,” most of the women and kids weren’t killed. Obito had sealed them away somehow. He wiped their memories and later dropped them off on an isolated island way down south. So yeah, the Uchiha bloodline survived.

Maybe Obito had plans to rebuild the clan… who knows? But Shisui told me that soon, we might see a “Great Uchiha Migration.” Or maybe not. That’s their business. Maybe they’ll even strike a deal with Nekomata-sama—after all, Sharingan’s a valuable asset, and right now they’ve got zero protection. No one knows they exist—not even Kushina. That info? Straight from Shisui.

I’m that kind of cat who knows way too many secrets, yep. And yet I still nearly die of curiosity on the regular. That saying about curiosity killing the cat? Totally checks out. But let’s be honest—life’s a lot more fun and exciting this way.

“Kushina-sensei, you wanted to see me?” Naruto rubbed the back of his head, looking sheepish. “The crew from Konoha just showed up, so I was giving them a tour and, uh… then we kinda lost track of time chatting…”

“Oh! Tora-chan? You’re here too?”

I gave a dignified nod and stared straight at Kushina-san.

Do it already, oh mighty Bloody Habanero. Just tell him!

“Naruto…” Kushina wrung her hands and stepped up until she was nearly nose-to-nose with her son. “I’m… your mom.”

“…What?” Naruto blinked at her, completely stunned.

I slapped a paw to my face. Seriously? That’s how you drop the bomb? Like a straight-up military briefing?

And the best part? Both of them—both Uzumakis—turned and looked at me, like I was supposed to help them navigate this disaster. Typical. Can’t do anything around here without the cat.

“It’s true?” Naruto said quickly, then turned to her. “Come on, tell me properly!”

Kushina coughed awkwardly. “Shisui and I… didn’t tell you and Sasuke everything,” she began. “A year ago, when it all happened… I was the Nine-Tails’ jinchuriki. And I was also the Fifth Hokage. I hadn’t held the title long—just long enough to have the Third removed.”

“Shikamaru told us our intel was incomplete,” Naruto said, suddenly serious. “No one really knows why the Sarutobi clan made that move. If the Uchiha were being used, then maybe it wasn’t them running the village after all. We figured it might be the Senju pulling the strings—that their clan survived somehow. But… it was you. You, Uzumaki Kushina.”

“They used to call me ‘Red Hot Blooded Habanero,’” she muttered. “The Nine-Tails’ jinchuriki. They wanted to get rid of me and create a new jinchuriki—using my son. Normally, when you rip a Tailed Beast out of someone, they die. But I survived. Thanks to Tora-san… and Shisui. I couldn’t tell you earlier. Too much unrest. A jinchuriki has to learn to stabilize the Tailed Beast’s chakra. Besides… I wasn’t sure I’d survive. I didn’t want to give my son hope, only to hurt him again by dying a second time.”

“I—what?” Naruto’s voice broke as he threw his arms around her. “Don’t say that… Mom… You’re my mom. You’re alive. Really alive. I always looked at you with Gaara and Karin and thought… I was jealous, y’know? It felt like you were their mom. So kind and caring and… you really used to be called Bloody Habanero?” he added with a teary chuckle.

“Try cussing in front of her and you’ll find out why,” I muttered, my throat dry. For real though, what were they waiting for? Look at him now, waterworks in full swing—and Kushina too! Great. Now am I supposed to cry with them?

“Mama,” my little Chickpea finally pulled back. “Can you… can you adopt Gaara too? He’s a good guy. He’s like a brother to me. And maybe Karin too? She’s not that annoying. And she’s Uzumaki, right?”

“Of course, sweetheart,” Kushina laughed softly, hugging him tight again. “You have such a big heart… just like your father.”

“…Who was he?” Naruto asked, quietly.

“Minato Namikaze. The Fourth Hokage. He died protecting the Land of Fire when you were still a baby.”

I padded a few slow circles on Gaara’s still-skinny chest before curling up. Just listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. No sand cocoon this time—just a bed. A real one. He still had nightmares sometimes. That’s why I usually slept with him.

And you know what? I finally get that weird little house-elf from those old cartoons(1) I used to watch before—the one who said “happiness is when everyone’s home.(2)”

It’s true.

The shinobi world isn’t exactly peaceful or safe or, y’know, not a hot mess—but it teaches you to appreciate the little moments. The quiet ones. The precious ones.

And if something bad does happen again… well, they’ve got me.

And I’m awesome.

— THE END —

(1) The proper translation would be: “Now I perfectly understand the brownie Kuzya(2) from the cartoons of my childhood, who said that happiness is when everyone’s home”.

(2) The quote is from "Domovenok Kuzya" (Brownie Kuzya). A four-part series of Soviet puppet animated films about a brownie (house-elf) named Kuzya, based on the fairy tales of Tatyana Aleksandrova and scripts by Marina Vishnevetskaya and Valentin Berestov

TN: That’s it—that’s the end of the story. Thank you all for reading! And special thanks again to Кицунэ Миято for the story and for the permission to translate it.