[Mad Tiger] Chapter 57

"Jump in after me," commanded Sagashi-san before disappearing into what looked like a rabbit hole in the back room of Granny Cat’s shop.

I sniffed at the cool air seeping from the tunnel—definitely too small for even a child to fit through. It carried a faint, tantalizing scent of catnip.

"What am I? Alice?" I muttered, flicking my tail. Maybe this was some kind of secret passage to kitty paradise?

"Follow Sagashi-san," instructed the black she-cat. "Don’t be afraid."

"I’m not afraid," I huffed. "But maybe he could, I don’t know, move aside first?"

I waited a few seconds, then slid in after the Siamese. After what felt like a long, weightless moment, I landed on something soft.

Sagashi’s eyes glowed green in the dim light. We were in a cave, its walls covered with something—maybe mushrooms, maybe glowing fingi, maybe even gemstones—scattered like a dusting of faintly flickering stars… or watching eyes. Yeah, just like those "star-eyes" I hallucinated when I got food poisoning.

"Come on," Sagashi called, his pale form darting through a narrow crevice.

"Hold up! How exactly do we get back? Can you fly or something?" I grumbled as I followed. "And you lied—you said this was close by, but you made me ditch my humans!"

"They’re coming here too," Sagashi said matter-of-factly. "They’re just taking the long way, through the upper path. This tunnel is for cats only."

"Oh. Well, okay then," I muttered. "So… where exactly is here?"

"This is Torideneko—the ancestral homeland of all cats," Sagashi replied. "We’ve arrived."

As we emerged from the tunnel, I finally understood why that word had felt so layered with meaning. It wasn’t just a place—it was a world, a fortress, a sanctuary. It meant home in the purest, most instinctual sense.

First off, it was nighttime—or something like it. The sky wasn’t black, but an eerie greenish hue that somehow made everything clearer than daylight. I could see so far.

Second, the smell. A gentle, intoxicating mix of catnip and something ancient. It made my paws itch to run. To play.

And third… We were in the garden of an enormous castle—one shaped like a sphinx. Holy crap.

Sagashi led the way toward it, his tail flicking.

"Hey, Sagashi-san," I finally asked. "Who exactly are ‘Mama-sama’ and ‘Papa-sama’?"

He stopped, looking at me with wide blue eyes—eyes eerily similar to Naruto’s.

"You don’t know?" he asked, sounding genuinely shocked. "That’s… strange. Your mother never told you about Torideneko? These things are passed down with our very first milk—we know them before we even open our eyes!"

"Uh…" I hesitated. "So, funny story—something happened to me a while back. Almost died. When I woke up, I could barely remember my own name. So, yeah, maybe I was told all this… but if I was, I don’t remember."

Sagashi tilted his head, thoughtful. Then he nodded. "Alright. Then I’ll explain."

He sat, wrapping his tail neatly around his paws. "This place is Torideneko, but humans call it ‘Nekomata’s Castle.’ Our kind has its own hierarchy, one that traces back to the great cat demon, Nekomata-sama, who used his power to create this realm and build his great castle."

"Wait… so we’re in a different dimension?" I asked, for some reason thinking about the Ninja Turtles and "Dimension X."

"Of course. Can’t you feel it?"

"Uh… sure," I lied, not wanting to look like an idiot. "Go on."

"There are the Great Thirteen—Nekomata-sama’s children. Twelve of them founded the six great cat clans, the ancestors of all who now live in Torideneko and beyond—"

"Wait. What about the thirteenth?" I interrupted. "Didn’t get a mate or something?"

Sagashi’s ears twitched, and he immediately lowered his voice.

"The thirteenth was a daughter," he murmured. "Rumored to be barren. And very dangerous. She even changed her name—now she is called Reikoku, ‘The Ruthless One.’ Humans know her as Aomoku no Bakeneko—‘The Blue-Eyed Demon Cat.’"

Yikes.

"But I was explaining the clans," Sagashi continued. "Aside from the great clans, there are also lesser clans, descended from the originals. Each clan is led by a Papa-sama and Mama-sama—a tradition honoring our ancestors. My clan, for example, is called Wasei."

Something clicked in my brain. Wasei sounded suspiciously close to Vasiliy(1), the name of my old cat that sent me here.

"Huh. So ‘Wasei’ means…?"

"‘Wild-born,’" Sagashi confirmed. "Our ancestors left Torideneko and intermingled with the cats of the human world. Over time, we lost much of our original power—our size, our abilities. What remains is intelligence, strength, and, for a rare few, ancestral memory."

"So basically, any random house cat that has chakra could technically be considered part of Wasei?" I asked.

"Pretty much," Sagashi nodded. "But true Wasei—those who have reawakened their ancestral memory—are rare. Only Papa-sama Wasei and Mama-sama Wasei and their four sons have that honor."

"And they can talk like humans?"

"Yes," Sagashi confirmed. "And the higher clans understand them. Of course, they say that Nekomata-sama himself understands all his descendants, but that’s why he’s The Great Creator."

I squinted at him, my curiosity burning. "Alright, now I really wanna see these ‘higher clans’ you keep talking about."

Maybe, just like Naruto’s summons—those giant toads—there are massive cats or some kind of tigers here?

Sagashi chuckled. "Then follow me."

We scaled a tree, then leapt onto a stone wall and padded along its edge. And then—

Oh. My. Catnip.

My brain short-circuited.

This wasn’t just some magical cat world. This was a whole freaking civilization.

Everywhere I looked, there were… cat-people. Humanoid felines, walking on two legs, dressed in flowing robes and armor. They spoke—their language a blend of purring, meowing, and something that sounded eerily like Japanese.

Some browsed market stalls, some strolled around, other hurriedly moved somewhere. Further down the street, amusing-looking soldiers in cuirasses and helmets, armed with pikes, patrolled.

Now I really understood why the Wasei clan was considered the lowest rung on the hierarchy.

Compared to this?

Yeah, we were basically feral strays.

"Wait," I muttered. "We understand the higher clans?"

"Of course," Sagashi snorted. "We lost speech, but we still comprehend them—and other animals too, for that matter."

"Yeah, I noticed that too," I agreed with the Siamese. "Guess it's like compensation for what was lost. You know, like how people who can't hear well have better eyesight or a stronger sense of smell, that kind of thing."

"Do you have a name?" Sagashi asked. "We never went through a naming ceremony, but my mistress calls me 'Sagashi.'"

"Oh, yeah, I’ve got a few," I chuckled. "Tora, Namaiki, Choko… and, hmm… I prefer the first one. But about this thing you mentioned. 'Naming ceremony'—what is it exactly?"

"It's a grand festival where Nekomata-sama himself bestows a name upon his descendant. That name is then recorded on plaques, so it's always possible to know whether a descendant of Nekomata-sama is alive or not. These names are kept in the heart of the castle. It's a great honor… And there are stories—rumors, really—that it unlocks certain abilities or something like that. Probably just gossip."

"Oh…" was all I could manage. "That's… pretty cool."

"Let's go see Papa-sama and Mama-sama, Tora-san," Sagashi called to me. "Your humans will be arriving here soon."

The head of the Wasei clan was a strikingly beautiful, long-haired white cat with a large patch of gray fur on his side. His eyes—just like mine—were green. Mama-sama, on the other hand, was a sleek, short-haired cat with a deep chocolate-black coat.

Sagashi whispered something to them, and they both turned their full attention to me, tails flicking with interest.

"So, you’re a ninja cat?" Mama-sama asked, her amber eyes narrowing slightly. "From Konoha?"

"In my early kittenhood, I was taken from Konoha to Himachi," I began, recounting my life story. "I lived in the palace of the Fire Daimyo. After becoming self-aware, I wanted to learn how to control my chakra and become a ninneko.

"My first teacher was a human—Uchiha Shisui, who belonged to the very same clan from Konoha that I was taken from."

"We know the Uchiha," Papa-sama said with a nod. "Many from the Wasei clan—and even some of the higher clans—worked alongside them. They say that even Nekomata-sama himself favored the descendants of Hagoromo and created the Game for them. How is your pride faring? We have not heard from them in a long time."

Part of that conversation flew right over my head, but I caught onto the part about pride—they were referring to the feline families that had once lived with the Uchiha clan.

"Unfortunately, they were all wiped out, along with almost the entire Uchiha clan," I answered. "I came here with Uchiha Sasuke—my human—hoping I could tell him the truth about what happened to his clan. I was a witness to its destruction."

My words made the clan heads’ tails puff out in alarm.

"Wiped out?" Papa-sama repeated.

I nodded.

"I didn’t see it happen with my own eyes, but an enemy force purged the area. Every cat that lived there disappeared. So did the civilian members of the clan…"

Sagashi and I walked down the alley leading out of the castle in silence, since we had no choice but to take the long way back.

I was completely drained—turns out, talking that much takes a lot out of you.

I had spilled nearly everything to the Wasei clan heads, leaving out only the part where I used to be human and was sent here by my own cat, Vasiliy.

Mama-sama and Papa-sama had promised to help me, as well as Sasuke, Itachi, and Shisui—since the Uchiha were allies.

What I didn’t quite understand was how they planned to help.

"Look, Tora-san," Sagashi suddenly said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Your humans and the girl are trying to get through the gate."

I glanced ahead and snorted with laughter.

All three of my little kiddie ninjas—Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura—had been fitted with adorable white headbands with fuzzy, triangular cat ears on top.

"Guess that’s the price of admission," I muttered, still chuckling.

"I’ll stay here with them, then," I told Sagashi. "Thanks for guiding me here and giving me a chance to talk to the clan heads."

He let out an amused purr and flicked his tail.

"Good luck, Tora-san."

(1) In the first chapter I translated his name as Basil. It's an English version of his original name Vasiliy