[Mad Tiger] Chapter 51

Sometimes, 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.

"We’re not supposed to expose you?"

"You’re 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 wonder—was Ino still scared senseless after the last time she used her jutsu to not even mention using it?

"Alright, let’s summarize," Shikamaru sighed, holding up the notes he’d been scribbling down during our hour-long game of ‘20 Questions.’ "Namaiki-chan’s real name is Tora-chan. He’s a ninja cat and belongs to the daimyo’s family. We don’t return him to his ‘owners,’ because that would mess everything up. We also can’t call him ‘Tora-san’ in front of others or mention that he’s 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. And… he wants us to be friends. Uh… Neji-kun, are you okay with that?" Shikamaru asked, tilting his head toward the Hyuga.

Eight pairs of eyes—including Akamaru’s—zeroed 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.

"Well… I don’t mind," he muttered, fingers automatically threading through my fur.

Hinata let out a quiet breath—so soft that everyone somehow still heard it, and now there were two blushing Hyūgas in the room.

"I’m glad, Nii-san," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Neji’s 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-san’s mission?" Ino interrupted, bringing the conversation back to the real mystery. "It’s secret, right?"

Ughhhh… What was I supposed to say to that?! This was why the ancient wisdom of "if you don’t 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 they’d 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.

Well… 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 Sasuke’s apartment mostly stopped—everyone was too busy preparing. Even Iruka had stopped nitpicking at Naruto during class.

Somewhere in the chaos, I totally missed Naruto’s 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 he’d be fine on his own. Not a baby, right? Besides, I had to split the pork with Akamaru.

And yet, somewhere between the Hokage’s office and Ichiraku Ramen—right where we were waiting—Naruto managed to pick up a stray.

"Hey, Kaicho(1)! Teach me that cool jutsu you used to beat my grandpa!" Konohamaru hollered, latching onto Naruto’s sleeve with all the grace of a hyperactive squirrel. "Once I learn your jutsu, I’ll defecate the old man and become Hokage!(2)"

"It’s decimate, not defecate,"  Neji corrected absentmindedly, wondering why he even bothered.

"And who the heck are you?" Konohamaru demanded, jabbing a finger at Neji. "I’m gonna tell my grandpa you’re 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 can’t be polite, then scram. And anyway, wasn’t your creepy, sunglasses-wearing babysitter lurking around? Let him teach you."

"Ebisu’s a dummy," Konohamaru pouted. "He won’t teach me anything cool."

"Naru, what’s 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 won’t 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! Can’t 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 fast—just four days after Sasuke and Neji’s match. Predictably, Neji won. But honestly? It wasn’t an easy win. He hadn’t used his Byakugan to shut down Sasuke’s tenketsu, which was probably the only reason Sasuke wasn’t 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 Iruka’s leading questions, he somehow scraped by. The practical portion, though? A total disaster. Something was off with his chakra.

It wasn’t just bad control—something was wrong.

This was a kid who had mastered the Henge no Jutsu five months ago like it was nothing, and suddenly, he couldn’t 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 we’d eaten at home, like usual. Maybe he was hit with some kind of chakra-disrupting attack—like 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 didn’t change the fact that something was up.

And now I was stuck wondering—was this actually a bad thing?

Naruto was about to find out he was a Jinchuriki, one way or another. And let’s be real—stealing 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 couldn’t immediately saddle him with ‘babysitter bestie’, then… 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 I… actually have to help the ‘villains’ pull this off?

I didn’t have time to keep worrying. Naruto came storming out, face twisted in frustration.

"Wait, I can’t retake it?" he demanded, looking between Iruka and Mizuki. "There’s 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, I’d 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 back—giving his buddy here enough time to mess with the kid’s head.

"I feel bad for you, Naruto," Mizuki sighed, putting on the fakest concerned mentor expression I’ve ever seen. "Your friends—who are waiting for you, by the way—are about to move on as full-fledged genin. Meanwhile, you… You’ll be left behind. They’ll 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 would’ve made a solid team."

Wow. Just… wow. He really twisted the knife just right. I almost wanted to applaud the technique.

"But…" Naruto’s voice was barely above a whisper. He glanced at the window, looking like a kicked puppy. "I can’t wait six months. I have to pass now. And I want to be on Sasuke’s team!"

"Well… I don’t know if you’re ready for the kind of secret mission that could prove you’re genin material," Mizuki mused, stroking his chin like he wasn’t about to pull the slimiest con job of the century. "It’s an old tradition. Most people don’t even remember it anymore. I’m sure if you ask Iruka about it, he’ll just try to talk you out of it."

Naruto took the bait—hook, 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, we’re at the finish line. Or… 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 I’d 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 papers—no juicy conversations. Damn it.

I jumped down and slipped through the bushes toward my little troublemaker and his crew.

"…So you guys go on ahead. I’ve still got this stupid cleanup duty," Naruto was saying, laughing a little too casually. "Gotta stick around for a couple more hours, so don’t wait up for me, alright?"

"Alright," Sasuke shrugged. "But we’re still doing Ichiraku, right? We were gonna celebrate our promotions."

"Yeah, but let’s push it to tomorrow," Naruto hedged, rubbing the back of his head. "It’s almost sunset, and the place is gonna be packed. Better to go when we can just relax, y’know?"

"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 something’s off, but he didn’t 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 you’re there," he called out.

Busted.

I slinked out of the foliage and hopped onto the swing next to him. His blue eyes were steady—no hesitation, no second-guessing. His jaw was set, his fists clenched.

"Don’t tell them, okay?" he said quietly. "I’ll figure this out myself. I don’t 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 Kaichō, 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:

"Эй, оябун! Научи меня своей крутой технике, которой ты победил моего деда!" верещал Конохомару, цепляясь за рукав пятнистого костюмчика Узумаки. "Я научусь твоей технике, победю старика и стану Хокаге!"

"Правильно говорить «одержу победу», а не «победю»," машинально поправил эту бестолочь Неджи.

Tbh, I have no clue how to explain this in English, let alone translate it properly.