[Mad Tiger] Chapter 36

Nice job, Sasuke-kun. As they say, grab yourself a cookie off the shelf! And since there are no cookies… well, I’m even better: warm, fluffy, soft, and oh-so-dashing.

“Wait, how’d you figure it out? I mean… about the chakra?” Naruto asked, eyes darting between me and Sasuke. He also scooched a little closer to the Uchiha, probably feeling a wee bit jealous of me bonding with him. But you know what? When they’re both petting me—four hands at once—that’s next-level bliss. Practically drooling with happiness over here.

“All Uchi—” Sasuke started, then froze, a shadow passing over his face. Before he could sink into that swamp of memories planted by Masked Weirdo, I booped him right on the nose, distracting him.

“Heh, Namaiki-chan just kissed you,” Naruto snickered. “Guess he’s thanking you for realizing he’s a cat-ninja!”

“Hn. A nin-neko, huh…” Sasuke flinched slightly and shot me a curious look. Me? I just plastered on my best poker face and rubbed my head against his chin. Gotta mark my boys so nobody tries to steal them!

“In my clan…” Sasuke said in a hoarse voice, “we used to have a pact with summon cats. I remember…” He frowned, rubbing his temple. “Somewhere in Ryu—there’s a hideout run by Grandma Cat and these talking ninja cats.”

“Whoa!” Naruto’s eyes went wide as saucers. “Talking cats?! That’s so cool! Too bad Namaiki-chan doesn’t talk. Sometimes I just… I just wanna talk to someone…” He trailed off, face burning red, then blurted out in one breath, “Saske-let’s-be-friends!”

Sasuke tilted his head, studying Naruto. Oh man, I can just feel it—this is one of those moments! It’s now or never!

“Absolutely!” I chimed in.

That shattered the tension. Sasuke was still all frosty, but there was a flicker of emotion in his eyes. Deep down, these two have been best friends since childhood.

“So,” Naruto said, not waiting for Sasuke’s reply. He plopped onto the grass, arms folded behind his head, doing his best to look casual. “Namaiki-chan showed up at my place a little over a week ago… But for some reason, I feel like I’ve known him forever. Known him, but forgot somehow…”

“Really?!” Overcome with joy, I hopped off Sasuke’s lap and landed on Naruto’s stomach. Cue a strangled “oof” as I nearly knocked the wind out of him. Hey, after stuffing my face at three different ‘owners’ and pilfering pork from the ramen guy, I’ve regained my top-tier fighting weight—eight, maybe nine pounds, or could even be pushing ten.

Naruto studied me closely. Dang it, how am I supposed to break through this genjutsu barrier messing with his memory?

“I think our cat’s trying to say something,” Sasuke noted. “Right after you mentioned maybe forgetting something…”

“Exactly! Exactly!” I bobbed my head in agreement.

“Namaiki-chan… did we forget you?” Naruto asked, propping himself up. Finally, the right questions! I nodded vigorously.

The boys exchanged glances. Time to strike while the iron’s hot. I leaped off Naruto’s stomach, let out an attention-grabbing yowl, then ran a quick circle around the clearing. Finally, I froze in a classic pointer stance, nose aimed in one direction.

“What’s with him?” Sasuke stage-whispered to Naruto.

“He pretty much did the same thing to bring me here,” Naruto mumbled, realization dawning. “Maybe he wants us to follow him?”

You’re a smart chick, my little yellow chick! I trotted forward, then looked back at them.

“Let’s go!” I advanced a bit further, meowing like, “Come on, hurry up!”

“Sure,” they both muttered in unison, trailing after me.

The only place that might hold any clues is the Uchiha district. That’s where the masked creep wiped out the women, children… and the cats. Wait. It’s all clicking! That’s why there are no cats left in the area—if any of my furry kin made it to the Ryu Sasuke mentioned, they could’ve spilled the beans to the talking ninja cats. And through them to Sasuke or his brother. That’s an idea! But… I don’t know where Ryu is, and right now I can’t exactly explain to these two that we need to go searching for it. Gah, calm down, focus on the here and now…

Suddenly, I noticed both boys had stopped. Turning around, I realized we’d reached the district gates, taped off with “crime scene” ribbons. I’d already slipped under them, but the guys had frozen, staring into the empty streets. The sun was setting, painting everything in a creepy red glow, and it’d be fully dark in about half an hour. Definitely not the best time for a thorough investigation. I trotted back to them, rubbing against their legs.

“Namaiki-chan… you’re saying we should go in there?” Naruto asked, squatting to scratch behind my ear.

I nodded.

Little Uchiha looked like a statue, eyes drilling into the gates emblazoned with the clan’s crest.

“Maybe we should come back tomorrow morning?” Naruto whispered. “We’ve got no Academy classes on weekends. Hey, Sasuke, you in?”

Sasuke twitched at the question, shoulders tensing.

“Hey Sasuke,” Naruto continued, trying a different angle, “what if Namaiki-chan’s, like… a ghost cat?” His voice wavered, but it was enough to shake Sasuke from his thoughts. The Uchiha actually turned to Naruto in surprise.

“Hn. Are you an idiot?”

“Well, it’d explain why he’s leading us into a haunted district… But,” Naruto’s tone brightened, “Namaiki’s a really nice cat. He takes good care of me. Where do you think I get all those potatoes? He brings ’em!”

Sasuke stared at me, brows raised. I gave a dignified nod.

“Hn. I’ll come,” he said softly, clenching his fists—seems like he made up his mind. Probably can’t risk looking cowardly in front of Naruto.

“Huh?” Naruto looked lost in thought for a moment, then scratched the back of his head, flashing a sheepish grin. “Uh, okay… so, dawn tomorrow? That way we don’t run into any grownups?”

“I’m in!” I declared.

“Namaiki-chan agrees too,” Naruto grinned, reading my meow perfectly. “Alright then… see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Sasuke muttered, turning on his heel and stuffing his hands in his pockets as he headed home. Naruto and I took off in the opposite direction, also heading back.

I remembered we’d eaten almost everything fro our stash, and tomorrow’s gonna be one heck of a day. Only thing left at our place is the “cup ramen” delivered by Sarutobi that morning. Hmm. Naruto’s realized by now that I’m a ninja cat, and that food’s way better than starving. Maybe I should bring him along on my next “raid.” We’d get so much more stuff that way, especially with Kuromaru and his owner away on a mission.

But how do I teach my “partner in crime” the laws of the street? Ehh, baby steps. First off, let’s not target any store in our own neighborhood. Gotta keep a low profile and hit somewhere else on the outskirts…

_______________________________________________

Naruto’s a bright kid. Even with his “brain reformatted” and no access to chakra, he grasped the concept of sitting quietly in the bushes and not making a peep. Then again, who wouldn’t, if a giant cat is basically pinning you down and swatting you whenever you try to move, hissing for emphasis? Mwahaha. My well-trained chick.

I slipped into the basement of another Sarutobi-owned shop—apparently, the old man’s clan runs most of the grocery stores in town, which is convenient for me because I don’t mind robbing them blind. 

By the way, I didn't notice any money on Naruto to buy supplies. Will he really only be given money for missions? This is beyond the pale!

The basement was used for storing fresh food, and the store itself mostly had non-perishable products on the shelves, everything that was in the refrigerators or in the basement simply had prices and names on display. This was probably how they saved on electricity. The store layout reminded me of some mom-and-pop place in the middle of nowhere, where you have to ask the shopkeeper for each item, and they waddle back to the storeroom every time.

First thing I grabbed was a bag—like an actual plastic bag. Hardest part was ripping it off the stack without drawing attention, especially since it made that stupid crinkly noise. I waited till the shopkeeper got busy chatting with a customer and snatched it, dragging it off into the shadows. Good thing it was swamp-green, not eye catching bright white or neon yellow.

I hauled the bag outside to Naruto. He had this “um, why the heck do we need a bag?” face instead of “oh my god, you’re stealing!” Perfect.

Then I got back to work, sneaking in and out like a stealth conveyor belt—grab something prepackaged, dash it to Naruto, toss it in the bag, rinse and repeat. The kid said nothing. Just stuffed our loot away. Then we quietly, like the ninjas we are, slipped back to our place through dark alleys.

“Whoa!” Naruto gasped, dumping our haul onto the table. “This is awesome!”

I really didn’t go overboard—just snagged one chocolate bar (which is obviously essential for a growing boy’s mood and energy) and a bunch of basics: a few packs of sausages, two chunks of meat totaling about a kilogram, tofu, three cartons of milk (1.5 liters total), a small bag of four apples (weirdly expensive, judging by the label), natto beans, plus a box of tea and a bag of rice. What can I say, I’m a cat of discerning taste.

He shot me a quick grateful look. I meowed pointedly at the milk—I was starving after our “grand heist,” plus I’d used a good chunk of chakra sneaking around.

We split the milk, I scored a sausage, slicing the package open with one claw like a boss. These poultry sausages are top-tier, and I know quality meat when I taste it.

Naruto stashed the perishable stuff in the fridge and put everything else in the cupboard. According to the usual schedule, Sarutobi wouldn’t check on him for two or three days, so we can finish it all by then. Plus, old man’s “cup ramen” wouldn’t go to waste either. With Naruto growing like a weed and the new Nine-Tails situation sapping his strength, the kid’s got an appetite. Additionally my little yellow chick had asked Hokage about his parents again this morning—the magic words to make the old geezer vanish and not appear for a while. So we could ‘raid’ without worries.

“Time for a bath!” I nudged the bathroom door open and let out a loud meow. Naruto, cottoning on, hopped into the shower stall with me and turned on the water.

“Check out what I found for you, Namaiki-chan,” he said, grinning, as he rummaged on a shelf and produced a well-worn toothbrush. Didn’t look new at all.

“Hey, I washed it really well!” he assured me, catching the offended look on my face. “C’mon, gimme your paw.”

I offered a paw, and he pressed on the pad, scrubbing between my toes with that little brush. Ooooh, the feels. If cats could experience nirvana, this would be it.