"So, this is your Jinchūriki?"
After a brief exchange with Kurama, Matatabi more or less understood the situation.
"Matatabi, do you want to come out?" Kurama blurted out, hardly containing his excitement. "I mean—do you want to be free?"
His eagerness completely threw off Naruto's rhythm. Naruto wished he could smack him across the face.
"I, Kurama, have always preferred the straightforward approach. No need for beating around the bush."
"Mhm." Sure enough, after a moment of silence, Matatabi replied, "I actually feel pretty comfortable staying here."
"Freedom?"
"Where in the outside world is there truly any freedom?"
"It's just trading one cage for a bigger one."
"No matter where we go, there will always be humans chasing after our power."
Well, aren't you a poetic one.
Although Yugito Nii wasn't a perfect Jinchūriki, her relationship with Matatabi was relatively good. Matatabi often helped her in battle. Despite her fierce appearance—with fangs and flaming whiskers—Matatabi was actually one of the more gentle-tailed beasts.
Certainly much more gentle than Kurama.
"Hmph? Brat, you're not thinking something rude about me, are you?"
Naruto sighed and interrupted the two-tailed beasts' conversation: "Matatabi, right? I'm not here to negotiate with you."
"I'm here to inform you."
Matatabi went silent again for a moment, then said, "Kurama, your Jinchūriki sure is arrogant, huh?"
Kurama bared his teeth in a rare moment of seriousness. "Matatabi, take my advice. It'd be best not to challenge Naruto's decision."
"You… you've really changed, Kurama." Matatabi was stunned. "You were the most arrogant of all nine tailed beasts."
She added, "So, kid—Naruto, right? If you want me to obey you… then show me if you have what it takes."
Matatabi may have had a "good" temper relative to Kurama, but even Saiken—the gentlest of the tailed beasts—could still blast someone point-blank with a Tailed Beast Bomb if provoked.
"Fight me!"
Matatabi had thought the terrifying presence she sensed earlier came from Kurama. After all, among the tailed beasts—excluding Shukaku and Gyūki—Kurama was widely acknowledged as the strongest. And by a wide margin.
"Oh, that's simple," Naruto said, rolling up his sleeves. He'd been ready for this from the start. Kurama had already told him: the tailed beasts' preferred way of emotional communication was through a good brawl.
"Meow!" With a sharp cry, the unconscious Yugito Nii was once again enveloped in blue flames. This time, without Naruto stopping it, two tails quickly sprouted from her back.
Soon, a massive blue cat with strange markings stood before Naruto.
Complete Tailed Beast Transformation.
"You should go into Tailed Beast Mode too," Matatabi said politely—even though they were about to fight, her tone remained courteous. Quite different from a certain loudmouth fox.
Naruto replied flatly, "No need."
"In that case, I'm coming!" With no more pleasantries, Matatabi lunged forward and swiped at Naruto with one massive claw.
But her strike hit nothing but air.
Naruto appeared beneath her huge paw. Under Matatabi's curious gaze, he calmly reached up, grabbed her paw—then bam, a beautiful over-the-shoulder throw.
Matatabi flew through the air and crashed heavily into the ground, lying on her back, all four legs up, eyes full of disbelief.
Matatabi: ???
"Did I just get suplexed by a human?"
She scrambled back up, preparing to retaliate and teach this upstart Jinchūriki a lesson. But the next second, Naruto appeared above her head, fist raised, and slammed it down hard.
DUANG!
Matatabi was struck with a heavy blow. Her brain rang as if hit by a bell, her head driven into the ground like an ostrich. The earth around her exploded with debris.
But Naruto wasn't done. He grabbed her tail, gave it a firm yank, and pulled her head out of the ground like uprooting a turnip. Then, still holding her tail, he began swinging Matatabi around like a giant flail.
And slammed her hard into the ground.
"Eighty!"
"Meow!" A heart-wrenching cat scream echoed through the sky, the blue flames around her body dimming.
The friendly exchange had only just begun.
"Eighty!"
"Meow!"
"Eighty!"
"Meow!"
"Eighty!"
"Meow!"
Each slam reverberated across the land. At first, Matatabi's cries were piercing. But with each strike, her voice weakened. The flames grew dimmer and dimmer—on the verge of extinguishing.
Finally, Matatabi's battered body slammed into the ground again. Rubble surrounded her like a burial mound. The blue Tailed Beast Cloak on Yugito faded completely, revealing her unconscious form.
"Nice feel," Naruto muttered, cracking his knuckles with a satisfying pop. "That was just the warm-up. Time to get serious."
At that moment, Matatabi's voice echoed in both Naruto and Kurama's minds—hurried and anxious:
"Kurama, I'm very interested in your plan. When do we leave?"
Right then, Matatabi finally understood—the fear she'd felt wasn't because of Kurama.
It was Naruto—the Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails—that terrified her.
Naruto's eyes lit up: "So that's Matatabi on board. Fighting really is the best way for tailed beasts to bond!"
Kurama's eyes lit up too: "Haha! Another one in the bag. I'm not suffering alone anymore!"
Matatabi's vision went dark: "Kurama, you bastard. Where the hell did you find this lunatic to be your Jinchūriki?"
"We're leaving now," Naruto said as he approached the unconscious Yugito, ready to carry her away.
"Who dares cause havoc in my Cloud Village?!"
A thunderous roar echoed through the village. Accompanied by lightning and thunder, a figure shot down from the sky and slammed into the ground with explosive force, raising a cloud of dust.
The newcomer was a large, heavily built man in his forties, dark-skinned, with exaggerated chest muscles. A golden championship-like belt circled his waist, and his entire frame radiated raw power. Green shuriken-shaped tattoos adorned his shoulders, and thick armor plates covered his arms. Two small mustaches framed his mouth, a short goatee sat on his chin, and his slicked-back blond hair completed the look.
The Fourth Raikage—A.
"You bastard! How dare you destroy this place?!" Raikage's fury intensified as he took in the scene.
The battle between man and beast had reduced the Cloud Village's memorial grounds to rubble. There wasn't a single grave left intact.
He disappeared in a blur, instantly reappearing before Naruto and throwing a punch straight at his head—so fast it created a sonic boom.
There were only two people in sight: the unconscious Yugito in the crater, and Naruto.
Raikage wasn't stupid. He didn't need to ask who was responsible. No matter the reason—this kid was getting punched first.
"What a strong punch," Naruto said, casually catching the blow that could have smashed steel plates. He didn't flinch—he actually sounded like he was giving feedback.
Raikage blinked: "What the hell?"
He knew exactly how powerful his punches were—even Killer B, the Eight-Tails' Jinchūriki, would be sent flying by this. Yet this masked brat not only caught it, but didn't even seem fazed.
Other than Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin, Naruto might be the first person he's met whose raw strength could rival his own.
"You masked bastard! Who the hell are you?!"
Naruto looked him dead in the eye and replied:
"You've got bad breath."
Raikage: ???!!!
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