When Haseo first heard the news that the Two-Tails might have been revived—even before confirmation—he immediately began preparing a hotpot. Now, the containment vessels were nearly completed; with overtime work, they could be finished within one or two days.
After leaving the office building, Haseo parted ways with Shikou. Next, he only needed to wait for the Third Hokage's decision. Today's meeting had ended, and there was nothing else happening.
However, on his way back home through Hot Spring Town, Haseo noticed some kind of commotion across the street. He stopped to look and realized several houses had collapsed near the spot where he had soaked in the bath earlier that day alongside Jiraiya and Orochimaru.
"With so many hot springs packed in one area, it's no surprise the groundwater's high—land collapses make total sense. But… surely my bad luck isn't *that* strong? Hmm. At the very least, it must've been Orochimaru or Jiraiya."
It wasn't a great sign that the spot they'd soaked in during the day caved in by nightfall—especially right before a major mission. Still, Haseo didn't think this misfortune stemmed from him—it probably came from someone else.
Not that blaming anyone really mattered. After all, it was just a natural disaster, so no need for compensation anyway.
Then, as Haseo climbed upstairs, he looked down and saw more than just two shops affected by the subsidence. A wooden bridge spanning the Hot Spring River had also snapped right in the middle. Water overflowed through the broken embankment, flooding the other side of the street. Many stores were now victims of this unexpected disaster.
Still, it wasn't such a big deal. Most buildings over there were wooden—they fell quickly, but rebuilding would also be fast. Except now happened to be winter snow season, meaning some people would probably end up shivering cold tonight.
Haseo unlocked his door, turned on the light, and instantly illuminated his room. At that moment, he found his cat sitting quietly on the doormat, patiently waiting for his return… How should he put it? This cat seemed almost dog-like.
He never really picked a side between cat people and dog people—but he couldn't deny one thing: he distinctly remembered that dog meat tasted way better than cat meat...
Whoops, did he just let that slip? Whatever—Haseo still stood by his commitment to protecting small animals, no matter what.
"Someone came by?"
As soon as he entered, Haseo sensed it. Yet, he didn't seem particularly concerned, asking casually.
The Black Cat let out a soft meow and flicked its tail, almost like it was responding to Haseo's question.
"Why do I feel like you can actually talk? Are you pretending not to know how? Why don't you use whatever languages you've learned?"
Haseo took off his shoes, removed the long sword from his back and set it aside, then asked another question toward Black Cat.
The cat responded with a few quick and short mews, rapidly flicked its tail a couple times, then dashed away with tiny steps, disappearing from Haseo's sight.
Without a doubt, the cat's intelligence was quite impressive now, but regardless of whether it could speak or not, if Haseo were to ask it directly, it definitely couldn't talk.
Haseo's Summoned Beast cultivation experiment could already be considered successful. This cat had already achieved self-refinement and self-circulation of chakra, qualifying it as a chakra-based summoned beast. However, due to its innate weakness, its chakra reserves couldn't even compare with those of a Konoha jonin, let alone a genin. Thus, it was practically useless in combat and for now could only serve as a pet.
Haseo gazed in the direction where the cat had vanished, shaking his head involuntarily... By the way, since when had there been a cat tree in his house? It seemed like it had been there for quite some time already, but why hadn't he noticed it before?
At most, Haseo would only prepare some hotpot base ingredients for this cat. As for toys or other daily necessities, a real little animal lover wouldn't bother with such trivialities.
Not worth paying attention to anyway. Haseo walked around the corner and entered his bedroom, immediately noticing an extra ninja tool pouch on the table by his bed.
He opened the flap and inside, besides conventional supplies such as shuriken, smoke bombs, military rations pills, and explosive tags, various categorized medicines were neatly arranged.
Haseo picked up one bottle and shook it under the light; the pills tinkled inside the glass. This was the special medication he'd been taking regularly to resist chakra corrosion, though he never truly expected it to have much effect...
In reality, these pills couldn't even act as a proper placebo anymore. Recently, Haseo had started chewing them like candy.
Perhaps he'd built up a tolerance from overuse, but regardless of actual efficacy, Haseo still needed to keep taking them because they were doctor's orders.
Haseo closed the pouch and swapped it out with another hanging at his back.
Underneath the pouch lay a neatly folded, pristine coat — the Kagenami uniform. Compared to the "one-size-fits-all" uniforms customized for the organization, his had been altered for a better fit… Hmm, nothing wrong with that.
Since both had their own responsibilities and didn't cross paths often at work, Haseo hadn't interacted much with Tsunade lately. Come to think of it, when exactly had been the last time he saw her?
Just as Haseo was thinking about this, he suddenly noticed the cat peeking at him with just one eye visible, hugging the wall closely… Seriously, this cat really deserved to be stewed.
Pets that were too smart just weren't a good idea. Worse yet, this Black Cat had practically become a spirit creature already.
"What are you looking at? As a quadruped, don't meddle in human affairs."
Caught red-handed, the black cat flinched again and bolted away — who'd have thought such a tiny creature could be so sneaky?
Tsunade was Sansho's daughter, and Sansho was Haseo's master. That meant Tsunade was essentially Haseo's little sister, right? Misreading such an innocent bond like that — could you even call that thing a person anymore?
Was someone with those kinds of intentions even still human?
The explanation was actually very simple... she was merely Haseo's little sister, and he was worried the cat might have misunderstood.
Of course, even a cat with intelligence couldn't possibly grasp the complexity of humans. Soon enough, it ran off to play by itself. As night fell, the cat was especially energetic... for a cat, the world was simply too vast, filled with far too many interesting things around. Why bother wasting time on silly humans anyway?
Haseo didn't give it much thought either. He had an important mission ahead, so he just went to sleep.
...
The next day, Kagenami received orders from the Third Hokage. The final outcome turned out exactly as Haseo had predicted—the Hokage approved his suggestion to make close contact with the Two-Tails.
Truth be told, this had been an unspoken agreement between two sly old men for quite some time now. And as long as Haseo could make contact with the Two-Tails under the guise of a legitimate mission, then he could carry out plenty of illegitimate actions against it... exploiting the Tailed Beasts was already past due.
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