"Ah..."
Shinji stretched unconsciously as he walked out of the Hokage Building.
The entire Jonin Meeting was just Hiruzen announcing various matters.
Shinji shook his head, he had a lot to do next.
"Mimi."
Shinji spoke, and a figure immediately darted out from the nearby bushes.
"Coming, coming."
Mimi mumbled in response, a string of grilled fish dangling from his mouth.
"You... All you do is eat when you get back. Come with me."
Shinji grabbed Mimi by the scruff of his neck and headed straight for the training ground.
"Sensei!"
Naruto and the others immediately greeted Shinji when they saw him.
"Hm, you all train first. I will come over later." Shinji nodded, speaking to them gently.
He then headed towards the waterfall. Upon reaching his destination, he tossed Mimi down and watched him quietly.
"Meow. Why are you looking at me like that?" Mimi stared back at Shinji for a moment, then, unable to hold out any longer, scratched his neck.
"Tell me, have you already snatched Seven Tails's Chakra?" Shinji glanced at Mimi, who was still playing dumb, and said irritably.
Even if he hadn't received news while in the cave, he didn't believe that with Mimi's current strength, he would simply watch without confronting the person attempting to capture Seven Tails.
Mimi was a daiyokai infinitely close to the realm of a god, not some well-behaved monster.
"You guessed right." Mimi said with an expression of admiration.
"Scram! Where did you put it?"
Shinji rolled his eyes. There was no need to guess with this gluttonous cat. Anything beneficial was always done quietly.
"Uh, the ancestral ground."
Mimi looked dejected. He had barely spoken since his return, precisely to avoid Shinji finding out. After all, he couldn't deceive him, but he could keep his mouth shut. He hadn't expected this kid to still be so perceptive.
"Let's go there first." Shinji again pinched Mimi by the scruff of his neck, then activated a jutsu.
Bang—
"Roar—!!!"
Shinji, who had just arrived, was immediately drawn by a furious roar.
He looked up and was instantly stunned. What in the world was that?
A massive cocoon stood in Mimi's ancestral ground, and this cocoon was composed of an enormous amount of densely packed Chakra.
"This is some Chakra I snatched. Since I couldn't absorb it immediately, I transferred it into the Ancestral ground. I didn't expect it to become like this."
Mimi spread his front paws helplessly to the side. This was why he hadn't absorbed it immediately upon returning but had waited for Shinji instead.
"You call this 'a little'?"
Shinji clutched his forehead, pointing at the Chakra cocoon in front of him, which was almost the size of a Tailed Beast.
"Heh heh. I was just a bit hasty at the time, so—" Mimi said, but his expression showed no trace of embarrassment.
Shinji shook his head helplessly and slowly stepped forward.
The Chakra cocoon seemed to know something, flickering with Chakra flames as if warning him not to approach.
Slap—
Shinji pressed his palm onto the Chakra cocoon, then closed his eyes.
"Who are you! Where is this!"
Shinji, who had used Yin Release to reach the interior, heard this voice as soon as he arrived. Amidst countless turbulent Chakra flows, a green light stood out, and the voice emanated from within it.
"Seven Tails, Chomei?"
Shinji had initially thought it was likely a chaotic consciousness formed from the muddled Chakra of a Tailed Beast, but from the looks of it, it was Seven Tails's complete consciousness?
How much effort did that dead cat put into absorbing it at the time?
"Who are you?"
Chomei, after a long silence, asked the person who had called it by it's name immediately upon meeting.
"Before you ask me, why don't you first tell me what you're protecting in there?" Shinji said, raising his hand and pointing at the green light.
Although he couldn't see through it, Yin Release gave him the perception that a soul existed within it.
Shinji received no response. Instead, there were faint flickering traces within the surrounding turbulent Chakra flows.
"If you intend to fight, you'd best be able to kill me in one blow." Shinji said without looking back.
Several chains shot out from the back of the Shinji outside, wrapping around the giant Chakra cocoon.
"Wait!"
Chomei, realizing the situation was beyond it's imagination, quickly spoke.
Shinji ignored it, accelerating his speed and instantly locking up the Chakra cocoon. After completing all of this, the Shinji inside finally turned to look behind him. A miniature version of Chomei, was tightly fixed in place, unable to move.
"Tell me, what's going on?"
Shinji watched Chomei, in front of him with interest. These Tailed Beasts had many tricks up their sleeves.
"That should be my question to you, human."
Upon hearing this, Chomei could no longer remain calm and roared with the unique Chakra deterrence of a Tailed Beast.
Shinji, amidst these seemingly vast Chakra fluctuations, showed no change in expression, merely watching Chomei quietly.
Then he said blandly, "That behind you, that should be the soul of your previous Jinchuriki, right?"
Chomei was considered one of the calmer and more cunning among the Tailed Beasts.
Upon hearing this, it clearly panicked and quickly said, "Don't touch her! She's still just a child!"
Shinji heard this and twitched his lips, a little speechless.
Speaking of which, among the nine Tailed Beasts, it seemed only the One Tail and Nine-Tails had very irritable personalities.
One made its Jinchuriki unable to sleep, leading to mental agitation.
The other, hmm? Nine-Tails only seemed to occasionally interfere with Naruto using its Chakra.
As for the other Tailed Beasts, without saying anything else, they could at least get along well with their Jinchuriki and even cooperate with them.
"Tell me." Shinji simply spread his hands.
If he wanted him not to move, he at least needed to know some details.
Chomei fell silent. It seemed no action he took could cause any harm to the young man in front of him.
After a long time, it began to explain to Shinji.
Inside the Chakra cocoon, one person and one Tailed Beast conversed like this.
Meanwhile, Mimi on the outside was pacing back and forth. Shinji's earlier actions had startled him. He had thought he was going to absorb the Chakra cocoon.
However, once the chains covered the Chakra cocoon, that terrifying fluctuation no longer appeared.
"Meow, I am dying of impatience."
Time slowly passed.
Just as Mimi was about to give in and use his demonic arts to check, Shinji's tightly closed eyes suddenly opened.
"Shinji, what's going on?" Mimi quickly leaped a few times, arriving in front of Shinji and asking.