"Meow—meow! Kurama… Big Bro Kurama! I'm your second little brother!!!"
Under the pale morning light, Matatabi's wail tore across the skies above the Death Forest, echoing again and again.
What dignity?
What pride?
What "tailed-beast honor"?
Under Kurama's paw and that endless chain of brutal slaps, it was all worth less than a fart.
Matatabi's pride shattered more thoroughly than the tufts of blue flame-fur scattered on the ground.
"Hmph!"
Kurama snorted hard. Two streams of scorching breath blasted out of his nostrils, baking the air.
He lowered his head to look at the "second brother" beneath him, disdain and mockery written all over his face.
"Next time you bare your teeth at my human again, I'll knock every last tooth out of your mouth."
Then, like he was tossing trash, Kurama flung the battered Matatabi away.
THUD!
RUMBLE—
Even if Matatabi looked like a helpless kitten beside Kurama, its body was still enormous. That single toss shook the ground and kicked up a choking cloud of dust.
Matatabi's mentality snapped.
Instinctively it tried to retreat back inside.
At this point, the only thing it could do was crawl away with its tail between its legs.
So it spoke inwardly to the figure in its sealed space.
"Yugito. You take over. I'm going back."
Inside the seal, Yugito: ?
You ran your mouth, and I'm the one who has to take the beating?!
She was about to argue—when she sensed something wrong.
A thread of black chakra had seeped in at some unknown time.
CLINK! CLANK!
In the next breath, the black chakra became chains and wrapped Yugito tight.
The sudden turn stunned both woman and beast.
They knew those chains too well.
Yugito was still wearing that special "collar" around her neck.
Inside the seal, Yugito—strangely—actually relaxed.
Finally… she wouldn't have to go out there and get slapped.
She shrugged helplessly at Matatabi. "Not my fault. I didn't refuse."
Matatabi: "..."
It snapped.
Completely.
"MEOW!"
Its six-story-tall body flipped—
and it flopped onto the ground like a dead cat.
THUD!
Its huge frame smashed into the battlefield debris, kicking up dust and blue sparks, crushing rock beneath it.
Then it tilted its head, tongue out—
like a kitten that just got dragged to the vet and came out… missing something important.
It understood now.
Everything.
It—Matatabi, the noble Two-Tails—
had been played by Konoha's capitalist scam.
"No… I can't… I'm the high and mighty Two—sss…"
A few seconds later it tried to struggle upright again, but the broken paw and the torn wounds all over its body made it suck in cold air in pain.
So it just curled up, using the only mostly-intact tail to wrap itself up.
Mostly to cover… the area between its legs.
This time, it chose to lie flat and give up.
Whatever. Do what you want.
Kai watched the scene with a faint smile.
Those black chains were naturally his Senra Heart-Chain.
With its sealing nature, isolating Yugito's consciousness wasn't difficult.
He'd only done it to test a theory.
Did the tailed beast and the jinchūriki count as separate "targets"?
A new prompt surfaced in his mind.
[Defeated Matatabi (Two-Tails). Attempting to copy traits.]
[Copyable traits: Blue Seductress (Black), Flame Perpetual Engine (Black), Nether Prison Darkfire (Gold), Tailed Beast Bomb (Gold), Cat Claw (Purple), Tailed Beast Cloak—Two-Tails (Purple)…]
"Hm? So Matatabi and Yugito count as two separate units? This cheat… is way too considerate."
Kai's grin slowly widened.
Just as he suspected—defeating Matatabi produced another trait pool.
One victim, two harvests.
What farmer wouldn't love that?!
The moment he started looking at Matatabi like the perfect "crop," the system answered—
[Copy failed.]
Kai: "...?"
The smile froze on his face.
What?
A three-out-of-four success rate, and it still failed?!
He got annoyed—very annoyed—and the way he looked at Matatabi turned… dangerous.
"Meow—!"
Killing intent!
It felt killing intent!
Matatabi jolted like it got struck by lightning, immediately flipping over and prostrating itself again.
Only then did Kai's gaze slide away.
"Oh. Not bad. The kitten's got great attitude."
Kurama shook his head in satisfaction. He liked Kai's "hakimi" talk.
He didn't know what it meant, but it felt good to say it.
Still, beating up just the Two-Tails and ending things in a few moves—
to Kurama, it was like an old man finishing a warm-up dance in the park.
No chance to truly stretch his claws.
So his eyes rolled lazily across the battlefield.
By his paw were two villages' elites trembling on the ground.
Ahead was an old man frozen stiff.
Behind was a black-skinned old man with a face like death.
Boring. Boring.
Not one worthy opponent.
Finally, Kurama's gaze returned to Kai—arms folded, watching calmly.
"Kid."
His hoarse voice sounded again inside Kai's mind.
Lazy. Self-important.
Full of that "I'm ordering you" tone.
Kai's eyebrow twitched. "Oh?"
"I've warmed up. The rest is on you."
Kurama snorted and started pulling his consciousness out of Naruto's tailed-beast cloak.
BOOM—HUM—CRACK!
But halfway through, Kurama suddenly felt something wrong.
No—something impossible.
He… couldn't go back in.
The seal that had always been effortless to return to—
was now blocked.
Like something had stuffed the doorway shut.
He tried again.
Nothing.
He couldn't enter.
Kurama froze.
"Meow?!"
Matatabi's mismatched eyes lit up like it just discovered a new continent.
It bounced to the side, visibly excited.
"What's going on…?" Kurama muttered after failing again.
Then Kai waved cheerfully—smiling like a friendly neighbor.
"Since you're already here… why not eat a little before you leave?"
And with that, he casually whipped Matatabi once.
"MEOWWW!"
Matatabi: "???"
It stared at Kai with pure resentment, then started crawling backward.
Decision made: stay far away from this human—he's sick in the head.
"What do you mean?" Kurama stopped, confused.
Looking at Kai's smile that wasn't quite a smile, Kurama suddenly felt a chill crawl up its spine.
A bad feeling.
Like something very unpleasant was about to happen.
Kai didn't care.
He just said thoughtfully, "How long has it been since we last met?"
"Ten days or so…" Kurama answered, still confused. "So what?"
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