Chapter 475: Naruto: Kurama, Help Me Protect the Villagers
"Th-that's so shameless!"
On a distant rooftop, a brown-haired girl holding a kitten stared at the scene unfolding between Naruto and Kiba, completely stunned.
As the granddaughter of Cat Granny and the current inheritor of the ninja cat clan, Tamaki didn't share the same intense bias that many cat fanatics had toward other small animals.
But she had often heard those animal lovers on both sides hurling insults and slander at each other—cat people versus dog people.
She had never really believed it before.
But today, she had come to Konoha with her grandmother Cat Granny to buy some daily supplies. While passing by, she happened to see a kitten stuck on a rooftop. She climbed up to rescue it, and the moment she saved it, she witnessed this shocking scene in the distance.
So this was the Inuzuka Clan, the famous ninja dog users of Konoha?
Tamaki had actually appeared early in the original story, during the Shippuden era.
She is Cat Granny's granddaughter. Cat Granny is a weapons dealer and ninja cat summoner living outside Konoha, and she has long been a source of weapons and intelligence for the Uchiha clan throughout history.
Cat Granny knew both Sasuke and Itachi.
Tamaki's first appearance was when Sasuke's Hawk Squad went to Cat Granny's shop to buy supplies.
Tamaki and Kiba only met very late in Shippuden, around the time of Naruto's wedding.
Don't ask why they met so late.
Naruto and Rock Lee, one running around pulling pranks all day, the other running around training all day, didn't meet until the Chunin Exams either.
In short, these two cat-and-dog representatives only "noticed" each other after that encounter.
But unfortunately, fate forgot about Kiba.
Everyone else started dating wildly after Naruto's wedding and eventually had children.
Only Kiba, even by the Boruto era, was still just in an on-and-off relationship—never married, never had kids.
They even kept breaking up and getting back together, to the point that Sarutobi Mirai had to step in to help reconcile them.
This forced Mirai to develop a strangely named technique called "Flint Yagura Technique."
No one knows what Yagura, a dead man, did to deserve that name.
But Kiba doesn't need to worry about that anymore.
First impressions between people are extremely important.
More importantly, this is no longer just a first impression.
From this point onward, if Kiba wants to continue living in Konoha, he will have to adopt Naruto's optimism.
Because he has already socially died.
No, not quite yet.
Not only Tamaki in the distance, but even many of the nearby Konoha villagers "watching the show" still didn't know who this "two-headed dog" actually was.
They only saw Naruto using Frog Kata and messing around.
"Kiba! You beast, what are you doing? No, Uzumaki Naruto, what are you doing? Kiba is your classmate! How can you do this to him?"
Kiba's mother, Inuzuka Tsume, riding a large black dog, Kuromaru, rushed rapidly across the rooftops.
At first, Tsume thought her son was doing something perverted. But when she got closer, she realized Kiba and Akamaru had completely lost control, and the situation was entirely being dominated by Naruto.
Tsume nearly blacked out.
Kiba's older sister, Inuzuka Hana, a medical ninja and veterinarian, also rushed over immediately after hearing Akamaru's cries, bringing the Three Haimaru Brothers along with her.
"Kiba! Akamaru! What's wrong with you two? Calm down!"
"Woof woof."
Hana shouted anxiously.
As expected, there are still many good mothers and good sisters in this world.
Up until now, no one knew who was stirring up chaos here. But after these two shouted in succession, especially Hana's voice afterward, everyone nearby heard it clearly.
When Tsume arrived, the surroundings were still filled with noisy discussion, and she had rushed over from the rooftops, her voice growing closer from afar.
But after Tsume shouted, whether people understood her or not, everyone fell silent.
Until Hana appeared.
"Granny Hokage, please help me explain! I'm trying to save Kiba and Akamaru!"
Naruto shouted urgently toward Tsunade while continuing to assist in entering Sage Mode.
His hands couldn't stop moving, he didn't even have a free hand to form shadow clones to seal, so he couldn't defend himself at all.
Naruto was afraid Tsume and Hana would interrupt him. If they did, everything would be ruined.
"The Hokage is here too?"
Only then did Tsume and Hana notice Tsunade standing in a corner nearby.
The two of them looked suspiciously at Naruto, then chose to trust Tsunade and walked up to her.
"Hokage-sama, what exactly is going on?"
Tsume asked.
She believed that if the Hokage was present, there must be some hidden reason. Otherwise, Tsunade wouldn't just allow Naruto to act so recklessly.
"Naruto… he's right. He really is saving Akamaru and Kiba."
Although Tsunade was unhappy that Naruto secretly called her "grandma", this wasn't the time to get angry. She couldn't let Kiba's mother and sister interfere, so she could only tell the truth.
She also briefly explained Naruto's shortcut to Sage Mode and how Akamaru had accidentally swallowed a Mount Myoboku sage technique talisman.
"So I misunderstood Kiba. He was actually trying to save Akamaru, even going so far as to use a secret technique to fuse with him like this."
"We misunderstood Naruto too. He's risking his reputation just to save Kiba and Akamaru, doing something like this in front of everyone."
Tsume and Hana both calmed down.
They knew they couldn't help, so they stood beside Tsunade in silence, watching and praying that Kiba and Akamaru would get through this ordeal quickly.
In the distance, Tamaki, who had finished rescuing the cat, along with Cat Granny, also heard Tsume and Hana's voices and understood that the situation was caused by the Inuzuka clan's Kiba and Akamaru.
Originally, Tamaki wanted to just buy her things and leave, but Cat Granny said she was curious.
So she dragged her granddaughter through the crowd to the very front, where they finally saw the real situation.
At this point, the battle between Naruto and the two-headed dog had reached a stalemate.
Naruto had used Frog Kata more times today than at any point in the past, and his proficiency had skyrocketed.
As expected, battle is the best teacher.
He had even begun using Frog Kata from a distance while forming Rasengan.
Just like when he first entered Sage Mode.
The two-headed dog's body emitted a glowing chakra spiral that obscured part of the view.
But everyone present already understood what was happening, there was no need to see clearly.
"Bad news! Everyone, get back!"
Naruto suddenly shouted in alarm.
However, the surrounding spectators paid no attention at all.
They were watching too intently, why would they leave now?
This scene could practically be a live-action DLC of a limited Tsukuyomi-style novel series.
With such a real-time movie in front of them, who would leave?
Except for the ninja among the crowd.
They hesitated slightly and immediately understood Naruto's meaning.
But as shinobi, weren't they supposed to protect the villagers?
That brief hesitation was already too late.
Fortunately, Naruto was there.
"I will protect Konoha! I will protect everyone! Let's go, Kurama!"
Naruto roared passionately, and a golden Tailed Beast Cloak erupted from his body.
Kurama, since he couldn't stand watching Naruto messing around with Kiba and Akamaru and had turned away to chat with the other tailed beasts in the mental space, suddenly heard Naruto's burning shout and assumed he was in danger—so he immediately transferred his power.
"ROOOAR—"
Golden chakra exploded from Naruto's body, and a massive golden Nine-Tails appeared, letting out a roar.
But the roar abruptly stopped.
Because Kiba and Akamaru had entered Sage Mode.
In the mental space, Kurama clutched his throat in agony and collapsed to the ground.
(End of this chapter)