"Coming, coming!" Darui ran over panting, accompanied by several people carrying several large jars of wine and whole slabs of beef.
The wine jars hit the ground with a dull thud. The beef was placed over the fire, grease dripping and sizzling.
A slapped open a jar of wine, tilted his head back for a huge gulp, and then handed the jar to Yang Jiu: "Drink!"
Yang Jiu looked at the jar, which was smaller than a cup to him, and his mouth twitched slightly: "Are you sure?"
A froze for a moment, then laughed loudly: "Hahaha! I forgot you're bigger than me!"
He turned and shouted: "Bring another hundred jars!"
The wine jars were lined up. With a gentle flick of Yang Jiu's claw, a jar flew up, and the liquid turned into a silver line falling into his mouth.
A's eyes went wide: "Great skill!"
While A and Yang Jiu were drinking.
Yugito walked alone to the edge of the clearing, coming before Three-Tails.
Under the sunlight.
Three-Tails' massive body was like a sleeping mountain, with cracks from the day's battle still remaining on its shell.
Its single eye was half-closed, its breathing steady, seemingly already asleep.
Yugito stood before it, hesitated for a moment, and spoke softly: "Hello, Matatabi wants to talk to you."
Three-Tails' single eye slowly opened.
The blood-red pupil rotated, landing on this tiny human.
It was silent for a few seconds before letting out a low mutter: "What do we have to talk about..."
Its tone carried a bit of impatience, but it still gave a soft "Mm."
A wisp of pale blue Chakra emerged from its forehead, extending like a thread to Yugito.
Yugito took a deep breath and also extended a wisp of her own Chakra. The two strands met, intertwined, and connected in mid-air.
Buzz—!
Consciousness was pulled into another space.
Inside Three-Tails Isobu's consciousness space was a boundless deep sea.
Dark seawater surged around, with no light and no sound, only endless oppression and weight.
A cat entirely covered in blue flames appeared on the sea surface. Its body was slender and elegant, with two ribbon-like flame tails swaying gently behind it.
Two-Tails Matatabi.
Its amber eyes looked toward Three-Tails Isobu.
"Long time no see, Isobu," Matatabi spoke, its voice low and lazy.
Isobu's single eye rotated slightly to land on Matatabi, and its mouth seemed to curl into a sarcastic arc:
"Long time no see. I didn't think we would meet this way."
Matatabi's tails swayed gently, blue flames dancing on the water: "I also didn't expect you would follow a wolf."
Isobu was silent for a while, its single eye narrowing slightly: "He is strong."
Matatabi's pupils constricted slightly: "How strong?"
"I was completely powerless to fight back. What do you think?"
"And..." Isobu paused, a hint of smugness flashing in its eye, "At least following him, I'm a bit more free."
"Free?" Matatabi raised an eyebrow.
"Of course." Isobu's voice carried a bit of boasting, "I only need to serve as the clan guardian beast for the wolf tribe he's in for a hundred years. After a hundred years, he will return my true freedom."
Matatabi's mouth twitched a few times, a hint of jealousy seeping into its voice: "What kind of freedom is that? And aren't you afraid he's lying to you?"
"Tch—" Isobu snorted disdainfully, its single eye glancing sideways at Matatabi, "That's still better than you guys, being sealed inside those Ninjas to serve as weapons, without even a shred of freedom, unable to even come out for a stroll."
Pfft—
Matatabi felt as if something had stabbed hard into its chest. It opened its mouth to argue but found it couldn't say a single word.
Isobu was right—it was indeed sealed inside Yugito's body, it indeed had no freedom, and it indeed couldn't even come out for a stroll.
Matatabi fell silent. The blue flames on its body dimmed a bit, its two tails hung down weakly, and the whole cat looked somewhat dejected.
Seeing it like this, Isobu suddenly felt a bit embarrassed and quickly changed the subject:
"What about the other guys? Any contact?"
Matatabi snapped out of it and sighed.
"I only have some contact with that guy Gyūki; it's also in the Hidden Cloud Village."
"But you know Gyūki's personality; it can't settle down to say two words, plus that host of its who likes to shout nonsense..."
It shook its head with an air of helplessness, "Sigh, don't mention it."
"Tsk, how miserable."
Isobu's tone carried some sympathy, but also a bit of pride.
"Then I'm much better off than you guys. After my Rebirth, I stayed in the lake, and was only recently defeated by this guy."
Matatabi looked up at it with a face full of resentment.
Isobu didn't notice Matatabi's gaze and continued:
"Matatabi, the guy I'm following now is really strong. In the fight with that person just now, he didn't use his full strength at all."
It paused and said casually: "Should I ask him to kill your current host so you can go through Rebirth?"
Matatabi was stunned for a moment.
It looked at the serious expression in Isobu's single eye, was silent for a few seconds, and then shook its head: "Forget it, this girl is actually quite decent..."
Isobu didn't press further, only nodding: "Alright then. Then you take your time enduring; I'll be free in a hundred years."
Matatabi's mouth twitched, and it took a deep breath to restrain itself from slapping Isobu with a tail.
Afterward, the two beasts talked about things over the years for a full hour.
—
The clearing in front of the Raikage Office building was now piled with wine jars and bones picked clean.
The moonlight fell upon the mess, and the lingering scent of roasted meat and strong wine still floated in the air.
Ten cows and a hundred jars of wine had been mostly consumed by the man and the wolf.
A leaned drunkenly against Yang Jiu's front paw, his face flushed red, eyes half-closed, one hand waving wildly in the air: "Brother Yang, to... tomorrow let's fight again! It's... it's been a long time since I've felt this good..."
Yang Jiu looked down at the old man hanging off his front paw, his mouth twitching slightly.
The Fourth Raikage.
The supreme leader of the Hidden Cloud Village.
He had drunkenly collapsed so defenselessly before a wolf he had known for less than a day.
He really wasn't afraid of Yang Jiu having any ill intentions.
Yang Jiu lifted his paw and gently pushed A to the side.
A mumbled, rolled over, and lay directly beside the pile of bones, snoring like thunder.
Darui stood in the distance watching this scene, his mouth twitching.
He hesitated for a moment, walked forward, and bowed deeply to Yang Jiu: "Wolf King, the Raikage-sama... he isn't usually like this."
Yang Jiu glanced at him: "I know."
Darui opened his mouth as if to say something, then swallowed it back down.
He hoisted the dead-drunk A onto his shoulder, bowed to Yang Jiu again, and turned to leave.
Yang Jiu scanned the surroundings, then leaped up to land on Three-Tails' back, his golden eyes looking at the night sky.
The moonlight was bright, and the stars were few, but beautiful.
The moonlight fell on him and was slowly absorbed by his body, increasing his strength bit by bit.
"Almost there. One more country, and the mission will be complete."
Yang Jiu murmured.
Then he slowly closed his eyes.
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