Chapter 4: Big Beauty and Little Tsundere [Please Vote for Recommendations]
The moment he met those eyes, Toneri felt his hands and feet turn ice-cold. The numbness started at his fingertips and slowly spread.
The air around him was scorching hot, yet deep down, Toneri felt cold. He couldn't help shivering.
Then he distinctly felt a deathly aura rise in his heart, slowly eroding his body and devouring his will. Before he knew it, he wanted to die.
But before that feeling could consume him entirely, it vanished without a trace.
He thought of his previous life on the battlefield, where he'd served as a combat medic. The one thing he could never do was decide that he was bound to die. Otherwise, who would save the comrades fighting on the front lines?
So the first thing Toneri learned after going to war was to stay alive. Only by surviving could he save others!
A flicker of confusion passed through the pair of open eyes, round as lanterns.
"Huh—"
Two-Tails never would have expected a little guy with not a trace of chakra to recover so quickly from her death glare.
She might be Two-Tails, but the number of tails obviously didn't determine a Tailed Beast's strength. The different colors of her eyes weren't meaningless, either. At their very core, her eyes could see both the world of the living and the world of the dead.
Even if she could only see those two worlds and couldn't interfere with them, that was still more than a kid without chakra could endure.
This was a test for her new Jinchūriki. Only if he withstood it would he barely qualify to be the Jinchūriki who contained her. Otherwise, a single look from her could kill him...
Was this a joke?!
Two-Tails slowly lowered her head and lay back down.
If she couldn't glare him to death, then she could at least talk to him.
It wasn't that she didn't want to break free of the seal. But when the previous Jinchūriki's container was changed, his heart had already been shattered, and he should have died long ago. Two-Tails simply hadn't wanted to vanish along with him, so she'd used her power to keep him alive while he hurried to find a new container—or release her.
Even the final Sealing Jutsu had used some of her chakra.
That was also why Two-Tails hadn't summoned Toneri all day. She'd had no choice but to fall into a deep sleep.
Even now, she'd only recovered some of her strength.
But even with only part of her power restored, that was no reason for Toneri to be able to resist Two-Tails' death glare.
"Little guy, your soul is strange. It has so little connection to the worlds of yin and yang in this world. The connection is slowly forming, but this sort of thing should only happen to a baby!" A voice that wasn't particularly sharp rang through the space, thick with confusion.
Toneri even got the odd impression that the voice sounded somewhat polite.
It was a strange feeling. Just moments ago, it had seemed as if she wanted to kill him.
A streak of blue light suddenly appeared in the otherwise dark space, glowing beyond the bars. The flame gave off the eerie, spine-chilling feel of ghost fire.
Then a creature came into view before Toneri, illuminated by the blue flame. It crouched on the ground, its fur resembling blue fire, two long tails swaying behind it. Its eyes were each as large as a bell, and they were different colors.
What a huge cat!
That was Toneri's first thought when he saw Two-Tails.
In fact, one could just as easily call her a giant tiger with two tails.
This was the legendary Two-Tails!
One of the mighty Tailed Beasts in the Ninja World!
"You... You're Two-Tails, right?"
Looking at the creature, as enormous as a mountain, Toneri couldn't help asking.
"Hmm? You know me?"
Two-Tails narrowed her eyes slightly and looked down at the human beneath her eye level, even as she lay on the ground. A trace of confusion showed in her gaze.
"Yeah."
Toneri nodded calmly and stepped closer. One more step would take him through the bars, into the territory of the terrifying beast. "Because that old man said your name in front of me yesterday."
At Toneri's words, Two-Tails said thoughtfully, "You're a pretty clever little guy."
"What's your name?"
Seeing that Toneri didn't seem very afraid of her, Two-Tails couldn't help asking.
"Toneri! My name's Toneri!"
Toneri grinned and narrowed his eyes, giving a sunny smile that brought a ray of light to the dark space.
At the sight of Toneri's childlike, innocent smile, Two-Tails froze.
How many years had it been since someone had given her such a warm smile?
Everyone Two-Tails had ever met—when they first saw her, when they learned who she was—had looked shocked, afraid, or even terrified.
After experiencing this again and again, the gentle creature she had once been had slowly become the terrifying monster people expected: full of hostility and malice, accompanied by a deathly aura.
Even her own Jinchūriki, including her previous one, whom she'd gotten along with relatively well, had been afraid of her. He'd just been better at hiding it.
"I've told you my name. I wonder what yours is?" Toneri stared at Two-Tails, waiting for her answer.
Two-Tails came back to herself, putting aside her useless, pointless sentimentality. Her gaze turned cold again as she looked at Toneri.
This little guy was just better at hiding his fear.
"Two-Tails!" she said coldly.
Friendliness, admiration, even acceptance—all of it was false and useless!
"Of course I know you're Two-Tails, but Two-Tails is your species. Like Persian cats, Garfields, and Siamese cats—those are all names of species. I'm asking for your real name." Toneri counted on his fingers, feeling mischievous.
Though he had the memories of two people in his mind, and the two sets of memories had completely merged, that didn't mean his childlike nature had vanished entirely.
Besides, Toneri figured that no matter what he talked about with Two-Tails, as long as they kept talking, they'd find more topics!
The more topics they had, the more chances they'd get to interact!
Then he'd have a chance to find the weak spot in her heart, and a chance to...
"Hmph—" Two-Tails snorted and glared coldly at Toneri.
She and Toneri were one now. She couldn't read his thoughts, but she'd seen everything he did during the day. In her eyes, his act of being cute in front of her had to be some kind of ploy.
Toneri acted as if he didn't notice Two-Tails' cold expression.
He propped up his chin and mused aloud, "You're pretty good-looking, but your personality's a little tsundere..."
Suddenly, Toneri's eyes lit up. He pounded his right fist into his left palm. "Which name do you think sounds better: Big Beauty or Little Tsundere?"
"..."
Congratulations to Lai Meiyun's Cat on becoming the first alliance leader of this book!
It's a new book, so all kinds of requests are inevitable! After all, Jin Mu knows his place. I'm just a typing tool. If you have any good ideas or anything you'd like to say, feel free to leave them in the chapter comments or book reviews. (That way, I'll have reviews to copy from, haha!)
One last thing: I'm sure you clever readers have figured it out. For now, please send all your tips to the character—in other words, our Toneri. And please give lots of hearts, lots of likes, and lots of comments. During the new-book period, Jin Mu will read them all!
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