Tonton Disappears Again

Kimura Takuya's home.

"Where is Tonton? How come I don't see her?"

"Didn't I leave food and water for her? Maybe she's in the corner. Did she run to the bathroom? Did she crawl under the bed? She's not under the sofa either."

Kimura Takuya searched the room from top to bottom, checking every corner, but he couldn't find her anywhere.

Seeing Shizune, who usually appeared to be a quiet young lady, gradually beginning to lose her cool.

Kimura Takuya turned his head toward the window, his eyes lighting up.

"Aha, she must be hiding behind the curtains! Found you, Tonton!"

He yanked the curtains aside, but there was nothing there.

Looking at the windowsill, he saw tiny pig prints; he realized immediately that Tonton had run off again.

"Shizune-nee, don't choke me, let go of my neck, I'm going to suffocate. Tonton ran away again, we have to go after her quickly. I saw her when I left this morning, she shouldn't have gone too far."

Shizune, who had been frantically strangling Kimura Takuya, calmed down upon hearing this.

Although the experience of losing Tonton, finding her, and losing her again—this emotional rollercoaster—had caused her, usually good-natured, to lose her temper for a moment.

But her strength was at the level of a Special Jonin, so she still possessed the ability to compose herself.

Taking a deep breath, she released Kimura Takuya and examined the footprints on the windowsill.

The tracks led out the window and onto a small path.

The trail followed this path deep into the dense forest before the clues finally vanished.

Kimura Takuya's house was not located in a prime spot within the civilian district.

And the civilian district itself was already in the worst part of town.

It was very close to undeveloped areas and several training grounds.

It was a rather remote location.

And the place where this small path ultimately led.

Was none other than the second stage of the Chunin Exams, Training Ground 44—the Forest of Death!

"Wait, Shizune-nee, that's a restricted area ahead! There are many traps and wild beasts, and unauthorized entry is forbidden."

"I can't worry about that right now."

Shizune hadn't intended to disregard the rules so flagrantly.

But after a moment's thought, she created a Shadow Clone to go and apply for entry permits from Tsunade before heading inside.

Even though such restricted areas were rarely patrolled, she was now a disciple of the Hokage, and her every word and action would be seen as a reflection of the Hokage herself.

Lady Tsunade had only just taken office, and her foundation was surely not yet stable; if she were to be caught in a scandal over such a trivial matter, it could lead to significant trouble.

Thus, she chose to be cautious.

The two ventured deep into the forest, where the trees were overgrown and incredibly massive.

It was impossible to tell if these trees had grown naturally or were created by the First Hokage's Wood Release.

The two moved rapidly through the giant trees, searching as they looked around.

After tracking for a long time without success, Kimura Takuya spoke to Shizune.

"Shizune-nee, chasing like this isn't working. Do you have anything Tonton has used? Can't we just find a ninja hound to help us?"

Shizune froze upon hearing this, then moved to Kimura Takuya's side, grabbed his neck, and shook him violently.

"Why didn't you say so earlier, why didn't you say so, why didn't you say so!!"

"Let go, let go, I can't breathe!"

Having lost her cool again, Shizune strangled Kimura Takuya for a long time before finally calming down.

"It's too late to turn back now, let's keep looking. If we haven't found her by nightfall, we'll go apply for a ninja hound then."

The two continued their search until they reached an open area.

They discovered some small footprints that looked like pig hooves—and they were indeed from a small pig—but there was also a large pig footprint right next to them.

It was a bit strange, but they didn't have time to dwell on it.

Having only found this single lead after searching for so long, they followed it directly, tracking it all the way to the side of a small creek.

Only to discover that it was just two wild boars, one large and one small.

A disappointed Shizune let out a loud shout, scaring them away.

"Hey, Shizune-nee, this doesn't look good. Look at the grass around us."

Hearing this, Shizune looked at the surrounding grass; in the Forest of Death, the trees were massive, and the grass was terrifyingly tall as well.

The grass by the small stream stood over a person's height at a glance.

At this moment, amidst the grass, those terrifyingly tall stalks were swaying despite the lack of wind.

Between the dense thickets, there were occasional gaps.

What those gaps revealed was a jarring flash of yellow accompanied by streaks of black.

Tigers.

Giant tigers!

And not just one.

In the grass surrounding the two, there were likely over a dozen giant tigers.

Those tigers were prowling through the grass, and even at this height, they stood taller than Kimura Takuya.

The grass was barely enough to conceal them!

"We're surrounded. Shizune, can you handle this many tigers? If not, should I step in?"

"Damn it! Are you looking down on me, you brat? Watch this. Poison Kunai!"

Shizune unleashed a rapid-fire barrage of kunai toward the surroundings.

The giant tigers in the grass were all instantly paralyzed.

"How about that, kid? Still dare to look down on me?"

Shizune toyed with a kunai in her hand as if showing off her skills.

Yet, she noticed Kimura Takuya remained silent for a long moment.

"We're done for, a group of even bigger ones is coming."

Another group of giant tigers approached from the distance; compared to this new group, the ones Shizune had paralyzed with her poison kunai were like small fry.

They trampled the grass, finding the "little tigers" that Shizune had paralyzed, which were already a person's height even while lying down.

They licked the "little tigers," just as a mother tiger would lick her own cubs.

No, it wasn't just like it—it was exactly that!

These new giant tigers, standing over three meters tall, were the parents of the "little tigers" Shizune had just paralyzed.

"Roar!"

Seeing that their cubs wouldn't wake up no matter how much they licked them, the giant tigers went into a frenzy and charged at the two.

"Run!"

"What about your Poison Kunai? Shoot them!"

"I'm out, I only have one left. Who carries that many kunai when they go out? Even if I had more, the dosage wouldn't be enough to paralyze tigers of this size."

The two spoke while running.

They were moving at the speed of jōnin, sprinting rapidly and deliberately heading toward the trees, leaping between the giant trunks in an attempt to use the wood to block the giant tigers.

But they hadn't expected the giant tigers behind them to repeatedly smash through these towering trees, which would have required over a dozen people to encircle!

Their massive bodies moved with a speed that was in no way inferior to the two of them.

Although Kimura Takuya could activate the Sound-Damping Technique to increase his speed, he couldn't activate it for Shizune as well.

He couldn't just abandon her, could he?

Fine, no more pretending.

Time to show his hand.

"Ninja Art: Rasen Barrage Cannon!"

Kimura Takuya spun around.

He pressed his palms together in front of his chest, then thrust them forward.

With his palms pressed together, he aimed at the pursuing giant tigers.

Chakra gathered rapidly in front of his palms, quickly forming Rasengan the size of spherical stone pedestals; as soon as one gathered, he fired it.

The massive Rasengan were launched like a string of pearls.

Boom, boom, boom! Boom, boom, boom!

Dozens of giant tigers were all blasted away by the massive explosions.

They collapsed onto the ground.

Kimura Takuya had deliberately controlled the landing points of the Big Ball Rasengan, ensuring they didn't land directly on the giant tigers.

They had only landed around them, blasting them into unconsciousness.

These were, after all, Ninja Tigers!

Growing to such a size, they couldn't possibly be ordinary tigers; they were all Ninja Tigers.

Although they couldn't compare to the frogs in Mount Myōboku that were often dozens of meters tall, they were much larger than the Ninja Pigs and Ninja Leopards that Kimura Takuya and Team Guy had encountered before.

Kimura Takuya had great use for these tigers, so he spared their lives.

Kimura Takuya knew he had spared them.

But the Tiger King, who was walking slowly and unhurriedly at the very back of the pack, did not.