Matatabi Comes to Konoha

There was no other way; he was chosen to be a live target by Dodai's Tobirama Squad, while the others did not have this prerequisite, and the two sides were simply enemies.

"Matatabi, I'm back." Uchiha Shingen greeted Matatabi.

Matatabi raised his eyes and looked at Uchiha Shingen, who was carrying someone in his hands.

The sudden icy sand had triggered its memories.

This human was very strong, extremely strong, strong enough to suppress the Chakra of the Tailed Beasts -on. Although not as strong as the human in the flashback, the two were very similar, suppressing their Chakra in the same way.

Therefore, when it was indiscriminately attacked by the sand, Matatabi did not leave. After resisting this wave, it stayed in place and waited for Uchiha Shingen to come and find it.

It desperately wanted to avoid being sealed again, and while waiting, it thought about it carefully and realized that Uchiha Shingen's sincerity along the way was really quite great, unlike the bad guys before, who were not very fierce in trying to capture it, but just wanted to deceive it.

There's Matatabi one principle: no matter how eloquently someone speaks, if their goal is still to seal it away, they're a bad person.

Uchiha Shingen was the only human it had encountered in the past few decades who did not aim to seal it away.

Compared to humans, the Tailed Beasts have incredibly low demands for life, so Matatabi's quite exciting that there's one who, despite being very strong, doesn't want to seal them away.

"Why are you only just getting back?" Matatabi asked. "Are we heading to the Leaf Forest now?"

"Actually, it won't be that fast..." Uchiha Shingen originally wanted to say that he needed to arrange the follow-up matters first, but seeing that Matatabi clearly had an expression of "why do humans have to make so much trouble," he changed his mind and said, "But it doesn't matter if it's faster. I'll drop the person over there, and then we'll both go back first."

Cats are like that; the line between aloofness and clinginess is very thin.

You need to try to understand it more.

I don't know if I can use it with the Matatabi, Susanoo another day.

"Oh, then hurry up and get rid of this person. Where is he? I'll take him there." The Matatabi didn't quite trust the two-legged creature's speed, so it decided to supervise it personally. It lowered its head and gestured for Uchiha Shingen to jump up quickly.

Would Uchiha Shingen refuse? Of course not!

Only those who have ridden Tailed Beasts can understand that feeling; it's truly unique.

All those large ninja beasts are nothing compared to what's to come.

He lightly leaped onto the Matatabi's head, told it the direction, and the big cat shook its head and ran off.

When it starts running Matatabi, the flame-shaped patterns on its body will also move.

At this moment, there were no other living creatures on the sand plain, only a vast expanse of white. The running Matatabi was like a burning blue flame, dazzlingly bright on the seemingly boundless white earth.

At the edge of Sunagakure, the Konoha Ninja army, not yet fully out of battle, was preparing to enter Sunagakure under the organization of the current Hokage and Tobirama Squad.

But they soon noticed the vibrations coming from the sand beneath their feet.

The vibrations gradually increased.

Namikaze Minato immediately activated his Chakra perception, clearly sensing his Flying Thunder God Seal.

"Don't worry, everyone, it's Shingen back." He instructed the Jonin beside him, "Tell everyone not to be nervous; the tremor was probably caused by Tailed Beasts."

"Yes, Lord Hokage." The Jonin appeared relatively calm.

Although the Konoha Ninja were not present at the scene, everyone saw Uchiha Shingen ride his Tailed Beasts into the battlefield from afar.

The orders were passed down through the ranks, and the Konoha Ninja army, which had been somewhat agitated, calmed down again.

Another emotion began to spread.

Namikaze Minato wasn't entirely calm either, but he had traveled to the battlefield with Shingen atop Matatabi's head, giving him ample time to process his thoughts. He had now thought things through very clearly and made his decision.

A sliver of blue light appeared on the horizon.

Once again, everyone saw Matatabi's figure.

One of the two Tailed Beasts captured by the First Senju Hashirama, and sold to the Cloud Village.

Every movement of the Two-Tails Matatabi sent shockwaves through the Sunahara, and it roared across the plains, becoming clearer and clearer in the eyes of the Konoha Ninja.

This enormous beast finally revealed its full form to the Konoha Ninja.

When they were truly up close to this Tailed Beasts, many people began to breathe rapidly.

Many of the Konoha Ninja here witnessed the Nine-Tails' attack on Leaf Village.

The two heroes who stopped the Nine-Tails back then were the Hokage himself, and the other is now standing on Matatabi's head.

Everyone noticed that Uchiha Shingen was also holding someone in his arms.

"Is everyone alright?" Uchiha Shingen shouted to the group from Matatabi's head.

"As expected of Lord Shingen!" someone in the crowd exclaimed.

What touched them most was that Uchiha Shingen's first words were to ask if everyone was safe. Although they knew this was just his way of speaking, they still felt a warmth in their hearts.

"Lord Hokage, I've captured Dodai," Uchiha Shingen said again, then jumped down from Matatabi's head.

Namikaze Minato and Tobirama Squad's team all had their eyes light up.

Honestly, they all assumed that the Dodai had been completely destroyed.

"As expected, it's Dodai." Sarutobi Hiruzen personally verified Dodai's identity, a smile appearing on his face. "Excellent. In a few years, Kumogakure won't be able to cause trouble for Leaf Village."

"Boring." Shimura Danzō his eyes, about to utter a retort, but then remembered that they were in front of everyone, so he held back and changed his tone to suggestion, "This can only solve the problem in the short term; Kumogakure itself is the problem."

"If we don't unite, there will be no problem." Sarutobi Hiruzen asked his old friend, "Danzo, do you think the Yotsuki Clan can take over the position of the Raikage Clan again?"

"Impossible," Shimura Danzō said. "The Raikage Clan is unique. Even if Yotsuki produces a Raikage, they wouldn't reach that level."

"What if the next Raikage really does have the surname Yotsuki?"

"Then Cloud Village is no different from other villages."

In just a few words, the two old men had finished their exchange. Having worked together for decades, they knew each other's thoughts all too well.

Uchiha Shingen also remembered the Yotsuki ninja he had almost killed.

"The Yotsuki Clan must be quite powerful," he asked Sarutobi Hiruzen. "Third, could this Dodai belong to the Yotsuki Clan?"

He couldn't find anything on Dodai that matched the characteristics of the Yotsuki Clan.

"He isn't," Sarutobi Hiruzen said, "But he's alive and can become the acting Raikage. With that time, as long as Leaf Village maintains its suppression, some of the problems in Kumogakure will have room to develop."

"That's true." Uchiha Shingen nodded.

A low, whimpering sound came from above.

Everyone looked up and saw that Matatabi was staring at them.

"Almost done, Matatabi." Uchiha Shingen sighed helplessly; the cat's patience was almost gone.

"Lord Hokage, Lord Third, I'm so sorry, but may I return to the village ahead of schedule?"

"Because of the Two-Tails?" Sarutobi Hiruzen paused for a moment. "That's not a problem. Leave things here to us. You and the Fourth Hokage should go back first. You'll Matatabi scare the villagers if you're alone."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's words were quite frank.

After all, the Nine-Tails' rampage had only lasted three years, and the Konoha Ninja army's psychological trauma from the Tailed Beasts hadn't completely subsided.

However, if both of the Nine-Tails Night's heroes were present, the villagers wouldn't be so overly sensitive to Matatabi's arrival.

Unnecessary complications would then be eliminated.

"I understand, I'll go back too." Namikaze Minato agreed with Sarutobi Hiruzen's suggestion. He turned to Uchiha Shingen and said, "Shingen, you go back with Matatabi first, I'll catch up with you later."

He was quite perceptive; he didn't suggest riding Tailed Beasts back.

After all, it seems that Matatabi only truly trusts Uchiha Shingen.

If other people jump on its head, it'll be hilarious if it gets all pricked up.

Namikaze Minato looked up and, sure enough, saw that Matatabi's expression was very wary. After noticing that Namikaze Minato was looking at it, it immediately took a few steps back and wagged its two tails.

"Alright, I'll go first." Uchiha Shingen nodded.

He couldn't bring himself to suggest that Matatabi Namikaze Minato give him a ride.

Shukaku the Nine Tailed Beasts, aside from One-Tail, the other three would likely have a lot of grievances against the Hokage.

The fact that Uchiha Shingen was able to give Shingen Uchiha a Namikaze Minato before his Matatabi was already considered a great favor.

Volume 7

Chapter 1: Matatabi to Leaf Village

North gate of Konoha.

The atmosphere at the gate was somewhat solemn today.

The north gate of Hidden Leaf Village is closed today.

To facilitate clients who originally intended to use the North Gate, the Leaf Village Police Force specially opened a temporary passage in the forest, with a large number of Konoha Ninja temporarily serving as guides and security personnel.

The main road in front of the North Gate was quite quiet today.

Now, only Konoha Ninja gather here.

Several hundred Konoha Ninja gathered here, while the ANBU and Konoha Military Police Force waited.

The Leaf Village Jonin Council who had no other work to do today also came here.

The Hokage, who assisted Uchiha Fugaku, was the person of the highest status present.

All the Jonin of the Uchiha Clan gathered together.

Without Wood Release, the Sharingan is Leaf Village's only means of dealing with unexpected situations.

That might not be entirely accurate, because there really is a young man in the ANBU who can use Wood Release.

He was the only successful person to conduct the Wood Release experiment in Hidden Leaf Village Shimura Danzō, he entered the ANBU as an elite member of Root.

Its code name is Tenzo.

But that Wood Release... well, it can only be called Wood Release.

Forget about dealing with the Tailed Beasts.

Standing next to the young Tenzo is Hatake Kakashi.

"Kakashi- senpai?"

"Um."

"What if the Two-Tails goes berserk?"

"Lord Kagesuke and Senior Shisui both possess the legendary eyes; they'll be fine."

"What if they can't do it?" Tenzo asked his most admired senior Kakashi, with great concern.

Hatake Kakashi gave him a rather memorable dead fish look.

"Tenzo, who is your best friend?"

"Friends...?" Tenzo pondered seriously.

"Think it over carefully. Once you've figured it out, remember to tell him that we'll burn incense for you every year starting next year," Hatake Kakashi said.

After teasing his overly serious junior, Hatake Kakashi touched his storage bag and sighed inwardly.

Lord Jiraiya's latest work today and haven't had a chance to watch it yet.

If he were to die, he wanted to take one last look before he died.

Otherwise, he would die with his eyes wide open in disbelief.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake.

The ninjas present immediately became extremely alert.

Soon, they saw the trees in the distance begin to sway.

"Everyone, there's no need to be nervous," Uchiha Fugaku's voice rang out. "Shingen has subdued the Two-Tails, nothing will happen, and the Lord Hokage has also returned."

After those two names were spoken, the ninjas present felt much more at ease.

"Wow, Shingen is amazing," Tenzo couldn't help but exclaim. "When will I be this strong?"

Hatake Kakashi glanced at Tenzo but didn't say anything.

Although he would occasionally tease this subordinate, he was a good person and did not want to shatter Tenzo's beautiful expectations for the future.

"They're here!" someone shouted.