Matatabi and Chōmei

Uchiha Mu left, taking the Two-Tails, Matatabi, with him. Kumogakure did not suppress the news. Instead, they spread word of Uchiha Mu.

To the Raikage, this was not a show of weakness. It was a way to warn the other shinobi villages of the threat Uchiha Mu posed, while also instructing them to carve up the Hundred-Clan Shinobi Nation after his death.

Iwagakure was the first to receive the news. They had information on the Four-Tails and promptly assigned shinobi to keep watch over him. They also planned to try combined ninjutsu to see whether they could beat him into submission.

Sunagakure also had information on the One-Tail, but he lived in the desert and knew both ninjutsu and sealing jutsu, making him harder to deal with than the other tailed beasts. Worst of all, the Kazekage fought with sand, and his skills paled in comparison to the One-Tail's.

Kirigakure quietly pursued its own gains. There were two tailed beasts within its borders, a circumstance tied to their preferred habitats. Unfortunately, they had no good solution for the time being and could only keep probing for a way to control them.

Because of Uchiha Mu, the shinobi world had set its sights on the tailed beasts ahead of schedule. Ordinarily, this would not have happened until after Madara attacked Konoha with the Nine-Tails.

In the Hundred-Clan Shinobi Nation, when Uchiha Mu appeared in the village with the giant cat, the villagers and shinobi reacted differently from those in other countries. They all looked at the cat with curiosity.

"Big kitty, are you joining the village like Chōmei did?" One child demonstrated exactly what it meant to be too young to know fear, though a parent pulled the child back a moment later.

"I'll have to look around first." Matatabi realized that the tailed beasts were treated very differently here. She was now desperate to get answers from Chōmei-why he had chosen to live among humans and help them.

"It's really nice here, big kitty," the child replied, summoning some courage.

"Hahaha, that's right. Matatabi, look at me. I can control you with genjutsu, yet I'm still talking to you so amicably. Naturally, I have no prejudice against you." Uchiha Mu burst out laughing, though anyone without the strength to back it up would be well advised not to try this approach.

"Heh..." Matatabi said nothing more. She had sensed Chōmei's presence. With a thunderous leap, she crossed the village and landed where he lived. Seeing him lounging so lazily in this artificial forest made her furious.

"Matatabi, you're here. How have you been lately?" Chōmei greeted her leisurely. At the same time, he was controlling small clones to spar with the Ninja Academy students.

"Heh, the humans have gone mad lately. I killed one group, and another came along. They found me even when I moved somewhere else." Matatabi was utterly fed up. She found a spot and lay down.

"So Mu dealt with you in a single glance too?"

"He did that to you?" Matatabi's eyes widened. Besides being caught in genjutsu, she had also taken a beating. He had thrown both taijutsu and sealing jutsu at her.

"Don't tell me he beat you up too. He told me he liked cats." Chōmei felt a little tempted to mock her.

"Heh, I'm not as spineless as you. You actually submitted after a single genjutsu." Matatabi shot the insult straight back.

"Heh, fighting someone you know you can't beat is what an idiot does."

"Spineless, are you? Is your shell the only hard part of you?"

"Idiot?"

The two tailed beasts began trading insults. Neither of them would likely enjoy the same freedom they once had from now on.

Then Chōmei turned serious. "He knows about the Ten-Tails' empty shell."

"What? No one should be able to awaken the Rinnegan right now." Matatabi grew serious as well.

"But he knows about it anyway. A thousand years have passed. Haven't enough things happened that we never expected?" Chōmei countered.

When they had first been separated and scattered across the shinobi world, they had interacted with humans, only to be surrounded by human malice and fear. The Nine-Tails had avoided humans from the beginning because of his innate malice perception.

After that, the human shinobi clans entered a thousand years of conflict. The people they had known split into numerous clans-the Senju, Uchiha, Uzumaki, Hyuga, Kaguya, and others.

The fighting in the shinobi world had left them disillusioned. They felt that the future the old man had spoken of would never come, until Chōmei met Uchiha Mu. He was powerful, but he did not rely solely on strength. He had first subdued Chōmei, then let him see the truth.

It was precisely this sincere, unprejudiced treatment that led him to form a Summoning Contract with Hyuga Lingnai. He could provide her with vast amounts of chakra and allow her to undergo a partial tailed beast transformation. Although she could not achieve a complete transformation, it was enough to let her fly.

Hyuga Lingnai had effectively stepped straight into Kage-level strength. Flight was exceedingly rare in the shinobi world, and with her Byakugan, she was truly an eagle in the sky. Combined with the Seven-Tails' abilities, she could carry out precision aerial strikes.

This was also why every nation cared so much about the tailed beasts. They could easily raise an individual's combat strength, provided that person could control a tailed beast or make peace with one.

"I see. So you think he's the one?" Matatabi asked after a moment of thought.

"Maybe he isn't, but I believe he is." Chōmei sounded relaxed. He had lived here for over a year and got along well with the humans. There were even children and Ninja Academy students who admired him.

"So that's what you meant. How boring." Matatabi understood. Chōmei thought that she might not believe Uchiha Mu was the one, but he himself did. In other words, Chōmei believed he had found the person the old man had spoken of.

"Things will only get worse for us from now on, Matatabi. Why not stay here and see how it goes? For undying beings like us, it isn't much time anyway, is it?" Chōmei urged her. Even if they died, they would be reborn a few years later.

"It's not like I have a choice, is it? That man's ocular power feels bottomless." Matatabi found a spot to curl up.

"Yes, he's something of an anomaly among the Uchiha, and he's still getting stronger." Chōmei had experienced the boosts following Uchiha Mu's system upgrade. His chakra had increased severalfold.

"Huh?" Matatabi could hardly believe it. He was still getting stronger? Just how absurd was he going to become? Beating her up had already been child's play for him.

"Want to make a small clone and take a walk through the streets with me?" Chōmei changed the subject.

"All right." After thinking it over, Matatabi agreed. This was also a good opportunity to learn about this man's ideals.

The village was vastly different from a year ago. It was like the difference between the countryside and a city. People came and went along the streets, and those with a little money had acquired shops of their own to do business.

Children darted through the streets, shinobi raced along dedicated rooftop routes, and ordinary elderly people took leisurely strolls. Everyone here was so relaxed that it hardly seemed like the shinobi world at all. Matatabi then followed Chōmei into a Taki Cuisine Restaurant.

Indeed, this was the most famous stir-fry restaurant chain in the Hundred-Clan Shinobi Nation, with more branches than any other. Its prices were relatively low, so even ordinary people could easily afford to eat there, thanks to Daimyo Taki's positioning from the outset. He had also opened an upscale restaurant called Taki Above the World.

The two businesses stayed out of each other's way. Unless someone paid particular attention to the owner behind them, they would never realize that both belonged to the same person.

Curious, Matatabi followed Chōmei into a small private room, which was inexpensive as well. As tailed beasts, they had no need to eat, but Chōmei enjoyed the flavors and often came here for a meal.