The explosion in Cat Village

Cat Village.

After her summoning was dismissed, Bell Cat returned here and stood by the lake, staring forlornly at his fur.

That woman, Oto Uchiha, was far too ruthless. She forced me to fight with everything I had, then didn't even give me any dried fish afterward to comfort me. Why did I ever sign that Summoning Contract?!

The Byakugan kid was all right. He gave me a few Explosive Tags. I could trade those for money, then trade the money for dried fish.

At that thought, Bell Cat couldn't help licking his whiskers. With his healing ability, his injuries would recover in two days at most. It wasn't a bad deal.

Just then, Bell Cat glanced at the carp swimming in the lake. Cat Granny raised them, and they looked delicious.

If Cat Granny can eat them, why can't I?

Bell Cat couldn't help meowing inwardly as he reached a paw toward the Explosive Tags.

The carp just happened to get blown up by an Explosive Tag. It had absolutely nothing to do with me, Bell.

Boom!

An Explosive Tag flew into the sky and erupted in a dazzling flash. Watching the carp blasted into the air out of the corner of his eye, Bell Cat licked his lips and raced across the water.

As long as he was fast enough, no cat would discover that he was the one who had blown up the fish...

But... just as Bell Cat was about to catch a live fish, a light appeared and enveloped him.

"So, that's everything that just happened?"

With her Three-Tomoe Sharingan revealed, Oto Uchiha looked at the aggrieved Bell Cat, then at Zou Hyuga beside her, and settled her hands on her hips.

Zou Hyuga had just asked her to summon Bell Cat again. She had assumed it was something important-perhaps he had given him too many Explosive Tags and needed a few back...

Instead, she had listened to Bell Cat recount how he had blown up the fish, and had even seen excitement in his eyes.

Was that what Explosive Tags were for? They cost several thousand each, and he used them to blow up fish?!

Heh heh heh...

Zou Hyuga was holding back his laughter-at least on the surface. Strictly trained as he was, he wouldn't readily let his emotions show. No matter how funny something was, he wouldn't laugh.

In truth, he was thinking about something extremely serious. He had heard a voice again just now.

And he had confirmed that it was Bell Cat's inner voice!

The fellow looked silent and terribly wronged, but inside, he had been cursing nonstop. Most of it had been directed at Oto, calling her stingy, petty, and impossible to love.

Zou Hyuga walked over and fed Bell Cat a mouthful of mustard. Bell Cat turned green and ran to the stream to rinse his mouth.

"Well? Did you discover anything?" Oto Uchiha asked, leaning to one side.

"Something very promising. It might change our future..."

Unusually serious, Zou Hyuga looked Oto Uchiha straight in the eyes. "Sorry for putting you and Bell Cat through all this today."

"Our future?" Hearing the first part, Oto Uchiha felt her throat go dry and took out her water bottle for a drink.

Did activating the Sharingan use up that much water?

Confusion flickered in Zou Hyuga's eyes before he nodded. "This concerns whether we can live peacefully in the future!"

"Oh..." Oto Uchiha's expression returned to normal. Having rinsed his mouth, Bell Cat came running back too, his face set in displeasure.

Zou Hyuga and Oto Uchiha turned toward Bell Cat and smiled in perfect unison.

Bell Cat felt a chill and looked up at the sky. It was clearly midsummer, yet he felt as though he had fallen into an ice cellar.

The friendly exchange between the ninja and the Summoning Beast continued all afternoon.

Bell Cat had long since collapsed on the ground. Oto Uchiha was sitting on the ground too, her fingers trembling slightly.

Helping Zou Hyuga with his experiments had drained her already limited chakra reserves completely. Her body was like a kite with its string cut, incapable of resisting. Even a Ninja Academy student could have killed her easily.

Zou Hyuga was taking experimental notes in wild cursive-the kind used by traditional Chinese doctors.

A series of experiments had revealed that he could control the tiny amount of natural chakra inside Bell Cat, hear his thoughts, and even do other, more excessive things.

Of course, every attempt to listen to Bell Cat's thoughts consumed a great deal of natural chakra. Given how much natural chakra he infused each time, he could listen ten times at most, and the farther away he was, the greater the consumption.

Honestly, this ability wasn't much help in combat. It was almost more trouble than it was worth.

To infuse someone with a large amount of natural chakra, he needed them to be incapable of resisting. With that much time, he could simply smash his enemy's skull.

It might prove useful during interrogations, but Oto had the Three-Tomoe Sharingan... and the village also had the Ino-Shika-Cho's secret techniques.

That was all an afternoon of experiments had yielded. Zou Hyuga closed his Experiment Log.

Overall, his natural chakra abilities were very limited. They weren't entirely useless, but their promise lay in the future.

And all of this came from the black markings on his body. The more abilities he gained, the more questions he had about them.

At present, most of his strength was connected to the black markings in some way.

But his research into the black markings had completely stalled. They wouldn't even appear on his skin unless he deliberately activated them.

Gazing at the blood-red dusk, Zou Hyuga suddenly thought of Kisame, whom he had infused with more than ten times as much natural chakra as Bell Cat.

I should be able to hear that fellow's thoughts too...

Even though he was more than half a shinobi world away.

Of course, a thought was only a thought. Zou Hyuga didn't try it. Kisame was an extremely special test subject, and he absolutely couldn't waste that chakra.

Reining in his wandering thoughts, Zou Hyuga picked up the limp Bell Cat and fed him a few mouthfuls of dry rations.

Although this fellow was Oto's Summoning Beast, he was practically becoming his own. He couldn't treat him like an ordinary test subject; he ought to take proper care of him.

Perhaps after several hundred experiments, Bell Cat could become one of the finest members of the Ninja Cat Clan.

"Send Bell back," Zou Hyuga said to Oto Uchiha.

"No, absolutely not!"

Bell Cat suddenly perked up and waved his paws in refusal. He had only blown up the fish at noon. If he returned to Cat Village now, he was absolutely done for.

"Then should I leave you here?" Zou Hyuga glanced at the cat in his hand.

Bell Cat shook his head. "I'll go home with Oto. Then I'll sneak back tomorrow..."

"That works too..."

Zou Hyuga nodded lightly. After clearing everything away, he turned to Oto Uchiha again. "Oto, it's getting late. Let's head back."

"Um... I don't have any strength left."

Oto Uchiha's voice was very weak. She was utterly exhausted.

Chakra and stamina were closely linked. With her chakra depleted, she had gone weak in the knees.

"That was far too careless of you... What if a ninja ambushed us?"

Zou Hyuga shook his head helplessly and helped Oto Uchiha up, smoothly hoisting her onto his back while holding the ninja cat in his other hand.

Oto Uchiha was light, but her weapons and equipment were heavy. Add a cat of unknown weight, and it was quite a burden.

Without her Sharingan to keep watch, he could only keep his Byakugan active the whole way and hurry back to the village before sunset.