Commonly known as a scapegoat!
That was why Matatabi the Two-Tails had suggested that Otsutsuki Toneri simply take Yugito along too.
At that moment, the Two-Tails controlled Yugito's body and had suppressed her consciousness, so Yugito could not hear their conversation.
"I don't mind, but ask this woman what she thinks yourself. She seems to love her village very much," Otsutsuki Toneri said slowly after a moment's thought.
How should he put it? This really was somewhat beyond his expectations.
To be honest, he did not want too much contact with the Tailed Beasts. After all, they still had to be captured by the Akatsuki in the future to revive the Ten-Tails.
Otsutsuki Toneri was very much looking forward to fighting Six Paths Obito and Six Paths Madara.
The continent was so vast, and he wanted to watch its upheavals with a smile!
His current strength was already enough to change many things, but he did not actually want to change the broad course of the plot.
He had his own ambitions and aspirations, and his goal was very clear.
But beyond that goal, he did indeed have many little long-held wishes.
Six Paths Madara, Momoshiki Otsutsuki, Six Paths Obito, the crown prince, and so on.
They were all his targets. Having come to the world of Naruto, he would feel the trip had been wasted if he did not witness these people at their peaks.
That was why he had originally had no intention of getting too deeply involved with the Tailed Beasts, but now he suddenly had a new idea.
"Don't worry about Yugito. I'll persuade her. As long as you're willing to help me, I'll lend you a hand. Your ambitions must be considerable too, right?"
Matatabi shook her head. She had lived with Yugito for over a decade and was confident she could persuade this woman.
Matatabi was exceptionally intelligent and understood humans thoroughly, and she lacked the excessive arrogance of the One-Tail and Nine-Tails.
She could be considered an oddity among the Tailed Beasts.
So she could tell that Otsutsuki Toneri was also an ambitious human. Following the human principle of mutual assistance and benefit,
she was willing to follow Otsutsuki Toneri in exchange for freedom.
"Keep a kitty?" Otsutsuki Toneri rubbed his chin as he looked Yugito over. Matatabi's proposal did sound rather good.
Matatabi was willing to become his summoning beast!
But in Otsutsuki Toneri's mind, the one he really wanted to keep was that fox...
After all, the Nine-Tails was the strongest Tailed Beast, and also the strongest summoning beast!
Madara Uchiha was the only one who had ever contracted with the Nine-Tails, and even he had used the ocular power of his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan to control the Nine-Tails and make it his summoning beast.
Still, keeping a kitty seemed rather nice too, and Matatabi looked much more docile than that prickly fox.
But he could not give up on the Nine-Tails either. He still had to find an opportunity to bring that Nine-Tails back to guard his home.
Leaving him with Minato Namikaze was simply a waste!
"All right, let's leave, then. I'll let you out once we're out of Kumogakure." Otsutsuki Toneri nodded and smiled at Matatabi.
There was no reason to turn down a free kitty delivered to his door. Besides, Matatabi really did seem nice, a good pet.
Her strength was just about passable, enough to deal with ordinary Kage Level opponents, and he could also raise her himself.
Make her stronger!
"Good! Let's leave this way. There's also a path out through this valley." A hint of a smile appeared in Matatabi's feline eyes as she pointed deeper into the valley and spoke to Otsutsuki Toneri.
She could not have been more familiar with Kumogakure. After all, ever since shortly after the village's founding, she had lived here, sealed inside Jinchūriki as Kumogakure's weapon of war.
"Heh... I've stolen their Two-Tails. I hope that fellow A doesn't get so angry he drops dead." Otsutsuki Toneri smiled at her words, then thought with amusement.
The Tailed Beasts were the ultimate weapons of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Losing one was an extremely heavy blow even for them.
What was more, Kumogakure had already suffered grievous losses this time, and now it had lost the Two-Tails as well.
Tsk, tsk... I hope our hot-tempered Fourth Raikage doesn't pass out from rage...
(Please give me everything~ Please send flowers! Time wants flowers to become prettier (●-●))
Chapter 56: I'm free! First update
Then the three Otsutsuki Toneri left directly through the valley's other exit. A long time after their departure,
Fourth Raikage A, who had waited a long time and felt inexplicably uneasy, returned to the valley, only to find it completely deserted and silent.
"Yugito!" The unease in A's heart grew stronger, and he shouted loudly. His voice echoed through the valley, but no answer came for a long time.
A clenched his teeth hard. His naturally imposing face was somewhat twisted with fury, and his eyes were bloodshot, because he had seen it.
A line of large characters carved into the valley wall beside him!
"Esteemed Lord Raikage, for personal reasons, I, Toneri, felt that your village's Two-Tails Matatabi would make a fine pet, so I took the liberty of taking her home to raise. Surely the magnanimous Lord Raikage won't mind, will he? Respectfully yours, Otsutsuki Toneri!"
"Fuck. Your. Mother!" A forced the words out one by one, a terrifying aura spilling from his burly frame.
This little monster had attacked their Kumogakure without any regard for the circumstances, and now he had even fucking abducted their village's Two-Tails!
A fine crackling of thunder rang out continuously. Lightning coiled around A's entire body as he smashed the section of cliff bearing the inscription to pieces!
"Aah!! You've gone too far! Far too far!! Otsutsuki Toneri! Kumogakure will fight you to the death!!"
A roar of utter fury rang out from the valley, startling countless birds into flight.
Meanwhile, the three Otsutsuki Toneri had arrived in a dense forest. Few people came here, which made it quite suitable.
"I'll undo the seal for you now, but how will you deal with your size?" Otsutsuki Toneri looked at the tall Yugito with his pure, flawless Tenseigan and asked curiously.
The Tailed Beasts were all enormous. The Nine-Tails was even comparable in size to Sasuke's Perfect Susanoo!
Even Matatabi measured dozens of meters.
Releasing someone that large would attract rather too much attention.
"It's all right. I have a way." Matatabi shook her head, a little excitement glimmering in her feline eyes.
It had been decades! Freedom-she could finally be free again!
She had waited far, far too long for this day!
"All right, then. Seal! Release!" Otsutsuki nodded. The Rinnegan in his palm flickered slightly, and he abruptly pressed it against Yugito's stomach.
A surge of ocular power spread silently into Yugito's body, slowly undoing the Tailed Beast seal within her.
Yugito's body trembled continuously. An enormous mass of blue chakra seeped out, rising above her head.
"Cough, cough... Matatabi..." Yugito fell to her knees in pain, her fair face twisting slightly as she struggled to lift her head and speak.
Her eyes had now returned to her own pupils. Previously, Matatabi had kept her consciousness suppressed inside her body.
Matatabi had also discussed what was happening outside with her. Although she was very reluctant to leave Kumogakure, to her,
Matatabi was her most important companion. The village was, ultimately, just the village.
Now that Matatabi was leaving her body, she truly felt reluctant to part with her, yet also somewhat happy for her. It was very complicated.
An immense amount of blue chakra continued surging out of Yugito's body, finally taking shape in midair as an enormous dark-blue cat demon.
"I'm free!" The cat demon landed in the forest, tilted her head toward the sky, and let out a long cry. The tremendous sound sent countless birds and beasts flying and scattering through the forest.
She was finally free! Matatabi gazed at this fresh world and the azure sky, irrepressible delight shining in her feline eyes.
"Not bad-looking at all~" Otsutsuki Toneri rubbed his chin as he assessed the enormous Matatabi the Two-Tails.
Overall, the Two-Tails looked like a dark-blue cat demon, with rings of mysterious black markings on her blue, flame-like fur and two tails.
She actually looked quite normal.
To be honest, the Tailed Beasts came in all sorts of bizarre shapes: a tanuki as fat as Garfield, an excessively ugly turtle, a red-haired ape, and so on.
The only ones whose overall appearance was passable were Matatabi the Two-Tails, Five-Tails Kokuō, and Kurama the Nine-Tails.
Yugito was now kneeling weakly on the ground, drenched in sweat. As she watched the ecstatic Matatabi, her expression was somewhat forlorn.
Extracting a Tailed Beast was extremely painful, but fortunately, Otsutsuki Toneri had not forcibly extracted her, so the pain was still within what Yugito could endure.
Still, Matatabi, who had always stayed beside her day and night like family, had suddenly left her, and she did indeed feel somewhat empty inside.
After her initial delight, Matatabi turned her enormous feline eyes toward the three Otsutsuki Toneri. A thoughtful look flickered in her eyes, and then her body slowly shrank.
Finally, she became the size of a pet cat and darted swiftly into Otsutsuki Toneri's arms.
Held by Otsutsuki Toneri, Matatabi wore an extremely humanlike expression of enjoyment on her feline face.
Otsutsuki Toneri stared at Matatabi, dumbfounded, as though he had seen a ghost. Holy shit, Tailed Beasts could do this too?
Beside him, Yugito also stared in astonishment at the tiny Matatabi, but a moment later, her eyes turned starry...
So cute! I want to pet her so badly!
"Wait, you can make yourselves this small? That can't be right, can it? Isn't that enormous size your normal adult form?"
Otsutsuki Toneri gently stroked Matatabi's soft, dark-blue, flame-like fur as he asked curiously.
The Tailed Beasts' enormous size should have been the bodies they had grown into. They had been juveniles when the Sage of Six Paths created them.
Over the long centuries, they had gradually matured, and their bodies had slowly grown larger.
But what was going on with Matatabi now?
Such a small body, and so light too. That really was something.
"It's just a special transformation technique that exists for us Tailed Beasts. The old Sage of Six Paths taught it to us when he first gave us life. But this special transformation technique doesn't have any other uses, and we're weaker in this form than at our normal size."
Matatabi flicked her tails. Otsutsuki Toneri's scratching seemed to feel very good, and her voice was exceedingly languid.
(Please support me~ It'll be going premium soon, so here's hoping for good results. Kisses!)
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