Chapter 145

"Meow~ I finally have a ninjutsu!" A deep, rumbling purr reverberated through the grand, ornately adorned castle tower of the Ninja Cat Castle. Sprawled across a throne carved from a single slab of rich, dark stone, a giant white cat rolled side to side, his luxurious fur shimmering under the dim candlelight as he trembled with barely-contained excitement.

(For those wondering about his previous size manipulation, he has an innate ability to shrink his size; his natural size is that of a huge cat.)

Nekomata, the towering white cat, had yet to learn the intricacies of his ninjutsu properly yet, but just knowing that he would soon wield such power sent a shiver of delight through his entire body. 

Today, he was a step closer to mastering Needle Jizo, a ninjutsu that hardened his fur into a sharp defensive barrier—a technique perfectly suited for a creature like him, naturally covered in thick, spiky fur. Normally, Needle Jizo was a challenging jutsu, rated as medium-difficulty among ninjutsu, especially for humans who lacked the furry advantage. 

Had it been bought for humans, it would have cost at least 5,000 points, but beasts with control over their bodies could achieve it with less effort. For cats like Nekomata, the process was even more streamlined, as they held a natural affinity for techniques involving heightened bodily awareness.

As he mused over his new potential, Nekomata's elation was interrupted by a familiar, unimpressed voice.

"Do you, by chance, need a moment to yourself?" Takeshi, the small black cat sitting nearby, eyed the giant white cat with a deadpan expression, his eyes narrowing as he observed the spectacle of excitement with something akin to exasperation. "Because…you seem rather…uncontainable."

He would need to teach him properly and drill caution into him, unless this white cat got too cocky from being able to use ninjutsu.

Nekomata's rolling ceased abruptly. He blinked at Takeshi, momentarily shamed into stillness, before letting out a small, apologetic mewl. His tails, which had been swishing furiously a moment ago, now hung awkwardly behind him. 

Unbeknownst to Nekomata, Takeshi had stopped him because he knew the cat would provide barely any points for behaving shamefully. Even so, Nekomata contributed around a hundred points with his kindness.

Takeshi's whiskers twitched as he continued, his voice soft but commanding. "Listen closely. When anyone asks where you're learning these techniques or acquiring all these rare items, tell them it's from the Holy Cat Land. Say it's the Holy Land of Cats, and that your kekkei genkai connects you to it. Got it, meow?"

The white cat nodded quickly, his tails twitching. Takeshi said his goodbye and left, leaving Nekomata to his thoughts.

As Takeshi departed, Nekomata's thoughts began to spiral. 'Could there really be a Holy Cat Land?' he pondered, his heart swelling with pride at the notion. After all, Takeshi must be from there, judging by his strange abilities and the baffling items he produced. He reasoned that his own exceptional size and unique talents might indeed link him to this fabled place. 

As he grew up, Nekomata could speak the human language, but he still had a cat's brain. As Nekomata drifted deeper into his theories, he held his head high, basking in his newfound sense of purpose as a potential descendant of this Holy Cat Land. Little did he know, Takeshi would likely smack him if he caught wind of these overly grand ideas.

If Takeshi knew his thoughts, he would have definitely beaten him up for being so shameless. But before Nekomata could express his thoughts to the black cat, Takeshi had already returned to the training ground using the Flying Thunder God. 

The dull scenery and the memory of Jiraiya dumping him here made Takeshi feel a bit sad. But thinking of Kakashi and Obito, who had given him a lot of points in the past few days, he accepted it as meager compensation.

Takeshi had trained Kakashi and the rest of the team earnestly. After returning, he started observing them, however, after a few minutes, his enthusiasm waned. Training was, after all, rather tedious. "Meow~ This is getting boring," he muttered under his breath. "A nap sounds like a better idea." 

It wasn't just boredom motivating his drowsiness. Using the Flying Thunder God technique over such a long distance had sapped some of his chakra reserves, leaving him in need of rest. 

Curling up on a shaded rock, Takeshi closed his eyes, ready to recharge. "Ah, I'll just let them tire themselves out for a bit," he murmured, the hint of a sly grin curving his lips. "By the time I wake up, they'll be easy prey for me to 'inspire' further."

As Takeshi's breathing slowed, his rhythmic purring filled the air, a contented lullaby that echoed across the training ground. Kakashi, Rin, and Obito continued their exercises, running through the dense forest as they chased elusive targets. The physically grueling regimen Takeshi had designed for them pushed them to conserve their chakra, was reminiscent of Guy's training methods—relentless and repetitive, though Takeshi's approach added the twist of catching rats, a task that was both frustrating and surprisingly rewarding for the young ninjas.

The sun had barely begun to set when Takeshi stirred awake, his nose twitching at the scent of roasted fish. Opening one eye lazily, he noticed Kakashi and the others huddled around a small campfire, grilling fish over the flames as the soft glow cast dancing shadows around them. 'What are they up to?' he wondered, somewhat curious. Usually, they would have packed up and returned to camp by now. Perhaps they intended to train into the night?

"Hey you! you're awake, Takeshi. We've decided to reduce rest time for tonight. After dinner, we'll continue to train," Rin said, her face flushed with the energy of youthful determination.

"Remember to take breaks, don't overstrain yourselves," Takeshi couldn't help but advise. 'You can stand this kind of torture, but I can't. I want to go back to sleep in the tent!'

"No way!" Kakashi exclaimed, his tone resolute as he clenched his fists. Beside him was a lineup of more than a dozen rats he had managed to catch. Over the past five days, he had adapted to the increased weights Takeshi had imposed on them, and his determination had only grown as he began to outdo Obito in their rat-catching competitions.

Takeshi's gaze drifted between the trio, each showing distinct signs of weariness but hiding it under stubborn pride. Kakashi looked fired up, Rin positively gleamed with energy, and Obito—well, Obito appeared more frustrated than anything else. 'Ah, I see. So the problem lies with you again, Obito, you haven't been training properly,' Takeshi thought with a touch of annoyance. 'And Kakashi, you're getting cocky. Time for another lesson in humility.'

"Alright, since you're all so full of energy, we'll crank things up," Takeshi announced, his voice eerily calm. "I'll set the puppet's speed to half its usual level for this round."

He took out the mouse puppet and began to infuse chakra. After a good sleep, his physical strength and chakra had fully restored.

Kakashi smirked, brimming with confidence. "Half-speed? That'll be too easy," he muttered, barely concealing his pride.

Takeshi's eyes glimmered with a mischievous spark. *Perfect.* There was nothing he enjoyed more than taking down overconfident prodigies. Humbling those who needed it most always brought him a thrill—and yielded far more points, this provided far more points than Obito usually did.

Takeshi stopped injecting chakra after filling half of the mouse puppet's battery. "Get ready, it's about to start."

"Hmph, I'll catch it i-..."

"Kakashi, please stop talking. I'm begging you, just focus on training, okay?" Obito hurriedly stopped him. Obito knew Kakashi was going to put his foot in his mouth again but didn't want to get dragged along in that. So he didn't bother letting Kakashi talk more. He knew Kakashi too well and Takeshi too well.

"..." Kakashi stopped talking midway, obviously thinking of his recent shameful experience, but he couldn't help it. It was because of how shameful the previous experience was that he wanted to get his pride back. But... What if I didn't actually catch it?' Kakashi considered the possibility of failure and decided to keep his mouth shut.

Takeshi sighed regretfully at the missed opportunity and then said, "You can remove the weights on your body. It will start in three seconds. Whoever hasn't removed the weight by then will be wearing it for this training. So, get ready to start."

The three ninjas sprang into action, quickly discarding their weights. The metal clanked loudly as it hit the ground, reverberating through the quiet valley and startling flocks of birds that took off in a frenzy of flapping wings.

"Maybe you should summon the ninja dogs, Kakashi," Rin suggested, her voice considerate. "It might give us an edge."

Kakashi felt frustrated. His teammates didn't believe in him. They had trained together for so many days; could he not even catch a mouse puppet at half speed? He felt frustrated at the underestimation.

He wanted to refuse, but seeing Rin's eyes, he could only sigh and quickly summoned three small ninja dogs. The three small ninja dogs all had tracking abilities, but Pakkun was the strongest among them, and the other two were slightly weaker. He assigned Pakkun to himself and the other two to Obito and Rin.

Pakkun and the other ninja dogs were already used to it. At first, it was funny for them to watch these humans failing at catching rats, but eventually, it just got too sad for them to watch, so they decided to help.

"Start." Takeshi released the mouse puppet, and the little puppet sprinted out instantly. Pakkun and the others had been warned by Takeshi that they could only track and not participate in the catching, so they didn't move at this moment because the puppet was still close.

"Humph, this will be a piece of cake," Kakashi said, full of confidence, and started chasing after the puppet.

Their formation was arranged by Rin in a triangle shape to encircle the mouse. Rin was the slowest, so she just had to follow behind. Rin did a good job in this regard, and Kakashi and Obito rushed ahead of the puppet with sprinting bursts and began to close off its escape routes.

However, the moment they rushed ahead of the puppet, it instantly turned to the left.

"What the...?" Kakashi was confused. Isn't this supposed to be a dumb puppet? How can it be so smart!

"Focus on formation!" Rin shouted. Their formation was based on encirclement. If the mouse could not be locked in the middle, the puppet would be lost in the forest again.

However, Kakashi discovered another shortcoming of his own. His momentum was too strong, and he couldn't turn around in time. He had rushed out at his maximum speed in a straight line...

"How sad, meow!" Takeshi didn't miss this opportunity. Using the Flying Thunder God, he stood beside Kakashi and immediately launched a verbal offensive.

As expected, Kakashi overextended by moving in a straight line. He was slower than Obito in turning, and their formation was getting loose, with the puppet on the vere of escaping. 

It seems half the speed was still enough to beat him. "I can still catch up!" Kakashi gritted his teeth, activated the lightning chakra to stimulate his muscles, and then turned around and quickly chased the mouse puppet.

And he did indeed catch up to the mouse puppet quickly. However, the next second, the mouse turned around again, and Kakashi passed by it, his hands almost touching the puppet before it escaped.

'Kami damn it! If only I was a little faster. If these hands were a bit faster, I would have caught it and rubbed it in that damn cat's face!'

But just like the shortcomings of Chidori, while his speed was fast enough, his eyes and reaction speed couldn't keep up. Kakashi could only sadly watch the mouse puppet run away.

"You giving up, meow? If you maintain your speed, you can still catch it, but... you have consumed too much chakra and you cannot handle your maximum speed. Is there any point in continuing?" Takeshi was on the side, bewitching Kakashi with a devilish voice.

Kakashi's mind was on the verge of collapsing. He was extremely confident before, thinking it would be impossible for him not to catch the puppet at half speed. These past few days of training, he had studied the movement patterns of fleeing rats and had caught many rats using that. Experiencing that success, he felt confident in being able to catch this puppet. But reality had thrown cold water in his face.

He even suspected that this mouse was remotely controlled by Takeshi. Otherwise, why was this puppet so reactive? How could it be so smart?

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