The Nekomata's frustration was palpable as he failed to purchase cat food and returned in despair. As the boss of the Ninja Cat Castle, he felt ashamed to return empty-pawed.
He hesitated for a long time before finally walking away with an air of pride and disdain, as if he didn't care about the cat food he had offered.
But who was fooling whom? It was clear that the cat desperately wanted to buy the food but was determined to preserve his pride.
Nekomata silently complained to himself as he left dissatisfied. The black cat, however, seemed more confident.
Although it was regrettable that he couldn't think of a way to extort the white cat, it wasn't a significant loss. Anyway, the points were still there.
As for the two or three pieces of cat food, it didn't matter. The points were collected from others, so it was like giving back to old customers.
Takeshi thought optimistically, feeling that with the points in hand, he had the world at his fingertips. Points were welcome, but it didn't matter if you didn't have them.
Anyway, judging from the enthusiasm of that silly cat chasing him into Konoha, he would be fooled sooner or later.
After eating the cat food, he stayed at home to catch up on his sleep. He had been exercising and running all this time and had never found time to take a good rest.
Meanwhile, when Rin returned to Konoha, she immediately went to the hospital, where she worked as a medical ninja. For her, Konoha Hospital was the best training ground.
She learned needle Jizo without having to consider her ability to protect herself for the time being. But this time, she came back not only to learn medical ninjutsu but also to study some poison knowledge.
She didn't necessarily want to learn how to make poison, at least not yet, but she must study and understand it.
The ninjas of Konoha were busy. The next day, Minato's team gathered again to start the task. Originally, the task required everyone to be present before it could start, but their team was special.
In addition to a leader and three team members, there was also a cat... Therefore, Rin was pardoned and continued to work.
Rin studied in the hospital, and Kakashi took Obito and the little black cat to do the usual tasks. The tasks were not complicated, mostly consisting of finding cats and dogs or carrying water – all around Konoha.
The cat and dog missions of Capital City were not given to them at all; they were meant to condition the new genin!
Fortunately, Takeshi was not required to carry water. All he needed to do was track and trace animals like cats and dogs and help with some simple tasks.
The rewards and tasks were not much, but as a ninja cat, the remuneration belonged to him, and the mission credit belonged to Rin. Takeshi was just a hardworking wage earner.
It's worth mentioning that the little black cat had secretly put on the ninja cat coat given by the Gacha.
The free outerwear had customization capabilities, allowing it to be transformed into any style Takeshi wanted. The size could be increased as the body grew larger.
Overall, it was very good, with only one problem – if it broke, there was no repairing it. Unfortunately, it couldn't be repaired through system too.
In addition, Takeshi's natural energy had been almost digested during this period, and his stomach was only slightly bulging. It would take a few days at most to fully digest it.
By checking himself in the mirror, he could be sure that he was a bit bigger. The current size was larger than many one-year-old ninja cats, and he was strong enough to hit the iron ball won in the Gacha, but he couldn't hit it very far.
Takeshi tried it during the mission. He could hit it to a distance of about ten meters at most, and his aim would drop sharply beyond ten meters.
The iron ball would automatically return to the location it was thrown from one second after it flew out and landed on the ground.
If it hit someone, it was quite powerful. However, if he wanted to hit the enemy with a stronger impact, the little black cat would have to grow up further.
This kind of trivial missions lasted for ten days. During this period, the two-tailed Nekomata came quietly several times, but unfortunately, Takeshi was not seen, so he left angrily, leaving only the familiar smell.
Takeshi felt that he had completely digested the natural energy and was about to eat another luxurious cat food when Minato took time out of his busy schedule to take on an A-level mission – patrolling the border of the Land of Fire.
This mission required going to the east of the Land of Fire, and a small team was responsible for patrolling the area bordering the Land of Water and Kumogakure Village.
Kumogakure Village and Kirigakure Village were still at peace with Konoha for the time being. They were only responsible for regular security reconnaissance, so the task difficulty was not too high.
Takeshi was reluctant to go. Going to the border of Kumogakure Village and Kirigakure Village was almost equivalent to crossing half of the Fire Country.
Kami knows how far they would be from here! However, for the safety of the team, he had to keep up – relying on Summon skills alone, Rin would need a lot of chakra to summon him at the border, and there was a distance limit for summoning too far away.
At noon, in a forest outside Capital City, Takeshi and the others passed by here and stayed for a while. Obito took out the rice balls and started eating.
He had many friends in the clan, including women and grandmothers, so he always had a lot of portable food when he went on missions.
Takeshi originally planned to go up and grab one, but after sniffing the air, his eyes flickered. Burning – with a hint of grilled food.
Someone was cooking in the woods! He took a few steps towards the source of the smell and smelled another smell, which was the smell of around four people.
The smell of this person was still very familiar – it was Takeshi's "old friend" Guy and his team.
"Meow~" Takeshi called out, and when everyone looked over, he quickly started running.
"Huh? Wait!" Rin was about to take a soldier food pill, but when she saw her ninja cat running away, she had to catch up immediately.
Minato and Kakashi raised their eyebrows and followed after him.
After experiencing the battlefield together, everyone was familiar with each other and knew that although this cat was mischievous, he was usually very stable and would never do anything too inexplicable during the mission.
If he ran that way without saying anything, there must be something attracting him, and there was no danger.
After chasing for a while, everyone saw four ninjas sitting in the woods around a simple pot. Fish, wild vegetables, mushrooms, and eggs were cooked in the pot, which was very delicious.
Takeshi rushed over and quickly jumped down from the tree. "What's going on?" The four ninjas were startled and immediately stood up to prepare for the attack.
But then, more figures arrived one after another – Minato, Kakashi, Rin, and Obito, who arrived last, still holding a rice ball in his hand.
The two Jonin greeted each other politely, and then went to the side to chat, leaving the six of them and a cat chatting here.
"Guy, Genma, and Ebisu... I didn't expect to meet you here!" When Obito saw this, he immediately threw away the rice ball. When Ebisu saw this scene, he couldn't help but adjust his glasses – these people are just freeloaders!
Guy's eyes lit up instantly, but he ignored Obito and rushed to Kakashi and shouted loudly, "Kakashi, I didn't expect to meet you here, let's have a duel!"
"No, besides... friendly reminder, focus on your food," Kakashi said in a cold tone. The three people turned their heads and saw the cat grabbing the spoon in a weird posture, and then struggling to pry out a small fish from it.
They saw the cat looking over and quickly climbed up the tree with a "swish" with fish in his mouth.
"This cat..." Ebisu frowned, and then thought of Academy days being harassed by this cat. It's that damn ninja cat! Genma held a toothpick in his mouth, glanced up, and then quickly jumped up to beat the black cat, obviously intending to avenge both old and new grudges, while the black cat fled nimbly.
"No problem?"
"No problem, he's very reliable." Minato smiled slightly, and then continued chatting with his former subordinate (referring to the other sensei, who might have been under Minato's leadership during the previous war).
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