"Meow..."
"Meow!", As Takeshi communicated with Nekomata, he realized that their method of communication was much simpler than between humans. A few meows were all it took for the other cat to understand.
Nekomata, despite having injuries on his body, had a remarkable recovery speed. Since his injuries were mostly skin-deep, he had almost fully recovered by now.
The path was relatively deserted, with only a few border guards patrolling the area. Most of them ninjas were busy dealing with Minato, Kakashi, and the five ANBU ninjas doing sneak attacks from the shadows.
Takeshi felt helpless, knowing that he had to protect the wounded and Rin from potential Suna ninjas who might come here. If he left Rin's side and they got ambushed, everything would be over.
As they traversed the area, Takeshi led the group through the Land of Wind, avoiding the Land of Fire. Suna ninjas and Konoha ninjas were hiding in Land of Rivers, but since Obito's ligaments were only damaged and not ruptured, they wouldn't be returning to the Land of Fire.
"Meow, we're in the Land of Rain," Takeshi said, leading them through the rugged terrain. "Let's heal Obito first."
They had passed through this area before when they escorted the Ame ninja, and it was relatively safe. The rain wasn't heavy, and they wouldn't encounter many Ame ninjas.
"My cat friend, you can return." Takeshi said, while exhausted. Nekomata, tired and missing the carefree life in the cat castle, began to reminisce about the old days. Life had been tough, ever since he met this black cat.
"Thank you for your hard work, Nekomata," Rin said, extremely grateful. If it hadn't been for Nekomata's help, they wouldn't have been able to fend off so many teams of enemies.
Fortunately, their opponents were mostly Chunins and Genin teams, and all the Jonin seemed to have been assigned somewhere else.
"Meow," Nekomata meowed, raising his paw. Takeshi knew he was asking for a pack of cat food as a reward for his hard work.
He knew that everything depended on livelihood of Rin, for example, if Rin had died, then he wouldn't have gotten anything and likely soured their relationship if he hadn't tried his best to help her. That's why Nekomata had previously quietly marked Rin. This mark would stay for a long time.
After Nekomata left, Rin began treating her wounds while chatting with Takeshi, trying to distract herself from the exhaustion. After a series of battles and medical treatments, her chakra had bottomed out.
The fight had gone exactly like what Takeshi expected. Obito and Rin had initially escaped normally, but Chiyo sent out a signal flare, and they stumbled upon the groups of Suna ninjas, who were pursuing the flare. At first, there were only handful of people, but soon they were swarmed by more and more enemies.
When the treatment was almost done, Rin fell into a deep sleep. Takeshi stared at Obito for a few seconds, then bought a pack of special cat food .
He fed himself the special cat food, while it had no longer any effect on increasing the upper limit of his chakra and strength but was very effective in restoring chakra and physical stamina.
After waiting for a while, Takeshi's chakra was fully recovered when five ANBU ninjas arrived.
"Thank you. If it weren't for your help, it would have been impossible for the five of us to escape this time." The five Anbu did not remove their masks, and thanked sincerely.
"Meow," Takeshi looked up, then lowered his head, not responding to them. Since these people were related to Orochimaru, they were probably closely related to Danzo as well. Takeshi didn't want to get too involved with them.
The five people looked at each other and one of them stood up, saying helplessly, "We still have missions and can't stay here any longer. Please thank Minato-sama for us, and by the way, we can confirm that Sunagakure does not know the whereabouts of the Third Kazekage, it is suspected to be related to Sasori."
The cat meowed again, seemingly uninterested in communicating with them. The other four didn't know, but as the captain, he had obtained all the information about Minato's Team from Orochimaru and knew that Takeshi could speak human language and was a very smart ninja cat.
However, Takeshi didn't want to communicate, so they had no choice but to give up. It wasn't an important matter anyway, and the key information had been reported, so he didn't need to meet with Minato.
After the five of them left, and Minato arrived with Kakashi using the Flying Thunder God a few minutes later.
The Flying Thunder God was incredibly useful, and Takeshi had realized its true potential after using it. Before that, he felt that he was almost as fast as the Flying Thunder God in close distance, but after learning and using it, he realized just how quick it really was.
"Takeshi," Minato called out.
"They left, meow~. They said they still had missions, but they asked me to tell you that the disappearance of the Third Kazekage might be related to Sasori." Takeshi relayed crucial information.
Although Konoha itself suspected that something was wrong with Sunagakure , it couldn't be confirmed until they had concrete evidence.
It was basically settled now. The Third Kazekage had disappeared, and it might have something to do with the traitorous ninja Sasori of the red sand .
Minato often having been responsible for missions in relation to Iwagakure, knew less about Sunagakure ninjas especially lower ranked ones, so he had no impression of Sasori.
"It turned out to be him," Kakashi said, remembering. When he was doing a mission before, a temporary teammate had mentioned that Sasori's parents died at the hands of White Fang and he should be careful in Land of Wind because Elder Chiyo might send someone after him in her territory.
"Although it has nothing to do with our Konoha, but... Sigh~ forget it, let's not talk about this. How are Obito and Rin, are they okay?" Minato asked, a little nervous.
"They are okay, nya~." Takeshi yawned, pretending to be tired, then stared at Kakashi, Minato, then Obito and Rin, the meaning self-evident. Who would be carrying the other two and what to do next.
"Our mission has been completed, but..." Minato hesitated. If they had never met the Akatsuki members, they could return now, but now that they had met and cooperated, they couldn't go back like this.
Besides, Akatsuki might have the information they needed.
"Let's go to the Land of Rain and find Yahiko and the rest. Kakashi, can you manage?"
"No problem." Kakashi glanced at the two of them, wanting to carry Rin right away, not because of any romantic desires, but because she was lighter.
However, as he turned his head and met Takeshi's judging eyes , and immediately went to carry Obito instead.
"So for carrying Rin..."
"Meow, I'll do it." Takeshi got up, stretched out his body, and transformed into a tiger-sized version of himself using the Multi-size Jutsu. He then used the Lion's Mane jutsu to control his fur so that he can grip Rin properly.
Kakashi was stunned. This cat, is obviously full of energy, but he still had the nerve to let him, an exhausted and wounded man, carry this loser? He almost couldn't hold back his curse.
"Hahaha, let's go." Minato laughed seeing their regular antics. These antics could strengthen the relationship between teammates.
Kakashi had been somewhat distant from the team, but now it was just improving.
It was still raining in the Land of Rain. After Takeshi entered the Land of Rain, he controlled his hair to form a small raincoat for Rin, but there was no cover for Kakashi. After a while, Obito woke up, confused...
"Kakashi! Why am I being carried on your back? Although I'm very grateful, you should wear a raincoat at least, right?" Then, he immediately thought of Rin.
At that time, there were alot of enemies, and the situation was too dangerous. Obito could only delay as much as possible.
However, when he turned around, Obito saw a heartbreaking scene, Rin was being carried on the back of a Takeshi, and a pile of dense cat hair around her body was woven into a raincoat to perfectly block the rain.
The place where she was laying was supported by cat hair, like a bed. Obito stared at that scene in self pity and jealousy, as he didn't even know Jiraiya's hair ninjutsu's to cover his head...
"Be grateful that I am willing to carry you, don't ask for too much, since you have woken up, you can walk by yourself now." Kakashi hearing Obito's words responded through gritted teeth. 'It's not like I want to run in rain, while exhausted and tired without any cover, you ungrateful bastard!'
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