The Land of Lightning, far from Amegakure, along the coast...
Waves thundered against the cliffs, each one towering over ten meters high as it slammed into jagged stone and exploded into a spray of white foam.
At the water's edge, the massive, awe-inspiring figure of Two-Tails stood firmly on all fours, locked in a stare with Reiji.
Reiji, bare-chested, stood across from her with a serious expression.
"A deal's a deal. If I lose, I'll never bother you again. But if you lose—you're coming with me."
At his words, Matatabi nodded slightly, a flash of mischief glinting in her eyes.
"Fine. It's settled. Whoever backs out is Shukaku's kid!" Reiji shouted.
Matatabi stared at him blankly, deadpan, as her thoughts grumbled.
Your mouth's even more annoying than Shukaku's...
Not bothering to waste breath, she opened her jaws and launched a blazing red fireball his way.
The fireball burned fiercely, its orange-red flames thick and viscous as molten tar.
She hurled it straight at Reiji.
As it closed in, Reiji glanced at Matatabi—her body cloaked in blue-black flames, speeding toward him with uncanny agility for something her size.
He didn't dodge.
There were no spectators this time.
Unlike before, where stalling was enough, this time he intended to test her strength properly.
As the thought passed through his mind, Reiji stared at the incoming fireball and quickly formed a seal.
Ram.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Wall!"
At once, a mass of pitch-black iron sand surged from beneath his feet, rising to form a semicircular shield in front of him.
That was as much as he could manage with his full chakra reserves.
Boom! A deafening explosion rocked the shore as the fireball smashed into the Iron Sand Wall.
Sparks flew. Heat blasted outward in a wave.
Watching the iron sand slowly turn red and melt, Reiji frowned slightly.
That flame's temperature... it could melt steel. And this was just a basic fireball without any charge time.
Troublesome.
Without hesitating, he pushed off with both feet and flashed backward.
A split second later, a massive feline paw with razor-sharp claws slammed into where he'd just been.
Stone shattered and scattered.
Reiji's eyes narrowed.
That strike... Her strength must be at least fifty times my own. Terrifying.
This was his first time directly facing a Tailed Beast—one with overwhelming power and nearly limitless chakra.
The pressure was immense.
Her sheer size alone was enough to crush most opponents. Add to that, she was a damn fast cat.
For the first time, Reiji realized he might have underestimated Kage-level threats.
Hashirama Senju—caught the Nine-Tails with a single palm.
Madara Uchiha—one glance and the Nine-Tails obediently fell in line.
Damn it... those guys are absolute monsters.
Dodging her relentless strikes, Reiji kept observing and analyzing, thinking fast on how to end the fight.
Today was the first day of the Chūnin Exams—the ninjutsu portion.
Tomorrow was day two: nintaijutsu.
The day after, the final test: taijutsu.
Which meant he had two days, and he had to leave time to get back.
The longer this dragged out, the higher the chance Raikage returned early.
And once Kumogakure's shinobi followed his trail, he'd have no more breathing room.
At best, he had until tomorrow evening to wrap this up.
With that in mind, Reiji brought his hands together and formed another seal.
"Magnet Release: Iron Man Technique!"
Dark iron sand erupted from the ground, gathering in Reiji's hands. It condensed into a massive spiked club, over five meters long.
No more Assassin's Creed today—we're doing Berserker Creed.
With brute strength alone, he couldn't do much damage to a beast of Matatabi's size.
But with this massive, incredibly heavy spiked club—he could definitely hurt her.
The problem? Just maintaining the club was already eating through his chakra fast.
He had to use her searing flames to fuse the weapon into a solid whole.
Then he'd free up chakra for the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Thinking through the plan, Reiji sidestepped another of her lightning-fast claw swipes.
He swung the club in a wide arc.
Whoosh!
The air ripped apart as the club flew forward, crashing into Matatabi's paw with terrifying force.
Thud! A heavy blow landed, making the towering beast stumble.
Reiji didn't have time to celebrate—his palm suddenly burned.
He looked down.
The front end of the spiked club, where it had struck Matatabi, was already glowing red-hot.
Seeing that, Reiji didn't panic. Instead, his eyes lit up.
So... her body temperature is that high!
Perfect—just what I needed to temper my big stick.
As Reiji stood distracted, Matatabi suddenly swiped with her other front paw.
Bang! A heavy smack rang out as Reiji was sent flying, tumbling across the ground before crashing into a sheer cliffside, kicking up a cloud of dust and smoke.
Seeing her attack land, Matatabi's eyes lit up with satisfaction.
She opened her jaws and unleashed a barrage of fist-sized blue fireballs.
"Mouse Fireballs!"
With a sharp cry, the countless flames accelerated instantly, shooting into the smoke like a rain of bullets.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A continuous chain of explosions erupted.
Then Matatabi opened her mouth again, as a swirl of blue and violet chakra began to gather in the air.
She was forming a Tailed Beast Ball.
...
Within the massive crater carved into the cliff, Reiji's palms crackled, steam hissing as acrid smoke rose from his hands.
In his grip, the crimson-hot wolf tooth club radiated waves of searing heat.
The Mouse Fireballs had all been blocked.
The iron sand, now glowing red-hot, could no longer be controlled with Magnet Release.
But that didn't matter—Reiji wasn't afraid of burns, and pain never stopped him.
Staring at the now fully fused weapon in his hands, Reiji suddenly grinned and formed a seal with his free hand.
"My turn now! Flying Thunder God Technique!"
The moment he activated it, a huge plume of white steam erupted from the ocean.
Quenching—successful!
"My move!"
With a roar of excitement, Reiji surged out from the sea, the massive wolf tooth club hoisted over his shoulder.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Pop! Pop! Smoke burst as three clones appeared, each holding a brick in both hands, sprinting toward Matatabi from different angles.
Still charging her Tailed Beast Ball, Matatabi hadn't expected Reiji to recover so fast. Startled, her chakra surged, and the sphere condensed even faster.
Reiji locked eyes on the Tailed Beast Ball hurtling toward him and broke into a wild grin—something rare for him. Excitement blazed in his eyes.
"Bring it on, Matatabi!"
A second later, the clones reached position and hurled their Flying Thunder God bricks at her head.
At the same time, the completed Tailed Beast Ball exploded forth, ripping up the ground with its massive destructive power as it shot toward Reiji.
The thing was enormous—bigger than the Raikage's office building, and packed with raw devastation.
Just as it closed in, Reiji thrust out his left hand and bellowed:
"Now! Flying Thunder God Technique!"
He vanished an instant before the monstrous sphere could consume him.
...
When he reappeared, he was high in the air, wolf tooth club crackling with lightning as it carved through the sky.
"Raimei Hakkei!"
Boom! The massive club smashed squarely into Matatabi's forehead, detonating a powerful shockwave.
She stumbled, front legs buckling, and crashed to her knees.
"It's totally cringe... but damn, it feels awesome!"
Grinning, Reiji glanced at the slightly glowing weapon in his hands as he descended.
Still midair, he formed a seal and vanished again.
Time was tight. Mission critical. Gotta make every second count.
...
When he reappeared, he was already on Matatabi's back, club in hand.
The crashing impacts and furious meows echoed nonstop for a full day and night.
...
By noon the next day, Matatabi—head covered in lumps—sat miserably in front of Reiji, looking pitiful.
Reiji, meanwhile, frowned at his own palms.
He'd had so much fun he'd worn the skin off.
"Eh, whatever. It'll heal." His hands trembled as he looked up at her.
"I'm starving. You hungry?"
Matatabi nodded sadly.
Strictly speaking, she hadn't truly lost. Reiji's giant club, while powerful, wasn't enough to seriously injure a Tailed Beast of her size.
But the cat still gave in. After all, being repeatedly bludgeoned on the head for a full day and night would break anyone.
What made it worse—she couldn't even touch him.
Reiji's chakra might only be average Chūnin-level, but his recovery speed was insane.
Practically unlimited chakra.
And with unlimited chakra plus the Flying Thunder God Technique, Reiji could appear anywhere with a marked seal—
And could mark any place by simply spending chakra.
Matatabi had tried going berserk midway through, lashing out at everything in sight...
But in the end, she was left with her butt in the air, clutching her head and screaming surrender.
Even now, her head was still ringing.
Seeing she was hungry too, Reiji pressed his hands together. A shadow clone appeared.
"Tell the guys to start plating. I'm treating the kitty to a meal."
The clone nodded and disappeared in a flash.
Matatabi looked at Reiji, confused.
"When did you learn to cook?"
With a relaxed smile, Reiji replied, "Just now. Had my clone handle it."
But halfway through the sentence, his expression twisted awkwardly.
He suddenly remembered—his own cooking was terrible. Which meant... the clone's cooking would be just as bad, right?
While he was still in a daze, several clones returned, each carrying a massive black pot big enough to sit in.
One pot full of boiled fish. Another of boiled meat. And one of... something unidentifiable.
Staring at the bizarre dishes, Reiji scratched his head and gave Matatabi an awkward smile.
"Wanna try?"
Matatabi sniffed—and immediately shook her head like a rattle.
"No no no, you go ahead. Just the smell makes me sick," she said, her crisp little-girl voice coming out of the big cat's mouth.
Reiji's face darkened. Wordlessly, he fished a pig leg out of one pot.
Ugh. No salt, but someone dumped in sugar. This is disgusting.
Pinching his nose, Reiji gnawed away at the pork leg.
He really was starving.
Watching Reiji scarf food like a beast, Matatabi felt her own appetite stirring.
She scooped up a pot of fish soup with one paw and poured it into her mouth.
Pfft!
She immediately stuck her tongue out and waved her paw around, trying to scrape the taste off.
"That's awful! Your clone's cooking is trash. Which means yours is trash too—"
She stopped mid-sentence, eyes lighting up mischievously as she looked at Reiji.
Reiji's body flinched. He sheepishly buried his head deeper into the pot.
Seeing this, Matatabi burst into laughter, rolling across the ground like a playful kitten.
Then Reiji suddenly looked up from the food and asked curiously, "Kitty, you were super pissed last time. Why not this time?"
Matatabi snorted proudly.
"What's the point? It's not like you can die anyway!"
...
As evening fell, in the Raikage's office, the Third Raikage was fuming.
This was the second time in just half a year.
Yesterday morning, the entire guard detail at the Temple of Wind and Thunder had been knocked out cold. Two-Tails had escaped—again.
And this time, the situation was worse than before.
Last time, when Matatabi went berserk, she was in a full-blown rage—attacking anything that moved.
The Third Raikage wasn't afraid of that kind of threat. He could even go toe-to-toe with Gyūki, the Eight-Tails. Two-Tails was manageable.
But this time? It was different.
Everyone had been knocked out—no one died.
Matatabi had broken free of the Wind and Thunder Chains, left the Fire Sealing Cave... but hadn't killed anyone.
Even the massive statue sealing the cave was only pushed aside, not destroyed.
What did that say?
It meant Matatabi left willingly, completely rational.
Which meant—she and the intruder had come to some kind of secret agreement.
Just as the Third Raikage's fury reached its peak, a middle-aged man burst through the door, panting, and rushed to his side.
"A-sama, Two-Tails came back!"
The moment the words left the man's mouth, the Raikage snapped his head around, fixing the middle-aged man with a sharp glare.
"Tsuchishige, what happened?!"
Tsuchishige lowered his head, his expression twisted with unease and frustration.
"Uh, A-sama... Two-Tails came back on its own. It..."
"What about it?! Spit it out!" the Raikage roared.
Tsuchishige straightened instantly, face serious.
"Reporting in: it ran back by itself! Walked right back into the Fire Sealing Cave, no resistance at all!
When I went to bind it with the Wind and Thunder Chains, it even told me not to tie it too close—said it was uncomfortable.
Then it said it had just gone out for a little fun!"
The room fell into a bizarre silence.
The Raikage stared at Tsuchishige, eye twitching uncontrollably.
Uncomfortable?
Went out to play?
The Raikage was speechless.
What the hell happened to Two-Tails? Since when was it this unserious?
Is this still the Two-Tails from our village?
What the hell did that infiltrator do to it?
The Third Raikage pressed a hand to his forehead.
No. This couldn't continue.
They had to reseal it—no more risks. A new Jinchūriki had to be found and fast.
...
By the next morning, after a full night's rest, Reiji arrived at the Valley of Clouds and Lightning as scheduled.
Today was the third round of the Chūnin Exams: the Taijutsu test.
Thinking about competing against a bunch of brats, Reiji couldn't help but feel weird.
He had just finished smacking around Two-Tails yesterday, and now here he was, back to pretending to be a Genin. Was something wrong with his undercover life?
The exam began quickly.
Sticking to his persona of "not hurting allies," Reiji grabbed every opponent by the collar and booted them out of the ring.
Soon, he advanced to the finals.
And his opponent? The Third Raikage's nephew, the Fourth Raikage's cousin, and the future Jinchūriki of Eight-Tails, Blue B.
Though for now, he was still known as Fukai.
Reiji stepped into the arena.
Across from him stood Fukai, his expression colder than ice.
The signal to begin sounded—but Reiji didn't move.
Fukai, eyes sharp, glared at him and spoke in a low voice.
"Raimei."
"Huh?" Reiji tilted his head, puzzled.
"Raimei, I'll be blunt. I hate you. You disgust me."
Reiji blinked, face full of confused-cat question marks.
What the hell was this about?
Fukai continued, voice still cold.
"You're a phony. All that crap about being the 'strongest shield' in front of Raikage-sama—what a joke."
"Oh, yeah?" Reiji scratched his head awkwardly, his toes itching like mad as if begging for a wall to scrape against.
"And don't think I haven't noticed—you vanished for two days straight. Skipped the ninjutsu exam. Skipped the nintaijutsu test too.
You think I don't know what you're planning?
You're aiming to take first place in the Taijutsu round and slide your way into Chūnin rank. Am I wrong, Raimei?"
"You're right!" Reiji nodded eagerly.
Kid's got a good head on his shoulders—what, did he grow up on genius milk formula?
"Let me tell you now: not gonna happen!" Fukai sneered.
"Huh? Why not?" Reiji asked, genuinely confused.
"Because you're not cut out to be the strongest shield. You don't even know nintaijutsu!"
With that, Fukai clenched his fists and charged.
The crowd roared with excitement.
Reiji quickly raised a hand.
"Wait, wait! What's knowing nintaijutsu got to do with being the strongest shield? Isn't being tough enough?"
Fukai halted mid-step, staring at Reiji like he was an idiot.
"If you don't know nintaijutsu or ninjutsu, how the hell do you become the strongest spear?"
"Huh? Who said I wanted to be a spear?" Reiji's scalp tingled as he forced himself to ask through the awkwardness.
"The strongest shield and the strongest spear are one and the same!"
Watching Fukai get all fired up, Reiji felt a migraine coming on.
"What, do I also have to become a Spartan now? Can't I just be the Shield Hero?"
"Bastard! They're not separate!"
With that, Fukai lunged at him again, fist flying.
Just as the punch was about to connect with his face, Reiji finally managed to yank off his shoes.
His toes touched the stone platform.
Crack.
A thin fissure split the stone at his feet, snaking forward rapidly.
Then—BOOM—a massive crack opened up beneath Fukai, who had no time to dodge...
And he dropped straight into the gap, headfirst.
...
Follow me on Patreon — 30 advanced chapters available for Free members: p@treon com / PinkSnake.