Konoha Year 45, Winter.
The sea breeze no longer carried the mild and refreshing touch it had during spring and autumn; instead, it now felt unusually damp and cold.
Black Cat had just returned from a short walk outside and now felt as though his thick fur had been pasted to his skin—soaked, heavy, and clinging uncomfortably, making him feel trapped. It wasn't warmth he felt, just an oppressive heat.
Giving himself a light shake at the doorway, Black Cat then slipped into the house through his "private passage." Instantly, the warm glow of the fireplace gave him the feeling of having just "come back to life"—so why had he even bothered going out for a walk? Wouldn't it have been better to just stay indoors on a day like this?
Curling up and lying lazily on a thick blanket near the dancing flames, pretending to nap—that was the luxurious winter lifestyle every cat deserved.
Thinking along these lines, Black Cat indeed made his way to the corner fireplace, ready to thoroughly dry off his gleaming black fur. Yet even as he lay down, he still raised his head to glance upstairs.
It remained quiet as ever.
Black Cat felt particularly wronged because, recently, the second floor had basically become an off-limits zone for him. According to Haseo, he carried too many pathogens and shouldn't be wandering freely around the house during this period.
So what exactly were these pathogens? Fleas? He hadn't had fleas in over ten years!
Generally speaking, a normal cat would already be nearing the end of its life at Black Cat's age, but Black Cat was not an ordinary feline—he was a Summoned Beast capable of manipulating chakra and possessing intelligence far beyond the norm.
Since he'd once absorbed a great deal of Tailed Beast chakra, even Haseo couldn't accurately determine his lifespan anymore. For all they knew, he might live even longer than a regular human—at the very least, he remained energetic and full of vigor.
"Is that the cat coming back?"
Tsunade asked Haseo, who was standing by the window, after noticing some noise downstairs.
"Yeah, probably. Lately he's been rather lively—causing quite a few funny mishaps.
Earlier, he even went up the mountain picking fights with various large felines and gave several tigers a pretty rough time. Now he's the boss of everything around here.
Maybe it's some kind of psychological projection—imagine, a Summoned Beast actually going so far as to challenge nature's top predators. They're on completely different levels of existence... Give it a break already! Since when do cats go around biting tigers?"
The saying goes—'Like master, like cat.' For Black Cat, bullying smaller animals was simply one of his forms of entertainment.
"It's not that bad. Otherwise, wouldn't it get bored?"
"Just a cat—why does it need so much drama in its life anyway?"
Now that was questionable—what do cats even have for fists? Was he supposed to just tremble in fear and freeze to death?
"Haseo, you seem tense?"
(Note: "Seven or eight Chinese updates fastest — PC version" indicates a note about update frequency and platform, not part of dialogue.)
"It's not tension. More like… fear."
"I'm the kind of person who's totally at ease facing blades on the battlefield, but when it comes to needles, I freak out completely... Just thinking about those long, thin needles poking into me gives me a tingling scalp and makes me pass out from fear."
What Haseo said wasn't quite that extreme—it was just his way of saying everyone has certain things that trigger unique reactions in them.
If you're scared, admit it. Even a middle-aged man in his forties definitely has fears—like job loss, paying off a mortgage, or let's say… someone like "Neighbor Wang" making moves on his wife.
So it's understandable that Haseo feared childbirth, even though he wouldn't be the one losing blood.
"It's not that scary anyway—it'll happen in a few days."
Given Tsunade's physical strength and medical expertise, giving birth really wasn't anything to worry about. In fact, somewhat exaggeratedly, she planned to handle everything herself this time, with Haseo only needing to provide emotional support.
Independent women are usually strong as hell—but men can still crack under pressure no one expects.
"Yeah, though the temperature will keep dropping these next few days—the outside seems like it might snow… Let's hope everything goes smoothly."
Night had already begun settling in as Haseo watched the sapphire sea gradually transform into an endless black void.
Unrelated to the quiet surroundings, his heart refused to calm down—in fact, he felt extremely restless.
But that was still normal; changes in identity always cause some discomfort.
Still, Haseo's wish was innocent enough—even if his track record had a way of screwing up the best-laid plans, there would inevitably be some setbacks.
Tsunade had certainly calculated everything correctly—the new life would arrive two days later… Similar to how Haseo thought it might snow, and then it actually started snowing.
It was still nighttime.
Truth is, Haseo wasn't good for much, but naturally he wanted to stay right beside the delivery room.
When Sakumo Hatake's wife gave birth, Haseo could stand nearby watching the commotion? Now it was his turn, and this experience would ultimately bring tremendous pressure.
Haseo simply needed to endure for a while, but suddenly after everything began, he sharply sensed an approaching surge of powerful Chakra… It was a vicious, familiar Chakra presence.
Instantly standing up, Haseo heard a cat's cry coming from downstairs right afterward—"Big Cat" seemed to sense the kitten somehow.
Without making any explanation, Haseo left behind a Shadow Clone at the spot before his real body appeared outside the house, moving farther away in the next moment… Naturally, he rushed toward the approaching presence.
"I don't get it—why is it whenever someone's giving birth, a fox like you insists on showing up?"
Haseo didn't know exactly when this Nine-Tails resurrected, but he clearly knew it was now approaching across the sea surface.
He moved out over the ocean for a short distance before stopping… Haseo wouldn't run too far.
At night, the faint lights from the coastal town blurred into soft halos, yet all of this was irrelevant to the biting wind blowing across the sea surface.
As the Nine-Tails crossed the ocean's surface, it roared with such force that the waters trembled beneath it, swiftly closing the distance between itself and Haseo.
"I don't get it anymore, Kurama. You've finally regained your freedom; shouldn't you be trying your hardest to avoid capture by Konoha? Why are you willingly throwing yourself headfirst into danger… Did you lose your mind? Are you filled with rage, or have you activated some ancient bloodline trait?
Don't forget, your current absolute strength is only one-eighth of what it once was. Even in this state, do you really still dare provoke me?"
Haseo felt like he might've been underestimated by the Nine-Tails.
From the Nine-Tails' perspective, however, the past twenty years had been a continuous torment at Haseo's hands — this individual had even blown it apart forcibly before. So wasn't revenge after resurrection perfectly justified?
This was exactly what the Nine-Tails thought before arriving. But upon seeing Haseo face-to-face, unexpected circumstances prevented it from attacking immediately; otherwise, it would've already begun launching Dark Bullets.
"Why does your body radiate such an intense aura belonging to the Sage of Six Paths himself? This time I'm certain—it's undoubtedly the Sage of Six Paths' energy coming from you."
In theory, the Sage of Six Paths was the origin of all Tailed Beasts, since all nine were "conceived" and born from within his body... they were all born with physical bodies, like children of flesh and blood.
Now, the Nine-Tails sensed something akin to maternal warmth emanating from Haseo, which caused immense excitement — enough for it to even temporarily set aside thoughts of vengeance.
"Is that what you're referring to?"
In response to the Nine-Tails' question, Haseo didn't seem to make any special movement. In an instant, though, a white chakra cloak materialized around his body while Sage facial markings appeared on his forehead. At the same time, streams of chakra extended outward from both sides of his head like fox ears.
On the back of the cloak behind him emerged a 3x3 arrangement of tomoe symbols.
Everyone knows the Sage of Six Paths had horns, so Haseo—who inherited the Sage's Body—also displayed a similar horn-like feature.
Of course, external transformation wasn't the key point. The real significance was that Haseo could activate Sage Mode instantly and effortlessly.
"It's just an empty shell. Although it's already powerful, there's actually no true force filling its core," Haseo explained, spreading his arms toward the Nine-Tails.
The Sage's Body served as the vessel for sealing the Ten-Tails — although not powerless per se, it really is just *Kara*.
"The Sage's Body… you stole the power of the Sage of Six Paths — how did you manage that?"
"My apologies. Perhaps you're especially interested in this matter. Normally, when a Tailed Beast shows such strong desire to communicate, I should patiently answer your questions. However… your timing couldn't be worse. Right now, I'm dealing with something far more urgent — we'll have to discuss this later."
Haseo truly had no time to waste chatting with the Nine-Tails — after all, the process of giving birth isn't something that can simply be interrupted midway.
However, Haseo hadn't seen a real battle in a long time. How to form hand seals, how to fight—he'd practically forgotten it all. People forget stuff they don't use pretty fast.
How was he supposed to form the seal again?
Haseo had sounded tough, but right after that, he started scratching his head…
Forget it. At this moment, Haseo came up with a good idea. If he couldn't remember, why bother forming seals at all?
Back during the Sage of Six Paths' era, chakra control was purely instinctive—there wasn't even the concept of jutsu yet, let alone hand seals.
So, the Nine-Tails didn't even notice Haseo's movements before it was struck directly.
[Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave]
A massive wave suddenly surged from the sea surface, instantly engulfing the Nine-Tails.
This attack could only slightly shake the Nine-Tails' body and cause brief instability. So what followed was Haseo's usual ninjutsu combo.
He swept one arm forward, and the raging seawater instantly froze into crystalline clarity.
[Ice Release: Frost Moon Cold Radiance]
The Nine-Tails' enormous body became a colossal ice sculpture in an instant, slowly beginning to sink into the dark ocean depths.
"Stay here for now, Kurama. I'll send you back to Konoha once things settle down.
I hope we won't meet again anytime soon. You'll understand this was for your own good. Otherwise… next time won't be this simple."
An eighth of the Nine-Tails' power—for Haseo, who had only obtained the Sage's Body of the Six Paths—could barely be considered as possessing even an eighth of the Six Paths Sage's strength—still wasn't really a difficult challenge.
Haseo had just frozen the Nine-Tails using Ice Release Secret Arts. Right now, he should already qualify as at least an Omega-level mutant.
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