Chapter 1013

It can be said that, up until now, no one has noticed Kaguya-hime's plan to return.

Now, because of the Kumogakure shinobi's own brain-dead moves, the Two-Tails jinchūriki, Yugito, whom the Raikage had treated as the decisive force to rendezvous with the invasion unit, has conveniently fallen right into Kaguya-hime's hands.

Originally in the plan, the capture of Shukaku was supposed to begin a few years from now at the earliest.

Yet now, in the span of a short time, the power of two Tailed Beasts has been gathered, and at this moment Xiao Jue felt she was in only one state.

Inflated, super inflated, so inflated that she even had the leisure to slack off and play games.

Because of her wariness toward Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, during the process of collecting the Tailed Beasts' chakra, Kaguya-hime deliberately chose to spare the jinchūriki's lives. As long as the true bodies of these Tailed Beasts remained sealed within human vessels, Hagoromo would absolutely never show himself.

Kaguya-hime understood her eldest daughter all too well. Even though mother and daughter had disagreed back then, in truth Hagoromo was the child whose temperament most resembled her own.

Kaguya-hime knew that even though Hagoromo had sealed her away, split her power into nine, and granted them self-aware consciousness, Hagoromo would not keep a constant eye on them — because what Hagoromo cared about more was how to make the world more "stable and safe," much like how Kaguya-hime herself cared about how to bring Young Yuanzi back to her side, never to leave again.

After contacting Kassan, Xiao Jue instinctively glanced toward the place where the Two-Tails was being held. Through some indescribable method, after draining nearly all of the Two-Tails' chakra, Kaguya-hime slightly infused a bit of her own power into Yugito's body and subtly altered the sealing method. As a result, Yugito's connection with Matatabi as a jinchūriki became stronger than before. The consequence of this was—

"Eh? Not in the cage? Well, the objective's already been achieved, so whatever." The passive Tailed Beast transformation on Yugito was severed, and unable to undo it on her own, she transformed into the Two-Tails' juvenile form.

Xiao Jue took one look and immediately understood — as long as Kassan didn't release it, this Two-Tails jinchūriki would probably have to live the rest of her life looking like this.

During this time, Yugito had woken up once, but upon seeing that she had turned into a "cat," the shock to her mind made her faint again. Xiao Jue hadn't figured out what to do with her for the moment, so she casually tossed her into a cage.

Looks like she forgot to lock it.

Shift the view to the six Moon shinobi.

"Mimi-chan, where are you?" In the inn room, Tsukuyomi Xiaomeng was searching hard. The cat that wouldn't wake up no matter how much you petted it — how could it have vanished first thing this morning?

"Xiaomeng, hurry up. Young Yuanzi is already waiting for us at the Konoha gate." Jiliang Miye poked her head in from outside the door to remind her. Her gaze lingered under the bed, which drew Xiaomeng's attention there as well.

"Ara, so Mimi-chan was here. Alright, nothing left behind — let's go."

Xiaomeng pulled the still-struggling kitty out from under the bed, cradled it in her arms, and set off behind Jiliang Miye.

Dammit!

Why did she have to run into something like this!

Yugito was now truly at a loss for words. She had never imagined it would turn out like this.

The Raikage had clearly said this was an extremely simple mission.

The mission target was only chunin-level strength, meow — did you ever hear of a chunin who could make a jinchūriki so terrified she couldn't even think of resisting?

How is this a chunin? This is freaking terrifying!

Ugh, ugh, ugh — trapped in the Two-Tails' Tailed Beast form, and already starting to influence her own consciousness this fast.

If this keeps up, one of these days she might turn into a cat completely.

"Mimi-chan, don't squirm, okay? In a bit you have to be a good girl, so that when we see Young Yuanzi you can make a good impression."

"Dammit! I'm not called Mimi-chan! Hugging me that tight — are you trying to strangle me?"

"Meow meow meow,? meow!"

Loosen up, I can't breathe!

"Eh? It fell asleep again?" Tsukuyomi Xiaomeng watched as the cat in her arms let out a few weak meows, then its ears drooped and it sank into silence.

Jiliang Miye, walking alongside, glanced over and left a single line: "Young cats are like that."

After thinking it over, she petted the once-again-slumbering Mimi-chan, and felt Jiliang Miye's explanation sounded pretty reasonable.

Mimi-chan my butt, my name is Yugito, meow!

When one mentions the Land of Wind, the first impression people get is desert, and the second is poverty.

Not only because of the special geography, but also due to years of war.

The Land of Wind, which had finally welcomed peace, still clung to its former semi-closed foreign policy. Whether the daimyo or the elders of Sunagakure, they all believed the current state was for the best.

If they didn't still need to purchase ninja hearts, they probably wouldn't even want to trade with the Tsuchigakure.

But even so, it was still a country many people would give their lives to protect.

Unlike the Moon shinobi, who could have set out days earlier, the Sunagakure team, after several rounds of inspection, had finally set foot on the return journey. They had only just barely reached the nation's border.

And after about half a day of traveling into the desert, Ma Ji, serving as the leader, suddenly signaled everyone to halt. The reason was simple — on the road they had to take, a lone black shadow had appeared.