Naruto: The Ridiculously Talented Uzumaki

Chapter 356 - 357: Cats and Dogs

Chapter 357: Cats and Dogs

The cat Tamaki raised was also a Ninkat.

Akamaru, who had been obediently crouching by Kiba’s feet, saw Kiba being attacked and immediately let out an angry roar, "Woof!" He lunged forward, snapping his jaws at the Ninkat.

Although the Ninkat was agile, Akamaru was also a well-trained Ninja Dog.

Despite the Ninkat’s desperate attempts to dodge, Akamaru still managed to bite its hind leg.

The Ninkat let out a shrill scream and struggled violently in pain; Akamaru was kicked by its hind leg and let go as he too felt the sting.

In an instant, both the cat and the dog had their fur standing on end.

Akamaru growled and pursued relentlessly, while the Ninkat screamed, fur bristling, and bolted toward a less crowded area of the festival in a panic.

Akamaru chased after it without hesitation.

Seeing Kiba injured, the remaining several people quickly descended from the trees; they all had medical kits in their ninja tool pouches.

Tamaki, who loved cats, was very anxious upon seeing her cat bitten by Akamaru, but ultimately, it was her cat who had scratched someone first.

After hearing the beginning and end of this "war between cat and dog," Naruto couldn’t help but twitch his lips, wanting to laugh but feeling it would be a bit unkind.

Hinata covered her mouth to stifle a giggle, while Ino and Karin had already burst out laughing without reservation.

"So... what about Akamaru and that cat now...?"

Naruto asked.

Shino provided the answer: "They chased each other out and haven’t returned yet."

Kiba scratched his hair in frustration: "That idiot Akamaru, I already told him I’m fine! He just had to chase it!"

Despite saying so, the concern for Akamaru in Kiba’s tone was obvious.

Tamaki had already nimbly bandaged Kiba’s wound, tying a small, neat knot. She stood up, an apologetic look on her face: "I’m sorry, Kiba, my Little Coal is too sensitive. Does your hand... still hurt?"

"No, it doesn’t hurt! Not at all!"

Kiba hurriedly waved his hands, trying his best to show some masculinity, but as a result, he pulled at the wound and couldn’t help but hiss, drawing another round of low laughter from the group.

Naruto watched this chaotic yet lively scene and shook his head helplessly.

On the night of a festival, as expected, any kind of accident could happen.

"Alright, now that the bandage is on, go find Akamaru and that cat."

Naruto said, then looked toward Shikamaru and the others.

"Don’t just stand there watching the fun, help them look together.

There are many people at the festival; don’t let them scare anyone, and don’t let them run too far and get into trouble."

"Okay."

Although Shikamaru and the others hadn’t had their fill of the spectacle, they knew business came first and responded one after another.

"I’ll go too! I know where Little Coal might be hiding!"

Tamaki said immediately.

Once Kiba and Tamaki left, no one moved except for the eager Rock Lee.

"Wait, Lee."

Just as Rock Lee was getting ready to "burn his youth" to carry out this "pet-finding mission" that seemed divinely sacred to him, Naruto’s voice, tinged with helplessness and amusement, rang out just in time.

Lee paused and turned his head in confusion toward Naruto, who had called him: "Naruto, is something wrong?"

Naruto had a meaningful smile on his face as his gaze drifted toward the direction where Kiba and Tamaki had hurriedly departed.

Although Kiba’s hand was injured, he was still full of energy, while Tamaki jogged to keep up; the two were anxiously discussing where Akamaru and Little Coal might have gone as their figures soon vanished into the dim path at the edge of the festival.

Naruto withdrew his gaze, looked at his simple and hot-blooded comrade, shook his head, and said leisurely:

"You really intend to go?"

He pointed in the direction where Kiba and Tamaki had disappeared.

"Just let the two of them go by themselves."

Naruto paused, and seeing Lee’s thick-browed eyes still filled with confusion and lack of reaction, he had to make it clearer.

"The two of them—one likes dogs and the other likes cats—don’t often spend time together.

For them, this incident might just be a good Breakthrough.

Let’s not go and disturb them."

Lee wasn’t the kind of stubborn Body Cultivator who trained his body to the point where his brain only thought, ’Training takes time and resources; wouldn’t it be better to save this time for more training?’

After Naruto’s not-so-subtle hint, combined with the "you know what I mean" expressions of his nearby companions as evidence, the nerve in Lee’s brain regarding the "subtleties of human relationships" was finally plucked.

"Oh~~"

Lee’s eyes suddenly widened, and a look of sudden realization appeared on his face, as if saying, "So there was that layer! The mysteries of youth are truly unfathomable!"

He took a sharp breath.

However, this look of his immediately triggered Hyuga Neji’s alertness.

Without waiting for Lee to shout out the rest of his words, Neji was quick-eyed and nimble-handed; he stepped forward and reached out, accurately covering Lee’s mouth.

"Mmph mmph mmph...!"

The rest of Lee’s exclamations were stuffed back in, and he could only make muffled sounds, staring at Neji with wide eyes.

Neji sighed helplessly and lowered his voice, warning Lee:

"Lee, be quiet!"

He glanced with his Byakugan toward the direction Kiba and Tamaki had left, then lowered his voice further before continuing:

"Kiba and the other haven’t gone far yet!"

"Mmph!"

Hearing this, Lee immediately stopped struggling and blinked hard to show he understood.

Only then did Neji slowly release his hand.

Having regained his "freedom of speech," Lee first cautiously looked toward the alley entrance, then lowered his voice, though still unable to hide his excitement as he spoke to Naruto and Neji:

"I understand, Naruto."

"Alright, intermission over."

Naruto clapped his hands to draw everyone’s attention back.

"Everyone go back to what you were doing. The festival is still long."

The crowd then dispersed with laughter, beginning their respective festival journeys.

And so, Kiba and Tamaki’s "pet-finding duo trip" finally officially began without any disturbance.

Where this accident that started as a "cat and dog war" would ultimately lead, perhaps only youth itself knew the answer.

Just as the group left, Ino pulled Naruto and teased, "It seems Naruto knows quite a lot about these things!"

This was a difficult question to answer; although it seemed like a joke, if the answer wasn’t good, it wouldn’t be a laughing matter.

Naruto thought for a moment:

"Everyone saw it, didn’t they? I just reminded Lee a step ahead of time."

It was time to turn the tables.

With that, Naruto took hold of Ino’s hand in return.

"Speaking of which, why are you so mean, not reminding Lee?"

"And Hinata, and Karin, you’re all so mean for not reminding him."

Hinata was thin-skinned and her face quickly flushed red from the teasing.

Karin and Ino began to banter and play around with Naruto.

, , , , , , , , , ,

At the entrance of a relatively quiet small park near a residential area, there was a flower bed.

Seasonal flowers grew in the bed, appearing delicate and beautiful under the reflection of the festival lights.

On a bench beside the flower bed, a middle-aged couple sat side by side.

The man’s frame was still tall and upright, but the impulsiveness of his youth had faded from his face, replaced by a sense of steadiness.

He wore a carefully trimmed short beard on his chin, adding a touch of mature masculinity to his appearance.

It was none other than Inuzuka Kiba.

The woman beside him had not been robbed of her gentleness by the years; instead, that soft temperament had settled into something more profound. Her smile was as fresh and moving as ever; it was his wife, Tamaki.

Both were dressed in comfortable casual clothes, seemingly taking advantage of the festival’s bustle to find a quiet memory.

Kiba’s gaze lingered for a long time on the inconspicuous small flower bed, his eyes somewhat distant, as if looking through twenty years of time.

He reached out and stroked the cold bricks at the edge of the flower bed with a rough but gentle hand, a curve of mixed emotion and laughter appearing at the corners of his mouth.

"Tamaki, look here."

Kiba’s voice was deeper than when he was young, but it carried a steady power.

"I remember... before, it was probably around this spot, right?"

He pointed to the dense thicket of bushes behind the flower bed.

"Akamaru and Little Coal were found by us right here."

There was no hint of complaint in his tone, only a wealth of nostalgia.

That "cat and dog war" had unexpectedly brought him and Tamaki closer together; it was a vivid page in his memories of youth.

Hearing her husband mention the past, a gentle smile also bloomed on Tamaki’s face, making the fine lines at the corners of her eyes look exceptionally soft.

She nodded, her gaze also turning toward that thicket, as if she could see the two furry little fellows hiding inside back then.

"Yes."

Tamaki responded softly, her voice as light as a night breeze.

"We were so worried then, searching for a long time along the direction they might have run. I didn’t expect..."

She paused, her smile deepening with a sense of the wonder of fate.

"By the time we finally found this place, the two of them had actually already made up."

The two of them had also used the opportunity of searching for their respective Ninkat to set aside their initial awkwardness and unfamiliarity, leading to many natural conversations.

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