Chapter 39: I, Your Father, Carry a Big Stick

While Darui and C were having a standoff against ‘Saiko Dadi,’ the entire scene was being closely monitored by a woman with long, straight, muted blonde hair bound into a ponytail. She had dark, seemingly pupilless black eyes and wore bright red lipstick, while her outfit consisted of a black and purple blouse, black trousers bearing a cloud pattern, and a red sash tied around her waist. Her left arm had translucent blue prayer beads wrapped around it, and each of her forelimbs was covered in bandages.

As the Jinchuriki of the Two-Tailed Demon Cat, Matatabi, a massive cat wreathed in cobalt blue and black flames, the blonde-haired woman was among the most powerful residents of Kumogakure. She was one of only two ‘Perfect Jinchuriki,’ granting her complete access to Matatabi’s power without needing to sacrifice her reason. More importantly, while Yugito wasn’t a sensor, Matatabi was once part of a creature that specialized in converting Natural Energy into Chakra.

Catching the sandy-haired Kunoichi by surprise, a feminine voice echoed within her mind, revealing, (“Prepare yourself, Yugito-san. That boy is on his way to this location. You should be able to sense him if you activate one of my tails.”)

Trusting Matatabi’s judgment, the woman, Nii Yugito, manifested a long, fiery blue tail covered in black swirls from her lower back. The nails on her fingers also lengthened, but they could become much, much longer if she needed them to.

As Matatabi had indicated, Yugito immediately became aware of Wu the moment she tapped into the power of her Tailed Beast. He was trying to sneak up on her from behind, so she quickly turned around, narrowing her eyes as she called out, “Attempting to sneak up on a Jinchuriki is a fool’s errand. Show yourself, Saiko Dadi.”

“Hooo~?”

Popping up a few hundred meters from Yugito’s location, Wu transmitted his voice across the chasm separating them, asking, “Did your little friend give me away? I was unaware there were Tailed Beasts that could sense Natural Energy. That’s good to know.”

Crossing her arms in front of her, Yugito’s already fierce-looking nails began to lengthen further as she asked, “What is your aim, attempting to sneak up on me like this? Are you trying to make an enemy out of Kumo?”

Shaking his head, Wu was sincere as he flatly replied, “If I cared at all, I couldn’t care less. I’m just here to gather information and mess with the Teams leaving your village. If I were ‘truly’ your enemy, I would have sent my clones to infiltrate your village and wreak havoc.”

Narrowing her eyes further, Yugito stated, “That doesn’t make any sense. You claim not to care, but you’re here gathering information and attacking our people. Even if you were only following orders, you wouldn’t go about it like this. Tell me, what information are you trying to acquire…?”

Caressing his chin, Wu appeared to be in deep thought. In reality, he was merely messing with the overly serious woman, delaying his response for nearly a full minute before responding, “I guess you could say I’m here to see how I compare to one of the Five Great Shinobi Nations? Don’t worry; I’m not biased toward your village. I’ll be paying similar visits to Suna, Kiri, Iwa, and Konoha. Kumo just happens to be the direction my staff pointed when I was deciding on where to travel.”

Demonstrating what he was talking about, Wu placed his staff on its end and allowed it to fall. Seeing this, the expression on Yugito’s face became grim as she questioned, “You’re telling me the reason you beat Samui and those children was because your ‘staff’ brought you here!?”

Raising his right brow, Wu asked, “Are you an idiot? I beat them because they would have beaten me if I were weaker than them. It’s that simple. People don’t get to play the victim just because they happen to be weaker than the people they attempt to victimize. You literally have two brains in that little head of yours, woman. Think.”

“…”

(“…”)

Though the tail behind her back flickered with greater intensity, Yugito didn’t immediately attack Wu. From a purely objective point of view, the latter hadn’t done anything wrong. If he ‘had’ been weaker than Samui’s group, they would have attacked and attempted to detain him. There was no question about that. If he were dangerous, they would have tried to kill him on the spot. From that perspective, it could be argued that Wu really ‘was’ magnanimous for deigning to spare them…

Seeing Yugito pause for several seconds, Wu earned a look of resentment from the woman by clapping his hands, a surprised expression on his face as he sarcastically remarked, “Well, would you look at that. You can do it if you put your minds to it. Well done.”

Despite her increased agitation, Yugito retracted her claws and appeared to lower her guard as she asked, “So you’re here to test your strength and show off? Is that it…?”

“You say that as if it’s difficult to believe,” replied Wu. Then, with a serious expression, he firmly asserted, “Individual power and authority are two of the most crucial elements in this world. By exhibiting my strength, I deter those who would believe they have some kind of ‘right’ to control me. On the other end of the spectrum, I become an obstacle for those who aspire to reach the pinnacle. If my errant behavior inspires even a single person to surpass their limits and ascend to my level, providing me with a worthy foe, it will have been worth it.”

With an expression that looked like she was suppressing a scoff, Yugito remarked, “You speak as if you’re already the strongest in the world. As far as I can tell, your reserves of Natural Energy can’t even compete with the Chakra of a Chunin. I have no doubt you’re very powerful, but you’re far from the level of the Raikage…”

Shrugging his shoulders, Wu replied, “And? You speak as if I’m supposed to be bothered by the notion of someone being stronger than me. It’s the exact opposite. The more people there are for me to overcome, the more enjoyment I get out of life. If everyone was weaker than me, my desire for strength would gradually decline. If that happened, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. Thus, unlike the many people who envy the power and capabilities of others, I’m content so long as there is even a single person left for me to overcome.”

Immediately following Wu’s words, Matatabi shouted (“He’s coming…!”) in an alarmed tone. Yugito immediately reacted by leaping backward, but as fast as she was, the ‘extension’ of Wu’s staff was near-instantaneous. The moment she saw him aim it at her, the tip was already depressing her gut, forcing her back with much greater velocity.

Though the weight never changed, Wu could freely manipulate the size and length of his staff, much like the other members of the Monkey Clan. His current record was 300m in length and 12m in diameter, but the most crucial aspect of his staff’s ability to change size was the speed at which it did so. Much like the laser-like beams he could fire from his eyes, if his opponent didn’t immediately dodge to the side, they were fated to be hit.

With the force behind Wu’s blow rupturing her intestines, a large volume of blood erupted from Yugito’s mouth once she collided with the face of a distant mountain. The extension rate of his staff was around 7000 meters per second, so the force behind the blow was nearly 4.7 million kilograms. If not for the inordinate durability of a Shinobi and her status as the Two-Tails’ Jinchuriki, she would have been pulverized and split in half.

Sensing that Yugito’s life was in danger, Matatabi began channeling her unique Chakra into her host. Cobalt-blue and black flames erupted from the severely injured woman’s entire body, her size rapidly increasing until she had transformed into a large cat with a height of 14m. Her length, due to her tails, was nearly twice that, but she more than made up for being the ‘smallest’ of the Tailed Beasts by also being the most agile.

Finished with her transformation, Matatabi attempted to release an ear-piercing yowl but was almost immediately silenced by Wu’s tower-sized bo staff impacting her head. To the latter’s wonder, his staff actually went through her body, or, more accurately, she regenerated so quickly that it ‘appeared’ to pass through her.

Taking advantage of his aerial mobility, Wu dodged to the side, spinning his now normal-sized staff before extending it the moment Matatabi was level with him in the air. His staff easily dwarfed the Two-Tails in size, but due to the limitations on its weight and the amount of torque necessary to send such a large creature flying, Wu was only able to bat the massive cat a few hundred meters, barely injuring it.

Despite the muscles in his arms and shoulders protesting, the smile on Wu’s face was the biggest it had been in a while. He had fought a handful of Chakra Beasts in the past, including a snake more than 50m in length, but the incredible aura exuded by the Two-Tails made his heart pound in his chest. It was also much more durable than the aforementioned snake, a creature Wu had bludgeoned to death with a single blow.

Surprising Wu yet again, Matatabi ‘skid’ across the air, its paws leaving trails of blue flame in its wake. When it had finally arrested its momentum, it charged at Wu in mid-air, its size expanding rapidly as it expanded like a gaseous flame. Matatabi had quickly realized the ‘weakness’ of Wu’s staff, so by increasing her size, she was planning to disperse the weight across more of her body.

What Matatabi didn’t expect was for Wu to reduce the size of his staff and charge directly at her. Most people feared her flames, which were capable of melting both steel and stone, but Wu charged directly into her, piercing her body before expanding his staff ‘inside’ of her.

Reacting quickly, Matatabi shed off one of her tails, effectively splitting her power in half but ensuring Yugito’s safety as she promptly exploded from the inside. Wu’s staff might not be able to increase its weight, but a 300x12m long staff expanding inside of her body wasn’t something even the formless Matatabi could endure.

As the remnants of Matatabi extinguished around him, Wu couldn’t help laughing aloud. The battle had been incredibly brief, but it was one of the most enjoyable he had ever had. He could also sense the remnants of the Two-Tails’ Chakra coalescing toward the half-conscious Yugito, so he was excited by the prospect of being able to face her again in the future.

Landing next to the sandy-haired blonde, Wu was being sincere as he mused, “That was a pretty enjoyable battle. You did well for the vessel of an overgrown housecat.”

Believing Wu was about to kill her, Yugito attempted to form a hand seal but stopped when the unconscious bodies of Darui and C were dropped next to her, courtesy of Wu’s clones. Then, before she could muster the resolve to suicide alongside her two companions, Wu gave a curt nod and said, “See you around, pussycat.” before turning around and simply flying away. After that, she immediately lost consciousness…

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Witnessing Wu fodder a Tailed Beast, seemingly without effort, Tayuya’s heart was beating madly within her chest. Until now, she had been acting under the assumption that Wu was powerful, but not ‘that’ powerful. She had assumed someone like the Otokage could effortlessly overpower him, but now…now Tayuya didn’t know what to think. All she knew for sure was that Wu was ‘a lot’ stronger than any of them had suspected…

Liberating Tayuya from her reverie, Wu offered a playful “Boo.” Instead of startling, however, Tayuya turned to face him, a severe expression on her face as she abruptly asked, “Are you serious about wanting to fuck me…?”

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