"S-So shameless!"
On a distant rooftop, a brown-haired girl holding a small cat in her arms stared at the spectacle between Naruto and Kiba, her jaw hitting the floor.
As Cat Granny's granddaughter and the current heir of the ninja cat clan, Tamaki was not like those rabid cat lovers who despised every other small animal.
But she still heard plenty of cat people slandering their natural enemies, the dog people.
Tamaki never bought into the stereotypes.
But today, she visited Konoha with Cat Granny to buy daily supplies.
By pure coincidence, she spotted a cat stuck on a roof, climbed up to rescue it, and right after saving the poor thing, she witnessed the horrifying scene unfolding in the distance!
So this was the famous ninja dog clan of Konoha, the Inuzuka?
Tamaki actually debuted very early in the original Shippuden timeline.
She was Cat Granny's granddaughter. Cat Granny operated as a weapons merchant and ninja cat contractor living outside Konoha, serving as a dedicated supplier and intelligence broker for the Uchiha clan for generations.
She knew both Sasuke and Itachi.
Tamaki's first on-screen appearance happened when Sasuke's Team Hebi visited the shop to stock up on gear.
However, Tamaki and Kiba only crossed paths near the tail end of Shippuden, right around Naruto's wedding.
Don't ask why they met so late.
Naruto and Rock Lee operated the same way. One spent all day jumping around pulling pranks, and the other spent all day jumping around training, yet those two didn't meet until the Chūnin Exams.
In short, after that single meeting, the cat messenger and the dog messenger hit it off.
Unfortunately, the will of heaven forgot about Kiba.
After Naruto's wedding, the rest of the cast went wild, pairing off and having kids one after another.
By the Boruto era, Kiba was the only one stuck merely dating.
No marriage.
No kids.
He spent his days arguing, breaking up, getting back together, and needing Sarutobi Mirai to play mediator.
It got so bad it forced Sarutobi Mirai to develop a bizarrely named technique: Fire Strike Yagura.
Who knew what Yagura, a dead man, ever did to deserve that.
But right now, Kiba didn't need to worry about any of that future drama.
First impressions matter. And his current situation transcended a mere first impression!
From this day forward, Kiba would need Naruto's level of weaponized optimism just to keep living in Konoha.
He was already socially dead.
Oh, wait. Not quite.
Forget Tamaki in the distance. Even the Konoha villagers crowding the streets to watch the "battle" had no idea who transformed into that two-headed beast.
All they saw was Naruto throwing invisible Frog Kata strikes at a giant dog.
"Kiba! You little brat, what the hell are you doing?! No, wait—Uzumaki Naruto, what the hell are you doing?! Kiba is your classmate! How could you lay hands on him?!"
Kiba's mother, Inuzuka Tsume, rode her massive black dog, Kuromaru, sprinting across the rooftops.
At first, Tsume thought her son was engaged in some weird perverted act.
But as she closed the distance and got a proper look, she realized Kiba and Akamaru had lost their minds, and Naruto held total control of the initiative!
Tsume nearly blacked out on the spot.
Kiba's older sister, Inuzuka Hana—a certified medical-nin and veterinarian—also rushed to the scene with the Three Haimaru Brothers after hearing Akamaru's agonizing cries.
"Kiba! Akamaru! What happened to you?! Calm down!" Hana yelled.
Sure enough, there were still plenty of good mothers and sisters in this world.
Originally, the crowd had no clue who was causing this disaster.
But after those two women shouted their lungs out—especially Hana—everyone in a three-block radius heard the names loud and clear.
When Tsume arrived, the streets were filled with noisy chatter, and her voice traveled from the rooftops.
But after Tsume yelled, the crowd fell dead silent.
Then Hana appeared.
"Granny Tsunade, help me explain! I'm saving Kiba and Akamaru!" Naruto yelled at Tsunade while maintaining his rhythmic Frog Kata strikes.
His hands were tied.
He couldn't even spare a second to form the hand seals for shadow clones, leaving him completely defenseless.
Naruto was terrified Tsume and Hana would interrupt the process. If they interfered now, all his hard work would go down the drain!
"Lady Hokage is here too?"
Only then did Tsume and Hana spot Tsunade standing in a nearby corner.
The two women shot Naruto a deeply suspicious glare, then chose to trust their leader and approached the Hokage.
"Lady Hokage, what exactly is going on here?" Tsume demanded.
She figured since the Hokage stood back and watched, there had to be a hidden tactical reason.
Otherwise, Tsunade would never let Naruto run wild like this in the middle of the village.
"Naruto... is telling the truth. He really is saving Akamaru and Kiba."
Although Tsunade hated that Naruto dared to call her "Granny" in public, now was not the time to snap.
She couldn't let Kiba's family interfere, so she had no choice but to lay out the facts. She explained the mechanics behind Naruto's Sage Mode shortcut and revealed that Akamaru accidentally swallowed a raw Mount Myōboku senjutsu charm.
"I misunderstood Kiba. He used our clan's secret technique to merge with Akamaru and take on this burden just to save his partner."
"We misunderstood Naruto too. To save Kiba and Akamaru, he threw away his own reputation and did something like this in front of everyone."
Tsume and Hana finally calmed down.
Knowing they lacked the skills to intervene, they stood beside Tsunade and watched, praying Kiba and Akamaru survived the crisis!
In the distance, Tamaki and Cat Granny heard Tsume and Hana screaming.
They put the pieces together and realized the spectacle was caused by Inuzuka Kiba and Akamaru.
Originally, Tamaki wanted to grab their groceries and bolt, but Cat Granny claimed she was very curious.
She dragged her granddaughter through the packed crowd, elbowed her way to the front row, and got a front-row seat to the madness.
At this point, the battle between Naruto and the two-headed dog hit a total deadlock.
Naruto spammed Frog Kata more times today than in all his past training sessions combined, and his proficiency skyrocketed.
Sure enough, live combat was the best teacher!
Naruto even figured out how to use Frog Kata from a distance to simulate a 'friction-based' Rasengan.
Just like his own Sage Mode entry method earlier.
The two-headed dog's body began glowing from the spiraling chakra, censoring part of the view.
But everyone present knew exactly what was happening behind the light, so the censorship didn't matter.
"Not good! Everyone, fall back!" Naruto yelled in a panic.
However, the surrounding crowd of spectators refused to budge.
They were watching the climax!
Why would they back off just because the kid asked? This scene was basically live-action DLC for the Limited Tsukuyomi novel series.
When a free movie plays right in front of you, who retreats from it?
Only the ninja among the crowd caught the danger.
After a brief second of hesitation, they understood what Naruto meant by 'fall back'.
But as shinobi, weren't they supposed to protect the civilians?
That one second of hesitation cost them.
They couldn't evacuate the crowd in time!
Fortunately, Naruto stood his ground.
"I'm going to protect Konoha! I'll protect everyone! Ikuzō, Kurama!" Naruto roared with burning passion, and a golden Tailed Beast cloak erupted from his skin.
Because Kurama refused to watch Naruto 'treat' a dog and a teenager, the fox tuned out the real world entirely, choosing to bullshit with the other Tailed Beasts in the mental space.
Then it heard Naruto's passionate battle cry.
Assuming Naruto triggered a lethal threat, Kurama acted on instinct and pumped its raw power out.
"Raaaaahhh—!"
Golden chakra exploded around Naruto, forming a massive, glowing Nine-Tails avatar that let out a deafening roar to intimidate the enemy.
But, that roar cut off abruptly.
Because Akamaru and Kiba hit the absolute climax of Sage Mode!
Inside the mental space, Kurama clutched its neck in sheer agony and collapsed to the floor.
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