"What? He survived being mauled by a tiger? That's incredible!"
Long-Rabbit glanced back, still a little shaken. "Luckily, when I was up the mountain gathering herbs, I heard the hunter screaming. I scared the tiger off with blasting tags. Both his legs were torn open—" She lowered her voice. "With his consent, I amputated. Then I stopped the bleeding."
Kaede stared at Long-Rabbit. "What? You cut them off—both? And that onii-san… is he still around?"
A bead of cold sweat slid down Long-Rabbit's cheek. "Fortunately, that farmer had a wife," she said, embarrassed.
"This tiger had picky taste," Kaede coughed and then launched into a tale. "I've heard a hunter-and-tiger story too—but the ending's different!
"Once, a hunter came home with supplies and found the door open, the bed empty, and blood everywhere. He panicked, grabbed his blade, and rushed up the mountain. Halfway up, he found a tiger eating his child's flesh! He flew into a rage and in a few strikes pinned the tiger down. The tiger begged for its life. The hunter refused. Then the tiger said one thing, and the hunter let it go. Do you know what the tiger said?"
Kaede looked from Aoi to Long-Rabbit; they both shook their heads. He turned to Ennosuke.
"The tiger said, 'You can't kill me—your child is in my belly.' So… the hunter married the tiger."
Long-Rabbit and Aoi burst into giggles at the absurd punchline. Ennosuke rolled his eyes and tossed back a couple of terrible counter-jokes.
Aoi loved hearing Kaede's strange little stories and started trading odd tales of her own with him as they walked. They got off the train still chatting and finally reached the Leaf. Kaede was just about to find an excuse to slip away when he saw, in the sunlight, an anxious aunt who looked seven-tenths like Long-Rabbit, waiting at the village gate.
The moment the mother saw her daughter, her tears stopped as if clamped; she ran up and grabbed Long-Rabbit's hands. "Little Rabbit! It's bad—your father was taken by the Leaf Security Corps! They say he stole something from the department head of the Security Division. Now—since they couldn't force a confession, they're framing him as a traitor. I just went to beg the clan elders. They said your father defected because of his 'crime'! Your father's so honest—how could he ever rebel? And even if he did, where could he run in a single day?"
"Mom, don't panic—tell me clearly!"
Long-Rabbit's father had always lived honestly. His strength wasn't high, but he loved tinkering with electrics; in that line of work he managed some small business.
One day he was called by the Security Division to repair their equipment. That night the watch officer accused him of stealing and reselling a "clan heirloom weapon," and he was taken away. The Security was long dominated by the Inner-Nebi clan, though there were ordinary shinobi among them too.
Long-Rabbit's family and Inner-Nebi were not mortal enemies, but they looked down on each other. So the Security had no qualms about how to punish Long-Rabbit's father.
He didn't confess. He believed "the people of the sun" would save him—but he overestimated how much weight a small household carried.
By the time her mother finally persuaded the elders to listen, word had come down: "traitor."
The aunt knew how cats think—but she also knew elders either colluded or were powerless. Two others even testified that they'd seen her husband secretly sell a chakra-conducting weapon to a Leaf smith. There was no corpse, no hard proof, nothing but words. "You can't just take a woman's testimony," they said. So it was all pressed down and buried. If exposed, it would look like one clan stealing from Inner-Nebi, and the clan would lose face.
Long-Rabbit thought for a long time, then suddenly knelt before Kaede and the others. "Please! Children—please save my father! We've only known each other a day, but if you help him, I will repay you even as an ox or a horse!"
Kaede had been wondering how to branch off—wasn't this the opening?
"With them? We push back," Kaede said, righteous fire in his eyes. "Brother, go to Mito-baa first. Help her!"
Ennosuke shook his head. "What can a kid like me do for her? You go!"
"I'm a kid, sure—but I'm the Hokage's son. Taking this on is proper. If you turn your back now, brother, no matter the outcome, you'll offend those two sides!" Kaede pressed.
Ennosuke exhaled. "You really have a plan?"
"You still don't know me? If I can't handle it, brother—step out and end it." Seeing Kaede's confident look, Ennosuke trusted him and headed off.
Aoi had wanted to pay respects to Mito too, but Kaede pulled her the other way. Joking—if he went there now, he might not find his way out later.
After a few quick words to settle the onlookers, Kaede cast a Transformation Technique on Aoi, turning her into a towering, nearly two-meter-tall masked "dark" operative.
He then used a second Transformation Technique on the Toad Boss to make him appear like the Nine-Tails.
"Ask Auntie—where's the smith?" he said.
The aunt gave Kaede the location.
"When a tiger bites prey, it goes for the neck first," Kaede added lightly as they moved. "If you do meet a wild tiger, go for the eyes. Your dream might go smoothly."
(End of Chapter)
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