86 The Cat Village Part 2

General POV

Flashback no Jutsu.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage of Konohagakure, was reading a scroll while two Shinobies were standing in front of him and waiting to speak.

With a quick glance at the two he saw one of them having a large smile on his face, not even trying to hide his emotions while the other one did the same but with a large frown and the glared he send the first one.

"I am sorry for interrupting this silence, Sarutobi-sama, but why must I have a mission with this particular individual?" asked the latter while pointing his finger at the former, almost poking his eye.

The smile on the other Shinobi didn't waver as he just placed his arm on Ishizu's neck.

"Don't worry, Hokage-sama. I will make sure our Ishizu-kun here will survive whatever you throw at him. All of us know that paranoia is a good affinity, but it won't help him with the mission. I can handle him."

"Who are you calling -kun?!"

Hiruzen sighed. He knew sending those two together without supervision was crazy, but he had no choice. The mission was important, but he couldn't spare others who were needed elsewhere.

"No, please. I don't care if you give me a SS-Rank mission or just send me to fight against 50 Iwa Shinobi, but please reconsider your option, Hokage-sama. Why do I have to go with him?" whined Ishizu as he desperately tried to get the arm away from his body.

To Ishizu's annoyance, the arm didn't like to be moved away, and it got on Ishizu's nerves.

"I swear to Kishimoto or whoever is responsible for this world, if you don't get your arm off me, Shisui, I will use my life to summon the God of Death and put it inside his stomach!" threatened Ishizu, but all those threats couldn't penetrate the Uchiha's mind.

"Relax, Ishizu-chan. When was the last time we were on a mission together?" Shisui elbowed Ishizu while the latter gave him a death glare.

"2 months ago, under the protection of both Fugaku-sama and Minato-sensei. I still have a grudge against you for putting me in a Genjutsu."

"But it wasn't my fault since you looked right into my Sharingan when I used it on the enemy you were fighting."

"That's enough, Shisui. And for your knowledge Sasaki; do you know where you need to go?" asked the Sandaime curiously.

"Well..., no, but I can find the location without him if you tell me where to go," reassured Ishizu with confidence.

"Nope, you can't," Shisui popped the p and Ishizu had to stop his left hand with his right, which was about to chock the Uchiha.

Really, Shisui was an enigma to Ishizu. He was the only, and he meant the only Uchiha that talked so much and even made jokes. No Uchiha made jokes.

...Ok, there was still Obito, but Obito is something else.

Uchiha's were stoic, prideful, and pretentious about their all so precious Sharingan. Clearly gaining this trait from their ancestor Indra Otsutsuki.

Ishizu had no problems going with one of them since they usually stayed quiet and let him have his peace.

"Only the Uchiha clan has the location of the Cats, and if I remember correctly, you aren't one," teased Shisui.

"I am called the Strategist so I can figure it out by myself," said Ishizu, puffing his chest.

It was only a month or so after he got the title, and he was very proud of getting a name people could fear when they said it.

"So? There are many monikers out there. Hokage-sama is called 'The Professor' and with my Shunshin I too will have one soon. Also, I don't think your Fuinjutsu can help you track a clan full of cats."

"Don't you dare mock my Fuinjutsu!" Ishizu was ready to jump at the Uchiha when Hiruzen spoke.

"Enough, Sasaki. This is an A-rank mission in importance only, but it can be considered a C-Rank. We need as many allies as we can get, and the one you have to find is very hard. Since you are a Chunin and Shisui a Genin, I will expect you to behave appropriately. Now go and I expect good results."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," both said before the Hokage left.

Outside.

"Where are you going, Ishizu-sensei?" asked Shisui as he watched the elder boy leave for his home.

"I am not your sensei so just call me by my name and to prepare for the mission, what else? I am going to an unfamiliar land where everything can happen," explained Ishizu as he went to his house followed by Shisui.

"You are kidding me? Even if this is an A-rank, Hokage-sama told us it is C. We won't really encounter anything dangerous on our way. Do you think we will encounter some giant beast that is composed out of all 9 bijuus?" joked Shisui.

Ishizu just stopped for a second and stared at the Uchiha with a deadpanned face.

'Did...did he just made a joke about the Juubi?'

"You sound like Omoi," muttered Ishizu, getting a confused look at who that was.

Making a quick stop at his home, Ishizu took his stuff, which of you right could blow up the entire hidden village of Konoha, and both came to a stop at the gates.

"I still don't get it. Why you have so many Fuinjutsu scrolls with you?" said Shisui, seeing the countless scrolls Ishizu put into his bag.

"Don't question the strategist, Genin Shisui. Those babies will make anyone run with their pants down; be it demon or god."

Shisui only shook his head. Sometimes it was best not to question the world.

As the two walked to the town, Ishizu thought about the mission. If he remembered correctly, there was an episode about the city and an elderly woman called Nekobaa.

It was one of those fillers which made it hard to remember. He only knew that it was about cats and an old woman who lived there.

Like Shisui guessed, the way to the city was of no importance, with no enemies in sight. Still, Ishizu remained vigilant, looking for anything unusual which made Shisui chuckle, and he even had to suppress a laugh after Ishizu flew up a tree with a paper bomb after he heard a bird cry out just when Ishizu was jumping on the tree.

Poor bird blew up just because it was protecting its home.

Inside Sora-ku, both of them greeted Nekobaa.

"Oh, Shisui-kun, how nice to see you again and you have brought a friend."

Ishizu bowed and introduced himself before looking around very quickly.

"Oh, no. It is happening again," sighed Shisui, seeing the spectacle.

"What is going on?" asked Nekobaa.

"Ishizu-san has one of his paranoias."

"What is going on this time?" asked Shisui.

Ishizu frowned as he looked around.

"Someone or something has been following us since we entered the city; someone strong. A cat, no doubt, very strong. Very skilled in stealth and very dangerous. I need to prepare and that fast," said Ishizu as he took something out of his backpack.

"Don't worry about him, he is always like that. Hokage-sama told us to gather allies, but I don't really know which one he meant."

"I think I know who the Hokage meant. It is Tamara-sama," explained Nekobaa.

"Never heard of the nin-neko," said Shisui, wondering who it was.

"She is the strongest Neko I have known," explained Nekobaa.

"Can't be. The strongest cat is defiantly Matatabi," said Ishizu as he slowly formed his seals.

"And who is that?" wondered Shisui at the name.

"It is the Nibi's name," said Nekobaa, but she was curious how a human from Konoha knew the name of one of the Bijuu living in Kumogakure.

"It has a name?" doubtfully asked Shisui.

Ishizu scoffed at the question, but kept in mind that people often saw the Bijuus as natural calamities and not as sentinel chakra beings.

"Of course she has. Anyway, it has nothing to do with the mission. The question is, where is this Tamara?" asked Ishizu, relaxing a bit after the presence left, but frowned in his mind at the information about this mysterious strong cat.

'A cat called Tamara? In my old world, this could also be a name of a cat but not of Japanese origin. Or maybe it is? I do not know, but it seems fishy.'

"So we have to find this Tamara and ask her if she could help us, right?" asked Shisui.

The old woman nodded.

"Yes, but you have to use this special scroll to get to her."

Immediately, Ishizu's interest was peaked as he jumped at the woman and took the scroll away before his eyes were roaming all over the scroll as Ishizu examined it. He even gave it a lick to taste it.

Shisui was about to apologize to the woman for taking the scroll without permission, but she let it be.

"Hmm, I may not be an expert like Kushina-san and Minato-sensei, but no doubt about it. This... is a summoning scroll. And a powerful one at that. There are also those special markings at the side which a normal summoning scroll doesn't have. This scroll is not to summon an animal, but I believe it will teleport the user to the place it is designed. It is similar to the Reverse Summoning!"

Ishizu narrowed his eyes before dropping the scroll and with a shunshin escaped only for Shisui to use a better shunshin and throwing him back.

"You stay here."

Ishizu jumped up and pointed at the scroll with a glare.

"Are you crazy?! This is by no means a simple A-Rank mission. I am the leader and I ain't going to some summoning realm to meet what I presume to be the Boss Cat to 'negotiate' with her. Reverse Summoning is extremely dangerous since you don't know what kind of animal you can encounter. The death rate of a Reverse Summon is 95.5%! Only an idiot would do something so risky."

Somewhere in the elemental nations, a Sannin sneezed.

"While you are indeed the leader, this is a mission from the Hokage, and we have to follow it no matter what," Shisui spoke sternly,

"Just relax, Ishizu, nothing bad is going to happen."

"Before you go, you have to take those with you or the cats won't understand you," said Nekobaa before showing the two the cute pink cat ears.

Ishizu paled as he remembered this part of the filler.

"Alright, Ishizu, let's do it," said Shisui with excitement.

Ishizu muttered some insults at the Uchiha but complied as he put the thing on and opened the scroll.

"If we never come back and end up in the afterlife, I will find a way so that someone can use a Jutsu to bring us both back to life, so I have the opportunity to kill you myself. Do you hear me, Shisui?"

Shisui only laughed.

"Then let's do it, reverse summoning!"