The following day...
When Minato, Kakashi, and the others woke up, preparing to leave Agakure early to return to the Land of Fire, they discovered the Dead Cat still hadn't woken up.
"Teacher, I feel like Raj has gotten so much heavier overnight," Rin said, struggling to carry the dical kit.
The dical kit hadn't been this heavy when they traveled from the Land of Fire to the Land of Rain yesterday.
Now that they'd used a significant amount of dicine, it shouldn't be heavier - unless the lazy cat had sohow suddenly gained weight.
"Maybe it went out to eat last night," Obito said with a sneer. "Cats are lazy and gluttonous. I bet Raj will definitely beco a fat cat in the future."
"No way..." Rin worried inwardly.
If it really got fat...
"Let take a look," Minato said with a smile, approaching and picking up the unconscious Little Black Cat.
The mont he lifted it, he imdiately sensed sothing was off.
He hefted it - it was at least half again as heavy.
How could this be?
He paused, then examined the cat closely.
After a long mont, a possibility suddenly occurred to him.
"Let's head back first. Raj will stay with ."
With that, Minato placed the Little Black Cat on his shoulder.
If his guess was correct, the cat had recklessly absorbed natural energy.
To resolve this, they would need to seek help from Mount Myoboku, but he lacked the ability to bring a Ninja Cat with no connection to the mountain there himself.
This matter required his teacher's intervention.
Jiraiya held considerable influence on Mount Myoboku.
Even if he couldn't bring the Ninja Cat there, he could summon one of the two Sage Immortals to provide guidance.
And indeed, that's exactly what happened.
By the ti they returned to the Land of Fire, Raj still hadn't awakened.
Rin, realizing sothing was wrong, grew frantic.
Minato took her to Jiraiya, who confird the cause: absorption of natural energy.
Jiraiya couldn't handle it himself - otherwise, he wouldn't have only mastered a half-baked Sage Mode.
He imdiately summoned Sennin Fukasaku.
"Little Jiraiya, why have you summoned ?" Sennin Fukasaku asked, a bug still dangling from his mouth, clearly interrupted mid-al.
Jiraiya pointed to the black cat on the ground.
"This cat sohow absorbed so natural energy. Could you give it a tap with your staff...?"
"Nonsense!" Sennin Fukasaku scolded, then hopped in front of the Little Black Cat and extended his toad-like palm to carefully sense its condition.
Jiraiya stood nearby, nervously swallowing.
When he had left Konoha, he had confidently assured Minato and the young girl that he would bring back a cure.
If he failed now, he would lose face completely.
"Strange... very strange," Sennin Fukasaku murmured, withdrawing his hand.
He circled Raj a few tis before settling down in front of him.
"This child's body is digesting Natural Energy, but Natural Energy is incredibly potent. Most creatures who absorb it without knowing how to control it would be assimilated by the energy itself..."
"Like the frog transformations or petrification on Mount Myoboku?" Jiraiya imdiately asked.
"Exactly. But its body isn't absorbing any more energy, so there's no imdiate danger. It'll likely wake up in three or four days."
Sennin Fukasaku stood up, glanced at Jiraiya, and prepared to leave.
"Wait, could there be any other complications?" Jiraiya quickly grabbed
The old sage's arm, preventing him from disappearing.
Sennin Fukasaku pondered for a mont before replying, "Eating too much at once might accelerate its growth, but otherwise, there should be no further issues. Its life isn't in danger."
Everyone on Mount Myoboku absorbed Natural Energy, so they were well-versed in how the body reacted to it.
In this case, the cat would simply grow larger as it digested the energy.
"Oh, that's good, that's good..." Jiraiya sighed in relief.
He couldn't be blad for his fussiness.
A little girl was waiting for him back at the camp, and returning with an unconscious black cat would already be difficult enough to explain.
Without assurances that there would be no further complications, he feared his ho would be torn apart upon his return.
Of course, Rin would never actually do such a thing.
He was instinctively projecting Tsunade's temperant onto Rin.
"Then I'll be going now," Sennin Fukasaku said, shaking off Jiraiya's hand before vanishing from the spot, returning to Mount Myoboku.
Jiraiya carried the Black Cat back to camp, where Rin was still waiting in the tent.
Minato sat nearby, handling administrative tasks in place of his teacher while awaiting Jiraiya's return.
As soon as she saw him return to the camp tent, the little girl rushed over to hug him, only to discover that her cat hadn't changed at all.
It looked exactly the sa as when she had given it to Jiraiya.
She tilted her head up in confusion.
"Well... the Sage said it should wake up on its own in three or four days at most. It's completely harmless, though it might grow a little faster afterward," Jiraiya explained, scratching his head awkwardly.
He had left with such confidence, only to return empty-handed, rely repeating the Sage's words about waiting for the cat to wake up on its own.
'What's the point of even going?'
Still, Rin was relieved.
Knowing Raj was safe was enough to put her mind at ease.
Jiraiya felt a pang of guilt.
He didn't understand Natural Energy himself, so he couldn't elaborate further.
He could only relay what Sennin Fukasaku had told him.
The Little Black Cat remained unconscious.
During this ti, Minato's team was assigned a minor mission, leaving the cat in Jiraiya's care.
The cat neither ate nor drank while unconscious, so it didn't actually require any care.
It wasn't until the third night that Raj finally stirred.
He opened his eyes, glanced around, recognized the familiar tent ceiling, and jumped onto the table.
There, on a simple bed nearby, lay a white-haired man.
'Jiraiya! Am I in Jiraiya's tent? Wait, how did I get here? Before... before I ate that Deluxe Cat Food. Did the Cat Food poison ?'
Raj wondered inwardly.
'Did I got scamd by the system? Why did I suddenly pass out after eating it?'
Confused, Raj shifted on the table, feeling strangely uncomfortable.
'How long have I been asleep?'
Curious, he noticed Jiraiya still sound asleep.
Impatient, he jumped off the table and padded over to Jiraiya's bed, staring at the man's face.
After a mont's hesitation...
Slap!
"Ugh? Who's there?!" Jiraiya shot upright, drawing a kunai from beside his pillow.
At first, he couldn't see clearly - the Black Cat's dark fur blended into the night.
Raj ducked his head.
He hadn't ant to hit Jiraiya, but when the man turned his hand had moved on its own.
He hadn't wanted to do it.
The next mont, Jiraiya glared at him and snatched him up from beside the pillow.
"Kid, why did you hit ?"
"ow~"
"Speak!"
"ow... I want to ask, what happened to ?"
Raj awkwardly looked up.
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