Chapter 139: A Glimpse into The Nekomata's Journey's History
Seeing that Ling didn't respond for a long time, The Nekomata's Journey couldn't help but raise its paw and pat him on the forehead. "Hey, kid, don't you know it's really rude not to reply when someone is talking to you?"
"Ah, sorry," Ling came to his senses, but his brows were still furrowed. "I'm just a bit surprised that chakra can actually be borrowed..."
"Humph~ You humans have even lost the way to share chakra. Has your inheritance deteriorated to such a degree? How disheartening."
"Does that mean it was very common in the past?"
"Of course. In fact, it was a skill that everyone who learned chakra had to master back then." The Nekomata's Journey licked its paw. "Otherwise, how do you think Indra turned your Uchiha clan into his descendants? Didn't he distribute too much chakra to you, resulting in a mutation of your bloodline?"
"I remember Little Neko brought this up last time... By the way, is it the same for the Senju clan? Like, did Asura distribute too much chakra to them?"
"No, they are truly his descendants. That kid Asura married a woman from the Senju clan. Their bloodline was a much-weakened version of the real thing~"
Ling: ...
[Is that abnormal recovery ability and chakra amount already a weakened version? In that case, those who thought Asura had weak talent back then were really something...]
"So, kid, do you want to give it a try?" The Nekomata's Journey lay down once more. "Although I'm not going to help you in battle, lending you a little chakra is still a piece of cake for me. But whether you can accept it smoothly depends on you."
"Sure. Let's go to the back mountain tomorrow to give it a shot. After all, if there's too much commotion at home, it might attract unnecessary trouble." Ling agreed, but then he seemed to remember something. "By the way, Little Neko, do you know any way to conceal chakra fluctuations?"
"Huh? Why do you ask?" The Nekomata's Journey lowered its head. "Is your research with those other kids hitting a roadblock?"
"No... I'm just a bit confused." Ling frowned involuntarily. "For some reason, we've discovered an opponent whose chakra we can't sense through chakra sensing, but we can detect a little bit with the Sharingan.
Since the opponent's actions are so elusive, we assumed they came in the form of a spirit. Therefore, our research has primarily focused on detecting the presence of spirits, aiming to develop a ninjutsu for this purpose.
But according to what you said, it's obvious that there are still many secrets about chakra, either lost or undeveloped. It's possible that the opponent is simply exploiting some lost way of using chakra. Maybe we were on the wrong track from the start..."
"Humph~ I see... But you've asked the wrong person this time. The old man only bestowed upon me the talents of Fire Release and illusions. I'm completely clueless about other ways of using chakra.
The Nekomata's Journey paused briefly. "If you want to ask about such strange things, you should go and ask the Seven-Tailed, the Eight-Tailed, or the Nine-Tailed."
"So, each of the Tailed Beasts is good at different aspects?"
"You can put it that way." The Nekomata's Journey tilted its head. "But these three have rather bad tempers. Especially the Seven-Tailed. That beetle is the one who hates humans the most, second only to the tanuki. Even if you find it, it probably won't answer your problems nicely."
"The Seven-Tailed... I remember you said it's also a Tailed Beast that likes to travel around, right?"
"Yeah. If you really think about it, it should know more secrets of the ninja world than I do." The Nekomata's Journey wagged its tail. "After all, although I'm also powerful, I might still die when facing the top human strong - ones. But it can fly, which gives it a lot of advantages. The fewer times it dies, the more things it will know. Not to mention its Baji nature (loving to spread gossips) and love for building nests everywhere.
"If you and I hadn't had that conflict back then, I could have tried to ask it a few problems for you - but don't set your hopes too high, because that guy really doesn't like humans."
"Dislike humans?" Ling sighed softly. "It's not unexpected... By the way, can I ask a rather impolite problem?"
"What?"
"Little Neko has been resurrected because of humans more than once. Why do you still like humans?"
"Well, every time you brat say it's impolite, the problems you ask are really impolite." The Nekomata's Journey hooked Ling's hair with its paw somewhat discontentedly. "You brat really know how to hit a sore spot."
"If Little Neko doesn't want to answer, you don't have to force yourself." Ling reached out his hand, picked it up before it could do anything to his hair, and stroked its fur gently. "After all, from my perspective, if I also had the ability to be immortal but kept dying because of my love for the same kind of creature, I'd definitely hate and stay away from that kind of creature... So I'm a little confused."
The Nekomata's Journey was silent for a long time this time. "Actually, I also hated humans for a while after each resurrection. But the old man said that one day, humans would understand the Tailed Beasts and accept them without any prejudice. When such people appear, the world will surely become what he expected...
"When the old man said this, I could feel his expectation and trust. I don't want to disappoint the old man, so I've always wanted to find the kind of people he talked about. That's the reason I'm close to humans.
"So it's not quite right to say that I like humans. I just keep getting close to humans and being resurrected over and over again to fulfill the old man's wish."
Ling fell silent. After a while, he said, "That must have been an extremely tough experience... Still choosing to try to trust humans after going through all this, Little Neko is really gentle."
"Humph~ So if you brat let down this trust, I'll come back in full anger to take revenge when I'm resurrected."
Ling couldn't help but burst into laughter upon hearing these somewhat threatening words. "Well, Little Neko might be disappointed then."
The Nekomata's Journey looked up warily, its tail bristling. "Huh? What do you mean, kid?"
Ling hooked his finger under the little Nekomata's chin, his voice soft. "It took me so much effort to get you with me. I'm so fond of you that I would never do anything to betray you."
Didn't I tell you before? You shouldn't regret choosing an Uchiha. You know, that ancestral figure bestowed a powerful Blood - inheritance Limit on us, but he didn't give us a good personality.