NARUTO: MY NINJA CAT IS INVINCIBLE!

Fire Nation.

Konoha.

Uchiha District.

Ninja Tool Shop.

"Nekobaa."

"Shiroishi, you're here. Sit down."

The slightly plump Nekobaa sat cross-legged, holding a pipe in her hand, taking a long puff before releasing a perfect smoke ring. An orange cat beside her leaped up, swatting at the smoke ring, dispersing it into the air.

As Uchiha Shiroishi entered the shop, all the ninja cats surrounding Nekobaa turned their attention toward him, their eyes glinting with curiosity. Shiroishi tilted his head, observing the familiar scene with wide, round eyes.

Despite having visited this shop many times before, the atmosphere always felt a little surreal to him.

"There's something I need to tell you," Nekobaa said, breaking the silence.

"Please, go ahead," Shiroishi replied, his tone respectful.

"Starting today, this ninja tool shop is yours to manage, Shiroishi."

"...?"

Shiroishi froze, his mind struggling to process what he'd just heard. The news hit him unexpectedly, leaving him momentarily speechless.

Nekobaa continued without hesitation.

"I have to go on a long journey. It will take time—maybe three to five years, or even longer. I'm leaving the shop, and these little ones, in your care."

"But Nekobaa... I'm not sure if I can handle all of this..."

"There's no need to worry. I know you'll do a fine job, Shiroishi. Otherwise, this shop would have to close, and these little ones would become nothing more than stray wild cats."

Shiroishi hesitated but finally nodded. "Alright, I'll take care of the shop—and the cats."

A warm smile spread across Nekobaa's face.

"Then it's settled."

She stood up, putting away her pipe, and coughed lightly before speaking again, "With you looking after things, I can leave without any worries."

Before Shiroishi could respond, a cloud of white smoke exploded around Nekobaa, enveloping her entire figure. In an instant, she disappeared, leaving only a faint trace of the smoke in the air.

One by one, the ninja cats began moving toward Shiroishi, sniffing him cautiously as if trying to memorize his scent. Then, they nuzzled their heads against his body, accepting him as their new caretaker.

Shiroishi reached out to pet a tabby cat, his fingers gently brushing through its fur.

"Meow!"

The tabby's eyes narrowed in contentment, clearly enjoying the soft strokes of Shiroishi's hand.

[The Ninja Cat Training System activates.]

[Absorb human favorability, and once it reaches 90, you can collect it. After collection, you can make requests to the heavens and the world, receiving a response, a Ninja Cat will gain the power of the respondent.]

[The rewards granted to the host will depend on the strength of the Ninja Cat.]

Shiroishi's brow furrowed slightly.

"Can gaining human favorability really strengthen a ninja cat?"

"And I can get rewards afterward?"

"The stronger the Ninja Cat is, the more generous the rewards will be?"

"That actually sounds pretty good."

As a time traveler, Shiroishi had felt a thrill when he first realized he had been transported into the world of Naruto.

But that excitement had quickly soured when he found out that he had landed in the Uchiha clan—one of the most tragic fates in this world.

Especially since his current body didn't seem to have any particularly strong talent.

But now that the system had appeared, hope rekindled within Shiroishi's heart.

Just then, a figure approached the ninja tool shop.

"Shiroishi, where is Nekobaa?"

Shiroishi looked up at the visitor.

He was a young man with short black hair, a Konoha ninja headband tied around his forehead. His face was somewhat delicate, and he wore a gray short-sleeved shirt, brown trousers, and a ninja tool pouch on his waist.

Though he had a bright, almost sunny appearance, there was a hint of hidden sadness in his eyes.

"Good morning, Shisui," Shiroishi greeted him. "Nekobaa went out on some business. The ninja shop and the ninja cats are under my care for now. Are you here to restock your ninja tools?"

Uchiha Shisui nodded.

"I need nine kunai, three explosive tags, and a short sword."

"Hold on a moment."

Shiroishi entered the storeroom and quickly gathered the ninja tools Shisui had requested.

When Shiroishi returned, Uchiha Shisui was already seated on the floor, gently petting a chubby orange cat.

The orange cat had its eyes half-closed, purring contentedly.

"Shisui, here are the tools you asked for," Shiroishi said, handing over the bag.

Uchiha Shisui accepted it with a nod. "Thanks, how much?"

Shiroishi gave him the total, following the prices Nekobaa had set. Shisui pulled out his money pouch, removed a small stack of banknotes, and handed it over. Shiroishi took the money and placed it in the cabinet.

"Meow!"

The orange cat let out a disgruntled sound, clearly displeased that Shisui had stopped petting it.

"Sorry, sorry," Shisui said with a soft smile, quickly returning to stroking the cat. It purred contentedly, its eyes closing once more.

Shiroishi sat down next to him, observing the scene. Suddenly, a line of text appeared above Uchiha Shisui's head.

[82. Shiroishi is a very good person, but unfortunately, his ninja talent is a bit lacking.]

It was clear—the number represented Shisui's favorability toward Shiroishi, while the accompanying sentence seemed to reflect Shisui's inner thoughts.

"Favorability at 82, huh?" Shiroishi mused. "I'm not far from 90. If I keep at it, I might be able to reach it. And with Shisui's abilities, the responder should be strong."

Uchiha Shisui was undeniably a genius, and the system's logic was simple: the greater Shisui's talent, the stronger the responder would be. The stronger the responder, the more power the Ninja Cat would gain. And with a more powerful Ninja Cat, the rewards would also be far greater.

Shisui and Shiroishi were around the same age and had interacted back in ninja school. One had become a prodigy, while the other remained average. Yet, despite their differences in talent, they had formed a bond of friendship, which now placed Shisui's favorability toward Shiroishi at a solid 82.

"Shisui, you seem troubled," Shiroishi noted, watching his friend carefully.

Shisui remained silent for a moment, then sighed deeply.

"Shiroishi, you've probably noticed… things aren't going well for the Uchiha."

He paused before continuing, his voice tinged with frustration. "The relationship between our clan and the rest of the village is deteriorating rapidly. I've tried to ease the tension, to bridge the gap between us and the others, but nothing's working."

"It's only getting worse," he admitted, his expression darkening. "I don't know what will happen if this keeps up."

"I have a bad feeling about it," Shisui confessed quietly. "Many within the clan have grown more radical. They want to start a civil war, to overthrow the current leadership of the village and take control for ourselves."

"But how could that ever work?" Shisui shook his head in dismay. "The Uchiha, as we are now, stand no chance against the village's higher-ups. If we go through with it, the consequences will be devastating."

"Not only would the Uchiha face destruction, but countless innocent people in the village would also die in the conflict."

"The damage would be catastrophic—probably no less than the disaster caused by the Nine-Tails attack."

Shisui lowered his head, his voice barely a whisper. "But it's becoming impossible to suppress those within the clan who want to act. It feels like things are spiraling out of control, and I can't stop it."

His shoulders slumped as the weight of his words hung in the air, a heavy burden of responsibility and fear.

The sentiments Uchiha Shisui expressed weren't much different from how Shiroishi had understood him through the original plot of this world.

Shisui felt deeply troubled by how the Uchiha were treated within the village, yet he saw no clear way to alter their fate. He didn't want harm to come to his clan, but he also couldn't bear the thought of innocent people in the village being caught up in conflict. So, until a viable solution emerged, Shisui believed the only option was to suppress the more radical ideas brewing within the Uchiha clan.

This way of thinking defined Shisui until the day of his death.

In his desperation to find a peaceful solution, he even proposed to Konoha's top leadership the idea of using his Kotoamatsukami to control Uchiha Fugaku's mind. His plan was to suppress the radical faction within his clan, hoping this would restore trust between the Uchiha and the village leaders.

Initially, Shisui believed there was hope. His plan could have succeeded.

But everything collapsed when Shimura Danzo betrayed him, ambushing Shisui and stealing one of his Mangekyō Sharingan. With one eye gone, Shisui realized he no longer had the power to control the situation within his clan.

That's when Shisui made his final, boldest decision.

He entrusted his remaining Mangekyō Sharingan to Uchiha Itachi, his closest friend and the person he believed in the most. He knew that his own death would push Itachi to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Shisui believed in Itachi's talent—he was confident Itachi would be able to unlock the power of the Mangekyō. With Itachi's abilities and three Mangekyō Sharingan at their disposal, Shisui was certain that Itachi could suppress the Uchiha radicals, gain the trust of the village elders, and prevent the civil war that would destroy everything.

However, what Shisui never expected was that Itachi's solution would be far more radical than anything the Uchiha clan had ever conceived.

Instead of stopping the Uchiha coup, Itachi decided to slaughter the entire clan, leaving only his younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke, alive.

In a twisted sense, Itachi did resolve the problem. But was this outcome really what Shisui had wanted?

Was it what the Uchiha clan truly needed?

"Shisui, have you spoken with the clan leader about all of this?" Shiroishi asked, frowning.

"I have," Shisui replied, shaking his head with a look of disappointment. "But the clan leader told me there's no solution. He can't control the situation anymore."

Shiroishi's frown deepened.

From his perspective, Itachi may have been the one who directly massacred the Uchiha, but the clan leader, Uchiha Fugaku, was far from blameless. In fact, Shiroishi believed that Fugaku's failure as a leader was second only to Itachi's actions.

As the head of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku had utterly failed his people. Faced with the growing rift between the Uchiha and the village, Fugaku hadn't devised any strategies to resolve or even alleviate the conflict.

Even if Fugaku couldn't overturn the village's discriminatory treatment of the Uchiha, and even if he couldn't lead them to victory, he could have at least tried to suppress the more extreme factions within the clan.

But Fugaku didn't even do that. What kind of leader allows such chaos to unfold without trying to intervene?

Even on the night of the Uchiha massacre, Fugaku did nothing. He stood by and watched as Itachi slaughtered the clan, offering no resistance, not even to save himself.

For anyone else, such passivity would make them a victim. But as the patriarch, Fugaku's inaction made him a traitor to his own people.

"He couldn't control it? Why? He's the clan leader, isn't he?" Shiroishi asked, incredulous.

"It's really out of his hands," Shisui said quietly. "I conducted a secret investigation. Right now, the Uchiha are split into two factions: the conservative faction and the radical faction."

"The clan leader is actually part of the conservative side."

"And the radical faction?" Shiroishi pressed.

"The radical faction is led by one of the eighth-generation elders," Shisui explained. "Fugaku can still command the conservatives, but he has no influence over the radicals. They don't listen to him."

The eighth-generation senior mentioned by Uchiha Shisui is named Uchiha Yashiro, one of the members of the Konoha Security Department. Perhaps it's because he has the most contact with others in the village and feels the exclusion and unfair treatment of the Uchiha most acutely.

"But I don't think that should be the reason," Shiroishi paused and continued.

"Shisui, maybe I don't know as much about ninjas as you do, but after spending so much time with these ninja cats, I feel that a family and a group of cats are actually somewhat similar."

"A group of cats must have a leader."

"Even if not all cats think the same way as Taka, they may even have differing opinions."

"However, at critical moments, all cats must obey Taka's orders."

"For Taka to do that, it's a must."

"If it can't be done, then this Taka's position will inevitably be replaced."

"If you don't have this ability, you are not qualified to stay in this position."

Uchiha Shisui was momentarily stunned, then a thoughtful expression crossed his face.

"Shiroishi, what do you mean?"

A white cat came over and lay down at Shiroishi's feet. Shiroishi reached out and rubbed the white cat's belly.

"Shisui, you are the genius of our Uchiha. It's precisely because of this that you're contemplating such problems at this age."

"I don't know the specific relationship between Uchiha and the village right now, but, through your description, Shisui, I understand a little bit."

"In other words, as long as the radicals in the clan are suppressed, the conflict between Uchiha and the village can be alleviated. It's just that the current clan leader can't do it. So, what about someone else?"

"If Shisui is strong enough, you could replace the current clan leader and become the clan leader yourself."

"In that case, we should be able to control the situation within the clan."

"With your talent, Shisui, you should be able to do it, right?"

Uchiha Shisui's eyes lit up. After considering it seriously, he felt that what Shiroishi said actually made sense.

"If I were the patriarch..."

Uchiha Shisui's mind opened up, immediately thinking of many things he could do.

Changes that could be made to the Uchiha.

Changes that could improve the relationship between the Uchiha and the village.

Uchiha Shisui discovered that there seemed to be a real chance to prevent civil war.

"But... the patriarch is now in his prime. Even if my strength exceeds that of the patriarch, wouldn't it be bad to directly seize the position of the patriarch?"

"Shisui, if Uchiha's situation is really as dire as you described, what's the point of caring about these side details? This is just a small thing."

Uchiha Shisui was silent for a while.

"Yes, Shiroishi, what you said makes sense."

After saying that, Uchiha Shisui took a long breath.

"Listening to you has made my thinking much clearer."

"The Uchiha situation is indeed not so bad that it cannot be changed at all."

"Shiroishi, thank you; you've given me a lot of inspiration."

After saying that, Uchiha Shisui stood up.

"Then I'll go get busy."

Now Uchiha Shisui couldn't wait any longer.

Shiroishi looked at Uchiha Shisui again.

At this moment, the line of text above Uchiha Shisui's head had changed.

[91, Shiroishi is indeed a very good person, but unfortunately, his ninja talent is a bit lacking.]

A voice sounded in Shiraishi's mind.

[It has been detected that Uchiha Shisui's favorability has reached 91. Do you want to collect it?]