Naruto: Paws and Whiskers

"Hehehe, the plot is perfect… I'm such a genius! I don't have to worry about that super-strong woman that would suddenly jump out and punch me half to death this time!" Jiraiya grinned, speaking to himself with unrestrained glee.

Completely absorbed in his grandiose imaginings, Jiraiya failed to notice a sharp pair of feline eyes watching from the branches above, making the mistake that even Sannin's fell for: Being too focused.

The sun cast dappled shadows on the forest floor, and the sound of chirping birds filled the air. Takeshi leaned down and began to prepare his muscles. 'This time, I won't stoop to something as simple as transforming into Tsunade again.'

That joke had been amusing once, but repetition dulled its edge. Jiraiya would anticipate such an obvious trick now.

'What if the real Tsunade appeared in front of him, and he dismissed her as another prank?' Still, while Takeshi enjoyed teasing Jiraiya, he wasn't ready to push the Sannin to his breaking point—or risk serious retaliation. 'At least, not yet,' he thought slyly.

With a soft whoosh, Takeshi leapt gracefully from the branch and landed squarely on Jiraiya's shoulder.

"Ahh! What the—? Not you again!" Jiraiya yelped, flinching in surprise. His initial shock quickly gave way to irritation as he swiped at the feline intruder, attempting to grab him and throw him into the river.

"Meow!" Takeshi dodged effortlessly, hopping to the ground with feline agility.

Jiraiya's annoyance turned to despair as a sharp tearing sound reached his ears. He froze, staring at the shredded remains of the manuscript in his hand. His jaw slackened. "My work… my art… ruined," he murmured in anguish, cradling the scraps of paper like a grieving parent.

"Meow!" Takeshi's ears flattened slightly in mock guilt. "It wasn't my fault! You were the one waving it around like a toy. You practically shoved it in my claws!"

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed, his anguish morphing into something far more dangerous. "Oh, you'll pay for this," he said, his tone low and menacing. His lips curled into a manic grin as his chakra flared.

The next second... no, to be precise, it was less than a second. He quickly formed a seal, and his hair flew up one by one.

This time, Takeshi finally experienced the feeling that his past enemies had experienced - overwhelming hair attacks! Each hair strand was as dense as Orochimaru's snakes, long and durable.

(E/N: Referring to Orochimaru's Hidden Shadow Snake Hands, get your mind's out of the gutter!)

Takeshi felt a chill run down his spine. "Meow?"

Takeshi opened the First Gate - Gate of Opening without hesitation as small body surged forward, leaving behind a faint blur.

"Running away? You can't escape me!" Jiraiya shouted, launching himself into the chase.

Takeshi didn't waste time responding. Instead, he twisted mid-run and spat out several Wind Release: Vacuum Bullets. The large projectiles whizzed through the air, creating temporary obstacles between him and his pursuer.

The enlarged vacuum bullets are much more powerful and faster, but that comes at the cost of its damaging potential, as it is quite slow.

No matter how flawed Jiraiya's understanding is about what is considered a good story, his strength can't be denied.

Jiraiya dodged with ease, sidestepping the attacks with the long practiced reflexes. "That all you've got?" he taunted, picking up speed.

'It's not about hurting you, old man,' Takeshi thought. 'It's about buying time.' The oversized vacuum bullets kicked up dust and debris, creating a smokescreen that obscured Jiraiya's vision.

In splitsecond while Jiraiya was distracted, Takeshi launched Water Release: Water Clone Jutsu! and then quickly used Flying Thunder God to escape.

"Go take a bath and be cleansed off your sins, you troublesome cat!" Jiraiya's hair tied up the Water Clone firmly, and dragged it directly into the lake.

He was really quite annoyed, of course, it might also be piled upon the stress of his current role as commander.

Takeshi, who was watching from the side, felt nervous wondering if he went too far.

His victory, however, was short-lived. "Huh?" he muttered, his fingers brushing against a rapidly dissolving puddle. His eyes widened in realization. "A clone? You little—!"

"What the hell! Where did that cat go?" Wild Lion's Mane Jutsu was not easy to break free from, unless... That was a clone and seeing aftereffects it was likely water clone.

He gritted his teeth and said: "Where are you hiding?! If you don't come out right now, I swear I'll send you on daily missions—or better yet, I'll transfer you to Orochimaru's border camp!"

'That's animal cruelty!' Takeshi felt fear grip his small heart. If he was really sent to Orochimaru, even if he didn't die, he might become Orochimaru's test subject or subordinate in the future.

'What do I do...' He glanced at the system panel. Hiss ~ 2,000 points, more than the last time he was caught peeping, 'He's really pissed this time!', Jiraiya might actually be serious with his threat.

Frantically searching for a solution, Takeshi's eyes darted toward the remains of the manuscript. An idea sparked. He took a deep breath and jumped out from his hiding spot, landing in front of Jiraiya.

"Meow! Wait! Your story—it's bad!" he blurted out.

Jiraiya blinked, caught off guard. "Bad?!" His anger faltered as his pride took the hit. "You're just a cat! What do you know about writing?", while surprised at the direction from where Takeshi appeared, but when Takeshi talked criticizing about his story, he temporarily put aside his anger and responded to the doubts with a professional attitude.

He is a professional writer after all, so constructive criticisms might be useful - at least he thinks so.

Ignoring the jab, Takeshi pressed on. "It's boring! The plot's too simple, and the characters have no depth. If you want a bestseller, you need twists, intrigue, and stakes!"

Jiraiya being intrigued decided to listen to this cat first before chucking him into water,

Jiraiya stared at him, incredulous. "And you think you can do better?"

"Meow ~ What's the identity of your protagonist?"

"Identity?" Jiraiya was stunned for a moment. He hadn't thought much on that. But since the Takeshi asked this, he answered: "The protagonist is a commoner."

"Meow~ Commoner, and what is the identity of the beauty?"

"The lady?" This got Jiraiya thinking...

"Meow ~ A lady from a wealthy family is fine, meow! And it happened that a stray dog took away her clothes, and the protagonist chased it, and then the lady fell in love with the protagonist at first sight..." Takeshi wanted to give simpler plot first, but as he started talking, new ideas and plots came to his mind.

For example, the wealthy family looked down on the protagonist, but the protagonist turned out to be a hidden genius through hard work and defeated the genius of the wealthy family in the Chunin Exam.

Takeshi saw that Jiraiya is using himself as template for protagonist. Jiraiya likes hardworking and tenacious personalities, so he used such stories.

Jiraiya found Takeshi's story engaging, yet he was also confused... this cat is only over one year old, where does he get so many good ideas, about novels.

"Meow~ Tell me compared to my story, yours story too monotonous, right?" Takeshi kept giving various ideas his mouth was dry.

Seeing that Jiraiya was no longer annoyed, Jiraiya pondered for couple minutes and said: "How about I give you the pen, and you write it?"

"Meow?"

"You have many interesting ideas, why not right it? Though, you are a cat, so how did you get so many good ideas?"

"It's because humans thinking is too limited, while we cats view the world differently, that's why I have so many good ideas, meow~"

Takeshi tried divert away from the topic of where his ideas were coming from.

"The story is good, I will adopt it, but I think it would be better to change the wild dog (who steals the wealthy girls clothes) into a wild black cat. And we can..." Jiraiya murmured couple more touched that can be added to story.

Takeshi breathed a sigh of relief at avoiding the disaster of being transferred to Orochimaru's border camp.

Though, will this bring new era of good literatures to the ninja world? Just thinking about Kakashi and Minato holding this novel and reading it. 'Then realizing this story came from me, just thinking about it is making me giddy.'

If the news is exposed, there will probably be another wave of points!

"Meow~ I want my name added in it and point out that I am a cat."

"Don't even think about it, what if you damage my reputation... At most, I can add your name as the inspiration provider, but I can't put your identity as cat." Jiraiya immediately bargained.

Although source of the story is Takeshi, adding his name is embarrassing enough. What will happen to his reputation if everyone comes to know, he is taking stories from a one year old cat ?

'But then again, if it is sold like this, won't everyone in the village guess which Takeshi provided inspiration to me?' He immediately patched it up: "You can be added as an assistant!"

"Meow~ that's fine, assistant is fine, but don't skimp out on my share of profits." Takeshi didn't continue to bargain.

'What if Jiraiya got angry again and decided to chuck me in the lake or transfer me to Orochimaru ?'

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