Nekomata

editNekomata
猫又 Nekomata
Debut
Anime	Naruto Shippūden Episode #189
Game	Naruto Mobile
Appears in	Anime, Game
Voice Actors
Japanese	Ryūsei Nakao
English	Joe Ochman
Personal
Sex	Male
Species	Bakeneko
Occupation	Boss of the ninneko
Affiliation	Cat Fortress
Nature Type Yin Release
Jutsu Cat Genjutsu

Nekomata (猫又) is a giant cat and the boss of the ninneko underworld.

Background

During Sasuke Uchiha's childhood, Itachi Uchiha made a game of collecting paw prints of quick, nimble cats from a normal cat to a lion and the last paw print to be collected was Nekomata's. Itachi once defeated Nekomata and his ninja cats and requested him to fight Sasuke with all his might when he got older.

Years later, Team 7 was assigned to get Nekomata's paw print and infiltrated his fortress. The team was split up during the infiltration. Sasuke was the first to find Nekomata, challenged him but Nekomata seemed to be too much for him until Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno arrived and saved him. Sasuke then told his two team-mates he didn't need to be saved and revealed dozens of kunai with explosive tags on the ceiling above Nekomata and detonated them, having the ceiling on top of him collapse. With Nekomata defeated, Sasuke collected the last paw print for the Paw Encyclopaedia.

Appearance

Nekomata's full appearance.

Nekomata is a large white fork-tailed bakeneko with yellow eyes, long whiskers and claws, and several scars all over his body. The fur coming out of his ears is blue in colour.

Abilities

Nekomata is the leader of the ninneko, and as such is a powerful ninja cat himself. He has displayed great strength and speed, able to smash through pillars without problems. He is also a capable genjutsu user.

Part II

Past Arc: The Locus of Konoha

Two years later, Nekomata visited Nekobaa to buy tools from her and sees a picture of Sasuke with his paw print, reminiscing of his battle with Sasuke.

Trivia

• Nekomata (猫又) refers to a cat yōkai of Japanese folklore.