Sasuke's Paw Encyclopedia

Nekobaa is visited by a cat, who sees a photo of Team 7 and makes remarks about Sasuke. In the past, Nekobaa had hired Team 7 (minus Kakashi) to collect a pawprint from Nekomata, the ruler of the ninja cat underworld. Because this was originally a mission Itachi had bequeathed to Sasuke to test his strength, Sasuke decided to complete it to prove that he could surpass Itachi's expectations. As they visited Nekobaa, Sasuke was infuriated by the mention of Itachi's name. Nekobaa explained to Naruto and Sakura that Itachi had tasked Sasuke with capturing feline paw prints before, which she compiled into a Paw Encyclopaedia. The three genin were assigned to break into Nekomata's fortress to acquire his pawprint and were given cat ears to not only deceive other cats into thinking that they were cats as well, but to be able to understand cat speech as well.