Nekomata

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.

Appearance
Nekomata is a large white fork-tailed bakeneko with yellow eyes, long whiskers and nails, 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 nineko, 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.

Past Arc: The Locus of Konoha
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.

Three 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

 * refers to a yokai of cats in Japanese folklores.

Nekomata (Katze) Nekomata