Chakra Thirst

Takara spent more than a week sealing and recycling the newly acquired biju, almost starting to feel that each tailed beast inside its egg was generating some sort of resonance.

It was likely that once he could seal Kokuo's egg and recycle it, the missing piece would be in place and his plan could finally be carried out.

Thanks to the constant supply of chakra extracted from his seal, Takara was able to fly to the Shikkotsu Forest without exhausting himself at a moderate pace.

Sure, he could have performed a reverse summoning or called a Katsuyu clone, but he needed to get his thoughts in order and flying among the clouds avoided obstacles that could distract him.

"The Five-Tails' egg?" Katsuyu tilted her head from side to side alternately as she remembered. "The last time I heard of it was about three hundred seventy years ago, but if I had to pinpoint its location on the current map, it would be in... Amegakure."

Of course, it had to be there of all possible places.

Right in Akatsuki's base!

With its members still alive and where they could sense him the moment he touched a drop of rain, surround him, and who knows if Black Zetsu might realize his condition.

He should find a way to quickly destroy their layers, so he could eliminate them easily.

"No, wait, I remember a heavy rain fell about eighty years ago and washed the egg away through the canal, so you should probably search along the southern coast of the Land of Rivers. Maybe even in the maritime zone of the Land of Waves."

(Author: Phew, that was close... I almost had to write like fifty more chapters!)

Takara felt another voice in his head again, but he ignored it.

"Could you help me search for it?"

"Hmm, I really don't like such a salty environment," Katsuyu showed some reluctance to get close to seawater. "I'm sorry."

"No matter, I'll make some puppets to help me locate the egg," Takara dismissed with a wave of his hand.

The part that bothered him was that if it was displaced eighty years ago, it could have been swallowed by the seabed sand or someone could have come across it and taken it away for various reasons.

"At least I have Kokuo's chakra reference, or I could spend months searching," Takara consoled himself with that thought.

The journey south was almost peaceful, except for one small detail.

But one extremely annoying detail.

"You took your time getting here."

Jiraiya, with a smug and arrogant face, was waiting for him a few kilometers before reaching the coast, apparently informed that he was heading to this place.

Takara didn't need to think too much to know where the information came from.

The Toad Sage, fond of sleeping and making prophecies, intervening at his convenience just as he did years ago to manipulate Kaguya's children in the palm of his hand.

Although it was still a hundred times better to encounter this not-so-bright bulb than his disciple Nagato along with Konan and the Six Paths of Pain.

Had his actions in the end affected the world enough for that toad to dream something despite the Ryumyaku interference?

That is… strange, one would expect that after the death of the "child of prophecy," that old man might catch something.

It seems that at most he got a lot of delay, like an old router that finally catches the signal after hours.

"Are you stalking me?" Takara asked cautiously. "I thought you were only interested in women and hot springs. Do you have some kind of deeper, darker secret hobby?"

Jiraiya's good humor evaporated at those words, and he almost fell off the tree branch he had climbed to look better, managing to hold on with his arms at the last second.

"Who's stalking you!" If this were an animation, Takara was sure Jiraiya's head would have grown as only Professor Iruka knew how to do when he yelled.

"Then, what do you want?" Takara didn't hesitate and got straight to the point, if he could push him away with a few words, it would be best.

Too bad he couldn't repeat the Tsunade and Shizune puppet trick, leaving aside that it would be suspicious, the Shizune puppet was damaged during his attack on Kumogakure and he hadn't repaired it yet.

Jiraiya took a deep breath and put on his serious expression, so rare to see that it almost seemed to have a layer of old dust covering it.

"Where is Naruto?"

"Otog…"

"Don't try to fool me!" Jiraiya jumped from the branch to the ground while taking a few steps towards Takara. "I talked to Orochimaru and he said he had no idea what I was talking about."

He... only talked?

"And you prefer to believe a rogue ninja?" Takara asked incredulously, as if looking at a five-year-old child. "With his record?"

"Say what you want! But I know Orochimaru better than anyone and I can be sure he didn't lie to me, in fact, he's quite upset about the 'undeserved persecution' he has endured lately."

Takara couldn't believe Jiraiya was so gullible.

Besides, how can he say that without feeling ashamed?

"Undeserved," Takara repeated. "Orochimaru feels offended because the village he deserted is giving him 'undeserved persecution'? Is that what you said?"

Jiraiya's intimidating walk was ruined, momentarily freezing as he realized he didn't use the right words to express himself.

"Don't change the subject!"

"I didn't!"

"I know for a fact you were the last one to see Naruto, and if Otogakure had nothing to do with it… then you can only be lying!"

Wow, the old man knows how to add two and two, impressive.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Takara wasn't going to say what happened to Naruto, he knew for a fact that Jiraiya would go crazy if he knew the truth and would attack him with the same determination he had in the fight against Nagato and Konan.

"I'll make sure to get the truth out of you." Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, the threat couldn't be more obvious. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way, you have one last chance before I decide to turn you into a toad."

Yeah, something like that Takara remembered from when Jiraiya infiltrated Amegakure.

But if it were something so easy to use, he doesn't think it would have only been seen used once in all history.

"So, you, a Konoha Sannin, are going to unilaterally subject a Sunagakure chunin to a forced interrogation?" Takara summarized. "You don't care about the repercussions of your actions between villages?"

"Suna wouldn't dare lift a finger against Konoha just for you." Jiraiya visibly snorted two hot air currents from his nostrils. "And how will they find out if no one says anything?"

Oh, so to find Minato and Kushina's son who happens to also be the village's most terrifying weapon, he was willing to kill another kid "if necessary."

The same Naruto he didn't dedicate even a fraction of the time to that he did to the three war orphans of Amegakure?

A truly hypocritical man if ever there was one.