That night, after Tsunade held a half-hour long meeting regarding the oil lamp's secret, Sasuke left with a mission.
His mission was simple: act as bait to draw attention.
Before he left, he also left a letter for Tsunade, to be given to Kakashi. It contained some insights into using the Sharingan. Kakashi had taught him a lot, so Sasuke wanted to give something back, hoping it would help him with his Sharingan use.
Gazing at the figure that sped away with electrical flashes, master and student stood silent for a long time. Jiraiya had wanted to meet Orochimaru for years, and he never expected it to be possible with such a simple method. So simple that as long as Sasuke met Orochimaru, he could go over.
"Let's rest tonight, and continue our journey tomorrow."
"Okay," Naruto replied.
Naruto skillfully took out his tools and began building a house on the spot. Midway through construction, Naruto opened a portal and left.
"What's wrong with you? It hasn't even been half an hour, and you called me over already?" Naruto complained.
In the darkness, Sasuke stretched out his hand and discharged a small electric spark: "Out."
Naruto was so angry he almost spat out a mouthful of old blood.
Sasuke, you really know how to play. Other electric vehicles go to charging stations to charge, but you, you just make the charging station move directly to you with a phone call. Didn't I tell you to use this "Summon the Strongest" technique as little as possible?
"I'm truly fed up with you. Hurry up, they're about to sleep over there." Stretching out his arm, Naruto averted his head.
Ten seconds later, Naruto returned to the construction site.
"What's wrong? What happened?" Jiraiya asked.
"He's out of chakra, wanted me to replenish him," Naruto grumbled.
"Hahahaha..."
Ignoring the perverted sage, Naruto created a Shadow Clone to speed up the house construction. Naruto planned to build this house with two rooms, fearing that Jiraiya might have strange dreams and try to bite him if they slept together.
Before he could even place the first stone wall after returning, Naruto sensed his view constantly expanding. The expansion speed was fast, a wavy line moving in one direction. Naruto was utterly convinced by Sasuke; can't you stop jumping through the trees with that oil lamp? It feels really weird on my end.
He had no choice but to draw a question mark behind Sasuke with five illumination spells, hoping he would see it and put the lamp away. However, Sasuke seemed not to notice, continuing to leap through the forest.
Sasuke kept leaping and running, and Naruto kept frantically drawing question marks behind him.
Just as Naruto finished building the house and laying out the bedding, ready to rest, Sasuke stopped. Then he used the oil lamp to draw a circle. Naruto teleported over and asked, "What exactly do you want to do?"
"Out."
"I beg you, stop messing around. I'm about to sleep, and I have to travel tomorrow."
Hearing this, Sasuke was silent for two seconds before saying, "Wooden bucket."
Naruto handed him a wooden bucket.
Activating his Sharingan to examine the wooden bucket, Sasuke picked up a few stones and placed them inside the bucket to stabilize its center of gravity. Then he placed the oil lamp inside the bucket and poked a few ventilation holes in the bucket. Finally, he placed the bucket into a nearby small, slow-flowing river and said, "Let's go."
Sasuke was someone who valued efficiency. Since he couldn't travel efficiently tonight, he would let the oil lamp drift along the river for a while, go back to rest himself, and continue the journey tomorrow.
In the end, the two rooms became four rooms: one for each of them, and a separate one for Akamaru.
The next morning, after breakfast, Naruto sent Sasuke back near the oil lamp, then set off with Jiraiya on the road to the Land of Fire. The two parties were heading in different, essentially opposite, directions.
Naruto, who was called over every half hour, couldn't take it anymore.
"Come on, you go my way, I'll go to Orochimaru's." The way you're playing, it'd be better if I just ran all the way and then dragged you over.
"No need."
"Don't say I didn't warn you. If we keep running like this, my chakra won't be enough, and your cells won't be able to take it either. You'll die from overwork."
"I have my limits."
"Fine, I'll send a Shadow Clone to run for you for a while. You come help me with something."
Letting a clone run in the direction Sasuke indicated, Naruto brought Sasuke near the Capital of Fire and asked, "Do you know about the two cats in the Capital of Fire called Ginger and Fishcake?"
Ginger and Fishcake were the pets on the battleship HMS Hood. The Hood sank in 1941; Naruto wasn't sure if these two cats had been blown into this world. This was because there was a game called "Warship Girls R" that also featured these two cats. If the cats that appeared in this world were from that game, it would be quite a laugh. In the game, these two cats had a magical effect—they increased breast size by one stage!
By the way, Fishcake was a relatively small black and white cat that looked like it was wearing a tuxedo. "Relatively small" because Ginger was an orange and white cat. In other words, Ginger was an orange cat.
"I know a bit," Sasuke replied. The Uchiha clan would buy ninja tools from an old woman named Granny Cat. Granny Cat loved cats very much and would often talk about cats, and also ask people to collect information about cats. Among those collecting information were Itachi and Sasuke. So Sasuke knew a lot about cats.
"Then do you know where they are?"
Sasuke made a circle with his finger over the Capital of Fire: "No fixed abode."
"Tsk tsk tsk, how miserable. It's a miracle they haven't starved to death by now."
Sasuke drew another circle: "The whole city feeds them."
"Uh... let's team up."
"What do you want to do?"
"Steal cats."
Dragging Sasuke to a secluded corner, Naruto created a hundred clones, transforming them into various passersby. Without Naruto's command, the clones automatically lined up. One clone, wearing a hat, suddenly broke out of line as he was lining up, feigning seriousness and pulling out a piece of paper to read: "Do not act on your own to avoid getting separated."
"Yes."
The lead actor and the extras cooperated perfectly.
"Do not quarrel with other little friends."
"Yes."
"Be sure to use..."
Naruto stepped forward and kicked Tie Zhu, killing him: "Stop acting!"
Only after kicking him did Naruto realize something was wrong; this wasn't Tie Zhu, it was Mo Xie!
Ten seconds later, Naruto randomly picked a more bewildered clone to replace Tie Zhu, who had been running for Sasuke just now. Mo Xie's death sent a message to Tie Zhu, and when he found out everyone wasn't playing with him, he was furious.
The Tie Zhu who was then sent out by Naruto to fill the vacancy saluted Naruto immediately upon appearing, then turned and marched to the front of the line: "Now, count off from left to right!"
"Team up to steal cats 1/100."
"Team up to steal cats 2/100."
...
"Team up to steal cats 99/100."
Naruto nudged Sasuke: "Your turn."
"???" Sasuke was utterly bewildered. What exactly is this person doing?
Since Sasuke didn't answer, Naruto didn't force him. He waved his hand and said, "Now, scatter."
The clones all scattered with a clatter.
"To avoid getting separated?" Sasuke asked. If you're going to scatter, why did your clone just say to avoid getting separated?
"Don't mind those details." Naruto checked his watch: "It's 10 AM now. Let's split up and see who finds those two cats first. If you find them, don't act rashly." How can I compete with your hundred clones?
"And then?"
"Every two hours." Naruto pointed to a stall in front of the Capital of Fire's main gate.
"Meet at the fruit stand."
"Hm," Sasuke indicated no problem.
Naruto brought Sasuke along to have him use his Sharingan to charm the cats. Naruto knew he wasn't cut out for this job. Asking him to steal cats under the city's nose was worse than just letting him go berserk and then taking the cats away.
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