"Jiraiya!" Tsunade snarled, making him recoil like a scolded puppy and slowly close his notebook.
One upside of losing an arm was that Tsunade now rarely hit him anymore.
At least she gave warnings first these days. Back then, she used to beat him mercilessly without hesitation for the past fifteen years.
Out of fear, Jiraiya temporarily submitted. Tsunade turned to Tamako and said,
"It's fine. You're not a ninja, so it's understandable that your first loyalty is to Naruto. Please continue."
Tamako offered a smile to the buxom Hokage before continuing,
"Just like I was saying, he's heading to Kumogakure to seek advice from the last person who might know how to control tailed beasts—that person being B, the younger brother of the Raikage and jinchuriki of the Eight-Tails."
Jiraiya pointed at himself and said,
"Then I'll go there and meet up with him. It's time to start implementing the training plan I designed for him. Princess Tsunade, I'll prepare and set off as soon as possible."
"I want to go with you too," Tamako chimed in, her face glowing with a bright smile.
Jiraiya wore an expression of shock.
"What? Naruto will be doing intensive training with his tailed beast soon, and he might need me there in case something goes wrong with his seal. I would feel much more at ease knowing I could accompany him during his practice. He also told me that the Nine-Tails has been refusing to talk to him and cutting him off from the spiritual world. This might already be an issue."
After speaking, she turned and left the room, saying, "Besides, you can't order me to stay here, right?"
"But—" Jiraiya tried to speak but was interrupted by Tamako at the doorway.
"Either you take me to Kumogakure, Master Jiraiya, or I'll go by myself." Standing at the door, she sweetly added, "But if you really do that, Young Master will be furious, and he might kill you if anything happens to me on the way. Even if he's angry at first for me taking the initiative, he'll eventually forgive me—he adores me." With that, she closed the door behind her.
Jiraiya sighed deeply, covering his face with his hands:
"The problem is, every word she said is true. God, that kid is head over heels without even realizing it."
Saddened, he crawled back toward the window, sighing as he went, "Guess I won't have time to flirt my way through Kumogakure this time... If I even try that, Tamako might actually create a sealing technique that turns me into a eunuch."
He shook his head and jumped out the window, leaving Tsunade alone in the office, chuckling quietly.
##Land of Water - Near Kirigakure##
"I've never really had the chance to say this before, but honestly, the two of you were amazing. I can't imagine another team reaching this level."
Maki blushed faintly and bowed her head. "It wasn't such a big deal... you gave us a mission, and we carried it out." Sai nodded in agreement.
"No," Naruto said seriously, "you didn't just complete the mission perfectly—you went above and beyond."
"You retrieved the sword and made it out alive, even making sure we didn't drag our teammates into the fight. You also ensured they never found me or brought me back to Konoha."
He shook his head, recalling how they had escaped. "Your operation was flawless. I wish my mission could have gone half as well as yours did."
Sai turned toward Naruto with a puzzled look. "What do you mean? You took on both of them by yourself. That's going up against two powerful enemies at once, Naruto-senpai."
Naruto sighed, running his fingers through his hair as he spoke.
"At the time, I was too soft. I didn't let them destroy each other while I stayed back and reaped the benefits. I thought if we killed Itachi, Sasuke would willingly return to Konoha and complete his mission. I never expected his reaction to be so intense. I think the Sharingan might've had something to do with it too."
He clenched his jaw, swallowing his anger. "By the time I realized I'd become just an obstacle between them and their desire to kill each other, I was already struck by [Amaterasu], and then I ended up fighting desperately against Sasuke. But based on what I know now... after all that happened, I failed to eliminate either of them."
"In my opinion, they're dead," Sai said. "After you had collapsed, I flew over for a closer look. Neither of them seemed capable of getting back up, and then the masked man—Madara—took their bodies from the battlefield."
He narrowed his eyes, remembering how Madara had taken Itachi and Sasuke from the battlefield before he could destroy their corpses.
"Madara Uchiha," Naruto said, naming the man with the orange mask. "Just say his name, Sai. There's no sense avoiding his name just because you think he's dead. He's out there, leading the Akatsuki, and he's after my life. Now I have to figure out how to take him down—especially now that I know he can teleport. I can't do something like that. I don't even know where to start learning."
Sai frowned, recalling his first encounter with that masked man—or rather, "Madara." Even now, he still felt shocked that he'd been fighting someone who should've been a ghost.
Looking back on it now, he had been right—he couldn't even touch the guy. His tanto passed straight through his body. Even his [suicidal ink bird] attack had no effect whatsoever.
"I still can't believe I actually fought Madara Uchiha... His entire fighting style was nothing like I imagined. Then again, how much real intel does Konoha even have on him? Even within the village, maybe only the Uchiha clan knows anything about him."
Naruto and Maki nodded in agreement. They kept walking until Naruto suddenly froze mid-step, his eyes widening as realization hit him.
Maki stopped short too, frowning in confusion. "Naruto-senpai, what's wrong? Are you alright?"
Naruto ignored her question and turned to Sai instead.
"Sai, can you repeat what you just said?"
Sai blinked and repeated dutifully, "Even in Konoha, probably only the Uchiha know about Madara Uchiha. I don't get why that matters, Naruto-senpai."
Naruto walked up to Sai and grabbed his shoulders.
"Of course you wouldn't get it, right?"
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