Learned It, Learned It, Learned It!

The third day.

Jiraiya spread out a scroll with a map engraved on it. He looked up at the surroundings and waved. "Itachi, no need to make breakfast today. We're going to a nearby town."

"Is it far?" Uchiha Itachi pointed at the crow still sleeping soundly and said softly, "Kitahara gets hungry in the mornings..."

"...Sleeping in again?" Jiraiya had no temper left. "No need to prepare anything. We'll be there soon, so bring him along!"

Jiraiya had not lied. After walking for only a short while, they could see the outline of the town. There were also wheel ruts scattered along the road.

"Is this... really a town?" Uchiha Itachi had never seen anything like this before. Dilapidated, decayed, impoverished... none of those words were enough to describe it.

Everyone in town seemed tense. Two or three deranged women were even running through the streets, while several fierce-looking men patrolled with large blades in hand.

Jiraiya had seen too many towns like this.

He assumed Uchiha Itachi had grown up in prosperous Konoha and had never witnessed the cruelty of the outside world. This was a good opportunity to let his student see the harshness of the ninja world.

As a man passed them, he suddenly shouted, "Travelers! Get the hell out of here with your kid!"

Jiraiya did not mind his foul language. Instead, he shamelessly greeted him with a smile. "Ahahaha... Excuse me, where is the inn? We'll be staying here for a day..."

"Don't know! Get lost!" After cursing at them, the man even raised his blade and waved it threateningly in their direction.

"We're ninja from Konoha..." The Toad Sage had no choice but to swallow his words. The atmosphere here truly was not very friendly... It seemed it was time for him to make another sacrifice...

"Itachi, let's find an inn first!" Jiraiya patted Itachi's head and subtly glanced toward a corner of the street. "Tonight, I'll investigate what's going on in this town..."

Uchiha Itachi shook his head. "Sensei, get some proper rest. Let me go instead!"

"No. You're too young... It wouldn't be appropriate!"

"Caw!"

For some reason, Kitahara suddenly flew onto Jiraiya's shoulder. He was simply curious about Jiraiya's sources of information... and where he gathered material.

"Then can Kitahara go with you?"

"This crow looks far too fierce. The people who can provide information are rather delicate and can't handle being frightened, so I can only... Ahem..." Jiraiya shook his head, putting on the face of a respectable man.

Kitahara did not care about his attitude and merely held firm to his own. "Caw!"

As a result...

That night, after Jiraiya left Uchiha Itachi at the inn, he could only head out with the crow. Though he could not understand crow language, that did not stop Jiraiya from making a solemn declaration. "Once we get there, behave yourself. Don't interfere with my intelligence gathering, understand?"

The crow obediently nodded. He was only a bird, after all...

He could not do anything else... But Jiraiya really did not disappoint! Sure enough, Jiraiya casually stopped in front of a lavishly decorated pleasure house.

The old man smiled and waved at the girl by the entrance, looking utterly kind and approachable. "Good evening~ Are you open right now?"

"You must be joking, sir. Since you're already here, then of course we're... open!"

"Hahahaha... I've only just arrived, and I don't have any friends in this town. Could you introduce me to a few young people like yourself?" Jiraiya smiled with an honest-looking expression.

Kitahara: "..."

Learned it, learned it, learned it!

What the hell use was learning that?

To be honest, Jiraiya really had a knack for this... Before long, he had made quite a few friends in the pleasure house. Perhaps it was also because he was the only customer there... The crow did not count.

Jiraiya held a wine bottle in one hand and a newly made friend in the other. "The place doesn't seem very lively. No one has come to play with you! Did something more interesting than you happen in town recently?"

"Probably because too many children have gone missing lately! The men all have to patrol the town..." The girl looked at Jiraiya flirtatiously. "Can't sleep tonight, sir?"

"It's April, after all. Still a little cold..." Jiraiya waved to another new friend. "A man needs a little wine and something else to warm himself up!"

Kitahara, watching from the side: "..."

Learned it again, learned it again, learned it again!

Even if he learned it, what could he do with it... This pleasure house had only given him a plate of beans. They had not even assigned anyone to look after him. Everyone had gone to fawn over Jiraiya, the big spender!

Although Jiraiya drank quite a bit at the pleasure house, he managed to draw out plenty of information from several young women with just a few words.

Recently, children had been disappearing from this town one after another. There had even been cases of children being abducted right off the streets at night, which was why the townspeople were somewhat hostile toward outsiders.

No wonder they had seen all those strange things when they first entered town... That hot-tempered man had actually been trying to help them!

The other matter was rather strange.

Odd noises were always coming from the mountains near town. The residents guessed that some enormous wild beast had migrated here, so they organized a group to search for it. Later, all of them disappeared.

They had also sought help from Konoha Village and wandering ninja, but in the end, even those ninja masters had failed to uncover anything...

"...Finally finished!" Jiraiya tossed a drunken girl onto the table and waved. "Little crow, head back to the inn first..."

"..." Kitahara stared at him in disbelief.

"Hey! Keep that gaze decent. I'm going outside town to investigate..." Jiraiya took a swig of wine and continued, "If I haven't returned in two days, take Itachi back to the village!"

"...Caw..."

It seemed Jiraiya believed he had finally found information about Orochimaru. Kitahara was not worried about his safety; he only needed to wait patiently for him to return.

The Gallant Jiraiya respected everyone who had their own ninja way.

Even if Orochimaru was a rogue ninja, as long as he had not harmed Konoha, Jiraiya likely could not bring himself to strike him down... Besides, whether Jiraiya could defeat Snake Uncle in his current state was still debatable.

At this point in time, Orochimaru was truly at the peak of his strength! No one in present-day Konoha could compare to his accomplishments... Ninjutsu, forbidden techniques, genjutsu, taijutsu—he excelled at all of them!

Still, what Orochimaru was best at was raising children. One only had to look at Sasuke's muscular body when he fought Itachi... After leaving Orochimaru, Sasuke had only gotten thinner and thinner...

His own little chick was obviously pitifully thin. He should ask Itachi later whether he wanted to go out for a late-night snack or something...

Kitahara flew through the window into the room and looked at the rumpled bedding on the bed... He had only gone out to broaden his horizons. Where was his little chick?

A gloomy voice suddenly spoke...

"Jiraiya has finally left this place..."

A distorted figure suddenly emerged from the ceiling, looking incomparably strange. The newcomer stared in surprise at the empty room. "Huh? Where's that little brat..."

"Zetsu, did you forget to leave a clone here? Hurry up and..." Another figure appeared as the air twisted, but the reproachful voice abruptly stopped upon seeing a crow.

Kitahara's crimson eyes suddenly widened. "Caw!"

Learned it, learned it!