Learned, Learned, Learned!

The third day.

Jiraiya unfurled a scroll, a map etched onto it. He glanced at their surroundings and waved his hand, "Itachi, no need to prepare breakfast today. We're going to a nearby town."

"Is it far?" Uchiha Itachi pointed at the crows still sound asleep and whispered, "Beiyuan gets quite hungry in the morning..."

"...Still sleeping in?" Jiraiya lost his temper. "No need to prepare. We'll be there soon, just bring it along!"

Jiraiya wasn't lying. After not too long, they could see the outline of the town, and there were tracks on the road.

"Is this... really a town?" Uchiha Itachi had never seen anything like the scene before him. Dilapidated, decaying, fallen into ruin... none of these words were enough to describe this town.

Everyone in the town seemed very tense. There were even two or three frantic women running in the streets, and some fierce-looking men patrolled the streets with large swords.

Jiraiya had seen too many towns like this.

He thought that Uchiha Itachi, having grown up in the prosperous Konoha, had never witnessed the cruelty of the outside world. This was a good opportunity for his disciple to see the harsh reality of the ninja world.

As a man passed by them, he suddenly yelled, "You travelers! Take your kids and get lost!"

Jiraiya didn't care about his rude words. Instead, he shamelessly greeted him, "Ahaha... excuse me, where is your inn? We're staying here for a day..."

"Don't know! Get lost!" After cursing, the man even brandished his sword at them threateningly.

"We are ninja from Konoha..." The Toad Sage's words died in his throat. The atmosphere here was indeed unfriendly... It seemed it was time for him to make a sacrifice again...

"Itachi, let's find an inn first!" Jiraiya patted Itachi's head, subtly glancing at a corner of the street. "I'll go gather information about this town tonight..."

Uchiha Itachi shook his head. "Teacher, you should rest well. Let me go!"

"No, you're too young... it's not suitable!"

"Caw!"

For some reason, Beiyuan suddenly flew onto Jiraiya's shoulder. It was purely curious about Jiraiya's sources of information... and his research locations.

"Then can Beiyuan accompany you?"

"That crow looks too fierce. The people who can provide information are too timid and can't handle being startled, so only... cough cough..." Jiraiya shook his head, putting on a respectable facade.

Beiyuan didn't care about his attitude, only sticking to its own: "Caw!"

As a result...

In the evening, after Jiraiya left Uchiha Itachi at the inn, he had no choice but to go out with the crow. Although he couldn't understand the crow's caws, it didn't stop Jiraiya from solemnly declaring, "When we get there, you need to behave and not disturb me while I gather intel, understand?"

The crow obediently nodded. It was just a bird...

It couldn't do anything else... But Jiraiya really didn't disappoint! As expected, Jiraiya strolled to the entrance of a lavishly decorated tavern.

The old man smiled and beckoned to the young girls at the door, looking amiable. "Good evening~ Are you open now?"

"You jest, sir. Since you've come all this way, of course we are... open for business!"

"Hahahaha... I'm new here and don't have any friends in this town. Can you introduce me to some young people like yourselves?" Jiraiya said with a simple, honest smile.

Beiyuan: "..."

Learned it, learned it, learned it!

What good is learning it!

To be honest, Jiraiya was quite skilled... He quickly made many friends at the tavern, possibly because he was the only customer there... excluding the crow.

Jiraiya held a wine bottle in one hand and embraced his new friends with the other. "I see the place isn't very lively. Why aren't there more people playing with you! Is it because something more fun is happening in town recently?"

"It's because too many children have gone missing in town recently! The men have to patrol the town..." The girl looked at Jiraiya flirtatiously. "Are you unable to sleep tonight, sir?"

"It's April, still a bit cold..." Jiraiya waved to another new friend. "I need some wine and other things to warm up!"

Beiyuan, observing: "..."

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

Even if it learned it, what could it do... This tavern only gave it a plate of beans and didn't even have anyone to look after it. They were all busy fawning over Jiraiya, the big spender!

Although Jiraiya drank a lot at the tavern, he managed to extract quite a bit of information from the few young girls with his words.

Recently, the town had been plagued by a continuous stream of missing children, and there had even been instances of children being abducted from the streets at night. This was why the town was somewhat hostile towards outsiders.

No wonder they had seen all sorts of strange things when they first entered the town... That hot-tempered man was actually quite kind!

Another matter was rather strange.

Strange noises were always heard from the mountains near the town. The residents speculated that large wild beasts might have migrated there, so they formed a search party, and all of them disappeared.

They had also sought help from Konoha Village or other wandering ninja, but those ninja never found anything...

"...Finally done!" Jiraiya placed a drunken girl on the table and waved. "Little crow, you go back to the inn first..."

"..." Beiyuan looked at him in disbelief.

"Hey! Look straight ahead, I'm going to search outside the town..." Jiraiya took a swig of wine and continued, "If I'm not back in two days, you take Itachi back to the village."

"...Caw..."

It seemed he believed he had found information about Orochimaru. Beiyuan wasn't worried about his safety and waited for him to return with peace of mind.

The heroic Jiraiya respected everyone who had their own ninja path.

Even though Orochimaru was a rogue ninja, Jiraiya probably wouldn't have struck him down if he hadn't endangered Konoha... Besides, whether he could defeat the current Orochimaru was still a debatable matter.

Orochimaru during this period was truly at the peak of his strength! His life was no less remarkable than anyone in Konoha at present... Ninjutsu, forbidden jutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, he was proficient in everything!

However, Orochimaru's greatest talent was raising children. Just looking at Sasuke's muscular physique during his duel with Itachi would tell you... After Orochimaru was gone, Sasuke became thinner and thinner...

My own cub was clearly pitifully thin. I'd ask Itachi later if he wanted to go out for a late-night snack or something...

Beiyuan flew into the room through the window and looked at the messy bedding on the bed... I just went out to broaden my knowledge, where is my cub?

A gloomy voice emerged...

"Jiraiya finally left this place..."

A distorted figure suddenly surged from the ceiling, appearing incredibly bizarre. The newcomer looked at the empty room in surprise: "Huh? Where is that brat..."

"Zetsu, did you forget to leave a clone here? Hurry up..." Another figure appeared, spinning in the air. The scolding voice abruptly stopped upon seeing a crow.

Beiyuan's crimson eyes widened sharply: "Caw!"

Learned, learned.