Time in the underground stone hall of Rōran seemed stretched and frozen by the Dragon Vein's steady pulse.
After Sai left with the unconscious Naruto on his back, only Toyotomi Yinglang remained in the vast space, along with the seemingly forgotten pink-haired girl in the corner, trembling from fear and pain.
Sakura Haruno huddled against the cold stone wall. Sai had roughly secured her broken wrist with bandages and a splint, but waves of pain still washed over her. More tormenting still were the coldness and despair within her.
Naruto had been taken away, his destination unknown.
Sai had surrendered and was going to carry out that terrifying mission.
Like a useless burden, she had been left beside this demon, her life and death subject to his whim.
She remembered Sai's complicated glance before he left, Lady Tsunade's teachings, and her companions in Konoha. Tears slid down silently, mingling with the blood and dust on her face.
Toyotomi Yinglang did not attend to her immediately.
He sat cross-legged in the center of the stone hall, eyes closed as he regulated his breathing, recovering from the expenditure of extracting Asura's traits and the Nine-Tails chakra while organizing his thoughts and planning his next move.
Sai was already in place as his hidden pawn. Konoha's internal turmoil needed time to ferment.
How much ambition Naruto, this "gift," and Sai's "defection" could plant in Danzo's heart, and how great a disturbance they could cause, warranted observation.
Before that, he needed a more stable, more concealed base in Shinobi World No. 1, as well as... resources and premises for conducting "experiments."
Rōran's Dragon Vein core was a good location, rich in energy and well hidden.
But this was, after all, an "ancient site." Its energy had unusual properties, making it unsuitable for experiments that