Rinto had barely stepped out of the mine entrance, scraps of silk from the seal he had just dismantled still clinging to his fingertips, when three kunai wrapped in sealing script whistled toward him. Before his feet had settled on the gravel, they targeted his limbs and heart, cutting off every angle of escape.
This was no probing attack. They meant to cripple him.
Rinto's brows drew together sharply. The manuscript and fragmentary scroll pressed against his chest, and vicious irritation surged through him at the interruption. He did not even break stride. A trace of chakra spilled from his fingertips, and three hair-thin wind blades flashed out, precisely shredding the sealing patterns on the kunai and reducing the iron weapons themselves to powder.
The two Root ninjas leading the charge had not expected such a swift counterattack. Their half-formed hand seals froze as Rinto glanced at them, and invisible chakra constructs instantly invaded their chakra pathways. Both grunted as their chakra surged backward and ran wild inside them. They fell straight onto the sand, twitching all over, stripped of their ability to fight.
In less than a second, the ambush's opening strike had been neutralized.
"Rinto!" Kazama emerged from the shadow of the rock face with the remaining four ninjas. His eyes beneath his mask were frighteningly red, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan spinning rapidly, and the sealing chains in his hands creaked under the strain. "Lord Danzo has given his orders. Either come back to Konoha with us, or die here along with your research!"
He had not come to negotiate. Every squad sent before had been lost, and Danzo had issued an absolute order-if they could not bring him back alive, they were to destroy him. His technology could never be allowed to fall into Orochimaru's hands or those of another shinobi village. If Kazama returned to report failure, his fate would be worse than death. Today, he would either take the man away or die with him.
Rinto had no interest in his threats. Lightning Release patterns were already lighting up on his fingertips. He only wanted to hurry back to his rented house and unpack the research. Every extra minute wasted was a minute stolen from his experiments. Since these people were courting death, he did not mind wiping them out all at once, rather than having them keep buzzing around him like flies.
Just as he was about to unleash his Lightning Release, a boisterous shout suddenly came from atop a nearby dune. "Well, well! Danzo's dogs dare to bite people to death out here now?"
Everyone looked up to see Jiraiya crouched atop the dune with a half-man-tall scroll slung over his shoulder, a dry stalk of grass between his teeth. He swung his legs carelessly; who knew how long he had been watching? He spat out the grass and leaped down from the several-meter-high dune without stirring so much as a speck of dust. A few steps took him to the barrier, where he raised a hand and slapped the pale purple membrane.
There was barely any fluctuation of chakra. The sealing barrier, designed specifically to block chakra flow, tore open with a crash like water-rotted window paper. Even the containment lines buried underground shattered along with it.
"Lord Jiraiya?" Kazama's face instantly went pale. His grip on the chains tightened, and cold sweat soaked his back. He was not afraid of Rinto's ruthlessness, but Jiraiya was one of the Sannin, a direct disciple of the Third Hokage. Root might throw its weight around Konoha, but it would never dare openly oppose this man.
"Don't call me that. It makes me sick." Jiraiya curled his lip, most of the smile leaving his face. "A Konoha wanted notice? I went back to the Hokage's office last week and checked the entire noticeboard without seeing one. So Danzo can slap his own bogus stamp on something, label anyone he likes a rogue ninja, and send you out to murder them?"
"This is a classified internal Root mission concerning Konoha's security. Please do not interfere!" Kazama gritted his teeth and held his ground, rapidly signaling with the hand behind his back. The remaining four ninjas immediately spread out into a loose encirclement, but none dared actually charge.
"A classified mission? Stealing someone else's research counts as a classified mission now?" Jiraiya scoffed and took half a step forward. He released no terrifying aura, yet every Root ninja nearby instinctively shrank back. "Let me make this clear. He's under my protection. Take your people and get back to Falling Sand Town. If I catch you haunting him like ghosts again, I'll go back to Konoha myself and have a good talk with the Third about all the dirty business Root has been up to these past years."
Even Kazama's breathing grew ragged. He could neither advance nor retreat. If he retreated and faced Danzo's wrath, his life was over. If he advanced, he would never even get past Jiraiya, let alone capture Rinto. He stared hard at the cloth bundle in Rinto's arms, then looked at Jiraiya's expressionless face. Something in his mind suddenly snapped.
He knew Danzo's methods all too well. Failure meant a fate worse than death. If he was going to die either way, he might as well gamble. Even if he could not kill Rinto, he had to destroy those two scrolls of research. That would at least fulfill Danzo's minimum order.
"You won't take the easy way, so suffer the hard way!" Kazama suddenly roared and ripped open the ninja uniform over his chest. Pitch-black cursed seal markings over his heart writhed and glowed wildly. "Even if I die, I will never let you take that research away!"
He activated Root's Death Cursed Seal outright. His chakra instantly surged, and all his skin took on an eerie blue-black hue. Overloaded with chakra, his Sharingan turned so red they seemed about to bleed. The four Root ninjas behind him froze for a moment, then gritted their teeth and activated their own cursed seals. They were all suicide operatives raised by Danzo. They had long since lost any way back.
Jiraiya's expression instantly darkened. "Have you gone mad?!"
He had not expected Kazama to dare pull this in front of him. The moment the Death Cursed Seal erupted, it would burn through all his life energy. In the end, he would either take his enemy down with him or die of exhaustion. There was no way to survive.
Kazama ignored him completely. Like a madman, he charged straight at Rinto with his surging chakra. The chains in his hands were wrapped in self-destruct seals. They were not meant to capture him, but to blow him up. The four ninjas behind him split into two groups. Two lunged at Jiraiya to hold him up with their bodies, while the other two followed Kazama straight toward the cloth bundle in Rinto's arms.
"Courting death." Rinto's gaze was ice-cold. He had originally intended to settle for driving them off, but these lunatics actually dared target his research.
He did not dodge or take so much as half a step back. Protecting the cloth bundle with his left hand, he raised the fingertips of his right, and a pale white glimmer of Dust Release instantly appeared. He had no intention of holding back. These people had delayed him for so long and still dared touch his research. There was no reason to leave them alive.
"Hey, don't, don't!" Seeing him about to unleash Dust Release, Jiraiya jumped in alarm. He hurriedly raised an Earth-Style Wall to block the two ninjas charging him and shouted, "We're too close to town! If you fire off Dust Release, you'll alert half of Falling Sand Town!"
As he spoke, Kazama's chains had already reached Rinto. Their self-destruct seals were glowing, about to explode. Rinto's frown deepened, and he changed the construct on the fly. The white light at his fingertips dispersed, replaced by a dense shower of Lightning Release needles that instantly shot toward Kazama's chakra pathways.
In the frenzy of his cursed seal's eruption, Kazama did not dodge at all. He charged straight through the Lightning Release, determined to smash his chains into Rinto even as the electricity charred his chakra pathways. But those Lightning Release needles carried more than paralyzing currents. They also contained constructs that rewrote chakra circulation.
Just as he came within two meters of Rinto, the rampaging chakra inside him suddenly fell into chaos. His cursed seal markings shattered in an instant, and he collapsed heavily as though every bone had been pulled out of his body. He twitched all over, black blood pouring from his mouth, his eyes still fixed on Rinto as his breathing stopped completely.
The two ninjas charging behind him also had their chakra pathways crippled by two casual wind blades from Rinto, falling to the ground unable to fight. On the other side, Jiraiya had dealt with the two ninjas holding him up as well. He had not killed them, merely knocked them unconscious and tossed them aside.
In barely a dozen seconds, all the frenzied suicide operatives had been dealt with.
Rinto lowered his head and brushed the sand from his cloth bundle. Only after confirming that the manuscript and fragmentary scroll inside were untouched did his heart settle, but the vicious irritation remained on his face. This was what he hated most. He could have been back in his laboratory in ten minutes, but these lunatics had forced him to waste so much time.
Just then, an extremely soft chuckle suddenly came from the shadows beside the rock face.
"Truly splendid." Kabuto slowly emerged, still dressed as an unremarkable merchant, his usual gentle smile on his face. It was as though the life-and-death battle had merely been a show he had watched.
Rinto's gaze instantly chilled. He had actually failed to notice Kabuto hiding nearby all this time. The man's concealment skills were even more insidious than he had expected.
Jiraiya glanced at him, his gaze instantly turning cold. "Orochimaru's little lackey. How long have you been hiding there watching?"
"Not long. Just long enough to catch the whole show." Kabuto bowed slightly, but his eyes remained fixed on the cloth bundle in Rinto's arms. Smiling, he said, "You truly are impressive, Mr. Rinto, dealing with even Root's suicide operatives so easily. But I must remind you of one thing. The people of Konoha will never trust a 'rogue ninja.' Lord Jiraiya may help you out today, but tomorrow he might join Danzo in coveting the technology inside your head."
On the surface, it was a warning. In truth, it was an attempt to sow discord, to break apart Rinto and Jiraiya's relationship and make it easier for Orochimaru to recruit him later.
"Stop stirring up trouble." Jiraiya frowned and snapped, "Did Orochimaru send you? Are you here to steal the research too?"
"I wouldn't dare." Kabuto straightened, his smile unchanged, though his hand quietly formed a seal. "I merely came to purchase experimental materials and happened to pass by. However, Lord Orochimaru asked me to pass on a message. Otogakure has the finest laboratories in the entire shinobi world. Whatever materials or samples you require, even live human test subjects, we can obtain them. If you are willing to come, no one will ever disturb your research. It would be far better than living in fear alongside the people of Konoha."
Rinto ignored his attempts to sow discord and did not respond to his offer. He merely looked at him coldly. "Did you just set up seals around here?"
He had already noticed something wrong with the surrounding chakra flow. It was not Kazama's barrier, but a more concealed sealing array meant to lock down space. Kabuto had set it up long ago, waiting to reap the benefits after both sides had worn each other down.
Kabuto's smile stiffened for a moment before returning to normal. "You are very perceptive, Mr. Rinto. I was merely concerned that the fighting would disturb the townspeople, so I casually set up a small soundproofing seal. I meant nothing else by it."
He spoke soothingly, but quietly moved half a step back. Kazama had gone mad too suddenly. Kabuto had planned to wait until both sides were badly hurt before seizing the research, perhaps even trapping Jiraiya inside the array. He had not expected Rinto to finish Kazama with such absurd speed, or Jiraiya to remain largely unimpeded. His entire plan had fallen apart.
"Is that so?" Rinto raised his hand slightly, chakra already gathering at his fingertips. His patience for the day was exhausted. Whether they belonged to Root or Orochimaru, anyone delaying his return to his research needed to get lost.
Jiraiya also stepped half a pace forward, his stare full of warning. Kabuto knew perfectly well that he had no opportunity to act in this situation. Staying any longer would only get him caught up in it himself.
"It seems I've intruded." Kabuto smiled as he backed away, his steps growing faster. "But Mr. Rinto, Lord Orochimaru's promise will always stand. Sooner or later, you will understand that only we can truly help you."
Before he had finished speaking, he suddenly raised his hand and flung out more than a dozen smoke bombs. Thick smoke instantly spread. Jiraiya cursed and blew it away with Wind Release, but Kabuto had already vanished. Only the markings of a freshly triggered teleportation seal remained on the ground. He was long gone.
"Damn it, slippery as an eel." Jiraiya spat and turned to Rinto. "Are you all right? You weren't caught up in that, were you?"
"I'm fine." Rinto withdrew his gaze and glanced at the corpse and unconscious ninjas on the ground, his frown deepening. Kazama was dead. Danzo would only grow more unhinged, and the trouble would only keep increasing. He could no longer stay in Falling Sand Town.
He had no interest in dealing with the mess on the ground. He turned toward town, wanting only to hurry back and read his research.
"Hey, hey, don't go!" Jiraiya hurried after him and blocked his path. "I've spent days specifically looking for you, and you're just leaving?"
Rinto stopped and looked up at him, lingering impatience in his voice. "Did you actually want something from me or not? Thank you for helping me out just now, but I don't have time to chat. I'm going back."
He had no particular liking for Jiraiya. Even though the man had helped him, Rinto saw him as another person who might bring trouble. His mind was filled with the research in his arms. Every extra word was a waste of time.
"Don't be so hostile." Jiraiya laughed twice, unoffended, and took the large scroll off his back. "I didn't come just to watch the show for free. I brought something good. I'd like to make a deal."
"What deal?" Rinto asked bluntly, with no desire to beat around the bush.
"Straight to the point." Jiraiya crouched, opened the scroll, and took a thick volume wrapped in several layers of oilcloth from its innermost waterproof compartment. He hefted it in his hand. "Firsthand material I've gathered traveling all over the shinobi world for half my life. Records on the origins of Yin-Yang Release from the Sage of Six Paths' Ninshu, fragments of lost secret Yin Release teachings from the Land of Whirlpools, and forbidden jutsu research notes scattered from the shinobi villages of various nations. A lot of this stuff can't be bought on the black market, no matter how much money you throw at it."
Rinto's gaze settled on the volume, and something shifted in his eyes. The two scrolls he had just won at auction were ultimately only fragments, with barely a few scattered sentences on the fundamental logic of Yin-Yang Release. If the book in Jiraiya's hands was truly as he described, it could save him at least six months of detours.
"Your conditions." He did not reach for it, asking directly, wariness in his eyes. There was no such thing as a free lunch. The favor of helping him earlier was one matter; a transaction was another. He understood that clearly.
"Relax. I won't cross your bottom line or force you to do anything you don't want to." Jiraiya held the volume a little closer to him and raised three fingers. "Just three little things. All very simple."
"First, make me a few basic fixed-construct ninja tools. No fancy kekkei genkai tricks needed. Just defense, emergency bleeding control, and chakra stabilization. Then make me something that conceals my presence and protects against genjutsu, for when I go out seeking inspiration and collecting material."
"Second, you can't give your technology to Orochimaru or use it to do anything heinous. I don't need to say much about that. You don't look like that sort of person to me."
"Third..." Jiraiya scratched his head, his smile a little sheepish. "While you're at it, make a little defensive ninja tool for my godson, Naruto from Konoha. It doesn't have to be powerful. Just something that can block a couple of attacks for him. That kid gets into trouble every day. Getting beaten up is practically routine."
Rinto froze for a moment. He had imagined countless possibilities: demands for his core constructs, his research results, even forcing him back to Konoha. The one thing he had not expected was these three conditions.
The first two were within expectations, and the third was hardly worth mentioning. For him, it was merely a matter of casually engraving something.
"That's all?" he asked again, a little disbelieving.
"What else? What did you expect me to ask you for?" Jiraiya laughed and pushed the volume straight into his hands. "Even if you gave me your construct logic, I wouldn't understand it. I'm not cut out for research. This material only gathers dust with me. Giving it to someone like you, who can understand it, at least keeps it from going to waste."
Rinto held the heavy volume, feeling the thickness of the pages inside. He was silent for two seconds, then nodded. "Agreed. I'll take it. I'll give you the ninja tools tomorrow."
"No rush. Any time within three days is fine." Watching his gaze drift toward town the moment he received the book, as though his soul had nearly flown away, Jiraiya could not help laughing. "Kid, do you really have eyes for nothing but research? You didn't even panic when you nearly got blown up just now, but getting your hands on some research makes you this impatient."
Rinto did not respond. He tucked the volume into his clothes with the manuscript and fragmentary scroll, keeping them tightly protected, and turned to leave. After two steps, he stopped and looked back. "Does this book contain anything on Yang Release and controlling physical energy?"
With Yin Release material secured, the next tough problem was Yang Release. He had too few records on physical energy, most of them scattered medical notes that could not support systematic research at all.
"Oh? Moving pretty fast, aren't you? You've barely sunk your teeth into Yin Release, and you're already eyeing Yang Release?" Jiraiya raised his eyebrows, then nodded. "It does. The latter half contains notes I took when I spent nearly half a year in the Land of Waterfalls. Their secret physical techniques rank among the best in the shinobi world when it comes to applying Yang Release. I even recorded the ingredients and backlash principles of their forbidden technique, Hero Water, in full detail."
Rinto's eyes instantly brightened. His innate chakra reserves were small. Previously, he had barely managed by optimizing chakra efficiency and reducing dissipation, but as his research into senjutsu and Yin-Yang Release deepened, his demands on physical energy kept growing. The secret teachings of the Land of Waterfalls could fill precisely the gap he most needed to address.
"Thanks." For once, he offered his thanks unprompted, his tone a little softer than before.
"Don't thank me yet. I need to make something clear." Jiraiya's smile faded, his tone turning considerably more serious. "Those people in the Land of Waterfalls are as foul and stubborn as stones in a privy. They value their secret teachings more than their lives. Back then, I only went to gather inspiration, and they still treated me like a spy trying to steal their secrets and chased me through three gorges."
"Their borders are full of invisible barriers and detection traps. Even the miasma in the rainforest contains markers. Patrols run day and night, and they're extremely hostile to outsiders. If you plan to go, don't just force your way in. You'll have no end of trouble if they surround you. And don't mess around with that Hero Water. Its backlash can drain a person straight into a dried corpse."
Rinto committed these words to memory and nodded. He did not care about backlash. As long as he could understand the underlying logic of physical energy and Yang Release, he could keep the risks under control. But he had no intention of forcing his way in either. Stirring up a pile of trouble would only waste his own research time.
He gave Jiraiya a slight nod in thanks for the warning, then turned toward town. His steps were much faster than before, and he was far away in the blink of an eye.
"Hey, where do you live? Where do I find you tomorrow to pick up the tools?" Jiraiya shouted after him.
"The most secluded courtyard at the west end of town. There's a dead desert poplar by the gate." Rinto's voice drifted back on the wind. He did not even turn his head.
Watching his hurried retreat, Jiraiya smiled and shook his head, then slung the scroll back over his shoulder. He had originally come to the Land of Rivers to track Orochimaru, but had ended up following rumors of Rinto along the way. The more he heard, the more curious he became.
Back in Konoha, Danzo had portrayed the kid as an irredeemably evil and dangerous rogue ninja. But throughout Jiraiya's inquiries, the kid had done nothing bad at all beyond burying himself in research. Instead, it was Danzo pursuing him to steal his technology, his greed utterly shameless. Jiraiya had watched the entire auction from the shadows earlier. The fixed-construct ninja tools the kid casually produced, and his understanding of chakra, were nothing short of revolutionary.
Fortunately, the kid was single-minded, with eyes for nothing but research and no desire to fight for power or profit. Otherwise, he might have been even harder to deal with than Orochimaru, who was obsessed with immortality.
Jiraiya sighed, looked down at the corpse and unconscious Root ninjas, and cursed. In the end, he still raised his hands to form a seal and notified Konoha's Anbu in the Land of Rivers to clean up the mess. Then he headed into town himself to find an inn to stay at and investigate Orochimaru's movements along the way.
Meanwhile, Rinto all but ran back to his rented house.
The moment he entered the courtyard, he laid down three layers of detection and defensive seals behind him. He even casually used Earth Release to seal up the wooden gate that had been smashed earlier, afraid someone else might barge in and disturb him. He rushed into the laboratory, locked the door, and added two more soundproof and blast-resistant fixed constructs. Only then did he take all three items from his clothes and carefully arrange them on the table.
The first thing he opened was the Second Hokage's sealing manuscript. The seal on the metal box was simple, and he undid it casually. Twelve yellowed pages bore Tobirama Senju's own handwriting, densely packed with the underlying logic of sealing jutsu, Flying Thunder God's spatial marker constructs, and the principles of soul binding in Impure World Reincarnation.
The more Rinto read, the more absorbed he became. The Second Hokage's understanding of chakra's rules ran far deeper than he had expected. The core logic of many seals could be cross-checked directly against his construct system. Previously, he had relied entirely on fragments from the Land of Whirlpools to work out sealing techniques himself, taking plenty of wrong turns. Now, with this systematic manuscript, many details that had eluded him became clear at a glance.
He grabbed a charcoal pencil and rapidly jotted key points onto scrap paper. The scratching of its tip across the page sounded especially clear in the quiet laboratory. Outside the window, the sky slowly turned from black to gray, then grew pale with dawn. He noticed none of it and barely even changed his posture.
By the time he had finished going through the manuscript, it was already growing light outside. He pushed it aside and picked up the fragmentary Six Paths scroll on Yin Release.
The fragment used Ninshu's oldest archaic script. Fortunately, after more than half a year poring over texts from the Land of Whirlpools, he could recognize most of it. It recorded no specific Yin Release ninjutsu, only the Sage of Six Paths' most fundamental definition of Yin-Yang Release-"Yin Release creates form; Yang Release grants life"-and the most basic binding relationship among spiritual energy, physical energy, and chakra.
Those few pages raised his previous understanding of Yin Release by an entire level. It turned out that the Yin Release constructs he had made before were merely the most superficial applications. True Yin Release directly used spiritual energy to rewrite the underlying rules of matter, rather than merely building a framework for chakra.
By the time he had thoroughly broken down and digested the fragment's contents, the sun was overhead. Noon sunlight shone through the gaps in the window and fell on his charcoal-stained hands. He stretched, his joints cracking. Despite staying awake all night, he felt no sleepiness at all. His mind was full of new ideas for constructs.
Finally, he picked up the thick volume Jiraiya had given him.
The first page alone made him pause. Jiraiya had not lied. It was filled with handwritten, firsthand travel records. Besides accounts of the origins of Yin-Yang Release, there were observation notes on unusual forms of chakra from various countries, empirical analyses of tailed beast chakra and senjutsu chakra, and even folk secret teachings he had recorded while traveling through smaller nations. None of it could be found on the market.
In the latter half, he indeed found an entire section on the Land of Waterfalls. It detailed how Takigakure ninjas modified their bodily chakra pathways, methods for stimulating physical energy, and the applications of Yang Release in cellular repair and unlocking potential. Even Hero Water's ingredients, its chakra-stimulation principles, and the core mechanism of its backlash were recorded clearly.
This material filled every remaining gap in his Yang Release research.
Only after putting down the volume did Rinto remember the ninja tools he had promised Jiraiya. He grabbed a few crystal jade offcuts and a diamond engraving knife. In less than ten minutes, he had engraved seven ninja tools—two multilayer defensive constructs, one chakra-stabilizing construct, one Yang Release repair construct for emergency bleeding control, one concealment construct that blocked ordinary detection, one mental-anchor ninja tool to guard against genjutsu, and a small tool for Naruto that could automatically activate its defense three times. He had made one more than Jiraiya had requested.
He had just put the tools away when the detection anchor on the courtyard wall vibrated. It was Jiraiya.
Rinto stood, undid the gate's seal, and pulled it open. Jiraiya stood outside holding an oil-paper parcel and a flask of wine. He raised them with a smile. "Knew you'd stayed up all night without eating. Hot meat pies from the tavern in town, and freshly warmed rice wine."
Rinto stepped aside to let him in and handed over the engraved ninja tools. "What you asked for. They're done. I made an extra one against genjutsu, and there's one for that child you mentioned."
"Not bad, kid! You're efficient!" Jiraiya accepted the tools and hefted them one by one, his eyes full of surprise. He had thought he would need to wait two or three days, not that everything would be finished overnight.
"They're all basic constructs. They don't take much time." Rinto took the oil-paper parcel from him and set it casually at the edge of the table, his gaze already drifting back to the laboratory desk.
"From the look of you, you've finished devouring all the material?" Jiraiya followed him a couple of steps inside. He glanced at the densely covered scrap paper on the desk and the open manuscript and fragmentary scroll, clicking his tongue. "You really can push yourself, kid. Didn't sleep a wink all night, did you?"
"Mm." Rinto answered distractedly, running a fingertip over the marked section on the Land of Waterfalls.
"What? You're really planning to go to the Land of Waterfalls?" Jiraiya asked, raising an eyebrow at the gesture.
"Yes. I'm leaving tomorrow." Rinto nodded, his tone certain. However detailed the volume's records were, they were still secondhand observation notes. Much of the core logic governing physical energy could only be verified through original secret teachings and empirical samples. Reading alone could never reveal its essence.
"You're really going?" Jiraiya scratched his head. "Do you remember everything I told you yesterday? That place isn't Falling Sand Town. Foreign ninjas have trouble even getting past the border barriers, let alone entering the village."
"I remember," Rinto said evenly. "I'm not going to steal their secret teachings. I'll trade if I can. If that doesn't work, I'll find somewhere deserted and test samples myself. I won't cause trouble."
He only wanted the underlying logic of Yang Release, not their signature ninjutsu. There was no point forcing his way in, stirring up trouble, and wasting his research time.
Seeing that his mind was made up, Jiraiya did not try to persuade him further. He knew all too well how stubborn people devoted entirely to research could be. Once they decided on something, nothing could drag them back. He took a folded waterproof map from his clothes, spread it on the table, and picked up a pen to circle a spot.
"This is Ochiai Town on the Land of Waterfalls' border. It's the only place that allows foreign merchants and traveling ninjas to stay. Security is relatively loose. Settle there first and figure out the situation before making a move. Don't head straight into Takigakure's core area."
He marked several more inconspicuous points on the map, even drawing out safe routes. "These are weak points in the border barrier, and the places they patrol least. If something really happens, they can serve as escape routes. Also, Takigakure ninjas are best at Water Release and underwater traps. Even the rainforest miasma contains detection markers. Don't go blundering around."
Rinto looked down at the map, firmly committing every marked point and route to memory. Then he looked up and said again, "Thanks."
"It's nothing." Jiraiya put away the map and patted his shoulder. "I'm leaving tomorrow too, heading to the Land of Rain to track Orochimaru. Be careful out there. Danzo won't let this go, and Orochimaru is definitely still watching you. Don't get so caught up in research that you land yourself in a trap."
Rinto nodded without saying more. As far as he was concerned, any trouble was manageable as long as it did not delay his research. If someone really dared come knocking, he would simply deal with them.
Jiraiya did not stay long. He still had his own business to attend to. After another couple of reminders to stay safe, he turned and left.
Quiet returned to the courtyard. Rinto closed the gate and went back to the laboratory. First, he put away the map, research material, and core manuscript, locking them in an iron box fitted with a self-destruct seal. Then he sat down and resumed reading the thick volume.
Before setting out, he intended to thoroughly digest the material once more, refine his Yin Release constructs, and build a basic framework for Yang Release along the way, so he would not waste time on the road.
The meat pies on the table had long since gone cold. He did not spare them a glance. The charcoal pencil in his hand moved ceaselessly across the paper, covering it densely with new constructs and new formulas.
Outside the window, the sky darkened once more. The oil lamp was lit, its flame dancing gently in the breeze. He paid no mind to Falling Sand Town's clamor outside, the black market's schemes, or the covetous attention of the various powers.
His thoughts had already flown to the Land of Waterfalls, a thousand miles away. There lay the next truth he sought, and the secrets of Yang Release's origins.