socalfunplaces Chapter 129 Searching for Tsunade, Research
Chapter 129 Searching for Tsunade, Research
Chapter 129 Searching for Tsunade, Research
The next few days of the trip were a real experience for Yuan Tuoye, who truly witnessed the legendary "unrestrained and unconventional" nature.
Jiraiya, one of the legendary Sannin, has completely transformed the word "legend" into a vivid and real "reality" right before our eyes.
The title representing "Yellow" among the "Three Ninjas" seemed to have found a long-lost home for him. Along the way, he practiced what he preached without any concealment.
Although Yuan Tuoye often appeared helpless on the surface, he understood it to some extent.
He knew very well that this was not simply Jiraiya's debauchery, but rather his unique skill for gathering intelligence, using places of revelry and debauchery to gather information.
Although the rumors in these places are often a mixture of truth and falsehood and their details are unclear, their sheer number makes them a powerful force.
Amidst the clinking of glasses and exchanging toasts, guests of all kinds inevitably let slip a few recent developments.
With patience and careful sifting, like panning for gold from sand, it is indeed possible to piece together some valuable clues.
Especially regarding the news about "Tsunade, this big fat sheep," will those who profit from this "big fat sheep" use that money for their own families?
Yes, but not many. Most of the time, it's used for pleasure-seeking, so this place is naturally a good spot to find information about big fish.
At this moment, Gen Takuno was sitting upright in a simple inn room, his brows slightly furrowed, his fingertips slowly moving across a sealing scroll.
Thanks to Jiraiya going out to "gather intelligence" again, Minamoto no Takuno was able to send a shadow clone to the laboratory to handle important matters with peace of mind.
The Venerable One is not wasting his time here; he is intently studying the sealing runes engraved on his flesh and blood.
The room was dimly lit, with only the strange runes on the scroll emitting faint chakra fluctuations, reflecting on his focused and slightly thoughtful face.
After all, he couldn't predict when that capricious hero would drunkenly burst through the door, so to be on the safe side, it was best to keep those truly "shameless" taboo studies hidden for the time being.
"Bang!" Just as I was concentrating, a loud noise shattered the silence of the room.
The hotel's thin wooden door was kicked open, and a strong smell of alcohol rushed out. Jiraiya's figure practically rolled in along with the smell of alcohol.
He wore a dazed smile, staggered, and had blurry, drunken eyes.
Takuno sighed as if it were nothing new, his tone carrying a hint of barely perceptible weariness: "Lord Jiraiya, your bedroom is next door."
This similar scene has been repeated at least three to five times in the past few days.
"Hmph—" Jiraiya squinted, let out a loud hiccup, and his cloudy gaze fell on the scroll in Minamoto no Takuya's hand. "You brat—you're hiding—in this pile of scribbles again—"
Although his speech was slurred, his tone revealed a genuine sense of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a feeling of deep emotion or reflection).
Jiraiya was not a novice in sealing techniques; his skill was even considered "excellent," but he was still far from being a master.
He had previously glanced at the scrolls that Yuan Tuoye was researching. The twisted and deformed, layered, maze-like rune structures on them made him dizzy after just a short while.
Although what Gentō was researching was a variant of the "Fire Sealing Seal," its complexity and depth were vastly different from the original. In Jiraiya's eyes, it was nothing short of a heavenly book, so it was normal that he couldn't recognize it.
"I just have nothing else to do." Yuan Tuoye replied casually without stopping his fingertips, his gaze not leaving the scroll.
"Just...idle?" Jiraiya repeated drunkenly, his tone suddenly tinged with displeasure at being slighted. "Since..."
"Since you're free—why not come with this immortal to inquire about Tsunade's whereabouts? Hmm?"
He raised his voice slightly, as if blaming Gen Takuno for not being proactive enough.
Even so, in his drunken haze, he understood one thing: finding Tsunade was, in the end, a reward he personally offered to Minamoto Takuno.
Asking someone to accompany him on his travels and dedicate themselves to "intelligence work" now seems a bit unreasonable and unconvincing.
However, as he busied himself with work in taverns and brothels every day, he would turn around and see the young men he was working with leisurely studying scrolls in the room. A strange, indescribable feeling of unease, like "my teammates are slacking off," would well up in his heart.
"Who said I'm doing nothing?" Yuan Tuoye finally looked up from the scroll, his long eyebrows slightly raised.
Before he could finish speaking, with a soft "poof," a shadow clone that looked exactly like him quietly appeared beside him.
Both Gentoo looked at the swaying Jiraiya and said in unison, with clear logic, "Finding someone doesn't necessarily require the person in charge to do everything personally and search every inch of the place."
"Shadow clones?!" Jiraiya shook his dizzy head, his mind still somewhat clear despite the alcohol, and instantly understood the mystery upon seeing this scene.
Gen Takuno nodded and calmly added, "Lord Jiraiya can also use this method. Releasing several shadow clones to search for information separately will surely be twice as effective, saving time and effort."
"Nonsense!" Jiraiya's drunken eyes widened suddenly, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. He waved his arms excitedly, and his spittle almost sprayed onto the reel.
"How could such a sacred and crucial matter of vital intelligence be entrusted to a mere shadow clone?!" He vaguely glanced towards the door, indicating the brothels and red-light districts.
He shouted it out almost with self-righteousness, his words filled with an unquestionable spirit of "dedication".
"Personally—personally experience! Use every inch of your senses to touch it—hiccup~ that's the essence of intelligence gathering!"
We must do it ourselves!
As he was talking, Jiraiya let out a burp.
Gen Takuya fell silent instantly. Well, this reason—very Jiraiya-esque, both absurd and somewhat twisted.
Indeed, the Shadow Clone Technique is not a real-time communication tool for sharing senses. All the feelings experienced by the clone can only be known by the original body at the moment the clone is released and the energy and memories return to the original body.
Before that, no matter what kind of trials and tribulations the clone experienced outside, the main body was completely unaware.
Yuan Tuoye's thoughts drifted a little further away, and a strange idea flashed through his mind.
Imagine if Jiraiya sent a clone to have fun in his place, while the real Jiraiya was nearby, watching helplessly as someone wearing "Jiraiya's" face enjoyed himself—
Even if you know it's an extension of your own will, doesn't the scene still have an indescribable eeriness and a greenish feeling?
Even more bizarre than the act of "wearing a disguise to cheat on oneself"? It feels like—
He shook his head slightly, no longer delving into the absurdity of the question he himself found so absurd.
Compared to the traditional Shadow Clone Technique, he now uses the Advanced Clone Technique derived from Wood Release more often.
Within a certain range of chakra perception, this wood clone can maintain a subtle connection of consciousness with the original body, and information and perception are almost synchronized in real time, thus avoiding the awkwardness and confusion of ethics and logic.
"Thump!"
A dull thud as something heavy fell to the ground rang in his ears, pulling Yuan Tuoye back from his wandering thoughts.
He looked in the direction of the sound and saw Jiraiya lying sprawled on the ground, snoring loudly, completely drunk and unconscious, with a satisfied and happy smile still lingering on his face.
Yuan Tuoye's lips twitched uncontrollably, and a vein seemed to throb on his forehead.
Finally, he resigned himself to his fate, stood up, walked to the drunken Toad Sage, bent down deftly, grabbed Jiraiya by the back of his collar, and lifted him up effortlessly as if he were a large piece of luggage.
He walked to the next room, opened the door, and then easily "threw" the heavy, alcohol-smelling "immortal body" inside, leaving a shallow mark on the floor.
The door closed gently, shutting out the smell of alcohol and the noise.
Yuan Tuoye stood there, silently counting the days. How many times had this happened? He was almost too lazy to think about it anymore.
A night of silence passed.
The next morning, sunlight streamed through the window and onto the floor of the next room.
Jiraiya finally struggled to wake up from his deep hangover, grimacing as he rubbed his throbbing temples. He felt as if he had been beaten up by a group of unseen creatures, and his whole body ached.
"Hiss—where did I bump into again last night?" he muttered to himself, feeling as if he had been thrown onto a rock, his back and legs aching from the sleep.
He rubbed his shoulders as he tried to recall fragmented memories from the previous night.
Before he got drunk, that kid Gen Takuno seemed to have said something—that's right! He would use shadow clones to find Tsunade! A flash of clarity crossed his mind.
However—Jiraiya quickly dismissed these thoughts.
After several days of "field investigation," he was able to confirm that Tsunade's whereabouts were not in this small town.
Well, it seems that the "materials" here have been collected quite a bit, making it a bit bland.
So it's time to head to the next battlefield!
Thinking of this, a knowing smile involuntarily appeared on Jiraiya's face, a smile that every man understands, a smile that was both lewd and expectant, excited and righteous.
He wasn't indulging in vulgar things; he was simply diligently collecting important intelligence!
By the way—to gather some "creative material" for his upcoming masterpiece, the Intimate Paradise series.
Jiraiya gave himself this self-suggestion, like a warrior about to go to battle, finding the perfect motivation for the journey ahead.
"Takuno-kun, Tsunade isn't here. Let's go to the next place!"
Jiraiya pushed open the door without any hesitation and shouted loudly.
Time slips away unnoticed amidst hurried footsteps.
Jiraiya and Minamoto no Takuya searched for Tsunade in one unfamiliar town after another, but Tsunade's whereabouts remained elusive.
Despite the fruitless search, Yuan Tuoye's heart remained largely unmoved.
This seemingly futile journey was actually used quite effectively by him.
His shadow clone had long since sunk into a hidden underground laboratory, immersing himself day after day in dismantling and analyzing the structure of that strange cursed seal.
As night falls, the memories of the clones surge back like a tide, pouring the obscure data and precious discoveries that have been accumulating all day back into the sea of consciousness of the main body.
Meanwhile, Gen Takuno himself never stopped for a moment.
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
At the table and under the lamp, he was equally dedicated to studying those complex sealing techniques used to bear power.
Thanks to the solid foundation laid in the early stages, the research progressed as if breaking through an invisible barrier, becoming smoother than ever before.
He realized that "creating something from nothing," achieving a qualitative leap from zero to one, was the biggest hurdle facing researchers.
Once this hurdle is overcome, even if the challenges that follow remain arduous, at least the path becomes clear and discernible, and there's no longer a need to grope forward in the dark like the initial explorers.
However, amidst the joy brought by progress, there is a shadow that cannot be ignored.
When the image of the imprinting of his entire body with blood and flesh appeared in his mind again, Yuan Tuoye's body would involuntarily tremble.
The memory of that excruciating pain that penetrated to the bone and swept through the soul came vividly to mind instantly, as if countless cold surgical instruments were piercing into the body at the same time, without receiving any mercy from anesthesia, and the scope of the surgery was a transformation field for the entire human body with almost no blind spots.
Even with his countless trials and tribulations, his resilient nerves could not completely erase the mark of this pain.
But the light in his eyes never changed.
"Pain is only temporary," he told himself firmly.
Compared to the pain itself, the power gained after the imprint has unparalleled value.
He looked towards the distant future: the sealing technique before him was merely a starting point.
Once his foundation is solid and he has mastered Yin and Yang techniques, he will weave Yang, which symbolizes life and creation, and Yin, which contains spirit and form, into this vast web of power.
What captivated him even more was the concept of "Netherworld Escape".
If he could perfectly integrate this legendary bloodline limit, the scene he envisioned would be like a dream. When the enemy's fireballs, water dragons, or even deadly lightning struck him, those less powerful techniques would instantly transform into pure chakra and flow back to him.
Even the most powerful forbidden techniques, capable of destroying the world, can have a portion of their power torn away and transformed into a gentle stream that nourishes oneself.
Although with his current physical reserves and chakra reserves, Gen Takuno is not lacking in chakra.
But imagine this: in the heat of battle, the enemy's attacks not only fail to cause effective damage, but instead continuously replenish their own strength—how could this mode of becoming stronger the more they fight not be exhilarating?
In addition, the higher realm of "immortal arts" was also subtly beckoning to him.
He tried to sketch the final form of the ultimate sealing technique in his mind—but this thought was like a stone thrown into a deep pool, causing not ripples, but a feeling of unfathomable depth—this sealing technique seemed to have evolved into a black hole that could contain everything and expand infinitely!
Absorption Technique, Defense Technique, Conversion Technique, Yang Release, Yin Release, Dark Release, Sage Technique — it seems that all powerful abilities can be swallowed up by it.
Stitched.
It's like a bottomless abyss with no end in sight.
"Can we really wait until the day it reaches its full potential?" Yuan Tuoye sighed heavily, forcibly suppressing his turbulent thoughts.
A towering building rises from the ground, and even the grandest goals require careful planning step by step. He forced himself to refocus his attention on the densely packed surgical drafts in front of him.
Just then!
A stream of memories mixed with crucial information struck his mind like lightning, and the shadow clone he had created outside was dispelled!
Yuan Tuoye's fingers froze instantly on the unfinished spell runes.
The last piece of information from the shadow clone was crystal clear: the target has been found! Tsunade's last confirmed location was a bustling casino in a nearby town.
And, fortunately, it seems she hasn't been gone long! People in the casino say she's still lingering in the vicinity.
This means that if they act immediately and search carefully in the surrounding towns, the probability of finding one of the legendary "Three Ninjas" will greatly increase!
However, the burning urgency in Gen Takuno's eyes lasted only a brief moment.
He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the urge to leave immediately, steadied himself, and continued to sort through the failed products covered with experimental traces.
Finding Tsunade was undoubtedly one of the important purposes of his trip, but to face Tsunade, he had to wait for Jiraiya.
Otherwise, even if Tsunade is found, it will all be for nothing.