Short-lasting peace [Part-68]

Veronica had learned to enter her mindscape without the need to fully calm herself or meditate. She could do so now with just a faint chakra pulse. Matatabi was delighted at the improvement and told her it was likely because she was coming to terms with herself and her past while moving forward in life as inner peace reflected on one's chakra and mind.

They didn't particularly need to communicate with each other through their mindscape as Matatabi's form was usually outside and in the temple. But Veronica still couldn't speak so it was nice for her to not have to write everything she wanted to say.

"Again."-Veronica

Taku groaned as he began to run around the whole temple for the 30th time. Needless to say, he was exhausted. He felt even more tired when he thought about how he would have to begin with his katas again after this and then help Veronica and Shisui prepare food.

He was allowed to have a break after an hour.

"Hey... Do you know what Oni means?"-Taku

Veronica paused for a second before looking at him and sighing.

[I didn't say anything this time.]-Matatabi

Her eye twitched once at that but she kept herself calm and patiently wrote down her answer. Taku also waited while drinking some water.

<Oni, are mostly known for their fierce and evil nature, manifested in their natural lust for murder and cannibalism.>

It was the simplest way to put it and not explain the many stories of how terrifying they were.

"So, a monster?"-Taku

She met his eyes and nodded. There was no point in lying about such a thing. She could tell him of the many manga and anime she'd watched in her old world where they weren't monsters but, the truth of this world was that they were vile creatures deserving death.

He fell silent and Veronica couldn't help but notice the way his chakra curled itself around him like a hug. It was slightly agitated as well. She didn't particularly need her sensing skills to know what he was feeling as his emotions were clearly reflected on his face but it had become a habit to double check every fact she knew.

"Don't complicate things for your little human brain."-Matatabi

She lightly nodded at Matatabi's clone, who was transformed as Matatabi's real form yet it was a lot smaller than the original.

Standing up, she stretched a bit before deciding to leave Matatabi with Taku. She was better at comforting than she was after all. She hadn't even tried to comfort someone properly after her experiences with torture.

A week slowly passed by; her own training had been a bit slow but she had gained some new skills in the meantime. She was also researching the whole temple's history as well. There had been some techniques which were used by the people to reinforce the temple walls and even clean the whole thing if they had enough chakra in under an hour. There were also techniques which would let them turn out all right even when they had prolonged contact with a tailed beasts chakra when it was spiked and corrosive. There were some other small but useful techniques as well which she was learning.

[I made contact with Chomei. We need to go.]-Matatabi

She sucked in a breath as a clone of Veronica nodded at her and the other clones in the whole temple popped. She faintly saw Shisui run in her direction but she had already teleported to the closest seal she had near Takigakure.

Matatabi filled her in on whatever she had been able to find through their brief moment of contact. It was worrying to say the least.

Had the Akatsuki started to target the jinchuuriki already? Was it someone else? Did her involvement bring about this?

Making a shadow clone to scout the area around Takigakure, she headed in and towards the jinchuuriki. She could feel the seals on her arm activate and Matatabi grow more restless. There was a rage in the beast she hadn't felt in a while.

--- --- --- --- ---

Naruto, along with his sensei, Yamato, and Hayate, was heading towards Takigakure.

Kurama had informed him of what the Shichibi (Seven-tails) had said to him and Naruto had been very worried about his fellow jinchuuriki.

His dad had said that if someone was targeting a jinchuuriki of a friendly, and almost allied, village then Konoha should help them. Although some people had been against the decision as there were some risks in the plan but Naruto had made it clear that he would do anything to help, and after deciding to send some of the best shinobi with him in case anything goes wrong, they were sent off.

Kakashi lightly sighed at the speed at which they were travelling. Naruto had been wasting a lot of chakra and although it did boost him, he still didn't know how to accurately use it just yet. He would have to make sure that he worked on that later.

Carrying Naruto in his right hand, he motioned for the other two jounin to quicken the pace to which they nodded.

--- --- --- --- ---

Obito silently observed the Akatsuki hideout and wondered how Nita was doing. It would take a while for him to extract the bijuu from the host by himself and although Takigakure was not a strong village, it could be a big drain from his chakra to do both the tasks at the same time.

It was likely that Nita would just drag the host to the hideout and get him to do the extraction process while he went somewhere quiet to lick his wounds.

'I should prepare for it then.'

Obito disappeared in a black swirl and a black creeping shadow emerged from the ceiling.

Zetsu's grin, for the first time in many centuries, reached his eyes.