Inside the inner world, although Ido was weak, she was still chattering endlessly: "This time it was my bad luck. If the Koryugan were here, he wouldn't be my match at all! Moreover, that guy Naruto is very wrong; his spiritual body is ridiculously strong, not like an ordinary person at all!"
Yakumo ignored Ido's complaints, her whole person still in a daze.
The thought of having spent so much time with Naruto's Heart Demon without realizing it sent a wave of horror surging into her heart.
"Oh no!"
After secretly crying out, Yakumo hurriedly stood up, but as soon as she walked out of the cabin door, she hesitated.
Confronting Naruto's Heart Demon at this time was obviously not a good opportunity. Once a fight started and the ship was destroyed, everyone would very likely fall into the water together.
The sea is not comparable to an ordinarily calm lake surface; even for a shinobi, as long as they cannot fly, there are many inconveniences at sea.
She thought about finding Jiraiya first, but didn't know how to explain Naruto's Heart Demon to Jiraiya. After all, she had been hiding Ido's existence from the village. If the village knew that Ido could leave her body in spiritual form and move freely, her identity as Akatsuki's 'D' might be exposed.
This wouldn't work, that wouldn't work either; Yakumo felt incredibly conflicted.
Ido, who shared her mind, knew she had caused the trouble, so she offered a strategy: "How about we don't say anything for now, and wait until we return to the village to think of a way to expose that guy? Anyway, as long as we return to the village, he, a Jinchuriki, won't be able to escape our grasp!"
Yakumo nodded: "That's the only way!"
Just then, Jiraiya walked out of Naruto's cabin and asked upon seeing Yakumo: "Yakumo, have you seen Naruto?"
Yakumo was startled: "He isn't in his own cabin?"
"No!" Shaking his head, Jiraiya muttered: "Did that brat go to the toilet?"
Yakumo suppressed her nervousness and said: "Let's look for him!"
Although he didn't think Naruto would cause any trouble on the sea, out of vigilance, Jiraiya still nodded.
The ship arranged by the Hidden Cloud was not large. The two separated for only a short while and searched the entire ship inside and out, but still did not find Naruto's figure.
The two met up with darkened faces, realizing the seriousness of the problem. They immediately called out the captain and sailors on the ship, mobilizing everyone to search the ship inside and out again, but the result was the same; Naruto was still nowhere to be seen!
"How could this be?"
Jiraiya looked full of doubt.
The ship was only this big. If an enemy had infiltrated and launched a sneak attack, it would have been impossible to hide it from him, so it was unlikely Naruto was abducted.
There was only one possibility left, which was that Naruto slipped away by himself!
Knowing the inside story, Yakumo didn't know how to explain it at this moment, so she had to say ambiguously: "When Naruto came out of the Waterfall of Truth, I felt something was wrong."
Jiraiya's brows tightened as he began to ponder.
Yakumo said: "Jiraiya-Leader, that Waterfall of Truth on the island allows those who enter to face the dark side of their hearts directly, but if the dark side wins in the contest..."
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes: "You suspect that it wasn't Naruto who defeated his dark side, but that he was defeated by the dark side?"
Yakumo hurriedly nodded: "Mhm, I remember Motoi said that the Hidden Cloud's Eight-Tails Jinchuriki and Two-Tails Jinchuriki spent several weeks or even months to subdue their dark sides and find their true selves. But Naruto only used one day; that makes no sense!"
Jiraiya said in a deep voice: "If that's the case, we are in big trouble. Where would that brat go?"
...
On the other side.
A large bird wearing a Vermilion Bird mask was soaring over the sea under the cover of night.
Menma, who had secretly slipped away from the ship, was currently sitting cross-legged on the back of this large bird, enjoying the cool night sea breeze.
Undoubtedly, not long after leaving Turtle Island, Menma took the opportunity while everyone went back to their cabins to rest to sneak off the ship and hide in the sea.
Only after the ship moved far away did he activate 'Nine-Faced Suōbaha', summoning the 'Vermilion Bird' which could fly, and then flew towards the direction of land.
The reason for doing this was because he knew clearly that as a Jinchuriki, once he returned to the Hidden Leaf, he would lose his personal freedom, so he could only choose to slip away halfway.
"That bastard Orochimaru has probably become a drowning dog now. The Hidden Leaf and the Akatsuki organization should both be looking for him. This is an opportunity. Let them fight each other like dogs, and finally, I will reap the benefits!"
Menma smiled.
From this moment on, there was one more person vying for the Yin Nine-Tails!
The Akatsuki organization vied for the Nine-Tails to revive the Ten-Tails; the Hidden Leaf vied for the Nine-Tails to stop the Akatsuki organization; while Menma's reason was the purest: he wanted the Yin and Yang Nine-Tails to unite, making himself the most veritable Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
And being alone, he was not completely without advantage in this scramble for the Yin Nine-Tails. His biggest advantage was that as a Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, as long as he got close to a certain distance, the Yang Nine-Tails inside him could sense the position of the Yin Nine-Tails.
In other words, he could find Orochimaru more easily than the Akatsuki organization and the Hidden Leaf!
Land of Rice Fields.
Looking at the burnt base in front of him, Yakushi Kabuto sighed lightly: "What a pity, many instruments inside were specially customized."
Orochimaru said: "Jugo knows this place, so it is no longer safe here."
Undoubtedly, this base was destroyed by Orochimaru personally.
After confirming that Jugo and Guren failed to break out, for safety's sake, he processed all the bases that Jugo and Guren knew about, took the useful things from inside, and then torched the bases.
Yakushi Kabuto said: "Orochimaru-Leader, the Akatsuki organization definitely won't let us go now, so shouldn't we contact the Hidden Leaf?"
Orochimaru's expression was somewhat unsightly.
According to his plan, after he displayed enough strength, the Akatsuki organization should have lowered their stance to cooperate with him, and then he could have played both sides between the Akatsuki organization and the Five Great Ninja Villages.
But unexpectedly, the Akatsuki organization's 'B' was so tough. After he summoned the First, Second, and Fourth Hokage using 'Impure World Reincarnation', the opponent showed no intention of compromising or yielding at all.
What he expected even less was that the Akatsuki organization's 'B' could make him flee in panic with the strength of one person alone. This directly caused him to lose the confidence to force the Akatsuki organization to cooperate with him.
As for Yakushi Kabuto's suggestion to temporarily defect to the Hidden Leaf, he knew in his heart that this was currently his best choice, because with his current power, there was no way to fight the Akatsuki organization and the Five Great Ninja Villages simultaneously. But to make him soften and admit defeat to the Third Hokage and Tsunade, he couldn't do it!