Chakra Thirst

They were able to return to the village in five days thanks to rotating to replenish chakra supplies and forced marching, resulting in Takara's puppet being so worn out that it would be easier to create a new one from scratch.

Another two days passed while the higher-ups gathered to decide how they would face Konoha's accusatory finger; there was no way they could pretend that nothing had happened.

Not only had the Third Hokage died, but based on the information provided by Baki, it seemed that even their jinchuriki had been captured by Orochimaru.

If only they were the kidnappers, they could use the jinchuriki's security as leverage to perhaps not sweep the matter under the rug entirely, but certainly greatly reduce the compensation to be paid.

And due to the tension in the air, many of the ninja were on standby in Suna to secure their defenses.

Takara was irritated.

He spent the first day busy in his workshop, creating a puppet to replace Ram and Rem.

Due to orders from above, Ram and Rem were declared "dead," and they intended to use their lost lives to try to play the sympathy card.

Look, even our talented genin died because of your traitor!

That was more or less the idea, so Takara couldn't make a new pair of twins to avoid exposing the deception. But he also found it annoying not to have anyone to take care of the minor tasks in their place, so using his upgraded materials, he made two puppets of 2B.

Then he had to spend the second day replacing his centipede carriage transport with a new one. And just when he intended to take on a mission as an excuse to leave the village, he was told that no one should leave without authorization during the next period.

It was a complete waste of time for Takara!

And he hated wasting time.

He was about to use Surface to leave discreetly, but perhaps the person in charge of the mission misinterpreted it and granted him a patrol mission in an area near the village.

That would be enough.

"How is the triangulation going?" he asked Vegapunk Shaka when he returned to the workshop, hoping for good news.

"We have the approximate area, but something is interfering with the noxines, and we can only resort to searching through the lenses," the puppet reported as its antenna blinked.

"What is the size of the located area?"

"Twenty square kilometers."

"How far is it from here?" Takara asked as he handed over the coordinates of his patrol mission.

"One hundred and twenty kilometers away."

Takara nodded and left, checking on the status of the rest of the projects. He was working against the clock, and while he could summon Kushina in reverse, he didn't want to disrupt his schedule.

He had a maximum of two years before Akatsuki started collecting the tailed beasts, although there was always the uncertainty of whether his actions could trigger theirs prematurely due to suspicions.

The positive side was that he had an alarm called Gaara, and he was about to have the most complicated beast to obtain, the complete Nine-Tails.

He also knew which beast would be next on his list.

"We have managed to find the correct proportion," Tsunade number two reported. "Seven parts meteorite chakra, two parts healing chakra, and one part common chakra," she pointed to a tree that, although brimming with vitality, looked quite sinister due to its purplish wood and purple leaves.

"Have you carried out tests with the Nine-Tails' yang chakra yet?"

The puppet nodded, revealing that there were no problems and that the tree exhibited the restrictive properties of recorded Mokuton. Unfortunately, cultivating this tree also required five times more chakra than previous ones.

"I want enough of this wood to make nine six-meter Greed Pots as soon as possible. The sealing techniques will be prepared later," Takara ordered as he stroked the bark of the new tree with interest. "I'll send three resurrected to continuously provide all the necessary chakra. What level of strength will you need?"

Although all resurrected with Edo Tensei had unlimited chakra, the output rate varied depending on their strength. The amount of chakra a Kage like Tobirama could output in a second could be the equivalent of months of effort from a jounin.

"Elite chunin will be sufficient," concluded Tsunade number two.

"Mmm, that's fine," he didn't have too many sacrifices of that level, but he was willing to use them on this project.

Takara fell silent for a few minutes as he contemplated and moved to the containment area, ignoring the shouts of the people he passed by, and approached Shizune's puppet.

"What is the status of the jinchuriki?"

"His capacity and endurance are high," Shizune turned her head to respond. "The drugs are still working, and aside from two necessary blood transfusions to compensate for his lost limbs, his condition is stable. What should I do with the arms and legs?"

"Set aside one finger to send to the genetic samples warehouse and dispose of the rest of the limbs," Takara shook his head, not very interested in those human parts. "Has he shown signs of recovery in that regard?"

Sasori might be able to make some pieces with them, but he has no interest.

"Other than healing his wounds much faster, there are no signs that replacement limbs are growing back," Shizune affirmed.

"Keep surveillance at all times; if there are any signs of recovery, repeat the process," Takara thought for a moment. "And if the drugs stop working on him, just scramble his brain and turn him into a vegetable; I just need him to be alive."

"Understood."

After checking that everything else was progressing without needing additional orders, he was ready to leave the village.

"Takara, are you going on a mission so soon?" one of the entrance guards greeted him as he passed by. "Be careful out there; things will be hectic for a few weeks at least."

"I'll be careful, thanks for the advice," he responded without even looking at him.

The guard watched as Takara mounted one of his strange puppets and disappeared, leaving behind a trail of dust and sand.

"He..." the guard sighed, not feeling offended by Takara's attitude. "He's still trapped in Maki's death, poor boy."