By the lakeshore in Shikkotsu Forest, inside a brand-new wooden hut.
Katsuyu used Sage Mode, combined with the hard ice from Sakura's Devil Fruit ability, to create a temporary operating room.
In the center of the operating room was an Earth Release-crafted operating table. Jiraiya, covered in wounds, lay unconscious on it, passively receiving Sakura's treatment.
"Water Release, Fire Release, explosions, kunai, senbon..."
With Katsuyu's assistance, Sakura recorded the type of injury after treating each wound.
When her hand touched the empty sleeve, she couldn't help but darken her expression slightly.
"He's just an ordinary person. Using Ninjutsu or Sage Mode for limb regeneration would consume his lifespan."
The small slug covering Jiraiya's wound raised its head, touching Sakura with a tiny tentacle.
While comforting her contractor, it also reminded her not to do anything foolish.
"It seems we can only find a suitable prosthetic later." Sakura's emera;d-green eyes grew determined as she bandaged Jiraiya's severed arm.
But for a Ninja, a prosthetic implanted later, no matter how well it functioned, could never compare to a naturally grown arm.
It was predictable that Jiraiya's strength would inevitably decline after his injuries healed.
"Stupid teacher, what could have happened that made you pay such a price, your arm..."
Sakura sighed lightly, tidying Jiraiya's messy hair.
Then, she took out a blanket from a storage scroll, covering him, and left the hut with Katsuyu.
Returning to her Sage Mode training spot, the frustrated Sakura rolled up her sleeves and immersed her arm into Katsuyu's mucus again.
The afternoon passed swiftly. A grayish-white, scar-marked moon climbed the sky.
A small bonfire was lit in front of the hut. The dim firelight, as if veiled by gauze, stretched the shadows of the girl and the slug long.
Sakura, leaning against Katsuyu, sat before the fire, warming her hands. Her spread palms were translucent in the firelight, the blood vessels and bones beneath the skin clearly visible.
"Katsuyu, shouldn't you explain this to me?"
Sakura, her head resting on Katsuyu, extended her hand, which was becoming transparent, before it.
"What's there to explain? Sakura's training is quite successful, isn't it~"
Katsuyu raised two tentacles, tilting its head to the side.
"Don't lie. Animalistic transformation is a sign of failed training!"
Sakura glanced at the evasive Katsuyu. "The reason is I ate your flesh?"
"Hehe, you figured it out~" Katsuyu's tentacles tapped together, letting out a playful laugh.
Amused and irritated by its shameless act, Sakura spoke, "So, what will happen to me? Turn into a slug too?"
"How could that be? That would be too boring!" A glint of cunning flashed in Katsuyu's eyes.
All of Katsuyu's flesh that Sakura had ingested had undergone careful cell inactivation.
The remaining cells and Natural Energy could, at most, only slightly influence Sakura's Sage Mode, making her more akin to the Great Slug Sage.
Besides, she was the one rushing to master Sage Mode. Katsuyu was just kindly helping her speed up her training.
And, turning a favored child into one's own kind... Cough.
"I did all this for the Living Twin Technique. Sakura doesn't appreciate my well-meaning efforts at all, hmph!"
Katsuyu's tentacles drooped dejectedly towards the ground, with glistening tears gathering at the tips.
"Is that so?"
Sakura was skeptical, 'Had I really wronged Katsuyu?'
"Don't bully my disciple too much, Katsuyu Sage!" A hoarse, weak voice sounded from behind them.
The white-haired man, wrapped in bandages, leaned against the hut's doorframe, his gaze sharp as he looked at Sakura and Katsuyu.
Seeing him strain himself like this, Sakura and Katsuyu, both medics, responded with cold, silent stares, mentally counting down...
Three, two, one!
"Ouch, ouch, ouch! Sakura, help... help... help!"
Jiraiya, unable to stay cool for more than three seconds, reverted to his true self, loudly calling for his disciple's aid.
"Sigh."
Helplessly stepping forward, Sakura and Katsuyu proceeded to fix Jiraiya up again.
Several minutes later, Jiraiya, his body immobilized by wooden boards, was carried by Sakura and placed beside the bonfire.
"Jiraiya-sensei, who exactly did this to you?"
Sakura tossed the used bandages into the fire, wiping sweat from her forehead.
The best Medical-Nin was right in Konoha, yet Jiraiya came to Shikkotsu Forest to find Sakura.
'It seemed he must have done something Tsunade-nee explicitly forbade, hence not daring to return to Konoha covered in wounds.'
"I, um, well..."
Indeed, hearing her question, Jiraiya averted his eyes, his gaze darting around.
He hemmed and hawed for a long time without giving a clear answer.
"You went to Amegakure to find Pain, didn't you?" Though phrased as a question, Sakura's tone was certain.
"How did you... Forget it. Just don't tell Tsunade about this!"
Jiraiya reacted like a mouse whose tail had been stepped on, trembling with agitation.
"But your arm is like this now. You can't hide outside forever, right?"
Irritated, Sakura raised a hand and tapped Jiraiya's severed arm.
"You don't have a solution either?"
Jiraiya grimaced in pain, the hope in his eyes fading somewhat.
"Maybe in the future. But for now, I'm afraid I can't help."
Sakura shrugged at him. "Forget that. What exactly happened that made you defy Tsunade-nee's orders and force your way into Amegakure?"
"You don't know?" Jiraiya was surprised.
Sakura patted the Katsuyu behind her. "I've been training here all this time. How would I know?"
"Right." Jiraiya showed an expression of sudden realization.
Then he dropped his playful demeanor, his expression turning serious. "It's the Akatsuki. They've become active again. This time they entered the Land of Lightning to capture the Eight-Tails and severely damaged Kumogakure."
This incident with Kumogakure caught everyone off guard.
Dodai, a vassal of successive Raikages and a trusted Jonin of the Third Raikage, inexplicably betrayed them.
Akatsuki's members were let into the country by him. The ensuing battle destroyed nearly half of Kumogakure.
Now, with the Land of Lightning weakened, its neighbor, the Land of Earth, naturally chose to be generous… stationing tens of thousands of Ninja near the Land of Frost, ready to invade the Land of Lightning at any moment!
"The Akatsuki already have the power to directly confront a major ninja village?" Sakura's eyes widened, her face full of disbelief. "Was it Pain who acted?"
Logically, with several members of Akatsuki's two field teams successively killed by Sakura, the organization should have been severely weakened, lacking the available forces to capture the last two Tailed Beasts.
Yet now, capturing the Eight-Tails and crippling Kumogakure... So Sakura guessed it was Pain who acted.
"Neither. The one who acted this time was a newcomer named Kabuto."
Jiraiya raised his hand to cover his severed arm, recalling the earlier danger with lingering fear.
"My injuries were from his interference during the retreat, then cut by the Preta Path... and..."
Jiraiya didn't finish. Katsuyu, who had crawled over, continued for him. "And the opponent can also use Sage Mode, and is a contractor of Ryuchi Cave, right?"
Jiraiya nodded. "Yes, nothing escapes you."
To be honest, he sensed the shadow and aura of an old friend in that young man named Kabuto. For a moment upon seeing him, he almost thought Orochimaru had revived.
"I see... I roughly understand the situation."
Having grasped the intel, Sakura stepped forward, picked up Jiraiya, and tossed him back onto the sickbed in the small hut.
"Then you'll recuperate here for now. Once I finish my training, I'll take you back to Konoha."