Kuroto looked at the gigantic form of the artificial tailed beast as it shrunk under the restraint of seals engraved on its body with an eager smirk.
But before he could be joyful for very long, his expression froze due to the unexpected change.
The form of the Purple Clay balloon gradually started changing as the chakra inside it condensed.
This was contrary to his expectations, as the form shrank, it took the appearance of a Western Dragon!
However, that wasn't all, because the core was initially shaped into a sphere by Kuroto, and the sentient shape of the Dragon Vein had the form of a dragon, so a conflict between the physical and metaphysical state began.
Under the pressure of the Dragon Vein Chakra, the original sphere was forced to change, but because the core was originally spherical, the final form that came out to be was that of a Chubby Baby of a Western Dragon, in short, it was fat and cute.
At first glance, it looked quite adorable.
Seeing such a cute appearance, Queen Sara gave a weird look to Kuroto. She had no idea that the big bad ninja who blackmailed and threatened her to such an extent had such an interest.
Under the strange glance of Sara, Kuroto couldn't bring himself to look at her and tried explaining with an indifferent voice, "T-this is actually an accident, it wasn't meant to look like this!"
Turning her head to the side she snorted quietly, "Yeah right! Sure, I believe you." Her tone clearly expressed that she didn't believe him at all.
"I told you this is unexpected… damn it!" – Kuroto stomped in frustration.
Seeing the frustrated look of the Big Bad Ninja, Sara chuckled silently.
Taking a deep breath while trying to ignore the girl, Kuroto hurriedly completed the next set of seals to seal the Artificial Tailed Beast inside him.
The cute and chubby body of the Ryuumyaku was probably of the same size as the Kyuubi after condensation now entered inside Kuroto's body without any resistance.
This was because the self-awareness of Ryuumyaku isn't that high. After all, it's only been born for a very short time, and Kuroto also applied pressure from the Tenseigan, so the sealing process went without a hitch.
This was just a temporary seal, as he is currently unable to borrow chakra from the artificial tailed beast. Only after completing the True Jinchuriki fusion seal will he be able to use the Chakra from the Ryuumyaku.
It's just that he can't stay here for much longer as the Sand ninja should soon be arriving, so the matter of the fusion seal can only be handled later.
Finally, after checking the surroundings with the Tenseigan to make sure no traces of his or Sara's presence were left, Kuroto left the Roran city.
A few hours later, by the time the morning light started to fall upon them, Kuroto had already returned to the Manto Oasis.
Sara noticed that they would soon be arriving back at the site where her people were staying and sternly asked, "You promised me that you will not harm my people if I go with you!"
Kuroto nodded, "Yeah I did! I am not going to kill your people because there is no need to!"
Sara's expression eased with Kuroto's assurance, then finally taking one look towards the site, she turned towards the masked person and said with all the courage she could muster, "Alright then, I am grateful that you are keeping your words… so there is no need to go any further… I have already seen them… s-so if you are going to kill me, then k-kill me now!"
Kuroto folded his hands and asked with doubt, "Why would I kill you? That wasn't part of the Deal!"
Sara asked with a hopeful expression, "You aren't going to kill me?"
"When did I say I would? You didn't trust my words at all, did you, Dragon Maiden?" Only now Kuroto understands that Sara never believed that he would in fact pay her once the ordeal was completed, but no matter, even if she was scared because of the incoming death, Kuroto's purpose was completed.
Realizing that the masked person really had no interest in killing her, Sara sighed in relief, but asked in doubt, "But I know you stole the Dragon Vein, aren't you afraid I will reveal your secret?"
"Do you know my name?"
"No!"
"Do you know what I actually look like?"
"No!"
"Do you know what are my abilities?"
"No!"
"Do you know anything from which you can identify me if I appear before you without this disguise?"
"No!"
"You don't know anything about me, so even if you reveal that a masked person threatened you and stole the Dragon vein, what good would that do? It's not like that's going to have any impact on me" After a pause, Kuroto said coldly, "Besides, I know you wouldn't reveal anything about me, because you are very clear of what might happen if you go out to blabber without any thinking, after all, your people would still be alive at the time wouldn't they? And you wouldn't want your daughter to accidentally die by being eaten by some wild animal, would you?"
Sara desperately shook her head while sweating. She couldn't even begin to imagine the last part of the threat. "I… I promise… I swear I wouldn't reveal anything even if my life depends on it!"
"Aren't you smart!" Kuroto said with a chuckle.
"But I am afraid I wouldn't leave you off so easily, at the very least, you can't stay in the Land of Wind anymore!" – said Kuroto after thinking a little.
"W-what!? B-but you promised!" – Sara asked with a panicked expression, but when she thought of what the Sand Village might do because of the sudden disappearance of the Dragon Vein, she also realized that the people of Roran can no longer stay in the Land of Wind and asked with sadness, "But where else can we go? We are already living as nomads!"
Kuroto began to think of a suitable place.
In terms of safety Konoha and the territory of the Land of Fire is good, but their identity as the Roran survivors is too sensitive for Kuroto's comfort. So, once they hide in Konoha, Sandaime would immediately order an investigation.
After all, the Dragon Vein was personally sealed by Konoha's Yondaime Hokage, not only was someone able to successfully unseal it, but the Dragon Vein was stolen, it would be impossible for Sandaime-Sama to ignore this.
Not to mention the sand spies hidden in Konoha would send this information to Sand Village and that could lead to a potential conflict between Konoha and Sand Village.
So Konoha and the Land of Fire is a big NO-NO.
Excluding Konoha, Koroto can't think of any safe place for Roran's people, they could definitely go to other smaller countries too, but safety from Sand Shinobi would be the biggest issue.
Hmmm….
Hmmm…
Think… Think…
There's got to be someplace that would be safe for Roran's people.
And suddenly the perfect and safest place flashed in Kuroto's mind: "The Land of Rain!"
As the base of Akatsuki, the Land of Rain may as well be one of the most dangerous places in the world for a shinobi of any other village, but for ordinary people, it could even be considered the safest and most peaceful land.
There was a reason why Pain and Kanon were treated as God and Angel in the Land of Rain.
Because of Pain's strength, very few ninjas who dared to venture into the Land of Rain could escape alive.
Coupled with the closed policy under Pain's rule, it is closed to impossible for a ninja to sneak into the core towns of the Land of Rain. So, once Roran's survivor enters the Land of Rain, catching them would be a very difficult task for either Sand or Konoha.
And the most important point is that Nagato with the Rinnegan wouldn't care about something like Dragon Vein, as far as Kuroto knows, Nagato doesn't have that greedy nature within him, and continue to concentrate on the Tailed Beasts, although Kuroto can't be sure of Obito, meh… maybe his arrogance would make him ignore such a thing…
After thinking this Kuroto told Queen Sara his thoughts and said again that he would pay her a good sum of money as the agreement.
Now Sara also believed that the person in front of her really had the intention to pay, so she asked meekly after gulping in nervousness, "S-so, how much are you going to pay?"
After considering a little, Kuroto immediately stretched out five fingers.
Staring at the Five fingers stretch out by the masked person, Sara asked herself, "Five thousand Ryo? Well, it's quite a lot actually!"
Kuroto shook his head speechlessly.
Sara asked tentatively, "Not Five thousand? Then is it Five hundred thousand Ryo?"
Kuroto ridiculed, "It seems that you don't take Dragon Vein too seriously!"
Sara couldn't resist her excitement as she asked in surprise, "I-is it actually five million Ryo?"
Kuroto nodded casually, "Although five million isn't much, it is more than enough to improve the lives of your people, giving too much money will also attract trouble towards you, so you'll have to make do with this!"
In Kuroto's view, five million Ryo is actually not much, but it would really be enough for her and her people. With this amount, she would even be able to hire a good doctor to heal her illness. After all, her age is still too young, and as long as she receives proper treatment, then recovery is still a possibility…
......................................................................................................
Read up to Chapter - 212 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. : p-atreon.com/Milta_translations