Utakata finished eating the fish he caught with his bubble ninjutsu and roasted it by the river, sprinkling the food with a mixture of salt and spices he carried inside his kimono, in a hidden pocket.
He threw the scraps into the river so that the fish would eat any evidence, and with practiced movements, he cleared any traces of his presence in the area. Although lighting a fire could give away his position, he knew that there were no people living nearby, and it had been more than two weeks since he had eaten something warm.
The climate in the Land of Water was cool, and with his ninja training, he found it easy to find fruits, vegetables, roots, and all kinds of food that, after a quick wash, he could eat to satisfy his hunger.
But he was tired and had a strong craving, so he took a calculated risk.
This wasn't the life he expected to live after fleeing Kirigakure. After the events that turned him into someone who preferred solitude, he imagined wandering the world and visiting all kinds of places.
Preferably, where there were few or no people.
Free from the responsibilities of a ninja, but with the ability to protect himself from them.
Unfortunately, from the moment he became a rogue jinchuriki, Kirigakure had a strong hold on the borders, making it impossible for him to sneak aboard a ship and leave.
He thought about using the Six-Tails' chakra to fly with his bubbles far away and cross the sea, but aside from the fact that it would be quite conspicuous, there was the issue that his relationship with the biju wasn't the best.
Sure, he wouldn't try to free himself twenty-four hours a day, and he seemed more than satisfied that Utakata didn't constantly demand his power to unleash a massacre, but their relationship was more of two parties cooperating than friends.
Nor was he very talkative, nor did he take the initiative to start a conversation; silence was tranquility, and Utakata believed he had earned the right to enjoy it.
"Although maybe I should have gotten warmer clothes before leaving," Utakata reflected as he moved away from the river and looked for a place to lie down and take a nap after eating.
The kimono could be comfortable and didn't hinder his movements, but during the fall and especially during the winter, it didn't help keep him warm. It was an oversight on his part, but he didn't have much time to think about it back then.
Normally, he would settle for climbing a tall tree and leaning against a branch with his back against the trunk, but for the past three days, he had the feeling that he wasn't alone.
He didn't catch any glances, and he was sure no one was following him after hours of continuous attention and the lack of traces, but this feeling, this instinct he developed with years of fighting in the Bloody Mist period, was bothering him like a fly buzzing near the ear at the moment you let your guard down.
The Six-Tails had a better perception, but it refused to give him an answer despite deciding to ask, too lazy.
Perhaps he entered the territory of some intelligent animal?
His thoughts were interrupted when he found a crack in a rocky area, which, after a quick inspection, confirmed that it was an entrance to a hidden cave quite spacious.
And there were no tracks or marks near the cave; moreover, from the state of the rock near the entrance, it was likely that it had opened in the last few days. The coloration of the split stone was too fresh compared to the outside.
That was good; maybe he could make this place his home.
The entrance was narrow enough that he could only enter by hiding his stomach and squeezing a bit, so creatures like bears couldn't enter, and any small creature that broke into the cave would become his dinner.
He could make holes in the ceiling to improve ventilation and gain light, although he was surprised when he found ice inside. Covering the floor, the walls, and partially the ceiling, the place was like a natural fridge, its rainbow reflections hiding the beauty of its interior.
He would have to steal or hunt for some skins if he wanted to stay in this place, but the best part was that it was in such a secluded place that the chances of Kirigakure's Anbu finding this place were really low.
"Again this feeling," Utakata turned and looked towards the entrance, catching a shadow for a moment. "Some kind of insect?"
It was hard to see, but with his dynamic vision, he was sure he saw an insectoid silhouette the size of a fist and heard the flapping of wings.
But something was wrong; why would an insect try to enter such a cold place?
It wasn't natural!
Utakata's expression changed as he realized that the cold around him was becoming more pronounced over time and accelerating. Following his instincts, he turned to leave and discovered that the entrance through which he entered had been covered in ice at some point.
He took out the bubble blower from his sleeve and tried to blow up the newly formed ice with explosive bubbles, but the results made his expression darken more and more.
"No..." he realized that there were black tadpoles running inside the ice. "Seals! Did someone set a trap for me?"
And the worst part is that he willingly walked into it!
Of course, finding such a convenient cave had to be a trap...
No, he couldn't allow whoever was responsible for this to finish their preparations.
"Hey!" Utakata knew Saiken didn't want to return to Kirigakure either, so driven by the urgency of the situation, he had no choice but to ask for some chakra to form the Tailed Beast Cloak and leave the place by force.
But there was no response from the biju.
"What's going on?" Utakata was confused and tried several times more.
It wasn't that the biju was silent; it was more like they couldn't communicate at all!
"Damn it, it must be Kirigakure's Anbu," Utakata concluded.
After all, who but a great village would have enough capacity to do something like this?
Locking up a jinchuriki and isolating him from his biju with advanced fuinjutsu is undoubtedly a high-level operation.
"No, something's not right," Utakata realized a problem. "Ice like this should only be possible if it's done by someone from the Yuki clan, but I remember that there were barely any survivors at that time, most of those who fled were civilian-level and were hiding like rats."
But to achieve something like this, they would need at least ten, no, fifteen Yuki clan elites with a strength no less than that of a jonin.
But that didn't make sense!
The Yuki clan should bear a great grudge against Kirigakure; they shouldn't have enough population to achieve fifteen people with talent, and certainly, not enough time has passed since then to train them to reach this level of strength.
And where did the experts in fuinjutsu come from?
Utakata felt dizzy, and his sense of balance wavered, causing him to fall to his knees.
"No, the oxygen is..."
He struggled to maintain consciousness and think of a solution, but the feeling of dizziness and lack of air made the task immensely difficult. He knew that if he passed out, he probably wouldn't wake up.
And despite all his efforts, he collapsed on the ground shortly after.
Even in this state, two long minutes of silence passed before a door opened, and the unconscious Utakata fell into its darkness.
A prudent move, as Utakata feigned his fall and only truly went out of commission after another forty seconds.
Outside the cave, Takara gave an order to the dozen Haku puppets to stop consuming chakra to maintain the seal, while the hidden noxines extinguished the flames in their abdomens that consumed the air.
With the sound of the biwa string, he hurried back and prepared to seal the Six-Tails in a Greed Pot.
"Jinchurikis may have power, but their need to breathe like humans cannot be overcome no matter how much chakra they have," Takara laughed as he watched the unconscious Utakata through his Byakugan mask.
In the next instant, he was stunned to realize a problem.