"Enough talk, I'm not here to listen to your long-winded speeches."
Faced with Ruri's firm attitude, Haku merely shrugged his hands innocently, indicating his helplessness.
"Alright, let's drop this topic. Let's switch to another one, I have some things I need your help with."
Haku was already quite adept at requesting favors from Ruri, his face showing no embarrassment at all.
"What is it?"
"I want to collect information on the Tailed Beasts. The Uchiha Race should have more information on this, right?"
"Yes, we do, but you want this..."
At this point, Ruri glanced at the glass cylinder on the side containing monitoring equipment, where a mass of Chakra emanating a faint purple glow was sealed.
"Shukaku's Chakra?"
Ruri understood Haku's intentions.
"Ah, yes. Don't you think the power that guy displayed that day was incredibly impressive? Moreover, I feel that Tailed Beasts and my research are actually on the same path, and there might be some commonalities. If we could get more information or Chakra from the Tailed Beasts..."
Haku spoke eloquently here, not concerned about telling Ruri that the Tailed Beast Chakra holds significant research value.
As for whether it relates to his research, only he knows.
"I can get the information for you, but as for Tailed Beast Chakra, you can forget about it. The Jinchuriki are every village's core secret, and they won't allow unrelated people to come into contact."
"That's true."
Haku didn't seem disappointed, just obtaining more Tailed Beast information was satisfying enough.
However, his previous words to Ruri were not misleading.
There are indeed many resonating points between Tailed Beast Chakra and his experimental research.
Especially Natural Energy.
"Besides, I also need detailed information on the transformation of Yin Attribute Chakra, I entrust this to you as well."
After proposing the request for Tailed Beast information, Haku continued with a second request.
The Tailed Beast Chakra involves transformations of Yin-Yang Attribute Chakra, and if one really wants to understand the secrets of the Tailed Beasts, first learning the transformation of Yin-Yang Attribute Chakra is not wrong as a prerequisite.
Ruri suddenly wanted to stomp on the smiling face of the person opposite.
What do they take her for? An ATM machine?
"By the way."
Haku suddenly remembered something and interjected.
Ruri couldn't help but furrow her brows.
"What else is there?"
"When you were reporting to Jonin Orochimaru that day, did you mention anything about the Tailed Beasts?"
The Hidden Sand's preparations to use their Tailed Beast weapon secretly is not a trifling matter.
"Not necessary. If it weren't for the pre-existing knowledge of Shukaku being sealed there, the Root Ninjas wouldn't have misled us to that place. Konoha Ninjas at the front line have long received this information. Besides, after Hidden Sand's failure to pursue us, whether or not they will use Shukaku's power is still an unknown."
Ruri thought for a moment and answered Haku's question.
"I see... No problem then."
"Given such an incident, the village is bound to treat us with a cold shoulder for a long time. You have enough time to conduct your research, don't waste this down time."
"Of course, speaking of which, I really have to thank the people at Root."
Haku said with a smile on his face.
He silently added in his mind, he'd send them a huge gift someday.
◎
Just as Ruri said, the Sakumo team, except for Captain Hatake Sakumo, who continued executing tasks as usual, received a notice for vacation.
Due to the Anbu's mishandling of matters, causing unexpected developments in the mission, a special two-month leave was granted for Haku and the other two to recuperate.
This was an official notice from the Hokage's office, roughly conveying this intent.
Haku glanced at it and no longer paid attention to this matter.
This would just give him enough time to handle his research matters.
He had an overwhelming amount of research to conduct.
Yin Attribute Chakra nature transformation training, Immortal Technique, Spirit Transformation Jutsu, verifying if a human loses Chakra does it mean death, Tailed Beast Chakra... and so on.
There was a mountain of tasks at hand, and two months, in Haku's view, seemed a bit too rush.
But thankfully, many experiments could be conducted concurrently, without delaying either.
For instance, experiments on Immortal Techniques, and verifying if a human losing Chakra equals death, can all be carried out simultaneously.
He could also train in the techniques of Yin Attribute Chakra nature transformation as well, quickly grasping Spirit Transformation Jutsu.
The price, however, was that every day, aside from eating and sleeping, he'd be soaking in the laboratory, engaged in research and training.
Mastering Yin Attribute Chakra nature transformation wasn't particularly challenging for Haku.
Back when he learned Yang Attribute Chakra nature transformation, it didn't take long. Similarly, the transformation of Yin Attribute Chakra wasn't insurmountable.
In less than a week, Haku had mastered the Yin Attribute Chakra nature transformation.
After achieving mastery, Haku specifically asked Ruri to teach him a simple fundamental Illusion Technique — Naraku Observation Jutsu.
This Illusion Technique could allow an enemy to see the most terrifying scenes in their own heart.
It's considered a beginner-level Illusion Technique.
The reason behind learning this Illusion Technique wasn't for combat, but to prepare for learning Spirit Transformation Jutsu.
In contrast to the foundational Naraku Observation Jutsu, the Spirit Transformation Jutsu, which involves the soul layer, has its difficulty infinitely elevated.
Therefore, Haku didn't intend to achieve it in one stroke, and in fact, he didn't possess the kind of talent that allowed him to learn S-Class Secret Ninjutsu just by taking a glance.