Chakra Thirst

Takara blinked to adjust to his new sensations.

The fragment of the Ryumyaku within him seemed to have gained an additional connection, a way to feel the powers of time, and thanks to the understanding provided by Nox's template, he could now cast several spells that affect time itself.

"Going completely back in time is impossible after all, huh..."

Nox himself spent two hundred years collecting energy to achieve that very goal, and Takara neither possessed nor could recreate the artifact Nox used as a medium, something that surpassed his abilities by an insurmountable margin.

Moreover, even having achieved his goal, two hundred years of energy only allowed Nox to go back twenty minutes, completely shattering what remained of his sanity.

The energy/time conversion was simply terrible when put into practice against the natural flow of time.

But there was still a lot he could do.

Slow down an area around him, stop time for a group of people, accelerate aging, create a time loop, etc.

Dormammu knew well the nightmare that the last example could be!

The abilities of a Xelor over time were limited only by his understanding or energy, and Takara wanted to test his new capabilities and see what he was capable of now.

If he put the entire village of Iwagakure in temporal stasis while taking away the remaining jinchuriki, how long could it last?

Wouldn't it be easy to repeat the same in Kumo and take the other two jinchurikis?

A punch in the face snapped him out of his thoughts, focusing his gaze on the culprit. His own fist.

"That was close," Takara almost made a huge mistake, and cold sweat ran down his back.

When one gains overwhelming power, the intoxication of that power can lead to one's downfall. He only had to look at the stupid thought he had just had.

What need was there to put the entire village in temporal stasis?

How much chakra would he waste to achieve such an childish goal of demonstrating power?

It would be enough to do the same thing but in a small, limited area around where Han resided.

He would be there, and the next moment, he wouldn't.

Discreet, with minimal consumption and without risks or potential witnesses.

"Although unlike Roshi, I'm sure Han's absence will be noticed much faster in comparison. I don't know how quickly Black Zetsu and, by extension, Akatsuki will be notified."

He would leave a handful of noxians to monitor things, and when Iwagakure realized his kidnapping or escape, depending on the perspective, he could dissolve Shukaku in Sunagakure while traveling to claim the last two bijus.

Half a day later...

"This has become too easy," Takara commented as he approached Han's residence, which was located in a secluded area of the village, like the Uchiha district of Konoha.

Finally employing the other half of Nox's abilities, Takara could simply freeze time for a few seconds when passing near a group of guards to bypass them just inches away. Once he moved away, they returned to normal without noticing any abnormality.

It also served to test the consumption of these abilities and have a minimum reference, demonstrating the horror of such power.

"Fortunately, I didn't get carried away and try to use temporal stasis on the entire village," Takara sighed in relief. "I would barely have managed to sustain such a large area for a few seconds before being exhausted even in my condition."

Nox had a truly monstrous artifact to support his abilities, while Takara depended on his skill to control the Ryumyaku fragment.

A few meters from Han's residence, Takara had a bad premonition and hastened to seal the time around him with seals from both hands. His thumb and index fingers touched, forming an O while holding each other like the rings of a chain, forming a seal in the shape of infinity.

Takara approached and noticed a protrusion from the wall, like a budding pimple on a person's face. Entering the interior of the residence, he saw Han, with his characteristic red steam armor, making a dynamic entry (or exit in this case) toward the wall while being propelled by the steam itself to gain momentum, with a serious expression indicating he was ready for combat.

"Does Han have sensor abilities, or was it Kokuo who sensed me approaching?" Takara wondered while looking at the jinchuriki suspended in the air, unable to realize what was happening.

He was one of the jinchurikis Takara had the least information about, along with Yugito Nii.

"It doesn't matter." With the sound of the biwa, a door appeared and opened in the wall Han was about to break, inviting the darkness inside. The fact that his pressure alone deformed the wall showed the power behind the steam-boosted kick.

Takara was about to resume time, but his gaze shifted to the wall and stopped.

He left the house, went to the area where the wall was swollen, and lifting the mask just enough to reveal his mouth, formed the seals of Tiger, Rabbit, Boar, Dog, Ram, and spat a dark substance onto the wall.

"Earth Release: Earth Style Wall!"

One of the most common earth nature techniques was used to reinforce and harden the wall, preventing it from bursting when time resumed and effectively delaying the time when Iwagakure would realize something was wrong.

Takara even took an additional minute to form a sound-absorbing fold between its layers and adjust both the color and thickness of the wall uniformly. It wasn't even that advanced to implement.

Unless someone was familiar with this place, no one would notice that one of the walls had a few extra centimeters of thickness for no apparent reason.

Resuming time around him, he saw the wall he had just reinforced tremble slightly as it effectively cushioned the impact while a cry of confusion barely resonated in the last second before the door inside the house closed.

"Oh?" Takara received information from Nakime, somewhat surprised. "Did Han react quickly enough to try to use the steam as counterforce?"

It seemed good that his time manipulation could alter Han's perception against him; otherwise, if he had tried to trap him with the door like other jinchurikis, it was quite likely that he would have failed and caused an alarm to sound.

Takara's surprise turned to a frown.

"Did he go straight to the Tailed Beast Transformation?"

Nakime sent him an image of what was happening in the large room they had specially prepared to deal with Han, showing Kokuo's form rampaging, kicking, and unleashing bijudamas left and right.

"The damage he causes is faster than the room's repair; I didn't expect Han to be so decisive. Isn't he afraid of being exhausted and vulnerable?" Takara was somewhat puzzled and annoyed because the jinchuriki's tactic could actually work.

No matter how much chakra he had, the amount Nakime could use to repair the damage was limited, and since this situation had never occurred, he never considered the need to have more than one puppet of her type.

"No matter, I wanted to use Han as a punching bag, and being in his strongest form serves me perfectly," concluded Takara as he prepared to leave and performed a series of hand seals, taking advantage that Iwagakure did not have the same type of barrier as Konoha. "Reverse Summoning Technique!"

With a burst of smoke, he was sent to Shikkotsu Forest.