As soon as Naraku arrived at the Forest of Death, he swallowed a soldier pill while waiting for the Root members to arrive.
He tried to restore his chakra as much as possible.
As for the penetrating wound in his abdomen, there was no need to heal it immediately; he could stabilize it with popularity points later when fighting Root.
He looked up at the moon, the night breeze gently sweeping past his hair.
A strong sense of unease suddenly surged in his heart, a chill crawling from the soles of his feet to his internal organs.
Intuition?
Could I also possess this sixth sense?
Naraku surveyed his surroundings, reopening his Sharingan to observe the area again.
He needed to confirm whether he had missed any traps earlier.
From the moment Tsunade had treated him, to compensate for the weakness of his Pupil Power losing its activity, he had used his remaining popularity points to buy an Uzumaki perception jutsu.
It wasn't wide-ranging, but it could penetrate multiple layers of buildings.
If asked, he could simply say it was an anomaly caused by his Pupil Power being affected by the healing jutsu.
After all, no one could verify the truth.
After observing for a while and finding nothing amiss, Naraku planned to close his Sharingan to conserve his low chakra.
Just a second before he was about to deactivate it, an unusual chakra fluctuation came from a certain direction.
It felt as if a fierce battle was taking place.
Immediately, a low, faint sound reached his ears from a great distance.
Without thinking, his body took a step in that direction.
At the same time, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan clearly saw more than ten Anbu figures appearing in the village, rushing toward the location of the incident.
That place was neither a confidential department nor a residential area, nor even a training ground; why would a battle happen there?
What kind of place could it be?
Hidden and remote... Root?
Naraku pushed off the ground, dashing out in the blink of an eye and leaping swiftly across the rooftops.
When his perception range covered a vast cavern, the incredibly familiar chakra flame deep within made his entire body tremble.
Why... is Sakumo here?!
Without time to think, Naraku broke through the Anbu blocking the periphery and found the entrance.
He charged straight into the Root base.
Relying on his perception jutsu, he navigated the intricate passages with lethal accuracy.
The air was filled with the metallic, viscous smell of blood.
There were more and more corpses at his feet, and the wounds were almost all fatal blade strikes.
It was Sakumo, without a doubt.
Naraku became a blur of speed, sweeping through the narrow passage to its end.
Beyond that, the path was broken, opening into a massive underground cavern.
The walls were a mess of sword slashes and lightning strikes.
Two massive cracks spanned the ceiling, with earth and rocks continuously collapsing.
He didn't hesitate for a moment, jumping down from the broken ledge and leveraging off the stone walls.
In just a few moves, he reached the bottom.
The battle had not yet stopped.
Danzo Shimura stood before the kneeling, white-haired man.
Just as Danzo raised his arm, a dark shadow fiercely kicked him in the waist, sending him flying across the cavern.
"...Naraku?"
Sakumo was covered in blood, gasping for breath as he tried to identify the newcomer.
He had lost most of his vision and could only sense the other party's chakra.
"Master!"
Naraku looked at Sakumo, who was at his last gasp, and his grip on his blade faltered.
The man's chakra was incredibly faint, like the last spark on a piece of burnt charcoal.
Why...?
He didn't know how Sakumo had broken free from Kyoka Suigetsu; that was a genjutsu that should have been impossible to break alone.
But the moment he saw Sakumo, he understood why he had fought Danzo to a mutual defeat.
Why go to such an extent...?
Just for... me?
Naraku's eyes glowed with bloodlust.
With a flick of his hand, he threw a knife that pinned the barely-alive Danzo to the wall.
The next instant, he appeared in front of the man, driving the entire blade through him with both hands.
The force was so great that the wall behind Danzo cracked, and blood spurted out like a grotesque red lotus.
Naraku immediately returned to Sakumo's side and fed him two soldier pills.
Then, carrying the man who was much taller and heavier than himself, he ran rapidly up the rock face.
"Sorry... that Naraku still has to rescue me..."
Sakumo spoke intermittently, his voice a faint hum.
"I thought... I could resolve things... coolly... but I failed..."
Naraku roared to stop him from wasting energy: "Don't talk!"
Sakumo fell silent, his fading mind still struggling to process the situation.
Since Naraku was safe, how had the genjutsu been dispelled?
His body had also paused strangely several times during the fight, as if being blocked by an unknown entity.
It couldn't have been Danzo; he was clearly unaware of it.
There was someone else hidden in the shadows who wanted him to die by Danzo's hand.
With his last shred of strength, Sakumo issued a warning.
"Naraku... be careful... there are... other people..."
Before he could finish, his heart trembled and began to stop.
Sakumo's head drooped powerlessly.
"Master!"
Naraku perceived the shift instantly.
With Sakumo on the verge of death, his only option was to use popularity points to keep the man's heart beating.
[Transmigrator, using popularity points on others will cost one hundred times the original amount.]
Naraku roared in his mind: "Use it quickly!"
[Alright. Current popularity points remaining: 26,330. Can sustain target's vital signs for 263.3 seconds. Countdown activated.]
A moment later, Sakumo's heart began to beat again, weak but stubborn.
Naraku leaped out of the cavern and back into the passage.
Several Anbu members blocked his path.
With no time for explanations, he cleared the way with a jutsu.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
Blazing flames filled the passage.
By the time the Anbu countered with Water or Earth Release, Naraku had already vanished.
Naraku couldn't avoid the heat of his own flames either.
He used his remaining chakra to protect Sakumo's mouth and nose, leaving nothing for himself.
A burning pain spread from his throat to his lungs, followed by the metallic taste of blood.
He coughed up a mouthful of blood, his body swaying only for a second before he forced himself forward.
He had to get to the hospital.
He could not stop.
Once the popularity points were exhausted, Sakumo would die.
He didn't have a single second to waste.