It wasn't until evening that White Zetsu sent word that Hanzou had no immediate intention of attacking, so Jin found a quiet room in the Akatsuki Organization's base to sleep and go AFK.
Naraku, who was constantly monitoring and controlling his clone, also breathed a sigh of relief, setting down the talismans he had failed with hundreds of times.
Just as he finished organizing his experimental records, he felt a sharp pain in his chest, and a sweet, metallic taste welled up in his throat.
"Cough, cough cough..."
Crimson blood spatte red sporadically onto the experimental tabletop, like blooming plum blossoms.
Naraku gasped a few times, swallowed the remaining blood in his mouth, and leaned against the experimental table, closing his eyes to wait for the dizziness to pass.
It looked a bit serious; if others were present, they would probably have dragged him to the Hospital for emergency treatment by now.
Naraku himself didn't think it was a big deal; it was just that he had been too tired these past few days and coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood, which wasn't uncommon in the past two years.
However, the bloodline limit sickness had progressed to this stage; any more severe and it would affect his movements, potentially hindering him in combat.
So, while calculating how many popularity points he would have left after this experiment, he also told the system to "lock his health" using popularity points.
["Further development of your bloodline limit sickness has been restricted. Daily cost: 300 popularity points."]
Naraku immediately started to haggle: "Can't it be cheaper?"
[...]
The system was frozen for a long time by that question. After all this time, it still couldn't get used to Naraku's occasional abstract behavior.
Naraku had already spent over a hundred thousand popularity points to shorten the experiment time, so why was he being so particular about such a small matter now?
After comprehensive analysis, the system determined that Naraku was just bored and trying to tease it.
[..."This is the lowest cost to suppress the bloodline limit sickness."]
Naraku: "Alright ︿(￣︶￣)︿."
In fact, Hashirama cells could achieve the same effect, and even gradually cure the bloodline limit sickness, but it wasn't that he didn't want to use them; it was too easy for the animator to discover, adding unnecessary risk.
So, kryptoning (spending money) was safer.
After waiting a while, Naraku finally felt his body recover and the dizziness subside.
He first wiped the experimental table clean, discarded all the soiled papers, washed his hands and face, and confirmed that his clothes were not stained with blood before putting on his jacket and heading home as if nothing had happened... It was almost summer, and at this time last year, Konoha was bustling and lively, filled with laughter everywhere. Now, however, it was increasingly empty and desolate due to the war.
Every time Naraku traveled between the laboratory and the Uchiha Clan Compound, he could clearly feel the vibrancy of Konoha Village gradually diminishing, and even the pedestrians became scarcer. Now, only an occasional passerby would rush past him, their expression hurried and solemn.
Unconsciously, he arrived at his doorstep. Naraku didn't return to the small courtyard he shared with Kakashi but went directly into the clan leader's residence to find Mikoto.
As early as the beginning of spring, Fugaku had led a team of Uchiha elites to fight on the Lightning-Fire front with Orochimaru. Soon after, Minato Squad, where Kakashi was, was transferred to the Earth-Fire front. He, the child left behind, had been living with Mikoto and Little Itachi, the mother and orphan, for quite some time.
As soon as he stepped into the backyard, Naraku saw Little Itachi shakily stand up on the corridor bridge and take two steps out.
Beside him, Mikoto was taking pictures non-stop with her camera, praising him continuously: "You're so amazing, Little Itachi! You can walk already!"
Encouraged by this, Little Itachi continued to walk a few more steps. Accidentally seeing Naraku return, his eyes immediately sparkled, and he excitedly moved his short legs to go down the steps.
"Careful."
Naraku instantly appeared and caught his reckless younger brother, scooping him up into his arms. He poked his small nose and admonished him with feigned seriousness: "If you're not careful like this again, big brother will spank your bottom."
Little Itachi barely understood what he was saying, just happily repeated: "Bro, bro! Hug! Big brother!"
Click—
A flash of white light passed, and Mikoto contentedly put away her camera, smiling: "Dinner is ready!"
"Okay."
Since Little Itachi was already in his arms, Naraku directly carried him and went to the dining room with Mikoto, taking on the task of feeding him as well.
After a full belly of hot food and a half-hour hot bath, Naraku contentedly lay in bed, ready for a good night's sleep.
["Beep! Update reminder!..."]
Naraku: "Well, I guess I'll be staying up late again tonight."
He opened the video website and, wow, a lot of episodes had been updated. If he watched them all honestly, it would probably be dawn, so he decided to use triple speed.
Naraku had the system adjust the speed, clicked to continue playing, and the animation jumped to the next episode based on his last viewing progress.
—
The opening scene showed the Konoha higher-ups and Anbu busy through the night, having arranged personnel and supplies for the war before dawn.
As the morning light tore through the night, Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen ordered all Konoha residents to gather and delivered that inspiring and powerful declaration of war.
Almost every named character in the animation had a scene, showing all sorts of reactions as everyone realized the war was coming.
Towards the end of this episode, the animator used a few short segments to explain Konoha's strategic deployment: Orochimaru was responsible for staying in Konoha, while Tsunade and Jiraiya each led their teams to the front lines.
[Sarutobi Hiruzen, this old fox, is quite good at brainwashing.]
[He's really good at stirring up emotions.]
[Konoha is going to start this round by fighting two again.]
[Every time a war starts, Konoha is besieged. I'm really fed up.]
[Isn't that obvious? Konoha is too strong, so other Ninja World villages will definitely choose to team up and take Konoha down first.]
[Last Great Ninja War, the Sannin still acted together. Now they can each stand on their own.]
Next, the animator spent several more episodes, dedicating a lot of effort to showing all the major and minor war conflicts between Konoha and Iwagakure, and Kumogakure last year.
From Konoha's decisive declaration of war, to fighting two enemies without falling behind, and then to the temporary truce between the three sides in the dead of winter, the continuous grand scenes gave the audience a great thrill.
To maintain the continuity of the plot, the animator only excerpted a few complaints Jiraiya made while staying on the front lines, telling the audience that it was almost New Year's, so no one would be fighting for a while, and even Tsunade was approved to return to Konoha for a rest.
Then, in less than half an episode, Iwagakure and Kumogakure returned after the New Year as the weather warmed, and Sunagakure also declared war on Konoha.
The Third Great Ninja War fully erupted, and the situation was even more brutal than before the New Year. The besieged Konoha had to fight on multiple fronts, and it took all three Sannin to barely hold on and prevent collapse.
After watching these major battles that occurred after the New Year, the audience could see that Konoha's forces suffered heavy losses, otherwise Hiruzen would not have made the last-minute decision at the end of a certain episode to deploy some Genin squads to the battlefield.
[Konoha is still awesome, enduring even when fighting two or three enemies.]
[Sunagakure's excuse is too shameless, isn't it? What does the Kazekage's disappearance have to do with Konoha?]
[They were badly beaten by Kumogakure before, so they must want to bite off a piece of Konoha to compensate themselves.]
[Every time this happens, I particularly miss Hashirama and Madara. If one of them were still alive, who would dare to speak loudly to Konoha?]
[It would be great if Konoha could produce another Hashirama or Madara. Even another Sakumo would be good.]
[Don't even mention Sakumo! When I think about how Danzo sabotaged him, I wish I could strangle that old geezer!]
[Exactly! If Sakumo were alive, if Sunagakure dared to make a move, we'd unleash the White Fang on them!]
[It feels like Konoha is running out of people, otherwise why would Hiruzen send children like Kakashi, who only graduated two years ago, to the battlefield?]
[There must still be people, but probably too many casualties, so they have to replenish the front-line forces.]
[Luckily, Hidden Mist hasn't made any moves, otherwise Konoha would really be doomed this time.]
After some Genin squads were transferred to the front line, the camera focused more on Minato and Kakashi.
Especially Kakashi, the animator spent two whole episodes telling the story of his mental transformation during his first three missions on the battlefield with his two age-mate companions.
[Fortunately, among the younger generation, there's still Minato to take the lead. Flying Thunder God is simply invincible when it comes to reaping heads.]
[Indeed, Minato, the Yellow Flash, the Fire Brigade Leader, truly lives up to his name.]
[Kakashi and his squad are only eleven years old and have to go through all this. If this were modern times, they wouldn't even have graduated from elementary school yet.]
[No wonder Obito was so shocked at first; fighting on the battlefield is completely different from regular missions.]
—
From the beginning of these two episodes, Naraku realized that the animator was going to detail Kakashi's experiences, so he decisively adjusted the playback speed back to one-time speed. Instead of just skimming through like before, he watched it carefully, bit by bit.
Even though he knew the other person would surely overcome obstacles and shine brightly on the front lines, he still needed to confirm it carefully to feel at ease.
Fortunately, Kakashi was very impressive and quickly adapted to the battlefield, showing no further abnormalities from the third mission onwards.
—
In the last few minutes, only one enemy remained in the mission, but the opponent's sensory abilities were extremely strong, and they always escaped before anyone could get close.
Minato shook his head, indicating he wouldn't interfere, so Kakashi decisively formed a few hand signs, and instantly, lightning flashed in his palm.
Countless bolts of lightning erupted from it, enveloping his entire right hand, squeezing and merging into a sharp shape, accompanied by the constant, piercing shriek of air being torn apart.
It was clear he was going to use "Chidori" against the enemy.
The audience was frantic, shouting in the bullet comments for him to stop.
Who didn't know that Chidori had significant flaws? If someone caught a weakness and counterattacked, Kakashi wouldn't even be able to dodge.
However, neither his comrades, Obito and Rin, nor his teacher, Minato, stopped him. Instead, they watched Kakashi's retreating figure with excited expressions, practically ready to wave flags and cheer for him.
[No, wait! Kakashi, I know you've adapted pretty well now, but don't get carried away and use Chidori!]
[Damn, I knew The Old Thief's design of Chidori's flaw was ill-intentioned!]
[Four paths, four paths!]
[Minato, why don't you stop him! And Obito, what's with that excited expression?!]
[Rin! It's over, we can't count on Rin either!]