Chapter 217 : Destroy him
After getting a sufficient distance from the squad, Naraku stopped beside an old tree, his body swayed, and he spat out a mouthful of blood, then slumped to the ground, leaning against the tree trunk, gasping for breath.
His exhaled breath already carried the scent of blood; if he had delayed any longer, Inuzuka Tsume probably would have discovered him.
It was a rare chance to appear in an animation, and he couldn't regretfully exit as an injured party so soon.
Naraku managed to steady his breathing, took out a few pills from his bag, swallowed them all mixed with the blood in his mouth, and began to forcefully heal himself with Medical Ninjutsu.
Creation Rebirth · Modified.
This Ninjutsu was similar to Creation Rebirth; both relied on stimulating cell division and regeneration to heal the body, but the former had been slightly modified by Naraku to be more adaptable to bloodline limit sickness.
The common drawback of both was that they would overdraft life force; on the surface, it seemed to improve, but internally, the body would gradually decline.
But these problems were not an issue for Naraku; how long he could last depended only on how long he wanted to last.
As long as he had popularity points, theoretically, he could maintain a "one-bar battery" state until the end of time.
However, with animators constantly observing, he couldn't be so arrogant.
So, whether in the past or now, every time he wanted to lock his health, he had to come up with plausible reasons to explain why he could endure.
If anything unusual were discovered, he and the system, two freeloaders, might be thrown out of this world by some means by the other party.
After a moment, the green light of the Medical Ninjutsu dissipated, signifying the end of the treatment.
Naraku stood up from the ground, his condition visibly much better, and continued to advance towards the small Village.
Before he even reached the Village built against the mountain, he saw six or seven people dressed in Sand Ninja uniforms rush into it from afar.
Several villagers who were farming collided with them near the field ridge and were cut open across their chests by blades before they could even react, falling down.
It seemed Sunagakure's logistical supplies couldn't hold out anymore.
Naraku instantly accelerated, the colors around his vision blurring into streaks, and with just a few leaps, he dropped from the mountainside to the edge of the Village.
His ninja sword was drawn, lightning instantly climbed the blade, burning with a dazzling blue in the dim yellow sunlight.
"Stop!"
A Sand Ninja was about to cut down a villager who hadn't managed to escape the fields when he suddenly heard an angry shout from his side, his hair standing on end as if electrocuted, and he instinctively twisted his body to swing his sword in defense.
Then, he saw a brilliant light blue crescent moon cover his entire vision, and then his consciousness fell into stagnation.
After cutting down both the opponent and his sword, Naraku activated his Sharingan, quickly determined the locations of the other Sand Ninja who had entered the Village, and used Body Flicker to catch up and eliminate them one by one.
But when it came to the last enemy, the opponent realized he wanted to protect these civilians and decisively activated the puppet's self-destruct mode, making it rush towards a family of three in a certain house.
Naraku unhesitatingly chose to prioritize dealing with the puppet; by the time he used Fire Release to neutralize the impact of the explosion, the enemy had long since vanished.
Looking at the two adults and one child huddled together, trembling, Naraku deactivated his Sharingan, flicked the blood from his blade, and slowly sheathed his ninja sword.
The thin, short boy with ash-blue hair huddled in his parents' arms, his eyes shining with admiration and curiosity, actually dared to speak up: "Ninja Lord...?"
Naraku tried his best to make his expression gentler: "You all, hurry and flee. Sunagakure's main force is about to attack; this place will soon become a battlefield."
"Yes, yes!"
The boy's father scrambled up and rushed into another room, taking two steps at a time, while his mother, in front of Naraku, rummaged in the bedroom for silver hidden under the bed, put it with the family's only few clothes, wrapped it in a cloth bundle, and slung it over her back.
Less than a minute later, the boy's father returned carrying an iron pot on his back and holding an axe and a cleaver, handing the cleaver to his wife and telling her to keep it safe.
The boy watched his parents busily working, utterly bewildered, then bravely turned his gaze to the Ninja Lord standing at the doorway.
The other party looked several years older than him, tall and handsome; even though his clothes looked travel-worn, his back was held perfectly straight.
Feeling the gaze from behind him, Naraku slowly walked over, bent down, and took something out of his satchel.
The boy's hand felt heavy; he looked down and found a brand new Kunai in his hand.
"Take it and protect yourself."
The Ninja Lord's slightly warm palm covered his small head and gently ruffled it; he vaguely smelled a faint sweetness and a somewhat pungent smoke in the air.
However, the boy didn't think much of it; instead, he looked at the other party's dark eyes and showed an innocent smile.
"Thank you!"
The young child didn't yet understand that those were actually the smells of fresh blood and gunpowder... After dispatching the main force, several high-ranking Sunagakure officials were about to split up according to the battle plan when a Sand Ninja burst into the camp tent, reporting urgently.
"Kazekage Lord! The 5th reconnaissance squad encountered that Uchiha who captured Pakura Lord during their search; only one member of the squad escaped!"
Chiyo quickly confirmed the 5th squad's search location on the map; it happened to be not far from the direction she was responsible for attacking, and she casually asked, "How many people are there from Konoha's side?"
"It is said they only encountered that Uchiha!"
"What?" Chiyo's already aged eyes widened slightly, "He's alone?"
She suddenly felt the blood flowing in her body grow slightly hot, and an idea uncontrollably occupied her mind, taking root—
Destroy him, destroy Konoha's second White Fang.
The moment this thought appeared, Chiyo uncontrollably fell into it, or rather, she was actually willing to be controlled by it.
So she stood up, her tone urgent: "Kazekage Lord, this is a golden opportunity. I will go and deal with this Uchiha now."
"Mm." Rasa also thought it was a rare opportunity, but he himself still had to act as the main force attacking Mount Kikyo with the main army and was unable to split himself, so he fully entrusted this matter to Chiyo.
"Whether to capture or kill, Chiyo Elder, you decide."
"Yes."
Chiyo hastily left the main tent and led a unit to advance towards the small Village... Naraku told the villagers to flee eastward; as long as they left the vicinity of Mount Kikyo and headed towards Konoha, they would generally be safe.
The surviving villagers didn't even have time to bury the bodies of their loved ones, embarking on their escape route with grief and fear.
Shortly after he set off to reunite with his companions, Naraku discovered an anomaly in the sensory field he had secretly deployed; countless dense Chakra clusters suddenly entered the periphery, moving very fast, and if this continued, they would likely collide with him.
The leading cluster was particularly dazzling, but after a short while, it actually detached from the main force and headed towards the Village he had just left.
It seemed that the Sand Ninja he let escape had exposed his location, leading to a strong individual specifically searching the Village.
Fortunately, the civilians had all left; as for whether they could ultimately survive this war, that was up to fate.