"Kanna, that brat Kagura is still alive. Go lure her out… and kill her."
Naraku lowered his gaze from the Shikon Jewel resting in his palm and looked at Kanna standing before him.
The once faintly purple crystal had now been completely tainted by malevolent energy. It was as if soaked in pitch-black ink, radiating a suffocating and sinister aura.
"Kagura…" Kanna murmured softly, her ink-dark eyes calm and motionless.
She did not move at all.
"Hmm?" A flicker of surprise crossed Naraku's eyes. His grip tightened on the Shikon Jewel as killing intent seeped out along with thick miasma.
"Kanna… are you planning to betray me as Kagura did?"
Before he even finished speaking, a cruel smile spread across his lips. He slowly opened his palm. The Shikon Jewel vanished, replaced by a deep-blue, multi-faceted crystal sphere.
That was Kanna's Life Core—her heart, the very thing Naraku used to control her. It emitted a faint blue glow.
"Do you want what I offered Kagura? Your heart… your so-called freedom?"
His voice was cold, manipulative.
Kanna stared silently at the crystal.
In that instant, Kagura's smiling face resurfaced in her mind.
So did the words once spoken to her by Uchiha Kasage.
A faint ripple passed through her empty gaze.
"Freedom…"
"Hmph. Kill Kagura, and I will grant you true freedom."
Naraku's smile grew darker.
But the moment those words left his mouth, Kanna's left eye suddenly shifted—turning crimson.
A sinister, elegant Mangekyō Sharingan pattern bloomed within it.
"Those eyes… Kasage's eyes!!"
Naraku's expression changed drastically.
He instantly recalled the last time those same crimson eyes had appeared in Kagura's gaze—dragging him into a genjutsu and destroying his body, allowing her to escape.
Without hesitation, Naraku shut his eyes tightly, refusing to meet Kanna's gaze. He prepared to destroy his own body at any moment to break free of the illusion.
He had already learned the condition: eye contact triggered Kasage's genjutsu.
But the moment he closed his eyes—
A sharp pain pierced through the arm holding Kanna's heart.
Naraku's eyes snapped open.
For a split second, his gaze met Kanna's Mangekyō Sharingan before he quickly looked away.
What he saw stunned him.
Space around his body twisted violently. A pitch-black spatial vortex formed, warping everything toward its center.
His arm—along with Kanna's heart—was torn apart and dragged into the vortex.
The distortion spread rapidly, devouring his torso.
"Kanna! Are you trying to drag us both down?!"
Shock and fury surged through him.
He had no idea where that vortex led—or whether survival was even possible. And Kanna's heart had already been swallowed.
A massive surge of miasma burst from his body.
Using every ounce of power, he forced himself outward, abandoning the lower half of his body as it was consumed by the vortex.
Moments later, the Mangekyō Sharingan in Kanna's eye faded. The power of the Transfer Seal was exhausted. The vortex shrank and disappeared.
Kanna didn't even look back at Naraku's half-destroyed body.
She turned—and ran.
As "Nothingness" itself, once she left Naraku's sensing range, no one would be able to track her.
"Kanna! You think you can escape?!"
With a deafening crash, the wall behind her shattered.
Grotesque, spiked tentacles burst through, slicing through the air with a piercing hiss.
Naraku's upper body floated midair, countless tendrils writhing from his severed form. His killing intent was unmistakable—he meant to destroy her completely.
Kanna stopped.
She turned, raising her pale hand.
"Kanna, you are my creation. I know your abilities better than anyone. You cannot escape."
The tentacles surged forward, faster than before.
But at that exact moment—
Dark formulas appeared across Kanna's palm, forming a complex seal.
A brilliant white light erupted.
"This is… Kikyo's spiritual power?!"
The familiar, sacred energy of a miko—imbued with the power to purify yokai—surged forward.
The instant Naraku's tentacles touched the light, they disintegrated into ash like melting snow.
Naraku's face paled.
His eyes burned with rage.
He immediately recognized it—Kikyo's power.
Before he could even process how Kanna had obtained it, the spiritual energy crashed into him.
"No… the Shikon Jewel!"
The corrupted jewel within his body began to purify rapidly.
Naraku's mind raced.
If he continued the attack, not only would he be severely injured—but the Shikon Jewel he had painstakingly corrupted would be cleansed entirely.
Without hesitation, he released a massive wave of violet miasma, enveloping himself.
By the time the spiritual power burned through it—
Naraku was gone.
As the last traces of spiritual energy faded, the seal on Kanna's palm dissolved into tiny motes of chakra.
She lowered her hand, expressionless, then held her mirror tightly.
Her body gradually became transparent—
and vanished.
"Kikyo… I need your help."
Uchiha Kasage frowned slightly, sensing a disturbance within the Kamui Dimension.
"Something… unpleasant has entered it. I need you to purify it."
Kikyo paused mid-motion, her wooden comb still in her hand as she brushed her long black hair.
"What kind of 'something'?"
"Fragments of Naraku's body… and a large amount of miasma."
Kasage gently took the comb from her hand and continued brushing her hair with quiet care.
"That's why I rarely use Kamui against him… he contaminates it too much."
"Naraku?"
The door slid open suddenly.
Kagura stepped in, eyes sharp with concern.
"When did you fight Naraku?"
"It wasn't me," Kasage replied calmly. "It was Kanna."
He stopped brushing and pulled out a glowing blue crystal sphere.
Kikyo's eyes widened slightly.
"What is that?"
"That's Kanna's heart!" Kagura exclaimed, stepping forward.
Her voice carried urgency now.
"Is she with you? What happened to her?!"
Kikyo's gaze sharpened as realization dawned.
"The Transfer Seal… it activated, didn't it? Kanna took back her heart."
Kasage nodded.
"She should be free from Naraku's control now."
He looked at the crystal in his hand.
"Fragments of Naraku appeared in the Kamui Dimension. The seal I left on Kanna must have triggered."
Kagura clenched her fists, relief and worry mixing in her expression.
"I'm going to find her."
Without waiting another second, she transformed into a gust of wind—
and disappeared.