The Root's Movement

"Uh."

Hearing Guy say he wanted to go on a mission with him, Naraku was stunned. He remembered that, barring any special circumstances, Anbu rarely carried out missions with others.

"I suppose there might be a chance," Naraku muttered to himself.

After declining Guy's invitation to do handstands around the village together, Naraku returned to the hospital.

Inside Kushina's ward.

Shizune, dressed in her nurse's uniform, was performing the daily check-up on Kushina.

Hoo! Hoo!

Beside her, a small, bright red toad was fast asleep, a series of snores drifting into Shizune's ears.

It was none other than Gamayan.

Shizune had long since grown accustomed to this; every time she came to check on Kushina, Gamayan was always like this.

"When will Lady Tsunade come to relieve me? And Naraku should be finishing his mission soon, right?" After finishing the check-up, Shizune whispered to herself.

Because it was a time of peace, there weren't many tasks at Konoha Hospital. Aside from checking on Kushina, she basically had nothing else to do all day.

For a young girl in the prime of her life, it was inevitably quite boring.

Thump! Thump!

Just then, a knock came at the door, followed immediately by Naraku's voice, "Is that you, Sister Shizune? Are you done with the check-up?"

"Naraku is back," Shizune said with a smile, then stood up to open the door.

She didn't notice that the eyelids of the sleeping Gamayan twitched twice.

Due to Kushina's special status, Shizune always kept the door firmly locked whenever she performed examinations.

After Naraku and Shizune chatted for a while, Shizune left.

"Yo, Gamayan, thanks for your hard work," Naraku said to Gamayan with a smile inside the ward.

"Ha! Ha!"

"You're back!" Gamayan said with a yawn, as if he had just woken up.

"Since you're back, I'll be heading off," without giving Naraku a chance to respond, Gamayan turned into a puff of white smoke and returned to Mount Myoboku.

"Uh, this guy, really," Naraku laughed speechlessly, though given Gamayan's personality, staying here this long was already quite impressive.

Naraku then closed his eyes, and a strange energy gathered within him.

"Kagura Mind Eye, activate." In an instant, Naraku's perception was greatly amplified. With him at the center, a ten-meter radius was covered by the Kagura Mind Eye.

In this state, Naraku could clearly perceive two powerful chakra fluctuations beside him; one was somewhat similar to his own, while the other was filled with a violent aura.

Naraku knew these two chakras belonged to Kushina and the Nine-Tails within her.

To be precise, it was the chakra of the Yin Nine-Tails.

"Sister's chakra has grown a bit stronger," Naraku muttered, then deactivated the Kagura Mind Eye.

A smile tugged at the corners of Naraku's mouth. Kushina's condition was improving, which meant the time until she woke up was drawing ever closer.

"However, there's no shortage of trouble, either!"

Naraku opened his eyes, his pitch-black pupils turning a vivid scarlet—the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

Naraku walked up to Kushina and gently pulled back her eyelid. The three black tomoe in his pupils began to spin rapidly, his ocular power slowly seeping into Kushina's mental world.

"Ugh."

Naraku let out a pained groan, then gave a bitter smile. "I guess it's still not enough?"

"I wonder how Sasuke managed it back then."

Ever since Naraku's Sharingan had evolved to the Three-Tomoe level, he had tried more than once to enter Kushina's mental world, but he had failed every time.

Naraku understood that this was because his ocular power wasn't strong enough; only by reaching the Mangekyo level could one easily enter another person's mental world.

Yet, he clearly remembered that in the original story, Sasuke had used his Three-Tomoe Sharingan to enter Naruto's mental world.

"Forget it, she's waking up soon anyway." With no other options, Naraku finally gave up.

In truth, he had two reasons for wanting to enter Kushina's mental world: first, he wanted to see the Nine-Tails, and second, he felt that if he could just enter her mental world, he might be able to wake her up early.

Poof! Poof!

With a burst of white smoke, Naraku created two Shadow Clones to guard Kushina before his original body stood up and left.

He returned to his own room next door.

Upon opening the door, he found two figures inside. Looking closely, one would see they looked exactly like Naraku.

Indeed, these two were also his Shadow Clones, created before he left for his mission to ensure Kushina's protection.

If anyone were to make a move on Kushina, even if the Shadow Clones weren't a match, they could still relay the message to him.

"Thanks for your hard work," Naraku whispered, then dispelled the two Shadow Clones.

Poof! Poof!

With two puffs of white smoke, the Shadow Clones dissipated.

In an instant, Naraku felt a flood of memories surge into his mind, though the experiences of just two Shadow Clones caused him no harm.

After digesting the memories, Naraku's expression gradually darkened.

In those memories, he saw that throughout the few days he had been away on his mission, strangers had been appearing around the hospital, most of them wearing masks.

"Root."

Based on their attire, Naraku immediately associated them with the greatest darkness in Konoha: Danzo's Root.

Fortunately, these individuals had only been scouting the perimeter and had not approached Kushina's hospital room.

Even so, Naraku sensed a dangerous aura.

He knew exactly what kind of man Danzo was; since he had already sent people to lurk near Kushina, he must have sensed something.

Naraku began to weigh his options.

Although his strength was growing rapidly, he had only reached the level of a Jonin, and it was clear he could not contend with Danzo's Root.

"In that case, I have no choice but to let the Third Hokage intervene," Naraku muttered to himself.

With that thought, he immediately left the room and hurried toward the Hokage's office.

Although the Third Hokage and Danzo were birds of a feather, it was precisely because of this that conflict between them was inevitable.

The Third Hokage was equally attached to power, and if he learned that Danzo was encroaching upon Kushina, the jinchuriki, Naraku was certain he would not sit idly by.

It was nearing evening, and the sun was slowly sinking in the west.

Inside the Hokage's office, the Third Hokage was puffing on his pipe, a scroll held in his hand.

Hoo!

After exhaling a cloud of smoke, the Third Hokage put the scroll away; on the back of it, the character for "Sand" was clearly visible.