The sun slowly rose in the east, and the whole land began to bask in its light.
Konoha Hospital,
Though he hadn't slept all night, Naraku still looked full of energy. A smile spread across his face.
Naraku was so happy because, after a night of experiments, he had finally found a way to strengthen the Adamantine Sealing Chains.
The answer was to compress the chakra.
The Adamantine Sealing Chains were formed from chakra. For example, if one unit of chakra could produce a ten-meter-long chain, what would happen if he shortened the chain without changing the amount of chakra?
Naraku had discovered that the chain's strength would increase.
Now that he had found the reason, solving the rest would be much easier. After all, as a member of the Uzumaki Clan, Naraku had no shortage of chakra.
All that remained was to keep training his chakra control until he could freely adjust the amount of chakra he used for each jutsu.
"Ha!"
Naraku got to his feet, yawned, and stretched. Just as he was about to catch up on some sleep, he wondered, "Is work coming in?"
Muttering to himself, he opened the door and walked outside. He noticed a figure dressed as an Anbu standing on the roof of the hospital.
"So it's you, Yamato." Naraku shook his head slightly. Because of Kushina, he had set up numerous barriers throughout the hospital. He could sense almost anyone who came near, and he had noticed Yamato's presence through the formation just now.
Whoosh!
Naraku used the Body Flicker Technique and vanished, reappearing beside Yamato.
"Captain Naraku, Lord Hokage wants us to go see him," Yamato said respectfully when he saw Naraku.
Yamato had great respect for Naraku. Though Naraku was even younger than him, he was far ahead in terms of strength.
Yamato already saw Naraku as the person he wanted to catch up to.
Naraku wasn't surprised by Yamato's arrival. He knew another mission was coming.
The two of them then made their way to the Hokage Office.
"Sorry to trouble you, Naraku, Tenzo," the Third Hokage said. After a few pleasantries, he handed them the scroll containing the mission details.
The two of them then left.
"Go get ready. Meet me at the village entrance in half an hour." After saying this to Yamato, Naraku used the Body Flicker Technique and disappeared.
Since he was heading out on another mission, Naraku naturally needed to return to the hospital to prepare.
Naraku thought of Shisui, who had taken him on his first mission. He hadn't seen him in a while, but over the past couple of days, he had heard about a few things. The first was Orochimaru's defection, which had caused quite a stir in Konoha. But thanks to the Third Hokage's handling of the situation, things had settled down quickly.
The second was that the Uchiha Clan had produced another genius: Uchiha Itachi. With his impressive abilities, Itachi had joined the Anbu at an age when he should have been entering the Ninja Academy. He had also completed several missions with distinction.
Even Naraku had heard about Itachi a few times while in the Anbu.
In fact, Naraku and Itachi had somewhat similar experiences. Neither had attended the Ninja Academy; both had joined the Anbu directly.
But they had made very different impressions. Naraku had completed several missions with distinction too, but he had kept a low profile. Hardly anyone in Konoha even knew he had joined the Anbu.
By contrast, Uchiha Itachi's name was widely known. Naraku knew the Uchiha Clan might have played a part in that, but Danzo and the Third Hokage were probably behind it even more.
The Uchiha Clan's two great prodigies, Shisui and Itachi, were the two most tragic characters in the original story.
Naraku shook his head, a strange look flickering in his eyes. All of this can still be changed, can't it?
Before long, Naraku returned to the hospital. Gamayan seemed to have gotten used to this routine. As soon as Naraku summoned him, he said nothing, simply settled down beside Kushina, and closed his eyes to sleep.
"Uh..." Naraku looked a little taken aback, but said nothing. Gamayan's actions saved him from having to waste his breath.
He checked all the barriers around the hospital room. Finding nothing wrong, he left two Shadow Clones behind and departed.
At the entrance to Konoha,
After meeting up there, Naraku and Yamato set off together.
Their mission this time was to travel to a place called the Land of Frost. It lay on the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning. It was a tiny country, even smaller than the Land of Snow.
Because it lay between two great nations, the Land of Frost had almost always become a battlefield whenever the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning went to war.
By now, most of the people who lived there had moved elsewhere. Only a few remained.
Naraku and Yamato's main task this time was a rescue mission.
Some time ago, Konoha had sent a three-man team to the Land of Frost on a mission. It was a long-term assignment, so the team had been away from the village for a long time, but they had sent word back every few days.
Recently, however, the village had gone a long time without hearing from them. Based on what had happened in the past, the team must have run into trouble. That was why Naraku and Yamato had been given this mission.
The day passed quickly. By midnight, the two hadn't even covered half the distance.
Rumble!
Suddenly, a huge flash of lightning streaked across the sky, and then rain poured down.
The sudden downpour forced them to stop traveling.
"Tenzo, you're up," Naraku said, turning to Yamato.
Yamato paused in surprise, but soon understood what Naraku meant.
"Wood Release: Four-Pillar House Technique!"
Yamato brought his hands together. A rumbling rose from the ground as countless logs surged upward, joining together to form a room that could keep out the rain.
Looking at Yamato's handiwork, Naraku gave him a rare smile. "The village is definitely going to need you when it comes time to rebuild."
The two rested inside for a while. Once the rain stopped, they continued on their way.
It wasn't until the following evening that they reached the border of the Land of Fire. One step farther would take them into the Land of Hot Water. Once they crossed the entire country, they would enter the Land of Frost.
After traveling for another day and night, they finally reached their destination: the Land of Frost.