575. Entangled Again / 576. Rescuing the Hokage

At that moment, just as Izayoi Sakamaki was feeling extremely dejected, the Naruto squad hurried over from the forest. Izayoi Sakamaki was delighted to see them arrive, because he was no longer fighting alone.

After all, searching for these materials by himself was terribly lonely, so he hoped these Narutos could accompany him.

Although they were not of much use, simply having them by his side gave him tremendous motivation.

Then Izayoi Sakamaki said to the Narutos, "You’re finally here. Do you know how lonely it was for me to search for these materials alone? Now that you’re here, it’s finally better. Come search with me, because I really don’t want to do this alone anymore."

"Even though I have an extremely important mission on my shoulders, I feel like I’ve overcome countless difficulties. I encountered so many problems, and I resolved every one of them."

"I’ve never gone through anything this difficult before. During this search for materials, I experienced every hardship of my entire life, so I really don’t have any motivation left."

"If you hadn’t come, I feel like I wouldn’t even want to live anymore. I truly don’t have the motivation to keep going. Seeing you is seeing my hope, because you are my hope."

I merely laughed, then said, "Boss, of course we know you’ve been thinking of us, but we absolutely cannot give up. The Naruto lying in the hospital bed is in an extremely critical condition right now."

"Although he took the materials we brought back, his condition has not fully recovered. If we want him to recover completely, we still need the final material, so we have to pull ourselves together."

"We need to find that last material. If we fail to find it, all our previous efforts will have been wasted. You know it wasn’t easy for us to find so many materials before."

"So I don’t want to see all our previous efforts go to waste. I hope you can pull yourself together, Boss."

"Don’t become discouraged. If you lose heart, who else can lead us to find this final material?"

Izayoi Sakamaki felt that the Narutos had a point. He absolutely could not lose heart now, because they had placed all their hopes on him. If he did not lead them forward,

then they definitely would not be able to find the final material. However, he had already found half of the final material, so he only needed to find the remaining half. But according to them, the Naruto lying in the hospital bed…

was in an extremely critical condition, so he could not linger here any longer. Thus, Izayoi Sakamaki said to the Narutos, "I’ve already found half of the final material."

"So now we only need to find the remaining half. But the Naruto lying in the hospital bed is in such critical condition, so how about this? Let’s split into two groups."

"Have a few people come with me to search for the remaining half, while the other group immediately takes this half back to ease that Naruto’s condition for the time being. I’m truly worried something might happen to him."

"So you’ll have to make another trip back. If we don’t take care of both sides, something unexpected may happen."

"I hope you can understand, because I’m truly worried about that Naruto’s condition."

Entangled Again

The Narutos felt that Izayoi Sakamaki’s words made a great deal of sense. If everyone stayed here searching for the remaining half of the medicinal herb, the injured Hokage’s life would certainly be in danger. Therefore, in order to preserve the injured Hokage’s life, someone had to return with this half of the material. One of the Narutos said to Izayoi Sakamaki, "All right, Boss. We agree with your idea."

"Your idea is correct, and it is all for our sake. Since that’s the case, we’ll split into two groups. One group will head back to the base and deliver this half of the material."

"The other group will follow you to find the other half of the material."

Everyone nodded. Half the Narutos returned, while the other half followed Izayoi Sakamaki to search for the remaining half. Izayoi Sakamaki said to the Narutos who remained, "By not going back,"

"you’ve chosen to fight alongside me in this forest. Finding materials is still an extremely difficult task, so I’ll tell you in advance: do not retreat in the face of hardship."

"Those Narutos and I searched here for a very long time and went through many, many difficulties. So you newcomers must not lose heart the moment something happens."

"You’ll encounter many difficult things here. When you run into trouble, do not give up. I once had thoughts of giving up too, but your companions persuaded me not to."

"Because if I gave up, there would be no way to save the Naruto with kidney disease. I hope you can hold yourselves to the same standards I hold myself to, because only then can we work together."

"We need to find the remaining material together. You know what will happen if we fail to find it: your companion will face a life-or-death situation. So I hope you will hold yourselves to high standards."

The Narutos nodded, then said to Izayoi Sakamaki, "Boss, you have to believe us. We definitely aren’t the kind of people who give up halfway through. Since we decided to stay and search for that half of the material with you,"

"we will certainly keep our promise. Besides, you fought alone in this forest for so long and endured so many hardships. What does it matter if we come and experience a little hardship too?"

"So Boss, you must believe us. Don’t think of us as the kind of people who retreat when faced with difficulties. We are very brave, so no matter what we encounter, we won’t be afraid."

After hearing their words, Izayoi Sakamaki merely laughed. It was truly rare for children so young to possess such great courage. It seemed he had really underestimated them. Then Izayoi Sakamaki led this group of Narutos

to search for the remaining half of the material. Suddenly, one Naruto told Izayoi Sakamaki that one of his companions had vanished while walking along the path. Izayoi Sakamaki was shocked and frightened upon hearing this.

In this forest, if someone went missing, it would be quite difficult to find them, because there were many terrifying animals here…

So once that Naruto became separated from the group, if anything happened to him, it would be serious.

Izayoi Sakamaki actually wanted to scold the Narutos, because they had just made a declaration that they would face any difficulty head-on. Yet they did not even have the awareness to protect themselves.

How could someone disappear while walking along the road? It was truly beyond imagination. If he continued taking them forward, they might create enormous trouble for him. But there was no helping it.

After all, he needed to give them an opportunity to train. He could not scold them, because they were already anxious; the missing Naruto was their companion. If he scolded them now,

that would indeed be inappropriate. Besides, his top priority now was to find the missing Naruto. If they remained out of contact for too long and he was killed by some wild animal,

that would be disastrous. Izayoi Sakamaki had entered this forest to save the poisoned Naruto. If another Naruto lost his life in this forest, it would truly not be worth it.

Moreover, he would have no way to answer to the other Narutos. After all, he was their boss, so he had to take responsibility for him.

Thus, he said to the Narutos, "In that case, let’s put aside the search for materials and find the missing Naruto first. I’m afraid something might happen to her."

Rescuing Naruto

Izayoi Sakamaki felt that his most important task now was to find the missing Naruto. Otherwise, it would be his responsibility. He bore the heavy duty of protecting their lives, so if they lost their lives, it would be his responsibility. Thus, Izayoi Sakamaki said to the Narutos, "You must constantly watch for any clues around you. Your missing companion must have left behind some traces."

"So be sure to pay close attention to any marks around you. Do not overlook anything, because if we miss something, it will be difficult for us to find any trail."

Everyone nodded, then said to Izayoi Sakamaki, "Don’t worry, Boss. Since you’ve done so much for us, how could we not search with all our strength? Besides, the missing Naruto is our companion."

"We were very close, so we definitely won’t let his life be threatened. Although he’s missing now, we believe he is still alive in this world. He couldn’t have lost his life so easily, could he?"

"Although he is young and has no experience surviving in these deep mountains and forests, I believe he is still alive. I can feel it, because we are such good friends."

"So whether he is still alive or not, we can sense it. Boss, just believe us. We will do everything we can to find our companion, because we are extremely anxious that he has gone missing."

"We also hope to find him quickly and ask what happened. How did he get separated when he was walking with us?"

Izayoi Sakamaki nodded. Naturally, he believed them as well. But just as he began searching for traces of the missing Naruto, Izayoi Sakamaki suddenly discovered that a group of bears had surrounded him.

Izayoi Sakamaki was extremely shocked. He had driven away some bears before, and those bears had been very formidable. He had exhausted tremendous effort just to repel them. Now that so many bears had appeared,

what was he supposed to do? The Narutos were also astonished, because they had never seen so many bears before. They were terrified as well.

One Naruto said to Izayoi Sakamaki, "Boss, what should we do now? We’ve been surrounded by these bears. If we don’t think of something soon, they’ll definitely eat us. I don’t know how strong these bears are,"

"but they’re so huge that I believe if they attack us, we won’t even be able to fight back. Boss, what do you think we should do? We can’t come up with any solution at all."

"We can’t run away either, since they have us surrounded. We have to come up with a way, because if we can’t, we’ll all die here."

"And if we die here, neither the poisoned Naruto nor the missing Naruto will survive. So Boss, everything depends on you."

Although Izayoi Sakamaki also felt immense pressure, because he carried everyone’s lives on his shoulders, if he handled this poorly, he would surely drag everyone down to hell. Therefore, he had to find a suitable solution.

If he could not think of one, then he was unworthy of being their boss. Thus, Izayoi Sakamaki said to the Narutos, "Don’t worry. I will definitely think of a way. Since you chose to come out with me,"

"that means you trust me and have entrusted your lives to me. If I can’t give you an answer, how could I be worthy of being your boss? But right now, I hope you can stay calm."

"If you don’t remain calm, you probably won’t make it out alive. These bears are extremely savage, so we must not panic. Haste makes waste."

The Narutos nodded. Then Izayoi Sakamaki and the Narutos hid silently in the grass. Although the bears were powerful, Izayoi Sakamaki did not confront them head-on, and the bears could not see them.

The bears left, and Izayoi Sakamaki breathed a sigh of relief. He had not expected that holding their breath and hiding in the grass would keep the bears from noticing them. The Narutos were also delighted, because they had finally avoided the bears’ attack.

But just as they were feeling pleased with themselves, another danger was about to arrive. A huge python slowly slithered over from beside the path, and the Narutos did not notice it.

Suddenly, the python wrapped itself around one Naruto. Izayoi Sakamaki was horrified when he saw it, because he had never seen such an enormous snake before.

Demon Fog Appears

Izayoi Sakamaki was extremely shocked by the situation, but he had to order the other Narutos not to move recklessly. The python had already wrapped itself around one Naruto, so if the others moved carelessly,

the python would surely have an opportunity to coil around more of them. Moreover, the python was so powerful that there was no guarantee they could rescue that Naruto from its grasp. Izayoi Sakamaki was extremely anxious.

He knew that if he did not rescue this Naruto from the python, that Naruto was doomed. If that Naruto died, he would bear the blame.

He was responsible for protecting his subordinates, because this group of Narutos had followed him. Yet now, after following him, they had encountered mortal danger. He bore a great deal of responsibility.

However, he still needed to protect the other Narutos’ lives, because their lives were equally important. Then Izayoi Sakamaki said to the other Narutos, "Don’t go forward yet. I think it will take the python some time to kill this Naruto."

"So don’t move forward, because if you do, the python will definitely attack you. Don’t worry, I will definitely rescue this Naruto."

"I don’t think this python intends to swallow him in one bite. It clearly wants to constrict him and take him away. Although I don’t know why the python wants to take this Naruto away instead of eating him immediately,"

"perhaps it wants to share this delicacy with its brothers. So we need to seize the moment. We absolutely cannot let the python take this Naruto away."

"If the python takes him away, it will become difficult to rescue him afterward."

The remaining Narutos were extremely worried. They knew that once someone was taken away by the python, it would be very difficult to rescue them.

But they had to trust Izayoi Sakamaki, because he had experienced too much in this forest. Their most important task now was not to act impulsively, because impulsiveness could not solve anything.

If being impulsive could solve the problem, they would have rushed forward long ago to fight the python to the death. But they could not do that, because rushing forward might anger the python and make it kill their brother.

Therefore, they absolutely could not act that way. The only thing they could do now was follow Izayoi Sakamaki’s orders. One Naruto said to Izayoi Sakamaki, "Boss, everything you say is right. We’ll all listen to you."

"You’ve been in this forest for so long and dealt with these wild beasts before, so we believe you will definitely have a solution. We’re all relying on you."

"You have to rescue our brother from the python, because his life is hanging by a thread. If we don’t rescue him soon, he may truly be at death’s door. So Boss, you have to think of a way."

"And don’t betray the trust we have in you. Although we may have been somewhat unfriendly toward you before, we know we were wrong. From what you’ve done recently, we can clearly see that you truly care about us."

"So I really was too much of a bastard before. I hope you can let bygones be bygones and do everything you can to save our brother. He is our best friend, and we truly don’t want anything to happen to him."

"If something happens to him, we’ll be devastated. So Boss, please help me. Save my brother."

"He is still young, and there are many things he still needs to learn and many things he still needs to experience."

Izayoi Sakamaki thought for a moment and felt that he absolutely could not give up. If he gave up, who else could save that Naruto? Therefore, he had to shoulder this responsibility.

Then Izayoi Sakamaki said to the Narutos, "It will be very difficult to deal with this python using my strength alone. If all of us work together against it, we may still have a chance of winning."

"So we absolutely cannot say that I should deal with this python alone. If it is just me, it will be difficult to defeat it. You all know how powerful this python is."

"So we need to join forces."

The Narutos nodded, then joined forces with Izayoi Sakamaki. Seeing them attack, the python prepared to kill that Naruto.

At that moment, a Naruto instantly punched the python in the head. The python was stunned for a moment, and the Narutos quickly rescued the Naruto who had been captured by it.

The Naruto Entangled by the Python Was Finally Rescued

The Naruto entangled by the python was finally rescued, but the python was not so easily bullied. Seeing how Izayoi Sakamaki had treated it, the python became extremely angry and launched an attack at him. Izayoi Sakamaki had already exhausted all his strength while rescuing the Naruto, so he had no energy left to fight the python. Thus, the python swallowed Izayoi Sakamaki into its mouth.

Just as the python was about to swallow Izayoi Sakamaki, he pulled an arrow from his body and stabbed it directly into the python’s mouth. The python was writhing in pain, and Izayoi Sakamaki took the chance to free himself. The Narutos were extremely worried about Izayoi Sakamaki.

But when they saw him emerge unharmed, they were delighted. Then Izayoi Sakamaki said to the Naruto who had been entangled by the python, "How was it? You must have been terrified just now, right? But don’t worry, the python is dead now."

"I know you’re still deeply traumatized, because things like this are difficult to forget. After something like this happens, people are usually left shaken, but I hope you won’t let this incident"

"affect your future life. Life still has to go on. Although what you experienced was terrifying and may be impossible to forget for the rest of your life, you must remember one thing."

"Everything you experience is part of your journey, because growing up requires experiencing things. Otherwise, how could you grow?"

"So I think this incident will definitely affect you. That is why I’ve said so much. If I thought it would have no effect, I certainly would not have said all this. Therefore, I hope you can adjust your mindset. We’ve seen every kind of situation, haven’t we? It was only a python."

"It was only a python that nearly ate you. Don’t be afraid. As long as you keep the right mindset, you’ll be able to face greater setbacks in the future."

The Naruto who had been captured by the python had not yet recovered, because he had never experienced anything so terrifying in his life. It was difficult for him to calm down, but after hearing Izayoi Sakamaki’s words,

he came to a sudden realization. Although he understood it mentally, his body still had a normal reaction. After all, he had just experienced a major setback, so it was naturally terrifying. Just imagine being wrapped up by a python.

How would you feel? Therefore, it was perfectly normal for the Naruto to react this way. The Naruto who had been entangled by the python said to Izayoi Sakamaki, "Don’t worry, Boss."

"I will firmly remember your words, because I think they make a great deal of sense. I came out with you this time to search for medicinal materials to treat that injured Hokage, and it was also to train myself."

"If I can’t even accept this little setback, then how could I talk about coming out with you to train? So don’t worry, Boss. I will steady my mindset, because I don’t think today’s small setback is anything serious."

"It merely adds a little color to my life. If I don’t experience setbacks, how can I grow? So Boss, I understand everything you said. You don’t need to worry about me anymore."

"Our ultimate goal right now is not to worry about whether I can overcome this hurdle. It is to find the medicinal material that can save the sick Hokage."

Izayoi Sakamaki nodded. Although he had defeated the python, his mission was not complete, because he had not yet found the remaining half of the medicinal material. If he did not hurry,

he might face even greater difficulties. All sorts of strange things could happen in this forest, and something might happen again the next second. Therefore, he had to seize the opportunity.

They absolutely could not encounter more demons or monsters. If they met more setbacks, it would consume more time, and there was no guarantee they could overcome them.

They could defeat things like pythons and gorillas, but if an even more powerful monster appeared, he would be helpless. Therefore, he had to quickly find the remaining half of the material.

The situation had already told him that he could not waste any more time. If he delayed any longer, they would definitely face greater threats. Then Izayoi Sakamaki and the others arrived at a peach grove. Izayoi Sakamaki found it very strange.

He had come here before and had never discovered any peach grove, but now it had appeared before him, and he had no choice but to believe it.

Then a thin mist appeared before them and covered the surrounding peach grove. Izayoi Sakamaki was extremely puzzled. Why had so much fog appeared again at such a critical moment? Something was clearly about to happen again.