Chapter 196 Drifting Aimlessly

On the brink of life and death, breathing was impossible.

Naruto's head was about to explode as he swam underwater. With reduced resistance on his left arm, his first instinct was to let go. But he couldn't release his grip, as doing so would put Anko in mortal danger.

Naruto couldn't discern which way was up, but Anko could.

At this moment, he began to feel fortunate that he had made the right decision not to abandon Anko. There was only endless darkness and surging undercurrents at the bottom of the sea.

Luckily, Anko's clear and steady movements assured Naruto that they were swimming straight toward the surface.

Two drenched figures finally broke through the cold ocean surface.

Anko's Chakra had been exhausted, yet she still held onto Koyuki's hand with all her strength. Naruto, wrapped in a red Chakra Cloak, slowly stood up from the sea.

The seawater on his body evaporated instantly, leaving white salt grains clinging to his skin.

Naruto dragged the unconscious Sakura out of the water, carrying her on his back, and then walked over to Anko. Anko looked up at him, and her pupils were vertical at this moment, resembling those of a snake.

Naruto paused, stunned by the sight. Seeing this, Anko's expression quickly shifted, and when Naruto looked again, her eyes appeared normal again.

'Did I see it wrong?'

Naruto furrowed his brows, then pushed the thought aside. He pulled Anko out of the water, but she immediately sank back with an embarrassed smile.

"I'm out of Chakra."

Naruto sighed helplessly, realizing that although the storm hadn't completely subsided, the giant wave had passed. So, he took out the raft from the seal space and placed Sakura, Anko, and Koyuki on it.

The four of them floated on the sea, with two unconscious and only Naruto and Anko remaining alert and somber.

"We survived." Anko remarked, feeling a mix of relief and disbelief.

The raft bobbed with the waves, but it posed no further threat. As long as they didn't encounter any terrifying sea monsters, they had essentially been granted a second chance at life.

"That's not a given." Naruto said, "We don't even know where we are right now."

"Who knows." Anko muttered before falling silent.

After a few seconds, Anko began silently checking on the unconscious Koyuki. Seeing this, Naruto also pulled Sakura closer and checked her breathing and heartbeat.

"She's alive." Anko sighed in relief.

"Sakura's alive too," Naruto said.

Anko didn't respond immediately and seemed to be preparing to do something else. Naruto looked at her and planned to imitate Anko's emergency procedures. If they could wake up the two of them, it would ease their situation significantly.

Naruto observed Anko as she opened Koyuki's collar, and he followed suit, opening Sakura's collar.

Then, he saw a scene that he probably shouldn't have seen and didn't dare to imitate it any further.

The bouncing mountain.

Anko used a rather unconventional method to wake Koyuki. Naruto realized that this method was probably from Orochimaru, as only he would devise such a purely efficient approach.

Soon, he saw that Koyuki furrowed her brows, coughed, and slowly opened her eyes.

A scream followed, but after a sharp look from Naruto and a sudden realization of her situation, she quickly fell silent.

Anko, noticing Naruto hadn't done anything further, frowned and gestured for him to bring Sakura over. He obediently complied, and Anko used the same method, successfully waking Sakura as well.

Sakura felt a chill and, looking down at herself, then up at Naruto. She showed little expression on her face and calmly began putting her clothes back on.

Naruto watched the entire time, but said nothing.

"Here's the situation: aside from us, everyone else is dead." Anko pulled out a few wet Military Ration Pills from her Ninja Pouch and distributed them among the three.

"All… dead?" Koyuki seemed to have not come to her senses yet.

"Yeah, dead." Naruto said with neutral expression.

Sakura's demeanor was similar, but her eyes occasionally glanced at Naruto with a mix of indifference and something else.

"How could everyone be dead?" Koyuki muttered, her voice trembling as she clutched her head, while her body still dripping wet. "Not a single one was saved?"

"Aren't you still alive?" Naruto replied with a harsh tone, "Princess Fuun, do you have any idea how close we all came to dying at the bottom of the sea to save you?"

"If you dare say something like a self-righteous remark, I'll throw you into the sea and rinse you three hundred times."

Hearing this, Koyuki was stunned. She then saw the serious look on Naruto's face and when she thought about their current situation, she realized he wasn't bluffing. He really would do something like that.

Still, she tried to put up a small protest and spoke in a low voice, "I wasn't meaning to say anything like that, but…'

Naruto ignored her, and turned to look at Anko and asked, "Where are we?"

"How should I know?" Anko replied, "We might be near the waters of the Land of Snow, or it could be somewhere else."

"This isn't the sea near the Land of Snow." Koyuki interjected, "The color of the sea water is different. This is probably the deep sea."

Hearing this, both Naruto and Anko turned their heads to look at her.

Anko: "…"

Naruto: "…"

Another day passed as the four of them drifted on the raft. With Naruto's supplies from his seal space, they managed quite well. They had no idea where they were drifting, but at least they weren't in immediate danger of dying.

"Why do you have everything prepared?" Anko asked, somewhat puzzled.

She wasn't surprised about Naruto having Space-Time Ninjutsu, after all, Naruto is the disciple of one of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya, and has close ties with another of the Legendary Sannin, which is also the Godaime Hokage.

With this network of resources, Anko would not be too surprised even if Naruto used some Forbidden Techniques.

But Naruto's preparedness, from the raft to fresh water, food, drinks, camping gear, fishing equipment, and clothes for both winter and summer, even down to several sets of blankets, was extraordinary.

If Naruto were a girl, Anko would half-jokingly suspect he'd have dozens of boxes of sanitary products stashed away too.

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