Seiou the Drifting Swordsmen

Chapter 7: Recovery

Seiou's good arm burned fiercely as his muscles tightened and twisted in his arm. Certainly the wind cutter jutsu was powerful, but it was risky to use with his injuries. Now, it might take a few days before he could use that arm for combat again.

His body wasn't the only thing that was severely injured during the fight. The sword was unable withstand the techniques mighty force. It had suffered too much damage beforehand. Now the blade shattered like dust across the clearing, leaving only the pommel gripped tightly in his hand.

He could feel the constrictions from his arm slowly spreading throughout his body. This was the largest consequence of forcing the production of such large amounts of chakra. His spiritual energy was still burning strong but his physical energy was almost out. The body instinctively attempts to equal out the energies and restore balance by producing vast amounts of physical energy to compensate. To do this however, his body must exert it from its source, the muscles.

Normally the stress is unnoticeable but for such a large loss of chakra, the muscles were expanding, growing in mass and strength to a point where his bones were groaning under the pressure. If this contraction continued to spread, his vitals could overwork and stop working, even if that didn't happen, the sudden contraction would paralyze him, rendering him food for whatever lived in the forest. He had to find his teammates quickly.

Then he heard something from above, and it was falling fast: "Seiou!!!"

The person hit him square in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him to the ground. Her black hair was neatly pulled back in a ponytail. She wore a fiber mesh suit under her solid white t-shirt with black pants. The Hidden Mist's headband was wrapped tightly around her right arm. Seiou recognized the obnoxious teenager immediately.

"Where have you been Seiou? We've been looking everywhere for you and here you are, wandering through the forest like some cat!"

"Chiyu, get off and hel-"

"Don't interrupt me while I'm venting," Chiyu said irritably, "Anyway, you need to stop wandering off on your own like that. I mean, we do worry about you you know. And don't give me that look!" She looked down expecting him to roll his eyes or something but he was out cold.

"Seiou? Wake up! I still need to yell at you!" Chiyu shouted, shaking Seiou's limp body. Seiou's broken arm flapped abnormally, bending sickeningly away from its normal direction.

She noticed immediately, "What the hell happened to your arm?" Chiyu said. He must've gotten in a fight, but what could cause this much damage to Seiou? She stripped the jacket and shirt from his chest to provide a diagnostic. It seemed his arm, as well as two ribs were broken in his right side. Another rib was broken on his left side as well, no thanks to her and several cuts ran across his chest and legs. The abrasions may take some time to heal but they weren't lethal so they could wait.

His left arm however could not. The muscles were contorting in strange wormlike shapes that spread across his pectorals and even his upper abdominals. It appeared to be a hyperfelxing of the muscles, most likely from a lack of physical energy. The protrusion was spreading quickly; she would need to transfuse a large amount of chakra to cease the destructive reaction.

"Koto, get over here quick! I found Seiou!" She yelled into her headset.

"Alright, I'll be right there." Koto replied. Chiyu was fairly competent he would be here soon. Their headsets were equipped with a GPS system and a tracker, allowing the team to locate one another anywhere in a ten-mile radius.

Koto landed in the clearing, about a minute after the distress call. He was about three inches higher than Chiyu and had a small trim cut similar to Seiou's. He wore a camo jumpsuit with similar sweatpants and a sword was slung across his back: "Chiyu, what's the situation?"

"I need you help!" Chiyu replied.

"Well, this is a first."

"This isn't the time for witty retorts! Seiou's seriously injured!"

"What? What happened?!"

"His body is undergoing extreme vermiculation. He needs a chakra transplant."

"Right, I'm on it," Koto said running over, "What should I do?"

I need you to place your hand here." Chiyu said, pointing at his chest. Koto gave a look of disgust as he saw the skin up close. It looked like worms were crawling inside him.

Koto hesitantly placed his hand on the chest: "Brace yourself; this is going to hurt a little." She began to form the necessary hand signs for the jutsu. Rat, bird, ox, ox, horse, dog boar, monkey flashed across her hands and she pressed them into Koto's palm. A red aura surrounded their hands with the viscosity of water and poured into Seiou's chest. Koto could feel a painful tingle through his arm, as his chakra was congealed. The muscles almost immediately relaxed, the worm like protrusions sinking across his chest and his arm.

The vermiculation was cured but Seiou was still in critical condition. His heart was beginning to fibrillate, most likely from the spread of vermiculate muscle. Chiyu performed the hand signs for a new jutsu. She spread out her hands to allow the yellow lightning to spread across her palms.

"Lightning Style, Lightning palm Jutsu." She slammed her hands into Seiou's chest, sending lighting through his fibrillating heart. The attempt failed to regulate it. Knowing the heart could give any minute now she tried again. She knew she needed to remain calm but it was proving difficult in this situation. It took five tries but the heart finally stabilized.

Now that the major injuries were relived, she commenced to heal the minor wounds. She realigned the bones and connected them pretty quickly. The cuts though proved troublesome. Faint amounts of chakra still covered the wounds, making her use more energy than usual to seal them. She only made it through half of the abrasions before her energy was completely depleted.

"You need to work on those chakra stores of yours," Koto said.

"Shut up!" Chiyu painted, "this is harder than it looks you know."

"Yeah I know. But still what on earth happened to him?"

"I don't know, his sword is broken with no jagged edge, probably from a jutsu initiated by Seiou."

"How do you know that?"

"See these burn marks? They only coat the top of the hilt where the blade connects. Most likely, Seiou used a jutsu strong enough to make the sword explode."

"That's Seiou for you, he's amazing."

"There are also these broken bones. His back ribs and arm are broken from the back, indicating he was either slammed into a wall or attacked from behind. But nothing can get behind Seiou so I doubt it's the latter."

"Damn Chiyu, you're as sharp as ever."

"Thanks," Chiyu said, "but what are we going to do about this sword? Eisen is going to kill someone if he finds out about this."

"Find out what?" Eisen said, emerging from the trees. He looked fairly old, probably in his fifties but was still surprisingly fit and strong. His white mustache ran into his curved. His hair was also white with a bald spot at the skulls peak. He wore a light leather armor filled with pouches for chisels, hammers, tongs, and several blacksmith tools.

Both of them jumped in surprise, landing in front of Seiou's sword hand "Um… nothing."

"Nothing huh?" He said.

Chiyu was getting nervous. She never was good at hiding her feelings, "Yeah nothing hehehe."

He came mere inches from her face and stared at her. He pulled away soon after: "So, you found Seiou."

"Y-yeah we did," Koto said, "Good thing too, I don't think he would've lasted much longer."

"What happened?" Eisen asked shocked.

"We don't know but if Chiyu wasn't here, he'd probably be six feet under."

"We shouldn't stay here much longer then," Eisen said.

"What do you mean?" Chiyu asked.

"If someone was strong enough to make Seiou lose conciseness, then he's more than a match for us. He could've been defeated but we don't know that for sure. Our best bet is to take Seiou and get away as soon as possible."

"But Seiou is still unconscious. What do you plan to do with him?" Koto asked

"Why don't you carry him on your back? After all, it is an apprentices duty to take care of their master."

"Um… right I'll do it."

"And Chiyu, hand over that blade."

Chiyu jolted, "What do you mean?"

"Nice try but old eyes haven't given out yet. You fingered the blade from his hand while you were standing in front didn't you?"

"No I didn't. I-"

"Don't worry; I won't hold it against him. Seiou took great care in protecting my sword. In fact, I've never met another man who manages his weapons as caringly as he does."

Chiyu was moved. She never expected the old man to say something like that. She withdrew the blade from her ninja bag and handed it over.

"Don't worry Seiou," Eisen said nostalgically, "I won't make such a fragile blade next time. Com'n you two, we need to get out of here now."

Koto went to pick up Seiou, who turned out to be much heavier than he first thought. Eventually though, he moved the dead weight to a comfortable position. Chiyu picked up Eisen, considering he had no past training and put him on her back. As they left the village, one thing still bothered Chiyu. Over the past seven years, she had treated hundreds of people but Seiou… It's amazing he even stood a chance of living with those injuries; such a strong wills he had. What was his ultimate goal in life that he would stare death in the face to accomplish it? Only time would tell.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading. Please leave a review. Trust me! Its is greatly appreciate good or bad. And yes, I do know vermiculation can't happen like that but hey, its my story.