Chapter 8 – Rain-Clouds of the Past
I looked back and forth between Kimi-san, on the floor, and Yukiko-san beside me. The Second Yukikage gave a slight sigh; meanwhile, Kimi had regained her composure, and was looking increasingly angry.
"Silver hair, purple eyes…there's no mistaking it!" Hisa laughed. "The Silver-wind clan, the Ginkazes of Hidden Rain. My parents have spent the past 27 years looking for you guys, and I draw your name on luck alone!" She pulled out an umbrella, inspected it, and replaced it in the harness on her back, choosing another one instead. Kimi looked on without moving.
Hisa was still muttering joyfully to herself. "I can't believe I didn't figure it out that first time we met in the woods. Well, no matter. I saw your moves out there; I know how your clan works. And let me tell you one thing, Missing Nin…" She opened the new umbrella over her head, and formed a seal with her other hand. "Nobody can outperform a Rain ninja using Hidden Rain techniques! Needle Storm Jutsu!"
A hail of needles came raining downward from the sky, seemingly from all directions but converging on Kimi at an alarming speed.
I barely caught it, that glint in Kimi's violet eyes. Then she was moving too fast to follow, spinning in a circle, needles raining ioutward/i from her body. "Reverse Needle Storm Jutsu," she said as she spun. I recognized the move from the Forest of Death. Hisa's eyes grew wide as she watched every one of her needles clank against one of Kimi's and fall to the ground. Not a single one of the Rain Ninja's weapons reached its target.
Kimi slid to a stop and grinned.
"Are you done yapping yet?" she asked her stunned opponent. "You need to be paying closer attention. First of all, you should have known that technique was coming – like you said, you saw me do it just yesterday! Secondly, I was born, raised, and trained my entire life in Hidden Snow. I don't care if your parents are Hunter Nins, or what you say about my family, but I am not a Missing Nin!"
"I'll still be able to bring this information home to my parents," Hisa stammered. "I'll be the hero of my clan!"
"It doesn't matter if you know where we are!" Kimi said. "Hidden Rain and Hidden Snow aren't allies; you need permission from the Yukikage to even enter our village without being killed."
Hisa suddenly looked as if she remembered something; her eyes flitted to the woman standing beside me at the balcony railing. "The…Yukikage…."
I shook my head. That was the wrong move, Kimi.
Kimi blinked, then realized her mistake, too late.
"The Yukikage is a Ginkaze too!"
Kimi charged the girl, but Hisa pulled back and fended her off with no more than a couple of kunai.
I looked to my benefactor, the young Yukikage standing beside me. "Yukikage-sama," I said, addressing her formally, "please tell me what they're talking about…you can't be a Missing Nin, can you?"
"No," Yukiko-sama said quietly. "I, like Kimi, was raised and trained entirely in Hidden Snow. I am twenty-six years old, Hotaru-san. My parents and their entire clan were, in fact, members of the Hidden Village of Rain for a great many generations. They left that village twenty-seven years ago."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Our Yukikage was the descendant of Missing Nins? It was a frightening revelation. Missing Nins were notoriously dangerous, often murderers of their own village mates or family.
Then I remembered something.
"Like Ryuro…."
The Yukikage examined my face, then smiled gently. "Yes."
Suddenly I understood why the young Yukikage had been so tolerant, so helpful, regarding my own entrance into the Village of Hidden Snow.
Garuki, who knew a little of my history, looked at me questioningly. "You mean her parents dropped out of ninja school? That doesn't make sense."
"No," I said. "It just means that sometimes those labeled Missing Nins don't exactly deserve their reputation." And sometimes their families suffer for it, I added to myself.
The Yukikage looked at me as if she knew what I was thinking – it occurred to me that she probably did, somehow – and then returned her attention to the match. Kimi seemed a bit frustrated by her opponent's taunts and accusations; she wasn't performing up to her normal level.
"Don't let her get to you, Kimi!" I shouted. Garuki joined in, and even quiet Nodin at one point, and finally Kimi nodded and steeled her expression. Beside me, the Yukikage smiled, perhaps seeing something in her younger sister that even we didn't.
Kimi stared down her opponent. "My sister, like me, was born and raised in Hidden Snow, and saved the entire village during the war. She's a Snow Nin through-and-through, like my whole family!"
"That doesn't change the fact that your parents are Missing Nins of Hidden Rain. When I get back to my village and tell them what I learned, you'll never have an alliance with Hidden Rain again!"
"Like we'd want one," Kimi growled.
"We're one of the most powerful villages out there," Hisa exclaimed. "We could crush your village if you went against us!"
"My clan left Hidden Rain because they were disgusted with your war policies, your back-stabbing of allies and assassinations of innocent people," Kimi stated, drawing some muttering from members of the crowd. "We'd never consider an alliance with you anyway! In any case, you're forgetting one thing."
"What's that?"
"So far, in this part of the exam alone, Snow has outperformed Rain three-to-one."
Hisa thought carefully. "That's not true! It's only two-to-one, and I'm about to win this fight. It'll be even."
Kimi had her hands behind her back, and I saw them twitch into a seal, completely hidden from her opponent.
"It's three-to-one," she repeated.
The blizzard appeared from nowhere, enshrouding the purple-haired Rain girl, snow piling on her outstretched umbrella, which broke under the weight. Hisa tried to move, but Kimi was behind her.
"Ninja Arts: Shadow in the Blizzard."
When Hisa moved, Kimi moved too, directly behind her. Hisa, running out of visibility and clearly disoriented, tried to pull her second umbrella from behind her back and open it. Kimi's motion followed the same path. Hisa brought the umbrella down in front of her, hoping to open it and shield herself from the snow so she could see; but Kimi had a kunai in her hand, and when Hisa's arm went forward and down, Kimi's weaponed hand did the same – the knife carving a straight line down the center of Hisa's back.
Kimi plainly stated "Kai," releasing both the snow-storm genjutsu and the Shadow ninjutsu just in time, allowing Hisa to fall forward onto the solid ground without dragging Kimi along with her. Hisa lay panting on the floor as Kimi stood, looking down from her from behind.
"You said no ninja from another village could outperform a Rain Ninja with Rain jutsu," Kimi said to the bleeding girl, as the match was called and the medic-nins crowded around. "Maybe so – but I was able to match your skill, at least, wasn't I? So, what allowed me to beat you so easily, when our Rain jutsu were at such an equal level?"
The girl Hisa, now on her back and being tended to, stared upward at Kimi silently.
"It's because I'm a Ginkaze," Kimi stated proudly. "We may have come from Rain at one point, and so we may still be pretty good at clan techniques that we learned back in Rain. But we're Snow Ninja now, with Snow attacks to boot – and now there's nobody in any village that can match or predict our unique attacks. Remember that, Hisa of the Takabashi Clan."
Hisa was carried off on a stretcher. Kimi watched her disappear through the doors, being carried to the hospital wing, before leaping calmly all the way up to the balcony, landing beside her sister.
"I apologize, onee-sama," she said. "I gave away more than I should have."
"It couldn't have been helped," Yukiko-sama said, before smiling down at her youngest sister. "That was a well-fought match, Kimi-chan."
Kimi smiled shyly back. "Thank you, nee-san."
There was little time for celebration, though, as the next match was announced, causing all of us to draw in our breath.
Cheveyo Nodin
vs.
Ueki Sumi
There were no groans, no exclamations, not even a sigh from the members of our group. One by one, silently, we all just turned to look at Nodin. Calmly, he swept the eagle feather on his headband away from his left eye, and nodded, then walked down the stairs and out of sight.
"Why is everyone so quiet?" Kimi asked. Her eyes, worried, turned to me. "Who is this Sumi girl?"
The sight of the three lifeless Konoha ninjas hanging from the rock face in the Forest of Death flashed through my memory. I cringed and turned away from my young friend, trying to keep the contents of my stomach in place.
"Hotaru? What is it?"
"She's pretty brutal, that one," Garuki said. The Yukikage placed a hand on my shoulder, but watched the floor silently as Nodin and Sumi stepped out. Hardly comforted, I looked around behind me. Katana and Koori both appeared tense, backs against the wall, staring at the arena floor without a word. Dai-sensei looked worried. Sutiibu noticed.
"He's not ready for this fight, is he, Dai-san?" my instructor asked.
"No."
"That was blunt," Katana said.
"He's a good fighter. Not that good," was Dai's only reply.
Koori spoke. "I saw these guys in the woods, that Sand trio. Shouldn't be a problem. They're young; inexperienced."
"They also came into this final round with nearly half of the total scrolls from the Forest of Death," Sutiibu said. "That wasn't an accident. Maybe your team was lucky – my team's seen them for what they're worth."
"Don't forget, either," said Dai-sensei, "that Cheveyo-kun isn't as experienced as you or Kimi."
Kimi looked from my sensei back to me. "Hotaru-san?"
"Cheer loud, Kimi-chan," I said, staring down at the floor where Shikamaru had just given the command to begin. "He'll need it."
Down on the floor, Ueki Sumi grinned maliciously. "What, this is the best they could come up with?" She pulled several oversized needles from nowhere, and arranged them idly between her fingers. "Let's see. What shall I incapacitate first?"
A wooden shuriken knocked the needles from her fingers and they went clanking to the ground. Sumi blinked, and looked up into Nodin's eyes. He stood in a crouched throwing position.
"Oh?"
"Don't dawdle," he said.
"Yay, Nodin!" Kimi cheered beside me, jumping up and down. "Way to show her!"
"He's in trouble," Katana said. Koori glared at her, but said nothing.
Katana's right, I thought. That was the wrong move.
Back on the arena floor, Sumi's eyes narrowed. "Fine. I was going to have some fun with you, but if you'd rather get down to business…" Leaving the needles scattered on the ground, she formed a quick seal and charged at Nodin, hands held flat.
"It looks like she's doing that Hyuuga clan taijutsu," Garuki said.
I shook my head. "No. It's different. That seal she performed was for the Chakra Scalpel Jutsu. That medical technique."
"Oh, that's right; I've seen Jomei's dad use it."
"That's the one."
"Why is she using a medical technique?"
"Remember the woods?"
Garuki turned pale. "Run, Nodin!" he shouted, and Kimi and I joined in.
As it turned out, though, Nodin was on top of things. He dodged the initial attack with surprising alacrity, swung a spinning back-fist into Sumi's head from behind, and was halfway across the stadium before she could recover.
"He's fast!" I exclaimed.
"He's fast," Kimi agreed.
"He's always so quiet," I said. "He barely moves or speaks. I had no idea he could move so quickly."
"I guess he conserves a lot of energy or something," Garuki said.
Kimi smiled. "Kwahu-kun is full of surprises."
Sumi charged again, but was learning quickly. This time, she anticipated Nodin's dodge, and spun sideways at the last second, diving past Nodin's feet and slicing his right ankle with her jutsu as she passed.
Nodin crumpled – his Achilles' tendon was cut clean through. Sumi was quickly recovering from the dive-and-roll maneuver and headed back at our fallen Snow comrade. Nodin reached in his pouch, pulled out a strange looking herb, and popped it into his mouth.
"What was that?" I asked Kimi.
"Healing herbs," Kimi said, but she didn't sound particularly relieved. "They're great for repairing damage like that, but they take an awfully long time to start working."
"He doesn't have time, I'm afraid, Kimi-chan."
Kimi frowned and let out another chorus of "Go, Kwahu-kun!" in case it might make a difference.
"Hey, Kimi? Why do you always call him Kwahu?" Garuki asked.
Kimi, watching her teammate breathlessly, suddenly smiled. "That's why."
Just as Sumi was approaching again, Nodin bit his thumb, slid it across his forehead protector, and added a hand seal. Sumi skidded past as the giant golden eagle, Nodin on its back, swooped up into the sky.
"Kwahu. It means eagle."
Koori, who had been leaning against the back wall, jumped up and stared at the bird. "How long has he been able to do that?" he demanded.
"Since about two days ago," Kimi said, smiling. "He wanted to keep it a secret in case he had to fight you in the finals."
"Why'd he tell you?!"
Kimi shrugged.
Nodin's eagle was circling the outer reaches of the balcony. A couple of Grass ninjas in the stands ducked as it passed. Suddenly the bird swooped, diving downward straight at Sumi. The talons caught her back, leaving red streaks down her tan dress. She swore, and the bird moved up, then down, and came at her again.
Sumi ducked, rolled, and grabbed her needles off of the floor as the bird's talons swept passed. From on her back, she aimed at the bird and threw.
One, two to the wings.
One to the heart.
One to Nodin as the bird disappeared and he fell to the ground.
"He shouldn't have used something with so little practice." Koori sighed, but didn't return to his spot on the wall; he watched as Nodin hit the ground, even cringing a bit at the crack of bone, belying his feigned disinterest.
"Kwahu!" Kimi cried.
Sumi was up in half a second, Scalpel jutsu reactivated, rushing at the downed Nodin. He managed to prop himself up on one elbow and hold an arm out in defense, but Sumi slashed it at the shoulder and it hung limp. She swung one leg over him and positioned herself on top of his broken body.
"Now you'll pay for what that stupid bird of yours did to me," she growled. "You'll pay for messing with Sand!"
A Healing glow emanated from both hands as she pinned him down and held those hands together over his heart. Before Shikamaru or the other Jounin recognized what was being done, the healing blue glow turned red, and Nodin's face turned ashen.
"She's destroying his heart cells!" Yukiko-sama cried out. "For Heaven's sake stop the match before he's killed!"
Three Jounin surrounded Sumi from her back and both sides, holding her hands and dispelling the jutsu. Nodin groaned beneath them all. He was barely moving.
The Jounin carted Sumi away to another room to have her wounds patched up. Shikamaru sighed and declared her the winner ("How troublesome."). Another group of medic nins had surrounded Nodin, and practically teleported him out of the room.
"Nodin…" Kimi was still staring at the spot where he had been in horror. Koori, who had rushed up to the balcony edge, backed away now, eyes wide, shaking his head.
"Reverse healing," Katana wondered aloud. "What kind of ninja is that girl?"
Kimi was crying now, and her sister looked at her worriedly. "Hotaru-chan. Could you do me a favor?" the Yukikage asked me. I nodded. "Take Kimi-chan down to the hospital wing. It's just down the stairs and through the hallway on the left…you can see, there, how Cheveyo-kun is doing."
"I'm coming too," Koori growled.
"You shall stay," the Yukikage stated. Koori froze, frowned, then nodded, and sulked back to his old spot on the wall.
"I'll stay too," Garuki said, moving to stand by Katana and Sutiibu. "I can fill you in on what happens during the next match. Looks like it's…." he looked at the scoreboard. "Kamiguchi Kenjiro, that green-haired Rain kid, versus Kei, the last Konoha girl."
"Too bad I'll miss it," I said, but took Kimi by the hand and directed her to the stairwell. "I'm sure it'll be a great fight."
"I'll tell you all about it!" Garuki shouted behind me.
I guided Kimi down the stairs and through another passageway, into the room labeled "Chuunin Exam Temporary Hospital." The medical ninjas were very busy, tending not only to Nodin, but Taji-san, Hisa-chan, and the two Sand ninjas as well.
Sumi and Yousuke sat two to a bed on the left side of the room, feet dangling over the edge as they were examined by one doctor apiece. They didn't act much like teammates, though, if you ask me – not a word was said between the two, regarding their matches, or the status of their injuries. Sumi looked a combination of smug and disgusted, and it occurred to me that she was likely still upset over Yousuke's loss.
Come to think of it, he looks a little nervous to have her sitting there.
I wouldn't have traded places with that boy for anything in the world.
"Nodin!" Kimi cried, spotting a curtained-off area in the back of the room with just a few too many medical ninjas swarming around it. She took a few quick steps toward the area before a nurse took her gently by the hand and led her away.
"I'm sorry, dear, but you can't go back there quite yet. That's the intensive care section."
"No!" Kimi wailed. "Kwahu-kun!"
The nurse led her to a comfortable chair near the front of the room, and I followed, taking a seat beside them.
"Sorry to bother you, ma'am, but Cheveyo-kun is Kimi-chan's teammate…" I began.
"Ah, of course. Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Some water might be nice," I said, eyeing Kimi, whose crying had caused hiccups.
"Right away." The nurse disappeared behind a counter and returned with a paper cup full of water for Kimi, who sipped it timidly.
"Thanks," I said. "Is there any way you could tell us how he's doing? I mean, I know he just got here, but…"
"Of course," the nurse said. "There was quite a bit of damage, as I'm sure you could tell. But it seems he took some medication that slowed the decay process and began to heal his injuries."
"The herbs!" Kimi looked up from behind the water cup, eyes glowing with a bit of hope.
"Yes. He took them at just the right time; they began to work just as that girl really attacked him, and it probably saved his life."
"Thank goodness." Kimi's shoulders relaxed just a little.
A doctor spotted us and walked over. "The Snow boy will live," he said, and Kimi and I cheered. Across the room, Sumi rolled her eyes and then looked away, uninterested.
"The damage to his ankle and shoulder was rather extensive, and though not as badly as we expected, his heart tissue was also damaged. He'll live," he repeated, "but his recovery will be a slow one. We did what we could to speed him along, but the rest will have to be accomplished back in Snow Village, in a rehab program."
Kimi and I nodded. "Thank you."
"Would you like to see him? We've got him stabilized."
The two of us followed the doctor to the back of the room, and he held the curtain open for us with one hand. Cheveyo-kun turned his head to see us, eyes pained. After a long pause, he spoke.
"I lost."
"You lived," Kimi said, approaching the bed and taking his uninjured hand.
"I…lived," he replied, and smiled slightly.
"Hotaru! Kimi!" Garuki erupted into the room, burst past all the shocked doctors and nurses, and rushed to my side. "You guys have got to come quick!"
"What's going on?" I asked. "Is the fight over already?"
Garuki put his hands on his knees, breathless. "Just finished. They announced the next fighters!"
"Who are they? Any of ours?" I asked, bewildered by his urgency.
"No. It's the third Sand kid, Manzo, and the diamond-sword guy from the Forest!"
I blinked. "So?"
"So think about it!" he said. "That means there are only two fighters left after this!!"
I paused, but it was Kimi who reached the right conclusion first, turning sharply on Garuki with her eyes wide.
"Katana and Koori."
