Iryo-nin Kasa (医療忍傘)
Chapter Nine: Dead or Alive?
Screams coursed through the air as panic and chaos reigned. My mind shut down the instant I saw and recognized Isobu, the three-tailed beast. Everything happening to Konoha right now is my fault. Before my intervention, this attack on Konoha would never happen because he would never have gotten close enough to the village. Kakashi would've killed his jinchuriki long before it made it here.
What changed? What did I change? I saved Obito. Do you know what that means? Rin who was kidnapped and made a jinchuriki against her will, won't die. Obito won't let that happen, he swore to protect her. Konoha is under attack because I saved him… this was my fault. What happens if the parents of the Rookie Nine died because of this? What happens if the key players are gone?
I felt the tears weld up in my eyes. What should I do? What could I do? What about Kyubi's attack? How many more people are going to die there? Would the village be standing if that happens? Did I make a mistake? Is everything going to end here and now? My hands shook as I clasped them against my forehead, desperate to still them.
I'm scared.
"Tou-san, Obito… Kushina-san." I whimpered quietly, wishing they were here.
"Kasa," whispered Itachi, drawing me out of my thoughts again. "You're letting the silence get to you again."
"So? I don't feel like talking." I sniffled. We sat in the dimness of the shelters in the Hokage Monument as the sounds of fighting continued outside.
"I could keep the silence away for you if you want," offered the boy.
"How?" I rubbed away the unshed tears at my eyes.
"Focus on my voice," started Itachi as he turned to face me directly. "Think of this like our meditation training exercise."
"I don't think listening to you giving me training tips would help." I grumbled childishly. I don't feel like being strong right now. I want to cry.
"Just listen," said Itachi firmly. "Block out everything else. The echoes in here, the fighting outside. Make sure the only thing you can hear is me."
"…That kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it? You don't really talk and it'll just be silent again." I joked, but the mirth didn't reach my voice or my eyes.
"Listen to me," repeated Itachi patiently. "Only my voice and nothing else. Can you do that?"
"Sure, why not?" I said as I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Block out all the other distractions. Hear just his voice and only his voice, nothing else.
"Am I the only thing you hear?" asked Itachi.
"Yeah." I nodded, with my eyes still closed.
"Good, now listen closely Kasa. I'm only going to say this once," warned Itachi. "If you miss it I won't say it again."
"Okay?" I frowned. I felt him shift closer until I could feel his breath on my ear… Hey! Personal bubble space Itachi… What the hell are you doing?
"Listen closely," whispered the boy.
I resisted the urge to back away.
"To the extreme," said Itachi with the most deadpan voice possible.
What?
A snort escaped from my lips when I register what he said. I quickly slapped my hands to my mouth before I fell over laughing. Oh god, this guy! I tried my damnest not to fill the shelter with my laughter, but I'm quite sure I'm failing and getting many odd looks.
"Itachi, what did you do to her?" asked Shisui when he broke away from his classmates and made it to our side.
"I just said a couple of words, that's all," noted Itachi as he shifted back into his seat.
"…What did you say? I've never see her laugh so hard," said Hana in bafflement. Her ninkens stared at me oddly with the tilt of their heads.
Itachi remained quiet, he probably still doesn't get why I find that so hilarious.
"Oh goodness, I needed that." I gasped out after gathering my breath.
"You gave us a scare when you froze up at the academy," said Hana.
"Yeah, I just had… some bad thoughts, that's all." I scratched the back of my head.
"Are you feeling better though?" asked Shisui.
"…Not really, I'll feel better if that thing outside stopped attacking." I murmured, rubbing my bandaged arms.
Don't misunderstand me, I'm not into the bandaged look, hell it's a pain in the ass to wake up in the morning to wrap my arms everyday, but Kushina insisted I hide the seals. I would get those arm thingies Sasuke used, but that tends to slide compared to bandages.
"Yeah, I wonder how they're doing out there?" murmured Shisui as he glanced towards the small glimpse of sunlight peeking into the shelters. "Wish we could do something to help."
I sighed dejectedly as I curled up my knees and rested my chin on top. How did things turn for the worse so quickly? I might have stopped Madara from taking Obito, but with the things going the way it is, he might still get Obito if Rin dies in this mess. With this attack, key players might not exist for when he comes back as Tobi. I've made such a mess of things.
To make things worse, Kushina and Minato, the village's best seal masters weren't even here! I need to fix this somehow! But how? I can't do anything! I'm not a seal master. Hell, I'm not even a genin! How the heck do I take down a demon that's the size of a skyscraper when even seasoned jounin have trouble with them?
Think Kasa; you know the situation better than anyone else here. There must be something you can do that no one else here can. I gnawed on my lower lip in thought. I have foreknowledge, great, but I have no power to back that up. Oh, what I'd give to get some power right now then I could…
I blinked, glancing down at my arms, Kaa-san's seals. I have a freaking cheat code here and I'm not even using it! A frown crossed my face, but I don't know if I could use it. The last time I activated the seal, I got sent to the hospital. The hokage and Kushina made me promise not to use it unless a seal master or an iryo-nin supervised me, but then again I did have training… With the chaos outside, I don't think I have much of a choice.
"Kasa," interrupted Itachi. "What are you planning?"
"Nothing." I said innocently.
"I know that look on your face," noted the boy.
"What look?" I feigned cluelessness.
"You have it every time you realized you decide on some prank you want to do with Obito," said the boy dryly. "It's very obvious."
"Really?" I asked before realizing I just ousted myself.
"What are you planning?" asked Itachi again.
I tried to think of ways around this, but the look of no nonsense on his face told me it'd be hopeless. "I want to help."
"Kasa, you're an academy student. You can't help," said Shisui firmly.
"But I can! I think..." I protested lamely.
"How? You can't even beat Itachi. How are you going to go up a demon?" asked Shisui. "This isn't a game Kasa."
"I'm not treating it like a game!" Okay, that's a lie; I'm totally going to cheat code the crap out of this thing. "I know I can do something! Or at least buy enough time for someone to do something!"
"How?" Hana asked.
"That's the issue, I need to find the answer first." I said, scratching at my bandages. I should probably remove them before I activate the seals.
"The marks on your arms," remarked Itachi. "They're seals aren't they?"
I shouldn't be surprised he figured it out, living nearly three weeks with him; he'd seen me wrap them in the morning. "Yeah, they're knowledge seals. Maybe there's something in there that we can use. If we can't we could at least tell one of the sensei."
"Are you sure?" frowned Itachi. "Have you even used them before?"
"Yeah!" I retorted with a huff. "I know how it works. Kushina-san and Minato-san had been training me!" Another lie, they've been training me in seals recognition and controlling my activator skills.
"Kasa…" He didn't look like he believed me.
"I'll be fine!" I waved it off. "Though… get sensei if something goes wrong."
Their eyes widened. "Something goes—"
I didn't give them a chance to finish as I charged up chakra in my hand and slapped it down over my bandages, no time to unravel them now. I need to do this before they get someone to stop me. The familiar rush of information hit me as I concentrated solely on how to deal with tailed beasts and how to contain them.
There were a number of seals that could be used for creating jinchuriki and a number to restrain the beast to buy time. All I couldn't use, because I can't make seals. I gritted my teeth as I delved deeper into the information. I need something I could use without needing to make seals! I need something that would keep Rin alive!
Rings.
"Rings?" I frowned. "What the hell does rings have to… oh…Oh!"
"Kasa! Let go of your arm right now!" Shisui's voice snapped through the haze of information as he and Itachi yanked my hand away from my arm.
"Kasa-chan! Are you all right?" asked Hana as she pressed a tissue to my nose to stem the stream of blood.
My eyes blinked rapidly as the images slowly faded. This wasn't as bad as last time. I could still move.
"Kasa! Kasa, can you hear us?" snapped Itachi. He sounded almost angry.
"I got it." I whispered.
"Kasa?" repeated Hana worriedly.
"I totally had it!" I whooped for joy as I jumped away from them and darted out towards the entrance.
"Kasa Mon! Where do you think you're go—"
"Sorry sensei! I got to go to the bathroom!" I shouted as I darted under him and zipped my way out.
I'm such an idiot! I had it all along! I knew there was something special about it! I just didn't know what it was! Oh man, this is going to be the best cheat code ever! Well… sort of. If I fail, I'll probably die a painful death. If I succeed, I'll probably live about a decade or two shorter than what I'm supposed to, but who cares? Either I lose a couple of years near the end of my life or I die by the paws of the tailed beasts. Like I said, if I'm going to die, it better damn well be by my own mistakes!
"Kasa! What the hell are you doing out here?" snapped Kakashi when I made my way to the scene.
"Where's Obito?" I asked.
"Kasa, go back to the shelter! It's not safe here!" ordered Kakashi.
"But I could help!" I retorted.
"This isn't a game Kasa! Go back!" The silver-haired jounin glared at me.
"I'm not playing! I can stop it!" I snapped back. Screw secrets, we're short on time. "That's Rin-san up there right? I can save her!"
Kakashi stopped. "…How did you…?"
"I just need to get close enough! I can stop it and save Rin-san. If you won't tell me where Obito is, then you have to get me close enough!" I said.
"There is no way I'm—"
"We don't have time for this! The longer we take, the more of the village it destroys! Obito said you're a genius and prodigy! Well use that genius brain of yours! If we don't stop it now, they're going to kill Rin-san to stop this!" I argued.
Conflict rushed through Kakashi's eyes in both his normal and sharingan eye before he eventually gave in. "How close do you need to go?"
"Get me to the closest tail first. Then get ready to go to the next after I'm done." I said as I yanked down my collar and pulled out the string of charms Tesuri gave me before he left. I yanked off the five rings dangling on the charms and slipped all five onto my index finger.
"You better know what you're doing," said Kakashi as he picked me up and darted towards the ginormous body of the three-tailed beast. It's going to be hell to get to all the necessary points with the distance between them, but we have to try, I suppose.
It took Kakashi ten minutes to race through rooftops to the first tail of Isobu. The tailed flailed so violently it was hard to focus on it.
"Can you get onto that tail?" I asked as we drew closer. "I don't have enough chakra to set it off at this range."
"On it," said Kakashi as he body-flickered his way to the tail and attached his feet to the limb. "Hurry up, I can't hold this position for long."
"Got it!" I said as I slid the ring off with my thumb and pressed it against the tail. With a pulse of chakra the ring glowed and sunk into the tail. A roar came from above as the beast stopped moving forward. His other tails still thrashing and struggling to make the one I disabled, move. "Next one!"
"Hold on," murmured Kakashi as he body-flickered once more. It took three flickers before he managed to the next tail.
I was a little green by the time he landed on the tail, but kept down the urge to hurl. No time for motion sickness! I slid off the next ring and repeated the process on the second tail. The ring glowed and sunk into it just like the last one. "Next—" I covered my mouth, swallowing down the bile that rose up.
"You okay?" asked Kakashi.
"Just keep going!" I said before he flickered again. This time it was a bit harder, Isobu was flailing and thrashing like a rampant elephant, nearly flipping onto its back. "Hurry up Kakashi! We got to get the other one before he flips backwards onto the village!"
"I'm going as fast as I can!" snapped the silver-haired jounin as he flickered towards the last tail.
The instant he landed I slipped off the next ring and slapped it onto the tail with a pulse of chakra. The ring glowed and sunk in.
"WHAT IS THIS?" roared Isobu furiously.
"Three down! Let's get one of the arms before heading towards the head. That should keep it still enough for the last one." I said.
"I can't believe this is working," murmured Kakashi as he flickered once more. I wonder how many more of those could he dish out? He's practically running the length of the four corners of Konoha with the size of Isobu. Let's hope we can stop him completely before he gets any further into the village.
"Hurry up Kasa!" shouted Kakashi as he landed on the arm.
I slapped another ring into the arm with a pulse of chakra.
"NO!" roared Isobu as he thrashed wildly with his remaining arm. "I WILL NOT SUCCUMB TO YOU!"
"Can you keep going?" I asked when he started running up Isobu's arm instead of flickering. He must be exhausted.
"Just one more." He gritted his teeth.
"Kakashi!" roared Obito. "I'm not going to let you kill Rin!"
"Shit," hissed Kakashi. "Obito! You have to listen! We can—"
Too late, Obito caught him square in the jaw with a punch. Kakashi lost his grip on me.
"Obito!" I screamed as I began to plummet towards the ground.
"Kasa?" The former Uchiha snapped out of his anger.
"Damn it Obito! She was going to save Rin!" shouted Kakashi.
"I thought—"
"OBITO!" The rest of the conversation was lost as I screamed. Shit, I'm going to fall to my death! What the hell do I do? WHAT THE HELL DO I DO?
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" shouted a rough voice from a distance.
I strained to turn my head as the wind pressure as a large cloud of smoke faded and a giant toad stood in its place. A studded tongue shot out of its mouth and snatched me out of the air.
"Oh god, this is disgusting!" I can't help but scream.
"Jiraiya, you better teach this child some respect or I will eat her," warned the toad boss.
"Hear that little girl? That's not very nice, Gamabunta saved you," chided an amused tone as the tongue dropped me on top of Gamabunta's head. I stumbled before a hefty hand caught me by the shoulder. "Okay there, kid?"
I glanced up and my jaw dropped. Spiky white hair, red stripe markings, cocky grin. "Jiraiya…" I said in awe.
"Ha!" chortled the man. "Glad to know I'm still famous with the younger generation! Small talk aside. What were you doing up there little girl?"
I snapped out of my awe and glanced down to the last ring on my finger. "I need to get to the top of his head! He won't stop unless the last seal is on him! Please, can you get me there?" I begged.
"Seal?" Jiraiya raised a brow.
"My mother is an Uzumaki, I'm staying with Kushina-san and Minato-san. I can answer any questions you want, but we need to stop that first!"
The man took one glance at me, then the tailed beast. "I'll hold you on that," said Jiraiya before he turned his attention to Gamabunta. "Give us a boost old friend, and if you can, keep that arm of his busy, will you?"
Gamabunta snorted. "You better bring some high quality sake the next time you summon me!"
"Of course, of course. Have I ever walked out on a promise?" chuckled Jiraiya as he picked me up. "All right little lady, here we go!"
I really hate getting hauled around like a sack of potatoes. Gamabunta shot us towards the tailed beast and Jiraiya made quick work of latching onto the spikes on Isobu's head.
"Hurry up kid," said Jiraiya as he lowered me to the beast's face.
"HUMAN!" roared Isobu as I sent the last ring into his eye with a chakra pulse. "NO!" He screamed before his body completely stopped.
"Done?" asked Jiraiya.
I gave an exhausted sigh. "For now. I need to do one last thing, can you put me down, near his eye?"
"What exactly are you doing?" asked Jiraiya as he swung us over to Isobu's eye.
"Getting whoever's in there, out." I answered. "Whew… I hope I have enough for this…" I pressed my hands against the eye and took a deep breath before sending another pulse of chakra through.
Oh yeah, I should probably explain what the hell I've been doing all this time. Remember the string of charms Tesuri gave me way back when? Apparently, those charms were seals. Who knew right? I sure as hell didn't! I thought it was some stupid trinket.
Anyway, there are ten in total, I have no clue what the other five does, but the five rings I just used? Yeah, those are elemental seals, five in total. Sound familiar? It should, because Orochimaru used it once on Naruto. These five seals could do the same exact thing as the Five Elements Seal when used in conjunction with one another.
That's right, this baby is a power disruptor. As long as I can get all five on fairly vital areas, I can disrupt the shit out of his chakra core. No chakra, no control, no movement! Game over sucker! Now is the hard part. Since I set each of the seals separately rather than all at once. Each seal could do only so much on its own.
If I want to knock Isobu off its ass and have Rin back in control, I need to connect all five seals, which means I'm going to have to exert a lot of chakra to reach the far corners of this fat ass. Remember what I said about possibly losing my life earlier? Since I don't have the necessary amount of chakra needed to pull this stunt off, I'm doing a conversion. Trading years for energy.
The whole process will take a while to explain, so I'll spare you the majority of the details. Thank god the conversion method is intuitive for activators because there was no way in hell I could pull this off after seeing it once.
Rather than bore you, I'll give you the short version. Natural activators have the bonus of converting their life energy into chakra for immediate use. The trade off, depending how much you convert, that energy takes away years from your total life span.
Say, I'm supposed to live to a hundred, if I use the conversion method, like say to shoot enough chakra through a freaking beast, I would have spent about ten to twenty years of my life to do so in my current skill set and chakra reserve. So instead of a hundred, I'll live till I'm eighty… given I don't die before then.
Of course, if I screw up, it'll suck out everything I have and I'll just drop dead here, but haha what are the chances of…
Author's Note: I like to thank everyone for reviewing and hitting the 100-review mark. I thought I'd thank you with another quick chapter. Will she live or will she die? I know I'm horrible with ending almost every chapter in a cliffhanger, but thanks for putting up with me.
Jutsu:
Kuchiyose no Jutsu- Summoning Technique