Wow, you all are making me blush with the reviews. (Note to self: Make sure I don't get a big head.) And I'm sorry I didn't get this up sooner, things in the real world have been sort of hectic, to say the least- My dad had a heart attack followed by surgery, and then I had surgery, papers and exams, and then I managed to misplace my outline for this chapter.
I'm splitting the chapter into two parts, on that note as I have half of it already typed, and I feel like a heel just leaving you hanging. There is some plot exposition in the begining, but it had to go somewhere- it will be key later on, too. The next part will have Team 7 and the conclusion of the battle between Garra and Naruto, this part will focus on things happening with the rest of the rookies and other people.
I know some of you were slightly disappointed with Shikamaru and Neji's fight, but the point of it was that Neji, despite all his claims and talks to the contrary, really has a temper. He's angry at Naruto, and the fact Shikamaru supports Naruto means that he wanted to beat up Shikamaru in Naruto's place- and he completely forgot his opponent's unique jutsu. Because of that, the real damage done to Neji was to his ego and pride, not to his body. Anyway, here's the next chapter.
Sacrificing Tomorrow- Part 1
Rin grit her teeth as one of the mednins checked her arm as they carted her and Lee to the med station inside the arena. Lee was already asleep, and mostly healed.
There were three types of healing jutsu. The first was pretty basic and mostly used with training scrapes and bruises- it was also used for diagnosing the really bad injuries. The second was for damages caused to nins by their own jutsus, and involved intense knowledge of chakra coils, systems and required a lot of chakra control on the part of the healer.
The third was for on the battle field. This type was used for battle wounds that almost split a person open. Arguably, it could be considered the advanced version of the first type, but there was a huge difference to the healers. The first type used only the healer's own chakra. The third used the healer's and the injured parties chakra to patch them up.
Chakra was an energy that wasn't always under a ninja's control. Children who had it occasionally had it flare when they were angry and distressed, some even having a slightly innate sense of control to manipulate it enough to set something on fire, cause water to spray up from a sprinkler or pond to splash someone they didn't like or even give another an electric shock. Chakra also boosted one's immune system, and as a result ninjas didn't suffer from colds as often as their civilian counterparts, and healed a bit quicker from scraped knees and bruises- by about 50 percent faster.
There were a lot of limitations on healing, despite the civilian view that med nins were capable of healing everything.
First on that list was damage to bones- yes, med nins could heal breaks in bones, but the bone had to be set first, otherwise the bone would heal crookedly. Healing jutsu could manipulate bones into place, but there was no guarantee that it would heal straight. So for the most part, nins with broken bones had to suffer through several days of splints and going into medical centers for the med nins to make sure that everything healed perfectly straight.
Second was the damage to chakra coils, as well as chakra depletion. Any med nin was capable of boosting their patient's chakra to a safe level if they used too much- a ninja could die from complete chakra depletion, and those that didn't generally never recovered to the level they had been before. Damage to chakra coils, while capable of being healed completely by medical jutsu, was better treated by letting the coils naturally recover from the strain, otherwise there was the possibility of a nin being unable to naturally produce their own chakra (there were enough cases reported that no one pushed the med nin that treated them to completely fix the damage).
Finally, and this was what made the third type of jutsu so difficult, damage to organs, whether by a blade or jutsu. When a nin was stabbed, their own chakra diverted from fighting to healing, speed up the clotting process, produce more blood to replace what was lost, etc. Med nins sped up that natural process significantly, but there was a catch, and a reason why even though a ninja was healed they didn't immediately spring up to their feet and back into battle. And this reason was the same reason soldier pills were invented.
Completely healing a nin from a critical injury- or even partially- used up the healer's and the ninja's chakra. (Healers could not afford to lose too much chakra healing just one person, especially on the battle field.) For the nin to get up and back in the fight, especially slightly injured, their chakra had to be boosted.
Thus, soldier pills that boosted one's chakra. They had been invented during wartime when every single ninja that could be on the battlefield was needed to potentially turn the tide in their side's favor.
In Mist, these facts were drilled mercilessly into academy and genin, if someone was injured, you only healed it until it would need stitches and if someone was already in a deep puddle of blood, then they were told to either let them die, or mercy kill them. Which was why Rin was watching the med nin heal Lee with a raised eyebrow.
Because this med nin apparently decided to completely heal Lee. Rin grit her teeth as another piece of bone was shifted into place. She had refused painkillers because she hated being out of control of her own body. Another two pieces of bone were set, and when she returned her attention to her opponent, Lee was already sitting up and putting on his weights.
"How much do those things weigh, anyway?" Rin managed, almost biting her tongue- her collar bone had apparently been broken as well.
"Dunno, I stopped keeping track, but they aren't as much as Gai-sensei's." Lee got of his exam table, and Rin's eyes widened despite herself as he took her free hand in his- but she quickly tightened her grip. "How bad is it, Tanaka-san?"
"Bout's seven breaks in my forearm, and then my upper arm had about two and a fracture." She hissed.
"Not to mention your collar bone was broken in two places." The med nin added, slightly disapproving.
"Oh- it'll heal just fine, right?" Lee looked between them. He wasn't sure what had possessed him to take the mist gennin's hand, but the look of surprise and gratitude she had given told him that she had appreciated the gesture.
"It will take about three months or so before she's fully healed, but if she doesn't use it and listens to the healers she'll be fine." The med nin dismissed the concern.
"It's my left arm, it won't be too hard to not use it." Rin muttered. Pretty soon she was outfitted with a sling, and more instructions.
That was when the alarms- Shrilly signaling that something had gone wrong- went off.
Both gennin followed the mednins to find out was happening, and took a step onto a real battlefield.
In the stands, Neji and Shikamaru were trying to keep those still under the genjutsu from getting killed. They alternated between waking the others up and gurading them, but for the most part, they were ignored.
"Now what?" Ino demanded, supporting Tenten. She was answered by a blast of water hitting a sound nin as Rin and Lee joined them.
"I vote getting rid of these stragglers- almost everyone else is fighting outside the arena." Those fighting in the arena were a handful of chunin- all the others had been able to push the fight out of the arena.
"You're injured." Neji pointed out, byakugan activated.
"I'll use long range attacks, then."
"Split up." They all looked at Shikamaru. "Groups of two and three long range and short range, mendoksu . . ."
"Right." The group split up, and began to fight.
Iruka felt like throwing up. He could feel Kyuubi's chakra, and that of something similar. This was the moment he had secretly feared, that Naruto would lose control in battle and the Kyuubi would escape.
He kept his outward appearance as calm as he could, reassuring the students. But inside . . . he was terrified. He didn't want to lose Naruto, the kid was something like a little brother/son to him, he meant it when he said the kid wasn't a monster to him.
But the Kyuubi was still a real threat, something Iruka didn't understand, and it had destroyed half their village the last time it rampaged.
How much of a chance did a stubborn kid like Naruto have against something like that?
At the same time Iruka was panicking and fearing the worst, his optimistic side was stubbornly asserting that Naruto wouldn't lose to the fox, and trying to convince him he wasn't about to lose yet another family member.
When this was over, Iruka was going to find Naruto and yell at him for putting him through all this.
Elsewhere, Anko was colorfully cursing the sound nin, the mercenaries, idiots and her former sensei. Especially her former Sensei. She barely even acknowledged Ibiki as he covered her back.
"Orochimaru, why are you doing this?" Sarutobi demanded. For an answer, a giant snake lunged at him, but was halted by a large toad.
"Sorry I'm late. It took me a minute to find you." Jiraiya appeared at his Sensei's side, opposite Orochimaru. Not a moment too soon, as a large barrier surrounded the three men, separating them from everyone else. "Been a long time, Orochimaru."
"So it has, Jiraiya, tell me, are you still writing perverted fantasies?" Orochimaru gave a cold smile that almost gave them frostbite.
"SUPER-perverted fantasies, thank you very much." Sarutobi resisted the urge to face-palm. "But I think it's a much better pastime than experimenting on your fellow humans and biting little children."
"Ah, so Sasuke-kun's team told you what happened?"
"Why are you doing this, Orochimaru? What's the purpose of putting a poisonous seal on a child?" Sarutobi interrupted. "Don't tell me you're still chasing after immortality?"
"I've achieved it, I'm after jutsu now. I need the boy's eyes to achieve that goal."
"So why attack here? You could've just struck at anytime while the boy was on his own."
"Still so narrow-minded Jiraiya? You've been spying on me for how long, and you still want me to put the pieces together for you?" Jiraiya stiffened. He thought he had stayed out of his former teammate's knowledge. "I'll humor you both, for old times' sake." The giant snake he had summoned curled behind him and he leaned against it as he reached up to his face, and tore it off. Seeing their stunned expressions, he began to laugh.
Jiraiya felt like he was going to be physically ill. That face was too young to be Orochimaru's. In that moment, whatever tiny pinprick of hope he'd still had of ever seeing the old friend he remembered vanished.
The man in front of him had nothing left of that old friend, now there was just a monster. A monster he had failed to kill once before, but he would fail this time.
He owed that last service to the old friend he'd once had.
Next to him, Sarutobi felt similar thoughts run through his mind. It was time to correct the mistakes of the past.
Whatever the sacrifice that had to be made.
To be continued in Part 2 . . .