Iryo-nin Kasa (医療忍傘)

Chapter Thirty-Four: Worried Sick

"Any luck?" I asked Zaji discreetly as we made our way to the exam hall.

The brunette shook his head. "It's impossible with this many people."

"Muta?" Shisui glanced to his teammate with a questioning gaze, but the quiet Aburame shook his head in response.

A grimace crossed the faces of the primary and secondary reconnaissance teams. One of the first things Hizashi sensei drilled into our heads when it came to infiltrating enemy territories was to identify all sources of possible threats. Ignoring even a single one could lead to the failure of the mission or worse, death… Since we couldn't pinpoint the culprit of the high chakra source, we were going into this exam blind with a dangerous stalker at our heel.

In any normal mission, finding the source would have been a priority before we continued… but with the chunin exams that priority had to take a backseat, less we want to dropout altogether. That was one option we couldn't take if we want to make it to the finals and showcase our village's strength to the daimyo and potential clients.

"It's pointless to dwell on matters out of your control," said Itachi, his crisp voice cut through our thoughts as he continued to move forward. "When you reach the end of the rope, tie a knot and hang on. Whatever happens next, happens."

I was a little surprise to hear his voice after so many days of silence. True, the role Hizashi assigned him wasn't a talkative one, but he wasn't banned from talking at all. I still have no clue why he decided to stop talking all those days ago, but at the same time, I couldn't fathom why he decided to talk again either.

"Such arrogance." I retorted as I played my role accordingly. "Typical Uchiha."

And before you ask what hidden meaning is behind my words, there aren't any. I'm just outright calling him an ass. Well, as close as I could get while acting as a lady. Hizashi sensei made it quite clear that death will be waiting for me if I dare utter a single crass word while in character. If I'm going to insult them, it would have to be in a snide aristocratic manner that belittles the existence of whoever I wish to smite. In other words, I have to insult them without actually insulting them… Yeah, that totally makes a whole lot of sense… the upper crust is weird.

When we arrived at the exam hall, there were already quite a number of genins waiting for the exam to start. Of course, since this exam was hosted by Kirigakure, the majority of the participating examinees were from Kiri. Being the hosting village gives the village an advantage of not having to waste funds on traveling fees and raises the chances of having their own representative show up in the finals. Even if a number of them fail, there would be no wasted travel time for the genin before they could resume their work in taking missions. Though, the downside would be utter embarrassment if none of the genins makes it into the finals.

Aside for the soft murmurings between teammates, the hall was fairly quiet and extremely unnerving. With a quick glance, it wasn't hard to notice how much we stood out. Even after taking our sensei's suggestion in changing our wardrobes to a more muted color, our age made us more distinguishable compared to other teams. It didn't take long before predatory eyes laid upon us.

"Lambs in a den of wolves and no shepherd in sight." I spoke softly.

We are so fucked.

Fortunately, the wait wasn't long before a sultry woman strolled into the exam hall. Her auburn hair cascaded around her shoulders, swaying with each step she took. A breathtaking beauty, if I have to say so myself, and I'm quite sure she was aware of this fact as well. Why else would she stroll in through the sea of genins instead of body flickering into the room to show her ninja prowess?

"Good morning," said the woman airily, her movements fluid and graceful as she turned to the examinees. Had Hizashi not placed me through kunoichi training, I wouldn't have register her as a threat… though, with her next words, it would be hard to think otherwise. "Today, you will be giving up one of your teammates for torture and interrogations."

Silence fell as the words sunk into everyone's mind. It didn't take long before chaos broke out and we all realized what she declared.

"What?" the room roared with indignation.

"What do you mean giving up one of our own for torture and interrogations?" snapped an unknown ninja from Kusa.

"You can't do that!" shouted another ninja from Taki.

"What kind of exam is this?" demanded an Ame-nin.

The shouts of indignation escalated with each angry retort. The only ones that kept quiet were those from Kiri and my fellow teammates from Konoha. In normal circumstances, I might have joined the voices of indignation, but I rather like living and not face Hizashi's wrath. If given the chance, I could fill this room with nervous energy by my lonesome. I have no desire in participating a T&I session.

"If you're all quite done," said the woman as her soft voice broke through the genins' roars. "You may back out now if you do not wish to participate. However, if you do choose to do so, you will be forfeiting your right to take part in the chunin exams."

The room fell silent once more before a smile graced the woman's face.

"I have your attention?" drawled the auburn-haired beauty. "Good. If you haven't already noticed, we do things a little differently here in Kirigakure. You're all here to test your skills on whether or not you're worthy of a promotion to chunin. There will be no coddling or handholding for the duration of this exam. If you cannot handle this, you may try again when the exam is held at your village, that's likely more your level."

The genins remained silent, but the fuming rage could be seen burning in their eyes. No doubt, they want nothing more than to rip this woman to shreds. She didn't just insult their individual skills, but their village as a whole. She sure knows how to rile up the crowd.

"Once we start this exam, you may still forfeit." A condescending chuckle escaped the woman. "However, I can't promise that you won't leave without some physical or mental trauma. If you're uncertain, this is the best time for you to back out now."

No one raised their hands.

"None?" asked the woman happily and the responses remained the same. "Good. Then allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mei Terumi and I'll be your examiner for the first portion of the chunin exams."

My eyes widened at the declaration of her name…Did she say Mei? As in Kirigakure's future Godaime Mizukage? We have her as our proctor?

"The rules of this exam are simple, each team will be given some vital information on how to proceed to the next portion of the exam. Your teams may choose who to act as prisoner and they will be swapped with the prisoner of the opposing team. Your task is to extract the necessary information from your prisoner before the opposing team. The slower team to do so will fail. If neither team could do so, both teams will fail. By the end of this exam, at least half of you will fail. We only wish to see the best of the best."

"I have a question," spoke a firm voice in the back. Our eyes drew to a blonde young woman from Kumo. Her eyes were crossed and her stance was defiant. "Are there any rules against the ones chosen as a prisoner to fight back while in the hands of the opposing team?"

Mei's smile brightened at the question. "Of course not. Treat this exam as you would if you fell into enemy hands in the midst of war. Your roles as prisoners in this exam would be the same as a prisoner of war. You may attempt to take on your captors if you wish and force them to give you the answer to leave, but you would be at a disadvantage. If you have no qualms in doing so, you may take this option."

The blonde Kumo-nin nodded in understanding.

"While I did say you may all use whatever means to extract the information, do try not to kill one another. After all, under real circumstances a dead prisoner is a useless one," added Mei with a grin before she returned her attention to the rest of us. "The opposing teams will be chosen by lottery. We've already started the lottery the moment you've already arrived. It will be posted momentarily. Until then, please choose who will become the prisoner wisely."

"Torture and interrogations." I mumbled quietly under my breath. Who would've thought, after having so many close brushes with that in Konoha that it would run straight in my face on my first chunin exam?

"Kasa, you stay on the interrogations team," said Tokuma as he broke me out of my thoughts. "Santa and I'll will decide which one of us will be the prisoner."

"What?" I said, startled by his words. "What do you mean you and Santa will decide?"

"Do you really have to ask?" sighed Santa with his arms crossed. "You think we would just let you be the prisoner?"

"But—" I tried to protest, but Tokuma cut me off.

"Didn't you hear what she said?" noted the Hyuga. "She said we're allowed to use any means necessary to extract that information."

"I'm hardly the optimal person to interrogate someone." I tried to reason. "Besides, she said we could retaliate as well. I could—"

"You're a kunoichi," cut off Tokuma. "What do you think they would do to force you to talk?"

I opened my mouth to protest, but it died at my lips when I realized what he meant. Compared to him and Santa, I was considerable more vulnerable due to my gender. With them, it was likely they'll be subjected to physical torture and abuse, but me as a girl? They could do so much more on top of that and it wouldn't matter that I'm nine, considering T&I's job was to break people… Damn it, why am I always so useless when it comes to things that matters?

"Don't worry, we won't break. We're made of tougher stuff than that," said Santa reassuringly, but that only made me feel more frustrated.

I know I said I didn't want to ever face T&I, but the thought of having either of my teammates go instead didn't make me feel any better. I glanced over to our other teammates and it seemed like they had no problems in deciding who to go. From where I stood, it seemed like Itachi and Muta were chosen to be the prisoners.

Likely because Kotetsu and Izumo worked better together rather than apart and Itachi was more than likely able to out silence, the silence itself. As for Muta, from our training together, I could tell he was going to be a frightful prisoner. I supposed Santa and Tokuma could hold their own as well, regardless who decides to become the prisoner… Maybe I'm just worrying for nothing?

"Maybe you can channel some of your dad's sadistic streak to get the code faster," joked Santa as he tried to alleviate the jitters he could no doubt see through my façade.

"You're suggesting I take up after my father's protective tendency?" I asked with a raised brow.

"Just a thought," grinned Santa with a playful wink.

I raised my nose in the air with a haughty sniff, but in actually, I was doing my best not to giggle. Out of all my teammates, he was the only one that always exaggerates his reaction to Tesuri's overprotectiveness. Sure, everyone is a bit wary of Tesuri when he gets into his protective streak, but none of them were utterly terrified of him… well, maybe Tenzo is, but he's Tenzo. He has a thing for pleasing elders and his superiors.

In the end Tokuma decided he should be the prisoner as protocols call for a weapon strip. Santa, being a heavy weapon user and a long range fighter wouldn't do well in an enclosed room, weaponless. We ended up with a genin from Iwa before the other observing proctors lead us to a soundproof room for our interrogations.

"This door will only open once you've obtained both codes or the other team have done so. There will be no outside intervention," said the proctor before we all nodded in understanding. Without so much as a good luck, he closed the door and immediately, our prisoner moved.

"Kasa!" shouted Santa, but his warning came too late.

Our prisoner grabbed my arm, pulling it behind my back as he latched an arm around my neck. He dragged me in front of him, using me as a shield. Really, not even a second into this exam and I get turned into a hostage? Really?

"This is pathetic, I was actually expecting a bit of a challenge and they dump me with two kids?" snorted the Iwa-nin. "Whatever, just give me the code or I'll—ARGH!"

"…Or you'll what?" I drawled dangerously as he dropped to the ground, twitching with uncontrollable spasms. "It's rude to touch a lady without permission."

"You really shouldn't have done that," sniggered Santa as he made his way to our prisoner and squatted down to meet his eyes. "Princess here is quite feisty when it comes to physical contact. Only she may initiate contact, anyone else would be in for quite a shock. Quite literally as you may attest to it. How does it feel to have several thousand volts run through your system?"

One good thing about the defibrillation jutsu, there was no need for hand seals. It's a technique that only requires the right amount of chakra and could be concentrated anywhere you pleased as long as you have the chakra control necessary for it. It makes a useful distraction for moments like these where an enemy attacks unexpectedly and there was no way to retaliate in time. With one arm behind my back and a threatening arm around my neck, it would've been impossible to do hand seals or dance seals.

If I didn't have my amplification seal, things might've turned for the worse. As I've said before, this was not an offensive technique and it's hardly dangerous unless I could plant it at the heart. Under normal circumstances it won't do much aside from giving the person a nasty zap. However, when used in conjunction with the amplification seal, it intensifies the jutsu and shooting its power up by several ranks, turning it into a paralysis sort of attack. Hence, why our prisoner was now twitching on the ground.

The Iwa-nin tried to lash out, but Santa planted a foot to his head and pulled out a kunai to his neck.

"Now, now, don't be hasty. My hand might slip if you're not careful," continued Santa as he nicked the side of our prisoner's neck. "Whoops."

"Y-you think that would scare me?" growled the Iwa-nin through the spasms. "If you kill me, you won't be able to pass and your teammate will suffer—"

Santa planted the kunai into the other genin's shoulder. The other screamed.

"What are you doing?" roared the Iwa-nin. "Didn't you hear what I said?"

"It's touching that you're worried for our teammate. He could handle himself quite well on his own. Oh, but don't worry, we won't kill you," said Santa cheerily as he yanked out his kunai. "Princess over there is quite a skillful healer. She'll make sure you won't die… or rather, can't die. After all, didn't our proctor say a dead prisoner is a useless one?"

"Bah!" spat our prisoner. "As if your intimidation tactics would scare me! You're a hundred years too early for that!"

"Intimidation tactics?" Santa laughed. "Who said I was trying to intimidate you? I have no use for the code since our teammate would be more than capable in getting it from yours. No, no. I'm doing this because you've touched our princess without permission."

"What?" said the Iwa-nin in disbelief. "Aren't you here for the chunin exams?"

Santa stabbed his kunai back into the same spot where he last stabbed. "You don't listen very well do you? Our teammate has that covered. All I'm interested is to watch you squirm and suffer until he's done. It might take a while though, since he doesn't have any weapons on him, but he'll eventually do so. After all, he is from a prestige clan that specializes in taijutsu."

I remained quiet as Santa continued to torture our prisoner. It was an ugly sight, I wanted nothing more to look away. He couldn't retaliate, not with the paralysis agents laced on Santa's kunai. I felt sick to my stomach as I listened to the young man scream in agony, but I couldn't let that show. We had to keep this act up until he gave us the code. Until we've made it through to the finals.

Santa and Tokuma were assigned with the roles of being my guards while I'm under the guise of a proper lady. Under any circumstance that I'm under attack or danger, they were to act with hostility. As the only medic in the team, my priority was to make it to end and support whoever that makes it into the finals. I was tasked to not engage in any conflict if possible. Hence, why Santa was doing all the dirty work.

The Iwa-nin trembled from the pain and blood lost. I bit my inner cheek to fight back a grimace and the urge to lose my lunch. I know I've given vicious threats of violence and death to people in past, but I've never imagined it to be this repulsive. Seeing the brutality of torture, smelling the metallic tinge of blood and hearing the screams of agony, it was getting hard to maintain an indifferent mask over my face.

Back in Konoha, back in the hospital, I've seen plenty of blood and heard plenty of screams, but none of them were like this. None of them sounded like they were begging for death. Ten minutes, twenty…

"Enough." I spoke, my voice barely above a whisper. "If he loses anymore blood, he'll die."

"Aren't you lucky?" drawled Santa as he turned to me. "You get a healing session with our princess. You should be honored."

Our eyes met and he broke character for a second as a worried expression crossed his face. Had I been less perceptive, I would've missed it with how fast he recovered. I wonder what did he see on my face that made him look like that? Stop. This is not the time to be thinking about things like this.

I made my way to our prisoner and knelt down next to him. My hand hovered over the single wound Santa kept plunging his kunai into over and over again. With a warm green glow, I numbed the area around the bloody injury as I knitted the torn muscles together. His breathing labored as a reluctant whimper escaped his throat. The numbing wasn't working. His pain receptors were still on overdrive.

My nose twitched at a faint scent mixed in with the blood, chemical blockers. Another one of Santa's concoctions laced on his kunai. It keeps the beta blockers from working and escalates the pain with each stab. Cruel, but effective. People did tend to be more loose-lipped when under pain and duress.

"You should probably give up before the damage becomes irreversible." I suggested quietly as his body trembled, breaking out into a cold sweat. "It's not worth ruining your career because of this."

"The hard and soft routine?" Our prisoner gave a broken chuckled as he glanced up at me with a snort. "You two really are amateurs. Don't think for a moment that you can con me into giving up the code."

The healing chakra on my hand ceased, but the glow didn't end. "I really wished you gave into the gentle persuasion… I rather not hurt you." I murmured quietly.

"Oh, so you're going to play the hard role this time?" snorted the Iwa-nin. "Please, the time for you to pose yourself as a threat has long passed. You're a tiny little girl, a medic and it's hardly likely that you could do any lasting—ARGH!"

A scream ripped through his throat as I grabbed his lower region with my hand charged with an amplified defibrillation jutsu.

"… I do look harmless, don't I?" I whispered against his ear. "So harmless that no one would think twice about me grabbing their balls and frying them with a medical based jutsu."

I held on for a moment longer before releasing him. His screams broke off into a whimper and then into quivering gasps. His body convulsed, shaking as he rode through the aftermath of the pain. His eyes clenched shut as he pressed his sweaty head against the cold ground for any sort of comfort.

"The thing about iryo-nins is that we're intimately familiar with the human body." I murmured, hovering over his prone form. "We could administrate pain just as easily as we could take it away."

I planted my hand on him again, sending a wave of healing chakra through his system.

"… I could torture you in a thousand ways and still have you leave this room without a single scratch. So in a sense, you are right about one thing. I won't be doing any lasting damage to you." I said before sending another shock through his system when I saw his breathing eased. "But is that really a consolation?"

"Y-you crazy bitch!" gasped the Iwa-nin, his wild eyes filled with pain as he stared at me.

"So I'm told." I replied, pulling a senbon from my pouch. "If I could, I would keep shocking you, but if I did so your pain sensors would eventually dull… and we can't have that can we?"

"You think I'm going to just surrender? You think I would just break? You've got to be—ARGH!" screamed the Iwa-nin as I plunged the senbon into him in precise acupuncture points, blocking off vital tenketsu point that could relieve pain.

Over and over, I kept tormenting and healing our prisoner as Santa watched quietly behind me. My hand gained a slight tremor by the time he screamed himself raw. Why won't he just give up already?

An hour later… our team reunited… Tokuma looked fairly unscathed but I on the other hand was discreetly leaning against Santa to keep myself upright as we made it out of the room. Without a word, Tokuma took one glance at us he before moved to my other side in case I decided to topple the other direction.

"…Are you going to be sick?" asked Tokuma quietly when he was within range.

"…Dragging me to the closest restroom might be wise. I think I have mild case of food poisoning." I replied hoarsely.

They did exactly so and guarded the door while I made my way to the toilet and ejected everything from my stomach. Everything from breakfast spewed out of my mouth as I clung onto the toilet cover. I can't believe I'm reacting this badly, it's not like I killed the guy. True to my word, there were no lasting damage on him when we left… but that didn't erase images of his agonized expressions and sounds of his wretched screams. Those were burned into my memory.

"When I said channel your father… I didn't quite mean it that way," said Santa with a humorless chuckle from outside the door. "You should've seen her Tokuma, she totally fried our prisoner's balls. It was brutal."

"I'm quite sure," droned Tokuma.

"So, how was being a prisoner?" asked Santa, changing the subject as he went.

"Tedious," replied Tokuma. "They're nothing compared to Kurei sensei's kidnappings. Their attempts at psychological attacks were pathetic. I found myself bored."

My grip tightened over the back cover. How do they do it? How could they be so nonchalant about the whole thing?

"If you're done, let's get going," said Tokuma, his voice breaking me out of my thoughts before I reached to flush away the mess.

"In a moment." I replied, walking out of the stall and making my way to the sink to rinse my mouth.

I splashed some water on my face, allowing it to drip as I gripped onto the edge of the sink, careful to not get my kimono wet or dirty. Letting out a rough breath of air, I glanced up at the mirror. My face was pale… I look more like a prisoner than Tokuma at this point… man, that's pathetic. I dried my face with a handkerchief before I straightened my posture and freshened up my appearance.

"Sorry for the wait, I'm ready now." I said as I stepped out of the bathroom and walked with them towards the exam hall.

"About time," said Santa with his hands in his pockets. "I thought we might have to go in and check on you."

Are you okay?

"It must've been something I ate last night." I answered.

I'll be fine.

"If you knew you had such a weak stomach, you should've eaten something else," said Tokuma.

Why didn't you just leave it to Santa?

"You two seemed to have enjoyed it." I answered.

I'm not letting you two take all the burden.

"But you didn't," commented Santa. "I'm surprised you managed to hang on as long as you did. It would've been bad if you decided to throw up halfway into the interrogations. They might've thought you had a weak stomach for this sort of thing."

It's not worth it.

"I could've turned it into another form of torture. I doubt anyone would enjoy being force fed regurgitated food." I retorted.

I can handle it.

"That would be torture," noted Santa. "You're just as much of a sadist as your dad. Maybe you should switch fields to T&I instead of working at the hospital."

Your dad would make a trip to T&I seem like a nice picnic if anything happened to you.

"Not interested." I responded.

You're exaggerating, he won't do that.

"Oh really?" drawled Santa. "I've seen how creative you've gotten with our prisoner."

That's a lie and you know it.

"Is that so?" I raised a brow before glancing at Tokuma.

Are you arguing with me in code? Tokuma, is he serious? He's arguing with me in code!

"No, you're right, you'd be horrible at it," continued Santa.

What if I am?

I glanced at Santa without a word.

Are you challenging me?

He smirked.

What are you going to do about it?

"You're both idiots," cut in Tokuma before either of us could cause a scene.

…You're both idiots.

Okay, maybe that last bit didn't need translating.

"Anyway," said Santa as he stretched his arms over his head and gathered his hands behind him. "We can't have you getting sick on us again. Calling you a princess is just a nickname, you're not actually one."

You don't have to prove yourself, you're pulling your own weight just as the rest of us.

"Aren't you charming?" I drawled.

It doesn't feel that way though.

"Enough," interrupted Tokuma again. "We've only passed the first exam, there are still others. Let's see if the others have made it through."

Bickering aside, we hastily made our way to the hall and much to our relief both Team 13 and Team 6 were there among the group examinees that passed. A worried look crossed Shisui's face when he spotted me. I gave a faint smile in an attempt to ease his worries, but it didn't seem like it worked.

"Glad to see you made it," said Shisui once we were within hearing range.

"Sorry that we took so long, I needed to make a little detour." I replied, trying to keep my tone as pleasant as I could, but my voice was slightly hoarse from vomiting up earlier.

"Your voice…" said Shisui, but he didn't get a chance to speak further as our proctor Mei stepped into the hall once again.

I would've liked a chance to talk with him and the others on whether or not they needed healing, but that would have to wait.

"Congratulations, I'm impressed that this many of you managed to get through this relatively unharmed," said the woman cheerily as she ran her eyes over us. "Executing a flawless interrogation is an art that not many could claim mastery to and escaping one is an even more difficult task. As a shinobi of any village, information often times is more valuable than any treasure or gold. To be able to extract it or protect it from your enemies is an admirable trait."

Her speech continued into some patriotic gibberish, but in amidst of it all, I found myself trying to fight back another wave of nausea. I could do without worshipping the porcelain god again.

Just as I tried to plunge myself deeper into my thoughts to block her words out, a pale hand reached in front of me and opened with a small wrapped treat. I blinked in surprise, my eyes following the pale arm back to its owner… who turned out to be Itachi. His eyes remained on our proctor while his hand remained outreach to me with the small treat at hand. Confused, I took the small offering and the Uchiha dropped his hand back to his side.

I did my best to unravel the wrapper quietly as Mei was still talking and I found the treat to be… dry umeboshi? A baffled expression crossed my face. Why dry umeboshi? I glanced at Itachi in question before my mind finally caught up and I realized dry sour plums were one of the many remedies that helped with nausea. Tesuri had suggested it many times to newly expecting mothers to alleviate their morning sickness and drunks with hung-overs and bad bouts of nausea.

How did Itachi—Oh right, Mikoto-san. She must've eaten them when she was pregnant with Sasuke. I wouldn't put it pass Itachi that he would remember something as trivia as a common remedy… I found myself resisting the urge to giggle as I popped the sour-sweet treat into my mouth. It was surprisingly thoughtful of him… even if he refuses to talk to me.

"…Thanks." I whispered gratefully as the nausea became much more bearable.

Itachi spared me a glance briefly before he reached out and poke me in the head. This time, I found myself unable to get angry at him as a grin crept up the corner of my lips and he rolled his eyes, returning his attention back to the woman's speech. I guess I'm forgiven… though… I still have no clue what he was angry at in the first place.

Author's notes: One exam down and two more to go. This chapter was a bit odd, but I had a ton of fun writing it… Well… more fun than the ton of snow outside my house that's waiting to be shoveled anyway. I'm slowly getting back into my grove, but I can't promise the one update a week schedule yet. Thanks for your patience! I'll see you guys in the next chapter!