These are some truly strange and stressful times we are currently in.
It may not be much, but I do hope that all of my readers and their loved ones are healthy.
Please take solace in the thought that we are all dealing with this together; you are not alone.
Stay safe.
Chapter 45 - Game Face
Hitori was heading into the hospital and she was only metres from the front door when a masked shinobi called her name.
"Sokkenai. The Mizukage has summoned you."
"Understood." She turned and immediately ran toward the Mizukage Tower.
When she arrived, the door was open and the Mizukage was waiting for her. There was someone else in the room too. It was a younger shinobi, maybe chunin aged, and he was cut up and bloodied. Hitori looked to the Mizukage in alarm who gave her a nod; the simple gesture that she was called her to heal him while he gave his clearly urgent report to her.
She began working immediately, and was shocked that the young man was still conscious. He had evidently lost a lot of blood, and was pale from the shock of his wounds. Although somewhat surprised that she was the one summoned to help, considering she was from Konoha, she was glad to help. The young man spoke, giving his report as best he could and Hitori couldn't help but listen in. Apparently there was a group of bandits who had moved through some of the nearby smaller villages, and had been stealing food, money and valuables along the way. He had gotten into a scuffle with one of them after scouting to see what was going on and had thankfully escaped death.
Once he had given his report, the Mizukage dismissed him and sent him to the hospital for further treatment. He gave Hitori a quiet thanks for her help, and she bowed, intending to escort him to the hospital personally.
"Hitori, will you please stay? Chojuro. Please escort him to the hospital." The Mizukage spoke and they nodded in understanding and obeyed her orders.
Once Chojuro and the young shinobi had left, Hitori stood at attention to listen to the Mizukage.
"Thank you for that. I would actually like to ask for your students to go and investigate this. They will be able to fight if need be, and to heal as well. I will organise for an ANBU cell to accompany you. How soon can you leave?"
"They will be in the classroom now, so I'll ask them to pack and we will leave within the hour." Hitori replied immediately. She had her medical kit with her, but not all of her weaponry. There would also need to be some soldier pills and extra medical supplies sorted out, but she could get that organised along with those who lived closest to the hospital while the others packed.
"Alright. Get going. I'll send a team to meet you at the gate." The Mizukage nodded once to dismiss her, and she bowed and left the room.
She took off at a run, and asked one of the orderlies to start organising travel packs for her before she headed down to the classroom as quickly as she could. She was already roughly half an hour late, which she had never been before, so they were surprised when she burst into the room with no cause for ceremony.
"We have a mission. Ensure you have plenty of weapons, medical supplies, and pack any food you can. I'm not sure how long we will be gone for. I'll need a few of you to assist me in getting travel packs together as well. We meet at the gate in one hour. If you're late, I'll kill you myself after the mission is over." Announcing with authority, she didn't wait to see their reactions or let them ask questions. As she walked away, she heard them scurry to pack up their things, and she saw a few of them go past her, rushing to get their things.
She went back to the orderly who was getting several packs ready, and started to help. Having no idea how long they would be gone for was going to make packing difficult. Thankfully, since they would have an ANBU team with them, and so many people, she would be able to send back for extra supplies if needed. A few of her students assisted as well, and she was glad that she didn't have to tell them to.
It took roughly 25 minutes for her and the others to get their things together, and she zipped back to her apartment to get her own things. Not bothering to go through the front door, she hopped up and clambered into her apartment through the window. As quickly as she could, she got changed into mission appropriate attire, and armed herself well. Within another few minutes, she went back out of her window and closed it behind her before she dashed off to the front gate.
She waited at the front gate until everyone had arrived; thankfully the ANBU team was already waiting and no one was late. The ANBU team lead the way, and she ran at the head of the group, the others falling into formation behind her. Aido was on her right, and she could feel him glance at her occasionally, but ignored it and mentally prepared herself. It had been months since she had been on active duty in the field, and it was going to take her a moment to get in the right headspace. Since there was also going to be civilians involved, possibly casualties, they would have to work fast to track this group down.
They kept going for what felt like ages, but in reality it was only a couple of hours. Everyone would still be at 100% when they arrived and she took a few moments to ready herself mentally as they began to slow the pace. Their sensor type in the ANBU cell had signalled that they had picked up the trail, and she knew that only a couple of her students would understand their hand signals, so they all followed her lead. She was fully ready as they further slowed their approach and came to a stop. The ANBU may not be aware of the extent of her abilities as it wasn't fully disclosed, even between allies. She discussed with the cell leader that she could get closer and do some reconnaissance. After giving her students the command to follow the ANBU, she slipped off into the shadows. Her chakra was tightly sealed, only using as much as she needed for the jutsu, which wasn't too much after rigorous training.
On the way, she memorized the surroundings as much as she could and stopped far enough away so that she could just see them. Unfortunately the trees blocked her line of vision so she had to keep moving to try and get an accurate count. It seemed that they had made camp here, and they had dug in quite well. She could see the not so subtle signs of traps, ready to be sprung on the unsuspecting and she knew that they would have to be very careful. If anyone of them were shinobi, they would have put up chakra sensors and netting to detect the approach of any human for maybe up to a couple of hundred metres away. Judging by their reactions, they didn't know of the presence of herself or her team though. She studied a few of them, making sure that she matched up the descriptions with what the Kiri scout had reported and confirmed that they were in the right place.
She went back to her fellow shinobi and made her report.
"There is 33 of them, and they are very well dug in. I spotted signs of traps and I think we can expect an organised resistance. They do not all appear to be shinobi, but we cannot let our guard down. They might have had weeks to build their camp, so I don't want to rush in." Hitori spoke to the captain and they discussed a plan quietly, finalising the details with the rest of the cell.
"I'll speak to my students." Hitori turned and was impressed that they had already gathered into the groups she had assigned them. They had figured it out that it was basically mission rostering and not just for fun.
"Alright. We are going to run this like an ANBU mission, one medic stays back, a second team member holds the line before them and then two in the front line. Since you've already figured out your team's, then you should be able to organise your positions too. There is 33 of them, with a very organised trap system that they might have had weeks to set up. If you have a trap specialist, I suggest they go at the front. Anyone who is good with stealth, I suggest you are at the front as well. We will need to approach and disarm as many traps on the way without alerting them to ensure that we can all be in the vicinity safely. The ANBU team are here to support us, so follow their lead. This sort of thing is a walk in the park for us but we won't let our guard down. I expect you all to do the same. Lastly, Natsuki and Shotarou, you are my runners. If we go down, get out of here and report to the Mizukage. Luckily, you have me so I doubt there will be too many problems." She gave a cocky smirk to help them feel more confident and they nodded in reply. " We move in 5."
Hitori moved back up the front with the ANBU team, since she would essentially become a fifth member of their cell for the purpose of this mission. Their medic would hang back to support her students and help protect them. Since having an extra member would throw off their combos, she wasn't actually going to fight in their team, but rather she was going to use her Kage Oni on their signal to slip in quietly and try to dispatch as many of the bandits as she could before the shit fight started.
This was exactly what Itachi had been helping her develop the skills to do. The less enemies to fight, the easier it would be. Hopefully that also meant less injuries, and casualties for Konoha shinobi. Now that would be applied for the Kiri shinobi and she was slightly pleased that her students would get to witness her in field mode. It was the standard they had to aim for and it was great to be able to show them the bar.
When everyone was ready, the ANBU Captain gave the signal for them to move out. The approach was slow as the search for traps and sensors was vital to their success. A few of her students did well and disarmed some exploding tag traps, and a couple of landmine explosion traps. One of the ANBU disabled several sensors and Hitori worked on getting rid of one which she sorted out in less than a minute. It took them a while to cover ground, but the caution was paying off as the bandits had not sensed them yet. Their traps were good, but not great and didn't give them too much trouble aside from the sheer amount of them. Hitori knew she was right; they had taken some time to set this all up. But it wasn't going to help them against Kiri shinobi and herself.
Around 50 metres away, she moved on the path directly behind one of the ANBU and readied her kunai. They finished clearing the path for her and she slipped into the shadows of the trees, which was the perfect cover for her. Hopefully, she would be able to literally cut her way through at least 5 or 6 of them before the alarm was sounded or her jutsu dropped. Once it did, she would blast them with Raiton or Katon jutsu to disable more of them and the rest of the team would join the fray. She knew her students abilities and would able to perform combos with a couple of them if the need arose as well. As she slithered her way into the bandit camp, she kept a close eye out for anyone who sensed her, but she seemed to be safe for the moment. Although it was risky, taking out the shinobi on guard was the easiest way to get caught so she went right to the middle of them. Her ability meant she could cut off the head of the snake, but they didn't know who the leader was or if they even had one. The scout she had healed didn't have that much information, but fortunately that also meant he escaped with his life and could report in.
After a silent breath, she focused and molded chakra and would use the shadows on her targets bodies to land fatal strikes.
One, a slit throat. He couldn't make any sound to alert anyone since she had made sure to cut with surgical precision. A small gurgle was all he could manage and it wasn't loud enough to get any attention.
Two, severed the spinal column at the base of the neck.
Three, the shadow on his chest and side allowed for a stab between the ribs and up through to the heart.
Four, another slit throat.
Five, shadows on his leg allowed her to sever his Achilles heel, and she managed to stifle his scream with the shadow that fell over his face as he stumbled backwards. Then a stab through the heart after she caught his fall so it would be silent.
Six, he turned just as the man before him fell, and she only just managed to stab her kunai through the side of his neck before he made a noise.
She wasn't able to hold the jutsu for much longer and gave the captain the signal. It was a subtle tap on his shoulder to let him know that she couldn't continue and to prepare the charge. Before she let the jutsu up, she prepared and performed the hand seals for a large Katon jutsu which would draw attention to the middle of the camp, and give her team time to approach and begin their offensive.
The huge blast certainly got attention and everyone turned in her direction, and since they were surrounded on all sides, they had their backs to the Kiri shinobi who took full advantage of their momentary weakness. As Hitori was revealed now, she turned and threw her kunai into the closest target and landed a good hit before she drew her ninjato, preparing for close combat. She had drained a good chunk of chakra holding her jutsu for so long and using Katon, but she still had plenty left for the fight. Quickly she charged Raiton chakra through her ninjato and blocked a blade to her left. A simple parry and counter combo allowed her to land a stab, but it wasn't a fatal wound. However, the Raiton chakra she then blasted through him was.
Moving to the next opponent, she quickly cut down one that Kizaru was fighting, a strike across the back of the knees to make him fumble and Kizaru dealt the killing blow. She was momentarily impressed with his efficiency but moved on just as fast as an enemy approached from her right. Aido intercepted, but brute strength wasn't in his repertoire and was briefly overpowered before Hitori joined to back him up. She whispered for him to use Suiton jutsu and he followed orders immediately while she kept him busy. Once he was ready, she leapt out of the way and his jutsu took down their enemy. No time to congratulate him, they both continued fighting, although it had died down with the majority of them taken care of. The Kiri ANBU had been brilliantly ruthless and had done a great job of taking their share of the kills.
Hitori went around as a throat cutter and made sure they weren't going to have someone who wasn't quite dead set off an explosive charge or something. After everything had been tidied up, the ANBU Captain told her that they would sort out the bodies and to head onto the village. It was only another 10 minute run away, so Hitori and her students continued on after she made sure to thank the ANBU. None of her students had spoken to her yet, which was good. She wanted to make sure they paid close attention to what she was doing to remember her example as something to follow in future. They followed her to the village and people came straight up to them, recognising they were from Kiri. Hitori wasn't spared a glance and they seemed to assume she was one of them. They had already moved all of their injured to their local healers house, which was clearly overcrowded but they were all in one place. They all got to work immediately and thankfully most of the injuries weren't too severe. Hitori strolled around, gave advice and guidance where needed but everyone was mostly fine on their own. With only a bit more than a dozen injured, there wasn't much point in her joining in as well. The healer must have noticed that she was in authority and shuffled over to her quickly and led her away into a smaller room. There was a young man who was a bloody mess. She presumed that the healer had moved him aside because his wounds were so severe and, so no one else would have to watch him die. He was pale, and feverish and had lost a lot of blood. Not sure that even she would be able to save him, she called out for Aido, who zipped in and got to work silently.
Aido was the one she wanted as he wouldn't outwardly react at the young man's state and that might calm the healer who was obviously flustered. She paced in a small corner as they examined him and his wounds to see what they could do.
"What happened to him?" Hitori asked the healer, hopefully giving herself something else to think about.
"One of the bandits wanted his sister. She's a very pretty girl so I'm sure you can imagine why. He fought them so she could escape." The healer responded with a soft voice with matched her appearance.
"He would make a good shinobi, being brave like that." Hitori replied with no emotion. "Would you mind going to check on the others? I'm sure they would appreciate your help." She really just wanted to get the healer out of the room, but wanted to be subtle.
"Of course." With that, she disappeared and closed the door behind her.
"So, what do you think?" Hitori asked Aido, and waited for him to respond as he got his thoughts together.
"He will need a blood transfusion before we can be of any help. Without it, he won't last another two hours." Hitori nodded and tested his blood type.
It was a small test, able to be transported in a medical pack. Simply enough, a small test tube held a buffer liquid that would identify the blood type and the liquid would turn a colour corresponding to a blood type. Being a quick test, it was helpful in these sorts of situations as well.
"A plus." Aido answered her and she waved him off to go and find someone compatible.
She kept working, closing wounds and healing fractures and trauma as he found someone. Shinobi all knew their blood types, but civilians might not. It must have taken a while but Aido returned after around 10 minutes with a male who looked to be in his late 30's.
"How is he? I'm his uncle." The man came over but Hitori stopped him, holding a hand up.
"Please sit down. I'll need you to be quiet and calm." Hitori didn't even look at the man and continued working as Aido got him ready.
Once he was ready, Hitori asked him to move next to her and their patient. She was sure that Aido had done it, but double checked by flashing chakra through his system quickly to make sure he didn't have any bloodborne diseases that could be transferred through the transfusion. Thankfully there wasn't anything, and Hitori finished the process of hooking up his tube to the cannula inserted in their patients arm. Now that he would have a fighting chance, both Hitori and Aido worked hard to save him. Aido was changed out for Natsuki but Hitori stayed and kept going. She knew that she was tired and had used a lot of chakra in the initial assault but once he was stable, she would let someone else jump in. After another half an hour, he had stabilised, but he was still critical. Natsuki was changed out and Hitori took a break too. The villagers were very kind and offered them food, although they didn't have much left. They had made rice and miso soup and it was greatly appreciated. Mostly everyone else was fine, only two others were difficult cases and still needed close observation. One was a patient with a punctured lung that had collapsed, been fixed but collapsed again only an hour later. The other was an older lady who appeared to have been poisoned, but she was bouncing back.
It was a tiring day and there was a couple of things left to tidy up, wounds to redress and rounds to do, but everything was basically sorted. Hitori didn't feel as exhausted as she expected to, despite her being out of the field for so long. The villagers had offered rooms for them to stay the night but most of the shinobi had simply curled up in one corner to sleep. They had been rotating through, making sure everyone was getting enough food and rest and working well in their teams. The small tavern on the main street had been opened up to them and the few rooms they had for accommodation were made available for them to rest in as well.
Hitori was glad to see them following her example. Aido had become a mirror of her in how he approached his treatments and examinations. Kizaru, being the class clown, had great bedside manner that made him excellent at working with patients who needed encouragement to fight through their wounds. He was good with kids too. Saiko had lost a lot of her naivety and was hardening well without losing her morality. Mika had taken the knowledge of poisons and antidotes excellently and would probably know more when she was Hitori's age. Nakamura had been one of the biggest changes, and she had earned his respect. He had matured a lot and watching her in surgery seemed to have had a deep effect on him. In fact everyone had gotten much better. Hitori's program was holding up well but she doubted she would be going home any earlier than the two years agreed upon. There was still a lot of work she had to do in the basic techniques and procedures used by the emergency triage in the hospital but at least her students had taken on her knowledge.
Hitori got up from her seat and went to take a walk. She could sense the ANBU team approaching and wanted to check in with them. They walked down the main street and met out the front of the small tavern.
"How is everyone?" The medic asked, wearing a mask that looked like a cat with purple whiskers.
"There is one young guy in bad shape and one lady whose lung keeps collapsing, but everyone else is fine. Stable, and most wounds were superficial anyway." Hitori replied with a shrug.
"Okay. We've finished up. We will head back and make our reports. Come back once you've finished your work." The Captain gave her a quick nod and the others bowed respectfully.
She returned their bow as they left, heading back in the direction of Kiri and Hitori took a stroll around the town. She didn't want to sleep just yet, but wanted to get some fresh air. Although she could basically only smell blood, and disinfectant, it was nice to take in something else. With a yawn, she headed back to check on the young man. She wanted to be sure that he was either going to survive or not before she rested. Hopefully, he would be out of the critical condition by now and things would be okay. As she went in the back room, Aido was curled up in one corner, getting some sleep while Mika worked.
"He's still critical, but he looks to be improving." Mika said in a whisper to not disturb Aido.
Hitori just nodded in reply and made a brief examination. Moving her hands, glowing green, she knew that they would have to keep working for him to come out of the critical condition. Thankfully he had gotten better since she had last checked him over and had received another transfusion from someone else by the feel of it. His blood pressure was still low, but his heart rate was stronger.
"Mika. Find someone to take over for you." The younger girl zipped out of the room and was gone for about five minutes before she came back with two others.
Hitori decided to try and get some rest and curled up in the corner across from Aido. Mika went to go and get some sleep at the tavern. She was tired but she doubted she would get much rest. Using a random blanket, she threw it over herself and covered her head to block out the light. Taking a few deep, even breaths, she slowed her body down and calmed her mind as much as she could. Her students kept quiet as they worked, making sure that her and Aido could get some rest. Eventually she dozed off, sleeping lightly for about an hour until the sun began to go down. Her subconscious noticed the sky going darker and roused her from her rest.
Pulling the blanket off her face, she watched two new medics working and slowly got up. Shuffling over to them, Shotarou moved out of the way for her, giving her one of his typical grins, although she could see how tired he was. There were dark circles around his eyes and his eyes that were normally a vibrant brown were now faded, like a tshirt left out in the sun. She smiled back at him even though she didn't feel it. It was time for her to check on everyone else, and she went over to her pack and grabbed out a container of soldier pills. They were Sakura's special recipe, chock full of vitamins and protein to help them regain their strength and maintain nutrition.
Holding the container out, Shotarou and Kiyomi took one each. Aido was awake, and he grabbed one too. Hitori went around and checked on all of her students, offered them soldier pills and made sure they had enough food and water. She called them for a meeting in 10 minutes. Someone must have been sent for some emergency rations, as there was a crate that had rice, and some fresh produce, mostly fruits and vegetables. It must have arrived while she was sleeping. The crate was only half full and one of her students, Yumiko, told her the villagers were cooking meals for them all, as well as the patients. There was plenty of medical supplies left, so that was one less thing to worry about.
They were all tired, but most of the hard work was done now. The lady with the lung issues was fine and she hadn't had any other issues. Mika had done a good job making an antidote for the older lady who had been poisoned. It was only the young man, Ginza, who was still in dire straits. Everyone began to gather for the meeting, and once they'd all arrived, Hitori spoke.
"Guys, I'm so impressed. You've all worked incredibly well today. Your teamwork was impressive and you did great working with initiative. Did you notice that I barely told any of you what to do? You were all over it." Hitori let the pride show in her voice and in her expression and she could see that everyone noticed.
"We need to work out a roster so that we have a couple of you overseeing the non-critical patients and two people to work on Ginza. I think he's going to be okay, but it's going to take constant vigilance for him to pull through. Who has just rested?"
A few of them raised their hands and Hitori quickly checked their chakra to make sure they would be okay. They were all fine so she kept gave them their assignments. Since there were so many of them, most of them would be able to get a good rest; herself included.
"I want to make sure that everyone has eaten before they rest. The villagers are kind enough to have cooked for us, so let's show our gratitude and eat up to restore our strength. You've all had a soldier pill now as well so that will help. Is everyone okay with that?" She dismissed them all and headed out of the healers house to try and find somewhere to rest.
Aido was walking back towards the tavern and called out to her.
"Hitori-sensei. Where are you going?"
"I'm going to get some sleep." She went to keep walking away but he stopped her.
"Didn't you just order everyone to eat something before they get some rest?" He was aware that he was pushing it, but she knew it was coming from a good place.
Instead of replying, she glared at him full force and watched him begin to crumble under her gaze. Not able to keep it up, she began to laugh as he shrunk further away from her. He relaxed but still looked mildly afraid. It wasn't too bad, she supposed. He had seen her at full capacity today, being ruthless and was still covered in the blood of those that she had killed.
"I'm kidding. I know. I'll eat something first. Just want to make sure everyone else eats first." She turned back around and they both walked back towards the healers house, where some of the villagers had started to bring in dishes of food.
There was a small buffet set up with various mix and match of plates and bowls, clearly coming from different houses. Everyone made an orderly line and got themselves a bowl of rice, and stacked veggies on top. There was a huge pot of miso soup and Hitori went and served herself some after she had finished her first bowl of food. Once she had eaten, she quietly disappeared, planning to go and get some sleep at the tavern.
Thankfully she escaped without being stopped by anyone and strolled tiredly into the tavern. The owners were eating themselves, and she waved them off when they got up to help her. They told her that all the rooms upstairs were unlocked and to make herself comfortable in the facilities.
Firstly, she wanted to shower. She had already changed her medical apron, but the rest of her clothes were still a grimy, bloody mess. She went to room farthest from the stairs and shut the door behind her. No need to chakra lock it, but force of habit made her do it anyway. Setting a small scroll out on the bed, she summoned what it contained, which was her travel kit. Some toiletries, a change of clothes, both casual and shinobi attire, and even a tidy pair of clothes just in case she had to go undercover for some reason. Getting out a set of older shinobi wear, underwear and toiletries, she headed into the bathroom and began to shower. The water at her feet was tinged with browns; reddish-brown from blood, and grey-brown from dirt. It eventually ran clear after a few attempts with soap and shampoo.
Once she was happy with her cleanliness, she turned off the water and hopped out and allowed herself to take her first relaxed breath since they had left Kiri. Gradually, as she dried off and prepared to rest, she began to feel her mind quiet down. Her body was already tired, and after she had dressed and laid down, she used the last bit of her chakra on herself; easing sore muscles and clearing lactic acid. The bed wasn't anything like hers at home and the pillow was much too soft and just squished underneath the weight of her head, but shinobi weren't picky. Sleeping in a bed whilst on a mission was normally fairly luxurious so she was glad for the hospitality of the villagers.
Closing her eyes, she imagined that she was back at home in Konoha, wrapped in a familiar set of arms...
