Erity was reapplying the bandages across the unnamed Uzumaki's chest when he finally awoke. She could tell he was in pain by the grimace he gave upon coming to.

"Where...am I…"

Since he was apparently awake, she decided on going through the 'You were very close to meeting shinigami are you okay' run down.

"Hello sir, you are in the Hunter's Valley, home of the Naitohanta clan. You were found wounded at a combat site approximately two days ago at this time. I am Erity. Can you tell me your name and clan."

"I...I'm Kamikoto Uzumaki...Jonin of the leaf. Night hunters, huh? Haven't…*cough*...drained me dry yet."

Erity grimaced. Being on the border, their clan had met a number of Uzumaki over the years. They even had saved their clan from destruction during the last war, yet the stereotype lived on.

"I feel like you know we don't do that."

"...it was a little funny."

"No, not really."

"Well...what's the news, doc?"

"Well...you have a fuck-you sized slice across your chest, a lot less blood than you did a few days ago, bones with the integrity of a baby bird's spine, and a cuncussion."

"Bit harsh."

"You basically called me a vampire. You get harsh."

"I'll take that. How am I not...well, worm food?"

"A shit-ton of rather adaptive blood from my Tousan."

"Ah. So...how swollen are my eyes, I'd like to know when I can see again."

Erity chilled and went silent…

"Um….doc?"

"You...can't see?", her voice a bit shaky.

"Why-oh….ohhhh"

Erity remained silent. Kamikoto went limp, his spirit seeming to die that little bit more.

Erity wanted to cry but that would only upset him more.

"... Uzumaki have a lot of chakra don't they? You could use a pulse to see. Most Shinobi rely on their eyes too much anyway."

"Yeah...I'll think about that kid. Mind grabbing your Tousan or kaasan? I'm guessing you're a genin, I'll pay you to get me to Konoha."

"I'm...not actually, I'm only 4...buy I'm going to Konoha anyway, so you can travel with me."

He stayed silent for a while.

"Is this...your first time patching someone up?"

"No.", She didn't elaborate.

"Kami, this war. Okay, I'll go with you. But still, parent?"

"Yeah, on that.", and she left to find her mom.

\(0)[•](0)/

Koroko sent Erity to her room before looking at the man on the table.

"I'm...sorry about your eyes."

"Meh... occupational hazzard", they both knew it was just a mask.

After a sec he spoke again, "You have a smart girl there, she'll make a damn good kunoichi."

"Huh, she's far too smart for her own damn good, strong too. I fear she's seen a bit much more than I'd like for a little girl. She's going to Konoha in about a year."

"Oh, she made it seem sooner than that."

"It will likely be for you. We're going to place you in something close to a coma so that you can heal, your chakra network isn't irreversibly damaged, but it's going to be a long time before it's fully healed. You'll be out for around 9 months if I'm correct. From time to time we'll cycle in some of our blood to assist your natural process. Might even get your eyes back if your body takes well...but that is a long shot."

"Gotcha. I've never heard of healing taking that long."

"Well, you're a bit of a special case with what you did to your network, and we found you a bit late."

"Got it. When am I out?"

"I'll start the process now."

\(0)[•](0)/

Erity looked through one of the few books she hadn't read. Meeting an Uzumaki inspired her to read about fuinjutsu. Sealing was a useful subject and she needed a distraction.

More than anything she was trying to forget about her eyes. Kamikoto was a cruel reminder of Shinobi life, of what she could lose.

Pushing the thoughts away, she continued the book on sealing. Around her, several Kage Bunshins were working on the academy subjects she knew of.

After an hour, she could no longer ignore the reality. She could die. A dive built within her again, 'I will become the strongest...or die in the process.'

No...that felt wrong... without purpose. She'd iron her conviction out later. For now, she decided to sleep. She dispelled all of her clones, a not insubstantial amount as some were of doing menial tasks, and felt with the small headache of all the information feeding into her mind.

Sighing, she fell into bed.

\(0)[•](0)/

Erity woke up to see her mother hovering at her bedside.

"Kaasan?"

"Good morning, little dove. Get ready, were doing taijutsu today."

Erity groaned, but got out of bed. She got ready quickly then ran outside to the training grounds.

When she made it, she made 15 or so shadow clones that went to the handful her mother had made, as they did most days. She walked up to her mother on the soft sand rectangle they used for sparring.

"What's today's agenda?"

"The Ancient fist technique, Kodaiken."

"That..feels like the naming was done wrong."

"Yes, yes it was."

"O-kay."

"The ancient fist is a technique that focuses on breaking a target's bones. Our constitution is our main advantage in combat, this is not going to be a fun technique to learn."

"I figured."

"Another advantage is the ability to add your odachi to the style, if you so choose. A huntress is adaptable, her style should be as well. Now here's the stance…"

They went on for a while, Koroko rather violently beating the technique into her daughter.

The Koroko and Erity clones went over form and theory in the meantime. No one in the clan quite knew where the girl's obscene amount of Chakra came from. Some suspected that Koroko had an Uzumaki mother, but the lack of red hair didn't support that. Her mother had apparently dropped her in the valley at birth and left to never be seen again, and her father didn't talk about it.

But, questionable origins or not, it certainly helped both girls.

It was not until several hours later that a rather dangerously low chakra reserved Koroko was satisfied with her daughter's progress.