"You got choked out by a Sannin?"

Miho grimaced, looking to Genma-sensei for some kind of help. The man just shrugged, an amused tilt to his lips as he worried his senbon. That was his only tell. He only rolled it like that when he was upset or nervous. She guessed he was both, considering how indelicately Kakashi-taicho explained her injury. Unsure of how to redirect the attention, Miho fell back into what was familiar.

"Yeah… but you could say we won by a landslide."

She heard something drop and glanced over to see Kakashi-taicho grabbing his book from the floor. On the other side of the emergency room, near Trauma Bay 2, Asuma-sensei tripped on nothing as he helped Kurenai onto a gurney. There were varying degrees of exasperation and, in the case of Team Asuma, ambivalence. Tetsuya, for his part, only crossed his arms, not in the least deterred. His one-track mind was focused and zeroed-in on the bruising around her throat.

"It was peak Team Kakashi honestly." Sakura supplied from where she was writing something down on a chart. Her reply was absent-minded, but it did send Kakashi-taicho falling heavily onto a gurney in the triage room. He looked stricken, a horrified and wild look in his visible eye. As if realizing what she'd said, Sakura jerked and raised her head. "I-I mean…trouble seems to follow us is all."

"Don't worry about it, mochi." Shin responded with a wave of his hand. He was already dressed again, the bruises and cuts left to heal on their own while the medics focused on the more traumatic injuries that Sakura hadn't addressed on the return. Miho frankly didn't think she needed to be healed, but Sakura had manhandled her onto a bed. Now, to see the Sakura's shock and blush at Shin's nickname, Miho was at least grateful for the entertainment. "Though, I admit the learning curve on this mission was pretty steep."

Kakashi-taicho turned to glare at Genma-sensei. "Your brood corrupted Sakura."

'Brood' was a new one.

Genma-sensei shrugged his shoulders, looking proud. "Seems they've learned one of my best and most valuable skills."

"Bad jokes?" Asuma questioned, reentering the triage area with a fretting medic fussing him into submission for the gash on his shoulder. Something Miho imagined came from the fight with Jūgo. He wouldn't let Sakura waste chakra on healing it while they ran. "Just what we need. More wise-cracking Genmas running around."

"Puns, Sarutobi." Genma-sensei's voice was definitive, but there was something there that seemed off. Her attention tracked from where Genma-sensei was standing, crutches sitting ignored by against the wall, to Tetsuya. Tetsuya, whose arms were still crossed.

He looked as though he'd been crying. His eyes were bloodshot and half-lidded. Miho's heart hurt at the thought. He'd probably thrown himself into training to keep himself busy. Leaving him alone wasn't— His face looked a bit more gaunt than when they'd left. He tended not to eat when he was upset. She'd tried for years to fix that problem, but...

"Have you been eating?"

Tetsuya's dark eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. Miho hadn't meant to ask that question so bluntly and in front of so many people. It wasn't really the time to be pushing Tetsuya for anything, not after how things had been left. Instead of waiting for his response, she turned to where Kakashi-taicho was studiously focusing on his book. Beyond him, she caught Chōji's eyes. He looked a mixture between amused and concerned, eyes flicking up from her face.

She felt something brush against her hair, gently pushing the bush-like mass away from her neck.

Turning back to Tetsuya, she just smiled a bit up at him, reaching up to take hold of his fingers as they rested against her throat, cool on the throbbing of the skin there. She didn't say anything and neither did he. But she could sense a change. Her grip on his fingers tightened. His hold tightened in return.

He hadn't been eating. She already knew the answer.

Slowly, the triage started to thin out. Shino, Hinata, and Kiba were released with minor scrapes and bruises. Shikamaru and Chōji were released just a while later with a stern glare to recuperate with rest and food. Her brother paused in front of her cot with an uncertain look. Miho felt her stomach rumble with something like anxiety as she held out her left hand to him. He stared at it for a long moment before a small, true, gentle smile broke on his face.

She could practically feel his relief as his fingers wrapped around hers. Behind him, Shikamaru sighed and stared at the ceiling. Still, there was the slightest upturn to his lips.

"I'll let Mum and Pa know you're back."

"Thanks."

"What was that all about?" Tetsuya questioned quietly once her brother and Shikamaru had left. Miho only shook her head.

After a while, it was just Team Kakashi, Ino, Genma-sensei, and Tetsuya.

Jūgo had been taken to another location, likely one of the secure holding cells until the Hokage could figure out what to do with him. Aoba-sensei, too, had been carried off to some other location with no update on how he was doing. Miho didn't expect any updates.

"Just let the other cuts heal up in their own time. Remember to use an antiseptic twice a day and change the bandage twice a day as well." The medic told Ino, who nodded and pushed herself off the gurney. There was a pretty severe gash to her upper arm, where she said Jūgo had gripped her before she'd invaded his mind. He'd felt terrible about it afterward. "You're free to go."

"Seeing as how Shikamaru and Chōji abandoned me here and I have to walk home by myself." Ino dramatically waved her hands, earning dry looks from Shin and Tetsuya. She was hardly subtle. "Since Miho's still languishing, Sakura, walk with me." Genma-sensei chuckled a bit at the obvious diversion. Sakura was the only one in the room unaware of the future, in whatever capacity. "We can talk about how Shin flirted with you a minute ago and you didn't catch it."

"But I—"

"I want dango before I crash. You're going with me." Ino hooked an arm around Sakura's shoulders and dragged her toward the door. Poor Sakura tried to get free, looking to Miho and Shin for some kind of rescue. Shin just waved, chuckling at her predicament. There was no winning against Ino. "Miho, make sure to eat, okay? And get some rest. Make Tetsuya here cook for you since he decided to be an utter jackass when you and Shin left. It's the least he could do. Okay? Bye." Miho might've laughed at the fact that Ino finally managed to air her grievances with Tetsuya before leaving with a flick of her hair.

The room sat in silence for a moment with the door clicked shut with a dull snit.

"Omurice."

Tetsuya shrugged in acceptance. "Sure, okay." At least lunch was settled. Miho pulled in a breath and looked over to where Kakashi sat, eyes still on his book. "So…" His visible eyebrow lifted before he sat the book aside and crossed his legs to sit completely upright. After a moment, his attention shifted to Genma-sensei, who waited for the other shoe to drop. He seemed to be struggling with the hard glare on Genma-sensei's face.

"If he's still alive, which he probably is, Orochimaru's gonna be coming after me."

Kakashi's eye went wide and he let out an exasperated breath, shoulders rounding. "You're just like him." Before anyone could say anything more, Genma-sensei's hand slammed into the wall, sending a green flare of chakra around the room. A privacy seal in the hospital triage didn't seem very wise, but Miho could see the barely-concealed panic on Genma-sensei's face. It faded after a moment, pulled behind the mask of the assassin.

"What was that?"

"He wanted her." Shin said voice hard. There was a flash of something in his black eyes. He wasn't smiling anymore. "If we hadn't buried him, he would've taken her."

Miho shifted, fingers unconsciously going to where her usual top would have beads sewn into the sleeve. There were no beads for her to roll between her fingers, so she instead swallowed and drew out a bag of chips. Speaking around them, she tried to affect an air of confidence, which faltered slightly under the weight of Genma-sensei's stare and Tetsuya's silence. "He wanted to know how my soul survived. How it was reborn. He's obsessed with immortality. It was more about that than my knowledge, I think. He already has that."

"He already…" Genma-sensei murmured.

"You're not immortal."

Miho stopped chewing, turning to Tetsuya. The salt on her tongue wasn't nearly as comforting as she'd hoped. "No, I'm not. I don't think my soul is either. But Orochimaru is obsessed with the idea of continuing. And that's something I've… experienced. If he survived, he'll come after me."

"And it's likely he survived." Kakashi-taicho added, looking over to Genma-sensei. "He got what he wanted from Aoba." Miho held her breath, knowing what was coming next. "Orochimaru gave Aoba the Curse Seal and gained access to his memories. And Miho's. That's how he knew about Miho's…other lives." Kakashi shifted, angling so that Genma could see his visible eye. "If Aoba survives, he'll need you. In order for Miho to survive, she'll need you too."

Genma-sensei faltered for only a few moments, staring at Kakashi-taicho as if he'd said that the world had flipped on its axis. Then, with a frightening slowness, he reached up and took the needle from between his teeth. "Aoba has the…"

"Curse Seal of Heaven. He's alive right now."

"And Orochimaru is…"

"Going to go after Miho." Kakashi nodded once.

Genma-sensei was quiet for a long moment, rolling the senbon between his fingers. His eyes tracked over Shin, who was still tense, and Tetsuya, whose jaw was working as he grit his teeth, before finally landing on Miho. She straightened her back, raising her chin a bit. Trying not to let the fear and nerves show. Genma-sensei didn't need to see weakness at that moment. He needed to see strength. That she could handle it. That she was confident that Aoba would survive. After a long moment, attention lingering on her throat, he sighed. "Raidō really undersold 'encounter.'"

"He does tend to undersell, but…to be fair, he didn't know just how much it all went to hell. Sakura wasn't lying. Our missions do tend to go FUBAR." Kakashi was clearly grimacing under his mask. "Well, aside from those two major things, you can debrief with them yourself. They handled themselves well. Overall." Miho met his eye when he turned to her. "They survived a battle with Orochimaru. Against direct orders, they didn't abandon a teammate. To me, there isn't a better gauge of a ninja."

"Saved your ass then?" Genma wondered dryly, lifting his brows.

Kakashi-taicho shifted, looking to Miho and Shin, expression serious. "We'll have an official debrief at noon tomorrow."

With seemingly nothing more to say, he disappeared in a shushin. As the smoke cleared, Genma-sensei released the privacy seal. Miho felt the pressure of the silence as it fell over them.

Genma-sensei stared at where Kakashi-taicho had disappeared for a long moment before he finally put the senbon back between his lips. He rolled the needle a couple times before sighing. "You guys are gonna make me go gray at an early age. You know that?"

Standing in front of the mirror, Miho traced a hand along the bruising. The medic had healed the internal damage and inflammation, but didn't bother with the bruising. The mottled purple and blue wrapped around like Shin's choker, the shape of fingers under her left ear. Her double chin was purple. It was a reminder, daunting and frightening. Letting out a breath, she moved away from the mirror and settled on the edge of her bed, not looking at anything in particular as she pulled and tugged at her t-shirt.

If Orochimaru survived, then he knew the future. He knew that he would be instrumental in bringing back the Hokages, if the war arrived to that point. He would fail to get Sasuke's body, be defeated by him, even if he was weakened at the time. He knew that everything that Aoba knew. Including bits and pieces of her past lives.

That was what interested him.

Like she was an interesting specimen.

She would need the strength to fight a Sannin.

Miho's head shook.

It didn't feel like that was the kind of power she was meant to have. Her power would never rival Naruto, Sasuke, Itachi, and others who were S-class. And she had no chance of being smarter than Orochimaru. He knew everything Aoba-sensei knew. That meant he knew about everything she'd used in their spars, short of the most advanced Okuda techniques. She'd need to talk to Genma-sensei and Lord Ki. It was time. Pulling in a breath, Miho leaned back against her pillows, arms wrapping around her chest.

"Omurice is done!"

The door opened and light flooded into the room from the kitchen. The smell of soy sauce and fried egg followed the light, making Miho's stomach rumble. Tetsuya stepped into the room, pausing for just a moment before he closed the door after himself.

He seemed a bit uncertain, shifting from foot to foot by the door.

"I'm fine. You can come sit."

Tetsuya let out a breath, moving to the far end of the bed, drawing one knee onto the bed while the other stayed on the floor. "Yūgao-sensei will be teaching me the Fifth Level."

"I'm glad." Miho nodded. "You look rough. How're you doing?"

"I feel…better than I did." He lowered his head, staring down at his open hands. "I was angry. Just felt this kind of…rage…all the time. I could barely contain it. I still…I'm still angry. But I don't want to be like that. I don't want to be someone I hate. It felt like I couldn't breathe." He lifted his eyes, looking at her through his lashes. The scar was cast in sharp relief in the shadows of her bedroom. "I'm sorry for how I acted. There's no excuses for it. I'm supposed to be your teammate. I was— like Ino said— a jackass."

Miho shifted. "You're human, Tetsuya, and you're hurting. Everything you're feeling, it's valid and it matters. I don't think there's anything to forgive, but, if it helps, I forgive you. I hope you know…that I'm here for you. No matter what. I'm here."

Swallowing, Miho sank further into the pillows while silence fell over the room. Tetsuya nodded. "I know. I feel the same."

"Chōji ate poison for me."

"I'm guessing that didn't exactly make you happy."

Scoffing, she pulled a pillow into her lap, leaning over it and cradling it into her stomach. "I snapped at him. Because he did it to prove a point. Shin talked some sense into me. I apologized, told Chōji thank you."

"And?"

"I trusted him at my back when we fought Orochimaru. He's the one that brought the mountain down." Miho gave him a close-lipped smile. "I forgave him a long time ago, but…"

"Forgiveness and trust aren't the same thing. He's earning it back. It takes a lot more to earn someone's trust back than it does to earn it in the first place. Chōji's not an idiot. He knows that." Tetsuya watched her expression for a long moment before slapping his leg and standing. "Sitting in the dark thinking about all of this on an empty stomach isn't a great idea, Chubs. C'mon. Omurice is waiting. I don't have a mission for another couple days. Shin's with Sai. We've got the afternoon all to ourselves. Let's watch The Sky Temple and eat snacks. Orochimaru, Chōji…Everything…Everything else can wait for a while."

He moved to stand beside her, holding out an open hand.

She took his hand.

Genma sat in the darkness, watching as Aoba lay helpless in the middle of the sealing matrix. Half of his body was wrapped in bandages. It was a nightmare brought to life. The floor was cold and Genma had to wonder why they made the sealing room one of the darkest, freakiest places in whole damn hospital. It wasn't as if the whole basement was like this. After all, there was a jinchūriki in a really comfortable room just down the hall. It seemed dramatic. Shifting his senbon, Genma looked over to where Kakashi leaned against a nearby pillar.

"You sure you got this? I can do it."

Kakashi shook his head. "I've got it."

The Fourth taught him sealing theory. He needed to know the mechanics in order to do the Flying Thunder God. He could hold his own, but he was by no means a Seal Master. Kakashi was more advanced and, as much as Genma hated to admit it, in a better position to execute the seal. Still, Genma would be damned if he wasn't at least present.

"So, what happened out there?"

Kakashi looked up from his book. "You've heard it already."

"Humor me."

The book snapped shut, the indolence leaving Kakashi's eye. "They disobeyed a direct order. I ordered them to retreat and rendezvous with the second team. They stayed. The Akimichi squared off against Orochimaru with her summon, acting as a distraction for her brother to catch Orochimaru off-guard. It was all the Nara's plan. Then, they brought the mountain down on him." Genma waited, knowing that there was more to it if that particular glint was in the Hatake's eye. "They didn't abandon a comrade."

"You thought they would?"

Kakashi shrugged. That shrug was telling enough. Earning the Copy-Nin's respect was difficult. Many seemed to fall short of his expectations. For a long time, Genma wasn't overly fond of the jerk for that, how he thought he was so much better than everyone else. But Genma saw what it did to Kakashi over the years. To a certain extent, Genma pitied him for it.

"Sakura has a nickname now. My kids finished their collection."

If Kakashi looked a bit green in the darkness of the sealing room, then Genma didn't say anything. Instead, he shifted his focus to Aoba's steady breathing.

"What're his chances in getting this seal?"

"One in ten."

A sick feeling flooded Genma's gut at those words. It was the same way Kakashi reported the survival rate of the lab when it was raided before. Even if Aoba was laying there, alive, the Evil Sealing Technique might be enough to kill him. It'd killed others in last ditch efforts to save a couple of the 'survivors' before. Only Anko had survived. There was a 90% chance that Aoba was going to die in this dark, frightening place.

Pushing himself up, Genma ignored the crutches and limped his way to where Aoba lay at the center of three already-painted concentric circles. His hands were bandaged. His feet were bandaged. Genma knew the torture methods involved with both. He'd even performed those methods a few times himself. Aoba was a tough man with powerful mental control. He withstood.

Lowering himself back down as gently as he could without the support of a pillar or his crutches, Genma barely kept himself from cursing at the pain that shot up his leg. "Yeah…Yeah, I know. I'm an idiot for not bringing them over. Shut up." He grumbled at Aoba's unconscious face. He'd seen Aoba asleep more times than he could count, but this was different. Only a few got to see his eyes without those sunglasses. Now, Genma was worried he'd never see them again. "I need you with me." He lowered his eyes to where he was holding to Aoba's unbandaged forearm. "I need you with me. I need you not to give up. You're… one of the best of us."

"I…am the best of…us."

Genma jerked, eyes flying to Aoba's face. "W-What?"

"I am the best of us."

A laugh bubbled up in Genma's chest before he could swallow it down. Aoba's eyes were just barely open. His eyes, that he barely showed the world. Because he thought the damn sunglasses made him look cool. That swell of amusement was extinguished when Aoba winced. "Definitely think that Gai wins as the best of us." Before Aoba could argue it, Genma gestured for Kakashi to approach. "That son of a bitch put a Curse Seal on you."

"Yeah…I noticed." Aoba breathed out, eyes fading out of focus. His chest stuttered. Something very close to panic set into the space between Genma's shoulders. He knew how high Aoba's pain tolerance was. To see Aoba visibly show pain was enough to set Genma further on edge. "He got…everything."

"We know." Kakashi responded, kneeling down. The pain was there, but it was hidden behind his mask. "We dropped a mountain on him."

Aoba shifted just slightly, eyes opening a bit more to look around the space. "Evil Sealing?"

"It's been three days. We had to wait until you were stable, but we can't wait any longer." Kakashi commented, voice level. "Lady Fifth and Shizune healed the worst of your injuries. You'll find you have some lovely fingernails again." Aoba let out a harsh breath that may have been a chuckle if he had more energy. "Evil Sealing is determined by—"

"My will."

Genma couldn't shake the feeling, looking down at Aoba's pale face, that this wasn't going to go the way they hoped it would. Aoba was still so weak, but the sealing couldn't wait too long. If it did, the influence of the Curse Seal would take hold. The cold hands of dread were wrapping around his heart. How could…

"Genma."

He jerked, refocusing on Aoba's face.

"Shut up."

After a moment, Kakashi hummed. "Genma, help him sit up. Aoba, I'm going to start the seals. This'll take me a while." Taking out a kunai, Kakashi pressed the blade into his fingertip, drawing the blood. Genma pushed an arm under Aoba's shoulders to pull him upright. The movement made Aoba nearly whimper, but the man was too prideful to let a sound escape. Instead, he clamped a hand onto Genma's forearm, gripping it so tightly that Genma was sure he'd bruise.

"Distract me."

"I can think of a lot of ways to do that." Genma joked, earning a scoff from Aoba.

"You'll hurt Kakashi's…innocent ears." Aoba responded, voice raspy and thick. Judging by the way Kakashi froze just before placing his bleeding finger to the floor to begin the array, the Copy-Nin hadn't been expecting that one. Genma grinned, reaffirming his hold on Aoba. "Your leg…"

"Will heal. I'm in physical therapy with Yui."

"Maybe we should've traded places." Giving up on full-voice responses, Aoba settled for whispering, better able to get the breath support for his voice. Aoba's eyes closed momentarily, his body stiffening and muscles tightening. He hissed through his teeth, "It's getting stronger. Distract me." When Genma didn't respond immediately, Aoba shot him a glare. "You always have— shit— so many things to say, smartass, and now you're silent?"

Now this, Genma was familiar with. This, Genma could handle. "I am holding you in a basement sealing room with Kakashi painting his blood on the floor to try and save your life, and you're coping an attitude. You're going to call me a smartass?"

Aoba didn't respond, teeth gritting as his body shook again.

"Fine, fine. I know what you want. You want gossip… because you're an old woman in a young man's body. Well, personally, I think Kurenai finally made the first move because Asuma has absolutely no skills." Before Aoba could latch onto that one, something he'd been betting on long before he knew the future, Genma moved on to other developments. "The kids all got promoted. Never got to tell you…Tetsuya likes that boy at the bookshop, apparently? That Painted-Face Kid came by the hospital for Miho again. Brought her cookies. Stayed for three damn hours. I think he did it just to piss me—"

"Miho was in the hospital?"

Genma smiled around his senbon at the concern in Aoba's tone. Miho was one of his students after all. He helped her to organize her memories, to work through all of the different lives she remembered, even if they were fake. They'd spent countless hours together over the past two years. "She saved the Kazekage."

Aoba just hummed, obviously not surprised in the least.

"Yeah, well. Apparently, the Kazekage baked her the cookies. So, it was 'all worth it.'"

Kakashi moved to a different line of the array, pressing a sealed kunai into the cement as he moved. From his expression, he was trying very hard to focus on the sealing and not the gossip Genma was currently feeding Aoba. Nevertheless, the man still looked a bit disturbed. Aoba shuddered and drew Genma's attention back.

"She needs a partner who can cook."

Genma really didn't want to think about the implications of that particular statement. He'd chalk it up to pain and evil seals.

"She's fifteen. She doesn't need a partner yet. None of them do. I'm not ready for it." Genma groused, rolling his eyes at Aoba's tired smile. That hopeless, hapless romantic had been waiting for the day that Genma reached 'peak mother hen status.' "Shikamaru warned the little—" Aoba shivered in his arms. His entire body seemed to jerk with the force of it. Genma reaffirmed his hold on Aoba's shoulders "— jackass away from her."

"You serious…ly need to—"

Aoba's body went stiff. Genma felt the air rush out of him when the quaking began. Fear fluttered through him as Aoba's eyes unfocused and his legs and arms seemed to jolt. A seizure. "Kakashi!" Genma quickly laid Aoba fully on the ground and tore off his jacket, rolling it up to put under Aoba's head to keep it from hitting the stone floor. He spat the senbon into the darkness of the cavern. Keeping his leg out straight, he shifted Aoba off of his lap. "Kakashi!" He moved to pull at Aoba's right arm and leg, positioning onto his side like he'd been trained. "Aoba? Aoba?"

"Check his airway."

"I—"

"I have to keep working on the seal, Genma. I can't stop once I start. Check his airway. Horse!"

Genma held a hand over Aoba's mouth as he waited for a breath. Just a slight one. He felt one of the ANBU guards, Towa, appear near Kakashi. Aoba was still convulsing, though they were growing slighter and slighter with each passing second.

"Get Shi—"

Genma felt the air stop pressing past his fingers as Aoba went still.

"No. No, no. Aoba!"

"Get Shizune or Lady Tsunade! Now!"

Towa disappeared.

"Aoba!" Tapping his fingers roughly against Aoba's sternum, Genma prayed— for the first time in a while— that this was just Aoba being a dramatic asshole. "Aoba!" He pressed his fingers to Aoba's throat. No pulse.

Nothing.

Rolling Aoba onto his back, Genma growled when the cast around his leg didn't allow him the freedom to get on both knees to begin chest compressions. Before he could manage to bend the knee, another ANBU appeared kneeling at Aoba's other side. Komachi. Towa's partner. She looked at him through the mask silently for a short moment before her hands fell onto Aoba's chest. Genma nodded, a bit breathless, and repositioned himself to hover over Aoba's mouth.

He tried not to notice how his hand was visibly shaking as he tilted Aoba's chin up. He leaned forward to listen.

Nothing.

There was nothing.

He felt Kakashi move to another line of seals, drawing his blood along the concrete.

Thirty compressions and Genma settled his mouth over Aoba's and pushed air into his lungs. Check for a pulse.

"Damn it!"

The panic was giving way to hopelessness. Still, Kakashi kept drawing his seals. One. Two. Three. Four. Genma felt the seal on his thigh flare to life and he scrambled backward, stuttering out a breath as half of his reserves were sucked dry. The Fifth Hokage appeared in a cracking flash that echoed through the cavern, heels clacking and pigtails flaring. Genma tried to pull in a breath, moving out of the way as she lowered herself to her knees.

"How long has he been in cardiac arrest?"

"Thirty-five seconds." Kakashi responded immediately, not pausing in his sealing. Komachi pulled her hands back as the Hokage's glowing green hands fell over Aoba's chest. "Preceded by a severe seizure."

"The seal is progressing. I was just with the kid this seal was derived from. It draws on nature energy. It's trying to rewire his entire chakra network. When the nature chakra is pulled through the seal, it is corrupted. His entire chakra system just stopped functioning. His coils are burned." Genma couldn't bring himself to move, watching as the Hokage continued to hold her glowing hands over Aoba's chest. "Progress, Kakashi?"

"Halfway there."

"Shit." She hissed, eyes narrowing at Aoba's face. "Komachi, go get Shizune. Tell her to bring Asset #7843. We haven't had time to develop anything practical from our examination of Jūgo. Looks like we'll have to press some theory into action." The Hokage turned her head toward Genma as Komachi disappeared. "Get up, Shiranui. I need you over here." Genma pulled himself back toward Aoba and the Hokage, who shot him a challenging look. "Your reserves?"

"Half."

That was the cost of the Hokage's use of that jutsu. It was never something that could be used on the battlefield or in combat situations. It was a near death sentence in those circumstances. That was part of why the formation was created.

The formation Aoba was supposed to help him teach the kids.

"Get over here, put your hands on top of mine. I'm going to do a chakra transfer. As soon as Shizune arrives, get the hell out of the way. Understood?"

Genma nodded, settling his hands over hers on Aoba's chest. The pull was instant and he felt himself growing weaker as the chakra was siphoned off. It felt like water was running down his arms and onto the tips of his fingers before dripping off into nothing. The Hokage's eyes narrowed at Aoba's face.

"His pulse has returned. If we don't get this handled in the next three minutes, he won't make it."

Aoba was such a dramatic ass. Wearing sunglasses for no other reason than to look cool. Learning a crow manifestation jutsu just because he thought it looked cool. He trained shirtless sometimes just to show off. Taking a hit meant for a friend because— Genma forced out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding, chest and neck tingling as more chakra was tugged from him.

Shizune's chakra signature appeared and Genma moved away, leaning against a pillar nearby as sweat beaded on his brow. He only had less than a quarter of his reserves left. Chakra exhaustion was setting in, settling like a weight across his shoulders. He watched as Shizune swallowed roughly before she took Aoba's arm and pushed a needle into the skin of his forearm. She reached across him, maneuvering around the Hokage's hands to place another needle on the other side. Komachi stood at her side, holding a quarter-full bag of red liquid. Blood.

"Such…a stubborn man." The Hokage hissed. "Hatake, the seal?"

Genma jolted as if just realizing that Kakashi was just to his right. "Three quarters."

"Shizune, begin. If we time this right…"

Blood began to trail from the bag into Aoba's arms. Shizune cupped both hands around the needles, hands glowing. The only sound was the Hokage's heavy breathing and Kakashi's shifts as he painted symbol after symbol on the floor and pillars.

"I'll need access to his back—"

"As soon as the transfusion ceases, Shizune, withdraw the needles. I will flip him. We leave the seal. Kakashi, the fastest sealing you have ever completed in your life." Genma saw Kakashi's jaw tighten before he nodded.

Forty-five seconds later, the blood bag was empty. Shizune pulled the needles free. She and Komachi leapt away while the Hokage flipped Aoba to his stomach, jumping from the center of the seal just as Kakashi arrived at the center with his blood-soaked hand finishing the line. Genma felt her arrive to his side, arms crossing as she watched Kakashi threw five kunai and then finished painting the blood on Aoba's back.

Genma felt himself stop breathing as Kakashi flew through the hand seals.

A flare of chakra echoed through the cavern as Kakashi's palm slammed into Aoba's shoulder, over the Curse Seal. There was no scream of pain, no sound at all as the blood matrix trailed into the seal, across the stone floor and skin. It flared with red chakra before a circle seal entrapped the Curse Seal.

Then, there was silence.

No one seemed to breath.

Genma sure as hell wasn't breathing.

After a moment, the Hokage stepped forward, moving to kneel by Aoba's side. Her hand reached for his throat, two fingers pressing into his pulse point. She released a breath and Genma felt himself tense, muscles feeling impossibly tight.

"He's alive. Let's get him to a room. Towa, Komachi, take him to Secure Room Three." The Hokage stood straight, nodding to Kakashi as he let out a breath and his shoulders sagged. Towa and Komachi moved to Aoba's side and disappeared. With Aoba gone, the weight within the room seemed to lessen. "We need to keep a close monitor on his vitals. That transfusion was…We'll call it reckless for now. With that seal, it's no longer attacking his chakra system. Shizune, you're assigned to Yamashiro's care until he's released."

Even thinking of 'release' meant that there was a chance.

Genma worked to compose himself, pulling the pieces of himself together enough to withdraw a needle from his holster to settle between his teeth. The familiarity of its prick on his tongue was stupidly comforting. He kept his eyes fixed on the floor where Aoba had been laying just moments before. Where…He'd… The Hokage stooped down to pick up his discarded crutches, shooting him a sardonic glare. His pride wouldn't let him quite see the sympathy that was there as well.

"These are only useful if you use them, Shiranui."

A hand appeared in his line of sight and Genma followed the arm up to Kakashi's face.

Genma took the hand.