According to the itinerant nurses, "shock" is actually a medical condition that requires much fussing and worrying (though apparently not much actual medicinal treatment). Here I had always thought of it as more of a predictable emotional response. After I had stubbornly waved away a fourth nurse—who insisted I continue to drink my water and stay seated—I saw Ikidre shuffling slowly through the lobby of the Academy's hospital wing. I stood quickly and ran to him.

"You're alright, then?" I pressed. My hand reached and held his arm firmly because, for some reason, I thought it would convince me he was fine.

"Yeah." Ikidre nodded but kept his head low, as though he was embarrassed. "They just said I'd been put under by some ninjutsu or something. First thing I remember is being carried back by a chuunin itinerant."

"I fell asleep, too," I said, trying to ease his apparent shame. It didn't work, and for a moment we both stood silently contemplating our own helplessness during the mission. Neither one of us mentioned Kino, whose fate was being resolved down some nearby corridor. I mimicked Ikidre's posture by lowering my head, but this somehow triggered a wave of dizziness causing me to sway forward and lean hard into him.

"Are you alright?" said Ikidre as he adjusted his footing to support my weight.

Phantom lights plagued my vision for a moment, but I quickly regained my balance and tersely shook my head. "It's nothing. Just a bit of fallout from opening a chakra gate."

"You released a gate?" Ikidre hissed loudly.

I didn't feel like explaining to him that opening a single gate really wasn't a very dangerous action. I respected this difference in our fighting styles; I quickly take advantage of any resource I have, whereas Ikidre is unnecessarily conservative and enjoys using redundant moves. Luckily, an excuse to change the subject came walking towards us from the end of a hallway, but I was startled to see who it was.

"Your sensei is still alive," said Akita Kokichi, the founder of the Hidden Moon. "The doctor estimates a sixty-seven percent chance of satisfactory healing, and only a small possibility of death. This is very good news."

Ikidre and I looked up, both of us frozen in a mix of disbelief and reverence. The news of Kino-sensei's condition seemed less pressing than the very presence of this man. The closest I had ever come to him was at the graduation ceremony a year ago; he had sat halfway across the mountaintop field under a shadowy marquee.

"Unfortunately, I have little time to answer your questions—though I do wish I could spend more time with genin students generally. Our business tonight is urgent," Kokichi-sama continued. "Please accompany me."

There was not enough time for me even to exchange looks with Ikidre before we were out of the hospital foyer and striding through the Academy. Kokichi led us to the highest level where Konoha and Somni guards surrounded the semicircle of an office. While Ikidre seemed to be occupied with the panoramic view afforded by the curving windows, I was rather struck by the disarray inside the room: it was an organizational catastrophe. Small piles of paper occupied most surfaces, though some held maps, diagrams, and instructional models. The floor was shrouded in places by snaking sheets of unrolled scrolls. I gained the impression that there was a certain functionality to the mess, as though information was needed in this room so often that it would be impractical to file it away. I began to wonder, in fact, whether the guards were here to protect, or to ensure that no one attempted to clean up, lest it would render Kokichi-sama unable to find the document he needed.

"Squad dismissed," ordered Kokichi, and the guards descended to a holding area in the stairwell, out of sight.

The head itinerant stepped easily through his cluttered office. I saw the man for a moment as a young boy in his play room, massing his toys in a place he could enjoy them privately. Kokichi-sama seemed indeed quite young to be the founder of anything; he couldn't be more than thirty. As he turned to face Ikidre and me, his eyebrows were raised wickedly under his long black hair and his apprehensive smile was almost childish.

"I have something to show you," he said, and opened a nearby door. "Gather close, please."

As we neared the large desk at the back of the room, Kokichi-sama ducked behind the door for a moment, then returned sliding a large limp form into view. Ikidre and I simultaneously gasped at what appeared to be a mangled body in front of us. I reflexively quelled my reaction, knowing that I was perfectly safe in the company of the most powerful ninja on the island. A sickening sensation crept into my stomach, however, for I soon realized that what I feared Kokichi-sama's creature to be, it was indeed: the hulking monster that had attacked Kino-sensei.

"Describe what you see," said Kokichi-sama.

There wasn't a breath between Ikidre and me. In the moonlight, the blur of red had been an ambiguous menace, frightening in its elusiveness. Now, in the clear light of the office, Kokichi was putting the bare horrors right under our noses.

"Please, don't be shy. Describe what you see. Verbalizing it will help your memory later on," said the enthusiastic itinerant. "You, Juutou. I understand this is your specialty."

Prompted, Ikidre immediately began to stutter. When his brow dropped into furrowed concentration, I knew he had forced himself into his academic mode. "Um. Spiked sagittal c-crest, probably for defense. Cranial c-carapace. T-two extra lower canines … c-carnivorous, I guess. Clawed feet look … really b-broad, maybe bipedal."

The view was too discomforting for me to listen to Ikidre's zoological inventory any longer. "It doesn't have any skin!" I cried.

"It has some," Ikidre murmured. "There, c-covering its feet and … and …"

I could tell he had wanted to say "hands," but instead of fingers, there were three long claws that sprang from each upper appendage. They were coarsely serrated; I cringed imagining the points digging large holes into Kino-sensei, then ripping more flesh on the way back out. Ikidre was correct, of course; crusty layers of leathery material separated all its claws from the rest of its body. The remaining surface was comprised of exposed muscle, of grotesque striations, except where its gaunt skull showed. On either side, its vulture-like eyes—though dead—shone with an eerie and inhuman intelligence.

"Kokichi-sama," I said, becoming slowly more composed before the carcass. "You said 'later on.' Why will we need to know these details?"

The head itinerant smiled. "These creatures are native to my homeland, the Fire Country. They are beasts of chakra. They don't have skin, in fact, because they don't need skin. While alive, they exude a thick, almost tangible layer of energy, and they hunt it, too. Chakra beasts need to feed on other concentrated sources, and unfortunately trained shinobi make excellent targets. For infection, especially."

"Infection?" I stared up at Kokichi-sama. He paused, as though to gauge my readiness, before continuing.

"It is how chakra beasts multiply. They do not procreate; they infect human hosts which then slowly degenerate into crazed monsters, such as this one."

My stare became horrified. Ikidre slumped onto a nearby chair to distance himself from the corpse. Kokichi-sama gave us each a measured glance, then knelt down to inspect the dead beast himself.

"We suspect an enemy village—the Rain, probably—somehow spawned these beasts into our country to weaken our ranks. A cruel but admittedly effective tactic. Depending on the former skills of the host, these beasts can be incredibly difficult to kill. I regret to think that they have been able to migrate all the way across the channel."

"K-Kokichi-sama!" Ikidre abruptly exclaimed, sitting far forward in his chair. "Kino-sensei didn't tell you! Tonbei, his family! Raika saw one, a beast—"

Kokichi-sama held up a quieting hand and nodded quickly. "I already know. And therefore, allow me to be more direct." He shifted the freakish head of the beast under his hand. "You are to remember these details because this is how Yunemusha Tonbei will appear when you find him."