Five seconds later, there is a deafening sound that impinges from behind.
They avert to the source of commotion and observe an injured Deidara on the ground, together with his bird sculpture twisted at odd angles.
"This forest is fucking hell on earth," he groans.
"What happened?" Rin says.
She is already by his side.
"This forest…it really puts up a good fight. Won't allow anyone to bypass it without going through it," he mutters wearily.
"It's okay just sit still, I'll fix you up," she answers reassuringly.
He flinches at her touch. The wounds on his left arm have swelled to the size of a large walnut.
"There are all these things that are preventing people from flying pass the forest. The fucking trees come to life. I don't even know where to start," Deidara continues.
"Senpai! I think I know the way out," Tobi says.
"You do? How?" Rin asks.
"Well, I was just wandering around before and noticed illusions in this forest. As long as we don't touch the precursors to those illusions, we can keep walking straight out," he answers.
Deidara, who is gazing at Tobi in disbelief, decides to disregard the state of his injury and push on with his stubbornness.
"Impossible, you don't have a brain to conclude this," he says.
"Senpai, you're too weak to even make a conscious decision so at least let me help out."
"Don't be stupid. I'm anything but weak right n-OW!"
His sudden retort jerks him too far forward and his stitches tear in one grotesque movement.
"I'm on the verge of letting it heal like that," Rin says reproachfully.
"Don't…that's just c-cruel."
He mutters painfully when Rin re-stitches the wounds with more force than necessary.
"We will rest for a bit then go," she says.
But in that moment, her abdomen sears with a tremendous jolt of pain. Her earlier feeble stitches, paired with the trauma of running, appear to have dissected itself in two.
"Oi, oi, are you alright?" Deidara says quickly.
She nods meekly.
"It's okay, I just need to re-do some of the stitches because I moved around a little bit too much," she replies.
But her body is drenched in the dizzying effects of fatigued. There is something rattling uncomfortably inside her, and when she reaches the gash, she finally pinpoints the culprit.
She runs her fingers along the depth of the wound and intricately inserts microscopic size chakra strings into her skin. The impending levels of excruciating pain builds, until it burns through like a ferocious fire.
In one torturous tug, she yanks a large thick black looking ball of something from her wound.
"What the hell is that?" Deidara yells.
"Blood clotting poison," Rin answers.
The little black ball, which is oozing a blood red substance, is now emitting a bizarre hissing sound that is reminiscent of the disgusting chakra.
"That thing when it attacked me earlier. I think there was poison on it. The poison is odourless and you cannot detect it. It enters your body and absorbs your blood. Once it gets to about the size of a walnut, it spits out the blood in the form of little black balls and then starts all over again. So you end up with little blood clots or blood balls in your body. You won't know it is there until it's too late," she explains. "I knew about it just then, when it got to this size. My chakra is special, I can detect minute problems in my body."
"How do you know all this?" he asks.
She smiles.
"I'm a medical ninja, I know a lot to do with the human body, including how many poisons work," she says simply.
Without overt acknowledgement, Deidara makes a tentative stand.
"I feel pretty rested now but I guess it is going to be troublesome to get going with that wound of yours," he says.
"It's okay, it's more important that we get out of here before it goes dark. I can stop my wound from jolting around too much if I keep my chakra on it," she replies.
"Don't be ridiculous, you'll just run out of chakra. Tobi, go do your job and help her out again."
In a surprising move and much to Rin's astonishment, Tobi obediently complies without hesitance.
"I'm guessing you're familiar with the procedure," he says indifferently.
This time, it is her that is reluctant to accept his help.
"I'm sorry that you always have to be the one to do this, but I can survive on my own this time," she says.
"You'll just hold us back," he answers bluntly.
"It's not like you're willing to do this anyway."
"No matter, it is the least I can do for him," Tobi says, and he briefly glances in Deidara's direction.
She averts to the ground.
"I don't know," she says quietly.
Why is she always ending up in situations where she is reliant on others?
"Rin," Tobi says.
At his comment, she looks to him in bemusement. He has never spoken her name before.
Without further thought, she nods as a non-verbal acceptance of his offer
When she places her arm around him, she does not expect to be lifted from the ground.
"Huh?"
The confused word rolls off her tongue.
"It's faster if I carry you in case you walk and rip your stitches again."