"We need to clean it with fire anyway, and it's the fastest way to stop the bleeding," she explained bluntly, glaring at him. From the position, she was several heads shorter, her wounded leg on the ground, and her form kneeled over to put her face by his injury, or rather, the large hand clamped over it. The lack of height didn't make her stare any less intimidating. Nor did his seat on the feather mattress offer any real comfort.

"Uhhh…." Naruto wracked his brain, still yet to lift his shirt.

"You. Will. Die. Understand that? You will die if this wound isn't disinfected, a slow, ugly, painful death to a festering wound!"

"Okay…" Gods, he was getting desperate when suddenly it hit him like a mallet. The perfect solution, and it was so obvious! "Let me do it myself though, and don't look,"

"No,"

"I-"

"-Oh for fucks sake!" she declared, shoving the torch down to the wood right into his hands, making him retract in shock. Though the pain did not end, in fact it remained right where it was, geographically anyway. A seering, intense and localized pain that made his whole body spasm and the air flee his lungs!

His hip screamed at him as he struggled to pull away, only to find his legs pinned surprisingly well by just one strong bronze arm! By the time he worked out an escape strategy, it was over. His breath was just beginning to slow, his mind just beginning to form an idea more elaborate than 'don't cry' a full minute after it ended. At least she didn't seem to notice anything odd about the wound.

"You worship a god of stone?"

"What?"

"Well, your little knick there looks like it's already half healed," she casually remarked, not looking at him as she worked another layer of bandaging over her own grievous shin injury, that gash that she made seem such a miniscule distraction. Her eyes stayed hard. Fierce. It was enough to make the nervous young man panic; more likely then not she could kill him far quicker than Sasuki or Sakura could be of any help outside. Even so, should he scream now? Call for help. "God's of stone are the only ones I know of that give that kind of crazy durability to their champions, it's a pretty common deity back where I'm from, mountain people, you know," she rambled off.

"Y-yeah! I worship a god of stone, that's right, got a little power boost to my healing for all the… all the killin!" he proclaimed, eyes full and smile wide as he did his damned best to lie. She rose to her feet at that, turned to look at him with a staff she seemed to barely need in her left hand. Held almost idly outward, like a toy.

"Any God in particular?" she asked, giving a small smile he couldn't hope to read.

"IIIIIII nope! No, not really, just… you know I'd hear stories and stuff from the caravaners saying those stone gods were real good to miners, and it resonated with me, you know?" he rambled off. "I grew up in a tin mine Sasuki could verify that!"

"Hm. It's impressive you've killed enough to be granted so much power, and at such a young age…." She placed a hand on his bandaged wound gently, as if checking on it. His heart was fucking racing. "It's not so easy to kill with stone down here; where there isn't a cliff every ten paces, what do you use a sling?"

"Uhhh sometimes," he answered truthfully. If he had ever actually killed so much as a single fangfolk with one was a matter of much more doubt. "Mostly a staff…thing. You know, with a rock attached to the end. Like a spear!"

"Like a spear?"

"Like a spear! That's right, just… with a rock," she stared at him for a good long while, about thirty seconds that with her face 8 inches away, felt like a damn hour. When she stood up straight, he slumped down enough to pinch his injury painfully. Not that he gave a fuck. "A-anyways I should be going,"

"Not yet," she commanded without moving, making him fall flat back on his ass. "How did you know about the poison? This has something to do with the Hyuugas?"

"Yeah, it's the Hyuugus, Hiashi Hyuuga. He agreed to marry his daughter to that assassin guy in exchange for him killing Choji. See, he thinks-"

"-he'd get appointed magistrate," she sighed. "Yeah, that's more likely than the crown electing another mayor, especially if the previous one was successfully assassinated. Listen kid, I want to believe you; I do, but what proof can you give me?"

"Umm… the testimony of three people who saw that assassin at his house, if nothing else. Plus maybe his servants; there were dozens of-"

"-I'm going to stop you right there. One nobleman's word is worth at least a hundred commoners, that's not enough. What hard evidence can you bring against him?"

Naruto thought. Struggling to put aside his rage and indignation in favor of the more immediate problem. What fucking proof was there? It sounded like it was practically impossible without a….

"Okay. So I may have a nobles testimony too; just uh, hear me out… she is dead,"

"The ghost? That could, theoretically work, maybe,"

"Yeah, heck maybe her sister would testify too; she's alive!"

"Probably should have led with that dumbass, the living witness part," she remarked, making no efforts to hide her disdain. For fuck's sake, she'd already told him her neck was on the line too, in a sense! Oh, wait. "Listen, I didn't exactly expect my husband to live to a ripe old age, assassin or no. I've been preparing for this. I can get elected mayor, but not if there''s some 'hot eligible' noble here ready to take on the reins as magistrate, got it?"

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"Bring me proof, or take care of him another way," she concisely explained. "I'll tell you what. Once I'm mayor, I'll make sure you're the owners of his land after even! If you give me the purse for that caravan job you just took," she offered.

Naruto blinked.

"That… I mean, I'd have to run it by my friend, but… yeah that sounds like a damn miracle to me,"

"Excellent. You should head out immediately, before some shithead thinks to earn a coin running the news ahead to that silver-spoon fuck!"

"Y-yeah, okay," he agreed, taking to his feet slowly and staring a moment at her before shuffling out of the simple guest room. The manor was much smaller than Hiashi's, not lined with expensive knick-nacks or giant paintings either; still, the floor was smoothed stone and the home was much larger than most. Enough at least that the hole in his side was groaning at him by the time he made it to the door.

Fuck he hoped Sakura wasn't carrying them back as well.

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