Shirou blearily woke up with a glaring headache. His eyelids felt heavy, refusing to budge, and his limbs were sluggish as if he was wading through neck-high mud. The best he could do was twitch his fingers to get a feel for his condition, but that came with mild discomfort and an acute sense of lethargy. This was his first experience with Chakra exhaustion, and he was only able to rouse himself awake due to his own pain tolerance.
For Shirou, nothing really compared to the agony of converting his nerves directly linked to his brain, as make-shift magic circuits while practicing magecraft. That being said, it would have been more of a mercy if he just allowed himself to pass out again. For all his efforts, he couldn't even open his eyes let alone turn his head to get an idea of his surroundings.
Had he been captured and was being held hostage somewhere?
The feeling of warm fabric and a bed beneath him somewhat detracted away from the notion, but he couldn't be sure with just that. His nose twitched as he inhaled, the familiar scent of rosewood and maple belonging to oaks assailing his senses long enough to lower his guard. The smell was identical to the wood of his Wood Release, and the pitter patter of rain against it was rather unique.
If he wasn't already convinced that he was somehow safe, the moment he managed to open his eyes enough to squint at his surroundings, he saw Konan carefully wringing out a damp cloth. Across from her, Yahiko and Nagato were gathering rain-water into a bowl using a carved piece of plywood that they had extended out from a window to catch the rain outside.
For all the comforts of ready-made wood houses, it didn't mean it had any sort of piping or fresh water. Fortunately, rain was abundant in this regard, if a bit tedious to collect.
Yahiko and Nagato seemed proud of their work, but began silently brooding when Nawaki snorted, formed a hand seal, and filled up the water bowl with a water Jutsu. The boys stared at each other in competitive silence, but Konan didn't care.
At this point, Shirou lost the battle and his squinted eyes closed, too heavy to keep open.
Konan took the water bowl, approached Shirou's side, dabbed a portion of the wrung cloth into the water, and then began cleaning the blood that had dried on Shirou's exposed skin.
"He's not waking up," Konan muttered in monotone, her gaze focused on Nawaki.
"That's chakra exhaustion. People can die from it, but since he's breathing, he should be fine when his chakra recovers."
"How would you know that?"
Nawaki made a face, a frown marring his features before he shook his head. "It feels as if someone once told me about it off hand."
Konan nodded without argument, likely because she wanted to convince herself that what Nawaki said was true.
Yahiko and Nagato listened on the side, still feeling put out that they were left behind. However, it wasn't as if they didn't understand where Konan had been coming from to only ask Nawaki for help. The two as they were now would have only been a burden, and this was why they were doing what they could to help now.
"If he needs rest, we should give him some space," Yahiko suggested, inwardly spurring himself to focus more on training. He didn't like this feeling of being left behind or being useless.
Nagato wasn't saying anything, but Yahiko was sure that the two of them had the same idea right now as they glanced at Nawaki's direction and nodded at each other.
Konan hesitated, but agreed with Yahiko's words. Cleaning up what she could of Shirou's injuries, she and everyone else vacated the room.
Left on his own, Shirou was still trying to wrap his mind around what had happened. He knew nothing about what had transpired after he'd passed out, and Konan and the others hadn't really discussed it in front of him either. However, that didn't mean he couldn't hazard a guess from how much more accepting Konan and the others were of Nawaki.
The friends he insisted on protecting on his own, and had tracked him and brought his sorry ass back from enemy hands.
He would have chuckled at the irony if it didn't hurt so much. Instead, he focused on the prompts he could still see with his closed eyes.
[Mission Success]
The two words were glaring, and a sign that he'd tided over the immediate danger.
The quest should have completed and distributed the awards as soon as the mission had been completed even in his unconscious state. All that was left now was to go through the rewards, and decide what he'd do from here.
Hanzo was a wake-up call.
Phantom pains stung over his stomach where it felt as if Konan and the others had had a field day tightly binding it with rolls and rolls of bandages. He could only imagine the look on their faces when they first saw the injury and how tiny metal blades were somehow sewing it shut. With Nawaki around, they likely thought it was some sort of Jutsu that would dispel when all his chakra depleted, leaving a gaping wound. This would certainly explain the excessive bandages.
Taking in a breath, the urge to sleep was overwhelming, but he had no choice but to force it back. It was ill advised to pass out again now when Hanzo or other higher ranked Shinobi could still enter the barrier.
With Shirou out of commission, he had no lack of certainty that no one could ensure his friend's safety. Most worrisome was if Hanzo came back himself.
Shirou shuddered, funneling his focus on anything immediately useful from the rewards he'd obtained.
[Uzumaki Barrier upgraded (+1) Unlocked hidden feature screen:]
[Hidden Feature 1: ? - processing - unlocked.]
{Hidden Feature 1: Blood Resonance detected}
[Processing...]
He didn't know how effective this would be, but for now, his eyelids felt too heavy.
His eyes closed and finally, he allowed himself to rest.
Frankly, Konan kept herself busy.
It was all that she could do to distract herself from fretting and finding herself standing dumbly in front of the Shirou's door. She wanted to go in and check up on him, but at the same time, she knew that she shouldn't be disturbing a wounded person's rest for the sake of her own peace of mind.
When did things turn into this?
She could still remember what it had been like to wander alone after she lost her family. Everything had been a struggle, and others were more inclined to observe her passing by than to reach out a hand to help. At some point she just got used to it, being alone and depending on herself and all that. Then she met Shirou.
It was hard to say how many times his simple actions forced her to refresh her views on the world in the span of time they'd spent together. More often than not, she found herself observing him, brooding over whether he had any ulterior motives. He did not. Not at all.
The revelation that he'd been caring for her out of compassion never really clicked until she realized he'd been portioning off his own share of food to keep her from feeling hungry. It was surreal as it was humbling to see him breaking apart what little he had to add to her own. Guilt came next. His excuse of saying she was 'just a child' meant little to Konan when she looked at him and saw only another child playing adult.
The dynamic between them had shifted from that point on, and the moment he began teaching her.
As it stood now, she wanted to do something for him as he'd done unconditionally for her and the others.
Konan recalled how her parents always fed her warm soup when she was sick. She thought to do the same for Shirou. After having seen Shirou cook from over his shoulder, she'd convinced herself that it didn't look that hard. And so, to distract herself from her concern, she decided to head to the kitchen area where a kettle and pots were hung over an unlit fire pit.
Lighting the coal, Konan poured water into a pot and let it heat up to boil over the fire. Meanwhile, she got a knife and pulled out the grown fruit and vegetables Shirou kept in stock. There was salted dried fish which she added to the pot in order to bring out flavour. Then she turned back to the vegetables and concentrated.
The sound of chopping and cutting echoed in the room before Konan started frowning.
The colour of the 'soup' she was making wasn't quite the one she'd been expecting.
How did it turn black?
She stared blankly at the slop in front of her, her cold expression twisting into an embarrassed whine. Having watched Shirou cook for so long, she'd thought this would be easy. You cut vegetables, add the meat, and then put them all together in a pot and done, right? Left on the side, Konan left open containers of spices and seasoning she'd mixed together for 'flavour.'
Still, it may not look good, but maybe it tasted good?
Konan poked a finger into the soup, and the texture was mush in the center, and somewhat fishy at the sides from soup scum. How wonderful. Stiffly, she brought her finger into her mouth, and then immediately began retching out the nearby window, her eyes tearing.
Wiping her mouth, she groaned.
No. NO. She couldn't feed him this. Her goal wasn't to kill him.
"Hey Konan, whatcha doin?"
Konan hurriedly threw away her failed cooking out the window, plastering an indifferent expression on her face. "Nothing," she answered flatly.
From the look Yahiko was giving her as he looked around the kitchen, he was clearly calling out her bullshit, but wisely didn't rise to the challenge when Konan began glaring.
"Nawaki's offering to teach us while Shirou's resting. He asked me to call you if you wanted to join."
Konan didn't hesitate and nodded. "Okay."
Pushing Yahiko out the kitchen, she erased all traces of her efforts, and hoped training could distract her long enough until Shirou woke up.
At the borders of the Uzumaki seal surrounding a portion of Rain Country, part of the Rain ANBU acting as Hanzo's escort were growing helpless. Their leader was a man with a mask depicting the face of a painted seal. The others carried similar masks and wore breathing valves on their backs. It was a requirement in case Lord Hanzo opts to use his poison breath, but the point was moot now that Hanzo wasn't even around. Each wore a set of black trench coats, shinobi pants, and sandals.
The leader's code name was Seal as depicted by his mask, and based on his demeanor, the situation wasn't good.
After getting separated from Lord Hanzo, the elite group had been aimlessly wandering in the fog. At first, they'd assumed that they could just exit the way they had come to later rendezvous with Hanzo, but they encountered a problem. They'd spent too long meandering in the fog to locate each other. Fortunately, the sudden emergence of a forest helped to act as a beacon which drew everyone together. However, when they finally decided to retreat, they came to a frustrating conclusion.
"We're trapped," Seal muttered, frowning behind his mask. "It's stronger than before."
The heavy fog was easy enough to walk though, but at some point at the borders of the barrier, it became increasingly difficult to progress. It was as if there was an unseen wall that they couldn't pass through. Jutsu and other such methods further proved this theory as they just disappeared as if eaten by space. Walking forward felt like wading through water. One moment you think you're going straight, and then in the next, you're back where you started from. The level of Genjutsu required to accomplish this feat was beyond what most Shinobi could handle.
Uzu arts, Seal shuddered. He didn't think they'd ever remerge in Rain of all places.
Seal did a head count.
Of the original number of the colleagues who entered with Lord Hanzo, only a dozen or so were left. It didn't surprise Seal as many greenhorns had been recruited into the team. Those that survived now were the veterans who knew better than to stand still or be distracted under enemy fire.
Shaking his head, Seal focused on what mattered right now. They had to find a way out, and if they couldn't, he'd have to decide what they'd do from there.
"Tuna, report," Seal called out.
"..." No answer, only a chocked gurgle.
"Tuna!"
"...We're isolated." The one who spoke was a woman wearing a fish mask, her shoulders drooped and visibly pleading. "Can't we just go back to our normal names?"
Like the Hidden Leaf, Rain's spec ops operated with similar groups and divisions. However, their naming scheme leaned towards water animals better known in the Land of Water rather than Fire.
The woman hated her designation.
She'd have preferred Urchin as a codename, or maybe Otter, but that was taken by fellow team members. Damn it.
"We're in enemy grounds, Tuna," Seal was as stiff a traditionalist as ever.
"In Rain country. How is this enemy ground?" Rain whined. "This is home ground. I've been here before the damn fog appeared."
"Then you should know your way around."
"…Please forget I said anything."
"Tuna," Seal stressed warningly, but to her ears, it sounded mocking.
For fuck's sake! She should have never joined Rain's ANBU.
Tuna recoiled, nails digging into her palms, but her training getting the best of her. Though agitated, she managed to restrain her temper and focused on her duties.
"I found nothing but fog on my end even while running back from where we all came. All that's left is some dingy settlement that got caught up in the war early on," Tuna recounted.
Being as the path back was utterly blocked, Tuna was right in that there only choice was searching for clues by going further in. Seal had no other insights to use in this situation, other than keeping his vigilance.
There was no choice.
"Going in a group would be too dangerous if that archer is still around," Urchin, who stood near Tuna spoke up.
"Lord Hanzo was on him. He's probably dead," Someone argued, fed up. If that archer was still alive, they wouldn't have been able to talk like this and that was enough evidence. Several murmurs of assent abounded, but Seal was different.
"A complacent Shinobi is a dead Shinobi." Seal cut off further bickering in the group before turning his attention elsewhere. "Tuna-"
"I know I know." Tuna cut in. Out of everyone, she was the youngest at only twenty, but it wasn't as if she didn't have skills she excelled in. "I was assigned Tuna because I'm the slipperiest. I'll scout ahead."
Seal felt relieved that there were no arguments this time. Tuna still had the brashness of a pup barking at her superiors. It was good that she was at least learning.
However, the real reason for Tuna's compliance was that no one could call her 'Tuna' if she were on her own.
Not wasting a second to distance herself from her compatriots, she chakra leapt away and focused on the road ahead of her. Based on her memory of the area, she began navigating through the fog by paying attention to the ground rather than looking ahead through thick vapour. Sure enough, she found a stream and began following it on the way up to the tiny village she remembered visiting several years ago.
Only, it didn't look anything like the tiny village she remembered.
At the start of the war, she'd seen it reduced to a dilapidated state with wreckage and debris lining the streets. People who remained were starved of food as it was deemed too dangerous for food merchants and supply carts to enter the area. There were several cases of plundering and theft by both Leaf and Rock to replenish their reserve of rations in the war. Rain was neutral, but it didn't mean Hanzo would just continue supplying food to the people fighting on his land.
In any case, the tiny village might as well have been renovated entirely out of wood. Wooden houses and structures took the place of broken buildings and shattered streets. Furthermore, Tuna could spot people handing out carts of fruit and vegetables Tuna had no idea could be grown here.
Was that how all these people were surviving?
Not once did Tuna consider the people in the tiny village as enemies. She'd really been here before and could vaguely recognize a face or two in the milling crowd. These were villagers of Rain country, and should have nothing to do with the enemy her unit and Lord Hanzo had encountered to begin with.
Humming to herself, Tuna scanned the area with her chakra to feel for any signs of danger, but again found none. She was really beginning to think that lord Hanzo had killed their would-be attacker already and the captain was just being paranoid. Had he considered that maybe just to be vindictive, the archer chose to lock the area down in death?
Tuna snorted and continued scouting by entering the tiny village.
She took note of the almost surreal buzz of the crowd, and was momentarily baffled. Nowhere in Rain had villagers had such an air ever since the war began, but she found it here. What was it, that word, ah yes. Hope. The people here looked hopeful about the future.
Meandering through the town, it didn't take Tuna long before she spotted a larger wooden manor in the distance away from the central village area. Being as it was in a location Tuna had no recollection of in her memory, her curiosity urged her forward.
In the meantime, she kept up a constant vigilance and maintained the hand seal to create a water clone at the slightest sound of whistling wind. The noise of an unseen bolt of steel never came.
The archer may really be dead.
Tuna hurried on, but remained cautious not to easily expose herself to a line of sight.
Eventually, she reached the manor by hiding herself in the rain puddles, her eyes scouting around the building before being drawn to a fluctuation in chakra. Then, she noticed several sheets of paper flying in the wind, followed by grunting from a group of four children squaring off against each other.
"Konan, bind him already!"
"I'm trying. He's too fast."
"Nagato, use that, ugh, earth jutsu you learned! Make him sink."
"Yahiko, stop talking and do something! I told you idiots he's too fast!"
Oh? Interest flickered within Tuna's gaze when a bunch of academy aged children came within view. It was three against one…and the one was winning. It almost like he was playing against the other three, but it mattered little to Tuna who became rooted watching them.
From their appearance, they looked like they hadn't even gone into the academy, but were still able to pull off advanced shinobi techniques? One was even water walking!
Prodigies in this tiny village?
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