This is big trouble. Of the several hundred examinees who entered the second exam, fewer than a hundred survived in the end. Brutal. Absolutely brutal. The casualty rate was catastrophic — barely one in a few.
The reason for such terrible losses was simple: the surveillance was destroyed, and with it the Three Great Villages lost control of the exam ground. If it weren't for proctors and Konoha's ANBU intervening in time, there might not have been any survivors at all.
From all signs, Konoha had been seriously infiltrated. Otherwise the attackers could never have sneaked into the Forest of Death and known exactly where the monitoring lines were buried. Those were details even ordinary Konoha shinobi didn't know.
A leak this severe explained the extensive internal investigations the village had been conducting these past days.
"Also…" Uchiha Mei looked as if there was something she couldn't bring herself to say.
"Your two teammates — Yamanaka Koji's chest was pierced while protecting you, his heart was hit, and Kakashi also suffered serious injuries!"
The voice at the door finished the sentence for Uchiha Mei. Uchiha Shota. He stood in the doorway, a physically imposing figure who radiated pressure.
"What!!"
Shien had no idea his two teammates had ended up like this. Before he could even rise, he was pushed back onto the bed.
Uchiha Shota used one hand to pin Shien down and warned, "What you need now is to recover, and then get good results in the third exam that's coming — everything else can wait."
He reminded Shien because the latter's abilities had attracted growing covetousness. Without sufficient status and strength, even an Uchiha might not be able to protect him. Unless Shien never left his clan lands, sooner or later he'd have to face these threats alone.
"I…understood."
Thoughts raced through Shien's head, but he slowly nodded in the end.
"The third exam still has over half a month before it begins!" Uchiha Shota released him and, together with Uchiha Mei, turned toward the exit. At the doorway he paused and added,
"You…don't owe Mei anything!"
Shien was baffled by that final sentence. What did "don't owe Mei anything" mean? He hadn't wronged Uchiha Mei — that was slander!
Thud, thud. Before Shien could protest inwardly, hurried footsteps sounded at the door. He looked up and saw a figure rush in.
She wore a white short-sleeved priest-style robe with a black leather waist cincher, and loose hakama pants below. Long, smooth hair framed a small, delicate, pretty face; her white eyes looked at him with concern.
"Shien-kun, you're finally awake!"
The pretty girl's voice trembled with excitement when she saw him awake. Hyuga Aotsuki.
She clearly hadn't wasted her "crown princess" bloodline — not only was she beautiful, she came from wealth and generosity. Their first meeting had been a mess: swollen face, stained with blood, utterly awkward. But once healed and in clean clothes…yes, her looks and figure were remarkable. (Tangent thought: twelve years old? Her development was astonishing compared to others.)
"Shien, why are you here…?" He noticed her right leg was intact and she carried a lily — and wondered why she had come.
"I heard you were badly injured in the Forest of Death. I've been worried and came to see you every day."
Hyuga Aotsuki moved to the bedside and, like she'd done a hundred times before, replaced the flowers in the vase at his head. Someone changing the flowers for you — not bad…except not.
Only then did Shien understand what Uchiha Shota meant by "don't owe Mei anything." What a monstrous misinterpretation! He and Hyuga Aotsuki were as pure as blank paper.
"So? Do you know how Koji and Kakashi are?" Shien asked. Although his wounds had healed, his chakra was drained and the aftereffects of the rations pills still left his body numb. No wonder Uchiha Shota had shoved him back into bed — he really wasn't fit to move yet.
"I know…" Hyuga Aotsuki said softly and related the conditions of the two members of Team Three. Shien's expression darkened further.
Kakashi was okay — badly wounded, but thanks to medical ninjutsu he was practically healed and already discharged. Only Yamanaka Koji had been struck in the heart. Even though he'd miraculously survived, he would never be able to continue as a shinobi. A damaged heart meant that violent exertion could be fatal.
"How could this be…" Shien murmured. He knew how devastating this would be for Koji. As the last hope of the Yamanaka family, Koji had made
"reviving the clan" his dream.
"But that's the life of a shinobi, isn't it?" Hyuga Aotsuki comforted him with a sad expression. She had the same kind of loss — losing a leg meant she too couldn't continue as a shinobi; her future would be caged, permanently impaired.
"Yeah…that's the life of a shinobi." Shien repeated bitterly.
The cruelty was the point: danger could strike at any time, and even if you were maimed or forced to retire, there was no pension or social safety net. Too many shinobi had taken their own lives.
The heart — such a vital organ — was currently beyond the capability of Konoha's hospital to fix.
If Tsunade, the pinnacle of medical ninjutsu, intervened personally there might be a chance; otherwise, don't get your hopes up. The more Shien learned about medical ninjutsu, the more he understood its limits.
That's why he hadn't specialized in it — he was pursuing a "biotech route" that used medical ninjutsu as an adjunct.
The heart is the most intricate of organs. Even before he'd been transported here, he couldn't promise a 100% cure for such injuries. But this wasn't his old world — this was a shinobi world with chakra and nature energy. There were even resurrections and extraterrestrials here; surely a heart problem might be solvable.
"Then…are you willing to accept your fate?"
Shien looked at the downcast girl and asked suddenly. Hyuga Aotsuki said nothing, but a faint, fierce spark flared in her eyes before vanishing.
At the same time Shien realized why her legs appeared whole. Transformation Jutsu. Chakra could maintain the illusion; once it ran out, her broken leg would be back. Normally she'd gladly stay in that wounded state so the clan could ridicule her less — she took on humiliation to avoid worse harm. But because she'd come to the hospital to see him, she'd used a transformation.
If this had been before the Forest of Death exam, Shien would have done nothing. But now he had another idea. He took her hand…preparing to do something that mustn't be known.
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