Chapter 45 – Heart aches
“Sorry to bother you, beautiful ladies, may we have a seat?”
Tsunade and Shizune turned their eyes from their drinks and finally acknowledged the presence of our weird group.
Tsunade smiles, already a bit tipsy
“Don’t you have enough beautiful ladies already brat?”
“I could never have enough...My name is Yami, up and rising Konoha genin, I'm sorry to intrude on your fun but I need your help”
“Afff… A Jonin teacher, yet 4 Genin…sit! least I can do is have a talk with you kids after going this far from Konoha for me”
We each have a sit. Me, Anko, Ino and Sakura stood on the other bench facing Tsunade while Hinata went and sat next to Shizune.
"Some introductions first, this is Sakura and Hinata my teammates, Anko, our Jonin teacher. I believe you've met her before and this here is Ino, a fellow Genin.
"I remember Anko yes... this here is my apprentice Shizune and Tonton. So what brings you here, it better not be anything related to the snake."
Tsunade eyes narrow on Anko.Anko had asked me to lead the conversation. Despite getting help from Tsunade long ago in trying to solve her cursed seal situation they hadn't ever been close and Orochimaru remained a hot topic between them.I don't remember ever seeing Anko so well-behaved before... even in front of the Hokage.I continue the conversation.
“It has nothing to do with the snake. Old man third is afraid he might kick the bucket any day now, or just looking for retirement and everyone knows you’re the right choice to take the hat next…”
“Don’t wanna… it’s a pain.”
“That's good enough of an answer, that was more of a side-objective anyway.We... I have another more… pressing concern”
“Until i heard you cracking jokes I could have sworn you were a puppet.”
Shizune looks back at Tsunade.
“Ehh, what do you mean Tsunade-sama?”
“He’s moving all wrong. Every muscle, a conscious act rather than an unconscious one, like someone controlling a doll but skimping on movements just enough to not make it look too unnatural.”
“Sorry if it’s a bit uncanny, it’s just a way to prolong my life. In a way, you can consider myself as a soul possessing my own body.I wanted your help and medical expertise with fixing myself.”
I pull my collar, showing the hole in my chest. It looks extremely bizarre, inside the flesh is as alive as ever but there is no blood seeping out and the flesh stands still in place without moving.
Despite the lack of blood, the red color is enough to sour Tsunade’s mood.
“Apologies for the hideous sight.”
“This was certainly not a show I ever expected to see in my life… Shizune, see what you can do…”
Shizune gets up, awkwardly shuffles past Hinata and goes over to my side. She starts channeling chakra into my chest as I keep talking with Tsunade.
“It’s not as simple as it looks…”
“You talking right now is already as hard as it gets.”
“Ohh I can get plenty hard talking with you trust me… but I mean healing.”
“Tsunade… it’s refusing to close”
“Hmm… why?”
“The cells, even when I stimulate them to divide with chakra, just refuse to head to the open space, as if I was trying to grow an extra organ instead of fixing an existing one.”
I share my thoughts on the situation.
“There is another similar hole in my leg, also un-closeable. I believe it has to do with the jutsu the enemy used. He was similarly immortal and when he punctured himself the wound would similarly occur in my body as well”
“Is immortally that cheap to come by these days…”
“Hahah, I wish, as you can see it’s a pretty sloppy one. I’ll still die if I run out of chakra as I'm unable to replenish my own in this state.”
“So the guy just stabbed himself in his heart and you got a similar hole as him?”
“After he drank some of my blood, but yes. My theory is he used the blood and managed through my blood and his chakra to convince my cells they were stabbed, causing them to burst out and refuse to cover the hole left."
"And his hole?"
I shrug"Probably closed on its own shortly after. Since then I've been relying on external chakra transference as I require chakra to stay... not permanently dead"
“That is a very tricky thing… even I have never heard of any jutsu that works similarly, either one. I'd think we'd know of any immortal being going around by now...”
"He's kinda recent. It's still unknown if he even ages or not. So about my holes?"
"I know just a couple more things we can try. The first"“Kuchiyose no Jutsu”
A small white slug falls onto the table.“Katsuyu, kindly check up on the kid there”
“Yes, Tsunade-sama”The slimy slug jumps at me and attaches itself to my shoulder. I feel chakra flow through my body.
“Holy hell… what have you been doing to your body…”“Saving chakra where I can…”“*Sigh* You’re more dead than alive right now…”
“Yup…”
Tsunade channels some of her chakra over to me. Refiling my reserves and healing several of my dying cells from starvation in non-essential body functions. But my holes remain unfixed.”
Something wet moves over my leg. Shortly after the hole in my leg is patched up, but I have no sensation on the skin that covers it.
“Hmmm. I’m sorry to say this to you Yami.”Tsunade’s face is grave. Every hint of her drunkenness was gone.
“I can save your life but you’ll never be a ninja again."With a heart transplant, you would be able to breathe and live again but it would never be able to correctly connect to the rest of your chakra network.”
The girl's expressions show distress and unwillingness.Sakura gets up in rage.“Can’t you-”“Stop Sakura.”
Anko interrupts Sakura. Anko stares down at Sakura before the two share a nod and the tension calms down.
“We would still need to find a compatible heart first. It would obviously need to come from someone who no longer needs it. *Sigh* Guess I have to at least tag along to Konoha and hope there is one there by the time we arrive. I don’t think you can last another month with the current foreign chakra corrosion”
“Thank you Tsunade, I’ll be in your care”
I’m not satisfied with the outcome. But it’s as hopeless as it seems. If I can live longer, I can perhaps find a way to link my chakra network and generate chakra with a foreign heart.Or maybe I'll find a way to generate chakra without needing a heart, or acquire some bloodline ability to help me with the situation.The last case scenario is that disgusting jutsu from Kakuzu, Earth Grudge Fear which somehow makes use of 5 foreign hearts without issue.
I leave all those problems for tomorrow.
We pay the bill for a couple of rooms in the same lodging as Tsunade, I was tired from moving so much today and decided to head to bed and save chakra.
Meanwhile, the girls went out to try to raise their mood.I probably should have just gone with them but I felt like they deserved at least some time without my fate occupying their head. Although the news wasn't the best it meant I've escaped a death sentence and they can now relax.
I was in for an unexpected rudelewd awakening.