Aki's fingers twitched, her wind-enhanced senses catching faint vibrations in the air. Her steps halted, her twin fans unsheathed from her back, ready for fighting.
"Signatures incoming—three, maybe four. Fast."
Eiji's sword hissed from its sheath, its edge glinting with chakra. "Takigakure? Konoha leftovers?"
"Wait—" Aki's eyes narrowed as the figures stumbled into the dim light, "It's… Jaito?"
Eiji froze mid-lunge. The taijutsu specialist crumpled against the tunnel wall, his right arm a charred, mangled ruin. Behind him, Kirito staggered under Jaito's weight, Ryuga clutching a blood-soaked scroll. The stench of burnt flesh and desperation hung thick.
Kaito's gaze swept over Jaito's injuries.
"Kaito! Thank god it really was you", Kirito shouted, "Please, I am begging you. Heal Jaito. At this rate...I am afraid he is not going to make it"
Ryuga quickly transmitted the information: "I stopped the bleeding, with compressing bandages, but unfortunately, I don't have much proficiency in medical jutsu..."
Kaito looked at them, and nodded: "Good...You are not using transforming jutsu. Let me take a look at him"
[Lv. 16 Sunagakure Genin. HP: 12/180]
His Mystic Palm Technique flickered to life, green chakra weaving over the wounds.
[Mystic Palm Technique (C) Proficiency +2]
Stabilizing the wound further, it also allowed Kaito to get a better feel on his ex-classmate's condition.
"His chakra network is shredded", Kaito muttered. The burns had cauterized the arm, but internal damage from the Hyūga's strikes were lethal, "Good thing you found me"
Ryuga's voice trembled. "We…tried. But his chakra…"
Kaito's hands glowed brighter. [-15 Chakra].
The wounds cauterized, but Jaito's breathing remained shallow. Repairing this would take minutes—precious time they didn't have.
Eiji leaned close, his voice low. "Kaito. The tokens."
Even if he could save Jaito, their fate in the chunin exams was sealed. A flicker of understanding passed between them. Kaito withdrew a scroll, unsealing ten tokens—glowing blue shards humming with faint chakra.
He tossed them to Kirito. "Take these. Get to the surface now."
Ryuga's eyes widened. "But Jaito—"
"I guess it's too much to ask to abandon your leader. Nothing I say will convince you anyway. You can stay, but do not hinder us", Kaito said coldly
The trio watched Jaito's team sigh in relief. Aki frowned at the tokens they lost.
"Why help them? They're weak. And we lost some of our own tokens"
"Sunagakure needs to stand together", Eiji said coldly, "The more we are, the more powerful our village appears"
Kaito's hands moved skillfully, removing the burnt flesh and stitching the wounds together. As soon as bleeding appeared, his mystical palm jutsu would come into play. Medical nins were always underestimated. Even basic skills like those could save lives in battlefields, making it a wonder why there were never policies to teach them to shinobi in training.
Sunagakure possessing many civilian shinobi, it would have been all the more meaningful, since they usually have more chakra control.
Seeing his skills rising in real time, Eiji and Aki realized that Kaito truly was a genius.
"The dexterity...Damn it, Kaito, you're truly going to save him!", Eiji shouted in excitement
"Shut up...He is focused. you don't want to have Jaito's death on your consciousness, do you?", Aki scolded
"But...Still...I guess there is no better leader than Kaito", Eiji said with a smile
Aki smiled too: "I won't disagree with that"
As minutes passed, Kaito sighed in exhaustion: "I did what I could. He should be fine now. Still, his chakra networks are beyond my area of expertise. He will need a true medical nin for that. Let's continue the hunting"
Eiji frowned: "Mmh...You're not expecting me to carry Jaito, do you? This muscle mountain is super heavy. Kirito could barely support him, and he's one year older than me"
Kirito intervened: "Naturally, it is our duty to carry our lead-"
Kaito shook his head.
*PUFFF*
Taking out Sand Serpent (C), the shield-and-sword warrior puppet in his collection, three fingers from his hands started to control the puppet accurately. Its movements, inhuman yet beyond efficient, allowed the puppet to pick up Jaito's body and walk alongside them.
"What...This puppet looks so powerful...", Kirito gasped in shock
Ryuga added: "I heard some rumours from the puppet brigade. Everyone knows of Kaito, but his designs have been attracting attention from chunins and jonins alike. Some people have even started to compare him to Sasori of the red sand!"
A heavy silence followed her statement, as Aki glared at her: "Kaito is nothing like Sasori who disappeared when the village most needed him. Kaito will become the next kazekage!"
"Aki...I suggest we get to the rest area on the map. I believe the teams are starting to have increasingly more tokens and will start going there. Hunting there might yield more experience...", Kaito cut her short
Aki titled her head: "Are you sure? There are very few beasts in this area according to the map they gave us. Additionally, only one day passed out of three. Should we not hunt the beasts first, get the hundred tokens, and hunt some more teams later on?"
Although this would have been the logical thing to do, Kaito shook his head. Summoned beasts, when killed, yielded little EXP in comparison to genins from other villages. Additionally, the more genins he killed, the more damage to the enemy villages he would deal.
If they could suppress Takigakure further, it would be perfect.
As they walked, they ran into another team, which had the very same mindset.
[Ohashi Emi - Lv. 28 Takigakure Genin]
[?? - Lv. 21 Takigakure Genin]
[?? - Lv. 20 Takigakure Genin]
The clan symbol on the man's chest, coupled with the Takigakure headband. There was no doubt about it. Kaito could tell the man was from the very same clan as the chunin from whom he had stolen the Emi Clan Petrifying Smoke Jutsu.
"I finally found you...", the genin spoke, "Horuki's description was accurate, and his predictions on the spot. To think that an assassin like you would join the chunin exams and allow yourself to be butchered by me. I will finally be able to take revenge for the assassination of our princess"
The Sunagakure trio did not laugh. They had not noticed them before they revealed their presence. Had they decided to ambush them, they would have been in trouble. Sensing the chakra signatures, Jaito woke up in confusion, but quickly grasped the situation.
"Enemies...Kaito?", he mumbled in his inexistant beard
Eiji spat on the ground: "Takigakure scum"