bookbashuk Chapter 362 Why don't you try and see?
Chapter 362 Why don't you try and see?
Chapter 362 Why don't you try and see?
Chi Quan did not open his eyes.
"right."
"Then why did you let him see through it?"
Chi Quan remained silent for a while.
"Because I need him to go back alive and tell Helian—Chiquan's brand can indeed take effect, and when it does, he will indeed become stiff."
Shikamaru understood.
"You must convince Helian that branding is effective."
"Not only that." Chi Quan opened his eyes. "I need to make Helian believe that the information he has is correct. If he thinks Luo is my Achilles' heel, he will rely on this judgment at crucial moments. When he relies on it at crucial moments..."
"That's not it," Shikamaru said for him.
The ward fell silent.
In the distance came shouts from the training field, vaguely discernible as freshmen practicing basic physical skills, their calls uneven and carrying the awkwardness of youth. Closer still, someone was mopping the corridor floor, the mop handle hitting the wall rhythmically, like some kind of ancient metronome.
Chi Quan suddenly said something, his voice very soft.
"Shikamaru, do you know why I didn't tell you?"
Shikamaru looked at him.
It's not that I don't believe you.
"What is that?"
Chi Quan's gaze fell on the old oak tree outside the window. Most of the leaves had turned yellow, and a few were falling, swirling slowly as if they were in no hurry to land.
"Because if I tell you I can control the flame, you'll start worrying about how to use it for me. You'll come up with solutions, do simulations, write plans, and find people to cooperate with. You'll treat this as your own problem to solve."
"What's wrong with that?"
"This isn't your problem," Chi Quan said. "It's my brand. I should deal with what's on me myself."
""
Shikamaru remained silent for a long time.
The fallen leaves outside the window finally touched the ground.
"You're wrong," Shikamaru said.
Chi Quan turned her head to look at him.
Shikamaru didn't speak with any enthusiasm, didn't glare, and didn't slam his fist on the table. He just leaned back in his chair, his hands folded over his stomach, just like when he usually listened to reports in the Hokage Building, relaxed and casual.
"Your business is my business, ever since the day we were assigned to the same class. It's not because you're quick with your knife, or because you're ruthless, it's because you never take other people's help for granted. Just for that reason, I'm determined to take care of your business."
Chi Quan's gaze shifted slightly. It wasn't one of being moved or touched, but rather as if someone had unfolded a map before him that he hadn't anticipated.
"Where did you learn that from?" he asked.
"It was my own idea."
"It doesn't look like it."
"Asuma-sensei said something similar before," Shikamaru admitted.
Chi Quan turned his gaze back to the ceiling.
"Asuma-sensei is a good teacher."
"Yes."
Neither of them spoke again.
After a while, Ikezumi's breathing became even. He fell asleep, this time truly asleep. Shikamaru turned off the cardiac monitor, and the ward was so quiet that the faint murmur of his breathing could be heard. There were still residual toxins in his lungs, and his breaths had a slight rattling sound at the end.
Shikamaru pulled the blanket up to cover his shoulders.
Then he sat down on the windowsill where Chi Quan had just been sitting, and closed the window tightly, leaving only a crack. The morning light had already filled the entire windowsill, and the tiles were slightly warm from the sun. He took out the folded piece of paper from his inner pocket and turned to the page that read, "Investigate all those who have come into contact with information about Chi Quan's injuries."
He added another line below that one.
"Helian has Chiquan's blood on his hands. Investigate how the blood was spilled."
After he finished writing, he folded the paper again and stuffed it back into his inner pocket.
Then he tilted his head and leaned against the window frame, closing his eyes for a while.
He wasn't asleep. He was thinking about the tone of Chi Quan's voice when he said, "I should deal with my own brand." It wasn't bravado, it wasn't pride, it was a kind of instinct that he knew all too well, a instinct that belonged to Chi Quan, that turned all the sharp edges outward and hid all the softness, making everyone think that he didn't need anyone.
Shikamaru opened his eyes and looked at the cracks in the ceiling of the ward.
"You don't need anyone else," he whispered, "but others need you."
No one heard that.
Chi Quan is asleep.
Two crows were arguing fiercely in the persimmon tree downstairs from the medical department, their voices like two pieces of sandpaper grinding against each other. The shouts from the training ground in the distance gradually subsided, replaced by the smoke from the cooking fires at lunchtime, rising from all directions of the village, thin, bluish-gray, torn into streaks by the wind.
Silent footsteps echoed down the corridor, approaching from afar.
She pushed the door open and saw Ikezumi asleep in bed and Shikamaru sitting on the windowsill. She first breathed a sigh of relief, then frowned.
"Why are you sitting on the windowsill? Get down."
Shikamaru didn't move.
"ventilation."
"You're not a patient," Jingyin said, walking over and closing the window tightly. "He still has residual poison in his lungs and can't be exposed to cold drafts. Are you complaining that he's recovering too quickly?"
Shikamaru jumped down from the windowsill and dusted off the back of his pants.
"Mute".
"Um?"
"What would you think if I told you that Chi Quan has a much higher level of control over Luo than we thought?"
Jingyin paused for a moment while changing Chiquan's IV drip bottle.
How tall?
Shikamaru carefully considered his words.
"So high that you can decide for yourself whether it's cold or not."
Shizune hung up the IV drip bottle and turned to look at Shikamaru. Her expression changed slowly, first with confusion, then with doubt, and finally with a complex mix of shock and realization.
"Did he say that?"
"Um."
"When did you say that?"
Just now.
Jingyin looked at Chi Quan on the bed. He was asleep, unaware of anything. The expression on his face was more relaxed than last night, and the color of his lips had changed from bluish-purple to light pink, like the color of ice beginning to melt.
"No wonder," Shizune said softly.
"No wonder what?"
"No wonder his wound healed faster than I expected. After the stitches were done last night, I calculated that he wouldn't be able to open his eyes until tonight, based on normal recovery. But he woke up this afternoon." Jingyin paused. "If he can control the brand, perhaps he has better control over other parts of his body than the average person. Meridians, blood flow, and even the distribution of blood to internal organs—some people are born with the ability to do these things."
It's not ninjutsu, it's physical skill.
Shikamaru remembered what Izumi had said on the windowsill: "I recover quickly." At the time, he thought she was just bragging, but now he thought maybe she wasn't.
"Is this kind of skill common?"
"It's not common," Jingyin said. "I've met a few, and they're all people who have experienced extreme environments since childhood. After their bodies were pushed to the limit, they learned how to overcome those limits."
Shikamaru didn't ask any more questions.
After silently examining Chi Quan's eyelids and tongue coating, she straightened up.
"When he wakes up, feed him. The medicine is by the bedside; take it after the meal." She walked to the door, then stopped. "Shikamaru."
"Um."
"No matter how much control he has over himself, his injuries are real. The tear in his abdomen, the penetrating wound in his left shoulder, the old injury in his left arm, the residual poison in his body—these things won't heal on their own just because he can control them. He can endure the pain and move around, but enduring it doesn't mean the injuries are gone."
Shikamaru nodded.
"I know."
Jingyin glanced at him, as if trying to determine if he truly knew. In the end, she said nothing more, opened the door, and left.
The sound of mopping in the corridor had faded into the distance. The midday sun streamed in through the window, dividing the ward into two halves of light and shadow. The bright half fell on Chi Quan's face, casting a small shadow on his eyelashes above his cheekbone, like a fine fence.
Shikamaru moved a chair into the sunlight, opened the intelligence report, and began reading the third page.
He didn't urge the sealing team, he didn't urge Tsunade, he didn't urge anyone.
He was waiting for Chi Quan to wake up.
Because after Izumi wakes up, he gives the next direction not based on Shikamaru's deduction, but on his own perception of Raku. Shikamaru suddenly realizes something: he has been trying to help Izumi "solve" Raku's problem, but Izumi has never said that he needs to solve it. Izumi is just saying—"I have this, I need to use it."
It's not about getting rid of it, it's not about suppressing it, it's about using it.
Shikamaru flipped to the last page of the intelligence report; it was blank. He thought for a moment, then took a pen from his pocket and wrote a line.
"The brand isn't a lock, it's a thread. There are people at both ends of the thread. Whoever sees the whole picture of the thread first wins."
He capped the pen, folded the paper, and put it in his inner pocket.
The sunlight moved slowly through the hospital room. It moved from the wall to the cabinet, from the cabinet to the bed, and from the bed to Chi Quan's knife. The old scratches on the scabbard were particularly clear in the light, crisscrossing like rivers on a map.
Chi Quan woke up in the afternoon.
This time, he didn't climb onto the windowsill, didn't stand barefoot, and didn't scare Shikamaru. He simply opened his eyes in bed and quietly stared at the ceiling, as if confirming that he was still in the same place.
Shikamaru straightened up from the chair.
Are you hungry?
Chi Quan thought for a moment.
"Hungry."
"What would you like to eat?"
"Anything is fine."
Shikamaru stood up and walked outside.
"Salted porridge. No scallions," Chi Quan added from the end.
Shikamaru waved his hand without turning his head.
As he walked out of the ward, the corner of his mouth twitched. It wasn't a smile, but an expression somewhere between relief and helplessness, as faint as salt in water—you could taste it, but you couldn't see it.
At the other end of the corridor, Kiba was carrying Akamaru towards them. Akamaru's nose was mostly healed, and as soon as he smelled Shikamaru, he started wagging his tail, his whole body twisting as he did so.
"He's awake?" Ya asked.
"She's awake. She wants porridge, but no scallions."
He clicked his tongue: "Such a delicate thing."
Shikamaru did not refute.
He muttered something as he walked past Ya.
"Let's put that plan—the artificial carrier—on hold for now."
Ya was taken aback.
Why?
"Because it may no longer be needed."
Shikamaru's figure disappeared around the corner of the corridor. Kiba stood there, holding Akamaru, looking completely bewildered.
Akamaru tilted his head and called out.
The tooth looked down at it.
"You're asking me what he means?"
Akamaru called out again.
"I don't know either."
He carried Akamaru towards Ikezumi's ward. When he pushed open the door, Ikezumi was struggling to prop up a pillow with her right hand.
Kiba put Akamaru on the ground, and Akamaru immediately ran to the bedside, put its front paws on the edge of the bed, and wagged its tail like a helicopter.
"It's good that you're awake." Kiba pulled up a chair and sat down. "When Shikamaru went out just now, he said something strange, 'Maybe we won't need it anymore.' What do you mean we won't need it anymore?"
Chi Quan leaned against the pillow, rubbing Akamaru's ear with her right hand.
"What plan did he propose?"
"An artificial carrier, using your blood to create a false signal to deceive Helian."
Chi Quan paused for a moment.
"He's really fast."
"He didn't sleep all night, he was just thinking about this."
Ikezumi didn't speak. Akamaru felt comfortable from the massage and made gurgling sounds in his throat, like a cat.
Ya looked at him and suddenly lowered her voice.
"Chi Quan, are you hiding something?"
Chi Quan raised his eyes.
"Why do you ask that?"
"Because after Shikamaru left your hospital room, his whole demeanor changed. It wasn't the kind of change where he 'had a solution,' but the kind where he 'didn't need to worry anymore.' It was like someone had taken a burden off his back."
Chi Quan lowered his eyes and looked at Akamaru's head.
"Your observation skills have improved."
"Don't change the subject."
Chi Quan remained silent for a moment, then gently pushed Akamaru from the bedside to the ground, letting it play by itself.
"tooth."
"Um.
""
"If I told you that this brand wasn't just a tool Helian used to find me from the very beginning, would you believe me?"
Ya blinked.
"letter."
Why?
"Because you never admit you can't handle it," Ya said matter-of-factly. "If you were truly controlled by an Indian, you would go crazy. You haven't gone crazy, so you must have a way."
Chi Quan looked at him, a hint of surprise in her eyes.
"Your logic is flawed."
"Whether the logic is right or wrong is not important." Tooth shrugged. "What matters is how many years I've known you."
Chi Quan didn't respond.
The crow outside the window flew back, landed on the windowsill, and peered inside through the glass. Akamaru gave it a low squeak, and the crow disdainfully flapped its wings and flew away.
Suddenly, Ya smiled.
"So Shikamaru worried for nothing all night?"
"It wasn't all for nothing that I worried," Chi Quan said. "My injury is real."
"The injury is real, but you can handle it."
"Most of the time, it's manageable."
Ya's smile faded.
"most?"
Chi Quan looked down at the bandage on his abdomen.
"If Helian comes in person, I'm not sure. I haven't tried it. The resonance intensity of the brand is related to distance and blood concentration. The closer Helian is to me, the stronger he will be when he plucks the string. I can hold my own string down to prevent it from vibrating, but what if he plucks it with great force?"
Ya thought for a moment.
"It's like two people pulling on a rope. You're at one end, and he's at the other. He pulls hard, and you hold on tight."
"Yes. I can hold it, but my hand will hurt."
"How painful is it?"
Chi Quan thought for a moment.
"have no idea."
Ya chewed on these words over and over again, and the more she chewed, the more uncomfortable she felt.
"you do not know?"
"Never tried it."
"You haven't tried it in three months?"
"I didn't find an opportunity."
Ya almost jumped off the chair.
"You didn't find an opportunity? You can't find an opportunity to try in the village? Just find a place far away from the village, have Shikamaru watch from the side, and you'll know once you try."
Chi Quan looked at him calmly.
"What if Helian senses I'm tracking him in reverse when I try?"
Ya opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything.
Chi Quan continued, "Every time I touch the brand, it's like I'm plucking that string. I'm not sure if Helian can sense it. But if he can, he'll know I'm testing him. For the past three months, I've tried to do nothing but observe. Observe when it gets cold, how long it stays cold, to what extent it gets cold, and whether there's a pattern."