bookbashuk Chapter 360 Too Much Blood
Chapter 360 Too Much Blood
Chapter 360 Too Much Blood
Kagura frowned: "You're right. I hadn't considered that. If the vessel is just a bloodied, lifeless object, without body temperature or a heartbeat, once Helian senses the 'water' is cold, he'll immediately know it's not a living person."
Shikamaru bit his thumb joint.
The chirping of insects outside the window suddenly became very loud.
Chi Quan stirred slightly on the hospital bed. All three fell silent. He merely shifted the depth of his breathing; he didn't wake up. Jingyin went over and gently tucked the blanket around him.
Shikamaru loosened his fingers.
Therefore, the carrier must be alive.
Kagura said, "Yes."
"Alive, with a normal body temperature, but the blood must be from a spring."
"right."
"Large animals cannot be used yet."
"right."
Shikamaru closed his eyes for a moment.
Then open your eyes.
"Create a person."
Kagura raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not talking about a real person," Shikamaru said quickly. "Using the medical team's artificial blood technology, we'll create a bionic body with a circulatory system. It'll be the size of a cat, have body temperature, a heartbeat, and its blood will be from the Chiquan River. It will be encased in a shell made of Aburame insects, which will be responsible for movement and evasion."
Kagura's gaze towards him changed.
"Do you know you're talking about artificial life forms?"
"I'm talking about a blood bag plus a heating system plus a bug shell," Shikamaru said. "It's not a person, not a living thing, just a bunch of parts put together to make it look alive."
Silent opened her mouth, then closed it again.
Kagura pondered for a long time.
"Technically feasible," she said slowly, "but it requires the cooperation of many people. The medical team will create artificial blood vessels and circulation, the sealing team will maintain body temperature and prevent blood clotting, the oil women will provide the insect shells and movement control, and we may also need the mountain tribe for remote control to prevent them from getting lost."
Shikamaru did some mental calculations.
"Can it be done within a week?"
Kagura did not answer.
Shizune spoke first: "Shikamaru, you know that Lady Tsunade wouldn't agree to use so many resources so easily."
Shikamaru looked at her.
"If Helian can really locate Chi Quan around the clock with that mark on his body, he can not only know where Chi Quan is, but also deduce Konoha's internal patrol patterns, the rotation of medical personnel, and even the entry and exit times of the Hokage Building. This is not just Chi Quan's life; it's the information security of the entire Konoha."
Silent lips moved, but no rebuttal was given.
Kagura put her hands into the pockets of her robes and paced back and forth a couple of times.
"I'll do two things first," she said. "First, tonight I'll reinforce Tsunade's triple seal with an additional layer, ensuring that the Blade remains completely silent for at least three days. Second, I'll contact Hisai and have her determine the specific characteristics of this stream of water through remote communication."
"We'll decide whether to initiate the artificial carrier project once we receive Hisai's reply."
Shikamaru nodded.
Kagura walked to the door and suddenly stopped.
"Lord Shikamaru."
"Um."
"The plan you just mentioned, if implemented, won't just be Izumi's alone. In the future, Konoha can use this principle to counter similar bloodline tracking attacks."
Shikamaru looked at her.
"so?"
Kagura's lips twitched slightly, but it didn't sound like a smile; it sounded more like a sigh.
"So I will do my best."
She left with two assistants.
The corridor fell silent again. Jingyin placed the medicine near Chi Quan's mouth and fed it to him little by little. Chi Quan frowned slightly in his drowsy state, swallowing slowly, with half of the medicine dripping down the corner of his mouth. Jingyin wiped it away with gauze, her movements unhurried and deliberate, as if she had done it many times before.
Shikamaru leaned against the window and watched.
Suddenly, Shizune asked, "Do you know when Chi Quan was last seriously injured?"
Shikamaru thought for a moment.
"Three years ago?"
"Four years," Jingyin said. "Four years ago, he intercepted two border smuggling routes by himself. When he came back the last time, he had three broken ribs on his left side, a ruptured spleen, and more than twenty stitches in his leg. He lay in the medical department for five days. On the morning of the fifth day, I went to check on him. There was no one in bed, the blankets were neatly folded, and the knife was gone."
7
Shikamaru snorted.
"normal."
"Something's not right," Jingyin said. "He wasn't fully recovered from his injury, but he went out to do a side job he'd taken on himself. Later I found out he was investigating the person behind that smuggling ring. Because that person had injured a junior colleague he'd previously mentored."
Shikamaru didn't respond.
Jingyin put down the gauze and looked at Chiquan's face.
"He never explains. He never cries out in pain. He never feels he deserves to be saved. But he remembers what others owe him. He seeks revenge tenfold for what others have hurt him." Her voice lowered. "He's the cruelest to himself."
Shikamaru lowered his eyes.
"I know."
"So keep an eye on him." Shizune stood up and put the dirty gauze into her bag. "Not because he'll run around. It's because if he really thinks the branding will endanger Konoha, he'll handle it himself."
Shikamaru suddenly looked up.
"How did he handle it?"
Jingyin looked at him silently.
"You know."
Shikamaru recalled what Ikezumi had said on the wet slope—"Don't make a big fuss about the branding yet." It wasn't that he was afraid of the pain or death, but that he was afraid Helian would use the branding to cause even bigger trouble. But what would Ikezumi do if the branding really couldn't be controlled?
He will scoop out the frying.
Use his knife.
A chill ran down Shikamaru's spine.
"He won't."
Silently, she took the medicine tray and left.
The door closed gently behind me.
Shikamaru stood alone in the hospital room for a long time.
Ikezumi's breathing was shallow, so shallow that sometimes it seemed as if he had stopped. The green line on the electrocardiogram monitor pulsed in the darkness, like something stubborn and unwilling to go out. Shikamaru dragged a chair over, sat on the edge of the bed, and moved the chair forward until he could hear Ikezumi's breathing.
A bird called out from outside the window; it was far away and intermittent.
Shikamaru leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a while.
He wasn't asleep.
In the middle of the night, Chi Quan's hand suddenly moved.
Shikamaru immediately opened his eyes.
Ikezumi didn't wake up. But his fingers scratched at the sheets, as if searching for something. Shikamaru watched for two seconds, then got up, took the sword from the cabinet, and placed it on the edge of the bed with the hilt facing Ikezumi.
Chi Quan's fingers touched the hilt of the knife.
It stopped moving.
Shikamaru sat down again.
"You've made things easy for yourself," he said in a low voice.
Chi Quan did not return.
Around 3 a.m., Ya came again. This time he didn't bring Akamaru; Akamaru was probably fast asleep next door. He was carrying a bowl of steaming soup in one hand, his other hand in his pocket, and a section of the bandage on his shoulder was sticking out.
"Have something to eat." Ya handed over the bowl.
Shikamaru took it. It was miso soup with a few pieces of tofu and seaweed floating in it. It wasn't anything special, but it was served hot.
He took two sips, then hissed from the heat.
Ya sat at the foot of the bed and glanced at Chi Quan.
"Still asleep?"
"Um.
""
"Kagura is gone?"
"Let's go." Shikamaru took another sip. "I'll come back tomorrow—no, during the day today—to reinforce the seal."
He tilted his head back and pressed the back of his head against the wall.
"What exactly does Helian want? Is it just about those old scores with the Hamura family?"
Shikamaru held the bowl and thought for a while.
"It's not all old grievances."
"What do you mean?"
"Hamura Jaku said something during the ambush," Shikamaru put down his bowl. "He said this strike was for the first memorial tablet in the Hamura ancestral hall. And if there's a first one, there will be a second. The Hamura family's extermination wasn't just about one or two people dying; it was about almost everyone on the family tree being wiped out."
He frowned.
"Was it made by the Chiquan lineage?"
"I don't know." Shikamaru shook his head. "Ikezumi said he didn't know. I'm not sure if he really doesn't know or if he just doesn't want to say. But Hamura Saku is convinced it was him, and that's enough. A madman doesn't need evidence to take revenge, just a name."
Ya glanced in the direction of the pool.
"But he was just a kid back then, right? When did the massacre of his entire clan happen? More than ten years ago?"
"At least fifteen years," Shikamaru said. "Ikezumi is twenty-four this year, and he was less than ten when that happened."
Ya fell silent.
After a long while, he whispered, "Then there's no way he could possibly make a move."
"But his elders might have made a move," Shikamaru said. "Hamura doesn't care who he is, he only recognizes his surname."
The ward was quiet for a while.
Kiba suddenly said, "Shikamaru, have you ever thought about this?"
"What?"
"If Helian could have found Chi Quan all along, why did he wait until now to make his move? If this mark had really been there for a long time, he could have come much earlier."
Shikamaru stopped holding the bowl.
He placed the bowl on the bedside table and pressed his thumb against his temple.
"Two possibilities. First, the mark wasn't there all along; it was only recently activated. Hamura Jaku said 'Kyoto' and 'Rising Tide,' so perhaps the Water Bloodline requires some kind of triggering condition, such as the death of the caster or the completion of a certain ritual."
The mark on the back of Chi Quan's neck only recently started to feel cold; before, it was probably just a sign of his sleep.
"And the second one?"
"Secondly, Helian has been waiting. He's waiting for Chi Quan to grow strong enough to kill him before he can take revenge. Or he's waiting for himself to become strong enough. Or he's waiting for something else to come into place."
Tooth's expression turned ugly.
"Neither possibility is good."
Shikamaru stood up, walked to the window, and pulled the curtains open a crack.
It was still a hazy gray outside, and dawn was approaching. The ground lights downstairs in the medical department were still on, and a small swarm of flying insects gathered under the lights, circling around the halo of light. In the distance, early-rising ninjas ran across the rooftops, their footsteps light, like raindrops hitting the tiles.
"There's something else I've been thinking about all night but haven't figured out," Shikamaru said.
Ya walked over and stood next to him.
"What?"
"How did Hamura Jaku know that Ikezumi had a brand on the back of her neck?"
Ya was taken aback.
Shikamaru turned around and leaned against the windowsill.
"It's branded under the skin, not noticeable unless you look closely. Hamura Jaku doesn't have the Byakugan; he doesn't have the ability to scan Izumi's entire body during battle. But he told Izumi at the bend that 'when it flares up, you really do stop.' He used 'when it flares up,' indicating he was only speculating, not certain. So what was the basis for his speculation?"
Ya thought for a moment.
"Did someone tell him?"
"Yes," Shikamaru said. "Someone told him that Ikezumi has something that can activate, causing him to freeze. Hamura designed an ambush based on this information, specifically luring Ikezumi into the bend and forcing him with a fine wire array to activate it. The only people who know about the existence of the Raki are those who were present last night, the medical team, the Hokage, and," he paused.
"And the people from Helian's side."
Ya's expression changed.
"You mean there's an informant within Konoha?"
Shikamaru neither said yes nor no.
"I just can't figure it out," he said softly.
The light outside the window grew brighter. The early birds began to sing, not just one, but a flock, their calls surging from the woods behind the medical department, unusually lively for a morning.
Chi Quan suddenly coughed while lying in his hospital bed.
Shikamaru and Kiba both looked over at the same time.
Ikezumi didn't wake up, but her lips moved slightly, as if she were saying something. Shikamaru walked over and leaned closer, only hearing a few indistinct syllables, unable to make out the content. He listened for a while, then stepped back.
"What did you say?" Ya asked in a low voice.
"I didn't hear you clearly."
"Could it be sleep talking?"
"possible."
Ya scratched his hair and yawned.
"I'll go feed Akamaru first. You haven't slept all night, so take a nap when the shift change comes."
Shikamaru nodded.
Ya walked to the door, then turned back.
"Shikamaru".
"Um."
"Don't try to handle that inside man issue by yourself."
Shikamaru did not answer.
Ya glanced at him and left.
The ward door closed again. Shikamaru stood there for a moment, then bent down to pick up one of Izumi's slippers that had fallen to the floor and placed it under the bed. Then he picked up the stack of intelligence reports on the bedside table, turned to the third page, and wrote a line on it.
He wrote very quickly, his handwriting so messy it was almost illegible, but the meaning of the line was very clear.
First, investigate everyone who has had contact with information about Chi Quan's injuries, including the medical team.
He folded the page and stuffed it into his inner pocket.
The morning light peeked through the gaps in the curtains and fell on Chi Quan's face.
Shikamaru leaned back in his chair, head tilted to one side, still clutching the stack of intelligence in his hand, fast asleep. Someone pushed a medicine cart down the corridor, the sound of the wheels rolling over the paving stones jolting him awake. He opened his eyes and glanced at the bed first.
The bed was empty.
Shikamaru sat bolt upright. The chair tilted back and crashed to the floor. Seven or eight possibilities flashed through his mind in an instant—he'd been kidnapped, he'd escaped, or his brand had been used to drag him away—
"Quarrel."
The sound came from the window.
Shikamaru turned his head.
Chi Quan sat on the windowsill.
One leg was bent, the other dangling below the windowsill. His left arm was still in a sling, secured to his chest, while his right hand held the knife. The knife remained sheathed, resting across his knee. He was barefoot, his hospital gown collar wide open, the bandages on his abdomen and left shoulder peeking out from under the hem, tinged with a faint red. The morning light made half his face pale, the other half shrouded in shadow, his eyes as pale as if covered by frost.
Shikamaru stared at him for three seconds.
"When did you sit there?"
When you snore.
I don't snore.
"Go ahead and hit me." Chi Quan's voice was still hoarse, but much clearer than last night. "Hit me like sawing wood."
Shikamaru straightened the chair, walked over, and stood in front of the window. He looked down at Izumi's toes, which were a little red from the cold.
The window was cracked open, and the cool morning breeze of late October blew in.
"You're sitting here with the window open, dressed like that, is it because you think there's too much blood and want to let it out a bit?"
"Breathable".
""
"There's a window in the ward," Shikamaru said, pointing to the large window behind him. "That one's even bigger."
Chi Quan didn't answer.
Shikamaru squinted and examined him closely. Besides his pale face, dry lips, and dark circles under his eyes, there was something else different about Ikezumi's breathing. Last night, his breathing was shallow and labored, as if someone were squeezing his lungs. Now, although not fast, it was much more steady, with almost equal intervals between each inhale and exhale.