22 Chapter 21 (1/2)
The next day, I had decided to visit my friends at the hospital. Hitori-san had cooked us breakfast today, she felt that the responsibility should be on hers since she was the oldest woman present. Hinata gladly tagged along with her in the kitchen. Both of them seemed to get along well despite being distinct in their way--both shy in their own right. It took Hiashi-sama a while to get used to her so-called ”bipolar disorder” but he didn't buy the strict monotonous facade at all, still, he played along.
Hitori-san was a shy person and she was giving out vicious aura and murderous vibes to keep people at arm's length. I could say she was struggling as she was only much calmer when it was just me and her around but she became restless whenever we were in the crowd. I had to somehow build a separate house for her.
After breakfast, the two girls were hanging out together and thus I had to go alone to the hospitals. I chuckled lightly to myself as I thought about how close those two shy girls had become. I wouldn't be so surprised if Hinata learned a few jutsu from Hitori-san. When I was arriving at the Hospital, I saw the familiar streak of pink and blonde ahead of me. I immediately shouted at Sakura and she jumped a bit before turning around.
”Hikari-kun?!” we high-fived each other. ”What're you doing here so early?”.
”I am visiting our friends, what else? Shall we?” I said as I gestured at the doors.
”I am surprised to see you without Hitori-chan,” Ino commented and I let out a nervous chuckle.
”Ino, she is older than all of us combine, don't call her that in front of her not unless you want to face her wrath. Hitori and Hinata are hanging out together,” I explained and both of them raised an eyebrow. I had to begin walking inside for our sake as we won't be getting anywhere if we just stood there outside the hospital. They had no choice but to follow me.
”Ehhhhhhh?!” Ino said and I had to laugh. Why did she found that surprising, I don't know?
”Stuff it, Ino-Pig. Hitori-san is his fiance, it made sense that she get along nicely with his sister,” Sakura chided. There wasn't any hint of animosity anywhere and thus the nickname now was just a playful tease. There was a subtle difference in Sakura now, she held herself well and the fidgety self of hers was not as noticeable anymore. There must be something that had changed her during the exam and so, I was proud of her. We arrived at the first room of the day; Lee-Kun's.
Sakura was placing her lilies inside a vase by the window as I took my seat next to Lee's bed. He was still sleeping and we didn't have the heart to wake him up. I noticed that he had his hands and feet wrapped in heavy bandages and I had to feel curious about it.
”What happened to him?” I asked after a moment. I noticed that both of the girls turned sad at the question, seemingly unsure of what to say.
”I had lost to Gaara-kun in the preliminary exam, Hikari-kun,” Lee suddenly said and we all jumped and immediately apologized because we interrupted his rest. ”The doctors said I couldn't be a ninja anymore.”
The air of depression was heavy. My Byakugan was activated and I took a detailed look at his injuries. His bones in the forearm and legs had shattered in numerous places. I bit my tongue at the extent of the injury, Gaara had shown no mercy at all. Couldn't blame him though, with his fragile state of mind and all.
”But Gai-sensei said that Naruto-kun and Jiraiya-sama will bring home the strongest medic back to Konoha and I look forward to training again,” the boy said. His enthusiasm never seemed to fade despite his injuries and I couldn't feel much prouder at him. Sakura suddenly bowed at Lee. All of us shot her a puzzled look.
”Thank you, Lee-kun for your help in the Chuunin exam. If it weren't for you, and Ino's team, of course, I would be dead along with Naruto and Sasuke-kun,” she said and we turned to Lee only to saw him smile widely.
”It's not like I should leave a girl to fight alone when I can help it,” Lee said. On cue, shivers ran down our spine.
”Well done, Lee!!!!! Your springtime of youth had mould you well, my lovely student!!!” Gai-sensei struck a pose while crying. When Lee started to cry along, we wisely made our way out of the room. We bumped into the rest of Lee's team outside of his ward. We had some catching up to do as they weren't present during the memorial. Neji was telling me how did he and Hiashi-sama bury their differences.
”He had personally trained me more in the main clan's secret techniques now,” Neji said. I doubt Neji would consider additional training would hurt him. After all, he was considered to be a Hyuuga taijutsu genius after learning some of the secret techniques on his own. His genius was pointed out by none other, Naruto himself and Neji were highly motivated to improve himself after his impossible defeat on the blonde boy. I smiled fondly on how my eccentric blonde teammate had been reeling people in his circle and with his strengths as well.
”I'll let you in on one thing, Hyuuga's and my Mother's Juken shared a common, I wouldn't call it weakness, but they do have some holes, I guess. I suggest that you focus only on defence when you spar with Hiashi-sama. I trust that you will find it interesting,” I said and he was silent as he considered it. Ino and Sakura made their way towards Sasuke's ward ahead of me so I bid my farewell to Neji and Ten Ten before I headed towards Kakashi-sensei's ward instead.
I noticed that some of the Jounins must have been taking turns to watch over him during the night judging by the trashbin that was filled with fast food containers and takeaways. I activated my Byakugan to inspect his condition and I found that his chakra network was immensely messed up but I couldn't get it to work right even when I tried to release the genjutsu. My best guess is that his mind had been detached from the body as a natural defence mechanism against that significant mental injury. I could only hope that he would be alright. He did fend off most of the genjutsu due to his Sharingan which was impressive for a non-Uchiha by the way, but the eye couldn't do much against the more advance Mangekyou as it was just a transplanted eye. Inwardly, I wondered if he had somehow awakened the Mangekyou himself but I shook off the thought as to how immense of a pain it needed for him to awaken it before I realized that something in his past must have triggered the evolution somehow. When Gai-sensei finally came into the ward to relieve me, I made my way to Sasuke's room.
”Where's Ino?” I asked my sole female teammate that was peeling some oranges. She jumped a bit before she continued with her tasks on hand.
”She reached her time and had to get back to her shop,” she said while she was engrossed with the task on hand. Satisfied with her answer, I checked on Sasuke with my Byakugan. He was showing the same symptoms as did Kakashi-sensei. What intrigued me the most was the traces of a foreign chakra on his shoulder. I could see that it was drawing nature energy subtly. I made my way towards his left side of the bed and inspected it further. My gaze had to stumble upon some sort of a seal with a containment seal around it. My best guess was the containment seal was put by Kakashi-sensei. Sakura had already stiffened when I saw the seal, she didn't know how to word it to me.
”What's this?” I inquired. She gulped for air a bit before answering.
”Sasuke had those when we encountered Orochimaru in the second round of the exam. That vile man also did something to Naruto. They had been knocked out cold. That's the reason I had to defend them alone and I was really lucky that day,” she explained. I immediately flicked her forehead and she shot me an annoyed look.
”It was never luck, do you doubt yourself that much? Have you seen yourself in front of a mirror recently? You've changed Haruno, you looked more confident than ever,” I chastised her. She grumbled some more before continuing.
”I am worried, Hikari-kun. He wouldn't tell anyone about this, especially Naruto. This cursed seal hindered his chakra control and somehow the man had shaken Sasuke's psyche,” she said. I patted her head before considering this development. I should ask Hitori-san about this, this cursed seal was powered by nature energy, due to its invading and consuming nature, it disrupted the inflicted's chakra and mind.