46 46: Congratulations! You Lived.
Author note:
Hey, it's been a while! I'm here to vent a number of small frustrations today.
So to start with, I've come to the realisation that the map I've been following for the World of Naruto in this fic may or may not be faulty. I chose it because it SEEMED to be the only one that didn't include fanon content and was also annotated with every country there on it. I will link an image of that map on this paragraph (If I remember to)
Now though, I've come to the conclusion that even this map has a few issues, such as adding in locations that not everyone, even readers who are familiar with Naruto's filler content, will recognise.
So! I found an old reddit post from a very dedicated user (DeteciveEvyDevy) who figured out all the inconsistencies and filler content that may or may not be shown in the anime and manga. So now I'm using a mix of both maps instead of just the previous one. Again, I will link an image of this new map on this paragraph, just like the previous one.
The first map has more locations marked on it, while the second one has more accurate country borders.
So, the change in maps does mean there will be a few edits to locations mentioned in previous chapters:
First, the Land of Fangs, which Yosuke(Number #51), Killua, and Rumi(Number #6) all met up at that one time after Yosuke and Killua fought Kakuzu. This land has been completely removed and swallowed up by the Land of Iron.
Second, the Land of Rice is now the location of the Kakuzu fight, not the Land of Hot Water.
Third, the Land of Hot Water has been renamed to the Land of Hotsprings. The Hidden Village of Yugakure is unaffected by this (I bet they probably appreciate an increase in tourism from the more welcoming name).
Okay, that's the map changes out of the way.
Next: possible changes to the upload schedule.
As you might know, when I first started writing this fic the chapters were around 1200 to 1800 words long at the very start, and I uploaded a new chapter every two days. Then, after moving up from Volume One to Volume Two, all new chapters moved up to more than 2000 words per chap, and so I moved the upload schedule to every three days to reflect this.
Now, in Volume Three, many of my latest chapters are crossing over the 3000 word mark (not even including any author notes). Recently, I made a mistake on a chapter upload in which I accidentally set the upload timer to be a day late, and that mistake got me thinking...
Maybe these 3000 word chapters should have a four day wait before uploading, instead of a three day one? Like... adding another day for every 1000 word threshold crossed? So a 1000+ word chapter would have a two day wait, a 2000+ word chapter would have a three day wait, and a 3000+ word chapter would have a four day wait, and so on?
I'm not sure about this... I've been an avid reader of webnovels and lightnovels for a very, very long time now, so I know the pain of waiting for new chapter uploads. Thus, I'm hesitant to put this updated schedule into practice. Let me know what you think about possibly giving my hands more of a rest after writing a longer chapter, heh.
Alright! That's this author note done!
Enjoy the chaper, and have a magnificent day!
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The titular downpour of the Land of Rain was known to many as a depressing, heavy sight that dampened spirits and weighed on shoulders.
For Seija, looking up at the sky and letting all of her powers finally deactivate after her thrilling and hectic battle with the samurai working for Kumogakure, the rain flowing down her face was like a cooling, relaxing shower.
She was at peace.
...
"OOOOWWWWW!!!!!"
...For all of three seconds before the pain of her stomach wound and sliced arms caught up with her, dropping her to her knees next to her foe's body.
"Fuh... Fucking... HELL!!! Saboten, you fucker, if you weren't already dead I'd kick your ass again for this!" She groaned as she pressed both her hands to her gut and channeled the Mystic Palm Jutsu through that whole area of her body. The Medical Ninjutsu slowly got to work, operating in tandem with her natural regeneration to attempt to restore the damage to her organs and hands.
The damage hadn't slowed her down during the fight thanks to her Steel Release allowing her to effectively place the wounds in stasis by turning them into solid metal, preventing them from worsening or causing her to lose much - if any - blood.
Now that her chakra was almost spent, she had to let it all deactivate to give herself enough time to pull herself together without any of the damage becoming permanent. Her natural regeneration was extremely strong, especially when compared to a normal human's...
But as it turns out, she didn't have as much information about how it worked as she thought she did. Now, kneeling here on a sodden battlefield with her bleeding hands clenched over her equally bleeding stomach, she was starting to get an idea about how it all actually functioned.
'I see it now,' She thought as she slowed her breathing and focussed on healing, 'Every time I've used my regeneration on an injury, it was always only skin-deep. The damage regenerated so quickly that I could go from nearly totally skinless after the Typhoon Release incident, to fully healed in just a few minutes of walking and healing.
I figured that was just how fast my regen was. But looking at these wounds now, the healing process is much, much slower. Skin must be very easy to regrow, while organs and bones are a whole other beast entirely. I always did wonder how Naruto recovered so fast from burning all his skin off in his nine-tails possessed state, but would spend days recovering in a hospital if he ever broke a bone...'
This information was not covered during her Medical Ninjutsu training with her mother. The exact mechanics of natural regeneration were almost a complete unknown to the wider world of Medical Ninjas, who performed all of their healing through active Ninjutsu, not passive regen. It was entirely possible that the only other people to have studied the subject were those who illegally got their hands on Hashirama Senju's cells, and those people certainly weren't going to tell anyone what they found out about it.
She looked up from her injury and took stock of her situation.
One dead enemy.
No other enemies nearby.
Nargacuga sitting a few meters away feeling sorry for himself for getting tricked by the enemy into using his own strength against his summoner.
And the rest of her team were hiding a few miles away.
'Right. Priorities, Seija! The organ damage should be my first priority so I don't drop dead before I can reach my team.' She concluded after weighing her options. Normally, she'd have enough chakra to just heal all three parts of her body simultaneously, even if it would take several hours, or maybe even over a day to fully recover.
As she was now, if she tried to heal the whole thing at once she'd run dry before even twenty percent of the total damage could be undone.
She called out to her summon and pushed herself to her feet with only her legs, grimacing as her core muscles shifted and tugged at her injuries.
"Oi, Nargacuga. Please quit sulking and get over here! I need to reach the rest of my team. Oh, and grab Saboten's katana while you do."
She'd decided to get to her team as fast as she could. To make the most of her chakra, she would have to heal the deepest parts of her wounds first, leaving the external damage wide open. She could get around the blood loss of leaving the injuries open and bleeding by having another person bandage her wounds for her.
Without the chakra to summon any more shadow clones (nor functional hands to make the 'Clone' hand sign with), those Genin were her only option to avoid potentially suffering permanent damage to either her internal organs, or the bones and tendons in her hands.
Nargacuga snapped to attention at her words and dashed over to her, using a wing to hoist her up onto its back and grabbing Saboten's katana with its maw. Seija planned to have the blade delivered back to the Land of Iron, the samurai homeland. She figured that if the thing was just left out in the open by Saboten's body, it'd be either forgotten forever and buried in the mud, stolen by looters, or stolen by Kumogakure shinobi who would probably sweep through the area looking for their missing squad sooner or later.
In the past, Seija wouldn't have bothered to respect the deaths of her foes. She'd just left all the Genin she'd killed back before meeting the Akatsuki to be buried in the mud, after all.
But today was different. Facing a foe who could genuinely kill her - and was vehemently attempting to do so - was a rush that she'd once been worried that she might feel one day. Now she knew just how awesome that feeling really was, and she couldn't help but be thankful to Saboten for helping her see that.
Thus, she wanted to send the blade back to his homeland, as a final 'thank you' to him for the fun he provided her with.
"[Seija, I must caution you that these feelings are irregular and potentially self-destructive in nature.]"
'Aw come on, Firewall, that fight was so fun! Live a little!'
Seija knew Firewall was incapable of sighing, but she could've sworn he'd just tried very, very hard to.
"[...Very well. Please be aware that while becoming a 'Battle Junkie' is a proven way to develop great strength and combat experience, it also has a dangerously high mortality rate. Do not get yourself killed.]"
'Well duh. That's why I'm heading to Kyusuke and the others for first-aid.'
"[No, you are not. You have not told Nargacuga where to go yet. He is wandering aimlessly with a sword in his mouth.]"
'...'
She quickly used her less damaged right hand to point her mount in the correct direction.
With a proper target to aim for, Nargacuga shot off like a missile, tapping into its Swift Release to get its rider to their destination as fast as it could.
"Hoooooolyyyyy shiiiiiiiiiiiiittttt!!!" The rider in question being nearly sent flying by the acceleration, only managing to hold on thanks to the strength of her legs gripping the creature's sides.
In just two minutes, though it certainly felt a lot longer from Seija's perspective, Nargacuga suddenly slammed to a halt next to a large grey structure that seemingly melted into the hillside.
'...Wow. Yep... 'Swift' is definitely an apt term to describe that... I feel dizzy and I can't tell if that's the speed or the blood loss... maybe both.' She thought to herself as she slid off Narga's back and stumbled to the wall of the bunker. Giving it a sharp kick, and letting out a quiet "ow, fuck" from the pain, she alerted the inhabitants to her presence.
"Kyusuke! Open up! I'm kind of bleeding to death out here!"
The solid rock in front of her peels away, revealing the wide-eyed stare of the tattooed Akatsuki recruit.
"Boss Seija?! You're alive?!"
"Yeah I'm alive, Kyusuke, now let me in! I need one of you lot to bandage me up around my stomach and hands while I focus on healing the internal damage." She gave them their orders but they were too stunned by her sudden appearance to move. The three Genin awkwardly glanced at each other as they tried to figure out who should do the job.
Seija sighed and facepalmed before pointing her bloodied right hand at Kyusuke.
"Alright, time's up. I won't mark you down for that hesitation since this is an abnormal situation for your first test mission, but you guys seriously need to make choices like this faster. Kyusuke, get me a spot to lie down and start bandaging. Daibutsu, you're the big, stoic guy of the group, go outside and check my Nargacuga's - that's my summon if you couldn't tell - back injury. And take the sword from his mouth so we can store it in a scroll for later. Kie, you're exempt from any real work because of your arm, so you can just assist Kyusuke. Get to it, boys!"
With her commands firmly issued the three Genin got to work. The usually unflappable Daibutsu balked slightly at the sight of the gigantic black-furred monster outside their shelter, but shook off his fear and stepped back out into the rain. Meanwhile, Kie and Kyusuke showed Seija to the back of the bunker where Kyusuke had created a bench out of Quicklime while the trio was hiding from any enemy reinforcements.
With Seija finally safe and able to receive treatment, she spent the next several hours recovering while chatting with the three Genin to stave off boredom, telling them all about what happened with the fight after they fled the area.
Afterwards, she took the time to pull a notebook out of her equipment pouch to start writing up her report to Konan about the team's overall performance, and where they might need to improve.
All in all, not the worst outcome from a mission gone wrong.
- - - - -
Meanwhile, much farther to the south, at the border between the Land of Rivers and the Land of Rain.
A certain green-and-orange-haired someone is scratching his head with frustration as he overlooks a wide battlefield stretching out in front of him.
"God what a fucking pain in the ass... These damn NPCs just really love ruining my day, don't they. Why can I never seem to catch a fucking BREAK?!" He swore as his Danger Sense allerted him to a subtle threat hanging over the entire territory in front of him.
It wasn't hard to guess what had happened in this place to block Mishima's path to his rightfully-deserved waifu. Clearly, Hanzo the Salamander had been fighting Konoha shinobi here at the border with the Land of Rivers, and now a faint purple fog still lingered over the remains of the battle.
'Uh, whatever, I guess it's into the Land of Fire I have to fucking go then if I wanna reach Amegakure eventually. Land of Wind's a no-go. Those traitorous fucks in Suna are still chasing me after I offed that dumbass sensei...' He mentally complained as he turned around and abandoned this path forwards.
He'd tried to get over the border into the Land of Rain several times now but with the Third War picking up steam, it was becoming increasingly obvious that he wouldn't just be able to sneak across these tainted battlefields on the country's southern edge. He'd already tried entering from the west, at the border with the Land of Wind, but found himself blocked by Ame shinobi and was quickly learning that the Land of Rain's infamous weather damn-near crippled his and Pakura's ability to use Scorch Release.
Plus the Ame shinobi's propensity for using poisoned needles left a bad taste in his mouth that reminded him of that puppet-wielding brat, Renji.
So then he tried to get through from the south, but as he just found out over the past several days, that wasn't going to work either. So now his only option would be to go through the edge of Land of Fire to the east, and then circle around in a north-westerly direction to enter the Land of Rain from its eastern side. He didn't know if he wouldn't face the same problems again as he already had with the first two sides, but he didn't exactly have much other choice if he wanted to get a waifu collar around Konan-chan's neck.
Half an hour later, he trudged into the cave he was currently using as a base of operations.
"Welcome back, Onii-sama~. Did you get lucky finding a path into Ame?" His ever-dutiful little sister, Pakura, asked him as he entered. Naturally, he kept her here at his hideout while he went out scouting. She would only slow him down if he encountered an actually dangerous enemy.
He sighed and let himself relax into a chair he'd set up by their fire pit. One of the many articles of furniture that he'd managed to pilfer from a nearby town. Storage scrolls made petty thievery from clueless civilians hilariously easy, and Mishima had collected quite a few of those scrolls from Renji's body.
"No, Pakura-chan, I didn't get lucky this time. It looks like we'll have to go through Konoha territory after all if we want to add Konan-chan to our harem. On the bright side, in the Land of Fire there's going to be a much higher chance to run into other cute girls or reincarnators to help me progress my quests. So it shouldn't be a wasted journey at least."
