"It's all right, Teacher Kushina. Hirohiko is fine. He just passed out—probably because of the blood loss earlier, compounded by his emotional turmoil just now."
Gently laying Hirohiko flat, Yukina, who had immediately begun examining his injuries, slowly closed her eyes. As the veins around her eyes receded, she let out a long breath and spoke with obvious relief.
Although his sudden collapse had been frightening, Hirohiko's body was otherwise fine. There were no other injuries. His most serious wound was probably his severed arm, but it had already been bandaged and the bleeding stopped.
He had likely lost too much blood earlier, and then the emotional agitation and stimulation just now had caused him to faint.
There was nothing seriously wrong with him, nor was his life in danger. All his bodily functions were normal.
In fact, being unconscious now might be better than being awake.
Just now, Hirohiko must have made an enormous resolve when he chose to retreat. From his attitude toward Uchiha Nobuhiko and what he had said before, Hirohiko and Uchiha Nobuhiko likely shared a deep-seated hatred. Judging from how he had nearly lost control and charged forward without regard for anything, Hirohiko absolutely did not want to let Uchiha Nobuhiko go.
But for their sake, he had no choice but to retreat, giving up both his chance to kill Uchiha Nobuhiko and Chiba's life.
That must have dealt Hirohiko an immense emotional blow. Yukina could hardly imagine the conflicted pain of abandoning both an opportunity for revenge and the life of a cherished friend.
Therefore, when he spoke of retreating, his emotions had reached the peak of that conflict and pain. In the end, his body had judged that he could no longer bear such an emotional impact and protectively shut itself down.
Perhaps