A Sense of Helplessness

The news that Ling had woken spread quietly through a certain floor of Konoha Hospital, like a breeze. Naruto smiled more often. Though he still stayed by Ling's side every moment, he no longer looked so miserable all the time. He began training even harder, saying that when his big brother got better, he wanted to show him how much he'd improved.

Tsunade and Jiraiya came to visit more often, too. Every time Tsunade came, she examined his body with a cold expression, then tossed out something like, "You're recovering more slowly than expected," or, "Don't move around. If you don't want to end up crippled, lie still." But Ling could feel the chakra she channeled into him growing gentler each time, as though she were carefully repairing a fragile piece of porcelain.

Jiraiya occasionally brought news from outside. The village's reconstruction progress, the situation with border patrols, and... scattered reports about the Akatsuki organization. Whenever he brought it up, the atmosphere in the hospital room grew heavy.

Ling spent most of his time with his eyes closed, as if resting. But he wasn't idle. He sank his consciousness into his body. His chakra pathways, nearly barren from overexertion, were slowly drawing in Natural Energy, sustained by the stubborn instinct of his Sage Body as they tried to regain their vitality. It was far too slow, slow enough to make him anxious.

He could feel that the Eight Trigrams Seal on his abdomen was still stable, and the Nine-Tails seemed to have fallen dormant after being drained the last time. But the feeling of having all his strength siphoned away, of his body being weak and beyond his control, tormented him constantly.

The sun was shining brightly that afternoon. Kakashi had forcibly dragged Naruto off for wilderness survival training, leaving Ling alone in the hospital room. He stared at the ceiling for a while, then tried to push himself upright with his arms.

It was only a simple attempt to sit up, yet his vision suddenly went black. His chest felt as if a boulder were pressing down on it, leaving him unable to breathe. Cold sweat instantly soaked his hospital gown. A tearing pain shot through the muscles in his arms and back, and the meager strength he had just managed to gather vanished at once. He fell heavily back onto the bed with a dull thud, setting off a brief alarm from the nearby equipment.

He lay there, panting heavily as he looked at his trembling hand, unable even to clench it. An unprecedented sense of helplessness, mixed with frustration, wound around his heart like a vine.

He had once ranged across battlefields with the Flying Thunder God, and drawn on the Nine-Tails' power to face powerful enemies head-on. Now he couldn't even sit up by himself.

Hurried footsteps approached. A medical ninja had heard the alarm. After examining him, the ninja let out a sigh of relief, then couldn't help admonishing him. "Mr. Ling, your condition really doesn't allow you to push yourself. Your chakra pathways need time to recover. Forcing yourself to move will only cause further damage."

Ling said nothing. He simply closed his eyes.

The medical ninja sighed, packed up, and left. The hospital room fell silent once more, leaving only Ling's heavy breathing.

A while later, Tsunade arrived. She had clearly heard about what had happened, and she didn't look pleased. Without wasting words, she pulled back the blanket and examined his body, pressing firmly on several key points along his chakra pathways.

"Does it hurt?" she asked.

Ling pressed his lips together and nodded.

"Good. At least you can feel pain." Tsunade withdrew her hand and looked at him. "Do you think you're still Uchiha Ling, the man who could go toe-to-toe with the Rinnegan? Let me tell you, your body is barely stronger than a newborn's right now! Your chakra core is damaged, your mental energy is exhausted, and your chakra pathways are as fragile as a spiderweb! If you don't want to spend the rest of your life in bed, then put aside that useless pride of yours and lie still!"

Her words lashed at Ling's heart like a whip. He knew she was telling the truth, but he couldn't accept it.

"How long am I supposed to lie here?" He opened his eyes and looked at Tsunade, his voice hoarse. "Until Danzo breaks Dawn Wind apart? Until the Akatsuki comes after us again?"

Tsunade fell silent for a moment, then softened her tone. "Will being impatient help? In your current condition, what can you do? Charge out and fight Danzo? Or go back to the Land of Rain and get yourself killed by those monsters again?"

She pulled over a chair and sat down, looking him straight in the eye with her golden eyes. "Listen, kid. I don't care how strong you used to be. Right now, you're a patient. And patients follow their doctors' orders. Getting your strength back won't happen overnight, especially with an injury that has damaged you at the core. Konoha hasn't fallen. If the sky comes crashing down, Jiraiya and I can hold it up for now."

Ling turned his head and looked out the window. He knew Tsunade was right, but this helpless waiting was agony, every minute and every second. He could imagine what Izumi, Zabuza, Haku, and Kimimaro were going through now: confined under guard, restricted in their movements, and constantly having to watch out for Danzo's harassment.

And he could only lie here.

Tsunade watched his rigid profile and the hand clenched around the blanket. In the end, she sighed. She reached out and channeled gentle chakra into him again. This time, she wasn't just repairing his body; there was also a hint of reassurance in it, meant to soothe his mind.

"Being alive matters more than anything." She left him with those words, then got up and walked away.

Once more, he was alone in the hospital room. Sunlight streamed through the window, casting long shadows across the floor. Ling watched them slowly shift, feeling like a bug trapped in amber—time passed, but he couldn't move.

He had to do something. He couldn't just lie here and wait.

He closed his eyes again. Instead of trying to stir his pitiful reserve of chakra, he sank his entire consciousness into the depths of his mind. The place had been thrown into chaos by the Nine-Tails' backlash and the strain on his will, like ruins left behind by a storm.

He needed to sort things out in there first. Bit by bit, he would soothe the violent, negative fragments and gather his scattered will back together.

It would take painstaking effort, even slower and more mentally exhausting than repairing his body. But he had no choice.

When Naruto returned that evening, he brought a box of still-warm dango. He held it up proudly beside Ling's bed, his eyes shining. "Big brother, try one! They've got a new red bean flavor!"

Ling looked at Naruto's expectant face and managed a faint smile. He opened his mouth and ate one. The cloying sweetness melted over his tongue, but he could barely taste it.

"Is it good?" Naruto asked.

"Mm." Ling nodded.

Naruto immediately brightened and chattered on about that day's training, saying that Kakashi-sensei had scared him with the Lightning Blade again, and that he'd finally managed to create a hundred Shadow Clones...

Ling listened quietly, occasionally responding with a word. As he looked at Naruto's lively face, the frustration and helplessness in his heart seemed to ease a little.

At least the things he had sworn to protect were still here.

He lifted his still-weak hand and gently rested it on Naruto's head.

"Keep working hard," he said.

Naruto nodded vigorously, his smile radiant.

Night fell, and Naruto dozed off with his head resting by the bed. Ling watched his sleeping face, feeling the faint, newly formed trickle of chakra within him—so slight it was almost negligible, but undeniably there. Slowly, his gaze grew more resolute.

He couldn't fall here. Absolutely not.