Don't Pull That Stuff

"Poison mist, three kilometers out!"

Kitahara Kaede lifted the curtain and stepped outside.

The distant rain curtain was stained a dark purple.

The mist rolled along the ground; it wasn't moving fast, but it advanced with terrifying steadiness.

Hanzo's poison was different from Chiyo's. This was a large-scale gas spray released directly into the air.

One breath was all it took to go down.

On the front line, the moment the purple mist touched the first row of defenses, men began to collapse in droves.

No struggle, no screams.

They inhaled, their legs turned to jelly, and they slumped into the mud like piles of wet clay, their faces turning purple as their limbs convulsed.

"Fall back! Everyone, fall back!"

The commander's voice cracked from the strain of his shouting.

But men couldn't outrun the purple mist; in the blink of an eye, it swallowed the middle of the formation.

"Damn it!"

Tsunade bit her finger and formed hand seals.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

White smoke exploded.

Dozens of Katsuyu of varying sizes landed along the edge of the formation.

"Get on them!"

Tsunade slammed her palms onto the main Katsuyu beneath her feet, chakra surging wildly.

Green light spread out as the smaller clones crawled rapidly toward the severely wounded who were still breathing.

But the ones further out were unreachable.

"We can't pull the ones outside back!" a medical chunin shouted from the rear.

Tsunade didn't reply.

She grabbed three high-concentration antidote needles and turned to charge into the purple mist.

"Tsunade!"

Jiraiya chased after her for two steps before the residual poison drifting from the edge choked him, forcing him to retreat as he clutched his mouth and coughed violently, tears streaming down his face.

Someone was faster than Tsunade.

Kitahara Kaede swept past from the flank, his speed not slowing in the slightest as he plunged headlong into that purple expanse.

Tsunade was kneeling beside a chunin who was foaming at the mouth, preparing to inject him, when she caught a glimpse of that shadow out of the corner of her eye.

She jerked her head up.

"Get out of there!" she roared. "If you inhale that poison, you'll—"

The words stuck in her throat.

Kitahara Kaede stood right in the middle of the poison mist.

He wore no mask, used no antidote to cover his mouth, and his breathing was steady and normal.

It was exactly as if he were standing in an ordinary rainstorm.

Tsunade froze.

"You—"

"Save the people first."

Kitahara Kaede bent down, grabbed a chunin who was rolling his eyes back by one hand, hoisted him onto his shoulder, and turned to run back.

Passing a fallen genin, he snatched the back of the boy's collar with his free hand and dragged him along.

He ran back and forth.

Another trip, and he wasn't poisoned.

There wasn't a hint of gray on his face, his complexion was excellent, and his pace hadn't slowed by a single beat.

Tsunade stared at that figure, swallowed the words she had been about to unleash, and lowered her head to continue desperately injecting the wounded at her feet.

On a distant ridge.

Rain lashed against Hanzo's deep blue armor.

He stood atop Ibuse, his kusarigama hanging at his side.

Ibuse kept its mouth open, spewing a continuous stream of poison mist.

Hanzo's gaze pierced through the rain, locking onto the center of the purple fog.

The man had been running in and out for six minutes without any protective measures, relying entirely on his own lungs to breathe.

Hanzo narrowed his eyes slightly.

The last person to crack his poison was Chiyo of Sunagakure.

Chiyo had used an antidote.

But this kid hadn't brought anything.

Had the poison been neutralized?

Hanzo glanced downward.

Within the range covered by the mist, the other Konoha ninja were still falling in droves.

It wasn't that the poison had been neutralized.

It was just that this one person was unaffected.

"...Interesting."

Hanzo's gaze shifted to the rear.

That female medical ninja was working frantically to keep people alive.

Dozens of Katsuyu glowed with green light, forcing life back into the dying.

One was out front pulling people out, the other was in the back keeping them alive.

Hanzo tapped the handle of his kusarigama.

"Withdraw."

Ibuse closed its mouth, and with a flash of white smoke, its massive form vanished from the spot.

Deprived of its source, the poison mist began to thin under the washing of the rain.

The poison mist dissipated.

The frontline ninja hadn't even recovered their wits yet.

The commander stood on a high platform.

"Hanzo... retreated?"

The purple mist cleared completely.

The ground was littered with wounded, but there were far more survivors than expected.

"Hanzo's summoning creature withdrew on its own," a messenger ninja reported, head bowed.

The commander didn't answer.

He looked at Tsunade, who was busy treating the wounded, then turned his head to look at Kitahara Kaede.

The man who had carried people through the entire ordeal was squatting in the mud, handing the last wounded soldier over to the medical team.

"Not only did he not use any antidote, but he was active in the poison zone for at least six minutes," the messenger continued.

The commander stared at that back; Hanzo's retreat was definitely not a whim.

Late at night, in the rear camp.

Rain pattered against the tent roof.

But the sounds inside were louder.

Snore—

Jiraiya lay sprawled on his bedding, mouth wide open, his snores coming in wave after wave.

Tsunade tossed and turned on her blanket for the twelfth time.

She couldn't take it anymore.

She threw off her blanket and sat up, kicking Jiraiya precisely in the calf as she passed him.

Jiraiya grunted, rolled over, changed the pitch of his snoring, and continued.

There was no hope for him.

Tsunade gritted her teeth and cursed, her gaze shifting to the corner.

Kitahara Kaede was leaning against his gear bag, eyes closed, breathing evenly.

He wasn't asleep.

His mind was racing.

Today's poison mist proved one thing—his poison-immune constitution was indeed effective.

But it only worked for him.

Tsunade and Jiraiya couldn't handle it, and the ordinary ninja on the battlefield certainly couldn't.

If Hanzo came back, he could ensure his own safety, but he couldn't protect everyone else.

Then, a question suddenly occurred to him.

Hanzo's summoning, Ibuse, had a limited poison sac capacity.

He remembered Chiyo mentioning a small weakness of the Salamander when she fought Hanzo—it needed about five minutes to recharge its poison after every spray.

Five minutes.

That was a window.

If he could close the distance within those five minutes while the mist was dissipating—

But what then?

Hanzo's Kusarigama Technique and taijutsu were both at the Kage level.

In close-quarters combat, he wouldn't have the advantage.

Before he could think of a solution, his wrist was gripped.

Kitahara Kaede opened his eyes.

Tsunade was squatting in front of him, pointing at the curtain.

"Come out."

She mouthed the words, making no sound.

The two lifted the curtain and slipped out.

The night wind, laden with rain, rushed at them, and Tsunade shivered.

She found a spot under a wind-sheltered rock overhang and sat down on a stone.

Kitahara Kaede walked over and sat beside her.

Rainwater trickled down the rock face, drip, drop.

"Finally quiet."

Tsunade let out a long breath.

Kitahara Kaede leaned against the rock wall and tilted his head to look at her.

"Dragging me out into the cold wind in the middle of the night just to escape Jiraiya's snoring?"

"What else? I have to save people tomorrow, and his noise is giving me a headache."

Tsunade said irritably, her hand patting her pockets, finding nothing.

They were quiet for a while.

The sound of rain filled the silence.

Kitahara Kaede watched the rain curtain, not responding.

Tsunade suddenly turned her head, staring fixedly at him.

"Back in the poison mist today, what exactly is going on with you?"

She finally asked.

Kitahara Kaede had already prepared his excuse.

"Just lucky. I was poisoned by eating the wrong wild herbs before, so my body might have developed some resistance."

"Bullshit."

Tsunade grabbed his left hand.

Two fingers pressed against his pulse, and her chakra probed directly inside.

It traveled through his meridians.

There was nothing.

Clean as a whistle.

His meridians were clear, and not even a trace of residual poison could be found in his blood.

"Eating the wrong herbs is enough to withstand Hanzo's lethal poison?"

Tsunade glared at him.

"Then what about the time you were poisoned by Chiyo and almost died in my hands? Where was your 'resistance' then?"

Kitahara Kaede didn't have an answer.

Tsunade stared at him for a few seconds, the anger in her eyes slowly changing in nature.

It wasn't that she was mad he lied.

It was fear.

The moment he rushed into the poison mist today, the image that flashed through her mind was the one from the field hospital, where he had handed her the poison sac before his heart stopped beating.

The terror of being nearly too late, she had experienced it all over again today.

She did not want to go through it a next time.

Kitahara Kaede let her keep a grip on his wrist.

"Tsunade, I really am fine."

Tsunade did not let go, nor did she make a sound.

She lowered her head to look at his hand.

Palm facing upward, it was covered in calluses.

By the faint light of the distant campfires, she saw that thing.

Right in the center of his palm.

A deep, old scar.

It ran from one side of his palm to the other.

Tsunade's movements froze.

Her hand, which had been about to release his, stopped in mid-air.

She turned his palm completely over.

She extended a finger, its tip landing at the beginning of the old scar.

Gently, she traced it all the way down.

All the way to the end.

It tickled.

Kitahara Kaede wanted to pull his hand back.

Tsunade gripped it even tighter.

"That survival exercise back then."

Her voice was very low, almost drowned out by the rain.

"To push me away, you caught that Mist Village rogue ninja's kunai with your bare hand."

His palm had been nearly pierced through.

"It left a scar this long."

Tsunade turned her head away.

"It looks hideous."

Kitahara Kaede lowered his head to take a look.

Her fingertip had not yet moved from his palm.

Slightly red, it rested lightly against the white, raised mark.

He flipped his wrist.

He took hold of Tsunade's hand.

Tsunade's body stiffened.

She looked up.

She collided with his eyes.

"This scar is the most valuable thing on my body."

Tsunade's breath hitched.

The firelight reflected on his face, his expression very calm.

But the weight of those words made her chest feel tight.

The most valuable.

Because it was left behind to save her.

Tsunade felt her ears grow hot.

That heat spread from her neck up to her face.

"You, don't you try that on me!"

She yanked her hand back, the movement so abrupt that her back hit the rock wall.

"It's just a scar, what could it possibly be worth? I'll mix up some scar-removal ointment for you to apply tomorrow!"

She deliberately turned her face toward the curtain of rain.

But her ears were glowing red, impossible to hide even in the dark of night.

Kitahara Kaede withdrew his hand.

He curled it into a loose fist and rested it on his knee.

The warmth of her palm still lingered on his fingertips.