Even though they had left the Shattered Rock Zone far behind, that expanse of scorched earth and scattered corpses, the thick, cloying stench of blood still seemed to have seeped into their very marrow.
The four of them took temporary shelter in a secluded seaside cave, where they could hear the steady murmur of the waves.
Yet that smell stubbornly lingered deep in their noses, silently reminding them of the harrowing fight to the death they had just endured.
The cave was dim, with only a small campfire providing a faint glimmer of light and warmth.
The crackling flames cast wavering, ghostlike shadows across the rough rock walls, illuminating four exhausted, battered faces whose eyes held the resolve of fine steel tempered in fire.
Tiny beads of sweat formed at Miwa Kato's temples, not from the heat, but from intense concentration and the constant expenditure of chakra.
She sat cross-legged beside Hizashi Hyuga, holding both hands steadily above his visibly caved-in chest.
Rich green medical chakra, brimming with life, flowed like a gentle yet persistent spring, continuously and meticulously nourishing his fractured sternum and badly damaged internal organs.
Hizashi was still frighteningly pale, his lips cracked and bloodless, but his breathing was no longer so faint that it might cease at any moment. It had become relatively steady and deep.
His eyes remained tightly shut, his brow faintly furrowed by the itching and dull pain of his mending bones, but the unfocused, ashen look of someone on the verge of death had faded, replaced by a quiet resilience as he fought against his injuries.
Shinji Uchiha sat against the opposite rock wall, carefully cleaning the wounds of varying depths on his arms, between his ribs, and across his legs by the light of the campfire.
Clean water washed away the