Chapter 53: Such a Battle Will, He's Practically a Heaven-Sent Warrior!
Land of Hot Water,
At the cliff beneath the Jashin Cult's headquarters.
The cliffside was riddled with scars, crisscrossing cracks spreading like spiderwebs, with jagged boulders hanging precariously from the cliff, ready to fall at any moment.
Terumi Mei held a severely injured Uchiha Ci in her arms, nervously watching as Shinno inspected his body.
"How... how is he?"
Shinno frowned, a blue chakra scalpel glowing from his fingers as he made intricate cuts across Uchiha Ci's meridian points. It didn't look like a medical examination but more like dissecting a lab rat.
After a moment, Shinno clicked his tongue, his frown deepening.
"Say something! Can he be saved or not?" Terumi Mei couldn't help but ask urgently.
Shinno took a deep breath, raising his head with a look of annoyance and said calmly, "As you can see, he's already dead."
"What? How could this be?" Terumi Mei's heart sank the moment she heard those words.
"What's wrong? Death in the ninja world is quite common, isn't it? Or does he hold some special meaning for you?" Shinno glanced at her expression, sneering as he asked, "If I remember correctly, you've only known him for less than a day, right?"
Terumi Mei bit her lip, her gaze flickering as she looked at the boy's face.
Shinno was right. Until yesterday, she had never seen this boy, didn't know his name, appearance, or personality, nor did she know of his grand and ambitious ideals.
But—
This boy—
He had smashed the sacrament, fighting to the death in his rage against injustice.
He had made a vow under the moonlight, declaring his ambitions to reshape the ninja world.
And the sight of him wielding a blazing sword, leaping and slashing down before the dawn...
Like a startled swan, like a graceful dragon!
These images were etched deep into her heart, leaving her unable to let go of the four words:
Uchiha Ci!
She found it hard to accept that such an astonishing boy would meet his end here.
In her mind, this boy should have been walking towards a distant horizon under the morning sun, meeting her again on the battlefield someday... But was this truly the end?
Terumi Mei felt a weight in her chest.
"Tch, stop looking so down," Shinno shook his head and suddenly spoke.
"There's still hope for him."
Hearing this, Terumi Mei looked up in shock, her brows raised as she asked in disbelief, "Didn't you just say he's dead?"
"I only said he's dead, not that I can't save him," Shinno moved forward with a step, his chakra scalpel glowing on his finger.
Then, under Terumi Mei's stunned gaze, he directly sliced open Uchiha Ci's chest, revealing his heart, burnt to a crisp yet still beating.
"Look at this! This kid is a freak!"
Shinno marveled, pointing at the writhing and pulsing tissue within the incision.
"I've never seen someone with such a strong battle will."
"Even though he's already dead, his body is still craving battle! And it's continuously sustaining my forbidden jutsu, Body Revival Technique."
"He's practically a heaven-sent warrior!"
"And there's more—"
Shinno pulled out a black, wriggling thread from the bloody chest cavity.
"This is Takigakure's secret technique, Earth Grudge Fear. It has perfectly stitched his blood vessels, preventing blood loss."
"Together with the Body Revival Technique constantly producing and replenishing his blood, these two jutsu are temporarily replacing the function of his heart."
"Incredible... How did this kid, with just a single-tomoe Sharingan, manage to learn these two forbidden jutsu?"
Unable to fathom it, Shinno could only shake his head and reveal the treatment plan.
"As long as we replace his heart, he can live again."
Terumi Mei's face turned pale. Although she had grown accustomed to the cold and brutal environment of Kirigakure, seeing Shinno casually pulling out hearts while chatting left her feeling an uncontrollable sense of unease.
Forcing herself to suppress her discomfort, she asked, "But in these conditions, where can we find a matching heart?"
Shinno thought for a moment, then stood up and rummaged through the pile of rubble nearby. The massive rocks in his hands were tossed aside like toys.
Soon, he dragged out a creature covered in black threads.
It was the Earth Grudge Fear masked monster that Uchiha Ci had embedded in the cliff earlier.
Shinno crushed the mask with his bare hands, pulling out a heart wrapped in black threads from within.
"Here's a heart, ready and waiting."
Shinno had noticed it when Uchiha Ci shattered the Mask earlier. Underneath the mask was a beating heart.
In other words, the rogue Takigakure ninja, Kakuzu, had a heart inside each of his masks, capable of leaving his body without killing him.
Since this kid also had the black threads inside him, putting the heart in should work, right?
The barefoot ninja doctor Shinno thought as much.
Although his knowledge was vast, and with the technological prowess of Kūnōgakure decades ahead of the rest of the ninja world—having even developed flying aircraft carriers—this situation with Uchiha Ci was unprecedented even for him.
Holding a "treat the dead horse as if it were alive" mentality, Shinno placed the heart into Uchiha Ci's chest, activating Mystical Palm, causing green light to emit from his hands.
Afterward, he looked at Terumi Mei with a blank expression. "I can save him, but I'll need your help."
"Me? What could I do?" Terumi Mei asked, pointing at herself in confusion. "I don't know any medical ninjutsu."
Shinno stopped her words with a look of disdain. "Do you know how to blow air?"
Terumi Mei dumbly nodded.
"Do you know how to pinch a nose?"
She nodded again.
Satisfied, Shinno asked one final question. "Do you know how to kiss?"
Terumi Mei instinctively nodded, but her face immediately turned crimson, steam practically rising from her head.
She stammered, clutching her hands nervously. "Wh-what are you talking about? Kiss? I have no idea what you mean!"
Shinno stared at her blankly. "You clearly understand."
"Good, you've mastered the technique of artificial respiration."
"Support his chin, pinch his nose, then take a deep breath, press your mouth to his, and blow air in."
"Do it twice in a round, each time blowing for 1 to 1.5 seconds. Blow a third of your breath in until his chest rises, then release and let him exhale."
"Lift your head, take another deep breath, and prepare for the next round."
"Keep a rhythm—about 20 times per minute."
Terumi Mei was dumbfounded. "What? Twenty times per minute? You want me to kiss him twenty times a minute?"
She swallowed hard, glancing at the sleeping face of Uchiha Ci, her pupils trembling as her face turned as red as the dawn.
As the birds flew by and everything began to grow,
Bathed in the crimson light of dawn,
The cold winds of early spring didn't feel so chilly anymore.
Shinno tilted his head, "Any problem? You'll have to keep that rhythm for at least half an hour. Given his unique condition, it might even take an hour."
"Can you do it? If not, just leave him here and let fate take its course."
Terumi Mei snapped to attention, biting her lip and raising her hand. "I'll do it!"
As she said it, she couldn't help but recall the moment when Uchiha Ci had jumped off the cliff, holding her.
If he had been willing to save her without hesitation, then why couldn't she return the favor?
Now, it was her turn to save him!
But in her mind, a tiny version of herself was blushing furiously, steam pouring from her head, as she mentally calculated.
"Twenty times per minute... thirty minutes would be 600 times. If it's an hour, that's 1,200 times!"
"Ugh... I really have to kiss him 1,200 times?"
Shinno coughed lightly, a mischievous glint appearing in his otherwise cold gaze. "Are you ready?"
"Begin!"
As his glowing green hands descended on Uchiha Ci's chest, Terumi Mei panicked.
"What? We're starting now?" she hurriedly pushed back her russet bangs and quickly took a deep breath.
Then,
Her pale fingers lifted Uchiha Ci's chin.
The red sun rose.
The rays pierced through her red hair and eyes, lighting her up like a seraphim bathed in divine light.
Her lips met Uchiha Ci's face.
"Whoosh."