Kusuri woke up to Iori lightly smacking him in the face.
Shaking off his mild delirium, he finished processing what he had just been told.
He had a kekkei genkai.
The idea was so exciting to him that he almost passed out again.
Iori, obviously relieved at the fact he woke up, picked him up and sat him back in his chair after making sure he hadn't given himself a concussion.
"I'm sorry Lord Third. That's... a lot to take in," Kusuri said, suppressing an enormous grin.
"It's understandable. Are you well enough for me to continue?"
"I believe so."
"Perfect," said Hiruzen, standing up, "There is more to get to, so please follow me. We can continue while we walk."
Hiruzen beckoned them over with a hand, then did something unseen underneath his desk, and caused a large floor tile to slide back, revealing a staircase leading into a dark hallway.
The tile covered the floor behind them as they entered, and Hiruzen began to speak once again.
"We honestly know quite little about the Hinketsu clan and their abilities. We know they are of Sunagakure, we know they are powerful assassins, and we know they possess a kekkei genkai. We don't know much about how it functions, mainly because few who meet them live to tell of it. What we do know, is that it has something to do with blood."
"Cool," Kusuri thought to himself.
"That belief was corroborated after we found your chakra nature."
Hiruzen then pulled a small piece of paper from one of his pockets.
"Please, see for yourself."
Kusuri took the piece of paper and channeled his chakra into it. The paper immediately began to turn a dark red.
It felt wet and vaguely sticky. Not only that, it was disturbingly body temperature despite clearly not having come from a body.
It also had a very distinct smell, that of metal.
Hiruzen, upon noticing the paper change, froze in his approach towards Kusuri.
"I... do you... do you already know how to control your chakra?" Hiruzen stuttered, a bit stunned.
Kusuri froze.
"Shit! Think! What's the least suspicious answer I can give!?"
"Books!" he blurted out.
"Damnit!"
"Really?" Iori said, sounding impressed, "You managed to figure it out on your own? I'm impressed!"
Iori put Kusuri into a headlock and gave him a noogie.
"I am, however, annoyed you didn't ask me for help!" he said with annoyance, continuing the noogie, "I don't care how smart you are, you could've hurt yourself!"
Iori sighed and released Kusuri from the torment.
"Seriously though, as long as I'm not on a mission, I'd be happy to help you train or teach you anything I know, okay?"
"Got it. Sorry Uncle Iori," Kusuri said, somewhat genuine.
"That's better."
Having mostly finished their discussion, they increased their pace down the stairs a bit. Based on how long the staircase was, Kusuri surmised that wherever they were going was at least 2-3 meters below the Hokage Mansion, maybe even four or five. They eventually arrived at a massive, reinforced door. It was made of dark wood and was covered in seal markings from floor to ceiling.
Hiruzen motioned for them to stop and walked forward alone to the door itself. He placed his hand on the seals, pouring his chakra into them. Then, as if he had just turned a key in a lock, the seals receded. Notably, they did not fully disappear, leaving some of their base elements, likely so they could be reactivated.
Hiruzen beckoned them forward once again and proceeded to push open the large door.
The first thing Kusuri noticed upon seeing the inside was the defenses. Seals, tags, and who knows what else were plastered on every object in the room. Along with that, there were a total of at least 6 anbu stationed inside. Kusuri wasn't able to gauge their actual strength, but, based on the general vibes of the place, he had no doubt they were jōnin.
With all the seals and protections on most of the things in the vault, he actually couldn't get a very good view of most of them. It didn't help that he didn't get much time to really examine anything as Hiruzen was continuing to guide them deeper inside.
They eventually entered a large and fairly open room with scroll cubbies lining the walls.
Hiruzen walked over to a particular shelf full of scrolls with a visibly different design from the others and released the seal holding the scrolls inside.
"The scrolls in here all came from the carriage you were found in. As I said before, the odds of you actually being able to release the seals are probably rather low, but the council believed it was worth a shot."
He took the scrolls out one after the other and placed all but one of them on the empty floor, placing the last one in Kusuri's hands.
Kusuri, with clear trepidation, took the scroll and walked over to the pile, where he then sat down.
Examining the scroll, he saw complex seals on each, all of which were bright red as opposed to the usual black.
He could guess why.
He looked back to the Hokage for affirmation and received it with a firm nod.
With that in mind, Kusuri began looking for a latch or something similar to open the scroll he was holding but found something very different.
At the central location where the sealing marks seemed to have originated from, there was a small, empty spot, exactly the size and shape of a thumbprint. Feeling he had nothing to lose, Kusuri placed his right thumb in the spot.
He then felt something akin to a pinprick, pulling his thumb back instinctively and putting it in his mouth from the sting. Looking back at the scroll, he saw the center area fill with red, while the sealing marks began to pulse like veins. A second later, the marks pulled themselves off the scroll's surface and latched themselves onto nearby scrolls, causing them to do the same to others until every scroll was connected by the strange marks.
That elicited an immediate reaction out of the three observers and elicited a second one when a tendril decided to connect to Kusuri next.
Iori dove to protect him, but was too late, as they had already latched onto Kusuri's forehead.
Kusuri felt a shock go through his body, and then, like a fuse being blown, fell into unconsciousness.
Again.
----------
Kusuri woke up for the third time that day, this time finding himself in a bed in the village hospital.
Most of his family was in the room, including his grandparents, Iori and Aika, and even Jun, who was sitting worriedly next to her parents.
They all rushed to his side when they noticed he was awake.
"How you feeling Ku?" his grandfather asked tenderly.
"Like I was just assaulted by a library," he said, with a tinge of sarcasm.
His brain felt like it was bursting at the seams. Things he had never seen, but remembered all the same, swam through his head like koi in a pond.
Diagrams, descriptions, and complex words, none of which he understood even the slightest bit of, had been packed into his mind like it was overstuffed luggage.
He conveyed as much to those present.
"I guess I'll relay that to the Hokage," Iori said, "I should mention, the scrolls destroyed themselves after you passed out. It seems like they were probably meant to do... whatever they did to you. Anyway, I'll be back."
"Try to see if you can request a Yamanaka to take a look at Ku while you're there," Aika chimed in, "this kinda feels like it'd be in their area."
Iori nodded, then exited the room.
Not long after Iori exited, medical ninjas entered the room. How they knew Kusuri was awake, no one had any idea, but their presence was certainly appreciated.
They gave Kusuri a very thorough check-up. They analyzed almost every inch of his body, took his temperature in more ways than he wished he was conscious to experience, and finished it out with some blood testing. No matter what test they did, Kusuri seemed perfectly healthy, other than the headache and some fatigue.
They all sat around for a minute, just talking with the occasional question from Kusuri.
He found out a few things. As Iori had mentioned, the scrolls had destroyed themselves seconds after he passed out, after which he guessed was rushed to the medical building, the shop had been closed early which made sense, and Jun had drawn him a picture to make him feel better which everyone thought was adorable, Kusuri included.
Eventually, Iori returned, with a Yamanaka in tow.
"I'm back, and with company!" Iori announced.
Iori moved around to the side of Kusuri's bed, while the Yamanaka moved to the other and crouched down to Kusuri's eye level.
"I'll just be giving your memories a bit of a look-see. I won't have to go very deep, so you shouldn't feel a thing. I'll just need you to stay still while I do it. Kay?" the Yamanaka explained.
"Got it."
Placing his hands together, the Yamanaka formed a dozen or so hand seals and then placed his index and middle fingers on Kusuri's forehead. After placing his fingers, he immediately jumped back like he had touched a live wire.
"You okay?" Iori asked reflexively.
"Yeah, it's just... a lot more than I was expecting. Give me a second, I'll redo the jutsu."
He performed all the hand seals for a second time, and, now prepared, went through with the technique once again.
He stayed in the position for five, very boring minutes. The only thing that changed was his expression. His brows furrowed and unfurrowed once or twice before finally opening his eyes and standing up.
Turning to Iori he said, "Wow, you weren't joking. That's a lot of information. Don't even know where to start. The kid is fine, but his mind is chock full of what is basically implanted photographic memories. The work is impressive. Wish I could reverse-engineer it, it'd be useful. Anyway, I'll report back to the Hokage."
The Yamanaka left with little fanfare, leaving the group to their own devices. Aika, Iori, and Jun had to leave not long after for an unspecified reason. That left just Kusuri and his grandparents alone in the room.
They talked a bit and even played a round of cards before a medical ninja returned to the room giving Kusuri a clean bill of health. They were told he could leave the hospital whenever, but needed to make sure to get solid rest for a couple of days and also to possibly get him some kind of weak painkillers for the headache.
Hearing that, they wasted no time and started to make their way home. They maneuvered through winding streets and by countless shops before finally arriving there. Saying nothing, Kusuri walked directly up to his room to sleep, despite it only being about 2 in the afternoon.
With all he had been through that day, his grandparents didn't fault him for it.