Chapter 64: The Long Sleep!
Consciousness ebbed and flowed like waves on a faraway shore, each brief moment of awareness bringing fragments of sound and sensation before the darkness pulled him back under.
Kōzaru's enhanced senses worked even whilst his mind drifted, picking up the controlled chaos of medical emergency. Voices called out orders with professional urgency, the sound of equipment being moved rapidly, the sharp scent of antiseptic and blood mixing with something else—fear.
"—Blood pressure dropping—"
"—We need more antidote, now!—"
"—Neurological damage is extensive—"
The voices faded as another wave of unconsciousness claimed him, but not before his nose caught familiar scents. Tatsuma's distinctive smell, altered by electrical burns and medical treatments. Aotaka's scent, weaker than it should be, tinged with the metallic smell of blood.
And underneath it all, the precious scents of Yuki and Riku, so faint they were barely detectable.
The next surge of awareness brought clearer sounds. Medical ninja working with desperate efficiency, their chakra-enhanced techniques filling the air with green light that he could sense even through closed eyelids.
"—This poison is resistant to standard antidotes—"
"—Try the Nara compound, double dosage—"
"—We are losing him again, increase the pressure—"
Kōzaru tried to speak, tried to move, tried to do something to help his ninken, his partners who needed him. But his body wouldn't respond, the toxins having spread through his system like liquid fire.
Causing another drift into darkness, deeper this time.
When awareness flickered back, the voices had changed. Different medical ninja, discussing procedures he couldn't quite understand. But through it all, one thought burned in his mind with crystal clarity.
Save them. Save Yuki and Riku.
This time, somehow, he managed to force his eyes open just a crack. Blurred shapes moved around him—medical personnel in white coats, their hands glowing with healing chakra. The ceiling above was stark white, broken by the harsh light of medical lamps.
"R-Riku..." The word came out as barely a whisper, his voice raw and broken from the poison's effects on his throat. "Y-Yuki..."
One of the medical ninja looked down at him with surprise, her face coming into focus slowly. She was young, perhaps only a few years older than him, with kind brown eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses.
"Easy there, young man," she said gently, her hand moving to check his pulse. "You're safe now. You're in Konoha Hospital."
"Please..." Kōzaru tried to sit up, but his body refused to obey. Every muscle felt like it was made of lead, and the room spun sickeningly around him. "Save... Them, save Riku and Yuki... my ninken... My friends, Aotaka, T-Tatsuma, they're hurt..."
"We're taking care of everyone," the medic assured him, her voice carrying professional calm. "Your ninken are being treated by our veterinary specialists and the others are still being operated on. Just rest now—you need to let the antidote work."
"Are they...?" He couldn't finish the question, terror making his voice catch.
"They're alive," she said firmly. "All of you are going to be fine. But you need to rest and let us do our job."
The relief that flooded through him was so intense it felt physical, washing away the last of his strength. His eyes fluttered closed as consciousness slipped away again, but this time the darkness felt less frightening.
They were alive. That was all that mattered.
In the hospital corridor outside the intensive care ward, Kushina Uzumaki paced back and forth like a caged tiger, her red hair practically crackling with contained energy. Every few minutes she would stop and stare through the small window in the door, watching the medical teams work on the three unconscious children.
"They're so young," she whispered for the dozenth time, her violet eyes bright with unshed tears. "Minato, they can't be more than eight years old. What were they doing in a combat situation that could cause injuries like this?"
Minato's clone stood beside her, his own face etched with worry and guilt. The strain of maintaining himself whilst his original body was still completing the mission was beginning to tell, but he couldn't bring himself to dispel whilst his students fought for their lives.
"They're my genin team," he said quietly, his voice heavy with responsibility. "Team Fifteen. They were on an escort mission that went wrong."
"Escort mission?" Kushina's voice rose slightly before she caught herself, glancing around to make sure they weren't disturbing anyone. "Minato, these children have been poisoned, electrocuted, and beaten half to death! What kind of escort mission involves jōnin-level combat?"
The clone ran a hand through his yellow hair, the weight of command feeling heavier than ever. "The kind where enemy forces are coordinating attacks we never expected. Stone and Cloud ninja working together, targeting medical convoys."
Kushina's eyes widened. "Stone and Cloud? Working together? But they've been enemies for decades!"
"Not anymore, apparently," Minato replied grimly. "The war is changing, Kushina. Alliances are shifting, and children like these are paying the price for adult politics."
He looked through the window at his unconscious students, his jaw clenching as he watched the medical teams work. "They fought three Cloud jōnin to protect wounded civilians. Three eight-year-olds against opponents with decades of experience."
"And they survived..." Kushina said, her tone carrying amazement mixed with pride. "Against those odds, they actually survived."
"Barely," Minato said, his voice barely above a whisper. "If I had been a second later..."
Kushina placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, feeling the tension in his muscles. "But you weren't. You saved them, and now the medical team will heal them."
The clone shook his head. "I can't stay, Kushina. The original mission still needs to be completed, and the survivors are counting on me to get them to safety."
"What?" Kushina spun to face him fully, her eyes flashing with disbelief. "Minato, your students are fighting for their lives! How can you even think about leaving?"
"Because that's what being a shinobi means," he replied, though the words felt like glass in his throat. "The mission comes first. Always. If I abandon it now, then their sacrifice means nothing."
Kushina stared at him for a long moment, seeing the pain behind his professional mask. "You're not abandoning them," she said finally. "You're completing what they started. I understand."
The clone's expression softened slightly. "Will you... will you stay with them? Until I can return?"
"Of course," Kushina said without hesitation. "I'll be here when they wake up. I promise."
"Thank you," Minato said, relief evident in his voice as he looked through the glass into the operating room. "The red-haired boy, Tatsuma. He's an Uzumaki too. I thought you should know."
Kushina's eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed as she looked through the window with renewed interest. "An Uzumaki? Here in Konoha?"
"His parents died when he was very young," Minato explained. "He doesn't know much about his heritage. Perhaps... perhaps you could help him understand what it means to carry that bloodline."
"I'd be honoured," Kushina said softly, her gaze lingering on Tatsuma's unconscious form. "Another Uzumaki here in the village, I thought I was the only one." She said surprised, knowing that her clan had been almost wiped out when she was younger, with the survivors fleeing all over the world thought to be lost.
The clone began to fade slightly, his chakra reserves finally reaching their limit. "I have to go. The mission won't wait any longer."
"Be careful," Kushina said, squeezing his shoulder one last time. "Come back to us safely."
"Always do," he replied with a ghost of his usual smile, before vanishing in a small puff of smoke as the clone burst.
Kushina stood alone in the corridor for a moment, then turned back to the window. Inside, the medical teams continued their work, green chakra glowing around their hands as they fought to save three young heroes.
"Hold on, little ones," she whispered. "Help is coming."
The next thing Kōzaru knew, he was slowly drifting back to consciousness like a swimmer rising from the depths of a deep pool. This time, the awakening felt different—less urgent, more peaceful. The harsh scents of medical antiseptic had faded to a manageable level, and the sounds around him were quieter, more controlled.
His enhanced senses catalogued his surroundings before he even opened his eyes. A hospital room, definitely, but not the emergency ward where he had last been conscious. The air smelled of clean linens and morning sunshine filtering through windows. Somewhere nearby, he could hear the quiet murmur of nurses going about their duties.
Slowly, carefully, Kōzaru opened his eyes.
The ceiling above him was a pleasant cream colour instead of the harsh white he remembered. Sunlight streamed through a large window to his right, casting warm patterns across the floor. He was lying in a proper hospital bed, clean sheets tucked around him, with medical equipment nearby but not the urgent array of life-support machines he vaguely remembered.
For a moment, he simply lay there, taking inventory of his body. His limbs felt weak but functional, no longer heavy with toxin-induced paralysis. His breathing came easily, and while his throat was still somewhat raw, the burning sensation from the poison had faded to a dull ache.
Then, like a lightning bolt, memory crashed back into his consciousness.
The cliff road. Saki Ishikawa's poisoned daggers. His ninken throwing themselves into danger to protect him. The Cloud jōnin's devastating attacks. Yuki and Riku lying motionless, their small bodies wracked with toxins...
"Yuki! Riku!" Kōzaru bolted upright in bed, panic flooding his system as he searched frantically for any sign of his ninken partners. "Where are they? Are they—"
The sudden movement sent his head spinning, and he would have fallen if not for gentle hands that caught his shoulders and eased him back against the pillows.
"Easy there, easy," came a calm, professional voice. "Everything's alright. You need to relax."
Kōzaru's vision cleared to reveal a middle-aged nurse with kind grey eyes and prematurely silver hair. She wore the standard Konoha medical uniform, but her gentle manner and the way she moved suggested considerable experience dealing with injured ninja.
"My ninken," he said urgently, trying to sit up again despite her restraining hands. "Yuki and Riku—they were poisoned. Are they safe? Please, I have to know!"
"They're perfectly fine," the nurse said firmly, her tone carrying absolute certainty. "Both of your ninken made full recoveries. They've been staying at the Inuzuka compound with your mother for the past week."
"A week?" Kōzaru's eyes widened in shock. "I've been unconscious for a week?"
"You, your teammates, and your ninken were all severely injured," the nurse explained, settling into a chair beside his bed. "The toxin was particularly resistant to our standard antidotes. It took several days to flush it completely from your systems."
Relief flooded through Kōzaru so powerfully that he felt dizzy. "They're really okay? Yuki and Riku are really safe? My friends too?"
"Completely recovered," the nurse assured him with a warm smile. "Young animals heal remarkably quickly, especially with proper care. Your mother has been spoiling them terribly, from what I hear."
"As for your teammates, they have also recovered, with both of them seeming to be in better condition than your are. Fast healers I guess, remarkable really." She said as she thought about it.
Kōzaru sank back into his pillows, feeling as though a massive weight had been lifted from his chest.
"We're all going to be okay?" Kōzaru asked, hardly daring to believe it.
"All of you are going to be just fine," the nurse said with absolute confidence. "You're remarkably resilient young men. The medical team was impressed by how well you responded to treatment."
The relief was so overwhelming that Kōzaru felt tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. For a week, whilst his conscious mind had drifted in darkness, some part of him had carried the terror that his ninken partners and his best friends might not survive. The guilt of failing to protect them, of letting them suffer because of his inadequacy as their partner.
But they were safe. They were all safe.
"Your mother has been visiting every day," the nurse continued gently. "She's been worried sick, of course, but she's also been taking excellent care of Yuki and Riku. They'll be so happy to see you when you're ready for visitors."
"Can I see them today?" Kōzaru asked hopefully.
"Perhaps tomorrow," the nurse replied. "You need another day of rest to make sure the last of the toxin has cleared your system. But yes, very soon you'll be reunited."
Kōzaru nodded, understanding the necessity even if he was eager to see his partners again. The knowledge that they were safe, that they were being cared for by his mother, was enough for now.
"The mission," he said suddenly, another worry surfacing. "The survivors we were protecting—did they make it safely?"
"Everyone made it," the nurse assured him. "Your sensei completed the mission successfully. The three civilians you protected are alive and well, thanks to your sacrifice."
That final piece of information seemed to complete something inside Kōzaru's mind. The mission had succeeded. The people they had sworn to protect were safe. His teammates would recover. His ninken were healthy and happy.
They had done it. Despite being vastly outmatched, despite facing opponents who should have killed them easily, Team Fifteen had completed their mission and survived.
The exhaustion that had been held at bay by worry and adrenaline suddenly crashed over him like a tidal wave. His eyelids grew heavy, and despite his desire to stay awake and ask more questions, his body demanded rest.
"Sleep now," the nurse said softly, adjusting his pillows and checking his IV drip. "When you wake up, you'll be even stronger. And soon, you'll be back with your ninken where you belong."
Kōzaru's eyes fluttered closed, but this time the approaching darkness held no fear. It was peaceful, restorative sleep—the kind that came after surviving the impossible and knowing that everyone you cared about was safe.
The nightmare of the cliff road was behind them now, and Team Fifteen would live to fight another day.