Chapter 6: pesticide

Sometimes Toshiro thinks about the man he would have been if he didn't remember his previous life. Stalling on 'what-ifs' isn't his favorite pastime though, so it's usually a very brief thought process. Mostly, he wonders if he'd be just like every other citizen. Blind and content with life, not knowing how much was wrong because he'd been raised to think it was the norm.

It's a scary notion.

(Not that it matters.)

The Hokage Tower is a hub of activity. It's where shinobi go to recieve their missions, where paperwork is turned in for processing, and where the archives are located. It's the most protected building in all of Konoha, and it overlooks the Academy, claiming safety for rising shinobi while simultaneously forcing kids to constantly remain in its shadow. It's quite the metaphor.

Toshiro walks into the Hokage's office early one morning at the request of the Hokage. He's not sure what for. It makes him nervous. Kakashi strolls beside him, Icha Icha in hand and looking as if he doesn't have a care in the world. Outwardly Toshiro matches the nonchalance, but he's sure anyone who stares too long will begin to notice signs of his internal anxiety.

Kakashi enters with him, not even waiting to ask if it's okay. Toshiro eyes the man loosely. The Sandaime had requested Toshiro, and Toshiro alone.

"Aikawa-sensei." Sarutobi Hiruzen greets, seated at his desk with a pipe in hand. He's clad in his Hokage robes, hat dipping low over his forehead. There are no other chairs in the office. Toshiro stands before the desk and Kakashi hovers at his back. The Sandaime barely spares the other man a glance.

"Sandaime-sama." Toshiro nods his head, "You wanted to see me?"

Hiruzen's lips quirk. Toshiro can't tell if it reaches the man's eyes. His chakra is almost stifling. "Yes, my boy. You've made quite the impression on Konoha and its people. I thought I might as well get to know the man behind the movement."

"I'm no one." He refrains from furrowing his brow, "At least, I'm nothing special on my own. Promoting change is a group effort."

The Hokage taps his pipe against the ashtray on his desk. The bittersweet scent of smoke wafts through the air. All the windows are closed. Toshiro notes the hum of activated seals.

He manages to withhold from telling the Hokage how unhealthy smoking is.

"You sell yourself short." The man says, and there's nothing threatening in his posture or expression, but Toshiro can't help but think he's being analyzed intently. "Not many can rally the support of four clans in such a short amount of time."

"Has anyone ever tried?"

The Hokage blinks. "Well, I suppose not."

"Then perhaps it was never as impossible as previously assumed. To be frank, I saw a problem that could be fixed and decided that no one but myself was stopping me from acting." Toshiro holds his back straight and keeps his voice steady. Talking to the Clan Heads is one thing — the Hokage is in a league of his own. "I don't think it's particularly impressive, personally. If not me, then someone else would have eventually come along."

There's a great moment of pause, one that stretches just a second longer than comfortable. The Hokage taps his pipe against the ashtray once more before bringing it back to his mouth.

"I see," he finally says. "Still, there is something commendable about being the one who does, no matter the what-ifs."

Toshiro blinks. "...thank you?"

There's a sharp huff of breath behind him, tinged with Kakashi's form of tenuous humor. Toshiro purses his lips and resolutely does not turn around.

The Hokage hums. "And your next project?"

He's a little surprised — but not really, because he hadn't exactly been hiding his movements. For a brief moment, he wonders if he actually even trusts the Hokage enough to share his plans. Now that is a treasonous thought.

So he decides to spin it a little differently. "I was orphaned young, spent a little time in one of Konoha's orphanages before entering the academy — I suppose it left an impression on me. Once the war ended, I thought conditions would improve." He offers an awkward smile, "They didn't — not that they were terrible to begin with, but there's so much more we could do for the children, to help them grow into the best versions of themselves they can be… and to help them feel like they really do belong. Now that we have peace, there's no reason not to look around and just...improve."

He really hopes no one notices the fact that he'd lied. (The conditions were terrible to begin with. A village created by two ninja clans? Who put their children to war as soon as they could walk? Of course there were never any sane or safe child care laws!)

"Oh?" The Hokage raises a brow.

"Yes." Toshiro says, pink eyes flashing, "People grow, change, evolve — there's no reason for everything else to stay the same. No matter how good something starts as, it can always be better. That's just the way of the world."

"The way of the world, huh?" The Hokage murmurs, leaning back in his seat. "You really know how to make me feel like an old man, Aikawa-sensei."

He shifts awkwardly, "I'm….sorry?"

Hiruzen waves a hand, "Ignore my ramblings. I suppose it's high time for the next generation to blaze their own trails. The will of fire burns brightly in you." The man sighs, wistful. "You remind me of someone."

Kakashi's chakra wavers.

"A good someone, I hope?" Toshiro inquires, wondering if he's just dodged a bullet.

The Hokage grins, features heavy with nostalgia and the air significantly lighter than it had been when Toshiro first entered. "The best."

He thinks perhaps the Hokage knows what's happening.

Knows that Clans are rising up, promoting change, purging the shadows from a village that claims to be the lightest in all the land. (Knows that, as much as Toshiro hates being under such a heavy gaze, it's Toshiro who brought this upon them all.)

He'd been truthful. Toshiro didn't see what he was doing as… wildly outlandish. It seemed obvious to him. If there was a problem, you fixed it. Konoha was rife with problems, all of them fixable with a little effort. Perhaps it was radical in a shinobi village.

Scratch that, it clearly was.

But eventually someone else would desire the change Toshiro had kickstarted. It's just the way people worked. Constantly shifting, constantly evolving, constantly wanting more. Living a life already had made him...freer, in a sense. It already felt like he was running on stolen time, so why not use it to incite a little rebellion in the name of peace?

(He still had other desires, other dreams of the future. But he tried his best to live without regrets, so if this current life was cut short — well, there would only be acceptance. He held no obsessive fear of death.)

Perhaps the Hokage really was feeling his age, content to let the younger generation take over and observe from the sidelines. Admirable. A little. It didn't stop the flash of irritation Toshiro felt, because the man had no drive to take part in the change. What leader allowed himself to fade into obscurity rather than face his village head on?

(A man who made too many mistakes.)

So Toshiro respects the power the Hokage yielded, the experience and wisdom that came with hundreds of battles and decades of life. But he's not sure he respects the Hokage as a leader, as a person who was supposed to have pledged their life to their people.

Toshiro learns to take time out of his week to visit the memorial stone. Kakashi takes his bodyguard job very seriously, but he grows irritable and morose when he's unable to mourn for at least a few hours. It's incredibly unhealthy. Kakashi holds his grief to his chest like a cancer. There's so much rage and depression and regret — it's the one poison that Toshiro has no antidote for.

Not yet.

"Please go out with me."

Toshiro stares.

Yamanaka Inoharu is slender and fair, just an inch shorter than Toshiro and about a year younger. She has the same pupil-less eyes as the rest of her Clan, hers an icy blue that compliments her wavy blond locks. She's one of the Yamanaka attending the Medical Ninjutsu classes. She's yet to miss one. Her chakra control is excellent and she's managed to finally separate her elemental chakra from baseline chakra — and she apparently has a crush on him.

"Um." He says, having no idea how to respond. When he'd been younger, it had been easy to turn away the girls who approached him when he first started at the hospital. He'd been a little more….mechanical back then. He feels like he's loosened up. Grown a little softer. Plus, they'd been girls getting treatment. This?

This was someone he'd have to continue interacting with frequently. (If she continued taking the lessons after he turned her down. Because he would.)

"You don't have to reply yet." There's a scarlet flush blooming across her cheeks. She fiddles with her fingers and avoids his gaze. "I know this is pretty sudden, but I really like you."

"I'm sorry." He cuts her off before she has the chance to add something else. His heart sinks into his stomach. Even though he's merely being honest, he hates the idea of hurting someone else's feelings. (Especially when shinobi are so tentative with their emotions.) "I've only ever considered you as a friend."

Her expression falters.

Toshiro feels the beginning threads of panic. He doesn't know what to do if she ends up crying — he's so used to tears of pain, tears of emotion almost seem foreign. Which is kinda funny, seeing as he fully supports the 'let shinobi cry' movement.

"Oh," she murmurs weakly. "Thank you for being honest."

Then she leaves.

Toshiro blinks wildly at the now empty hallway. He turns and walks back into the classroom he'd just finished up teaching in. Inoharu had been the last to leave, presumably to go through with her confession. He walks over to his desk at the front and slumps into the seat.

Kakashi flashes into the room just behind him, having been hanging out in a tree just outside the window.

"Ugh," Toshiro drops his head face down on his desk, freckled nose smushed against the hardwood. He feels a little embarrassed, actually.

"You're still popular as ever, I see." Kakashi says, voice injected with detached amusement. If Toshiro didn't know any better, he'd say the other is making fun of him.

Actually, he just might be.

"Shut up." Toshiro mutters, words muffled. "The same thing happened to you last week."

"It's because you're so nice to all of them." Kakashi continues as if Toshiro had never spoken. "You should try being a little meaner once in a while."

Toshiro turns his head until his cheek is pressed against the cool wood and squints his rosy eyes at the silver-haired menace. "I'm just teaching them!"

"Hm."

"I am!"

"I didn't say anything."

Toshiro opens his eyes when he hears the soft shutter of a camera. He's flat on his back on the Nara's porch, tucked in the shade with a pillow under his head and Shikamaru slumped on top of him, his little cheek pressed to Toshiro's chest. The sun is high in the sky but they escape the worst of the heat under the awning. A faint breeze keeps the air circulating and the temperature tolerable. Cicadas chirp faintly in the grass.

Summer is in full swing.

Yoshino hovers just a foot away, a mischievous grin on her face and a camera in her hands. She's just captured the moment, adding another picture to the collection of images highlighting various times Shikamaru has managed to use Toshiro as a napping spot.

He sends her a sheepish grin.

"Lunch is almost ready," she whispers. The only reason she isn't yelling at Shikamaru to get up and stop being lazy is because the image before her is adorable enough to warrant a pass. "Will you be able to wake him in a half hour?"

She's asking because Toshiro treats Shikamaru a bit like a cat. Once the boy is sprawled on him, he can't move. His legs have cramped up on multiple occasions because he couldn't bring himself to move when Shikamaru had curled up in his lap.

"I'll do my best," he whispers, careful not to wake the child just yet.

Yoshino just sighs fondly and turns away, returning to the kitchen.

Toshiro runs a hand down Shikamaru's back, feeling the boy's chest swell with every breath. He's not sure he'll ever be able to have his own children, being...well, not straight. It's a shame because he's pretty sure he wants to be a father. Kind of a new thought, but he's turning nineteen soon and shinobi start families young. Early twenties, sometimes even before. Civilians are about the same — though they seem more concerned with marriage and like than their shinobi counterparts.

The whole relationship thing in this reality closely resembled medieval times from back in his previous life. Arranged marriages still happened. Girls thought about love and marriage at like, twelve, and in a serious manner! Civilian women were encouraged to get married as soon as possible. People in clans varied between having their entire lives planned out for them and having all the choice in the world.

Like Itachi, who'd had a fiance chosen for him since he was a child.

Then there was Shikamaru, also a Clan Heir, who was free to marry whoever he wanted. (As long as they were a woman, he assumes. He's not had the guts to ask any of the Clans about their stances on LGBT matters, especially in relation to their clan heirs of all people, who were expected to provide their own heirs down the line.)

Toshiro has received about seven confessions since he turned down Yamanaka Inoharu. He truly hadn't taken the whole relationship thing seriously — way too busy with a literal revolution — but it seems like the traditional values of Konoha still applied to him in some capacity. He was an eligible bachelor of marrying age, soon to be responsible for the Hospital and earn a seat on the Council, and somehow allied to four major Clans. The amount of female suitors approaching him was terrifying.

And it would only get worse as he kicked up more waves.

He sighs heavily, turning his thoughts away from his impending doom. One day soon he'll come out. When the time is right. (Then a whole new set of problems will likely follow.)

"Why the long sigh?"

Toshiro peers to the side. Kakashi.

He's returned from his not-so-secret visit to the memorial stone. The man doesn't even have to stick around while Toshiro is in the Nara Compound, but apparently he doesn't have anything else to do aside from hang around.

"Thinking about marriage." He answers without thinking. Then immediately regrets it.

Kakashi tilts his head, dark eye flashing in surprise. He blinks for a moment, clearly trying to process those words. "What brought this on? Finally receive a marriage proposal?"

"As if." Though it's sure to happen sooner rather than later, it's just how Konoha's traditional culture worked. Toshiro feels his ears burn red. He clears his throat and turns his gaze down to Shikamaru slumbering away on his torso. It's a telling maneuver.

"Ah." Kakashi says after a moment of silence.

"Yeah."

The other man shifts on his feet, "You….you'd make a good father."

Toshiro feels the flush move from his ears to his cheeks. "Thanks. It's — it's probably not gonna happen though. I mean..."

"What?" Kakashi drawls, shoulders oddly tense. "You certainly garner enough attention to have your pick of the lot when it comes to partners."

Toshiro absentmindedly rubs Shikamaru's back. The boy snuffles softly and tightens his grip on Toshiro's dark kimono top. The material bunches easily, a soft cotton. This kimono is casual, for lounging around the house. The dark navy reminds him of the Uchiha. It makes his light hair pop.

He considers Kakashi, pink eyes piercing. The other man doesn't react to the scrutiny, though he's far from blind to it. Maybe Toshiro doesn't have to tell everyone his sexuality. But Kakashi is the closest friend he's ever had — at this point he's higher on the list than Inoka, if only because they've spent so much time together these past two months.

"They're all women." Is what he says, and it feels just as odd and heavy as he'd anticipated. It makes his palms sweat.

The chirping of cicadas rings in his ears, drawing out the silence.

"Oh." It leaves Kakashi's masked lips in a soft exhale.

Toshiro turns away, staring at the wood awning above him. He tries to tame the rampage his heart has begun, the thudding so vicious it's certain to wake the sleeping boy whose ear is pressed close.

Kakashi clears his throat. "Well. Then I guess you'll have to settle on adoption."

"What?" Toshiro's eyes grow wide. He looks back at the other man so quickly it almost hurts.

The usual veneer of disinterest is back, Kakashi's shoulders slouched and a hand running through wild silvery locks. "There's no way you won't end up toting a bunch of kids around, bleeding heart that you are. Whether they're yours in blood or not clearly doesn't seem to matter." A very pointed look is directed at Shikamaru.

"That's…" He clears his throat, biting his lip so harshly he almost tastes blood. Of course it would be easy with Kakashi.

They fall into another short silence.

Toshiro laughs, teeth releasing his abused lip as his mouth curls into a wide smile. "You're absolutely right." He manages to say. It feels like sunshine is exploding from every pore.

Shikamaru grunts, woken by the outburst. "Hey, wha' gives?"

The crux of it all occurs a few days before Toshiro turns nineteen (his birthday is July 1st). It's only two weeks after his coming-out conversation with Kakashi and he still feels like he's riding the high of it all. It's not as if his sexualtity controls every aspect of his personality, but it's very freeing to have someone know and accept a part of himself no one else does.

Of course it all comes to a head the day Fugaku sounds the alarm. Toshiro is woken by a fierce knocking at his door. It's something like 2am and he has a shift the next day, so he's not exactly happy about it — until he realizes the reason why. Then he's rushing to the hospital with a visibly disturbed Itachi, who looks gaunt and sick, hands trembling even as he tries to hide how pained he is at the whole situation. Toshiro doesn't have time to comfort the teen, not when his cousin gets closer to death every second he's not being healed.

Uchiha Shisui is in critical condition, one eye in the socket and the other crushed in his fist. He'd been attacked by Danzo and Root members and barely managed to escape — in fact he'd only done so because he'd been ambushed while waiting to meet a Nara friend of his.

(A friend who was actually not a friend, but his secret girlfriend. That was a fact completely irrelevant for the moment, but Toshiro is sure that after everything settles down there will be some conversations happening.)

She'd observed exactly what was happening and done what her Clan did best. Execute a plan. It ended with both of them grievously injured but alive, the eye that had been plucked from Shisui's skull reclaimed and destroyed by his own hand. He'd been about to remove and crush the other when reinforcements had arrived, alerted by the Nara's deer summons.

(Honestly, after all that, if they aren't allowed to marry then Toshiro will eat his sandals.)

Immediately, the Clans leap into action at such a blatant attack. It was exactly what they needed to solidify their accusations against Danzo

The resulting civil battle takes days. Toshiro takes almost no part in it, concerned with the recovery of Uchiha Shisui and Nara Hoshika.

Danzo is found exceedingly, disgustingly guilty. Kakashi informs him of this seconds before an explosion across the village rips the courtroom in half.

Toshiro looks Kakashi in the eye. "Go."

The man wavers for a moment. "He could send someone after you. You're the instigator of his downfall, Toshiro."

"He was under suspicion before I came along."

Kakashi shakes his, "Not in any way that mattered."

Toshiro firms his gaze and sets his jaw. "I said go, Kakashi."

Kakashi goes.

"THIS HOSPITAL IS UNDER LOCKDOWN!" He screams, voice booming across the flurry of activity far louder than it ever has before. "RESTRICT FLOW, CRITICALLY INJURED ONLY! MINOR INJURIES FOR THE TENTS OUTSIDE!"

Doctors scramble to assemble the rapid relief tents outside the hospital. Movement in and out of the hospital is restricted severely to prevent any unwanted guests from coming in and out. Uchiha Shisui and Nara Hoshika are still at risk of assassination or kidnapping — Shisui more than his girlfriend. The hospital upgrades show their worth.

Seals in each room erect barriers to prevent foriegn, unregistered chakra signatures from entering. Forcefully breaking the seals would result in setting off alarms that alert every medical professional in the building. (And administered a nasty shock to whoever did the breaking in, an idea courtesy of Kakashi, implemented by Konoha's barrier team and a group of Nara who taught themselves sealing within a two month period. Honestly, that Clan was terrifying when motivated. They could take over the entire world if they wanted.)

The barriers also provide protection in case the hospital crumbles around them, walls of solid chakra able to hold up debris and solid stone for hours on end while rescue efforts are conducted. Hopefully they wouldn't have use for that feature, but it was better to be prepared than not.

Every once in a while, the world shakes.

Explosions of heavy chakra can be felt from all the way across the village. Shinobi direct civilians to protective bunkers under the Hokage Mountain. The Academy goes under lockdown, defenses beefed to the max due to the presence of so many Clan kids and Heirs.

Toshiro tries hard not to think about all the kids probably huddled in silence, listening to their village tear itself apart. (Everyone had always thought they'd be safe in their own homes.) He doesn't think about Itachi, only fourteen and joining the fight against the surge of Root operatives and Danzo himself. There's no doubt in his mind that the four powerhouse clans, likely joined by the rest of the village and clans, can handle it.

But injuries and death will be inevitable.

Toshiro grits his teeth. They should have known a man like Danzo would refuse to be jailed like the common man — he obviously thought highly of himself, thinking he could fool everyone for decades and then take over Konoha when they inevitably turned against him.

(Did he think they would join him? After he took their children?)

Aoyama-sensei comes down and directs the floors with ease, her sharp gaze and cold, logical orders putting a stop to panic. She's still the hospital director, and she carries herself with the same dignity as any leader. In a few years it'll be him in her place and he can only hope he'll work with the same efficiency as her.

"Aikawa-sensei." She waves a hand over, her brow furrowed. She's outfitted in a shinobi uniform, hospital coat worn on top. All Medic Nin had shifted into the appropriate attire the second it became obvious a fight was taking place, big enough to warrant the need for their fighting abilities at a moment's notice. Sure, they had jounin and chuunin around who would protect them — but a Medic Nin was the last line of defense. They would fight if no one else remained.

"I need you to—"

She's interrupted by the sharp, loud blare of an alarm. Seals on the wall swirl into existence, intricate kanji and chakra matrices stark black against the white. A number sits in the center of a sunburst looking symbol. 441.

"Shisui." Toshiro murmurs, panic-fueled adrenaline surging through his veins.

"Go!" Aoyama-sensei barks.

In an instant, Toshiro uses a shunshin to disappear from the main lobby, speeding right for room 441, where Shisui and Hoshika are recovering. He feels two chakra signatures close behind him. Hopefully friendly.

Nara Shikaro and Uchiha Kaname thud into place beside him, their expressions tight. He recognizes them but they haven't interacted beyond a few sentences. Shikaro's dark hair is pulled back in the classic Nara style, stubble heavy on his chin and an old scar slicing diagonally from his left cheekbone to the corner of his lip. Kaname has short, dark hair with an undercut and loose bangs hanging over his forehead. His features are aristocratic and pale, pinning him as an Uchiha quite easily, uchiwa symbol on his back or not. They move well together.

They must be friends.

A Root operative (because it must be, with that mask) is flat against the wall opposite room 441's door, body smoking and limbs twitching with residue electricity. Another two operatives immediately turn to the three men, bodies smoothly transitioning into fighting stances. Toshiro steps back and his two allies move forward, creating a reverse triangle. For a single, tense moment — no one moves. Then four disappear in a flurry of movement, filling the hall with sounds of clashing weaponry and flesh meeting flesh.

Toshiro shifts to the Root operative who took the brunt of the room's defense system. Eyes flashing and hand lit with condensed chakra, he wastes not a single second in paralyzing the man with a numbing technique, rapidly sinking his chakra into pressure points and viciously overloading a tenketsu at the base of the operative's neck.

(People forget how easy the human body is to take apart, if you know where to hit. And who would know better than someone trained to fix it?)

He's no Hyuuga, but anyone can target a tenketsu if they memorize all the points. Of course, it's much easier to do when the person is already immoble. There's no way he could have done so in the middle of a fight with absolute surety. No, that skill was definitely unique to the Hyuuga.

The heat of a fire jutsu is uncomfortably close. He winces. The narrow halls of a hospital aren't the best fighting grounds, especially for using jutsu. He hadn't had time to change into his Chuunin uniform — but he'd managed to grab his weapons pouches. Every Medic Nin that didn't have them on hand kept them in their lockers, or in Toshiro's case, their office. He'd swiped them after Kakashi left, attaching them to his leg and hip with nostalgic and bitter familiarity. Though stronger now that Kakashi had overseen his training, Toshiro is still the kind of man who...just doesn't prefer the fighting route.

Some dealt with the trauma of war like Kakashi, improving and bettering themselves at rapid speeds and becoming obsessed with having power and strength — all to make sure they never feel the way they did during those first few fights. (But not realizing that that is what they're seeking. I don't want to feel weak has many meanings, after all.)

Others dealt with it like Toshiro. Never wanting to pick up a weapon again.

But he will if he has to.

He will kill if he must.

Because he was raised a ninja in this life, and he surrounds himself with death by working in a hospital. If the people he cares for are threatened, or even just the innocents — those who deserve better, who have a right to life no one should ever dare take away — then he will slaughter every Root operative if it comes down to it. Would drive a kunai through Danzo's heart without blinking.

(It's a lofty thought, because he's nowhere near strong enough to take out multiple Root operatives, let alone their leader. But it's about the resolve. The desire he carries to protect, protect, protect. He'd stand and fight even if it killed him.)

From within the pouch at his hip, he pulls a seal. To make up for his average fighting skills, he'd used his brain. Seals, chakra threads, ninja wire — tools, tool, tools. Fighting smart, not hard, had an advantage many didn't seem to think of. Konoha was entirely too...gryffindor, to quote a series from his past life. The seal in his hand is one of binding, the kanji framed with red ink. He slaps it on the downed Root operative and their body tenses, every muscle locked. It's a bit overkill, but it's better to be safe rather than sorry. Chakra disrupted, body numb and bound — this operative is going nowhere. Meaning they have a potential hostage or criminal to charge.

(And Toshiro will kill them if the need arises, he'd rather have a corpse on his hands than an escaped operative.)

He looks back to the fight. It doesn't look good. Shikaro is a Chuunin and Kaname is a Jounin, but neither are ANBU level shinobi. They're hanging on by the skin of their teeth, and blood already decorates the tiled floor, dripping from various wounds and darkening their uniforms. Shisui and Hoshika are currently high profile targets. Normally, Toshiro wouldn't even be a part of this, but with the two within room 441 being injured and potentially unconscious (they'd both been drifting in and out over the past few days — holy crap, he turned nineteen yesterday, didn't he?) there's no other place from him to be. His duty as a Medic Nin is to heal and protect his patients. Even against ANBU level shinobi.

He's probably going to die.

Shikaro falters. Toshiro darts forward, sending kunai at the Root operative that closed in at the sign of weakness. The kunai are dodged, one blocked with the tanto in the operative's hand. Toshiro clenches his hands and pulls, the kunai spinning and returning due to the mix of chakra threads and ninja wire attached to them.

He distracts the operative as Shikaro regains his footing, a fresh splatter of blood hitting the floor. Chakra is amazing, especially to someone who'd lived a life without it. He'd spent years studying it, from the effects on the body to the various levels of control and usage. Though his reserves are relatively average, he knows how to use them well, not wasting a drop. He has to, being a Medic Nin. If anything, this job has improved his skill in that department. Which makes using thin chakra threads child's play. He manipulates the kunai and ninja wire he'd let out with ease, chakra threads dancing from his fingertips. On his own and in such close quarters, it's not as effective as he'd like.

But he makes the Root operative bleed. A snag of ninja wire cuts into the flesh of their arm like butter. The operative is fast, though. They weave and dance through his web of chakra and wire, ending up with more superficial nicks instead of gouging slices.

Gotcha, he thinks to himself upon seeing an opening, twitching his fingers to rapidly decrease the space between the cutting wire and the operative. Then, in a puff of smoke, it's Shikaro there instead, the operative having used a replacement technique. Immediately Toshiro cuts off his attack, the chakra threads vanishing and kunai clattering to the floor.

In the next instant he's smashed into the wall.

"Guhk!" He lets out a choked cry, chest alight with spikes of scorching pain. He'd felt his own bones crunch with the force of the hit. The wall crumbles around his figure, chunks of stones framing his fallen form. He takes a deep breath. Focus.

It really, really hurts.

You've had worse. FOCUS.

Healing chakra soothes the sharp stabs of agony.

He shifts out of the way just as a tanto jams into the wall where his head had been. Ribs still aching, he thrusts a foot out. A chakra thread emerges from his foot and sticks to the operative's knee. The kick misses, obviously, but when the operative shifts away to dodge, Toshiro retracts his own leg and pulls the chakra thread tight.

With an audible crunch, the operative's kneecap shatters and their leg crumples. They don't fall. They don't move.

"Shadow possession complete."

Toshiro glances up at the distinctly feminine voice. Shikaro's shadow is still in place, which means —

Nara Hoshika stands in the now open door of room 441. Her dark hair is loose and wild around her shoulders, bringing out the sickly pallor of her normally tanned skin. The shapeless hospital scrubs hang off her trembling form, bandages peeking out under the fabric. Her pretty face is screwed up in concentration, sweat dripping down her temple.

Behind her is Uchiha Shisui, dressed similarly, but with the inclusion of bandages wrapped firmly around the left side of his face, where he now sports an empty eye socket. In the right spins a sharingan with a pattern Toshiro doesn't recognize.

"Tsukuyomi." The man says, voice rough and dry.

The two operatives still active drop instantly. Hoshika releases her jutsu and keels forward, only to be caught by Shisui. He can barely support his own weight, so they both pitch a little to the side and lean heavily against the doorway.

"Sensei," Shisui greets weakly. "I don't feel so good."