Kumogakure, one of the five great and foremost villages of the world, could be distinguished for many reasons, but one of the most well-known was its storms.
Like the one on that night, so many years ago…
…
Kanri sneezed, cursing the terrible weather that had struck during his shift guarding the village's main gate. Even inside the guard booth, he couldn't stop himself from shivering. Outside, the storm roared with a force rarely seen in decades.
It was as if the world itself were throwing a tantrum.
Trees were being ripped out by the roots as if they weighed nothing, the wind howled as though it wanted to tear down the mountain that stood in its path, and to make matters worse, he had drawn the night shift.
During the day, the job was entertaining enough, with the arrival of merchants, messengers, and teams returning from their missions. No one had caused trouble at the village entrance in two decades, but he still didn't dare to fall asleep. At least he and his partner were under cover; he felt sorry for the colleagues who had to patrol in this weather. The night was cold.
But bills had to be paid, or his wife would teach him a lesson. Again.
"Nothing interesting ever happens," he said, bored as he stared out at the nearly pitch-black landscape, lit only by the occasional flash of lightning that split the night.
"Better that nothing happens," Kurotaro replied, standing guard with him. "When things happen in situations like this, they tend to be bad."
"You're a pessimist," Kanri said, though he didn't deny the man had a point. "I wonder when Captain Inazuri will return. It's been over half a year since she left."
If not for the captain's absence and the loss of their teammate on the last mission, they would still be a squad accepting assignments. More dangerous, but better paid.
"No idea," Kurotaro said, blowing warm breath into his hands. "But I don't think it'll take much longer. Her daughter Mabui will turn one in a month, and we both know she wouldn't miss that for anything."
"I still wonder what kind of mission she was given that she had to leave so soon after giving birth," Kanri said, preparing some hot tea to warm them both. "Such a shame about her husband."
"No idea," Kurotaro yawned as he raised the binoculars for a routine scan. "The village rarely issues missions like that, so it had to be something really important."
As adults still stuck at chūnin rank at thirty years old, the village certainly wasn't going to tell them anything. That much was sure.
The only thing they knew was that the information that sparked the mission had come from Inazuri herself, requesting permission from the Raikage to handle it personally.
"If she took it herself, and considering how long she's been gone, the difficulty… it has to be at least an A-rank mission, maybe even S-rank," Kanri speculated. "At least she'll get paid well."
He wished he could successfully complete a solo A-rank mission. That alone would cover expenses for months. Maybe they could even start thinking about having kids—his wife wasn't exactly subtle, leaving baby magazines in the bathroom.
"Hey."
"She won't need to take more missions for a while. She'll be able to stay with Mabui…" Kanri said distractedly as he handed the tea to Kurotaro.
A sharp slap to his forearm startled him, making him drop the cup. It shattered on the ground, splashing hot liquid onto his foot.
"Shit!" he yelped, hopping as he rubbed it. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"Shut up!" Kurotaro had jumped to his feet and was staring intensely through the binoculars. "There's someone out there. I think they're signaling."
Kanri glanced at the clock. It was four thirty in the morning. Who would arrive at this hour?
"Is it one of our squads?" he asked, ignoring the pain as he grabbed a pair of binoculars.
"No, I don't think so. It's just one person," Kurotaro said, trying to use the lightning flashes to identify the figure or their gestures.
A bolt of lightning struck the valley, and for an instant they both saw the figure clearly. That was enough.
"That's… Captain Inazuri?"
But her condition looked…
Kurotaro didn't answer verbally. Instead, he leapt straight through the window, surging forward in bursts of chakra as he sprinted toward her at full speed.
"I've got a big mouth!" Kanri cursed, slapping himself as he grabbed a flare and fired it into the sky to summon the patrols. He tossed the empty tube aside, grabbed the emergency medical kit, and ran after Kurotaro.
When he reached the captain, supported by Kurotaro, the sight before him left him momentarily stunned.
Inazuri's left arm had been severed at the elbow, a crude tourniquet applied to stop the bleeding. Judging by the purplish skin near the wound, it was likely she had severed her own arm to prevent the worst of the poison from spreading through her body.
Bruises and cuts covered her entire form, caked with mud. Dried blood stained her white hair, untouched even by the rain. Her left leg was barely holding together, reinforced by a wooden splint.
With every step, he could hear at least three bones cracking. The pain must have been agonizing, yet Inazuri had crossed an unknown distance without letting it stop her.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say the captain was more dead than alive. She wasn't even wearing her ninja uniform—only the shredded remnants of what looked like a black kimono.
How could she even still be conscious?
What could drive a woman in this state to keep going?
Illuminated by the medical chakra she was sustaining with her remaining hand, Inazuri's swollen abdomen was all the answer he needed.
"About time…" her voice, once capable of intimidating them through sheer strength, was barely audible, hoarse and strained. "I've been screaming for an hour… why did it take you so long?"
Before either of them could respond—
"Tell Tenshi… if he's not at the hospital, make him move his ass… and prepare… an operating room for an emergency cesarean," she said. A coughing fit nearly made her legs give out, bone jutting through flesh with a sickening crack. She didn't even flinch.
The request—no, the order—made both of their faces change.
"Captain, you—!"
"NOW!" she screamed over the storm, her hand trembling. "I've spent fifteen hours… keeping the poison from reaching here." The green chakra flickered like a candle in the wind. Any other medical ninja would have realized she was literally burning through her chakra coils to stay alive. "I won't last much longer… if my consciousness slips for even a second… the mission will fail… I'll fail him…" she whispered, her expression shattered as her gaze dropped to her abdomen.
They clenched their teeth. Kanri helped secure Inazuri to Kurotaro's back with bandages, and together they leapt toward the village hospital at full speed.
"Shit! Shit!" Kanri split off, racing toward Tenshi's home—the best doctor in the village.
Not even the closed balcony stopped him. He burst through it, and before Tenshi or his wife could react, Kanri had already scooped Tenshi up—still in his pajamas—and was bounding across the rooftops toward the hospital, explaining the emergency as he went.
The patrols who saw the flare noticed the commotion. Seeing Kanri's expression, they didn't stop him. They hurried to follow.
…
The operating room was bathed in relentless white light, far too clean for the blood, mud, and rain staining the kunoichi's body.
"Irregular pulse. Blood pressure dropping," one nurse reported tensely.
The woman on the table was barely recognizable beneath layers of bandages, cuts, and bruises. Her blood-soaked clothes—darkened by poison—had been removed and replaced with a patient's gown.
Even so, her trembling hand remained pressed to her abdomen, maintaining the flow of medical chakra.
"Enough," Tenshi whispered, gently gripping her wrist. "If you keep forcing chakra in your condition, you'll kill yourself!"
Tenshi wasn't there to save just one life. He wanted to save both.
Inazuri opened one eye, barely a slit. In her condition, it felt like trying to lift a slab of lead.
She was exhausted beyond human limits. For hours, she had guided the poison through her own system like an enemy to be kept busy, using her organs as bait.
Hours bought at the cost of her life.
"The baby…" she murmured, lips dry. "Don't let him die…"
Tenshi met her gaze.
"You're in the village now. Leave it to me."
She nodded. Her fingers relaxed, and for the first time since crossing the gates, the flow of chakra broke.
The poison sensed it and surged forward like a black tide, eager to annihilate life.
"Now!" Tenshi ordered.
The six nurses surrounding the operating room formed hand seals at blinding speed, completing the technique in half a second, driven by adrenaline.
"Fuinjutsu: Fukai Taikyū! x6 (Unbreakable Womb Seal)!"
Black, mysterious symbols flowed from the shadows of each nurse, linking together into a complex seal that enveloped the entire operating room, placing Inazuri at its center.
Tenshi let out a breath of relief when he saw the Uzumaki technique worked.
"Begin the emergency cesarean!"
The scalpel cut through skin, blood, and silence.
The monitor beeped erratically as the medical staff worked as fast as humanly possible. Every second was a pulse stolen from fate, and the poison was already spreading through the mother's organs—impossible to stop.
"Come on… come on…" Tenshi muttered, sweat beading on his brow.
One final cut.
One final effort.
Then—a cry.
The sound filled the operating room like a rush of fresh air after a fire. A nurse lifted the baby, small, trembling… but breathing.
The umbilical cord was partially purple, but the poison hadn't reached him.
"It's… it's a boy," she said, barely finding her voice. "He's alive. We saved him."
Tenshi immediately turned toward Inazuri.
The kunoichi's eyes were open, her pupils shifting, searching.
"He's safe," Tenshi said softly, stepping closer. "You did it."
Her lips curved into the faintest smile. A single tear slid down her cheek as the weight she had carried for so long vanished all at once.
"Bring the anesthesia," Tenshi told a nurse. "We'll stitch you up, remove the poison, and soon—"
The monitor emitted a long, continuous beep.
"No pulse!" someone shouted. "She's not breathing!"
Tenshi reacted instantly—medical seals, controlled shocks, chest compressions…
Anything.
Nothing.
The body no longer responded. It couldn't. The poison had struck the moment she stopped resisting—a final, vengeful stab for denying it its ultimate goal.
After several eternal minutes, Tenshi lowered his hands, fists clenched in helpless frustration.
The baby's cries echoed through the room, as if he sensed his mother's death.
"Time of death… 6:07 a.m.," Tenshi said gravely. "Just after confirming her son was alive."
The baby was carried away carefully.
Outside, the village was beginning to wake, resuming its daily routine, unaware of the sacrifice that had just been made.
A kunoichi had arrived at death's door…
A mother had left the village its two greatest treasures…
…
The Raikage learned the news moments later, bursting into the hospital less than five minutes after Inazuri's passing. He stood silently, gazing at the face of one of his village's finest kunoichi.
This mission…
Was it truly worth it, Inazuri?
"Tenshi," he said without looking away. "The baby…?"
"He's healthy and safe," Tenshi replied, still staring at Inazuri, guilt growing heavier in his chest. "Raikage-sama, I tried—"
"I know," the Raikage said, turning to face him. "Have the tests been done?"
"Of course. It's protocol, and that poison concerned me," Tenshi nodded. "But the results are… unusual. The baby—"
"Destroy them."
"Raikage-sama?" Tenshi froze, confused.
"Destroy every sample, result, and record," the Raikage said sternly. "You and anyone who has seen them must never speak of it. Ever. S-rank secrecy." He took a deep breath. "As far as the world is concerned, when Inazuri left on her mission, she was already pregnant—but she didn't realize it at the time. Understood?"
"But Inazuri's husband already—"
Tenshi remembered the results, sensing a terrifying possibility.
He would need to clean everything thoroughly afterward.
"Yes, Raikage-sama," he said, straightening. "Sir… regarding Inazuri's daughter…"
"Mabui. I'm aware of her. The village will ensure she lacks for nothing—neither she nor… her little brother."
"Oh…"
Tenshi hadn't thought about it like that, but the baby truly was Mabui's little brother now.
Actually…
"Raikage-sama," he called as the man turned to leave. "There's one last important matter regarding the baby."
"What is it?"
The Raikage still had to personally arrange the funeral. Inazuri deserved nothing less.
"Well… what should we call him?" Tenshi asked nervously, rubbing his hands. "Inazuri couldn't name him, Mabui is too young to speak, and it wouldn't be appropriate for me to decide."
His sense for names was terrible!
"Perhaps… you could honor him by giving him a name?" he suggested.
"…No. You deserve to give him that name," the Raikage said, placing an encouraging hand on Tenshi's shoulder. "Without your intervention in her final moments, he wouldn't have made it into this world. Isn't that right?"
"But—!"
"It's my decision!"
Tenshi stared in shock as the Raikage walked away, leaving him with the enormous responsibility of naming a newborn.
"It's fine," he muttered to himself. "I can always ask others for advice… A decent name has to come up that way, right?"
…
Right?
-----------
We're starting a fanfic with another Naruto village!
Konoha, Suna, and a village of our own are already done, this time we're going with Kumo.
As always, the first outing is a double chapter.
Oh, and if you haven't already, you should check the reminder at the beginning.
Anyway, enjoy!