The moments after killing Haido and everything that followed were a colossal mess inside my head. It was strange remembering the things I did. I know I dragged Ino's soul back from the pure lands; I know I somehow made Tsunade younger; I know I invited Dan and Nawaki to have their last farewells with the slug princess. But I had only vague feelings on how to replicate those feats, and without the massive source of energy the Gelel vein was, I had no clue how to actually do it. Burning the vein was what gave me the impetus and energy necessary to do all those things.
Yes, I did (possibly) know how to bring someone back, but if I tried it now, the most likely result was that I'd just copy Nagato's sacrificial action and die soon after, just like he did. Making someone younger could be feasible, with a lot of time, preparation, and effort. Not to the same extent as I did to Tsunade, a few months, maybe a year max, before I had to stop and recharge.
Only searching for a soul in the pure lands and manifesting it wasn't that problematic; it was just chakra-consuming. I don't think I had enough chakra to keep that connection alive for more than a few minutes.
It didn't escape my notice that I didn't just kill Haido. I destroyed his soul. I even burned all the life chakra that was the Gelel vein, and the budding sentience inside it.
Did I regret it?
I did not. Not one bit.
It had been my hesitation and unwillingness to act decisively that let Ino get hurt. And Haido deserved it.
But there was so much I still had to do.
My awareness was stuck inside my head while I dealt with all the urgent things I pushed back while murdering Haido, killing the baby Gelel, and resurrecting Ino.
The first thing was the seals behind my eyes.
When the eye awakened, it broke Orochimaru's hold over my mind, and it had become clear the purpose of that seal: it kept part of Orochimaru's soul hidden inside the eye unnoticeable. Which let that fucker mess with my mind without me knowing it.
Back then, I hacked at that seal, shredding it in a surprise attack before I plucked the eye out and fed it to Kumoko. Now I had to deal with the consequences.
With Tsunade there to take care of Ino, I could konk out for a few hours to deal with the seals. I had no need for that seal in my head, so it had to go away. Carefully, I chipped at it with my threads, removing, mending, then scouring any part left of that seal. It wasn't the easiest of things, and it was good I had taken my time, because there were more than a few traps left behind by the snake.
I could finally understand everything. I just needed to be careful.
After removing the seal behind my eyes, I went over the bones. My first task was to remove the traps and control mechanism left behind. There was no way I'd leave a backdoor into my psyche and body to let Orochimaru disable me anytime he wanted, even if I still wanted the benefits the seal provided.
Sigil, after careful sigil, I chipped, changed, erased, wrote, rewrote. More than once, I felt chakra scanning my body. A sensation I had felt a few times before, some kind of medical jutsu. I pushed that out of my mind. I wasn't sure why Tsunade thought she had to scan me so damn much, but well, I could learn about that later.
Ino carrying around my beacon was nice, though. It gave me the fuzzies knowing Best Girl Ino kept one. I always kept a small part of my mind paying attention to that, maybe luxuriating in the feeling of having Ino close all the time. Creep, yes, but sue me.
But I could gush about that later; right now, dealing with the seals was more critical.
My work on the seals was slow going, but I made progress. I realized it might take me more than the few hours I wanted, but it hadn't been that long yet, so I kept to my work. There were ways I could have tried to improve the seals. Several sigils I could have removed entirely or replaced with what I thought were better, improved versions, but I held back. Right now, I just need to be free of the bad parts.
When I was done with the bones, there was no trap or detrimental effect in sight. I was sure of it. I went through everything more than a few times, maybe more than a hundred times, if I was being honest. The improvements I'd leave for later.
Next, I looked at the seal around my heart.
This one had been a black-box since the beginning, but now I could see it, and I understood it. Like I had guessed before, it worked as some sort of regulator seal to control my chakra. The primary function was the one that allowed Orochimaru to disable me with a glance. By activating that command, the seal would strangle my chakra flow, rendering me useless.
I took my threads to that effect with prejudice.
Once I removed that, I looked over the rest. There was a small beneficial effect that let me change my chakra to any elemental chakra more easily, mokuton included. The settings for that seal, however, were in a way that made the complex chakra harder to use.
I reset the settings. That way, mokuton wouldn't burn my whole chakra pool to create a single sapling. There was still much to improve there, but like with the other seals, it was something I could deal with later.
Last, I took a gander at the seal on my throat.
This one wasn't anything special. It wasn't part of the circuit like the other three had been, it was just a way to prevent me from making noise. Petty and cruel. I could see the modifications the frog sannin had stamped above it to prevent it from hurting me and let me speak. Carefully, I looked over things to see how I'd go about removing it permanently.
Something slammed into my mind.
Right now, through the beacon, I know that Ino was in danger. I don't know who or where. Were the Sunagakure shinobi attacking us? I knew I should have waited until returning to Konoha to deal with the rest of the seals besides the one in my head, but it had been an urgent situation.
My eyes snapped open, and sterile white walls and ceiling greeted me. I didn't have time to parse why I wasn't in the Land of Rivers, but a white room. Without using hand movements, I invoked the confrontation seal, teleporting near the beacon Ino always carried with her.
I had less than a moment to assess the situation: Asuma was about to kill Ino. They were in some familiar grassy field. I could see the chakra coating his trench knives, moving towards Ino's neck. Ino wouldn't be able to dodge it.
I kicked the man as hard as I could. No one was going to hurt my Ino. Never again.
He aborted his attack, raising his hands to block my kick. There was a clunk when my feet hit his arms. He slid away, leaving furrows on the ground. I flickered toward him, trying to punch Asuma into the ground.
Asuma reacted fast. His knives slashed toward me, the edge extended by his chakra.
I didn't try to block; that was assisted suicide. Instead, I flickered up and out of Asuma's range. At the same time, I burned my chakra to grow roots beneath him and entangle his legs, keeping him from moving. On the palm of my hand, I created the biggest Rasengan I could.
Air billowed around me, spurned by the concentrated chakra. The ball of chakra was massive, almost as big as a basketball.
Asuma didn't lose sight of me. He crossed his arms in front of him, ready to endure my attack.
"Hinata, stop!"
Ino's voice cut through the haze. I tore my eyes away from Asuma and looked at Best Girl Ino.
Her hair was longer, and she looked taller, too. She had ditched the bandage wrapped around her legs and abdomen, wearing something very similar to her clothes post time skip.
I dispersed the Rasengan, putting Asuma out of my mind. If Ino was asking me to stop, I was probably misunderstanding something. Where were we, really? Shouldn't we be in the Land of Rivers? What happened to the mission? And Nerugui? What about the people trapped inside the fortress?
My next flicker took me closer to Ino. Yes, she was taller and looked even prettier now, despite the bags under her eyes and the lack of makeup.
I hugged her. "Ino-chan."
Ino wrapped her arms around me, and everything was right with the world again. I yawned, placing my head on her shoulders. The adrenaline fled fast. I couldn't keep my eyes open. I was so tired. How long had it been since I started working on the seals?
My eyes closed against my will, and I fell asleep.
It was all good, though. I was in Ino's arms, the best place to be.
I dreamt of nice-smelling flowers.