Chapter 40: I Can Heal Your Hands.
"You're pretty terrified of blood, aren't you? Let's drown you in it right now!"
Splat!
The kunai sliced through the air with a shrill whine, but it buried itself in Renji's outstretched hand instead. Renji followed through with a sharp kick to Kabuto's midsection, sending him staggering back. Kabuto yanked free and retreated in a fluid slide, eyes narrowed. Renji wrenched the blade from his palm with a casual flick and tossed it aside into the grass, the puncture sealing over in seconds, smooth skin unbroken.
Tsunade's arm caught the spray of Renji's blood—warm, vivid red splattering across her skin like an accusation. She froze, a violent shudder ripping through her as the sight yanked her back to that rainy night of failure. Dan, drenched in his own blood, slipping away no matter how desperately she poured her chakra into him. The world's greatest medical-nin, reduced to a bystander, watching his life ebb out in crimson rivers. His blue hair matted and soaked, turning dark under the downpour.
"Lady Tsunade! I won't die! My comrades are still waiting for me back in Konoha! So please—believe in me!" Renji whipped his head around, locking eyes with her, his mismatched gaze burning with fierce determination. It hit Tsunade like a surge of pure adrenaline, jolting her spirit awake from the paralysis.
Renji turned back to Kabuto, his voice steady and edged with confidence. "You're not much for taijutsu. Bad luck—I'm pretty damn good at it." A crackling sphere of black-and-red lightning ignited around his fist, the air humming with volatile energy. In a heartbeat, he blurred forward, closing the gap to Kabuto like a storm breaking.
Kabuto's pupils shrank to pins; the space ahead warped, a subtle ripple yanking his body forward against his will. It wasn't some pull—it was the sheer force of Renji's incoming punch compressing the air, generating a gravitational drag that hauled everything nearby into its path. Kabuto knew evasion was off the table; all he could do was brace and bleed off the worst of it.
Bang!
The impact launched Kabuto backward through the air, his body gouging a deep furrow in the grass as he tumbled to a stop. Blood welled up his throat, and he spat it out in a wet cough, already cataloging the damage: shattered ribs, liver torn open. No way he could keep swinging; one wrong twist and those bone shards would shred his insides. Too risky.
"Lord Orochimaru," Kabuto rasped, twisting to find his master.
Orochimaru approached at a measured pace, his shadow falling long over the fallen man. "You've lost the fight in you, Kabuto."
Kabuto swiped a smear of blood from his mouth and managed a weak, wheezing chuckle. "Perfect timing—I'm already bleeding." He fumbled with his free hand, dragging it toward Orochimaru's limp, bruised-purple arms and smearing the fresh crimson across the mangled skin. Orochimaru gripped Kabuto's wrist, channeling the blood as a medium, his voice a low hiss:
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Boom!
A plume of thick white smoke billowed outward, and suddenly they perched atop the head of a colossal snake, its scales gleaming like armored coils as it reared skyward, dwarfing the trees. Renji stood opposite on the ground below, a tiny speck against the beast's overwhelming bulk.
Kabuto seized the moment to unfold a crumpled scrap of paper against the snake's rough scales. Orochimaru's eyes flicked over the scrawled message:
—I can heal your hands.
Kabuto had just tangled with Renji, so the source was obvious. Orochimaru's lips peeled back in a slow, intrigued smile, genuine curiosity sparking in his serpentine gaze. He couldn't wait to see what the boy had cooking—some gut feeling whispered that Renji was gearing up to drop a bombshell on Konoha that'd echo for years.
"Lord Orochimaru, so now we..." Kabuto prompted, his voice steady despite the pain.
The massive snake lurched into motion beneath them, its jaws unhinging with a guttural rumble. Fangs like scythes plunged earthward, aiming to swallow Renji whole in one savage bite.
"Of course," Orochimaru murmured, his tone laced with icy amusement as he leaned in close to Kabuto's ear. "We have to test if he's worth the partnership. Can't be too careful with allies, can we?"
Kabuto let out a soft, knowing scoff. "As expected of you, Lord Orochimaru."
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: +4,000!]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: +4,000!]
[Chakra (10,339,740 / 100,000,000)]
"Ice Release: Demonic Mirror Ice Crystals!" Haku had once pinned Renji with these mirrors, so now he turned the tables—summoning them to carve the giant snake into ribbons.
Rip!
Rip!
Rip!
...
The wet, tearing sounds rang out in rapid succession, seven crystalline mirrors blooming from the grass like jagged flowers. The snake's massive form jerked and spasmed, sliced clean into eight thrashing segments that flopped uselessly across the clearing, blood pooling in dark rivers.
A flicker of surprise crossed Orochimaru's face. An Ice Release Kekkei Genkai? Unexpected.
Then a blinding flash erupted right behind him—from one of the mirrors still shimmering in the air. Renji burst through it, fist cocked and blazing. Orochimaru reacted on pure reflex, slamming through another Summoning Jutsu mid-turn.
Boom!
Renji's Black Flash tore straight through the fresh snake's body, the summoned beast serving as an impromptu barrier. It shrieked in agony, coils whipping wildly as it lunged to snap at him. Renji vanished in a flicker, materializing inside the final mirror just as the fangs clamped empty air. The snake's bulk crashed down in a final, desperate thrash before dissolving into swirling white smoke. The ice mirrors followed suit, melting seamlessly back into the earth.
In that split-second breather, Orochimaru's neck elongated in a grotesque surge, stretching impossibly toward Tsunade—still locked in the grip of her hemophobia, body rigid as stone. She threw up her hands on instinct, but they trembled uselessly; Orochimaru's face loomed larger in her vision, his twin fangs bared like venomous needles, glinting with lethal promise. He struck down with savage speed.
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: +10,000!]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: +10,000!]
[Chakra (10,349,740 / 100,000,000)]
The fangs plunged deep into Renji's carotid artery, a fresh gush of blood welling up. Renji sent a silent thanks Orochimaru's way in his mind—another generous donation!
"Renji!" Jiraiya and Shizune's voices cut through the chaos as their figures skidded into view from the treeline.
Orochimaru retracted his neck with a wet snap, locking eyes with Kabuto in a wordless signal. The pair melted into white smoke, gone in an instant. One Renji was a headache on a good day; adding a healthy Jiraiya to the mix? No thanks. If his hands worked right, Orochimaru might've toyed with them for fun. As it stood, he had zero interest in poking that hornet's nest.
Renji clamped a hand over his neck, arterial blood soaking through his fingers and drenching half his body in sticky warmth. He'd promised Tsunade a crash course in desensitization—time to deliver.
"Blood..." Tsunade's fingers brushed his wound, and without thinking, a green glow flickered to life in her palms—instinct overriding years of trauma. "Don't die! No!" She channeled everything she had, the diamond-shaped Strength of a Hundred Seal on her forehead unraveling in a rush, black markings spiderwebbing across her skin like living ink. "Stop the bleeding!" she commanded through gritted teeth, her voice breaking.
Was she healing just Renji? No—it ran deeper. She was reaching back to save Dan and Nawaki too, the ones who'd slipped through her fingers in pools of red. And beyond that, she was pulling herself from the grave she'd dug that stormy war night, breath by ragged breath.
Renji dialed back his own regeneration just enough to let her work, sinking to his knees beside her and leaning his cheek into her steadying hand. "Lady Tsunade... thank you."
"Aah... Aah ah ah ah..." Tsunade shattered then, a flood of violent sobs wracking her frame. She crushed Renji against her in a desperate embrace, tears carving fresh tracks down her face. The woman who'd died that rainy night alongside Dan and Nawaki—buried under grief and blood—finally clawed her way back to the living, raw and reborn in the sunlight.
Jiraiya stood frozen a few paces away, watching Tsunade weep, his chest tightening with a dull, familiar ache.
Shizune pressed a hand to her mouth, tears spilling freely as she gazed at her mentor with a heartache that cut bone-deep.
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