While Sasori was still stunned by Raizen's precise Chakra control, the sweat-drenched Raizen grabbed Sasori with his left hand, raised a finger, and pointed at Konan's group: "Sasori, trust those three the way you trust me. They're not bad people—I can feel their Chakra brimming with kindness. You absolutely have to save my arm…" The high-load, precision Chakra manipulation had drained Raizen beyond his limits; before he could finish, he passed right out. He'd already done everything he could. The bleeding's stopped now—he should make it back to Sunagakure, right?
Raizen's sudden collapse left Sasori at a complete loss. Even unconscious, Raizen kept murmuring the same line: "Sasori, don't do anything stupid…" The Raizen of this moment felt unfamiliar; the carefree guy he knew seemed to have grown up in an instant. Yet even while passed out, he was still worried about him. Of course Sasori had no idea that Raizen's strongest obsession before passing out was: Please don't let Sasori amputate my arm! It was sheer luck—those murmured words melted a good deal of the ice around Sasori's heart.
Sasori brushed Raizen's burning forehead and suddenly asked, "Can any of you find a doctor? As payment, I'll give you money and ninja tools." In all his life, Sasori had never asked anyone for anything. This was the first time, for Raizen's sake. Yahiko didn't like Sasori's tone, but looking at the unconscious Raizen—maybe those last words before he blacked out had struck a nerve—the boy who'd planned to keep himself safe rubbed a finger under his nose and said, "There's a really skilled doctor-sister at the Shrine. We can take you there, but I warn you: no hurting anyone, or we won't let you off!" Sasori answered with a nasal grunt, caught the umbrella Yahiko tossed him, and used Chakra Threads to carefully sling the unconscious Raizen onto his back, then followed Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato out of the house.
The settlement looked to have dozens of dwellings, yet not a breath of life stirred. One hand holding the umbrella, the other gripping the storage scroll for his Karasu puppet, Sasori moved through the drizzle and the ruins of the village. The group finally stopped at a wooden door hidden by tattered rain-cloth. The entrance seemed wedged into a heap of rubble against a hillside. Konan stepped up and tapped the door in a quick rhythm. The door cracked open, revealing Yakushi Nono's gentle yet wary face. Her ash-blond hair peeked from under a hood; she looked barely twenty, round spectacles perched on her nose, her clean aura starkly out of place amid the ruins.
"Doctor Nono-sis!" Konan blurted, childlike reliance and urgency in her voice: "Save him, quick! He's badly hurt!" Nono's gaze swept past the anxious Konan, then scrutinized the sand-forehead-protectored Sasori. The red-haired little Ninja looked about Yahiko's age, but his eyes held the ferocity and panic of a wounded cub—an expression Nono had seen on too many battlefield children. Her eyes settled on the black-haired boy slung across Sasori's back: his right arm a mess, face flushed with feverish crimson, breath faint. In an instant Yakushi Nono's gaze turned razor-focused, the instinct of a healer facing a life-threatening case. "Come in—quickly!" She stepped aside at once, voice decisive and calm.
Teeth clenched, Sasori staggered inside with Raizen on his back. He was only a year older than Raizen, and no Taijutsu specialist. A Puppeteer's frail body was long a Ninja World truism. Carrying Raizen here had worn him out too. Once inside, he found the place far bigger than it seemed. Behind the outer ruin, the house opened into a natural cave. Oil-lamps cast a warm, dim light; the air smelled of herbs and disinfectant. Several gaunt children huddled on straw mats in the corner, eyeing him with mingled curiosity and fear. "Lay him flat here. Sand Ninja, cause no trouble in my clinic." Nono swiftly cleared a platform draped with clean white cloth, her movements brisk and practiced.
Sasori gently lowered the mumbling Raizen, his own hands trembling from fatigue and tension. He kept the Karasu puppet scroll clenched tight, eyes locked on Nono's every move, ready to pounce at the smallest slip. Nono ignored the boy's wariness behind her. She bent first to check Raizen's wound, and when she saw the dramatically injured area so precisely cauterized, a flicker of unmissable shock crossed her eyes. She had never seen such a method before. "This hemostasis is extraordinary—who did it?" she asked reflexively. "Little Bug—no, Raizen did it himself. He's an outstanding Ninja too." Sasori answered at once, voice defensive and proud. Then he added with extra force, "You can't cut off his arm! Raizen… he said it could be saved!"
Nono lifted her head; through her lenses she studied this clearly well-born boy wearing Sand Chunin gear at only seven or eight. In her heart she lamented the cruelty of war. Fortunately, the Second Great Ninja War had finally ended. She offered neither rebuttal nor promise, only stated with clinical calm, "I'm a doctor; my duty is to save life and limb to the utmost. Now I need you quiet—don't interfere." With that, Yakushi Nono turned to the side, eyeing the nervously hovering Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato: "No need to be tense, Konan—fetch hot water and clean cloth. Yahiko, Nagato, watch the door. Relax, this Ninja named Sasori won't harm us—will you?" As she spoke, Nono caught the fever-murmurs of the unconscious Raizen, and a faint glow shimmered from the Chakra scalpel in her hand.
Sasori shot her a defiant glare, stowed his storage scroll, and sat down obediently to wait. Only then did Nono turn back, giving the cloth-holding Konan a small smile: "Here we go. In a moment help hold him—cleaning the wound will hurt." …Raizen seemed trapped in a kaleidoscopic dream, filled with visions of humanoid mobile suits called Gundam, and memories of why he'd chosen electrical engineering and automation as his major. The Gundam model that had accompanied his childhood, the labs, test data, all merged under the glow of an ancient copper coin with his past as Little Bug. Basic Chakra-refining techniques, the clash of Wind Release and Lightning Release, every moment with Sasori—as these memories fused, Raizen felt himself adapting to this body and to the world of Naruto. Until a blue-violet light appeared in his inner world. "You're awake?"