[Shiki] held Mei while staring down at Dodai who now stood protectively over Zee, the fire style jonin from Kumo, clearly exhausted from the battle with Tsunade and visibly nervous hanging behind him.
Things only got more complicated as Inori joined the Konoha group while one the unconscious kunoichi's attendants linked up the few survivors from Kumo.
The other, a casualty of their desperate and poor attempt to stop the Yamanaka from disengaging after she caught them off guard due to Mei's Great Dragon Flame.
"Bra-!" Tsunade noticed [Shiki]'s condition and her eyes widened as panic set in.
Thankfully, the boy managed to calm her down, even if only slightly.
{I can still last about an hour, less if we keep fighting.} He signaled to the Senju princess using his hand hidden behind his back.
Inori who did not see the hand signals was feeling her heart clench, believing she was witnessing the terminal glory of Konoha's greatest genius, possibly in the village's history, who was about to meet his end.
What pained her most was, that despite never having the intention to take it as far as it went, she had indeed been a part of his destruction.
It filled the Violet Rose with guilt.
As a fellow Konoha shinobi and as his sensei, her actions were deplorable.
And though she could have ruthlessly schemed to death shinobi of other villages while infiltrating them, doing this to a young prodigy of her own village while being responsible for him as a sensei was hurting her in her soul.
Mei on the other hand, could not even formulate any complex thoughts, she was practically paralyzed ever since Shiki took that Hell Stab to the chest in order to save her.
On Kumo's side, Zee's attendant that could barely be considered a medical nin, by Konoha's standards at least, determined her mistress could be saved which relieved Dodai greatly.
With things as they were, he could only accept the massive failure and retreat to make sure Zee survives, a sentiment the kunoichi's attendant shared.
Not wanting to strain [Shiki] further and wanting to perform first aid as soon as possible, Tsunade much supported the idea of both sides retreating.
Despite this, neither side believed the other would let them go easily.
Konoha's side did not think Kumo would obediently leave after taking such massive casualties, there was nothing to salvage and punishment waiting back home for sure.
And so they believed the Kumo shinobi would seek to finish what they started to earn back some points and reduce their punishment.
On the other hand, having ambushed Konoha in their own territory and almost certainly inflicting deadly damage to their prized prodigy, Kumo did not believe they would be let go so easily.
'That kid is a corpse still walking, there is no reason to retreat since no treatment will save him and the others are still in top condition if a bit exhausted. They won't let us leave easily.' Dodai erroneously thought.
After all, [Shiki] had a massive hole in his chest, no reasonable individual would think he could still survive.
The tense standoff continued only for a few more moments.
Moments that felt like hours.
But more desperate to get medical attention for the unconscious Zee, Kumo made the first move.
With a secret signal to his remaining two comrades, the plan was decided.
'Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet'
Using up most of his remaining chakra, the fire release jonin from Kumo unleashed a massive and showy jutsu to draw attention.
But even if it was a diversion, it was still deadly.
Inori picked up Mei and dashed to the left while Tsunade jumped to the right.
'Don't think you'll get away that easily.' [Shiki] thought.
As it turned out, someone did want to keep the fight going.
Ryumon did not let go of their prey until it or them ended up dead and the newly awakened [Shiki] was no exception to the rule.
Rather than dodge, he simply stood there as the flaming torrent hit.
Konoha's trio could not even produce words but for Kumo, that shock was a ripe opportunity.
'Don't know why they are so shocked that half dead brat could not dodge but this is the perfect opportunity.' Dodai determined.
Zee's attendant picked up her mistress' unconscious body and body flickered away, followed close by Dodai who covered the retreat.
As for the remaining jonin, he had bravely chosen to delay the enemy, even if just for a moment, he was the least valuable of those still alive on their side and determined this was the best he could do to help his comrades.
Say what you want about Kumo's conduct towards other village's but their loyalty to their comrades is unquestionable.
None of the Five Great Villages and top small Hidden Villages has produced less rogue shinobi than Kumogakure.
Alas, his sacrifice was not to be worthy or heroic.
As the Kumo jonin stopped his jutsu and turned his attention to the sides where Inori and Tsunade were, the burning figure of [Shiki] who had closed the distance while bathing in the flames appeared in front of him like a demon from hell.
There was not even time to be shocked at the inconceivable reality as the boy's hand plunged into the jonin's chest, viscerally tearing out his still beating heart.
Dodai, who was constantly looking back for pursuers, could only look in horror at the sight.
[Shiki], his entire hand red, dripping with blood, holding a beating heart, flames still burning on his body and clothes, causing little damage despite the boy using no defensive jutsu.
Haunting indeed.
Mei had already passed out from the strain of the situation, exhaustion from her jutsu and the impact of awakening her kekkei genkai.
Inori carried her unconscious body as she hesitantly approached the boy, contrasting with Tsunade who rushed towards him as soon as the shock wore off which only took an instant.
"What the hell were you thinking!?" The Senju princess questioned.
"Relax, that level of fire can't really burn me much, see?" [Shiki] unhurriedly replied showing the disappearing flames leaving only small burns.
Zee's lightning had been far more destructive, owing to its nature and the kunoichi's superior power compared to her comrade.
Inori remained silent, despite being a woman of words, she found herself lacking them considering her part in the whole debacle they were facing.
"That said, I'll be entering a hibernation-like state to stop me from dying quickly so do your best to save me Tsunade-sama."
Leaving those words behind, that same hollow expression never leaving his face since [Shiki]'s part of their consciousness had taken over, the boy fell unconscious barely giving the Senju princess enough time to catch him.
"I'll have some choice words for you when you're up, shitty brat!" She said through grit teeth while examining his unconscious body.
'How does his body even work? He shifted his heart to avoid that stab, it's basically intact. This hibernation state as he called it is also slowing down most of his body functions but accelerating healing. He is trying to recover but the hole in his chest is too much.'
'That said, he will last quite a while and operating on him will have a much lower risk of killing him since his systems are so robust. His toughest will make the operation itself more difficult though.'
Tsunade rapidly assessed the damage while performing first aid with the Mystical Palm jutsu.
Though his life still hung in the balance, the first true battle of Shiki's second life was over. It was time for a whole new chapter, pursuing the truth of his inheritance and all it could offer.
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Hey, Author here!
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -