Hours passed by, Chosuke sat besides the unconscious Satoru. Chosuke looked through one of the small window from which light entered the hall. He saw rays of the sun.
'The Sun rose already, huh.I wonder if he is okay?' Chosuke stood in and peeked out at the trees below, only to see nothing other than some craters broken trees.
Chosuke then looked back at the wall which was meant to keep him from seeing the clown fight. It was broken in places and some parts of it broke from impact.
Chosuke remembered how Hinoka looked after defeating the clown. She and Tanaka were jumping around in happiness.
Chosuke suddenly heard the sound of the door opening, Chosuke ran towards the door, he looked at the person who entered and released a breath of relief. But then suddenly Chosuke panicked.
Kaito stood like a bloody zombie, his clothes were in tatters as blood dripped from him slowly like a broken tap. Chosuke saw that none of his fingers had nails, and...one of his pinky finger was missing.
"He-hey! W-what happened? WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!" Chosuke shouted out.
"Nothing happened...nothing at all." Kaito responded calmly as he opened his other hand and showed the chopped off finger. Kaito then walked upto Satoru and sat next to him, blood pooled around him slowly.
Chosuke ran towards the clown who just watched from afar. "He needs medical attention! Please HELP HIM!" Chosuke begged, the clown just shrugged before replying.
"Services like medical treatment will only be provided if your team has passed the round. If you fail, it doesn't matter if all three were in critical condition...you will be left here to die if you fail. I suggest you to challenge me by showing me your badges."
Chosuke quickly took out the five badges needed and showed it to him, the clown took the badges and purposefully took his time in checking them.
The clown nodded before eating the badges. He looked at Chosuke as he took a fighting stance, which was reciprocated by Chosuke.
"If you lose you'll have start the exam over again and gather five new badges in the remaining time that is left, keep that in mind." The clown pointed towards a box of badges which were covered in blood and mud, suggesting that they belonged to people who failed.
"I will beat you."
Chosuke lunged towards the clown while swinging his staff, the clown stepped back in time. The staff destroyed the floor with its force, the clown flinch upon seeing it.
'This much force! How? His chakra levels aren't even that high! Is...is it pure natural strength?' The clown jumped to the side to dodge another hit.
Chosuke swung his staff several times, only for all the strikes to be evaded. Chosuke blocked a jab from the clown and used the chance to extend his staff to hit his abdomen.
The clown reinforced his abdomen to tank the the hit, only to realize it was too weak.
'A feignt? Wha...' he didn't have time to time as Chosuke landed a bone-shattering Haymaker into his skull.
"ughh!" The clown spat out as he was sent flying from the punch. Chosuke held his knuckles in pain as he looked, at the clown stand up again.
'I reinforced my bones...but the impact still broke them! I guess the damage dealt made it worth it.' Chosuke grunted in pain as he felt broken bones in his fist bend in abnormal ways.
Chosuke picked up his staff and blocked a punch before jumping back and throwing a volley of shuriken, the clown avoided most of them and rushed towards Chosuke yo slam him Into the ground.
Chosuke threw his staff as a spear and hit his leg causing him stumble, chosuke then jumped high into the air and raised his leg for an axe kick. The clown didn't have time to dodge as he saw Chosuke mumble something.
"Partial expansion jutsu!"
Chosuke's leg expanded in size, ballooning up and becoming larger than him. Chosuke kicked downwards with all his strength, smashing the clown into the ground.
The clown grunted in pain from the strike which now held him in place, he tried wiggling but Chosuke added more pressure, making it nearly impossible to escape.
"Do you give up? I don't want to draw it any more longer...but I will if you don't give up now." Chosuke said, staring at the helpless clown under his large foot.
"In your dreams!" The clown spat on him before sparks flew from him. Chosuke wasn't able to move fast enough due to his imbalanced physique.
"Lightning style: electromagnetic murder!" The clown gritted out as lightning surged from him in all direction. Chosuke was directly from the strike leaving him paralyzed and slightly burnt in the leg.
"The seal they placed on me...it seems that it suppresses about 80 percent. I cannot wait for this to end and go back to my original strength." The clown mumbled as he got up
He walked closer towards Chosuke to check, Chosuke turned his neck as much as he could to look at the clown who smirked behind his mask.
" what did you say back then? Too bad...I cannot kill you. Wanna say something before you retake the test?"
Chosuke looked at Kaito and Satoru, both passed out and in a helpless state.
"I'm not retaking the test." Chosuke said before blasting scorching hot flames at the clown. He tried to jump away only to notice his legs were held tightly by some really long fingers.
Chosuke had used partial expansion jutsu to elongate his fingers to wrap them around his legs, holding him in place.
The clown was burnt from the attack, a massive cloud of smoke erupted as chosuke jumped away.
The clown wiped the soot and debris off his now broken mask, "that little bastard! Where is he?" The clown looked around but everything was blocked away by the smoke.
*shwip!*
Several ninja wires wrapped around the clown in an instant, immobilized him. Chosuke held the ends of several ninja wire, he pulled it causing the clown to grunt from the wires to dig into his skin.
The wires used by shinobis are made from very flexible yet strong metals mixed with chakra conductive material. This makes optimal for several strategies like traps, immobilization and...torture.
Chosuke poured fire style chakra into the wire causing it to raise in temperature slowly. The clown tried his best to escape the trap, but the more he moved the more it hurt.
Chosuke didn't stop increasing the heat, slowly the wires began emitting heat and the air around them distorted from the heat. The clown screamed in pain as his skin sizzled.
"Do you give up? Or should I make it way hotter? It can't all the way to a thousand degrees." Chosuke said calmly, his sights weren't even on the clown, it was on his friends.
"Ggrrrr!!! FINEE!!" The clown screamed in pain, Chosuke released the wires which revealed several lines of burnt skin on the clown's body.
The clown fel yo the ground gasping for air, the pain was numbing...his body felt it was on fire, literally.
The reached into his breast pocket and took out a badge, it was larger and had more colors than the ones Chosuke had. He tossed it towards Chosuke who caught and walked away with his friends.
---
"Doctor...do you think they will be okay? Everything is fine, right?" Chosuke asked the doctor who walked out of the room where both Kaito and Satoru were resting.
"Satoru has accumulated extremely high amount of damage to his brain from all the shadow clone overuse. Meanwhile the finger which was chopped off Kaito's has been infected. We cannot reattach it, He will have to manage without it." The doctor said with a sombre tone.
Chosuke looked at his teammates and it caused his heart to ache. "I-i...I wasn't fast enough...he lost his finger because of me...he won't be able to use certain handsigns without it...it's all bec..." Chosuke's muttering was interrupted by the doctor who walked closer to him and looked at him in the eye
"You did everything you could...and it was enough. The finger was cut with a weapon which was contaminated, which means it was infected long ago. You saved your friend from having his entire arm amputated because of the infection."
The doctor motioned for a nurse to take Chosuke away and make him take rest before he left to tend to other patients.
---
Hinoka was walking through the hallway to cool down, sweat dripped from her and her sore muscles made it hard for her to walk. She turned to see one of the rooms wasn't closed.
Hinoka walked to the door to see Chosuke laying on his bed with a sad expression, she could see dried trails made by tears.
"Hey...how are your friends? I saw talk to the doctor and he looked like he apologized for something." Hinoka chose to speak up as she leaned against Chosuke's room door.
"Kaito lost his finger forever and is currently under treatment from the poison and infection in his body. Satoru got brain damage from overuse and is also under treatment." Chosuke said blankly.
He didn't have any energy left to show emotions anymore. Hinoka was weirded out by how monotonous those words were. She walked into the room and sat on the bed near Chosuke.
"Guess what the doctors said for Soma." Hinoka asked, her eyes moved from Chosuke to her palm.
---
"Hinoka, Tanaka...I'm very sorry to say this...Soma will not make it. We did all we cou..." the doctor couldn't complete it before Tanaka screamed.
"YOU'RE LYING!!! Satoru said he'll live! He can't DIE, SAVE HIM PLEASE!!!" Tanaka screamed out in sorrow. Tears dripped from his face as he fell to his knees .
The doctor looked at Hinoka and asked "whose Satoru? Was he the one who healed your teammate?"
"Yes, he said that Soma would live if he got medical help quickly but would be crippled for life." Hinoka said. The doctor observed anger flashing in her eyes.
"He wasn't wrong, he didn't lie to you. But he didn't consider the fact that Soma is in a condition where death would be considered mercy. The torture method used on Soma was intended to use microscopic bone shard to cause inflammation throughout the body. If the mind numbing pain doesn't kill him then the infection will." The doctor said in a solemn tone.
"Satoru isn't even a professional medic, you are. If he did so much with his expertise then why can't you save him?" Hinoka asked, anger bubbling within her
"The bloodloss caused Soma to enter a brain-dead state. His organs are function but his limbs and his brain are essential gone. If you choose to keep him alive then he will be a limbless, mindless vegetable for the rest of his life."
The doctor saw the anger in her eyes increase, her fist was balled up and she was shaking. She walked away leaving the doctor and Tanaka, who eventually composed himself and left soon after.
---
Chosuke remained on his bed after Hinoka finished talking. The news about Soma shook him to the core. After knowing that Soma will die, Kaito's finger didn't seem as extreme anymore, but the guilt stayed the same.
A boy of Chosuke's height was walking in the hallway, he wore standard leaf gear similar to Satoru. He walked pass Chosuke and noticed him.
"Hey...you are Chosuke right? I heard that your team was messed up real bad. Can you tell me where Satoru is?" Tatsuo said, Chosuke recognized Tatsuo from the first exam.
"The doctor said not to bring anyone to him for a while. If you want to meet him then you'll have to wait...like me." Chosuke replied blandly.
"Okay...wanna go to the cafeteria? You look like you need some calories or you'll evaporate." Tatsuo asked looking at the loose clothes Chosuke was wearing. The partial expansion jutsu caused his waist size to reduce a little.
" Kay."