A wave of relief and exhaustion hit every trainee, causing them to stagger as they were about to fall to the ground, a instructor each picked up on them.
With some of them picking up two or three of the smaller trainees, before carrying them off to the hospital.
They had struggled enough to survive for ten days and reach Sunagakure, and now they were in the care of hands far more experienced than their own.
The hospital swallowed them in silence. Clean walls, pale as bone, pressed down with the faint smell of herbs steeped too long, their bitterness sharp in every breath. Lanterns burned low, throwing tired light across rows of narrow beds.
Shira, Isan and Daiana shared one room.
Daiana's arms trembled even as the medics forced her to lie down. She had resisted at first, but the moment her head touched the thinn pillow, her eyelids sagged like stone shutters. Even half-asleep, her fingers twitched.
Shira lay propped against a thin mattress, his body still a wreck, bandaged tight from shoulder to hip, his skin was still drawn and his lips cracked; but he was far better now, he no longer felt any pain just a slight discomfort.
Across from him, Isan sat with his arms bound in fresh wrappings. He fought sleep and his eyes heavy with something troubling him in his mind.
Just then Daiana stirred, voice barely above a whisper, words spilling from the edge of waking.
"If we hadn't made it back in time... more would have died.... perhaps another half, or maybe more this time... we were already so few..."
Her eyes, though half-closed, shone faintly with the stubbornness that kept her hands moving even when raw.
"I should have been better. There were so many that got worse or died from injuries... next time... next time... I won't let it happen.", her voice broke into a shallow sigh, and she sank deeper into her pillow, lashes brushing her cheeks while tears formed in the corners of her eyes, coursing through her dry skin before dipping slowly and lightly into the pillow bellow.
Shira's lips twitched, the words pulling him further from his silence. His chest rose with effort, voice rough as sand dragged across stone.
"It wasn't your fault Daiana.", his gaze shifted faintly toward them, while he was cursing and berating himself internally.
'Even with... everything... my body couldn't hold it... the Eight Gates of Death... I couldn't hold it for more than a few seconds before burning out... and yet I still didn't kill it.", his jaw clenched, frustration deepening.
Isan, on the other hand, didn't give any answer to both of them even after hearing them, as he was submersed in his own thoughts.
It had happened again.
The final attack that devastated the insides of the giant sand scorpion, his speed and control at that time exceed anything he could do. The speed accelerated and the weapons he controlled through chakra threads felt they had come alive at that moment, as if he didn't need chakra threads to control them.
Fingers flexed weakly against the sheets, memory replaying the over and over.
It was then that he remembered something crucial, even those pieces of broken kunais and shurikens, that formed the largest bulk, were attracted and pierced through the beast, and those he didn't have any chakra thread or wire attached to them.
His body sagged at last, the fight against sleep slipping away. His last thoughts dissolved into the rhythm of the weapons flying around in the battlefield, before the darkness claimed him.
Shira, still awake, tilted his head enough to see both of them.
Daiana's breathing had softened into the rhythm of sleep.
Isan's posture had slackened, his hand limp over the sheets. For the first time, Shira allowed himself to close his eyes fully, resolve burning behind them.
The chamber fell into silence, three broken bodies suspended between recovery and the weight of promises only they could hear.
Far above, in the Kazekage's tower, silence carried another weight.
Baki knelt on the cool stone floor, his forehead low in deference. Behind him, the desert wind whispered faintly through a narrow slit in the wall.
In front of him, Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, sat behind a wide table, papers stacked neatly while his dark eyes scanned a paper on his hands before settling his heavy gaze on the jonin.
"They returned.", Baki reported calmly.
"Although we still lost a lot, there were a few more that survived this time around, sir."
Rasa's gaze narrowed slightly, though no emotion crossed his face.
"Losses were expected."
Baki slightly hesitated, although it was enough for it to be noticed by the man before him.
"Yes. The trainees that stood out were... Shira, Isan, Daiana and Temari, sir."
Feeling that the silence was an answer for him to continue, Baki opened his mouth again to speak.
"Daiana has proven to be an excellent medical nin with skills far above her age, she managed to sustain them way longer than it was anticipated."
A small hmm was the only answer to his words.
"As for the boy Isan, he is already showing amazing control and expertise over the chakra threads, but more incredible is his mindset and intelligence."
Rasa's eyes narrowed at that part, causing Baki to swallow hard before continuing.
"Shira has already learned that technique of Might Guy or something similar. We just witnessed him gain incredible speed and strength that rivalled a Elite Chūnin before collapsing. We currently don't know how he did it, if it's pure talent or if someone taught him it."
Rasa's fingers tapped for a while on the wooden table, before replying.
"Noted."
The air thinned with unspoken weight, causing Baki to lower his head even more.
"Continue monitoring them.", Rasa said at last, voice like sand grinding against steel.
"Yes, Lord Kazekage."
Baki straightened from his bow, but before he could take his leave, Rasa's voice held him in place.
"You understand, Baki, that Sunagakure cannot afford children who will crumble. Weakness breeds failure, and failure breeds collapse. It's better for them to break now, than in missions and compromise the village.", his voice was smooth, but underneath it coiled something colder.
"Yes.", Baki replied, the word almost dry in his throat.
"And yet…", Rasa's gaze sharpened, as if boring through the layers of stone and silence.
"When pressure is applied, the unexpected is unearthed. That boy, Shira, denied admission, yet still… surviving. And that girl, Daiana, ordinary, yet stubborn enough to drag the others through the mire."
His fingers stilled their tapping.
The silence lengthened, and Baki felt it wrap around his chest like the desert night thin and suffocating.
"Continue watching them.", Rasa said again, this time with a finality that closed the matter like a coffin lid.
"Survival proves potential, and potential must be measured. Although if it threatens balance…", his eyes glinted faintly, catching the lantern light.
Baki bowed once more, then turned to leave. His steps were steady, but his thoughts churned.