Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Where We Come From

Equal Exchange

Kiyomi turned back at the Quack and placed her hand on his looking him deep into the eyes with the watery eyes of her own. She always tried to do what seemed right, even in this sick world she always tried to be a younger sister worth of her brother's sacrifice, she may not have been his last thought, may not have been the direct reason of his sacrifice but her life was protected by the extension of his sacrifice.

"Will this technique kill you? What will it do to you?" she asked with a firmer and more confident tone. She still considered asking a guy to use a kinjutsu he may have never even used before, there were so many things that could've gone wrong there.

"Not bloody sure. Usually, medical ninjutsu takes the medical ninja's chakra and convert it into universal chakra of healing nature that fuel the regeneration process of the body itself. This kinjutsu doesn't take chakra of the user, it takes their literal life force. It might leave me dying, it might kill me, it might take so much life force that it'll kill me and not even heal Mana. Kinjutsu is tricky bloody business, lovely..." he replied. The weird part was that Eiju felt so guilty by his emotional indifference, having his destination in mind, that he almost was about to do it.

Kiyomi stood up and looked at the rogue, then at Mana and back at the Quack. She sighed. "You have to do it, you have to try it at least. If it doesn't work just stop it"

"What does it matter to you if she lives or dies? She's just another ninja, thousands just like her, even younger, die every day. I've killed younger than her to survive out here myself. I've killed children trying to kill me because I am a rogue who heals rogues. You have no bloody right to ask anything of me, lovely, I've done all I can for all I know..." the Quack's tone changed into a more ironic tone. He decided to just go into Konoha with the same "fuck it all" attitude that carried him through life.

"How dare you!? Did you not swear to save all you can save, even as a rogue, did you not make any vows? Do you have any decency at all?" Kiyomi started to really get pissed at her companion. 

Truth be told she was pissed at him the whole time, the only thing that kept her from killing him when she first saw this criminal was gratitude for saving her and Mana's life when they were wounded. Then it was the hope that maybe he was just unfortunate, maybe he could've still been fixed and made into a proper human being. Maybe being a filthy rogue was just a mask one wears that can be washed away with a stream of water strong enough...

"I did swear to the bloke that taught me. The old fart told me that in the world of rogues one must always charge the coins first, then heal the client or leave them to die if they're too dangerous. I've healed the three of you this whole time without charging a single ryo because I hoped to legitimize and truth be told I still have all the right to. I've done all I can, no reasonable medical ninja would resort to kinjutsu ever, I mean those wussies even have precise timing lines of how much chakra spent exactly constitutes "worth saving"... Not for someone who is meaningless in the grand scale, they wouldn't!" the Quack pointed at Mana barely stopping himself from kicking her unconscious body in his anger.

For some reason, this blondie ignited a whole fire of anger that usually wasn't there. Just like this dying brat, she made him remember the path that lead him here which didn't come simply for him... Maybe it was because Eiju actually thought he could be this different person, this good medical ninja guy who smiles to his patients as he heals them instead of charges their pants off of them and then laughs at how funny their exposed bones look.

Kiyomi kneeled closer to Mana and pressed the girl's forehead closer to hers. She didn't know why she had this emotional attachment, she tend to have that kind of kinship with her teammates, it took her entire years and almost dying before she could let go of the memento of her previous team. She almost fought her old teammates when they informed her that they're going to leave her alone with Hanasaku.