One-Shots

When Fire Lilies Bloom ~ Tsunade Senju

"Give way!" I shouted.

I opened his eyes to see one constricted pupil, while the other was dilated. "What happened to him?"

"Chiyo's poison," the nurse immediately answered— she was young and small. She was probably just a genin, yet she seemed so experienced.

This war was poison itself. It stole the innocence and youth from these children. Like the way it stole my brother's life.

I directed my attention back to my patient. Indeed, a single needle was swatted on his right hand.

"Alright, I need you to compress his left arm, just after his wrist and maintain moderate pressure as you remove the needle. Got it?" I instructed.

"Hai!" She nodded.

"Do you know how to extract poison? Please tell me that you do," I asked. I needed to focus more on the main intervention for the poor boy.

"Yes, I do!" She responded immediately.

Thank heavens! Thank kami! I silently rejoiced.

But wait, the boy stopped seizing, yet his blood pressure was spiraling up. This was bad.

"Kuso," I bit back a curse. "I need to make skull holes."

"S-skull holes?" The nurse asked nervously— ceasing her procedure.

"Focus on your task, girl," I ordered as I took out my knife set. A series of scalpels, forceps, and kunai were displayed in order.

I immediately picked up a kunai, concentrating the right amount of chakra into it. I sliced through his scalp with utter precision while the nurse was just finishing her poison extraction. She watched as the tip of my kunai met with the patient's cranium. I put more chakra and force as my kunai penetrated through his skull, creating a small hole leading to the temporal lobe of his brain.

"Just as I thought," I muttered.

My eyes fixed onto the massive blood clot that covered his brain. "We have a case of increased intracranial pressure. This clot was the reason he was seizing," I explained as I utilized my forceps to remove the clot, revealing the shiny, pulsating dura. I let out a sigh of relief.

I made another hole on his frontal lobe, removing the entire clot completely and relieving the pressure inside his brain.

"Check his blood pressure for me please," I requested the nurse. "Is it lowering?"

"Y-yes!" The nurse spoke with astonished eyes. "A-amazing, Princess! No one has ever done this procedure before."

"There's always a first for everything," I responded flatly though deep inside, I was happy.

Another life, another future was saved.

"What's this boy's name?" I asked. "He's so young."

"Ibiki Morino," the nurse responded. "He's a genin, but he's one of the best."

"Hm, good," I spoke. "Give me the extract, please."

She immediately handed me a basin-full of poison. It looked like tar— black and viscous. I clicked my tongue.

"Damn that hag," I muttered. "I will not let you take any more of my people."

•••

Outside my tent, I could hear medics and doctors shouting amidst wails of pain. I knew I was losing my battle against time. There were more people who had been affected by the poison, and the mortality rate had gone to a larger scale.