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Chapter 147 - Inevitable

Katsuro's immediate instinct was to dash forward, push his chakra out of his points to reach that spot in an instance. But the scene behind him stopped him. Rin was limp, held up only by Kakashi's arm as her arms seemed to try to reach out to him even in weakness. Kakashi was wide eyed, frozen in sheer shock and disbelief. 

The Chunin who had been rushing at Kakashi instantly screeched to a halt as Katsuro teleported in. His instincts as a Shinobi screamed at him to not move, and he stood just as frozen as Kakashi but for different reasons. Even as Katsuro turned his back to him, crouching next to the girl, he did not dare move. 

Katsuro, seeing the seriousness of the situation, did not waste time, and after a quick assessment it looked bad, deadly. Even if he didn't consciously think about it, the thought ran through his mind. Is it already too late?

Such a situation looked impossible, but he would be damned if he didn't at least try. This girl was someone he saw often and personally helped out with her Iryo ninjutsu from time to time, he saw her as Kakashi's dear friend like Obito who had wormed her way into his closed heart, and even his future partner. 

With a look at Kakashi, Katsuro formed a shadow clone before carefully extracting Rin and putting her in a bridal carry position while simultaneously healing her. In the moment he took his time to be careful, his clone shot towards the trees and darkness. 

A few moments earlier…

The hiding Zetsu looked to Obito who was still in grief and shock, his face barely changing as one of the men he looked up to most appeared. But when those green eyes pierced straight through their hiding place, Zetsu panicked.

His arrival had already changed things, and as the man who was the biggest obstacle to their plans, Zetsu was on high alert. As soon as that wave of brief killing intent washed over them, they shivered under its sheer mass. It was like a tsunami, reflecting the ocean of blood Katsuro had spilled. It put even the warring states era to shame. 

But as he turned, the Zetsu found itself able to move again, finally shaking off the pressure, and swiftly rose next to Obito to usher him away. It forced Obito to move with other Zetsu coming to forcibly pull him away. But as it turned back, it saw the Shadow clone of Katsuro on top of it, and before it could make sense of anything, his hand gripped around its neck as it was lifted into the air, dangling helplessly. 

The shadow clone looked at the odd but familiar white, green haired thing, before looking past it as he saw the black cloak of a figure moving away rapidly with more weird white beings. But before he could do anything, the clone he had been holding grew. Like a living monstrosity it bubbled up into a writhing white flesh threatening to consume him, which made the Clone let go. As it was dropped, instantly it sank into the ground as fast as it could. And by the time the clone looked up once more at the fleeing party, they had disappeared. Their stealth techniques were top notch, and they seemed to be able to blend in with nature itself, even that cloaked figure gave a similar vibe. But strangely, the clone did not look too bothered, and did not attempt to deal with the White Zetsu as it sank despite being able to be as the clone of the fastest shinobi alive.

Instead the clone turned around calmly and its own killing intent emitted in waves once again. It conveyed the anger Katsuro was feeling when seeing his people dead and injured among Kiri shinobi. He had been understanding, nice even, and this is how he was paid. He would make sure those involved would pay, everyone he thought as he looked briefly towards where the Zetsu had escaped to. 

As the clone turned back once again, the flickering lightning appeared over its body without handsigns, and it dealt with the remaining enemies like they were mere chores to be done. Even taking a Jonin prisoner was simple, merely requiring an extra thought. In the meantime the original Katsuro had teleported back with Rin, leaving just Kakashi and the clone. The distance was even higher than expected as Katsuro had to use relays between the thinnest point of the sea to cross it with the Flying Raijin which inevitably forced him further up. Teleporting so far with just himself was challenging, but adding other parties like Rin or Kakashi would have made it much harder, even for his vast reserves. As such, considering that Rin was at a critical point and time was precious, he moved as soon as he picked her up without even waiting for Kakashi, having faith he could take care of himself with his clone. 

Katsuro teleported to each mark as soon as he could, causing the scenery to vastly change every moment. Within mere seconds they were back, and at the Konoha hospital. It was a similar scene to the White Fang incident not too long ago, but this time it looked much more dire. Like back then, soon Tsunade joined him with haste as they both worked as they could. But this time, they were joined by the young Shizune, Tsunade's own apprentice who proved to be a valuable helping hand. 

This girl was like another one of their kids, much like the clan children. They saw her often with how much Minato, Kakashi and Kushina were around the Senju compound. And to see her lying on the operating table in that state was surreal.

The hole went through her cleanly, such was the penetrating power of the Chidori. Both of her lungs were heavily damaged, many major veins and arteries were obliterated, and even a large portion of her heart was removed. It had been less than a minute since her injury, but at this point Rin should've been dead. But she wasn't and soon the reason became obvious. She had become a Jinchuuriki, likely of the 3 tails as Katsuro deduced. When that fact came to light, he also deduced what those Kiri shinobis' plan must've been. And his anger returned like a tide, his chakra involuntarily riling and shaking the room. Tsunade's sympathetic look and his own rationale returned as he composed himself once more to focus on the task at hand.

 

He took a deep breath and evaluated the situation. As it stood, even with the vitality of a Jinchuuriki and their aid, Rin would die in minutes. But Iryo ninjutsu couldn't perform miracles. Even as the 2, no 3, best medical shinobi in the world they couldn't just reform her heart, lungs and everything in between out of nowhere in mere minutes. Under such an injury, even Katsuro with his impossible physique and healing factor would die, perhaps only Tsunade with her Creation Rebirth technique could survive this. But even if Rin was likely qualified to learn it, Tsuande hadn't gotten round to teaching her yet. With such little time and their options dwindling, it seemed inevitable.

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