The next morning, she had a shift at the hospital, so she left home before she could see the others. When she arrived, she saw that Tsunade-sama was waiting for her, chatting with Sanoka. As soon as she saw her walk through the door, she smiled in her direction and waved her over.
"Good morning, Seina. I was talking with Sanoka about your progress." She raised an eyebrow, greeting her as well and waiting for more context. "She says you do great work here but that nothing really challenges you."
"Even so, I like the work and gaining experience," she shrugged.
"I know, which is why I've assigned you as emergency staff for the civilian wards along with other medical ninjas, but from now on, you'll be working in the shinobi ward. In fact, I'd like you to come with me today to review a difficult case since you couldn't be present for Lee's operation."
"What is it about?" she asked as they walked to another part of the hospital.
"The patient's name is Hayate Gekko. He supposedly has a chronic pulmonary condition and is currently in an induced coma."
"He's Yugao's boyfriend!" she exclaimed, realizing who she was going to treat.
"You know him?"
"No. I know his girlfriend. We sometimes train kenjutsu together. She's very worried about him."
"I see," Tsunade-sama smiled, leading her inside. "With any luck, we'll find out what's wrong and cure him today."
They arrived at the room where Hayate was being monitored 24/7. He was in a coma, as expected, but his complexion was so pale that if it weren't for his breathing and the sound of his heart on the machines, she would have thought he was dead. Tsunade-sama grabbed the report, showing it to her so she could read it as well. Seina read what was written attentively.
"The patient suffers from an abnormal and persistent dilation of the bronchi that subsides with direct treatment for at least a few weeks. This alteration is possibly related to the inhalation of toxic gas at least 5 years ago. The disease manifests with chronic cough and productive expectoration, especially in the morning."
She glanced at the lab values, noting that most were normal except for a few. For starters, she could tell from what she was reading that he had an infection, likely in the lungs. She could deduce this from the history of lab results even before his induced coma, where the infection was still present. She wasn't a qualified doctor, nor had she been in her previous life since she never took the exams, but she remembered reading something about this in one of Hermione's medical magazines. Combining this with her new knowledge, she had a clear idea of what might be happening.
"And?" Tsunade-sama cut off her thoughts. "What can you tell me?"
"That the toxic gas he inhaled compromised the mucociliary clearance," she replied since everything pointed to that. "That means the elimination of mucus isn't effective and, additionally, I'm quite sure he has partial or total destruction of the bronchial wall, which causes recurring infections due to contact with the usual inhaled bacteria, which would explain his blood test results."
"...Well spotted," Tsunade-sama said, observing her with surprise. "Would you like to assess him first?"
"Sure."
She approached the patient and used iryo ninjutsu first to try to find out what was happening to him. As soon as she passed her hand over his chest, she knew she was right. His lungs were in very bad shape. The toxic gas had destroyed his ability to clear natural mucus properly and had weakened the lung tissue, allowing it to come into contact with bacterial flora, causing almost chronic opportunistic infections. Additionally, the second attack during the invasion had left him with a lung collapse and something else she couldn't distinguish with the jutsu due to the prior condition.
She used a medical spell to fully determine what was wrong. A scroll appeared, unrolled, which she caught and read. Besides the bronchiectasis she had diagnosed with iryo ninjutsu, he also had pulmonary consolidation from bacterial inflammation. Damn, no wonder he was in a coma. A single cough and he could choke.
"He definitely has bronchiectasis and pulmonary consolidation."
"Give me a second," Tsunade-sama asked, appearing beside her with a serious face.
She saw her verify what she had discovered, despite it being overlooked in the other doctors' reports as one disease camouflaging another. Tsunade-sama widened her eyes and then put on her magical glasses, observing Hayate's bare torso.
"You're right. That technique you used... I imagine it can't be learned."
"No."
"Can I read what it says?" she asked. Seina handed her the scroll. "Wow. It's like having a complete diagnostic report!"
"Maybe I could create some kind of invention so someone else could use this jutsu," she mused aloud. Tsunade-sama turned to her instantly. "Some sort of bed with fuinjutsu or something like that. I don't know."
"Come to my office this afternoon and we'll discuss your first orders. Let's continue with the patient. What do you think his treatment should be?"
"Mmm... He'll need the removal of fluid in his lungs as well as a pulmonary wash, repair of the bronchial walls and mucociliary clearance, reduction of inflammation, antibiotics, and recovery of pulmonary surfactant. More or less in that order. Then plenty of rest."
"I agree. Although we'll start giving him the antibiotics right away," Tsunade-sama said. "We don't want the chronic infection he has to become acute while we're treating everything else. Thanks to your jutsu, we know exactly what antibiotics to give him, so I'll request them immediately."
She spent the next 3 hours treating Hayate alongside the Hokage. As promised, she administered the pertinent drugs parenterally and then began the treatment. Tsunade-sama focused on cleaning his lungs and removing the fluid while she fortified his bronchial walls and tissues simultaneously to prevent total lung collapse. After that, once his lungs were completely clean and the tissue had returned to normal, they reduced the inflammation of each tissue fiber, also healing the tissue of the upper respiratory tract affected by so much coughing.
"I'll also give him a potion to recover his blood," Tsunade-sama informed her, noting the treatment in Hayate's documentation. "Explain the patient's progress to me."
"If we've done our job well, the chronic infection he currently has should disappear with the antibiotic and, furthermore, it should be the last infection he has due to the bronchiectasis. Once his condition normalizes in one or two days, the surfactant should be produced normally by his own lungs, replacing the artificial surfactant we administered. We should monitor him daily to ensure there are no relapses or obstructions, but generally, he should be cured in about 2 or 3 weeks."
"Congratulations," the Hokage smiled at her. "You've really impressed me. You're right. His body, now that his lungs are restored, should start functioning normally. Patient Hayate Gekko is assigned to you. A thorough review every other day is sufficient, with 24-hour monitoring."
"Hai," she bowed, accepting the assignment. "I'll take care of him."
"I know you will. Let's go, Shizune must be pulling her hair out with the paperwork I left her."
Seina couldn't suppress a laugh at the thought of Shizune, with how nervous and worried she always was, handling the Hokage's confidential documentation. She left the hospital with a huge smile. Not only had they saved a life, but Yugao would be thrilled to know that her boyfriend would wake up and never have lung complications again.
"What's with that smile?" Sasuke asked her as soon as she walked into the house.
"I've been transferred to the ninja ward of the hospital," she said, seeing that they had already set the table. "Do you know who Tsunade-sama and I treated today? Yugao's boyfriend."
"Who?" asked Naruto, who still didn't know Yugao.
"The jonin who always looked sick, the one who was the teacher of Sakura's genin team."
"Oh!"
"And how is he?" Kakashi-sensei asked with interest.
"Cured. In a few weeks, he'll be able to walk out of the hospital on his own."
"That's good news," Kakashi-sensei smiled. "Yugao is going to be over the moon."
"I have to go talk to Tsunade-sama about the assignment this afternoon," she sighed, remembering that detail. "I don't know how long it will take."
"Don't worry," Kakashi-sensei assured her. "We'll be at the training field."
They ate calmly, without rushing, talking about the rasengan her brother wanted to modify in the future. Shortly after eating, she headed back to the Hokage tower to get her meeting over with as soon as possible. When she arrived, however, she was in for a surprise. Tsunade-sama wasn't alone; Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka, someone who seemed to be the anbu commander, and the pervert Jiraiya were also there.
"Ah, Seina. You're early," said Tsunade-sama to the air.
"You didn't give me a time, so I thought the sooner, the better."
"Come in, come in. I'm going to raise the barrier," the Hokage replied, urging her to take a seat on the sofa or in the chairs.
Jiraiya sat first in one of the free chairs, followed by the anbu in another chair. Shrugging, she sat on the sofa next to the parents of her academy classmates. Tsunade-sama sat last in the remaining chair.
"The only one you don't know must be anbu commander Ryu," the Hokage introduced the anbu, who was covered from head to toe in a white cloak and wore a white mask with dragon motifs. "You know the others."
"Nice to meet you," she said to the anbu with a playful smile.
The commander nodded without saying anything. Shikaku Nara, beside him, leaned back tiredly against the sofa, crossing his arms lazily. The others seemed to be waiting expectantly for the Hokage to start the meeting.
"I'll get straight to the point. Kakashi showed me the other day the gift you made for his birthday. I know perfectly well that distributing some of those bracelets in a limited way would be a great resource for the village." Seina nodded at her words.
"I'd like to see the effect of that bracelet first," the anbu spoke for the first time.
"Alright," she said and activated the bracelet.
This time there were no gasps of surprise, but there were speculative looks. Shikaku straightened up slowly, then extended a hand towards her. Seina let him touch her arm to ensure she was there. She watched as they saw Shikaku take her arm in his hands and how he seemed to stretch her jacket between two fingers, still invisible. The anbu tried to break free from a nonexistent genjutsu, as did Jiraiya, while Tsunade-sama just grinned from ear to ear.
"Return."
"What was that? It's like you didn't exist!" Jiraiya thought aloud, half alarmed and half delighted.
"What else can you do?" the anbu asked. "Could we order a list of things from you?"
"It depends on what you ask for. I imagine I might take some time to give you exactly what you want, but I don't see it as impossible. In fact, I was thinking of something for the interrogation department."
"What?" Inoichi asked with enthusiasm.
"A truth chair or, for example, bracelets that electrocute the prisoner every time they tell a lie. Something like that. I also need to think about how to turn my diagnostic jutsu into some device for use in the hospital."
"Diagnostic jutsu?" Shikaku asked. "Can you know everything that's wrong with someone with a single jutsu? Try it on me, please."
Seina cast the spell, catching the scroll as it appeared and handing it to him without looking. They watched as Shikaku read his own medical history in silence before slowly turning his eyes back to her. He handed the report to Inoichi, letting him read it with an astonished face.
"I think you and I should have a long talk, Seina-san," Shikaku said, his chocolate eyes shining with the typical Nara brilliance.
"If we're going to talk so much, call me Seina," she requested.
"Great. You can call me Shikaku."
"And me Inoichi."
"You can call me the great warrior Jiraiya," said the pervert, opening his arms grandiosely and lightening the conversation.
"I'll keep calling you ero-senin," she said cynically, provoking some laughter.
"Back to the topic. Do you have any requests for Seina?" the Hokage asked.
"I'd like a couple of those bracelets," the anbu requested without hesitation.
"I'd like to know how you've hidden the Uchiha family," Shikaku asked with a smile.
"What do you mean?" Jiraiya asked.
"You know the Nara trade with the Hyuga, right? The Hyuga territory is next to the Uchiha territory, but, curiously, when Ensui last visited the Hyuga clan, and passed through where the Uchiha territory supposedly is, he was unable to remember its exact location. It's like he forgot. The funny thing is, I searched my maps, but it didn't appear," Shikaku explained while Seina smiled more and more without being able to help it. "It's like it disappeared from everywhere. Even my memories. As soon as I knew you had other powers and that Sasuke was your teammate... it was just a matter of adding 2+2. This is your doing, isn't it?"
"That's right. The location of the Uchiha clan is now a secret."
"But why?" the Hokage asked.
"Because the council was forcing Sasuke Uchiha to live in his parents' house unless he wanted to involuntarily cede his lands to the village," the jonin commander explained.
"You... have hidden the location of something so no one remembers where it is?" the anbu asked, sounding somewhat astonished. "What things can you hide?"
"Anything I want," she smiled. "The advantage of the jutsu is that no one will ever find what I hide, but the disadvantage is that it requires me to be the keeper of the secret, meaning I'm the only one who can reveal the location of something to someone who doesn't know the secret."
"Do you know what this could mean for Konoha?" Jiraiya asked, completely serious.
"I know perfectly well."
"I see. Your house is also a secret, isn't it?" Tsunade-sama asked.
"And Kakashi-sensei's house too."
"What else do you have going on?" Shikaku asked.
"I'm trying to find out where Danzo's base is and who his members are."
A silence fell as they absorbed her words. It was Shikaku, unsurprisingly, who recovered first, his expression calculating.
"Surely, Kakashi has asked you to use your powers. So? What have you discovered?"
"Without exposing myself too much, I've been triangulating the location of his base. It's east of the hospital."
Inoichi exchanged glances with Shikaku.
"Once again, we're straying from the main issue," sighed the Hokage. "We're here only to discuss the tasks we can assign to Seina."
"She's right. As I've said before, Seina and I can have a long talk about her powers," Shikaku agreed. "Otherwise, we'd be here all afternoon."
Tsunade-sama steered the conversation back to her inventions, but Seina knew they hadn't forgotten what she could do. She could feel their occasional lingering gazes. Nonetheless, she preferred talking to just one person rather than spending the entire afternoon discussing her capabilities and limitations. In the end, Seina received a list with her first assignment from the village. She thought that was the end of the conversation, but to her surprise, it wasn't.
"Well, now comes the second part of this meeting," the Hokage sighed. "Jiraiya has requested to gather information on Orochimaru and asked you to accompany him on a mission."
Seina quickly turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. He wanted her to accompany him?
"I see you're wondering why you," Jiraiya said. "I have a couple of reasons for asking you. To start, your parents asked me to be your godfather, as well as Naruto's, but I see I've done a poor job. With Naruto, it's easy to connect, but with you, it's a different story."
"...I see. You have a lot to clarify, I imagine," she responded with a hint of anger, locking eyes with Jiraiya's guilty expression.
"...That's right. On the other hand, with your powers, I know you can take care of yourself and be a great help on this mission. If it weren't Sasuke whom Orochimaru wants specifically, I'd ask for your whole team, but given the circumstances, it's better not to."
"And when is this mission?"
"Tomorrow we leave, if that's alright with you."
Seina looked at the Hokage, who had the final say, and she nodded. She then turned to Jiraiya and nodded as well, accepting the mission. She would give Jiraiya a chance because he was her godfather, chosen by her parents explicitly, and because he wasn't a truly bad person. She didn't want to spend the rest of her days being angry with him for his behavior and for endangering Naruto, so she would also make an effort to get along with him.
"It's getting late. It's best we leave it here for today."
She left the Hokage's tower accompanied by Shikaku and Inoichi.
"When you return from your mission, I'd like you to come to my house," Shikaku requested. "I'll let you know as soon as I have a free afternoon."
"Alright."
She bid them both farewell and headed towards the training field. By the time, she assumed her team should have been training for at least a couple of hours. When she arrived, she saw them practicing kenjutsu with their respective weapons.
"Yo, Seina. How did the meeting go?" asked Kakashi-sensei, closing his book.
"Good, good… Shikaku wants to talk to me alone," she shrugged, "and apparently tomorrow I'm going on a mission with the pervert."
"You have a mission?" asked Sasuke, taking a break from the sparring. "Where to?"
"I'll tell you later," she sighed, frowning.
"Alright. Come on, it's your turn to train kenjutsu with me," said Kakashi-sensei, putting his book away and drawing his weapon.
That's how she spent the rest of the afternoon. Distracted, thanks to her team. When it was time for dinner at home, she knew she would be bombarded with questions. She explained everything they had discussed at the Hokage's tower and what Jiraiya and she were supposedly going to do.
"So, the Hokage finally decides to investigate Orochimaru's whereabouts…," Kakashi-sensei frowned. "Be careful, Seina."
He didn't give her any advice or words of encouragement. He continued the conversation, distracting her worried brother with the promise of undertaking a mission themselves if possible. That night, while the others went to bed, she prepared bentos for the mission and reviewed her inventory. It had been a while since she went on a long mission, so she didn't have to change much in her pouch. Just as she finished tidying up the kitchen and turned to go to bed, she heard the characteristic steps of her jonin sensei.
"I just wanted to talk to you alone before you went to sleep," he said.
"Alright. What's up?"
"I just wanted to remind you that if you find yourself in trouble, use any appropriate skills to survive, okay?" he firmly requested, placing his hands on her shoulders. "It doesn't matter if someone notices, what matters is that you come back safe and sound."
"I know. I'll do it," she promised, nodding.
She hugged him, burying her face in his chest momentarily, and ingrained his masculine scent in her brain. She felt a hand gently caress her hair before she pulled away. She could stand there all night in his arms, but she didn't think it was appropriate. She preferred to sleep so she could endure the pervert Jiraiya for the duration of the mission.
"I'm going to sleep. I need all the rest I can get to deal with the pervert."
Kakashi-sensei laughed silently, and she felt it instantly in his chest. She went to bed without looking back. She could sense him leaving the house, somewhat curious, and wondered where he would go without his ninja attire at that time of night.
The next day, she saw Jiraiya waiting for her at the village gates. She greeted him with a cordial nod, noticing how he looked at her speculatively for some reason, and then they left the village. They walked at a steady pace for quite some time without saying anything, despite the fact that she could have used one of her summons to reach their destination faster. Still, she decided to take that silent rest for what it was. Unfortunately, Jiraiya didn't agree with walking in silence.
"It's curious," he began with an interested and thoughtful tone. Seina didn't take the bait, so he continued talking. "You might be wondering what I'm talking about."
"Actually, I'm not interested," she cut him off with a bored tone.
"What I find curious," he said, ignoring her completely, "is the visit I received last night from Kakashi."
"…"
"…Mmm… Aren't you curious? To know why he visited me?"
"Surely to tell you to keep your hands to yourself, old pervert," she replied calmly. "It wouldn't be the first time. What's curious is that, considering the trashy porn book Kakashi-sensei reads, he could also be considered a pervert in the making."
Jiraiya stuttered incredulous words as he heard her. She didn't know if it was because she had called his novel trashy or because she had called him a pervert and old in the same sentence. She saw him turn red out of the corner of her eye, stifling a laugh. How she loved messing with people. She understood perfectly why her previous father and his friends never tired of playing pranks.
"...Kakashi warned me this might happen," he sighed quietly, probably talking to himself. "Putting the perversion aside… What I find interesting is that he took the trouble to find me, in private, to… warn me that I'd pay if anything happened to you."
"And why is that curious?" she turned to look at him. "I myself told you I'd break your legs if anything happened to my brother. For now, you've been spared because what happened in Shukuba wasn't your fault but Kabuto's and the circumstances. I'd do the same for Sasuke or Kakashi-sensei. My team is my family."
"Do you really think you could break my legs?" the pervert laughed with interest.
Seina stopped dead in the middle of the path. She turned slowly to look at him face-to-face. She didn't want him to have any doubts about what she was going to say because, from what she was hearing, he hadn't taken her seriously when she warned him what would happen if he put her brother in danger the other time. She stared into Jiraiya's dark eyes, who straightened up immediately, stopping his laughter. She felt Kurama's anger inside her, realizing he was also underestimating them.
"If I wanted, I could do more than just break your legs," she replied without blinking. "As I said… that would be the least of your problems. I assure you. Believe me or not, I don't care."
She resumed her walk alone, as Jiraiya seemed rooted to the spot. A few seconds later, the sannin cleared his throat and walked behind her. She could feel the pervert's gaze fixed on her head, but she ignored him completely as they headed towards the Land of Rice Fields. If he thought he could use the journey to mend things between them, he clearly wasn't going to succeed. Not only had he put her in a bad mood with his nonsense, but he also spent the entire day in silence, perhaps contemplating her threat. Why couldn't he have just kept his mouth shut from the start?
Luckily, he agreed to move faster, so they reached the border by nightfall after hours of running through the trees.
"Let's stop here for dinner and to sleep," he said, entering a small village still within their territory.
They ate in silence. She was silent because she didn't want to talk to him, and he because he seemed to be choosing his words carefully to avoid mutual hair-pulling. In the end, when she saw him fiddling with his chopsticks, frowning, and stifling sighs, she got fed up with the silence. She placed her half-full plate on the table with a dull thud and gave him her full attention.
"Just say what you want to say already," she hissed in irritation.
"I would, but every time I open my mouth, it seems I put my foot in it with you. Maybe it's better to say nothing."
"You put your foot in it because you don't take anything seriously! I told you to take care of my brother and look what happened. You fell into a genjutsu because Itachi, I-TA-CHI," she emphasized slowly, staring at him, "knew your vices and used them against you. Do you care about anything other than spying on women and writing those trashy porn books? My brother is the last blood tie I have left. Do you understand why it's hard for me to leave him in your care? He's a birdbrain most of the time! He needs someone responsible with him! Also, if you're our godfather… where the hell have you been all this time while they were trying to kill us or when we had to live alone at 5 because we were kicked out of the orphanage? Naruto might be charmed by a couple of jutsus that my father used, but not me. Family is always there, not just when it suits you. So, no. It's not curious that Kakashi-sensei visited you to remind you of what I just said. He's my teacher and cares about me, which seems to be something difficult for you to understand, apparently. Why would that be?"
She picked up her plate again with more force than necessary and continued eating. He had already managed to anger her again. She didn't know how he did it. Perhaps it was the resentment she harbored inside. She remembered Sirius. Her previous godfather who was thrown into jail without a trial the same day her parents died, who spent over a decade in Azkaban remembering his friends and his goddaughter to keep from going mad. Who escaped from prison, swimming for days in the icy ocean waters, eating rats and garbage, just because he saw Pettigrew in a photograph and knew he was a potential danger to her at Hogwarts.
What had Jiraiya done all those years? He hadn't been imprisoned nor was he just any ninja. Had he even tried to get custody of her and her brother? Even if custody had been denied… Could he not send a measly letter? Could he not tell them he existed? Could he not contact them and talk about their deceased parents, whom no one ever mentioned? Naruto had met him by chance in Konoha. They hadn't even known of his existence thanks to him but by mere coincidence. She burned with anger comparing Jiraiya to Sirius, who died defending her and lived a real hell for years to support her, instead of fleeing the country never to return.
Jiraiya had won over her brother using a jutsu of their father as a gift. That had been enough for Naruto, but not for her because she saw that action for what it was. A crude and insubstantial attempt to connect with the son of his student. She knew because he hadn't tried it with her since both knew that Seina couldn't be bought as easily as Naruto, who was eleven years old both physically and mentally.
"Do you know why it's impossible for me to accept you just like that?" she said before going to the bathroom to change clothes for sleeping. "Because while you were out there, probably spying and sleeping with women and writing trashy porn books, my brother and I were surviving alone in Konoha. Our parents chose you to take care of us in case they weren't there, and when it came time for you to do so, you didn't measure up. Why the hell did you accept being our godfather, then?"
She went to sleep on her futon, turning her back on Jiraiya, who was sitting on his futon next to her. She cast a spell around her space just in case, even though she knew he wouldn't stoop so low as to touch her, and ignored him. She didn't even remove her weapons or her pouch. She didn't trust him or feel safe with him. She didn't give a shit if he realized it.