Tsukasa Kaede calmly assisted Morino Isuke, placing one hand on Tobidake Tonbō's forehead, pale blue chakra blooming from his palm.
"...It's you..." Tonbō murmured weakly.
"You know him?" asked Isuke, casually donning surgical gloves with practiced precision.
"Yeah. We were assigned together once, about two months ago."
"Then you should understand what must be done. He might've overheard parts of our earlier conversation. When the moment comes, don't hesitate. That's the minimum standard for any shinobi worth the name."
Isuke fastened his protective gear with meticulous care.
Tonbō tried to resist, but his body refused to respond. Despair flooded his face—not just from the agony of impending death, but from a deeper collapse of everything he believed in.
This… was Konohagakure? This was what Leaf shinobi did? Was this the outcome of all his struggles, his battles, the blood spilled for the village?
Yes. It was all real.
"Tobidake Tonbō… welcome to the shadow beneath the flourishing Tree of Fire. The sunlight doesn't reach here. This is the real Konoha."
And this was still considered the "softer" era.
After all, it was only the late Second Shinobi War. Desperate times meant extreme measures could still be rationalized.
Once the war ended and the brief peacetime between the Second and Third Wars began, what Konoha would do—sanctioned or outright commanded by Hiruzen Sarutobi himself—would make this look merciful by comparison.
Not until the age of Naruto and Sasuke would the village's ethos begin to shift. For the first time since Hashirama, true sunlight would spread through every corner, casting out the twisted remnants of a once-noble Will of Fire.
"I'm sorry," Kaede said quietly. "Your fate was sealed the moment you arrived. It's an order from above. I don't have the right to disobey. If I don't do this, someone else will. But if I do it, maybe I can spare you some of the pain."
The dust of history crushes individuals like mountains—and in the shinobi world, the crushing is mercilessly literal.
All this suffering, all this dissection of a fellow comrade's still-living body… just to glean data on Sunagakure's poison, so Lady Tsunade could save others.
That alone made this a B-rank mission. Supporting Tsunade in developing the antidote? A-rank, maybe even S-rank, depending on the context.
S-rank missions weren't casual—they meant confronting jōnin, or even Kage-level threats. But what if that same risk was embodied in a biochemical hazard?
"Sunagakure," Kaede murmured, "I heard they're masters of poisons—especially their puppet-nin."
Isuke nodded. "You never want to cross a Suna shinobi. The Land of Wind is the weakest of the Five Great Nations economically. Sunagakure has always been underfunded. To make up for that lack of numbers, they rely on lethal toxins. And each new poison they create… means more of our comrades die before we can synthesize an antidote."
Creating an antidote took time. It took lives.
Without live victims to study, how could Konoha confirm that Suna had deployed a new poison?
Without casualties to observe and analyze, how could med-nin like Tsunade reduce research time?
What, were they supposed to put Tsunade herself on the frontlines, face-to-face with every new strain of poison? That was impossible—Konoha only had one Tsunade.
In the eyes of the higher-ups, sacrificing a mediocre shinobi like Tonbō to save hundreds of others was a worthy trade.
In the end, some major strategic decision—approved at the top—might have depended on data gathered here, in this shadowy little autopsy room, by Tsukasa Kaede and others like him.
"All right. I'm starting now."
Kaede let his chakra thread into Tonbō's dying brain. He stared at the shinobi who had once fought beside him. Light faded from Tonbō's eyes. The lids fluttered closed.
A moment later, the corpse's eyelids twitched. The mouth emitted a swan-song rasp—guttural, broken.
One technician jumped. "Wha—? Is that part of the toxin's effects? I thought it numbed the nerves, not agitated them."
Isuke narrowed his eyes at Kaede. "This isn't the time to test out your Dead Soul Jutsu. Even if you are capable of improving and modifying it, this body is critical."
Kaede remained calm. "The nerves might not be fully necrotized. That response could be a natural spasm. I said I'd ease his pain—this is one of the only ways I can. Mercy... is a luxury here."
With practiced hands, Kaede threaded his chakra like a surgeon, pretending to prepare the Dead Soul Jutsu—a cover for Root, for Isuke, for the others.
Then he picked up the scalpel and made the first precise incision across the chest.
Everyone else moved into place. One jōnin-level medic-nin began recording, compiling every detail into a coherent, digestible report—one that could eventually land on Tsunade's desk.
The surgical lamp bathed Tonbō's corpse in cold light. Kaede's gloved fingers ran along the dark purple pockmarks on his neck. Viscous black blood dripped into glass dishes, sizzling on contact.
"This poison… it's a cocktail. An elegant, perfectly balanced mixture of multiple toxins. Definitely the work of someone like Chiyo, Ebizō, or the Third Kazekage."
Isuke carefully lifted a slough of necrotized liver. The tissue fluids corroded the steel forceps with microscopic etches. "It attacks glands first. Salivary glands swell. Tear ducts dry up—like a snake's husk after three days in the sun."
Kaede's scalpel carved open the thoracic cavity. Cotton-like black threads spilled from the lungs.
Not standard necrosis.
The poison was transforming internal organs into fibrous cocoons.
Kaede smeared some of the blood onto a slide, examined it under a microscope. The cells had shriveled into pupae, caught in something like spider silk. The chakra pathways shimmered with unnatural hues.
"Primarily neurotoxin. Laced with microscopic mineral sand crystals."
He sliced off a sliver of the heart. Another medic jotted rapid notes.
Everyone in the room was a professional. The dissection was swift, clean, efficient.
Minutes later, the compiled report was handed to the Root agents—who would pass it to the appropriate department.
Before long, it would be in Tsunade's hands.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
300 Stones in this story = 1 Bonus chapter in every fanfic currently translated