For the following days, Satou Claire remained dormant under the care of Konoha's hospital staff.
The temperature was originally 39.5, but with each passing day, it relented slightly.
39.4.
Then 39.3.
A day later, 39.1, and so on.
Isamu was truly impressed with her. He had thought it would take longer than expected, but it seemed he was right on the money. By the sixth day, her temperature had fallen to 38°C, and from there, it didn't seem like it would go down any further.
And yet, the girl seemed perfectly normal once more. Her complexion regained its color, her breathing settled into a steady, normal pace. She was practically sleeping with no problem at all! To anyone else, it would've looked like a full recovery.
It was strange, because an ordinary patient should have returned to a temperature somewhere between 36.5°C and 37.5°C. Any higher than that was a sign of lingering infection or inflammation.
But, Satou Claire... it was as if her own body decided by itself that in order to adapt to such a sudden phenomenon, it would be best to maintain the higher temperature.
His team did monthly check-ups on a number of orphanages around Konoha, and Hinode Orphanage was one of them.
Her average heart rate showed to be 115, and it rose to 130 ever since the incident.
Generally, such numbers would point toward stress on the cardiovascular system. A physician would never ignore that.
Somehow, though, somehow... her blood pressure remained stable, and the oxygen saturation, same as always. It was as if her body redefined this as the new baseline, setting its own standards.
Isamu scrutinized the monitor, writing the results down.
"Fascinating. If any other child came in with this data, I would've asked to keep them under observation for just a few more weeks," he murmured with faint disappointment in his voice. "Since it's Lady Hoshino's star child, I unfortunately cannot make an exception for this case. She'll likely refuse if I ask her to let Claire stay in the hospital any longer. Perhaps, I should—"
Then, the girl's eyes, for the first time in days...
Fluttered open.
A gasp escaped her lips as she blinked rapidly, turning her head to scan the room she was currently in.
'...Where am I?'
"Well, look who just decided to wake up from their slumber," Isamu teased, glancing from his notes. "How are you feeling, Satou Claire?"
The girl looked at the man. She didn't recognize him, but assumed he was some sort of doctor, given the room she was in. She noted that IV tubes were connected to her, and some kind of beeping machine was monitoring her.
'…Guess it really did get serious enough,' she thought with a mental grimace. 'I expected it to affect me severely, but not to the point of being dragged to an actual hospital.'
"I feel... okay-ish. How long have I been out?"
"Around seven days, give or take."
This simple statement shocked Claire to her very core, and she panicked internally.
'H-Holy crap. Seven whole days? That's an entire week! How did it even get that bad?! Reincarnation is no joke!'
Then, a low rumble was heard. Specifically, it came from her stomach.
Her face very quickly flushed red like a tomato.
"Ah, do not worry," Isamu said with a nod in an attempt to reassure her. "That reaction is perfectly normal—after all, it is only a matter of time the body will tell you that it needs food, especially considering that you've only been feeding off that little water bag over there."
That did not help at all, much to Claire's embarassment.
In fact, it probably made it worse!
////
'...At least the soup is good. I haven't been hospitalized ever since that time I got an head injury in Kendo. Back then, I was like... 14? 15? Wait, no. Actually, yes, I was 14 when that happened. I was out for, I don't know, maybe a day? Definitely a day. Compared to it, seven days is absolutely insane.'
Claire happily slurped on the soup provided by the staff. It was easy on the stomach, and obviously better than whatever stuff was in the bag of water connected to her.
'Strangely enough, I really do feel alright. Warmer than normal, but fine nonetheless. Oddly calm, too.'
It was weird. She'd just woken up in an hospital bed moments ago, because life decided it would be a good idea to screw her over not even on the first day of her... awakening?
That didn't feel right, for some reason. It was more like suddenly receiving the memories of a life she didn't—or did—live. As far as she knew, she was still herself, and loved her family and friends the same way she always had.
She sighed.
'Either way, I have more things to worry about thanks to... whatever happened just now. More importantly, the academy. How much time do I have left to prepare? I don't want to fail. I want to become a nin—'
Then, it clicked.
It should've clicked a long time ago, honestly. It was that obvious.
'How could I not tell? Ninjas, chakra, elements... That's Naruto. I most likely couldn't tell because of the little clarity I had thanks to the mind-numbing pain I woke up with. Hell,' she looked outside the window, taking notice of a certain tower, and behind it, a mountain with four faces carved into it. 'That has to be an even clearer sign. I'm in motherfucking Naruto, of all places!'
She almost laughed at herself. How could she be so oblivious?
It all made sense now!
'That slick damn goddess—throwing me into a world like this. I'm not exactly complaining, but after I graduate, everything is going to become a lot more dangerous. Which is why...'
'I've got to start preparing, as soon as possible.'
The reflection of her own image in the soup gazed right back. Sharp, scarlet crimson eyes stared back at her.
///
Claire spent three more days in the hospital, and during this time, her body very quickly adjusted to a normal diet once more.
Of course, she had almost been crushed to death by the matron during the very first hour of her waking up. It was natural—Hoshino cared for them as if they were her own children.
Luckily, Claire survived. Throughout her time here, she noted that her motor skills had slightly improved, and felt as if both of her hands responded as smoothly as the other. Ambidexterity? It was a wild theory, but plausible.
Her right hand used to be the dominant one, and she had a far easier time using it to hold chopsticks or even write. Now, though... her left hand held the exact same efficiency as her right.
This was huge, because if her theory was right, that meant she could easily dominate when it came to Shurikenjutsu or wielding weapons! Dual wielding! Three sword style—okay, maybe that's a little too far-fetched. And definitely not practical.
She wouldn't imagine herself fighting with a sword in her mouth. That would be ridiculous.
Still though, the possibilities were mind-boggling. Whenever you swing a sword, the dominant one is usually responsible for guiding the swing, while the other provided most of the power. With both being equally skilled, she could do so much. Better blade alignment, less fatigue and fewer wasted movements...
Yeah, that sounded good.
Until you added in the fact that she didn't own even a singular bokken, couldn't yet use chakra, and she wasn't even sure if they would provide Kenjutsu classes in the Academy.
Maybe muscle memory would suffice? She did live for the blade, after all. It would definitely take quite a bit of tweaking, considering the sudden change in height and weight, but it should be doable. The motions, the flow, the forms, all of it would be done with practice, in order to regain the mastery she once had.
For now, getting a wooden sword was going to be her main goal.
Oh, the academy too. That was important, she guessed.
Time passed by, and by the fourth day, after running some final tests on her, Satou Claire was finally allowed to take her leave.
Freedom, at last!
-------------------
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