"Farewell, Dmitry Grom!" That was the first thing I thought when I came to and my brain normalized. And a minute later, the second thought burst out: "Ichiro Hyuga, congratulations! You got fucked. And they did it beautifully, with Sharingan and a goddamn bijuudama. Too bad the bonus of past life memories nearly killed me. (Recurrence, as usual—sudden; in an emergency, ... let's say, traumatic brain situation). But looks like I survived, didn't go nuts, and plus I'm relatively intact!"
"Whew. Poor mind of mine. (It's precisely in moments like these you realize, ... how damn lucky you are, on the contrary)!"
I couldn't afford further reflection, since I'd already lain unconscious for more than a couple hours, minimum. Had to activate Byakugan again, pull myself out from under the clanmates and civilians corpses, then hiss curses while sorting the current situation. And the situation was not simple... even emergency, extremely dangerous.
A Nine-Tails demon fox attacked Konohagakure no Sato.
I—Ichiro Hyuga, as a tokubetsu jonin and iryonin B+ rank—evacuated, escorting civilian scholars to the bunker from the northern laboratory. But no luck! And it all went per the worst scenario! The Nine-Tails spat a bijuudama and it blew up right next to us. The shelter caved in, crumpled, and collapsed to minus second floor. The entrance was buried by the northern base of the Hokage Rock ridge.
"Hell of Jigoku!" My lips mumbled, piecing together the situation, and trembled from nervous breakdown. "Over a hundred people smeared against the rocks like... like Mosubaaga's toast."
"Minato—bastard! Killed so many great scholars! Couldn't teleport the bijuudama anywhere else? Anywhere... your mother's anywhere! Except Konoha! I always knew you hated scholars, freak. And you showed your true face—scum! Saved Konoha—and got rid of smart people. Two birds with one stone. Bitch. And you can't prove otherwise now. Bijuudama."
Alright, Ichiro Hyuga, pull yourself together! Emotions—death.
Quickly double-checking no survivors remained, and that I was locked under a mass of earth, I began diagnosing my condition. And so. Activate Byakugan and start realizing the grim list, in descending order, of many dangerous, varied injuries.
Diagnosis one—category-A danger: Concussion, scalp damage with loss of right eye and lower jaw fracture. Next. Diagnosis two—category-B danger: Burns—first, plus second degree; Back, left arm and leg. Add here, with a stretch, but can include the next (lowered category-B list): Dislocated right ankle, and right above, torn gastrocnemius muscle. And for the finale: Non-displaced fracture; Second right and two false ribs; Plus, severe contusions of the chest.
"Primary examination complete." Apparently out of habit, I said it aloud, while glaring upward with distaste. From there came a pressing background of powerful chakra.
Yeah, Kyuubi gave me a nice caress, didn't spare strength on the Ten-Tails spawn, but... I should live and won't even stay a cripple. I've wriggled out of worse scrapes. Main thing—enough chakra for the craniocerebral injuries. Back and left wrist—second priority. Well then—hajime, let's begin...
With techniques: "Pain Relief," "Mystic Palm," and such, I healed the scalp; whining, cleaned the eye socket; and with relief spat out nine teeth, meanwhile reducing tongue swelling and fusing the jaw. Spent unacceptably much time on this—an hour, plus another twenty minutes; chakra licked away like a cow with tongue—twenty percent down. Hissing and cursing Kyuubi and Minato, burned another approximate ten percent on left wrist and forearm. Then, time to think... do calculations and choose well.
And so. What do I have right now? Oxygen in the room is plentiful for now. That's a plus. I'm in the northern shelter, minus second, and the collapse is massive with chakra-radiating trees above. Alas, big minus. Byakugan from here sees the forest surface in patches of small spots. Minus again. Now positive: Shelter remnants holding by Rikudo's grace. Good. Next—chakra: Total reserve, accounting for recent expenditures—nearly seventy percent left. From all this, one clear conclusion: Gotta risk in the collapse environment and create such an energy-hungry jutsu.
"Alright." I began warming my chakra circulation system core for perfect control of the outburst, to avoid side chakra expenditures. "Let me spend half the reserve on 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu' and create just one clone! But! Can't leave the back untreated, for many reasons, same for gastrocnemius. Ribs—fuck 'em, residual principle. And also... yes! Most important! Eyes! Byakugan! I won't let them go to waste."
And so, begin: 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu' (Shadow Clone Technique): In an instant, with a Poof sound, a shadow clone appeared. After which, we both sorrowfully turned our gazes to relatives. Mitsuki and Yuko Hyuga. Cousin brother, true good guy and great friend, and third cousin sister—fiancée! My love! Was. Were.
Brother Mitsu, you were a loyal and understanding friend, and also the worthiest Hyuga. Sister Yuko, safe journey to the Pure Land. From now on, you can see our family through me, with your right eye. My love, at least this way, now you'll always be with me. Thank you, darling, and wait for me in the Pure Land. Don't worry—brother, sister: Today I'll tell your parents and; your younger; brother Ryu and sister Yuki, support them, accept and atone all consequences before the clan and your families. And now, forgive me, my time is running out fast.
Together with the shadow clone, we finally transplanted the right eye, patched the back with second rib, and on the remnants of the 'Kage Bunshin' reserve reset the ankle dislocation with its healing. Brother's Byakugan and Yuko's left eye, I extracted myself, placing them in a conservation container from my personal field kit. Today many in the clan might need eyes. Hyuga is a big family. We must care for each other. For the clan. And Konoha... enough honor from the dead! Helping idiots for free is dangerous, especially at the expense of your own clan (Itachi will confirm), family, kin, and life with career.
Alright, wrap up local business, then... looting, and surface with profit. Iryonins' reputation now and next days—worth its weight in gold. Can't miss this moment.
Finished treatment, quickly inspected lab collapses for surviving useful stuff. Storage scrolls, accumulator seals, microscopes, blood transfusion apparatus. (Also took for beloved Konoha valuable archive remnants). Second, sealed clan corpses with kekkei genkai, bosses' bodies and relatively intact ones. And last, looted "unaccounted" cash.
Finally, somehow sorting lab affairs, I craned my head up and through clenched teeth heavily exhaled.
Eh. Gotta spend chakra with triple overrun again. Alas! Nothing to do here. Good thing mom's ancestors prominently featured Uzumaki, bow to her to the ground and thanks for understanding the "blood inheritance price of Hyuga." Wisdom of Sengoku Jidai era.
Alright, to biju thoughts unrelated to business. Let's go.
"Earth Release Technique: 'Mole Underground Swimming.'"
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Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: patreon.com/Granulan