Yu no Kuni (Land of Hot Springs)
At the base of the cliff outside the Jashin Cult Headquarters.
The cliffside was scarred, covered in spiderweb-like fissures. Jagged rocks hung precariously from the walls, swaying in the wind. Mei Terumī cradled the battle-worn Ren Uchiha, her eyes fixed anxiously on Shinno, who was examining the boy.
"How... how is he?"
Shinno frowned, his fingers glowing with a blue Chakra Scalpel. Ominously, he sliced through several meridian points on Ren's body—not like a doctor treating a patient, but like a scientist dissecting a lab rat. After a moment, he clicked his tongue, his frown deepening.
"Say something! Can he be saved?" Mei asked urgently.
Shinno took a deep breath, looked up with an annoyed expression, and said flatly: "As you can see, he's dead."
"What? How... how can that be?" Mei's heart sank, panic flaring in her chest.
"What? It's normal for people to die in the shinobi world, isn't it? Or is he someone special to you?" Shinno glanced at her expression and sneered. "If I remember correctly, you haven't even known each other for a full day, right?"
Mei bit her lip, looking at the boy's face, her eyes flickering. Shinno was right. Before yesterday, she had never seen him, didn't know his name, his face, or his character—let alone his ambitious ideals.
But this boy...
He had flipped the table at the "Holy Meal" and fought for justice.
He had proclaimed his ninja way and ambition under the moonlight.
And in that final moment before dawn, he had become a silhouette of fire, whirling down with a giant flame sword.
Like a startled swan, like a soaring dragon!
The name Ren Uchiha was now etched into the young girl's heart in a way she couldn't ignore. She couldn't accept that such a brilliant boy's story would end here. In her mind, he should have walked toward the dawn and met her again on the battlefield.
But is this where it ends? Mei felt a suffocating tightness in her chest.
"Tch, stop looking like it's a funeral," Shinno shook his head and suddenly spoke. "He can still be saved."
Mei looked up in shock. "But you just said he was dead!"
"I said he was dead, I didn't say I couldn't save him." Shinno crouched closer, his fingers glowing with the scalpel again. Then, to Mei's horror, he sliced open Ren's chest, revealing a heart that looked like charred coal but was still stubbornly twitching.
"Look at this kid... he's a freak!" Shinno marveled, pointing at the writhing granulating tissue. "I've never seen anyone with such a powerful combat will. Even though he's technically 'dead,' his body is still craving battle! It's even maintaining my forbidden jutsu, Physical Rebirth."
"He's a god-sent man!"
"And look at this—" Shinno plucked a wriggling black thread from the bloody chest. "This is Takigakure's secret technique, Earth Grudge Fear Stitching. It perfectly stitched his blood vessels, preventing total blood loss. Combined with Physical Rebirth constantly producing new blood... these two techniques, driven by his body's survival instinct, are temporarily acting as his heart."
"It's haunting... how did his single-tomoe Sharingan manage to learn two forbidden jutsus just by seeing them?"
Shinno couldn't understand it, so he simply shook his head and offered the solution. "He just needs a new heart. Then he'll live."
Mei's face was pale. Even in the cold, murderous environment of Kirigakure, seeing Shinno casually "chatting" while digging through a person's chest made her scalp tingle.
"But... where can we find a matching heart in a place like this?" she asked, trembling.
Shinno thought for a second, stood up, and rummaged through a nearby pile of rubble. He tossed massive boulders around like toys until he dragged out a black-threaded monster. It was the Earth-style mask-creature Ren had slammed into the cliff earlier.
Shinno crushed the mask with his bare hands and pulled out a heart wrapped in black threads. "There's a spare right here."
He figured that since the Takigakure rogue Kakuzu had a heart in every mask, and since Ren already had those black threads in his body... it should work, right? The "barefoot doctor" of the shinobi world, Shinno, decided to give it a go.
Shinno stuffed the heart into Ren's chest and activated Mystical Palm Technique, his hands glowing green. Then, he looked at Mei with a deadpan expression. "I can save him, but I need your help."
"Me?" Mei blinked, pointing at herself. "What can I do? I don't know medical ninjutsu, I—"
Shinno silenced her with a cold, weary look. "Can you blow air?"
Mei nodded dumbly.
"Can you pinch a nose?"
Mei nodded again.
"Can you kiss?" Shinno asked.
Mei instinctively nodded, but then her face turned bright red, and steam practically hissed from her head. "Wh-what did you say?! Kissing?! I don't know what you mean by that!"
Shinno stared at her blankly. "Looks like you know. Good. You've mastered 'Artificial Respiration.' Lift his chin, pinch his nose, take a deep breath, and blow."
"Two breaths per round, 1 to 1.5 seconds each. Blow until his chest rises, then release the nose. Look up, take a breath, and repeat. Keep a rhythm, about 20 times a minute."
Mei was stunned. "Wait, once isn't enough? Twenty times a minute?" She swallowed hard, looking at Ren's sleeping profile. Her face was as red as the dawn sky.
Shinno tilted his head. "Any problem? You'll need to keep this rhythm for at least half an hour. In his condition, maybe an hour. You want to do it? If not, we'll just leave him here to rot."
Mei jumped. "I'll... I'll do it!" she blurted out, biting her lip. He had saved her without hesitation; how could she not return the favor?
In her mind, her "inner self" was frantically doing the math: 20 times a minute, for 30 minutes, that's 600 times... if it's an hour, that's 1,200 times! I have to kiss him 1,200 times?!
Shinno coughed, a hint of mischief hidden in his cold eyes. "Ready? Here we go!"
He slammed his glowing green palms onto Ren's chest.
"Wait, what? Already?!" Mei panicked. She tucked her auburn hair behind her ear, took a deep breath, and lifted Ren's chin with her slender fingers.
The red sun rose. The light passed through her red hair and her eyes, making her look like a seraphim bathed in holy light.
And then, she pressed her lips against Ren's.
"Haaa..."