*Crack!*
Rock Lee watched on the edge of his seat as Neji was kicked into the wall. His mouth was opened in shock.
"Guy sensei, that doesn't look good..."
"No, Lee. No it's not."
He picked up Saul and jumped directly down into the arena. Hinata ran to them, looking as if she was about to cry. The curse marks were still present all over her body, all over her skin.
"Saul-kun, you have to save Neji! Please! I-I didn't mean to-"
"It's alright Hinata, calm down. Freaking out won't change anything; I'll handle this."
Saul body flickered over to Neji and immediately formed hand seals for the mystical palm. Time was of the essence. Glancing back, he now saw Hiashi in the arena too, talking with Guy.
Pressing the Medical Ninjutsu into his chest, he realized the true extent of the damage. His right arm was broken, probably from Hinata's first attack. His left arm was completely pulverized, parts of the bone had shot out from his arm and pierced into his chest.
Neji had fainted, bleeding profusely and struggling unconsciously from the pain. While writhing in agony, he moved his arm and the bone pierced just a little deeper. The man cried out in pain.
"GUY-SENSEI! I NEED YOUR HELP!!!"
The man was right next to him in an instant. "Hold him still, please. He's hurting himself."
Might Guy grabbed onto his arm with a grim expression, preventing the Hyuuga clan genius from moving.
"What's your assessment, Saul? Will he live?"
Saul was completely silent. The more he inspected, the more injuries he discovered. Neji's shattered ribs had sent bone fragments scattered all throughout his organs. Three days ago, these kind of injuries Saul could do nothing about. Now though... There was at least a chance.
Unlike when he used the Delicate Illness extraction technique, Saul could not risk attempting the Chakra scalpel for the first time on Neji. The man was already on death's door, one wrong move and he'd send him to hell.
Saul just started with what he knew how to do first. He stopped the excessive internal bleeding, healed the damaged tissue surrounding and in-between the organs, and worked on restoring the blood Neji had lost. He was just buying time, however.
New wounds opened up from the bone fragments inside with each beat of the man's heart. The bone from Neji's arm cut directly into his lung. Suddenly, the man stopped breathing. Shit.
"Guy Sensei. I need you to pull his arm out of his chest. Now."
Guy obliged. Hearing the urgency in Saul's tone, he ripped the bone, arm, literally everything out of Neji's chest. Blood spurted out in small spurts, like a playful child messing with a school water fountain.
Saul had no idea how to restore a lung. The blood was getting everywhere as he desperately tried to recall the one book Nono mentioned to him. The connection between body and spirit. She had recommended him to read that one first, and he did. Saul still didn't get anything from it, but... For Neji, it was already do or die. Saul had no choice but to take the risk.
Within the body's Chakra was an intangible blueprint. A soul of some sorts that could become manifest using Jutsu like the Mind-Body Switch technique. Unlike most other Genjutsu, this technique did not use a small amount of chakra to take over the opponent's will. Instead it launched the entire body's chakra at once to take over its target's body temporarily, forcibly.
Due to lacking a bridge, the technique was slow, inefficient, and risky. Even if you took over your opponent's body, you still had to defeat them in a contest of will. Otherwise they'd take back control from you, and you risked dying permanently. But wait, if the connection between body and spirit was made manifest through Genjutsu, then...
How had he been so foolish all along!? Even though the book didn't say it, this was exactly like Genjutsu! The path was different, but the destination was the same! He formed two other clones and they also placed down the medical palm onto Neji. All three worked in tandem.
The key principle of the Mind Body palm was to send chakra into the body that stealthily infiltrated the body, then formed a connection with the chakra in the mind. Influencing it in a way that allowed a portion of the user's consciousness into their target. This did not help him much at the moment because it did not interact with the chakra of the body.
Neji's spirit lay before him, fully whole and healed as if he had never been harmed in the first place. Saul could not 'technically' see it, but he could feel it. His chakra could feel it.
He weaved the body back together in strands where it was broken. Neji's lungs were restored, just as they were. Then his organs, rib-cage, chest. Saul moved on to try and heal his pulverized arm, but...
The new world he once saw laid before him vanished like smoke. A Jonin had grabbed his shoulder, shaking Saul out of his trance.
"That's enough. The matches must continue." *Cough, cough* "Do you understand, Genin Saul?"
Saul felt an irrational surge of anger at the Jonin who stopped him, Hayate Gekko. The only reason this blundering oaf was alive right now was a direct result of his actions! And now, he interrupted a moment of insight that had felt just as valuable as his last few months of medical practice!
Kurenai, who had also come down to see what was going on, noticed Saul's expression. She placed a hand on his shoulder, while Guy lifted Neji up like a corpse over his back. Hyuuga Hiashi wasn't present any longer - he most likely went to the hospital directly to receive aid.
"It's ok Saul, you did your best." Kurenai consoled, "Neji is not breathing anymore. Let them continue the exams."
Not breathing!? No, wait, that couldn't be right. Saul had fully restored his lungs and kept the man alive the entire time during his treatment!
Saul pulled past Kurenai's hand with a strength that even surprised the female Jonin and rushed towards Guy. He did the only thing he could think of at the moment, which was to slap Neji on the back.
The Hyuuga clan ninja coughed up a mouthful of blood. He started wheezing from the shock and the position, causing both Guy and Kurenai to stare at him with wide eyes. The reason he hadn't been breathing was the pool up of blood in his lungs - they were otherwise completely functional. His slap forced the blood out, allowing Neji to breath again.
"Don't just stand there! Carry him properly! And make sure to keep his head raised up above his chest! He might still be bleeding internally, so you have to make sure no more blood gets into his lungs!"
Guy hurriedly turned it into a princess carry, eyes streaming tears.
"Meet me outside. I'll do whatever I can before we send him to the Hospital."
Saul did not have much Chakra left, and he was unwilling to expose his ability to rejuvenate his chakra reserve through Karin for now. Instead he stabilized Neji's condition as much as he could with his remaining chakra, and then sent Guy off to bring Neji to the hospital.
Even though Neji's life was no longer in danger for now, Saul still hadn't been able to do anything about the bone fragments scattered within his body. Over time his body would deteriorate again, and his life would be in danger. Someone needed to remove the bone fragments. It could not be him... Not yet, anyway.
Author's Note: Alright, surprise chapter before I go to work! I happened to wake up early, so I proofread this one early for you all. I wanted to ask though, how did everyone find the fight between Hinata and Neji? The buildup for the battle. And the result of it? I've been envisioning something like this for a while, and I worked really hard on it. Thus I think I'd get the most valuable feedback towards improving as a writer from something like this. What do you all think? Be honest lol.
If you want to reach me faster than something like comments, the link to the discord is here: discord gg YwperMGsBq ("." before gg and "/" after gg, no spaces)
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