Edge of Failure
Soon they arrived in front of a hole in the ground, Shirohi cut the string connecting him to the three "Go ahead I'll block off the entrance, keep the string around your waist in case something happens." Minato asked "What could go wrong if only the elders knew we came here, aside from the Anbu…" Shirohi shook his head "And to think you're the disciple of Konoha's Spymaster," Minato frowned but didn't argue, As the three walked down the dugout passage Jirayia couldn't help but be amazed… how far had this kid thought ahead? Digging by hand to assure no chakra lingered was a great idea to fool sensors, heh it is a good idea…
While Jirayia was stuck in his own world of misunderstandings, they arrived in a small dome room with a hole in the top to let in light and fresh air. The light shined directly down onto a table with a clean white sheet, "Lay him down on the table, once Shirohi arrives we can start," Tsunade was quiet and polite a far contrast to how Jirayia remembered her, Tsunade sent a smile to Kushina who beamed in response internally gushing Kushina returned a smile much larger in comparison.
Soon Shirohi appeared next to Tsunade, he was dressed in a long black hooded cloak and a silver featureless mask. Kushina instantly reached towards her kunai pouch but Minato hurriedly stopped her whispering into her ear "That's Ginkamen, Shirohi's Merc identity" Kushina let out a relieved sigh muttering an embarrassed "Oh…"
Tsuande turned towards Ginkamen, "Let begin," Ginkamen nodded unsealing 4 large empty buckets and two filled with purified water… Tsunade was trembling as she held a scalpel in her hand, her mind filled with fear at just the thought of blood but as Shizune's hand clasped her own she calmed as Shizune calmly spoke "I'll prepare the incisions and wipe them clear of blood," Tsuande could only nod, she felt as if there was a knot in her throat and the urge to puke crossed her mind.
As Shizune made a small incision on the Carotid, Subclavian, Femoral, and Brachial arteries she quickly wiped them with blood and removed a few slips of paper from a scroll, 'slapping' the seal above the incisions to slow the blood flow she quickly cleaned up the cuts and stepped back sending a comforting smile towards Tsunade.
Shirohi snapped his head towards the entrance, flickering past Jirayia he muttered "Company…'' Jirayia frowned as he whispered orders "Minato follow him, provide support as you see fit," Minato gave a stiff nod before cutting the string and disappearing with a flash, Jirayia then turned towards Tsunade but Shizune stopped him from speaking, she already had enough on her mind and looked hard for her to focus anymore and all this would've been for nothing…
Tsunade placed her hands around one of the incisions, her hands slowly becoming more steady as she controlled her breathing. Shizune was looking towards her with some worry but there was a confident smile on her face as if Tsuande couldn't fail, as if it was something that never crossed her mind. This brought a sense of calmness to Tsunade which she needed with a final deep breath Tsuande dipped in hand into the purified water the other hovering over the wound…
Ginkamen was crouching next to the trap door he fastened from woven grass, if whoever tripped his detection seals just passed by Ginkamen wasn't going to give away their position, however a flash followed by a soft crack of thunder caused him to groan as he glared at the blond-haired youth but instead of speaking his peace only worsening their situation he turned his gaze through the small gaps in the woven grass finding an Anbu crouched down rubbing some dirt between his finger, slowly the Anbu's gaze rose and Ginkamen felt as if there eyes meet.
Instantly brusting out from his position, gesturing Minato to the flank while throwing a handful of shuriken, the Anbu backpedalled and deflected shuriken during his retreat. Minato appeared next to him with a flash catching the Anbu's arm with a Kunai, before Minato could continue in his assault Shirohi appeared from behind the Anbu digging a Kunai into his shoulder.
"F*ck, fu*k, fuc*, *uck" After being stuck on the defensive for too long the Anbu who knew his end was coming yelled out as the surroundings became ominously quiet "For My LORD!" His body instantly began to swell, Shirohi kicked off the body sending it tumbling through the grass but like a rabid animal it sprang back up and sprinted towards them. Lost as to what to do Shirohi began leading him away from their makeshift hospital, but Minato pulled out a slip of paper. The seal written on it was far beyond Shirohi, even with just a glance he felt his head hurt from the multitude of connecting seals that make the Intermediate Seals he's trying to learn seem like a child's drawings.
To his surprise Minato ripped the seal as it brightly glowed, an influx of chakra pouring into Minato as he made a single hand seal, the loud crack of Thunder followed before a deafening explosion sounded out in the distance. Shirohi turned his widened eyes to Minato, too think he could displace others as well… However, the majority of his curiosity was in the seal Minato had used. Helping the haggard Minato to his feet, Shirohi randomly threw out more detection seals before returning to the makeshift hospital. There was no point in searching for the man's identity or a hint to the identity of his lord as the explosion would have erased any hint of the Anbu's body, as he returned to the dome he saw two bucket filled with poison saturated blood diluted with water.
While normally blood would not be pulled out alongside the poison, the properties of the posion caused the muscles to regress and the blood to conjugate(?) solidifying the poison inside of the affected blood forcing Tsuande on the edge of a mental breakdown but somehow she was able to hold on all this time, this poison wasn't something she had seen in Suna… Poison like this was a speciality of a singular person, "Orochi… what did you do…" Jirayia instantly became attentive to the mention of his former friend and teammate being involved, he knew Orochimaru was dark and in some bad circles but to poison their own Sensei, no maybe he wasn't directly involved right, surely he wouldn't…