155 What are they?

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Edited by FlickHero (Writer of Naruto Hikikaeru) and MoaningFrodo

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BLERGH! Shin coughed a mouthful of blood onto Hinata's face.

Bam!

Shin's upper body fell back into its resting position again. This time, however, it ended up falling back lifelessly.

Hinata and everyone else in the room were shocked.

Hinata slowly wiped the blood away from her face and stared at her hand.

"B-Blood…" Hinata mumbled, following which she passed out.

"HINATA!" Tsunade felt horrible over what she did.

Tsunade immediately held Hinata before she could fall to the floor.

However, there was someone who was more flustered than her - Karin.

"HINATA!" Karin immediately wiped the blood off of Hinata's face.

Meanwhile, Sakura and Ino could barely watch the scene, especially after Shin passed away right in from of their eyes.

Sakura's knees gave up as she fell onto the floor; meanwhile, Ino lowered herself beside Sakura and hugged her tightly.

"It can't be…" Sakura mumbled as tears started to flow out of her eyes.

This was the first time a person passed away in front of their eyes.

Not to mention, the pressure that they felt was even more since they were supposed to preserve lives as a medical ninja and not take one.

At this moment, Sakura looked at Hinata.

What kind of pressure must she have gone through when she was the one forced into a dead end by Tsunade to treat Shin?

However, that was not the only thing that took place.

Even Shin had begged her to do it. Except that in his case, it seemed more like he was pleading for death.

"It's all my fault…" Tsunade looked at Hinata.

Hinata was not one who could take strong emotions on so smoothly. Despite having the experience from Naruto's memories, the fact remained that she had yet to experience these things personally in reality.

It was like watching a movie, you know things from the perspective of a bystander, but she couldn't completely feel the pressure or the gravity of the events that took place in the past.

All she did was see the memories as they played past her.

Tsunade lifted Hinata.

Tobirama, however, stared silently.

"Looks like the boy wasn't destined to be saved…" Tobirama sighed, following which he looked at Hinata who was unconscious on Tsunade's shoulders.

He only felt pity for Hinata who did her best to assist, even though she was inexperienced.

Tobirama silently left the room.

Karin, however, was furious.

She wanted to release all the pent-up rage she had onto Tsunade, but at the same time, she knew that Tsunade wasn't entirely at fault.

"You three, take the day off. I'll look after Hinata here." Tsunade said.

"What is it, Ino?" Tsunade asked.

"It's nothing…" Ino murmured.

"This happens all the time. Though it might be the first time for you guys, don't let this pull yourselves down. The truth is, that boy did not die because of Hinata." Tsunade said.

"What?" Karin, Sakura, and Ino stared wide-eyed at Tsunade.

"Indeed, the boy's body gave up at the same time she had unleashed it. I may not be able to prove it, but from my experience as a medical ninja I can tell that that's how the boy died." Tsunade said.

"…" Karin, Sakura, and Ino slightly nodded.

However, no matter how Tsunade sugar-coated the news, the reality was bitter indeed.

Shin had died despite their abilities.

"Cancer is incurable. At least that's what I thought until I saw this girl." Tsunade looked at Hinata whom she was holding on to with a gentle gaze.

"It looks like I asked too much of her today." Tsunade sighed.

Ino, Sakura, and Karin looked at each other silently as they nodded. Maybe it was best to leave those two alone...

…

Outside the room.

Tobirama looked at Sai.

"My brother is dead?" Sai asked.

"Yes." Tobirama confirmed, observing Sai's reactions.

About two minutes passed by in silence.

"Don't you feel anything?" Tobirama asked.

"Um… to be honest, I don't know what I should feel now," Sai said emotionlessly.

Tobirama sighed, ("Danzō, you bastard. You finally got what you wanted,") Tobirama thought as he continued to stare at Sai.

A few moments later, Sakura, Ino, and Karin exited the room.

"Do you want to take a look at him?" Tobirama asked as this was his last try to trigger Sai's last remaining emotions.

"Mm!" Sai nodded as the two went into the room.

Ino, Sakura, and Karin looked at Sai who silently entered the room.

"Those two are wearing the same uniform…"

("Could they be related?") Ino thought.

"What is it?" Karin and Sakura asked.

"You guys go on ahead. I just remembered there's something I have to do." Ino said.

"Eh?" Sakura and Karin looked at Ino weirdly.

The two barely had the stomach to continue doing what they did usually, and Ino was just going to walk away?

However, they also thought of a possibility,

"She must be here for him…" Sakura murmured.

"Mm…" Karin silently agreed.

Soon, the two walked out of the building together.

…

Inside the room.

Sai stared at Shin's body.

He still remained clueless on how to react, but he somehow felt something heavy that was clawing at his throat, making it almost impossible to breathe.

Sai brought his right hand over his throat trying to emulate the grasp of the pressure.

("What is this feeling…") Sai thought internally as he looked at Shin.

Tobirama observed Sai's reactions.

("Looks like he can still feel something,") Tobirama thought.

Tsunade however, covered Shin's body with a white cloth.

"…" Sai stared silently at Tsunade.

"You've failed to treat him." Sai said emotionlessly.

"Huh?" Tsunade was pissed. However, she didn't refute the comment.

"Let's Go." Tobirama said.

"Wait." Tsunade called out.

"Huh?" Tobirama looked at Tsunade.

"Send the kid out first." Tsunade said as she turned towards Sai who was staring at Shin's body that laid lifelessly under the white blanket.

…

Outside the room, Sai sat on a chair in the hallway as he did before during the operation with the picture book in his hand, staring at Shin's battle against other people.

"May I sit beside you?" Sai heard a soft voice in front.

He then looked up to see Ino standing in front of him.

"Do what you want." Sai said.

("Mm….") Ino thought for a bit before she slowly sat down beside Sai without complaining.

Ino looked at Sai's book.

("That boy in the book. He's the one who just…") Ino sighed as she looked at the book, before looking up at Sai once again.

"Who is that person?" Ino asked.

"He's my Elder Brother." Sai said emotionlessly.

"Eh?" Ino was confused.

("He didn't cry at all, more like he's just bland…") Ino stared at Sai.

Sai lowered his book to put it back into the pocket.

"Can I see that book?" Ino asked curiously.

"I can't let you see it." Sai said.

"Why?" Ino asked.

"I don't know." Sai said.

"Huh?" Ino stared at Sai.

Sai also felt pretty weird about himself for a moment.

("Why am I being overprotective about this?") Sai thought.

"How could you not know why?" Ino asked.

"It is unfinished. It belongs to my Elder Brother, and I don't want to hand this over to people." Sai said.

"I see…" Ino sighed as she stopped asking Sai to give the book.

Ino then thought back to the pages in the book.

"They weren't printed, those pages in the book…" Ino said.

Sai looked at Ino.

"Did you draw them?" Ino asked.

"Yes, I did." Sai replied monotonously.

…

"Why didn't you cry back there?" Ino asked.

"Huh?" Sai looked at Ino.

"I mean, doesn't your brother's death mean anything to you?" Ino asked.

"…" Sai was silent for a moment before he replied, "I didn't know what kind of look to make back there."

("What?") Ino was completely shocked.

It was one thing to face a patient's death today, but the patient's closest kin didn't even know what to feel for his brother's death?

Could this world by any more insane?

Ino got up and stood in front of Sai.

She held onto his shoulders and looked at him in the eye.

"YOU DIDN'T FEEL ANYTHING FOR YOUR BROTHER?" Ino asked in a firm voice.

("What is with this girl?") Sai stared at Ino.

"It's hard to say... I felt some pain right here," Sai said as he pointed to his Adam's apple area on his neck.

"I feel empty over here." Sai said as he pointed to his chest area.

"Then, CRY!" Ino said.

"Cry? Will it get rid of all the feeling of pain and emptiness?" Sai asked.

"Maybe. Maybe not. But it will do something alright, if you keep those feelings of yours bottled up… it will…" Ino paused.

"It will?" Sai asked.

"I don't know… but you really need to let your feelings out." Ino explained.

"Feelings…" Sai murmured as though he tried to remember something hard.