Life comes at you at an alarming speed. Despite having lived two near full lifetimes, it was something the assassin always underestimated. After all, during those two full lives there only came a handful of times where he was in any real mortal danger. Even those, one could argue, barely held him back. He was in full blown cancer when he fought against a powerful rogue shinobi back in his first life, and being overweight and out of shape did little to hinder him this go-around. Yet, all good things must come to an end.
It started with a mild weakness. Uzu just barely noticed it, and attributed it to fatigue despite having never fallen to such a thing before; not unless he was sick. The movement of government into the 3 Sennin structure, making a life underground worth living, and trying aimlessly to stop a sudden new Black Market were more than enough to tug against the stamina of any normal person. Thing was, Toushin was not that, by any means. The shit he struggled through during the last time Sunagakure resided underground made his current predicament seem like baby-town frolics. It was, however, enough to keep his increasing tiredness a thing he constantly pushed back. When Uzu needed rest, a glass of whiskey and a good book allowed him to drift to sleep. It had always worked before.
Then, one day he woke up with that book in his lap. The glass of whiskey had been spilled, staining his bedsheets. He had not fully undressed for the night with the blankets still folded neatly at the end of his mattress. He blinked in puzzlement before moving to part his lips and finding an ichor there. Thick and partly dried, it held his lips together until he pulled it away and looked down with golden eyes to see his blackened blood cloy to his fingers. His heart began to race, causing a racking cough that expunged more of his black tar-like blood from his lungs. The racking pains brought him to his knees, and after a moment the world began to spin. Darkness took him.
When his eyes peeled open again he felt far better. His lips moved back against each other to find them somewhat dried but, not covered in blood. The room was bright. He laid upon his back to stare at a ceiling, turning his eyes towards sounds in the room to find he had landed himself in a hospital. A nurse noticed his stirring and rushed to his side to push him back down the moment he tried getting up; and surprisingly, she was more than capable.
His strength had fled. Looking down at his arms now he noticed the muscles were atrophied. How long had he been asleep? After he was situated back into the bed, tucked firmly in, it was explained to him in gentle words. Chakra cancer; again. An unknown agent had entered his body recently, and unknown to Uzu, it had gone to work on his coil. He had been found in his apartment about three hours after not reporting at his desk, an anomaly he had specific instructions trained into his men for. The cancer had been removed, a piece of dead man who Chiyo had helped him see the end to, but the disease itself had already taken such a quiet toll on him he had slept for a full month.
The village was under siege now, but Toushin knew there was nothing he could do despite all of his knowledge. The strength that allowed him such combat was stolen away by his fabled enemy; but this wasn’t an ending for him. No, that bastard Tama knew one day his new body might develop those cells once more and had already prepared a cure to be used on him; with or without consent. The bag of mysterious blue glowing fluid dripped from an IV and into his veins. Each drop made him twitch, like a piece of ice was slowly being shoved into his arm, but knew full well the scientist’s cures were bullet-proof.
All he need do, was wait.
[Retired]
It started with a mild weakness. Uzu just barely noticed it, and attributed it to fatigue despite having never fallen to such a thing before; not unless he was sick. The movement of government into the 3 Sennin structure, making a life underground worth living, and trying aimlessly to stop a sudden new Black Market were more than enough to tug against the stamina of any normal person. Thing was, Toushin was not that, by any means. The shit he struggled through during the last time Sunagakure resided underground made his current predicament seem like baby-town frolics. It was, however, enough to keep his increasing tiredness a thing he constantly pushed back. When Uzu needed rest, a glass of whiskey and a good book allowed him to drift to sleep. It had always worked before.
Then, one day he woke up with that book in his lap. The glass of whiskey had been spilled, staining his bedsheets. He had not fully undressed for the night with the blankets still folded neatly at the end of his mattress. He blinked in puzzlement before moving to part his lips and finding an ichor there. Thick and partly dried, it held his lips together until he pulled it away and looked down with golden eyes to see his blackened blood cloy to his fingers. His heart began to race, causing a racking cough that expunged more of his black tar-like blood from his lungs. The racking pains brought him to his knees, and after a moment the world began to spin. Darkness took him.
When his eyes peeled open again he felt far better. His lips moved back against each other to find them somewhat dried but, not covered in blood. The room was bright. He laid upon his back to stare at a ceiling, turning his eyes towards sounds in the room to find he had landed himself in a hospital. A nurse noticed his stirring and rushed to his side to push him back down the moment he tried getting up; and surprisingly, she was more than capable.
His strength had fled. Looking down at his arms now he noticed the muscles were atrophied. How long had he been asleep? After he was situated back into the bed, tucked firmly in, it was explained to him in gentle words. Chakra cancer; again. An unknown agent had entered his body recently, and unknown to Uzu, it had gone to work on his coil. He had been found in his apartment about three hours after not reporting at his desk, an anomaly he had specific instructions trained into his men for. The cancer had been removed, a piece of dead man who Chiyo had helped him see the end to, but the disease itself had already taken such a quiet toll on him he had slept for a full month.
The village was under siege now, but Toushin knew there was nothing he could do despite all of his knowledge. The strength that allowed him such combat was stolen away by his fabled enemy; but this wasn’t an ending for him. No, that bastard Tama knew one day his new body might develop those cells once more and had already prepared a cure to be used on him; with or without consent. The bag of mysterious blue glowing fluid dripped from an IV and into his veins. Each drop made him twitch, like a piece of ice was slowly being shoved into his arm, but knew full well the scientist’s cures were bullet-proof.
All he need do, was wait.
[Retired]