𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐤𝐢 | ɴᴀʀᴜᴛᴏ

Shinobi Willpower

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✧˖*°࿐

Moments before Kazumi's appearance, Sanjiro had carried her to a hospital room. There, he lay the girl on the bed. Nurses hurried over, preparing the IV drips for Kazumi's depletion. The old man then watched carefully, making sure Kazumi was getting the hydration she needed in her system.

"She's been through a lot of stress." A nurse commented, analysing her motionless figure whilst the other's assured Kazumi's comfort.

Sanjiro was silent but nodded his head at the woman's statement. Of course, he knew the reason behind this. It was much more than the failed ritual. And by Kazumi's behaviour, Sanjiro knew that she had an encounter with Orochimaru during the second test. It was something inevitable to him.

Yet this still infuriated him, and with a stern look, he turned around to face the door, "Keep an eye on her."

The nurse bowed, "Yes." She looked up, gazing at his backside leaving through the door.

Nearly an hour would go by, and the nurse was still studying Kazumi's state. With her clipboard tightly held to her chest, she flinched from the sound of heavy bodies falling to the ground outside.

With a gasp, she jumps up to her feet, swinging the door open to look out. Her eyes widened in terror, witnessing the sight of multiple nurses and assistances on the ground. Immediately, she dropped her clipboard to rush to the closest person, checking their pulse in a crouched position. Before she could process their status, a swift pile of sand whipped the back of her neck, causing her eyes to roll back. The mysterious person held no emotion when looking down at the defeated nurse.

The same person then entered the hospital room, approaching the bed where Kazumi lay. With an arm held up, the same clumps of sand slithered to her figure, dangerously wrapping around her neck. As he put pressure and squeezed, Kazumi's brows furrowed.

In a restless dream, she could see herself standing at the head of the bed. Sand attempted to swallow her whole. A similar look to that of a person being entombed. By the sudden alarms of danger going off, Kazumi jolts awake, eyes widened at the sight of Gaara and his cold, teal eyes. Thick amounts of his sand retracted back, giving her back her airways.

"I itch to kill you, but I itch more to fight you." He spoke in a low, downy tone.

As the rest of his sand seeps back into his gourd, Kazumi pushes herself up from the bed, looking at him with startled suspicion. However, she quickly observes her setting. When she realised she was in a hospital room, internal panic arose.

"The prelims... are they over?" She asked, cautiously turning her head to him with heavy eyes.

This time, his own brows furrowed. He had half-expected her to have panicked like the nurses, though her mind was elsewhere. Disregarding her exhaustion and the odd colouring of her hair, Gaara squints his eyes.

He then watched her grip her throat, the same place his sand had tried to suffocate, "No... They have just now projected your name on the screens."

At that sentence, Kazumi instantly snapped the IV cord out from her vein, ignoring the dull, sudden pain with a sharp hiss. Gaara took a step back, nose scrunching at the sight and smell of her blood. His fist tightly balled, like he was trying to keep control of himself.