Senju, Suzuri is in what looks like a critical state, her heart monitor seeming faint as an oxygen mask was strapped to her face. The woman has two bags connected into her arms, a blood bag and an IV drip. The sign on the outside had said her condition, horribly deep lacerations and severe bloodloss. Suzuri's vision is somewhat clouded when Ameno's numbing hands are retracted from her head and stomach, an audible groan before she laughs lightly.

"... What can I do for you... Sir?" Suzuri can only hope to rely on humor when the pain of flunking the Chuunin Exams is present, the realization she was not as good a medic as Kourama nor as good a fighter as Hisaya. A thousand things hurt, oh yeah -  The physical pain of almost losing some organs. That too. She winces now, staring right at Matsuo from the bed.

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Yondaime hokage looked down towards the Senju. If her cousin desired to be here for something like that, then so be it. It was clear that her state was critical, yet, Matsuo's expression remained unchanged. Just what did he have in mind? It was clear the girl had been pushed to her very limit-- how much worse could it be?

"You disobeyed the order you were given. I am certain that you remember the conditions and rules of the exams 120607. If one loses they must remain in the forest of death and make their best effort to survive. You abandonned your team and demonstrated how poor of a Shinobi you have become lately."

The man's right hand reached out above the blue-haired girl. The air around them was chilling, the tension could be felt in the very depths of one's soul as he spoke forth of an ultimatum.

"The choice is yours: Give up your headband or go back in the forest with the team you have left behind to die."

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Senju, Kourama ...spoke up.

To the man that was unquestionably perfect in the eyes of Kourama, to the point of being perfectly terrifying in how cold and calculating he was. To the man who, by all means, he had no right to question or object to, That terror that Kourama felt at the perfection of Kobayashi, Matsuo turned to frustration. To anger. An anger that was hard for him to put to words because it was not that of revenge or blind rage. But rather that of a confused heart that already knew the outcome of this.

Kobayashi, Matsuo did not understand humans. Was the thought that repeated itself in Kourama's mind. That much was evident to him now. He could see it. The proof to his theorem as if he needed any.

"We brought her back. After I treated her injuries on the field, her team-mates were escorted to village unharmed. Suzuri was unconscious for all of this." Deep down, he understood the futility of what he was doing. But still... he had to try. If there any chance... this was it, right?

"If anyone should be blamed, it should be me. I left my team-mates behind to treat her wounds and escort her back to the village. Suzuri didn't abandon her squad... I did."

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Uzumaki, Ansem Seeker of Darkness hands Yondaime hokage a Compressed IFC Meal.

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Senju, Suzuri clears her throat, a hand coming up to tear the mask off of her face as she narrowed her eyes at Matsuo. She had no hate in her heart, no reason to detest her guardian angel, the father she'd been missing due to complications and her own being absent in her life. Suzuri moves a hand down towards her right arm which had the blood bag attatched, and without a second thought - A single hesitation - She tears it out of her arm in a howl of pain. Blood spills free from her vein, a piece of the bed is torn using her teeth to make a bandage for it.

She'll live.

A hand comes down to rip out the IV, and with how shakey she was in that moment - Another yelp of pain leaves her mouth. Her eyes are focused on Matsuo the entire time, the deepest and most furious stare with him. She speaks now, moving her hands down to pull off the covers where underneath - Suzuri is covered in crimson. Her pants cut open from vicously deep cuts. She speaks now.

"It was not... my choice to return... I was unconscious for the ordeal...I just woke... But if you think... That I'm going to let a single person, a single soul from Konoha - Or the ninjas here in our village - From Leaves to Rocks - Remain in that forest without a leader? Ones I was assigned to lead?"

She swings her feet over, the stitches moving to pop and tear as she puts down excessive force where it isn't needed. The steel greaves had been stained a putrid form of red, and she slips them back on with a hiss and another howl of pain. Suzuri's eyes are blazing with flame towards Matsuo in that moment.

"Then you don't know me at all." She takes that first step forward, as her chest begins to bleed further and her heart begins to overwork itself. Suzuri takes one more step as her arms fall limp at her sides. She is no longer looking to Matsuo, but to the door. "If my comrades.. Are still out in that forest... Then I'll go to them." She takes one final step, collapsing to the floor in a streak of pain and a pool of blood. A hand reaches forward, crawling towards the door as she looks to Kourama - Her eyes?

They voice a million words. Thank you. I'll see you soon. Please be safe. I'll always be grateful. This is my mission. No injury can hold me down. I wish we were better friends. Family is forever. A single glance conveys that power and more. She reaches a hand forward whilst collapsed, crawling and inching her way towards the door.

"Because my creed... has always... and will always be... No one left behind." Her village was the epitome of pride, her love for it unyeilding. She'd gladly lay down her life for it. For Makoto, a Leaf Ninja. For Yoshimi, a Leaf Ninja. For the Genin she was assigned to lead, god damn it. So even now, as she bleeds and quite literally begins to die once more on the spot - Suzuri would never let Matsuo get away with those words. This entire spectacle plays out because she has not had the chance to see a single face that had returned to the village yet. Had... Kourama taken her back and left her comrades in the Forest of Death?

Shinobi aren't the ones who die first. Heroes are. And so what if she was greviously injured? Better her than a single hair on the people she was always meant to protect. Her will burns brighter than ever, having faced a fate where she is not as good as Kourama - Where she is not as good as Hisaya - Where her leadership and lack thereof had quite literally lead to a fully and utter scene of chaos in which Suzuri took catastropic blows for her teammates..

"I'll die before you take this headband, Matsuo." Inch by inch, she'll crawl back to that Forest. Little by little, she'll bleed out.

And if she gets there? Suzuri will gladly, undoubtedly die in peace.

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Senju, Suzuri has activated a perk: Will of Fire!

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Ishikawa, Makoto gives the confused Bakugou look as he opened the door up.

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Yondaime hokage watched as the girl forced herself out of her bed, crawling towards the duty that beckoned her. The amount of blood that escaped her wounds and the damage that had been laid upon her made something rather clear: Suzuri should not be alive in her state. How she even managed to still breathe and move was beyond the realm of possibilities, tearing down the very fabric of biology as a whole. Any competent medic would be able to conclude it:

Right now the Senju was dead, medically speaking.

Who ever said one had to be alive to accomplish their destiny? Shinobi were odd people. In times of need certain people would rise against the odd and throw themselves at the impossible. Nozomi moved faster than Matsuo could react the day she died; he supposed that Suzuri was no different when it came to caring for others.

With some pain in his heart and regret tearing down at the shreds of soul he had remaining the Yondaime's right hand reached down towards the girl who was crawling, pulling her off the ground in order to carry her like he had once before. She was heavier, taller, and much more wounded, but the path they would take was the same they had long, long ago.

This time, in reverse.

This was suicide and the miracle that had kept Suzuri alive was one he should have held tightly rather than throw away, alas, this man had always been one to make the world fair in its unfairness.

Ansem believed he favored the Senju and loved them more. He was not wrong. Matsuo was merely the type to let his loved ones meet the fate they deserve.

No matter what it may be.

With nothing left but wind in his wake, the Yondaime Hokage would bring Suzuri to a fate she knew of and perhaps had even accepted.

This... Was the start of something new.

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Yondaime hokage whispers: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTIwbusbN1g]

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Senju, Suzuri thinks: .. Makoto.
Senju, Suzuri thinks: My team... They're not...

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 Ishikawa, Makoto regained his composure for a second, he nodded lightly in understanding to Suzuri...

As if he was reading his mind.

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Senju, Suzuri says: ... Makoto... We're going... Back..

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Senju, Kourama had it covered.

But this mother fucker actually got back up.

"Wh-" He was instantly rendered speechless. The person before him actually listened to Matsuo's words, digested them, let that thought sit in their mind and said that the only logical course of action henchforth was to rip out their IV, stand up, and start moving towards the door. Kourama was just... speechless.

Forget Matsuo being some weird alien thing that didn't understand human emotion. Suzuri might just be someone who didn't understand the human body. Simply put, in Kourama's professional opinion - everything that was going on here was a 'Fuck no' on a scale of 'Please dont' to 'Get back in the bed.' EVERYTHING that was happening here was fucked.

Fucked beyond belief.

But Kourama knew who he was.

He was Kourama the Crusher of Kanzaki High. He used to lead little rings of scramps to go around and shake down vending machines for Gokes and would see his ragtag group of friends get into fistfights that he had to end. They looked up to him. Relied on him. In a way, Kourama quickly came to understand the feeling that Suzuri had now. Though the weight of death itself was never on his shoulder during those times... he couldn't say that, under these circumstances, he wouldn't want to do the same. Wanting to. Actually preforming? He didn't know. Likely not.

In the same way that Kourama revered the charisma of a good leader.
In the same way that Kourama hated the cold emotionless of Matsuo.
He fell in love with Suzuri.

A sudden pang in his heart that simply resonated with what he saw, like the children who once looked up to him with that same bright eyed wonderment and sense of joy to be around them. To want to run wild and prove their worth. Only with the weight of death itself attached to it now.

In the same way those kids had listened to the tales of Shinobi from their forefathers, speaking fondly of the allies they had lost.

Kourama burned an image into his mind in admiration. Carving it into his head in rock that would never wither. Fist clenched tight enough that his nails dug into his palm and his blood pooled down from his knuckles and mixed with Suzuri's. Eyes frantically taking in every detail. Muscles tensed. Hoping he had done more. Wishing that he could've preserved this persons legacy a moment longer. That he could've talked to her. That he could've been there earlier. That he had become a Shinobi earlier. That he had stopped Hisaya. That he had seen this without the weight attached to it. That he had known she had this in her.

But now? These hundreds of thousands of thoughts that ran through his head were cut from him. Time moved forward.

As much as he wanted to stand here and admire this visage forever - it existed in a world in which time moved forward. In a world where Suzuri moved forward. Even if he did not. So Kourama would watch from this point. Standing still. Watching someone who moved forward even when he could not.