Shunsui lay there as the iryo nin succumbed on top of him with her blood spreading across his transfomed Cloud uniform.
Shunsui could not help but sigh as the weight pressed down on him. 'Such is the cruelty of this war and even this world. Even a doctor is killed without mercy and that too by my very own hand.'
He had taken the life of someone whose duty was to heal rather than fight. Yet he forced the feelings aside because the mission still demanded more from him and hesitation would only endanger the rest of the team as well as himself.
Shunsui made these thoughts disappear as he activated Kageoni once again and hoped that one or two of the other Nara patients lying in nearby beds would become participants in the Shadow Demon game.
But it seems like there was no such luck this time. None of the other disguised Nara managed to link into the game from their positions among the injured.
So Shunsui had to do most of the task himself. He sank into the darkness beneath the bed and appeared from the shadow of one of the two remaining iryo nin still working in this ward.
The patient lying in front of that iryo-nin had his eyes widened in shock, but he seemed to be suffering from some sort of paralysis that kept him from speaking or moving enough to warn anyone.
The iryo nin died before she could turn fully toward the threat. Shunsui's blade moved once and then he teleported again through another shadow to reach the last iryo nin in the room.
He killed that one in the similar quiet way so that no shout could escape and alert the corridors outside.
He dropped his Transformation Jutsu the moment the last medical ninja fell. The other two Nara nin dropped their transformations as well and slowly started moving from bed to bed.
They killed the patients one by one with swift strikes. Some of the wounded Kumo shinobi tried to fight back when they realised the danger.
They reached for weapons that were no longer at their sides or tried to form hand seals with trembling fingers. But with their critical injuries the efforts were all for naught.
Broken bones, deep cuts, and lingering poison or exhaustion left them unable to put up much of a fight.
They were easily slain by the healthy Konoha fighters who moved through the rows of beds with a heart of stone.
The previous hospital ward turned into nothing but a place filled with blood and dead bodies.
The Konoha shinobi quickly moved outside the ruined ward to see the three jonin and the remaining two people of their team.
Those five had already dealt with another ward and the guards who had stood outside the rooms. Blood stained their clothes and tiredness showed on their faces, yet without wasting time the full group of eight moved toward the next ward and the next set of rooms.
They dealt with the helpless shinobi as well as Iryo nin one by one in the same manner. Shinobi who could not fight back because of their wounds were slain in cold blood so that none of them would rise again to return to the front lines.
As for the iryo nin they found in those rooms, the Nara members held them captive with Shadow Possession Jutsu. The shadow restraints kept the medical ninja from shouting for help or even forming seals to fight back. They were slain by using shadow stitching jutsu next.
Shunsui remembered the conversation he had shared with Mukai under the trees only days earlier.
He had spoken then about the quiet stain that killing left inside a person and about the ordinary lives that shinobi protected by standing in the way of enemies.
Now, walking through the blood-soaked hospital floors, he knew the answer to the question of whether it was all worth it.
Yes it was. After getting healed these wounded Cloud shinobi would have returned to the battlefield and killed Konoha shinobi in turn.
Every enemy they ended here was one less blade that could take a Leaf life in the weeks to come. And even if the iryo nin were just doctors who might have never held a weapon, every life they saved was one more person who would stand on the battlefield against Konoha.
The logic was harsh and the weight of it pressed on him, yet he accepted it as the least terrible choice the war allowed.
They killed the patients on the above two floors as well. Chizo's voice suddenly sounded in their minds. "Our actions have been discovered. It is time to run."
The Yamanaka who was a sensor had picked up the rapid approach of many more Kumo chakra signatures entering the hospital.
The Konoha shinobi nodded in understanding but they still needed to delay the Kumo forces that would soon flood the building.
They walked again toward the wards they had already cleared and used fire jutsus that were strong enough to burn these lower floors but not hot or large enough to reach the ones above where fire country civilians still waited.
Flames caught on beds and wooden supports and began to spread. Shinto was sure that Kumo shinobi would try to save any of the injured ones if they could by first taking out the fire. And that's why they left a couple of Kumo shinobi in every ward alive.
Even though most of the wounded on these floors was really alive anymore, the Cloud forces would not know that at first and would waste precious time fighting the flames instead of chasing the attackers.
The Konoha team then took off by jumping from one of the open windows on the side of the hospital.
They landed on the ground below and immediately began moving through the streets that led toward the gate of the village from which they had entered at first.
They transformed themselves back to the Cloud shinobi, but it seems their jig was up as some sensor shinobi among the enemy had locked onto the true nature of their chakra despite the insects.
A loud voice shouted from the direction of the hospital entrance. "There they are. They are not Kumo shinobi so do not hesitate to kill them."
The Kumo shinobi who had been guarding the hospital turned as one. They were upon the fleeing Konoha team in moments, following them with weapons drawn and ninjutsu already forming in their hands.
-------Author Notes--------
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