After callously putting a distraught Temari back into the hypnotic state that kept her from doing anything that might expose him, Saul returned back to his untouched abode with a bad taste in his mouth.
"Saul-kun~"
"Hey, Hinata."
The woman took his hand and brought him inside.
"What's wrong? Did... Yakumo make you upset?"
Saul sighed. He dispelled the clone of his that still kept Hinata company and gained memories of the entire memorial. Most of it was useless propaganda. It was entirely full of garbage about the will of fire and how everyone should be doing their part to help the village.
He kept the memories about how Kurenai reacted and discarded the rest. Then he focused back on Hinata. The girl was observing him carefully. Saul sighed.
"No. Yakumo was great."
"Then what happened, Saul-kun?"
"...Nothing you can help with, Hinata. Did you have dinner yet?"
The woman shook her head.
"I was waiting for you to come back."
Saul felt a little bad. He gave her a smile.
"I appreciate you, Hinata. Why don't you tell me about the dinner you made?"
Hinata seemed to cheer up a little. "Of course!"
She chatted happily with him as they entered into the kitchen. A red haired woman with long hair was there at the time, washing pots and pans.
"Karin."
"Yes, master?"
Karin whipped around and held up her arm. It was smooth and unblemished, save for a few bite marks. Those were his.
"No, I don't need a replenishment right now, Karin."
The red haired woman deflated slightly at his rebuke.
"Come. You can do those later. It's time for dinner."
"Yes... Master."
Karin followed behind them as Hinata and Saul walked arm in arm. They all sat down at the table and began eating.
Karin was slowly getting used to their dynamic. Saul never really required anything of her except for dishes and the occasional bite. Her time living with them was much better than her life in the grass and even the boring idle peace of the forest. She had things to do, delicious meals to eat, and she was even treated as something more than a wild animal!
It gave her hope. Maybe she wouldn't end up like her mother after all. If she could just live out her days like this, she'd be happy... right? Karin glanced up at Saul's face between bites of her meal. They locked gazes for a moment and hers immediately retreated down to her body. He noticed, he noticed!
Karin held her face in her hands, but Saul had already turned his gaze away. His chopsticks were set beside his plate as he got up.
"Saul-kun, wait..." Hinata tugged on his sleeve. "That wasn't enough for you, right? Here, have some of mine!"
In an effort to encourage Hinata to eat to her fullest with what they had, Saul had always slowed down his eating pace to be even slower than Hinata's. In this way he alleviated much of the guilt Hinata had for giving herself a much bigger portion, even though that was the way he set things up in the first place. He wasn't some bloodline monster after all - he didn't need that much food to support his growth unlike her.
Today however, he had eaten without thinking at a natural pace. Of course he was much faster than a Hinata who ate with the mannerisms of a Hyuuga clan heiress, despite Saul insisting she didn't have to put on airs.
"No, it was enough. I have something I need to take care of tonight. It's been on my mind. Karin, can you follow me? I need you for something."
Karin immediately stood up, her heart racing. Had she done something wrong?
"Yes!"
She left her plate unfinished at the table and moved up to follow him. Saul led her out of the kitchen into the living room.
"Karin, sit down here."
"D-did I do something wrong, Master?"
Saul shook his head.
"Of course not. I have a pretty serious issue with my body that I've only recently discovered. I need you here to help me with it, just in case."
Karin inhaled and exhaled slowly, her gaze turning serious.
"What is it? If y-you don't mind me asking, of course!"
"It's nothing serious I bet. I've recently made advancements in my healing and discovered that the way I've been treating my injuries is flawed. I need to at least make an assessment of my own body tonight to see what's actually wrong and needs fixing."
Karin's eyes widened. What? So it was for something like this!? Why didn't he just bite her or something!? If something had happened to him as a result of him always biting her with his clones, then, she didn't know what she would do! Wouldn't this life that always seemed so good to be true just disappear like smoke!?
Karin practically shoved her arm into his mouth.
"Just bite me! It's fine! Take as much as you need!"
Hinata stepped into the room now to directly observe. Her brows were furrowed with concern.
Saul pushed Karin's arm away. The girl had slightly outstepped her bounds, but it was out of concern for his well being. He would not fault the girl for being too loyal.
"It's fine, that wouldn't help much anyway. I'm already healed, just healed... slightly wrong."
He'd need to use the chakra scalpel technique to precisely damage the affected areas before healing his body once more. Even though he had practiced it on the Konoha patients who didn't have serious, life threatening injuries like Neji, Saul was still extremely inexperienced with the technique. If he used it on himself as he was now, he would suffer a lot of pain.
Even though his pain tolerance had grown, Saul was nowhere near the level of casually operating on himself. Nor did he want to experience a lot more pain than he otherwise could have avoided with a much better mastery of the technique.
Tonight he was merely attempting to connect with the will of the chakra residing within his body and assess the damage. Saul had no idea what such an experience would be like, using this medical technique on himself. But he had to try.
Once he assessed the damage, he could be more certain about the measures he was willing to take with the Chakra Scalpel Ninjutsu. If there was anything serious that could not wait, although unlikely, he was prepared to use the chakra scalpel to damage the area once more and then heal it once again.
Saul summoned a shadow clone. He formed the hand seals for the Mystical Palm Ninjutsu, and then placed his hand on the main body's chest. It was an odd feeling to say the least.
His body did not reject his own Chakra, at all. It melded freely. There was no adjusting needed. Less will added, more will added, nothing mattered. Without the instinctive rejection the patient normally had to another's chakra, there was also no communication. How in the world could he get his chakra to react...?
Saul thought for a moment, then imagined the vision of his chakra turning into wisps of fire. Without an accompanying Jutsu, this was destined to fail. The chakra would not be molded properly to accurately transform into fire from just his will. That didn't mean it wasn't dangerous, though.
All chakra only started the conversion process to Jutsu once it was expelled outside the body through Tenketsu. This was because the conversion process would inevitably transform the chakra into something harmful to the body. Even if it wasn't fully transformed, so what? The body would instinctively recognize the chakra as a threat!
The Saul under him gritted his teeth. Yet, a new world opened up to the Saul performing the healing. Suddenly, he could hear the loud, vocal cries he once ignored. The chakra inherent within the body finally connected with him, and he saw it. The memories unique to the original that once laid dormant.
Author's Note: Looking for a proofreader! If you enjoy the novel like I do and would like to contribute to the novel a little more directly, please let me know through a comment or on the discord. I’ll be in touch. I read every comment, after all.
A discussion on why Saul beat up Temari in the previous chapter is opened up in the discord, since a few people had questions about his motivations. Just letting you all know in case you guys wanted to join in on exactly the reason I wrote it this way, or want a deeper insight into Saul as a character.
If you wish to join and chat / provide feedback, the link to the discord is here: discord gg YwperMGsBq ("." before gg and "/" after gg, no spaces)
Also if you can support me on SubscribeStar that would be great. Remember - the more supporters it has, the more chapters that will be written for everyone. I'd really appreciate some support!
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