We managed to free Jimei from his cocoon of webs, but my relief quickly turned into horror. There was a purple blotch on his arm, and it seemed to be spreading, slow but relentless. His face was pale, eyes squeezed shut in pain. My heart raced.
I had to do something. I didn't know what was happening, but it didn't look good. Without thinking, I grabbed the sleeve of my shirt and desperately rubbed at the stain.
"Come on, get off! Dammit!" I muttered, scrubbing the spot.
"You really think that's going to work?" Natsu asked, giving me a skeptical look. "Doesn't look like a miso stain to me."
I stopped, my face turning red with embarrassment when I realized she was right.
"Well then, what do we do?" I grumbled.
Natsu activated her Byakugan, her pearly pupils glowing as she stared at Jimei's body lying in the clearing.
"This... thing... is messing with his chakra network. It's a genjutsu... but different." She frowned, pausing for a moment. "I've seen my clan members break genjutsu by closing a tenketsu to stop the chakra flow... I can try that."
"Then do it!" I snapped, a little too impatient.
Natsu flicked her fingers with precise accuracy, pressing a point on Jimei's arm. His body twitched, but nothing happened. The purple blotch just kept spreading.
"No... that was supposed to work... The pain, the interruption... He should've woken up!" Natsu muttered in frustration.
Time was running out, and my patience was gone. I was furious, but I knew I couldn't act rashly. We needed help. There was no time to waste.
I had no idea what could wake him up, but I knew someone who could help.
"We need to make it to the end of the test." I said, determination filling my voice. "Sensei can help us. If not, Jimei's life will—"
Natsu nodded, and without wasting another second, I hoisted Jimei up onto my back and we started moving. His weight didn't bother me much, my mind was laser-focused on one thing: getting him out of this.
What if we were too late? What if the poison put Jimei into a deep sleep and he never woke up?
After fifteen minutes of sprinting, Natsu quietly whispered that the lake was in sight. The sight of its calm waters brought a small sense of relief.
Sensei was standing there, as if he'd been waiting for us the entire time. His unflinching, serious gaze did nothing to ease my nerves.
"Sensei! We were attacked! Jimei...!" I said desperately, carefully placing Jimei on the ground.
The jounin didn't look shocked. Not even a little. He simply looked at us, expressionless, and asked a question that left me speechless.
"What about the eggs? Are they intact?"
The eggs? THE DAMN EGGS? How could he ask something like that right now? Didn't he see Jimei lying here?
"The eggs?! Jimei is—!" I bit my lip when I realized he hadn't even flinched at my words.
I took a deep breath and pulled the egg from where I'd been keeping it. My pocket was intact, and I showed it to him. Natsu did the same.
"And his?"
My patience was rapidly running out. I wanted to scream, to shout, but I held back the rage. I walked over to Jimei, searching for the egg that should've been there, on his body, but all I found was broken eggshells.
The expression on my face changed when I realized the truth: Jimei's egg was cracked. How? When? I looked at Sensei, completely lost, but swallowed hard.
"His egg... it's cracked..." My voice trembled, frustration mixing with desperation.
"He failed." The man said like it was no big deal.
Frustration, anger, everything began to boil inside me. I couldn't accept this. No way. He cared more about that stupid test than Jimei's life?
"You can't—" I yelled, my rage finally exploding. "To hell with the test! He's dying, aren't you going to do anything?!"
"He failed, so he's not my student." the man said coldly. I clenched my fist, trying not to lose it.
He was so calm, so distant, and it just made me angrier. I wanted to yell, punch... but Natsu grabbed my arm.
"Sensei, is there anything we can do to help Jimei? Please..." she asked, so calmly it made me want to throw up.
His dark eyes shifted to her, and he sighed like this whole situation was a huge inconvenience.
"The poison that hit Jimei is Shiragumo venom, from the demon spider. It's lethal." His voice was eerily calm, like he was talking about the weather. "It affects the chakra network and puts the person in a deep genjutsu, paralyzing the organs until the respiratory system shuts down. In ten minutes, it'll start affecting the lungs. If not treated in fifteen minutes, he'll die."
I froze. I looked at Jimei's face, his eyes half-shut, his skin turning purple. Every second felt like an eternity. The helplessness washed over me, and I couldn't accept it.
"Is there... anything we can do?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
"For him to be saved." he said, and I lifted my head when I heard those words, "He needs to swallow the amniotic fluid from the demon spider eggs. The egg I gave you is one of those. If his egg had been intact, he would have been saved, but... since it's cracked..."
This was our last chance. I looked at the egg in my hand. The one I had received at the start of the test. But what was I supposed to do? I couldn't just give Jimei the egg and fail the test too.
I had to become a ninja to survive in this world... but... Jimei was my first real friend here, maybe my first real friend ever. These three years we spent together meant something to me. I knew what I had to do.
"Use my egg. Save him." I said, extending the egg toward the jounin.
The man raised an eyebrow, staring into my eyes.
"If you do this, you'll fail."
I took a deep breath and looked back at Jimei's body lying on the ground before shaking my head.
"I don't care. Use it. He needs this more than I do." I said again, with conviction.
"No." Natsu's soft voice interrupted me, surprising me. "Use mine. I'm a Hyūga. Failing... it's not the end for me."
I didn't know what to think. We'd just met, and she was already willing to sacrifice something important for someone she'd barely known.
Before I could respond, the man smiled, making all of us freeze in surprise. He clapped his hands, cutting into our moment.
"Congratulations. None of you will fail. You all passed."
Natsu and I exchanged confused glances. What?
Before we could question him further, Dekai made hand signs with impressive speed and slapped his palm to the ground, summoning a massive cloud of smoke.
When the smoke cleared, I could barely believe my eyes. There she was, Shiragumo, the creature that had attacked us in the forest. Was this thing a summoning?
"Are you satisfied now?" the half-spider, half-woman creature asked the man.
"Yes. They passed." He nodded.
With a wave of her hand, Shiragumo handed him an egg. He walked over to Jimei, gently placed a hand on the boy's head, and cracked the egg above his lips. The liquid fell into his mouth, and within minutes, the purple blotch on Jimei's skin started to disappear.
Finally, Jimei began to move, his eyes slowly opening.
"What happened?" His voice was weak, and he looked disoriented.
I couldn't stop myself from hugging him, a huge sigh of relief on my face. I noticed Natsu moving a bit closer too.
"You're okay, Jimei. You're okay!"
Jimei looked a little confused by the whole thing, but I didn't care. The guy was an idiot, but he was my best friend, and I was just relieved he was alive. Our brief celebration didn't last long, though, as the jounin cleared his throat, making us all turn to face him.
"I'm Tatsumaki Dekai, and from now on, I'll be taking care of you!" he said, his voice was firm. "Now, you're not just a team. You're a family. And you will always protect each other, and I will always protect you."
Dekai's words sank in, and as I was feeling calmer and relieved, I started to realize it was all just a test. I knew Kakashi had tested Team 7's teamwork in canon, so I thought maybe that was what was being tested here.
But during the test, I was too nervous to see the bigger picture. If Natsu and I hadn't gone to save Jimei, we would've failed, and if we hadn't offered our eggs, we would've failed too.
"Get ready, because I won't accept anything less than excellence from my team." Dekai said with a gentle smile.
His attitude was completely different from before, and for the first time, I saw in him someone who would guide me to become a great shinobi. The moment would've been touching... if it weren't for Jimei's next words.
"Ahhhhh! MY EGG BROKE!"