Naruto rebirth! Xenoverse!

Chapter 63: The Point of No Return!

The cliff road fell silent except for the laboured breathing of the wounded and Minato's careful assessment of his students conditions. What he saw made his blood run cold.

Kōzaru lay motionless against the cliff wall, holding Riku in his arms, his skin taking on an alarming greyish pallor as the poison coursed through his system. Yuki whimpered beside her master, with Riku's own small form trembling from the toxins he had absorbed whilst trying to protect him. The Inuzuka boy's breathing was becoming increasingly shallow, each breath a visible struggle as he tried to make sure Riku was alright at the cost of his own wellbeing.

Tatsuma convulsed suddenly, his back arching as electrical burns sent spasms through his nervous system. The damage from Raikiri's lightning-enhanced attacks was worse than Minato had initially assessed—the boy's left arm hung completely limp, and his eyes were struggling to focus on anything, With lightning scars etched across his skin, his green hoodie and armour padding were scorched black.

Aotaka was in the worst condition of the three, he was completely unconscious, massive internal injuries from a blunt attack and the electrical attacks after, leaving him pale and hardly breathing. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth with each laboured breath, causing Minato to go into alert mode, knowing he didn't have much time.

"Ayame!" Minato called urgently to the convoy medic, his voice carrying a desperate edge that his students had never heard before. "I need your honest professional assessment. How long do they have?"

The medic hurried forward, her own injured arm forgotten as her training took over. Her hands glowed with diagnostic chakra as she examined each boy in turn, her expression growing increasingly grave with each assessment.

"The poison is spreading rapidly through Kōzaru's lymphatic system," she reported, her voice tight with professional concern. "I can slow it down, but I don't have the antidotes needed for this particular toxin. And these electrical burns..." She examined Tatsuma's convulsing form with growing alarm. "The nervous system damage is severe he needs specialist treatment." She said, seeing the scares along his arm.

"Aotaka..." She moved to Aotaka's unconscious form, her hands glowing as she assessed his condition. "Massive internal trauma, possible organ damage. He's barely breathing. Without proper treatment, he won't last much longer." She said, her voice showing alarm.

"How long?" Minato pressed, though he dreaded the answer.

"Minutes for the poison," Ayame replied grimly. "Maybe an hour for the electrical damage before it becomes irreversible. But the Aotaka... his breathing is becoming increasingly shallow. I'd say minutes at most before complete respiratory failure." She said while already using her medical ninjutsu on him.

Minato's mind raced through options, each one more desperate than the last. The nearest medical outpost was hours away, even at his maximum speed. Lady Tsunade was somewhere in the Land of Fire, but tracking her down could take days. The survivors still needed protection, and abandoning the mission would mean their sacrifice had been for nothing.

But watching his students die was not an option.

"Do everything you can to stabilise them," he ordered Ayame, his voice carrying absolute authority. "Use whatever chakra you have left. I'll handle the rest."

"Sensei..." Tatsuma whispered, his voice barely audible as another convulsion wracked his frame. "The mission... the survivors..."

"The mission will be completed," Minato said firmly, though his heart was breaking as he watched his student struggle. "But not at the cost of your lives."

Ayame's hands moved with practised efficiency, her medical ninjutsu glowing as she worked to try and save Aotaka's life. The green chakra surrounding her hands intensified as she fought to slow steady his breathing.

For a moment, Aotaka's breathing seemed to improve slightly, but Ayame's expression remained grim. "I've bought us maybe fifteen minutes at most," she reported. "But I don't have the chakra reserves to maintain this indefinitely."

Minato's jaw clenched as he made the most difficult decision of his career. His students were dying, and there was only one way to save them—even if it meant compromising the mission.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he called out, his chakra splitting as an identical copy of himself materialised beside him.

"You know what needs to be done," Minato said to his clone, his voice heavy with the weight of command.

The clone nodded grimly, immediately moving to gather the wounded children. "I'll get them to Konoha Hospital. The medical corps there can handle advanced toxins and nerve damage."

"What about us?" Ayame asked, her voice carrying a mixture of hope and concern for the survivors.

"I'll complete the mission," Minato replied, his gaze moving to the three civilians who had already endured so much. "You've all suffered enough. It ends here."

Kōzaru's eyes fluttered open as the clone lifted him carefully, his enhanced senses picking up his sensei's scent despite his deteriorating condition. "Sensei... I have to s-save Riku..." He said, still holding the ninken in his arms.

"You're going to be fine," Minato's clone said gently, though his expression betrayed his concern. "All of you. The hospital has the best medical ninja in the world. They'll take care of you."

Tatsuma tried to speak, but another convulsion seized him, his body going rigid as the electrical damage sent spasms through his nervous system. Blood began to foam at his lips, and his eyes rolled back showing only whites.

"We're losing him!" Ayame shouted, her medical chakra flaring as she fought to stabilise his condition. "The nerve damage is cascading!" With Kenji doing his best to help too, having been a medical assistant.

Aotaka lay completely motionless, his breathing so shallow that Minato had to watch carefully to see his chest rise and fall. The blood from his mouth had increased, forming a small pool beside his head. His face was ashen, and his lips were beginning to turn blue from lack of oxygen.

"Now!" Minato barked to his clone, urgency lending speed to his movements. "There's no more time!"

The clone gathered the three dying children and their ninken, his chakra flaring as he prepared for the fastest journey of his life. "Flying Thunder God Technique!"

In a flash of golden light, the clone vanished with Team 15, racing against time itself to reach Konoha Hospital before it was too late.

Minato watched them disappear, his heart clenching as he saw Kōzaru's head loll unconsciously against his clone's shoulder. The boy's breathing had become so shallow it was barely visible, and his skin had taken on the grey pallor of approaching death, the poison doing its work.

"Will they make it?" Hiroshi asked quietly, his weathered face etched with concern for the young shinobi who had risked everything to protect them.

Minato's expression was unreadable as he turned back to the mission at hand, but his voice carried a tremor he couldn't quite suppress. "They have to."

Meanwhile, Minato's clone had gathered the three dying children in his arms, along with Yuki and Riku's motionless form. The distance to Konoha was enormous—too far for conventional travel, even at his maximum speed. But his students were dying, and desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Flying Thunder God Technique!" The clone channelled a massive amount of chakra, far more than the technique normally required, due to the distance and amount of people he was carrying, pushing the space-time ninjutsu and his chakra. The strain of teleporting such a distance whilst carrying multiple passengers sent searing pain through his chakra network, but he endured it.

FLASH—

Golden light exploded as the clone materialised in the streets of Konoha, one of the strategic points he had placed a marker in the village, stumbling slightly from the enormous chakra expenditure. Kōzaru had lost consciousness completely, his breathing so faint it was almost imperceptible. Yuki and Riku also lay motionless in his arms, their small forms barely clinging to life.

Tatsuma convulsed again, his body wracked by seizures that spoke to massive neurological damage. The clone could feel the boy's chakra signature flickering like a candle in a hurricane, threatening to extinguish at any moment.

Aotaka's breathing had become almost imperceptible, internal bleeding causing his chakra pathways to destabilise. His face was now completely grey, and the clone could barely detect a pulse as his body began shutting down from massive trauma.

"Hold on," the clone whispered urgently, though he wasn't sure any of them could hear him anymore. "Just hold on a little longer."

He began running towards the hospital, but the massive chakra drain from the long-distance teleportation had left him unsteady. As he rounded a corner, he nearly collided with a young woman with brilliant red hair tied back in a practical ponytail.

"Minato?!" Kushina Uzumaki's violet eyes went wide with shock as she took in the scene—her teammate and lover carrying three grievously injured children, blood staining his clothes, his face etched with desperate concern. "What happened? Who are—oh my goodness, they're just children!"

"Kushina!" Relief flooded through the clone's voice. "They're my students—Team Fifteen. Severe poisoning, electrical nerve damage, massive internal trauma. They're dying, and I need to get them to the hospital now!"

Without hesitation, Kushina moved to help, her own considerable strength allowing her to carefully take Tatsuma, Yuki and Riku from his overburdened arms. "The hospital's this way! I'll clear the path!"

"MOVE! MEDICAL EMERGENCY!" Kushina's voice carried the authority of someone accustomed to being heard, her red hair streaming behind her as she led the charge through the village streets. Citizens and ninja alike quickly stepped aside, recognising the urgency in her tone, with more and more people looking to see what was going on.

As they ran, Kōzaru's breathing stopped completely, his body going limp in the clone's arms, the posion taking him into the darkness. Tatsuma's convulsions intensified to the point where his spine was bending at almost impossible angles, the electric current damage in his body reeking havoc on his system. And Aotaka's pulse had stopped, with Minato not being able to sense his heart beating anymore.

"We're losing them!" the clone shouted to Kushina, his voice cracking with desperation.

"Not on my watch!" Kushina replied fiercely, her chakra flaring as she poured speed into her legs. "The hospital's just ahead!"

They burst through the hospital doors together, Kushina's voice carrying across the lobby with commanding authority: "CODE RED! CRITICAL PATIENTS! WE NEED MEDICAL TEAMS NOW!"

The medical staff responded instantly, recognising both the Yellow Flash and the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero. Stretchers materialised as if by magic, and medical ninja swarmed around the unconscious forms of Team 15.

"Severe poisoning, electrical nerve damage, and massive internal trauma!" the clone reported rapidly to the lead medic. "They've been unconscious for minutes—we're losing them!"

As the medical teams took over, wheeling the children away into emergency treatment rooms, the clone and Kushina could only watch helplessly. Three young heroes who had given everything in service to their village now fought the most important battle of their lives—the battle for survival itself.

That's the end of this chapter! Check out my P.atreon if you want more chapters!