Having administered the medicine, Tsume rummaged through Saiki's gear. She found a sealing scroll and unsealed a full set of bedding and a mattress.
She stripped off his snow-dampened cloak and boots and tucked him into the thick quilt. Only then did she stop to breathe.
She'd seen him pack these items earlier that day. Saiki was a creature of comfort; even in a war zone, he refused to live like a barbarian. While other ninja packed extra kunai, Saiki packed high-thread-count sheets and pillows.
Usually, it was an eccentric habit. Right now, it was a godsend.
Tsume tended the fire, her brow furrowed in deep anxiety. She was a woman of action, and being stuck in a snowstorm with a dying student was her literal nightmare.
He needed a doctor, and they were trapped in a frozen wasteland.
Because Tsume lacked medical training, she failed to realize the "medicine" was actively killing him. Saiki's condition was visibly worsening.
His breathing grew ragged, sounding like a bellows. Tsume hovered over him. "Saiki... don't do this to me. Stay with me, kid!"
Suddenly, Saiki's eyes snapped open.
This wasn't like the night with Tsunade; he wasn't trapped in a dream. He was fully awake, but his internal state was a disaster.
He bolted upright and began to cough violently. His Yang fire was at a fever pitch, his blood pressure soaring. A massive volume of blood erupted from his mouth, drenching his chest and the white sheets.
"FUCK!"
He didn't even know where he was, but the sensation of his blood boiling in his veins forced a modern curse from his lips.
Tsume was terrified. Seeing the boy vomit that much blood was the final blow to her composure.
"SAIKI! Talk to me!"
Saiki looked at her, his vision clearing for a second. He forced out a strained whisper. "Don't... don't worry. I'm... alive."
He looked like a wounded bull. Hot, steaming breath huffed from his nose. The firelight turned his skin a deep, angry red. His eyes were a web of broken capillaries, and the blood on his mouth made him look feral.
In a wuxia novel, coughing up blood is a sign of "releasing the stagnation." For Saiki, it was just the overflow of his internal pressure.
The expulsion of blood calmed his heart for a heartbeat, but the furnace was still roaring. His organs felt like they were being melted by liquid lead.
He tried to meditate, but the heat was too much to focus.
Breathe. Breathe.
"GOD DAMMIT!" Saiki roared, the veins on his forehead bulging like worms.
Cough!
Another spray of crimson. He slumped forward.
Tsume lunged to catch him, her hands trembling. Tears began to track through the dirt on her face. "Saiki, stop! What's happening?! Help me understand!"
Saiki gritted his teeth, pouring every ounce of will into not exploding. He managed a pained, bloody smile. "Sensei... relax. It's just... the blood flow. I'm... purging it."
Internally, he was screaming. "What kind of useless Qi system is this?! I look at a girl and I deviate? I get hit by a bomb and I turn into a radiator? I'm alone in a cave with Tsume and I'm about to burn alive. I need a cooling cycle NOW."
Tsume was consumed by regret. She should have left when the clone told her to. If she hadn't been there, Saiki wouldn't have had to tank that nuke.
Saiki didn't blame her. He respected the fact that she had stayed to have his back against a monster like the Eight-Tails. She was a good teacher.
"Sensei..." Saiki panted. "Where... where are we?"
She shook her head. "I don't know. The Land of Iron, maybe? Or the Land of Snow. Everything is buried. I can't find a landmark."
"Is there... a town nearby?"
"I don't know. We landed in the drifts. I just carried you to the first cave I found."
Saiki's internal map was offline. His sensory range was currently zero; the noise of his own blood was too loud for him to hear anything else.
He saw the despair in Tsume's eyes and felt the heat in his own chest rising again.
Breathe. Breathe.
The Yang Qi was boiling his "kidney water" (vital essence). His nose suddenly began to leak blood as the capillaries in his sinuses gave way.
First the vomiting, now the nosebleed. Tsume let out a sharp cry. "Saiki! Oh god, it won't stop!"
"I'm... fine!" He shook his head, spraying blood onto the cave floor. She didn't believe him for a second.
"Stop lying! Tell me what you need!"
Saiki finally managed to center himself for a split second. "Sensei... let go. Give me space. I need to... adjust the flow."
Seeing his eyes were lucid and his voice steady, Tsume reluctantly released him.
Saiki struggled into a cross-legged position—the "Five Hearts Facing Heaven" pose. He closed his eyes and tried to seize control of the rampaging energy.
Tsume watched in agonizing silence. Every minute felt like an hour.
The fire within Saiki was systematically "melting" his elemental phases: his heart fire was burning his lung gold, his liver wood was feeding the flames. He was a biological catastrophe.
He tried to gather his remaining Yin Qi to form a "cooling rain," but there wasn't enough. His internal balance was a 90/10 split in favor of the Yang fire.
Suddenly, Saiki lurched forward and vomited a third fountain of blood. His body began to topple backward. Tsume caught him instantly.
"SAIKI!"
The Yin Qi was gone. The fire was now in total control.
This was the fatal flaw of his path. Had he reached the level of "Yin within Yang," he could have generated his own balance. But he had used Tsunade as his "Yin anchor" to complete his breakthrough. Without a female anchor to ground the circuit, his energy could only accumulate until it detonated.
Dual cultivation was a drug. It made training easy and progress fast, but it created a biological dependency.
Saiki looked at Tsume. Her face was a mask of terror and grief. He realized he didn't have much time before his meridians simply disintegrated.
He reached out and grabbed her hand, his grip crushing.
"Sensei... do you trust me?"
His mouth was a mask of blood, his eyes burning with a feverish light. Tsume didn't care about the question. She nodded frantically, tears streaming down her face. "Yes! Of course! You're the best thing that ever happened to my team!"
She thought he was delivering his final words. She was acting more like a grieving mother than a cold ninja.
Saiki looked her right in the eye, his tone terrifyingly blunt.
"Sensei... I need a woman. Right now."