Life and death in the rapids
“Plop——!!!”
A dull thud, like a giant hammer striking a cowhide drum, erupted in the narrow space at the bottom of the valley, instantly drowning out the river's incessant, seemingly eternal roar. It wasn't just one note, but two, a terrifying thud of water falling, superimposed together, announcing both an end and a beginning.
Ice-cold! Indescribable, utterly icy cold, as if it came from the Netherworld!
The moment his body hit the water, Senju Tobirama's remaining, hazy consciousness was forcibly jolted into consciousness by the piercing chill. The river water wasn't just ordinary cold; it was the condensed chill of melted snow and the subterranean chill, a kiss of death that could instantly rob him of the warmth of life. The chill, like millions of invisible, quenched steel needles, pierced through the soaked clothing that clung to his skin, heavy as armor, piercing every pore and penetrating deep into his bones. It wasn't just pain; it was a paralysis that froze even his thoughts, as if the very flow of his blood had sluggishly slowed, on the verge of solidification.
Even more ferocious than the bone-chilling cold, however, was the excruciating pain in his back that threatened to rip his soul apart! The wound, struck hard by the "Thunder Tiger Kill" attack, felt like a red-hot iron mixed with coarse salt, pressed harshly against festering flesh under the fierce impact and soaking of the icy river water. The excruciating pain erupted from the wound like an uncontrolled volcano, cascading wildly along his spine and through every nerve ending in his body. Even on the verge of unconsciousness, he couldn't suppress a muffled groan of pain, swallowed by the current.
The immense force of the plunge, like being struck head-on by a speeding chariot, violently shook his already battered internal organs. His organs felt as if violently stirred and displaced by an invisible giant hand. A sweetness welled up in his throat, and another stream of blood gushed out uncontrollably, only to be immediately diluted and carried away by the rushing river. The cold, muddy, and fishy waters poured relentlessly into his mouth and nose, slightly open in pain, brutally squeezing the thin air remaining in his lungs. An intense feeling of suffocation descended like a black curtain, the shadow of death so clear and close as never before.
Under these multiple blows, consciousness was like a candle in the wind, its light dimming rapidly, and it was about to be completely extinguished, sinking into eternal darkness.
Yet, at this critical juncture, as his consciousness was about to completely dissipate, swallowed by the abyss, a nearly paranoid will, imprinted deep within his instincts, shone tenaciously like a drowning man's final straw. His arms, tightly clasping Uchiha Aoi, seemed to have escaped the control of his crumbling body, imbued with an independent, iron will. His arms remained tightly wrapped around her slender, cold waist, without a single slack. This wasn't even a conscious command; it was a final command, etched into his very bones and flesh, issued with all his willpower before he leaped off the cliff, as he turned to withstand the lightning strike. Protect her. No matter what, do not let go!
This obsessive confinement became the only fragile bond between the two people, maintaining a strange life-and-death dependence in the darkness at the bottom of the raging river.
The icy undercurrent, like countless invisible pythons, entangled and pulled at them, dragging them with irresistible force towards the murky depths of the river. Light overhead quickly vanished, leaving only a murky darkness shimmering with an eerie green glow. The riverbed weeds, like the long hair of a sleeping water demon, reached out insidiously, attempting to entangle these two uninvited intruders into the realm of death, trapping them forever in this icy underwater tomb. Tobirama's nearly immobile weight, combined with the weight of their soaked clothing, caused them to sink at a despairing pace.
In this suffocating environment of near-death, the extreme cold and the pain of lack of oxygen were like a strong and cruel shot of cardiac stimulant, stimulating the unconscious Uchiha Aoi and allowing her to regain an extremely weak, gossamer-like consciousness.
So cold... so dark... I can't breathe...
Her eyelids felt heavy as if weighed down by lead, and she struggled to open them a crack. Before her eyes lay a blurry, swaying world of darkness. The muddy river, laden with fine sand, lashed her cheeks. The icy water pressed down on her frail body from all sides, especially her chest, which felt like it was being pressed down by a huge rock. Every attempt to breathe brought a burning pain and more icy liquid to her chest.
She felt a pair of arms, tightly wrapped around her waist like an iron hoop. A body, incredibly heavy yet emitting a negligible amount of heat, pressed against her back, dragging her along, irretrievably sinking into a deeper, darker abyss.
Who is it?
After a brief moment of confusion, fragments of memory pierced into his mind like sharp glass - the confrontation on the edge of the cliff, the desperate leap, and... the silver figure that followed closely behind, tearing through the air with determination!
Senju Tobirama!
It was him! He actually jumped down after her?! The shock of this realization even temporarily overwhelmed the pain of suffocation. But then, a deep-seated fear of death and an indescribable desire to survive, like wildfire, suddenly ignited within her cold body!
I can't die! I absolutely can't die here! Brother Madara is still waiting for me! Uchiha... I haven't...
The instinct for survival overwhelmed all rational thought, temporarily overcoming the complex emotions she felt for the person behind her. She began to struggle, using the meager strength she had just regained to try to break free from the constricting embrace. Her hands and feet paddled and kicked haphazardly in the water, trying to struggle towards the faint light above. She needed air! Now! Immediately!
Yet, even in his deep coma, Tobirama's arms remained like the strongest shackles, holding her tightly. That strength stemmed from a determination beyond her conscious awareness, far beyond the reach of her now weakened self. Her struggles, faced with the raging undercurrent and the unwavering restraints, seemed futile and absurd, only rapidly depleting the last vestiges of oxygen in her lungs and intensifying the suffocation.
The burning sensation in her lungs intensified, as if a flame burned within them. Large patches of black began to appear in her vision, and consciousness once again rapidly receded like the tide. Despair, like those icy weeds, entwined itself from all sides, strangling her breath (even though she couldn't breathe to begin with). Could it be... after barely surviving the inevitable fall off the cliff, was she destined to drown at the bottom of this unknown, icy river, and become a tangled pile of bones alongside this thousand-armed man?
No! Never!
A force came from nowhere, perhaps it was the cursed power deep in the Uchiha clan's blood that could only be unleashed in desperate situations, or perhaps it was the strong unwillingness that arose when Uchiha Madara's eyes, filled with expectation and worry, flashed through her mind, which made her suddenly stop this futile struggle that would only accelerate her death.
This can't be done! We have to do it another way!
At this critical juncture, she made a decision that defied instinct, yet might have been her only chance of survival. She no longer tried to push him away. Instead, she used all her remaining strength to cling to Tobirama's heavy, cold upper body! Her arms looped under his armpits, folded in front of him, and held tightly! Then, with her nearly frozen legs, she used up the last bit of her life force to kick the river water again and again, powerfully, in the direction of the light she remembered!
She was not escaping alone, but trying to drag this heavy, unconscious man, who was her only "companion" (although the word was so ironic), and float up together!
The process was as arduous as carrying a mountain on one's back in a nightmare. With every stroke and kick, she felt her limbs groaning in pain, as if her muscle fibers were about to break. The icy river water frantically took away the meager heat in her body, and her limbs quickly became numb, stiff, and almost unconscious. Tobirama's weight far exceeded hers, like a huge magnet, constantly dragging her down. The wound on his back continued to ooze blood in the river water, like dark red smoke, spreading before her eyes, attracting some curious and cold fish to linger around, adding a bit of horror and despair to the underwater world.
Time seemed stretched out, each second stretching like a century. The pain in her lungs reached its peak, and her consciousness, like a flickering candle, was about to be completely extinguished by the darkness. She was almost giving up, her arms and legs becoming limp and powerless...
At this final moment——"Crash!!!"
A sound like the sound of water breaking was heard! Her head, along with the head of Tobirama, who was tightly hugged by her, finally broke through the water surface that had been suppressing them!
"Cough! Cough cough cough—!" Reconnecting with the cold yet breath-filled air, Aoi breathed in greedily and deeply, like a dying fish. A violent coughing fit followed, leaving her chest and throat piercing with unbearable pain, as if being cut by a knife and burned by fire. She coughed up not only icy river water, but also streaks of blood with a fishy, sweet smell, a sign of damage to her throat and lungs under extreme pressure. The icy rain (which had begun to fall again at some point) lashed her pale, cold face, mixing with the river water and the scalding tears she had shed after surviving the ordeal, leaving everything blurry and indistinct.
She gasped for breath, her heart pounding wildly in her chest, threatening to break her ribs. She barely glanced around, her heart sinking again. They had indeed surfaced, but their situation remained utterly perilous. On either side were sheer, slippery cliffs, as sharp as a knife and an axe, towering into the clouds, their tops invisible. The river was still surging, sweeping them downstream at a rapid speed. The struggle had nearly exhausted her strength. Cold and exhaustion, like two evil spirits, gnawed at her.
She had to get ashore! Now! Before hypothermia completely robbed her of her mobility, or before the river swept her downstream toward even more dangerous waterfalls and reefs!
This thought, like a final alarm bell, rang wildly in her mind. She clenched her teeth, her gums nearly bleeding, and with her unwavering willpower, she endured the bone-deep cold and the wave of exhaustion that washed over her like a tide, and began a new, even more difficult struggle.
With one hand she clutched the collar of the unconscious Tobirama's clothes (to prevent the rushing water from washing them apart), and with the other hand she paddled with all her might. Her legs felt as if they were filled with lead, yet she still mechanically pedaled, trying to fight the current, struggling inch by inch towards a river bank in front of her on the left that looked a little gentler, with piles of gravel, and perhaps climbable.
Every foot forward felt like wading through sticky asphalt. The river water was cold and powerful, like a giant, malicious hand, constantly trying to push her back to the center of the river, rushing towards the unknown dangers downstream. The weight of Tobirama seemed so huge at this moment, and the slight progress brought by each stroke was quickly offset by his weight and the resistance of the water. Her arms were so sore and numb that she almost lost consciousness, and she moved only by instinct. Her teeth chattered with cold, her whole body trembled violently and uncontrollably, and her consciousness hovered dangerously on the edge of clarity and blur, and the scene before her was sometimes clear, sometimes distorted.
Several times, she almost lost her grip, or was knocked over by a sudden wave and sank back into the water. But she miraculously held on, using her last bit of strength to steady herself and continue struggling towards the seemingly unreachable other side.
After an unknown amount of time, as if she had endured a long, tormenting hell, her fingertips finally touched the slippery, cold, yet incredibly solid rock on the shore! The rough, real touch instantly spread through her numb body like an electric current, bringing a faint but crucial ray of hope!
We’re here! Finally… we’re here!
A surge of strength (perhaps a final burst of adrenaline) lifted her spirits! Using the final push of the current toward the shore, she dragged and tugged, practically rolling and crawling, using all her strength to drag Tobirama's heavy body, like a mountain, and herself onto the gravel beach, in an extremely awkward and difficult manner.
As her body escaped the all-consuming, icy water and touched the hard, gritty gravel that symbolized "land" and "survival," Uchiha Aoi felt like a string stretched to its limit, then snapped, her strength completely gone. She collapsed onto the cold, damp stone, beside the still unconscious, deathly pale Tobirama. Her mouth opened wide, gasping for air like a fish out of water, her chest heaving violently, each breath a searing pain. The icy rain pelted her face mercilessly, mingling with the uncontrollable, scalding tears of fear, grievance, pain, and a touch of inexplicable emotion that poured out, mingling and streaming down her cheeks, indistinguishable from each other.
Absolute fear, utter physical exhaustion, a crushing mental shock, and a sense of exhaustion, as if drained of everything, enveloped her like a thick, clammy blanket. She didn't even have the energy to consider her next move, or the energy to examine the man beside her who was both her enemy and her "savior" (albeit in such a bizarre way). She instinctively curled up, her cold, stiff, trembling body, clutching it tightly. Like a frightened, bruised, dying animal in a storm, she shivered and collapsed on the cold rock, greedily clinging to this fragile moment of respite.
The unconscious Senju Tobirama's condition looked even worse. His eyes were tightly shut, his brow furrowed in agony, his face as pale as soaked paper, devoid of any color. Even his lips were a bluish-purple hue. The wound on his back, pounded by the rain, continued to ooze dark red blood, staining a small patch of the off-white stone beneath him. Against the gray sky and the rain, it was a particularly glaring and tragic sight. His breathing was so weak it was barely perceptible, his chest rising and falling only slightly.
Even in the depths of his unconsciousness, the arms that had once held her tightly seemed to retain a lingering, unconscious strength. One arm rested heavily, unconsciously, on her cold, soaked waist, as if this final gesture of protection had transcended his subjective consciousness, becoming an indelible mark on this body, unable to be removed even at its limit. This tiny touch, in this cold, hopeless predicament, strangely brought a faint, illusory warmth, or perhaps it was just the beginning of a deeper, puzzling bond.
The rain continued to patter, hammering against the rocks before merging into the surging river beneath their feet. The valley was filled with steam and a chill, the sky growing darker, as if night were about to fall prematurely. Two men and women from rival families, destined for war, now found themselves, in an unlikely way, cuddling together on this isolated, desolate riverbank, their fate uncertain, their future uncertain. All hatred, calculations, and family missions seemed to be temporarily washed away by the icy water and rain, blurring the lines between them. Only the most primal desire for survival remained, and a forced, fragile symbiosis bound together.
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