[Suki]
Suki had never seen a weaker version of Touki before, collapsed in his bed for most of the day and suffering from multiple kinds of pain throughout his body. The battle the man experienced was a true wake-up call for both of them: that not everything goes as planned for him, and for her, the incredible fragility of her master.
Suki's life has been an emotional rollercoaster since she's been following Touki, going from begging for a living to meddling in national-scale conflicts. She sometimes fails to fully understand what her master is trying to do, her worldview still limited by her lack of sight, placing too much trust in the strange schemes he seems overly confident will work. But as time goes on, she begins to understand that nothing is perfect and that her master is far from infallible.
The artifacts they both build are true marvels, so much so that Suki sometimes truly believes Touki is a messenger from God, because as the effects become more and more powerful, she truly believes they can accomplish the absurd plans he proposes each day. But sadly, nothing can change the mortality and fragility of a body that possesses almost no chakra.
Suki isn't an expert in the ninja arts, but as her training progresses, she's noticed that the changes in her body are rapidly transforming her into a completely new being. Chakra has become an important part of her daily life, serving as fuel and catalyst for her daily work. But it has also made her understand the limitations that Touki will never be able to overcome, no matter how strong his armor becomes.
"Master, you can't get involved in a battle like the one before again, you barely made it back alive," Suki says to Touki, who is in his bed, using several artifacts that emit a green aura and help speed up his healing.
"What do you mean? It's not like I was planning on ending up this way. Things just happened, and I couldn't help but try out my new weapons," Touki replies, resigned.
"But there was no need to do that. I told you I could come with you and use the mist."
"It's too soon to reveal your presence, and your power isn't enough. Besides, I don't quite know how even the strongest opponents deal with the fog. It's a good resource, but I highly doubt it's foolproof, especially if we use it too many times."
"Master… I'm afraid something worse will happen to you next time. What if you lose an arm or a leg? The artifacts are incapable of curing something like that," the young woman insists with great concern.
Touki remains silent for a few moments, his face very thoughtful, then says, "There are very few things I can do about it, for it is the fate I chose, and although I do not like the idea of ending up hurt, it is something that is impossible to avoid in the future."
"But what will Karin and I do if you don't come back next time?" The young woman's voice becomes shaky.
The man seems surprised by the young woman's words, causing him to remain silent for a long time, before finally saying, "I don't know…"
Suki can't see him, but she can somehow sense in Touki's voice the conflict of emotions he's going through. And after a few awkward moments of silence, she decides to change the subject: "What do you plan to do about the two Uchiha girls?"
Touki thinks for a few moments, takes a glass of water from the nightstand next to the bed and after emptying it completely, answers, "It doesn't depend much on me now, I can't force them to do anything for now. Our organization is just forming and I don't really need them at the moment, although that will change in the future. As much as I can give the samurai all the tools to make them stronger, they won't be able to combat certain characteristics of the ninjas. So I need to think about creating a new division composed of former ninjas or training some members in the arts of ninjutsu, in order to complement the samurai forces… Izumi is the perfect candidate to lead that new force."
"But can we trust her?"
"That's irrelevant for now; we'll see more about it in the future. Be careful not to reveal any important details about our identities when we meet them again. From now on, I'll rely much more on you to deal with all kinds of problems."
"Of course," Suki says with much more enthusiasm.
"We also need to figure out how to use the eyes I worked so hard to acquire. So far, there's no one I could trust with the transplant, and I'm not going to risk having us do it ourselves, unless, of course, we develop a more advanced method of healing than what we have today."
"I don't like the idea of using someone else's eyes."
"I wouldn't like it either, but the power you would have is too much to refuse. Besides, you're a special case, because those eyes are so powerful that no one outside of an Uchiha would be able to tolerate using them for long. But you don't need eyes to function normally, so we can keep them sealed until you really need them."
"Does Izumi have them too?"
"Correct, that's why we also need to recruit her. With her, we can experiment with their use, study the possibility of amplifying them with our artifacts, and even prevent them from deteriorating. Although the question remains: what powers do those eyes really have?"
Suki helps the hurting Touki as best she can, even in the store, since he does not want to raise the slightest suspicion that he is injured. Fortunately, no one seems to be planning to stop by the shop, while social chaos erupts in the village due to the Uchiha massacre.
Suki can't help but remember Karin's sadness at learning that so many children from the academy died so suddenly, with the sole exception of her classmate Sasuke.
The entire village is on full alert, in case any other hidden village attempts to take advantage of Konoha under these circumstances. It's not unusual to see constant ninja patrols in the streets, both day and night, as well as rumors of the capture of spies throughout the village.
The Uchiha clan funerals were held five days after the massacre and it was fortunate that Touki was able to return the missing bodies in time, which were left overnight at the main entrance of the village, along with a cryptic message that Suki doesn't know, but which Touki insists was necessary.
Suki's feelings about the massacre are mixed, as she believes more could have been done to prevent so much senseless death, but at the same time she wishes Touki had never gotten involved, as he took too much unnecessary risk from her perspective.
Touki's armor was badly damaged, so Suki's number one priority was to help repair it, swapping modules and participating in the creation of new programs devised by Touki. The process has become tedious for her, but the results are still astonishing. The only problem is the position they use to synchronize the execution of the programs. As she grows older, it becomes increasingly uncomfortable for her to sit on his lap.
Suki is no longer a child and is going through puberty, so she can't help but feel many strange sensations when she sits on Touki's lap. Added to the fact that she harbors almost idol-like feelings toward the man, the young woman can't help but make some involuntary mistakes while performing hand seals, something that makes her feel very embarrassed.
The relationship between the two is almost like a family, so Suki doesn't entertain any strange ideas with Touki, but there will come a point where she will grow up enough to actually have to talk to him about having to sit on his lap.