Hindsight is 20/20 [Private, Max]

He could not be certain that only a second had passed, or if it was a minute or two, or perhaps a couple months, maybe even years? The only thing he was certain of was his fear. He was sure the creature in the room could sense it, too. Mayhaps it did nothing about it, but then how to explain the fact that his nerves felt as though they were on fire, as if a searing hot pan pressed on the length of his nervous system, held by the firm hand of a seasoned cook, or how his heart pounded and caused the temples at the side of his head to pump vigorously and brought about the discomfort of a migraine, to the beat of a master smithy hammering away the kinks in a blade.

And then, likely as soon as it had started, the sensation lifted, and the room was once again possessed by the stagnant sterile sensation of the hospital, and Kaito could feel himself drenched in sweat, his knee hurting from kneeling on the cold hard paneling of the floor. He observed as the Raikage’s visage folded back onto his porcelain mask of indifference, uttering a sentence of acceptance of Kaito’s gesture, which Kaito took as permission to lift himself from the floor. As he rose, he watched as the new coming of the conqueror summoned from thin air some sort of cooler, with a technique he could only surmise was similar to his own Storage Displacement, a pocket dimension of sorts in which one could store various items that could be useful but cumbersome to carry around.

He went to explain that for Kaito’s appointment as a Jonin and for keeping the village in one piece, he had brought him a gift; a gift meant to improve his capabilities, akin to his new eyes. He would draw a kidney out of the cooler, disgusting looking thing it was, it seemed larger than the average kidney; Kaito was worried it might be a bit too much for his own abdomen to house it. The Kage spoke of power seeking forefathers, an universal truth, and spoke of the bloodline of a particularly powerful shinobi with body modification skills. This intrigued Kaito, as he knew only one person in the world who was incredibly skilled and could modify their body. As the light peered into the room, a tree branch shook outside, and the light played along the Raikage’s features. Truly, he was a Godsend to Kaito, perhaps to the Kumogakure as well.

When the Raikage offered him the kidney, with the implied string of no further obstruction to his position, Kaito nodded his head once. “Paradise sounds wonderful, Lord Raikage.” Of course, paradise was subjective. A farmer might want bountiful harvests, whereas Kaito wanted power. He felt dirty, as dirty as his hands felt when the kidney was transferred to his cupped palms, accepting power in exchange for obedience. He didn’t care. Autonomy wasn’t a priority to Kaito; after all, he had accepted his lot in life as a ninja for the Kumogakure, and being a ninja for the Raikage was a singular step of separation from that lot. But power: power was a means to an end. To what end, he wasn’t sure; perhaps it was just more power.

He listened for the Raikage’s words, and answered. “For now, I need only fit this kidney within me. I will come at your next summons to work on the village, Lord Raikage. Nothing I want more than to make it glorious again.”

Turning to Maximillian, he would show him the kidney as he got himself back onto the bed. “Lord Max… one more for the road?”

It would appear Lord Max was not in his best shape; perhaps it had been cruel of Kaito to assume the lad could’ve performed a series of surgeries in such a short span of time. A characteristically lack of consideration for others on the part of the redhead as a reflection of a lack of consideration for himself, who didn’t even ponder if he himself might not be in the best shape to get a new organ transplanted.
When the Raikage retrieved the organ and informed Kaito he would perform the operation himself on his next summons, Kaito nodded. Do not disappoint, he said. “Until our next meeting, Lord Raikage.”

He would need some rest himself. Having to learn to cope with the two new visions, his head pounding, his body drained of energy… he had not even realized it until now. He left the hospital, a new man.