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| - Sometime after Tsurenai’s promotion to chūnin, Ana was killed during a mission by two missing-nin she and Tsurenai had been sent to apprehend. Ana had displayed a momentary weakness during the confrontation, which was instantly exploited by their enemies. Tsurenai was deeply distraught over the loss of her sensei, and began to reconsider her acceptance of the latter’s ideal that true ninja neither showed nor accepted mercy. Having been desensitized to suffering and violence by the savage battles she had fought in over the years, and the many comrades she had lost, the epitome of which was Ana, Tsurenai began to adopt many of her fallen teacher’s ideals, foremost among which was an utter lack of compassion for anyone she perceived to be her adversary. At some point, Tsurenai joined the Kumogari Group, an organization which hunted down any criminal ninja with a significant bounty on their head, regardless of their village of origin. It was during her tenure in this organization that she contracted Kutsumi disease, a malady which causes one’s body to slowly decay from the inside out, eventually resulting in a protracted, torturous death. Several weeks after being diagnosed with having contracted Kutsumi disease, Tsurenai was ordered to kill a ninja from the Land of Woods, called Mokurin. Mokurin was a fugitive from the country and had sought asylum in Konohagakure, which had been granted to him by the village. Tsurenai was to intercept and assassinate Mokurin before his arrival in Konoha, a task which she accepted without reservation. She was able to locate the missing-nin and his entourage of Konoha-nin without difficulty, appearing in a cloud of mist before them. Sumire Murasaki, the jōnin leader of the group, demanded to know Tsurenai’s intent and purpose, to which Tsurenai replied that her only purpose was to kill Mokurin. She identified herself as a member of Kumogari, and stated that she had no wish to harm any of the Konoha ninja, only to carry out her mission. Apprehensive at the thought that the Kiri kunoichi would kill Mokurin, Sumire ordered her team into a manji formation, the purpose of which was to encircle Mokurin and thus defend him from any attacks. Before the Konoha genin could take so much as a single step, however, Tsurenai appeared next to them. Tsurenai immediately thrust her fist into the gut of the female genin, Akemi, sending her flying back several meters from the force of the impact. Realizing that the kunoichi would easily slay Mokurin if she acted not, Sumire threw a single shuriken at Tsurenai and created hundreds of shadow clones from it, the violently rotating blades threatening to turn the Kiri-nin into a finely sliced slab of meat. “Tsurenai” was stabbed by dozens of the shuriken before turning into a puff of smoke, revealing that the real Tsurenai had used the Body Replacement Technique to evade the barrage. Sumire noticed a blur of movement in the corner of her eye, which, upon directing her full field of vision at it, turned out to be Tsurenai, who was pointing a single finger at her. The three Konoha genin shouted to warn their sensei in unison of the impending danger. However, Tsurenai discharged a concentrated burst of air from her finger which pierced Sumire’s neck before she could react. Sumire was initially unaware of the fact that she had been struck by Tsurenai’s technique, until she felt a trickle of blood down her neck and a sharp pain in her skull. She placed her hand to her neck, and moments later, collapsed. Tsurenai had pierced her with nothing more than a bubble of air, which was sufficient to cause an obstruction of blood to her brain, and hence, a stroke. With the major impediment to her mission neutralized, Tsurenai expelled a barrage of exploding ice bullets from her mouth, which, upon impacting Mokurin, killed him instantly. Her mission complete, Tsurenai prepared to vacate the area, but could not help but feel a pang of sadness upon watching the grief-stricken Konoha-nin pick up their unconscious sensei and fearfully make for home. Sumire would later be hospitalized for several weeks as a result of the induced stroke, and suffer damage to her chakra pathway system that would prevent her from ever being a shinobi again. Nearly two months after she had been discovered to have Kutsumi disease, Tsurenai was in so much pain from her decaying body that she could not serve as a ninja. In fact, the disease had reached such an advanced state that even the slightest contact her skin made with another object would cause her to be wracked with intense pains throughout her body. Saddened that her last remaining days would be punctuated by excruciating bouts of pain, Tsurenai visited the graves of her parents and sensei, saying tearfully that she would be joining them soon. It was not to be, however, as extensive research conducted by Kiri’s medical corps had been successful in creating a remedy for Kutsumi disease. Tsurenai, who had been facing the prospect that she had less than two weeks to live, was treated by Kiri’s medical-nin, making a complete recovery and later rejoining the Kumogari group.
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