If there were worse smells in the world, Genma hadn’t encountered them yet. There wasn’t much to be said for being draped over the shoulders of a vomiting man, either. Kakashi had only one working arm, with his right still numbed from contact with the demon’s venom. He’d let go of Genma to perform the Raikiri, then again to tear his ANBU mask off and pull his inner mask down, when the putrid scent of decomposed and lightning-scorched demon shrouded them. Then the vomiting. Quick, efficient, soldierly vomiting, because as far as Kakashi and Genma knew, there were still plenty of enemies on the other side of that earthen wall who would love to take advantage of any weakness.

Not to mention more bastard demon bugs that could come scrabbling up out of the depths from behind to flank them. They were safe, for the moment, in a tiny, relatively level-floored chamber that tumbling stone had spared, but the steeply angled tunnel the queen had torn through the rock yawned behind them.

The only reason Genma hadn’t fallen when Kakashi stopped holding him in place was chakra—his own—sticking him to Kakashi’s armored back and shoulders. He thought about letting it go, but with his body still mostly paralyzed, there was no way he’d be able to control how he landed, and he already had plenty of bruises from several falls as they’d chased the giant demon out of the mine.

The last had been the worst. They’d been nearly at the top of the demon’s exit tunnel when what felt like an quake but was probably an earth jutsu had knocked Kakashi off his feet entirely, and Genma off Kakashi’s shoulders. The fall would have been fatal if they hadn’t both managed to throw chakra out like static shocks and anchor themselves to the walls as they tumbled down the near-vertical shaft.

After that, Genma stopped trying to metabolize the poison, and concentrated his chakra on staying on Kakashi’s back.

They’d been nearly to the exit once more when their last remaining escape routes caved in. A series of explosions that sounded like demolition tags at the mine entrance threw them to the shuddering ground. They’d barely had time to duck as huge slabs of stone shuddered down around them, sealing the bore hole the queen demon had created.

Now there was just the tiny chamber, a lot of loose and unstable rock, the corpse of one of the smaller demons, and Kakashi’s lightning-vitrified hole to the outside world, just wide enough for a ninja to wriggle through. Cold, rain-filled wind blew in through the narrow opening, carrying with it the disgusting reek of rotting flesh.

Clearly Ryouma had been working hard.

The other thing, the notable thing, was the silence. No clang of steel against demon exoskeleton. No shouts. No jutsu. And no demon chakra.

Genma focused his senses on the unseen outside.

There—thank the mercies—an ANBU spark nearby, cloaked in unsuppressed autumn-leaf chakra: Raidou. And at a distance, Katsuko’s radiance close to Ryouma’s signature; barely a pilot light. Ryouma was in bad shape.

Kakashi wasn’t much better. He gave one last, miserable heave, wiped his face on his wrist, and pushed his masks back into place.

“You ‘kay?” Genma asked.

Kakashi grunted a non-answer and straightened up on shaking legs.

If Genma could just get his hands to work, to make seals— But there was no movement or feeling in his extremities at all, just a leaden ache deep in his shoulders and along his spine. And now, distantly, a queasy flurry in his stomach. That was the one good thing about being paralyzed, evidently—not enough muscular coordination to vomit. Maybe that was part of the poison, too. It wouldn’t do to have the egg hosts getting sick.