The older shinobi who’d appeared at her door ushered the student inside- he certainly seemed to match his file visually. He responded with a smile of his own and introduced himself very formally, which the Medical Chief appreciated. She had been a little worried that the medbranch wasn’t the most popular among students, which might have meant they’d get someone disinterested and uncooperative, but she had a feeling it would be hard to hide either of those behind a smile that genuine. As he bowed, Hikaru gave a nod of acknowledgement; during that brief time, she stemmed the flow of Ukabu’s chakra to her eyes momentarily, scanning the surrounding area with her bloodline’s Blindsight. She hadn’t expected to sense anything concerning, and she didn’t- it was more something she was practicing. Her eyes shifted back from a faded, sightless brown to the slightly unnatural blue as she signaled her jinchuuriki spirit again.
Shishiwakamaru took his time with her next questions. So, while he was thinking, Hikaru stood and walked around to the front of her desk, motioning the other two out the door. “C’mon, let’s get started,” she smiled. “You can still answer of course- we just have cause to be especially alert, it seems, so I wanted to get you as familiar with the branch as I can in case we have to cut this short.” She, Makoto, and the student took to the halls, the lattermost beginning to explain his reasoning for choosing the branch. A few of the mednin they passed flinched as he brought up the night at the gate; she responded to their remarks, “He was as affected by it as anyone was.” She understood what they were feeling quite well. If they truly didn’t want to talk about it unless they had to, she was okay with waiting a little bit to continue the conversation with Shishiwakamaru. “Don’t kill his motivation now,” she added with a wry smile to one of the branch’s comedians, “in a few years, he could be taking a load off your shoulders.”
She led the two others into one of the Byoin’s spare rooms down the hall- this was one of the places used as a classroom, and was also where she’d been taught a good portion of what she knew about medicine. Sliding the door shut, she replied to her student, “Don’t worry too much about them. Everyone feels guilty about what happened that day.” Makoto added quietly, “I’m sorry about your father.” Hikaru nodded. “That’s a good reason for pursuing the branch, though. Good luck.”
Hallway doors suddenly bursting open was not an uncommon sound in the Byoin, but this time the Medical Chief could tell something was different. She rushed outside the room as her teammate sucked in a breath from their seat on one of the tables; a Main Branch shinobi had arrived with news, likely on the situation described to her just a few minutes ago. Hikaru accepted the scroll as she listened carefully to what he said. “Understood,” she frowned. Her branch members echoed what was racing through her mind- what could possibly be happening in such a nearby area of the village that they weren’t allowed to know about? This sounded like an ANBU mission to her… which might be the reason why the messenger deflected her colleagues’ questions, although every branch and operation had a right to its secrecy. “Ok, that’s enough,” she told the protesting mednin. “Let me read this.”
The scroll had some more pertinent information: they were being ordered to stand by for a mission raiding a bandit group with possible ties to the attack. Speak of the devil… and, on that note, why were bandits suddenly becoming much more prominent of a threat than she thought they normally were? You didn’t see run-of-the-mill thieves claiming to have aided in what resembled an act of war, nor did they usually require heavy backup to dismantle. She nodded to the senior ninja, “Orders received- we’re ready at any time.” Turning to the mednin gathered, she announced, “Increase staff in the emergency room- travel time from Maple Town, conditions and status unknown. Those in my unit, be ready to leave.”
As Hikaru relayed a code into the intercom system to communicate what she just said to the rest of the Byoin, Makoto walked over to the front of the classroom, glancing at Shishiwakamaru for a moment. They could hear everything said aloud from the open door; as the Medical Chief rallied her team from outside, the blue-haired mednin told him, “That means you too.” They formed a handseal, summoning several things onto the desk in front of them: a creme-colored cleanroom jacket bearing the insignia of the Leaf Medical Branch, a waist pouch with additional medical supplies, and identical copies of each in a smaller size. “Put these on,” Makoto motioned. “We’re going to be doing everything in our power to keep you safe, but understand that the safety of the patients comes first. Also understand that you’re going to be representing the branch as a whole- follow our orders exactly, do not do anything to endanger yourself or anyone else. I know this is the medical combat division, but you’re not going to be doing any fighting whatsoever. I’m sorry that this might not be what you signed up for…”
Hikaru reappeared in the doorway, clad in the same medical getup. She nodded in approval at her teammate’s preparation, “Good. We’re going to be leaving at a moment’s notice, as you heard. For now, though, I want to teach you your first skill in the branch, one that will help you assist in the coming extraction: triage. Triage is a classification system used to identify the severity and required treatment of a patient’s injuries, and it’s based on colors assigned to the patients- red patients require immediate care for life-threatening conditions, yellow patients are immobile and require serious attention but are not in immediate danger of death, and green patients are lowest-priority injuries that can wait to be treated until the more urgent tiers are stabilized. White means no medical care required at all, black means deceased.” She paused for a breath, making sure he didn’t have any questions so far. “Sorry that we have to rush through this a bit. Usually triage is done most effectively by a sensory-type, like myself or Makoto, and is always the first thing we do after making sure the area isn’t immediately dangerous for ourselves. You’ll be helping us out with it today- it’s just assessing a person’s injuries and marking them with a corresponding colored tag so that we can treat and transport them if necessary.”
A voice called for the Medical Chief from outside, and Hikaru disappeared back out into the hallway again. “Let’s practice.” Makoto offered. “Out of red, yellow, green, white, and black, what would you classify a shinobi with a broken arm who’s walking around the scene? What about a broken or seriously injured leg? Remember, if a patient is responsive, always ask them how they feel.”
