The Sound of One Hand Breaking [Private]

[Byakko Yukiin]

Whatever the difference was between a sprain and a break Yukiin felt confident that he had learned what the difference was between mild pain and moderate pain after the second attempt to break his fall went about as well as the first. It turns out that losing your grip on the way down a mountain, shinobi or not, had consequences and those consequences could not be waved away by breaking your fall with your hand. It especially didn't work when you used the same hand, thankfully precise control over his puppet was no longer required once he crossed the threshold back into the inner village. He didn't fear for his life as much here, although he supposed that might've been a dangerous feeling and still gave the place a token amount of attention by looking both ways before crossing streets, scanning strangers in the streets for weapon bulges in their coats or pockets, and making sure to conceal his weakness as best he could. It bit at the back of his mind like a canine jaw trying to crush the juices out of his skull but that was a good sign, he could still feel the body part which meant frostbite hadn't claimed it.

He'd make a very crude bandage from ice and the torn hood from his puppet's cloak, Tsurara wouldn't mind as long as he replaced it afterward, sealing the bandaging in place with a thin frozen coating to hold the digits and his hand in a fixed position to avoid pain from moving it. Makeshift jutsu, to be certain, and he didn't know if freezing an injury in place was the best way to handle things, he wasn't a doctor after all, but it was working for the moment. Thankfully actual medical professionals were available and while Yukiin was loathe to turn himself over for their assistance, further cementing the idea that he was an expensive asset to the village that might be better served dead in a ditch somewhere, he liked the idea of someone else finding out he'd neglected to have it treated much less.

Without both hands, however, this greatly complicated any use of kugutsu and that idea filled his gut with several anxious serpents, gnawing away at him and setting a paralytic venom into his veins, as he approached the front desk. He opened his lips, trying to speak, but after a few awkward moments of his heart moving much faster than his lips, Yukiin gave up and turned his head down, casting his voice out to a nearby pen. "He needs to see someone for a hand injury."

After a few more awkward moments the Genin, maintaining his solid eye contact with the floor, extended his hand for whatever paperwork he needed to fill out. The secretary handed him what he could only assume were the proper forms and Yukiin nodded, stepping away to find a seat to write out what he could with his non-dominant hand. When that went about as well as expected, looking like crayon drawings from a four year old, he lifted up his hand, strings reaching out to grasp the pen. It was easier for him to direct it like this from above, like a crude puppet, and made his writing more legible although it was a much slower process to guide the pen through each individual stroke. Time wasn't his most valuable resource at the moment though and he sort of hoped if he just took his sweet time the individual at the desk would forget that entire...incident.

Much like his luck in the descent, fate wasn't looking upon him favorably though and when he returned the papers the secretary responded snidely "Thank you, pen."

Maybe dying on the mountain would've been nicer...

 

[Osuteno]

A nurse passed Osu a file and a clipboard which only seemed to catch a momentary glance from the outside. “His hand looks like what?”

A few moments later a nurse called for Yukiin to follow her and he was led to a room where a purple haired individual was tapping a chart on a desk.

“Yukiin, my name is Osuteno and I will be looking after you today. I hear your hand is in pretty bad shape. Just have a seat on the table there and let’s take a look at it.”

Almost immediately after seeing the hand… arm in question, Osu frowned.

“I… hmmmm. Normally I advocate more natural paced treatments but you really managed to do a number to this arm. At least the frost is nowhere near as bad as it could be... we should be able to prevent permanent loss of touch. This is going to hurt noticeably for a few minutes, but bear with it..”

Dozens of red ‘threads’ started pouring out from Osu’s sleeves and began either cleanly slicing through the ice or sewing themselves into Yukiin’s skin, recovering minuscule fragments of bone from the breaks, resetting the placement of the bones, and returning a sense of warmth to Yukiin’s arm. The sensation was a lot like having numerous occasionally biting insects slipping around under one’s skin and slipping down into the bones and muscles. To make sure Yukiin didn’t react in a way to hinder this process, two slightly more thick and noticeable threads gripped around Yukiin’s elbow and wrist like a steel trap.

“So exactly how did you manage to get your poor arm in this shape? I mean the ice brace is a bit more obvious though not advisable, but what form of very likely unsupervised training were you doing to cause this, exchanging palm strikes with a sledgehammer? Everyone who comes in at your age like this either get their injuries during a mission or training. The damage is focused… here and there are cracks spiderwebing all through…”

Osu paused mid sentence before looking at Yukiin with a slightly amused smile while the threads kept working inside the arm. “Most people try to land with their legs, so you are either not very coordinated or you had the right idea, but couldn’t properly execute a roll when you fell. Which is it?”

 

[Byakko Yukiin]

The puppeteer made no expression of pain or disruption during the performance, though he did watch intently and focused specifically on the wiring as it came out. Chakra strings were not typically visible and were a vital part of the Kugutsu art but these were physical strings, things that were manipulated by chakra likely but were a divergence from the art he practiced. Still he was unaware that there were any other such puppeteers in the village, or at least nobody had told him and he was under the impression his type of combat style was rare in Kumogakure. Why else did he have to be specifically cultivated and trained to use it beyond the normal training period for students? Yet her strings were much more...noble, if that was the right term. They moved independent of command almost, striking out without any movement of the digits to command them and resembled the way he manipulated ice far more than puppets. It captured his attention and left him feeling a bit underwhelmed at his own level of Kugutsu, though he displayed it anyways by lifting his puppet by its conjured strings with his one free hand until it leapt in the air from the floor, rested in its wielder lap inbetween himself and the doctor, and then began chattering its lips as Yukiin cast his voice out through it to answer the questions posed to him.

While that was occurring he slipped the ice off his hand, the solid substance turning to liquid at his mental command and moving away from his flesh as easily as oil to water before resolidifying into a solid ice ball in the youth's fingertips, flexing his freshly repaired digits regardless of the strings moving about before tossing the blood-stained ice ball into its appropriate toxic waste receptacle. None of these actions seemed to delay him, divert his focus, or even be performed by the same person as the puppet spoke with his own voice as these kinds of multitask were swiftly becoming more than second nature to him. The outside observer would be forgiven for assuming the two were separate entities if they were unfamiliar with puppetry.

"He chose to apply the frost, it was a preservative choice to limit movement of damaged flesh and to prevent compounding the injury as these types of temperature are harmless to individuals of his heritage. The injury was sustained attempting to capture the attention of outside forces for summoning, he has been informed this would be an apt way to increase one's combat ability and usefulness to the village and pursued this in the mountains where breaking one's fall is sometimes a complex matter when wielding a puppet. Though your strings..." Yukiin gestured with the arm being operated on, if it caused him pain he didn't show it. "remind him of the technique but he was unaware of any others employing Kugutsu in Kumogakure, let alone this alien style which employs physical, visible, strings. He is curious, how is this performed and where is it taught?"

The injury had been mentally written off by the youth and his eyes smoldered with a hunger for a new type of power that was previously unknown to him but which would not remain that way if he had any say in it.

[WC 552]

 

[Osuteno]

Osu was initially a little surprised as the youth brought the puppet out to speak for him but soon took on a warm smile. A shy child, Osu thought.

“Oh my, a Haku and a puppet user, I rarely get the chance to speak with either,but never have I had the chance to meet someone who is both. You are quite the rare one. As for my threads… while I can’t say I am entirely familiar with puppetry due to my work in prosthetics I haven’t actually formally taken up the practice or have received instruction… Though I suppose what I do has skills that are transferable to puppetry if I ever decided to take it up.” Osu mused upon reflection.

“Oh! I guess I should explain. Rather than saying I am the puppeteer or even the puppet, I am the strings. As in I am literally a bunch of strings, or more accurately blood vessels.” More red ‘threads’ poured out of Osu’s sleeve and began to mimic the positions of the various blood vessels in the boy’s uninjured arm as he operated the puppet.

To further explain, Osu used his hand to lift his head right off his shoulders, completely separated from the body but the body kept moving as it had been and the head kept speaking . “It isn’t something I was really taught, it was more of a necessity. I might seem great at multitasking, but in reality everything I do is multitasking. My head hear doesn’t have a brain inside, rather my neurons are all over me, flowing in my veins and communicating with the others to collectively manage tasks.” Osu placed his head back on his shoulders, “though while that would theoretically mean I could perform as many tasks as I have neuron groupings, obviously in practice that is nowhere near true, I am limited to about… 40ish moderate tasks such as filling out paperwork. More complex tasks or thoughts would require more of my attention and brain power, further limiting how much I can do. And with some things, even if I could spare my attention elsewhere, I wouldn’t unless absolutely necessary like performing more delicate surgeries. All in all I fall under a classification of beings known as Revenants. There is a bit more to it than usually being made from cords or strings or such, but… it takes a lot away from you as well. I am a bit better off than some… and a bit worse off than others as I am still an entirely biological being, if parts of my anatomy are still a complete mystery which has caused me no small amount of headaches… You are already thinking you want this sort of ‘power’ don’t you?” Osu suddenly had an unamused and tired look on his face as he looked the young man directly in the eyes.

 

[Byakko Yukiin]

So this one in front of him was some sort of...monster, he supposed. An alteration of the human form so fundamental that it changed most of the functions of its anatomy, warped it into something entirely new, and the idea did not sit entirely well with him as it blurred the lines further between what he was and what his puppets were - weapons and wielders. Watching and listening to what was described it became clearer to him that this was not an ability one acquired, it seemed that it was something that happened to you more accurately. Perhaps people sought this out but it seemed to push the wielder beyond the limits of mortality and was likely installed into someone as they died or afterwards, but maybe his understanding was flawed and the changes required a living host...but wouldn't it kill them in the process? How did they even know what they were afterwards if they died in the process? Where did your soul go in such a condition?

Yukiin's expression was not of disgust but rather confusion, both his own head and the puppets tracking things and tilting in thought as he tried to make a mental grasp of things. He supposed with chakra the range of possibilities was much wider but he didn't see how someone could undergo such a change but not fully understand what they had done...it was all quite strange. This Osuteno seemed less than curious about his own status and more interested in what his patient was and also what the patient was interested in as the doctor seemed displeased to see any interest in his status...but he made no effort to hide it either so this seemed even more strange, why display your abilities if you dislike them or dislike others knowing and prying into them?

It was all not sitting right in his mind, there was something wrong about it that he couldn't understand with the information he currently had.

"Haku is his designation for heritage type but it is Byakko properly, the rarity was a known factor and prompted the inquiry as Kugutsu is a relatively rare skill and one that he is unaccustomed to seeing in others. If these vessels are of flesh, however, then they are quite different and the status as some kind of..." The puppet speaking and the puppeteer vocalizing both paused, trying to find the appropriate term for what was in front of him exactly.

"Well, undead he supposes. It is an ability that is of interest but it presumably requires the possessor to already be dead and to be reanimated, or if it is done alive then the procedure must be incredibly invasive and incredibly painful, more so than the treatments used in the Academy...but in exchange for the ability to circumvent one's own death in the service of Kumogakure, pain seems a small price to pay."

One of Tsurara's joints locked itself accidentally, the puppet's left arm stuck in place momentarily instead of making gestures on behalf of its wielder while it similarly spoke for him and Yukiin responded promptly, the ice in its joints being pulled forth in liquid form and reformed in his puppeteering hand. He dropped the strings and allowed the puppet to fall slack as he examined the volume of water in his now free hand as it reverted to ice, noting a few shallow points where it had cracked unexpectedly. The weapon's arm was opened up, revealing its internal components to be entirely a network of ice instead of that of metal, as the Genin attended to this one broken portion.

Without his aid in front of him, however, Yukiin had to pause to consider how to speak.

"This one would regard the change as a blurring of the distinction between puppet and puppeteer but it would be greatly preferable to blur it instead of overlap them as the Human Puppet technique displays. There was an unpleasant encounter with one of The Hidden Leaf's puppeteers, wielding such things, and this one could find few more disgusting things than disguising a weapon of war as a flesh and blood being so compared to that affront to natural order, the shinobi lifestyle, Kugutsu etiquette, and common decency if there were shinobi of Kumogakure who could turn into giant leeches? It would be preferable and decent. "

He looked up from his task, filling and recoating the ice ball with streams of ice from his breath, realizing he may have had said something rude. "Not to imply that your state of being is distasteful, this one means no disrespect, it is simply a confusion. If the flesh is not the end of the line dividing man and weapon then it becomes complex and he is...uncomfortable with the idea of being unable to determine which is which, what right would a puppeteer have to guide puppets when he is nothing but a puppet himself? Still, in service to Kumogakure there are worse fates and this one owes the village much, any avenues to repay it efficiently are worthy of exploration. This one would not be out in the wilds pursuing strange animals if he did not believe that."

Yukiin gave his injured limb a delayed glance, eyes looking into it as if were already not a part of him for the mere fact that it had failed to live up to its assigned task. "Yes, we would give up much more than an arm if it would make us more useful to the village."

[WC 926]

 

[Osuteno]

“You are a rather sweet child aren’t you,” Osu said with a grin as they finished speaking.

“At the very least I can identify with that sense of duty, though I would never encourage you to make such extreme changes without considering the future. You are… only half right about the general condition of revenancy being similar to an undead, but not quite. At the core of typical revenants, and myself actually moresoe than usual, the heart is the key. During the usual process the entirety of one's being is gathered into a ‘heart’ which could be the actual heart or another catalyst. I would honestly have thought the brain might be more appropriate, but I there are many strange aspects of such existences. It is rather similar to how traditionally a human puppet is also formed using the heart as the core. And… yes technically revenants are generally a form of pseudo immortals so long as they have hearts. In my case I never actually died nor were my organs removed… rather most were broken down and absorbed into my blood though I still have a couple that I managed to save from the event. It requires my attention on occasion to keep that way. It might sound strange but I am rather desperate to keep as much of what is left of my humanity as possible, this body wasn’t a decision I made nor would I be sane to want to go through everything I did to become like this since it was someone’s idea of torture and a particularly long and painful experience. I really wouldn’t recommend intentionally going through a similar process… there are more honest paths to strength… honestly I am simply harder to kill now rather than being particularly stronger… though I admit there are advantages. There is no way I could have this much control over my body beforehand and managing delicate tasks is much more precise. It has done wonders for my ability as a doctor… but I cannot impress upon you enough that I am rare in just how biological I am. I only personally know how the normal procedure is done, and… it is a rather sad thing. There is typically disconnect from the senses, occasionally nonexistent, particularly in things like taste. You also don’t know just how much of being human is all these countless inefficient little quirks in our bodies. I have to intentionally go through the effort of making facial expressions because my body is mostly driven by efficiency. Rather if I ever actually stopped caring I wouldn’t have such a humanoid shape to me. I don’t actually have to be in this form to speak or act or anything but I struggle to be as human as I can because… what if I did stop caring? That is a dangerous sort of disconnect, and one that you might have noticed in that human puppet you met if they gave you such a bad feeling. This isn’t a terribly scientific statement but please bear with it, something is lost spiritually once your body goes through such an extreme change. It actually might not be one big thing but countless small things. There is a sort of dangerous recklessness that can come with thoughts like ‘it doesn’t matter if I get killed, I will just reform later.’ When your own life starts feeling as cheap as just grabbing a heart from the morgue… you unconsciously start taking the lives of others less seriously. I have seen people who were so disconnected from their humanity that humans were just a game to them. They didn’t care about loyalty or compassion or even sanity. They just do as they please not to be bored, a completely despicable existence.

So while this seems like some magical chakra gift I will impress upon you the same thing I do to those learning medical jutsu. It isn’t a miracle, there is a cost that is paid for going against the natural order of things even if you don’t notice it immediately. That is why I am simply moving your bones and muscles back to where they need to be and binding them in place to make the natural healing more beneficial than just ‘magically’ fixing your bones. Your arm will come out stronger this way so long as you don’t do anything reckless while it is healing, and we don’t risk the development of particular problems than stem from the use of too much medical jutsu.

So I would recommend growing up, try a hand at love, maybe have a family, taste exotic foods, feel all sorts of textures, smell the ocean breeze, just experience life more and solidify your humanity before deciding to take away a large part of it. That might just be how I feel about it, but I would implore that you take it seriously as the words of someone who misses much of what you have...

Also is your arm feeling better? I have finished the internal stitchings and removed the unnecessary fragments. I just need to get an outer cast on your arm and you should have it off in about three weeks.” As Osu finished speaking, the vessels began retracting and the arm would feel tighter than before but noticeably less painful.

 

[Byakko Yukiin]

“Sweet is a first.” Yukiin responded, uncertain of what to take away from the comment.

“Although it strikes this one as strange to preserve redundancies, in organs or other matters, especially if they require consistent effort and there is little need to appear to be anything you are not - so long as the mark of Kumogakure is present, it should be assumed that you are an ally regardless of one’s form. After all, this one deviates in appearances as well, apparently there should be more manifested animal traits like the other Byakko - claws, ears, maybe even a tail…” He examined his ‘free’ hand as it finished up fixing the damage to the joint of his puppet, reinserting it and closing the wooden flesh around it until it was once again properly set. The arm made a few rotations, stretching in various angles to ensure the problem was solved, and once it had been confirmed Tsurara resumed speaking on the puppeteer’s behalf.

“He appreciates your candor and your perspective but you make it seem as if these consequences vary from person to person, it is entirely possible that this one could undergo such a change and emerge with all faculties intact, or perhaps sharpened even. Most especially considering the fact that you are already aware of potential pitfalls and are the result of previous failures to retain many of the facets you value, would it not be fair to assume that successive generations of Revenants would be better than you as well? Under your hand this one believes it would be possible to retain much, you already know how to do it after all...”

His other arm, currently being mended, made a few swift one-handed seals and the dull glow of medicinal chakra flowed out from it and bathed the arm in its uncomfortable warmth, directing and multiplying flesh in a slow, deliberate, pattern as a display of knowledge of the ability. Osuteno seemed to think he was unaware of these things or unskilled but neither was true, he simply couldn’t use a basic level technique to mend bone or to treat this type of injury. He wasn’t a doctor...yet anyways. “This one didn’t need instruction to learn, he taught himself. There are a number of books on these subjects after all and with an understanding of the theory practical application is a matter of performance and having the chakra supply to succeed in that performance.”

The glow retreated and faded, wisps of residual chakra dispersing into the air.

“You cannot judge based on your experiences, you made us to be better after all, didn’t you?”

Yukiin retracted his arm, flexing it and noting the recovery effort. It would be easy for him to finish the rest, with or without chakra, and he nodded back at his doctor.

“Recovery will complete within a week, several are not needed. He is not reckless, this one is not perfect and must make mistakes along the path but he is simply committed to running down it instead of walking. Everytime he looks around after all those of his own ‘crop’ are weaker and until this one is strong enough to ensure their safety, health, and success he cannot accept the slow path.”

The puppeteer pushed out a breath of cold air, closing his eyes as he recalled it from memory.

“Loss of life is permissible, failure to fight the loss of life is not. How is he supposed to prevent the loss of life if he is too afraid of possible consequences to explore avenues to the strength that will make that possible? Cowardice can cost lives and the decisions made off the battlefield determine the success on it...what need is there to know love when there are needs to save lives? That girl...she was too slow and too weak but so was he and because of that failing she’s recovering from a near lethal head injury; he doesn’t have to have repeats like that again. Failure is preventable.”

The puppet stopped in its tracks, Yukiin peering over its shoulder to make eye contact with the doctor once more, the smoldering in his eyes competing for space in the chilled artic white of his iris. “Love of his fellow peers and their lives should be a sufficient experience.”

[WC 717]

 

[Osuteno]

Osu was neither surprised nor impressed by the demonstrated use of medical chakra. His expression became more tired but also slightly amused as the youth spoke. When he was finished and was making eye contact again Osu simply delivered a swift, but ultimately harmless chop on top of the young man’s head.

“Which one of you two was the dummy again? Forget it, hard headedness is nearly incurable. Yes I understand being driven and going out of your way to self teach things, I spent a lot of my free time in the academy studying medicine so I could test straight into the medical branch instead of wasting time on a genin exam. And I also made some mistakes you are making now. Healing with medical chakra is much faster yes but have you thought about what is lost? Healing tired muscles after a long day of training? Because of the nature of the healing you have actually wasted potential muscle development. Not only that but the forced cell regeneration is horribly inefficient, do you think the minerals used for bone growth appear out of thin air because you use a little ‘chakra magic’? It is a science, not a miracle… actually hold on just a minute. Do not move from that seat I will be right back.”

And with that Osu got up and walked out of the room…

…..

About three minutes later Osu rolled in a television and put a cassette into the vcr after plugging everything up. “They say these things are just a fad, but I think they are at least useful for educational purposes,” Osu said gesturing at the vcr.

The video starts with the typical credits in military videos such as being produced by the village for shinobi use etc etc. Soon a young purple haired woman walks onto the screen.

“Is the camera running Kiri? You think so? Alright.

Welcome medical students to the first lecture in a video series on basic knowledge for medical staff present and future. My name is Osuteno and I will be your instructor.

Many of you watching this video may be asking yourself why you have to sit through a set of video classes whether you want to or not. The answer is simple, some people were extremely destructive with their ignorance and/or stupidity and now everyone must pay for their mistakes. No I am not talking about you Kiri… this time.”

The camera angle shifts and Osu turns to reveal a projector screen behind him.

“First we will discuss medical chakra and how do it do… wait Kiri did you mess with my cue cards? You didn’t? Are all of them like that? They are? Forget it, put them down, I will just lecture without them.

Moving on, medical chakra is a very odd form of chakra nature that doesn’t quite fit in with the regular spectrum. As such it is a bit more difficult to master requiring either a natural affinity or dedicated study.

I once described to a student that to channel medical chakra it is very similar to channeling base, or non-elemental chakra but with more intent of life.”

Osu held out a hand and began channeling chakra until a ‘pure’ chakra appeared in his hand. "You should be starting from here. Simply start with focusing on channeling pure chakra. Nothing else. Then focus on the simple act of living. Breathing in air, letting oxygen spread to your body, fueling your life, eating, digestion, nutrient gathering, hydrating, sleeping, breathing out. Things necessary for the body to repair itself. Simplify that thought to a feeling called life, and focus on that feeling while channeling."

As Osu finished explaining the chakra in his hand had taken on a warm green color.

“Do notice that in my description I mentioned things necessary for the body to repair itself. That brings us to the next point. Jutsu doesn’t create miracles. Despite how magical the repairs might seem, there is a cost to using them aside from the expenditure of chakra.”

The projection behind Osu began showing a chromosome and then zoomed in to the part at the bottom which was highlighted.

“This is a telomere. It protects the chromosomes from damage and from fusing with other chromosomes. Now there is also something called the hayflick limit, which is how many times a cell population will divide before cell division stops. In other words, each time cells divide, the telomeres become shorter. This is why the body ages and how it repairs damage. What does this have to do with healing jutsu? It isn’t just medical chakra, any irregular method to repair damage to the body is merely forcing the cells to replicate at an unnatural pace, and thus the telomeres are shortened, also at an unnatural pace. Even the most effective healing methods shorten the telomeres many times less efficiently than the body would naturally for the amount of damage repaired. This doesn’t mean much in the short term but over the course of one’s life, constant inefficient repair will shorten the subject’s lifespan and can even lead to some mutations and complications.

Some have asked why don’t we simply make it to where the telomeres don’t shorten and can replicate forever. Well that actually does exist.”

A pointer appears in Osu’s hand and he begins smacking the projected images loudly at the end of each of his following sentences almost in spite of the kind smile on his face. “That is called cancer. Infinite replication is cancer. Don’t reinvent cancer.”

Osu put the pointer down and looked back towards the camera. “Which brings me to the next bit of helpful knowledge. Don’t use healing jutsu on cancer. Please avoid use of healing jutsu on those with cancer. That speeds up the cancer. Of particular note it is hypothesized that the Chigokai and Kaguya bloodlines might exist as mutations to particular sorts of hereditary bone marrow cancers that cause endless production of blood or bone respectively, so extra care should be given if those of these bloodlines are in need of skeletal repair and if they suddenly become ill from unnamed diseases it is likely that their bloodline control isn’t strong enough to keep their hereditary cancerous bone marrows in check.

All of these are the reasons why we take the scientific approach to medicine very seriously in Kumogakure’s medical branch. That isn’t to say that medical jutsu doesn’t have an important role in our work. It is excellent in the field for when the completion of a mission can’t wait on the natural repair or the body or when someone’s life is in immediate danger and more technical approaches won’t do. But if someone breaks their arm training, it is best to put set everything back to how it is supposed to be positioned and slap a cast on it to let the body heal naturally.

In our next short video lesson we will cover more on where and why it isn’t suggested to use medical jutsu and other basic knowledge topics. Goodbye!”

As the video ended, Osu looked back towards the youth and his puppet. “I have been noticing similar issues so I have started making little two or three minute video lessons teachers could potentially play during a break or such to educate people about healing in general. I am also planning to make watching the entire series a required specialization credit within the branch. Overall they cover everything under first aid and a bit more, and can be viewed anytime one is free and in the hospital resources room so I thinking will really help out getting people trained in the basics. You didn’t find it too boring did you?”

 

[Byakko Yukiin]

The strike was rapidly delivered but lacked force, failing to damage him much beyond the superficial level although he suspected that was the purpose of it and the man’s face seemed to shift into something different, almost like he was trying to see something in Yukiin that could be plucked to remove him of his expressed ambitions. Though it seemed less of an aggressive or selfish nature, he wasn’t trying to safeguard his abilities, he just genuinely believed that utilizing them was at great personal cost and seemed to discount the assertion that the cost could be mitigated entirely or at least lessened. Yukiin didn’t fully understand why, did he doubt his abilities to perform the procedure or did he think the costs so great that even he couldn’t mitigate them? In either case his opinion of his abilities seemed lower than the youth’s assessment, though to him all of his superiors were effectively god-like beings with minimal distinctions between them. He couldn’t really tell them apart so maybe Osuteno was on the weaker end of the scale?

He should’ve put more effort into learning sensory abilities but that strayed well into Genjutsu territory for him and it was a struggle, these kinds of things did not come as naturally as Ninjustu or Taijutsu after all and working on a weakness when you still had strengths to develop seemed inappropriate. Genjutsu and detection both relied on spreading one’s chakra out to touch other things in its raw form but every type of chakra he manifested bore hallmarks of his elemental affinities, even his strings were cold after all, and would give away their presence which was very counter to the point. Still, these were problems for another day.

Osuteno made some strange remarks and he responded quickly to them.

“He is aware that chakra is not magic but chakra creates substance. This is the same principle as creating ice after all, chakra into substance but the substance is organic and done in part rather than in whole. The bone grows because you make more bone using the existing portion as the template, sure some stretching of the initial material is required as part of that templating but he doesn’t understand the issue you present - whether you grow it slowly or you grow it quickly, it's the same substance. The only limitation is that this one has no affinity for creating large quantities of organic substances, if he did he would be classified as a Kaguya instead of a Haku.”

He curled the air between one hand into a forming white mist, icicles sweeping upwards and depositing into the form of a human skull, teeth and all with anatomical precision, as Yukiin held it out after the second it took to create as an example of such. “He can make humanoids out of the stuff after all, the clone technique is soon becoming battle ready but it's a bit slow at the moment...if he could replace his internals as you have with ice rather than blood he could circumvent the entire issue, repairing this vessel would be an absolutely trivial matter.”

When his doctor and branch superior excused himself he took it upon himself to add on the rest of the skeleton, polishing it off and fiddling with some of the finer bits that he knew were inaccurate due to the substance difference. Density was obviously off and made the thing weigh a lot more but he doubted it would create many issues. Layering it over with false flesh was the only portion he would need to do to make a clone of it, but since it took him several minutes to perform it would just get him killed. It needed to be faster first unfortunately before he could use it in battle. When the television was wheeled in he was whipping up the finer details of its digits and left it in a half formed state as he felt it would be rude to continue to work when he was being shown something.

Yukiin followed along with the video as best he was able though the idea that he started with base chakra and endowed it with recuperative properties was certainly not how we was doing it, he was always working from an elemental basis and in this case it was water. Slowing down the process it would be visible to see that he differed in the method on display, holding out his hand and forming a sphere of water within it instead of raw chakra, the substance churning into the green flame-like form as if it were being boiled. Water was the basis of life, why start with raw chakra if you could manifest it closer to what it was going to end up being?

He narrowed his eyes in confusion. Was he doing it wrong? Did he need to start over?

The swaying watery flame whisked itself out of existence, Yukiin abandoning the attempt to follow along as it was more likely to display that he was not as capable of as he thought of himself and that there were flaws even in a shinobi that was developing at such a rapid rate like he was at the time. It was a meteoric rise in strength but perhaps he had neglected some fundamentals along the way, such as stripping his chakra down to its raw form before converting it over. The puppeteer glanced at the arm he’d repaired, small glistening pieces of ice crystals left over where he’d tampered with the flesh...yes...maybe it needed work.

Or maybe he just needed to skip the problem entirely.

“The film is illuminating, though this one feels that these problems are inherent to the flaws of the flesh to begin with…” He gestured to the ice form he’d built up, “it just makes the case for why these components should be replaced, would Kumogakure not be a more effective fighting force if our shinobi were all capable of skirting this issue? Why aren’t we all Revenants? Why make us shinobi and then make us perishable? What is the point of having all this research and information, to know the flaws we face, and then to refuse to employ it?”

Yukiin snapped a finger, the form’s cervical spine breaking off and bringing the skull to bounce on the floor. “That kills people, like my mother...they die without a head...yours comes off. Is the cost so great that people would rather be dead? Has anyone ever even asked them? Nobody asked her if she wanted to be deathless, but maybe it's a privilege reserved for some and not all.”

The skeletal form dusted itself, ice scattering in a fine mist and yet despite the associated chill the temperature in the room seemed to be rising.

“So why do you act like its a curse? You chose not to be dead, would you choose differently if given the option now? What about the girl, her head was caved in but I've heard no mention of giving her such traits, are us C-Ranks just not worth the trouble? Am I going to die someday of a completely preventable disease because someone decided I'd rather be able to fuck than to be alive?”

[WC 1211]

 

[Osuteno]

Osu wasn’t really phased by the young man’s change in tone. He continued in the gentle voice he had been using the entire time. “You can’t really think the world is so simple. Why isn’t everyone a revenant? Most people couldn’t even survive the initial processes. It isn’t only a matter of body, it is a matter of spirit. I don’t mean that ability to stand strong under such and such force or even fighting ability, but a measure of how developed you are spiritually. Otherwise we could just tear people’s being straight out of their bodies willy nilly and wrap them up in wires or stuff them in a puppet and call it a day. Rather why even bother with that? Let’s just take the absolutely most loyal and guide them along the arts of revenancy, human puppetry, or the path of the dark sage and kill the rest, harvesting their hearts, bodies and their very souls and gifting them to those most loyal and talented. Why only have one Haku like yourself when we could rip your soul from your body and enslave it and turn your body into a puppet so two more obedient shinobi can access your bloodline’s gifts?

The answer is because that would be insane, and despite our abilities we are still people. For the longest time techniques such as these were completely forbidden by most shinobi organizations in the world, because most people wouldn’t be able to handle what it does to them. We are considered incredibly, even insanely, lax for our willingness to even provide resources for operations. Though that goes back to a difference in cultural faith really, as others believe it sacreligious to mess with a body’s burial rites or such while we believe that the soul’s connection to the body ends with death. A corpse is just a mound of flesh in the end… But since you also seem to be so focused on the village’s needs then yes we would very much want you to procreate before removing that option from yourself, particularly if you might be talented or a bloodline holder. We have a heavy shortage of trainable chakra sensitives in this country due to the recessiveness of the genes. And even if someone is chakra sensitive, more than 60% never exceed genin level capabilities, slightly less than a third become Chuunin, and Jounin currently make up about 3% of our chakra sensitive population.

… I’m not telling you no, I am telling you to take time, a few weeks at least, to put serious contemplation into this decision. I wasn’t a willing subject, I would have to be mad to be since I spent several months bound to a table having the bones slowly stripped from my body so my marrow and other key parts wouldn’t be damaged, I was fully conscious for each procedure even as they spent two days completely removing me skull from my body. There was no sanity in what was done to me, regardless of the results. And I will be damned before I allow such madness to be performed in this village. That aside the ‘success’ was heavily reliant on my heritage, it would take a lot of research and guesswork. Otherwise I only know how to turn you into a being of wires and cords.

You should also consider that by taking this path your spirit will become quite bound to this variety of power you will be trading part of your former potential, and no one’s spirit has ever been known to handle more than one kinjutsu… people have rarely been able to switch paths with a great deal of trouble, but I have no idea where I would even begin with a revenant since so little of what you were would be left… I could only say with some certainty that the path of a human puppet would still be within my realm of knowledge…

And even I plan to die one day, not anytime soon as there is too much work I have to do, but everything must come to an end eventually. Even this is only a pseudo immortality… and I have personally witnessed a few who have lived well beyond their normal lifespans and they were either relics of an age or… well they are all quite frankly mad to some degree with all due respect to my own teacher. I will likely choose to go when I start feeling my own slip into madness if something else hasn’t killed me by then.”

Osu sighed sizing the young man bitterly but thoughtfully. While he thought that this young man was far more reckless than he believed considering he took only a few seconds to decide to toss aside his body for the most part, Osu could definitely think of some uses for another cockroach like existence around here… well not precisely around ‘here’ but places where he felt his mednin could use more than one life.

 

[Byakko Yukiin]

The spirit was, by and large, a large reservoir of energy that was forcibly pulled out and drawn upon by the shinobi arts much like a lake was drawn from to drink, it had few other features. Chakra, being partially flesh-based, had residual genetic information that could imprint itself upon chakra to produce strange results, this Yukii also knew, but the idea that the spirit was something unique of itself was...absurd. It was there, it produced, and past that it did very little in the life of any human, shinobi included. Yet it seemed there was either a disagreement in the function and role of the metaphysical component of a human or he was lacking knowledge on the subject, though in either case it would not deter him much. An arrow was set on its path by the hands of an archer and they did not pause of second guess, lest the arrow fall off course and be wasted. To flinch in the face of one’s ambition was to fail to achieve them.

He similalry found himself in disagreement with the idea that the village chose not to extract shinobi’s material components to assemble stronger creations in the hands of other shinobi, being intimately familiar with the consequences of such he had to vocalize this particular one.

“The reason for not consolidating assets into one person is to mitigate losses, even the best shinobi can be killed and putting everything into one of them also limits the village’s ability to accomplish more than one task at a given time. Secondarily the efficiency of a human puppet is limited, they are still a puppet and thus need to be guided by their puppeteer near as I have observed, so that leaves the puppeteer at a disadvantage compared to having an ally. Even if they were equivalently strong, a puppeteer has only two hands and even in the best case scenario could wield two puppets, maximum, which is something I can’t even do myself despite my designation as Haku making my ambidexterity quite prominent. If I was converted I would be an increased loss increase, loss of diversity, and a loss of efficiency in the shinobi I was handed off too because I would be more efficient as an ally with a separate mind and autonomy.

I am not alive because anyone is following some idea of flimsy ethics or moral favors, I-”

He paused, that was wrong...no he was doing it again. Slowly, surely, he was losing his composure and becoming something different, distinct, and grasping onto some sort of individuality and autonomy that he made his best efforts to shirk. It was “he” not “I”...never “I”. Yukiin shook his head, rapping on his skull with a finger.

“He. He...apologizes, he has assumed much regarding the conversion process and acts and speaks from a state of subject ignorance. Regarding conversion, however, he has already given up plenty of genetic samples in the training process, Kumogakure should be more than capable of producing offspring if they feel so inclined. More can be taken if need be but this one does not intend to give up as much in the transitional process as yourself. He has the utmost faith in your abilities but if your success was reliant on your heritage as you said…”

Yukiin stopped tapping on his head.

“They told me that the Byakko are a strong lineage, this one has decided he will be a miracle. How much time would it take you to develop a suitable methodology for conversion if he put in the proper paperwork? He will wait as long as you feel is appropriate, as the medical superior, but if he can impose on your time and resources he would like the process of development to begin. If this isn’t possible, please point this one to the information needed to do this work himself and he will begin devising a methodology immediately.”

His face cracked downward, severely, a dour taste spreading from his lips as his face deepened in color. “...as far as propogation is concerned he will...consider it, during research and down time though he rather doubts he possess any of the natural charm to make that effort a productive one.”

[WC 714]

 

[Osuteno]

Osu’s mood shifted several times while the young man spoke, exasperation and amusement, incredulity and thoughtfulness, and as the young man trailed off in his speech at the end he simply expressed warm laughter at Yukiin’s awkwardness.

“Of all the things that stuck,” Osu smiled gently while shaking his head.

“There is no real need to apologize, you aren’t arguing for the sake of being difficult, and I will admit to using a bit of a logical fallacy though it was in response to a rather interesting sense of ideology. Rather, I have to say I am pleased, you are willing to accept the possibility of new evidence and your own ignorance without blindly accepting it. That is a good mark of character, and a rather rare one unfortunately.”

Osu sighed a bit why looking to the ceiling briefly. “My first student is a kind and obedient young man, rather I often forget he is a few years older than I am with how much he calls me mother, but while he is willing to listen to what I teach him he simply accepts what I say without question and doesn’t really demonstrate much curiosity into any subject matter beyond what he ‘needs’ to know. This is the attitude most I have instructed possess to be frank. I took in a direct disciple not too long ago and she demonstrates a much more healthy sense of curiosity, carrying around her notepad and asking ‘who, what, when, where, and, most importantly, how.’ Every answer is a path to a new question for her, which is delightful, but she doesn’t really question what I tell her either. I have been purposefully avoiding answering some questions and just pointing her in a general direction in terms of personal research to encourage her to find her own answers. Some months back a young lady came to me… was sent to me rather, and the answers I had for her were things she didn’t want to hear as they scared her. I don’t think it was that she didn’t want to change her point of view, but rather that she was lost at the very notion of what if the things I said were the truth. She practically fled from my office… Her heart was in the right place... I still hold some hope she will find her way back to me to speak more, but that is for her to decide.”

A wry and self deprecating expression came over Osu’s face. “I am a bit of an outlier as a shinobi. I am considered Jounin class though my combat abilities are severely lacking compared to most with that classification, and even falls short compared to a number of Chuunin class. My medical skills are considerable yes, and few can match my abilities as an administrator, but the real reason I am so easily handed responsibilities and command? ‘Osu is always right.’ I don’t know when, why, or how, but at some point this became an unconscious decision for most I interact with. My teachers, my students, my peers, my spouse, my children, and my superiors just stopped questioning me. They will ask questions about what I say, but they don’t doubt me. This has been the case since before I was even five feet tall. Sennin and Raikage, active or former, have called on me for answers. It isn’t even limited to residents of this village as foreign shinobi, researchers, criminals, and even demons have had their hosts stop me on the road to demand answers from me. At one point even the Leaf village’s medical sennin followed me obediently as I lectured, while religious men have come knocking on the door of my home. You heard correctly, religious men. At some point people stopped asking me solely about medical issues or tea, and the questions branched off into history, geography, geology, mathematics, engineering, physics, zoology, morality, religion, politics, mythology, astronomy, demonology, spirituality, the arcane arts, the very ways of the heavens, and seemingly every other damnedable topic someone can think of, and, quite selfishly, expected me to have ‘the correct answer.’ They even started calling me ridiculous things like a walking encyclopedia or ‘Biblioprince.’ What sort of ridiculous imagination came up with such a thing? I honestly wish people would question me more often, or better yet, offer to answer some of my questions.

...There wasn’t really much I could do, I started having answers. Have read a majority of the books and documents that exist within this village, delved into topics of research even I find ridiculous, traveled to some of the strangest corners of this world, and made myself a rather big target. I stopped having time for anything but study or research for several years. Even my training, despite being in the most critical years to do so, had to be put aside…

That is the reason I haven’t been questioning your dissociation from acknowledging yourself. Much like how you likely view yourself as a tool or weapon, at one point I accepted my role as a book. No one wants me to be a sword or a shield, they don’t even really want me as a doctor or an encyclopedia. This village wants me to be some sort of crystal ball or magic mirror on the wall, and so I scramble to do so. I can’t tell who is more out of touch with sanity, those who expect me to have the answer to any question or problem under the sun, or myself for forcing myself to meet those expectations…

Though I suppose my efforts and results encourage people. Even with you, as you ask me to create a brand new form of revenancy or guide you to the proper path to do so… I can at least think of where to start. But before that, since you have been so kind and so bold to question me, allow me to ask a few questions of my own.

You as a shinobi are a soldier, a servant, and a tool. As a soldier what do you fight for, as a servant who or what commands you, and as a tool what is your function? Which of the three comes first for you, your ideals, your orders, or your purpose? Which comes last?

What really guides you to power? Your wish to be of use? To improve yourself? The fear of failure or death?

Why do you deny yourself and avoid being an ‘I’?

What do you expect this power to do for you, what do you plan to do with it, and what are you willing to give up and what do you refuse to sacrifice?”

Osu took on a thoughtful expression before nodding, “Yes, these are the key questions for now… And don’t worry too much about your charm. If someone doesn’t like you for who you are, there isn’t much point of forcing anything. There is always the option of an arranged marriage but generally those who enter such an arrangement aim for multiple children since technically there is always a extremely slim chance even the child of two shinobi might not be chakra sensitive or aren’t terribly talented, and even more so when one parent isn’t chakra sensitive, though usually a child of a shinobi in that situation. But I would recommend at least try the field first, I think that was the expression, before trying marriage meetings. You would think they would be rather straightforward but they can be terribly exhausting ordeals.”

 

[Byakko Yukiin]

"What purpose is there in asking a shinobi matters beyond their scope? What good does a book binder do by asking a blood letter for life advice? A strange world where that's the case...nobody asks this one for life advice regarding emotional warmth and social presence, he finds these things to be equally absurd. You can’t be a book, you’re a shinobi. At best you would be a sword with words on it, maybe a lot of words, but it wouldn’t change the nature of the beast. Why pretend to be anything else when shinobi are made to kill? A very unpleasant book that lies about its contents…though I have no illusions regarding your fallibility, or my own.”

Yukiin cracked his neck, pushing out a buffet of cold air dotted with crystalline ice which caught the light and shone despite their individual sizes being too small to be seen, much in the same way he believed the village operated. Hundreds of lives, each with a luster that is dampened by the whole but which is illuminated by the artificial, the glory and praise that was handed to them for wetwork any sane creature would refuse, to make these little specks of human exemplars something that they were not - beautiful. He embodied this idea himself, flawless skin untouched with scars despite the wounds inflicted upon it, hair that should be ruined with grime and blood that was delicately cleaned and picked until it rested like an effortless blanket of snow on his head, and his movements themselves which were deliberate but graceful, dancing to a tune that was etched into his blood and a soul could never hear...but he was all of those things because of a bloodline that was brought into this world to make the most hideous of messes out of other humans.

He disliked the idea of a man pretending to be something else because that was what he did - pretend to be something that wasn’t human as it made the burdensome state of things more...digestible. If he was as flesh and blood, as right or wrong, as smart or as dumb, as the people he’d had to crush underheel to get this far in life then what could he say he was besides a monster? Of course he didn’t regard giving up his flesh as a meaningful consequence, losing his heart or soul or any other meaningless components distanced himself further from what everyone else was and that made things easier.

A tool was guided by strings, he wasn’t strong enough to guide himself and thus he was little better than one. Yukiin did not possess the power to control the world around him so fighting it was a waste of energy, why not just dance to whatever tune it plays and let it do what it would with you? It was an easier, simpler, smoother path in life and it involved little conflict with one’s own kind...and he’d had quite his fill of that.

“I avoid residing in my own flesh because it is a vessel I do not control, a puppet that dances on someone else’s strings. I have no say or sway in this country’s politics, I don’t write tax law, I don’t vote on matters of the Daimyo’s purse, and the Raikage is a distant figure who simply shows up in signatures for blood I already drew so what good is it to be here, in this thing? What purpose does it serve beyond to feel the weight on myself that I had no decision in placing? Should I grasp my own yoke and relish in the pleasure of servitude?”

His eyes flickered to life, not with the false animus of an emotional state but the winding coloration of a mind in motion, gears turning that were typically imperceptible to any outside observer. Thinking, in any earnest capacity, was something Yukiin rarely did as it was liable to lead him down paths that on a bad day would have his head removed from his shoulders.

“I was born in this bloodline, I was molded into a shinobi, and now instead of being given orders it seems all my superiors want to do is to prod at me and try to coax out a spirit that the Academy saw fit to wear down to wear down...is this some kind of joke? All I was asked to do, all I was told to do, and all I was ever supposed to do was to follow orders but now they come less frequently. Nobody watches me, nobody cares, I get a paper in the mail that says some fat fuck stole a dog or something and now I have to retrieve the dog on a good day and on a bad one I’m told to make the man headless, there's no rhyme or reason to it because I’m not privy to what makes Kumogakure tick. So I do what I’m told and I keep my head down and the money comes in and I stay dead, inert, a puppet in an apartment animated whenever the mail courier brings the right type of slip.”

“Because I have no control over my own development, so how should I decide to use it? Even if you say that you are weaker for a shinobi you must understand what it is to walk among the population and have so much ability but no idea what to do with it besides, well, hurt people. The Academy was very behind on its courses regarding how to use Ninjutsu to figure skate or file taxes...you’re not supposed to hurt citizens so you refrain but nobody ever taught you how to do much else so every interaction is you sizing up the street vendor, wondering if he’s pulling change from his pocket or a weapon and how you will react, and yet you’re going to ask me a stupid fucking question like if I like the weight of my yoke and does it fit properly?”

Yukiin inhaled and exhaled, deeper, eyes remaining closed. “You said it yourself, people go mad and yet you blame the procedure which is curious to me, how could you create madness? You can only amplify what is present, as a doctor you know as much. You don’t make things, you stretch what you have and thus that madness, that wild spirit, that unrestrainable flame was always there and someone put it there. Maybe I’m the last of my kind, it seems they’ve changed the procedure with the Students I’ve interacted with, and I should be happy to die and put an end to the memory of it because it makes…”

He didn’t finish his statement, it should’ve been clear what exactly it created without having to spell out the word, properly and verbally. The idea was clearer than crystal. A kennel full of dogs that are loosed on rabbits and then brought home to pretend to be docile, to be something that they were never raised to be.

“Every day I wake up and I’m stronger so I just have to pretend that I’m not some kind of human shaped bomb buying bread and candy, picking up the newspaper, looking over the animal stock, and nobody ever taught me what to do with that divide between myself and everyone else on this planet besides the fractional percentage of shinobi. I’m not mad, I’m not destructive, I have no desire to hurt anyone but its the lineage of killers, not of breadmakers, and I would be lying if I said that there isn’t a thrill to drawing out someone’s blood and I worry that theres something like that Konoha shinobi in me...something that resides in the flesh…”

“But…” His fingers curled into fists, tightened spheres that compacted an invisible resolve. “I know that I haven’t failed yet and that these are concerns of future paths I may not go down, I am not mad, I am sane…frighteningly sane...which is why I tell you that I can emerge from your operation relatively unscathed, for there isn’t a drop of madness in me and there is nothing to pull out or expand upon. Killing is in my blood so its as easy and simple as eating, it fills me with no particular joy in the same way that rations do not particularly fill my stomach, its a bland, unexciting affair in which I do my job. I enjoy bloodletting for...artistic purposes but the killing associated with it doesn’t really do much for me.

“So forgive my hubris but I’ve asked you to arrange this because, based on what I know and what you say, you’re not going to find a more suitable candidate and I’m partial to either result of the operation. If I die then I don’t have to wear this yoke anymore and if I live, free of the concerns of mortality, then I won’t ever have to worry about whether or not I’ll wake up a monster someday...I’ll just be one and I can puzzle out the ethical concerns as they come.”

He paused, eyes opening and drifting a bit in thought. “...although an arranged marriage sounds good, better way to ensure another, equally valuable, lineage...wonder where you get started on that sort of thing.”

[WC 1564]

 

[Osuteno]

Osu simply sighed and shook his head, “Perhaps I should just have simplified the question by asking you if you are ever going to settle on what you are, but I have answer enough now. You are a wastefully bright idiot. Shinobi are simply tools for killing are we? What a idealistic world you live in. If we were mere bandits and murderers we wouldn’t be as terrifying for the world as we are. The realm that our ancestors have dedicated themselves to perfecting isn’t mere murder, it is war. All aspects of war. You spoke of being the last of a sort but honestly you are merely another in a line of peacetime instructed graduates from our academy. Let me guess, you just graduated in the last few years? It is amazing from a academic perspective how the difference in generations these days isn’t based on our years of birth but the years of our educations. A dozen years ago when I was in the academy the wounds of the Kingslayers were still fresh as was the internal strain and distrust from the assassination of Raikage Hayata Shin had just occurred. Our oldest relics of war were starting to hand the village over to the current generation and disappear to whatever corners of the world titans go to die, but they still had a few last lessons they wanted to pass on before they did so. Unfortunately as the wars and deaths started to fade from daily life many started forgetting why we learned as we did. Several who came from my class and those after started losing sight of the reason behind our lessons and began either coddling later classes or bullying them and completely missing the point behind the lessons… I’m not saying things were better back then, but we are much too relaxed these days. The mixed signals between the coddling and the bullying are making fresh shinobi like yourself unsure of what your purpose even is. I fear for the next war, and there is another war on he distant horizon. What is needed isn’t mere single minded blades, but also those who can lead troops, those who know tactics and strategy, proper scouts and spies, cartographers, doctors, engineers.”

Osu sighed while placing a hand to the side of his head. “Unfortunately we are sorely lacking in many areas these days. I have opened many books in the library in the last few years on many subjects related to success in war and they appeared to be spending most of the time collecting dust. Even if I clean them off in my own reading they simply regather that film of dust. People are training their bodies and jutsu with varying degrees of success, but not nearly enough are training their minds despite the treasure trove of information we have gathered over the years. But that is just me complaining at this point, since I don’t spare the time for anyone who doesn’t come to me asking questions. Classes are tedious, unfulfilling affairs and much more is learned when one comes asking their own questions about something that interests them.”

Osu flipped through the chart and wrote some things down. “As for the procedure you are requesting… look I really do want you to think about it for some time. I am willing to go ahead and collect blood, marrow, skin and various other samples from you in order to have an idea where to start, but pleas, really think about why you want to do this and what are your goals or thoughts for the future. On a side note if you really want, I know a few families who have matchmaking services I could ask about setting up marriage meetings for you, if you have an idea or what you would want out of such a relationship. It is rather like a business contract that includes children. Just know when you start getting things like the pride of clans on the line and such, it becomes rather troublesome.”

 

[Byakko Yukiin]

"If we're made to play in the games of war then we are ill-suited for it, I have yet to meet a kunoichi of sound mind and sound ability for example...its uncomfortable to dwell on but I'm one person, I won't be able to save every asset Kumogakure holds onto so its likely they're going to die the day a war horn sounds. My juniors aren't going to cover my slack, if I was the product of a peace machine then they're the products of a slothful one...so if you're asking for preferences they're fairly simple - strong enough to produce shinobi to replace me by as many folds as are possible, anything else is icing on top."

Yukiin looked down at his hands, as if there were something in them he hadn't seen before.

"Live by the sword, die by the sword. That's how it is after all. I've told you already that I will make my considerations but I don't expect that they'll change my decision much, I wouldn't waste your time or village resources if that were the case. If a life of the flesh over steel suits me then you have my word that you'll be the first to know but...well...its hard to explain...

"I'm not unhappy, I'm just restrained. I don't get to decide my own fate but if I had control of the wheel, I doubt I'd do anything different. I need to be born, I need to go through my training, I need to venture off into the mountains, and I need to come to this hospital and see you because I get to make this decision now. I understand that there are risks and there are costs and that I'm impulsive, perhaps foolish, to accept a cost as great as my own humanity but if it really cost me so much humanity then you'd have picked up the scalpel the moment I asked, wouldn't you? You may have given reasons not to but I doubt they weren't coupled with many good reasons to go ahead, but instead you decided to be concerned with my status."

He folded his hands together, pressing them out and cracking his fingers as he retained his lack of eye contact.

"If you can be a monster and still retain your humanity then so long as I'm in your hands, Doctor Osuteno, I have nothing to fear. Maybe its naive of me to think this way but you take your job personally and you seem to feel that there is some vital spark that you're worried I'll lose on an operating table but am I really that foolish to think you haven't spent days of that immortal lifespan of yours considering ways to preserve it? It's not impossible, you're living proof that some of it can be retained. I know nothing of the soul, you telling me its some sort of conscious entity is news to me to be honest and I still find the idea an odd one, but thats why I'm not butchering myself in a back alley...these are things I know little about but they are things that you are an expert on."

The puppeteer looked up from his cracked bones and his freshly, well mostly, mended arm which had been given another test run and smirked back at his doctor. "Maybe I'm absolutely clueless and its wrong to put my faith in you or your smoldering humanity but you can't stop me from doing it and what better time to be reckless than when you're still single after all. Most people get tattoos or lip piercings, I voluntarily agree to be an immortal chakra monster. It is what it is."

Yukiin shrugged playfully, the weight of the decision was the thing he relished the most whether or not his superior recognized that fact any more than he did. He decided it, after all, he made a decision and it was a decision that he was not only not coerced into making or bound by rules or law to make but a free one, one that someone else was even trying to alter...and it felt better. It didn't relieve him of the yoke of his shinobi status, in fact, it added pressure to his shoulders and wrapped around his neck like a bitter beast of the sea but regardless he stood up straighter for it. It was his weight, his decision, and his call and it felt good to make it. A reality of his own choosing, maybe a messy one...but still, it was his.

 

[Osuteno]

Osu chuckled, “You started speaking in the first person at least… I will never actually claim to be an expert on souls or the like. I can’t even see the things like some few can. To be fully honest at first I thought it was all pure nonsense, but even I had to give in to evidence presented to me. I have made an effort to approach such subjects more scientifically but… any progress I make only leaves me more confused. I really need to find an assistant with the proper natural talents to make much more headway there. But you are right in one thing, I have made efforts into studying keeping myself… myself. Parts of it admittedly come off a bit of hocus pocus, probably the most logical and explainable part would be a curse seal I designed… It was far from the best solution and it has a number of flaws but I was not in a position to be picky at the time. At the very least for you I could take time to come up with a more suitable method.”

Osu opened the door and waved down a nurse before writing and giving him a note. Closing the door again, Osu looked to the young man with a face of humor and pity. “I will see what I can do for you. I will speak with some associates of mine about setting something up and I will take a look at your genetics in the next few days. I run a hospital and have a family to look after so I don’t have an excess of free time, but I have a very capable associate who will help me look over everything and research. She hates me mind you, but I probably wouldn’t get half as much research done as I do without her around and this is a good enough reason to suffer through some verbal abuse for her assistance. If you are fortunate you will never have to meet her.”

Osu could actually already hear her berating his intelligence and telling him he was far presumptuous in promising her assistance and telling him to acknowledge how superior she was before she would agree to help. His face started looking rather displeased.

“Anyway a nurse will be by in a few minutes to take you where a series of samples will be collected from you. Get plenty of calcium and protein in you over the next few days since you are probably low now from repairing your own bones. Tofu, white beans, milk, and almonds are all good choices to get the extra calories and nutrients your body will be hungry for due to the inherent inefficiency of accelerated healing. Maybe treat yourself to some seafood or steak. You will feel rather hungry for a few days. Actually that will also be the case for the bone marrow sampling, blood samples, skin samples… just eat very healthily and heartily over the next week or so, well you should do that regularly anyway, but so many will hear that and go eat a bowl of ramen and down two or three glasses of Lightning Wine regardless. Do your body a favor and avoid smoking and go easy on alcohol. And eat your vegetables. Do you have any more questions?”

 

[Byakko Yukiin]

"I would have to start picking up bad habits in a hurry to create problems of that nature, the only notably self-destructive behavior I engage in would be long walks in wildlands to fall off mountains..." Yukiin responded, cracking the knuckles in his recently healed hand to emphasize the point as that was, after all, how he had managed to arrive at this point. "I did offer any assistance I can provide, I don't intend to merely be a bystander in the process if it would be beneficial to have my assistance or input. What I lack in medical knowledge I can surely make up for with intimate knowledge of my own composition, but I won't interfere if I would only be slowing the research down."

He shrugged, uncertain of what role he could realistically play in this situation. He didn't really understand, at least completely, what was being discussed and what was to be done after all and the mention of a 'curse seal' was also foreign to him. Though the presence of the 'curse' prefix did imply that it wasn't an ideal fix to anything and if it was being used to trap and hold onto some scrap of humanity then it likely was a very unpleasant soul trap.

"If the best I can do is attend to my health and leave you to your work then thats also fine. I have no further questions on that matter."

 

[Osuteno]

Osu stared at the young man a bit more at the mention of his assistance. Then he thought about his own work to be done. Could he really devote the time necessary for such a process with everything he had going on alone? He had to keep an eye out for…

“Yukiin, you have expressed both an interest in serving this village properly and learning more of the medical sciences correct? How about if I gave you the chance to do some work that will actually feel worthwhile? But before that point I would like to personally give you information and supplies. Yes… Yukiin, how would you like to have a lab to experiment in, a few dozen tomes and scrolls from my own collections concerning the human body and kinjutsu, and the appropriate supplies? It is too much to be holding hands after all isn’t it? How are the younger generations supposed to learn that way?” There was a glint and a smile in Osu’s eyes and face now gazing at Yukiin like a fascinating piece of data.

“I cannot very well complain about how this latest generation is growing without making some attempt at corrections. Yes here is my offer Yukiin, I want you to join the medical branch, no fuss or bother I can get a transfer approved with just your signature and mine. I won’t have you deal with patients though, unless you want to try working on your bedside manner. Instead I would have you devote your one to studying the literature I mentioned and sending me weekly reports of your progress and requests for information and supplies. Cadavers, articles, etc, just ask and I will send what is appropriate for your skill level and be a tiny bit flexible on clearance with anything directly related to your desire for revenancy. If you need my help specifically answering particular questions you can come by my office and simply ask them and if you need my help concerning experiments or procedures, we can schedule things. Once you demonstrate enough aptitude in medical knowledge to be allowed to attempt he procedure and present to me your transformation into a functioning revenant, as well as submit your findings and reports, you will be promoted to a full mednin and given meaningful work. You will have the chance to really experience the sort of work shinobi have spent centuries dedicating themselves to, though you may end up going through a number of lives yourself with how ragged I might push you, the real reason anyone is turned into a revenant after all is to be worked to death a number of times.

Of course that is simply an option. If you wish I can handle the majority of the work but it will take quite a few months to really get you where you want to be in between all my other work. And you can live your life as normal for our line of work… though actually now that I think about it would you be willing to marry a particular young woman for me, as a sort of long term mission? Long story short, her family is trying to marry her into our village as a spy or mole, a particularly horrible one at that, and it would be helpful to me if you feed her false information I send to you. Basically marry her, have some chakra sensitive children with her since she is herself though has never undergone any formal training in its use, and pretend you don’t realize how awful of a spy she is as she sends reports back home filled with faulty information. Not required one way or the other but something to consider if you aren’t picky. You don’t have to decide anything right now but if you are willing we can have you set for one of my basement labs immediately or a marriage meeting as early as next week.” The rather wry smile on Osu’s face demonstrated how he recognized himself what he was suddenly asking might sound a little ridiculous here and there but he was entirely serious. He simply stood near the door, ready to leave, but waiting to see if the young man had an answer already.

 

[Byakko Yukiin]

"Hm, well..." Yukiin paused, as if his mind were trying to catch up with the hundred meter sprint that Osuteno just went down at a much less pavement-tearing pace. It did seem that he'd struck a nerve of interest several times but this particular eruption was notable and he needed to manage things with some degree of finesse, everything he did in these interactions was likely going to be documented somewhere and used as part of a report. Being both a lab experiment and the lab experimenter was something he hadn't really anticipated, much less the marriage prompt, but if he was going to develop into something different then he perhaps needed to think differently and grasp the opportunities presented to him with as much vigor as the repeatedly stated, yet demonstrably untrue, dead man in front of him.

"As long as the ceremony isn't also conducted in a labratory basement, I can agree to all of the requested and conduct research under your supervision as the spouse of a traitorous spy. The second thing can only get easier as the progression into 'monsterhood' occurs anyways; assuming this is all legally sanctioned of course and the ANBU aren't going to kick down any of my doors for a round of Twenty Kunai Questions."

 

[Osuteno]

“Nonsense, who ever heard of a wedding taking place in a laboratory? That could easily violate several lab safety rules. Besides the bride’s family would likely pay for the ceremony considering they are quite well off, but don’t expect too much since they are also using this as a clean method of getting rid of her. She is from a middling aristocratic clan, but she turned out to be chakra sensitive which is quite scandalous these days if the other noble clans found out. So they will have her ‘become terminally ill’, ‘die’, and them move on with much sadness to take care of the rest of their children. In reality they are sending her here which gives us someone else producing new shinobi and they send her a small allowance from time to time to keep her quiet, which isn’t all that uncommon of an affair in this country. This time however, as I already mentioned, they intend to have her play spy, mail information back home, and sell said information to a particular buyer. Don’t worry about the ANBU, in the books this will be registered as a type of long term mission and I will see you get a modest payment regularly for it on top of everything else. What you will have to worry about… it is hard to describe without meeting her for yourself… you have to worry about her blowing her own cover and preventing people from calling her out themselves. You will have to simultaneously act like you are genuinely interested in her and also have to pretend to be unobservant when she says something self incriminating. And also avoid having her learn or send home anything actually important. Well, first you have to get her to agree to marry you… I would suggest not speaking to her through a puppet.

Anyway, as if this moment, I, Chigokai Osuteno, name Byakko Yukiin a Medic in Training with my authority as Sesshou of the Medical Branch… By tradition that already makes you officially part of the branch, but for payroll purposes and such we need to still get you to do some paperwork. Go home, get some rest, and in the morning you should find some papers to sign and bring to the hospital front desk. They will set you up with a MiT ID card which will allow you to take the elevator to the first basement lab floor. You will be the seventh lab on the left, and it will be the only one your id can open anyway. Watch out when passing the third on the left, the door occasionally explodes off its hinges, but you won’t notice them most of the time if you are inside your lab. They are fairly sound proof. I would suggest reading the books I have in there about anatomy first and learning your way through a normal human body before trying to modify one. When you can pretty much name and identify the function of everything you should start practicing with cadavers and working on your surgery skills. I will be more than glad to help you through a few times if you need before practicing on your own, just ask and we can schedule something. Also in that room will be a text call Anatomy, you won’t be able to miss it. Basically some mad person decided a while back that we should gather as much non-classified knowledge of the body, illnesses and medicine into a single, highly-organized source… Just be very careful with it. It is very expensive and weighs over 30 pounds and someone was killed once when a MiT threw their copy out their window in a brief moment of insanity and it fell on someone’s head. Before you ask, no I don’t expect you to memorize all 7,642 pages of material, but it is very well organized and will serve as a good source for you. I make sure all students under my tutelage get one. I will contact you concerning the marriage meeting once I get it scheduled. Oh and I will prefer if you submit your weekly reports on Thursdays.”

Osu opened the door and gave one final glance towards Yukiin, “I look forward to your progress and future good work.” And then he left.

[tlus]

Spoiler

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