Lonely Beasts [P]

Age : 32 Posts : 1912

Yoroi Kaguya

It was without a doubt quite visible that the young Kaguya had not anticipated a corpse to pop up from the scroll she had put out on the floor. Just by looking at the corpse and at the woman, it became clear that she was the one who inflicted these wounds on this personal, most likely being the cause of his somewhat brutal death as well. Everyone always took a twisted sense of satisfaction from either talking about their kills or actually showing them to someone else. Whatever the point had been, it did not matter to him, after all, this was a Takigakure shinobi. Even more so, Yoroi had never met the guy, so there was no reason for him to even be slightly upset over it. Some of the things he had seen in his life had been quite morbid, ranging from the practice bodies used for new medics in the hidden leaf village training center to the corpses that had been used as puppets to fight against him by a madman that wanted to start a war. Next to that, he had been a poacher for most of his life, spending his time skinning animals, making tools and totems out of bone and cutting the meat into cook-able chunks. As such, a corpse that looked like it had been mangled by an animal did not make as much of an impact on him as it might on another person.

From the look of things, it seemed that Uriko was quite glad to see that the body had been preserved as well as it did. It made him wonder if this body had any value to it outside of the fact that it seemed to have been mutilated after the point of death as well. Watching closely, she held her palm over the corpse's chest, forming a seal as she said Joukei, this no doubt being the name of the technique. What the point of this particular technique was, that was currently unknown to him, though it seemed that this was the first technique she would try to teach him for the sake of getting the basics down first. Following her instructions, he formed the same seal as she did, hoping that it would help him learn the thing she was trying to teach. Though the body had been well preserved, the amount of inflicted wounds it had upon it were not that hard to see with the naked eye. It was however not what was obvious that had to be seen, it was that which was hidden from the eyes that Yoroi had to focus on with what Uriko was trying to teach him. Reinforcing the link from his eyes to his brain was not as easily done though, something that left him pondering on how to even do such a thing.

Reinforcing a link with chakra sounded easy, and maybe it was just Yoroi over-thinking things, but it seemed much harder than Uriko made it sound. Trying to get his chakra to do what he wanted, it was hard to focus chakra into such fine areas. It was something he was not used to at all, for whenever he channeled chakra, it was to create a powerful and mostly large scale blast. This however was a much, much smaller scale technique, and for what it was worth, supplementary. Thinking of ways in which he could pull this off, he thought about how he felt when he channeled lightning chakra through his body, passing through some of the smallest and hard to focus places almost without even realizing it himself. Focusing his attention to his eyes, he closed them, finding it easier to actually channel it like this. Trying to copy what he often did with lightning release, Yoroi let his chakra flow through the connection of his eyes to his brain and vice versa, finding that it worked fairly. Now that it worked, he went to the nearest scar to figure out what had been the final straw that made this person cease to be. Looking closely, he could tell that this was not a fatal wound, so he just had to keep on searching for what it was. It was without a doubt true that this jutsu helped him see beyond what the naked eye could do.

On first glance, there had been a lot of wounds that could have been responsible for his death, though none of them could possible be the culprit. Finding out what it was that killed him was rather hard, because any of the wounds that had been inflicted could have turned out to be the one that took his life. While most wounds had the potential of being lethal, most of them were not the ones that had finally robbed him of his life. The arm, or the lack of it seemed like it could have been the responsible wound, but before he pointed it out as his best guess, it seemed awfully convenient for this to be the one that did it, it was too simple. It took him several more minutes of checking the body until he remembered that Uriko had started by holding her palm above his chest, so maybe that was where he needed to look. As he started checking the chest area, he checked the lungs and the heart, the latter being the one he thought to be the guilty factor. It had a relatively small puncture wound in it that would most likely have caused internal hemorrhaging, leading to his death. Putting all of his money on this spit, he turned off the technique before standing up straight. Looking at Uriko, his face was rather stoic, still pondering on whether he was right on the matter or if he was utterly wrong.

"I think I found it... there's a small puncture wound in his heart, so that's probably my best bet." Yoroi said, pointing towards the corpse's chest, hoping to hear that he had done a good job, or at least got points for trying.

Age : 35 Posts : 1113

NAGASE, URIKO

Yoroi had crouched beside the corpse and begun tentatively running his hand over the more obvious wounds. The woman found it curiously soothing, to observe a relative stranger practicing her own, personal techniques. She pondered whether they'd become such mundane things to her that she no longer appreciated the artistry involved. A pity. She thought. In spite of this, a ghost of a smile crossed the female nukenin's features as she watched Yoroi work. She recalled the hours spent developing this jutsu; the medical conundrum she'd sought to answer. Uriko was already a criminal then - and had no one to share in her success. "Huh." She muttered, struck by a sudden notion. This was the very first time she'd been able to stand back and admire her simple yet elegant solution.

Lost as she was in nostalgia, the kunoichi almost didn't notice when her pupil gave his answer. "I think I found it... there's a small puncture wound in his heart, so that's probably my best bet." He announced. Uriko sniffed. "Good." She replied, curtly. "A senbon, through the back. Not even one of the other injuries was fatal." The woman explained, resisting the urge to further clarify that this was due to her 'precise' torture skills. "With practice, you'll learn to eke out such details for yourself." She finished. Though her tone lacked warmth, it almost sounded as though she was giving the young Sennin a morsel of encouragement. True, he had grasped the first jutsu swiftly and with greater ease than she had anticipated. But there had certainly been no pretense of fondness thus far. Then was she in fact being patronizing? It might have been impossible to tell.

Uriko had decided to teach him no more of that particular technique. With time, a competent shinobi could take it further and seek out biological afflictions - but the female nukenin reasoned that either Yoroi would learn that through practice or her wouldn't. Despite their bargain, she felt no sense of obligation to instruct. Somewhere between her ego and her boredom she'd been roped into this exercise. "No doubt you'd like to know how to heal such injuries, too. Well, this one won't be much use anymore." Uriko remarked, gesturing to the mutilated body. "Regenerating those cells is a skill beyond even some of the most accomplished shinobi - and would take them down a path they would not dare to follow." She continued, talking to herself as much as to her companion. With a flick of her wrist she dismissed the summoned corpse, which disappeared in another cloud of smoke. "Hold out your hand." She ordered.

Yoroi did question the instruction, but willingly obliged once Uriko had explained that one of them needed an injury to treat. She failed to fully disclose why it had to be the Kaguya and not herself, but her student did not seem to mind. As the woman reached out, it became apparent that she'd once again procured a kunai. She made a swift but deep cut into the man's left palm, dropping the blade almost as soon as the deed was done. "Watch." She instructed, flattening her hand and holding it steady. A pale green aura emerged, growing until it coated the appendage. "This is filtered chakra, a concentration of the life-giving energy inside of us. If you draw chakra from other wells for this technique, then you will end up doing more harm than help." Uriko moved her hand over to meet the bloody incision on Yoroi's palm. "Of course, I could teach you that too." She added wickedly, smirking as the cut began to close.

When the kunoichi pulled away, only the remnants of blood remained. There was no sign of current injury. "You may need a seal, to help open the necessary channels." The woman drawled, apparently bored with explanations. She demonstrated the finger positions to which she was referring before handing Yoroi the kunai. At first he reached out to cut Uriko, but she was quick to dismiss that idea. "No. You'll need to feel as both the healer and the patient. How else can you know when it's right?" She sighed, though her sagacious words seemed well received by the Kaguya. "Well?" The woman muttered sharply, wondering what he was waiting for.

~

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Age : 32 Posts : 1912

Yoroi Kaguya

Listening as she spoke again, he was delighted to hear that he had been correct in assuming that the wound to one of the most important organs, no matter how small, had been the one that killed this person. With practice, he would be able to figure out such details by himself, at least that was what she told him. If he was to ever become capable of doing such things, he would not a lot more practice, that much was clear. However, he was not sure just how much he would be able to pick up from just investigating causes of death. Through his overthinking of the situation, he had almost missed Uriko giving him some encouraging words in the process. It was almost strange, considering the person that had spoken these words to him in the first place. Preparing for the next stage of the jutsu, it seemed that Uriko had not been planning on furthering this kind of thing at all, wanting to try something new instead. Scratching behind his ear a bit, he was wondering what the next step could be. Uriko had made it rather clear that medical ninjutsu was not an easy thing to grasp, which was why they had been starting with something relatively simple when compared to actually healing a human body.

When she moved on from the whole injury seeking, she asked him if it had been his goal to learn how to actually heal injuries as well. To him, it was obvious that this was the thing he had been wanting the most, because all he was capable of doing now was to hurt people. He wanted to be capable of doing more than just that, for the killing of others was not the only thing he wanted to be great at. That was when Uriko made a gesture towards the mutilated corpse, claiming that he would no longer be of any use to them. It made sense that healing a corpse would not be possible, seeing as every single cell in their body would have long since been killed off along with the person itself. Though he believed that fully regenerating dead cells was impossible, Uriko came up with a rather interesting and unexpected statement. Apparently, repairing the cells of a dead man belonged to a level of skill that most of the accomplished shinobi could not even grasp, that it would take people down a path most would not dare to follow. As she said it, he thought that he heard something in her tone of voice, something that seemed remotely like she was saying that while other couldn't do it, some people could. "You would say that, but you can do it, can't you?", Yoroi inquired.

Whatever the answer would be, there was something else that had to be done first. When she ordered him to hold out his hand after the things she had just said, he could already tell what was going to happen. If he was going to learn how to heal anything, there had to be something they could heal. Without really second guessing all of this, he stuck out his hand as he had been instructed to do. When she took out a kunai and made a fairly deep cut on the palm of his hand, he could not say that it was completely free of pain, though he had felt much worse forms of pain, like the time when he had almost been crushed between two plates of rock, the time he had been carved open from the bottom to the top of his chest with a searing hot katana or when his first summon had sank it's teeth into his arm. Compared to all of those things, this was like being stung by a wasp, it was mildly annoying, but that was about it. Explaining how the chakra she was going to use was filtered, life giving chakra, he believed that he had heard about this concept before when he spent time in the Ryuchi caverns. When she started using her healing technique, she brought up that if he ended up taking chakra from the wrong places, he would end up doing someone harm, rather than actually healing them.

While it proved that the whole medical school was very easily weaponized if a shinobi wanted to use such a field of expertise in order to kill people, he was much more interested in the glowing green chakra that came from Uriko and sent a strange sensation through his entire arm. As she was healing him, she told him that she would be able to teach him the more harmful form of medical ninjutsu as well, even showing a fiendish smirk. Shrugging it off for the time being, it was much more important that he learned how to heal someone before it became a new form of combat for the Kaguya. Right before his eyes, the wound she had inflicted upon him was actually healing and closing up. Just seeing such a thing seemed strange and outlandish, though in a world where people spat flames and controlled the earth with a flick of the wrist, it was really not that far fetched to believe that this kind of thing could be done. In a little while, the small wound had been closed up entirely, not even leaving as much as a scar. Twitching his fingers to see if the damage that had been done to his muscles had also been fixed, it seemed that there had not been any indication that he had ever been wounded in the first place.

When Uriko handed him the Kunai, it seemed that it was already his turn to try out such techniques. When he attempted to make a cut on her hand, she swiftly told him that this was not the way things were going to happen this time. Probably not feeling like getting cut again, she told him that if he wanted to learn this kind of thing, he had to know what it was like to be the healer and the patient. Apparently, this was the only way for him to know if he was doing it right or not, something that made sense to him. After all, if he did it the wrong way, he would end up hurting himself, which would be all the indication he needed to know that he had been doing a poor job. Looking at his own palm and at the kunai, inflicting wounds upon himself seemed rather silly, though this was something he simply had to learn. As he was about to do it, Uriko started coercing him into doing the cutting, something that got on his nerves a little bit. "I'll do it, stop hounding me already.", Yoroi said as he shot a quick glance at her. Making a similar cut into the palm of his left hand, he kept his right free, thinking it made a difference if he injured his dominant hand when it came to trying things he had never done before. If he was to heal himself, he would at least make sure that the conditions were set up right.

Though the chakra was somewhere between his regular white color and the green color she had shown him before when she healed him, it seemed that this filtered chakra had not been sufficient at all. In fact, it only seemed to further push his wounds open. Thinking that it might have been what Uriko said about how drawing chakra from the wrong wells might do more harm than help, he shook the thought before stopping the technique. As his hand was starting to bleed quite a bit, he closed his eyes and more or less forced the pain away. Focusing his chakra to his right hand yet again, trying to do exactly what she said by filtering the chakra so only the life giving chakra that was within every human being would be left to do the job right this time. Forming the seal she had shown him, he tried to filter yet again, holding his palm over the palm of his injured hand, trying to reduce the amount of additional damage he had personally dealt to the cut he had made. Slowly, the torn flesh was starting to crawl back together, returning the wound to the original cut that had been made before his control over the technique broke. "I don't think i'm doing it right. Is it even possible for someone who can only take lives to control a life giving aspect?", Yoroi asked the woman, wondering what she'd have to say about it.

Age : 35 Posts : 1113

NAGASE, URIKO

Reflecting on his relative success, Yoroi fell into quiet contemplation. It was clear that the kunoichi had managed to pique the young Sennin's interest in Eijutsu. It seemed as though he had always admired it from afar, approaching it as something he could never have grasped. Uriko suspected his bloodthirsty heritage had been holding the young Kaguya back. Now that he'd dipped his proverbial toe in the water, Yoroi was eager to progress. It was only the glint in his eye that revealed such passions, for he was keeping physical self impeccably calm. He sat watching his temporary tutor, silent and motionless.

Uriko was keen for her charge not to get too carried away, so she distracted him by dismissing the corpse. She spoke of how it would be of little further use, how regenerating the cells of the long-dead was a black art beyond all but a discrete few. "You would say that, but you can do it, can't you?" Yoroi murmured quietly. The woman was loathe to admit it, but she knew she hadn't hidden the note of pride in her voice particularly well. She paused for a moment, giving careful consideration to her answer. "To some extent." Came the whispered reply. "But no technique can truly revive the dead. Those that claim to..." Uriko's voice tailed off. She'd stopped completely and now looked rather pensive. "What returns is illusion." She finished, solemnly.

Sniffing loudly, the female nukenin decided the best thing was to simply move on. She took Yoroi through the method of healing he was about to learn, using the young man himself as a practice dummy. Though this was for practical purposes, the kunoichi would not deny that she did it with a degree of satisfaction. Such spitefulness was reserved for no one in particular - Uriko had simply grown too comfortable with suffering of any kind. At one point she rubbed salt in the wound by chiding the Sennin, who snapped back irritably. The woman raised half an eyebrow, wondering where the peaceful shinobi of before had disappeared to. She smiled at the thought. Yoroi continued on regardless, preoccupied with correcting his technique. Given that his first attempt appeared to widen the cut he was trying to heal, this was undoubtedly for the best.

The Shousen jutsu was the cornerstone of the medical arts. Still, Uriko's decision to give a lesson in observation first was wise. Not everyone held the correct mindset for healing techniques. Even the most well-meaning shinobi might be over eager and simply attempt to fix a problem without prior diagnosis. It was only thanks to stringent medical training weeding out such individuals that the general public never knew of such incompetencies. Uriko herself had received no such formal training and, for the most part, was self-taught. Her former obsession with restoring her missing arm had driven her further and further towards the downright macabre, a fascination that had stayed with her since. Yet her nukenin status meant that self-preservation was of even greater importance and nowadays, the woman was regarded as the highest authority in both fields.

Time passed and Uriko continued to watch her new student getting to grips with the level of control needed for Eijutsu. His initial Shousen had been far too diluted with other types of chakra and although he had since managed to undo the additional damage he'd caused with it, further progress has slowed to a near-halt. "I don't think I'm doing it right. Is it even possible for someone who can only take lives to control a life giving aspect?" He sighed. Hearing this, the female nukenin merely chuckled. "I scarcely remember what I was before I became a murderer - and all I have done since is kill. But you saw how easily I closed your previous wound?" She asked, not really expecting an answer. "An injury is objective. It doesn't care who you are or what you've done, only that you are what it needs you to be right now." She continued, feeling uncomfortably philosophical. "It's a metaphor. Like you mustn't deny what you are, don't simply try to block out the other chakra. Divert it away from the healing hand instead. It's just as useful, but not what you need this minute." Uriko finished, wrinkling her nose in distaste at her almost flowery words of advice.

~

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Age : 32 Posts : 1912

Yoroi Kaguya

It was as he thought, she was capable of bringing back dead cells. Just knowing that such a thing was possible made him look at the school of medical ninjutsu through a very different lens. If he was to be capable of bringing back those who died, he would be able to protect everyone, even if he was not strong enough to just protect them through force. Despite all of that, there was something about the things she said next, something that was rather shocking. She said that there was no technique that could truly bring back the dead the way they were before they died. She said that there were those who claimed that they could, but she stopped talking before she released any information about the topic. After a moment, she claimed that the only thing that came back was an illusion, making him believe that she might have actually seen such a thing happen. Maybe she had tried to perform such a thing, though that was all speculation. Even if she had done such a thing, she would not tell him about it anyway, so it seemed best to just move on and forget about it for now.

Before he continued trying to heal his hand, he listened closely to Uriko's explanation about her own life and how it had not affected her ability to heal herself or others. Though it seemed somewhat hard to believe that she had chosen this life for herself, she claimed that she hardly even remembered what she had done before she became a murderer, after which all she had done was kill. For a moment, he just felt awful for this woman, even if she probably felt no remorse for any of the people she had killed. It was overly obvious that this woman could not see the good in herself anymore, even though Yoroi still could. Taking a deep breath as he took it all in, he let the woman finish what she started. Maybe it took a person who had to learn compassion and morals at a later point in his life to see it, but he knew that there was still something good inside of her. Even though she would probably claim that she had something to gain from all this, there was really nothing in this for her, she was just teaching him how to use medical ninjutsu because she wanted to, and that was really all there was to it.

Whether she would also see it this way if he confronted her about it was extremely unlike, after all, she had a reputation to uphold, though he knew that the thing she did right now was out of the goodness of her heart, not for some sort of strange rush she would get from this. When she continued her story, the point she was trying to make was that it was possible for those who believed that they could only hurt to learn how to heal people this way. Uriko stated that injuries were subjective, that they did not care whether a person was good or bad, that they did not care what someone had done in their life, it only cared about what it needed someone to be. Though he understood that it was a metaphor before she said it, it was something that he could work with. Returning to his hard work, he did exactly as she told him to do, so instead of blocking it out, he diverted it somewhere else. Allowing his chakra to continue flowing as usual, he took only the chakra that he needed in order to heal his wound. As he tried it the way she told him to, it was actually working to the point that the chakra he brought out was actually green in color, healing the wound he had created himself.

Through this new attempt with the guidance of Uriko, the somewhat gored cut closed up nicely, only a tiny scar remained, showing that he did not exactly master the medical school just yet, though he knew now how he could heal it. Letting the green hue die down as he cancelled the use of the technique, he had a rather satisfied look on his face. Standing up straight, he looked at Uriko while handing her Kunai back to it's rightful honor. "I think I did it, it didn't hurt this time and it healed itself.", he claimed as he showed her the tiny scar on the palm of his hand. Waiting for her to speak up about his latest achievement, he hoped that she would be able to tell him that he was on the right track. Even if she claimed he was not, he would know that she was lying through her teeth, even though she would have no reason to do such a thing. He managed to heal something. Even though it was a tiny wound, he had managed to heal something, he did something other than hurting people, and that was worth celebrating.

Age : 35 Posts : 1113

NAGASE, URIKO

Curiously, Yoroi's expression seemed to soften when Uriko mentioned that she barely recalled her life before becoming a killer. Most people tended to baulk at the kunoichi's crimes, even though so few spent long enough with her to discover the worst of them. This Kaguya was a different sort, however. He was optimistic to the point of naivety and appeared to believe the nukenin redeemable. Uriko chuckled inwardly, knowing all too well that such an attitude would one day get the young sennin killed. Her mirth was cut abruptly short however, when her silent laugh echoed one too many times in her mind. The kunoichi's expression soured. It meant the hour or so of peace and headspace she'd enjoyed was coming to an end. For now however, Yoroi continued to occupy the majority of the woman's attention.

He had clearly taken her almost philosophical lessons to heart, approaching eijutsu task with renewed focus and calm. This brought about a swift and marked improvement, the Kaguya beginning to knead chakra into the correct green tinge. At first it wavered, but Yoroi soon had the technique under firm control and once satisfied with the stability, pressed his hand against the increasingly ugly injury. The flesh began to knit itself together again and the skin pulled closer together until the wound was fully closed. Pausing for a few moments to consider his success, Yoroi soon collected the kunai and handed it ceremoniously back to its owner. "I think I did it, it didn't hurt this time and it healed itself." He sounded a little unsure, as if awaiting Uriko's judgement. The woman saw no reason not to oblige. She had, after all, brought him this far. "A good start." She stated, matter-of-factly.

Social situations were not the kunoichi's strong point. It seemed her role as an educator was now over and all that remained would be inane discussion. "A pity you don't want to, ah, bolster your offensive arsenal. Oh, the things you would see... She tailed off wistfully. Her gaze fell on the slowly dying fire. Throwing another log at the hungry flames, she leaned forwards and pushed the kindling around with her bare hand. Though her skin sizzled in the heat, she withdrew the appendage before any significant harm was done. When she noticed Yoroi looking on with a frown, Uriko merely smiled. "Pain teaches us the most important of lessons." She explained.

At this, the young sennin fell momentarily quiet. Uriko took this to mean he knew her words to be true. She considered probing further, either to better understand her companion or simply to get under his skin. In the end, she decided that neither held a great enough appeal."I shall not remain here much longer." She muttered. Having already felt the stirrings of her affliction, the kunoichi worried that if she stayed, her 'other half' might cause her to do something rash. "But since I have not yet thought of a favor with which you can repay me, no doubt we will meet again sometime." Uriko added. There were many things the female nukenin required, but very few of them could be offered by the Kaguya sitting opposite. As the woman began rummaging through her item pouches to re-arrange their contents, she awaited Yoroi's parting words.

~

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Age : 32 Posts : 1912

Yoroi Kaguya

Looking at how Uriko would respond to him, it seemed that she was not exactly impressed at his performance, but deemed it to be a good start, this really being all he was after. If he could grasp the basics, that meant that he would be able to create his own healing techniques, even though such a thing would probably take it's time to perform. With his self inflicted wound all closed up and healed, he moved his fingers a bit to make sure he had not inflicted any actual damage to his muscles that had somehow not been healed. Finding that this was not the case, he felt satisfied with how he had healed himself under the watchful eye of his momentary teacher. As he finished up his training, it seemed that Uriko felt that it was a pity that Yoroi did not want bolster his offensive arsenal, a statement that made him just grin a bit. Everything could be weaponize, and whether he wanted to turn the art of healing into a weapon or not, he knew that it would happen sooner or later. After all, they did live in a world where combat and the gaining of information were among the most important things that took place each day. Whether she would have spoken up about it or not, he knew that it was only a matter of time before the medical field would just become a new blade for him to wield.

Through it all, the fire had started dying down a bit, something Uriko responded to by tossing another log into the flames. From the looks of it, she was not exactly satisfied with it's placement, tempting her to put her hand in and put it where it belonged without actually keeping her own health in check. Capable of telling that her skin was rapidly turning red as a response to the intense heat, she drew her hand back before any blisters or burnt, dead skin started to show itself. Finding this to be a rather peculiar action, he frowned a bit as he witnessed this, though Uriko just smiled at him, saying that it was through pain that taught them the most important lessons. While it sounded rather dark, it was something he fully agreed to. It was through sheer pain that Yoroi had learned to become a predator when he was still a child, often struck by the claws of a wild animal before he learned how to use the Shikotsumyaku at the age of five. For him, his Kekkei Genkai had been a massive game changer, just like the ninjutsu he learned from the realm of snakes, something he also initially learned through the pain caused by powerful jaws and the sharp teeth of the serpent that was now his partner, Shakreido. Knowing that their time had come to an end, Uriko stated that she would not stick around for much longer, but that she would come back and see him sometime when she could come up with something he could do in return.

Whether it was just because he never really knew what it was like outside of the bond he shared with his sister Kimiko, a part of Yoroi cared for this woman and because of it, he felt like he should do something for Uriko. Even though the thought had constantly been in his mind, he could tell that something was wrong with her, something that was simply out of her control. Yoroi would never claim that he was the smartest person in the world, nor was he the greatest empath out there, though even he could tell that this woman could use all the rest she could get. Even if she was a Nukenin he might one day have to face down if she sought to in some way destroy his village, that would all be trouble for the future. For now, she had done a good deed, not just for Yoroi, but for all of the people he could help with it, as well as all the people he could save by using it to kill others, a form of medical ninjutsu she seemed quite sad about for him not being that interested in the offensive field. This was just something she assumed at this point, for Yoroi was known to explore even the more ridiculous and far fetched fields of combat if he believed that there was something to gain from doing so.

"That's okay, you can spend the night here, it really is the least I can do to try and return the favor a bit. No one really comes here, so it should be okay for you to stay here until morning, if you'd be okay with that. If you do choose to stay, that tent over there is filled with soft furs, so if you do get cold, feel free to use them."

With the offer made, there was no reason for Yoroi to really stick around anymore, at least that was what he thought. Now that she at least knew how to get around and where she could sleep out of sight, he figured that she would be able to sleep soundly, that she would not have to fear people hunting her down and slaughtering her in her sleep. After the things she had done for him, meeting such an end would be something that would just make him feel terrible, even if she was supposedly an enemy to several countries, one that was to be taken into custody the moment she was seen. While his loyalty to his village was fierce, she was technically not inside of the village yet, she was just in the country. Finding this to be a decent loophole, he got up and turned to face the direction of the Fire Temple, a place where he still had several techniques to master and training exercises to complete before he could take on any new tasks. Uttering a last sentence, he meant everything that he said as he dashed off at high speeds not a moment later. Hopefully, she would not consider him to be weak for trying to find the good parts that could be redeemed in the woman but find him somewhat strong for not given up so easily.

"I will not forget what you did for me Uriko, don't get yourself killed before we get a chance to meet again."

[Exit Thread]

Let me know when the final post comes in so I can add that this was also a special thread for Medical Ninjutsu.

Age : 35 Posts : 1113

NAGASE, URIKO

The brief mention of weaponizing Eijutsu had elicited a glimmer of interest in the corner of the young Kaguya's eye. It may have just been a gut reaction of course, his battle-keen bloodline bristling at the notion. Regardless, Uriko could barely contain a knowing smirk as she busied herself with re-packing. The woman herself had been mostly self-taught, relying on stolen scrolls and serendipitous encounters. She had had to discover the scope, the potential of medical techniques alone. Yoroi would have a head start and as far as the kunoichi was concerned, the more exploratory Eijutsu there was in the world, the better. She pondered the likelihood of one day, years later, having the young Sennin return the favour and pass on the skills and abilities he himself had unearthed. Or maybe he simply honed the few he had already picked up. It would be a pity and a waste, but no doubt there would come a time when a fortunate few would be thankful for his expertise. In teaching one person, Uriko might have saved three.

True, generosity was not a trait typically associated with the Nagase woman. She had been called many things; bitter, sadistic, frightening - to name but a few. Those who had labelled her as such would never have believed what had happened tonight. However banal her intentions, however apathetic her approach, it was an inescapable truth that the female nukenin had done Yoroi a kindness. The young Sennin had wanted to learn healing arts for purely altruistic reasons; and Uriko had knowingly obliged. Curiouser still, she felt a sense of satisfaction about the whole business. It took a good few ruminative minutes before the kunoichi had come to understand just why this was. Legacy. She thought silently. The very notion of leaving a mark, with her name to it... it was a brand new manifestation of pride. Admittedly, she expected Yoroi to not advertise where he had learned such techniques and perhaps her efforts would be forgotten over time. Except in her.

After attending to the fire, Uriko had noticed her companion's quizzical expression. She'd (rather philosophically) remarked that pain was an exceptional teacher. Yoroi seemed to understand and the woman could have sworn she detected a slight, confirmatory nod of the head. The young Sennin's gaze seemed to grow distant then, as though noticing something vaguely intriguing some fifty metres behind the kunoichi. Uriko was suddenly struck by how aged his eyes seemed - for one so youthful, that was. They had superficial warmth, yes, but behind that there was... something else. Yoroi; you are a more complicated man than I had thought. The woman inaudibly mused. It was true enough. She had said nothing about any actual desire to unravel these new-found layers of his personality. Instead, she distracted herself with the final preparations for departure.

This appeared to catch the Kaguya's attention and after a moment or two, he spoke up. "That's okay, you can spend the night here, it really is the least I can do to try and return the favor a bit. No one really comes here, so it should be okay for you to stay here until morning, if you'd be okay with that." He gushed, eager to help the woman in return for his lessons. "If you do choose to stay," he added, "that tent over there is filled with soft furs, so if you do get cold, feel free to use them." It was as good an offer as Uriko was going to get and strangely, she did not truly suspect any undisclosed threat. Perhaps the young Sennin's almost unflappable 'goodness' had simply worn her down. That, or tiredness was beginning to get the better of her. Regardless, she nodded gratefully and shuffled over toward the tent.

Once under the protection of the tarpaulin, her head and shoulder re-emerged for a parting remark. "I don't sense betrayal in you, Yoroi. But for your allies' sakes, you should hope that I am not discovered." She warned. There was a momentary pause, before the woman nodded curtly and retreated under the fabric shelter. She lay back, still and contemplative. The still howling wind almost disguised the faint patter of footsteps heading away from the campsite.

~EXIT~

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Age : 32 Posts : 1912

End of Topic & Put up for Evaluation