Brontide by Finito-Arcobaleno
"Run, run…cling to life and survive in an unsightly way."
"…Yes, nii-san. I will cling to life, but also assist others to do the same."
Arc 1, Chapter 2: Studying with the Yakushi
Sasuke met with the Head Doctor this morning, after the operation with the ANBU. The ANBU in mention was currently sleeping off the injury in the hospital bed next to him. The bloodstains on the floor were gone, mopped up sometime during the night when Sasuke had succumbed to slumber. The Head Medic sat down on a stool placed beside Sasuke's bed.
"Hello, my name is Doctor Yakushi, and I'm the head medic here. I've deemed you fit to be released from the hospital today. The Hokage has lent you some money and rented an apartment to live in temporarily while the Uchiha Compound…is unavailable. You may change out of the hospital gown you are currently wearing, and you can pick up your old clothes at the reception."
"…" Sasuke was silent.
"May I enquire about your silence, Uchiha-san?" Yakushi asked.
Sasuke fidgeted, and then blurted out his request. "I want to be a medic-nin and I want you to be my sensei."
Yakushi blinked. There were no ninja that would outright desire to become a medic-nin straight off the bat, especially when they had only just begun learning how to be a ninja at the Academy. But this was the Last Uchiha, who most certainly would already have learnt the basic required Academy skills before he even started there, due to his upbringing in the clan. However, Yakushi knew that the skills of the small boy in front of him would be more suited to that of a ninjutsu specialist.
"Why?" was the simple question that the doctor asked.
"Because I want to cling to life and help others to do the same." Was the cryptic reply.
Yakushi gave Sasuke a long, hard stare.
"Did you see or hear the operation last night?"
Sasuke adverted his gazed and looked to the wall, staring at it. He didn't want the image of blood to cause his muscles to seize up again. He failed to supress the trembling at the thought. The doctor noticed this.
"I see. You seem to have mild case of haemophobia. Are you certain that you would be able to stand the sight of blood to do an acceptable job at healing others? That cannot be avoided indefinitely."
Sasuke clenched the sheets between his fingers, his knuckles turning white with the strain. "I…I want to help. I don't want the nightmares I have to be received by anyone else."
A moment of silence ensued, with the medic contemplating his words and Sasuke waiting in tense anticipation. Then the medic stood up and brushed his coat to clear some non-existent dust.
"Very well, Uchiha-san. I will teach you the basics of medical knowledge, but to advance further, I request that you seek guidance from others. You wish to be trained as a battlefield medic, and I do not have the abilities to teach you this. I am only a medic at a hospital, after all. Come with me, I will take you to my place, where you may begin looking at the scrolls of the human body."
Sasuke's face lit up, and followed the man. He grabbed the old clothing he wore from the reception desk, and changed into them. The Head Doctor, no, Yakushi-sensei, led him to his home.
They had met a young boy with grey hair running out of the house. Sasuke recalled that Yakushi-sensei had told him that this genin was his adoptive son. Spectacles, much like the one Yakushi-sensei wore, were worn on the boy's nose.
"Father, you're back! It's been ages! Who did you bring?" The boy smiled up at the doctor, clearly adoring the man. Yakushi-sensei smiled back at the twelve year old, and Sasuke frowned. He wished that his father acted like that to him. But they were gone now, and there was no use mourning over what could've been a happy family.
His attention turned back to the two as Yakushi-sensei mentioned his name. "Uchiha Sasuke wishes to learn about medicines from me. As you know, I'm a very busy man, so I think you can teach him a little while I'm at work. He's just going to learn about the human body for the moment."
Kabuto looked over at Sasuke. There something in his eyes that prompted suspicion from Sasuke, almost as if he was calculating his potential. But then the emotion that Kabuto had unwittingly expressed fled, and he smiled at Sasuke. Sasuke passed the weird look as Kabuto wanting to see how well he would go in the study.
"Hello Sasuke-san. If you don't know me already, I'm Yakushi Kabuto. I hope we become good friends. I've been studying under my father for a while already, so I think we would work together well."
Kabuto stretched out his right arm for a handshake. Sasuke accepted the greeting, and they went off to look at the scrolls. There was a screech of exasperation.
"Just how many scrolls on the human body are there in here?"
"Oh, we only have about fifty. There's about three times as many in the hospital for apprentices too. We can look at them later."
Sasuke almost howled at the amount of time that would be needed, but grumbled and resigned himself to his fate. Yakushi chuckled. Who said becoming a medic, much less one suited on the battlefield, would be easy?
Sasuke felt like his eyes have dried out from the amount of text that he was forced to read. He swore that even learning the Grand Fireball technique would've taken less time. He was most certainly glad when the sky began to darken and he was forced to be escorted to his new apartment by Yakushi-sensei.
His apartment was located in the opposite direction of the Uchiha Compound. Sasuke thanked the Sandaime Hokage in his thoughtfulness. It wasn't in the height of luxury, but it wasn't filled with rats either. He could see that the Hokage had tried his best into getting a good one for an orphan.
Plain and simple, was what described the place. It had cream walls, cream ceiling, one window and one ceiling light. The bed sheets were white with blue stripes, and the kitchen was stocked with fresh food. It was good enough for him.
Eating a quick meal of instant ramen, disliking the taste but not willing to spend time on actually trying to operate the stove for the first time, he finished and sat on his bed, pulling out the scrolls he was allowed to take from the Yakushi household. He would need a bookshelf soon.
He unrolled one, and began to read. Despite his earlier complaints, the human body was fascinating, and at least each scroll talked about a different thing from the others. It was beginning to get late, but he didn't stop reading until the early hours in the morning. He didn't want nightmares to surface.
He fell asleep quickly, but they lurked, and the agonized screams of his mother echoed in his mind the whole time. And the red eyes' pupils didn't stop whirling around.
-tbc-
Am I on a roll? I don't really know. I'm glad to see everyone taking an interest in this. Hope I really don't disappoint anyone here.
Filler-ish chapter here, but basically I kind of need this here. My estimate is that there would be about two more chapters before going onto the genin graduations and Wave arc, where chapters should reach monstrous lengths (at least, in my opinion).
Naruto does not belong to me. It is owned my Masashi Kishimoto and TV Tokyo. Medic!Sasuke is inspired by Aoi24. I do not own the aforementioned things. However, the story belongs to me.
Word Count: 1,175
Total Word Count: 2,296