Scroll 20: Healing the Sick
The Hokage looked at the six plus two ANBU that currently stood in front of her desk. Kakashi Hatake, newly released from the Med-unit in good health, was posted further back, his body leaning against the wall next to the door.
"So basically what you're telling me is that this group of Akadou nin were seeking to creating a disturbance large enough to scare the village council to throw our visitors out of the village?" The busty woman huffed out in annoyance.
"Yes, that is exactly what Hisao Akadou told us. However, he was acting independently from the Clan leader's faction. I personally think that Akadou-san was drunk and itching to start a fight with the first person he saw; which, unfortunately, was the Uzaruki heiress." The speaking nin – Tomoe Haru – pointed to the report that had just been handed in only minutes earlier. "I also think that Hisao-san is blaming his misfortune on the children, when it was he who instigated the attack. Some of the Akadou group must have reported directly to the Akadou leader and registered a complaint."
"I see…" The Hokage tore her eyes from the report and nailed them on Kakashi. "I suppose its time to begin that mission now, Hatake-san. I'm giving you an hour's notice to prepare before I want you, Uzaruki-san and three others that you shall choose to report back to me for a debriefing."
"Of course, Hokage-sama. A team of five – I'm assuming that Sakura-chan will be busy with her training?" the copycat ninja asked a rhetorical question. "I'll have to end up choosing three other chuunin."
The nonchalant pose of the jounin made the other chuunin in the room slightly nervous that the jounin just might immediately pick a few of them. Of course some of the emotions of a few of them were due to the awe that Kakashi had managed to create for himself over the years.
"May I interject something, Hokage-sama?" A short, red-dyed haired chuunin spoke up. The woman; aged around mid-thirties wore her blue and green standard chuunin suit with slightly less pride than her comrades around her. Her name, Aisoko Honda, was not a reflection on her features. Being shorter than her friends, the 5-foot tall woman was specialized in the art of natural camouflage – so it was rather normal to see bits of grass and leaves sticking out of her short red-hair.
"You may, Honda-san." The Hokage replied.
"It may stand to be investigated that the force that attacked just yesterday might be responsible for the Akadou group's behavior. I know I would try and form alliances with some of the villagers that harbor my enemies." The leafy-decorated woman was sharp on possibilities that made the Hokage nod in thought.
"You may be right, Honda-san. However – true or not – I've decided to stick to the plan of action that the Wheel-nin bartered out with me. They wished to have a team of five escort them while they form alliances with our allied villages." The blonde-haired woman scribbled down her thoughts on the half-filled paper before her. "I will take this into consideration, Honda-san. Chuunin, Dismissed!"
The group of reporting chuunin bowed at the waist and vanished – just how they all got out of the room when the door was shut was one of those mysterious ninja secrets.
There was a momentary pause before a knock on Tsunade's office door interrupted the quiet room. The person who entered was one of the medical nin that usually worked at the main hospital. This medic was known as Curitsu; and was one to follow rules like waiting to be called in. But she had broken that rule as she entered with the most confused and awed look on her face.
Curitsu was a woman with unruly red hair; mixed randomly with black locks. One of her eyes was a metallic blue and the other was bright yellow. These oddities in her appearance were there because the med-nin enjoyed playing with her appearance and surgically altering them herself. She was around 6ft tall, and her physique was that of a lithe, yet strongly muscled woman - a result of the training she had put herself through. She wore her usual standard med-nin suit, and her headband had an etched symbol for 'life' under the normal symbol.
"I apologize for walking in, and I would have instantly reported if this event was bad, but something quite…amazing has happened, Tsunade-sama."
The Hokage, who just had dismissed Kakashi to prepare for the upcoming mission lifted her head upwards to look ponderously at Curitsu and smiled.
"What has happened!" the hokage asked.
Curitsu just paused for a moment, starting and stopping a sentence a few times before taking a deep breath. "At the hospital…everything is fine. Everybody's been...cured of whatever sickness they had, recovered from whatever injury they were under. The terminally ill are in good health and even the few suffering Genjutsu mental side-effects are stable now."
"WHAT!" The Hokage bolted to her feet and slammed the desk both her hands in astonishment. "When did this happen!"
"Well, like I said, everybody's been cured. And it happened almost right after Hatake-sama left the hospital; and seemed to take place over the span of a few hours. I was off-duty today but came to cover for a friend of mine. When I got there, everybody was unconscious; asleep due to a genjutsu that seemed to have a wide range of effects. Even those we thought incurable, such as the terminally ill or the coma patients, are now a good nights rest and some food away from going home. I came to inform you…and ask what we should do now. Do we just let it happen or investigate to find out who did this?"
Curitsu let her hands hang at her sides, at a loss for further words. She just sort of chuckled, not quite energetic enough to laugh but the whole situation just...took her breath away.
"Shizune!" The Hokage called out, and in a few minutes that seemed like hours, Shizune appeared at the door; holding the knob in one hand and Tonton in the other.
"Yes, Hokage-sama?" the black-haired woman answered.
"See was files you can find on all those med-center patients that I had either yet to cure or were terminally ill!" Tsunade looked fierce with her brown eyes as Shizune managed enough information to pass into her head to look stunned.
"R-right away, Tsunade-sama. Can, I ask why the sudden interest in the terminally ill patients?"
"Not right now, Shizune-san, however, I want you and Sakura-chan to meet me at the Med-Center in five minutes; with as many files on those patients as possible!"
"Y-Yes, of course!" Shizune still looked puzzled, but bowed and, still having Tonton in her arm; rushed off to fulfill the order that she was just given.
Tsunade came out from behind her desk and motioned to Curitsu to follow her to the Medical building. The Hokage's mind was racing with the information and endless hypothesis.
Curitsu got up and followed along behind Tsunade. At the moment, she wasn't doing anything other than following and wondering how this miracle could've happened.
If one was looking, various people in Konoha, shinobi and not, would appear to have one more eye than they should; most times not on their faces and very small.
Tsunade was in a huff as she made her way into the Medical building, more precisely, the terminally ill ward. There, the twelve or so patients that she had yet to cure or hadn't been able to since she arrived to Konohagakure, were in great health and talking to the surprised med-nin on duty. The Hokage struck out to find two certain individuals; namely Yuro Maso and Crystania Hyuuga Jokou. Yuro Maso, she vaguely remembered, was part of Team 13. The fact that he was conscious was something she would have to address soon, as Yukari was currently filling in Sasuke's place on Naruto's team 7.
XXX
Crystania Hyuuga Jokou was a freak, a reject and shunned; outcast from the most prominent clan in the village. Being from a far-flung branch family of the Hyuuga Clan, the crystal-silver eyed girl was seriously deformed from the moment the main family placed the Caged Bird curse on her – it had left her deformed and blind in her right eye. Her right eye was not the Byakugan that it should have been, but a crystallized orb of chakra due to the effects of the Caged Bird Seal had on her genetics. Since the cause of her deformity had been pinned to the Seal, the black-haired girl had been used by her fellow Hyuuga as a test subject. She had been a lab rat all her life, until she managed to flee from her clan's medical center during the Sand-Sound Invasion – taking advantage of the confusion to escape. Her mental capacity had rivaled that of Neji's, but her scarred and mal-formed limbs were unable to perform even the normal of ninjutus. This fact and the severe lack of reliable ninja training had left her unable to survive without medical assistance.
One of the medical nin saw Tsunade walking up and finished what he was doing quickly so he could walk up and report. Or rather, he handed his clipboard to Curitsu and walked off to pick up another one, going to interview another one of the patients. Curitsu looked over the board and then turned to Tsunade.
"Ah, some good news it would seem. Yuro Maso here…" he pointed to indicate. "Along with another one of the coma patients; Abisu…" He pointed to a bed next to Yuro's. "Are the only ones that remember seeing those responsible for what happened here? I have what they said in the short time they were awake written down here."
XXX
While Yukari and the kids were playing with the puppies, Kakashi had made his errands to prepare for the mission. He had gone and asked not only Genma – the senbon toothpick user – but his comrade and Yukari's other sensei: Otou. He had also left a message to tell the medical team-trained kunoichi, Hani Takimoto, to report for the mission. Then, he set up a system of communiqué to allow things to proceed smoothly in his and Yukari's absence – which included informing the Uzaruki Clan of Yukari's mission status.
Having performed the tasks and gathered the necessary travel gear, the Hatake was looking for Yukari when he noted the disturbance across from the Ichiraku ramen. Kakashi was unable to investigate further as he used Pakkun to find Yukari's scent.
XX
"Why not just attach a tracker chip to the girl, Kakashi-san?" the ninja-pug had asked in mild interest. "That way you'll always know where your girl is."
"She isn't my girl, Pakkun, now would you just find her scent so we can get this over with?"
"Tch, you are such a moron, Kakashi-senpai." The pug spoke as he followed his orders. "It's plain as day that you want to mate with her. Even that Maito ninja can see it."
"Shut up and find her scent!"
XX
It had taken all but five minutes for Pakkun to point him in the right direction; which was aimed towards the Inuzuka District.
Kakashi smiled under his navy blue mask sat in the shadows, watching how happy his Yukari was when playing with the puppies. Kakashi also noted – he being the ex-ANBU jounin he was – that Sheena, Wydra and Gilligan were also with the Uzaruki heiress.
"As much as I hate to break this up, Yukari-chan, its time to prepare for the mission we've been hired for." Kakashi stepped into the compound, nodding a greeting towards the Inuzuka clan that was watching over the puppies. "It's time to say farewell to your fuzzy friends." The Copy-Cat ninja laughed as the teddy bears were making the puppies even more riled up on happiness.
"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Yukari jumped up to her feet and was instantly glomping her now-healed sensei – her actions made Kakashi blush under his mask. "Are you ok now!"
The trio looked up when Kakashi got there and paused; or rather, Sheena froze, Wydra looked over at Sheena to make sure she was okay, and Gilligan kept playing with the puppies. The last time they'd seen him was when they'd first gotten there; when Sheena had injured his ankles. Sheena just sort of let the puppy play with her hand and blinked a few times.
"Yes, yes, I'm alive and in one piece." Kakashi nodded, now his face serious and business like. "Ok, Yukari-chan, the fun-time is over, please…please you can stop hugging me now." The poor jounin was trying his best to avoid looking at the guffawing Inuzuka sister as she smiled slyly at him. "I came here to inform you have been assigned a new mission, which includes me and three others. I've already complied our team; Otou-sensei, Genma-san and Hani Takimoto-san. They all are more experienced in the type of mission we have. You've got less than forty minutes to pack for the traveling mission and to meet back at the Hokage's office."
Kakashi gave an aloof sly smile before vanishing. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy Yukari touching him; it was the fact that they were in public and as such, the Hatake wasn't yet used to the physical contact the girl gave him.
"Oh, darn, I was going to get him to summon Pakkun to show you three." Yukari laughed as she went around, picking up the random teddies from the now-tiring puppies. She didn't know that Kakashi had already used Pakkun to locate her. "Sheena, Wydra, Gilligan, it's time to go."
One teddy bear had gone missing, having attached itself to Kakashi's ankle when nobody was looking and it had gone with him when he'd vanished. Once Yukari collected all the teddy bears; the Gilligan that formed had shorter hair. The rest of his 'hair' was in the teddy that had hitched a ride with the white-haired jounin.
Wydra looked up from her puppy, then knelt and gave it a pat on the head as wheeled up next to Yukari, waiting for the others.
Sheena paused in front of the canine baby in front of her, then knelt and re-positioned herself so that if anybody brought their attention back to them in the next few seconds, the puppy would be blocked from sight. She then reformed the chains along the leg she was kneeling with to be like small stairs, leading to an opening around her torso. Her shirt was torn up from the looks of it, but she leaned over and whispered to the puppy. "Wanna come with me?"
The be-chained girl wasn't quite sure why she was doing this, but she liked the puppy so far. It was nice to her just because it was nice and it seemed to like her. Most things were nice because they were afraid, she looked weird and they didn't want problems, or because of the family that had backed her up most of her life. If the puppy went with her, she would just move the chains around until they were thicker at the back so it would have room to lie down and breathe but still be hidden from sight around her chest.
The puppy – being from the Inuzuka clan – jumped at the prospect of adventure. It jumped right into the pit of doom and began sniffing like crazy at what was inside. Yukari smiled as she led the trio of children back to the Wheel-Nin camp.
Sheena quickly concealed the puppy and walked off with the rest. She'd been through just about any kind of torture most people could think of except one; to which she was quickly becoming familiar as the puppy sniffed around: the sensation of tickling. Her face occasionally twitched and at times she couldn't hold back a giggle. She had never built immunity against being tickled because her father had never done it. What the puppy would smell was blood, dirtiness and sweat.
The puppy – having sniffed every square inch of Sheena's 'belly' – gave a woof. Since Yukari was thoroughly distracted in her thinking, Sheena didn't get that look of accusation that Yukari would have given upon hearing that bark. But the woof went heard only by Sheena's clan - what they would do was up to them.