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Ninja Tales

Volume 1 - Snowfall

Chapter 5

Yawning, Chaplin was making his way to the kitchen when he noticed a light flickering in the lounge.

"Odd…" he frowned as he decided to investigate.

Upon entering the lounge, he found Yuki with her head resting over a book on the coffee table. From the looks of it, she had fallen asleep while studying English.

"Geez, Yuki, you don't have to overdo it…" he sighed as he walked over towards her.

She whimpered slightly, causing the lamp next to her to flicker once more.

"Is this her doing?" he muttered.

"Yuki?" he asked in a gentle whisper, "Are you alright?"

He knelt down next to her to try and wake her gently when he noted something akin to flames spreading across her neck and arms, manifesting small crescent shaped, tattoo-like markings.

"Okaay... that's not normal."

He went back to his and Karai's bedroom quickly, hoping that she might know what to do.

"Hmmm?" she mumbled when he tapped her awake, giving him a half tired glare.

"It's Yuki…" he frowned, "There's something wrong."

"What do you mean?" she narrowed her eyes as she quickly jumped out of bed.

"I don't even know where to start...it's just really weird." he sighed as they made their way to the lounge

"Weird how?" Karai asked as she followed him.

"Weird like that." he stated, pointing in Yuki's direction when they entered the lounge

"I...see..."

As she approached Yuki, her expression changed to one of absolute disgust.

"What's wrong?"

"This aura…" she grimaced, "It's absolutely nauseating."

"So...what do we do?" he asked nervously.

"I'm going to have to do a mind delve."

"You know that's dangerous." Chaplin narrowed his eyes, "We don't even know what's wrong."

"I know." she nodded, "But I don't think just waking her up is wise. And who knows what could happen if we leave her like that."

"True."

She knelt down next to Yuki, and gently placed one hand on her forehead and the other over her back. Focusing herself, she slipped into a semi-meditative state. A few moments later, Karai winced in pain.

"Karai!" Chaplin called out in concern.

"I'm okay…" she weakly answered.

The light flickering subsided, and Yuki jolted awake.

"K-karai-san?" she stammered before noting Chaplin's presence as well, "Zachary-san?"

"Pardon the intrusion." Chaplin grinned nervously, "It would appear you had a nightmare…"

"Ah…" she noted before she narrowed her eyes, "Wait..why…"

She placed her hand over her chest, and closed her eyes. The tattoo like markings became flaming red again, this time slowly retreating.

"Damn that asshole…" she grumbled.

A few moments of an awkward silence followed, before Chaplin excused himself to go make tea. Yuki noted that Karai still seemed to be quietly glaring ahead of her.

"Are you alright?" Yuki asked, "You don't look so good."

"That man..." Karai frowned deeply, "That was Orochimaru, I take?"

"You saw my dream..." Yuki gave her an odd look.

"N-not on purpose…" Karai mumbled, "I…"

"It's ok." Yuki reassured her, and took her hands, "Though, that would explain it..."

"Explain what?" Karai asked curiously.

"The white fox." Yuki smiled softly.

"White fox?"

"It's a spirit form...or at least that's how Takara explained it before."

"Oh…" Karai murmured, "Wait...who's Takara?"

"He's this guy who's appeared in my dreams for as long as I can remember. He usually manifests as either a man wearing a wolf mask or a golden brown wolf."

"So, a spiritual guide?"

"I...guess?" she shrugged.

"Is that what you meant with 'not quite alone' and 'having a friend of sorts'?"

"Yeah…" she trailed off, her brows furrowing. "Although, lately he's been..."

"Hmm?"

"He's hiding something from me. I can feel it." she grumbled.

"Who's hiding what?" Chaplin asked curiously as he entered with a pot of tea and three cups on a tray.

"Takara." Yuki sighed, "A guy who appears in my dreams."

"Huh." he mused as he placed the tray down, "I made chamomile."

"Chamomile?" Yuki asked curiously as he started pouring the tea.

"It's a herbal tea with mild sedative properties," Chaplin answered and handed her a cup, "Thought it might help with what just happened."

"I see." she murmured as she lifted it up and took in the scent, intrigued by the sweet herb-like aroma.

"So what exactly did Orochimaru do to you?" Karai asked, "From what I could tell with what I saw, he is the reason for those markings and that horrible aura."

"Wait, you actually saw her dream?" Chaplin blinked in surprise.

"Just a small glimpse." Karai's eyes narrowed, "Though, enough to know that he's at least partially responsible for what happened earlier."

"The markings you saw is the cursed seal Orochimaru gave me." she murmured as she pulled the collar of her shirt down, revealing three thin lines in a rip-like pattern under her collarbone.

"So how did you even end up with this guy?" Chaplin asked. "He sounds like a real ass."

"I suppose it was due to the medical ninjutsu."

"Huh?"

"My mother was an Iryō Ninja." [1]

"Iryō Ninja?" Karai asked curiously, "Like a war surgeon?"

"Pretty much." Yuki nodded, "She was especially skilled at identifying poisons and creating appropriate antidotes. She taught me everything she knew. Well, almost everything…"

"Almost?" Karai questioned.

"She was plagued by a very peculiar illness, so she wasn't really able to teach me any proper taijutsu." [2] Yuki explained, "Despite being an apprentice of one of the greatest medics in the world, she didn't know what it was, or even how to begin treating it."

"That's the illness that took her life?" Karai asked.

"Yeah." Yuki nodded sadly, "I always wondered if she'd have made it if we managed to get home."

"Home?" Karai frowned.

"During the Second Shinobi War, she ended up very far from her home village." Yuki explained, "She met my father during this time."

"You said he died when you were an infant, right?" Chaplin recalled

"Yeah…" she nodded, "She never really spoke about him, so I don't really know anything more than the fact that they met when he saved her during the war, and that he died saving the two of us."

"That couldn't have been easy." Karai stated, "A single mother travelling with a small child. When did she get sick?"

"I'm not quite sure." Yuki frowned, "I remember symptoms even before the Third Shinobi War started." [3]

"Third Shinobi War?"

"It started when I was around 4 or 5. By the time it had ended around 3 years later, her condition had deteriorated so much that she was pretty much bedridden." she explained, "I apparently picked up medical ninjutsu very quickly. I suppose it was partially because I wanted to help her get better."

"That's..." Karai faltered, unable to come up with the appropriate words.

"About a year after she died, this small gang cornered me. They outnumbered me, and my taijutsu skills were almost non-existent, but I refused to let them do what they pleased. I managed to take down two of them by using more lethal versions of my medical jutsu, not that it helped much, as it just seemed to piss the rest off more." she sighed heavily, "Though that's more or less when Orochimaru happened to be passing by. I believe he saw potential in me as a medical assistant, and decided to help me out."

"He saved you." Chaplin noted. "But it came at a cost, I take?"

"Yeah." she nodded grimly, "He's completely obsessed with learning every single jutsu in existence. It's not something anyone can achieve in one lifetime."

"So he's aiming for immortality?" Chaplin guessed, "That would explain why he'd want someone with a medical background to work with him."

"So if he wanted you as an ally, why did he do that to you?" Karai frowned.

"Probably because I told him to fuck right off when I realised what he was doing." she grumbled.

" Oh… "

Notes:

[1]
Iryō Ninja or Iryō-nin (医療忍) usually gets translated as "Medical Ninja" and "Medic-nin" throughout the Naruto franchise, but I don't really feel like it always does the word enough justice, as they generally act more like battlefield surgeons than anything else.

When combined with the Kanji for "teacher"/"master"/"mentor" (師; shi), the two Kanji in "medical treatment" (医療 ; iryō) are used to write "doctor" (医師 ; ishi) and "nurse" (療師 ; ryōshi) respectively, so I'd say it's a bit closer to "Ninja Doctor" or "Ninja Nurse" in a majority of cases.

[2]
Taijutsu (体術)
The term means 'body techniques', and refers to any techniques involving the martial arts or the optimisation of natural human abilities. Taijutsu is, simply put, hand-to-hand combat.

[3]
Using the ages of Kakashi and the Ame orphans in the series, I was able to work out that Yuki would have been born somewhere between the end of the Second Shinobi War and the start of the Third Shinobi War. Still, trying to work out timelines in Naruto is really, REALLY frustrating (because the series doesn't have a formal time/year system...)
The only reason I've managed to make as much sense as I have is because of Seelentau from the Naruto wiki. This madlad has spent YEARS putting together beautifully detailed timelines, totally saving me from countless migraines.