Steps can be heard in the desolated hallway, every step resounds and muffled voices begin to sound. The dim orange light of the torches flickers across the wall and spends the walking woman the needed light to find her way. The nearer the young woman gets to her destination the louder muffled voices get. Even though she dreads her arrival, she doesn't falter in her steps and moves on just as confident as before.
By now the whispers evolved into shouts. The woman stops in front of the door, where she takes a deep calming breath. This is the first time she attends a meeting between the elders and her husband. She knows that her summon has to do with her supposed betrayal as an active healer.
The whole clan has heard the rumors about the wonder of Tokas survival and how their beloved matriarch has to be a traitor to the clan. Even Hashirama asked his mother about her betrayal. She had to inform the naïve boy that she indeed used medical techniques some would look at as traitorous because of their origin and execution. The boy was upset that medical knowledge that could save so many of their brothers and sisters was looked down upon as traitorous because of those petty reasons.
It was a lengthy discussion that lasted the better part of the afternoon up till Butsuma returned home and was included into it. Luckily she could comfort her sons by promising them a new jutsu while Butsuma saw the advantages they would have over their enemies by keeping their minds open and include the newfound knowledge into their forces.
For now she banishes the thoughts of her family and concentrates on what is to come. Then she pushes the heavy door open and enters the meeting hall as she follows the summon she got earlier that morning.
Silence penetrates the room as everyone's attention turns to the entering woman. One of the elderly men smiles and comments, "Ah, the woman in question decides to graze us with her presence. Tell us Nayuki-hime, what did happen in the hospital wing a few days ago? There are some of us who want to accuse you, my dear lady, of being a traitor…" By looking at the elderly man Nayuki can already see that he is one of those who are disgusted with her for practicing those traitorous techniques brought to them by the westerners. He isn't very effective at hiding his feelings behind a mask as he believes himself to be. "As a healer you surely are aware that you swore an oath to never hurt your patients. However, we were informed that you hurt your patient with your terrible and traitorous way of treating her wounds."
Every clan elder observes their matriarch with calculating eyes as Butsuma looks at his wife helplessly. The discussion both had several days ago, did already clear up to him that she never broke her oath as a healer but the elders don't want to believe him. The gazes of their clan elders weigh on Nayukis shoulders and she tenses unconsciously. She lets her own gaze drifting throughout the hall. Nayukis eyes soften as they lay on her husbands. Her whole body relaxes at his presence. She can see that he is enraged, not that everyone could see it. No, his clan head poker face is in perfect order. It's his eyes that give him away to his loving wife. He must have defended her for quite some time now to have lost his composure to this grade.
Slowly she returns her attention to the clan elders again. She takes another deep breath and addresses the elders in front of her, "Esteemed clan elders, I am certain that there is a simple misunderstanding happening here. However, I shall indulge you with my version of the happenings a few days ago. As you all are aware it was a rather chaotic day for everyone in the medical ward. I was asked to help out in this dire situation that called for every available helping hand. Upon arrival I was informed to give my much needed help to the harmed children in the eastern wing. My tutor Taiga himself instructed me. As I heard of the terrible fate little Toka found herself in, I just had to help.
When I entered the room containing the dying girl, I was greeted with the picture of a desperate mother fighting for her only daughters life. How could I have ignored this unbelievable cruel scene taking place in front of me? As a mother myself I ached with the desperate woman in front of me. As I examined the wounds of the girl I came to the conclusion that medical ninjutsu alone won't be able to save Tokas life. Therefore I decided to perform a surgery. "
"How dare you to say that our medical ninjutsu are not up to your standart?", an enraged woman called out interrupting Nayukis recap. Several elders agree and murmuring breaks in the room. Every now and then one calls their matriarch a traitor to the clan, accusing her of spying for westerners while others are appalled at the womans insolence.
Nayuki levels all of them with a glare. Her sensory skills tell her of a slightly disgusted and ashamed aura. She recognizes her own mentor between the elders. He seems like he would like to smash the heads of those ignorant fools in to the floor for not only interrupting her recount but to also simply call something they are unfamiliar with traitorous without even knowing what it is and completely dismissing the aid it could provide the clan with.
Nayuki sighs and shakes her head. She clears her throat and addresses the masses again, "I did say no such a thing! As I was about to explain is that a surgery on itself isn't a healing method based only on chakra but more of a work with hands and surgical tools. When performing a surgery the medic nin has to have the medical knowledge concerning the body structures of an average human being. I had to put every displaced piece of Tokas body at its rightful place before I could even think about applying chakra. There were several cases I had to sew flesh together because healing via chakra wouldn't be able to support the mending of every muscle fiber on its own."
While Nayuki explains Taigas face lights up, he is definitely going to ask her about the procedure of a surgery in detail later on. Several of the elders gain a tint of green on their faces at the thoughts of having to put all those bloody parts back into place and even have to sew bleeding flesh together – how appalling! Butsuma has a grim expression on his face as he listens to his wife closely. This could be their chance of gaining an advantage over their enemy clans, they only need to convince the elders of the given advantage.
Nayuki herself is unimpressed as she goes on in her explanations, "It was a lengthy process full of concentration as simple mistake could have meant little Tokas death. It took me several hours to mend the poor dear enough to ensure her survival. Only afterwards I tended to the lesser injured children in the wing while leaving a joyous mother to process the knowledge that her daughter will survive. "
Nayuki pauses for a moment as she decides how to present her own thoughts about the current situation. Upon her decision she slightly nods to herself and finishes her little speech, "Was is really that wrong to save the life of one of our future kunoichis? Was it really that wrong to use every bit of medical knowledge I have? Should I leave the next dying shinobi to his fate, just because the medical techniques I use were introduced to us by westerners?
I did not hurt her – I did save her life the only possible way that remained. Without the help of a tiny little bit of 'damage', I couldn't help the girl. It's not like I just could will her wounds to heal and they do it for me.
Forgive my assumption, but I believe not a single one of you, esteemed elders, was a healer in his or her younger days or I would have met them on this fated day as we were tending to the wounded together. And even If one of you is knowledgeable in medical practices they should know that there are always newer perceptions.
So I ask you: Why am I here while I could be tending to the wounded that really need my attention? As I am seeing it, you are not even trying to understand the complexes of the wonderful art of healing, the advantages coming from sharing and introducing new techniques, but also insist on disturbing and interfering with me and my mentors work at the infirmary."
Silence reigns after the matriarch's words as the elders try to process the obvious disrespect their matriarch uses while addressing them. More than one of them is outraged at her words but an elder with a no business aura addresses the 'should be hidden healer' behind them, "Taiga, my old friend. Is she talking the truth? Is there actually an advantage on learning those traitorous procedures? Is it really necessary to cause harm in order to heal sometime? This doesn't bode well with the healers oath. Additionally is it hard to believe that those invaders and strangers would willingly give away important knowledge…"
Taiga looks at his student. Nayuki smiles at him and his expression softens. A short nod is sent in her direction before he looks at the elder who addressed him beforehand, "Elder Aoshi, she is telling the truth. There will always be newer medical practices and we will have to keep our minds open to find new perceptions and medicines. As a healer I have to admit that it is necessary to 'injure' a patient in order to help them. A once broken bone that healed together wrongly has to be broken and set right again too, doesn't it? It seems the that some of our knowledge is already outdated and we have to make a move to ensure that we won't fall behind and end on the same level of medical knowledge as the Uchiha clan."
A few cries of rage run through the assembled elders at the mention of the Uchiha clan, but Taiga seems undisturbed as he continues his little speech – he has to drive his point home somehow, doesn't he – , "It is hard to understand as warriors but as sworn healers we strive for new knowledge, better techniques and the like to do what we swore to do: save lives.
It seems to conflict with our healers oath if we cause harm in order to heal but our main objective is to heal our wounded and not to look at the current damage and say that we can't help them because our oath doesn't allow us to save their life while doing the necessary procedures. You yourself, elder Aoshi, would never forgive me if I could save the life of the wounded person in front of me just because my healers oath says to not cause harm. Sometimes we have to see our rules more like guidelines than restrictions when we want to save our brothers and sisters.
As of the moment this meeting was absolutely pointless and only helped to clear up that, yes, there is a vast advantage at letting healers do their job without interfering and that we have fallen behind with updating our medical knowledge. If it would be alright, I would like express my desire to return to my responsibilities and tend to the wounded."
The expressions of the elders differ from every elder. Some are outraged at the old healers words while others are disturbed or shocked. They can't believe that they could possibly miss knowledge about medical treatments – they are the Senju clan god damn it! The Senju clan is known for its vast knowledge concerning medical treatments. However, they have to admit that they can't know everything.
After some silent discussion between the elders, going so far as to even exclude the clan leader of the discussion, elder Aoshi nods at Taiga in a clear dismissal right before addressing their matriarch again, "Nayuki-hime, it seems that we were in the wrong. You have our sincere apologize for our unjustly assumptions and accusations. From now on you will have to inform us of further possibly traitorous knowledge you posses. It would however be of advantage if you could inform our healers of your modern knowledge in return for the training you are offered. We will inform the clan of our misconception concerning your broken healers oath."
It isn't a question, but an order – Nayuki recognizes it as such and gives her short nod of approval. The tension leaves her body as she is freed of any charges. Nayuki is about to ask if she is dismissed as well when Butsuma beckons her to him. When she is at his side he tells her to take her place at his side in this clan meeting.
"With all internal matters taken care of I would like to inform you of an offered alliance the Sarutobi clan would like to agree on. They would like to at the very least sign a non-aggression pact with us. At the moment they are indebted to us through my wife who saved their only surviving clan heir of a certain death. The proposition includes …"
As the meeting proceeds Nayuki gets her first impression of her duties as clan matriarch and the tasks she will have to perform if her husband should lose his life to soon for their son to become clan head – not that she would like it. All these stuck up asses sitting there and criticizing everything and anything. There is always something they don't like, but they bring up interesting and important points too.
Nayuki feels kind of overwhelmed as the meeting comes to a close and everyone ushers out of the room leaving her and Butsuma behind. Butsuma turns to his wife and grazes her with a rare smile of his. His hand moves to her face and he caresses her cheek softly before diving in for a short but gentle kiss. Nayuki hug her beloved 'Suma and relishes his tender love.
"I'm proud of you 'Yuki, you did very well. I would very much like it if you could attend the further meetings as well as the official meeting with the Sarutobi clan. I believe that none of the elders can continue to believe that they are talking to a naïve and stupid young woman trying for attention…", Butsuma tells her.
Nayuki nods at her husband approval as the last bit of tension leaves her body. The upcoming trial because of her possible betrayal had her stressed the last few days, but now she is free to do as she pleases once again. Nayuki herself is satisfied with how she handled the trial the elders put her through as well as the meeting part she attended. Her further involvement into clan affair however, pleases her to no end. This is the ticket to help creating a better future she needed.