Naruto x Digimon

Alive - Team Minato's Digidestined

Chapter 020

Originally Written: Thursday, January 26, 2023 408PM to 520PM

. . . . .

Lunamon's voice rang loudly in Rin's head. 'I told them just asking you would have been better!'

She almost wished they decided for her. But from what they discussed without her, her boys, Kakashi and Obito, had reached an impasse. Asking Gai hadn't broken the impasse. He agreed that one should always be in charge of the passions of their youth. They wouldn't dare risk advice from Grandma Masumi. So it was left to Rin to decide.

She rubbed her sweaty palms against her skirt. Nonou Yakushi, from Konoha's Orphanage, walked in front of her with a steady, confident gate. Medical staff repeatedly stopped what they were doing to look at her. Rin got the feeling it had been a while since Nonou entered Konoha's hospital for shinobi work. She struggled to keep up with the woman's pace, and she wasn't even moving that quickly.

"Good afternoon. Is Kiisu in today?" Nonou asked the receptionist in a soft voice.

"Good afternoon Madam Yakushi." The receptionist promptly gave her Kiisu's location. "Hm, are you training with Madam Yakushi? Then, I'll be praying for you Rin."

"Um, thank you?" Rin stared at the lady, wondering what she meant. Nonou gave no indication that she was leaving. She thanked the receptionist and moved on, without seeing if Rin was behind her. Rin rushed to keep pace.

"Uh oh, she's got another one." A medic mumbled as Rin passed by.

"Good. We've been struggling since Lady Tsunade left with Madam Shizune."

Rin slowly realized that Nonou was purposely increasing in speed. She swerved and weaved this way and that between medical equipment, patients, and medical staff. Rin wasn't as elegant but copied her movements. If she impressed Madam Yakushi, she could greatly increase her medical skills. She could find a way to heal Obiito's leg and improve his arm's functionality. If she showed that she was of better use in the hospital, than on the field, maybe the council would finally leave her alone. She latched on to this hope, this feeling, even if someone would dare to call it selfishness. If Konoha was so eager to use her as a pawn like Kirigakure used their own shinobi, they would have to struggle to figure out where to place her.

She twirled around a medical cart in a partial spin. Nonou had already turned the corner, blond hair flowing behind her. It took her a while, but Rin realized she was going down, not up as expected. She made her way down another flight of stairs. And past some generators. How strange. The receptionist said this 'Kiisu' individual was on the Third Floor.

Two floors down. And another. She almost bumped into Nonou. "You are thirty seconds late. I spent a significant amount of time speaking to Namikaze-san about your prospects. As you don't respect my time, should I return you to your original post?"

Rin gaped. "No ma'am! I apologize for not keeping up with you!"

Nonou didn't turn around. "Your patients will not accept your apologies when they bleed out on the operating table because you took too long. They won't accept your apologies when you were too slow to properly diagnose them. Tell me why I should accept yours."

Rin breathed, her heart raced in her chest. She couldn't think of a proper response.

"This is not a game for the weak." Nonou's voice was soft and quiet. "This is not the place for one who's looking for somewhere to hide."

"W-when a patient is looking for care, a medic is who protects them!" Rin replied. "A medic is who heals them."

"How do you get a patient to forgive you for your errors? How do you manage to forgive yourself?" Nonou seemed to grab the questions straight from Rin's mind.

"I-I don't know." Rin replied.

"You don't." Nonou started walking again. "You are not allowed to make mistakes in a patient's eyes."

This time, Rin made sure to keep up, even if she had to use chakra.

"And if you cannot come to terms with that, you will crash and burn in the medical profession. Many are like you, who believe the hospital is the easier side of things. When in reality, in a hospital, medics struggle worse. On the battlefield, when it becomes too much you can cowardly goad any no named shinobi or bandit to finish you like the rodents humans are. No one is killing you in the hospital just because you asked them to. Your life is not worth more than their paycheck or the burden you'll have placed on their heart."

Nonou sharply turned around and looked at Rin.

"I understand." Rin murmured, though her eyes were defiant. "I can carry my own burdens just fine."

"You don't, but you will." Nonou looked out of the corner of her eye. "Hello Kiisu."

"Auntie, scaring the mice again?" Dressed in medical scrubs, Kiisu was a tall lanky man with deep black mid-neck length hair and solemn gray eyes locked in a look of boredom that reminded Rin of Kakashi. Kiisu walked forward and circled around both Nonou and Rin.

Rin stood tall, with her hands clenched at her sides to keep them from shaking. She wished she had been able to bring Lunamon with her.

"Something like that. Come. As you're a chunin medic, I won't be covering the basics with you. Anything you don't know, you will learn on your own time with Kiisu's assistance."

Kiisu saluted. Nonou and Kiisu brought Rin to a large room full of scrolls. That was when Rin learned that for some reason in the basement of Konoha's hospital was a single room library filled to the brim with medical information not found in traditional textbooks.