Let's Get Down to Business

[SimpleSerenity]

Shu blinked against the harsh light of the sun and yawned. It was late in the morning already and the typically studious boy was usually already hard at work in the kitchen or the lab at this point, but today was different. Shu’s time was normally spent learning chemistry with his mother, or whichever of her books he could sneak away. His recent graduation from the academy had allowed him the time he needed to finally craft two fully functional poisons on his own. Shu smiled, pulling his hood over his head as he stepped out of his family’s home and into the sun. It was a great accomplishment, but a medic, first and foremost, was meant to heal, and Shu had been less than diligent when it came to honing his healing arts. Today was going to be the first step in changing that. After a week of brushing up on his ijutsu technique, the newly-minted genin was ready to develop a jutsu all his own.

Shu made his way through the busy streets of Iwagakure; the sights and sounds around him could be described as “clamorous” but to him, it was home. The persistent din of a nearby market and the calls of the vendors and clientele from various other establishments coalesced into a sort of soothing aural harmony that the boy found somehow alluring. His destination was the academy. It was strange to him to be heading down the familiar path towards school once again; this time not as a student, but as shinobi. He’d arranged with the academy to sit on the physical training portion of the day’s lessons, and test his new jutsu on the aches and pains of the students. After a long meeting in which he explained the jutsu, and that it was completely harmless, even if botched, and then another meeting with the senior medical shinobi for the academy, he was permitted to conduct his “experiment.”

Shu smiled as he watched the students train. He’d been positively awful at this kind of thing when he was a student. He was scientist more than he was a fighter. It had been difficult for him to endure the training, and several times he’d worried that he might fail, but here he was now, a graduate. As the first group of young shinobi-in-training finished a round of training they filtered to Shu, single-file. It was showtime. Taking a deep breath the medic focused his chakra, allowing it to pour into his palms. They began to radiate with a pale green glow. Satisfied, Shu placed his hands upon the calf of his first patient. His goal, and the point of the technique, was to neutralize the lactic acid that had built up in the student’s muscles, and repair any micro-tears that had developed in the tissue. It was simple in theory, but putting the idea into practice made Shu nervous.

The boy he was healing seemed bored or maybe just a bit weirded out to have a stranger touching his leg. Regardless, he certainly didn’t seem like someone getting medical treatment. ”How does that feel?” It was important to Shu that he not ask if it felt any better. He’d not informed the patients what the technique did, and didn’t want to falsely plant the idea that they felt better, when all he was going on was their word. The boy shrugged. “Warm, I guess? It doesn’t really feel like anything. Should it?” Shu smiled, to reassure the boy but said nothing, he had to concentrate. The trick was isolating the lactic acid build up. Healing a miniscule tear in the muscle wouldn’t be difficult; that was basic ijutsu, but what he was attempting to do now was more chakra induced chemistry.

Shu could feel that he was close, his chakra was spreading over the muscle, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before the body’s natural processes would do his job for him; he had to hurry if he wanted results. Taking a deep breath, the young medic stabilized his flow of chakra, now the hard part. He gradually fluctuated the flow, starting first with broad, even pulses, and then speeding up to quick, sharp jets. The slow, broad strokes would nullify the acidic nature of the lactate, and the concentrated bursts would mend the damage caused by strenuous activity. This was, of course, in theory, and it wasn’t until the sigh of relief from his young patient that Shu realized it was working.

His technique wasn’t perfect yet, and it still needed refining. There was a growing interest in the line behind the first boy now. They wanted to try it for themselves. Shu set to work. It was slow at first, as it took him a long time to focus his chakra correctly, but after the sixth student he was beginning to get the hang of things. Legs, shoulders, backs, he was healing any and every sore muscle he could, and making quite a few fans along the way. That was, of course, until the students learned that thanks to Shu’s efforts, they could train longer and harder than normal, to give him practice. This was met with a collective groan from the students and from Shu himself. He was already tired from chakra exertion, and knew he’d be absolutely wiped for the day once he was finished. Still, it was a proud moment for the boy. His first fledgling steps towards becoming a real medic were taken on this venture. Who only knew where it could lead?