[Trainings/Lonelies] Changing the Violence

[Willoria]

Changing the Violence Training & Lonely Thread for Akari Ume

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Ume's Jutsu Training Word Count Requirements (With 1600 word Discount):

Jutsu Counts (9/4/21)
E Rank	D Rank	C Rank	B Rank	A Rank	S Rank
400 words	400 words	400 words	600 words	1000 words	1400 words

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Table of Contents ~~ Story Lonely Chapters

• Letter to Regrets
• Loveless Nightmares

~~ Lonely Trainings

• Iijutsu Sterilization Technique Training
• Iijutsu Bandage Technique Training
• Iijutsu False Death Training
• Iijutsu Numbing Training
• Iijutsu Skin Generation Training
• Iijutsu Imperfect Cure Training
• Iijutsu Cleanse Technique Training

[Willoria]

Ume leaned against the doorway of her new room, a new addition to her fairly small home. Of course the door that led from the room into her home could lock from either side, but there was also a door on the other side that led to the outside. As her delving into Iijutsu had now led into her working towards more than a passing interest, she had chosen this new room to be added as a small clinic room of sorts. If she wanted to lead her clan to changes, she would need to become an expert on her own clan. ”Who better than I? After everything…” she muttered to herself as she stared at the room and sighed to herself. ”I suppose I should get to work.”

She first moved over to the exam table in the middle of the room, channeling chakra through her hands and forearms, causing them to glow green with Iijutsu chakra. Next to the exam table was a tray of tools, and slowly picking them up one at a time she would use this chakra to sterilize each one. It was the same method with each, carefully picking up the tool by whatever served as a handle and running a hand over the rest of it. Of course if it was a tool that happened to be bladed such as a scalpel or a knife she had to show extra caution. But with every tool it was the same. There were nearly a dozen of them and it took her a few minutes. Each was picked up one at a time and carefully placed back down on the tray, on top of a clean cloth that kept everything from being contaminated the moment she put it back down.

Once her tools were done she turned her attention back to the exam table itself. Channeling the chakra again to cleanse her hands first, she then placed them on the exam table. She watched in silence as she pushed her chakra to spread across the surface area of the table to sanitize the entire thing. The green chakra inched across the silver surface and Ume felt like she could almost see bacteria and filth washing away. She found something calming and cathartic in the work, simply sanitizing the new workspace.

Once the exam table was done, she just had one more key space, and walked over to one of two desks in the room. This one was the one of two that was a metal surface, a space for running tests and working on medicines and the like. Much like with the exam table she rest her hands on the surface to watch the green chakra spread across the research desk and sanitize the space as well just as a smile spread across her face. ”A perfect place to work.” she said to herself.

Words 479/400

Jutsu TrainedShow

*[Iijutsu • Sterilization Technique]
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
As sanitation cannot always be guaranteed in field operations, this technique provides a quick substitute to traditional sterilization methods. After focusing chakra into his/her hands, the user will channel the chakra throughout his/her upper body (torso, arms, hands, face). This chakra will chew away at harmful bacteria and other foreign bodies on the skin, cleansing it until it is thoroughly sterile, and can be spread to objects, most commonly surgical tools. Of course, this takes both concentration and time, and in order to sterilize the entire upper body, it will take a duration of one (1) post. Users of this technique can also choose to sterilize certain parts of their upper body or the wounds of another person instead for a lesser concentration period. Once they are sanitized, they remain this way until coming in contact with more bacteria.

[Willoria]

Ume laid out several leaves she had picked out for the days training. She had picked them up and gathered them from a few places, most of them at least the size of the palm of her hand, perhaps bigger, and would be ideal for her purposes. It was a pretty basic jutsu, a rudimentary skill really but it was one she needed training in and one she would need an assist with. As such, while she was laying out the leaves on the tray, she had someone sitting on her exam table. ”Oh relax, its not like I’m going to injure you to do it, I just have to put them on you as if I’m bandaging you.” she was explaining, frowning at the young Akari sitting on the exam table.

The boy looked sullen, keeping his arms crossed as he waited on Ume who soon wheeled the small tray over to him and stood beside him. ”Just hold out your arm.” she told him. He did as he was told, of course rolling his eyes as he did so. Making a face, Ume picked up one of the leaves and channeled chakra into it, watching the green energy surround the leaf briefly before grasping the boy’s outstretched arm by the wrist and resting the leaf on his forearm. The leaf simply sat there, stiff, and didn’t attach to the boy’s arm at all. Ume frowned at it, even poked at it a couple of times before putting her hand over it to push it into shape over his forearm but it didn’t seem to take. Instead it simply slid off and landed on the exam table, much to Ume’s disappointment.

”It’s supposed to attach to the skin…” she muttered, clearly frustrated. She saw the boy give her a look out of the corner of her eye and rolled both of hers. ”Look at me like that again and I’ll eat you.” she snarled, earning a shocked look from him. She picked up another leaf, this time putting it over a part of his forearm first and holding it in place before channeling the chakra into it and over it. The green energy flowed forward and engulfed the makeshift bandage. She watched it practically swallow up the leaf and tried to focus on the purpose of what she was doing, the goals at hand. She was just starting to wonder if she’d really have to wound the boy to get it to work when she realized it felt different this time.

She pulled her hand away and this time to leaf stayed in place, and Ume simply grinned.

Words 439/400

Jutsu TrainedShow

*[Iijutsu • Bandage Technique]
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
Prerequisite: *[Iijutsu • Sterilization Technique]
A simple yet vital medical technique, the *[Iijutsu • Bandage Technique] provides its users with the ability to create makeshift bandages out of any suitable material they desire. After channeling chakra into an object (such as a leaf, piece of cloth, etc.), the user is able to apply it to the wound of a patient. Once applied, the selected object will adhere to the flesh around the wound, protecting it from bacteria and other harmful foreign bodies. Objects used for the bandage technique are automatically sterilized in the process. These bandages drain a minuscule amount of chakra from the person it is attatched to in order to keep them stuck on, theoretically, ad-infinitum, and can be cancelled at any time by the user with a single handseal. While not as effective at stopping bleeding as the [Iijutsu • Chakra Stitching] technique, they hold on much better in the case that strenuous movement is necessary.

[Willoria]

If there was one thing Ume had never been very good at, it was patience. As she lay on her own exam table she realized this was going to be a bit of a problem. Masako was sitting at her desk, waiting for her to be ready to perform the jutsu she was training and yet Ume just couldn’t clear her head enough for it. Frustrations and random thoughts kept getting in the way. More than once she just sighed or huffed in frustration, more at herself than anything. She rest her arms on either side of her on the table and closed her eyes to try and focus on the task at hand. Her mind went to her own chakra system as she felt it funneling through her and she tried to ignore Masako’s watchful gaze. She didn’t trust the other Akari much but tried to trust in the woman’s orders and her loyalty to such at least.

Focusing on her chakra she tried to spread it carefully through her own body, taking even, deep breaths as she worked. She tried to force her chakra to focus on everything that comprised her vital signs. Her breathing, her heart rate, even her core body temperature, all of these things she focused her chakra on to try and surround them in the chakra that comprised her body to bring them all down, at least in appearances. The entire point of the jutsu was to appear dead after all, and it wouldn’t do if any of her vital signs were left unattended.

As she worked to try and bring them down she felt the touch of Masako’s hand on her neck and had to keep from making a face, although it seemed she failed at even that much. ”This won’t work if you keep making faces.”

Ume rolled her eyes and looked up at the other woman. ”No shit. I wasn’t ready, you checked my pulse too early.” Masako crossed her arms with a sigh, looking down at Ume as Ume closed her eyes again and sighed in agitation. ”Stop. Staring. At. Me.” Once she felt Masako walk away she returned to her work, trying to focus on her chakra in spite of her own agitation and annoyance, quickly spreading her chakra over her body again. This time the chakra almost felt like a sick kind of warmth spreading over her, making her feel like she was nauseous for a brief moment before it seemed to ‘settle in’ and she fell completely still. After a moment of silence she felt Masako cross the floor again and this time when she felt the woman check her pulse, she flinched, checking her for breath as well and clearly finding her lacking.

Words 457/400

Jutsu TrainedShow

*[Iijutsu • False Death]
C-Ranked Ninjutsu
Prerequisite: 5 Iijutsu
This simple ninjutsu is comprised of the user's knowledge of the human body and the ability to mask all vital signs. By focusing chakra throughout the body to preserve its function while in this state, the user can appear to be dead as long as they have chakra to spare. This act can seem very realistic to the untrained opponent, but is foiled by sensor techniques, certain doujutsu and jutsu, and the *[Iijutsu • Medical Diagnosis Technique] technique.

[Willoria]

This time it was Masako sitting on the exam table in Ume’s little office. Ume was sitting at the wooden desk in her small clinic office, going over a scroll with instructions on several Iijutsu that she needed to learn. The next one seemed simple and straight forward enough, but Masako would have to serve as her guinea pig for it, much to the other Akari’s annoyance. Ume went over it several times before getting up and walking over to the exam table. ”This really isn’t why I’m here you know… I’m not some experiment for you to use to learn Medical Ninjutsu.”

Ume rolled her eyes as she came up next to the woman and shook her head. ”Well now that you’re here I’m going to make use of you, so you can be quiet or you can leave, your choice.” She didn’t really pay attention to Masako’s response, and simply started molding her chakra. She focused it into her hands before reaching out and taking one of Masako’s arms. She lifted Masako’s arm so that her hand was on Ume’s shoulder before putting her own hands on Masako’s forearm to begin funneling her own chakra into a grouping of muscles.

It took her a few minutes, Masako’s muscles were fairly dense and Ume found it difficult to push her own chakra into the muscle mass, especially as she knew Masako didn’t really want to allow for this. She wasn’t fond of the idea of being used to test out Ninjutsu on or to learn Iijutsu on but Ume was taking advantage of Masako’s assignment to protect her to force her to cooperate. As her first attempt failed, she cursed under her breath and had to try again.

With a sigh she refocused her chakra, she envisioned it wrapping around the other woman’s forearm with the glow of green chakra. As she envisioned, and so it happened. Once Masako’s forearm was wrapped in chakra, slowly it enclosed the skin and filtered into it. It seeped into the skin, into the layers of flesh and into the muscle tissue. Much like a dry sponge was thirsty for water, the muscle soaked up the chakra and welcomed it as if it belonged. Though it seemed to be working, Ume continued funneling the chakra in.

She was watching Masako’s hand on her shoulder carefully, waiting to see the moment when the numbness would start to take effect. It wouldn’t be long before she saw the other woman’s fingers start to slip off and Ume smiled.

423/400 Words

Jutsu TrainedShow

*[Iijutsu • Numbing]
C-Ranked Ninjutsu
This field-oriented technique is used in place of typical anesthetics when they're not at hand. After focusing chakra into the hands, the user will place them over a group of muscles. As the chakra is channeled through the chosen area, numbness will begin to creep throughout it, beginning with the flesh before seeping into the muscle below. Small areas of numbness require very little time, while medium-sized areas (equivalent to half a limb) require one (1) post to numb, and anything larger than an entire limb requires two (2) posts of concentration to numb. This numbing begins where the user has placed his/her hands and spreads outward until the hands are removed. The numbness can only cause pain equivalent to being stabbed with a kunai to be nullified. Once numbed, the effects last for four (4) posts before fading.

[Willoria]

Changing the Violence Chapter: Letter to Regrets It seemed that Akari Kotaru had left the village temporarily. Ume hadn’t pried deep enough to find out where he had gone, or for how long he’d be gone. She only knew that not long after their last conversation he had gone and immediately guilt had overwhelmed her. She didn’t have to ask, she knew it was her fault. He had reached out to her on official business and she had taken it as some invite back into his life and immediately hurt him yet again. And of course, she realized only too late that hurting him had been wholly unnecessary. She thought she had been telling him the truth only to realize she was missing key parts of what she should have been telling him.

She hadn’t even been thinking about what she wanted. As usually, she was thinking about what everyone else wanted, and not once did she think about what she wanted. She just kept answering what he wanted, or what she needed to be for Jinsai. She never asked herself what she wanted, or what she needed to be in order to be happy for herself. ”I’ve really screwed this up… and it’d probably be best for him to never let me near him again after this.” She said under her breath, sighing to herself. Ume was sitting on the wooden desk in a small room of her house that she had set up for her own Iijutsu studies. It would eventually double as a one room clinic of sorts for clan members when she was good enough at her work to see patients. But for now it was just her space. Her feet were resting on the chair.

Across the room from her, leaning against the wall was a red-haired woman a few years older than her and also a member of the clan. Masako had her arms crossed as she watched her in silence, knowing Ume preferred to pretend she wasn’t there. She was still a new intruder to the girl’s life, and not at all a wanted intrusion at that. ”Stop thinking about what’s best for someone else for once, and do what you want.” she spoke up harshly.

Ume practically flinched at the sudden words. She really had forgotten Masako was there for a moment. She sat up and looked at her, a confused look on her face. ”I can’t fix shit by hurting someone again… and… and what the hell would you know about it anyway!”

Masako simply smirked and chuckled quietly at Ume’s immature and momentary outburst towards her. She was already getting used to the blue-haired girl’s moments. ”You keep hurting him because you keep thinking about everyone else’s feelings right?” she asked, shaking her head as she saw Ume’s look of surprise. ”Just because I wasn’t in the room doesn’t mean I didn’t hear anything, you have windows and you never shut or lock them… you’re a bit dumb.” Masako sighed, shaking her head as she saw Ume frown at her. ”For once, stop thinking about everyone else. Think about what you want, decide, and do it. Sounds like this guy has chased you a few times, maybe what would stop hurting him is if you took the risk and chased him for once. You already took the first big step and dumped the old bastard. Now figure out what you need to do to demonstrate you’re serious and do it.” Masako would fall quiet once more and simply stare at Ume as she waited for her words to sink in. She’d only known the girl for a few days but already she’d noticed it seemed to take extra time for the girl to understand anything in regards to her own feelings.

Ume sat quietly, looking down as she thought about the other Akari’s harsh words. They made sense to her but she also wasn’t sure what she could do. Her mind went immediately to gifts but anything she thought of didn’t make sense. Giving Kotaru sake would just upset him, he hated the stuff. Even if it seemed nostalgic in anyway, he just wouldn’t appreciate something like that. Tea? He owned a teahouse, that seemed especially pointless. Cooking for him seemed like a reminder of a date that in the end was also a reminder of a time when she rejected him. Everything she thought of seemed in some way or another a bad idea. Ume growled under her breath in frustration as her fingers went to her necklace out of habit and she started to fiddle with it, at least until she froze. She looked down again and held the necklace slightly forward so she could see the red stone.

”What’s that?” Masako asked her as she saw Ume staring at the necklace almost as if she were seeing it for the first time again.

Ume felt a tear try to snake its way down her face and quickly wiped it away before it could get far. ”My last guardian. Koyama.” she said quietly. ”It’s all I have left of him since he died protecting me… some of his blood is in this crystal, its what gives it the color.”

Masako sighed and raised an eyebrow as she looked at it. She had yet to tell Ume that she knew Koyama before he died. The two had an uneasy friendship, her close ties and love of the clan had been a problem between them, but they had still managed to be friends through it. But here that didn’t matter, she pushed down her personal thoughts and instead looked at the necklace for what it was, for the meaning it held to the girl in front of her. ”So a reminder of a protector… and of another man that wasn’t Kotaru. Perhaps someone else whose feelings always came between you and he?”

Ume looked up from the necklace to Masako as her face suddenly seemed to drain of all color. ”I mean, I had a crush on Koyama sure but…” her words trailed off as she suddenly remembered the moments of Koyama’s death. The way she had kissed him, she knew she had felt more for him than a simple crush. But she had never voiced it. Her necklace always reminded her of that. ’And probably reminds Kota too…’ Ume felt herself frown as she stared down at it. ”Koyama gave me his shiin you know.” she said quietly. ”He said… he said that way he’d always be my protector. The last thing he said to me was to be happy.”

’He always was a hopeful bastard wrapped in an armor of cynicism…’ Masako shook her head and smiled slightly. ”Then you lied to me.” She said quietly, still smiling as Ume suddenly looked at her in shock. ”That necklace isn’t the only thing you have left of him. That necklace is just something you hold onto… so is it really all that important? Or is it keeping you from what you want?” She raised an eyebrow as she looked at Ume. ”You finally gave up your desire to make things up to Tatsuo for Kotaru. But you still didn’t go to him. You have to let go of your physical relationship with Jinsai still, and you’ve decided to do that. Maybe you need to let go of this too. Do you think he can let you in again with the remnants of another man around your neck?”

Ume fell quiet for a few moments as she looked down at the necklace before nodding. ”I need some time alone.” she told Masako before slipping off the desk. As she moved to sit in the chair she heard the other woman head out the door and close it behind her. Ume reached up behind her neck and undid the necklace, setting it aside before getting out a small white box. She carefully placed the necklace inside of it and set it aside. She calmly took out a piece of paper and began writing a letter. When she was done, the letter she would roll up and tie with a small ribbon. Both the letter and the small box she’d place in a small wooden chest to have delivered to the teahouse that Kotaru owned.

Whenever he finally returned to the village he would find it waiting for him.

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Dear Kota,

I know you’re probably tired of hearing from me, I just ask that you hear me out one last time. I know I’ve managed to hurt you again. I thought I was giving you the truth, but I was unthinking. What I told you was true to me at the time, which is why the Genjutsu would not have caught it at the time. It could not register what I did not yet know myself after all. Of all the mistakes I have made that hurt you, the greatest one I made was that I never asked myself what I wanted.

I know I hurt you by constantly chasing after Tatsuo. I let myself think I owed him somehow, I never let myself think otherwise.

You asked me if I could give you what you need if we were to be together, and I told you no. But I never thought to ask myself, this life that I live, that makes it impossible for me to give you what you would want for me, could I give that up for you?

Yes, I can.

I’ve never asked myself before what I want. I knew that I was not over you, and I knew that I wanted to be with you, but I never actually sat down and asked myself how badly I wanted you.

You told me last I saw you that I should find someone who doesn’t make me want to punish myself, and though I’ve shown you otherwise I want you to know that you don’t make me feel that way. I wanted to punish myself because of myself, no one else. The only time I have ever felt happy is with you actually.

Maybe I’m too late. Maybe I can’t convey to you properly how much you mean to me after all, I’ve wracked my brain for days how to show you. Words don’t feel like enough, and I can’t think of a single gift that is enough.

All I could think to give you is what’s in this little white box, a symbol of the greatest weight of guilt I have ever felt. But the last thing he ever said to me was to be happy, and to me that is you. I want to finally choose you, and if you still want me, keep this. If I find it returned to me, I’ll understand your answer.

All in all, just know that I do still love you. It’s finally you that I’m waiting for.
~ Ume

[Willoria]

Once again Ume was pouring over scrolls in her small clinic room. Her work desk was covered in them. Lately she’d taken up time studying up on specific wound types, once that required extra ‘material’ to heal, specifically extra skin and how to harvest such things. Burns stuck out in her mind specifically. So many times she had seen such wounds and seen them scar horribly, skin left altered permanently even with the use of Iijutsu if it was anything less than Mystical Palm. But as she studied and researched through the scrolls she soon found the Skin Generation technique which would allow her to replace lost flesh and better to lessen the appearance of scarring. But of course as with any other technique, she would need practice.

And so Masako lay on the exam table once more, one leg exposed for Ume to use for practice. Once Ume had gone over the scrolls again she moved to Masako’s hip to begin her work. ”So this is going to be a bit more gross than usual.” she admitted as she put her hands over the woman’s hip. ”I’m going to use chakra to essentially encourage the production of extra skin, and I’ll cut away the extra skin as if to create a graft. But I’ll use Mystical Palm to heal the area when I’m done.”

She took Masako’s responding eyeroll as an understanding.

Her hands were already glowing with green chakra anyway, and already had been the entire time she was speaking. Now that she was done talking however, Ume could more closely focus on what she was doing, flowing chakra into the skin to feed it the chakra in order to multiply the cells. She couldn’t help a small smile of pride, knowing she was essentially tricking the cells into a stage that was normally achieved during sleep and amplifying it further in order to force the cells into doing the work she required. She could see the section of skin very slowly doing what she needed it to do. Of course as she did this too she realized it might have been much simpler to take a sample and work on it separate from Masako’s body and then multiply it to create a graft. In that case it might not have caused Masako as much discomfort and pain in the end as it would be less to cut away and less to heal when she was done.

But when did she ever do this with Masako’s comfort in mind? As the sample area came to the size she intended, Ume smiled as she stopped and reached for a small metal scalpel.

443/400 Words

Jutsu TrainedShow

*[Iijutsu • Skin Generation]
C-Ranked Ninjutsu
Often utilized by medical-nin to heal small, superficial wounds or for producing excess skin to use in skin grafts, the *[Iijutsu • Skin Generation] technique has its number of uses. After focusing chakra into his/her hands, the user will channel it into a small area of skin cells on the patient's body. This chakra will force the skin cells to multiply at an ample rate by confusing this area of the body into its reconstruction stage that is achieved during slumber. As this is a type of regeneration, users must keep in mind that each cell draws from nutrients in the patient's body, and as such, too much can cause serious harm. In order to regenerate medium-sized areas of superficial wounds, it takes one (1) post of concentration. Areas smaller than this take considerably less time. In the case that the skin sample is separate from the body, the cells can be multiplied more quickly than they could be otherwise. These types of samples are generally use for skin grafts. The *[Iijutsu • Skin Generation] technique can be held for four (4) posts.

[Willoria]

Poisons had become particularly fascinating to Ume as of late. Pouring over her scrolls and reading over various effects and how to counter them the couldn’t even find herself distracted by Masako’s huffs and puffs of sheer boredom as the other woman sat on the exam table waiting to find out what experiment she was going to be apart of today. The part of poisons that intrigued her the most was the difference between antidotes and cures, and finding that even cures could be merely temporary solutions.

As Ume read up she picked up a small box containing a pair of vials. She set up the stand and put the vials in it. One vial was filled with a dark purple liquid that seemed to be so thick and viscous it barely moved. It was capped and so Ume took it for a moment to observe it. Not just how thick it was but the color and sheen of it as well, what she imagined the texture of the liquid might feel like. When she put it back she moved on to the second vial.

The second seemed to be much like the first but as if it had been a solution made of half of the first and half water. It was also purple but much lighter in color. She mixed it up for a moment before observing. It moved much more easily through the vial and seemed to have an odd sheen to it, almost as if it had an oily appearance to it. She knew of course from the labels that the first vial held the poison, and this second was the antidote. She held the antidote in her hands for a moment and focused on it, channeling chakra into it as her hand was surrounded in a green chakra. Her chakra permeated the solution as she approached Masako with it. ”Drink this.” she told her. The liquid had lost its oily sheen and looked almost like a watered down juice. Masako made a face but drank it as ordered.

Ume returned to the desk and picked up the poison. She took one of her push knives and coated the edge of the blade in the poison with her back to Masako so she wouldn’t see it before putting the poison away and walking back over to her. She made sure the antidote, or hopefully cure now, was gone before checking how long it had been and suddenly scratching the woman with her knife. The woman practically hissed at her but a few moments later when she still showed no effects Ume simply smiled. The Imperfect cure seemed to have worked.

444/400 Words

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*[Iijutsu • Imperfect Cure]
C-Ranked Ninjutsu
Prerequisite: *[Iijutsu • Basic Antidote Technique]
Formulated to work in conjunction with the *[Iijutsu • Basic Antidote Technique], *[Iijutsu • Imperfect Cure] extends upon the antidote created in the aforementioned technique. Once the antidote has been concocted following the description of the *[Iijutsu • Basic Antidote Technique], the user will begin to channel additional chakra throughout the antidote to make it especially potent. This increased potency not only rids the body of the C-Rank or lower liquid poison that was in the body over the (3) posts it takes to work, but also induces an immunity in the patient which lasts for seven (7) posts.

[Willoria]

Ume leaned back in her chair at her desk, almost idly going over the scroll yet another time. Of the poison and cure jutsu she’d been going over she knew this one was going to be the most promising in the field for now, at least at lower ranks. Right now it just seemed like a great way to torture Masako again with some practice though. As she glanced over it again she could hear Masako groan on her exam table and she looked over at the woman. She could see the other Akari laying there with her red hair damp with sweat. ”Is it finally taking effect?” she asked as she got up from her chair. She walked over and stood over the woman, checking her pulse and temperature quickly with the Medical Diagnosis technique and smiling even as Masako glared up at her.

”I feel like there’s an elephant on my chest, and my head is in a vice… so yes, I think it’s taking effect.” she replied, groaning as she turned her head and gagged as if she were about to throw up.

Ume simply grinned as her hands glowed green with the tell-tale sign of the use of Iijutsu based chakra techniques. ”Yeah that’s the poison working alright.” she mused as she put her hands over the other woman’s torso. With a deep breath she closed her eyes to focus on cleansing what she could of the poison from Masako’s body, a poison she had personally introduced to the woman’s bloodstream. She could hear the woman cursing her as she worked, which only served to distract her as she laughed a moment and grinned when she should be focusing on the task at hand.

She had to focus on using chakra to increase the production of white blood cells within the woman’s body and essentially force them to take on the poison directly and eradicate it from the body’s systems. Of course the poison was low ranking enough this jutsu should work. If it had been too strong of a poison it wouldn’t work, but in a pinch this could be vital in the field. Ume focused on it, pushing the body’s systems into overdrive with a deep sigh with closed eyes as she felt almost like she was ‘commanding the troops’ in a sense, only it was all within the realm of using jutsu.

She felt more than she heard Masako whimper beneath her, the jutsu coming with some discomfort in the patient as she was forced to sweat out the toxins and eventually Ume lifted her hands to look down and see that the symptoms were slowly washing away from the woman.

448/400 Words

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*[Iijutsu • Cleanse Technique]
C-Ranked Ninjutsu
In the event that creating an antidote is not possible, users of this technique can still help their patient fight off toxins, infections and other foreign bodies. After focusing chakra into his/her hands, the user will begin to channel it into the patient's body. As this chakra flows into the body, the leukocytes will react to its presence and begin to multiply rapidly. This influx of white blood cells takes one (1) post of concentration to create. Over the course of five (5) posts, the new and old leukocytes are able to fight off poisons that are C-Rank and below that have entered the body. During these final five posts, the medical-nin does not need to continuously focus chakra into the patient. It will take care of itself at this point.

[Willoria]

Changing the Violence Chapter: Loveless Nightmares Soft fabrics ran through her fingers. Fingertips dug into feather pillows. Pressing against skin and lips caressed lips. It was a blur and a whirlwind that had left her both breathless and smiling. The scent of mint had been left in traces all over her skin and she didn’t mind, at some point she had fallen as if upon clouds and exhausted, her eyes had fluttered closed. She honestly wasn’t even sure it was morning or still the eve when they fluttered open once more. She stretched and could feel the soft cotton sheets against her bare skin, but also a hand against her ribs as if silently grumbling that she was awake and moving already. Akari Ume giggled lightly at the touch. ”Well I have to get up sometime… I can’t just lounge about in bed all day, and neither can you…” She turned to look at the person next to her though her own blue hair was such a mess it simply got in the way. More giggles and not all her own.

Sea-foam eyes met her lavender between strands of her hair as he tried to help her tame the strands away and they laughed together at the ridiculousness of the moment. Trying to brush them all away like like fighting through a forest of blue. She could swear he said something, but she didn’t hear words so much as she felt the emotion of his insistence that getting out of bed simply wasn’t necessary. His hands pulled her closer and she laughed again. ”Kota please…” she squealed as his fingers found a ticklish point between her ribs. She twisted and writhed away from the feeling with a laugh as if fighting a heavy current of water beneath her.

She swam away in darkening waters, fingers looking for handholds as she fought for a way to get away. Yet something had her feet, as if her ankles were bound and tangled in some great mass of seaweed and it was pulling her down all at once. ”No! I can’t!” she screamed as she tried so desperately to get away. She found a rock strong enough to hold onto it, but its jagged edge cut into her hand and fingers fell away, her blood running into the water and coloring it all red. She could taste the copper as it ran into her mouth and covered her form. Her screams turned into gurgles as the water filled her lungs and she felt herself pulled underneath.

One hand came from nowhere it seemed, reaching into the encroaching darkness to pull her from the deepest ocean and onto the shore. The red-haired woman stared at her with green eyes of flame. She screamed at Ume as if making a demand, or even panicking. But Ume couldn’t hear a word, she couldn’t hear a sound. She looked back at the red water of the ocean, filled with floating corpses she could not recognize, but not even the roar of the tides could she hear. Hands lifted her and carried her as one might carry a corpse, but still she couldn’t hear a thing.

When she looked up again the sun was shining so brightly she could hardly see who it was that held her. It wasn’t until he laid her on the grass that she saw his teal hair and recognized Kotaru. ”Kota! Please, what is happening?!” Ume reached up to touch his face but her arms wouldn’t move. Her body was frozen in place, nothing would move at all. She tried to scream, she tried to cry, but she was stuck in a vacuum where no one could hear. As she looked up she could swear for a moment Kotaru’s eyes were the glass of mirrors and she could see herself, as pale as death. ”No…. I’m not dead, I swear I’m not, Kota I’m not dead I swear! Please!”

Beside him was the red-haired woman, handing him a blade. ”You have to. The Elders have insisted, it has to be you.”

The look of stone in his expression as he took the knife, and Ume watched in horror as his hand not only accepted it but moved to the top of her head. ”No… Kota I swear I’m not dead!” she tried so desperately to scream and yet her lips wouldn’t work. He couldn’t hear her, even as the blade began to bite deep and the pain began.

”I know.”

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The pain of the nightmare came alive in an instant and Ume was screaming before she could understand what was happening in reality. There was a rush of movement in her room and a great crash behind her and she found she could suddenly move, and Ume scampered right off of her bed. She shuffled into a corner and pulled the blanket around herself as she panted to try and get her breath back desperately, blinking away her own sleepiness as she tried to understand what she was seeing.

There were two people in her room, fighting. She could hear the impacts and the grunts, and she realized her bedroom window was open. A moment later one figure threw the other out of the window and slammed it shut, locking it before rushing over to her. ”Ume, let me see!” Ume flinched away briefly before recognizing her guardian, Masako, as the person speaking to her. ”Easy now…” she said quietly, touching Ume’s head carefully.

Ume hissed in pain and recoiled again, reaching up to touch her head and bringing her hand down only to realize her fingers came away slick with dark red blood. ”What…?”

Masako gave her a serious look. ”Ume, someone snuck in and tried to steal your shiin, do you not remember it?”

Ume blinked a few moments and looked at Masako as if trying to process what she said before nodding slowly. ”I… I had a nightmare…”

Masako sighed and shook her head. ”They might’ve tried to drug you to knock you out during it… when you told me Kotaru left the village I was worried about this. I think we need to get you off the Akari compound for awhile, Ume.”

Ume shook her head vehemently, bringing on a wave of dizziness. ”No, I’m not leaving my home.”

”Ume, you told me yourself he said he put out some kind of word to keep you protected right? Well he isn’t here. And I can’t protect you from everyone, not on compound.” Masako sighed heavily. ”Someone just tried to kill you in your own home… you aren’t safe here.” When Ume opened her mouth to argue the other Akari simply shook her head and tried to help her up. ”We’ll talk about this after we get you to a medic. We need to get you healed before that damn thing falls out of your head or something.”

”…if I were cut that deeply I wouldn’t be talking.”

”Shut up.”