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Something good not great

Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 12:05 am
by Legacy
With the day's events having come and gone, the sun reaching its final moments of vibrancy and all else seemingly quiet around Konoha, Gene found himself standing in front of the middle of three large wooden posts marked for training. It hadn't crossed his mind that he had absolutely no inclination what so ever to actually use the wooden set ups and for the time being it felt...right.

Instead, Gene found himself lost in a sea of memories from his Genin and Chunin days where his teammates changed almost as often as the weather in Fire country. Looking back at it now he realized that the only person who he'd truly managed to establish some sort of functional (if you could call it that) relationship with among his peer group was Fanho and lately, even that bond was questionable. Taiga and he all but avoided each other for their own reasons though neither seemed to want to rip each other's throats out which---definitely was progress. All in all, Gene believed that Taiga certainly wasn't a slacker when it came to his abilities but that was just the sum of it. Even now, Gene still could not believe that the Sarutobi clan member had been bested in battle by Zakuro despite seeing first hand the latter's handiwork against Fanho. Maybe he hadn't wanted to believe that his rival could have been beaten by anyone other than him; a childish thought, surely but when he considered strongly his first impression of Taiga [ the youth straight up charging wild animals on their first mission] perhaps having that hope that someone he knew could truly rise up the ranks and not suffer a loss to anyone was possible.


Word had gotten around that since his return Zakuro was working closely with those in Mamorinuku to sure up things around and outside of the village which compared to the distant memory of Zakuro that Gene knew of, seemed almost hard to believe. To think that the guy who'd gotten his arm lopped off would turn out to be one of the village's most vital assets --- from Zakuro & Taiga, Fanho and even himself now...all of them were moving up the ladder in age and experience though not all seemed to have progressed so far. There were some faces among the many, many memories that Gene could see but scarcely put a name to if he'd tried his hardest; an Aburame here [Komori Aburame], a Yamanaka here [Naoyukino] and some others, Gene simply could not remember but knew that there were several responsible for shaping his own development in some way.

Perhaps the biggest and most shocking change of all was that Aina, the woman who'd been responsible for his induction into Mamorinuku before he'd even knew who Takeo was, had all but cut ties (not that there were many) with him. If they spoke it would often be during formal discussions with a less than direct line of dialogue between either. Gene had hoped one day to broach the subject along with what it was that gave the woman her strength but he often convinced himself that such a day and time would never come in his natural life time. For their mantles could not have been further apart and to involve either generally spoke volumes about the severity or lack thereof in a given scenario. Still, Gene wanted to know more about Minoru and the link he'd witnessed that day so long ago between the two; hoping that it would cue him in on at least a means to start looking for his late Mentor.

Kazuo had done as good a job as any fill in sensei could during his time with the group but Gene had never developed any sort of real lasting bond with the guy or learned anything noteworthy to take with him for that matter. The barrier ninjutsu of which Gene had become so fond of as well as the Fuinjutsu dealings were a direct momento from Minoru before...things. Now, neither of the two could be found anywhere in Konoha and Gene already had enough on his plate trying to track down Minoru. On the other hand, without Minoru's sudden disappearance and then some Gene would have never learned about the Genma or what a spirit was which would ultimately lead to him being chosen as the black op guard personally responsible for the supervision and safety of the two residing in Konoha ---hell, he probably wouldn't have even considered joining the ANBU black op in the first place.

"Things sure do have a funny way of working out, eh mother?"

Today marked three years since his mother's mysterious assassination just outside the village and Gene would have been a liar if he'd said he still didn't feel every bit of hate, hurt, sadness and loneliness from the woman's passing. Truthfully he still had not fully allowed himself the time to really grieve as his duties did not grant such leisure & there was always something new to focus on. He feared that one day those unexplored emotions would force their way to the surface and he would be unable to control the outcome. A byproduct of opting to air on the side of logic and reasoning over sentimentality afforded to the Civilians and some light working Shinobi of the village. No...the ANBU commander had no need for tears, no need for such compassion. At least, that's what Gene told himself.

Unaware of exactly how much time had gone by now Gene simply stood in silence in front of the post and reflected long and hard over his past, present and future. At the age of eighteen he still had not yet decided the kind of man he wanted to be---the kind of Father he wanted to be if ever he were to have children and the kind of Legacy he'd want to leave behind in the event of his early or timely passing.

All of these and more were a cause of great Self reflection for the young Jounin. It was as if for the first time he'd posed a question to himself that an easy answer just would not rise to the surface. Considering the lifestyles of those around him Gene couldn't help but wonder how they figured it out. At that exact moment though, Gene had been pulled from his thoughts by the shrill sound unmistakable for anything else he'd ever heard before. There was someone--someone close, in agonizing pain and the sound having come seemingly out of nowhere had caused Gene to jump a few centimeters in his chest. Deciding first if whether or not he truly wanted to get involved, Gene eventually made his way toward the source of the noise and in the direction of a narrow grass crossing leading into another section of the training field.

What he saw both terrified and infuriated him.


There, sprawled out on the ground like some kind of rag doll was a man who seemed to be around Gene's age, rolling and patting at what Gene recognized as smoke coming from off his clothing. "Hey! What the hell happened here? Are you alright?!" Despite hearing himself bellow each question Gene hardly registered the fact that his feet had already carried him over to the injured Shinobi and that his hands were already coursing with Green Iijutsu chakra by the time the lad finally managed to get a word out. By then though, Gene had already set to mending the damage hoping he hadn't been too out of practice to do some good. The burns along the man's arm were fresh and his skin would have suffered considerably more damage if Kami hadn't been on the lads side as Gene managed to alleviate the pain, followed by a cleansing and then finally a complete mending of the injured tissue. Now...he might have been a lot of things but Gene could not work miracles on a person's clothing. This guy, whoever he was, would be needing to visit a tailor after this little incident.

"Who--whoah, dude you completely patched me up just now! I was just trying to practice my Katon when something in the formula went wrong, I - I dunno what, but the next thing I know I was up in smoke and here you are!" The man seemed almost as excited about the situation as Gene was concerned. He hadn't been placed in many situations where his medical expertise was needed but here and now, this...this random person just up and left him no choice! Thankfully everything seemed to be working and functional but Gene still cautioned the man to see a real doctor at some point during the day; it wasn't that he didn't believe in his own capabilities, Gene just knew that there were others who without a doubt were more capable that he was and a second look couldn't hurt.

Once the man was up and running around again Gene headed back beyond the training field and to the Memorial stone, finding Aoi Mitsurugi. "Even from beyond the grave your teachings still help me to better serve the people, mom. I can't go to where you are now and it'll probably be a while but when I do finally get there---I'll have to thank you again for all that you've done." And Gene truly meant it, allowing himself a moment of vulnerability believing that no one else was around. Finally, after so long of walking along a truly blurred line things were beginning to appear hopeful..
B-rank Iijutsu trained: 1,500/400Show
*[Iijutsu • Burn Heal]
B-Ranked Ninjutsu
Prerequisite: *[Iijutsu • Burn Treatment]
Yet another step up in the ability to treat burns, *[Iijutsu • Burn Heal] is used to alleviate pain caused by burn wounds. After focusing chakra into his/her hands, the user will hover them above the burn wound. As the chakra is channeled into and around the burn, it cools the area and works to prevent harmful, scar-producing blistering in the affected area. To provide this soothing relief to large-sized areas of first degree and second degree burns it's fairly quick to do. For medium-sized areas of third degree burns, it takes one (1) post of concentration to achieve the same effects. Lastly, for small areas of fourth degree burns, it also takes one (1) post of concentration due to the very delicate nature of this type of burn.