"Iruka Umino suffered from damage to the spine and several serious cuts and some blood less, made worse by exertion," the medical ninja reported to the Hokage. "But minor injuries over all. Joseibi Saotome sprained her wrist and Naruto Uzumaki was merely suffering from exertion."
"The prisoners are all severely injured," the medical ninja continued. "One of the two that pursued the Saotomes had the least severe injuries, broken ribs and a collapsed lung. The other two were very close to death from severe blunt force trauma, ruptured organs and, in the one man's case, burns that went as deep as his ribs. They'll both survive, even recover, though in both cases it was a near thing."
Ryoko Saotome's condition was more…curious," the medic finished.
"Go on," Hokage said, turning about.
"Several burst blood vessels, minute tears through most of the muscle groups of the body including the edges of the lungs and heart, a cut on her thigh nearly hit a fatal artery, and several others produced minor blood loss," the medic explained. "And she appears to have what seems to be a serious sunburn over her entire skin. Nothing was serious yet, but if whatever jutsu she was either using or suffering continued, it would have been bad fairly quickly."
He didn't mention some of the signs of older traumas they'd found.
"I think I might be able to explain some of that," Kakashi said idly.
The medical ninja turned to look at the jonin expectantly and the Hokage gestured for him to continue.
"The sharingan can get a glimpse of what she does," Kakashi explained. "And what I saw reminded me of when she was pressing herself to work on building her strength and ability, only much more extreme. I'm guessing she went past what she's currently safely capable of."
"Over-stressed the system," the medical ninja said, nodding. "That would explain the muscle tears and blood blisters, but not the burns."
"There are some earlier reports on something that may explain that," the Hokage said. "I'll make the relevant information available to you."
"All right, Hokage-sama," the medic said.
"If you can tell me when the patients are ready to see visitors," the Hokage said to the medic. "I would appreciate it. And when Ibiki might be able to take charge of his prisoners"
"Yes, Hokage-sama," the medic said, flinching a bit at the name of Ibiki Morino, before turning about and leaving.
"Kakashi, is there anything else?" Sarutobi asked.
"Only that normally, Ryoko's chakra coils blunt the flow of her chi," Kakashi said. "She loses momentum and direction each time they interact and has to re-establish it at a loss of efficiency and leaking energy."
"The river flowing into a lake analogy," Sarutobi noted. "Most scrolls on the subject make mention of that."
"Only this time it was rivers flowing into whirlpools," Kakashi noted. "The chi flows were coming out stronger."
Sarutobi arched an eyebrow and turned to face Kakashi.
"That has, implications," Sarutobi noted. "But the levels of chakra and chi control necessary to achieve balance and ability to draw on both forces would be very high."
"I'm not a medical ninja," Kakashi said. "But I'm not sure Ryoko has a choice. That fire of hers, it touches both her chi and her chakra when it gets going…"
Sarutobi nodded, blowing out a small cloud of smoke.
"You have an assignment to prepare for," Sarutobi noted.
"Hai, hai," Kakashi said, sounding bored. "I'll let you know when they should be back at the Academy."
"Don't get cocky, Kakashi," Sarutobi smirked. "This is a good class, the team this time might surprise you."
"In my opinion, they're rarely ready at twelve or thirteen," Kakashi said, shrugging. "I'll see you then."
With Kakashi leaving, Sarutobi turned his mind to other conversations.
"I understand your point of view, Hiruzen," Koharu said from her seat. "It is unfair to punish a child for matters beyond her control. But we also have to consider the safety of the village as well. When the girl was merely a chi-adept, she was a curiosity, but this new development…"
"If we can protect Naruto, there should be no reason we can't help this girl," Hiruzen Sarutobi noted calmly. "The risk is not as severe."
"But Naruto is a citizen of the village, soon to be a shinobi if I understand your intentions," Homura noted. "Ryoko is merely a resident. Like it or not, our protection does not extend to her as it does to Naruto. And while we and most others will respect your decision, there are people who would do otherwise."
"Normally, you would side with Danzo on this matter," Hiruzen noted.
"This is a single girl with training in a rare skill and apparently a blood limit of unknown potential," Koharu noted. "It is not an entire clan of traitors, or even a jinchuriki. There are rewards and risks to both paths. So…we're staying neutral until more information is available to weigh the risks to the village."
"In the mean time," Hokage said. "You're warning me."
The other two elders stood up from their seats.
"If Konoha can gain a viable chi-training program," Homura confirmed. "Then we would be a step ahead of the other villages."
"Of course, we'd much prefer to have a chi-master than an emotionally scarred girl incompletely trained," Koharu added.
The Hokage lifted his head and smiled.
"A pity she can't afford to hire a mission to find a tutor," the Hokage said. "After all, a client is one of the things our laws protect almost as much as our citizens."
Both of his old friends looked at him in confusion for a brief moment before they left the office, a look of quiet consideration on their face.
The Hokage frowned.
The plan was transparent to be sure, Danzo would see right through it, but he also knew that, as interesting as Ryoko would be, she was of only very minor concern to the militant. The transparency of the plan would be a benefit in that regard, making pursuing situations with Ryoko far more trouble than they were worth.
Koharu and Homura usually disagreed about going to so much trouble for the sake of one individual as adverse the village as a whole. They didn't seem to realize that it was the individuals that made the village.
There was a point where an individual became a poison, but it was a poor idea to punish them before that had proven to be true. It was much better, upon seeing the situation might be developing, to attend to the person in question and make sure that they remained loyal and bound to the village. Rather than to attack them and force them to become the imagined threat.
He looked back at the psychological profile on Ryoko lying closed on his desk. Ibiki was doubtful that she'd accept a citizenship or a place as a ninja at the moment. She wasn't used to making major life choices for her own benefit. There was heavy evidence that she was of the opinion that she had no say in the direction of her own life save what leeway was given to her by her mother.
Fortunately, the parents were currently unreachable.
Genma was leaving behind a trail of small debts and petty crimes across the continent, while remaining hard to track down himself. Nodoka had disappeared soon after Kakashi had tracked her down and reported, apparently going off in search of her husband and daughters.
The further report suggested that the small side-jobs cleaning and such that Ryoko was taking were signs that she was breaking away from her dependence on others deciding her life, but it was still mostly tied to her responsibility to her younger sister.
Combined with this was an indication that she had a practical view towards combat. She leaned toward protecting comrades and citizens rather than eliminating threats, but there were some shinobi that were likewise. What's more, given her upbringing, she was unlikely to disobey what she considered an appropriate authority.
Meaning that she would likely be an asset to missions rather than a hindrance.
A knock at the office brought his attention to the door.
"Come in," he said, turning to see the messenger coming in.
"Hokage-sama, Iruka Umino and Ryoko Saotome are both awake and ready for visitors," the man said.
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(Posted Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:21)
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