Starring:
Date: February 18, 2012
Summary:
A check-up in the hospital on a fellow Uchiha turns out to have more importance than just preserving the Clan's dignity.
First Promotion Exams - Cracking The Kazekage's Code"
Tenrai Hospital - Sunagakure
Laying in a bed within one of the rooms in the hospital is none other than Uchiha Ryo, the nine year genin. The boy was hooked up to an I.V. that seemed to help keep him hydrated. His body was not beat up or in any kind of bad shape. For anyone who would read his chart, the boy was in a near vegetative state. He had been carried across the desert by his teammate Naru. She was also the one who was responsible for his condition. The chart read as a spar gone too far, but it did not take place in the arena or the training grounds. It was obvious that it happened outside the village so that it would not be monitored by the Suna shinobi.
The boy is awake. His head is tilted towards a window so that he can at least look outside. It was his second or third day or rest. It was really hard for him to tell anymore. He had not recieved too many visitors. For a moment he turns his head to look at the door. He was unsure if anyone would visit him besides maybe Naru. He knew his sensei was in the village, but anything more precise was beyond his knowledge.
The hospital is not a place that Fuyu wants to be right now. She spent months in a different hospital before coming to Sunagakure, and she has greatly improved health-wise since she was originally placed there. Now here she is in Sunagakure's hospital, and even with the modernization efforts of the Kazekage, it is not really up-to-par compared to Konohagakure's medical center. Oh, well. She's not here for herself. Her business is to find out what went on with two members of her Clan sparring outside of the Village without supervision and landing one of the two in intensive care while visiting a foreign ninja Village. Memories of when that idiot Abel attacked Taji during the Kusagakure tournament come to Fuyu's mind but are shoved back down just as quickly because of the guilt she feels for Taji's death in the most recent war.
No, she's not here for her own health. Her mouth is set in a determined line as she inquires with whoever is available as to where Ryo is located and for directions to him, obtains permission to visit, and then proceeds along her way. This business of being in the hospital, even if not for herself, is no less undesirable. She needs to make sure no one has been doing anything that might poorly impact the reputation and respect of the Hidden Leaf… Because being seen as weak in the eyes of others means they are much more likely to try to take advantage of that weakness. The Leaf does NOT need another war.
After finding Ryo's room, she wraps her knuckles briefly on the door itself and says, "I'm coming in." Many things have changed about Fuyu of late. Her forwardness and minimal politeness is not one of these.
The eyes of the boy glance from his position over the form of the woman entering the door. "I will stay right here while you do that." He recognized her though he was not sure he had ever really met her before. He was unsure exactly why she was here. Were things looking up for the boy? Probably not.
The boy starts to move his elbows to the bed so that he twists his body in way the allows him a better focus on Fuyu. "Hi." he states as he finally finds some comfort.
Long black hair is brushed out of the eyes of the woman who stands in the doorway. She wasn't looking directly at Ryo when she first entered, but now that she's fully within the room — and takes the time to close the door behind her — the Genin in the bed may notice that this recognized-but-not-met woman has the Sharingan in both of her eyes. However, it is of a paler coloration than the Kekkei Genkai typically is… It's almost like she's using it without even trying, or as though it's on 'energy-saving' mode or something. Why else would it be so dull and yet still distinctly bear three tomoe in each pupil?
Looking Ryo over, Fuyu says, "I'm Fuyu. I don't recall meeting you before, but you might have heard of me anyway. I've certainly heard something about you…" Crossing her arms over her chest, her eyebrows lower somewhat in an expression that may either be concentration or displeasure. Her lips are usually set in a neutral frown most of the time, so it's hard to tell. "Infact, I recently heard there was a 'situation' that involved you and another of our Clan, and that you are here now because of that situation. There were other things said, but I'd rather hear from you what happened instead of accepting second-hand information as fact."
After a brief pause while she looks the youth over once more, she says, "So, tell me what REALLY happened."
There was something odd about her eyes. He only had a single tomoe in his own sharingan. For the moment the eyes of the woman would have to wait. He had other things to focus on now, such as defending himself. As she states she has heard something about him, the boy gives a small shrug. "Well, lots have talked about me. I thought… oh… that. It was as I told them. Naru and I sparred. We like to go all out."
Ryo pauses a moment as he looks towards the door. He really was hoping there was no Suna shinobi out there. "The shinobi are everywhere. We did not want to practice that way infront of them and risk bringing shame to our clan. They might have stopped the spar if it was in the village."
Fuyu nods, seemingly as though agreeing with what is being said, and inquires, "So to ensure I understand, in order to go all-out and avoid bringing shame to our Clan, you two decided it would be best to fight at full-strength where no others could observe you?" She waits for confirmation, and turns her gaze towards the closed door. Her eyes track along the wall from one side of the room to the other, as though she is watching someone pass by in the hall right through the building. Infact, she probably is.
When the person passes by, she looks back to Ryo. "I'm not sure I follow that line of reasoning… And the last time I heard a story like that — an Uchiha getting into a violent confrontation outside of the authorized location for a fight and while visiting a foreign Village — I became extremely upset. I used Genjutsu to drive the perpretrator into an unconscious state. He didn't even wake up for two and a half days. Then when he finally admitted the reason why he did what he did… Well, it sounded an awful lot like what you're saying now. I had his eyes sealed so that he would never be able to awaken his Sharingan unless he showed his judgement to have significantly improved."
That doesn't sound like there's anything good in Ryo's future. But Fuyu also doesn't look upset. Infact, she doesn't look more than a little bit annoyed. "Thankfully for both you and Naru, the circumstances are different, it wasn't a public confrontation, and — at least as far as I know — you haven't lied about why this all happened. I also don't think you're an IDIOT like Abel was…" Raising a hand to pinch at the bridge of her nose, between her eyes, as those same eyes close, Fuyu sighs quietly. "The problem here is that those barriers they have in place would have allowed you to fight at full-strength until you were ready to stop, more or less, and not suffer any lingering harm or have any potential for 'accidents' such as what landed you here in the hospital. Fighting within the protective Kekkaijutsu being employed in Sunagakure would have given the Sand no REASON to interfere in your spar and medical aid would have been immediately available if something serious DID happen."
Fuyu lowers her hand and opens her eyes. "The only reason I can think it might be a good idea to perform training such as you two did without observers would be to preserve the secrecy of techniques you might feel shouldn't be revealed to foreigners. However, this is the Land of Wind and the Sand ninja have greater familiarity with the terrain and environment than we do. They'd be able to watch you much more readily outside the Village, where they don't have to worry about being caught, than within it. Everyone is watching everyone here in sunagakure. That provides a degree of protection, but… Not necessarily privacy." She turns her head again, apparently once more detecting someone out in the hall. She watches the person until they go into a different room, and then faces Ryo again. "You're alive and you will hopefully be wiser for your 'adventure' with Naru. But please keep in mind that all that has been accomplished by attempting to spare our Clan shame is to give credence to the rumors spread by others that the Uchiha think we are 'above' following the same rules and agreements as everyone else, or that we are so much 'better' that we may do as we please even while acting as guests. Thankfully, I don't think this incident is going to be spoken of much. No shame that hasn't been born already by over-eager ninja over a variety of Clans and Villages in the past…"
The facial expression of the boy turned from relaxed almost to angry as Fuyu spoke. His eyes turned from their greenish color to the red sharingan with a single tomoe in each eye. The bald boy then spoke in a slower, more deliberate tone. "The spar took place near the border to the neutral land in a secluded grove. Naru and I train like this to further ourselves. It is not about barriers. It is about the illusion of danger. I have pushed myself harder than anyone I know. I graduated the academy less than a year ago. Since nearly dieing I recieved this gift from death herself. I am willing to risk being in the hospital for this time of training." The boy was not upset about the concept of the eyes being sealed. He understood what was stated. It seemed more than he believed in order to achieve the next level of Sharingan, one needed to place themselves near death.
Maybe it was the ability of the boy to always come up early with an achievement that drove him. A need to surpass the last thing he did, or maybe he still had a lot to learn. After a moment the boy closes his eyes and lets the sharingan fade before opening them again. "Naru never meant to take it to that level. I had been winning and she got in some lucky shots. If it were not for that mistake no one would have ever really been the wiser. I am sorry if the actions we took spread rumors as such. My only goal was to become better at my craft."
Fuyu nods briefly once Ryo is done. "I do understand. 'Playing ninja' in a perfectly safe setting is unlikely to let you progress much… The barrier minimizes damage, but… I think I've learned something else about it…" She trails off and looks again to the hall, though this time only for a moment. Then she scans the rest of the room, and possibly the rooms on either side of this one, and towards the window, and so forth. Once she is satisfied there is no one listening, the Uchiha Clan Head moves closer to the bed until she is standing right next to Ryo. Then she says quietly, "I think the barrier not only minimizes damage, it also minimizes growth."
She is silent for several seconds after that as she thinks of what words to use. "Cause and effect is something that the whole world abides by. Any action taken will have an equal reaction. This is true even if you don't see the results right away. I think this 'peace-keeping barrier' or whatever the Kazekage calls it partially suspends that rule. It means that even if you train almost non-stop for a year within that barrier, doing nothing but trying to grow stronger, you'll barely change at all physically. You will still accrue 'experience' that lets you sharpen your skills, but your body won't 'grow' at all to match that experience. You will essentially still be one year removed from everyone else age-wise once you come out of that barrier."
Lowering her gaze to the floor, Fuyu says, "I can't be sure, as I only have my eyes to guide me on this, but it is possible that the reason the Kazekage invited everyone to use this barrier both in Kusagakure and now at this 'Promotion Exams' event is that he wants to get 'test data' from as many different types of techniques and Chakra Natures as he possibly can… All being used inside of his Kekkaijutsu. Potentially, it might be possible that he could combine this barrier's unaging effects with how different types of injuries and Chakra interact within it to devise a way to make himself essentially… Immortal. Never aging, and able to recover from any and all conceivable forms of harm."
Fuyu bends forward a bit to look Ryo in the eye, if permitted. "I shouldn't be telling you any of this. Further, as far as anyone else is concerned, I didn't." Fuyu's eyes aren't the same anymore. The tomoe in both eyes start spinning clock-wise as the eyes gain the vibrant red of 'active' Sharingan, but then the tomoe and the pattern of the eyes themselves change for a moment to something else… Something no other Uchiha is known to possess. A black ring in each eye, with three RED tomoe in each eye… Further, the pupil has been replaced with a red triangle that in turn has an upside-down black triangle within that, and a final red dot at the center. "You'll remember this conversation just fine, but if anyone else tries to get it out of you, such as by trying to tamper with your mind itself, they'll find nothing. Do. Not. Speak. Of. This."
Straightening up, the 'cracks' of capillaries in Fuyu's eyes and the bizarre, almost 'alien' Sharingan-thing, both fade away and return to a normal Sharingan. "I also want to make it clear that while I don't want you to get hurt, I support your decision not to make use of that barrier if you choose not to for the rest of our stay. I know that I sure won't be having any exhibition matches in that thing… Remember anything suspicious you see. I'll want you and Naru both to report with me to the Hokage when we go home." Her eyes dim then, back to the paler red she seems to use normally. She also seems to be sweating slightly as though she had just significantly exerted herself.
Ryo's green pupils gaze up into the eyes of Fuyu like an infant to a mother. His facial expression changes, but not to one of fear but intrigue. It was the first time that the boy had ever seen a Sharingan ability like that. He knew that neither Hinotori nor Issei were able to use it. For a moment the boy almost forgets all of his other senses. It was hypnotic in a way he had never felt before.
Then as the words come, Ryo realizes he needs to focus. He catches most of it, especially the possible purpose of the barrier and the mind tampering bit. There is a simple nod from the youger Uchiha. "Understood. Both subjects are safe with me." he states. Part of him is simply glad to be understood. The other part is still in awe of something he does not understand.
He also seemed to notice the sweat. Though the rumors suggested she was someone to be feared and the enemies of the clan would swear the same behind closed doors, Ryo looked towards the chair in the room. "If you want you can stay a while. I need a nap but… eh up to you." he states. The boy does look tired. Activating his own sharingan on limited stamina probably did not help his condition.
