Starring:
Date: November 16, 2014
Summary:
Michiko learns how to detect anomalies in both her own and in others' bodies thanks to Kenta.
"Michiko's Medic Training - Second Lesson"
Konohagakure
With summer having turned to autumn, the weather itself is growing a little cooler. It's relative in Konoha, which tends to be warm most of the time, except during winter. The leaves of the trees are still green and the training grounds don't look much different than usual, except for a smaller amount of summer plants in bloom. Kenta had arrived right after he finished lunch at the hospital. He's a little bruised and scraped up after getting into a spar with another Chuunin, but that'll probably just help with what he's about to do. Michiko's supposed to meet him at one of the quieter clearings around this time for another lesson in medical ninjutsu. Kenta isn't sure whether the Kumo girl knows the way, so the note that he sent to her lodgings has the exact directions written down.
With summer having turned to autumn, the weather itself is growing a little cooler. It's relative in Konoha, which tends to be warm most of the time, except during winter. The leaves of the trees are still green and the training grounds don't look much different than usual, except for a smaller amount of summer plants in bloom. Kenta had arrived right after he finished lunch at the hospital. He's a little bruised and scraped up after getting into a spar with another Chuunin, but that'll probably just help with what he's about to do. Michiko's supposed to meet him at one of the quieter clearings around this time for another lesson in medical ninjutsu. Kenta isn't sure whether the Kumo girl knows the way, so the note that he sent to her lodgings has the exact directions written down.
Kenta waves at Michiko and follows up with a shallow bow from his waist. "Konichiwa, Michiko-san. I just had a spar with a comrade, so I'm a little bruised. I hope that you're doing well," he greets with a faint smile on his lips. He sits down cross-legged and gestures for Michiko to join him. The young medic-nin didn't bring any books, scrolls or any other equipment with him besides the pouches and pack that he's carrying with him. Whatever the lesson is, maybe it doesn't require anything of that sort or maybe it's building upon something that Michiko already has the study materials for. Kenta basically confirms both almost right away. "We're going to work on using your senses and chakra to identify injuries today. I hope that you went over the scroll that introduces self awareness and diagnostics."
Michiko nods a bit. "Ah, I see. Did it go well for you, then, or your comrade?" she wonders. Then they get on with the lesson, and the young Chuunin takes a seat across from Kenta. A brief look to the scrolls she brought, then a curious glance to the rest of the area before her attention settles on the Akiyama. "I read it, yes, along with most of the other materials. The only I haven't read is that book I brought." It's labeled something along the lines of 'Useful Poisonous Herbs'. "There was a lot of information in it, so I ended up going over the scroll several times."
"I think that it was a tie. We weren't sparring that hard," Kenta explains. He shifts his weight a little until he's comfortable. Then, he folds his hands on his lap and nods at Michiko. "You'll need practical experience too. Being able to do a self diagnostic is very important. You should become aware of your own body enough that you can tell quickly if something's wrong with it. Some poisons work slowly or subtly, so even a bit of warning can be important. Spend at least half an hour every morning when you wake up to note down how fast your heart beats at rest, the way your joints move, how easily your breath and the other items mentioned in the scroll. Do the same after heavy activity and before you go to bed at night. That'll form a baseline for you to compare against."
Another thing to add to her rather small list of daily routines. Michiko makes a mental note to do said exercises everyday. "That makes sense," she notes. She hmms lightly as she briefly focuses on how her body is at the moment. Easy things like breathing and heart rate. "What next, Akiyama-san? I can't imagine you brought me out here just to tell me that," she says lightly, offering a grin.
"Well, the other thing that you need to do is to learn how to flow chakra through your body and listen for the echoes of it going through a healthy body. Then, you need to know how different it is when you flow chakra through damaged flesh. Bruises, internal bleeding, scrapes and open cuts all feel different. There are even more subtle differences when a person is suffering from low blood pressure, infections and the like. Ummm… you're not injured, so you can't do some of those exercises on yourself right now. But you can still see what the echoes are like coming from a healthy body," Kenta tells Michiko. Then, he shows Michiko the bruises, minor cuts and scrapes on his own arms. "After that, I'm going to let you flow chakra into -my- body and practice listening from the returning echoes."
Michiko tilts her head slightly as she considers. "Is it really? Interesting… I don't think I noticed that when I was fighting… Rather, I might have just attributed it to my being too tired to focus and the like," she says, thinking back on some of her experiences in battle. She looks a bit closer at some of the scrapes and bruises Kenta has, looking a bit surprised. "Flow chakra into your body? Even more interesting."
Kenta nods his head up and down. "You don't need to use a lot. It should be about the same amount that you used when you use the practice scrolls to heal a small creature. The important thing is to try to shape the chakra so that it's a little bit 'reflective' and maintain contact with me. It's helpful to keep your eyes closed and shut out most of your other senses until you're familiar with it. You'll need to concentrate on listening to the echoes." Kenta claps his hands together sharply. "Now, I want you to try it on yourself first. Close your eyes, relax, draw your focus inwards and start sending chakra to various parts of your body. Do your hand separate from your elbow, your elbow separately from your shoulder, and so on. When you think you can detect the echoes and what the 'norm' is, you may stop."
Michiko offers a small nod. "Okay. The hard part at the moment is going to making my chakra reflective and sensing the differences, I think, since I'm unfamiliar with that…" She says that mostly to herself as she closes her eyes, focusing her mind on the task at hand. A small flow of chakra goes through her body, but she focuses it so that it's mostly in one area: her arm. Then she narrows it down even further, to her hand. It's easier there since she's used to focusing her chakra there. She tries to listen to the echoes that were mentioned as she slowly moves her focus from her hand and up her arm. "I think I'm starting to get it," she says after a few minutes.
"Good! You're really a very quick study, Michiko-san. Kumo is lucky to have you," Kenta praises. He smiles broadly at the girl, even though she won't be able to see the expression with his eyes closed. "It's always easier with limbs too, since you have the greatest control over them. Now, try to do the same exercise with the internal parts of your body, like your heart, stomach, lungs and spleen. It'll be more difficult, but the diagrams that you were studying shows you their locations, so you'll have a basic blueprint to use. When you successfully manage to sense the returning chakra echoes from there, you can stop and open your eyes."
Michiko nods her head, focusing the flow of her chakra so that it moves from her limb to her center. She searches around her body, looking for her heart, spleen, etc. It takes her longer to adjust to the feeling and listen to the echoes, but eventually she's able to grasp it as well. She does a curious search near her lungs next, then her stomach and spleen. "I think I got it, Akiyama-san," she says finally. "And a belated thank you for the earlier compliment," she adds with a small smile.
"I just say what I see," Kenta says with another smile. "You'll need to keep practicing to truly become familiar with these exercises, but I think you're ready to try something different now." The young medic-nin pulls down his sleeves to cover up his minor injuries from Michiko's sight. Then, he moves closer until he's sitting next to her instead of opposite. He offers her his right arm. "It doesn't really matter where you touch me, but it'll be more comfortable for us if you just hold on to my hand or wrist. This is going to take a while. I want you to flow chakra into me and try to steer the stream into different parts of my body. This is similar to healing someone else. When you can do it with some consistency, start trying to listen to the echoes. Tell me when you can make them out."
Michiko opens her eyes when she hears/feels Kenta moving around, blinking a bit as the light strikes her eyes. "Alright…" she says, her hand moving to rest on the Akiyama's wrist. She closes her eyes, sending chakra through his body. It's a bit strange, but she is able to move her chakra through his body, listening carefully for echoes. It wasn't that different from doing it to herself, but the differences between his and her bodies were apparent. Especially seeing as how Kenta is injured. "I got it," she says, likely a bit faster than he might expect her to.
Kenta waits a little longer after Michiko says that she managed to sense the returning chakra echoes from inside his body. After two more minutes, he starts giving her additional instructions. "Now, I want you to send probes of chakra flowing through my body again. The exception is that you need to look out for echoes that don't seem normal. Look for echoes that seem muffled, distorted or missing completely. Narrow down on those until you can tell where they're coming from. Then, I want you to point out the parts of my body that's injured and try to guess the type of injury." It would actually be easier if Kenta had major injuries, but most of his are minor surface ones; some contusions, scrapes and cuts on his arms… a lightly pulled muscle in his back… a bit more bruising in the chest area. It's all covered up by clothing, so Michiko can't simple tell by looking straight at Kenta.
Michiko nods again, taking time to figure out what could be abnormal. It was the first time she had explored Kenta's body like this, so she didn't have an actual baseline. In her mind, she starts to compare his and her body, trying to find what might be missing or weaker than it might be normally. It was difficult, and took quite a number of minutes before she finally pinned down a location. "There's something odd with your back… Chest… And arms. I can't figure out the specifics, but there's something slightly off for each of those areas when I compare it to myself and other parts of your body."
Kenta nods his head in satisfaction. "Good! It's definitely harder to differentiate in the beginning, especially when you're inspecting another person. You should perform this exercise after you finish a spar or get an injury somehow. You'll notice that specific types of injuries or abnormalities feel differently. With enough practice, you won't even need to think hard to figure out that type of information." Kenta gently tugs his hand back and gets to his feet. He stretches, which makes his joints pop softly. "That's the lesson for the day, Michiko-san. You're coming along pretty well. I'll send you some more reading material later."
Michiko opens her eyes, squinting a bit as the sun hits them. She gets up, then, stretching her cramped limbs. "I'll work on it, then. Thank you for the lesson, Akiyama-san. I look forward to the reading as well." It gives her something new and interesting. "I'll see you again sometime. Or perhaps around the village…" She offers a nod, then picks up most of the materials she had brought with her. "I think I'll go and study a bit, then relax. Thank you again." She wanders off
