Starring:
Date: November 8, 2014
Summary:
Michiko officially begins her training to become a medic-nin.
"Michiko’s Medical Training - First Lesson"
Konohagakure Hospital Roof
It's one of the hotter afternoons in Konoha, but that's offset by a brisk breeze and partial cloud coverings that'll probably develop into storm clouds by the next day. Some of the other medics think it's odd that Kenta prefers to give some of his medical lessons out in the opening.Kenta himself finds that many people do better with wind and sunshine in their face than being stuck inside a sterile class room inside the hospital. In addition, the way that Kenta does the first lesson doesn't require a use of a board or any elaborate medical equipment.
Just like the last few times, Kenta has picked a shaded corner of the hospital room for the upcoming less. Only Michiko is attending, so he prepared accordingly. He has a big bamboo mat large enough for several people spread out on the ground. A few scrolls, a stack of books, an opaque glass jaw and a medical kit weights down one side of the mat. Kenta sits on the opposite with a similar set up, minus the stack of books. He has his eyes closed and is running through a silent chakra control exercise while he waits for his newest student to show up.
Michiko, before her first lesson, decides to enjoy the nice weather. When it's actually time, she shows up at the appointed meeting spot, looking around curiously to see who might be at the lesson. She already knows Kenta is teaching, at least. The girl knocks lightly on something to announce her presence, offering a, "Good day, Akiyama-san. I hope you're well?"
Kenta opens his eyes and turns his head to look over his shoulder at Michiko. The girl gets a smile and a nod of recognition. "Konichiwa, Michiko-san. Please sit down," he greets and gestures to the opposite side of the mat where the bigger pile of things are. "I hope that you didn't have too much trouble finding me. I know that this probably wasn't the type of place that you expected to have your first lesson. If you feel too uncomfortable doing this in the opening, I'll find a room for us inside."
"No, this is a nice location. Thank you, though." Michiko moves to take a seat with all the things around it, looking curiously at the materials. "I had to stop for directions every once in a while, but other than that, it was easy enough." She nods slightly, then hmms. "So… What are we doing today?" she wonders.
"Well, the first thing that I'm going to do today is give you new study materials. The academy here already teaches some basic biology as part of the lessons, so I assume that the same is true in Kumo." Kenta points at the stack of books next to Michiko. "The first book on top goes into more details and paints a deeper picture than the general concepts most people know. I want you to study it when you have time to strengthen your basis of knowledge for the following subjects." Kenta lowers his finger by half an inch. "The next two books talk about common diseases and injuries that can happen, along with the immediate symptoms and the symptoms that occur after prolong lack of treatment." His finger lowers a little more. "The next one introduces you to herbal medicine - how to identify herbs, what some of the more common ones do, how to prepare them to storage and the basic ways to make different forms of medicines like poultices or tinctures."
"There's a bit of biology at the academy. I've also read some of the books on it in Kumo's library," Michiko says, thinking back to what felt like ages ago. She looks at each individual book as it's mentioned, resisting the urge to flip through it right away. "Thank you for the resources, Akiyama-san. I'll be sure to study them all." And it's likely she'll be done with the books within the week, given how quick a reader she is. "The topics sound interesting, too."
"I'll get you more when you finish these. You might also fine yourself drawn to one subject more than others, so tell me if that happens. Most medic-nin are generalists, but some like to specialize a bit more. That might be the case with you," Kenta says.
The young medic-nin lifts his hand again to point out the different scrolls. "The scrolls also contain useful information that you should know. There are more diagrams on them, as well as some explanation for how the most basic medical jutsu work. One of the scrolls describes exercises for promoting self awareness of your own body and how to recognize when something's not right. That -last- scroll over there…" His finger jabs at one that's tied by a braided red and blue cord. "…that's the one we're more interested in now. Please spread it out."
Kenta reaches for a duplicate of the same scroll that he pointd out to Michiko from the small pile next to him. Almost every inch of it is covered with seals, all the way to the margins of the sturdy paper, but there's a small circle of blank space free in the middle. The seals are all medical related or complex modifiers that regulates the flow of chakra. A chain of seal characters along the edges confines chakra within the boundaries of the scroll.
Michiko nods slowly at the information. "I see… If I notice I'm drawn to a more specific subject, I'll let you know, then." She glances to the scrolls as her attention is redirected. The girl can't help but want to just open them all and start poring through the information. But now was not the best time to do so… The final scroll is given more interest when it's pointed out, and she picks it up, unrolling it and spreading it out before her.
The many seals are all glanced over quickly so she can get a general sense of what's going on. While some of it is a tad over her head, she has a feeling about its purpose. The girl points to the middle of the scroll that's blank, then, and wonders, "What's this for? The spot I'm supposed to be doing my work on?" She's not sure what kind of work will be involved, of course…
Kenta nods his head up and down in a pleased way. "That's right! That's where you're going to focus most of your efforts soon. Ok, do exactly what I'm doing." He reaches for the black glass jar next to him and starts unscrewing the cap. He continues to talk while he works on it. "One thing that I learned after all these years is that new students can study from books as much as they want, but it's hard to tell whether they're cut out to be medics until they get some practical knowledge in. Biology, herbalism, medicine… you can easily start off with reading materials and do hands on work later. Chakra control and the ability to manipulate medical chakra is different. You need to start off with some practical knowledge before you'll understand materials that describe how to use a justu." Kenta pauses momentarily when he gets the jar open. He unlatches his own medical kit, retrieves a pair of tweezers from it and pokes the tool into the jar. He pulls out a long earthworm, which he drops into the blank circle in the middle of the scroll. The earthworm wiggles sluggishly as if it's been drugged or injured.
"I'm fairly adept at manipulating chakra, at least," Michiko muses. "I wonder if I'll be able to do this as well…" With a light shrug, Michiko's attention is on the worm now on the scroll. "Every Kumo-Nin has to know basic first aid, which is easy to pick up on. Applying bandages or maybe some healing salve for cuts… binding breaks and sprains… That's about the extent of my knowledge thus far, and most of that I simply read up on. So I guess I know what you mean." The girl gestures to the worm. "I suppose this is my first… patient?" she guesses, vaguely remembering someone talking about 'only on healing earthworms'.
Kenta flashes a quick grin at Michiko. "That's right. This is your first patient. An earthworm is always what I start off my students on. They have relatively simple physiology compared to anything else you might ever end up healing. They also have natural regenerative properties, so it's pretty easy to coax their wounds into healing. This first step shouldn't be too hard for you if you have good chakra control already." The young medic-nin traces the seals around the center of the scroll with his fingers. "Even with good chakra control, you don't know how to produce healing chakra yet. What you're going to do is to channel your chakra through the seals in this scroll, the same way that you would do if you're activating an explosive tag or something similar. The difference is that you have to maintain the effort and at the right amount to produce the correct effect, so it's closer to water walking. The scroll will convert your chakra to healing chakra and direct it towards whatever's in the center. There's some feedback seals incorporated here, so you'll be able to feel what the scroll's doing and eventually learn how to mold healing chakra without a prop."
"I see. Interesting…" Michiko is not entirely sure how she should be channeling the chakra. To the worm directly? Or to the scroll. Since she isn't sure how to make the medical chakra, and Kenta just said the scroll would help with that, she starts to try and channel chakra through the scroll. It takes a bit of getting used to, sending a continuous stream through the seals. She looks at the seals on the scroll as they show feedback, trying to learn as she goes. "Hmm… Am I doing this right, Akiyama-san?" she wonders, pausing the flow of chakra to make sure the worm is still alive.
Kenta cranes his head slightly to check the worm on Michiko's scroll. It's wiggling a little more energetically, so it's clearly not dead. "That's right. You have to channel the chakra directly into the scroll and watch how the worm's reacting. If it's staying sluggish, you're not putting enough chakra into it. If it starts flopping around too much, you passed the threshold of chakra that it can handle and you're probably about to kill or damage it more from an overload. It can be hard for you to tell at first, so I usually make a visible indicator."
Kenta removes a sharp scalpel from his medical kit. He nicks the middle of his own worm in one smooth motion, which causes the poor creature to writhe in agitation until it exhausts itself again. "Do the same thing to your worm. That way, you'll be able to tell how well you're doing by checking if the wound starts to seal up." Kenta sets aside the scalpel, places his hands over his scroll and channels chakra into it in a practiced motion. The wound on his worm seals up almost instantly. It'll be much slower for Michiko as a beginner.
Michiko hmms and nods, taking a scalpel to make a small nick in the work. While the cut is nowhere near as precise as Kenta's, it'll do the job. At least it doesn't kill the worm! Then she begins to focus chakra into the seals again, waiting for the worm to heal up. It's a much slower rate than Kenta's, but she can tell the wound is closing! How exciting. "Well, there's a bit of progress," she comments. "It's obviously not up to par with your skills."
Kenta picks up his own worm with a scalpel and drops it back into the jar next to him. It's much livelier now, so it tries to fight him, but it couldn't get loose before it's imprisoned again. "If you're not killing the worm, that's a good sign. Some students have good chakra control, but they're overzealous and output more than they need." The young medic-nin nods his chin towards Michiko's scroll. "That scroll can be used with anything up to the size of a small rabbit, barely. You're going to need to practice with it on your own, so keep using large worms. When you can heal their injuries within a few minutes, switch to something larger like a mouse. Then, maybe a small garden snake or a pigeon. By the time you get good enough with a rabbit, you should have enough experience to try healing a warm -without- the scroll and work your way up again."
Michiko nods and peers at the worm. It's about the same as it was when she first started, by the looks of it. "I'll be sure to keep practicing, then. And I'll read the books you gave me." She offers a smile to the medic. "Thank you for the lesson, Akiyama-san. I look forward to future sessions." With that, the girl stands and stretches, then starts to collect all the scrolls and books. Then she hmms. "I might have to make a few trips…" she comments, rolling up the scroll minus worm she had been using. "I'll see you again, Akiyama-san." Then, somehow, she picks up all the supplies and makes her way off the room (via normal means).
