Starring:
Kenta, Hikaru, Shinobu, Tatsuo
Date: July 2, 2015
Summary:
Kenta gives Hikaru, Shinobu and Tatsuo their first taste of medical training.
"Tips and Parlor Tricks for the Prospective Medic"
Konoha Academy
The Konoha Academy had cleared out about half an hour ago, but there are still people hanging around the area. Kenta waves to the ones that he sees as he walks pass them in the hall. A few are instructors that he had studied under way back when he was a student himself, but most are people that he never met. It never hurts to be polite.
Kenta heads into an empty practice room that he had booked a few days ago. Like all the others, it's stocked with shinobi gear of all kinds, as well as practice dummies and obstacles like sandbags. The young man inspects the area to make sure that no one's lurking inside before he closes the door behind him. Then, he loops his thumbs through the straps of his extra large backpack and heads towards the center circle. He shucks off his backpack to set it on the floor, but immediately unpacks it. A variety of books and cases come out, which he separate into three equally sized piles. His three students should be arriving soon and each pile is for one of them.
Shinobu had gotten the invitation. The girl didn't know what was going on, of course, but it was Kenta that asked her to come to the Academy. She still got nervous near the training grounds, but the academy itself was slowly becoming a place she could walk near without issue. The girl stands a bit outside the training room, looking down at the slip of paper with the instructions. Here was the place. Okay! Kame ends up barging in, yipping excitedly and tackling Kenta, licking his face. Yip! ~Hi, Kenta!~ Shinobu makes her way in shortly after, waving quietly and taking a seat somewhere. Likely near one of the book stacks.
Hikaru had received notice from his Chuunin-sensei that they were going to be doing a bit of training at the academy, so naturally, he couldn't refuse. Besides, he was usually very welcoming of new skills. The halls were oddly quiet as he made his way down to the classroom Kenta had mentioned, and it wasn't until he heard Kame's barking that he knew he was in the right place. Sliding the door open, he glanced inside and smiled slightly at Shinobu, then bowed his head to Kenta. "Konnichiwa," he greets him with a quiet and respectful voice, walking inside and taking a seat next to Shinobu. "I didn't know you were coming," he said to her with mild curiosity, knowing that she had aligned herself with Kaido's team.
Lastly arrives the young Nara, the boy slipping inside the door before it fully closes from Hikaru entering. He doesn't immediately move further into the room but instead kind of hovers by the door still as he looks at those there. "Oh…am I in the wrong place…?" He asks, apparently not having thought there would be so many other people for whatever was going on. Dark eyes slide over the other Genin uncertainly.
Kenta is sitting down, so Kame's tackle just rocks him backwards. He wraps his arms around the excited ninken to give her a tight hug, which is soon accompanied by much petting and head scratching. "Nice to see you again, Kame. I brought you some treats," the young man announces as soon she calms enough for him to reach towards his pack. There's still one small bag inside, full of lovely pieces of seasoned and dehydrated meat. He carefully slides Kame off his lap before he sets the treats in front of her.
"Konichiwa," Kenta greets as he gives each of the three Genin a slight bow. "Don't worry, Tatsuo. You're at the right place. Ummm… I called all of you here because it's reached me that each of you have an interest in medical training. Konoha's always in need of medics, so I keep my ears open for that type of thing. Ummm… I'm going to give you three the basics of first aid as your first medical lesson. You don't have to continue with further lessons afterwards if you decide that medical training isn't for you, -but- first aid is a useful skill in general. We've always encouraged all of our shinobi to know at least the basics."
Kame yips excitedly at the mention of treats, licking Kenta's face a bit and then jumping off the medic when he indicated she should. Immediately, the pup perks up as the treats are brought out, and she tackles and gnaws at them eagerly. Shinobu glances to Hikaru, giving a quiet wave. Then to Tatsuo. She shuffled a bit in her spot, wondering how anyone knew about her interests… Mana likely reported the girl's fascination with flowers in one of the progress reports that she liked to do every month or so. Ever since the girl had seen that book Kenta showed her in the library, she was seeking more and more plants to try and recognize.
Hikaru gives a small smile to Tatsuo when he enters behind him, watching him get settled and turning his head as Kenta begins to speak. He gives the sensei an acknowledging nod, his eyes eager and interested. Yes, he /had/ mentioned wanting to learn more about medical ninjutsu. And yes, first aid /was/ a basic skill that every shinobi should know. Straightening slightly, Hikaru prepared himself to learn. This was a lesson he'd not want to miss.
Who would've thought that mentioning it at the hospital would've actually found him someone who wanted to train him. The boy 'ohs' and nods slightly before he finally shuffles forwards a bit, sitting down at the empty pile and looking over it's contents with a quiet curiosity. Chewing his lower lip, he looks from the pile to the others, then back to the pile, then to Kenta…hope he doesn't make some stupid mistake or something.
"Ummm… so I see that some of you have noticed that I've separated some items into three piles. They're materials that I requested from the medical division just for the three of you. From now on, you own the items here," Kenta says as he gestures at the items that he's speaking about. The young man folds his hands on his laps afterwards. "Ummm… it'd be a good idea for you to sit next to one of them and look through the items. You'll see that all the books in your pile are basic medical and biology texts. Your academy education already includes some biology. All shinobi need to be familiar with locations of the body that must be protected or targetted during a battle. It's equally important to know how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Umm… these texts will go beyond that. I want you all to build up your knowledge by studying at least one chapter from a book every day. This'll help you in future lessons."
Shinobu looks at the books near her nervously. Reading… It wasn't her forte. Trying to puzzle out the Kanji was sometimes a bit too difficult, and Mana often helped her read the textbooks given. Fortunately, a lot of them had pronunciation written next to the less common characters, but that's because they were meant for younger kids. Who knew what these books were like! Kame enjoys her treat, munching and gnawing happily while Shinobu opens one of the top books and peeks through it, eye searching for any pictures that might be fun to look at.
Hikaru picks up the book on top of the stack, flipping through it idly and nodding as he skims over the type of material inside. So he would have self-study… That was nothing new. Only usually, it involved physical training instead of book reading. "Sensei," he asks with a glance up at Kenta. "I am more of a hands-on learner.. Will we be getting a practical demonstration of these skills, so we know how to practice?"
Tatsuo does sort through the items a little, eyes scanning what's there silently before he finally picks up the books and skims them. He's already read them, of course, for he is a Nara and on top of that he's one of the one's that enjoys any books he can get his hands on above and beyond the normal Nara way. But he doesn't say that. Instead he just sets them back down and looks over at the others, then to Kenta once Hikaru asks the question.
"Ummm… you can't really get any hands on practice on a lot of the material in the books, because it's information on how parts of the body work. Even doing a medical autopsy won't show you everything, so you'll have to rely on studying for a lot of it. Medical training involves a lot of that anyway, so you have to be prepared for it. It's a complicated field," Kenta explains to Hikaru.
Kenta rises to his knees and shuffles forward towards Shinobu's position. He takes the largest case from the stack of items. It's closed with two metal clasps, which makes a popping noise when he flicks them open to reveal what's inside. Unsurprisingly, it's full of first aid equipment. "Ummm… but I -will- show you how to use a first aid kit today. That definitely needs a showing approach. Everyone pay attention please."
Shinobu puts the book back, looking a bit lost. Mostly because the book had really confusing characters that all looked the same to her. Similar, but different. Then her attention is on Kenta when he asks for their attention. Her eye focuses onto the first aid kit, the girl having never really seen one before. Well, the outside of it… But its contents were a mystery!
Nodding, Hikaru leans in closer to look inside Kenta's first aid kit, memorizing its contents. It all looked pretty simply, to him. After all, they had learned at least the basics of treating field wounds in their survival training in the academy. Crossing his legs, Hikaru wonders how different this lesson would be from the others.
Tatsuo reaches out to his own first aid kit, opening it to look inside at the contents silently before quickly looking back up to Kenta when he calls for their attention. He sets the kit down and pushes it a little away. Nope, he didn't open it, honest, it was there that way!
Kenta tilts the open case, so that everyone can get a better look at what's inside. "Ummm… some of this should look familiar to you, while others don't. I know there's a lot of items - bottles and rolls and tubes - but I also included a guide that explains what everything does." He slips his fingers into a shallow pouch along the bottom of the case and brings out a thin booklet. Flipping through it shows that it has drawings of many of the contents along with a paragraph or two explaining the usage.
"But the first thing I'm going to go over with the three of you is how to clean wounds. That's one of the most important things to know when it comes to medicine. Ummm… you -really- don't want to just wrap up a dirty wound, unless you're forced to do it under bad circumstances. Dirty wounds can fester very easily." Kenta points to several items, including a tiny bottle of water, a travel-sized bar of soap and a bottle of disinfectant. "If you're able to, the first thing that I would recommend is washing a wound in clean water. Clear, running water is best. Still pools might be stagnant and there's more microbes, so it can actually make your wound worse. Use soap and disinfectant if you have any. Umm… if there's anything like thread or foreign matter stuck in your flesh, you'd also want to use clean tweezers or needle to dig it out."
Kenta stops and looks up at his students. "Ummm… but in case you don't have time or access to any of these materials, there's something else that you can try. It's not advisable to let yourself bleed too much, since that can leave trails or weaken you, but the flow of blood often loosens and removes foreign matter from a wound. All of you know of the body flicker technique, right? You run chakra through your body to enhance your muscles and nerves to move faster. One thing that many non-medics and even some medics don't know is that you can focus your chakra into your bloodstream instead of your muscles. If you concentrate on running a steady stream through the wounded area, you can force your blood to flow faster and harder for an instant, which can also flush out the wound a bit more. Ummm… but that's something you'd have to be careful with."
Shinobu listens to the lecture, eye growing more and more confused as the items are revealed. They all look the same! All these white bottles with odd labels that she doesn't understand… Sigh. And they all smell yucky… Like the hospital and disinfectant. She wrinkles her nose a bit at the box, but peeks at its contents as Kame listens to Kenta. The pup could easily re-explain things Shinobu missed, fortunately.
Tatsuo watches as Kenta draws items out of the kit and then proceeds to explain some of the various items, what they do, what not to do, what you should do, what they should do…pretty much just a list of do's and don't's. Which is fine, of course, since that's part of training and all. Most of it had been in the books he'd ready but…well, again he doesn't actually say that. He just remains attentive and watches what Kenta does with sharp eyes.
Kenta spends the next few minutes showing the three Genin exactly what to do with each of the cleansing items inside the first aid kit. He explains the differences between the various disinfectants, the best cleaning method to use for stab wounds versus slicing wounds, how to use tweezers to properly remove splinters and more.
"Ok, hold out your right arm, all of you," Kenta instructs when he finishes. When everyone has done that, he reaches out to touch them one by one on a spot near the inside of the elbow. He lets his fingers linger there for a good ten seconds each, during which he channels a steady stream of chakra into the location. "I want you to close your eyes and concentrate on feeling what I'm doing. That's the -exact- amount of chakra that you want to use to simulate blood flow in a small location. Ummm… too much could burst the tinier blood vessels and cause bruising if your control's not good. Too little won't actually do anything at all." He pauses to let them absorb that. Then, he lay hands on them once more each to do the demonstration again. He pulls back and places his right hand facing up on his knee. "Now, I want each of you to try it on me. Flow a little chakra into my wrist, about an inch away from the pulse. I'll tell you if you're doing it correctly."
Shinobu watches, trying to absorb all the information she can. It was… A bit difficult for her. Too much, almost. Eventually, though, Kenta stops talking and instructs them all to hold out their arms, which she hesitates to do. But she does, and the girl feels a bit of chakra go through her. A frown crosses her face, but then Kenta explains what it was. And she nods quietly, about to pull her arm back when Kenta moves to do it again. Okay, now that's done… The girl has to do it now?! Oh great… She shuffles forward, hand moving to Kenta's wrist. She actually is able to send a small burst of chakra that is pretty similar to what Kenta sent, though a bit less.
The first aid explanation wsa simple enough, and most of it Hikaru already had a decent grasp of. The interesting part came when he felt Kenta's chakra flow into his arm, and he honed in on the sensation. Now he would have to repeat it..? He felt confident enough - even if he didn't get it perfect on his first try, chakra control was one of his strongest areas.
Tatsuo listens, watches, and learns. When Kenta has them hold out their hands he does so, letting the medic send the chakra through him and jumping a little bit at the weird feeling, but after a second he's already locked onto the way the chakra was used and how it was sent through. It was still weird though. Tatsuo waits, letting the others go before him to try and simulate the effect on Kenta before he finally follows suit, reaching out a finger and sending the same amount of chakra through that Kenta had. Hopefully it's done right too.
Kenta sits still while each of the Genin practiced on him. After Tatsuo finishes, he furrows his brows in thought while he goes through what he learned from each of them. "Ummm… Shinobu, you need to increase the amount of chakra by about fifty percent and also maintain it in a steadier stream. It's a good start, so keep it up. Hikaru, that's pretty good. I did sense a tiny bit of fluctuation, but you should be able to get it completely steady after a little practice, since your control's pretty good. Tatsuo, you're pretty close, but you actually flowed the chakra the wrong way."
Kenta pauses as he suddenly realizes something. "Ummm… That brings me to something else. I should probably also tell you that you can slow down bleed a little bit by running a gentle current of chakra in the -opposite- direction of blood flow. It's mostly a minor effect, but it doesn't take much effort once you're practiced at it, so you might as well know how to do it. The amount of chakra that you use is the same as what you do to simulate stronger blood flow. There's -much- better ways to stop bleeding with more advanced medical techniques, but none of you are at that level yet."
Shinobu sighs softly. Chakra control, while she could do it, was a bit difficult because her chakra network wasn't actually that great. It hasn't been used all that often, so she can only do small bursts of chakra. It was something she was still working on. The control was fine, but maintaining was difficult. The girl nods a bit at Kenta's instructions and waits for him to offer his arm again before placing a hand on him and sending another bit of chakra through his arm. It comes out in a shaky stream, the output about the same as last.
So, Hikaru had almost been completely successful. Nodding, he takes his turn to try again after Shinobu, placing two fingers at Kenta's wrist and concentrating on keeping a steady chakra flow, emitting just the same amount that he did before. It seemed quanitity wasn't the issue.
Tatsuo's chakra control was inately good, though with some recent changes things are a bit…different. And still a tad bit difficult to get completely under control. When Kenta offers his wrist out again the boy once more waits until the others have had their turns before he finally reaches out to put a finger on Kenta's wrist. He closes his eyes, inversing the chakra flow in his mind before letting it come out in practice through his touch with Kenta.
Kenta nods his head briskly and pulls his arm back after everyone's done again. "Ummm… that second time was better. The three of you can practice this in addition to your studying this week. I know for sure that you've all been shown how to apply a bandage, so I'm not going to repeat that. It's straight forward enough."
Kenta hops to his feet and jogs over to one of the stuffed cloth training dummies that's hanging on a pole. He brings it back with him and lies it on the ground all spread out. "I'm going to show you how to stitch up a wound instead. If you have a bleeding cut that's much too large to simply bandage, adding even a few crude stitches can help a lot." He proceeds to show them the collection of needles in the kit, different sizes for different needs. The medic-nin threads one of the needles and uses the training dummy to demonstrate how to actually make some stitches.
"That's the basics, but here's some additional tips that'd be helpful. Ummm… first of all, it's sometimes hard to hold the edges of a wound together with one hand while you stitch it up with the other. Do any of you know how to tree walk? If you do, you know how to make your chakra a bit sticky. You can actually coat the edges of your wounds with a bit of chakra molded the same way and pinch them together. It won't really make them stick together, but it'll create a weak bond that'll help against slippage," Kenta explains to the Genin.
Shinobu chews a bit on her lip as she watches and listens to Kenta, nodding her head slowly. It all made sense. Stuff that could actually be used that didn't take chakra. It didn't take a whole bunch of reading, either, which was going to slow her down a bit. The girl peeks over to see what Hikaru and Tatsuo think of all this, then she focuses on Kenta. Tree walking? She could sort of so that… Tree walking was the whole reason she found out her chakra flow was a bit weaker than others.
"Well, /that's/ something I didn't think of," Hikaru thinks out loud, glancing over to Shinobu and Tatsuo. "I don't know about you two, but I haven't really practiced anything like tree walking before… Is it hard?"
Tatsuo shakes his head a little at the question from Hikaru, "I…don't know…haven't tried it yet." He admits quietly, worrying at his lower lip some as he looks down at the items in his kit again. This was good…he was still interested…it was just going to be a lot more work than he had expected. He watches carefully while Kenta does the stitching, then looks down at his kit again and the needles and tries to commit it all to memory so he can try it later. When no one else is watching.
"Ummm… I'll have to teach you that, Hikaru. It took me a few days of practicing to be able to use it reliably when I learned it as a Genin. It requires good chakra control, which you already have anyway," Kenta informs Hikaru. He looks towards Tatsuo. "I can give you lessons too, or you can learn take them from Kaido, since he's your team leader."
Kenta rubs his hands together. "Umm… anyway, it's getting pretty late now and I only have this room booked for a limited amount of time. I'll just give one more quick tip before we close this session. You might encounter circumstances where you have no way of cleaning your equipment before you stitch yourself up. Maybe you used up all the antiseptic on your wound or there isn't enough water. If you're using a small, metal item like a needle, tweezers or scissors, you can wipe it down as well as you can and send flow a few strong bursts of chakra through the metal. That might not destroy all the germs, especially if there's still anything sticking to the metal, but it'll kill off a whole bunch of them and make the tools a bit safer. Ummm… don't try this on your wounds. That requires a different method, so you might just injure yourself."
Kenta sucks in a deep breath and claps his hands together. "And that's it for today. Remember to do your studying. Shinobu, I know you like looking at pictures, so you might want to start with the brown book and the orange book. One teaches about common herbs and the other about animal physiology. Both of them have some nice pictures to go with the diagrams."
