Dreadnought: Ice in Winter's Veins [Private]

[Okada Kaji]

Continued from: The Dreadnought [ANBU Mission]
Occurring in Tandem with: Dreadnought: Ubowed, Unbent, Unbroken

It couldn’t have been any colder within the ice prison than it was out on the tundra surrounding The Dreadnought. Encased in a perfect sphere was a grey-skinned figure, rendered immobile by a water prison jutsu which was quickly turned into ice. This captured figure was a trophy brought home to the hidden cloud for examination by Shu Sakaki, operating under the codename Byakko. The frozen figure was a wight, or (zombie shinobi) if you want to use the popular lingo. Below the ice, the wight was still posed for battle with a rusted katana mid-swing since the very moment Byakko trapped him. Not too long ago, the ANBU squad responsible for this capture returned to the cloud with this wight as evidence and brought the frozen body to the deepest corners of the Aesculapium for an autopsy. The big ball of ice was covered in several square paper seals imbuing it with more frigid ice chakra, so cold that directly touching the sphere would cause you literal freezer burn. Keeping the wight “on ice” was taken to a new level. It was all a necessary precaution given the mysteries still at hand.

And it was those mysteries brought Byakko and Shouyu Hoshi, codenamed Kurama to the most secure wing of the Medical Branch facility. They had not taken their sight off of the sphere since splitting off from Kaji Okada (Yoake) and Miraku Rikutsuchi (Soku), who returned to ANBU HQ. While Kaji and Miraku would debrief the Raikage and begin strategizing the next effort against the Dreadnought, Hoshi and Shu were paired with Kahako Shinrya, an adept medical shinobi, to unfreeze, dissect, and hopefully solve the mysteries of the captured wight.

The room chosen for this procedure was about as adequate as any shinobi or surgeon could have hoped to have in a workspace. It was spacious and secure, with steel-lined bulkheads and bright overhead lights. The operating table was large, sturdy, and angled so a patient could be pressed onto it before getting locked down. The room was equipped with everything from state of the art medical equipment to the most obscure holistic treatment materials, all spread out from one side of the large lab to the other. In the center of the back wall was an assortment of manuals and publications, all sterilized and coated with lamination for long-term keeping. The summary of the space described either a place where miracles were performed or a mad scientist’s wet dream, it was just a matter of perspective.

- Requesting Kahako, Shu, and Hoshi.

 

[Shu]

It has been nearly thirty years or so since Shu had meander the great corridors of Aesculapium. The hard wooden floors were now replaced by the smooth clear ceramic. It felt like it was yesterday when the village was still erecting wooden poles for the foundation of this magnificent sanctuary. Magnificent was the perfect word to describe everything that surrounded Shu. He walked by the array of ornate head sculpture each representing prominent member of the medical division. Shu was able to recognize several figures, especially the days of yore like his own brother, Kenshin. The two brothers made a pact to not intervene with the village and yet here he after a decade later trying to aid in subduing the spiritual darkness that surrounded the village. The decrease Hayata Shin had pleaded for Kenshin to help Kumogakure but Kenshin had refused considering the request otiose. How many times had Kenshin told him that presenting his teachings to the masses would only hate to derision and eventually his death. Shin should have heeded his teacher's presage. Now, Shin had requested the aid of his master's brother, Shu to accept his call.

Of course, Shu's reasoning was not due to some form of self-effacement like his brother but rather that he was getting too old for this sort of thing. He needed someone to pass down the mantle especially since the prized pupil was now buried ten feet under. Even though, Shu has brought him back numerous time already by Shin's request there had to be a better solution. Kenshin could not disagree more on Shu’s decision but he would rather wait until the time would come. When would that be?

Eventually, Shu’s thoughts led them to an isolated lab where the ossified undead man was located. Once the medical nin opened the door a gust of heavy air blew passed by them like walking through a swampy bog. The icy crater that in cased Shu’s prisoner still remained in tact with the many chakra tags holding the water jutsu in place. The undead man still remained in the attack position where attempted to cut through Hoshi. To a degree, the undead felt like it wa still alive but they all knew very well that is far dead as the eye could see. Shu was no overtly confident that any known science even science based on chakra would provide any information from this corpse but this was the only facility where Shu could analyze the creature unabated.


“Do you have proper protocol for this?” Shu spoke underneath the mask as he faced the young medical nin. If the woman had acquiesce Shu would quickly perform some seals before his right hand engulfed in a blue light. He laid his hand onto the cold rock as his slowly pushed himself into it allowing the ice to melt away. He pulled the corpse out of the crater leaving a gaping hole that still remained sturdy. The body was completely lifeless even the insects that were crawling around the corpse were no longer present. He placed the body onto the table.

“I would resurrect the body but I would like to know how this man die, given your expertise.” Shu said inviting the woman to come forward. His body still faced corpse making sure that nothing surprising would happen.

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

Hoshi arrived to the medical wing where he supposed to arrive, but did so late. He was rushing through the building hoping he wasn’t too behind schedule. The ward was cold, nowhere near as cold as the event which just recently transpired. Hoshi wondered what they would discover from the body. There were so many questions running through his brain.

Once he arrived he saw Shu, and a young medical Shinobi whom he had heard rumors of, but never had the chance to meet. Upon meeting his superiors, Hoshi would bow out of respect.

“Sorry I’m late guys.”

Hoshi looked over to the frozen zombie popsicle. He was held together with chakra seals in a position far too familiar for Hoshi to remember.

 

[Shinrya Kahako]

She fiddled with settings on her handheld medical tablet, adjusting and readjusting the cameras and lights in the room. An urgent request came to her hours earlier from the ANBU division for an autopsy of a body brought back from an expedition. Knowing to expect anything when it came to requests that contained such little information, she simply blinked at the sight of a rotting corpse incased in ice before beginning necessary preparations around the room.

After pulling the main examination light and camera closer to the icy dome, Kahako pressed a quick button on the screen in her hands and mumbled routine starting procedures as several red lights started blinking. “…the time is currently one thirty in the afternoon, and I, Medical Chief Shinrya Kahako, will be overseeing the autopsy of one unknown being acquired by ANBU operative Byakko while in the field.” Pleased with her final setup, Kahako rested her tablet on the tool bench next to the table.

The cloud ANBU who brought the creature in turned to her. “Do you have proper protocol for this?” She didn’t turn her eyes from the ice prison. The anomaly inside it was short of mesmerizing. “The short answer is yes. Using standard forensic autopsy in this situation will reveal a lot about the body, even with this level of decay.” She grimaced slightly rubbing the back of her neck. “But, honestly, I try to leave dissection to the harvesters or the research division. If it wasn’t an ANBU request, I wouldn’t have been called at all… are you sure this thing is… completely immobilized?”

Washing her hands, she slipped gloves and a surgeon’s mask on before returning to the operating table. “Well, I guess our best option is to defrost him and hope for the best. Please do proceed.” She said. Just as Byakko began releasing his seals, another ANBU rushed into room. “Sorry I’m late guys.”

She offered a small smile his way, one of which he would not be able to see, but light amusement twinkled across her eyes none the less. “Not late at all, we were just about to get to the interesting part.” She motioned to the cameras around her. “Go ahead and recount what you know of this creature on a biological level. It will assist in my detailed analysis later.” A soft thump of the body onto the table brought her attention back to the task at hand. Byakko completed defrosting the entity, and secured the body before her.

Of course, the mednin was joking. There was nothing ‘interesting’ about examining a dead body unless you had a natural thirst for learning. It required time, precision, and patience. Starting with an external examination, Kahako observed each and every section, scanning for the presence of any foreign indicators of something unusual and calling it out to both the ANBU in the room and the cameras. Taking a scalpel from the tray beside her, the mednin took samples of exposed skin, tissue, and any other organic object, placing them in small, pre-labelled baggies for further DNA analysis. If everything went well, she would then have the ANBU assist her in removing the clothing from the decayed body, beginning an internal examination.
[spoilername="Kahako Current Medical Branch Specializations"]Emergency Surgery: Experienced
Chakra Systems: Novice
Anatomy: Novice
Biology: Novice[/spoilername]

 

[Shu]

From the woman's response it didn't sound like she was specialized in the area of autopsy and necrosis but it could not be helped. There was a time when the mere concept of specialization was an unheard of term, especially in the periods of war. Shinobi did not have the time to muse about specialization when death loomed at every corner. "I see." Shu said as he continued to examine the corpse. In a few moments, he thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the hinges opening as someone entered the room. He turned his head to see Hoshi walking into the room. He thought the boy was behind. Shu might just be getting too old or perhaps he was too ensorcelled by his own thoughts.

The young medical nin did not reprimand Hoshi's tardiness instead stated that they had just started. She began to ask if they could provide as much information that they could about the corpse, specifically biology. In the world where people can blow fire out of any orifice it was humorous to see a medical nin actual be a medical nin.

"The armor of this man go pass many decades and given the degradation of the skin. The man could have died at least a century." Shu began. He begin to walk over to the head of corpse keeping his distance. Its black eyes stared deeply into the air as if horrified of something. "If you look at the scar below the neck near the laryngeal prominence you can see a deep horizontal incision. Almost as if the man was either cut to the throat and lay there to die or was executed. It was very common before in the past for soldiers to be killed gruesome to instill fear to the enemy. The body was preserved far better than I would have assumed. You can tell that there is not enough muscle atrophy to equate to the age of the skin. Likely, the person or thing that resurrected this corpse understand how dependent chakra energy is to the body. The reason I summoned you is to assist us in figure out the geology of corpse. With this information, we will be able understand out this phenomenon."


"Hoshi-san, if you have any thing useful to add speak now." Shu coaxed him hoping that he would provide something the may have missed.

Shu's detailed observation was rather impressive for an ANBU considering their speciality to was assassination. It was long ago where the ANBU and medical nin blended together. In the past where wars were as ubiquitous as the fish in Port Cirrus, medical nins were scant and were killed before anyone else. Survival was the cornerstone of every shinobi.


[Abilities - Human Anatomy]

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

After being called to speak by his superior, the fourteen year old stood straight up, rubbing his chin. He thought back to that time, what did he remember? Well, he remembered seeing a faint source of chakra in every one of these undead, and even more from the bone behemoth. But they undead were only a threat in numbers. Hoshi remembered easily palm striking one and crushing his entire face. He nodded and came to his conclusion.

“The only thing I can say, is, I remember them all having the same amount of chakra operating them. And they were definitely of one mind. But their defenses are completely weak.”

He looked away, to both the medical chief and to Shu. It’s funny because as gifted as Hoshi thought his eyes were they were rendered useless during that fray. He sighed at the little help he could offer to the two.

 

[Shinrya Kahako]

Kahako felt like she was on pins and needles as Shu defrosted the entity then began to describe what both he and Hoshi knew about this undead creature. As he lumbered the body onto the observation table, she could see that he wasn’t exaggerating on how old the thing could be. For good measure, she fastened the thing to the table with thick leather straps, and sent a prayer upwards that if it was still mobile, it would be able to tear it’s arm off or something to get free. How in Raiden’s name was it even able to keep itself together with this level of decay? That question fascinated her about as much as it creeped her out.

Breathing a heady sigh, she leaned forward to get a better observation of the facial deterioration, summoning chakra to her fingertips. “As far as a genealogy, I can try to run skin and tissue samples through our database, see if we can find a previous patient who would have an ancestral relation. Were there any recognizable insignia on the clothing it was wearing or the katana?” Turning her head, Kahako motioned for Hoshi to come forward with a free hand. “Can you see if you still see the chakra you said you saw before?” The mednin casted her own series of handseals.

“What shape did the chakra take in the bodies? Was it shaped like a system similar to blood vessels in a living person, evenly distributed like an armor around the body, or a mass of chakra in a centered location?” Casting another series of handseals, Kahako pressed her hand against the creature’s chest. She may not have had the eyes of a Hyuuga, but she had… a method of observing chakra signatures. Maybe with some luck, there would still be some residing within and they both could learn something that could deduce what jutsu was being used to animate the corpse.
[spoilername="Actions"]-Casting chakra sense to glean information off any residual chakra signature.[/spoilername]

 

[Shu]

Hoshi provided his succinct response as he brought that everyone appeared to share the same mind and energy source. It was rather obvious but an incredible important observation that should not be looked over. With a central energy source, the village would be able to track the energy in a reasonable time. The only underlying problem was where the undead came from. Shu had recalled the few words spoken by the undead during his venture across water of Port Cirussus. The clandestine woman, who was the least degenerative among her undead brethren, spoke in an esoteric tongue that could only been heard centuries ago in the deep bogs of water country.

Kahako led out a sigh as the weight of the situation continue to rain down her like heavy snow on the mountain tops of cloud country. She offered to retrieve skin grafts from the corpse with the hope that could identify its genealogy. It was unlikely that they would be able to find any files in Aesculapium that matched this dead man, in fact, a positive match would raise an far greater concern. Kakaho turned her body toward the corps as she asked if there were any ornate insignia on the weapons that could help identify the person.

“Not that I can identify however one of the leaders spoke in a dialect that sounded to be a language from water country. Do we still have a database with data on ancient kirigakure weapon and armor?

Before she responded to Shu’s reply, she insisted on the young Hyuuga to use his eyes to find out anything. If Hoshi could he would have done it already and the young lad was still learning how to harness his spiritual energies. Shu did not expect anything from, however he waited patiently as he observed the boy.