Of Sages and Revenants {Private/PM to enter}

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

The forest of Kumo... A very tranquil place, but filled with man-made horrors and wild beasts. Despite the dangerous of this wondrous place, however, it was where one could usually find the boy Shita Rirakkusu. And where this boy was currently-- Basking in the sunlight that was so rare in the mountains of Lightning Country. It is here that the boy spends his free days sleeping and getting drunk off of his favorite sake. Years ago, Ri would be able to get drunk off half a gourd of the sweet elixir, and over the years his tolerance increased. But something had been bothering him of late, something that would suck his wallet dry if he didn't learn more about the problem. He'd seen a substantial increase in his tolerance for alcohol, sometimes taking two to three gourds to get even a buzz. Not only that, but the nice warm feeling that was felt whenever the liquid sat in his stomach seemed to be non-existent. It wasn't a problem that recently arose either. This had been something he was able to notice ever since his run in with quite the interesting person during his trip to Wind Country, but the tolerance level for alcohol wasn't anything he wanted to deal with with how little pay he's received recently.

Opening his eyes, the shinobi was met with a sea of green trees before him, and large structures in the distance. He sat upon a branch at the top of the tallest tree he could find that day, and didn't bother trying to find a clearing like he usually did. Raising his arms, the boy stretched while taking a long breath in, then stood up on the branch. His wooden sandals clicked against the bark of the tree, and the giant allowed himself a moment to take in the sights before jumping from the tree. The ground was rapidly approaching, but just before he would've slammed into it and broken a bone or two, he altered gravity and stopped himself inches away from the forest floor. Releasing the jutsu he cast and snapping a twig upon landing, he began making his way slowly toward the hospital to see what the problem with his body may be.

Seeing how it was only mid-day, the boy was in no rush to get to the hospital, and was lazily walking through the town after he arrived. The crowds were small since it was the middle of the work day for most, making it easy to zone out without worrying about bumping into anyone. That would be annoying if he did though, so Ri still payed some attention to make sure that wouldn't happen. It took a couple of hours for him to reach the Aesculapium, in all it's plain glory, and it was exactly what he would expect of a hospital. Or, this hospital anyways. No crowds, white walls, and gothic style architecture. It wasn't until you get into the hospital that things start getting insane. The shinobi ducked into the building and watched as doctors ran back and forth, while patients-- some dying some not-- waited for their turn to be brought to.. Wherever it was they needed to be brought. The building was filled with chatting shinobi, rushed med-nin, and patients of varying condition and appearance, but Ri already knew where he would need to go.

"I'm here for a check-up, but I haven't signed up for an appointment just yet." The giant stated as he approached the front desk. The receptionist was at a loss for words for a moment after seeing him, as 6'10 bean poles weren't common, even in a village full of shinobi, but once she was done gawking she handed him a sheet of paper and a pen.

"Just fill this out and turn it into me, you'll be called out when someone is available to take you." This was met with a sigh from the shinobi, it seemed he couldn't do anything formal in this village without requiring some kind of paperwork. He shuffled his way over to some seats that were provided, and began filling out the necessary information which included his name, condition, and reason for being there. After everything was filled in, he gave the paper back to the receptionist and sat back down.

"This may be a longer visit than I hoped for..." He thought to himself before closing his eyes to try and get a bit more sleep before being called in.

 

[Kazu]

Kotsuko let out a loud groan as one of the nurses brought another pile of assignments for him to do. He'd been at this all day, and he still wasn't done? Giving the nurse a scowl once she'd turned away, the young man began to reluctantly sift through the assignments he'd been given. "Crap...crap...this one's no good...good lord, this one's back again? Pass..." This work might as well have been beneath him by now. He knew he was more than qualified at this point to advance, but this whole ordeal with the ANBU Sennin being assassinated had put a hold on almost all of the administrative tasks in the hospital. He had probably been really close to getting an exam before this annoyance. What that meant for the young man was, despite every fiber of his body being ready to tear out his own hair, he had to continue doing meaningless menial tasks until they got everything back in order. How troublesome.

As he sifted through the various tasks he'd been assigned to do for the day, he figured he'd just have to start somewhere in order to get it all done. He picked up one of the pieces of paper, reading it over briefly. It was curious, but not very interesting. "He came to the hospital...to find out why he can't get drunk? What the heck?" Despite the odd premise of the visit, Ko had to admit that it was the best case to work compared to all of the others. He would sign off on this one, then submit it immediately to be processed. He'd want the patient ready to go by the time he finished up and got over to the room they would assign to him. Over the next twenty minutes, Ko would half-seriously pick out assignments he'd want to do after this one until he'd made a set schedule. Then, he'd submit them all and head over to the room assigned to him and his patient. As Ko walked over to the room, he'd look over the man's details with an inquisitive eye. There didn't seem to be any odd features about the guy, besides the fact that he was freakishly tall. Other than that, he didn't seem to have any conditions that would even remotely indicate a cause as to why he'd come in today. Curious. "So, this is what you do with your time?" It was Fu, his shadow companion and Youkai Summon. Ever since the incident a few weeks ago, he'd been testing out his connection with his summoning familiar. The creature took the form of Ko's shadow, making it almost impossible for anyone to sense him. You'd have to be finely attuned to spiritual energies in order to sense his presence. "Not by choice, trust me." As the young man walked through the halls, his shadow twisted and contorted to form what seemed to be a snickering face. Chuckling in Ko's ear accompanied the face. "Whatever you say." The medic in training's shadow returned to normal, completely masking the presence of his summoned familiar.

As Ko turned the corner, he saw the assigned room just down the hall. Opening the door, the white haired man stepped in with a rather stoic expression on his face. It was the kind of "let's get right down to it" looks that really killed the vibe in the room. With a pen in one hand and his clipboard in the other, Ko jumped straight into the action. "Rirakkusu, is it? I've reviewed your files, and there doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary or abnormal about your medical history. By all accounts, you're perfectly healthy." Taking a seat across from his patient, Ko looked up from his clipboard to look directly into Ri's eyes. "So, is there anything else I should know about in order to give you a proper medical assessment? Otherwise, I'm going to have to just write you up as an alcoholic..."

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

Ri was unsurprised when the doctor said he was perfectly healthy, he could tell that much. His problem was that he might be too healthy. After all, too much of a good thing, isn't a good thing, right? May not really apply to health overall, but screw logic, the guy can't get drunk! It's a living hell when you can't have a good time while drinking. "I know I'm healthy, but I feel like there's other problems." He sighed after his doctor asked for anything else he might need to know about. One other thing did come to mind when he thought about it, but he wasn't entirely sure if it would be... Appropriate to share it with a doctor after the agreement he made. Then again, there was nothing in the agreement about showing others.

"I do have... One thing, that might contribute to my unusually high tolerance for alcohol." The boy assumed the doctor knew that was part of the reason he was here, as that was something he mentioned on the sheet. "This should probably stay between us, but let's just say I think there might be something living inside of me." He pointed to the scar on the side of his neck, which was grotesque and unnatural, and hoped the man would understand what he was implying. Even if he assumed the scar was some kind of tumor, it would work out if it was something they checked. Ri remembered something about a pinching feeling he felt after the event that would lead him to believe something was in him went down, but he ended up ignoring it and assuming things were fine.

"And when I think about it, this formed in the matter of seconds..." The thought of what transpired that day made the boy shudder for a moment, it wasn't too bad then, and certainly wasn't too bad now, but it didn't change the fact that it was not a fun time. All of those portals and demons...

 

[Kazu]

"Other problems, huh?" Ko kept his eyes on his piece of paper as he scribbled some notes down, all the while listening to what his patient was telling him. He wasn't all that impressed, to be honest, as people tried to self-medicate themselves all the time. This guy, telling him that there felt like there was something else wrong, was nothing special. That is, until he started to describe it. Ko stopped writing to look up at Ri, a puzzled and curious look strewn across his face. "Something living inside you, you say?" Most unusual. This wasn't a comment that he heard often, and it certainly was an abnormal thing to say in these circumstances. The young man had stopped writing notes down at this point, his mind working to try and fit these puzzle pieces together. The medic in training stood up, beginning to grab a myriad of medical instruments as he approached the patient. He would start examining him, without really explaining anything, as he asked his patient a flurry of questions. "When did this first start? Has this been a constant issue since then, or has it been off and on? Have you gotten this checked out by anywhere else, besides the Aesculapium?" Ko would check for irregular heart rates, odd eye responses, anything abnormal looking inside of the ear or nasal canals. So far he seemed like any other patient. But Ko knew something was wrong. He had a few theories about what was going on, but he needed to run a few more tests to be sure. However, if this man was what Ko thought he might be...this could be very interesting indeed...

The white haired man began to prepare something else, as well. He needed more insight on this issue. He needed to see what was going on inside. "Okay, let me quickly explain what's going on." Ko retrieved a small gourd full of specially sanitized iron sand, the main ingredient for his signature medical technique. "I have reason to believe you've got a very abnormal condition right now, and I need to verify that it is what I think it is." The iron sand began to swirl upwards, guided by some unknown force. It was flying around in streams, very meticulously flying towards the young man's hand where it would form into a solid metal ball. "Along with some blood work that we'll need to get done, I'm going to be employing a medical technique of mine. I'm going to need you to sit still for me, because this is a very delicate technique that I can't really control while you're moving around. Got it?" As he said that, the young man would push Ri onto the bed stand in the room and move this iron ball very close to his upper forearm. Right where he would normal inject a needle. "Now, this won't hurt at all." The young man manipulated the iron to form a small needle that would poke into his patient, through which the rest of the iron in the metal ball would be squeezed through. The iron would disperse throughout his body in the form of fine grains of sand, allowing Ko to not only see what was going on inside of him but to feel it too. Running his hands over the man's limbs to properly and precisely control his technique, Ko's brow was scrunched in a fervour of curiosity and concentration. "Let's see what's really going on here..."

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

Ri nodded to the man's first question. It wasn't surprising that he was a bit confused after hearing something like that, it probably wasn't every day someone just said there might be something living inside them. When he started pulling out all kinds of medical instruments, however, he began to regret his decision a little bit. He started being poked and prodded all over the place, cold metal objects being placed here and there without much explanation, and then he was asked to start explaining things. It took him a moment to think about each question, which didn't help since he was asking them without much time given in between. "About a year ago, it's been consistent, and I haven't gotten it checked at all." After the shinobi was certain he had answered each question asked, he allowed the MiT to continue his examination. Thankfully, it stopped soon after. Ri nodded again to his acquaintance's statement and quick rundown, and watched as he prepared the gourd.

The sand confused Ri as it flew from the gourd. He'd never seen a technique like it before, but that didn't mean it wasn't cool. What was strange, was that it almost seemed metallic. He was a bit hesitant about the orb when it floated over to him, but was soon left with no choice when he felt a hand on his chest.

"Just... Get it over with." He sighed after being shoved to the bed, watching as the iron sphere floated toward him. It was certainly an interesting technique he used, maybe even one he might want to ask about after all of this was over... But for now, he was ordered to stay still while the doc did his thing. There was a slight prick as he felt the sand enter his system, but he couldn't check for blood or he'd be disobeying orders. A small disturbance on Ri's skin could be seen if the MiT was paying enough attention, but it would be difficult to tell what it was in the split second he had to get a close look at it. The most he would be able to see, would be what seemed like a small black thread leaving the wound for a moment, before disappearing back into the skin. Inside of his body, the iron sand quickly spread throughout his system, allowing Ko to see every bit of his insides. For a short time anyways. The most the sand was able to see was thousands of black strands in place of the shinobi's veins, each one with a slimy... Almost sticky surface. It wasn't long before the sand got caught in what could only be explained as a sort of mucus, and enveloped by the black strands, preventing it from moving any further into his body.

"So.. What do you see? The boy asked. He could almost feel something going on inside of him, but assumed it was just the sand moving across his skin or something. Little did he know, whatever was in him didn't want any foreign materials sharing the space it had.

 

[Kazu]

BGM: A Promising Lead

"What the hell?" Ko couldn't help but look on in excitement as the events unfolded in front of him. This was not what he had expected to get out of this visit, nor did he think there were many doctors who would know what it was they were looking at here. But Ko knew. Where the other doctors might have shirked away from some of the darker material, instead preferring to focus solely on helping people, Ko was more than willing to make the plunge into some of the less pleasant subjects of research. Hours had gone by, late at night, when he would pour over various medical texts theorizing about obscure and unnatural Ninjutsu. It was something integral to the man's point of being here, having access to all of these resources. What Kotsuko saw before him was most likely something straight out of those texts: the Earth Grudge Fear technique. The young man pulled himself together just enough to reach up to his headset and click the transmitter on as he turned away to speak. His voice was slightly unsteady for a second before it regained its normal tone. "Clear my schedule for the next few hours. I have something else to attend to." The speaker seemed to crackle for a second as someone on the other end responded. It didn't sound good. The young man waited a second before he turned back to face his patient, a grave and intense look on his face. "No, this can't wait. Excuse me." With that Ko removed his finger from the transmitter and continued to turn the power to his communicator off. His gaze didn't waiver as he sat down next to his patient.

"Rirakkusu, I need you to realize that there is something much more serious going on than I think you understand. I'll be honest with you, I've never seen anything like this. I have a very good idea of what is going on inside of you, but keep in mind that this is just a theory." Ko would give his patient a moment to take that in, to understand the gravity of the situation he was in. "There is a technique—a Kinjutsu, actually—referred to as the Earth Grudge Fear. It is highly experimental, and it is not known whether any experiments have actually succeeded outside of an official medical facility. Such a surgery is incredibly difficult to perform, and theoretically should have a very high death rate. So, if you wouldn't mind me asking, how is it that you managed to acquire such a dangerously unstable Kinjutsu?" Ko was dead serious. Such a feat was nothing to scoff at, especially at a level such as this. The tendrils that Ko had observed inside of this man were highly sentient and defensive. They were repairing the man's body at an astonishing rate, and helped to keep even Ko's iron sand from being able to transmit chakra emissions from beneath the skin. It was a formidable technique at its worst, and downright dangerous at best. The white haired man would not take this issue lightly.

"Of course, perhaps this is the first you've heard of this? In which case, I'll have to ask for your full cooperation in the upcoming tests." Ko expected a bit of surprise from that one. The young doctor would began to scribble down some notes on his clipboard as he continued. "The fact that you've never seen another doctor about this means this wasn't a technique given to you here in this facility. As such, it will be imperative that we get you registered and accounted for within the Kinjutsu registrar." Ironic, huh? Just because Ko hadn't done so yet, that didn't prevent him from making sure that others followed the rules. "Furthermore, we'll have to make sure that you're actually healthy with such an intense physical change having happened within you. Some invasive surgery should reveal the extent of the technique's grasp over your bodily functions, and whether or not they are stable enough to continue as is."

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

"Hmmm." The boy could tell that something had gone wrong the moment his doctor expressed his surprise. Clearly, whatever the hell was put inside of him that day was still around, and it didn't appreciate sharing its space with anything else. That could be handy in the future, but it wouldn't be something that Ri would enjoy having around if it meant he couldn't get drunk easily. Ko took a moment to tell... Whoever was on the other end of the transmitter, that he wouldn't be doing anything else for a bit. This showed the giant just how important or dangerous this could prove to be. When the man looked back at him with such a serious look, Ri couldn't help but squint. Not only was it a little awkward having the guy stare at him like this, but it was obvious that they were about to go pretty damn far into this rabbit hole. Maybe even farther than he would want, and into other holes he didn't want anyone going into.. Ever.

Every suspicion about the seriousness of the situation Ri had was confirmed the moment the doctor said that it was... Serious. He explained that he may have an idea of what was going on in his body, but the boy raised an eyebrow to that statement. It was a bit unlikely that he actually did, especially since the guy who did this to him didn't even know what was going to happen. Speaking of that guy, Ko seemed to have a similar feel to him. A bit unnerving, for sure, but answers were answers, and they were exactly what he needed right now. Even if those answers weren't right, it might give him a feeling of solace. The boy listened carefully as the MiT explained what this "earth grudge fear" was, and said that it might be the cause of what was going on inside of him.

"Maybe..." He sighed, "But I have my doubts. There was a feeling in his gut that told him that wasn't the real cause of all this shit. The only real reason to know for sure though, was to explain what happened that day and see how the doc reacts. "I'll start from the beginning." The boy took a deep breath in, and let out one last sigh before starting, "So, one day I was in Wind Country, I didn't really have a reason for being there at the time, so let's just say I got lost. While I wandered around its hellish deserts, I came across some assholes who wanted to kill me while I was weak. Thankfully, I wasn't weak enough to be taken down so easily, and I managed to kill all six of them without a fight. Almost immediately after that, some creepy looking dude summoned a bunch of arms out of no where and started beating the crap out of me. While one of those arms held me in place, he injected me with some kind of poison that paralyzed me and I wasn't able to do anything without killing myself by trying." Ri took a moment to catch his breath, and to gauge the man's reaction so far. Obviously, nothing big happened in the story just yet, but it might give him some insight on who the man was if he happens to know him too. Of course, he knew the name, just not much else.

"After he explained who he was, he told me about what he was going to do to me. Sort of, anyways. He dug through one of the weird portals that the arms came from and pulled out a glass container. In that container was what looked like a baby sand worm, but really.. Really, demonic. He sliced my neck open and shoved the thing right on in there, then just watched while it squirmed around in my body. When I was about to lose consciousness from all of that damn pain and blood loss, I suddenly stopped bleeding. There was no way to tell what caused that, but I do remember the guy freaking out about it like he was fan-girling over an idol of sorts. Some shit happened after that, and I was sent back here. Only other thing I can remember was feeling a bit bloated and a couple pinches every so often." He took another deep breath after finishing his story, then looked back to the man in front of him. His explanation from before about registering his kinjutsu made sense, but only if what he had would be considered a kinjutsu. If the man that did this to him was as much of a man of science as he put off, it would make more sense if he already knew about the "earth grudge fear."

"Why don't we confirm what this crap is first? I'm not entirely sure if it's a kinjutsu or not, but... I guess I'll be willing to cooperate in whatever tests you have." The boy mostly wanted to push off registering whatever.. This is, because it sounded like too much of a hassle right now. Going through some tests that would most likely happen in the same room they were in right now, however, sounded much easier, and less time consuming. "So what's first?"

{MFT}​

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

{Inactivity Leaving}