Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve

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"Easy there!" Takuma hissed.

"Don't be a baby," Ai rebuked as she held her glowing palms against a burned spot on his back. "You should take it easy on this training. Repeated healing like this will leave your skin dry and flaky."

They sat in an empty room at the hospital where Ai worked. He had been visiting since he started training the Yang Release: Fire Dragon Scales.

"I'll moisturise," Takuma said, his face wrinkling from the pain.

He had found a training room in the ANBU facility, which helped him train the ninjutsu by spraying intense jets of fire directly at him. It helped because he understood how Nature transformation of chakra led to the growth of fire-resistant scales on his skin.

He would agree that he was overdoing it by hurting himself, but he needed the Shadow Clone Jutsu as soon as possible. He attempted to make clones twice a day, bookending his days with an attempt—but had only experienced failure.

He had access to iryo-nin at ANBU, but he had been going to Ai because she had an important examination coming up that would decide if she would be allowed to call herself an iryo-nin or wait another year before trying again, so she needed all the practice she could get.

Working in a hospital gave her access to all the patients she could ask for, but there wasn't anyone as reckless to show up every other day with semi-severe injuries.

"What are your thoughts about Yang Release?" Takuma asked her

Ai had been studying iryōjutsu, which was heavily based in Yang Release for a while now and had a deeper understanding of it than him.

"To be honest, I don't associate iryōjutsu with Yang Release. For the past two years, I have been busy learning all there is to know about the human body because that's the foundation of iryōjutsu. I learn about a body part, its function and importance, the diseases and complications associated with it, what happens when things go amiss, and how to ensure that that body part stays healthy. When I learn an iryōjutsu related to that body part, I am thinking about that body part instead of Yang Release, if you know what I mean."

Takuma stayed silent in contemplation for a moment before responding, "For you, the body part and your knowledge about it is at the forefront and of focus, and iryōjutsu is simply a tool to ensure you can heal it. You're more concerned with what iryōjutsu can do more than the how."

"That's half-correct. It wouldn't do if I didn't know how an iryōjutsu works, but I haven't gone that deep on how an iryōjutsu does what it does. I'm satisfied as long as I can get it to work properly," Ai replied as she used a flat spoon to apply a cold balm on his healed burn.

Takuma nodded. From his understanding, learning an iryōjutsu was only one skill needed to be an iryō-nin; medical knowledge was just as important and learning all of that theoretical information was what enhanced and backed the practical implementation. The focus on the iryōjutsu would come next after she established a solid foundation of knowledge.

"But, if I had to answer, for me, Yang is the manipulation of the body. All iryōjutsu I know manipulates the organic material in the human body. We use that manipulation to heal, but it could very well be used to cause harm. Even that jutsu of yours manipulates the skin to create those scales." Ai slapped his back at a burnt spot that had been healed. "There, it's all done."

Takuma hissed again as he straightened up his back.

"That's no way to treat a patient, Ai."

Both of them turned to see Doctor Oishi, Taro's dad and Ai's teacher, enter the room with a smile on his face.

"It's okay. He won't admit it, but I know he likes the pain," Ai said to her teacher before turning toward Takuma and mouthing the word, 'Masochist.'

Takuma just rolled his eyes at her. It was not the first time he had been accused of being a masochist. Taro brought it up as a joke during a night out, and it had firmly stuck despite his efforts to dissuade them from using it. In fact, the more he tried to deny it, the more they used it. He felt he needed to come up with irritating nicknames for

"Teacher, Takuma is trying to learn a Yang Release jutsu. What are your thoughts about Yang Release?"

Takuma turned to Doctor Oishi with great interest. It had to be noted that the man was a Tokubetsu Jōnin. The rank was awarded to those who had achieved the almost insurmountable task of attaining jōnin-level skill in a particular field but lacked the other requirements to become a jōnin.

Doctor Oishi had been promoted to Tokubetsu Jōnin for his skill in iryōjutsu; he was one of the best healers in the Hidden Leaf.

"I'm afraid that's not a simple question to answer," Doctor Oishi said as he sat down on a bedside stool. "Yang means a lot of different things. For the longest time, I viewed Yang as something that controlled vitality because that's what I was taught. The jutsu I practised always seemed to promote the rate of recovery and healing in my patients by using charka. But then I also started to see it as a catalyst for growth—and not just any growth; it allowed me to temporarily modify a patient's blood during surgery so it would clot faster to a level impossible naturally. Just by understanding and learning to combine those two, I have been able to make it this far in my career. Seeing how iryōjutsu is firmly rooted in Yang Release, I even looked into its role in life itself."

Takuma didn't know much about it, but he recalled Ai telling him that Doctor Oishi had shown interest in obstetrics and was working with pregnant women or those who wanted children and was doing some preliminary research to understand more about chakra's role in the creation of life.

"By no means do I think I fully understand the Yang nature to its fullest, nor do I think I will in this lifetime. I also believe that you can't truly understand the depths of Yang when it's only one-half of the cyclic nature and is intrinsically linked with Yin," said Doctor Oishi humbly.

Takuma understood what was just said, but he also knew that he couldn't take that information to extend and interpolate on it because he knew very little about Yang Release or iryōjutsu, which was the source of Doctor Oishi and Ai's understanding.

He didn't know the right questions to ask to increase his knowledge. Even if he went to a library, he wouldn't know which book to look into. As he was right now, the only way to improve would be to have someone spoon-feed him enough until he had a proper base—but he didn't have the time to go that route.

And it looked like he wore his thoughts on his face as Doctor Oishi said,

"Here's what you should do. Take the ninjutsu you're learning and try to isolate what property of Yang nature it's using. Any nature—be it cyclic or basic five—all of them have tremendous depth and multiple characteristics. Knowing what you're using will help you to focus your efforts in the right manner."

Takuma nodded, perhaps more confused than before starting the conversation.

———

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"So, how's the new kid? Tapir says that he will fit well in the unit."

Campbell sat before a large man with bulging muscles on his wide frame, who had more hair on one of his arms than people had on their whole bodies and even sported a wild mane that would put even the most extravagant lions and horses to shame. They were in the large man's office because it had one of two chairs in their workspace, large and strong enough to fit him.

"Didn't you scout him? Why are you asking me?" asked Campbell, annoyed that he was pulled into a meeting at the end of the work day when he wanted to go home and start enjoying his day off early.

"Of course, but you can only know certain things by spending time with the target."

The man was Campbell's boss, codenamed Barbary and wore a lion mask. He was an ANBU Captain in charge of a unit with multiple squads. Because of his size, new rookies mistook him for someone from an assault unit, even though he had been leading an inquisitor unit for over half a dozen years.

"He's not my target. He's a temporary student," Campbell countered.

"Like you can switch off your instinct and habits just because someone isn't your target," Barbary scoffed.

Campbell clicked his tongue. Observing people was an important skill, but it had become an occupational hazard when he couldn't turn it off. He had lost friendships and even relationships because, despite his best efforts, he made people uncomfortable when he knew things about them before they shared them with him.

"...He's hardworking—"

"Oh, he must be a maniac if you call him hardworking," Barbary laughed.

Campbell ignored him. "He's polite and looks like he has a good head on him. I worry that he might be unable to navigate in the unit properly and might end up isolating people—"

"Are you sure you just aren't talking about yourself?"

Campbell sighed, unable to continue this conversation, so he went to wrap it up quickly. "He asks smart questions during our sessions, and even though he's a bit slow on the pickup, he makes it up with his effort. He's willing to listen but will try to do his own thing first if he believes it's right. Give him someone who will answer his queries patiently, and he will be fine."

"Alright, I'll do that," Barbary smiled.

Campbell narrowed his eyes and wanted to ask what he meant by that but held back. But it seemed that Barbary had already dug the hole and was only waiting to push him in.

"Prepare for his induction. Let's make it grand, make him feel welcome and give him a chance to impress us," said Barbary.

Campbell sighed, not only because he now had more work but also because their unit's induction could go either way. The last one they had done had left the recipient not amused—not one bit.

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The link is in the synopsis!