Naruto: Akira’s Story

The hospital looked like a concrete-era prefab building with a fresh coat of paint with a decent roof. If you ignored the wires and pipes running along the outside, it actually looked… well, let's not kid ourselves, it wasn't a hospital, it was more like a madhouse. Luckily, inside, the place was actually pretty nice. [ image ]



At reception, a cute girl in a lab coat asked me a few questions and immediately sent me up to the second floor, room twenty-nine.

My medic, who introduced himself as Ishi, activated his concentration seal and ran some green chakra over my knuckles, checking my wrist while he was at it.

I have no idea how it works, but I was seriously impressed by how quickly the pain faded.

"That's it, Akira-san. Fortunately, you didn't damage any tendons. In three days, your bones will be fully healed. Until then, I recommend you avoid putting extra strain on the joint."

Fast, professional, but damn expensive. I paid five thousand ryo for my own stupidity. I clenched my fist a few times and felt only a little discomfort, thanked the medic, and headed home.

I don't know about those three days, but by the next day, I could barely feel any pain in my knuckles. So the excuse I'd come up with before bed to skip training was already out the window.

Two days later, the Hokuishi family let me know they'd started distributing my book to several bookstores. The first batch was fifty copies for three stores - they didn't want to take more at first. They bought the books for 650 ryo each. When I recognized one of the stores as the place where I'd bought Jiraiya's books, I headed over right away. Of course, I wasn't expecting to see a huge line of people dying to buy my book - I just wanted to pick up something to read.

To my surprise, as soon as I walked in, the shopkeeper started pitching my own book to me. I found it pretty funny, but I turned him down, saying I was there for the latest volume of Icha-Icha.

It took some digging, but I finally found the last volume and grabbed it.

"What the…" I muttered, noticing someone else's hand reaching for the book at the same time as mine.

Damn, Kakashi's good - I didn't even notice him. But why does he need this volume? I'm sure he's read it to pieces by now. We both pulled on the book at the same time.

"I was here first," I said calmly, looking him in his one visible eye.

"I don't think so," he replied, still holding onto the book.

"Hm, all right, let's settle this like adults." I put the book back on the shelf and rolled up my kimono sleeve.

"Pff, fine, but remember, you asked for it." He hid his right hand behind his back, and I raised mine to ear level.

"Rock, paper, scissors." I called it out quickly and threw paper.

"Damn!" I couldn't hold back my reaction and handed him the book. "Now I'll have to go to another store." He couldn't have cared less, and on top of Icha-Icha, he grabbed In Search of Truth and left.

Honestly, I really didn't feel like going to another store, so I grabbed a random book and wandered off to the park to warm up a bench. On the way, I picked up a box of dango for a snack.

The book, which seemed promising at first, bored me by page ten, so I spent the next ten minutes just eating dango.

I should really find something to do. The clones are handling chakra control and fuinjutsu practice just fine on their own. The sequel to In Search of Truth is coming along, even if it's slower than I'd like, and the restaurant only needs me to count the profits and stash them in the safe. So after my morning workouts, I'm basically free all day… That's nice, but I should find something else to do for an hour or two. I wonder if the hospital offers courses for med-nin? Being able to heal with chakra seems like a useful skill.

Brushing off the crumbs, I wandered back toward the center, tossing the empty dango box in the trash.

At the hospital, they explained that there are indeed med-nin courses, and they're free. The only catch is, they start every six months, and I was about two months late. No one was about to start a new group just for me, so I'd have to wait four months for the next round. According to the very chatty nurse who explained all this, they get a group of twenty to forty people every six months, but by the end of the two-year course, only five or six usually make it. Everyone wants to earn as much as a med-nin, but few have the willpower and patience to even make it to junior assistant. 

If you show promise, you can make senior assistant in six months, then move up to full assistant, and only with the approval of a supervising med-nin and passing the exam do you become a med-nin yourself. Then there are ranks, starting at D-class and going up to A-class.

From further questions, I learned that there are only twelve A-class med-nin in all of Konoha who can reattach limbs, replace organs, or piece together shattered bones - and four of them have long since retired. And as for S-class med-nin, there's only one in all of Konoha, maybe even the whole world - Tsunade.

And all I wanted was to learn the Mystical Palm Technique, just to heal simple wounds or minor fractures.

Did Sakura really get that good in three years? Hard to believe. Here, making C-class med-nin in five years is considered a big achievement. If it were just about chakra control, there'd be way more medics.

Thanking the nurse for the info - and, in my head, for the view down her neckline - I decided to treat myself to a soak in the hot springs. Lucky me, today was mixed bathing day. Thank the heavens, I didn't have to be shy, but I'm not used to putting my goods on display for everyone, so after a quick rinse, I wrapped myself in a not-so-wide towel and headed for the springs.

"Mmm, good evening." When you suddenly have a bunch of people staring at you, it's a little awkward. I'd gotten so used to having the hot springs to myself in the mornings that I was a bit thrown off to see fifteen naked people all looking my way.

The men were just sitting in the water up to their chests, some with towels folded on their heads. The women, except for a few, were also sitting naked, though about half of them were covering their chests out of modesty.

As soon as I approached the edge of the spring, everyone stopped staring, but the moment I dropped my towel and started dipping my leg in, I caught a bunch of quick glances my way again.

I get the women - curiosity and all that - but the guys? Were they mentally comparing sizes? Hope they don't get depressed…

"Ahh…" I couldn't help but let out a sound as the sudden heat washed over my skin - in some spots, the water was almost scalding.

Lying there in the hot mineral water was so relaxing I started to drift off, but I wasn't planning to stay more than half an hour, so I forced my eyes open every now and then to keep from falling asleep.

"Kurenai, let's go sit over there, by that hottie." I'm not trying to flatter myself, but I'm pretty sure I was the "hottie" in question.

Twenty seconds after I closed my eyes, I heard someone slip into the water beside me.

"Hey, handsome, mind if we join you?" asked… Anko, yeah, I think that was her name. She looked good - pretty fit, but then, all kunoichi are.

"I don't think you'd bother anyone here." I smiled.

"Oh, he's even sexier up close," she said to the girl next to her, not the slightest bit shy.

"Anko! Try to behave, he can hear you… Sorry about her," said the red-eyed beauty.

"I doubt he's offended. You're not offended, are you, handsome-san?" Anko asked with an innocent smile.

"Not at all. Call me Akira." I smiled back, and under the water, I stopped her wandering finger as it started exploring my leg.

"Hehe, all right, I'm Anko, and this is my friend Kurenai. Just call me Anko." If she hadn't licked her lips at the end, it might have sounded like she was just being friendly.

"Nice to meet you, Akira-san," Kurenai said right away.

"Akira, I've never seen you here before. Actually, I'd remember if you were local. Are you new in Konoha?"

"Yeah, I moved here just over a month ago. You two must be shinobi. You're both in great shape."

"Bingo! I'm a Tokubetsu Jonin, and my friend here is a Jonin. Hard to believe such a sweet girl could take down a whole squad of genin, right?"

"Uh, probably not. So, you came here to relax after a mission?" I asked.

"I did. Anko just decided to keep me company. What about you, Akira-san - chuunin from which village?" If I was surprised, I didn't show it.

"Oh-ho, do you have some kind of special eyes? Actually, I'm not a chuunin, and I don't belong to any village. I'm just a citizen of the Land of Fire, nothing more."

"No, I just have a good sense for chakra, and you've got as much as a chuunin, maybe even a bit more." Anko, sitting next to me, narrowed her eyes a little.

"Well, maybe I've got the chakra, but I doubt I could even take down a wild boar, and my hands are softer than any housewife's." I showed her my palm.

"Haha, for real! Kurenai, feel this - I bet even my butt is…" Whatever she was about to say, I didn't get to hear, because Kurenai clamped a hand over her mouth.

Sliding my hand back under the water, I decided to be a little bold - and I'll say this, from what I managed to feel, her butt was pretty soft.

Anko pretended not to notice and kept laughing after Kurenai let go.

"Akira, sorry if this is too forward, but what do you do for a living? We do missions, risk our lives, all that. Are you in the service industry?" Anko asked, ignoring her friend's glare.

"Mmm, in a way, you could say that. I'm a writer and a restaurateur."

"Wow! What do you write? Kurenai here loves books, though I usually prefer short story collections." Kurenai nodded and looked at me with interest.

"I just finished a book called 'In Search of Truth.' It only just started coming out, so it might be hard to find - it's only in a few bookstores for now."

"Interesting title, Akira-san. Can you tell us a little about the plot?" Kurenai asked.

"No problem. In short, it's about…"

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