Hidden in the Fine Print?

[Outoftheinferno]

I mean, he theoretically could, but why would he ever let those lovely bloodlines out of his research labs hands?

Click to shrink...

Not all his bases are in rice? Perhaps he's moving them from one to another?

 

[Lement]

Container seals?

I'm getting some vibes of Cursed Seal Sasuke. In any case....

[ ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED ] Steal from Orochimaru

[x] So, how long are they going to last in there?

 

[The Nobody]

I never imagined I would say it, but

[X] Guile.

 

[Winged One]

Uh, Guile, we don't have any gennin.

 

[Guile]

Uh, Guile, we don't have any gennin.

Click to shrink...

Apparently not. Changed it to 'chuunin' instead.

 

[Winged One]

[X] Guile

 

[Chibi-Reaper]

For all that you're nominally in charge of this, you don't know much about ninja. About as much as you know of the intricacies of actual nobility, Daimyo and their advisors, and the like. But even with your personal knowledge on the matter, you know that Bloodlines are important in both cases, though for different reasons.

So, this is the sort of thing that looks like a huge possible problem, but also an opportunity.

"Who in Rice could be behind this, and why?" you wonder aloud.

Nara straightens up a little, in interest.

"You think that they were going to Rice?" he says, thoughtfully. "It's possible, though I'm not aware of any ninja operations going on in that country... I don't have the benefit of a wide network of watchful eyes to call on these days either, though."

"It seems to stand to reason. The caravan came from Rice to begin with, and at the end of the circuit it's to Rice that they will return." you say.

"That's true. The purpose of a caravan is to stick together for safety in numbers, so they don't typically break apart without good reason and another caravan or two nearby to join up with. But it's not unknown either." Nara says, scratching his beard. "And the seals... aren't my specialty, but it looks like they'd last about long enough for the caravan to get back into the heart of Rice at normal speeds. But that doesn't mean it's their destination. Even if the caravan didn't break apart, that doesn't preclude leaving the cargo in a drop zone for someone else to pick up and move in a different direction, to throw off pursuit."

Nara considers.

"Could be Rice has something going on. Could also be that they were bound for a ninja village... Waterfall, Grass, Rain, any number of smaller outposts... from the big five, the only unlikely culprit is Mist. Rock, Sand, Lightning, or Leaf could all be a possibility." he says, not drawing any conclusions at all.

Axe, standing nearby and peering into a barrel, snorts.

"You figure the tree-huggers as the sort to go whole-hog on kidnapping? These brats don't look particularly 'rescued'." she grunts.

"That's true. Even in a stupor, a simple look over them says there are traces of long-term malnutrition for most of them, at least one case of what could be either prior substance abuse or chemical assistance to drop a target, and a few that show traces of injuries consistent with being captured by force and a struggle." Nara concludes. "That suggests that these were destitute orphans of one kind or another, and that while some of them might have been given a recruitment pitch it's probable that the majority were simply acquired, through one means or another. Not gently, which would have been a problem if there was anyone who cared enough to object... it's not the sort of tactic you take if you're looking for loyalty, or even plan to keep them around long, so my guess is that while some of them might have a different end destination, the majority are just lab rats for medical experimentation. Still doesn't really rule anyone out."

Axe arches an eyebrow.

"Gee. And here's my opinion of soft, huggable leaf ninja just cracked all to pieces." she says, sarcastically.

"It's a business practice. Go figure... sometimes the client gets unsettled. Saying that, you'd be astonished how healthy and full of life a tree can seem, even with the roots rotted clear through."

"Well, you'd be the one to know about that." Axe shrugs.

You feel a little uneasy with the discussion. Raw materials for experiments... doesn't quite mesh with the idea you'd had of ninja gaining power through some sort of grueling physical and mystical training regimen. Either way, it seems like you've made dangerous enemies, if they find out about this. It might be best for you to just... get rid of the evidence and forget it ever happened. Whether that means just dumping them all in a temple somewhere to grow up into acolytes or burying them in a hole.

But at the same time...

"Ninja typically mentor apprentices, isn't that right?" you ask, uncertain of the particulars.

"Sometimes. One to one gives the most individual tuition, but while that suffers in a larger group the standardized model these days is three students to one instructor." Nara explains. "It's made up for by the students co-operating with each other, and in ideal circumstances it works out slightly better than a solo apprenticeship. It should be obvious that situations are seldom ideal. Two to one tends not to work well, since one is typically left stewing alone while the other gets personalized instruction, and four to one stretches the instructor to the point that they usually can't juggle them all. Of course, established villages usually have a preparatory academy, too."

You shake your head.

"Right now, start with picking one to wake up and give a trial mentoring." you decide. "Or apprenticeship. Integrate somehow. The rest should keep for a little while, and it'll be easier to make arrangements if they aren't all introduced at once."

"Hm..."

Nara scratches his head, thinking.

"Yeah. If it's one at a time, I should be able to make sure there's not too much trouble on either end. Keep the cargo from a mass panic about being collected and intercepted, and time to be sure of the mentors too."

It takes you a moment to follow that train of thought, but it's almost traditional for a master to take advantage of the apprentice. Traditional or cliche, one or the other. On the other hand, this group probably didn't know what they weren't signing up for at all... but they're orphans snatched off the street, so it's probably not a huge surprise, either.

In the end, missing ninja are criminals, so you suppose it'll take some thought.

"There's no point if the mentor doesn't teach anything, after all. And you also have to consider who's going to just use them as convenient meat shields or suicidal distractions." Nara says, pausing and then deliberately not touching on the concerns you're already thinking of. "I'd rather not bother with it myself, but I guess I could take one and pass along some tips along with the work I don't feel like doing personally."

"Are you kidding? If that's the case, I want one too." Axe says obstinately, hackles rising, talking about the situation as if it's a child's dispute over toys. "If you think I'm just going to sit back and watch while you get a personal slave to handle the shitty bits while you polish up on the fun ones and I'm left without, you've got another thing coming!"

"... And if that's the case, then it's going to have to go to someone else first. Too much of a pain to deal with you if you're going to feel slighted over something like this. I'll figure something out for now. It's questionable how many of these were intended to actually become Genin anyway. If any."

"For the time being, I'll leave it to you, then. Make the best arrangement you can think of." you say, passing the buck as Nara gives you a thoughtful eye. "With that said, we need something resembling medical personell. Pick a few chuunin in good condition and have them search out options, then report back. I'll make a decision based on the data that comes back."

"Understood, Leader." Nara says, looking over the barrels. "Better start with the one showing chemical symptoms. If she is an addict, it'll give a little more time to finish withdrawals and recover. Feeding an addiction is going to be a problem in an area like this, so it's better to get the problem out of the way somehow or another instead."

---

"Poison Petals." Nara says, a few days later in your office.

"Wonderful." you say, attempting to pass along without saying it outright how little the words mean to you. "Why is she in my office?"

A little bit of drool hangs out of the dazed-looking young woman's mouth. Almost instantly, Nara has a small bottle pressed against her jaw, catching the spill until she takes hold of it herself.

"Bloodline. Nearly extinct, but good for assassinations. The natural fluids... sweat, tears, blood, so on, of a carrier include various possible toxins and chemicals. You've probably heard stories of killing with a kiss, and members of this bloodline could do that without preparing for it in advance. Well... could. The clan itself has been dead and survivors scattered since about sixty years ago." Nara explains.

"I see. And the reason she's in my office?" you ask, pointedly, as the girl keeps drooling into the bottle, eyes gaining a little more focus as it fills.

"Unfortunately, this one isn't suitable for training. Without another carrier to teach the basics of the bloodline and maintain discipline, or at least a highly qualified and talented medic-nin to try to make up for the lack, there are problems. I wasn't wrong when I guessed she was addicted, but some of the basic assumptions were off. It wasn't a choice that she could have made, and she can't be separated from the drugs that she naturally produces to get sober, either. It's just bad luck, but that compromises the focus, judgement, and basic capabilities that are required for almost everything beyond the barest basics of ninjutsu and genjutsu. Even taijutsu requires a certain discipline and understanding of your own body that can't really be managed while you're under influences like that, and sealing arts are right out. The only option is to focus on somehow training the bloodline itself, but without a more advanced member to handle the instruction the odds are against it actually going anywhere. Pure luck at best, and so having an ordinary ninja trying to pass anything along is a waste of time and effort. I'm one hundred percent certain that this one was going to end up on an operating table, with all of that considered."

"I see. And the reason she's in my office?" you repeat yourself, as the girl lifts the bottle and knocks back mouthfuls of her own saliva.

She lets out a long sigh, pupils twitching a little, and blinks.

"Did you want some?" she asks, having clearly ignored the conversation as she lifts the bottle up in your direction. You wave it away.

"You wanted to integrate them." Nara shrugs. "This one's useless for ninja training as far as I can determine, shouldn't be anywhere near food other people will eat, and even if we had a doctor already I'm not certain on how far she could be trusted to not help herself to the medicine cabinets, so... good luck with your new aide. It also looks good to have a visible bloodline carrier in your staff presence even if she's incompetent, because spies can never be completely sure."

"Ah." you say, flatly and not particularly sure why you're planning around spies getting into your village already. You can appreciate the passive-aggressiveness at its finest, but it's annoying when it's pointed at you. "And you think that's going to work out better handling official forms and documents?"

"Not many of those, yet." Nara points out. "Though admittedly, level of schooling is questionable. Light interrogation suggests she was settling into work as a low-quality geisha before being grabbed, so she's not completely uneducated, the question is just what she was taught and for how long. Normally I could give at least a reasonable estimate between that and apparent age, but the bloodline interferes with that... it's on record that the chemical slurry that keeps shifting in the bodies of the carriers can result in aging being either delayed and slowed or rapidly advanced. So in this case, she looks about fourteen with some uncertainty in either direction, but her actual age could be anywhere between eight and her late twenties to early thirties. Tricky to tell, with her brain pickling itself a little and drinking that doesn't help."

"Hmmn?" she says, blinking slightly as Nara gets her attention. He doesn't bother attempting to take the bottle away though, passing the buck right back to you.

"... If I was a betting man, though, I'd say older than she looks. There might be some interest in recreating the bloodline, but considering her condition, employment, and the future problems that training a new generation of bloodline carriers would bring in this case, smart money is on vivisection to determine what chemicals are floating around in her for longevity experiments." Nara concludes.

You start to speak, and are interrupted by hot, slightly damp breath against your neck as the girl slowly inhales through her nose.

"You smell like old paper and soap." she decides aloud, before leaving your personal space to wobble over to a desk at the side of the room, where she drops down on top of assorted books and scrolls and goes right to sleep.

"Moving right along." Nara says, waving slips of paper before you can get your words back in order. "We've got reports back from the chunin we've set out. Not much. Most civilians who get sick or need surgery have to half-ass it themselves and hope they hold out long enough to get to a bigger city or hire someone to come to them. The latter might be a viable solution, except that every ninja currently here has a bounty on their head, and funds are limited, and as such it'll be a problem to convince a ninja in good standing to overlook that. So, there are two options."

He raises a finger.

"First off, there's a retired surgeon living in a small town. He won't come out of retirement willingly though, and he objects enough to emergency clients hammering on his door. He'll still care for them though, so it's not impossible. Can't use chakra, but his surgical and traditional medical techniques are top-notch... difficult to scale him on a ninja system because of that. We'll have to forcibly relocate him, and it's likely that it won't be long before he's noticed missing. That could lead to hired ninja trying to sniff us out."

He raises another finger.

"On the other hand, one of the scouts noticed a C-rank missing medic-ninja near enough to make an approach. Not the best around, but the villages don't let the best go rogue. Unless you're Tsunade herself, then you get labeled as 'on sabbatical' instead of 'Deserted'. From what I remember of the bingo books... host of personality issues, tended to practice neutralizing poison by seasoning other people's food, too fond of corpses for anyone's comfort, but the village was able to overlook that until a high profile client died under her treatment. The accusation was that she'd let him die deliberately, but there's no way to say for sure."

---

[ ] ??

 

[Darkened]

If the medic-nin has experience or a focus or a fetish for neutralizing poisons, putting her into contact with the new assistant could be ideal.

 

[Winged One]

If the medic-nin has experience or a focus or a fetish for neutralizing poisons, putting her into contact with the new assistant could be ideal.

Click to shrink...

Also, we really don't need the heat from taking the other guy.

 

[The Nobody]

Interesting how people consider "could be ideal" and "might result in mad shenanigans" to be synonyms.

Both options have potential to result in long-term trouble. The largest trouble with the old surgeon would be mostly uncontrolled and unpredictable - that is, we cannon know, and have very little control over who gets hired to seek him out. If anyone gets hired for this. If the guy is important, or well-respected, or has powerful friends, then the odds of strong ninja getting hired to look for him are higher. There is also a possibility to arrange that our own ninja get hired to look for him. Maybe a low possibility, but still. On the other hand, there's also the trouble that the old surgeon himself might create, being potentially stubborn and strong of character, but I believe that might be minor.

The benefits of having the old surgeon rather than the young medic-nin is that if any of the remaining bloodline kids turn out not fit for combat, they at least might learn surgery. The other benefit is that he's not a crazy outcast with questionable skills or morals.

If the medic-nin gets "hired", will people even want to get treated by her? There's no sense in keeping a medic if no-one lets her near the organs they treasure. The potential for long-term trouble is even greater than with the old surgeon, but at least in this case we have a chance to detect it in advance and do something about it.

The benefits are, as mentioned, a potential to make Poison Petals a functioning member of society; and chakra healing, which can help where ordinary surgery falls short.

My decision would be to pick the one who's more willing to integrate into this new village.

 

[Winged One]

My decision would be to pick the one who's more willing to integrate into this new village.

Click to shrink...

That would probably be the medic-nin, since giving missing-nin a community away from their village is sort of our thing.

 

[Guile]

Personally, I just like irascible old men in Chibi quests.

[X] The surgeon. At least he's probably easier to control than a poison- and death-happy medic-nin. Having a third ninja take the two injured to his place as emergency patients seems like a good way to gauge how busy the old retiree is and who would miss him. A ninja mission gone wrong and a team in need of a stopover before returning to their village could be anyone, and whatever his services cost you can make back if/when you kidnap him.
[X] What on earth are you going to do with this assistant? You suppose free drugs are convenient, and could turn a profit or boost morale, but with her fluids being addictive... you're not sure you want 'your' men getting into it. In any case, you are definitely not sticking your dick in it- you're staying clear-headed as long as you're the figurehead of a team of ruthless murderers, thank you.

 

[Lon]

It takes you a moment to follow that train of thought, but it's almost traditional for a master to take advantage of the apprentice.

Click to shrink...

Poor underpaid interns.

 

[Winged One]

[X] The surgeon. At least he's probably easier to control than a poison- and death-happy medic-nin. Having a third ninja take the two injured to his place as emergency patients seems like a good way to gauge how busy the old retiree is and who would miss him. A ninja mission gone wrong and a team in need to a stopover before returning to their village could be anyone, and whatever his services cost you can make back if/when you kidnap him.
[X] What on earth are you going to do with this assistant? You suppose free drugs are convenient, and could turn a profit or boost morale, but with her fluids being addictive... you're not sure you want 'your' men getting into it. In any case, you are definitely not sticking your dick in it- you're staying clear-headed as long as you're the figurehead of a team of ruthless murderers, thank you.

Yeah, a bit more scouting sounds like a good idea.

 

[inverted_helix]

[X] The Medic-Nin, they are much more likely to be a willing worker and are less likely to have people wonder where they went. It's likely a hard life as a medic to be a missing nin. The poison bloodline will likely be quite interesting to them as well.

The medic nin had one important patient die. It's not even clear if she did it intentionally or just couldn't do enough. The surgeon isn't going to want to work with us, he doesn't even like doing emergency calls and he's retired. Trying to kidnap him to do medical treatment is a spectacularly bad plan. Keeping someone captive while getting labor out of them that requires you putting lives in their hands is ridiculous.

 

[Guile]

The medic nin had one important patient die. It's not even clear if she did it intentionally or just couldn't do enough.

Click to shrink...

The fact that she regularly poisons people and enjoys dead bodies suggests it was probably that second one.

 

[Lement]

Regularly poisoning people might mean we would need someone guarding our food.

How are we doing for dead bodies, though? Well, we will have two soon if we do nothing.

For now,

[X] The Medic-Nin, they are much more likely to be a willing worker and are less likely to have people wonder where they went. It's likely a hard life as a medic to be a missing nin. The poison bloodline will likely be quite interesting to them as well.

At the moment I'll take one our injured chuunin as guardsman rather than risk potentially large force coming after kidnapping a top-notch surgeon.

Also, I assume that chakra healing is easier to teach than surgery. Might be wrong, though.

 

[The Nobody]

Chakra healing might be easier to teach to people who can manipulate chakra precisely. If they have no chakra, no control, or can't project chakra, then they'd be better off learning surgery.

 

[Lement]

Surgery does kinda require learning human body, though; they aren't all neatly labeled inside it.

True on no chakra, but we have mostly ninjas here.

In any case, I'm taking the low-level saboteur over potential high-level destruction. We've already got Oro on our ass.

 

[Frakir's brother]

[X] The Medic-Nin, they are much more likely to be a willing worker and are less likely to have people wonder where they went. It's likely a hard life as a medic to be a missing nin. The poison bloodline will likely be quite interesting to them as well.

 

[The Nobody]

A curious mental image just came to me. For some reason, I got a feeling that bloodline training in Poison Petals clan might have involved a lot of french kissing.

Also, Chibi-Reaper, does the Leader have enough free time to build Social Links yet?

 

[Mu-Sensei]

Why not both? Medic Nin for rapid healing, Doc to make sure he doesn't kill all our Nin. As an added benefit, we can have our Poison girl specializing in medicine. I mean, if she can produce chemicals which can extend life, she can certainly produce medicinal stuff. It might require intimate healing, but was that even a problem for QQ?

Sexual healing was never a more appropriate soundtrack.

 

[Lement]

Because you get the disadvantages of both (poisons, tracking).

And sure, they could probably heal more of our ninja....

But I'm sure surgeon can't exactly deal well with poisons.

 

[Lon]

Sexual healing was never a more appropriate soundtrack.

Click to shrink...

The problem with poison girl is that she doesn't have someone to teach her how to make specific medicines, aka use her bloodline. So she kind of, can't really seem to turn her poison off or create something harmless and normal.

 

[Mu-Sensei]

The problem with poison girl is that she doesn't have someone to teach her how to make specific medicines, aka use her bloodline. So she kind of, can't really seem to turn her poison off or create something harmless and normal.

Click to shrink...

That's what we have the psycho med-nin for! Supply him with bandits, and he'll make SCIENCE! ...Eventually

 

[Happerry]

[X] The Medic-Nin, they are much more likely to be a willing worker and are less likely to have people wonder where they went. It's likely a hard life as a medic to be a missing nin. The poison bloodline will likely be quite interesting to them as well.

 

[Chibi-Reaper]

There's benefits and drawbacks to both sides of it. The biggest advantage for the surgeon is that in theory anyone can be taught to cut and stitch flesh, assuming they have a steady set of hands and can remember what twitching red bit is which and how they are supposed to look. As far as you can guess, medical ninja have to know and be able to do all that and be good with the ninja magic they use.

You assume they need to know how the organs they work with fit together, anyway. It stands to reason, at least.

So.... in theory, shouldn't the medical ninja be able to teach ordinary surgery too? You think, anyway. You might be wrong about that, but it sounds right, anyway.

When it comes down to it, you just feel better about collecting one more rogue ninja than you do about putting an old man in your position, stolen from the world and... not quite forced to work with a bared knife at your throat, but with the understanding of trouble to come if you don't play your role well.

Just an ordinary tax-collecting accountant, and not even a high level official one, can be easily replaced with any other. That was true even before all of this happened, and the only job requirements were basic math, enough people skills to keep a big hulking mass of visible muscle or two in line, and the understanding that if things didn't add up somewhere along the line you'd be sitting in a cell until someone else figured everything out.

"Pick up the medical ninja." you decide, in order to move your thoughts away from that.

There are drawbacks from her, but hopefully the benefits outweigh them, and the only people who might come looking for her are people who are already looking for her and hopefully won't be able to track where she's gone as long as she stays in a central location with minimal risk of wider exposure and doesn't leave it.

"In theory, that's one more potential instructor, as long as her interests aren't a problem. They're more focused around corpses than anything else, if the rumors are accurate, though. Comes down to it, we still don't know how many of them were meant for training in the first place, of course."

Nara shrugs and makes a few barked orders, and within minutes two of the B-ranked Jounin are off.

"Chuunin won't be enough?" you ask, thoughtfully.

"They might be." Nara admits. "If she plays along and just comes at the invitation, it'd be plenty. If she fights, though... she's only C-ranked herself, and that's mostly because of her healing jutsu, but being able to heal yourself as you fight makes things... tricky. Even if she's still only genin-level in other combat abilities, being able to heal her wounds on the fly means she's probably a match for two other chuunin. On the other hand, if she's confronted by an A-rank ninja then she'll immediately go on the defensive and attempt to retreat and escape the situation no matter what she's told. In that case talking is pointless and it's a forcible extraction, and that'll leave traces that hunter-ninja in the area can follow up on. It's balancing the option of letting her accept the polite invitation, while having enough power to wrap things up quickly even if she doesn't like the idea. It's really in her best interests, but you never know... we rogue ninja are a suspicious lot."

You think on that for a moment.

"It sounds plausible... but how much of it is also that you don't want to do it yourself or try to order her to do it instead?" you ask.

"Ah. That's a secret." Nara says, without the slightest hint of apology in his tone, before taking the lead of that 'Poison Petals' bloodline carrier and wandering off to find someplace to quietly nap.

Thinking about her... what are you going to do about her? Frankly speaking, she doesn't seem particularly useful in an ordinary sense, but it would probably be a bad idea to go any of the other directions that come to mind. It doesn't seem like she's able to guarantee what kind of drug comes out, and using anything like that is most likely a bad idea to begin with in this situation even if you know what it is. Best bet is probably...

.... You'll ignore her for now, and send her to do something that doesn't hurt anything if she makes a mistake, later, and try to get a handle on what exactly she's capable of.

--

In the end, it seems like the medical ninja comes willingly, or at least she isn't too roughed up to make a preliminary diagnosis when she arrives, while you're sleeping. That news comes the moment you wake in the morning, along with an official message.

It looks like your presence here hasn't gone unnoticed, and one of the head priests of the nearby shrines has been directed to feel you out. No hints that the holy men are considering forcing you out... yet. You'll have to see how that holds up when they realize that you plan to stick around, but for now they only seem interested in arranging a talk sometime soon.

You might be able to put that off for a while... you're not sure how long, though. It doesn't seem like a tense 'if you don't respond now, the next message is going to be tied to an arrow aimed at your heart' sort of letter, anyway.

First, though, you need to check up on the medical ninja...

On 'Kekkon'. Possibly the most ominous name you've heard yet.

... The face doesn't live up to the name, really.

"Oh my. You're the leader of this group?" she asks, cracking one eye further open to look at you, a faint smell from the makeshift operating room, wooden tables with straps in an ordinary and otherwise empty room, wafting out and lingering in her clothes and hair. Of blood and worse.

"I won't dance around the issue. How do things look?" you ask pointedly.

"Ah, right to business. Well then. In one case, recovery is simple. The wounds are deep, and they come dangerously close to being lethal in some cases, but I like to think I have something of a small talent for poison. Already on the road to recovery, though I'll have to perform a full treatment with some bed rest after. At this stage, however, that full treatment can be postponed indefinitely at only the cost of extended convalescence." she says, conversationally. "The trouble is the other, who needs attention first."

She pauses, considering her words before continuing.

"Unfortunately, he wasn't so lucky as to get off with near misses, and his opponent was using a different weapon. It didn't take long to determine that his intestines had been punctured in multiple locations, and nearly completely severed at one point. The smell should have been a clue for that."

"I see. And what does this mean for his odds of survival?" you ask.

"Well, that's tricky... right now I have to resort to cruder measures than I'd like, and I have him opened up a little further, pinned apart, and with all the dangerous segments of intestine set to let anything that passes fall out into a disposal bin. Unfortunately, a little bit of infection has already set in, though it doesn't seem to be spreading fast. The biggest concern is my own limitations, and so I'll have to treat him in three stages."

She holds up fingers to count them off.

"First, I need to heal the intestine itself and clean him out... not precisely in that order. I'll need to recover from that stage of the operation, so another two to three days after that I'll go back through and try to deal with the infection present, and however much it has spread in the time being. That's always a little tricky... after that I'll need to recover for a while again before making a final examination to be sure that everything has gone well. If it hasn't, then I'll need to try to heal the infection again and make another inspection later on, and again until there are no lingering traces. Once everything is confirmed in good condition I can completely heal the tissue and skin damage and he'll only need a week or so to recover from the trauma, assuming he's still alive." Kekkon explains.

"And what are his odds?" you ask.

"Well... septic infection isn't particularly advanced, and he hasn't died of his wounds yet. On the other hand, he's lost a lot of blood and the facilities aren't anywhere near what I'd like, so I have to make up for it with more chakra-intensive techniques and treatment... have to manually stimulate blood recovery, sterilization, any number of little things... I'd estimate seventy to seventy five percent chance of survival, and that treatment will eventually be fully effective, with around a fifty percent chance that everything properly takes on the first try."

She pauses, contemplatively.

"Of course, the treatment itself will be traumatic. Probably not as much as open surgery with knives, but on the other hand I don't keep anaesthetic on hand either. There's a small but very real chance that he might subconsciously give up on survival, in which case it'll be much harder. If the subject doesn't want to survive what they're going through, then the full burden is on the doctor." she admits.

You sigh.

---

Gain:

[Kekkon: C-rank medical ninja], medical diagnoses and treatments can now be performed and plans for proper medical facilities drawn up.

Used:

[Food: 1 turn. (Total 11 remaining.)]

-

[ ] How should you respond to Kekkon's diagnosis?

-

Actions: 1.

[ ] Construct: simple Barracks. (Cost 15K Ryo, build communal shelter. Morale -, Discipline and Camaraderie +)
[ ] Construct: Mess Hall. (Cost 18K Ryo, requires dedicated cooking staff. Morale +, food used more efficiently.)
[ ] Design: Basic medical building plans.
[ ] Restore: Temple Altar, Shrine, and Offertory Chest.
[ ] Meet: with nearby temple representatives. (Mission: Select personal guard for travel.)
[ ] Invite: nearby temple representatives to meet with you. (See above, but they come here, more details may be wise.)
[ ] Awaken: Seal-slumbering captives. (Choose to extract 1-8 from containers).
[ ] Mingle: with your ninja. (???)
[ ] ??

(There have still been no suggestions for leaderportraiture...)

 

[inverted_helix]

Argh only one action a turn is so ridiculously little considering all we need to do.

I wonder if we can have Kekkon filter through our poison-girl's fluid for useful substances. Might give her some anesthetic.

 

[Guile]

[X] Well, do the best you can, and I'll thank you for it. The missing-nin life isn't an easy one, and finding you was already more luck than I expected; I can't give the go-ahead for better medical facilities right now.

[X] Construct: Mess Hall.
-[X] Send back a polite missive requesting some time for us to get our affairs in order. Cite more work being required than expected to get the shrine running again.

I don't want to bring them to meet back here without the shrine itself being repaired, but I also can't really say the shrine is more useful to us than a mess hall, considering our food troubles. How much ryo do we even have here? Can we afford the barracks or mess hall upgrades? If not, the shrine repair (followed by inviting the mikos in next turn) seems like a good play.

Mingle: with your ninja. (???)

Click to shrink...

Are you mad?! These guys are scary as hell.

suggestions for leaderportraiture

Click to shrink...

Pics for yak accountants or lawyers are hard to find. How about

 

[Winged One]

Hm... I'm leery of doing anything with a morale penalty before we have a bonus to negate it. The temple restoration is probably a good idea to do before we make diplomatic contact with the priests, but we have more immediate needs than that. I don't think we've done enough for the ninjas for mingling with them to be safe. Opening the jars of people will introduce more complications, though more opportunities as well.

Yeah, I think stretching our food supply is the best use of our time. We've done enough for those injured Chuunin, right? Will having medical infrastructure in the planning stages even help them?

[X] Construct: Mess Hall. (Cost 18K Ryo, requires dedicated cooking staff. Morale +, food used more efficiently.)