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Sonaba Yazo found the colour had drained from the world. Nothing felt as vibrant as it had before his injury. It was as though someone had painted over the world with a dull grey wash. Not even the taste of the cooking of his mother, who had come all the way from their hometown to the village, did anything to lift his mood.
"What is your opinion, doctor?"
Sitting by his side was Jōnin Sonaba Makina, his aunt and the current clan head. She had left her busy post to come to the Hidden Leaf Village last week after hearing about the injury to his hand. She didn't trust the ANBU to provide the proper medical services—as ridiculous as that sounded, especially for an assault squad operative like him who had access to the best iryōjutsu ANBU had to offer—and yet, she wasn't incorrect because a jōnin like her could take him to see iryō-nin of the jōnin class, something that ANBU lacked. The Hidden Leaf only had a few of those, and it was a waste to bind them to ANBU.
"… Given the current condition, I'm afraid loss of partial functionality is unavoidable. I'm sorry, Chūnin Yazo. It's terrible," said the old iryō-nin.
Yazo pursed his lips and hung his head. There was no pain when he clenched his hand into a fist, but there was a slight numbness and a tingle whenever he tried to move his fingers. Half the time, his hand felt slow, like there was a lag between his hand and brain; the other half, it was as though his hand was only getting half the instructions. They had already had him run dexterity and strength tests that involved various hand seals and bukijutsu tests, and he knew what the results would say beforehand because he could feel it. The sluggishness and sloppiness of his movements, the tautness of his muscles, and the persistent weakness that he couldn't overpower, no matter how hard he tried.
"I'm confident that with a proper regimen and care, we can return to pre-incident levels in time with sensory re-education and muscle strengthening."
"What of his future?" Makina asked.
Yazo's body clenched. The future. His potential. It didn't matter if he could somehow return to his previous hand skill and dexterity; the most important question was whether he could overcome that limit to continue his growth as a shinobi.
"… This will remain a persistent problem. It's not insurmountable, but with extensive nerve damage, only time will tell how Chūnin Yazo's natural healing will facilitate nerve regrowth. In the best-case scenario, he would need to put in an inordinate amount of effort to ensure his hand doesn't fall behind…"
"And the worst-case?" Yazo asked.
"Some degree of motion becomes permanently unavailable."
———
.
It was strange to have his jōnin aunt in his bachelor's apartment that he had neglected to clean, but Yazo was far too exhausted to care. He was also not in the mood to live in his aunt's mansion in the village with a year-round caretaker crew, even though she barely lived a couple of weeks there.
"We will continue to monitor the situation. These types of injuries have a long road of recovery, even with iryōjutsu. In the meantime, there are some experimental procedures that we can give a try," Makina said as she paced around his living room.
She turned around to see if her nephew was listening to her. The Sonoba used to be a minor clan until she became a jōnin. However, for a clan to be truly recognised as a rising powerhouse, the presence of jōnin in consecutive generations was required. Yazo was the one with the highest chance of reaching jōnin in their clan's youngest generation.
His talent wasn't that of young prodigies like Uchiha Itachi and Hatake Kakashi, but he had a splendid aptitude, an excellent work ethic, and a willingness to work hard. She was confident that with her guidance, he had a real chance at chakra enlightenment, given time to develop.
"What are you reading? Who is that from?" Makina asked. Yazo was reading a letter.
"A colleague," Yazo replied with none of his brightness, which had been missing ever since she had arrived to see him. "He wants me to meet someone whom he thinks can help."
"From ANBU?"
He nodded.
"Who is he recommending?"
"Not an iryō-nin. He wants me to meet his mentor."
Makina frowned. "Thank them, but say that we are looking at our own options."
If it was not an iryō-nin, she wasn't interested. Yazo was in a delicate situation, and she didn't want her nephew to meet a potential fraud who might give him false hope by claiming guaranteed results only to fail him later. She had carefully curated who she allowed to examine Yazo. She had put out feelers the moment she found out, and people had crawled out of the woodwork with claims that they could help. Most didn't even have the credentials to back up their claims.
"I'll meet them," Yazo said.
"I'm against that."
"He's probably going to be my new boss." Yazo had heard the rumours from his squad mates. "I don't know if I'll be allowed to retain my post. I need to be on good terms with my commanding officer to appeal for a new post if I get booted."
Makina pursed her lips. The Yazo she knew wouldn't be talking about a new post. He would be confident that he could pull through until the very last moment. His mental state wasn't great, and she was worried that it might get worse.
"I'll be accompanying you," she said.
Yazo glanced at his aunt for a moment. She wasn't asking, and he didn't want to argue.
"I'll ask him."
———
.
Makina stared at an old home in the outskirts of the village within the walls. It was well-maintained and had a distinct nostalgic charm of the old architecture, but it didn't inspire confidence in her.
They were there to meet Maruboshi Kosuke. Given Makina's authority, it wasn't difficult to find everything about the man who certainly lived an impressive life with a connection to the highest level in the form of the Second and Third Hokage and an unorthodox yet impressive career for a shinobi who had refused to be promoted past genin.
She was sure that the man was a true-seasoned veteran deserving respect and not some phoney poser, but that didn't convince her that Maruboshi Kosuke would be of help with her nephew's problem.
The door opened, and a teenager stepped out to welcome them.
Makina blinked.
She had avoided looking into Yazo's "future boss" because any inquiries into ANBU-nin—a high-ranking one at that—would be flagged, and she didn't want to deal with the masks sending their people to question why she wanted to know about one of them. She had directly asked Yazo about him, so she was expecting someone young, but not a young teenager who would need to overhaul his wardrobe because he would have outgrown it by next year.
This was one of the current most important shinobi in the Hidden Leaf?
"Is this him?" she asked Yazo to confirm.
"Uh-huh," Yazo said.
"I welcome you to my home, Jōnin Makina. My name is Takuma," the boy introduced himself as he stepped outside.
"Thank you for the invitation, Takuma."
Takuma said his greetings to Yazo and then led the two Sonaba shinobi into the living room of the house, where an old man was preparing tea and refreshments for the guests. An old shinobi with a dense mission record told a story of death-defying competence. His body was decades separated from his prime, but Makina sensed a strength in his bony limbs, and it told her that this man had attained enlightenment, which had allowed him to retain a body that could still stand on the battlefield.
"It's an honour to meet you, Jōnin Makina, Chūnin Yazo," Maruboshi greeted them.
"No, sir. The honour is mine," Makina said.
All of them sat down around the homely table without a hint of pretence and shared some small talk over refreshments.
"I have already discussed your condition, but it'd be best if you give your own account," Takuma said to Yazo, gesturing to Maruboshi.
Yazo looked at the old man. Like Makina, he also wasn't confident about how Maruboshi could help when he wasn't even an iryō-nin, but he knew and trusted that Takuma wouldn't have invited him without a reason.
"I see." Maruboshi nodded and took a sip of tea. "I thank you for your service to the village, and I'm sorry for your loss. I have a difficult question for you, if you don't mind, Chūnin Yazo."
Yazo nodded. "Please."
"What would you do if the worst-case scenario comes true?" Maruboshi asked.
There was a pin-drop silence in the room. Makina gazed at her nephew and saw dread clench his body, and her heart called out for him, immediately wanting to comfort him or say something to Maruboshi that would undercut the tension, but she held her tongue because Yazo was no longer the child she remembered, but a true shinobi. She looked at Maruboshi and found a seriousness; he had not asked the question casually and was expecting a thought-out response. Takuma, on the other hand, wasn't looking at anyone and had his calm gaze affixed on his teacup with an understanding of why Maruboshi had asked the question.
Yazo remained silent for two minutes, a long spell of silence. "I'm a shinobi. My parents are shinobi. My aunt is a jōnin. It's all I wanted to be since I was a child. I don't know anything else…"
"You are still young, Chūnin Yazo. With the world out there, you could be anything else. You could find a new calling," Maruboshi responded.
"I could. I could," Yazo said, well aware of the fact that he could find plenty of opportunities given his shinobi background. "But I don't want to. I want to be a shinobi."
"Even if this is the highest you might reach in your career?"
Yazo chuckled, a hint of his bright self peeking through the haze of depression. "I think I have reached quite a high point,"—he was an assault squad operative at ANBU; there wasn't a more respected position in the entirety of the Hidden Leaf—"but I understand your question; even if this is the highest I reach, I still want to be a shinobi… And, I-I…"
"Yes, please don't hold back," Maruboshi said.
Yazo straightened with an intense emotion shining in his eyes. "This is not the height of my career. I don't believe this is my end. I refuse to believe this is my end. If I can't be the shinobi I have been until now, then I will find a way to become a different shinobi that I and others can be proud of."
Makina felt emotions bubble in her chest. The stupid kid who once ate a small bucket of dirt when she wasn't looking had grown into a splendid shinobi. He had convictions one could be proud of. She was going to tell her brother and sister-in-law that their son had grown into a proud shinobi of the Hidden Leaf.
"Very well. Takuma says that it would be a great loss for the Hidden Leaf to lose a shinobi like you, Chūnin Yazo. For that and your convictions, I offer you my help." Maruboshi adjusted his sitting position and then fiddled with something near his legs before breathing a moan of pain and relief. "I'm not an iryō-nin. I will be of no help in that regard, but I'm sure you have plenty of help on that front. However, I can help you rediscover yourself as a shinobi as per your wishes."
Maruboshi stood up without any help and stood on one leg because that's all he had. Yazo and Makina stared in surprise at the missing leg and then at the prosthetic in Maruboshi's hand.
"I lost my leg on a mission in my youth. I was inconsolable for weeks. You are in a much better state than I was, which means you are mentally stronger than I was at my moment of tragedy. I managed to pull myself out of that dark pit and reconstructed myself as a new man and a new shinobi and then served the village no less than before… If I could do it, you can do it as well, Chūnin Yazo. If you wish to be a shinobi and are prepared to go on an arduous journey that will be the most difficult time of your life, then I will help you be born anew."
A tear trickled down Yazo's cheek, and with it the emotions he had been hiding to maintain a strong front. The light returned to his eyes and the colour to his face. He shook as he got on his knees and bowed until his head was touching the ground.
Beside him, Makina bowed as well.
"Please help me. I will be forever grateful, sir," Yazo said.
.
———
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The link is in the synopsis!