“Have you had that happen, Master?” Lilian asked, “A Client trying to accuse you of something, I mean.”
“Yeah,” Raizen said, sighing. “The fact I was truthful in my mission report helped as well as a mind walker confirm my report over what the Client was trying to accuse me of.” He glanced down at Ralph. “Alright. I’ll talk with Quill for a moment then I’ll take you to the hospital to get checked out. All three of you, to be on the safe side.”
“Yes, sir,” Team 17 replied.
Ralph thought about what Raizen said with a frown. He didn’t want to believe a client would try to bend the truth to fit their lie, but on the other hand, he had been warned in the Academy’s Basic Training, there would be clients that would try to cheat, lie and steal what they could from the Hidden Bark Village, no matter how well a Bark Ninja preformed during their mission. He glanced toward Lilian. She stared at the ground with a trouble expression on her face. Her eyes glazed over with unspoken thoughts. He wanted to ask her what was wrong, but a loud clear toll rang out through the village.
At first, he frowned, wondering what was that sound. He glanced up at Raizen. The older ninja froze. His back straightened as his eyes widened with horror. Ralph thought about the sound. He knew it was a rare familiar sound from the time he had spent in the Academy. It clicked as he remembered the lesson over the various drills every student to preform every year.
The civilians were supposed to hid in the closet cellar while the Police Force required to lock down the Village. The ninja on the other hand, were called to duty. That sound echoing through the buildings was the Intruder Alarm. Someone had invaded the Hidden Bark Village.
A cold block of ice settled in Ralph’s stomach as his heart picked up. He glanced at his teammates. Enzo’s face had lost all color while Lilian’s eyes had widen to the size of dinner plates as they remembered the drills and the lessons. A part of Ralph wondered a moment later when he glanced up at his teacher, waiting on his instructions on what to do next.
Raizen frowned as he watched them before he spoke up, “Team, I know you have went through the various drills over what to do when there is an intruder inside the Village’s walls.” Team 17 nodded. “However, since I am your Teacher, I have the ability to give you your orders.” The team nodded again. “My orders are simple - ignore the alarm.”
Ralph blinked while Enzo stumbled over his own feet and Lilian bleached. Ralph looked at Raizen sharply and asked the one question they had, “Why?”
“You three as well as myself, are not in a position to help propel this intruder,” Raizen explained, “The Black Hands will be able to handle this problem without our help. We all are injured or drained.” He gave a pointed look at Lilian when she opened her mouth to protest. “On top of that, you three have graduated from the Academy this month. We haven’t really started your training in the various jutsu available to you at this level.”
They heard a crashing sound. Ralph jerked his head back and stared up at the nearby rooftop. The sound came from there. Lilian jumped onto the nearest stack of boxes with Enzo following her. Ralph wanted to join them, but he didn’t know if his ribs would let him to test his endurance like that.
“Lilian, Enzo, get back here!” Raizen barked. They paused on the top of box and peered over the edge of the roof. They glanced at each other. Lilian turned to Raizen and held up one finger while she mouthed the word enemy.
Ralph frowned. There was one enemy? His thoughts race. How was the village having trouble with just one enemy? He rolled his eyes at himself as he remembered the ambush from the local shifter pack. Most of the Village was distracted from the shifter attack. It would have been the perfect opportunity for someone to sneak into the village and do some damage. Nobody would have known about this mysterious enemy until later if they didn’t trip something or ran into someone.
A sharp wind blew through the alleyway causing Ralph to flinch as his gray hair whipped around his head. Raizen cursed loud enough for Ralph to hear. Meanwhile, Lilian and Enzo ducked down from the edge of the rooftop as the stack of boxes rocked back and forth. Enzo fell off the stack of boxes and landed on his side. Ralph winced as he heard a loud crack. Enzo let out a small cry of pain and rolled over off his side. He sat up and turned his attention to his arm. It had a strange bend to it, halfway through his forearm. He held it up and saw the lower part hang down.
Lilian landed in a crunch and slowly stood up, a couple feet away from Raizen. She looked at their teacher, saying, “I think that was the intruder. He was wearing all black, just like a Black Hand, and there was smoke coming from the Government Tower.”
Raizen blinked and commented, “Government Tower? That’s not good.” He turned to Enzo, “Let’s get you three to the nearest hospital to check out.” He helped Enzo to his feet and took a scroll and a long strip of cloth before he straightened out Enzo’s broken arm with the scroll and wrapped the cloth around it. He tied it. “It will hold until we can get to the hospital.”
~The Hidden Bark Village Hospital~
The hospital was packed when Team 17 got there. Ralph spotted most of the people were civilians, hiding in the hallways with a team of Black Hands standing guard in the lobby. He claimed a seat, sitting with Enzo and Lilian as they watched the Black Hands give the All-Clear and the non-pregnant women, children, and men slowly filed out of the Hospital as the pregnant women were given a check up to how well they handled the stress of the situation before they were too sent home.
As Ralph waited, he saw teams of Ninja who apparently fought of the Shifter pack slowly filled the waiting room then the Nurses went around to judge how bad their injuries were before the Ninja was directed to a large room. Enzo was informed to go to Room B while Lilian had to report to Room G. Ralph, on the other hand, had to go to Room A and Raizen had wait in Room E.
~Room A~
Ralph stepped into Room A and glanced around. It was mostly empty with a total of 10 ninja sitting or laying down with a bloody bandage wrapped around some part of their body. He went to a random chair and slowly sat down with his ribs crying out in protest. He hoped he didn’t crack one of his ribs. He sighed, trying to ignore the sharp pain rippling through his rib cage.
It didn’t long for Ralph to wish he had brought a scroll or book to read as he watched when three Nurses entered the room and made a beeline to the worst of the injured Ninja. The Nurse team worked together to help the worst of the injured.
The door swung open and Ralph turned his attention over the door as a doctor stepped in with a few more nurses. A Nurse walked over to him while the rest hurried over to the other injured Ninja.
“Hello, sweetheart, my name is Vivian,” the nurse introduced herself as she pulled out the clipboard from under her arm. She glanced down at it, “What is your name?”
“Ralph Barkson,” Ralph said. His voice sounded strange to his own ears like he had a plug nose. He blinked at that thought. In a way, he did have a plugged nose. It had gotten bust in that fight. Hopefully, it wasn’t broken.
“Birthday?” Vivian asked.
“October 12, 2011,” Ralph replied.
Vivian nodded before she went on, “Address?”
“2574 Maple Road, Kenshin District,” Ralph admitted, feeling a rush of embarrassment. Everyone knew the Kenshin District had the unwanted Orphans who were often struggling to make a living for themselves. It should have been named the Bark Bastard District.
However, the nurse didn’t make a comment about that as she went on about her business, “Were you on a mission when these injuries accrued?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he nodded his head and blinked as a wave of lightness washed over him.
“Alright,” Vivian made a note on the clipboard, “it would mean the Village will take care of the medical bills so you don’t have to worry about it. Just remember the Village will pay up to 10,000 Gold Coins in a year before you have to start paying the bill yourself.”
“I understand,” Ralph said. It was something the Academy went over recently, before he had graduated. Just like the nurse had said, the Village would pay to cover a ninja’s medical bills if they were injured while they were out on a mission on the Village’s behalf. Of course, there have been rumors the Village Elders wanted to lower it to 8,000 per year to get ahead of the wave of new ninja, but that proposal was shot down thanks to Lord Bark citing that they would have to increase the missions output over the next few years, saying it shouldn’t be hard to do since the Curse of the Holy Sword would be activating within the next few years and there was always trouble brewing when the Holy Sword changes hands of power. The money came from the taxes collected at the end of every month from every working citizen. He had heard the Village Elders had wanted to increase the Medical Expense pool in order to include the Police Force since they work inside the village to protect it from unruly citizens. In one of the various classes he had during Basic Training, Ralph had learned the Police Force had their own medical expense pool paid by the Police Union dues, coming out of their weekly paychecks.
However, the downside of the Medical Expense Pool, once a ninja hit the 10,000 gold coin for the year, they would have to pay for the rest of it themselves. It was apart of the deal the Ninja Force had with the Civilian Village Elders. The other downside to the Medical Expense Pool, the deal stated the injured Ninja couldn’t use the Expense Pool to pay for medicines their doctors prescribed.
Vivian set the clipboard aside and went to work, patching up the various cuts Ralph had gotten during his fight. She confirmed that his nose was broken, but she fixed that fast causing Ralph to black out and blood to stream out of his nose. However, by the time he came to, again, she was sitting back on a stool, waiting for him.
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“How long was I out?” Ralph asked. His voice sounded normal again. “Not long,” Vivian replied, “A few seconds.” She glanced down at her clipboard. “It says in my notes that you were hit several times in the ribs.” She looked up. “Is that true?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ralph replied. He was not looking forward to whatever she was planning to do.
“Alright,” Vivian stood up, “I need you to take off your shirt so I can take a look at your chest. Depending on what I feel and see, you may need to see Scanner to tell if you have any broken bones or not.”
Scanner, Ralph knew, were specialized nurses who had the ability to use their spiritual energy to look through their patients’ bodies for any broken bones or anomalies. He really didn’t understand the entire process of it, despite the fact he had gone through the process at least three times before.
Vivian went through the process of taking his vitals and wrote them down. She finally said, “I will be back shortly. I have to go put in the request for a scanner.”
Ralph nodded and waited until she had disappeared from the room. He glanced over at the other nurses in the room. They were busy with their other patients. He reached for the hem of his shirt and started lift as he took off his shirt. He fought back tears several times as he pulled his shirt over his head, causing him to pause a few times to catch his breath. Even breathing hurt like hell. He really hoped he had just bruised his ribs, not broke them. He steeled his nerves and continued on until the shirt landed on his lap. He sat there, panting as he fought back tears and against the pain. He didn’t want to do that again - the act of putting on and taking off a shirt. He waited.
~Room B~
Enzo sighed as he sat down on a cot and set his broken arm on his lap. It felt good to sit down, finally. He was used to standing for long periods of time, helping his father in the forge, but his body was screaming for him to relax. He swung his legs up onto the cot, lending against the headboard. Yeah, it felt really good to sit down. He glance toward the doorway to see his teacher turning away from the door way. He couldn’t believe Master Raizen waited to make sure he had a cot in a room before he went to his own assigned room. He yawned and blinked, tiredly.
~Room E~
Raizen rolled his shoulders as he entered the room. He had been sitting in the waiting room until each of his students had been sent to a room before he went to the room he was supposed to visit. He glanced around the room out of habit. There wasn’t any strange about the various ninjas sitting in the room. He assumed they like him were already injured before the start of the battle and came in to get a check up.
“Another one!?” one of the nurses said, exasperated. “I swear, if I ever end up as the Head Health Adviser of this village, I wouldn’t allow any of you back onto the field, no matter what was going on until you are fully healed.” She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Go sit over there.” She snapped an arm and pointed at a random cot. “It will be a while until one of us will be able to attend you, so, it get comfortable. Lucky, we don’t have too many fetal injured ninjas, but we have a lot of pregnant women who wanted to get checked up, in case the stress of the day effected their baby.” She walked away, but Raizen could hear her mutter, “Even the ninja women are here, in Room F.” Her voice trailed off as she went to another ninja who had his arm up in a sling.
He turned his thoughts to his wife. She should be in Room F, assuming she managed to arrive safely. He snorted. Of course, his wife arrived safely. She was a forced to be reckon with, considering her Black Hands training. He knew he didn’t have to worry about her. However, she was carrying their child. If she was getting a check up, he would be glad. He knew she would have pushed herself to make sure the civilians she ran into on the way over would have taken care of first. He sighed, trying to ignore how his ribs ached. He knew he would hear about his current injuries from whichever nurse who attended him and how he shouldn’t push himself to get to his students. He hoped his students were getting better treated then he was. After all, it was their second mission, but first one to go horrible wrong. He went to sigh again, but winced as strong tinge of pain went through his chest.
He walked over the random cot and sat down. He laid on his back and felt relief go through him as the pain in his chest drifted away. He yawned and blinked back tears.
~Room B~
Enzo blinked as someone shook his leg. He jerked up, sitting straight. He stared at a nurse, wearing a dark purple scrub with a bright yellow pendent over the left breast. It took him a moment for it to click in his mind. The nurse was a scanner. He was in one of the rooms at the Hospital. He sighed.
“I know the drill,” he said, in a glum tone.
The nurse laughed slightly under her breath before she spoke up, “I see you have experience with us scanners.”
“Unfortunately,” Enzo admitted, “I help my father in his smithy. There have been times where I got injured or my father has.” He shrugged.
“Well, my name is Harper,” she introduced herself, “I will be setting your bone in your arm and see if there is anything else broken.” She stated before she went to work on his forearm. He glanced around the room.
The room didn’t feel as crowded as it did when Enzo first sat down. There were several cots open and the ones who could walk had disappeared from the room. He didn’t doubt they were heading home to rest.
Surprisingly, it didn’t long to set and put his arm in a cast. He stared at his new cast with some wonder. A part of the cast encircled his thumb and he couldn’t move his wrist. He frowned. He knew it would be out of ninja work for a bit and possible helping his father with the family smithy.
“How long will this have to stay on,” Enzo asked, looking up at Harper. He hoped it would be off within a few weeks.
“It depends on how fast you heal,” Harper replied, “I have seen bones mend in a little as 4 weeks or as slow as 10 weeks.” She paused with a thoughtful expression on her face, “Of course, it could be longer then that. I read about those cases in my medical training.”
Enzo’s eyes widened. He really hoped he was a fast healer. He couldn’t afford to go 10 weeks without doing some mission work and getting a paycheck for it. Granted it would be one way to force Raizen to sit down and actually teach them some ninja based jutsus and other ninja lessons they didn’t learn in the Academy.
However, he would be holding his team back. He knew Ralph needed the money, having no family to help him out in hard times. Lilian would have her allowance to fall back on, that was assuming she was taught how to save and spent her money on what she needed.
Plus, his father would get backed up on orders. With the recent increase in orders, his father could afford to hire another smithy, but it would depend on their skill. A skilled Blacksmith wouldn’t work for another Blacksmith unless they didn’t have another choice. On the hand, his father could easily find a few apprentices who were willingly to work hard from the Merchant Class. Teaching new apprentices would take time, but it would give his father a few extra pairs of hands around the Smithy.
Enzo sighed. Either way, the next few weeks are going to be boring. His activities would be limited. He glanced up at the nurse to see she was still standing there. He spoke up, “Thank you, Ms Harper.”
“I’m just doing my job, sweetie,” Harper replied with a gentle smile, “On the bright side, your arm is the only bone that is broken and you will be able to relax at home once the other nurses discharge you.”
“Thank you, again,” Enzo nodded before Harper walked away, going to the next patient. He sighed. He was thankfully that his arm was the only bone broken in his body. On the other hand, it could spell trouble for himself and his family down the road. He glanced around to see there were a few nurses carrying clipboards as they went from patient to patient, talking with them briefly before they handed over the clipboard then left the patient. It was a couple minutes as the patient looked over what was on the clipboard, got up, and walked through the door of the room. Enzo didn’t doubt they were heading home for the night with their discharge papers and instructions on what to do next with their injury.
~Room E~
Raizen sensed the person before they approached him. His eyes snapped open and he looked around the large room. Nurses were bristling around the room, pushing a cart. He turned his attention to the waiting nurse. She glared at him and placed her hands on her hips. He wanted to sink down into the cot, pulling the thin blanket over his head to hid from her glare, but he was an adult male who stared down more dangerous people and creatures then a glaring nurse.
“You were supposed to on bed rest,” she started, “Not running off to the middle of a battle field.”
“My students -“ he protested, sitting up. He winced, hissing through clenched teeth, as the action pulled at his injuries.
“I know,” the Nurse cut him off, “They were in danger.” She sighed. “I know that. Your wife already explained the situation before you had arrived and it was noted in your chart.”
“How she is?” He perked up. He hadn’t heard anything about his wife yet.
“She is in the waiting room, already discharged, waiting on you,” the Nurse said with a gentle smile, “So, let’s not keep her waiting any longer then we have to.”
Raizen sighed with relief. He knew that was all he was going to get out of the nurse right now. He laid back on the cot and allowed her to work on him. It didn’t take her long to get his vitals, and changed his bandages. He was surprised that none of his injuries reopened. He considered himself lucky when it came to that.
“Alright,” the nurse straighten up and looked at him, “another nurse will be by with your discharge papers. Please, review them and follow the instructions to the letter or else you will be off work longer then you can afford to be.”
Raizen nodded, understanding the threat. In a militaristic village like the Hidden Village Among the Bark, the medical staff had the final word if a ninja could back to work or not. They weren’t afraid to use their power to stop someone who they thought was too injured to take on a mission. He had seen it personal happen to a friend of his who refused to listen to the nurses.
The medical staff went straight to Lord Bark, himself, and informed him that the Friend wasn’t allow to work until he got a clean bill of health from someone in the Medical field. It took him a year before he got a clean bill of health because he was stubborn and tried to get back to work before someone in the medical field would allow him. He ended up drying up all of his family’s savings, the benefits he had through the Village, and had been put under house arrest by the orders of the Lord Bark who used the Black Hands to make sure Raizen’s friend stayed put. Hell, Raizen was sure his friend’s wife would have left him, if she didn’t disappeared, mysteriously, through weird circumstances, outside the Village.
Once his friend got the clean bill of health, he took every high paying mission he could and spent his non-mission time, searching for his wife. Raizen didn’t remember when was the last time he had seen his friend. Hell, he didn’t know if his friend was still alive or not.
~Room B~
Enzo was almost bouncing in his cot when the discharge nurse stopped by his cot and handed over the discharge clipboard. She didn’t let the clipboard go at first until Enzo looked up at her and she explained, “Make sure you follow this to the letter. You have to get a clean bill of health with someone in the medical field before you are allowed to take missions again. If you refused to get a clean bill of health with us first, you will be put under house arrest until you receive a clean bill of health. Do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Enzo nodded.
“Alright,” the nurse started, “You can go as soon as you sign here,” she pointed at a line and handed Enzo a quill. He took it and dipped it in an ink well before he signed on the line. She flipped to another page, “and Here.” She pointed at the next line. He signed his name. “There you go.” She took the two pages he had signed. “You will have to keep the rest and you can leave whenever you want.”
“Thank you,” Enzo grinned brightly at her. She nodded and walked away. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. He grabbed the small pile of papers and stuffed them in his pants pocket. He would have to look over them later. He walked to the front of the room and walked to the waiting room.
He blinked in surprise and his jaw dropped slightly. He spotted Master Raizen coming out of another room a bit further down the hall and walked toward him.
“Howdy, there, Enzo,” Master Raizen’s eyes scanned over him.
“Hey there, Master,” Enzo started, nervously, “As you can tell, my arm is broken and I won’t be able to do any ninja work for 4 to 10 weeks.”
Raizen nodded his head, before he spoke, “I figure that.” He paused, “Of course, you would have to get a clean bill of health before we can go back on missions again. We will be able to work in other ways, depending on how the others are doing.” He glanced around the waiting room. “It looks like you are going to be meeting my wife and we will escort you home. I don’t know when Lilian and Ralph will be released just yet. I have no doubt I will be coming back here through the night and escorting them home as well.”
“Damn straight you will,” a feminine voice rang out behind Enzo. He jumped and turned on his heel to see a pregnant woman, crossing her arms over her chest. That was the first time he had met Keiko Watanabe and it was one encounter Enzo didn’t think he would ever forget.