Chapter 2

Two weeks after learning of the jutsu hand seals, Sano thought she had a pretty solid grasp on them. Speaking/Learning sign language definitely helped with the dexterous bits, and her medics were suitably impressed with her efforts. She would find it hard to believe that they were just pretending because she was a child, either. That kind of thing was pretty easy to see through when you weren’t actually a child in mind. She didn’t need a Sharingan to see through that kind of deception.

Speaking of!!!

She got stuck with the bug bois and not the fucking ‘do everything’ eye clan? Talk about unfairness. When learning the history of the hidden leaf with her uncle Jogan, the Uchiha and the Hyuga clan histories were taught alongside the Aburame, which was a newer clan to join into the fold.

And oh boy, did she get the short end of the stick.

Nonetheless, she learned about the history of Madara and Hoshirama, the Hyuga, and the smaller but still notable clans like the Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi. There was even a clan all about dogs! Named the Inuzuka! It was interesting for sure, so she enjoyed those sessions while they lasted. They had quickly moved onto the structure of the village, ninja ranks, missions, the government, fire daimyo, and the daily life of shinobi—basically, the day-to-day operations and what was expected from each branch of government.

Her physical therapy had been… progressing. She could say that she didn’t need help to walk to the adjoined bathroom anymore, but that was about it. Hopefully, by next month, she will be back to normal. It was the generous estimation given by one of her medics. They didn’t think it was going to happen, she could tell, but she was growing sick of staring at the same four walls and being alone with the kid without a leg.

Not once have they spoken, not that she could speak, but the point still stands. He seemed to have given up on life, simply eating, staring, and listening to the world around him. It was sad, but he was still young. He had time to sulk.

She sat there, practicing her signs, absolutely tunnel visioned into the process of speeding them up as fast as she could, when a shadow fell over her. Looking up, Sano looked at an absolutely bodacious pair of breasts.

“My eyes are up here, kid.” The snarky, yet humorous, female owner of the breasts said.

A dark green kimono-styled top adorned the blonde woman standing next to her, covering a white blouse with an open neckline that showcased her impressive assets. On her forehead, a light purple rhombus stood starkly out of place.

Sano looked her up and down, then signed ‘Hello.’

The woman saw her sign, but ignored it, causing Sano to frown. The woman riffled through her charts like she owned the place. “Total amnesia, huh?” The woman lazily flopped her papers back down onto the side table and gave her a raised brow. “You don’t know who I am?”

Still with a frown, Sano signed, ‘No. Should I?’

No family or friends had visited other than Jogan for the past month and a half. She figured Old-Sano would have had some friends who would have visited her in the hospital, but that didn’t seem to be the case. This woman also looked nothing like her and would have been tragically late to be a family member ‌paying her respects.

Even one leg had some family and friends visit now and then.

“You remembered how to do your seals, though?” The woman asked, voice shifted into one of a strict doctor.

‘No. I’m relearning. Who are you? Should I be talking to you?’ Sano signed, eyes narrowing. She lowered her hands next to the small button that would call her medics for help.

The woman idly followed her hands with her eyes, then grinned. “Smart, but yes, you should talk to me. My name is Tsunade. I am in charge of the hospital.” Sano watched one leg actually grow interested upon hearing her name, going so far as to look over with some life in his eyes in their direction—burgeoning hope.

That was probably a good sign.

“I am surprised that you are awake. I return to the village, get back to work, and the first thing I hear is about a girl awaking from a coma when she shouldn’t have.” The woman reached out, placing a hand on Sano’s chest, then the all too familiar Mystical Palm sunk into her, causing warmth. Slowly, Tsunade moved her hand around her body. From her arms, to her legs, then finally her head. “Hmm? You’re doing much better than expected. Your Aburame pathways are still shrinking. Do you still feel pain all over?”

Sano nodded, with Tsunade’s hand still on her head. She signed, ‘Not as bad as before.’

“Good. Once that pain goes away, you shouldn’t be having so much trouble with physical activities. Still struggling to walk?” Tsunade’s voice was professional, but it was like she was unfocused, her eyes never left her glowing hand other than when she signed.

‘Yes. I can go to the bathroom. Not much more.’

Tsunade didn’t look surprised. “That’s great. You’ll notice a drastic improvement from here on out as your pathway shrinks. Your Kikaichu’s escape forcefully expanded them, and your near chakra depletion was doing you no favors. Bigger pathways mean more chakra to lose. In a coma, you can’t control your chakra, so you were barely recovering more than you were losing. Your pathways are smaller than they were at the start now. Once fully closed, you should be fully recovered.”

Tsunade stopped her Mystical Palm and crossed her arms. “Your body is still trying to feed the Kikaichu, but there aren’t any there to feed. You’re still draining yourself. Don’t actively use your chakra, or you’ll reverse all the progress you’ve made.”

Sano snorted, or at least tried. She couldn’t do much with her condition. ‘I don’t know how to use my chakra anyways.’

“I suppose not. Glad to see you’re doing well.” And with that, the bodacious blonde left and made her way over to her roomie.

Sano continued her hand sign practice while eavesdropping on their conversation.

“… reattach my… best in the village—no, the world!” One leg grew loud, making it easy to hear the desperation in his voice.

“… can’t…tried our best… Akimichi…. I’m sorry.” Tsunade said, calmly, professionally, and regretfully.

One leg then raked his arms across his small table, scattering the papers, cups, his half-finished tray of food… It was a tantrum. Yet, she wouldn’t begrudge him for it. It sounded as if someone had thoroughly crushed his last ray of hope. Tsunade watched on calmly, not surprised by the outburst at all.

Soon, a few medics came in and sedated him. Sano pretended like nothing was happening. It wasn’t her business, and it was quite tragic, all things considered. But, she got caught peeking, locking eyes with Tsunade who looked back blank faced.

She signed nothing, and Tsunade didn’t bother acknowledging her either. She simply ignored Sano and gave some orders to the nearby medics, then left the room.

Breaking bad news all the time must suck.

—————————————–

A week later, Sano could confirm that Tsunade had been correct. Physical activities became easier and easier, at a much faster pace than before. With no medical knowledge, she didn’t really understand what her body was going through, but she could guess. If her Aburame tunnels were tubes, and they were shrinking, then the smaller they got, the less area they held. Even the most minute changes could be a dramatic shift in area, so she would grow healthier even more quickly from here on out.

Today, she was going on a walk around the hospital with Kisaragi. The male medic had grown on her over the past few weeks. While he was a professional when he had to be, he often spoke to her like a normal person and not a child when they were just chatting. Kisaragi also taught her things about Shinobi that her uncle wouldn’t.

Like, what was in her files.

When it came to chakra, people had affinities for specific elements. Usually it was one element, like Wind, but occasionally people would have two, or sometimes even more! Kisaragi had told her she herself had the Earth affinity, with a very minor affinity for Water. It was in her academy files, which were free for him to peruse as her primary medic. That wasn’t to say that she couldn’t use the other elements, but she was going to struggle with them if she ever wanted to use them.

The shitty thing was that Old-Sano didn’t know any Earth or Water Jutsu. She never got that far, having focused her efforts on the Aburame Clan’s hidden jutsus exclusively.

Jutsus also had ranks, from D all the way up to S, which was somehow above A. It was rude to ask about other people’s jutsu, an unwritten rule for all Shinobi, but luckily Kisaragi understood that she didn’t know any better and waved it off after informing her of that fact.

Sano held onto her IV rack as she trudged through the hospital halls, Kisaragi by her side. ‘Is it rude to ask about specialties?’ She asked.

Kisaragi helped her get out of the way of a rushing medic pushing a hospital bed, then flashed her a warm smile. “Nope! That would be a fairly common question. Not many people focus on specialities, but around here? Well, we’re some outliers. You can probably guess what we specialise in.” He flicked a finger upwards, and a bright blue sheen of chakra coated his finger. “Medical Jutsu—We are Iryo-nin.”

Sano nodded, orange eyes focused on the visible, colorful blue coating Kisaragi’s finger. That wasn’t the Mystical Palm. ‘How many branches are there? Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, Taijutsu…?’

She still struggled with signing the specific names of the classification of jutsu, but Kisaragi had been around her enough to understand what she was trying to say. “Watch my hands.” He said, then slowly signed out the names as he spoke them, to teach their signs to her. “Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Fuinjutsu, Bukijutsu, Hiden Jutsu…” He winked at her for that one, “… and Medical-Jutsu. There are some others, but those are the important ones.”

Sano carefully watched his hands, trying her best to remember the signs. ‘Could any of those let me speak again?’

Kisaragi opened his mouth to reply, but paused. A thoughtful look overtaking his features. “I… I suppose you could ‘talk’” He air quoted, “with some of them. Genjutsu or Fujinjutsu would be my first thought. Both fields of study are extremely difficult, though. Both require excellent chakra control. You could use Genjutsu to make people hear your voice, even if you wouldn’t be speaking, or Fuinjutsu to play spoken phrases from seals…?”

Stolen novel; please report.

He finished, sounding unsure. “I am not an expert in those fields by any means. Although I am confident someone could use Genjutsu to ‘speak’.”

Seeing a chance to speak, or just let people hear what she had to say, was enough motivation for her. ‘How do you learn Genjutsu? Can you learn at the academy?’

Kisaragi’s smile turned brittle. “Well… You would be taught the theory. How to free yourself from a Genjutsu and the gist of Genjutsu, but they wouldn’t teach you how to create them. When I mentioned chakra control, I wasn’t joking. You need a high level of control to even get the basics. Your time in the academy is much better spent learning ninjutsu and taijutsu, as those are much easier to learn.”

Sano frowned, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. ‘So, I wouldn’t learn how to speak? Do they teach Fuinjutsu, then?’

“Absolutely not.” Kisaragi struck down that thought immediately. ‘Fuinjustu is dangerous. You can kill yourself if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

Sano stopped, causing Kisaragi to stutter in his steps. He signed quickly, frustration clear. ‘So, what?! How do I learn then?’

He looked at her sadly, then turned his head to look at the surrounding people. They’d made it to a waiting room, and were getting stares. “You should bring this up with Jogan-san. He may help you when the academy cannot.”

Sano frowned, then jerked her IV rack back in the opposite direction. ‘I don’t want to talk anymore.’

—————–

‘Uncle, can you teach me Genjutsu and Fuinjutsu?’ Sano signed the moment Jogan sat down for their lessons that same day. She had spent the entire day after the walk through the hospital practicing her calligraphy. By now, she could understand the grammar rules for Japanese, yet she still needed to shore up her vocabulary and work on the written characters. Most of her words ended up squiggly.

Her uncle scanned the scroll she’d been writing in, eyes landing on her diligent, if shoddy, practice. He said nothing, just stared at her scroll and flicked his eyes to her occasionally. On the best of days, he was hard to read. He was doubling down on it now. “I thought you wanted to learn Ninjutsu.”