Kumogakure hospital.

[Marii K. Kazeraikou]

.::.::.::. Kikaijinsei .::.::.::.

((Chance of Life))

Description:

A hospital is a more then a location where people go to be healed. In essence, a hospital can be considered a “chance” in many cases and scenarios. For a new born child, being born in a hospital improves their “chance” in living. For the sick, wounded and harmed, seeking aid from a hospital improves their “chance” of survival. A hospital gives a person the “chance to live” in this world. However, a hospital can take away a life, just as it could give one. The sick and elderly have very low “chances” in living. Critically injured people have slim “chances” of pulling through a disease or medical condition. A hospital, just as in existence, can give you many chances; both good and bad. Thus, a “chance of life” would be a most befitting name for a hospital.

The hospital for Kumogakure is located close to the village’s center. Being located here allows for the greatest amount of accessibility for the village and its people. The main roads of the village interconnect and grant the quickest routes of access to the hospital.

Kikaijinsei:

The hospital is fairly large and modern in its design. It is a six story building, with multiple roads connecting to its center. The building itself is given a gentle bright blue highlight, making it stand out above the others building located in cloud. Having the building well lit at all time makes it very visible and clear in sight. The blue light given off by the building allows for a very smooth and delicate “aura” to be perceived by the village itself. It allows everyone to know and feel as if they were always to be protected, watched over and cared for by the village’s hospital. Never would a person believe that these doors were close to them.

In terms of security, the hospital is rather lax. It is highly uncommon that this location would be attacked in any way, shape or form. A hospital is meant to heal whom ever walks through its door, friend or foe. By the medical staff’s honor, it is vowed by all that “A sick man only seeks to be healed, and seeks nothing else”. This code of conduct is highly respected by all, villager or not. Therefore, the hospital does not require an intense amount of security as do other locations.

Ground level:

The first level of Kikaijinsei, contains three different locations. The entrance of the hospital leads to a small reception area, where the sick is admitted and/or where patients seek help, information, appointments, etc. A receptionist is always available to assist any one and any person who is need of help. Within the reception area, small rows of chairs are stationed for those who wish to sit, wait, or are on call by the receptionist.
Also located on this floor is a large room available only to the staff of the hospital. This room is the basic resting room for staff members and medics of the hospital. Here, medics can converse with others, and rest when needed. Lastly, emergency admittance is located on this floor. Entrances to the south and north of the hospital allow for individuals to be rushed in for medical attention when need be. These entrances lead directly into the emergency rooms located on the ground and second floors.

Emergency rooms, second and third floor:

Here within the second floor lies a mixture of new and old traditions, techniques and practices. It is essential that a person’s life is saved, and because of this dire need, combinations of new and old techniques are used; greatly increases a person’s chance of survival. Ancient Medical seals, modern technology and human endearment ensure a person’s life can be saved here within the emergency room. They are six rooms located here in the ER. Each room being an exact duplicate of the other with a rough size of 10x10x5 meters. A main operating table is located at the rooms middle, where medical staff can service a patient from any required angle.

To the sides of the operating tables are various medical equipments, monitors and screens, which aid the medical staff. Medical tools, scalpels, needles and clamps are always available and always sterilized. Up to six medics can operate and heal one person at a time in any of the rooms. Medics usual do so in an organized pattern: two medics operating, while four supply continuous healing jutsus and chakra to the patient.
Beyond this operating table, located within the same room, is a bookshelf containing various medical books and drawers containing emergency herbs. These large shelves located at the corners of the room contain various books and herb to be used on the spot if ever needed. These books are referenced information and cane be used by staff at all times. Herbs are used and available to improved healing and medical jutsu at the same time.

Located in the floor above the emergency room, lays rooms where the most ancient and most powerful medical techniques are used. This floor contains four duplicate rooms, and are only open to a few medical staff members. The room is also a 15x15x5 meter sized room, painted black with candles and lamps hanging from the ceiling. Here, head medical staff can perform powerful and dangerous medical jutsus, the likes which many will never see. Upon the floor of each room lies a special seal which grants medics the use of extremely rare and risky medical jutsus. The seal appears to be a large circle, cover in endless amounts of kanji and primordial scriptures, long forgotten and though to be forbidden. Additional circles are located in and around the entire seal, to which to up to four medics sit and work together in hopes of healing the patient with their ancient seals and techniques. This area is off limits to a majority of the hospital, and must be granted access by the head medic director only.

Patient ward:

On the fourth floors are patient healing rooms. Here many can find beds to which the healed are stationed at for recovery. Beds on this floor are very modern, and contain screens, monitors and displays to track patient health at all times. The ward consists of one long corridor, roughly 60 meters in length and 10 meters in width and 5 meters in height. Over 60 beds are stationed and watched over on this floor, allowing for a total of 60 people to be cared for at any given time.

Medics are able to continue treatment and aid to the sick here, as additional books, herbs and tools are also available for use. A person’s health is continually monitored by staff to ensure that a person recovery and full health are attained. Healing continues beyond the medical wards and emergency rooms as some patient cases require longer healing.

Animal wards:

In a ninja world, animals are often used as companions, used for friendship, and even used as tools. Many clans utilize animals for their ninja art, and have become a valuable asset to the ninja warrior. Just like their human counterpart, animals receive wounds and can become harmed as well; leaving them in the need of medical assistance. The 5th floor of the village hospital is dedicated for healing and aiding wounded ninja animals. The floor, like many floors of this hospital, houses operating rooms, and out patient room, just for animals. Animals of all types can be healed here, from avian species, to canine, to feline to even aquatic animals.

Just as the emergency rooms, they are roughly 6 rooms located here. Each room is an exact duplicate of other. Each room is rather large, roughly 10x10x5 meters in size. A main operating table is located at the rooms middle, where medical staff can service animals from any required angle. To the sides of the operating tables are various medical equipments, monitors and screens, which aid the medical staff. Medical tools, scalpels, needles, and clamps are always available and always sterilized.

Hospital labs:

Each and every hospital requires a laboratory for research and testing. The villages hospital does not fall short in this department, as its research and testing rooms are rather large. This lab is is often used to do such things as blood testing, poison analysis, and medical diagnosis, but can often extend beyond this intended function. Medics can often be found studying various information regarding the anatomy and physiology of the human body.

The lab is laid out in such a manner, that many may occupy its space while never feeling like the room is overcrowded. The lab itself contains various counter tops, each strewed with lab equipment such as test tubes, microscope, forceps, scalpels, etc. Shelves also located within the room contain a wealth of knowledge regarding the human body, which can be readily used by anyone within the room. This room also acts as a database for information, as decades upon decades of knowledge is stored within the books themselves. Medic are given enough tools here within the labs, to also make medicine and mixtures from available herbs and potions.

The lab also has a very large freezer, which is used to store such things as blood samples, herbs, mixtures to even dead bodies as organs; without ever having the fear of a body rotting or items going unpreserved.

Items/objects stored in lab and hospital:

Complexity of Injury	Rank of Wound	IC Days in Hospital	# of Post Minimum	The Bill
Minor wound.	D	1	2	2,768
Sustained injury.	C	2	2	5,625
Critical infliction.	B	5	3	11,250
Serious condition.	A	8-9	4	27,500
Life-threatening.	S	12-14	5	55,000

Note: Please contact the front desk at the hospital for health needs. They will in turn contact the Raikage for medical coverage if available.

[Marii K. Kazeraikou]

So…you want to become a certified herbalist?

Being an herbalist means one have to take care of the different plants that are growing in the research facility. Many of them can be toxic or even heal serious wounds with nearly no side-effects at all. But similar to animals, these herbs are living breathing creatures. The Raikage has therefore put down a rule that says that all herbalists have to be certified. This means that one need to fulfill a list of requirements to become a certified herbalist.



Requirements for certified herbalists:

- Have at least 76/125 skill points within these fields: cooking, herbalism, botany and agriculture. Must know at least one region.
- Completed at least three herb-searching missions. None of them can be lower than “C”-rank.
- Replanted and cared for at least five different herbs at the research institute.
- Must remain active for three IIC months in a row.



Requirements for certified herbalist executives:

- Have at least 101/125 skill points within two of these fields: cooking, herbalism, botany and agriculture. Must know at least two regions.
- Completed at least three herb-searching missions after becoming a certified herbalist. Two of these missions must be “B”-ranked or higher.
- Replanted and cared for at least four different herbs at the research institute after becoming a certified herbalist. At least two of them must be rare, very rare or nearly impossible.They can not be the same herbs you took care of to become an herbalist!
- Must remain active for five IIC months in a row after becoming a certified herbalist.
- Assisted other herbalists (for example joining them at missions or helped them improve their herbalism skills).



Becoming a certified herbalist will give you these incentives:

- A pay of 3000 ryo (herbalists) or 5000 ryo (executives) each month. Only applies after you get your certification. Example: Nina wants to become an executive herbalist. She became a certified herbalist at February 14th. She takes more missions, finds more herbs and helps other herbalists with their skills from February 20th to July 25th. Nina is then approved by the Raikage and becomes a certified executive on July 30th. She will not receive executive pay until August since she did not get her promotion at the start of July.

- This tool set: five scalpels, four 50 ml vials, two 100 ml vials, one 50 ml syringe, one 100 ml syringe, a cloak type 1 as well as a messenger bag type 2.
- Herbalists and herbalist executives can earn extra money finding plants that can be used for potions (such as eucalyptus) or poisons (like the black rose). Another option is to help farmers to improve the quality of their crop.
- Executives can get extra money for tutoring, help pharmacists in creating medication or making their own potions or poisons that others can buy.

- Free access to the facility.



Are you ready to take on the wild animals?

Being an animalist means one have to look after the animals in our research facility. Another task is to help the farmers that live in Kumogakure no Sato. Remember that these animals are living creatures with different needs. The Raikage has therefore put down a rule that says that all animalists have to be certified. This means that one need to fulfill a list of requirements to become a certified animalist.



Requirements for certified animalists:


- Have at least 76/125 skill points within these fields: lore (animal/monster) or entomology (basically lore, insect), anatomy (vital), cooking/baking and
animal husbandry. Must know at least one region.
- Completed at least three animal-searching missions. None of them can be lower than “C”-rank.
- Taken care of and fed at least four different animals at the institute.
- Must remain active for three IIC months in a row.




Requirements for certified animalist executives:

- Have at least 101/125 skill points within two of these fields: lore (animal/monster) or entomology (basically lore, insect), anatomy (vital), cooking/baking and animal husbandry. Must know at least two regions.
- Completed at least three animal-searching missions after becoming a certified animalist. Two of these missions must be “B”-ranked or higher.
- Fed, performed research/bred and cared for at least four different animals at the research institute. At least two of them must be rare, very rare or nearly impossible. They can not be the same animals you took care of to become an animalist!
- Assisted other animalists (for example joining them at missions or helped them improve their animalist skills).
- Must remain active for five IIC months in a row after becoming a certified animalist.



Becoming a certified animalist will give you these incentives:

- A pay of 3000 ryo (animalists) or 5000 ryo (executives) each month. Only applies after you get your certification. Example: Danny wants to become an executive animalist. He became a certified animalist at March 14th. He takes more missions, finds more herbs and helps other animalists with their skills from March 25th to August 25th. Danny is then approved by the Raikage and becomes a certified executive on August 30th. He will not receive executive pay until September since he did not get his promotion at the start of August.

- This tool set: five scalpels, four 50 ml vials, two 100 ml vials, one 50 ml syringe, one 100 ml syringe, a cloak type 1 as well as a messenger bag type 2.

- Animalists and animalist executives can earn extra money by raising or capturing animals that produce food (for example cows or chickens), ingredients for potions (such as eagles) or poisons (for example carrion peckers) that can be used for weapons.

- Executives can get extra money for tutoring, help farmers in breeding their animals or making their own potions or poisons that others can buy.

- Free access to the facility.

[Deleted]

▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼

Floor Four, Ward Seven, Room Ten...

...Darkness. A Numbing Darkness. Katsu fought through it; twitching in his sleep as he attempted to wake despite the morphine pumping through his body, deadening every sensation. With mighty effort Katsu slowly crept up towards consciousness, only to find that once he could sense once more that there was very little to sense at all!

Katsu's skin felt... heavy, thick; like it was dead but not yet peeling. Even his eye lids took great effort just to open them, although Katsu wasn't sure if it was because of their weight or the drugs that were undoubtedly coursing through him still. Even when Katsu opened his eyes he was greeted with darkness, a sensation of closeness next to his orbs. Binding of some kind? Katsu tried to flex his fingers, his toes, anything, to encounter similar sensation everywhere. Yet the Binding was not binding him in a manner as to completely restrict his movement, it felt more like it was there to hold him together. The arms could move separately to the torso, the legs separately to one another. The sensation of something soft beneath Katsu gave him the final hint as to what was going on.

A Hospital. Katsu was in some Hospital bed. The stuff binding him was probably medical gauze. So Katsu had suffered some kind of serious damage then? There was still something off that Katsu couldn't figure out... The sensation of dead skin could make sense if he had suffered burns, but the heaviness of his body was strange. Also Katsu's memory of his body didn't seem to line up. His legs felt.. thinner? No, perhaps they were longer. Same with his arms, in fact Katsu felt like he had been stretched out like taffy all over. His torso felt the strangest though. There was muscle, Katsu could feel it, it was strong, powerful, but... useless? The way it felt; it was strong muscle wrapped around Katsu's torso, not leading to anywhere. It was like Katsu's torso had become a tube of muscle, like a snake's body had. His spine felt so long! Too long; far too long, and did his tailbone just twitch?!

Even as hazy as Katsu's thought processes were just then he realized that that wasn't right... that wasn't human anatomy there. Trying to move his head again Katsu felt something strange at his own neck; he couldn't tell what but something was different. There was gauze there, and it felt suffocating to be there. Except there wasn't any pressure; his throat wasn't constricted at all, but it felt like Katsu was going to drown! Katsu tried to raise an arm to tear away the suffocating gauze but it merely twitched instead, the drugs keeping him from doing anything. Almost hyperventilating Katsu tried to calm himself back down, breathing slow and deep.

Soon Katsu became aware of a rhythmic noise in the background, something beyond his own self. Beep. Beep. Beep. Katsu's fogged mind clutched at the noise, turning away from his own rising fear at... something... Beep. Beep. Beep. A Heart Monitor! Yes. Those beeps were so rhythmic, but they were quick, rapid, too fast. Katsu soon heard more noises. The sound of hurried footsteps, muffled words spoken between two people, a woman? and a man... The woman was approaching. Katsu panicked. He didn't want to be caught like this! So helpless; such an easy prey! But why? No time! Katsu put every ounce of will he had into moving his arms; to claw the gauze from his face. Claw? Why claw? Yes to claw; that felt most natural. His hands had merely reached his face when a door nearby nearly slammed opened!

"No! Don't remove those, they're..!" screamed the voice, but Katsu had stopped paying attention, frantically trying to tear the gauze loose, ripping at it in his panic. His fingers suddenly seemed sharper than was possible, and the gauze came away in scraps. Two arms grasped hold of Katsu's, trying to pin them down; but Katsu's adrenaline was pumping now, his fear driving him forward, and with a roar he swung his right arm out against the person to hold him down! Another scream, this one of pain, a sensation of his fingers passing across something soft, and the person was thrown away to hit a wall somewhere nearby. Gasping for breath; Katsu tore the bandages away from his face and throat, taking in great lungfuls of air.

It was only after Katsu pulled the gauze away and could breathe deep that he could look around the room, and down at the gauze he had torn away. It was covered in blood; and not old blood either. It couldn't have been an hour old; it was still red and sticky. Looking down at his body Katsu found more of the gauze, with more blood. He was soaked in the stuff! It was like he had taken a bath in a pool of blood; like one of those stories you heard in legends. Yet that didn't catch his attention so much as his hands did. Extending from his fingers were knife-like protrusions of dense bone. Claws. Katsu's eyes stared as he looked at first his left then his right hand, turning them over and over as he wondered in disbelief, thinking perhaps he was in a dream. Looking at his right claw he found more blood, just a bit, and Katsu remembered the woman.

Looking up in a hurry Katsu took in the room he was in. It was a simple yet private room in a Hospital, just as you'd expect. Plenty of instruments and medical tools stored around the room in case there was a problem, but it was also somewhat more cozy. His body was attached to the floor, rather than like a gurney, and the floor was a nice rosewood. The walls were painted a sky blue, and the cabinets and storage containers were all of a red Oak. There was even a large window overlooking a forested park, and a television set near the bed. A small end table was below that with a vase of flowers on top of it. It was amazing Katsu hadn't knocked it over. Very pleasant to look at for a hospital room. Thus; a long-term care ward, for those who were going to have to stay in the Hospital for a while... How long have I been here? Katsu wondered idly to himself.

Finally Katsu's eyes managed to stray across the room where the woman was picking herself off the floor, coughing slightly from her impact with the wall. She seemed to take the entire thing in stride though; simply checking the damage to her medical coat and her shirt underneath with a simple wrinkle of her nose, dismissing the light bleeding from her stomach completely. Katsu stared at her wide-eyed for a long moment as she grabbed one of the chair she had landed near; and moved it over to the center of the room facing Katsu before settling into it like she didn't have a care in the world, taking the time to check to make sure her hair was in place. Katsu wasn't even shocked when she spoke in a completely level and calm tone..

"Well. I suppose I did deserve that; trying to pin your arms down like that. It was, however, meant to be for your safety. Until just now you've been... bleeding near constantly, honestly. We've had to change your gauze at least once an hour for the last three days. We didn't want you becoming stressed and bleeding yourself dry, you see. It does seem the bleeding has stopped however... Can you move well? Does it hurt anywhere? If you've enough strength to send me across the room the morphine should have worn off then; the pain is bearable at least?" the woman spoke calmly, learning over to look at Katsu keenly as she began to ask him questions on his status.

For his part Katsu couldn't feel any pain at all. Flexing his left hand Katsu felt completely healthy. His little adrenaline kick seemed to have drained the morphine from his system, and Katsu felt... stronger. Katsu started to speak and immediately stopped for a moment before continuing with his voice a little less steady; it wasn't his own voice that he spoke with, "I... don't feel any pain. I just feel...odd? Am... Did I... uhm... Wh.. what happened to me? I.. I feel... not... human? I've got claws! Why do I have this extra muscle in my torso? I can feel it! And.. and I think I've got a tail! What's... whats...!" Katsu began hyperventilating once more grasping his sheets as he tried to get his breathing under control. He felt like he was going to pass out!

The woman responded quickly, standing up and moving close to Katsu, a hand outstretched, but a look at the way Katsu was clenching his sheets and she thought better of touching him directly, opting to lay her hand on the sheets instead, "Easy there. Easy. I know it's a lot to take in. Just breathe. There... nice and easy..." The woman coaxed Katsu into eventual calm, never touching him. Finally Katsu would sit there, silent, and would look to her. He didn't trust himself to start speaking, and eventually the Doctor would explain, "Firstly, my name is Doctor Ryuushin. I'm a specialist on the study of Dragons, Draconic biology, and human-dragon hybrids. To be frank; you have had Draconic DNA in your own DNA since you were born; I've checked every record, and it's always been there. It's only recently that it 'switched' on so to speak. When it switched on it forced your body to adjust to the now dominant DNA. Your body started rejecting itself and your immune system attacked everything at once. If your family hadn't gotten you to the Hospital when they did...

"Well, suffice to say that the fact that you're alive is a miracle on too many levels to count. You need to rest now; I'll have a nurse sent in to help clean you up... all that blood... There's... just one thing I want to know... What let you come back? I've studied this phenomenon, and every patient I've ever attended died during the process... how did you survive where they all died?"

Katsu looked at the woman for a long time, focusing solely on her question in order to keep the hysteria from welling up once more. Slowly, he managed to piece together a response he felt suitable, "...Have you ever died before, Dr. Ryuushin? Do you know what it's like on the other side? It's not like what most people think. All blackness and boring. The other side... there's so much over there... it's like this life is just the tiniest shadow of what reality really is... it's... wonderful really...

"I thought to myself, even as I tried to fight my way back to life that it'd be so easy to just give in and embrace the real world, rather than this feeble imitation.... but... My Nindo stopped me." Katsu halted, as if trying to recall what his Nindo actually was, or perhaps stopping to let himself recover from his own voice. However he eventually continued, "My Nindo is essentially to live without regrets, Dr. Ryuushin. To live so that when I look back I won't regret anything I've done and that I can hold pride in my actions. I have a responsibility.. no, maybe it's a duty... yes, a duty to my family, to my friends, and especially to the people of Kaminari no Kuni to live as a Shinobi of Kumogakure; to defend them with everything I have, and to give them reason to be proud of me...

"It's duty that made me come back from the dead, Dr Ryuushin. My duty as a Shinobi of Kumogakure, so that I can live without regrets..." Katsu fell silent, silently staring at the Doctor. For her own part Dr. Ryuushin couldn't speak or make any sort of response. Only her eyes were filled with some emotion. It looked like something between admiration, horror, and something perhaps like lust, but she said nothing for long time.

Eventually however Dr. Ryuushin stood straight, heading to the doorway before looking back at Katsu, "I... thank you, Katsu. I appreciate that you were willing to tell me something so personal like that... I... thank you..." And then she was gone down the hall; her legs carrying her away quickly. Off to find a nurse to help Katsu remove the gauze and clean his new freakish body. So Katsu had his physical needs tended to, fed and clothed and the gauze removed, trying his best to ignore the various changes wrought upon him, and eventually his family would have to be informed that he was awake. They had been kept away by the Doctors for good reason; there hadn't been much hope of his survival. Katsu would soon be asleep, and perhaps sometime later people would come to visit him...

...Yet as Katsu settled in to deal with his new circumstances, Dr. Ryuushin was traveling down a corridor in a different building, the lights dimmed on purpose to promote an air of secrecy and solitude. This long corridor, at one end, held a single door that led to a large open room that was pitch black, and Ryuushin would step forth into that blackness with confidence, calling forth to the denizens hidden within those shadows, "Ladies. Gentlemen. I believe we've found what we've been looking for..."

[Marii K. Kazeraikou]

[Enter]

"You're all here?" muttered the man as they approached the hospital. "I'm here" told the female as she glanced at him. The older woman in front of them then turned to face them.
"I just have to warn you kids. One of my friends called me earlier...it's not looking pretty" warned Hikari.

All three of the Kazeraikou children paled. "Is he - you know - about to die?" inquired the guy with a semi-frightened expression. "Not as far as I know. But I don't know if he's stable though" replied the older female. The family then entered the hospital.

An ANBU with a frog mask then came closer to the family. 'Are you five his family?' inquired a male voice inside their heads. The former Amegakure shinobi nodded.
'Come with me please' told the same voice. All five of them walked with the shinobi up to the floor where the patient wards where.

She felt a breath of relief escape her lips. At least he was not in the E.R. ward or the intensive care unit. "Thank you" told Marii as she looked at the ANBU.
The agent gave her a small nod before he went away. "I'll go first...if that's OK" asked Masao.

The other four people nodded. He then opened the door that went into the room. A small 'clack' was the only thing that could be heard.
'PLEASE BE OK KATSU! I don't want you to be dead yet!' prayed the young woman as she entered the room with her family.

[Deleted]

▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼

The five Kazeraikou clansmen would be met before they ever reached the room by none other than Katsu's own mother; Satomi of the Sands. A renowned civilian archer her skill with a bow was nearly peerless, and it showed in every step she took, in how she held herself. Normally, at least; now she seemed like the scared mother she was. She held herself tight, her eyes downturned, signs of tears on her cheeks. She was a mother on the brink of despair over her child; and that sight couldn't have raised the hopes of the five Kazeraikou clansmen come to visit Katsu. When she spotted her husband Masao she immediately buried her head in his chest, weeping silently. He would stop, and instead of asking to go in first would simply nod for the others to go ahead as he began to speak in low tones to his wife...

When the other four would enter the room they would find it almost completely dark, only the light of the hallway spilling in through the doorway providing a very poor illumination. It would essentially take Low-Light Vision for them to be able to see any details of the room. Katsu would be laying on the bed across the room from the door, hidden by both shadow and the sheets of his bed, but it would be apparent he was facing away from the door.

However they were producing four sets of footsteps, more than enough for Katsu to hear, and he would begin to turn, speaking in bitter and angry tones, "Mom, I want to be left alo... Oh" This last word spoken when Katsu spied that there was not his mother there but four members of the Kazeraikou Clan. Still it didn't take long for Katsu to continue in markedly bitter tones, "Well, might as well turn the light on and get this over with..."

Katsu would throw off the sheets and stand next to his bed, staring back at the other people in the room. Even without the lights it would be apparent that Katsu was lacking... clothes. When the light would be switched on Katsu's form would become apparent. Silver scales covering his body from head to toe. Silver orbs with vertical slits of black for eyes. Hands ending in vicious knife-like claws; accompanied by wicked fangs in his mouth, a long serpentine tongue slipping out for just a moment, extending nearly a foot from Katsu's face before he pulled it back in. A long tail extended from Katsu's spine, well over four feet in length and tipped with silver feathers.

Perhaps out of all of those features Marii would most notice the difference in height from the last time she had seen him. Before; Katsu just about looked Marii in the eyes, their height about equal. Now Katsu towered over the other people in the room, and Marii especially would have to look up to see the six little copper horns projecting from Katsu's forehead. Katsu was almost wholly changed from what he had been before; the only thing remaining from his human form being his beautiful copper hair, which Katsu had carefully styled into a graceful and exotic braid (A Legolas hairstyle). Katsu's body was bigger, stronger, yet even more graceful than his prepubescent form. He looked like a cross between a human and a dragon, to be frank, and he was terrible and beautiful to behold at the same time anymore.

Katsu spoke just as the light would be turned on, his voice still bitter, "You'll pardon my lack of pants, I hope. I don't need them. Apparently my physiology is so lizard-like that I have a natural genital sheath... just one of the things I'm going to have to get used to I guess..."

[Marii K. Kazeraikou]

((OOC: Just want to remind you that there are five people coming to visit Katsu. Those five are Marii, her father, her mother, Makoto and Ryota))

'Great. This isn't going to make me any less nervous' thought her inner while rolling her eyes. The female tried to keep her nerves down despite the dark room.
She then noticed that there were two familiar people in the room. Marii activated her chibi ryuugan to be able to see more.

Her eyes widened when she saw that Satomi was in tears over what had happened. This was not good at all...the woman was renowned to be a confident kuinochi. Cold sweat ran down her back when she noticed that her husband had no pallor left in his face.
'This is beyond bad. But what could be worse than losing ones child to someone or something?' thought the young woman.

"Mom, I want to be left alo... Oh" muttered a somewhat familiar voice. It sounded like Katsu in terms of the way he spoke. But his voice was much deeper than earlier.
'IDIOT! He must have gone through the first part of puberty' realized the Raikage.

It did made sense though since he would be about 15 years old by now. "Well, might as well turn the light on and get this over with" said the boy. The female re-activated her bloodlimit as the lights were slowly getting stronger.
She then realized that he was not dressed, so she covered her eyes. But a part of her was also scared of what he looked like now.

The first clue was the gasp that her youngest brother made. "What the-" muttered Ryota with a semi-shocked voice. She then glanced at her younger brother to see how he reacted.
Makoto had no colour left in his face and had a slightly disgusted look at his face. The brunette then lifted her eyes to see what was in front of her.

Her eyes widened in pure shock upon the sight that waited her. The male in front of her was covered in silver-coloured scales from top to toe.
All of his finger nails had been replaced with claws that could easily cut open her skin. He even had a tail with silver feathers at the end plus a disgusting reptilian tongue. To cap it off, he was a good foot taller than her now.

"You'll pardon my lack of pants, I hope. I don't need them. Apparently my physiology is so lizard-like that I have a natural genital sheath... just one of the things I'm going to have to get used to I guess..." informed the Chuunin.
She cleared her throat while hoping that her voice would not crack. "Do you...know how you turned out like this?" inquired the young woman.

She could feel the lump in her throat growing. Her student had somehow transformed into a human lizard. Or something that had often been casted in horror movies or mythological movies.
Marii swallowed the lump while trying to keep her tears in. Puberty was one thing, but transforming into a part animal was just horrific.

[Deleted]

▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼

(OOC: My bad. I was thinking Masao as Katsu's father instead of Marii's. Katsu's mother and father however are in the hallway, not the room itself.)

"Do you...know how you turned out like this?" came the expected question. Katsu silently snarled, just a bit, as he turned his head to the side, thinking on his answer.

Finally he almost spat the words out, "Puberty." Katsu made a face of distaste at the idea before continuing, "Most people get some acne and some new urges. Not me though. Apparently puberty makes it so that I turn into a fucking half-dragon!" The vehement curse was out of character enough for Katsu, but he made sure to draw attention to it by at the same time slamming the end of his tail into the floor.

Crack!

The floor had a noted dent in it, some of the boards visibly cracked, despite being made of a sturdy looking wood. It seemed Katsu's tail had plenty of power in it. A long moment of Katsu just standing there before his shoulders slumped, his eyes closing for a long moment and his clawed hands held up to his face. When he took them away again he seemed calmer, although no less bitter about his current circumstances, "Sorry... I know I shouldn't take this out on others, Raikage-sama, Nushi-sama (Head of the Clan). I'm just having a bit of trouble adjusting to... this..." Katsu motioned to himself, sighing deeply before looking back to the others once more.

Just then however a voice, a strong contralto, chimed in from behind the five Kazeraikou members, "It is certainly to be expected that such a grand change of one's own anatomy would take a while to get used to, Katsu. I would think you mentally unstable to be able to take this sort of thing in stride from Day One."

It would be likely that the five would turn to look at this new voice, and they would see a middle-aged, mid-sized woman wearing a medical coat with black slacks and black shoes, a clipboard in her left hand, a pen in her right. She gave a polite smile at the others, "Oh, Pardon me. My name is Dr. Mai Ryuushin. I'm Katsu's acting physician for the duration of his stay here. If you have any questions about Katsu's medical situation he's already filled out the forms to release his information to the Head of the Kazeraikou Clan in addition to his direct family members, so I will be happy to answer any questions I can..."

[Marii K. Kazeraikou]

"Puberty. Most people get some acne and some new urges. Not me though. Apparently puberty makes it so that I turn into a fucking half-dragon!" snarled the male.
The sudden sound of his tail slamming into the floor made the female jump. It looked like his tail was fully developed with muscles and everything.

Katsu then took a moment to calm himself down. Marii felt some of his pain despite not having been in a similar situation herself.
"Sorry... I know I shouldn't take this out on others, Raikage-sama, nushi-sama. I'm just having a bit of trouble adjusting to...this..." told the boy with a low voice.

She could only give him a sad smile to show her agreement. "It is certainly to be expected that such a grand change of one's own anatomy would take a while to get used to, Katsu.
I would think you mentally unstable to be able to take this sort of thing in stride from day one." told a deep female voice from behind the family. The Raikage raised a black eyebrow in wonder. Just who was she?

"Oh, pardon me. My name is Dr. Mai Ryuushin. I'm Katsu's acting physician for the duration of his stay here.
If you have any questions about Katsu's medical situation, he's already filled out the forms to release his information to the head of the Kazeraikou clan in addition to his direct family members. So I will be happy to answer any questions I can..." inquired Mai.

All of the five family members looked at each other. There was one obvious question they all had on their mind. Hikari gave the others a nod before she glanced at the woman.
"I think we all have the same two questions right now. The first one is how he transformed into his current form" started the older female.

"Our second question is why we were all asked to come here. We're not particularly close blood-wise to Katsu-kun. That doesn't mean that we don't care about him or his parents though" assured the Chuunin.
She was not well schooled in biology, but her husbands family did have a special heritage. Which was the same as the poor Chuunin in front of them had as well.

[Deleted]

▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼

"I think we all have the same two questions right now. The first one is how he transformed into his current form... Our second question is why we were all asked to come here. We're not particularly close blood-wise to Katsu-kun. That doesn't mean that we don't care about him or his parents though" explained the apparent leader of the group.

Dr. Ryuushin would give them all a little tilt of the head before answering, "Well, to be honest I'm not very sure of the second. I didn't call for all of you, at the very least. Of course I can imagine there being an existing protocol for the Hospital to inform the Raikage of a near-fatal incident with their own Shinobi. I suppose that could extend to the leader of their Clan as well... I don't know what you other three are here for, though. It IS however a good chance!

"You see. I'm a specialist on the rather rare occurrence of a human undergoing such a... an apotheosis? It has to do with a particular strain of exotic genome material interposing a partial coding of.." Dr Ryuushin's eyes lit up as she began to explain the reason for Katsu's transformation and the theory behind it, rather quite excited about the whole matter, but Katsu himself, who had already heard the explanation the first time around, intruded on her speech.

"Uhm. Dr... Unless they have PhDs in Genetic Engineering or Biotechnology I doubt they'll be able to understand your theory. I had to look up a lot of stuff to figure it all out myself... Uhm, basically though, it turns out that I've had a rather strange portion of 'junk' DNA since birth. Junk DNA is actually just DNA that is not actively affecting how your body creates new cells and regulates that creation. DNA with no known purpose, essentially. Anyway, this DNA is... well... Draconic in nature." Katsu ended lamely, looking a little non-plussed at the entire concept.

Before that could truly sink in however the Doctor would take the reins of the conversation again, "Yes, exactly! Dragons! Creatures of Myth, come to life in your own veins, Katsu! Now the exact explanation isn't so fantastical as you might think, but it is still quite exciting from a scientific perspective. Katsu has managed to inherit the partial coding of a Dragon's genome, and while it remained largely dormant for the majority of Katsu's life recent circumstances changed that and it became wholly active.

"This is a rather amazing thing to have happened because of how fragmented the original Dragon DNA was. By itself it should not have been anything more than a piece of inactive code. We're still investigating the potential cause, and my current theory lies with the Kazeraikou Clan Kekkei Genkai playing a role in this somehow." The Doctor finished, looking out the door and down the hall as if expecting someone to rush up to her with her answer, before turning back to the group with a giddy little smile.

Katsu himself took up the next part of the conversation, "Well... I suppose that makes some kind of sense. I mean after all our Clan creation story involves an ancient Storm Dragon of some kind granting its powers to the original Five Siblings. Maybe it left something on our DNA? We all tend to be gifted in some artistic or academic manner right? Maybe there's something more of the old Dragon in our DNA besides the Ryuugan?"

It all seemed sort of unreal at this point, to Katsu. Still; at least being able to talk about the theory and reasoning helped get Katsu's mind off the fact that he had sprouted a tail, scales, fangs, claws, and who knows what else was going to show up...

[Marii K. Kazeraikou]

Sense motive. Level: Expert [92/125].
Rank: “E” Rank.
Skill: Skill.
Effect: User is skilled at detecting falsehoods and true intentions.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: A successful check lets the user avoid from being bluffed or lied to (see the acting skill). The user can also use this skill to determine when “something is up” (that is, something odd is going on) or access someone's trustworthiness.

Hunch: This use of the skill involves making a gut assessment of the social situation. The user can get the feeling from another's behaviour that something is wrong, such as when they are talking to an imposter. Alternatively, the user can get the feeling that someone is trustworthy. Very difficult difficulty.

Sense enchantment: User can tell that someone's behaviour is being influenced by an enchantment effect even if that person is not aware of it. The usual check is very difficult, but if the target is dominated, the check is difficult because of the limited range of the target's activities.

Discern secret message: The user may use sense motive to detect a hidden message transmitted by acting. In this case, the check is opposed by the acting check. For each piece of information relating to the message the user is missing takes a -10 penalty to the check. If the success is by 20 or less, the user knows that something hidden is being communicated, but cannot learn anything specific. If the check is beaten by 25 or more, the user intercepts and understands the message. If the check is failed by 20 or less, the user does not detect anything. If the fail is by 25 or more, they might infer false information.

Cannot roll multiple times except for each acting check made against the user. Each time learned, the user gets 1 die roll to increase the skill.
Limit: ---

((OOC: I'm using the sense motive skill to see if she is a trustworthy character))

The female found the explanation plausible since she was the stand-in leader. Her aunt Hinata was currently staying on a conference with some prominent leaders in Kaminari.
"You see. I'm a specialist on the rather rare occurrence of a human undergoing such a... an apotheosis? It has to do with a particular strain of exotic genome material interposing a partial coding of.." started Mai.

Marii then noticed the look in her eyes when she started to talk about this topic. It was apparently something that interested her quite a bit. But there was something about her that made the young woman suspicious.
The first reason was that she had never seen her at the hospital. This was a bit odd since the doctor was older than most of the trainees.

"Uhm...Dr...unless they have PhDs in genetic engineering or biotechnology I doubt they'll be able to understand your theory. I had to look up a lot of stuff to figure it all out myself...uhm, basically though, it turns out that I've had a rather strange portion of 'junk' DNA since birth. Junk DNA is actually just DNA that is not actively affecting how your body creates new cells and regulates that creation. DNA with no known purpose, essentially. Anyway, this DNA is... well... draconic in nature." explained the male in a somewhat awkward fashion.

"Yes, exactly! Dragons! Creatures of myth, come to life in your own veins, Katsu! Now the exact explanation isn't so fantastical as you might think, but it is still quite exciting from a scientific perspective. Katsu has managed to inherit the partial coding of a dragon's genome...and while it remained largely dormant for the majority of Katsu's life recent circumstances changed that and it became wholly active." continued the female.

The Raikage felt a small alarm bell go off in her mind when she listened to her. It almost sounded like Katsu was a sort of guinea pig for the older woman. The giddy smile at the end of her explanation only added to that.
'This is all quite serious. Kami knows what can go wrong if his or even ours DNA gets in the wrong hands' thought the female.

"Well...I suppose that makes some kind of sense. I mean after all our clan creation story involves an ancient storm dragon of some kind granting its powers to the original five siblings.
Maybe it left something on our DNA? We all tend to be gifted in some artistic or academic manner right? Maybe there's something more of the old dragon in our DNA besides the Ryuugan?" suggested the boy.

"It's not impossible. There are certain traits that tends to appear in most of our clan members. Our talents are one such thing.
But then is our limbs as well as our eye colour. Which is a bit odd since blue eyes are not made from a dominant gene" replied the brunette.

She was nowhere near as oriented in this field as the doctor. But she knew that blue eyes required at least a recessive gene. To make this even weirder, the Kazeraikou gene was a dominant one.
'Could it be that the Kazeraikou gene somehow makes the blue eyes dominant too? Or am I just overthinking things?' wondered the young woman.

[Nira]

ooc

narutoforumrp.proboards.com/post/965925

Roll succeeds, lies will be detected until there are new attempts to mask behavior.

[Deleted]

▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼

Marii would be able to tell that Dr Ryuushin carried a great passion for her work, and that her excitement over what Katsu had become was a genuine one, driven by her academic specialty but also of something else. From the way that the Doctor's eyes lit up the brightest when she said "...Dragons! Creatures of myth, come to life in your own veins..." it would be apparent that she had a great fascination or perhaps idolization of Dragons. Her very name, Ryuushin, sounded less like a real surname and more like a pseudonym, a name taken up as some small way to identify herself as someone who respected Dragons. In fact she might very well believe in her own name. Ryuushin. Dragon Divine. Dragons are Divine? It was a long shot, but still in the realm of possible. However, at this point any other speculation into the nature of Dr. Ryuushin would prove fruitless. Marii had to spend more time observing the woman to learn more of any hidden motives she might possess.

"It's not impossible. There are certain traits that tends to appear in most of our clan members. Our talents are one such thing. But then is our limbs as well as our eye colour. Which is a bit odd since blue eyes are not made from a dominant gene." Dr Ryuushin was already nodding in agreement at that statement, her smile widening as she realized that at least someone in the group could understand a bit of what she was talking about.

"That is the idea. I can't verify it yet, but we might find that it was Katsu's Kazeraikou genetics that made it possible for him to have undergone his transformation. I'll be able to give you a more definite answer as soon as my assistant finishes the analysis of the DNA samples given by Katsu's immediate fami.." Dr. Ryuushin trailed off as another voice was heard coming down the hall, first very far away sounding, but rapidly getting closer...

"Doctor Ryuuu-shiiin...

"Doctor Ryuuuuu-shiiiiin...

"Doctor Ryuushin!" came the final call as a woman smaller and younger than the Doctor yet wearing the same outfit rounded the door, breathing heavily from running the whole way here. She stopped and heaved her chest, trying to get in enough air. Eventually however she managed to speak again, "Doctor! The results are in. You aren't going to believe this. The Draconic genome material isn't located in just one area; we've found markers in no less than fourteen of the Autosomes, as well as both Sex chromosomes and the Mitochondrial DNA. I've never seen anyone with so much Draconic markers in their DNA; even Togekuran members don't have half this much!"

Dr Ryuushin looked surprised as she turned to listen to her assistant speak, and she immediately snatched the data pad from the woman's hands to look over the data, beginning to speak very fast back and forth with the assistant, "Fourteen?! I expected one or two and the Mitochondrial but Fourteen! This is unprecedented, but it's all here."

"Even more surprising is the manner in which these markers 'came together'. Look, see here in Fourteen and Eighteen. Both of these markers if found alone do nothing, but here we've found that together they cause the hypodermal keratin plating found in the test subject. Oh, and here with Seven, Eleven, and Nineteen we found that the feathers at the end of the tail are actually just as dense as the subject's scales, rather than being hollow as expected."

"These other markers you've pointed out though. They're all either Ajna or Manipura reactants. That's interesting. The Mitochondrial DNA has a majority of them, but the Y Chromosomal DNA contains enough to be partially responsible as well..."

Perhaps by that time Katsu had had enough of them talking between each other ignoring everybody, or maybe he just didn't like them talking about HIS genetics like he was some culture in a Petri dish, but he growled deep and impressively loud before spitting out his words, "Okay that's great, but what does it actually MEAN, Doctor?!"

Dr. Ryuushin and her assistant both jumped, startled by the noise and both as one seeming surprised to see other people there in the room. The assistant had the decency to look embarrassed, but Dr. Ryuushin looked unabashed, and she gave an enthusiastic smile as he explained, "Basically there are currently two... no, three amazing things about your DNA, Katsu. One, your Draconic genes were present in both the DNA received only from your father, the Y Chromosomal DNA, and only from your mother, the Mitochondrial DNA. That basically means that your particular transformation was made possible because of your Kazeraikou blood, and the blood of your mother's side mixing together. The chances of that happening is almost astronomically small given the current population of the planet.

"The second amazing thing is the Ajna and Manipura reactant genes you have. While I'm not an expert on the study of Chakra and it's effects on the body I do know that Chakra can react with certain genetic markers to edit other markers. You have Ajna reactant genes, named after the chakra center in your brow, which are normally affected by mental chakra and are responsible for mutations relating to mental faculties. You also have Manipura reactant genes, which are named after the chakra center found in the Solar Plexus which is supposed to be the center of your physical chakra. As you can guess it's affected by physical chakra and is responsible for many different kinds of physical changes. If someone has enough of these reactant genes then their chakra can have profound effects upon their genetics, and reaching certain thresholds of chakra is what triggers them. In the most basic of terms, once you reached a certain level of mental and physical chakra within your body it activated all of these reactant genes; and almost like a conscious thing your DNA rewrote itself!

"Thirdly, your Draconic genes are all over the place, much more numerous than any person I've ever met. Whether it's purely from your primary Draconic genes, or from the secondary reactant genes re-writing existing DNA when you reached a certain level of power as a Shinobi, you have more Dragon in you than any person alive in recorded history..."

At that moment the assistant spoke up, perhaps in error thinking that what she said would be considered good news by Katsu, "You've got more Dragon DNA than you do Human at this point! In fact we shouldn't call you human anymore; you've become something like a Half-Dragon! Isn't that wonderful? Oh, but there is a side effect of this change. Your DNA is so different from human's now that you can't reproduce with humans. They'd need some Draconic genetic markers at the very least to be compatible..."

Katsu was stunned. Completely immobile for a long long moment Katsu finally slumped down back onto the bed, his tail draped across it. He slowly put his head in his hands once more, an air of defeat rather than anger surrounding him now. He shuddered lightly from time to time as he drew shuddering breaths, but it seemed the fact that he wasn't even considered human anymore had crushed his morale completely, and he didn't move for a long long time...

[Marii K. Kazeraikou]

((OOC: Sense motive still in use. The forest fire incident happened YEARS ago when Marii was still a wet-behind the ears Chuunin. Read at own risk, contains ANCIENT RP: narutoforumrp.proboards.com/thread/17651/traveling-where?page=1))

'Ryuushin huh? Does not that mean divine dragon or dragon from heaven? Or at least something similar to that?' pondered the female.
It seemed like the woman in front of her was telling the truth about the condition of her male student. Which was good considering the state he was in.

"That is the idea. I can't verify it yet, but we might find that it was Katsu's Kazeraikou genetics that made it possible for him to have undergone his transformation. I'll be able to give you a more definite answer as soon as my assistant finishes the analysis of the DNA samples given by Katsu's immediate fami..".
The sound of an approaching voice made the family members turn their heads in wonder. "Doctor Ryuuu-shiiin...doctor Ryuuuuu-shiiiiin...doctor Ryuushin!" called a younger woman who entered the room just a minute later.

"Doctor! The results are in. You aren't going to believe this. The draconic genome material isn't located in just one area; we've found markers in no less than fourteen of the autosomes, as well as both sex chromosomes and the mitochondrial DNA. I've never seen anyone with so much draconic markers in their DNA...even Togekuran members don't have half this much!" exclaimed the assistant.

Both of them then started to talk about the DNA. "Do you know what they're talking about?" muttered the younger boy next to her with a quizzical expression. "I haven't got a clue" muttered Marii with the same confused look at her face.
She did not exactly enjoyed the way they talked about his genetics either. It sounded like they were researching on a bunch of DNA samples taken from rats rather than humans.

"Okay that's great, but what does it actually MEAN, doctor?!" exclaimed Katsu. His outburst caused both of the females to jump. It almost seemed like they had forgotten about their presence.
'Perhaps they just got caught up in their research. I can kinda relate to that myself being a giant bookworm' mused the young woman.

The next explanation was so complicated that she had trouble understand of what was said. Luckily, the more junior of the two seemed to notice their lack of understanding.
"You've got more Dragon DNA than you do Human at this point! In fact we shouldn't call you human anymore; you've become something like a Half-Dragon! Isn't that wonderful?" inquired the female.

'WONDERFUL!? How can it be WONDERFUL to wake up one day and find out that you are a different specie than yesterday!?' exclaimed her inner while kicking the nearest imaginary item.
Oh, but there is a side effect of this change. Your DNA is so different from human's now that you can't reproduce with humans. They'd need some draconic genetic markers at the very least to be compatible..." informed the scientist.

Complete silence filled the room. The boy had now buried his face in his hands while breathing shakily. It was the Raikage who first broke the tension.
"Does that mean that Katsu-kun can only - ahem - mate with people from our clan or the Togekuran clan to have a family? And what kind of clan is the Togekuran exactly?" inquired the female.

She knew that it had something to do with lizards. Come to think of it, there was a chance that her former senpai had been a Togekuran. Or at least something similar.
'Hikari was named Sakurai as far as I know. But he was able to camouflage himself completely during that forest fire incident' recalled the brunette.

[Deleted]

▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼

"Does that mean that Katsu-kun can only - ahem - mate with people from our clan or the Togekuran clan to have a family? And what kind of clan is the Togekuran exactly?"

Katsu slowly managed to pull his head up out of his hands, looking like all the vitality had been sucked right out of him. He looked tired, by the slackening of his facial muscles to the dull look in his eyes. At least they looked duller than normal, it was hard to tell when both sclera and iris were a glittery silver color and his pupils were vertical slits like a cat's. Either way, the sense of exhaustion was only reinforced when he spoke in a rather irritated sounding voice, "Marii-sama.... Our own teammate is one of the Togekuran. Raika, the kid with the black snake around him all the time? If you look close enough you'll see he has tiny scales. They're flesh toned, rather than silver like mine..."

Katsu gave a small amused grin suddenly, "Hehe, I bet he's going to be jealous. I've got silver scales. I probably look much prettier than any of the Togekuran Clan."

"That's good Katsu. Don't think of your differences as something bad but something to take pride in. Shinobi value strength, I know, and when it comes to strength Dragons have plenty of it. Looking at your DNA here I'm seeing markers for a number of improvements over a purely human specimen. Your strength should be higher, as well as your speed. Your claws and fangs are literally as strong as steel, and your scales and skin form an armor as tough as Adamantine. I see from the crack in the floor you already know your tail is strong enough to snap a human spine. Those slits on your neck are actually gills, by the way, so you should have no trouble breathing underwater indefinitely. My my, you've even got... wait... how..." Dr Ryuushin stopped her speech, looking over the datapad with a look of confusion.

Her assistant soon stepped up, pointing to certain information on the screen, "You mean the markers for Wings, Doctor? Look, here, we found some of the markers aren't complete, but we did find some reactant markers that line up with the Tsubasa Clan; which if activated would complete the genes given previous study on the Tsubasa."

"Ah yes, now I see. Hrm. Interesting. Now that I know what I'm looking for I see some of the reactants are tied to his claws and fangs... Katsu. It seems you have the potential to sprout wings in the same fashion as the Tsubasa Clan, and also your Claws and Fangs are controlled by your chakra. You should be able to sheathe them if you concentrate." The Doctor intoned with a happy little smile.

Katsu blinked, looking down at his claws, "Really?" He stared at them a for a few moments, willing them to shrink or vanish or do something, and slowly his claws became fingers again, the steel-hard bone melting away into nothingness until just a set of slightly pointed fingernails was left of them. Katsu smiled a bit before turning to the mirror near his bed, staring at his own fangs. Like his claws they too changed, but in this case the fangs sunk into his gums out of view, revealing a set of human teeth behind them, even if the canines were slightly longer.

Turning back to the others it seemed his mood had changed a little for the better, "Well, uh, I suppose I don't have to worry about accidentally clawing people now. That's an improvement. I think I'll wait to try for the Wings though, Doctor. I think any wings capable of holding something as big as me aloft would have to be pretty big, and I don't want to break anything. I'll have to find one of the Tsubasa to talk about that anyway..." Katsu sighed a bit, looking back to the mirror, "Well, at least I still have my human hair, even if I do have these little horns to match now, I'll have to take good hair of it from now on for sure..."

The assistant at that moment chose the time to grab the Doctor's attention, "Doctor. Here. I thought you should take a look at this next bit... here, the data from the other samples..."

"Hrm... So most of the Autosomal markers are from the Mother's side..? Have we checked her Mitochondrial?"

"Yes, Doctor. The markers go back generations, near six-hundred years."

"And the Y Chromosomal markers?"

"As expected, near two-hundred years. I believe the original specimen was named Kentaro, yes?" The assistant would look to the Kazeraikou in the room for clarification, "It is quite curious. Before them there was no Dragon markers in your genealogy. Kentaro's father was wholly human..."

"Oh. To answer your question from before, Raikage-sama. Yes, Katsu can only procreate with those of the Kazeraikou Clan, the Togekuran Clan, or someone with a significant amount of saurian or Draconic DNA in their genes. As a rule of thumb; if they have the Ryuugan or smooth scaled skin, they're potential reproduction partners. Although Katsu can still uhm... take pleasure from the act. In fact his libido should be somewhat higher than normal. Just one of those side effects..." The Doctor shrugged at that point, unsure how the information she had given would be taken.

[Marii K. Kazeraikou]

"Marii-sama....our own teammate is one of the Togekuran. Raika, the kid with the black snake around him all the time? If you look close enough you'll see he has tiny scales. They're flesh toned, rather than silver like mine..." told the male. The female raised her eyebrows in surprise upon hearing this.

'That explains why his eyes has gone red. Most Togekuran members usually have yellow eyes' recalled Marii. She had to smile when he heard Katsu comment about his newly-received scales.
She then listened to what the older woman had to say. It sounded like the guy was a lot stronger now than earlier.

'I hope he can use his strength correctly' thought the young woman. The mention of wings surprised her a bit. She only knew about one clan who had that gift - the Tsubasa clan.
"Doctor. Here. I thought you should take a look at this next bit... here, the data from the other samples..." told the younger female.

"Hrm... So most of the autosomal markers are from the mother's side..? Have we checked her mitochondrial?" inquired Mai.
"Yes, Doctor. The markers go back generations, near six-hundred years." replied the assistant. "And the Y chromosomal markers?" asked the female.

"As expected, near two-hundred years. I believe the original specimen was named Kentaro, yes?" asked the female. She looked at the family in front of her.
Masao nodded in confirmation. Kentaro was the name of his grandfather that had died for quite a while ago.

"It is quite curious. Before them there was no dragon markers in your genealogy. Kentaro's father was wholly human..." muttered the scientist.
This confirmed something that the clan had suspected. That lightning strike that had hit them that day HAD affected something about their DNA.

"Oh. To answer your question from before, Raikage-sama. Yes, Katsu can only procreate with those of the Kazeraikou clan, the Togekuran clan or someone with a significant amount of saurian or draconic DNA in their genes. As a rule of thumb...if they have the Ryuugan or smooth scaled skin, they're potential reproduction partners. Although Katsu can still uhm... take pleasure from the act. In fact his libido should be somewhat higher than normal. Just one of those side effects..." told Mai.

The Raikage felt her face go pink. "But won't that upset the entire DNA? We haven't had anyone in our family who has - ahem - recreated within our clan or others.
In fact, I don't think I know anyone who has partners from a family with a bloodlimit like the Kaishins for example. I don't know about clans since some families are borne that way while others require rituals" replied the female.

She felt a bit bad for the Chuunin who now basically had gotten his choice of girlfriends limited quite a bit. Especially since he was at such a young age too.
'Maybe he can find himself a nice Kazeraikou girl in another village? I know that there are many in Konohagakure' recalled the brunette.

[Deleted]

▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼

"But won't that upset the entire DNA? We haven't had anyone in our family who has - ahem - recreated within our clan or others. In fact, I don't think I know anyone who has partners from a family with a bloodlimit like the Kaishins for example. I don't know about clans since some families are borne that way while others require rituals." Marii replied to the Doctor's explanation, but soon the Doctor was shaking her head a bit, speaking in that tone teacher's did to students who weren't paying attention.

"Raikage-sama, I don't think you're getting just how far changed Katsu's DNA really is. I'll give a comparison to perhaps clear up the confusion. As humans, our closest genetic cousin are widely accepted to be the Chimpanzee, and it shares 95% of the same genes as humans do, but with a lot of different DNA dispersed amongst those genes as well. Now, Chimpanzees cannot mate successfully with any human, or at least there has never been anyone ever recorded as doing so. That's with a 95% DNA similarity, Raikage-sama...

"To put it in perspective, Katsu has only a 92% similarity to the average human. We weren't lying or trying to exaggerate when we said he wasn't human anymore. He won't be able to produce viable offspring with any normal human ever. For the Kazeraikou however, it's like the difference between someone who's family has always been in the Land of Lightning and someone from the Land of Bears. You're so different you might not even accept each other as the same species, but you're still similar enough to reproduce.

"Katsu's genetics are probably somewhere in the range of being 96% or perhaps a bit lower in similarity to an average Kazeraikou, although I don't have the data to verify that completely. His genetics have actually rewritten themselves because of his large store of chakra. There wouldn't be any more chance of something going wrong than between two normal humans in that case.

"I know its strange to think of, but Katsu is like his own sub-species at this point. Even worse it's a species that there's a remarkably small amount of data on, even for me who's studied this particular phenomenon most of my career. Katsu is a very special case; there isn't a single other patient I've overseen that managed to survive their transformation." The Doctor finished ominously, but Katsu spoke up, sounding more neutral on that part of the conversation..

"I'm not too worried about finding a mate or anything like that. I mean, I doubt there's a woman who'd be interested in... this..." Katsu motioned to himself again before continuing, "Besides. I'm a Shinobi, right? I knew what that meant when I signed up for the Academy. A lover is a luxury a Shinobi doesn't need, in the end. We wage war and protect our people so they can enjoy such luxuries in peace."

"Katsu, you can't just ignore what happened to you, this is a major change that you'll need time to adju..." The Doctor began, concern etching her face, but Katsu quickly interrupted her.

"I'm not ignoring anything! I've gone from a human to some terrible beast brimming with natural weapons and absolutely no chance of ever being normal again. But... but I made my choice already didn't I? I know I must've died on the table... I felt it. I knew I was dead unless I fought my way back.

"I made the choice to come back; not because I was scared of whatever comes after life, but because I'm a Shinobi of Kumogakure, and my duty is to the village and to the country. Live your life so that you won't have regrets. Well, I made my choice so I wouldn't regret my life, so now I've got to follow through. I just need to focus on that, on why I wanted to stay alive in the first place, and I'll be alright."

There was a long pause, Katsu looking at himself in the mirror, gazing into his own inhuman eyes, before he turned to give Marii a traditional bow, "Raikage-sama. I would like to speak with you in private... Not as your pupil, or a Clan member, but as one of your Shinobi..."

[Marii K. Kazeraikou]

Listening to how much his DNA had changed made the female worried. Not only because he had to adjust his new body, but also how his shinobi career would continue. How would his teammates going to react was the first thing that popped up.
Raika would probably be fine since he had gone through a similar process himself. But Okuda had no bloodlimit or clan membership...not to mention that he was nearly emotionless.

The lack of research as well as knowledge did not surprise Marii. She hoped that the other woman would be able to get some more information from this point on. But there was something about her that made the young woman uncomfortable.
"I'm not too worried about finding a mate or anything like that. I mean, I doubt there's a woman who'd be interested in... this..." told the guy while he gestured towards his frame.

It made the Raikage wince on the inside. She could not say anything that would help him. 'I hope he can find a woman who loves him despite looking like...that' prayed the female.
"Besides. I'm a shinobi, right?" stated the Chuunin.

"I knew what that meant when I signed up for the Academy. A lover is a luxury a shinobi doesn't need, in the end. We wage war and protect our people so they can enjoy such luxuries in peace." continued the male.
"Katsu, you can't just ignore what happened to you! This is a major change that you'll need time to adju...-".

"I'm not ignoring anything! I've gone from a human to some terrible beast brimming with natural weapons and absolutely no chance of ever being normal again. But...but I made my choice already didn't I?
I know I must've died on the table - I felt it. I knew I was dead unless I fought my way back" told the copper-haired guy.

"I made the choice to come back. Not because I was scared of whatever comes after life, but because I'm a shinobi of Kumogakure, and my duty is to the village and to the country.
Live your life so that you won't have regrets. Well, I made my choice so I wouldn't regret my life, so now I've got to follow through. I just need to focus on that, on why I wanted to stay alive in the first place, and I'll be alright." finished the guy.

What he said rang true to her ears. The brunette remembered Kininata who was living so far away from her. But he still found the time to see her or sent letters to her every now and then.
"Raikage-sama. I would like to speak with you in private... Not as your pupil, or a clan member, but as one of your Shinobi..." muttered Katsu.

She quickly nodded. "Please leave the room everyone - I'll let you know when you can come back in" told the brunette. Her family nodded as they left the room with the others.
Once everyone had left, the young woman turned towards him with a sad smile at her face. "All right...I'm all ears Katsu-kun" said Marii in a quiet voice.

[Deleted]

▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼

Katsu waited quietly, looking at the others until they all eventually filed out of the room and shut the door behind them. Almost immediately Katsu would drop his pretense, and with a great exhale he would lean forward, looking somewhere between annoyed and angry, "Ugh. I can't stand the way that woman talks about people... Subject this and specimen that. I'm not sure she looks at humans as sapient creatures. Creepy.

"Although I'm not one to speak, I guess. I mean I suppose the silver scales are pretty and all, but my eyes look terrifying, and these little horns... Make me look like I'm wearing a copper crown or something... Although I suppose some girls would like that. Make me look a bit more royal.

"Ah well. I'll either get used to it or go insane, I guess. But, Raikage-sama, I wanted to talk to you in private to tell you a bit about certain abilities of mine. Before you ask why I never told you even when you were my Team Leader, it's because the abilities are something I could lose my life over. I didn't tell my own family about them; people are rather suspicious about these sort of powers and there's a decent chance that one of the Venator would come try to kill me for them, although that might happen anyway with an appearance like this..." Katsu kept looking at himself in the mirror every so often, punctuating his speech by motioning to certain parts of his anatomy pertinent to what he was saying at the time.

"Anyway, as my Raikage you need to know what I'm capable of. I'm what's known as a Soulcaster, or a Spirit Medium. I can see the world of spirits around us, and I can manipulate my own Soul in order to provide a variety of effects. I can see your aura, and tell what emotions you're feeling by looking at it, I can forbid people from getting close to me by repelling their soul, I can even directly attack spirits, undead, and souls with a beam attack. Mostly though my powers revolve around speaking with the dead or sensing the eternal Soul energy to learn things; like what happened in the place I'm standing over the last few hours; finding out who owns an object I pick up; and a few other useful abilities. The greatest ability that I've managed to learn however is...

"Well it's effectively the ability to control my own aging. I age only as I want to age. I can age normally, I can stop my aging process completely, or I can age myself in reverse, becoming younger instead, roughly at twice the speed of my normal aging process. That's why I'm not really worried about finding a mate or anything like that, Raikage-sama. I'm effectively immortal. Unless something kills me I've got a long time to wait to find someone who can be with me..." Katsu slowly let that sink in, staying silent for a long time to let Marii process it all fully.

Katsu was immortal! Unless something like disease, natural disaster, or some creature killed him Katsu would live forever. Katsu was also something beyond human at this point as well. He'd never return to his previous form; he had an eternity of difference to look forward to, an eternal outcast from his own people. It was rather bleak, honestly...

[Marii K. Kazeraikou]

Ugh. I can't stand the way that woman talks about people...subject this and specimen that. I'm not sure she looks at humans as sapient creatures. Creepy" muttered the male.
The female nodded in agreement with a wry smile to complete her thoughts.

"Although I'm not one to speak, I guess. I mean I suppose the silver scales are pretty and all.
But my eyes look terrifying. And these little horns...make me look like I'm wearing a copper crown or something... Although I suppose some girls would like that. Make me look a bit more royal" said Katsu.

Marii felt her eyes widen when he mentioned his soul powers. She knew that he was able to see auras after showing his skills at a past training session. But reversing his age or even become immortal was something that the young woman could have never imagined.
The Raikage did however had some very faint knowledge concerning the Venators. The little that she did knew was rather frightening.

"I appreciate telling me about this Katsu-kun. Especially since I have some - ahem - searching to do. But I would like to look into the searchers if I can. That's something I need to know after all" replied the female.
She hoped that he understood that 'searchers' was a code for the Venators. Even a building like a hospital could have spies within it after all.

"Now...I don't want you to worry about me or your teammates. I can put you on a new team if that's what you prefer. I don't however think you should worry about your appearance too much.
A person who loves you would be able to see past the scales as well as the tail. I do think your eyes are a little special though" agreed the brunette as she looked at him.

Her curious ice blue eyes gazed into his own silver grey ones. She still found his form a bit unusual, but he still had the same personality. "I'll read your report later on if the doctor allows me to.
But I agree - there is something suspicious about her. I'll find out what I can about her if possible" muttered the young woman, her voice taking on a cautious tone.

[Deleted]

▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼

Katsu looked up from the mirror when Marii mentioned reading his medical report, "Oh you shouldn't have any trouble with that at all, Marii-sama. You're the Raikage, and this Hospital is the property of the village; I'd expect you can look through any bit of information there is here. After all the primary patients of this Hospital are either Shinobi or the people who live in the village to support the Shinobi, so they're all people the Raikage should be able to check up on as they like.

"I'm not too worried about Raika or Okuda either. I think Raika would be excited to see what I've become, and I doubt Okuda cares about me one way or another. A big Dragon Katsu is just the same as a little kid Katsu to him. But listen, speaking of Shinobi... Once I'm fit for duty I want a Mission. Against the Gale Empire. I still remember what they did during the initial skirmish; and I want to guard ourselves from a future attack. I figure it should be a good test of whatever new abilities I've got..."

After that Katsu thought about Marii's talk about hunting down the Venator, which Katsu felt pretty ambivalent about. One on hand Katsu knew the Venator would view him as some kind of abomination against mankind, but on the other Katsu knew enough of them to know they were simply against evil in the most efficient and brutal manner possible. He sort of wanted to learn their techniques, to better arm him against the evil of the world. He kept those thoughts to himself for now, since he didn't know how he could contact one of the Venator who wouldn't immediately try and smite him the way he looked now...

Either way, Katsu moved forward and bent down to one knee just in front of Marii. This wasn't because he was showing subservience to his Kage or anything like that, Katsu was just so tall now he had to do so just to be able to look Marii in the eyes. He then tried to pull her into a hug while thanking her, "Thanks, Marii. It means a lot that you at least are willing to look past what I look like now to me inside."

Whatever Marii may have thought about Katsu's form; he was less snakelike than he appeared. His flesh was nearly hot to the touch rather than the chill expected of a snake or lizard, and despite his scales his "skin" was just as smooth as before no matter which way you moved against his skin, again unlike a serpent whose skin was smooth one direction and rough the opposite. There wasn't any lizard scent either; Katsu just smelled very... masculine, presumably from a lot of pheromones. In fact the biggest difference that Marii would be able to tell is that Katsu's body was hard; as unyielding as an iron bar. It was like Katsu was a moving statue.

Katsu would release Marii long before the hug could get very awkward, and he would give Marii his gentle smile, the same one he used to have when he was human, and stare into her eyes for a long moment, perhaps searching for something in them...

SPOILER: Click to show

Soul Sight
Rank: "D"
Skill: NinJutsu
Effect: A Soulcaster can see the auras of others.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: User isn't able to see the alignments of people but can indicate an emotional state, such as anger, depression, or love. Using this ability, Soulcaster can see other Soulcasters. This technique however does not allow the user to see in the dark, nor see through invisibility techniques. The sight mostly comes in colors. Different emotions emit different colors. (What colors the user sees is by their own choice OOC)
Limit: Must be a Soulcaster.