Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Where We Come From

Things we Have to Lose...

Kouta was moving slowly, looking back every couple of steps to see how his newly met acquaintance was doing. The woman was moving, stumbling and needed wall support every couple of steps but she was moving which was much more than what she would've had, had the medical ninja not stumbled upon her and decided to be crazy and questionably unethical and brought her back. While the two were moving forward to a location that the soon to be departed lady continuously pointed out a new question came up for the Juugo ninja.

He healed the woman and went along with her request thinking that it was the right thing to do, after all, was healing people and bringing them back to life, whenever possible, not the purpose of the entire medical ninja profession? On the most basic and primal understandings of its linguistics and true meaning behind the word it was. However, there was a much deeper abyss of ethical and practical understanding which took arguably just as long if not longer to understand than the actual art of bringing people back to life using one's own inner power.

Was it ethical letting this woman stumble and wheeze through her final moments? Live as a burnt, rotten shell with the knowledge that she'd eventually die anyway? Was any of those things even close to touching the line that defined the medical ninja? The rules and practices of "pointless patients" were not vain ones, despite them sounding cruel to the uneducated eye. Just because Kouta could give this woman some hours of conscience and life he didn't ask the question "should he"? When the boy's chakra emanated through the woman's system he was sure it was the way to go, right now, seeing her struggle to even walk straight and wheeze, cough up blood... Kouta was not so sure anymore.

"So where are we going again? You just said that if I was to fulfill my promise to help you realize your last wish I need to get ready, you haven't spoken of this place in much detail..." Kouta asked. He was so absorbed with the ethical questions of his actions that he suddenly realized he stopped living here and now. He had heard of similar problems plaguing the stronger and higher ranking ninja. When one held the power inside to destroy the entire world one was plagued with much more complex questions than just if there was dog poop where they were stepping.

"My old friend's place. He used to be an actor in Konohagakure, now he's somewhat of a dabbler in blades and firepower for those unassociated with the Syndicate. In his earlier life made a living for himself, even something to buy a fancy painting once in a while and a nice ring for his wife... I kept telling him that living in Otogakure was the real life: love, delicious foods and drinks and all the pleasures one could dream of. Eventually, he took my advice..." The woman spoke, leaving the last sentence to come after a long pause and also to be uttered in an overly depressed and longing tone.

"What happened?" Kouta asked for more details, he wanted to know if there may have been bad history between the two. If there would've been he'd have had to fight someone that day and he'd rather not have killed a civilian inside another village, even if that was in defense of another person. He had enough ethical questions for one night...

"Jackbang..." The woman uttered with disgust, understandably so as she was talking of the substance that dug her an early grave. "He became obsessed with the Otogakure lifestyle, every day he took his wife to another musical, every day they dined in restaurants each more sophisticated than the other to the point where words "where will we be eating today" substituted "I love you"... He became addicted to pleasure, stopped working altogether and when he found out that I was doing something that provided momentary simple pleasure not unlike listening to a good musical would've to an artist... It was too addicting to resist".

As a medical ninja in Konohagakure, he had not heard that many stories like this. Konoha had its fair share of crime and death but people were too afraid of dying in attacks by enemy ninja to waste their time on drugs. The expected lifespan was so short that often people only became old enough to drink right before their passing. Obviously, during times of peace, the situation somewhat began to fix itself but drugs weren't a really big problem in Konoha, that was to say that with the village mentality in mind it was sort of an unattractive market.