Tsubaki Nara didn't know why things happened, only that they did. Thrust in the middle of political power struggles, agonizing conflictions of the heart, and discovery of world-shattering revelations, Tsubaki must learn for herself where she belongs...
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TSUBAKI'S POINT OF VIEW
When I was born, mom recalled the sweet fragrance of Tsubaki flowers pouring in from the window as the midwives fussed over her withering form. The pain of pushing out a life is one only a mother can experience. She remembered feeling a strange sense of calm from the flowers which bloomed out of season. No one else had remembered there being a Tsubaki plant nearby; understandably, it was the last thing on their minds as twins were born to the Nara Main Household. Those babies who left the warmth of their mother's womb and into the steady arms of their father was my brother and I. My mother named me Tsubaki for the mysterious flower that had come to her bedside. She would tell me that story every single time I asked what the story behind my name was. Perhaps not the most inspiring or extraordinary tale, but it was the story of my beginning.
Growing up, I've always been fascinated with plants. Their meaning, purpose, and secret abilities. My reverence to the oldest caretakers of the earth led me to my passion: Medical Ninjutsu. Mother was overjoyed when I announced during a class presentation that my dream was to become the strongest medical shinobi. She quickly began nursing my enthusiasm in the field of medical knowledge by bringing me to our clan's clinic. I learned from every experienced medical shinobi how to produce medicine, the correct way to cultivate and harvest medical herbs, the anatomy of the human body, and even the basics of how healing chakra interacted with the natural flow of chakra within every individual.
While physically seeing the process was enriching, I got most of my knowledge from reading the very last few remaining copies written by Mikubae Senju, also known as the Mother of Medical Ninjutsu. Her long works that have managed to be preserved throughout the decades of war were truly revolutionary in her time. They were the important foundation blocks for what we know as Medical Ninjutsu today. Many of her techniques were difficult to replicate. Even mother has struggled to grasp even some of the most basic of her theories. But for some odd reason, they made perfect sense to me.
The idea of taking in chakra from your natural surroundings and cultivating it was very straightforward. When I turned four I immediately started taking small quantities of nature chakra through meditation and have slowly been building a new chakra reservoir in the center of my forehead. Chakra flows throughout the whole body. The head is the most ideal place to begin a new chakra reservoir that is a mixture of my own and nature chakra because it is a centra point for chakra flow.
Unfortunately, because of my intrinsically weak constitute as a four-year-old child, the amount of chakra I can store within my body is limited. If the fragile reservoir is forcibly filled then it could lead to a multitude of problems. For now, I've been quelling my thirst for knowledge by spending lazy afternoons in the clinic's library.
It was usually quiet on weekends. Not many shinobis came in considering our clinic served primarily as an extreme-case-scenario. Our medicines were handmade from the herbs which grow only on our family's land. Deer antlers, which is the sacred spirit animal of our clan, was the rarest of medicinal materials which only we possessed (we only harvest if there's no other option).
