Erai decided to go out on the town this day. Unfortunately, the day wasn’t as bright as it normally was. The clouds were thick and gray overhead, which left sort of an ominous vibe throughout the village. The village’s people sort of dragged their feet as they attended their daily grind. It was around one o’clock, so there was another cool four hours before everyone really got off from their jobs. Since this was case, the streets were relatively clear, making travel easy. Of course, Erai could’ve just hopped from one roof to another, making the issue of crowded streets null. She really just preferred to walk around through the town, taking in the sights. She was still new to the village, and hadn’t gotten accustomed to all of its various attractions. The streets were a nice mixture of small boutiques and vendors out selling their trade. At this moment in time however, the number said vendors was little, due to the current time. They usually peaked at around seven on the weekends, taking advantage of pay days. All of these things amounted to the new Iwagakure that the village’s people have coined.

Though the destination today led her to a whole new part of town. Even if Iwagakure had been through a sort of economic burst of activity, with lowered crime rates, there were still signs of struggle. The hospital had a whole separate wing devoted to those who couldn’t really pay for their treatment. Though, due to the new health care systems in place, the government didn’t necessarily deny their treatment, it was just noticeably less in quality. This was sad enough, but like other major villages, Iwagakure had it’s own ghetto on the outskirts. This is the area in which crime really wasn’t the issue, but poverty was. The Tsuchikage’s reach didn’t come out this far, and those who lived here struggled. In walking over to this area, Erai could really see the difference in the standard of living for the citizens in this part. Decades of crime and gangs left these people scarred, and many of them did little but exist. Unfortunately, this section didn’t have enough people advocating for them, so they were often forgotten.

In truth, Erai had no knowledge of this place until Shindou instructed her to come. This left her wondering if Shindou actually lived here, or he told her to come here to see this. Whatever the case was, it was a sight to see, leaving a bad taste in her mouth. Looking to both her left and right, she could see frail, sick looking people who looked as if they needed medical treatment. “I wish I had some sort of knowledge of the art. I may be able to help some of these people. Probably even better than the hospitals.” She thought to herself. Feeling herself getting emotionally charged, she tried to remember the clue that Shindou left her. “In order to find him, I have to ask for the ‘Angel’s Touch’.” She said under her breath. For a brief moment, she wondered if the people in front of her even knew the common language. She quickly dismissed it, though they probably couldn’t read much. Looking down before her was a skinny man who wore rags for clothes. Erai could smell his musk even before she crouched down to speak to him. Ignoring this though, she looked at him on one knee; his eyes sullen and filled with fear.

Erai hesitated briefly before speaking to the man, feeling his fright through the air. “Hi! Can you tell me where to find the Angel’s Touch?” she said to the man in a cheerful voice. The man simply looked at her, as if trying to look through her. Erai kept a cheerful face about her, hiding her discomfort with a smile. It was as if the man could sense this as he began to panic. He stumbled a bit before he managed to pick himself up off the ground. Looking as if he had the fear of god placed in him, he ran away as fast as his bones could manage. Filled with confusion, Erai lifted off her one knee, watching the man flee. Looking around, she could see the other people watching her, as if she was some kind of bad person. She continued walking down the same path looking around to see different people staring at her. “Damnit, what’d I do? Did Shindou set me up for something weird?” she thought to herself. At that same moment, another person walked up, though Erai could tell they were different. A young man walked up to Erai, looking a few years younger than herself. He carried another air about him as he walked up to greet Erai.

“Sorry about that, people around here aren’t used to strangers.” the man said in a deep voice. “You said you’re looking for the Angel’s Touch?, I can lead you to who you need to see.” he said calmly. Erai nodded as she began to follow him. She wasn’t sure who he was exactly, or why he was different. She did know however that she could probably handle anything he would try to do her, so she kept her guard up. While she followed him, she noticed that everyone seemed to look at her differently. She was bound to find where Shindou was pretty soon, she was sure of that.

WC: 904

Shindou lounged on the couch in his living room. The morning had been filled with a surprising number of D-ranked missions. Unlike the usual two or three that he would take daily, he had been assigned six D-ranked missions. While they were all simplistic to complete, six D-ranked missions would be able to take their toll on anyone, even him despite his disciplined nature. As such, he had cancelled all plans to take another C-rank mission that afternoon, too exhausted by the time the clock struck twelve to rationalise which C-rank would best suit him. Rather, he’d returned home in the poorer parts of Iwagakure, where the small wooden cottage he called home was located.

Shindou shared a very simple home with his younger sister, Sena. It had a fencing in the front, where a gap in the fences acted as the entry to their front yard. His house aside, as it wasn’t that important in particular; their front yard led to raised patio a rough one foot off the ground, furnished with one round table and two chairs. Of course, while he lived with Sena, the two chairs weren’t meant for the two of them to enjoy the evening view, since there wasn’t one. Rather, it was for Sena to treat her patients, being the volunteer medic of the area which offered medical services readily to the poor and any who needed it.

The interesting note was that none of these people were unable to afford government healthcare. With the new healthcare systems and financial buffers in place, even the poorest of the poor were able to afford some form of healthcare in Iwa Hospital. However, the barriers that people had yet to overcome in going to said hospitals extended just beyond a lack of monetary expenses to pay for their medical bills. The poor were often discriminated in villages, not just Iwa, for not even meeting the minimum wage recommended for self-sustenance by Iwa’s government, and for taking space where the more fortunate could use. It was for this reason that the poor were unused to going out of their way, into the territories of the lower-income or middle-income group, to seek treatment of any kind, unless their needs were dire. It was also for this reason that his sister, Sena, had opened their medical services, which gave these people an alternative.

In fact, the main reason they had chosen to live in the outskirts of Iwa, among other reasons of staying under the radar, was because it was filled with people. There were plenty of places that they could choose for simply laying low, but the outskirts were teeming with people who knew not what to do with their lives. Those who were smart enough to decide what they wanted were also smart enough to quickly move out of these places, to avoid being dragged down, leading to a stark absence of hope within these neighbourhoods. People lived off what they could find in the streets or trash cans, and made up for any monetary deficiencies with their bodies or their organs. Out of all the places Shindou had narrowed down from their list of options, Sena had chosen this place to make their home.

“Shindou?” Sena’s voice came from outside.

“Yes?” he asked from his position on the couch, back against the soft leather and eyes closed in rest and meditation.

“Mr. Imada wants to see you,” she said.

With that, Shindou got up from his position and took a deep breath, before walking outside. He was used to people coming to him for favours and I.O.U.s of the more intensive kind, much like how his sister was familiar with them coming to her for favours requiring a medic’s touch. When he reached the door, he could see Sena outside sitting in one of the chairs, with a patient sitting in the chair next to her with what seemed like a blackening arm. Bruise or poison, Shindou would need more information before he could help. Of course, this wasn’t his to help. Instead, he was wanted by an old man by the name of Kenjiro Imada, who was standing on the opposite side of the porch to where his sister was treating her patient.

Kenjiro Imada was a middle-aged man, bald and wrinkling both from old age and a lack of proper nutrition in his diet. His back was slightly bent and his neck was craning upwards to look Shindou in the eye. His hands were fidgeting around in front of him, unsure where to be, but still unable to stay still. His face held a look of apprehension, as if he didn’t know if he should talk to Shindou and risk being smited by what was one of the only ninja living in an isolated place like this.

“S-someone’s asking for the Angel’s Touch,” Kenjiro stammered. “It’s not one of us. She’s dressed.. differently! She might be from the government!”

Shindou raised an eyebrow. Angel’s Touch was the colloquial name for his sister, who was otherwise known to the local neighbourhood as Sena Nara. Her kindness and caring heart, as well as her unrelenting desire to keep helping people with her acquired talents in medical ninjutsu, were what had drawn them to her, and eventually led to them jokingly referring to her as an angel. Considering all her her medical ninjutsu (and all medical ninjutsu that Shindou had heard of up till that point) required the sense of touch for accurate diagnosis and treatment, they had begun nicknaming her Angel’s Touch, in response to her supposedly magic touch.

Kenjiro’s fears weren’t unfounded. They had always been anxious that Iwagakure would find Sena’s voluntary work against their best interests. This way, the poor weren’t exposed to state-of-the-art medical equipment that were more guaranteed to save their lives. To Shindou, however, the poor that they treated had always never needed such equipment or medicine. In fact, a simple healing jutsu from his sister normally did the trick, and for those that they were unable to heal or whose condition they deemed too critical, they were sure to direct them towards the relevant authorities. They didn’t plan to do this forever, and helping the poor understand where to get treatment was a step in the right direction.

“Take me to her,” Shindou said, and Kenjiro nodded profusely as he limped away.

The two of them left through the front gates, before passing through the mazy neighbourhood. There wasn’t much Iwagakure could do to prosecute them; it wasn’t against the law to give medical assistance if you had the skills. However, with a ninja village, the higher-ups interests were the actual law, and if they did something that wasn’t liked… well, they lived in a ninja village. It wasn’t difficult to extrapolate. He knew word like got out about his sister’s new moniker and the chances of it not being a government official or representative but rather a curious individual was just as likely, but either way, he was responsible for making sure his sister remained safe, even if she wasn’t fully briefed on that.


It had only been a several minute walk before they bumped into a pair of people, both of whom he satisfactorily recognised. The shivering of the old Kenjiro beside him indicated that this was indeed the person who was searching for ‘Angel’s Touch’. One of them was one of the better off kids who lived in the neighbourhood (though considering everyone lived near the poverty line, that wasn’t actually saying much), whom Shindou had seen once or twice in the neighbourhood though never truly interacted with beyond a smile. The other was the form of Erai, an acquaintance he had made several days ago while returning from a memorable mission, and one whom he had introduced to the term, though he doubted she had reasoned what it truly meant.

The gentle smile never left his hidden face as he walked towards the duo, even as Kenjiro stayed back. “Hello Erai,” he greeted her. “I’m guessing you were the one looking for Angel’s Touch? Were you really looking for her, or were you just trying to get to that spar we promised?”

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