Tsuneko had spent the morning studying the medical book that she had borrowed from Konoha’s library, particularly the sections on the workings of the heart and defibrillators. It explained how electronic impulses stimulate the beating of the heart and the external and internal conditions that can cause the heart to beat erratically or to stop completely. The book made it clear that the sooner that defibrillation occurs, the higher the success rate was on saving the patient.

Although she does not use Ninjutsu, Tsuneko has a talent for chakra control which allows her to practice Medical Ninjutsu. She had learned throughout her training that she had the common affinity towards Suiton, as many Kirigakure ninja did, as well as the ability to utilize the Raiton element. Seeing the potential of using Raiton in conjunction with Medical Ninjutsu, the Genin found a spot in the Rolling Hills to practice where she would be unlikely to cause damage should she make a mistake.

Concentrating chakra into her right hand, a crackling noise rose into the air as a spark of electricity bloomed in her palm. She focused on the irregularly shaped clump of energy and tried to force it into a more controlled shape. The lightning imbued chakra was searching for an escape route from the pressure she placed upon it and shot upwards through a small “hole” in her control, dissipating into the air. Recognizing that this would take a long time, she took a seat on a grassy hill and closed her mind to other thought, focusing on the task at hand.

After a couple hours, she smiled down at the layer of lightning pulsing over the palm of her hand. Step one was completed. Now she had to learn to simultaneously do the same with her other hand. She focused chakra into her left hand, but as she inserted Raiton into that hand, she lost control of the chakra in her right hand; the noise of it crackling into the air caused her to lose her focus of the left hand as well.

Tsuneko decided to work on her left hand by itself before trying to combine the two again. She much more quickly succeeded in this, as she was able to pull upon the knowledge and experience that she had gained earlier. She set herself to trying to control both hands at the same time, again. She started by summoning up chakra in both palms and imbuing them with lightning. As the crackling filled the air, once more, she began trying to compress the two at the same time. She did so unevenly, and bolts of lightning shot off from her fingertips. Releasing the chakra, she got up to stretch her legs and refocus her mind. She knew that she was capable of this and would not give up until she succeeded.

More hours passed as she experimented again and again. It was after noon when she finally accomplished her goal. Looking down at her hands, she was pleased to see the layer of quivering, blue lightning coating both of her palms. ’It worked!' Now she just had to learn to control it consistently. She summoned up and released the lightning from her palms many more times until she felt as though she could do so without much difficulty. She recognized that if it wasn’t for her previous training in control with her Temporary Healing jutsu that succeeding in this would have taken far longer. As it was, she had only had to deal with the additional difficulty of adding Raiton to the mix, instead of having to learn how to shape and control the strength of the chakra from scratch.

Heading back into the village, she realized that she had spent most of the day out in the hills and that it was late afternoon. As she walked through the outskirts of Konoha, she heard a woman shriek, ”Somebody help! He’s not breathing!!” Feeling bound to do what she could, she looked around until she located the source of that voice. It was an older, civilian woman, looking panicked outside of, presumably, her home. Tsuneko ran over and asked, ”What happened, Ma’am? Where is he?”

”He’s in here. I don’t know what happened; he was complaining that his chest hurt and then he just collapsed. Tsuneko followed the woman into her house and found a man laid out on the floor of the living room. She quickly knelt by his side and felt his carotid artery for a pulse. Unable to find feel one, she knew that she would not be able to run him to the hospital across town in time; she had to do something now. She remembered what she had read on heart diseases, and this appeared to fit within the common descriptions of a heart attack. ’WhatdoIdo? WhatdoIdo?’ Trying not to show the uncertainty on her face to the hovering wife she forced herself to calmly say, ”Ma’am, I’m going to have to restart your husband’s heart. Please stand back.”

Ignoring the woman’s panicked babbling, she focused on her patient. Ripping his shirt off, she made sure that the woman wasn’t touching him, before taking a deep breath and focusing her chakra. ’Stay calm. You can do this. Deep breath… Now go.’ She drew the chakra into her hands, added the Raiton, and forced it into the shape of her palms, just as she had practiced. Remembering what she had witnessed while assisting in Kirigakure’s Hospital, she moved her left hand to hover above his right nipple and the right hand lower, on his left side, as the paddles would normally be placed. After another quick breath, she placed both hands down on the patient and watched, fascinated herself to see his body jolt and his eyes flutter as he began breathing again. The chakra released from her hands, she took his pulse again and was relieved to be able to find it steady, for the time being.

There was much more that needed to be done for him, but that was all that she could do here. Speaking over his mumblings, ”Sir, you’re going to be fine. I’m taking you to the hospital.” She spoke with confidence, although she wasn’t sure how she would manage that. She was not weak, but the man was much taller and heavier than she was; there was no way that she’d be able to carry him alone or that the woman, hysterical as she was, would be much help. Running out into the street, she grabbed the first able-bodied person she saw and dragged him or her into the house with no more explanation than, ”Help me! I need to get this man to the hospital.” She didn’t bother to check if the person was male or female, civilian or shinobi. She was too focused on her patient to care.

Motioning for him or her to do the same, she knelt down and, with her involuntary volunteer’s help, they picked up the man in a kind of chair, with each having a hand at the man’s knees and a hand around his back. With the crying wife following behind, they made their way as quickly as possible through the village to the Konoha Hospital.

As they made it through the doors of the hospital, she called out to the staff, ”We need some help over here! Patient is suffering from a heart attack. De-fib has already been applied, but he needs further treatment.” She passed the man off to the doctors there, placing him on a gurney for them to be able to take him where they needed.

It was only then, with her adrenalin slowly coming back down that she realized what she had just done. She had used an untested technique on a civilian, and… maybe saved his life. ’It worked…’ she thought, incredulously. Tsuneko had acted thoughtfully but had not really thought about what she was doing until know. What she had done could be considered irresponsible… but it was effective. She had restored the man’s pulse through an Artificial Pulse.

[Word count: 1,347/1,000
Jutsu trained: Artificial Pulse
Chakra: 65/80]

Spoiler:

Tsuneko finally took the time to see who her helper was. Her violet eyes found a young man: black eyes, brown hair, and a civilian. She should have expected that he wasn’t a shinobi. While civilians were taught to follow a ninja’s instructions, even one as young as her, because Genin were often used in evacuations in time of crisis, shinobi were often less compliant to some girl who yanked them off the street. Her confidence while working as a medical-nin faded slightly as the situation’s stress level did when she saw a man several years her senior looking expectantly. What was she supposed to say to him? Her tone reflecting more surety than she felt, she said, “Thank you for your help. That’s all I need. The doctors will take care of him from here out.” “Glad I could help. This was the most exciting thing that’s happened all week! I hope the guy’s okay,” he replied. “I’m sure he’ll be fine,” she reassured him, although she wasn’t sure at all.

As he walked away, Tsuneko made her way into the waiting room. Taking a seat, she stared at the wall, her own thoughts occupying her as she waited to hear something. A few hours passed before a doctor found her after speaking to the man’s wife. “You’re the one who brought him in here?” She nodded, and the doctor continued, “He’s going to recover fine. It was lucky that you were there; it doesn’t appear that he suffered any brain damage. The wife said that you used a jutsu on him?” She was a little bit wary and answered carefully, “Yes. It’s called the Artificial Pulse. It uses Raiton to simulate the electrical impulse that an external defibrillator uses.” Her voice kept the same confident that she had put on for the civilian. She immediately named the jutsu, trying to make it sound as though it was a tried and proven technique rather than one she had just made up, and it seemed to work. “I see… It’s a good thing that you Kiri-nin are so well-prepared for anything. Good work.” He patted her on the shoulder and left. Tsuneko slipped out of the hospital, relieved. She had invented a jutsu, saved a life, and escaped getting in trouble for using her experimental technique. Both she and the man were very lucky. The Genin made her way back to the small apartment that the Kage had put her up in for the duration of her stay in Konoha and found a letter waiting for her there. Tomorrow, the refugees from Kirigakure would be leaving for home.