Annoyed by her weakness, distrought by the very idea that finding someone capable of bringing her back to the full hight of her power was becoming rather impossible and possitively enraged by the loss of subjects left and right made Lamya move towards the border of hi no kuni with an empty feeling in her stomach, as if there was a hole that no matter what she did could not be filled.

With daylight finally arriving and the makeshift eyepatch she was wearing not rly blocking the sun from the exposed bundle of nerves she still had at the back of her empty eyesocket made the former Anbu captain cringe in pain every so often. the pain she was enduring was a testament of what she had gone through though and she was not yet completely defeated, she was still incredibly strong and well prepared against any would be assailant thanks to her weapons and armor, yet with her mask off, anyone could see that even that strength was starting to fade away.

Uraeus, her pet snake and trusty comrade slithered besides her as she stumbled through the forest, every so often stopping to make sure they were going in the right direction.

"It's unbearable, not to be able to heal myself in this situation," The woman sighed and scratched at the eyepatch again, visibly worrying the white snake with her actions and her increasingly erratic behavior, which was showing the early signs of depression and paranoia. Now without her jutsu, she had to rely mainly on her physical senses, which felt completely different from her usual sensory skills, not to mention the fact that with only one eye, she was vulnerable, more so than if she still had both of her eyes.

Her encounter with the hyuga at the prison was humiliating, but also a proverbial eye opener to Lamya, she needed to reinvigorate herself, change her way of approaching certain things and she needed to be much, much more brutal and cruel if she wanted to gain the world's attention.

Her uncle was free, free to do as he pleased, which was a danger to her own desires and goals. Though their goals were similar, she knew that Enaka's plans involved more death than hers and that she would not be able to stand in his way, especially not in her current state.

The woman cursed the people of Konoha for not building a better prison or better guards to guardit, given the ease He escaped with, while she had been put into prison. Who had she been kidding, she had come to that prison to kill him and remove his hold over her. However, she failed miserably and now had to be content with the fact that he wasn't going to make a big scene in konoha, she knew his power here had dwindled and he needed a new scenery, a new powerbase.

"Kyohei, Tenzo, Sousetsu, Chisaki... so many have suffered under his games and I'm the reason he's free again," She sighed and looked at Uraeus, stopping next to a tree to catch her breath. "No...no, I'm not to blame, that Tsuyo Hyuga is. He's the one who stopped me,
he's the one who caused all of this...he's the one who messed up my plans. First suna, then Tsuyo and then enaka...yes, that's how it'll be."

Without saying anymore words, she slumped down against the tree and closed her eye for a moment, deciding to rest for a while and leave Uraeus with the duty of guarding her...

607

The forest could be a bizzare place, to those who looked.

As the snake lay to rest there would be a soft celestial chime to those who were sensitive to that feeling as Daji, the silver-white long eared fox with the gemstone encrusted upon her fore-head would seem to slink out from behind a nearby grove, having appeared from seemingly nowhere. Reaching her paws out she would flex her chakra, the signature spiking to a massive degree of nature aligned chakra, much like that of a sage animal before plummeting back down to nearly nothing as she yawned before looking around. Something to the spirit creature felt... odd here. Like there was some form of rift in the Karmic cycle, a denizen that span the wheel by choice was nearby, and one of considerable strength. The smell of blood could be picked up by any spirit within a mile, and Daji knew that smell most of all. As she approached on her delicate paws, ne'er making even the sleightest of sounds as she tip-toed and bounded through the forest and obsticles in her way she would in a single hop leap to the branches of an ash-oak that would overlook the small area in which Lamya lay.

'Mysterious eyes peering out from the growth.'

Daji would lay upon her stomach and watch the woman for a few moments, attempting to ponder what it is she may be thinking, whoever she was, she seemed powerful, that was certain, there would be absolutely no doubt that she would have sensed, seen or heard Daji's approach in one way or another, whether or not it mattered was something else entirely. The fox would look to her form, though she could not see the snake pet near-by, it would not take long for Daji to feel that the woman below her seemed to be wounded, something about her chakra was wrong and it didn't feel right. The first reaction of Daji was to chuckle, but, she had felt disturbances nearby before... She'd noticed that recently there was a battle at the Konoha prison... could it be that this woman was the person who may have been responsible for that? Daji couldn't help but chuckle inwardly at the thought of another being meeting misfortune and crippling despair before the implications dawned on her...

'If she was wounded... then what fun is that?'

Leaping from the tree, as soon as Daji would have her body obscured by one of the branches there would be another soft chime along the wind, like a crystal bowl being lightly tapped by a silver spoon and Daji, would simply vanish... As if she were never there to begin with.

'There's her.'

---

Another time Another place.

Hanbei had been patrolling in the forest for some time now as the day moved on, the chuunin jumped from tree to tree rapidly before she finally came to the patrol post that was stationed not far south of the Konoha boarder with River Country. Landing for a moment, it was the end of the girls' shift, looking to the other Jounin who smiled and waved the Chuunin girl goodbye, Hanbei was sad to leave them, but glad that her work day had ended. The peppered rays of sunlight penetrating through the canopy had been distracting her for some-time, and she wanted to get outside in that sun for hours now. Hanbei loved the fact the sun here seemed to almost be a completely different entity than the sun that lingered across the sky in Sunagakure... a barren land where the Sun seemed to stand still, baking everything below with its harsh rays until it was nothing but dust and sand. Yet the Sun here seemed to bring life in its wake, nourishing all life below it with a far softer radiant glow that felt warm to the touch and not damaging.

'But there was no rest for the righteous.'

Without warning as if laying in wait for Hanbei to come out and see, Daji leaped from the side to land on Hanbei's back, mewling and scratching lightly with some amount of frantic behavior. Thrown off by the sudden interaction, the Chuunin lost balance, crashing into the ground in a frightened heap as Daji simply hopped from the girl as she went down, licking her paw and chucking as only a fox could. Lurching forward to nip at Hanbei's exposed hand with her sharp teeth to drag the chuunin back to attention. Gasping in a small shriek, Hanbei focused on Daji who would turn to point in a direction before bounding off with haste. Daji had never acted like this before, so, something must be wrong. A serious look swallowed Hanbei's face as her brow furrowed and she charged in that direction, snatching Daji up as she stormed past her and instructing her to direct Hanbei as she made her way through the forest, activating her Body flicker technique to get to her destination all the faster.

'Within moments Hanbei would grind to a halt.'

Daji leaping from Hanbei's grasp she would straighten her fur for a moment before slinking forward towards the tree where Lamya lay. Peeking through the brush, Hanbei moved forward, the Kumogakure Chuunin looking through to see the adult woman basking in the glow of the sun at the foot of a tree... And for a moment she felt jealous before realizing that the woman's breaths seemed to be shuddering slightly, as if she were in pain. A look of worry would sweep across Hanbei's face as, rather than think she was resting, her mind immediately raced to the worst possible conclusion, that the woman was unconscious after some form of battle. Her muscle tone seemed to suggest she was well trained but obviously something had come to pass. Closing her eyes for a moment Hanbei would rush out into the open while activating her medical sight technique, using it in an attempt to diagnoze the issue that lay within Lamya, completely unknowing of any possible dangers in the area.

In a quick attempt to heal any of the woes that had been dealt to her, Hanbei immediately moved to the use of his Kekkei Genkai, summoning the needle of Dharma at the highest rank he was able to at the current moment, the blue needle would shine with his chakra as he approached, moving to kneel down before her and attempt to assess the damage that had been wrought over her body.

chakra 145:

Pain, internal pain had brought Lamya to a stand still, even if she had managed to finally escape the prison after at least a week of being there with the good graces of her mysterious benefactor aiding in her escape in return for a small job, it was apparent that the combination of the painful loss of her jutsu abilities, her broken chakra pathways and tenketsu and the sudden and swift departure from the prison had taken their toll on her. She was broken, with the pain and agony not subsiding at all, but in stead accumulating and worsening to the point that it forced her to rest, to at least find some semblance of relief.

In this situation, she had become helpless, like a wounded animal taking its final breaths, she was exhausted and the sleep overcame her in an instant. With ragged breaths she slept, not knowing that Uraeus had slithered up the tree she was sleeping at, cautious and vigilant while taking watch for his mistress.

The fox-like creature seemed to think it had gone by unnoticed, seemingly unaware of the large snake flicking his tongue silently to smell the air, remember the scent, the taste of said scent and the vibrations the creature made. Uraeus felt the surge in chakra, he felt the changes, yet his instinct drove him to silence and to vigilantly watch to see what would happen. He knew that Lamya was asleep, but he also knew that even then, the former Anbu captain was a dangerous breed of human, after all she was the one who he had chosen to serve.

As the fox-like creature seemed to leave again, the large white snake shifted his weight, calmly assessing the situation at hand. On one hand this could've been a blissful sign, yet on the other hand this could've been a pet in an equal situation as himself: guarding the surroundings in servitude to its master.

Uraeus was thinking about what to do. Would he wake up Lamya or would he just remain vigilant and only act when there was an immediate thread to come for his mistress?

He did not know what would happen, so all he could do was wait, wait and see what would come and when a situation would again arise, he'd assess it like he had always done and would always do. If there was no need for action, he would not act, yet if there was need to action, he'd show why he was part of the proud bloodline of the Great White Snake Sage that saw over all of the great snakes and all of those who shared his blood through the Orochi line of the Ouroboros clan.

Time seemed to pass slowly, yet Uraeus was certain that it had not taken more than five minutes until alongside that same fox-like creature, a human as andrygonous as possible appeared. for a moment, the snake had to laugh silently, wondering how it was possible for someone so ambiguous in terms of gender to exist among the humans, they were a strange breed indeed.

The woman in the meantime took ragged breaths, coughing silently for a few times, but hardly moving, except the constant shivering which showed her condition was actually worsening. She was beyond exhaustion and needed at least some basic treatment to patch her up and make sure she wouldn't just die so easily in such a lonely and disheartening place and state.

Uraeus kept his eye on the human approaching his mistress, deciding to calmly slither down from the back of the tree, out of sight from the human and pressumably the fox-like companion as well. As silent as only an apex predator could be, he slowly started to slip through the grass at the base of the tree, placing himself behind Lamya's back, yet using his tongue to sense the vibrations in the air, to calmly read the situation and base his own actions on the judgment of his own choosing.

Then he felt it: chakra, almost unnoticable, yet distinctly human and not at all the same as that fox he'd smelled and felt before.

"Sssstand down, sssmall human!!" The snake shot from behind Lamya's back and over her shoulder, snapping his jaws quite close to the hand wielding the needle, hissing as he opened his maw and turned to show his impressive fangs at Hanbei. Uraeus had chosen his action based on the fact that he sensed human chakra. "What are you trying to do to my missstresss?"

His red eyes looked straight into Hanbei's, fiercefully hissing at the young shinobi as only a protective beast could, showing its magnificence and strength with a show of force, yet he could feel a hand sliding over his massive body which still rested mostly upon the grassy ground, a familiar touch of skin which was enough to calm him down considerably.

"Calm down Uraeus, any child, no matter the age, would approach a wounded snake with caution and would not dare to try and play tricks on someone who even in a state such as my own, could still turn them into nothing more than the dust beneath our feet...right, kid?"

880/1487

In haste lays danger, coiled like the serpent of paradise.

Approaching the girl rapidly, Hanbei could see the serpant there, but in his worry he had discounted it, only when he saw the mess of inhuman nerves, blood and bone structure leap out and physically talk in a hiss with its his forked tongue and wicked fangs bared and ready to defend its master. The shock and surprise on Hanbei's face forced her to recoil, for a moment, not quite so quickly that she would fumble the needle, but fast enough to almost loose her footing on the soft dirt that surrounded them. The sun cascading through the canopy above them bathing the earth beneath in golden beams of light that shimmered and swayed with the breeze stroking gently through the trees branches as it shaded them from the rays. Hanbei would move to focus on the serpent, but, somewhat stunned and breathing heavily at the sight of the beast, it was the fox that would wander out from the brush beside them, yawning silently before looking to the serpent, a flicker in intrigue crossing her eye before it faded into absolute apathy for the scenario. Daji had done her altruistic deed for the millenium, she had a reputation to uphold after all.

'Yet the slumbering titan woke'

"Calm down Uraeus, any child, no matter the age, would approach a wounded snake with caution and would not dare to try and play tricks on someone who even in a state such as my own, could still turn them into nothing more than the dust beneath our feet...right, kid?" The woman spoke, her voice was like velvet, but suffering from exhaustion and pain. Hanbei could see the missing eye in its socket, the patch was invisible to him due to the fact that it was not alive while he maintained his medical jutsu. He could see that her body was lacking sustenance, and was under a lot of stress, possibly from exhaustion and possibly from mal-nutrition. However, it was her chakra pathways that seemed to be devastated. The fact that this woman had even managed to walk this far with wounds like this was a miracle, yet, here she was. Daji, whipping out a claw and giving Hanbei a harsh nip to the back of her leg shocked her just enough to snap out of her temporary delirium.

"O-of course, my companion Daji came across you and bought me here, I'm a medical ninja, My name is Hanbei Guanyin, I'm a chuunin of Kumogakure, although I haven't been back there in a while. Please, let me help you. I'm not yet strong enough to rebuild your eye, but, i can heal it over in the mean-time and restore some of your vitality. Yet your chakra pathways... they seem to be almost demolished... what manner of god did this to you?" Hanbei assumed that it had been a deity that dealt the damage to her chakra, as they were beings of chakra in of themselves, such an attack was not uncommon for spiritual beings. However, if only Hanbei were strong enough now to use the mark of fortune technique that his father had taught him, it would be so much easier to heal her wounds, yet, he was not quite strong enough. Though he knew it, the chakra strain that it would have on his body would be too dangerous to utilize.

'but she was so close'

As lamya would gaze at the girl that stood before her, assuming her medical ninjutsu were of a high enough rank, she would quickly discern the subtle factors in Hanbei's physique that were unique to her. Bone structure, slight abnormalities in the skin that would allure to some form of genetic hormonal disorder. Hanbei was a boy, but he definately had a condition that made him appear not to be. He was also older than he seemed, aging nearer to 17 than the 12-13 year old that stood before her. No doubt another symptom of the condition that he suffered, or perhaps had an advantage because of. "So, if i could be permitted, I would like to attempt to heal your wounds as best i can. I'm not as good as my father, that much is certain, but, I feel I've almost reached the rank of Special Jounin in strength. Maybe in a week or so, i would be able to heal the internal damage to your chakra system."

'So, he would await permission.'

Assuming it was given, he would lean down, keeping an eye on the white serpent that would sit off to one side. Moving to stand over Lamya and crouching down on one knee, lifting up the eye patch and drawing a small hand-full of his Senbon. ''I don't have any anesthetic, so, I'm going to use these needles and just stop some of your meridian flow to relieve the pain around your eye in the mean-time. Should you wish, although I can't restore your tenketsu yet, I could use acupuncture to numb you to the pain with repeated treatment until I could. I'd likely just need to devise a way to work my chakra to do so, and each treatment should last you a couple days without pain. It would let your body rest.'' He would speak as he slowly tapped the needles in and around key points on Lamyas' face, before finally, with the blue needle, inserting it into the socket of her eye.

'The effect that insued, would be swift and immediate.'

All of the nerve endings and the damaged skin and tissue would knit together as the blue needle would sink into the wound and pulse through her body as far as it could, healing the physical ailments throughout her system stemming from the eye. While the process might normally cause discomfort, the effect of the acupuncture would do well to numb the area, making it feel more relaxed than painful. As soon as the blue needle was administered, Hanbei would channel one more chakra needle to create a pulse needle. Intending to recover Lamyas lost strength and vitality from her mal-nutrition. the radiating needle would be stuck into the ground at her side, not needing to be administered as the healing chakra would radiate around them constantly, filling the air. The grass around them would become greener and more vibrant, like life had been injected into it, the trees trunk would seem to tighten and recover from natures weathering.

'it wasn't much, but it was all he could do.'

Should lamya accept the offer to numb the pain of her chakra pathways being broken, Hanbei would have to instruct her to lay down on her front and remove any armour to begin... still, as he spoke, looking to the giant white snake again. Knowing that asking a ninja to remove their armour could be seen as something far more devious. He just hoped that his actions so far had proven his trustworthiness.

'But was such hope in vein? Could a snake truly trust?'

"A kid from Kumogakure, hmm," The wounded and exhausted woman let out a deep sigh, closing her eye for a moment. She was obviously trying to work out her options, but after a few moments of thinking, she simply smiled and nodded. She didn't have a sharingan or a byakugan nor was she part of a clan like the senju, so in truth there was nothing interesting about her body for those who would try to harvest any kekkei genkai and because there weren't many around to have ever seen the full extent of her abilities, this very fact turned many people into more trustworthy help than when she would've had some of those special physical attrivutes and dojutsu. "There's no need to rebuild the eye... I simply need to find someone strong enough in medical ninjutsu to restore my tenketsu and revitalize my chakra pathways,
after that no physical wound would be an issue to me."

The woman caressed Uraeus for a moment, letting the snake know that it was alright, that he did not need to remain vigilant on her behalf, though when she looked at the kid kneeling in front of her and ready to work his magic, Lamya was just as intrigued as her snake though. Not because of the skill in medical ninjutsu, but the appearance of this Hanbei, who despite using masculine words and speechstyle actually looked more feminin than she herself did nine years ago. It must've been some sort of physical disorder or defect that brought on such an appearance, perhaps something similar to the fact that Lamya had not visibly aged for over six years already... except for maybe the recent issues of malnutrition and exhaustion really wrecking her body.

"It was no god that wounded me, it was a man. One without a doubt worthy of being called godly in his own right though," Letting out a raspy and forced sounding chuckle, the former Anbu captain reached for the zipper on her armor and did her best to remove said armor, so she could pull off the top part of her jumpsuit as well.

Now that she had done that, revealing her bare chest and back, the result or better yet the cause of her erratic chakra pathways was more visible, with small red dots spread accross part of her abdomen, in between her breasts and even on her collarbones, showing that whoever had done this  could've only been part of one clan: the hyuga. "As you can see, this isn't something you can just get healed by some wishy washy medic. I need someone capable enough to deal with this. The imbalanced chakra is causing me pain and making it hard to even function properly on a physical level."

With the kid doing his best, the kunoichi smiled a bit, not because of the kid's skill, because that was to be expected from someone who actually introduced themselves as a medic first and foremost, but because the kid had no idea who or what he was helping. In a way it was sad that she probably had to erase the poor guy's memory at some point, but then again, maybe she did not need to, as long as Hanbei did not know that she was a wanted criminal, he might've been of use to her in more ways than one. She could study his medical ninjutsu, incorporate some of them into her own and that way gain even more power over said specialty than she already had.

Cringing for a moment went her nerves seemed to slowly repair and her physical health began to grow stronger at a slow, yet steady pace, Lamya's left hand reached for hanbei's face, gently lifting it up a bit, while looking straight into the kid's strange and unusual eyes with her own golden coloured, snakelike eye. "Numbing my pain isn't necessary, it's the only thing which may indicate if something goes wrong. That aside, explain to me... why are you helping a complete stranger?"

686/2173

It seemed that the young kid had trouble assessing the true severity of the damage done to Lamya's body, but there was no doubt that the damage she had received, even with her seemingly having received emergency treatment right after that near fatal injury, was nearing a critical point. It was obvious that the damage to her tenketsu was great, with most of them blocked or broken in such a severe way that only the best possible treatment would be able to jumpstart them again and force them to heal, either that or a miracle.

However, what was also clear, was that she was actually suffering from chakra poisoning, as her chakra gates continued to make more and more chakra and she had without a doubt tried to meld chakra herself a few times in this state, causing internal pressure and ruptures in her chakra pathways. Essentially, it was practically a wonder that she had gotten this far without any medical attention, as if she had felt greater pain and suffering before or simply was way to stubborn to give in to the pain she had without a doubt been feeling for quite a while now.

"I don't know what came over you, kid, but I suggest calming down before you make a mistake you'll never live to regret." Lamya's single eye looked straight into Hanbei's purple orbs, her hand long gone from his face and her own face showing an expression so grim and so dark that it emphasized the depth of her words. Even wounded and practically unable to move, she still managed to make a threat, she still valued herself as a monster among shinobi. Her snake, slithering calmly nearby, seemed to adopt her expression, as its red eyes did not move a single moment, trained as they were upon the boy's every movement. "When you are healing or attempting to heal...you need to focus on that and that alone or you'll inevitably hurt more people than you'll help."

Letting out a forced chuckle, the woman listened to Hanbei's explanation, letting her hand rest upon the snake next to her, calming Uraeus down considerably in the process. Her expression softened, her single eye closing slowly, while her breathing became slightly less erratic and much more soothing in both sound and rythm. Lamya needed some time, time to rest, time to recuperate and time to set her mind straight. She still had so much to do, but her priority was Suna, even though she had business in Kumogakure as well, she needed to go to sunagakure first. However, perhaps this kid could be helpful after all. If she could speed up his training by tutoring him, without a doubt this young and growing shinobi could potentially grant her enough strength to repair the damage her body had sustained by herself. All she needed was for her chakra to run through her pathways properly for a short period of time and she'd be able to manage the rest on her own. Perhaps she could even send him to Kumogakure with a message if necessary.

"I'll teach you how to at least invigorate and stabilize chakra pathways, but that'll require rather strong concentration and a very good feeling regarding someone's chakra flow that is not your own," Lamya laughed, keeping her eyes closed and enjoying the moment of respite she was given at the hands of this young kid. "In time perhaps I might be able to teach you more than just a few theories."

599/2772

"You dare imply that my mistress is wrong in her assessment, you welp?" Uraeus suddenly blurted out, raising himself to Hanbei's full height, staring into the boy's purple eyes with a fearsome glare. Yet the snake was immediately cut off as it suddenly shivered when feeling Lamya's hand put some pressure on his body, which would've been enough to crush any normal forest snake, but luckily not Uraeus. Nonetheless it was enough of a sign to the large white snake to keep his mouth shut.

"I know the Tenketsu are not the source of my chakra, otherwise I wouldn't have tried to use my chakra in the meantime for a few times, but they ARE what determines your chakra pathways, how you expell and use your chakra," Pointing at the multitude of red dots she had on her chest, arms and back, Lamya could simply point out that even though her tenketsu did not deprive her of any chakra, it was obvious that using her chakra without the tenketsu had some unpredictable and frankly quite dangerous results, which were shown by the fact that she had strained many of her internal organs in trying to use her chakra with the so-called guiding spots disrupted and or destroyed. "There is no reason for you to try and focus on my chakra control or its flow, all you need to do is try and repair the tenketsu, the rest can be done by my own jutsu. If my tenketsu are repaired well enough for my chakra flow and control not to be hindered too much, I should be able to fully restore myself with minimal effort. Don't underestimate the medical prowess of the members of the Ouroboros clan.

It seemed that the kunoichi had to think about Hanbei's proposal though, even though it would mean the kid would be doing much more than necessary, the idea of having more security to work with when she'd try and force her own chakra again was quite intriguing and impressive as well. Surely she never thought that only Konoha had medically inclined clans, but it was still quite a surprise to see that other villages without a doubt had some hidden gems within their ranks and this Hanbei kid seemed to be much more than just a gem. An already shining jewel was a more appropriate assessment on the kids talents, this kid would even exceed her or even her uncle when nurtured correctly and guided with care.

"Perhaps a guideline, using chakra as a guideline would be the most effective way," drawing a line accross all the dots with her fingers, lamya chuckled slightly as she watched the kid. hoping he'd understand what she meant and even if he didn't, there was no harm in explaining it more properly. "Use your needles as connectionpoints for your own medically infused chakra, if I can then force my own chakra through the way your chakra indicates, I should be able to perform at least a single jutsu, which should be more than enough for me to remove all the damage that has been delivered onto me and done by myself. Though I reckon it'll need a few tries and you'll probably need to be careful in how you administer the chakra into my system...since my system is a bit...difficult to work with."

The former anbu captain thought about the idea of perhaps prompting her body into Sagemode during the healing, but with her chakra pathways in disarray and her tenetsu making it near impossible to draw in enough nature chakra, that option quickly became an impossibility. Perhaps just relying on the kid's obvious potential and seemingly innate medical prowess was enough for the kunoichi to regain her full power again. It would've been a joy to see the kid's face when she'd be able to display her full might for the first time in such a long time."Let's first focus on your getting just that tiny bit stronger before you start experimenting on me, okay?"

690/3462

exit thread

training: