The hospital room was silent as we waited patiently for sensei to speak and after a lot of this silence and thinking sensei finally looked up and started speaking.
"Thank you for asking me of that, lady Tsunade, but I think that it's better if I am the one to inform them of this. Seiten, call Mio here, I'll start after she arrives here." Sensei said in a normal voice. It looks like he had made his decision.
"Hmm? Do you need something from me, sensei?" A feminine voice again resonated behind me, making me turn my head and look for the one who spoke. walking inside through the door, we had arrived, was Mio, The last member of our four man squad.
Mio is the only girl in our team. She is smaller in height then average girls around her age of 16 years old. She has thin lips and black hair and her eyes are pink in color which looked beautiful with her dark hair.
Looking at her face, I remembered another face that looked oddly similar to her's. A person's face that she had also mentioned when she had first introduced herself to the team after becoming a ninja. A person's face that is hated by almost all the Naruto fans out there on earth. The face of Shimura Danzo. Her face had resemblance to his, Barely but it was still there. Thought even with that she still looked like a cute normal everyday girl.
Mio Shimura had mentioned it once that Danzo Shimura was her uncle, Or to be more specific, Mio's father was Danzo's little brother. She doesn't interact with Danzo much but they have interacted before and know about each other. Danzo even wanted to add her in Root once but her father denied and Danzo for some reason didn't pursue the matter.
Mio walked inside the room and stood beside me. She looked at Tsunade and greeted her respectfully and then turned to Sensei.
"What is it, Sensei?" Mio asked.
"Mio, I called you to tell you and everyone here something. It is about an injury I have sustained. Do you see this arm of mine?" Sensei said pointing towards his plastered arm.
"This arm was damaged badly on the mission we were on. And unfortunately, it is not possible to completely fix this. The finger bones and the Tenketsu of this arm are completely destroyed and all the muscles are mengled up. which means that I will not be able to use this arm, ever." Sensei said, shocking us.
"W-what?"
"How did an injury like that happen?" I asked while Seiten and Mio were shocked speechless.
"On the mission we went, We somehow ended up surrounded from everywhere by enemy ninjas. I was fighting two jounins at once and there was no escape, so to create diversion I decided to take an injury on this arm. I was able to injure one of the jounin by using this method. At the time, the injury was not this bad but, after I took out that jounin, The other jounin became inraged and charged at me with a powerful jutsu. I knew that the ninjas that had surrounded us will be arriving at any minute so I decided to take that jutsu on this same arm again and injure this jounin too. Doing this was the right decision as an opening appeared on there formation and we were able to escape but my arm got messed up." Sensei explained in a grim voice.
"Can't you fix sensei's arm, Lady tsunade?" Mio asked with worry in her voice, In response to which Tsunade senju shook her head.
"His arm is too damaged, It can't be fixed. The muscles in his arm can still be fixed but the bones can't be regenerated since these bones have completely turned into dust. Not to mention that fixing tenketsu is even more impossible. Fortunately, The severe damage only starts around his hand and his arm itself can still be fixed but...It isn't that useful now, Without the hand." Tsunade said.
It looks like the severe damage was only around his hand and the entire arm was plastered because of some other minor injury, so I guess that's something, huh?
"It looks like you haven't realized where I am going with all of this...What I am... trying to say is that, one of my hand is useless now. I can't use ninjutsu, I can't fight in a taijutsu battle...Which just means that...I am crippled. My ninja currier is almost over and I...I-I will not be able to do any missions with you, I a-am...-" He said as a few drops of tear slid out of his saddened eyes and he hung his head low without saying anything.
His currier as a ninja is over...Meaning he can't be our jounin sensei anymore, Can't go on missions anymore and can't call himself as a ninja anymore.
"N-No way."
"This can't be..."
Seiten and Mio both exclaimed. They both, No. We all had downcast and sad expressions on our shocked faces about sensei's situation, but that was not why both of them exclaimed just now, No. They exclaimed because they realized that with this our team will not be a team anymore. I, Seiten and Mio might still be in the same team but Sensei will not be there anymore.
Sensei did not teach them much but he was there, in most of our memories as ninja. he is there even in my memories that I got from someone else. Whether it be when we just became ninjas to when we killed our first human being, our first C rank mission to When we finally became chunins and until this moment, He was there as our sensei and a person we can look up to...So now, Suddenly when we realize that he will not be there most of the time...it just...left empty space there...And in our life.
I know that he isn't dying or anything but when I looked at his face that had tears sliding down from his eyes, For some reason...I could feel his emotions. The sadness he is feeling, I felt it all.
I tore my gaze from his face so that I wouldn't start crying since that would be embarrassing and looked at his arm. And, Now that I am looking at his arm I couldn't help but wonder...Why does his currier would have to end just because of an arm? There are other methods of attacking other then ninjutsu. And taijutsu can also be used by kicks only. And besides, Can't we just fix his arm? There should be a way to do this, right? Nothing is impossible, Right? And I also have a way to search for that 'way' That can fix his arm. AND is a real arm even necessary? We can just make a wooden arm and use it with chakra, Can't we?...Overall, I just didn't know why his currier as a ninja has to end like that. Thinking something along these lines, I opened my mouth-
"Isn't there anything we can do to fix your arm? Maybe a fake arm can even replace it and-" I started but was cut off.
"You have said enough, young man. Don't give him false hope. I am the best medical ninja in this world and I have no way of fixing his entire arm and if there is a way to fix his arm that I don't know then it would be with a medical ninja that surpasses me and good luck finding someone like them." Tsunade said in a commanding tone.
'What the hack is wrong with her?' I thought as I didn't know why she would object to me finding a way to fix his arm.
"But, Lady tsunade, There is senjutsu th-" I said respectfully since I didn't want a hole in my face but she cut me off again.
"I said that is enough! You are not allowed to give Riku a false hope. If you think something can work then get a proof of it of actually working first, Then speak." She said. Again making me shut up. I looked at her to see her glaring at me.
'Even if she is right, She can't treat someone like this. She is making me mad.' I thought and opened my mouth to protest against her but a gentle and soft voice stopped me.
"Karan..." I looked to see that it was sensei, Whom, I had completely forgotten for a second.
"...Heh! Thank you, Karan. Thank you for thinking of a way to fix me. It meant a lot. And I am grateful that you still want me to be in this team but...It's fine now." Sensei said with a soft smile on his face and confidence in his voice. The tears and the sad expression from before was now long gone. Or, maybe, it was hidden away...Ninjas are good with that stuff.
And Unfortunately, His gentle and caring look made me awkward as I thought, 'It looks like sensei really thinks of himself as 'Well loved'. I just wanted to stat my curiosity, you know?'
While I was thinking bullsh*t, Sensei turned towards Tsunade Senju and said in a little more emotional tone then usual.
"Lady tsunade, I know that I am in no condition to do any missions at all...Ever. But...I still want to do it. For one last time, I want to go on a mission as a ninja and..." He looked at us.
"... as their jounin instructor and team leader." He said and I found a tear sliding down my cheeks. I felt sadness boiling inside of me after hearing his words with more intensity and, I couldn't help but think-
'What the actual Hell! This is so embarrassing! Crying in front of someone like this! Why am I this affected by his situation! I am not gay, You know?' I thought as I tried to control the raging sadness and bitterness that was taking a hold of me or else I will completely start crying. A few drops of tear is already enough to make my face turn red in shame, I would die from embarrassment if I started to wail as well.
I looked at my side to see Seiten and Mio crying uncontrollably without a care in the world. Or maybe, they were THAT worried for their sensei that they didn't care about the world, unlike me...
"That is a bad idea. I will not allow it. I understand that you wish to live like a ninja and there sensei, one last time, but it is too dangerous. It wouldn't have been a problem before, but Now?" Tsunade said in response to sensei's earlier request.
"Hogake-sama...I know it would be dangerous for me to go with them on a mission...but...I still wish to go on my one and a last mission with them. Please...let me go on my last mission as a ninja, Lady Tsunade. Even if it is a C rank mission, I still want to do it." Sensei said in a soft voice as his head hung low.
"..." In response, Tsunade was silent, Thinking it through if she should allow it or not. Any mission, Even if a C rank one where the highest level of an enemy would only be around genin level, if done carelessly or incompetentely, even these low level missions would cost a ninja's life. And as a person and a ninja who had served konoha for years, Tsunade wanted to let the man retire safely and live on as A civilian but after Riku sensei had pleaded with her like this and she had seen the look of sadness on his face, she doesn't have the courage to say 'no' on his face. So she sighed and said-
"Sigh...Fine. but, Not until you are fully recovered. I will personally start treating you, So you should be able to discharge from the hospital in about four days and after that you will be taking a break of about three days to rest and fully recover your energy. After that and only then I will let you go on a C rank mission with your team and after that, you WILL retire, Got that?" Tsunade senju said in a 'no-nonsense' tone.
""Yes, Ma'am."" We all replied at the same time which made me smile.
'7 Days...After that my first mission as a ninja will begin...'