| [Aug. 30th, 2015|10:49 pm] |
“Tousaki,” Genma said. He handed over Ryouma’s evaluation form and tried not to delve too deeply into empathy. It had to hurt for Raidou, watching the woman he’d mentored for a year from raw rookie to promising officer candidate be handed over to someone else just when her potential was blossoming. This is temporary, Genma reminded himself. Four weeks. Maybe six. Then Raidou will be back in command and we can put this whole fiasco behind us.
Raidou’s eye had stopped moving most of the way down Ryouma’s form. He looked up at Genma with his mouth already shaping for a question.
“Ah. I’m guessing you’ve gotten to his professional development section,” Genma said, pre-empting the discussion. “Obviously this needs your approval, but I’m serious about it. I’ve started the paperwork to get myself declared a provisional instructor, so I’ll be doing some of my professional development hours with this, too. He’s got the chakra control, the right elementary natures, and his rot jutsu are already designed to work on flesh —decomposing it rather than putting it back together, sure, but he worked that out on his own. He’s clearly got some aptitude, and medical training doesn’t mean he’d stop being a field agent; I didn’t.”
When he stopped for breath and felt Raidou’s eyes on his face, he flushed. “I probably didn’t need to lay out every piece of my argument like that all at once, did I?”
“Not so much,” Raidou said, eyes crinkling in amusement. “Since you had me at ‘make Tousaki a field medic’.” He leaned eagerly forward, all of his wistfulness washed away on a tide of enthusiasm. Why had Genma been anticipating an argument?
“You really think he could do this?” Raidou asked. “Because I would pay gold for a second medic, and if you can give Tousaki something to focus on that actually helps his teammates and isn't just murder…”
“I can’t promise he’ll have what it takes,” Genma said, “It may be he’s so practiced shaping his chakra for destruction that it will be harder for him to learn healing than for another ninjutsu specialist. But I think it’s worth a shot. And honestly—” He looked up, meeting Raidou’s eyes. “That last paragraph in the ‘needs improvement’ section. This could help with that. I noticed he steadied down on our last mission when he was helping me with medical care. Even if he can’t master medical jutsu, we could probably get him certified Field Medic Grade Five.”
“For this team, I'd take anything.” Raidou clenched and unclenched a fist in unconscious fervor. Given the bandages on his hands, the crutches leaning against Genma’s desk, and the stack of medical reports Genma was still working on, including follow ups from their previous mission, Raidou had a point.
“Well… Good.” Genma twitched his senbon to the other side of his mouth and leaned back, relieved. “I don’t know why I was worried about selling you on the idea. Maybe because I’ve never tried to set myself up as some kind of sensei before. And I know how important Tousaki’s jutsu are tactically.”
Raidou waved his concerns away. “I trust you on this.”
The warm, easy feeling of working in tandem with a trustworthy partner washed through Genma, and he grinned. “Thanks, taichou.” He reached for the last paper and handed it over. “That leaves Hatake. I’ll be honest, I have no idea what to do with his development plan.” |
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