Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Moving Forward (1)
A few weeks had passed since the village had come under attack and in those weeks it had been amazing to watch and see just how quicky the village had bounced back from the harrowing attack. Even though there were still many areas around the village that needed extensive work before they could be brought back to their former glory, for the most part, the village had been cleared of all the debris and new structures had already started to have been built.
It had been interesting watching as the people had utilized all sorts of minor jutsu and techniques to streamline the process of rebuilding and it had opened Keitaro's eyes to the various ways that people, even if they weren't qualified shinobi, could utilize chakra in their day to day lives.
Chakra wasn't something reserved solely for combat and shinobi life, and could even be used to better the lively hood of the other villagers in various ways. He had always just assumed that if you could mold chakra, then that the path of a shinobi was a given, but now he was able to see the many other ways of making a living through the use of chakra that was available without the need to be a shinobi.
Keitaro would have never even bothered to look at things in such a way before, but with the state that his father was in now, it had been on his mind practically all of the time now.
He made his way home after picking up the things from the market that his father had requested of him and thought back to that day on the ward all those weeks ago that had forever changed their futures.
~~~
The family of three had spent the last few days together on the ward. The medical personnel had been kind enough to include meals for the two boys when ever Kuma had received his own and they had all slept together on the surprisingly large medical bed.
They had spent most of their time during the first day chatting about what they had experienced during and after the attack, much to the concern of Kuma who wasn't happy that the two boys had been walking through what was effective fields of death, but after they had exhausted all those topics, the three of them simple stayed together as a family.
On that particular day, the had been focused on a game of shogi that they had all been playing, when a the trio where interrupted when the door to the room they where in was slid open and a few Iryō-nin walked in. While some of them went about checking on Kumas bandages and ensuring that there weren't any problems with his injuries as they normally did, the lead Iryō-nin spoke to Kuma.
"I'm glad to see that you're awake. We would have gotten to you sooner but at the moment we're understaffed and it's as if every minute a new patient is brough in that requires immediate medical attention."
The lady shuffled through some papers as she spoke, not really focusing on Kuma or the children who sat next to him. She read the medical chart that had been handed to her by one of the other medics and once she was certain she was in the right place she grew serious.
"I'm here to tell you that though it may seem that you're out of the woods, I'm afraid that you are still in need of another surgery to complete your treatment. When you arrived you had received several puncture wounds to your abdomen that quite frankly should have killed you. You had lost so much blood that's it's a miracle your still alive, much less that you're up and functioning so soon after your first surgery.
But while that is good news…there is some bad news. I'm sorry to say but I'm just going to be blunt with you. Quite frankly, you're going to have to retire as a shinobi."
The room grew silent as the news sunk in. The Iryō-nin merely paused to make sure that Kuma understood what she was saying before continuing.
"While the puncture wounds you sustained were relatively easy to treat, you also practically shattered your right knee and while we did do a surgery to stabilize your leg, it has not been healing well. We are going to do our best to give you back some range of motion, but your leg will never be as strong as it used to be."
The Iryō-nin pulled up an image showing an x-ray. It was obvious that it was of Kuma's leg, and from how fractured and damaged the bones looked, it wasn't surprising that the Iryō-nin deemed it impossible for Kuma to recover from such an injury.
"You're going to be unable to use your leg for quite some time after we perform the follow up surgery that we have scheduled, and even after that it will take some time to get accustomed to walking, much less running again.
Even if you don't consider the muscle atrophy that you are going to go through during the healing process, you are going to permanently lose some if not all feeling in your lower leg as well. Pair all of that with a general decrease in your legs mobility and I'm afraid you just won't be able to continue working as a shinobi in the future.
I'm sorry but this is quite frankly the best that we can do for you with the current level of medical ninjutsu we have on hand."
~~~
Keitaro could still recall the look of horror that had been etched unto his fathers face while the medical-nin continued to advise him further, even though it was obvious Kuma had completely zoned out, still in shock at the news.
Keitaro sighed to himself and quickly made his way home. Kuma's injury simply served as another reminder as to how little hope those who were weaker had at living a comfortable life. To stop improving ones strength was the same as letting your life hang in the balance when you lived in a world where mad men could just drop the equivalence of a nuclear war head on you at any time.
Once he reached the house, he was confused when he noticed an extra pair of shoes at the door and so he quietly made his way into the house where he was surprised to see Tsume Inuzuka sitting in a chair opposite Kuma, who was currently wheel chair bound.
Both of them looked up when he entered and while he bowed slightly to both of them in greeting, he couldn't help but glance in Tsume's direction before scampering off to the kitchen. The fact that she was holding a baby in her hand wasn't lost on him and he was certain that the future Kiba had made an appearance.
He kept his ears peeled to see if he could listen in on their conversation, truly confused as to why Tsume was visiting them at all.
As far as he could remember, no one from the clan had visited them since the attack and even Kuma's old comrades from his three man cell hadn't made an appearance. Something that Keitaro had predicted would happen but was still saddened to see.
Keitaro was bound to be disappointed though as he soon realized the Tsume had already gotten up and was simply telling Kuma to take care of himself as she was leaving.
Once she was gone he made his way back into the living room bringing with him a glass of juice for his father.
He could only sigh to himself as he eyed his father as he sat in his chair absentmindedly. The large man had seemingly shrunk in on himself in the last few weeks, losing weight at a startling rate, and while he did eat form time to time, he barely ate half of what he used to. His hollowed eyes and general lack of drive only cemented in Keitaro's mind that Kuma wasn't adjusting well.
Watching as he seemingly wasted away was torturous for Keitaro but he also knew that no matter how much he tried to push Kuma out of his rut, it wouldn't matter in the slightest if Kuma himself didn't want to move past this. So he silently supported his father in any way that he could.
Placing the glass on the table, he was about to leave when his father called out to him.
"Keitaro sit…we have a lot to talk about."
Confused, he looked back only to notice a fire in Kuma's eyes that he had missed before, a fire that he hadn't seen in weeks.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone