First Aid? (Solo mission)

Spoiler:

Marcus had dressed casually for the mission he had been assigned today. Loose pants striped black and a warm red color with a white tank that had the sides cut out. His Kumogakure armband was wrapped around his left arm and he had none of his weapons on him. The mission wasn't one that would involve combat or anything that his kunai and explosive tags would be able to do anything about. No, the mission today was one of self education. Marcus was one of a few genin who had accepted a mission to learn from a retired old medical shinobi to learn a few decent medical skills for field application. Not every squad had a medical shinobi on their team after all. They were a rare commodity and protected above all other personnel.

He soon got to the home of the man who was volunteering to teach them all a few things. Marcus knocked lightly on the door, waiting for it to be answered before stepping in. A kindly old man is the one to answer the door and he invited Marcus in with a nod and welcoming gesture. Marcus would enter the decent sized house, examining the interior with an appreciative eye.

"Welcome, welcome! Please, follow me to the back of the house where the rest of the genin are waiting. You're number six!" The old man hobbled his way to the back of the house with Marcus following behind, humming softly to himself. He felt like this was going to be an interesting day, that was for sure.

Marcus got to the back of the house and took stock of the other five genin there. None of them appeared to be more than average, and a quick scan with his sensory abilities let him know that he was most assuredly correct in that assertion. The old man glanced back at him when he scanned everyone else.

"A sensor type, eh? Well, this should be a bit easier for you to do than most others then." Marcus didn't reply with anything more than a nod at the comment. He got settled onto a bench next to one of the other genin, a girl who appeared to be about fourteen years old. The old man managed to get a few more steps in somehow, bringing himself to a small stool with a waist high bench in front of him. A standard med kit had found its way into his gnarled hands. "Okay then, today I'm going to show the six of you how to do basic first aid in the field. There's going to be a few demonstrations as well as a practical lesson or two. Things might get a bit messy though, so don't say I didn't warn you. Now, who would like to volunteer?"

The other five didn't say anything, glancing around nervously at the mention of "practical lessons". Marcus didn't know what to think either. Did that mean he was going to injure one of them on purpose for a more in depth lesson? The old man was supposed to be a talented medical shinobi so it likely wouldn't be too dangerous, but genin weren't expected to stare at the potential promise of pain unflinchingly. Reluctantly, Marcus raised his hand.

"Excellent! Sit on the bench, please." The old man gestured and Marcus obliged, standing and moving to the bench. Oh yes, this was definitely going to be interesting.

The old man motioned for Marcus to lift his arm up. He did so and, before he could see what was going on, there was suddenly a cut on the top of his forearm. He cursed softly, the pain surprising him. It had been done cleanly and precisely with the scalpel the old man had pulled from nowhere. Despite his age, this doddering old fool had hands that were still as fast as lightning. Marcus had barely even caught a blur, but deft hands were to be expected with a former medical shinobi. The other five genin had mixed reactions ranging from shock to curiosity.

"A little warning would be nice, old man," Marcus growled as he started to pull his arm in to inspect the wound. A wrinkled hand grasped his wrist as the blood started to well from the cut, pulling it away from Marcus's body as he readied a few supplies.

"On the battlefield, you're not going to run into many clean cuts like this. But this will do for a demonstration. First, clean the cut of any debris that may have gotten into it with water and a clean cloth if you have it. Generating water with ninjutsu is acceptable as there are no contaminants in purely water jutsu."

He demonstrated what he meant by squirting water onto Marcus's now bleeding cut from a bottle, clearing away the welling blood before dabbing at it with a cloth that started to turn red quickly. The old man tossed that to the side, getting a bottle of alcohol from the med kit as well as a bandage pad and gauze.

"The next step is to clean the wound out, preferably with an antiseptic but you don't usually have that luxury on the battlefield. Alcohol will work, and if that's not available then heat up a blade to cauterize the wound or bind it quickly. Something is better than nothing. After cleaning the wound, place a pad over the cut before wrapping it in gauze bandages to hold it in place. Just the bandages will work in a pinch, but the proper way to do it is like this."

The sting of the alcohol caught Marcus off guard and he hissed through his teeth at the burning sensation. The old man wiped the alcohol away and then did as he instructed, properly wrapping the wound. "And that's a basic field dressing. Don't worry boy, I'll heal you before you leave. You take pain well though, I think I'm going to use you for a few more examples if you don't mind."

The old man wanted to use Marcus as his guinea pig now, hm? Well, that was acceptable. If anything, it helped him towards his goal of toughening his body up. He wanted to be someone that stood in front of his comrades and protected them, even if it meant getting injured himself. Protecting people was his goal for now, and to do that he had to get stronger. Strong enough to challenge even his father on an even footing one day. That bastard did nothing but hurt everyone around him and usually for no reason at all. Marcus hated him and wanted to be nothing like that dirty slimeball at any point in his life. To that end, he would suffer as much pain as he had to in order to accomplish his goals. Pain was something he was accustomed to, something that reminded him of what he wanted.

Pain was love.

Pain was life.

"That's fine, I don't mind. Just don't cut off anything important," Marcus grumbled, accepting the old man's "request" to using Marcus as his own personal stropping leather. The old man smiled a wry, mischievous grin at Marcus, wagging the scalpel in front of his eyes.

"Oh, you haven't used anything important anyways. What does it matter if I take a piece here or a piece there?" Marcus felt his face flush a bit, the two male genin snickering while the three female genin tried to hide their smiles and turned their faces down at the comment.

Marcus frowned at the old man. "You're not making a very good case on why I should help you if you make comments like th- ow!"

While he had been distracted, the old man's hand moved lightning quick again. This time, he stabbed Marcus in the leg and quickly yanked the scalpel back out again. Just what the hell was this guy's problem?

Marcus cursed at the sudden pain, his hands instinctually going to grab the leg that had been stabbed. The old man slapped his hands away, the other five genin suddenly alert and attentive as they watched Marcus's leg start bleeding. Quite a bit more than the cut on his arm had bled, he might add. And this one hurt a lot more than the cut, too. "Oh, quit whining. If this is the only wound you receive on a battlefield you should count yourself lucky. There are many shinobi that have gotten wounds five times worse than this or more, but they got up and continued the fight until they were unable to move anymore. I've seen far too many push themselves in my life, but I want to at least try and keep them alive as long as possible. So shut up and let me deal with it," the old man said, starting with a snappy tone that calmed into one of reminiscence.

He didn't say anything in response to the old man and the other five genin were silent as well. After a few seconds, Marcus nodded his head in acceptance. The old man tilted his head back.

"I'm glad we've got that out of the way. Now, this is the second most common type of injury on the battlefield. When it's a larger wound, the process is much the same but on a larger scale. This is meant only to keep someone alive, not to fix them permanently. Always get an injured man to the back lines as quickly as possible to increase his odds of survival." He paused, eyeing the kunoichi. "Or her odds of survival." Then he finally, blessedly, started to get materials out of the medkit.

Marcus watched the old man work deftly at the small stab wound. "First, clear it of any debris just like with the cut. This time it will hurt a lot more though, since stab wounds push it directly into the wound. Once that's done, spread it slightly and pour some alcohol on it." He did these steps and when he got to the alcohol part, Marcus couldn't help but grit his teeth and growl in pain. That shit HURT to get poured directly onto an open wound like that. Seriously, why did it have to burn like that? Couldn't something that healed you ever feel good for once?

"After that, pack the wound with gauze to staunch the blood flow and help with clotting unless there's an artery hit. If the puncture hit an artery, you must tie a tourniquet around the leg above the artery using a length of cord, a sash, something similar. Knot it around a stick and twist until you've cut off blood flow, then release it every ten minutes for a few seconds so the limb doesn't die." As he said this, he worked on packing the wound with gauze which also hurt like hell, just not quite as bad as having pure alcohol poured into the wound. He followed this by wrapping gauze around his leg to hold the pack in as well as put pressure on the wound. "Any questions?" When nobody had any, he would nod. "Good. Come back again tomorrow for a few more advanced lessons. This old man needs a nap." The other five left as the old man unwrapped and unpacked both of Marcus's wounds before healing them both with medical ninjutsu. Yawning, he patted Marcus on the back and thanked him for being such a help. Marcus left the man's house, unconsciously rubbing the part on his arm that had been cut.

exit