Not Your Average Doctor's Appointment

Deep down, Wan hated that he'd be backtracking to a location he's already visited. His whole journey should be based on moving forward, not in a circle, but he was the only one he could blame. True enough, he didn't have to offer the natives of this land to liberate this from this DNA Hunter known as 'Doctor', but in reality, he understood how it felt to feel hopeless...allowing those with more 'power' and 'control' to govern your every step. That's why he chose to venture from Kiri in the first place: Things were beginning to become more-so along the lines of "we're the dominant ones, so you listen to us.". To him, nobody in that entire village deserved the right to call themselves 'dominant' he felt as if fewer and fewer humans deserved the right to act as if their lives were under their complete control. To Wan, they were slaves to their selves. Liberation for those who thought the same as he did would come soon, hoping that there was hope left inside of his homeland...hope that he currently did not see.

This region was full of dust and heat, constantly swarming and engulfing the bodies of anyone who did not wear the proper attire to combat this situation. He was shirtless, and sand stuck to his body as sweat served as the glue for its foundation on the Senju's body. With no breaks taken, he had already done the math and calculated that it would take him about seven hours to reach this small town he had been to before, and he had already been walking for 4 of said 7. His backpack always had a constant supply of water inside, some of which was depleted since he did take a few drinks during his walk from the Saloon. He was almost naturally conditioned to endure the harsh heat steaming on his body, since he's been in these conditions for months now, even having to find ways of sleeping through it whenever he wasn't able to find decent shelter. Cutting corners was never a viable option to him, so if he had to take the harder way of life then so be it. It all paid off for him, both currently and as a future tense, knowing that the greatest things in life do not come easy. As he walked, he wondered about the mindset of this 'Bandit King' known as Mordecai and how he came to be. Did he hail from a major village, just as Wan did? What caused him to establish such a malicious group? Like all bad guys, they have their stories, some of which are valid reasons on why life destined them the road they walked. How many people chose to follow behind this guy as well. Hopefully, it was more than just the three he sent to find Wan, cause if that was the entire exert of his 'army' then the war has already been won. 

After an exhausting 7 hours of traversing this desert, Wan finally reached his destination. He was rather familiar with the surroundings as he came across the rather vacant looking town. Knowing that he had been here a few days before if there were any signs of life he wouldn't be able to distinguish it currently. As he made his way throughout the town, which was populated with small, nearly destroyed buildings that all served as houses, all he could hear was the sound of dust rustling through his britches and the scarf that was tied around his neck. The layout of this area was rather simple: houses were lined up along the road that leads west to East, with a flag that was slightly raised towards the middle of the town that he assumed represented this small civilian.

The atmosphere in this area seemed rather dead as if it had been evacuated since the last time he's was here earlier in the week, back when he had first made his entrance into Wind Country. He had wondered if anybody was still here by the way things looked, but eventually, he laid his eyes on two people in the distance who were in similar garments to the ones in the town with the saloon he just came from. They wore long robes that were an off shade of white with turbines around their heads. It seems as if they were engaged in dialogue with each other since they didn't notice the Senju's presence as he continued forward. Eventually, their attention was diverted to him, seeming rather panicky as he made his way towards them. Seeing that these were the only two people insight, they were the only people he would be able to make contact with finding this man named Mordecai.

Hoping that they had an encounter with the 'Doctor' of this region, he continued to close the gap between him and these two strangers. He wasn't able to see their facial expressions, something he used to interpret the mood and feelings of others since they were wearing turbans. The way their eyes shifted as he made his way just a couple of feet in front of them showed signs of them understanding that he meant no harm. "Oh my God, it's you! I Remember You!", The Tall Man Who Stood Beside the other person wearing the white garments stated. He dropped to his knees while looking to the sky with his arms extended towards Wan. "It's you again, kid! Wan Senju, was it? I remember you passing through here a few days ago. I was pretty excited when you claimed to be a Shinobi since many of us here are just normal civilians It seems like our prayers have been answered!". "Your prayers?" Wan thought to himself. Those words made him believe that maybe they had trouble since he had first been here. Maybe an altercation with this 'Doctor' and his crew had occurred, which might be the reason the area looked so much more desolate now.

"Your prayers have been answered?" he asked of the man, wanting to get more understanding of what he meant exactly by God sending Wan back to this location. The person standing beside turned out to be a woman, clearly recognizable by her soft and fragile voice after she gave her side of the story. "Yes, just yesterday we encountered more problems with the bandits. They came here looking for you, claiming that they knew about a young Senju arriving in Wind Country. They told us that they'll ransack everything if they didn't tell us of your whereabouts. We tried to tell them that you weren't from here and that we didn't even know who you were, but they didn't take no for an answer. They came back at night and laid siege to everything...burning our houses, kidnapped our members and drained our pockets dry. There wasn't much that we could do since we aren't natural fighters, and we've known nothing but to listen to the rule of these bandits for so long. We weren't able to defend ourselves! A few of us managed to escape during their destruction, but we came back here hoping that you'd return soon, and here you are! You came!" The small speech was given by the woman surely boosted Wan's confidence, and was rather flattering, allowing him to feel pride in his good deeds that he had performed. However, he couldn't get over the fact that these people seemed to view him as a God, something in which he knew was not true. He was nothing but a boy growing into a man, such as the one who stood in front of him, only being capable of doing the things he does because he's disciplined himself enough to do so. In his mind, he saw no reason for this to take place and the woman claiming that they were too weak to defend their people angered him slightly. Weakness is only a sign of not trying to better yourself. There's no reason for anybody in this world to be weak...if you have the mindset and potential to be greater than you can do it, just as he's done for 15 years and counting.

Nevertheless, his accusations seem to be true; this town has been hit by the same bandits after he left, meaning that the Doctor's presence was indeed somewhere within these borders, operating from the shadows. "So you say that the bandits returned soon after I left. Did their leader come? 'Doctor' is his name apparently, and I was told that his hideout was nearby, on the outskirts of this town." Naturally, he waited for their response before he'd give them the rest of his information. Knowing that he was told the only way into this hideout was to gain entrance through one of the civilians, being that he was in the presence of two of them he wanted to see if they'd lie about knowing this man or proceed to give them all the information they knew. The woman began to answer his questions one by one. "He never comes out with them. He sends his henchmen to do his dirty work for him, but yes we do know of Doctor. He's been here a few years and he's been terrorizing different regions of the borders for as long as he's been here. Hunting down different bloodlines for God knows what." The tall man who stood next to the woman shifted his eyes to her and looked at her rather...funny as if she was speaking too much. 

Wan noticed his expression and felt as if the man would soon try to silence the woman as if she was giving him information that was not supposed to be told. The man quickly interrupted her mid-sentence telling Wan that Doctor doesn't even live in the borders. "He's a ninja from Kumogakure who went rogue. I've been here for over 30 years, and I'm pretty sure I'd know if Doctor was living among us. I've circled the country's borders at least 20 times!" "That was a pretty bold statement for somebody who couldn't even defend his people..." Wan thought to himself, feeling as if he was being played by this man who saw Wan as a fool. It was clear that Doctor was nearby since it would've been rather hard for this lady to come up with such a well detailed 'lie' on the spot. She knew the Doctor's name and what his intentions were, and for this man to tell Wan that she was lying was pretty suspect. He hated when people treated him as a fool and questioned his intelligence, but he didn't let the situation get to him. He briefly played like the devil's advocate and began to question this man himself, seeing if he could get this bullshitter to get caught up in his lie.

"So...if you've been here for 'so long'," Wan said while forming quotation marks in the air with his fingers, "and supposedly know this man's doings down to an exact T, why haven't you been able to stop him? " There was a brief moment of silence as the man took in all that Wan said. The Senju was NOT about to be fooled by some random civilian. He let out a slight chuckle, knowing that the thoughts of the man were running and that the words he just told him penetrated this man's heart. "Now listen here... if you so-called prayed that I returned, why is it that you choose to lie me on the matters in which you prayed for me for? If you do indeed wish for me to help you, then it's in your best interest that you tell me of this man's whereabouts so that I can deal with him as soon as possible. If not, I'll kindly be on my way, and unfortunately, the bandits will most likely come back and lay siege to the town again. Then again...", as Wan looks around at his surroundings, realizing how torn apart the area already was, "he'd probably move on to wherever you guys are currently located and do the same thing he's done here. Now I believe the woman's side of the story, so I'm going to ask you for your side of the story again. I believe that you've been here as long as you have, so do you think you can show me where his Hideout is so that I can make contact with him myself?"

The man took his gaze from Wan and placed it on the woman briefly before looking back at Wan, then back at the woman. He was caught up in his lies, but to what extent?

As the man stood up from his kneeling position in front of Wan, he brushed off his knees(pause) to rid the sand that had stained his white garments. His eyes locked with Wan, and instantly he could feel a sudden constriction coiling around him. From where he stood, Wood began to spring from the sands beneath them, wrapping themselves around the legs of the man as they make their way up to his upper body. Trying to flee was useless, as the man began to scream his shout was cut short by a branch muffling his voice. Wan soon looks over at the woman who stood next to his victim. She was in a state of shock herself, hoping that she wouldn't meet the same fate that her partner was cursed too. Roman had no intention of placing the woman under his grasp. He knew that her intentions and story were true and genuine. Roman had read that man like a book the moment he arrived, realizing that this was a bandit the minute he noticed the small shackling piece of metal on the guy's boot. He had seen that same style of footwear back at the saloon. This was earlier when he and his friend, Kobo, encountered the three Bandits threatening to capture and bring Wan to Doctor. 

The woman's attire was identical to the civilians in that same area, so his intuition was that let this woman was forced here in an attempt to capture him alongside this punk. No wonder this dude was looking so panicky when Wan was walking up. Body signs and facial expressions are huge indicators of emotions. "I apologize that you've been used for such malicious intent. I'm sure you had no parts in this evil man's doings, I know that he's a threat and I believe you when you say that Doctor's near. Do you mind showing me the direction?" She nodded her head in approval quickly and, her body showed signs of happiness and tranquility, knowing that her life was going to be spared all on the accounts of her being truthful to him.

She pointed her index finger to the right, which would have been Roman's left. She told him that it was 10 miles that Direction, another subdivision of civilians surrounded by Doctor and his crew. She told him that Doctor would be there if he'd make it in the next couple of hours. "I plan to go there right now. I need for you to deliver me there.", Wan tells her as she looks beside her, seeing the man tremble in place as he was paralyzed entirely. She looks back at Wan and nods again before she starts walking the direction to lead Wan. "Go ahead on, I'll catch up shortly. I need to finish this.", he tells her as he picks up a rock from beside his shoe. He grabs the man by his neck, pulling him from the Wood's grasp as he frantically tries to catch his breath. Wan chokes the man, then pulling off the guy's turban he pulls his head back via his hair. The man had no time to scream as his neck was sliced from left to right, leaving the sands below them stained red with blood as Wan took his position beside the woman. Liar's serve no interest in the Universe.

Wan and the lady make their way towards this 'hideout' of Doctor. It was more-so just another sub-division, but it would surely be heavily guarded and infected with his henchmen. The woman also told him that other civilians such as herself were living there, bound to listen to Doctor's every demand, unless death was what they chose. The only reason they weren't dead now is due to none of them carrying a special bloodline. Wan let the woman know as they walked that she and her people's days of suffering will soon come to an end. The time has come for Doctor and his men to witness the acts of a true Senju.

Sadly, the woman turned out to be nothing but a sneakier rogue. Upon realizing they had been going in circles for nearly an hour, Wan was going to ask the woman about his suspicions. As she turned around, she brought a Kunai up with her hand, swinging it at the boy's face, hoping to gash his entire face wide open. Leaning the left side of his body back Wan was able to dodge the slash in time. He grabs her wrist with his hand as he makes the motion, twisting it causing her to drop the blade. He uses the weight of his body to first lower her center of gravity, then he slings her to his left on the ground. Grabbing the kunai from beside her, he places it at her neck, stopping her squirming instantly as she begins praying in her tongues. He had no intent to kill her, nor did he want to. He didn't enjoy killing girls, let alone women in general. He stands over her and weaves a few signs with speed, sprouting wood around the woman that pulls her tighter into the sand. She would remain there until someone came to rescue her if saving her were their intentions. Wan would continue on throughout the desert in search of Doctor. 
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[TOTAL WC: 3,011]
CLAIMS:
•Claiming 1,500wc towards Needle Jizō
•Claiming 1,000wc towards Suiton: Exploding Shock Wave (Previous 754wc acquired here, bringing total to 1,500/1,500)
•Claiming 500wc towards Substitution Technique (Mastery)
•Claiming 30 Stats, +10 Health, +10 Chakra, +10 Stamina

Approved.