Don't fight the elderly [Mission/NPC]

As the old taijutsu master tried to timeline himself so that he'd ended the Lariat early, he'd find that such a thing was impossible due to the fact that he himself had stated that he would follow through to the full range of Lariat before anything had changed in the established timeline that would stop him from doing so.  Unfortunately for him, that would prove to be his downfall. Nova didn't know what had happened, but the man, after coming out of his Lariat and attempting to Nukite her, suddenly stopped reacting after she'd taken a large step to her right and thrown one more shuriken at his stomach. She'd expected him to absorb the attack like he had her staff strike, or dodge out the way. Not... Whatever he'd done.

Nova's feral grin widened as the shuriken hit the old man and then faltered as he started to fall to the ground, unconscious or still semi-conscious Nova didn't know. She hadn't thought about holding back or... Her entire mind had been on beating the man in the fight, the thought of accidentally killing the guy hadn't even registered once. The blood drained from her face, and she suddenly felt cold and empty. Killing someone... The thought made her sick, queasy. She almost began to heave up her lunch but her resolve kept her going. She stared at the old man who had been her enemy not seconds before; her eyes flashing the deepest blue in worry for a split second. The shuriken had fallen to the ground after being embedded in his stomach and had left him at a measly 1HP,  not that Nova would have any idea what this 'HP' was if you were to mention it. Blood was still pouring out of the open wound, onto the once well-kept grass of the arena.

It was in a semi-delirious trance that Nova ran over to keeled over man and began cycling through the hand seals for the one technique she thought could help in this situation, the Basic Medical Ninjutsu. Her palms began to glow a faint blue and she pressed down onto the wound to stem the flow of blood. The technique wasn't powerful enough to completely heal the wound but it was helping, however little.

Anything would give Nova hope at this point.

"Fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck!" Nova mumbled in a shaky voice. Her mind raced as she thought over what she'd been taught in the Academy for situations like this. Training accidents were sadly a lot more common than one would think, so kids in the Academy were instructed in basic first aid in hopes of

With one trembling hand keeping pressure on the wound, Nova ripped off her cardigan and wrapped it around his stomach as a make-shift bandage. It would ruin her only cardigan but it wasn't like that was something she would remotely care about at the moment. Now that the man was no longer on death's door, Nova was beginning to calm down from her panic attack. Still, adrenaline was running high and she was struggling to work it out of her system. She breathed deeply through her nose and looked at the man to see if he was conscious enough to talk.

WC: 541
TWC: 2234
AP: Don't think it matters but will deduct if needed

Shin was ready. He was going to be the one to defeat this ninja, and all of his years of training had coalesced into this moment. It did or die, and though he definitely did something, it wasn't exactly beneficial in terms of how the combat had ended up. Though he had tried his darnedest to take out this ninja, his years of expertise had caused him to grow soft. He was used to people using their fists to try and take him on, and never considered how exactly it would feel to have multiple shurikens beat the living shit out of him. It was no matter. To be honest, Shin had gotten his ass royally handed to him, not even being able to land a hit on this ninja. Coughing out some blood, (for some reason) his vision goes blurry as he begins to see a light. This light was quickly covered by the form of this ninja, and he felt his wounds being healed and wrapped, to the best of the ninja's ability. 

Groaning, Shin gently sits up, taking a moment to gather his mind. Looking at the girl, he nods his head. "Well, I suppose I had gotten what I bargained for..." Coughing, he grabbed his chest in pain and went into a sudden fit of anguish. "A-Alright... Let's mosey on up to where my house is, so I can take care of some of these wounds... Once we get there, I'll tell you some stories and the reason why I even do this for training." As he would attempt to get up, he would try to put his arm over Nova's shoulders, and begrudgingly get his figure off of the ground. Once they were standing, he would likely try to move closer to her, as to not fall. 

The path back to his residence wasn't necessarily a long one, and once they had made it to the door it would be a pretty easy task at hand. The door would've been opened, and Shin would've been led to one of the chairs that he was sitting in, one with a cushion. Hopefully, the ninja would put him in this one, and then Shin would point a ragged finger over at a shelf not too far from where the tea-stand was. "So... In there... There are some pills and some green salve. If you could grab me those, I'd be grateful." Coughing a bit, the man was a bit off-balance, and it could be told that there was no way that this man would be back in the fight. All that would be left now would be for Nova to get him the medicine and hand it to him, so that he could begin to talk about his story and why exactly he was so confident when he had known that he would get his ass kicked. This was definitely a learning experience for him, and Shin had hoped that he would be able to pass some knowledge on to this aspiring shinobi. 

[507]
{2248}

Some of the colours that had drained from Nova's face would return as the man showed enough strength to sit up and talk to her. No one would be dying on her today thankfully, but she'd been lucky. The amount of blood that had the man had lost... If she hadn't acted as quick as she had the man would straight up be dead. He very easily could have died while she was attempting to stabilize him and then what? How would she of reacted?

Nova shuddered and helped the man up, allowing him to use her shoulders as support. Normally, anyone who attempted to do that would earn a punch in the face from Nova, but she was still incredibly shaken up. As he stood up he fell into her a little bit and he would hear Nova take a sharp intake of breath in panic, thinking that the man had passed out again. Fortunately, he was just leaning into her to keep himself steady.

She led him inside the residence, through an open door and to a seat. The man directed her to where he kept his medicinal supplies and Nova collected them as asked. She handed them over to him and sat down next to him, eyes still filled with panic and worry. Nova was completely out of her depth when it came to taking care of wounded people; back in the pits she often just left people beaten and bloody and then left them to the medics present. This was new to her. So, she just stayed next to him while he, assumedly, patched himself up.

WC: 274
TWC: 2508

Shin nodded his head slightly, taking the medicine that the girl had handed to him and thanked him. He gently wrapped up his wounds with bandages and drank what looked to be some sort of green medicine. Coughing a bit, he wiped his mouth and sat back in his seat slightly giving out a sigh of defeat. Taking a moment to compose himself, he hangs his head a bit low before looking back at the young lady who had bested him in his spar. He thought to him about how powerful the ninja of this village was growing, and it made him happy that he was able to face her. 

Shin leaned a bit forward, his bruised bones crackling as he put his arms on the table to support himself. Sitting up properly, he looks at Nova. Giving a slight chuckle, he looks at her "Damn, you really whooped my ass back there..." Giving out a cough, he winced and put his hand to his chest for a moment before returning back to what he was saying. "It brings an old man like me great joy to see the younger generation is sticking to some of the older principles. When you first walked in here, I thought you might've been all looks... But you definitely proved me wrong." He gave a hearty smile, before getting a more serious face. "The attacks I was doing back there, they were meant to really mess you up. I apologize. I wasn't taking the fight as seriously as I should've. You must understand, I'm used to the baddest of the bad coming to my doorstep, demanding to beat on an old man like me. I didn't go easy in the slightest, I had given you everything I had. And you still bested me." The man gave a slight bow of respect, slowly bringing himself back up to a seated position. 

Shin then went on an old man ramble, as people his age often did. "Something about the shinobi of this generation... They feel stronger. Better equipped to face the trials ahead." The man coughed again, this time seeming to gain some of his composure and pain resistance back as the medicine began to kick in. "I've seen hell and high water in this country, and from what I'm gathering from your performance, it looks like the shinobi are going to be able to handle it." He gives a half-hearted grin, his eyes obviously looking through Nova at this particular moment, as he reminisced about the hellish things that had come in and out of Kumogakure over the years. "You could've left me to die, and yet I can tell by the look in your eyes right now that you have a heart. You have a fire in your eyes. Don't lose that flame, or you'll end up an old husk... like me" The man gave a good-natured smile after saying this to the ninja and slouched slightly in his chair. He wondered what she would have to say if anything at all. 

Whatever she would have left to say, Shin would likely respond or nod his head along, and then he would eventually show her to the door. He would give her the rewards that she had earned for helping him, as well as for besting him in combat in this scenario.

[557]
{2805}

By now, the adrenaline from the previous scare had worked itself out from her system and she noticed just how knackered she was. She wasn’t tired in the physical sense - more the emotional kind. Emotions had run high and Nova couldn’t recall the last time she’d felt so panicked. There’d been a few close calls in the pits where she’d seriously thought she’d accidentally killed her opponent, but all those times the medics had been there to make sure the fighters made it. Back there, with the old man, Nova had been alone. No trained professionals were there to back her out.

“Damn, you really whooped my ass back there…” The man said with a cough, ripping Nova’s mind of her dark thoughts. Her eyebrow raised at the old man’s crass language and she silently snorted but didn’t comment on it - just happy to have her mind taken off what she’d been thinking of before.

The man seemed to want to continue speaking to Nova, for the time being, so she indulged him and sat still with her hands folded on her lap. The man spoke of how happy he had been to see that Nova was sticking to old principles, and he admitted to giving it his all and still being bested by her. Truth be told, Nova had never really been praised for her fighting ability before and it was an odd feeling to be sure. She felt a little embarrassed, not sure how to react, and this feeling was only compounded when the man gave her a short bow of respect. Somehow, it was easier to deal with people shouting at her than people praising her.

He began to ramble on about the strength of the new shinobi and Nova listened intently, despite herself she was finding it interesting. It hadn’t occurred to her before, but this was a man who had been a shinobi through all the history books. Nova herself hadn’t participated in the whole ninja scene until recently, sticking to herself and the lowlifes of Kumo. She remembered the tyranny of the previous raikages, however; everyone did. Had this man been an active ninja, back then? She nodded respectfully when he warned her about becoming an old husk like him. Nova had no plans for that, and in fact, wasn’t really expecting to live much further than past her 30s. She wasn’t the type to become a housewife, and she doubted that she ever would be. She’d be fighting until the day she died, hopefully in a blaze of glory. That was the plan, anyway.

Eventually, the time came for her to leave. The man gave her the mission rewards, which she had completely forgotten about until now, and took her back to the front door. She gave a small smile of gratitude, thankful for the advice he had offered her. Old ninjas were rare, and they often deserved the respect she rarely gave out.

“Thanks for the advice.” She said with a wave as she went through the door, “Be seeing you.”

[Exit]

WC: 512
TWC: 3020

Claims:

• 30 Stats (19 into Speed, 11 into Strength)
  
• 6100 Ryo (B-Rank mission pay + Genin rank)
  
• 30 AP
  
• 2000 words into Eight Inner Gates Gate of Healing and Gate of Life. Previous gate trained here
  
• 1000 words into learning Jab at C-Rank
  
• B-Rank mission completed
  

Shin noticed that the girl had seemed somewhat uncomfortable at his praise, though it didn't deter him from finishing the statements that he had made. She accepted the reward, seemingly as though she had forgotten that she had come here for it in the first place. It was no matter, after their short conversation he sat back in his chair and continued to tend to his wounds. Man, this shit was hurting him. Luckily, however, he was pretty sure that he would make a full recovery. This wasn't the first time that he had lost in combat, and he doubted it would be the last. Half of the reason he insisted on all of this training was to not only train his body, but to also train his mind.

His errors were made very clear today, as Shin had let his own pride get in the way of what could've otherwise been quite a long fight. Rather than try to rely on his stamina, he had given it everything that he had in the first moments of the fight, and paid for it dearly. He thought that maybe, someday in the future he would get to test his strength again, perhaps against someone less worthy.

[Exit]

[205]
{3010}

[3000/3000] A Request from Fist-Shin-Lee [B-Rank] (Mission w/ NPC Rewards) 
+ 6000 Ryo
+ 60 AP

[1000] [2500/2500] Soul Expulsion [A] Previous {===}
[2000/2000] Chakra Sensory
> 10 Words Discarded
[3000] +60 AP

Totals 
+12000 Ryo 
+120 AP