As before, you can find me on reddit, ko-fi, RoyalRoad, Discord, etc with the same username.
I'm going to put the author's note for the last chapter here as well.
I started this story in 2017. Now, I finish it nine years later, and the world has changed profoundly. But I stand by the themes of hope, community, and progress, now more than ever. Change is always, always possible.
I have also posted a companion chapter. I recommend you read it after this one. For my readers on FFnet, you can find it on AO3. I post under the same name. If you want to stay tuned to anything else I may write, you can join my Discord or follow me on Tumblr.
I read every single comment on this work, often more than once. Thank you for your support. I say this every time, but I couldn't have done it without you. It has been a true joy to read all the stories you have shared with me about your lives and what has changed since you've started reading my little fanfic.
I am profoundly grateful for the difference Sanitize has made in my own life. I have met some of my closest friends through this story. I've been to their weddings and visited their homes. I wouldn't trade these connections for the world.
Thank you to @xxgwenstacyxx. Because of you, I am inspired to create. Thank you to all the beta-readers and cheerleaders who've made this story what it is. I am grateful for every one of you, and your fingerprints are all over the pages.
I always knew that the story would end as it did. That image was one of the first things I planned. The path to get there was not what I expected, however. But is it ever?
Hello, it’s time for the long overdue Chapter 14. Sorry, y’all. It’s been a busy two years.
fanfiction.net
AO3
Like I say in the chapter, I do plan on collecting all the side-stories and chapters into a nice ebook for ease of reading, in case anyone wants to download a copy. I’ll likely link that here.
I’ve been dabbling with some original work. I’ll try to post information on that here on the off chance I finish them. You can also find me on ko-fi, RoyalRoad, and Discord with the same username.
I hate to be that person, but I’ve just read Sanitize and I adore it! Bottom of chapter 12 you say there’s maybe two chapters left and I can see you last posted 2020. Are these two chapters published on another site or just unpublished for now?
Hello! I haven't updated yet on any site. Chapter 13 has its first draft completed, and I'm working through the revisions.
Chapter 13 was also much too long to be a single chapter, so I'm splitting it into two. It should be out sometime in the next month, Chapter 14 some time after that, and finally the Epilogue.
Thank you for your patience and support. It really keeps me going.
Here's some bonus snippets below! (No guarantee that they'll be the same in the posted draft!)
She settled down in the chair, acutely aware that she had run out of time to stall. Eiji sat opposite her, expectant. Yui closed her eyes. The truth was something she had never said out loud, something she didn't understand herself. Even now, it caught in her throat. She took a deep breath, mentally ran through the herbs in her garden, and made herself speak.
----
“You should still be careful despite that,” said Shikari suddenly. “Change is in the air.”
Yui turned to him. “What?”
“Be careful,” he repeated. “Change is in the air.”
“Why are you so cryptic, Shika?” The kunoichi laughed. “Come, now, be a little more forthcoming to our dear healer.”
----
“Not particularly.” Madara didn’t let her finish the question. He looked at her with spinning red eyes—and a tendril of confused fear crept her spine. Immediately, his eyes turned black.
Extra: “Sanitize” and a Scandalized Outsider (Impropriety)
Almost 2k words this time! This was the extra that won the Discord vote: “An outside POV of Yui's clinic, from the perspective of a merchant who is constantly scandalized by all the impropriety going on in Chiyuku and surprised at what the village considers normal.” It’s aptly titled Impropriety, and it’s a little after the events of Chapter Twelve. Enjoy!
---
Usaku Kobayashi heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the town of Chiyuku in the distance. Despite his travels, Usaku had never been to this side of Fire Country, and it seemed shockingly undeveloped compared to the northeastern provinces.
“Finally,” he groused.
The ninja walking alongside their caravan tilted his head in agreement--though Usaku was beginning to suspect that it was amusement. They’d hired an escort from the Hyuuga clan, one of the few clans of ninja that actually had things like manners, but the downside was their eerie eyes and habits. The Hyuuga never even turned to look at them, but he seemed to know everything that went on around them--and had a need to comment on it. (That was exactly what they needed, a defective chatty Hyuuga.)
“Brother, aren’t you excited, though? This is all so novel!” Natsuki tried to lean out to see, but Usaku instinctively shielded her from prying eyes. His sister’s enthusiasm, unlike his, hadn’t flagged at all. Perhaps that was to be expected. This was her first time out of their estate.
Well. ‘Estate.’ They barely had more than a title to their name, thanks to their father and grandfather. It was only Usaku’s dirty merchant dealings that gave them enough wealth to hire more than three servants--and arrange Natsuki’s match.
That was the whole reason they were traveling. Lord Hirohota, his sister’s fiance, had requested to meet Natsuki ahead of the wedding party. Which was… odd, perhaps concerningly progressive, but he was, frankly, a much better match than Usaku had expected. It wasn’t like they could say no.
“We should rest at Chiyuku for a night,” said Hyuuga in his disconcertingly soft voice.
“Yes, we all need a rest!” Natsuki agreed. “Oh, it would be so nice to sleep in a bed again, though it was just as interesting to sleep in the caravan!”
Usaku scowled, and Natsuki drew back, abashed. It was a little uncouth for a woman to speak about her sleeping habits, and she knew he didn’t like her talking to the ninja. Their kind might be a necessity, especially in these uncivilized parts, but a well-bred lady didn’t need to associate with them.
Still, he had a point. “We will rest.” Not that Hyuuga looked like he needed it.
“We can procure some medicine for your knee, also,” Hyuuga continued. “I recall you also mentioning some interest in the medicine trade of these parts. Lord Hirohota has some stake in it, I believe.”
Usaku didn’t scowl again, but he did press his lips together. He didn’t appreciate the reminder of his rather embarrassing injury--he’d tripped when stepping off the caravan and landed badly.
The best ninja, his father had said, on the rare occasion he wasn’t drunk, are like furniture. You forget they’re there until you need them. This Hyuuga was the bad kind of furniture. Forgettable, until you tripped right over him when he opened his mouth and reminded you. Frequently.
… perhaps that hadn’t been the best analogy.
Regardless, the ninja volunteered his opinion far more than he should. Which was at all. As Usaku mused over whether he could bargain for a refund, or at least a discount, his party quickly got situated at one of their inns. It was acceptable, though barely so. Everything was… quaint, and rural.
Somewhere along the line, Natsuki wheedled her way into accompanying Usaku to the healer. He would much prefer her staying in the room with her maid, but he supposed he could allow her this. (He would miss her. His sweet sister was being married off to a lord four weeks away, and soon letters would be their only mode of contact.)
“This is the healer’s place?” Usaku raised his eyebrows.
“Indeed,” the ninja confirmed.
As they waited to be allowed entry, Usaku realized there was something different about the clinic’s construction, something about the wood… it looked almost seamless. Usaku didn’t know much about this healer (other than him being shockingly effective), but he must have been better than expected to afford something like this.
Usaku noted signs of more construction around them; foundations of new buildings were scattered like weeds. This town was growing, then. Perhaps it would be a wise investment.
The door opened. A tanned peasant woman smiled at them, dressed in rather nice kosode. It was solid color, but the material was quality cotton, and her obi had delicate embroidery around the borders. The healer’s wife, perhaps?
“Hello,” she said, inclining her head. “Do come in.”
The woman bustled around, serving them tea and doing all the other expected domestic niceties. In the corner was a young man stitching up a deep gash on a sniffling child. Usaku obliquely stepped to the left, hiding them from Natsuki’s view. Was that the healer? He seemed rather young, barely out of an apprenticeship, especially to have a wife a half-dozen years older. Perhaps he was the apprentice, and the master healer was out and about.
Usaku took the tea, and he sipped, resigned to have the dredges of soggy leaves that these places considered quality. He stopped at the first mouthful.
“This is good!” he said out loud, immediately embarrassed at his lack of decorum. But it was. The tea was a sweet oolong, with a delicate green edge. It was at least on par with the tea he normally drank.
“I’m glad,” said the woman, still smiling. “It’s Hyuuga-san’s favorite, if I recall correctly.”
The ninja nodded. “I am honored that you remember.”
Usaku was shocked to hear the deference in the killer’s voice, and he tried to cover it up with another sip. Natsuki tilted her head, hands delicately clasped around the cup. Honestly, the quality of the tea set was at least as good as the one they used at home. Was the woman trying to impress them with the finest they had? His sister had also noticed the ninja’s reaction, but she was also too curious for her own good.
“You know Hyuuga-san?” she asked slyly.
The ninja answered for her. “I have had the pleasure of meeting Yui-san.”
Only one name, then? That wasn’t unusual for peasants, and Usaku doubted that Hyuuga would be improper enough to be familiar with another man’s wife. Before she could reply, the healer apprentice finished his task, and the kid ran forward, shyly hugged Yui’s leg, and scampered away.
Yui smiled and shook her head.
She truly must be a cornerstone for her husband, Usaku thought. Though nothing beautiful--especially with that sun-darkened skin--Yui seemed like a competent manager of the household, enough to command affection from children and respect from ninja. Of course, the latter was likely more out of respect for her husband… Usaku really wanted to meet that man. Yui was asking after an old injury of the Hyuuga’s, so he turned to the apprentice rather than interrupt them.
“When will your master return, boy?”
The young man paused in washing his hands. (Usaku had been introduced to him, but the name had slipped from his memory.) “My… master?” he said, confused, looking to Yui.
“Yes,” he said, impatient. The boy continued to blink. Thankfully, there was a lull in the conversation, so Usaku returned his attention to Yui rather than waste anymore time. “Madam, when will your husband return? I wanted to ask him about a salve for sprains, and perhaps discuss business.”
Yui looked just as surprised, and he revised his estimate of her utility. “I’m not married,” she said dumbly.
Heavens. She wasn’t a kept woman, was she? No, her clothing didn’t suggest that, and he felt a little guilty for entertaining the thought. Yui was an unmarried relation, then, perhaps a sister, niece, or cousin to help manage the bachelor’s affairs--and procure a match with his contacts.
“The master healer,” he said more gently. Yui wasn’t that old. She still had a chance, though the match wouldn’t be so strong. “When will he return?”
Yui raised a hand to cover her mouth, and Usaku worried at first that some tragedy had happened--had he passed away?--but he realized that she was actually hiding a smile. The apprentice openly laughed, and the Hyuuga was glaring at him, mortified. (It was frankly terrifying, seeing such a display of emotion from him, especially with those eerie blank eyes.)
Usaku looked at his sister, bewildered, and was glad to see she looked as confused as him.
After a moment, Yui lowered her hand. “I’m the healer,” she said, voice steady.
“You’re what!?” He barely avoided dribbling his tea.
“Oh!” said Natsuki, setting her tea down, eyes gleaming in a way that made Usaku nervous. “You’re the healer? You’re not an assistant?”
“This is my clinic,” she confirmed. “Eiji’s my apprentice.”
“I--But--” Usaku blinked at her. He’d been caught off guard; the place seemed so civilized, but it held tighter to rural sensibilities than expected. “Why? Are you not wealthy enough to be married?”
She certainly seemed so; Usaku noted silk hangings that could only come from Lightning country. That should fetch a decent price for a peasant’s wedding.
“I enjoy my work,” Yui said firmly. “I work not because I have to, but because I want to.”
“I apologize for my client,” the Hyuuga said suddenly, stiffly. “I did not realize he had made such an assumption. He is from the northeastern part of Fire Country, and they are rather isolated.”
Was… was the ninja making excuses for him? Was he apologizing like Usaku was some rural country bumpkin!? The nerve of him!
Her apprentice snorted. “Sensei, perhaps I should serve the tea next time. Maybe these out-of-towners would stop assuming then.” Eiji gave him a derisive look, and Usaku puffed up further. “At least he wasn’t as bad as the man who thought you were my servant.”
Usaku wanted to give them both a piece of his mind, but Natsuki kept him from doing even that.
“It must be quite interesting to work,” she said, beaming. It was an admirable attempt to smooth over his impropriety, but he didn’t quite like that she had more than polite curiosity in the way she phrased it. “How were you educated as a healer?”
Usaku fumed, keeping his mouth shut, as Yui shared fanciful ideas with his sister. She consorted with ninja, alone! And healed strange men with no thought to privacy! Uncouth, truly uncouth. No wonder she wasn’t married. Usaku would have stormed out, but the Hyuuga kept glancing at him, and he thought better of it. He didn’t bother to ask for salves or open talks for business, not with that woman, not after how he’d been treated. He kept to icy formality and took the soonest opportunity to leave.
After as short of a stay they could manage, Usaku and the caravan set off again.
“Heavens, I am glad to be out of that provincial town!” he announced.
Natsuki didn’t respond. Instead, she looked back to the Chiyuku, an odd look in her eye.
“Hyuuga-san, how far is Chiyuku from Lord Hirohota’s estate?” she asked.
The ninja smiled. “Two week’s trip by caravan, my lady. Lord Hirohota’s liege, Lord Fukuyama, strongly favors Chiyuku and Healer Yui. She saved the young heir’s life.”
Usaku’s stomach dropped.
“Did she?” said Natsuki, sounding delighted.
“Indeed. Lord Hirohota’s estate has begun to invest in Chiyuku’s construction; the lord sent his architect on Lord Fukuyama’s request. I think you may meet Healer Yui again.”
“Hyuuga,” said Usaku sharply. “We did not ask for your input.”
The ninja tilted his head and fell silent. But when Natsuki looked out the window again, she was smiling.
I really love Sanitize so far! Read it all in one sitting. Yui feels a lot like Dreaming of Sunshine’s Shikako to me, in that she has such real relationships with all of the characters she interacts with. (And like Shikako, she’s extremely shippable with a variety of those characters, even while the story itself remains gen. I really like that— it means nothing is invalidated.) I’m so invested in seeing where she goes! Thank you for writing and sharing your story with us!!!
Thank you very much! I try very hard to keep the relationships feeling human and realistic, and it means a lot to hear that. I’m a big fan of platonic relationships, especially between people of different genders, and I’m an equally proponent of all kinds of ships! They’re all valid! Thank you for reading!
I apologize if this comes off as rude or you’ve already answered this, but are you an actual doctor/medical student? Or do you just do a lot of research for your fanfics?
At the moment, I work in disaster relief/emergency management/public health. So a tangential field! I’m planning on going into medicine eventually, though. I’ve done a fair amount of research for Sanitize (never expected to scour 1950s papers about penicillin synthesis...), with a little personal experience thrown in.
Hi!! I just discovered your fic Sanitize and I wanted to tell you that I absolutely adore it, both as a medical student and a long-time reader of fanfic. I truly hope you’re having as much fun writing it as I am reading it. Thank you very much for sharing your writing with us!
Thank you so much! I’ve had a lot of fun writing Sanitize; it’s been a lot of work (and sometimes trouble), but I’ve learned so much and met so many wonderful people because of it! I continue to be so touched by the response.
Good luck with medical school! That’s an incredible achievement, and I wish you all the success!
While reading Sanitize, I kept wondering if Yui's village is Konoha, because it's on Senju and Uchiha lands, I keep thinking in canon, the village was probably never dubbed Chiyuku because Yui wasn't there, just a thought
I don’t want to give any spoilers, but that’s an interesting thought! :) Thanks for sharing, I really love hearing about all these theories.
It’s really a chill place where people chat about writing and hang out! Whenever there’s an update (which there will be, in 43 minutes from the time of this post), people discuss the newest chapters, and I’m much better at answering questions there, haha...
I also run votes about bonus content for Sanitize and give updates about my writing progress. There’s a lot of writers and resources there too. Here’s the link: discord.gg/wNncyM4
The winner of the Discord vote! Here’s the quick 900 word short with Tsubaki, Hatake, Emigiku, and Shikari. Enjoy!
---
Convincing the prickly Wind Country artist to create Lord Oshiro’s glass monstrosity wasn’t as difficult as transporting the unwieldy sculpture across two countries. Tsubaki wouldn’t have bothered if it weren’t for the truly ridiculous payment, even with the artist’s cut.
She glanced at Rui, and though she knew that the Hatake was equally relieved, not a hint of it showed on the shinobi’s face.
“Perhaps we could visit that tea house,” Tsubaki murmured to him. “We both deserve a break.”
Rui glanced at her, and a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. The journey had been harder on him, having to defend her and the delicate artwork. Just as fast, his eyes snapped back to the hallway, and his arm relaxed by his waist, an innocuous gesture—if you didn’t know about the hidden knife.
It was just a gaggle of noble ladies. Tsubaki shook her head and stepped aside for the nobles, amused at his constant paranoia. The ladies were all second rate, by the look of it: unfavored concubines and fourth daughters. She idly categorized their fashions and patterns, making note of trends and colors. The layered wave pattern was ‘in’ again, and so was green. Tsubaki connected that to certain political trends, warlords and aspiring daimyos whose colors were the same—until she glanced at a woman in the back of the pack.
She was stunning, in every sense of the world. Black, silky hair with an undertone of blue, made all-the-more striking by the icy shade of her eyes. The woman briefly met her gaze and looked away, disinterested, but Tsubaki almost stepped back with shock.
That woman was a ninja.
They’d met briefly, but Tsubaki was unlikely to forget their introduction. Emigiku—a geisha's name, and if it wasn’t a fake one, she’d eat that sculpture—was the blonde kunoichi who’d burst into Yui’s clinic and interrupted their tea.
Tsubaki looked wide-eyed at him, and he gave her the slightest of nods. Of course, Rui had recognized her before she had. Maybe he was right to be paranoid.
------
They were both indulging in takoyaki on the street when the kunoichi slid into the seat beside Rui. He immediately stood up, angling himself in front of Tsubaki.
“Oh, calm down, Hatake,” purred the other ninja. “I picked the empty seat next to you for a reason.”
She was blonde again, with only the faintest hints of makeup. Her yukata was simple (though still wave patterned), and she fit in perfectly with every other middle-class city dweller. Well, almost perfectly. The look in her eyes was too sharp to be anything but predatory.
“Emigiku, wasn’t it?” Tsubaki gave her the neutral smile she reserved for new clients. “We’ve met before.”
“You can certainly call me that,” she said, amused. “But ‘Emi’ might be less of a mouthful.” Emi met Rui’s gaze, and her smile grew. “Is it really so hard to believe that I have no ill intentions?”
“Not a chance, Yamanaka.” His voice was low, edging into a growl. “You let us know you were here.”
Immediately, she blushed a deep, deep red and pressed her hands to her cheeks. (Tsubaki was rather impressed at how natural it looked.) “My, my, you have this all wrong!” Emi looked like nothing more than a bashful, naive woman, embarrassed by the misunderstanding. She straightened, and the act disappeared. “No, really. I don’t normally work in this area, so I didn’t try as hard to hide myself. Serves me right for being careless.”
Tsubaki would say that Emi’s sheepish smile looked genuine, but so had everything else.
“Mika, who are your friends?” A tall, scarred man sauntered to the counter, only to freeze upon seeing Rui.
The kunoichi laughed. “They know me as Emi, actually.”
Rui’s hand settled on his hilt. “You aren’t convincing me of your goodwill,” he said, quiet.
The other shinobi stared at him and then Emi. “Goddamnit, Mika. What the hell are you doing? We were--what--” He pressed his hand to his forehead. “Alright, let’s go.”
“What do you want, Nara?” Rui stepped forward.
“Well, right now, I want to leave.”
Tsubaki finished her food and cleared her throat. “As entertaining as this all is, I think we can all relax a bit. Are you two going to order something?”
The three ninja glanced at her. Rui continued to look grim, but she knew that crinkle of exasperation by his eyes. The Nara, as Rui had called him, seemed ten seconds away from spontaneously combusting with irritation.
Emi’s sly grin hadn’t changed. “Yes, Hatake, listen to your…” she paused, “employer. Yes, your employer. I simply wanted to say hi and,” her voice slipped into a rural twang, “grab some food.”
“You said hi,” ground out the Nara. “We can get food somewhere else. Let’s go.”
She sighed and stretched, twisting her body innocently--and both the Nara and Rui’s eyes followed her movement involuntarily. (So did Tsubaki’s.) “I think I’ll stay here.”
“In that case, I suggest the takoyaki,” Tsubaki said.
Emi raised an eyebrow. “You suggest the takoyaki… at a takoyaki stand.”
Tsubaki gave her most sale-closing smile. “Absolutely.”
For a moment, she was faced with the full force of Emi’s scrutiny. Her intensity didn’t lesson, but Emi’s smile broke through like the sun after a monsoon, and Tsubaki knew that men and women had fallen in love for less.
(But I, thought Tsubaki, trying not to look at Rui, have fallen in love for more.)
“I’d love to have some takoyaki,” Emi said, soft. “Would you join me, Kari?”
The Nara hesitated only for a moment before taking the seat next to his associate. “I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
Rui was the last to sit down, but when he did, it was with a brush of his fingers against her wrist.
Extra: “Sanitize” and Outsider POVs (Chemical Reactions)
Well, here’s 1.5k words of outsider POV: a hobbyist chemist/physicist meets Yui. Science results. It’s basically indulgent fluff I wrote for no reason besides, well... indulgence. Sparked by the thought that our knowledge of physics and chemistry has grown so much... people and science are pretty wonderful. Takes place in no specific time. Here’s Chemical Reactions.
---
Being wealthy and charismatic meant that Haru Watanabe was called ‘eccentric.’ He was also a middle-aged man with three children and a doting wife, the owner of a thriving spice business—mostly ran by the aforementioned wife—and a self-described scholar with a surprising amount of perceptiveness. Basically, Haru did everything else right so that he could get away with doing some things wrong.
(The first sin in question: throwing himself headfirst into physics and chemistry despite having enough money to pursue respectable subjects like history, politics, literature, or historical political literature.)
Haru had people who could do the tiresome but necessary business of actually bringing the goods from one place to another. Unfortunately, there did come times where he had to make the trek in person, generally when it involved a noble personage of one dinky plot or another who got delusions of grandeur. Haru would then kiss his wife and children, board the caravan, and head to woo the noble who was choking his trade routes. This time, he was with a scribe, a servant, and two hired Sarutobi guards.
(The greater sin: blabbing about his scientific interests with everyone who had the slightest amount of interest, which in Haru’s world, was the equivalent of looking in his direction.)
He’d talked his associates’s ears off during the journey there, and on the way back, both his employees were resigned to hearing his newest ideas--his scribe knew it by heart. Though the younger ninja had been interested at first, now the two Sarutobi were staring into the distance with glazed eyes.
(The final sin: making sure that he walked his hostage audience through the concepts in question until they understood it instead of blabbing without input, denying said audience the luxury of entirely tuning it out.)
So when Haru stopped in Chiyuku to pay the necessary pilgrimage to Healer Yui’s residence, he of course took her offer of tea as an invitation to speak about his newest pet theory. Haru hadn’t met with her personally before, having never been down this route himself, but he and every merchant with business on this side of the country knew about her. And Haru especially knew of her reputation for sharing knowledge. Was it likely that she knew anything about his interests? No, but that had never stopped him before.
“I have a great interest in science,” he began, smiling.
She didn’t pause in the middle of bandaging—the younger Sarutobi was lightly burned, but only because he’d practiced some sort of ninja technique above his skill levels, much to the exasperation of the older one—but she looked up.
“Is that so?” Yui was perfectly polite. “What kind of sciences?”
“Oh, physics and chemistry, mainly.” He let his smile grow brighter. “The very big and very small, the planets and the atoms.”
There was a glint of genuine interest now, even as she said, “Give me a minute, please.” Haru was content to wait as she gave the ninja instructions, washed her hands, poured herself a cup of tea, and took a seat across from him. “You’re a scholar in both subjects?”
Her voice was the mix of a rustic drawl and clipped enunciation that educated rural folk tended to have, and Haru could detect traces of other accents, likely picked up from all the travelers that came through Chiyuku.
(Again, he wasn’t a bad merchant. He was a rather excellent one, though his wife was the exceptional half. Haru was well-versed in the art of sizing someone up.)
“I am!” Haru sipped his tea and was pleasantly surprised by its mellow flavor. He’d had worse tea in fancier places. “Are you aware of the elements of matter?” Before he could start his theory, he needed to gauge her current knowledge.
It wasn’t quite a non-sequitur, but Yui took the small leap between topics in stride. “Yes. Carbon, nitrogen…” She hesitated. “I have the periodic chart of elements. A colleague of mine gave me some books with them.”
HHaru’s interest was piqued. “Did he?” He reevaluated her and took a different tack. “As you might be aware, we can put some elements together and create new ones. Organics from organics and inorganics from like. Not one from the other, and some combinations of elements won’t combine at all. Why do you think so?”
And so began a conversation like none other that Haru had participated in, beyond his wildest dreams. (A virtue: Haru could talk and talk and talk, but he could also listen. With colleagues and scholars—and his brilliant, incredible wife—he could sit spellbound for hours, with little to say but “Please, continue!”)
He kept asking why, why, and she kept answering. Yui spoke about the shape of atoms and the charged pieces that made up them. She spoke about the bonds between elements and the shape of those bonds, all connected by little electric pieces of matter that orbited around them. Finally, he asked about the interactions of magnets and forces, about the minutiae of why some elements had so many electric bits, why the shells around each center were numbered the way they were.
“I’ve...” she paused. “ I don’t really know. This is all a guess, anyway,” she added. “None of this will be proved for decades.” Yui cleared her throat, gone hoarse with talking, and she sipped her tea.
By now, the sun had dipped from its high point to begin its journey downwards. Haru’s guard took the opportunity to hazard a reminder: “Perhaps it would be best to continue—”
“Thank you, Sarutobi-san,” interrupted Haru. “I think we shall stay sometime longer, if it suits the esteemed healer.”
Yui seemed torn, having clearly enjoyed a conversation with someone who not only followed along but also hadn’t questioned her authority. “I wouldn’t want to keep you…”
“No, not at all!” He waved her concerns aside. “Now, you were talking about proof? How would you prove this?” Haru took care to keep his voice eager and curious, letting no suggestion of incredulity or accusation color his voice. He knew how easy it was to dismiss a woman’s knowledge, intentionally or not. Why, his own darling wife needed him as a frontman to manage the business, as silly as that was—she was better than he ever could be.
With a hesitant smile, Yui began to describe a series of fantastical devices: microscopes that used electric pieces, machines that spun bits of matter fast enough to tear them open, and lightning that could split bonded compounds in two.
Haru listened eagerly, soaking up as much knowledge as he could. His ability to listen, his experience, and his surprisingly deep well of common sense gave him a fine-tuned nonsense detector. And yet, her words didn’t set it off, likely because they made sense. Likely because she admitted freely how she couldn’t prove any of it, that this was baseless speculation.
(It didn’t feel like it.)
“What about chakra? Where does this fit in?”
The two ninja, alternatively bored out of their minds and surprisingly keen to listen, perked up at Haru’s question.
And to his ongoing surprise, she laughed. “I have absolutely no idea.” Yui leaned back in her chair, taking another sip. “An energy source from another universe? A force we don’t understand? Who knows. All I know is that it seems to break all laws of the natural world.”
Haru mirrored her body language, leaning back as well. “And you know how to use it.”
“I do, but I don’t understand it.”
He made a contemplative sound. Haru liked knowing things, and Yui had done him an enormous favor by sharing. Then again, he liked knowing things, and she… was a mystery. For not the first time this journey, Haru wished that his wife was with him. She would know what to say. (Another flaw: his stubbornness, his refusal to let anything go when it caught his interest...)
“Is your knowledge supernatural?”
(... and the bluntness that resulted from it.)
This time, everyone stared at him.
Yui blinked, a mix of shock, horror, and annoyance displayed in her creasing forehead.
Haru blinked back, suddenly aware that this faux pas was inexcusable, even for him. “Anyway,” he said, moving the conversation on before it lingered like a carelessly lit firecracker between them, “I must thank you sincerely for indulging me. As a token of appreciation...”
Haru opened the bag that he had carried with him, full of physics and chemistry books that he had planned on going over with the healer—before she’d blown away every preconception and filled his minds with theories in no book before her. He chewed his lip, considering the titles, and finally picked out the one that had the most similar and detailed analysis to what she’d told him. It was mostly a comparison of elemental properties and compounds, but… Haru had noticed that despite her detailed knowledge, she’d made up many of the words for the esoteric parts of her masterful theory.
“Here,” he said, placing the book on the table. “If you want any others in my bag, do let me know. And if it pleases you, I can send you any book on any topic you desire, if you promise to share me more of your wonderful theories.” He undercut his statement with a bright smile, trying to convey that he meant it as a friend—or at least a friendly acquaintance.
Yui gave him a careful smile back, though her openness had shuttered with his blundered statement. “I’d like that,” she said.
And just like that, Haru had another puzzle he knew he had to solve: the source of her knowledge.
I really like your fanfics and even though it’s been a while i enjoyed sanitized emensely. Especially since it’s from the perspective of a civilian, we don’t see a lot of them in canon and that it’s in the warring states era makes it even more interesting. I have a soft spot for that period in Naruto, too bad it isn’t explored much.
So I made some fanart with SAI, hope you like it and keep up the great work!
(sorry don’t know if this is how you submit fanart and i don’t use tumblr all that much either)
Me: AAAHH, I love this! This is amazing! I adore the details, the outfit, the soft plant backgrounds, everything is gorgeous. The poppies and her hair and the flowers on her outfit, the lovely details. Just, amazing. And yeah, this is exactly how you’d submit fanart! Thank you! Don’t worry, I’m pretty bad with tumblr myself. (AKA, every other post is me asking “How do you do this?”)
I totally agree, we don’t see a lot of fanfic set in the Warring States Era, which is sad, because I’d want to see it more too! If y’all have any recs, I’d love to see them.
Anyway, thanks again for sending this to me! I love it, it’s super inspiring, and I truly appreciate it!
Thank you very much for your concern! I... am doing much better, though I had a very hectic last few months.
Vaguely related, but I am pleased to note that I’ve (finally) finished the rough drafts of chapter 10 and 11. Yeah, the “chapter” ended up being over ten thousand words, so there’s going to be two chapters. I’ll be doing the rounds of editing now! And they both really need a deep clean/update... I’ll keep everyone posted. Broken record time, but thank you all for you continued support. It’s what’s kept me writing through all of this.
(Side note: does anyone know how to answer more than one ask at the same time? I’ve seen people do it before, but I’m not sure if they just screenshot-ed the images, or if there’s an actual way. I’m trying to go through and answer the backlog of asks.)
Lots of Content @sage-thrasher - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
