Ryu cautiously ascended the stairs, each step revealing more about the mysterious clinic. In the lobby, everything had seemed ordinary, but as he climbed higher, the haunting wails of patients filled the air.
As Ryu continued his ascent, he caught glimpses of patients through the partially open doors. Their conditions were far worse than he had anticipated. Amputated limbs, gaping wounds, and the unmistakable signs of deadly diseases were all too common. It became clear to him that no one would come to a place like this unless they had no other choice.
Pausing on a wide stair, Ryu leaned against the cold wall, his thoughts racing. How could this clinic possibly treat all these people, especially when secrecy was of utmost importance? With limited staff and supplies, the constant struggle to maintain their operation must have been a monumental task. He couldn't help but wonder how they managed to persevere despite the overwhelming challenges.
Upon reaching the fourth floor, Ryu's mind was preoccupied with the clinic's mysteries, leaving him unaware of his surroundings. As he turned a corner, he collided with a middle-aged man who had been hurrying in the opposite direction. The force of the impact sent Ryu tumbling to the floor, while the man's stack of papers scattered around them.
"Damn it! Who are you?" the man barked, his rough voice betraying his irritation as he knelt to gather the fallen documents.
Ryu picked himself up and started helping with the papers. "I'm Ryu," he replied. The man eyed him suspiciously and reached into his sleeve, discreetly pulling out a scalpel and charging it with chakra. Ryu noticed this but chose to remain calm. "I'm staying here for a while. You can ask Akina if you don't believe me."
The man sighed, lowering the scalpel and relaxing his tense posture. "When did this place turn into a hotel?" he grumbled, his annoyance evident. Ryu couldn't help but feel defensive. "Look, I'm injured too, but I can take care of myself. Besides, I can't afford the treatments here, so think of it as extra income for the clinic."
With a dismissive wave, the man pushed past Ryu. "Just stay out of the way. I have actual patients to attend to!" And with that, he disappeared down the stairs, leaving Ryu to wonder about the doctor's abrupt manner.
"Isn't a doctor supposed to be kind?" Ryu muttered to himself as he located his room. Inside, he found a simple bed, a closet, a few drawers, a table, a chair, and a combined shower and bathroom. The room was immaculately clean, as expected from a clinic, but it was also quite sparse. The lack of furniture made the space feel empty and unwelcoming.
Ryu surveyed the room, finding its bareness disheartening. 'This room is so depressing... But maybe I can spruce it up a bit,' he mused, envisioning ways to make the space more inviting. He lay down on the bed, pleasantly surprised by its comfort. "It's been way too long since I had a decent place to sleep," he yawned.
Just as Ryu was about to drift off, a loud siren pierced the silence, followed by a booming voice: "Code White in room 105!" His curiosity piqued, Ryu couldn't help but wonder what a Code White meant and why they used color-coded names. Pushing aside his fatigue, he decided to investigate.
Rushing down to the third floor, Ryu followed the sound of raised voices. He soon found himself in a corridor where a man with bandages wrapped around his muscular frame was being restrained by two figures wearing black robes and animal masks—one a white monkey, the other a white wolf. A Kuni was pressed against the captive man's throat, ready to strike at any moment.
"Are those Anbu?!" Ryu blurted out, his shock drawing the attention of everyone in the hallway. He had seen Anbu before, and though they were meant to be a secretive organization, their distinctive attire made them easily recognizable. Ryu understood the purpose of the black robes, but the animal masks seemed unnecessarily flashy. The Anbu were the only ones that wore them, you can't have a secret organization with a recognizable uniform code!
Ryu tensed, preparing to defend himself against the masked ninjas, but the situation took an unexpected turn.
"Why is there a kid here? He doesn't have a patient number. Is he an intruder?" The man with the monkey mask spoke up. "Probably not," the man in the wolf mask replied. "He doesn't look like a trained Shinobi, so he must've come through Akina at the front desk. And since there aren't any signs of a struggle, it seems the others didn't need to intervene. Kid, we're not Anbu anymore. We used to be, but now we're just the security team for this clinic, so you don't have to be scared. But we do need to know why you're here without a patient number, or else we'll have to dispose of you, just like we're doing with this troublemaker."
"Uh, wait," Ryu stammered, "isn't this a clinic? Aren't you supposed to value life above all else? What do you mean by 'dispose of'?" He watched as the security guards dragged the bandaged man away.
"Nah," the man with the monkey mask replied. "That's only true for Arakan and Akina. We're just guards. If we don't do our job and let troublemakers go free, our reputation will suffer, and others will think they can get away with causing problems."
"This place is crazy," Ryu mumbled to himself. Anbu as security? He was pretty sure only the Mizukage had security of this caliber, and this was just a clinic! What was going on here? First the mysterious mountain, and now this? Ryu decided that while he was working on his Transformation Jutsu, he would also make it his secondary goal to find out more about this place.
"Kid, answer the question," the monkey-masked man prompted. "Oh, right. I'm injured, but I can take care of myself, so I'm renting one of the staff rooms instead of paying for the doctor's treatment. But I should probably get one of those patient numbers since this is already the second time I've been asked about it," Ryu explained.
"Ah, I see. There's no problem, then," the man in the monkey mask said. "You can just go to Akina and ask for a patient number. It doesn't mean Arakan will treat you since he gets his list from her, and she won't include you. So don't worry about it."