[Mikatakujira Ruto]

With the support of Shakar on behalf of Sourei Orga, Ruto had been lucky enough to obtain access to a small laboratory along with a selection of equipment to help aid in their ability to produce medication for the masses. On their request, this laboratory space had been found just at the southern tip of Wood Country, right where its border met both those of Vegetable and Bird country. This position made it far easier to produce their wares for selling in the surrounding nations without having to worry quite so strongly about the possibility of a shinobi village stepping in to question their presence. 

They spent the first long while settling into their space exclusively working on research into making medicinal blends of herbs, but once they had a decent stock, they felt the old itch of exploration. Research. The dark temptation of illness. They had no plans. No ill ones, at least. They just wanted to regain some of the stock they had lost when they were forced to flee their home. 

They had this... theory. Part of the magic of iryo ninjutsu was its ability to stimulate cells to reproduce more quickly. Repairing the body's natural processes, flushing out. What they wanted to know was if they could develop their own ability to stimulate bacterial growth. Make use of those small creatures which crawl over the world. 

This was a work he would like to keep away from his medicines in order to prevent cross contamination. And he still enjoyed his ability to wander, as it kept him more hidden. 

So he took some small equipment and packed it into the back of a roving apothecary cart he had kindly been gifted. Almost something like a cycling rickshaw. He set out in search of a particular goal. He wanted to find an ill animal to hunt, or an ill animal or person to treat. Either way, he would be collecting samples today. 

[Mikatakujira Ruto]

It took a while on the road for him to find exactly what he was looking for. It was easy to see the signs if you had experience with this sort of thing. There was a rot in the trees and their leaves. A sort that he was very familiar with and was very certain would be afflicting some animals in the region as well. He parked his things and stepped off to the side, moving down a small hillside into the quiet forest. With the side of a shuriken, he scraped the infection from the tree and collected that sample. Cultivating that would be interesting in its own right. If he wanted to, he could grow it into a crop pestilence. 

He had always been more interested in mammalian interest, though. Something about the origins of his knowledge being medical, human. It was hard to stray from those interests. 

He walked deeper into the woods, moving as quietly as he could, until he heard. Softly. The sound of labored breathing. A sick animal, hidden in the foliage. With the soft wheezing breaths, it did not take long for him to source it out. It was a marten, and it seemed the poor creature was not long for the world. Injured from a hunt it had barely escaped, sick from the rot of the plants. 

He dispatched of the animal quickly and brought its carcass back with him. He stored it carefully inside the rickshaw and began the trip back to his lab.