Fanfic / Health and Wellness (The Sanitize Universe)

Health and Wellness (The Sanitize Universe) is a Naruto Alternate Universe Fic taking place during the days before the Warring States Period before the Uchiha and Senju made peace.

Yui is the healer of a minor village in Sanitize, said village being so small it doesn't even have a name. However, Yui remembers her previous life in our world where she was a medical professional of some sort, which gives her greater medical knowledge (the importance of sanitation for example) and a code of healing everyone who comes to her injured or sick. Both her methods and her code not only earn her village the name Chiyuku (healing ward) but also causes both the Senju and Uchiha to keep their battles clear of the village and deal with any undesirables who might threaten it.

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This fic provides examples of:

• Ambiguously Gay: Yui's apprentice Enji gives this impression given how close he was to her (definitely heterosexual) brother Sen, and how badly he reacted to his fellow apprentice's death. His interaction with Senju Kawarama also gives this vibe.
• Actually, I Am Him: Yui asks Madara if the Uchiha Clan Head would agree to sign a formal agreement recognizing a Chiyuku as neutral territory with the Senju. Surprised he explains to her that he is actually that man, and he agrees.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: Between the Uchiha and Senju, the growing peace takes place thanks to both clans managing to slowly manage peace between themselves, with an emphasis on diplomacy especially once Hashirama becomes Clan Head. This is opposed to canon where the violence continued long afterward, with members of both sides becoming harsher and more entrenched with the growing number of lives lost, to the point the possibility of peace was the only thing canon Madara had left to live for even as a growing number of his clan defected to the Senju.
• Despair Event Horizon: Yui hits this for a prolonged period when her brother dies from the flu after she fails to save him. It is not until she gets some distance from home, and a talk with Izuna followed by the chance to cry with Hashirama, which finally helps her moves on. At times she has also helped pull Madara and Hashirama out of their own ones.
• Determined Doctor:
  • Yui's defining trait, to the wonder of others, especially as she will do so for free. She is so unquestionably talented, and kind, that many come to believe that her knowledge comes from being a god's concubine, or because she is a god.
  • Yui has also been successful in passing on her teachings and beliefs to a growing number of apprentices. There is also Dr. Makoto, initially a nobly born doctor who resented being pushed into the trade, he was inspired by how Yui as a young girl effortlessly succeeded where he failed, and so threw himself back into his studies and returned later to study under her. He uses her teachings to become a highly respected medical professional within the Land of Fire, leading a social movement of other doctors in freely sharing their knowledge for the betterment of others. The whole time most people are unaware he is actively following her guidance and advice, as nobody would listen to a peasant girl.
  • Yui's greatest accomplishment though is successfully creating penicillin, which soon spreads like wildfire as more and more doctors use it.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: 'Evil' may be an over exaggeration, but Izuna greatly struggles with the new, more peaceful era his brother and Hashirama are ushering in. He believes shinobi should live a life of suffering to create strength, that violence can be their only path.
• False Flag Operation: As the Senju-Uchiha alliance appears to be working, a neighboring lord, concerned about rising ninja prices, tries to implicate the Senju in destroying Chiyuku and breaking their promise. Thankfully Madara catches on and ruthlessly puts a stop to this. He notes that the lord had to hire from outside of the Land of Fire, because it was doubtful he would have found anyone closer willing to harm Yui.
• Femme Fatale: A lady known as Emigiku, Emi, or Mika, and doubtless other names, is a Yamanaka who is a frequent client and friend of Yui's. She is stunningly attractive, loves to flirt, is a master actress who among other things can blush on demand, and is strongly implied to be a seductress on behalf of her clan. Certainly, she does a lot of undercover stuff.
• Good Is Not Soft:
  • After her experience with ronin, Yui knows that while she is a healer, she has to still help defend herself and her village. At great personal expense, she purchases crossbows for the militia and replacement bolts, and produces poison to be smeared upon the militia spearheads. Meanwhile, at her clinic, she takes to keeping poison in case she needs to use it against someone genuinely threatening her. She produces it when Madara tries to lecture her about being naïve while in a dark and cynical mood, and he takes her example to heart and renews his commitment to peace, while also promising to provide her a better poison.
  • Hashirama may be a man desperately dreaming of peace, but he is the God of Shinobi for a good reason. His usual softness with Yui drops away to something harsher when he finds out she was attacked and robbed by ronin, wanting to know who had hurt her.
• Hidden Depths: How Yui is regarded by the confounded nobility when brought in to save the life of the local lord's son. She is supposed to be just a peasant women healer, and then casually displays sealing scrolls holding medical equipment, is highly educated, easily engages with ninjas who even the nobles are terrified of, treats members of the estate for free, has no interest in social climbing to escape her common origins, and engages in Brutal Honesty to her supposed betters. They have absolutely no idea of what to make of her. They are unaware however that at the time she is also too deep into her Despair Event Horizon to properly appreciate her situation or their reactions, or be more cautious, and may have reacted differently otherwise. Thankfully she recovers from this by the time she meets the lord himself to discuss her reward.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Yamanaka 'Emigiku' is a ninja who is strongly implied to use her very attractive features for various undercover and seduction missions. However with Yui she is warm and open (if not revealing any secrets, including her clan name), and when the clinic burned down brought her several very expensive kimonos, and when Yui's brother died brought beautiful flowers despite it being the middle of winter.
• Implied Love Interest: Throughout the story Hashirama is implied to have romantic feelings for Yui he never acts upon. Chapter 8 of the omake stories has a version where he managed to attend a festival he was unable arrive at in the main storyline, which leads to them confessing their mutual feelings for each other.
• Medieval Morons: Deconstructed Trope as Yui generally acknowledges any issues she has with people to be the result of poorer education or social standards they were raised with, and does not hold it against them.
• Morality Pet:
  • What Yui increasingly becomes for the ninjas who come to her for healing, absolutely confused yet appreciative of someone in their dark, bloodthirsty world who heals out of the goodness of her own heart. It leads to a ripple effect as it provides to an incentive for the Uchiha and Senju clans not to fight around her village, followed by formally acknowledging her village as neutral territory, and then the basis for an actual peace treaty between them.
  • The incentive for formally acknowledging Yui's village as neutral territory is when a Senju and Uchiha clansmen both visit at the same time, and burn down her clinic. Her neighbors quickly provide her with help and goods, falsely claiming it is for services they forgot to pay for, but this extends to the non-Uchiha and non-Senju ninjas who go out of their way to leave her extra payments while being absolutely livid on her behalf.
  • She is this especially for Madara and Hashirama, as her personal example and that of the peace they managed with Chiyuku, helps keep them committed towards a true peace between their clans. When they are at their darkest and most cynical, unsure if their dreams are really possible, they go to her to ask for her opinion and advice.
• The Neutral Zone: While originally ignored as a village too unimportant to fight over, this is what Chiyuku becomes. Initially, it is because none of the ninjas want to cause a ruckus or violence where the nice, high-quality healer with her free medicine is, but the Uchiha and Senju clans later officially recognize it as such. After Madara stops a False Flag Operation aimed against it, both clans post one of their own shinobi to help protect it from others. By the time Kurama shows up to investigate, he reacts in surprised wonder at the sheer lack of death and violence within the land surrounding Yui's clinic.
• No Honor Among Thieves: Defied with ninjas to their own surprise, as many bitterly believe they have no honor, only for Hashirama and Yui to point out that while they follow no formal code like samurai do, they do have a sense of family and professional honor, including I Gave My Word. Indeed, most of Yui's best clients are ninjas, who if unable to pay right away, will later deposit some sort of payment on her doorstep later.
  • When Tobirama and Izuna run into each other at Yui's clinic after the neutrality agreement is signed, it is obvious both men very much want to kill one another, having fought on many occasions on the battlefield over the years. However unlike the last time members of their clans met, there is a treaty and they each refuse to be the one to break it.
• No Woman's Land:
  • A problem that Yui increasingly has to deal with is the fact she is a woman in a society where generally men rule. Initially, it is not a problem within Chiyuku, as when she was born it was so poor that both men and women had to contribute equally, and its explosive growth was within the same generation so that expectation held even if city social norms became more prevalent. So while there are some women who stay at home to raise families, many others work and are even business owners; plus they are all aware it is a female healer responsible for so much of their prosperity. However, when Yui tries to reach out her teachings beyond her village, especially with a book, she is dismissed as a woman and ignored. It takes a male doctor acting on her behalf to make any progress spreading medical progress beyond her clinic. What changes everything is earning the patronage of her local lord, whose authority is enough to make people listen. The lord's daughter exchanging letters with Yui also opens her up to contact with other educated women.
    • Yui also faces pressure for ages to marry and have children despite her disinterest in such things. For women, the single most important things you are supposed to accomplish are getting married and having children. In that order (or if you discover you are pregnant, get married quickly with the father).
  • In one of the side stories, a merchant bemoans how he has to make business trips and act like he is the one running his company, when he is fully aware his wife is vastly better at it than him.
  • The daughter of the local lord, Lady Fukuyama, would be a superior ruler of their territory, and indeed is considered better than her father, and bitterly resents how her gender prevents her from properly doing so. However she is now betrothed to the man believed to be the future ruler of the Land of Fire, so she is not out of the game.
• One-Man Industrial Revolution: Well, One Woman Medical Revolution, as Yui rapidly advances medical developments by decades at a time with stuff as basic as proper sanitization, the radical concept of sharing medical information freely, and after years of effort produces actual antibiotics. Several people have noted how she knows more than a peasant girl should be able to, but only her apprentice Enji has ever been told the whole truth. Most however just accept whatever she says in regards to medicine given how unquestionably good she is at it.
  • She does deeply regret that she still lacks the medical infrastructure she had in her past life.
• The Paragon: Yui, full-stop, and it is her example which makes such an impact upon those around her. Most notably when she is asked by the local lord to name her reward for saving his son, she asks for his patronage to help create anti-biotics, and better infrastructure for her village. When he points out she has asked nothing for herself, she relents for some tea she had enjoyed while staying at his castle.
  • Kurama reads her soul to confirm the truth of her character.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Lady Fukuyama's marriage to Lord Hosokawa gives hints of this despite the outsider perspective. He is believed by many to be the future ruler of the Land of Fire, and is working with the Uchiha and Senju to do this, having been a long-time customer of the Senju. Lady Fukuyama is a very sharp women and would be a valued ally, and brings with herself a beneficial, long-term relationship with the Uchiha.
• Red Baron:
  • In his lifetime, Hashirama is known as the God of Shinobi, and he absolutely hates it.
  • Some peasants come to call Yui the God of Medicine, and they are more than a bit serious about the divine aspect. Although she notes it is partially because a peasant woman having such medical knowledge is 'best' explained by the supernatural.
• Revenge Before Reason: How Yui regards the ongoing feuds and hatred between ninja clans, especially the Senju and Uchiha, as they can no longer even remember what initially set off the conflict, causing only more misery and death.
• These Hands Have Killed: Despite his status as arguably the greatest ninja alive, Hashirama genuinely hates being a shinobi. It is not just because of how many of his family he has lost, or the people he has killed (including by abusing medical techniques to do so), but also the children he has killed. More than anything, he would like to spend his days building houses and healing people. However for the sake of his clan, and for his dream of peace, he has to stay committed to the shinobi path.
• Ship Teasing: There are hints that Hashirama has romantic feelings for Yui, but cannot act upon them due to his obligations to his clan. Instead, they are just close friends, with no indications she has any idea otherwise.
  • In a Dark Future sidestory and subversion of canon, Yui's death drives Hashirama to madness, leading Madara to have to fight to stop his former friend from consuming the world in flowers.
• Small Role, Big Impact: What happens here, as Yui brings economic and social change to the region due to her radical view on healthcare and information, mainly that both should be free and easy to access. As time progresses, this leads to an alliance between the Senju and Uchiha, which has national importance, and we know from canon how it would spread from there. The whole time she is doing this though, it is from a single clinic within what started as a village too small to have a name.
• We ARE Struggling Together: Madara and Hashirama face a lot of pushback from the more militant factions of their clansmen over the peace treaty between their clans and subsequent alliance. However, the duo are still the Clan Heads by birthright, and are unquestionably the strongest. The part that hurts them the most is how Tobirama, Kawarama (copying Tobirama), and Izuna are particularly opposed to it. Thankfully none of their families are being treasonous.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Yui receives this from some of the Uchiha and Senju, particularly Uchiha Izuna, who resent how her example has undermined their conflict and led to pushes for genuine peace. She takes none of it, and fires back her own Shut Up, Hannibal! at them.

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