Bellicism Arc: New Skills

Yuina entered the lab.

"Orochimaru-sensei? You're back." He'd left on mission with short notice. They made their own little wood carvings to leave out when they've been called away on a mission. He was gone longer than she expected though. He was looking through a microscope they had customed made. It cost a lot of money and took months to receive but it was worth it.

"Miss me?"

Honestly, yes. The lab was home away from home. It reminded her of her post-graduate experience without the negative aspects, like the complications of academic publishing that drove people apart or people expecting high-tech products when there were much simpler and cost-effective solutions. If Sakumo and Kakashi were family, then Orochimaru was the closest thing she had to a friend.

She loved his willingness to experiment, but was wary ever being a test subject. It must be a cultural thing, but it was no wonder the mortality rate was so high when people freely accepted the risk of injury or death when meddling with new things. Embarrassingly, it wasn't something she always recognized either because people mentioned the outcomes so casually. In hindsight, it was understandable when Sakumo panicked when Kakashi and her 'played' around without him.

"I'm glad you can go back for caring for that plant you picked up. It's nitpicky." Yuina wasn't quite ready to admit her attachment out loud. It would make everything seem more real because if she was capable of growing attachments to him then did that mean she was wrong for preventing attachment with others. It may have been a one in a million chance though. How many others could indulge her in the same way. "What's it for anyway."

"I suspect it's an ingredient for a poison I'm looking into."

Yuina warily looked over to the plant. At the very least it didn't operate like poison ivy or she would have had a miserable time. "I see, so you're looking into an antidote?"

"That often is a key component to mithridate." Orochimaru looks away from the microscope and adds something to his concoction before stirring.

"And mithridate is…?"

"Mithridatism is the practice of building immunity against poisons. It can be attempted without an antidote, but it's best to have one especially when the full effects haven't yet been tested for." He picked up the vial and looked at the rose tinge colour of the mixture.

"Does it work?" Yuina never bothered to look into it. One, she was highly skeptical. Two, she didn't have a need before.

"It varies. Both on the individual's body and the oversight. Doses can effect people differently depending on one's personal health. Even then, there's no guarantee that someone will develop immunity. Knowing the antidote and having some mastery at altering the body helps. Interested? I could help you." He finally looked away from his project towards her.

She had been keeping herself off limits. It's why aspects of her chakra experimentation was on a hiatus as she decided whether to proceed or if there was another way to address the biggest barrier to her inquiries. Chakra was currently an unknown. She had no records even if someone had meddled before. Orochimaru made it sound like there was a lot more proofs to mithridatism and had personal experience. It lined up with her knowledge of a cabinet he had dedicated to poisons.

"Not with what you're currently sorting out, but maybe some more common poisons." He looked surprised that she agreed and she felt defensive. "I want to know as much as I can about it before I take anything." He may have earned some trust, but she wasn't going to knowingly consume something that could kill her without feeling secure enough to back out if needed.

"You won't be able to go on missions for a while if you agree. You're body is more likely to react when you aren't used to it, and falling to symptoms while on a mission could be fatal." He made it seem like a drawback, but having a good reason to take a break from missions would never be a bad thing to her.

"Okay."

Was he still surprised at her acceptance or was her short answer unsatisfactory?. She didn't seem eager to skip missions, did she? That would look bad. She needed people to believe she was devoted to the village.

"I'll make the arrangement to take time off if you debrief me on the details. Is it that much of a surprise?"

"A little," he admitted. "You've never shown interest before even if you have listened to my spiels."

"Ah, yes, because I haven't had the time in the last fifteen months to squeeze it in meant I'd never pick it up." Sarcasm laced every word. "Sorry there's only so many hours in a day."

He brushed off her tone. "That may be, but I won't be around forever for you to learn from."

"Don't tell me you're retiring or planning on kicking me out." The possibility sounded horrid.

Orochimaru smiled. "Now why would I do that?"

His tone is light but it was reassuring nonetheless. He hated incompetence as much as her when it came to getting things done so that meant he deemed her competent enough to be around. It should have been obvious considering he let her use his private space and much of his equipment, but it was like walking a tightrope. Things are fine until one misstep sent you crashing down.

"Good. I'm assuming you'll be prepared by tomorrow then."

"That can be done."

Another commonality. Don't waste the other's time.

"I'll be back tomorrow then."

Yuina made the arrangement to be listed as inactive for a month. She would readjust the time period as needed. There was a chance she wouldn't be called out on one anyway, but with the increase of missions she had been pulled into lately it was best to cover her bases.

She entered the house. She should probably warn Sakumo before something happens and he freaks out.

"Tou-chan?"

Where was he? Was he out?

She climbed the stairs and was walking down the hall to her room when she saw Sakumo's door opened. "Tou-chan?"

"You're back already?" Her voice shook him out of some trance.

"It's been decided that I'll start training with poisons tomorrow, so I'm taking today off. But what about you? Are you okay?" It wasn't often Sakumo lost awareness of his surroundings.

He disregarded her question to focus in on her news. "Poison? Making poisons? Using poisons?"

She was curious as to how people used poison in combat. Mostly because it seemed tedious with the amount of caution needed to transport and use it in high tense situations. "Resistance training." She was still skeptical on immunity but it she could gain resistance that was functionally close enough to immunity she would take it.

"This isn't another one of your experiments, is it?"

Her heart fluttered at his worry. "Orochimaru-sensei is experienced in the matter so I'll be under his guidance. I'll be staying home in the meantime." She finally took notice of what he was looking at. A large opened chest. Inside was a koto, some music sheets, a kimono, a few scrolls, a box that looked like it was from a jewelers, and a few more things hard to see. "Is that a memory box?"

Sakumo tilted his head. "Memory box? I suppose it is a box of memories. They were your mother's possessions."

"She played music?" Most of the other objects she saw were things she would think most people would have. Instruments, while important to culture, could be expensive and time consuming.

"She would say it's a hobby, but it filled her with life. She only ever played for family and friends. It was how she expressed herself."

"May I?" She didn't want to touch what is valuable to Sakumo if he didn't want her to.

"Go ahead."

Her fingers brushed the side of the koto. Not a speck of dust. Sakumo must regularly clean it.

She picked up the top page from the stack of what she assumed was all music sheets. "It doesn't have a name."

"She never could choose one. She'd go through a dozen names before not choosing any of them every time."

It had been so long since she engaged with music. She was lucky it was standardized notation. It was a lot more detailed then some other forms she had previously seen in passing.

It took a few moments to recall the key signatures. She internally shook her head as the thought of music being used as code entered her mind. She'd been working too much if that came to mind. Yuina followed along the notes to hum the melody. It wasn't perfect as it was arranged to switch between a simple direct sound to more complex arrangements. Too much for a single voice to convey.

"You understand it?"

All this time and Sakumo picked up none of it? It was to be expected if he only ever listened. "That's the tempo, those are the beats, and the notes go higher and lower in the same direction as the tone." Tempo could be hard for some people to grasp at first, but even people who never read music before could easily pick up 'up and down' as 'higher and lower' tones once told. She saw the gears clicked into place. He must have been recalling them from memory all this time.

"Do you think you can play it?"

How had she not seen Sakumo's inability to tell what was normal or not until now? If this conversation had happened years ago she may have learned to temper her self-expectation. Or maybe not. It wasn't the first example of unreasonable expectations. What changed was her growing knowledge of the world.

"I'd love to, but I have no idea how." And if it was sitting there for years it would need to be tuned. Something she didn't know how to do and if she tried she would fear breaking something precious to him. She was sad that he was sad by that revelation. "But if you'll allow me, I'd like to try. Though, it may take a while to find a teacher willing to take me on."

Shinobi weren't supposed to show their emotions. She witnessed people break the code all the time but that may be the difference between greenhorn and those who are able to separate their work and home life. "Otou-san." She spoke a little more formally hoping he would take her words with sincerity. "In this house the outside world doesn't exist. If you ever need to cry then cry. You've done well so take care of yourself too."

He didn't cry, but she left the offer open.