Eclosion Arc: Scientific Development

Yuina had almost cried, spending all her money on a tanto. Several days of taking D-Ranks and it all went towards one piece of weaponry. Yuina regretted it. Not that she didn't want one, she was still determined to learn to use it, but it was a lot of money to drop. The worst part was that it wasn't even forged with her metal of choice and its structural integrity was pretty mid. If she stuck to using the tanto, she would be spending more money to replace it in a few years. There were plenty of weapons that could withstand generational use. Hers was not one of them.

Buying the tanto meant she had no money for anything else. She couldn't afford a new clothing that would be more appropriate for missions or laboratory work. She couldn't purchase customized footwear, because the open toe sandals that she owned and everyone loved weren't going to meet safety standards. She couldn't afford materials to make a decent pair of safety goggles. Gloves weren't even on her radar yet, but she would need those too. Yuina didn't care that others didn't appear to hold high regard for safety measures. Corrosives hurt and she still remembered the time someone in her cohort exploded a sink and wrecked the pipes in one of the university's laboratories because they washed fluids down that should have been properly disposed.

Yuina would also probably need to buy her own chemicals. Orochimaru said he would let her in the lab. He never said he would provide anything. Yuina calculated the ryo she needed and practically melted when realizing how much work she would need to do to afford even a fraction of her list.

She also needed to find another hobby. She loved the lab, but the line between work and hobbies could easily be blurred. She needed something to disconnect from work for maximum enjoyment. Yuina could knit, but not much else, and the last thing she wanted was to become one of those old ladies who knitted more than they knew what to do with. Reading was fun, but considering non-fiction accounted for most of the books she read and it was trying to make sense of the world, sometimes it felt like work too. She had discovered that televisions were just screens to play tapes. There wasn't a larger network for broadcast. Traveling wasn't an option. There was nowhere to go when barricaded in a wall. Konoha was nice enough to have forested areas. She liked to hike, but there were only so many paths. At least the view from the top of the Hokage mountain was beautiful. It even showed a glimpse of life outside – a lovely barren of bush.

Yuina looked at the containers filled with various substances in Orochimaru's laboratory, hoping that Orochimaru would break the silence and offer some guidance as to what they were doing. Or at least what he wanted her to do. It felt weird being shafted to the side as he worked on something.

There were various coloured liquids and a few preserved creatures ranging from insects to amphibians to mammals to surprisingly reptiles. Snakes to be exact. She understood a lot of the other creatures, but wondered what was beneficial about studying snakes. Yuina examined their heads, trying to discern if they were poisonous. She couldn't tell.

"Why snakes?" Yuina finally caved and broke the silence. She didn't mind the silence, but she felt like prey in a predator's territory. This was Orochimaru's domain. He offered to let her be there, but she didn't know what she was or wasn't allowed to do. She refused to touch anything without consent.

She felt the same way about visiting other people's homes. It was better to stick to her own space.

"They symbolize luck and rebirth," he said.

Yuina wondered where the concept came from, but she had never been good with that kind of thing.

"You seemed discontent. Do you hate snakes?"

"Nothing like that." She didn't, but she would never admit it even if she felt differently. Not while knowing he allegedly had a snake summons, though it made it more curious as to why he had some dead ones in jars. "I just find it weird that something people say brings about luck would also say it represents rebirth. I don't see how dying is lucky." Someone needed to die before being reborn.

"Death isn't luck, but rebirth symbolizes a cycle." Orochimaru drew a circle in the air.

"I suppose." Yuina didn't want to start a fight. From her point of view, rebirth meant a linear path. It wasn't like her consciousness reset when she was given a new body. Things may have continued chronologically for her, but she could never circle back around to the life she had.

"Many undergo cycles in their lives. There's no reason it needs to be taken literally."

"What are you working on?" Yuina moved away from the topic that was touching a nerve of hers to ask a question closer to what she wanted to know. She had been looking forward to that day all week, yet there she was standing about.

"And if that's a secret?"

Then she wouldn't have been allowed in there where she could observe his actions, unless he thought her so insignificant even after her entrance interview.

Yuina felt like he was pushing her for something, but she didn't want to play mind games. "Then what can I do?" Finally, she asked what she really wanted answered.

Orochimaru waved over to the cleared table. "The space is yours to do whatever you want."

"And I can use anything?"

"Anything not labeled as an ongoing project."

It felt too good to be true, but Yuina wasn't about to turn down the offer.

Orochimaru watched Yuina circle the table. It was as high as her shoulders. She wiped a finger across the table and rubbed her fingers together with a frown. She continued her self-guided tour of the place and familiarized herself with where things were, momentarily stopping to stare at some of his experiments. Eventually she moved on to setting up her space with equipment, taking the stool stashed in the corner so she was at a more appropriate height.

She was methodological and moved with practiced ease.

Honestly, he had planned to use the first month for observation. The village loved their prodigies, but he wondered whether her graduation was in part due to the rising tensions with Iwa. Showing off the new generation had always been a tactic to assert dominance.

Her fighting was adequate for a genin. She was self-disciplined and could complete things without guidance. She didn't complain about the missions given to her – he oversaw her first mission from afar and then heard the results from a colleague. Orochimaru wanted to observe her chakra control and usage after their spar, but while it was atypical, it didn't show signs of problems. Yuina now demonstrated proficiency in working with volatile chemicals. Irritatingly enough, her knowledge surpassed what he had known at her age, but that offered a level of intrigue – curious about how she would use that knowledge.

Orochimaru had been skeptical when he read the file Sensei gave him, but everything checked out.

It made him curious. He wanted to pick her brain apart. What did she see? How did the world exist through her eyes?

"What are you working on?" He had a few ideas based on what she's brought over, but he wanted her to describe what she planned on doing.

"Information isn't free. We can trade if you want. What you're working on for what I'm working on."

"Maybe another time." That time would be sooner than later. He watched as her lips tighten before relaxing and shrugging her shoulders.

Orochimaru wondered if her behaviour was a result of overhearing any rumors about him. Or maybe she was the perfect little tool. Do as ordered and don't complain no matter how unreasonable it may be. She just needed to work on masking some more.

"It's bold of you to go straight to poisons."

"Poison?" Yuina frowned and looked at her ingredients once more. "Well I could," she muttered to herself under her breath, though he could hear every word.

Had that not been the plan? He looked over the ingredients once more and still settled on poison. "Even if I was, I thought we just agreed we weren't trading information."

Ah, childhood. Thinking you could hide a lot more than you could.

He was proven wrong when she later consumed the product. She was going about it the wrong way if she was trying to build up an immunity, but time passed and she faced no consequences. She actually seemed happier and more relaxed. If it was a long-activated poison, Sakumo would have to be the one to deal with it later, but her actions made him believe otherwise. Especially when she ground the leftovers and sealed it in a small test tube.

Maybe his teaching task wouldn't be as boring as he first assumed.