Border Patrol Arc: Other Side

Border Patrol Arc: Other Side

There had been more push back than typical, but as expected, Yuina still gave in by the end. It was a peculiarity of hers. To frame her concerns within a work dynamic rather than announce her feelings on the matter like other children. Orochimaru could see through it all the same.

Yuina was under the impression that everyone was curious or intimately knew shinobi. Hopefully, the mission would prove otherwise.

It wasn't that there weren't any lingering ties from the warring days. They had been impacted by wars. It was that shinobi were a passive truth to most people. Shinobi were inconsequential to most people's daily lives. Some could even go their whole lives without interacting with one, and even if they were acquainted or bought their services, didn't grant them intimate details. In the same way most people wouldn't inquire into organized crime, they weren't prying into matters that didn't concern then or may cause them problems.

Musoku would be a good place to learn how inconsequential they were to most people until deemed necessary. It didn't even matter that those in charge of Musoku were puppets. The townsmen thrived and people kept in their lanes.

Orochimaru made himself comfortable in the corner of the restaurant and ordered Kenchinjuru – a hearty soup to fill him while he waited.

He was served his meal before his eyes were drawn to a woman entering the establishment. Transformation was a useful skill. Fortunately, Orochimaru had keen eyes and knew what to expect.

Her eyes found his and approached him without hesitancy. She pulled out the chair across from him and sat down.

"Is this really worth you leaving the village?" She looked at Orochimaru skeptically, but pulled the scroll out of her haori and passed it along to Orochimaru. It fit the details.

"Ah, you must have been away for quite some time to have missed the news that I've gained a student."

"Who would give you students? The shinobi, in disguised felt emboldened knowing they weren't heading back to Konoha yet and wouldn't be crossing paths with Orochimaru again anytime soon. Though, they peeked around the restaurant, looking for anyone who could be labeled as Orochimaru's student. "I could imagine it if it were a decade ago. But now? Don't you stay shut in that private lab of yours? Do you even have time for this with everything else?"

Orochimaru dismissed the inquiries. He didn't need to explain himself. "She's out completing her mission, so you can stop looking for her."

"One? Don't tell me the rest of the team died already."

"You've never had a filter." Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. He didn't need a reminder how easily others have fallen. He may not have had students before, but he has had people under his watch before during missions and during the war. "I was only given one. Think of it as an apprenticeship if you must. Quality over quantity." It was folly to compare his circumstances to others. For one, he didn't sign up. He was approached to take on a student.

Patience was a delicate thing. He had plenty of it, but he never sought interpersonal scenarios that would test his patience. Jiraiya and Tsunade had offered enough of that for a lifetime. Unfortunately, his experiences testing his patience weren't limited to those two. Patience with his learning. Patience with his experiments. Patience dealing with departments and individuals of influence. The list went on.

He simply had the preference for dealing with competent people when given the choice.

"Right." She stood. "I have things to do, so I'll take my leave." She left, leaving him alone once more.

Now all there was to do was wait on Yuina.

Working with her had been pleasant thus far. Certainly, better than the times he had to interact with Naozane or Sadaharu from the Research Centre, and he certainly never wanted to work with Sanjuro ever again if he could avoid it.

His lab collaborations with Yuina were infinitely more interesting than their core training exercises. It was a careful dance of exchanging trade secrets. The methodologies and approaches were fascinating, and it wasn't often that she held him back. When she did, she was quick to learn and keep up to pace. Even then, the things that slowed him down were answering questions for clarification and defining terms, but they were never repetitive and were thoughtful.

Truly, a genius in her own right.

It was interesting to witness someone was may have been as curious as him in action. To push the boundaries of what was known, what was truth, what was achievable, and studying the unknown. There was hunger. There was drive. It was more than a passing curiosity. It wasn't something that could be tossed when things became difficult. Yuina was someone willing to barge their way through until she got the answers and results she wanted.

Orochimaru wanted her to be fruitful, from her chakra experiments to her highly reactive materials. He liked to compare the substances against poisons, and the ideas of whether chakra could be merged or leave an imprint of any sort was an interesting one.

He could still remember her words: 'People underestimate the capabilities of science. It has the ability to save millions or kill millions. Even beyond life and death, it's capabilities were only limited by imagination.' It was a sentiment he agreed with.

It wasn't what Orochimaru expected when he was asked to take on a student, but he came around to looking forward to their days together.

And those eyes of her. What should have been a dark void, pupils indistinguishable from the irises, were quite expressive. Yuina never looked at him with disdain or suspicion. She had to have heard the stories by now. That he was a recluse. That he lacked a personality. That people died under his watch. That he had been willing to kill his teammate, regardless of the reasons and circumstances.

She didn't look at him with reverence, either. The polarizing ends were typical of how people interacted with him. She expressed interest in some of his thoughts and ideas, sure, but with her that was isolated from him as a person.

Orochimaru still didn't know her view of him even after eight months. A feat when he could read through the other cracks in her guise expressions.

Hours passed and Yuina had yet to return.

The bell that hanged above the entrance chimed time and time again, but it was never the person he waited for.

Until finally she arrived.

"You took longer than I expected."

It was just a check-in. Orochimaru expected three to five hours for her to complete her observations even if she took her time. Instead, he waited thirteen hours. It was well past nightfall.

"My apologies. I noted everything I could, since there wasn't anything in particular to look out for."

Most, if not all, would be things Konoha already knew, but learning to shuffle through information to find the key information was an important skill to have. "Shall we discuss your findings somewhere more private?" Orochimaru stood.

Yuina remained silent. Her eyebrows scrunched. "I haven't had a chance to write it down. I can do it now if you permit it."

Orochimaru didn't understand what she found perplexing about the situation. He eyed her, looking for any clue. There was an obvious answer, but it was a stupid reason for her behaviour. "You can write code." The only logical reasoning for her to act that way is not knowing whether her report could be written. There was an emphasized the importance of remembering things. One less thing that could expose intel. Even so, she could write code fluently, so that shouldn't have been a fear for her. Not to the degree she was. Even he could only pick up on a few words after months and it was because she had read a written list out to him once, which he had the opportunity to compare to the written form.

"I can't rely on notes." Yuina followed Orochimaru out of the restaurant.

Orochimaru had wanted to be on the road to the next town, but he left to find accommodations for them to settle in for the night. It was a good call because Yuina's summary took nearly two hours to go over the key pieces of interest. Certain officials had been accepting bribes from foreign officials, undermining the authority of the Land of Fire. It normally wouldn't be a concern if leaders pocketed some extra money, not for Musoku, but they've deliberately reduced how much they've been sending in tribute. Supporting neighbouring nations at their expense would become a problem if not curbed. Trading was an essential part of Musoku's existence, but it was a delicate balance to maintain.

And that was only the tip of the iceberg.

Yuina even discovered the destabilization problem that was re-initiated during the rebuilding efforts. It wasn't a well-kept secret, their neighbours certainly knew, but those in the know didn't go around announcing it either. To learn as much as she had within a day wasn't optimal for the initiative. Well, even if the public knew nothing would likely change. Things existed because they simply accepted things as they were.

Contents aside, her reporting was quite astounding. Orochimaru knew she could speak well. She explained herself many times, but formal reports were always a craft of their own.

Her efforts were wasted on a mission like this.