Border Patrol Arc: An Old Friend

Mizushi was an easy enough town to get the recent gossip. It was a large town with a shipping port, but had less drama. She collected what information she could with enthusiasm, eager to wrap up and return home, only to be told they needed to wait around for someone.

Yuina wondered whether the mission had been adapted since Orochimaru went on it or whether everything was coincidental.

She was getting irritated. It was day six and there was still no sign of whoever they were waiting for.

"It's about time you showed up." Yuina had never been so relieved for Orochimaru to cut off an in-depth explanation. She looked over to see a tall man with an odd forehead protector. It was larger than standard, spiked, and had the kanji for oil engraved in it. She didn't know what that meant. She had memorized all the Hidden Village symbols, and his was none of them. She only stayed relaxed because Orochimaru eluded him as the person they had been waiting on. A theory further supported by the way the man grinned enthusiastically at Orochimaru like they were old friends.

Even Orochimaru's response was unexpected. He seemed at ease at the white-haired man's presence. He didn't keep his eyes on him. Didn't usher the man to get down to business. Even the way he spoke was light.

"Miss me? Look at you. You're still too rigid. No one would fault you for having fun. But for your information I took a detour." He placed his first over his heart unfazed by Orochimaru's lack of a response. "Oh, come on. It's okay with me, I get it, but others might misunderstand." His eyes found hers. "I heard you finally got yourself a student too. About time, but you wouldn't want to give her the wrong impression."

Wrong impression? "He's not rigid at all," said Yuina, while narrowing her eyes. Orochimaru may have gotten along with him, but she didn't have to like the way he spoke. Orochimaru was adaptable. With his experiments. With her. She didn't understand how he could come to such conclusions. Being reserved wasn't the same as being rigid.

The two of them has a stare down before he placed a hand on his forehead and laughed with his booming voice. "Sensei found someone just like you!"

Sensei? Yuina looked to Orochimaru for answers. "Who is he?" Introductions had been sorely lacking, but she was also unsure whether they were allowed to disclose that – even though the stranger apparently already knew of her.

"That's Jiraiya."

"Eh?" She hadn't meant to let the small, high-pitched sound escape her lips, but it couldn't be contained. "Like your teammate Jiraiya?" Like one of the Legendary Sannin? High up the hierarchy, famed, and grew up with Orochimaru? That Jiraiya? He seemed so… jovial. Yuina's eyes drifted up to his emblem again. It wasn't Konoha's, but he was undeniably a Konoha-nin in that case.

"Hehe. Have you been talking about me?" Jiraiya rubbed his nose and his cheeks flushed.

"Hardly."

Jiraiya wasn't surprised. It would have been nice, but Orochimaru had always been on the quiet type. He trusted him and he knew he cared, but he could still hope that his friend would be more forthcoming. It was a pain having to read between the lines so often. Fortunately for Orochimaru, that was a specialty of his. "Still, you should open up a little. It helped me bond with my students."

"Why do you think he hasn't?"

Jiraiya eyed the kid. The answer was as simple as 'it's Orochimaru', but he hadn't expected her to defend his friend. "Because I've got ears everywhere." He puffed his chest. He had to show his intel capabilities. It was his pride, but a little insurance wouldn't hurt in case Orochimaru had told some embarrassing stories about him, and it was the reason he was there anyway. "Am I wrong?"

Jiraiya wasn't wrong. There were things Yuina learned about Orochimaru from the frequency they met and the proximity of their working relations, but that differed from sharing personal information. Even then, Orochimaru was quite guarded. There was never a need to question it. It was just how things were. It was society's expectation. She was the same in return. She never spoke about family, deep desires, or meaningful experiences. Jiraiya was the anomaly in this situation, not them.

"We talk." It was the best answer she could give on the spot.

"Training doesn't count."

Did lab work count? Chit chat was more likely to occur there than when Orochimaru was helping her with taijutsu. "Does toxicology count?" It was a subject Orochimaru was well-versed in. "Or kinetic molecular theory?" It was particularly useful while observing chakra. "Or elemental dismemberment of atomic orbitals?" Yuina didn't have an answer to someone who clearly lived differently. The least she could do was make him feel a little stupid for self-comfort.

"That's still learning." Jiraiya assumed. It reminded him or the time he asked Orochimaru questions on what he was doing only for everything to go over his head. "What are you teaching this kid?"

"I'm contributing," she muttered, unhappy that she wasn't getting any credit.

"Are you saying you'll understand if we explain?" asked Orochimaru. Jiraiya was a handful at time, a lot of the time, but he has known defy his expectations. Even so, Orochimaru knew the sciences weren't an area he excelled in. Jiraiya had relied on Tsunade and him in that regard for many years while he put his energy into sealing.

"Oi! Stop teasing me. I'm sure I could follow along. Maybe." A vague following at best.

"Though you have an area of expertise that may be useful. For theoretical purposes, that is."

Yuina wondered what information Jiraiya had that would help them. And with what exactly.

Jiraiya's eyes lit up. It wasn't every day Orochimaru went around seeking help. Much less to him. "How can I be of service?"

"A description of how senjutsu works. You've spoken a little before, but we'd be interested to know to intricacies."

"What's senjutsu?" It wasn't a term Yuina had come across before.

"It's a branch of jutsu that involves natural energy," explains Orochimaru.

"All energy is natural." The words came out faster than she could think. A normal response when it was just the two of them. "Chakra is chakra regardless of whether it's internal or external, and humans are part of nature. There's nothing unnatural about it." False. Big X. It was unnatural to her, but she had long accepted that it was natural to this world.

"Not quite." Jiraiya joined the conversation before they spiral down a rabbit hole. "Our chakra is a mixture of physical energy and spiritual energy. Nature chakra doesn't do that. You wouldn't expect a rock to meld physical and spiritual chakra, would you?"

"I disagree." Yuina was blunt, and Jiraiya felt like he had been stabbed to have someone dismiss him defiantly. Even more because it came from a child who should be shaping their worldviews by holding onto every word he said. "Every human has chakra even if they can't access it. Spiritual energy can be reduced to will. That's to say our mental capacities. Physical energy is based on physical capabilities and limitations. That includes charka as much as our bodies. Mixing spiritual and physical energy is the equivalent of manipulating chakra to cause a reaction for things like jutsu. It's no different from mixing or shaking a solution for a different reaction. A lot of things don't have the synaptic connections needed to use 'spiritual energy' thus they remain in base physical form. As far as I can tell, it's also a determinant for anomalies like nin animals."

There was still a lot to learn about chakra, but it wasn't like she hadn't made any progress. It wasn't like people were on the wrong path. It was just that most didn't have the insight or vocabulary to break it down as much as she had. They're descriptions were adequate enough to do what they wanted, so there wasn't a reason for most people to question further.

"Back on the topic of senjutsu," said Orochimaru.

"Sorry sensei."

Jiraiya tried to go back to his explanation but kept eyeing Yuina because of her breakdown of chakra. Truth be told, senjutsu wasn't that hard for him. The toads told him what to do, and it was easy enough to follow that he learned the basics in a month's time. However, there was more to senjutsu than using nature's chakra.

Jiraiya continued his explanations, and Yuina picked up on the differences presented. She had been fascinated by the breakdown. She considered potentially using it as an extra resource, but senjutsu used natural energy at near full capacity of a body's limit and therefore it was hard for most people to use and even harder to maintain. A container can only hold so much after all. It led to new questions like whether chakra manipulations needed to be internal. Even if it could, it probably had severe limitations.

This was assuming Jiraiya's explanation was accurate.

Senjutsu appeared to externalize to some degree. Almost as if the chakra extends outward to reach out through other chakras to increase sensing capabilities.

There was also a potential to take on animal traits. Yuina made notes to watch Kakashi because while he didn't know senjutsu, it was too much of a coincidence that Jiraiya was trained by his summons and just happened to take on frog traits. Did contracts alter one's chakra signature? She could never answer that without outside help. She could feel chakra. It was like air, but she couldn't distinguish it like claimed sensors could.

Jiraya thought that Orochimaru may have wanted the information to pursue senjutsu himself, but he and his student were already breaking it down for other purposes.

So much for catching up with a friend.

He gave a scroll over to Orochimaru. He'd be back in the village in a month or two, anyway. He could catch up then. He wondered how Minato was making out, and whether the other genius was anything like this one.

"I'll be off." Jiraiya waved and started to leave.

"You're not staying?" Yuina looked between the two and wondered if it was her fault.

"Things to do. People to see."

Yuina felt bad. She wondered what Orochimaru wanted at that moment. The good news was they could finally go back to Konoha.

"Is it my fault he left so quickly?"

"That's how he is." Orochimaru remembered their younger years. Jiraiya was always dragging him into one thing or another.

Silence settled over them for a while. "I hope you don't take his words to heart," said Yuina. She couldn't tell if his words affected Orochimaru or not, but it was best to clear the air in case it did. "Being quiet doesn't mean someone doesn't care, and it's a job even if you don't care. You're doing what you're paid to do."

He didn't respond, giving her no leads to how he feels.

"On our first day you asked about my goals and how you fit into those." Yuina decided she needed to open up a little.

This mission broke and reaffirmed her thoughts on the profession. It established that a lot of ninja work resembled what she thought of mercenary work – only being hired out rather than taking on contracts themselves. It may lead to the stereotypical traits she associated with the word ninja like infiltration, assassination, and unconventional warfare, but there had to be plenty of missions that weren't reliant on those skills. However, this mission also confirmed that Konoha-Iwa relations were bad. There might be time to rectify it, but Konoha was on edge and preparing for the worst. She wanted to hope that things would continue as they have her whole life. Hostile but civil, but she also wouldn't be placing any bets on that.

"I do want to keep up with our experiments, but train me more." It was hard enough now, but she didn't know how long things would be the same. "Train me to be strong. Strong enough that I won't die."

A breeze brushed against her as she looked up at Orochimaru.

She hoped she was wrong, but she couldn't afford to be the bottom of the barrel if war was their future. She couldn't afford to be sent off on her own when she made a lot more progress when with Orochimaru.

"Very well."

His words were simple, but a rush of reassurance spread through her.