Bellicism Arc: Results

Yuina danced around, blocking and dodging the onslaught of kunai and shuriken, which flew with a stronger intensity than a crossbow. It was just one of many simulations. She kept altering the set up to ramp up the difficulty. Orochimaru even had the blueprints for level difficulty.

Her head raced with adrenaline as she set up the next round. She loaded the machines with the blunted weapons. They may have been dulled, but the speed at which they were flung was enough to cause injury.

It was only a matter of time before she got ahead of herself and got injured. Yuina was frustrated at her failure but was surprised it didn't occur sooner. Cuts and scrapes, yes, but she's never had one puncture her arm like in that moment.

Yuina observed the wound. It wasn't a pretty sight to see a shuriken stabbed into her. She did a quick risk analysis before pulling it out. Her body convulsed, but otherwise only a dribble of blood dripped out. She dropped the kunai in a bin designated for such biohazards and asserted pressure on the wound. She walked over to Orochimaru who was already preparing some substance to use on her wound.

Yuina bit her tongue as she cleaned out the wound. It was more than a sting. It was closer to the time she overwhelmed her nervous system when trying to mold her chakra into water. Even the throbbing pain from the tear itself didn't compare to the searing ache. She dabbed her finger into the ointment and spread it over her wound. It offered a pleasant cooling sensation.

"That feels nice."

"Unfortunately, I can't claim this one as my own. Tsunade developed it."

Yuina's ears perked at Tsunade's name. It wasn't often Orochimaru mentioned others, much less his teammates. She wondered whether his relationship with Tsunade was anything like his relationship with Jiraiya.

Unfortunately, he didn't expand, so the conversation ended with that.

Yuina wondered what went on in that brain of his. Her knowledge was from relentless studying and practice based on the knowledge accumulated over generations. Complicated efforts were simplified with tools and reference points. There was simply too much to memorize, so there were many things that used to be within her capabilities that she could no longer accomplish. Not without a lot of experimentation and reworking the knowledge she remembered. Even then, some of the tech was highly specialized. She had worked as an engineer, but it wasn't of the mechatronics variety.

On the other hand, Orochimaru operated like an encyclopedia that continuously got larger. Building the bases, even if incomplete, and building his knowledge at unprecedented rates. He remembered minute details from memory that she wondered if he had an eidetic memory. She supposed he could have memorized it from continuous use over the decades, but even if he had an eidetic memory, it wouldn't explain how much he, as a single person, accomplished. Or he could be like one of those people who had over 1000 patents. It was a scale that perplexed her, but it happened enough times that he could have fallen into that category.

Thump.

They looked towards the entrance where the noise came from.

"If you're not gonna knock I am."

"I was just about to before you shoved me!"

"Can we get this over with?"

"Oh, please. You don't want to go back to picking up trash, do you?"

Someone cleared their throat.

Orochimaru opened the door and a boy with a raised hand knocked on Orochimaru instead. He seemed horrified at what he did.

"I'm sorry!"

"Your students, Inoichi?"

Yuina looked at the blond man. He had the visual traits common among the Yamanaka.

"Yeah. Are you three going to stand there, or are you going to complete the mission?"

They must have been recent graduates with how they were floundering about. Especially when this was all over a crate of scrolls. The taller boy passed along a box. "Manabu wanted you to have these. It's the results you wanted. Said you would know what it is." His voice was calm, but his eyes darted around anxiously, and his feet wouldn't stay still.

They were rowdy. That's all she had to say on the matter.

They left and Orochimaru motioned her to approach. "I had some of our findings sent to Manabu to confirm the suspicions we had."

"You'll have to be more specific."

"The chakra analysis. Manabu is a sensor. A mediocre one, but it should have gotten the job done."

Yuina grabbed one.

The first she opened was about chakra compatibility. There were some areas of inconclusiveness, but she extrapolated that chakra has properties that made some more compatible with others from the information given, though there's a note that the amount could be a factor that outweighed compatibility. The scroll included a copy of the chart she's been using for the preliminary round of investigation with extra columns for the new data.

She put the scroll aside before reaching for the next. It was Manabu's poor attempt to explain chakra signatures. Yuina thought of it as a mass of energy. It unsettled her to learn that his description of chakra signatures blatantly highlighted unique identifiers. He compared it to scents. He could feel chakra like he could smell scents. Sometimes he guessed wrong because they were similar, identical, or simply unknown, but it was there nonetheless.

Another scroll mentioned that Orochimaru's chakra was imprinted with his summoning contract. What had Orochimaru done to get that analysis? He was the only summoner analyzed so nothing could be concluded for sure, but it was a good lead. Yuina wondered if she could convince Kakashi and Pakkun to be checked out to see if they were the same.

Then there were the implications of the transformation of chakra. If it could interact, imprint, and potentially meld, then their signature theoretically could change. Or if she were to overwhelm her chakra on another living thing like a bird what would happen? Brute force would likely kill it, but what if it was a slower process?

Yuina finished reviewing the data and mediocre summaries. It was obvious Manabu answered the best he could, thanks to clear questions and guidelines, without fully understanding the purpose or conclusions.

"This is useful." Now that she was closer to understanding chakra, what should she do with that knowledge? It started as intellectual curiosity to better understand the world, if only a little, but it held useful applications. Some of the implications could lead to destructive and questionable outcomes, but that wasn't a concern as long as their full breadth of understanding didn't widely spread. "What now?" This was still a shared project.

"We can follow them to their natural conclusions. I wonder how my chakra would interact with yours."

Yuina took a step back. "Off limits. Go test it on a rat or something."

She understood to an extent. Why using oneself as a test subject when out of options could appeal, but more so tests with low risks. Orochimaru didn't hold the same reservations. He was confident enough things would be fine or that he could fix it if something went wrong. She's witnessed it many times. It wasn't something she was willing to offer herself up for. She had a few reasons to hesitate. It could do literally nothing or it could lead to something unprecedented. She wanted a degree of safety is she used herself as a participant. Or be in full control.

"What a pity."

"Do you think it would be the same if we could isolate a bit of chakra externally?"

"We could, but that seems unproductive and circular at this point."

Ah. Back where they started then. "What a pity."

"When you change your mind, let me know."

How presumptuous of him to assume she'll change her mind.