Bellicism Arc: New Skills

Yuina entered the lab.

"Orochimaru-sensei? You're back." He'd left on a mission with short notice. They made their own little wood carvings to leave out when they've been called away on a mission as a way to notify each other. He had been gone longer than she expected, though, so it felt nice to have him back. Especially since she was still getting over her jitters. It was hard not to believe that someone might be dead if they were late. Waiting brought about horrid feelings, so she thought it best to keep herself busy during those times.

He was looking through a microscope they had custom made. It cost a lot of money and took months to receive but it was worth it when it was finally built.

"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. There were simply some things he understood better than Sakumo and Kakashi. She's tried to explain, but it wasn't the same as sharing a passion.

Yuina loved his willingness to experiment. He wasn't scared of the theoretical side or the experiential side. She appreciated his drive to learn more. His deep understand how things work together. The pursuit to break all limitations.

The only thing that she was wary about was being a test subject. Orochimaru had no reserves of using himself when needed. It almost made her believe in a higher force, because statistically she would have expected something irreversible to happen to him by now. However, he was thorough and knew what he was doing. She would even classify his intuition as unfair.

Maybe there was a cultural component she was missing. Orochimaru may have been an exception, but the rate of injury and morality tended to increase due to those kinds of behaviours.

"I'm glad you can go back to caring for that plant you picked up. It's nitpicky." Yuina wasn't quite ready to admit her attachment aloud. She wanted a sliver of deniability. Admitting the truth would make everything seem more real. If she could grow attached to Orochimaru, then was she preventing herself from forming attachments with others? No, even if she didn't deny herself, she would prefer to think of it as a one in a million chance. How many others could indulge her in the same way? "What's it for, anyway?"

"I suspect it can increase the effectiveness of a poison I'm looking into."

Yuina warily looked over at the plant she'd been caring for in his absence. 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…?" There was always more jargon to learn in a specialized field.

"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-coloured mixture.

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

"It varies. Both on the individual's body and the oversight. Doses can affect 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.

Yuina had been keeping herself off limits. It's why aspects of her chakra experimentation were 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. Your 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, even if she would have to budget a little more strictly.

"Okay." She wondered if he was still surprised by her acceptance or if her answer was unsatisfactory. She hoped she didn't sound too eager to skip missions. That would look bad. Completing missions was tied to her persona as a ninja devoted to the village. "I'll make the arrangements to take time off if you debrief me on the details. Is it really that much of a surprise?"

"A little," Orochimaru 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 was light and reassuring. As long as they didn't die, things wouldn't change. Plus, it was encouraging. Orochimaru hated incompetence as much as her, so that meant he deemed her competent enough to keep around. It should have been obvious considering he allowed her to use his private space and equipment, but all this time it felt like a tightrope – things were fine until one misstep sent you crashing down.

"Good. I'll expect you to be prepared by tomorrow."

"That can be done," she confirmed. Another commonality. Don't waste the other's time. "I'll be back tomorrow then."

Yuina made the arrangements to be listed as inactive for a month. She would readjust the period as needed. There was a chance she wouldn't be assigned a mission 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 walked down the hall to her room when she saw Sakumo's door opened. She walked over and leaned against his doorframe, where she could see him on his knees. "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 if 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 for jewelry, 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. Whereas, instruments, while important to culture, could be costly 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 was 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 have regularly cleaned 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 a long time since she looked at sheet music. She was lucky it was a standardized notation. She half expected jianpu's numbered notation that she only somewhat understood. The sheet had handwritten notes in the column and markings above the staffs, noting how her mom would have liked playing it – or perhaps even how it was originally intended.

It took a few moments to recall the key signatures. Yuina shook her head as the thought of the notation was code crossed her mind. She had been working too much, if that's where her thoughts drifted to. She dug deeper until she recalled memories that more accurately helped. Yuina followed along the notes and hummed to the melody, wanting an idea of the sound. It wasn't a perfect representation. It jumped key signatures a few times and played with tempo and chords. Overall, quite difficult for a single voice to convey.

"You understand it?" Sakumo leaned over to look at the sheets he must have already looked at an endless number of times.

All those years and Sakumo picked up on none of it? It was to be expected if he only listened, but he had the sheet work available to him.

"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 beyond her home.

"I'd love to, but I have no idea how." It was true. Knowing musical notation didn't automatically mean one could play an instrument, and even those who could sight read required practice. It would also need to be tuned if it had been sitting around unused for years. She also didn't want to fool around with it to see if she could work out a few notes herself under the concern she would accidentally break something precious to Sakumo. Yuina 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 were 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.

She still held onto hope that he would allow her to be his pillar one day.