In truth, if a Genjutsu-10 monster like Orochimaru had really used genjutsu on him, Mikami Yuu might not have noticed it.
But Tsunade probably would have.
So Yuu planned to show her the contract the next time he saw her—ideally, he wanted to ask her to keep it for him, basically as a kind of personal accident insurance.
After that, Orochimaru signed as well, handed one copy of the contract to Yuu, and rolled up the other one and stuffed it into his mouth.
"…?"
Yuu's eyelid twitched.
Seriously? You don't have pockets? You're storing that in your mouth?
Then again, considering Orochimaru could pull the Kusanagi Sword out of his mouth, a scroll was nothing by comparison…
Orochimaru didn't notice Yuu's complicated expression. He simply stood up with a smile.
"Pleasure doing business, Mikami-kun. Then, as your first lesson after joining the institute, let me show you around."
Next, Orochimaru led Yuu through the maze-like hallways of the research institute, introducing the different research areas.
From sterile culture rooms lined with rows of blood samples, to equipment rooms housing enormous centrifuges, to cold storage vaults preserving cell samples…
Every step of it left Yuu stunned.
He had always known the Naruto world's tech tree was weird, but he hadn't expected it to be this weird—
What the hell kind of setup is using an oil lamp to look through a microscope?
They've invented centrifuges, but electric lights still aren't common?
It was ridiculous, but as a transmigrator, Yuu's understanding of those instruments was still solid. He could basically memorize the key points after one explanation and one demonstration. When he tried operating them himself, he barely showed any awkwardness at all, which even surprised Orochimaru.
"It seems Tsunade gave you a very solid foundation. Most people who first come here need at least a week, sometimes longer, just to grasp the basics of these instruments."
"…I'm average, I guess."
Yuu responded modestly, but his eyes quietly swept toward the depths of the corridor, where several heavy metal doors remained shut—doors that clearly required a higher clearance level.
When they had passed by earlier, he had faintly caught a strong metallic smell from that direction, mixed with weak, muffled whimpering.
If he wasn't mistaken…
that was probably where Orochimaru's real core research was happening.
But since Orochimaru didn't mention it, Yuu pretended he hadn't noticed a thing, as if those sealed sections didn't exist at all.
Once he had gotten a basic sense of the institute layout,
Orochimaru pulled another slimy scroll out of his mouth and handed it to him.
"According to our contract, your pay will be settled at the end of the month, and we're not there yet. But as a gesture of good faith, I'll advance this month's payment in advance.
"This is a little technique I developed myself. I thought it might interest you."
[Ding! Detectable gift · limited skin for Transformation Technique: Snake Limb Hardening!]
"Hm?"
Snake Limb Hardening was a skin for Transformation Technique?
That was actually a pleasant surprise.
Still, the way Orochimaru produced scrolls was really hard to deal with. Yuu looked at the layer of sticky, milky unidentified fluid coating the scroll and honestly didn't want to touch it.
In the end, though, he still forced himself to take it.
"…Thank you, Lord Orochimaru."
That night, after carefully wiping Orochimaru's scroll clean, Yuu gave it to Transformation Technique.
It was the first gift Transformation Technique had ever received, and she was absolutely delighted.
[Transformation Technique: (teary-eyed) Wow! So this is the new outfit little Yuu specially picked out for me! It looks so pretty! Even if it does seem to be made of snakeskin… as long as it's from little Yuu, I'm happy!]
[Clone Technique: Good grief, Yuu—you finally decided to buy big sis some clothes? At least now the number of skins us sisters have can finally stand toe-to-toe with her, haha!]
[Great Fireball Jutsu: ?]
The jutsu immediately started bickering again.
Meanwhile, Yuu was quietly thinking: by the look of it, Orochimaru had a lot of "limited skins" in his hands.
If Snake Limb Hardening was a skin for Transformation Technique, then Soft Physique Modification and Vanishing Facial Copy Technique probably were too. And Orochimaru-style Substitution was probably a skin for Substitution Technique.
Of course, all of those techniques were fairly high-level, so they probably wouldn't be easy to get.
But that was fine.
Getting Snake Limb Hardening on day one of his "employment" was already a pleasant surprise. Whatever came later, he could leave to fate.
Soon, Yuu tested Snake Limb Hardening.
At its core, it was simply a matter of condensing chakra into an arm or other limb to harden it, making it suitable for attack or defense. The hardness seemed roughly on the level of ordinary ninja weapons, though probably still not comparable to something like the White Fang short blade, which had been forged from chakra-conductive metal.
Speaking of which, he wondered how the modifications on his "sealed blade" were coming along…
And he also needed to make time to visit Fugaku, keep that relationship warm, and maybe find a chance to freeload a few jutsu in the future.
That weekend, Yuu stuck to his original plan and brought two boxes of milk to the Uchiha district.
"…Oh? It's little Yuu."
Uchiha Fugaku had just stepped out of his house. He looked a little surprised at first, but quickly smiled.
"Look at you, kid… coming is enough—why bring anything? Honestly. Come in, have a seat."
"That's not necessary. I just wanted to thank you for what happened with the police force last time. Since it looks like you've got something else to do, I'll head out for now. I'll come visit properly next time."
As he said that, Yuu glanced at Uchiha Mikoto, who had come out behind Fugaku, and the baby in her arms.
Yeah…
That should be Uchiha Itachi.
At this point, Itachi looked less than a year old—no crying, no laughing, just quietly there.
"This is my son, Itachi. Cute, isn't he?"
Fugaku noticed Yuu's gaze and said with a smile, "Too bad he was born a little late. If it had been two years earlier, maybe he'd already be in the Ninja Academy by now. But that's alright—two years from now works too. Maybe he'll even graduate at five like Kakashi did, hahaha."
Graduate at five? Probably not.
Go to war at five, though? That part was possible.
Really, canon Itachi had always been a pretty bizarre existence, but half the blame belonged to Fugaku too. Coming up with the idea of sending your four- or five-year-old son onto the battlefield half a century after the Warring States era ended… that was some truly insane parenting.
Seeing that Fugaku's family seemed to be heading out, Yuu didn't want to intrude. After a few polite words, he made an excuse and left, planning to head for the training grounds.
At that moment,
an Anbu wearing a tanuki mask appeared in front of him.
"Genin Mikami Yuu, Jōnin Uzumaki Kushina wants to see you."
~~~
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