Orochimaru walked into the tent at an unhurried pace. Given his presence, though, the temperature seemed to drop as soon as he entered the relatively enclosed space.
Winter in the Land of Rain was already damp and cold. Now it was gloomy, wet, and freezing.
"Lord Orochimaru, please have a seat."
Orochimaru had all sorts of flaws, but his personal manners weren't one of them. Specifically, he was very polite in his speech—just like Lord Frieza.
Yuzuru knew there was no need to beat around the bush when speaking with someone like Orochimaru, so once the other man had taken a seat, he asked directly, "What did you want to see me about?"
"I saw the ideas you submitted to the village regarding the Substitution Technique and body-modification methods. I think they're well worth trying." Orochimaru was equally straightforward about why he had come.
It was only natural that he'd be interested in the Orochimaru-Style Substitution Technique and Soft Body Modification, since they were his own creations.
"Those are just ideas, at most. I don't have the means to try them out, so they're not particularly valuable to me..."
"An idea's origins can't easily be expressed through practical results. That's a regret that often accompanies developers and researchers."
Yuzuru appeared calm and clear-headed. After all, he was merely a producer of knowledge, a transporter of knowledge.
"They're very useful as a reference to me." When it came to ninjutsu research, Orochimaru could be quite talkative. He continued, "Ninja—no, life itself—is inherently fragile. So any possibility of increasing life's 'resilience' is worth pursuing."
That sounded very "Orochimaru."
"Though I can't carry out these experiments myself, I'm happy to see these ideas put into practice. They've become 'public knowledge' in Konoha, so if you want to try them out, Lord Orochimaru, you