Chapter 7

(A/N : Just a quick reminder that the prologue was condensed into one so that is why it looks like chapters were lost.)

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For a few days, while Yuro recovered from his recent injury, Kabuto had given him a stack of medical texts on human anatomy, medicine, poisons, and other miscellaneous topics.

"Orochimaru-sama wants you to learn medical ninjutsu. Read these and come find me when you are done."

And that was that. So for the next few days, he did nothing but read them. In his opinion, being a medical-nin was a decent path. However, there was another path that saw little time to shine: Genjutsu. With the Sharingan's innate Genjutsu abilities, it felt like not learning Genjutsu was a waste.

For now, though, he read. Whenever he needed to leave his room to eat or anything else, he tried to return as quickly as possible. The Sound Five were inside the hideout as well. He did not want to interact with any of them if necessary.

Through the past years, there had been interaction between him and them, but none of it was good. If he had to choose at least one he was least worried about running into, it was the chronically ill Kimimaro.

Currently, he was not on his deathbed, but that day was slowly approaching. When Orochimaru goes to kill the Fourth Kazekage, Kimimaro's illness fully manifests itself and causes him to become completely bedridden.

That was the reason not to worry about Kimimaro. Fully indoctrinated into Orochimaru's cult, he was, but he would not do anything unless ordered to do so, especially knowing about his own condition. If anything, he would avoid fighting entirely until he was needed by Orochimaru to do so. Because that was how he would die, fighting for Orochimaru's cause. 

—

"I'm done with them."

Kabuto looked at him with raised brows. "Really now? I must say that I really didn't expect you to be done so quickly. Well above your age. Are you sure you read them properly?"

"I'm sure. What now?" He realized he hadn't acted like a normal child recently, which might have raised a little bit of suspicion, but honestly couldn't care anymore.

"I will have you start practicing tomorrow. I will go over things then."

"Alright, but…I want to learn some Genjutsu too. Can I get things on that as well?"

Kabuto pushed up his glasses, and a small smirk could barely be seen. "I'll have to ask Orochimaru-sama first."

A week had passed with nothing going on; however, today was different. Orochimaru, Kabuto, and The Sound Five left the hideout to intercept the arriving Fourth Kazekage. Yuro was also brought along too.

He silently followed from the back of the group, practically invisible to them. Orochimaru suddenly stopped in place and turned to them. "I will be going ahead. You all stay here."

While waiting, Kimimaro looked over towards Yuro. "I have heard that you are actually trying to become useful to Orochimaru-sama. That is good."

Kidōmaru decided to jump in then. "Hmph, I still don't know what Orochimaru-sama sees in you."

Kimimaro turned to a murderous glare toward Kidōmaru. "It is not your place to question Orochimaru-sama's decisions."

The man's superiority towards Yuro instantly deflated, though he still harbored those thoughts. The others decided not to speak up as well, and everyone silently waited until a white snake slithered out of a nearby bush, supposedly a signal for something.

"Let's go!" Kimimaro shouted as he took off to where Orochimaru set off earlier. Everyone also followed until they reached a small clearing where it could be seen that the Fourth Kazekage was lying on the ground, a stab wound right where his heart would be.

All the bodyguards were already in a fierce battle with Orochimaru, who had already dispatched a couple of them. The Sound Five went to enter the fray while Kabuto had a hand on Yuro's shoulder.

"Activate your Sharingan and watch what you can."

Now he knew why he was here, free techniques. And he wasn't about to say no to that. So he activated the Sharingan and glanced around at those fighting.

Sadly, Orochimaru let the Sound Five take the stage. Yuro had hoped to watch him the most and immediately went to look for him, but he had already stopped fighting.

Looking back at those actively fighting, if they were already in the middle of using hand seals, then he moved to another person. If they were just doing some Taijutsu, he would pay attention to as much of their movements and positioning as possible.

He didn't pay attention to the Sound Five since over the years he had been forced to occasionally fight them. So he had already copied everything he could from them to try and learn as fast as possible to stop them from ruthlessly beating the crap out of him.

Though they held back a lot, they were still much stronger than he was. And as he learned and grew stronger, they would hold back less, so he was never at an advantage. They were also training outside of beating him, so they were growing stronger as well. He could never tell if the gap was closing or widening, especially when his opponent changed daily.

He had to admit, the person he disliked facing the least was Kimimaro. Kimimaro actually gave pointers and pointed out his shortcomings. It seemed like he actually cared, but Yuro knew that wasn't entirely the case.

Kimimaro only did what he did because Orochimaru wanted Yuro to become stronger. So Kimimaro gave his all to help improve Yuro's strength, though without being soft about it.

Just like now, Kimimaro was swiftly taking out his opponents with ruthless efficiency. He faced multiple people at once, quickly using his bone manipulation Kekkai Genkai to pierce and retract bones to defeat them.

But Yuro knew what was about to happen.

As the final bodyguard fell, Kimimaro suddenly coughed up blood and dropped to his knees. Kabuto rushed over to examine Kimimaro's condition, while Orochimaru also approached, looking displeased.

After a minute of silence, Orochimaru spoke up. "How serious is it, Kabuto?"

The man shook his head, brows furrowed "I'm not sure what caused it, but Kimimaro's condition has suddenly worsened. I fear it may be at its final stages."

"So he can't fight anymore?" Orochimaru asked the real question.

"No. I doubt he'll be able to join the upcoming invasion."

"Tch."

"Should we take him back to Otogakure? There may still be a chance to find a cure."

"Do as you wish, he's of no use now."

Yuro glanced at Kimimaro, who appeared devastated. The usually composed man couldn't believe what was happening. Had he truly become useless when he was most needed?

Orochimaru said nothing more and turned to walk towards the Kazekage's body. Kimimaro looked like a lost puppy as Kabuto prepared to carry him back to the hideout and then to Otogakure.

"All of you, return to the hideout. I'll stay here for a while," Orochimaru instructed them.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama," they responded. Yuro silently followed their departing bodies.

"Yuro-kun," Orochimaru called out suddenly.

Hearing his name, Yuro tensed but turned to face Orochimaru without showing any emotion.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama?"

"I approve of you learning Genjutsu. Inform Kabuto when you return."

"...Thank you, Orochimaru-sama." And with that, Yuro left to head back to the hideout.