Naruto - 2. paperclip (Kabuto)
Kabuto, tampering with a headache may bring consequences.
For 30_evil_deeds. Reference bordering on spoiler for 312.
2. paperclip
He supposed he should take it as a compliment, that Orochimaru assumed he was capable of working as if he had regular access to supplies and a stationary lab when they were shifting locations weekly, but mostly Kabuto considered it a hassle. He made do--he had as little interest in being disrupted by Leaf hunternins as Orochimaru or Sasuke--but it was a hassle.
It hadn't been that much of an issue until two months ago, when Sasuke had finally hit the barriers of his physical existence and started seriously damaging himself in his attempts to break past them. Orochimaru had waited until the third time Kabuto was summoned to treat internal bleeding and disruption of the teenager's chakra system before absently asking--while he was still in the middle of healing the zigzag marks of chakra burns running up Sasuke's arm and along his neck and chest, while Sasuke was conscious enough to hear and understand--if he knew of anything that might help the boy.
Kabuto had remarked that he could do some research into steroids or other drugs that would be helpful without any adverse effects. If Sasuke-kun was willing to try the results, of course.
Sasuke had been lying on the ground with his face tilted away, but after a few moments the side of his mouth that they could see dragged back into a sneer. He coughed up more blood a second after that.
Yes, they interpreted the gesture as; and when he gave Sasuke the first capsule nine days later, Sasuke swallowed it with no comment other than that Kabuto needed to stop putting sugar in his tea, asshole.
None of the pills were ever good enough, didn't give him as much speed or endurance or insensitivity to pain as Sasuke wanted. When Kabuto finally cracked and told him exasperatedly that the pills were intended for the long-term and therefore couldn't put the strain on his body that he seemed to desire, Sasuke had glared at him with folded arms before stalking out of the room with a disapproving snort.
That was the day Kabuto got the idea to start influencing Sasuke's brain as well as his muscles and nerve endings.
He worked up to it gradually; there was a careful balance that had to be met between the tranquilizers and the stimulants, especially since he couldn't afford to leave Sasuke brain-damaged. His escape plans were still too unstable from the constant moves for him to want to test them.
Sasuke rejected four more pills, each with a slightly higher ratio, and taking a proportionally longer time to do so, before Kabuto was willing to give him the one he'd originally designed.
Sasuke tested the pill for five days straight, demanding more attention and training from Orochimaru to do so, and with each day the gradual shift in his personality became clearer and clearer. Kabuto waited for the older man to contact him; but after two more days, it was Sasuke who came to his room while he was packing for their next move.
"This one will do," was all he said, and left again without giving Kabuto the opportunity to reply.
The evening they arrived in the new base, Orochimaru came to visit him while Kabuto was airing out the small lab attached to his room.
That unsettled him. Orochimaru had stopped making Kabuto always come to him after the fourth month since he'd abandoned the Leaf--something that Kabuto had considered a compliment, that the man had so much faith in his acting it took him that long to become certain of his loyalty--and it would have meant very little if he'd come to visit the room proper. But the lab was supposed to be his, and Orochimaru had come without prior notice.
"I'd like to see the records for the pills you've been making for Sasuke-kun," the man answered, when Kabuto turned in the middle of propping up one of the two high windows above the ground and asked what he could do for him.
Kabuto dusted his hands on his pants as he made his way over to the scroll he kept his files in.
The old ledger had been filled two weeks ago, and he hadn't had the opportunity to buy a new one to put the latest papers into, so they were still in a loose-leaf stack. Kabuto slipped the paperclip off the top set and rearranged the sheets so that the one they both knew Orochimaru was interested in was on the top, and then brought them over to where the man was leaning against one of the counters.
His hands didn't shake when he held them out, of course. He'd trained himself out of that sort of physical reaction while he was still a child.
Orochimaru read the sheet without moving away from the counter; Kabuto let his arms rest at his side, aware that he was within the man's reach and running over the layout of the room in his mind.
"Hm," Orochimaru said, when he had finished and turned the page back over again. "This isn't the most effective one you've come up with, is it?"
"No," Kabuto replied, and indicated the second page below the top one with a finger, his wrist only a few inches from where the older man's hand was holding the sheaf. "This one should be; but Sasuke-kun hasn't decided to try it yet."
"I imagine not," Orochimaru remarked, looking down at the list of ingredients on the top paper again. Kabuto let his hand fall back to his side.
"Well," the man added, after a minute had passed in near silence save the vague sounds from the opened window, "there's no harm in letting Sasuke-kun continue to rely on these drugs until he can maintain this new state on his own." Orochimaru held the papers back out to him.
"How long?" he asked, as he took hold.
"A month at the most," Orochimaru replied, letting go a moment later. Kabuto twisted the papers around to face him without shifting his grip, mentally picking out the names of the ingredients whose dosage he'd have to alter for that period of extended use. "I intend to make my offer in two, and I want these sedatives out of his system by then."
He'd have to cut down the methaqualone's dosage, as well, then, which meant he was going to have to rework the basic formula. . . . Kabuto nodded and shifted the papers to his other hand, letting the one he'd holding them with fall to his side again. "Understood."
Orochimaru left.
It was a matter of pride, he realized later, as he was cleaning up the lab in preparation for going to dinner. Orochimaru wanted to know that he could talk a boy whose only goal in life had been survival into willingly accepting death on personal skill alone, to know that he could rearrange a person's priorities without any outside aid. The fact of the Hidden Sound's existence should have been proof enough of that; but, he supposed, Sasuke was more stubborn than the missingnins and raw-talent children and teenagers that made up the majority of Soundnins.
Vanity, Kabuto thought, and locked the cabinet.
The graveyards are full of indispensable men.
For 30_evil_deeds. Reference bordering on spoiler for 312.
2. paperclip
He supposed he should take it as a compliment, that Orochimaru assumed he was capable of working as if he had regular access to supplies and a stationary lab when they were shifting locations weekly, but mostly Kabuto considered it a hassle. He made do--he had as little interest in being disrupted by Leaf hunternins as Orochimaru or Sasuke--but it was a hassle.
It hadn't been that much of an issue until two months ago, when Sasuke had finally hit the barriers of his physical existence and started seriously damaging himself in his attempts to break past them. Orochimaru had waited until the third time Kabuto was summoned to treat internal bleeding and disruption of the teenager's chakra system before absently asking--while he was still in the middle of healing the zigzag marks of chakra burns running up Sasuke's arm and along his neck and chest, while Sasuke was conscious enough to hear and understand--if he knew of anything that might help the boy.
Kabuto had remarked that he could do some research into steroids or other drugs that would be helpful without any adverse effects. If Sasuke-kun was willing to try the results, of course.
Sasuke had been lying on the ground with his face tilted away, but after a few moments the side of his mouth that they could see dragged back into a sneer. He coughed up more blood a second after that.
Yes, they interpreted the gesture as; and when he gave Sasuke the first capsule nine days later, Sasuke swallowed it with no comment other than that Kabuto needed to stop putting sugar in his tea, asshole.
None of the pills were ever good enough, didn't give him as much speed or endurance or insensitivity to pain as Sasuke wanted. When Kabuto finally cracked and told him exasperatedly that the pills were intended for the long-term and therefore couldn't put the strain on his body that he seemed to desire, Sasuke had glared at him with folded arms before stalking out of the room with a disapproving snort.
That was the day Kabuto got the idea to start influencing Sasuke's brain as well as his muscles and nerve endings.
He worked up to it gradually; there was a careful balance that had to be met between the tranquilizers and the stimulants, especially since he couldn't afford to leave Sasuke brain-damaged. His escape plans were still too unstable from the constant moves for him to want to test them.
Sasuke rejected four more pills, each with a slightly higher ratio, and taking a proportionally longer time to do so, before Kabuto was willing to give him the one he'd originally designed.
Sasuke tested the pill for five days straight, demanding more attention and training from Orochimaru to do so, and with each day the gradual shift in his personality became clearer and clearer. Kabuto waited for the older man to contact him; but after two more days, it was Sasuke who came to his room while he was packing for their next move.
"This one will do," was all he said, and left again without giving Kabuto the opportunity to reply.
The evening they arrived in the new base, Orochimaru came to visit him while Kabuto was airing out the small lab attached to his room.
That unsettled him. Orochimaru had stopped making Kabuto always come to him after the fourth month since he'd abandoned the Leaf--something that Kabuto had considered a compliment, that the man had so much faith in his acting it took him that long to become certain of his loyalty--and it would have meant very little if he'd come to visit the room proper. But the lab was supposed to be his, and Orochimaru had come without prior notice.
"I'd like to see the records for the pills you've been making for Sasuke-kun," the man answered, when Kabuto turned in the middle of propping up one of the two high windows above the ground and asked what he could do for him.
Kabuto dusted his hands on his pants as he made his way over to the scroll he kept his files in.
The old ledger had been filled two weeks ago, and he hadn't had the opportunity to buy a new one to put the latest papers into, so they were still in a loose-leaf stack. Kabuto slipped the paperclip off the top set and rearranged the sheets so that the one they both knew Orochimaru was interested in was on the top, and then brought them over to where the man was leaning against one of the counters.
His hands didn't shake when he held them out, of course. He'd trained himself out of that sort of physical reaction while he was still a child.
Orochimaru read the sheet without moving away from the counter; Kabuto let his arms rest at his side, aware that he was within the man's reach and running over the layout of the room in his mind.
"Hm," Orochimaru said, when he had finished and turned the page back over again. "This isn't the most effective one you've come up with, is it?"
"No," Kabuto replied, and indicated the second page below the top one with a finger, his wrist only a few inches from where the older man's hand was holding the sheaf. "This one should be; but Sasuke-kun hasn't decided to try it yet."
"I imagine not," Orochimaru remarked, looking down at the list of ingredients on the top paper again. Kabuto let his hand fall back to his side.
"Well," the man added, after a minute had passed in near silence save the vague sounds from the opened window, "there's no harm in letting Sasuke-kun continue to rely on these drugs until he can maintain this new state on his own." Orochimaru held the papers back out to him.
"How long?" he asked, as he took hold.
"A month at the most," Orochimaru replied, letting go a moment later. Kabuto twisted the papers around to face him without shifting his grip, mentally picking out the names of the ingredients whose dosage he'd have to alter for that period of extended use. "I intend to make my offer in two, and I want these sedatives out of his system by then."
He'd have to cut down the methaqualone's dosage, as well, then, which meant he was going to have to rework the basic formula. . . . Kabuto nodded and shifted the papers to his other hand, letting the one he'd holding them with fall to his side again. "Understood."
Orochimaru left.
It was a matter of pride, he realized later, as he was cleaning up the lab in preparation for going to dinner. Orochimaru wanted to know that he could talk a boy whose only goal in life had been survival into willingly accepting death on personal skill alone, to know that he could rearrange a person's priorities without any outside aid. The fact of the Hidden Sound's existence should have been proof enough of that; but, he supposed, Sasuke was more stubborn than the missingnins and raw-talent children and teenagers that made up the majority of Soundnins.
Vanity, Kabuto thought, and locked the cabinet.
The graveyards are full of indispensable men.