It's strange. A sort of not-chakra, and the affect of the world manifests currently as whispers at the edge of his hearing. There's tendrils of the not-chakra wrapped about her, the whispers curling around her like smoke, and he can actually almost feel her rather than a hole. She fits, here.

Those same tendrils are slowly trailing along the edge of his chakra system. But Orochimaru is very, very thoroughly himself. He's had to be, to survive inhabiting another's body with his mind intact and solely his, and he can start to see the edges of the technique that will protect him.

He surfaces from his meditation, scribbles down his observations in shorthand - he suspects Sasuke and Kabuto can make some sense of it, but it's mostly reminders to himself, and he doubts anyone else will understand - then says, "I would like you to talk to me for the next phase." The effect intensifies when she talks, after all.

She hums, then begins telling him about the history of her world. Or rather, the history of capes in her world.

This is incredibly fascinating! Luckily he can pay attention to both the narrative and the effects at the same time; he'd be rather put out if he had to skip out on the knowledge in order to protect his mind.

And - there it is, the tendrils entangling with the edges of his yin chakra, separating it out and whispering meaning that reverberates through his bones.

The first test will likely involve seeing if he can break the translation effect.

He waits for her story to reach its conclusion, examining the effect in more depth as he does so, then surfaces and starts writing an enormous table of effects and theories. He twists his chakra, brings it into his body with a shield of yang, then written to her - "Try saying something short, now."

"Something short now," she teases, but then continues and tells him about her mask, and how she designed it, in a few sentences.

He engages the technique and understands none of it! Though he can still feel the edges poking at his mind, this needs more refinement.

Written: "I was able to keep the translation effect from engaging, which seems to have cut off the worst of it. There is likely a way to filter the effects without disallowing translation, though that might take me longer, and the translation by its very nature would carry some small risk of corruption, so a restorative technique will also be needed."

"Learning the language would probably work just as well. But a restorative technique... that. Is promising." Understatement.

"Purifying rituals are well known, although they have fallen out of favor outside of the monks. It would be interesting to see if such rituals could be effective even in someone without chakra."

She shifts and tries not to appear to eager... she is not a very good actor.

"Do... you have any spare monks lying around?"

"No. One can be easily acquired, though."

"Should we go get one now?"

"Sure. Why not. I know a convenient temple nearby." And he even technically has the right to draft citizens of Rice Fields. The daimyo is ambitious enough he's unlikely to object.

"...I'm assuming you don't have cars or anything."

"What's that?"

She explains cars. She doesn't attempt to dumb down her words, she sees no reason to.

It makes sense that without shinobi and with a functioning government they would have better technology in some places. (He doesn't take notes. He doesn't need to. But he will very likely be trying to convince the daimyo to build roads appropriate for cars, because that is a wonderful idea.)

"We don't have anything like that. Shinobi can, however, run at great speeds, and I could carry you."

"What, not even horses and carriages?"

"Only the wealthy use them - horses are expensive, and shinobi to guard you from bandits after your blatantly flaunted wealth are worse."

She nods.

"I suppose that might have been the case in my world centuries ago." She shrugs. "You can carry me. Though you might need to keep up some sort of protection on your mind. Prolonged touching can be... bad."

"I can maintain the meditative state during the run, though you will be unable to communicate with me."

"That's fine. It'll give me a chance to sight-see, maybe."

He opens the doors between them and the outside, then motions for her to move to his back.

-- less hesitation than before, but still some, and she climbs on his back.

It's not a nice feeling, and her nerves start to rise.

He takes off.

He's fast, the landscape quickly turning into a blur, until they reach the mountains on the western edge of the country thirty minutes later. A simple monastery clings to one peak, tucked behind a ridge. The architecture is extremely Japanese, low pagoda-style buildings ringing a courtyard. Orochimaru jumps over the roof, lands in the middle, and sets her down.

"If it wasn't for the alien magic, I really would suspect I was in Japan. Maybe hundreds of years in the past."

"Huh. I'd like to see it sometime, then. Make a comparison. If I understand the many worlds theory correctly, it's possible we have either convergent evolution, or an overarching intelligence controlling the arc of worlds, or parallel earths that diverged - some theorists claim chakra is a recent occurrence, at least on an evolutionary scale."