"He doesn't like hearing 'no,' and it's another year before my best opening to kill him."

"Are we under any time pressure right now or is this a good time for me to get more general background?"

"I'm expected somewhere in a few hours."

"Okay. So this chakra thing, I'm not accustomed to that being a thing, can I get the introduction to what the heck starting from there?"

"Chakra is a combination of mental and physical energy. It's in everything, but most people can only use the chakra in their own bodies. Using it tires you out. If you use too much you die. Molding chakra can influence your own body and mind most easily, the natural world less easily, and other people the hardest. We've had chakra as long as anyone can actually remember, though there are myths it got introduced at some point by a Sage."

"What-all can it do - I'm looking for diverse examples more than necessary and sufficient conditions, I'm assuming you haven't got the latter -"

"I can make a solid but fragile clone which will return the memories to me on dismissal, summon snakes, channel lightning through my body or weapons, react quickly, memorize things, move faster... Orochimaru can jump into someone else's body every three years. Illusion experts can trick people's senses. Medics can change the body of someone they touch. Seals can be used to trap energy or objects in lines of ink to be released later. Really powerful seals can trap people. Sensors can track things with chakra, sometimes miles out. The Yamanaka clan can also possess people. Puppet masters can move and control objects, and sometimes people. At least one person can cause any injuries dealt to him to appear on opponents. There's a rumor of someone who can control gravity."

"Well, many of those things are extremely concerning. Why every three years, how does that kind of limit fall out of this system?"

"It damages his core self, the thing that's actually jumping. It takes him that long to recover."

"Okay. What's the advantage of this, is he doing it to be immortal or something?"

"Yes. And get powers from the people he jumps into; some things are easier with certain bloodlines. My memorization and reflexes, some elemental manipulations..."

"Okay, is there any chance he'd be easily appeased with mindless bodies with whatever genetics he cares to enjoy in them and cut it out with the bodysnatching?"

"Probably. Less risky to him. But he's also - he cuts people open to see what they'll do. He starts wars when he's bored. A very foreign library could entertain him for a while, but... Making sure he doesn't hurt people is hard." He shrugs. "But right now he's the only person who knows how to put back the dead, so... I guess there's advantages to just bribing him."

"Your kind of magic can put back the dead?"

"Imperfectly. The current technique sacrifices a person, overwriting them with someone dead, who is immortal, invulnerable, and somewhat under the control of the person using the technique. I don't know if a mindless body counts for it."

"And you don't know the technique and can't check, okay... hm. How'd you come by the design for this summoning circle?"

"Orochimaru gave it to me. I don't know where he got it, but I don't think he knew exactly what it does. I could learn the resurrection technique, if I had his notes. At least eventually."

"Do you have an idea of what subset of his notes that is?"

He can name titles.

(Orochimaru keeps very thorough and clearly labeled notes and mostly relies on ciphers and being terrifying to keep people out. Also, Orochimaru is either fucking with his head or under a really bizarre delusion that Sasuke's like him - or both - but it means Sasuke's trusted with a lot.)

Cam produces, during this recitation, a strange sticklike object that projects a rectangle of light off one side. The light changes to reflect what Sasuke is saying but Cam is writing it all in katakana because he doesn't have the local character set as a font yet.

He finishes his list, then peers at the stick and asks, "Is that a computer?"

"Yes." He opens a new file and takes retroactive notes on things messing with chakra is supposedly able to do.

"It's small," he says during what looks like an appropriate break. 

"Yup. How big are yours?"

He shrugs. "I haven't seen many. Bigger than me, mostly."