"Advancing technology lets them get smaller till they're yea big. They're usually bigger than this even at my tech level, though, because they usually need stuff attached to be an input method and this model instead relies on brain surgery to control it."

"For security?" He shakes his head. "Can you make the notes? And - are there customs, with summoning demons? I forgot to ask." Usually there's a trade with nin-animals, but usually nin-animals are very upfront about stating their typical demands.

"I can make the notes, but no offense, we did just meet and I don't have a clear picture of how you fell in with Bodysnatcher-san or your alternative vision of the future. It's customary to trade us for stuff but this circle was not done elaborately enough for that to be necessary, I can just make whatever."

He nods.

(He really doesn't like being the powerless one. He really doesn't like having to talk about his personal sequence of traumas. But whatever. This is probably at least more likely to leave his brain intact than throwing his lot in with Orochimaru.)

"I was a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf, the main organization of chakra-users in the Land of Fire. I'm one of two or three people with my bloodline, and was the only one still in the Leaf. The other two are stronger than Orochimaru. Orochimaru decided he wanted my bloodline. He found me, put a seal on me that fucked with my head, then ditched me to live or die on my own strength. I lived. He later sent his own shinobi to retrieve me. I told them to fuck off. They were stronger than me, and could manipulate my seal, so got me angry enough to trap. Next thing I was really aware of was being in one of his lairs. I've been here two years, mostly trying to earn his trust and sabotage him."

"I'd like people to stop hurting each other. My earlier plans were pretty vague, mostly involved killing Orochimaru and one other asshole. Figured I'd probably die somewhere in there, and if I didn't I'd have enough of a reputation to start un-fucking Orochimaru's research without being bothered too much. This world sucks, but - Orochimaru has a lot that could do good. With 'creating objects' available as an option - I don't know if our political problems can be fixed with ending scarcity and putting back the dead, but there's at least been some respected politicians who weren't dickheads."

Cam nods, taking notes. "Accumulated questions: What-all does the seal do to you, how's it work? What's the idea with letting you maybe die when you're scarce and he wants to bodysnatch you?
What're you up to trying to earn his trust? Who's the other asshole? Is this level of dramatic murder commonplace around here?"

"I don't know everything about the seal. It collects nature chakra, I think, and mixes it with my chakra. Which can cause transformations if I let it. It can be forced back by enough strength of will."

"He said I'd be useless to him if I was weak, when I asked."

"I mostly train his shinobi. I haven't killed anyone."

"The other asshole killed my family and was trying to kill my friend last I checked, and has made a general point of ruining my life."

"And I get accused of being a pacifist, so no, that's a very low level of murder."

"Transformations like what? Train them to do what? Why's the asshole up to assholery and does he have a name or anything? How does a society with this much murder in it sustain itself?"

"My skin turns grey, and I grow wings, and I get angry. I train them to fight. And I have no idea why, he said he wanted to test himself but lies about a lot. His name is Uchiha Itachi. My brother."

"Presumably civilians have less murder in their lives, and the Hidden Villages recruit fairly heavily from them. People also have a lot of kids."

"What defines a civilian as such, I'm assuming you can't just go be one but you're kinda young-looking."

"Civilians aren't trained in chakra use and usually don't fight. And I'm fifteen, not young."

"I'm a hundred and seventy-two and people where I'm from are not considered adults till they're like eighteen. Why were you trained in chakra use, is it a bloodline thing?"

"My family were traditionally shinobi. If you pass your village's basic competencies, you're a shinobi and therefore a full adult, and most people pass them by twelve. Someone old enough to be in the shinobi academy is considered old enough to fend for themselves, though, and that's usually seven."

"I'd wonder how long your years are but you do look fifteen in Earth years."

"There's a lot wrong."

"Sounds like it."

"I'm good at learning things, not at people. So my best place in fixing things is in figuring out techniques to help."

"Yeah, I get that, but it sounds like the place is lousy with hostile actors and those can snap up whatever you invent, yeah?"

"Why I wanted strength and a reputation. And my friend wanted to change things too, and was better at people. I think he's still alive, but I haven't heard if he's changed his dreams."

"I can check on alive but cannot divine dream-related trends."

"...I would like to know if he's alive. Uzumaki Naruto."

Mini plastic Uzumaki Naruto appears. "He looks fine."

He nods.

"...Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"What's your future vision?"

"I'd really like to terraform Mars. In more local contexts I don't know enough about what it's like here to get very specific but I think aiming at reducing the murder rate would be a solid beginning."