Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Mysterious Sound ❯ Chapter 2

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Mysterious Sound: Melody II

Past

After dinner was over, Tayuya followed Orochimaru to a place that looked like a living room. She took a seat on the couch and examined her surroundings like a curious little girl. The entire structure was made of dark brown stone and the atmosphere was quite dark, with only a few candles to provide light. The couch however, was exceptionally comfortable and softer than she expected.

Of course Tayuya did know this was an evil lair and it didn't take a genius to figure out that Orochimaru was a wanted criminal. The soft couch was covered in black leather, giving it an elegant look that didn't quite fit it with the ordinary stone that was found all around. The underground hideout was just full of surprises. In such a short time she had shelter, food, allies and enemies, when she had initially expected to have nothing but death.

"Is there anything I should know about you besides that you play the flute, have dangerous temper and are a long range fighter?" Orochimaru asked.

Tayuya snapped out of her daze and looked at Orochimaru. The way he spoke about her temper made it so she wasn't bothered by his comment, it almost sounded like a compliment. "There's not much else to say, but what did you want to know?" Orochimaru was only asking so he would know what kind of ninja she would be, but that piece of information didn't currently register in her mind. She felt like she was in some kind of interview. She then noticed how casual she was being and after a pause that felt too long and obvious she added "Orochimaru-sama?"

Orochimaru had to stop himself from rolling his eyes and laughing in good humor at her attempt to add his name with the sama at the end of her question and make it look like she intended it to be said that way from the beginning. He wasn't particularly annoyed that she hasn't said it. He just found her effort amusing because it really wasn't that much of a big deal, although he did like the sound of his name with the traditional honorific. It's not like she called him Orochimaru in a disrespectful tone, or Orochi or worse yet Oro-kun. He got mad when his underlings called him by a shortened version of his name, but that didn't mean they had to say his full name at the end of each sentence they directed at him. Her attempt and her apparent confusion at his lack of anger for her mistake were most amusing. "I want to know about your skills as a ninja."

Tayuya blinked and stared, completely taken off guard and absolutely puzzled. She was no ninja, was she expected to become one? Did he for some reason think she was a ninja?

"Is it that interesting to stare at me? Do you want a picture?" Orochimaru was half annoyed and half sarcastic, with a hint of impatience and just a tiny bit of amusement.

"Huh? What? No, I mean... I was..." Tayuya paused and collected her thoughts in a short coherent sentence. "I'm not a ninja."

"Not yet, but you will become one. This is the Hidden Sound, a ninja village. I've already determined you to be a long range fighter so you need to learn jutsus that fit in with your style. Your abilities with the flute may also prove useful. Have you thought about using them in combat?" Orochimaru asked.

Tayuya took another long stare, as if he grew a second and then a third head and possibly a forth. "Um... no," she finally answered. A flute in combat, how could that be? Was she supposed to hit her opponent over the head with it? She could think of no other practical use for a flute in a fight, maybe a distraction, but not a weapon. Then again, maybe the Hidden Sound village was called that for a reason. Perhaps there were sound related jutsus and attacks that she could learn and perform with her flute. Tayuya's curiosity was certainly sparked over the possibilities.

"In that case, you'll need some training." Orochimaru mentally went over a list of people that could help Tayuya train. "You seem to get along with Kin will enough. She can help you with your training. You'll be joining the team along with Dosu and Zaku starting tomorrow. Are you willing to give this training everything you have?"

For a moment, Tayuya wondered if she had anything to give. Sure she had a shelter now, new clothes to wear, food to eat, maybe allies and even one enemy, though she hoped Kidomaru wasn't too angry about the spider incident; but did she truly have anything that belong to her except her flute? Would she give that up? She quickly dismissed the thought as soon as it came. What would Orochimaru want with an old flute anyway? Before becoming lost in thought further, Tayuya replied, "yes, Orochimaru-sama," and with those words, her fate was sealed.

"Good, then you'll start early tomorrow so make sure to get some rest tonight." Orochimaru got up, signaling the conversation was over.

Tayuya also rose from her seat and followed him out of the living room area. She assumed that she was expected to go to her room now, although Orochimaru didn't say anything. The way he made it sound, she was apparently in their group, so perhaps she was trusted to walk around the lair. No doubt there would be certain areas that would be locked up or out of reach. She had no intentions to trespass those areas where she was not allowed, but it would be good to get to know the common areas of the place that was to become her new home. Home, she wasn't sure if it was an appropriate term given the situation, but it was close enough.

Orochimaru walked down the corridor that led to the area where most rooms were located. While Tayuya's wasn't too far, Orochimaru's was further down that corridor, past another door to another section. For the time being, they shared a common path towards their different destinations. Without warning, Tayuya felt something brush against her foot. Something was slithering around near by. With a yelp, she jumped on Orochimaru and held on for dear life and she remembered past events.

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"Come back here thief!" An angry voice yelled.

The girl being chased quickened her pace as much as she could. With her trusted flute, her only companion, at hand, she ran deeper into the forest. She would soon move on to another village, but for now, that village provided her with unwilling shelter and stolen food. It was the fall season and orange leaves rained all around, while the fallen brown ones were crunched under her hasty feet. She jumped over several large tree roots that stuck out of the ground and landed on a trap. Her feet found ground covered in branches and leaves that were not enough to support her. The branches cracked and the leaves fell along with her. "A hole? Crap!"

"Over there!" "She fell into the trap!" Called the angry voices of the villages in pursuit.

Tayuya knew she had to get out of that pitfall before they came for her, because if they did, she would be outnumbered, overpowered and in a world of trouble. If she put enough distance between herself and her opponents, then it would be different. If they dared to pursue her for too long, then she would hastily collect rocks, climb a tree and throw them at the angry villagers until they left her alone. But of course, she couldn't do any of that unless she got out of that hole.

The pitfall was quite deep and the fall made her bare feet ache, although she was glad that she at least landed on her feet. She looked up at the fall sun, it appeared to be a distant light in the end of a vertical tunnel. Holding her flute in her mouth, she buried both hands and feet into the muddy walls of the hole to attempt to climb out. The effort proved fruitless as she only slipped back down. The walls were too humid and slippery with mud. It appeared that the trap was well planned. She assumed there must be more holes like that. It couldn't be that they only dug one and she happened to fall in it.

"Ah!" "Idiot!" "Get me out of here!" "We'll come back after we get her!" The voices alarmingly close by, proved her theory about the multiple pitfall traps to be correct. It appeared that one of the villages had forgotten about its location and fallen for the trap. Of course she couldn't expect to be lucky enough to have them all fall like that and give her some time to escape her muddy prison.

"Found you," a villager stood over the hole Tayuya was trapped in, looking down on her as if she was a worthless insect. Soon more villagers joined, circling the pitfall. "There's no way out, you'll be punished for your thievery."

Tayuya wondered what they meant, but soon her question was answered when a large snake was thrown into the hole. She screamed and tried to climb out, but slipped back down. The villagers covered the hole, extinguishing the sunlight. It was too dark to see the snake and too small a space to run away. She couldn't climb out and nobody would help her. Worse yet, her instinct told her that snake had to be poisonous and she was right.

It took a long time for Tayuya to kill the snake, after getting bitten several times in the process. It took even longer for the muddy walls of the vertical tunnel she was trapped in to dry off allowing her to climb out. With her flute in hand, she weakly wondered the forest, too feverish to know where she was heading. The immediate symptoms of the poison eventually wore off, leaving her relatively normal. The only difference was that her skin around the bite marks was changing color turning red then purple. The color was spreading and that couldn't be a good sign. Still, she had other things to worry about, such as surviving.

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"What the hell are you doing?" Orochimaru yelled.

"Snake! Snake!" Tayuya desperately screamed. Her experience was horrible and she hated those ferocious overgrown worms. She heard Orochimaru mention snakes before, but didn't think they would be slithering around freely; she thought he was only exaggerating to give Kidomaru a scare.

"You idiot it won't bite unless you step on it or bother it. Those snakes are my pets, you'll find them all around the lair. If they recognize you as an ally they'll be harmless to you and unless you bother them, they have no reason to identify you as an enemy." Orochimaru tried to loosen the girl's tight grip around his shoulders and tried to get her to put her feet on the ground instead of having her legs wrapped around his waist. Though he had to admit the position wasn't exactly unpleasant, it was rather awkward. Either way, she refused to let go.

"What kind of a ninja will you be if you're afraid of snakes?" Orochimaru tried to reason with her, but it didn't work, nothing worked, she was beyond words.

The only choice was to pull her off and make her hold the snake until she figured out for herself that there was nothing to fear. If Tayuya didn't face that fear and conquer it, she would be screaming her head off every time she crossed paths with a snake and that would happen quite often, given that Orochimaru kept so many as pets, plus he was a snake summoner.

"Tayuya, let me go," Orochimaru spoke as calmly as possible while stroking her hair. Perhaps if he managed to calm her, she would be a little more reasonable.

Tayuya's eyes were tightly closed. Feeling Orochimaru had stopped struggling against her desperate grip, she calmed down a little. He wanted her to work for him as a ninja, so he wouldn't let that snake bite her; she tried to think of that. The snake was a pet to him, so it must be trained. She opened her eyes and looked at the snake. It hissed at her causing her tighten her grip on Orochimaru again.

"You really are a hopeless one," Orochimaru started to get annoyed again, yet he needed the girl to play the ocarina when the time came. He would open that glass box one day. He didn't know why, but he knew it had to be her. To play the flute even when facing death, to have nothing that truly belonged to her except her music. Yes, it had to be her, no doubt her rare talent would be necessary to control a powerful item that worked with music.

"I'm sorry Orochimaru-sama," a few tears escaped from her eyes but she held the rest back. "I'm sorry; I had a bad experience in the past. Snakes scare me, I'm sorry." Tayuya looked at the snake, trying not to feel fear, but the memory of her feverish days of survival before the first symptoms of the poisoning settled down, would always be fresh in her mind.

"Hopeless indeed," Orochimaru bent down and picked up the snake. That certainly made Tayuya let go.

She backed away until she was against the wall. Orochimaru took a step forward with the snake in his arms, Tayuya prepared to make a run for it, but he moved to fast, appearing right in front of her. With no time to stop Tayuya ran into Orochimaru. The snake's long tail go tangled up between two pairs of feet and both Tayuya and Orochimaru ended up on the floor in a position not dignifying of a graceful ninja. "Get it off! Get it off!" Tayuya squirmed against the poor snake that ended up tangled up and squished between the two humans.

"Stay still," Orochimaru ordered, but Tayuya didn't listen. The snake somehow untangled itself, causing Orochimaru and Tayuya to gain an even more uncomfortable and strange tangled up position while doing so. After becoming free, the snake slithered away a little, then turned back to Orochimaru who was at the bottom of the tangled up human pile. The snake looked at him curiously almost as if laughing at his misfortune. "Go away," Orochimaru hissed. The snake quietly slithered away with an air of victory.

Tayuya's face had remained in a frozen expression of terror during the time the snake was there. Her face relaxed and she let her head fall into the man directly below in relief. "It' gone..."

"You will need to get over that fear." Orochimaru could explode in anger there and then, but he was more cunning than that. Revenge was something to be savored. He would enjoy teaching her to lose her fear.

"I know, I know," Tayuya shook her head, as if hinting that it was hopeless. She paused and took a deep breath, she was finally given a chance to be someone; she could be a ninja. Life didn't hand her opportunities on a silver platter often, so when it did, she had to be crazy not to take them. "I will become a fearless ninja Orochimaru-sama, a completely fearless ninja!"

"You shouldn't be completely fearless, you still need to fear me," Orochimaru reminded.

"Huh? What do you..." Tayuya paused mid-question and grew silent, noticing their awkward tangled up position on the floor.

"Exactly, I mean don't jump on me like that again," Orochimaru threatened, but it didn't work. Tayuya was too busy feeling embarrassed to even notice.

Coincidentally, Kabuto walked by, having paused his work, finally defeated by hunger. He stopped and gripped the handle of the golden colored candle stick holder in his hand. The fire of the white candle flickered slightly and silence continued to pour into the room. This time it was Kabuto himself who broke the silence. "Not to intrude or anything but may I ask what you are doing and why are you doing it in the hall if your room is just a few steps away?"

"Kabuto," Orochimaru spoke.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama?" The silver haired young man smiled innocently, as if he had suddenly forgotten the comment he made a second ago.

"Shut up," Orochimaru glared for emphasis.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto remained silent, until Tayuya and Orochimaru were once again on their feet.

While Orochimaru glared at no one in particular, Tayuya stared at her feet uncomfortably.

Kabuto once again broke the silence, even if he was told to be quiet before. "That poison is quite slow. You couldn't have gotten it here; otherwise it wouldn't be so developed. That type of poison is to deceive, to make people think that the effect is only superficial until they suddenly die. Why do you still have it?"

It didn't take Tayuya long to figure out what Kabuto was talking about. Even with the limited light of the candle, he was able to see the skin in a dark purple color around the area where the snake bit her several months ago. "I eventually recovered and the poison did nothing but turn my skin purple. I knew there had to be more to it than that, but I couldn't really do anything about it."

Orochimaru plotted. "Well Kabuto, we can't let her run around with poison in her blood. It's only fair that the one who poisoned her delivers the cure."

"The villagers? They weren't even from the same village where you found me. That was a different village far away. Besides, I don't think they even know what the cure is, even if they where forced to give it up," Tayuya voiced.

"That's not quite what I meant my dear," Orochimaru grinned mischiviously.

Kabuto shook his head and smiled wider than before. "You're so cruel Orochimaru-sama."

Tayuya looked back and forth between the two. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it. There's nothing to fear. I can guarantee that you won't be hurt, but you might be a little frightened," Orochimaru replied.

"Frightened? I thought you wanted to cure me. I don't get it," Tayuya was confused and she wasn't sure she would like the answer when she finally understood.

"This way," Kabuto was followed by Tayuya and Orochimaru. After entering the door at the end of the hall, they came to some stairs left and right.

Taking the stairs to the right, they headed deeper underground. They came to a long corridor lit with many torches. At least the light was more abundant than before. At the end of the corridor, there was a door. The entire atmosphere, although it had more light, was more eerie with every step. Tayuya wondered what fate could be awaiting her and just how they intended to cure her of the poison that took away her life so slowly that she hardly noticed.

The door was opened to reveal a well lit room with torches all around it. Mirrors were strategically placed to reflect the light of the candles, making the large chamber look as clear as day. "Right this way," Kabuto walked towards a table. "Now will the patient please lie down on the operation table?"

"Operation?" Tayuya didn't like where this was going.

"I'm sure Kabuto won't take off anything vital like a lung or something," Orochimaru assured.

Tayuya nooded, "I understand Orochimaru-sama. This is part of my training, a ninja has to be fearless. I know there is no operation involved."

"There could be," Kabuto looked exactly like a mad doctor. If he was acting or that was his real expression, Tayuya didn't know. The light reflected and amplified by the mirrors made his glasses glow, giving him somewhat surreal expression that was reduced by the peaceful silver of his hair, but amplified by his insane grin.

"I'm not a coward," Tayuya laid down on the able, taking note of the obviously visible mechanisms behind it. What was this a test of loyalty? As if on cue, Kabuto activated the mechanisms under the table and thick metal belts wrapped themselves around Tayuya. Her confident expression didn't change. She was determined to prove she was a brave ninja.

"I'll leave Kabuto to his work and be back soon," Orochimaru promptly exited the room.

Kabuto applied some ointments to the area near Tayuya's left ankle where she had received the snake bite. "Was it only here?"

"I got another bite on my right arm, that's all," Tayuya felt horribly uncomfortable restrained to the table, which she found to be completely unnecessary, but she wasn't going to complain. If this was some sort of test, she intended to pass.

Kabuto rolled up her sleeve and found the purple area right below her elbow. He repeated the process with the ointments there. "That should do it. How does the skin in that area feel?"

"It doesn't, I mean it feels so numb that I don't feel anything." Tayuya suspected that perhaps there would be an operation involved after all. But what was he going to do, make a cut and extract the poison? "What now?"

"Now we need to wait for Orochimaru. I could inject the antidote myself, but he insisted on this particular method. I'm sure that's what he meant. The ointment will make it painless," Kabuto half-explained.

Although hearing that whatever was going to happen would not involve pain was supposed to put her at ease, it did the exact opposite for Tayuya.

The door slid open and footsteps echoed in the silence of the large chamber. Tayuya closed her eyes once again.

"Get this one ready to give her the antidote," Orochimaru instructed. A snake-like hissing sound was heard, but Tayuya tried to ignore it. "What's wrong, you're scared? I thought you said you would be a brave ninja."

"I'm fine, it's not like it'll bite me or anything." Tayuya tried to reassure herself.

"It will bite you," Orochimaru sounded completely serious.

"What?" Tayuya stammered.

"It's quite simple really, a snake poisoned you and a snake will heal you. One little snake bite and you'll have the antidote." Orochimaru stood behind the operation table leaning forward looking right at Tayuya, except he looked upside down from her point of view when she opened her eyes.

"Right, now I know it's a test. That's not really what will happen," Tayuya insisted.

"Actually, it will be two snake bites. She has a small amount of poison accumulated on her left ankle and right arm," Kabuto revealed. Tayuya tried to look calm and stay still, but when Kabuto brought the snake near her, she couldn't help it but to scream at the top of her lungs and struggle to get free. "She's hopeless; I really don't think this will help her phobia."

Orochimaru was covering his ears. "She's too loud, forget the snake and just cure her before my headache gets worse."

Kabuto shrugged and continued with the real medical procedures. Needless to say a needle looked less scary than a snake for Tayuya. She mentally kicked herself for looking like a coward and became determined to conquer her fear of snakes no matter what.

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Tayuya's formal training as a sound ninja began and she did quite well. She soon advanced to be one of the elite Sound Five that later became the Sound Four, after Kimimaro's illness took a turn for the worse. She also became known because after living at the Sound Village for a while, she started showing what a colorful language she really had once she overcame her initial shyness.

It had been over a year since Tayuya's arrival and Orochimaru had announced that in a few more months, he would attack the Hidden Leaf Village. Everyone was very busy with their training in preparation, but Tayuya always took a moment to herself every day. Instead of having a lunch break with the other sound ninja she would run off somewhere on her own in her own little quest to stop fearing snakes. She could be around them without screaming her head off, but she was still not as used to them as the others.

"Do you like snakes that much?" Tayuya nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden voice. An elite ninja of the sound shouldn't have been surprised like that. In a split second she was facing her opponent with her flute ready. "No need to worry. I'm one of Orochimaru-sama's ninja too."

Tayuya looked at the young man before her. He was wearing a sound village head band but she had never seen him before. "I'm with the Sound Four and I know everyone from the Sound Village." She paused and turned. At least this time she noticed there was someone behind her before he spoke. "Orochimaru?"

"Yashagoro here is one of my strongest ninja," Orochimaru revealed. Tayuya looked at the man called Yashagoro. There was something very familiar about him. His eyes looked like Orochimaru's eyes. "Since you like snakes now, you can feed them," Orochimaru tossed a bag of home made snake food at Tayuya, which she easily caught.

"Right, no problem," she wasn't too happy about her new chore, but didn't protest. Without another word, Orochimaru left and Tayuya looked at the snake near by. She had been purposely visiting it often to become more used to being around snakes without risking arising suspicious from the others, since Orochimaru and Kabuto were the only ones who knew of her fear, which was practically completely gone by then anyway. Unknown to Tayuya, Yashagoro was actually Orochimaru in disguise and the one who appeared as Orochimaru, was a shadow clone.

Tayuya set the bag down and opened it. "Eat up!" It's not like she was going to hand feed the snake.

"They won't trust you like that," Yashagoro took a handful of snake food and let the snake eat it from his hand.

"Who are you, the new fucking snake expect?" Tayuya was fine by herself, she wasn't sure she liked the new company.

'I need to make sure she has total loyalty to me before letting her use the ocarina,' Yashagoro thought. "I apologize if my presence irritates you," Tayuya blinked, then stared and finally laughed. "What's so funny?"

"No one apologizes around here, some sound ninja you are," Tayuya replied.

"I suppose you expect my language to be like yours?" Yashagoro asked.

"Do you have a problem with my language bastard?" Tayuya was confident and defiant.

"Not really," after Yashagoro's answer, silence consumed them.

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Their meetings always occurred during that time, when Tayuya was alone, until one day a large bird flew down from the skies unexpectedly and killed the relatively small snake. "Stupid bird!" Tayuya began to play her flute, causing the bird to fly around in strange patters and crash harshly into the ground. "Serves you right!"

This time she heard Yashagoro coming, or maybe he wanted to make his presence known. "Isn't it a waste? To use your skillful gen-jutsu on a hawk."

"Why? Should I use it on you instead?" Tayuya retaliated.

"In a bad mood I see," Yashagoro approached the area where the snake used to live. "Well since you avenged it, I guess this little one is yours."

Tayuya approached to see what he was talking about. There in the bushes, there seemed to be a small snake, just hatched. "You've got to be kidding me. I don't want that damn thing."

"Don't you want to keep it as a pet?" Yashagoro picked up the tiny snake and held it for Tayuya to take.

"I guess I could give it to Oro, but I could also leave it there," Tayuya contemplated her options, finally she shrugged and took the snake. "Might as well give it to him."

"Oro?" Yashagoro asked.

"Orochimaru, don't tell me you didn't know that, stupid," Tayuya rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I know who you mean, it's just that I've never heard anyone call him that," Yashagoro replied.

"Now you did," Tayuya took the snake and started heading back to the hideout.

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The snake got attached to Tayuya and didn't want to leave her. "Looks like you'll have to keep this one," Orochimaru had raced back taking an underground shortcut and got rid of the disguise.

"No way, I don't want a pet snake." Being able to get along with them was one thing, but keeping one as a pet was going a bit too far. However Tayuya's got stuck with a pet. It would crawl on her head while she was sleeping and it bothered her at first, but later she got used to it and resigned to have a living tiara.

Present

One's life could flash before their eyes in a moment close to death. Tayuya remembered how Kin would bother her about liking Yashagoro, whom they didn't know was Orochimaru. Only from Kin did she put up with that. The others were not allowed to say a word about it, save for Kimimaro's suspicious smiles and Kabuto's knowing looks.

It wasn't until just before her mission isolating the battle between Orochimaru and Sarutobi during his attack to the Hidden Leaf village that she learned of Yashagoro's true identity. She remembered her mission and how they had to retreat, then later when she went in search of Sasuke, her apparent death after Temari's attack and when she woke up at the Hidden Sound.

From then on, Tayuya was thought to be dead by others, but she lived deep in the tunnels of the Hidden Sound village. She lived and she trained, until one day she was told of the ocarina after it was finally freed from its box. That day she played its melody which was supposed to give Orochimaru power, but instead it made him lose control and now Tayuya was on the verge of death.

He was coming and he would kill her, or rather the curse would kill them both. She would play one last song, not on her flute, but the dreaded ocarina. She played whatever notes came to her mind, with no specific song in mind, until the ocarina melted into sand in her hands, as did the curse and the world around her seemed to fade away.

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When she woke up, it reminded her of the time she woke up after her supposed death. "Kabuto?"

"That was a close one, it almost killed us all. I'm disappointed in myself to have gotten knocked out early, but then so did Sasuke and everyone else." Kabuto voiced.

"The ocarina?" Tayuya inquired.

"Destroyed, it seems your musical genius was stronger then even the curse and the chakra contained in the ocarina," Orochimaru revealed.

"So you survived it after all. I didn't know right away, but I finally figured it out. The ocarina's power was to grant someone the knowledge of certain gen-jutsu songs to attack and to heal," Tayuya got up with some difficulty. "My flute," Kabuto handed it to her, she was relieved to see that her precious flute had survived the battle after all. Tayuya played a melody they had never heard before and their wounds were healed. "It was all a part of the test, the curse the power that went out of control, all of it and I passed, I heard the melodies coming to me, I was able to listen and understand."

"It seems you've gained a useful power." Just as Orochimaru thought, it was very convenient to have found Tayuya. Though she was supposed to release the ocarina's power and give it to him, the power turned out to be songs, knowledge rather than chakra or the ocarina itself. It was the information contained within the ocarina.

Tayuya held her flute and smiled, thinking about all the things she could do with that power. "The ocarina is gone, that much has ended, but this is only the beginning."

End

Disclaimer, I don't own Naruto.