Naruto: The Unwoven Threads of Fate

Present

"So you let her form her own assumptions of your death." Orochimaru focuses on me with a stony face. "You fabricated a fake story - admittedly a very convincing one - but I find that I have a few questions about it."

"Well I don't really see how it is important since we both know it's not true, but hey go ahead and ask anyways if it makes you feel better." I nonchalantly shrug as I pick up the toppled bloody chair and sit back down.

"How do you know about Kisho Tensei?" Orochimaru's tone is suspicious. He suspects me for something but I have no idea what. Probably about why I know of the Kisho Tensei.

Best to play it cool.

"Is that what it's called?" I scratch the top of my head in a careless manner. "That jutsu I spoke about? I've only ever found rumors of it. I really pulled that story out of my ass."

"Yes." His eyes are locked onto me. "How do you know of it?"

"Uh… I ran into Sasori of the Red Sands, you know the legendary puppet master, and he threatened to turn me into a fucking puppet!" I am almost yelling at Orochimaru, displaying some of my trauma from that event to help sell my cover. I can't really say how I really know about it because that would end very well. "So I'm sorry if I did a little research to see if his threat was possible and found bits and pieces that hinted about the Kisho Tensei!"

"I was unaware that you knew there was a library here." Orochimaru sounds slightly surprised and all of his suspicion has vanished. Good. "You don't strike me as the reading type."

"That's because I don't do it as much as I used to. I mainly read for pleasure instead of information, but in the end of the day I am a shinobi. Information can win a battle, even something like knowing where everything is in this base." I brag just a little, but it is true. I've discovered every nook and cranny, the whole shebang. "Hell I know where all of the closets are."

"And… just why do you know where all of the closets are?"

"Because I never know when I might need to use one." I bluntly say to him and his eyes widen in shock. "I already have one stalker and closets make excellent hiding spots from them. Just round a corner and duck inside, bam! Lost the stalker. Do you have any idea how many shinobi ignore the blatantly obvious hiding spots? Like all of them, they think 'oh no one would ever hide somewhere so stupid.' Makes the perfect spot."

"Oh good." Orochimaru sags in relief. "I thought… nevermind. So now are we to the part about the Sound Three or is there something else?"

"Let's see…" I trail off as I tap a single finger against my chin for the sole purpose of making him more impatient. Okay so maybe I am a glutton for pain now, making Orochimaru wait is a terrible idea and I've done it for a very long time now. Oops. "Nope! All that's left is them. Technically it's just their blood that's on me but whatever, minor details."

"Finally." Orochimaru sits back down at his desk and expectantly looks at me. "Go on. I've waited far too long for this."

"Sorry?" I awkwardly apologize. "Kinda? The other stuff was important."

"Alvarcus."

"Right!" I clasp my hands together. "So the Sound Three died -"

POOF

Alvarcus is spirited away in a cloud of smoke, leaving Orochimaru alone in his office.

Orochimaru doesn't fly into a blind rage, even if he is furious. He knows that the only cause for Alvarcus' disappearance is the Spiders, they must have reversed summoned him. That is the only explanation.

Yet that doesn't lessen his anger.

"Prison guards." Orochimaru pleasantly speaks into the intercom system. "I will require the four rowdiest prisoners we have. Those that still have their strength. Those that still have their hope. Those that still have their spirit." Orochimaru's face twists in pure fury and it spills over into his voice. "I need to break something."

Orochimaru rises up from his desk and stalks out of his office with a sadistic smile plastered on his face.

"I think four isn't enough. Better make it five."

Kumo, the Raikage's Office, Present Time

"So he's not immortal." The Raikage states to Yugito who has just wrapped up the debriefing. "He's died before but when you cut him into five chunks he shrugged it off like nothing and overpowered your version two state that FORCED YOU TO MANIFEST THE NIBI!"

"Yes." Yugito easily brushes off the Raikage's shouts. She's used to it, though this time seems slightly more genuine than the others. "Alvarcus is one of the strongest people in Oto. I assure you that only Orochimaru himself is more of a threat in combat." Yugito pauses before sharing the next piece of her opinion. "Yet I believe that Alvarcus is the most dangerous person in Oto."

"What in the blazes of hell have you been drinking?!" The Raikage shouts at Yugito. "There is no possible way that a thirteen year old boy is more dangerous than one of the Sannin! So what he can take a beating, he's died before! That means he's killable!"

"He is a force that cannot be tamed. He acts solely on his own as he sees fit. Every action he does is one that he has thought out to benefit him - and him alone - the most. Alvarcus bows to no one." Yugito's eyes dart around the room, checking to make sure they are the only two present even though this is the most secure room in all of Kumo. "He doesn't bow to Orochimaru."

"How do you know?" The Raikage's passion has dwindled in favor of learning more about this enigma of a shinobi. "Did he sit you down for a talk? Did you have milk and cookies together? A nice slumber party?"

"None of the above." Yugito frowns at both the Raikage and what she is about to say. "I watched him assassinate the Sound Three."

Flashback, the Road Back to Oto

"Hey." I call out to the Sound Three. "Hold up a second guys, there's something that still needs to be done."

"Orochimaru-sama gave you another task?" Sakon asks in surprise. "He only told us about meeting with Yugito. What else is there?"

"I'll explain. First come here." I order the Sound Three and they all obediently fall in a line before me. I pull out a very specific scroll, one that has been specially crafted. "So… basically we have one more errand. Orochimaru gave me a special device he wants tested out."

"Couldn't he test it on the prisoners?" Jirobo asks in confusion. "That's their sole purpose."

"Not this." I casually flip the scroll through the air, letting it complete three revolutions before catching it with ease. "This is supposed to absorb the very essence of the land, nature chakra. Orochimaru wanted an untainted sample, so obviously this couldn't be done at the base since it's full of despair and suffering due to the prisoners."

Not to mention half the shinobi population there but there's no need to say that aloud.

"Oh. So how does it work?" Kidomaru asks while focusing on the scroll. "We gotta do some weird ritual or something? Sacrifice a virgin?"

"Oh shut up, there's nothing like that." I lackadaisically throw the scroll over their heads. All three of them track it, following the trajectory and even turning around once it passed over them. It innocently finishes the arc through the air and bounces twice on the ground a measly ten meters away. "Now we just wait for the seal to spit the device out and turn it on. See, easy."

Without making a single sound I take three steps back.

"Isn't it supposed to do something?" Kidomaru asks.

BANG

Three things happened in nearly the same moment. First, out of the seal came a large pile of small scrap metal. Bent nails, broken screws, shattered kunai and shuriken. Second, an explosion sent all those sharp and jagged metal bits careening through the air at terminal velocity. Third, all of the Sound Three died.

Those sharp and jagged metal bits tore deep into their flesh. They ripped long gashes across their sides. They punched deep into the soft organs, some even went through. Their blood sprayed everywhere, staining them, the ground and even me brilliant crimson.

"Hm." I intently analyze the aftermath. "Perhaps next time I should take five steps back."

~How… mediocre.~

"You sound disappointed." I idly flick my hands, sending some of the blood off of them, while thinking of ways to improve my seal grenade. "I think it was a complete success. My seal worked and I've removed a problem, no matter how small."

~Yes but it doesn't feel satisfying. There was no struggle. There was no begging for mercy. You didn't even raise up a fist against them. The just… died.~

"Exactly." With practiced ease I fly through hand signs and a gout of blistering hot fire removes the final traces of the Sound Three and with them a piece of Orochimaru's soul. "I am a shinobi. A battle for the ages makes for a great story, but it makes a terrible shinobi. We are the blades hidden in the dark, the knife that will slit your throat and once our deed is done we fade back into the shadows. A good shinobi never lets a battle for the ages even start, they finish it on their own terms."

Three sickening squelches echo out from me.

~Aww… do we have to?~

"Yes, you know we do." My three monsters slowly move away from me. "This must be believable. If I did battle against an enemy that killed all of the Sound Three then it would be logical that they could claim some of my hearts before I killed them."

~But all three? Why not one or two?~

"Orochimaru has been distracted lately, delving deep into his studies and leaving me to my own devices. That's great because I can focus solely on the sword but I can't afford that. I need Orochimaru to step up my training, I must grow stronger to be able to beat what is to come. What better way to motivate him to do so than me turning up alone with one heart?"

~Fine. But I expect them to be replaced promptly.~

"Of course." Three wet splats are heard as three ethereal dark sphere expand out of each monster. Once the spheres collapse back into the three hearts there's absolutely nothing left where they were. Even the ground is gone. "I'm not crazy, having all the elements and multiple lives is fucking amazing."

I turn to look off to the east.

"And Yugito." I call out to the not-as-hidden-as-they-thought-they-were Kumo shinobi. "Make sure to tell the Raikage to stay the fuck away from Oto and Orochimaru. They are mine to burn. Mine to kill."

I turn to the west and start heading back to Oto.

"And tell him he's got a stupid fucking name!" I shout over my shoulder. "Seriously who names their kid Ay?"

The Raikage's Office

"Punk." The Raikage growls out in anger, yet surprisingly there's a mild sense of respect beneath that. The Raikage likes someone who isn't afraid to speak their mind. "What's he at in our Bingo Book?"

"B-rank. Low at that." Yugito provides the answer easily. She did memorize the obsolete page before leaving. "We thought a lot of him was hype. Turns out we were wrong."

"Bump him up to high A-rank." The Raikage says after a moment of consideration. "And add in a warning to leave him alone. If he's directly opposing you on a mission B-rank or lower, abandon it. If he offers help, well let's leave that up to the individual leading the mission. And obviously include all his skills. You know what, just redo his entire page."

"I was worried you'd say that." Yugito sighs in resignation.

The Nest

"-Sound Three died oh." I'm not in Oto anymore. I'm still sitting in the bloody chair but I'm in a dark clearing. Very little sunlight is shining down on the grassy ground, the thick canopy of webs stops all but the most hearty of beams. "Hello… uh… everyone?"

Every single spider is present. Arachne. The Weavers. Keji. Dokuso. The Sparkers, those with the conductive web. Even Shirokumo is here. But that isn't the end of them, countless other unnamed spiders litter the treeline. Thousands of them. I'd wager that every single spider is present, from the smallest speck of a spider to the hulking Arachne.

The only spider to not be in the circular treeline is Arachne, she's standing forwards and is the closest to me.

"Alvarcus Mar." She speaks and it is a very serious tone. There is no sense of happiness in her voice, no sense of pleasantness at seeing her summoner again. This isn't how she usually greets me, something must be wrong.

"Uh… yes?" I awkwardly rise up to my feet. I get the sense that sitting down will only make things worse.

"You are guilty of murder." Her words kill all other sounds. The scuttling of the horde of spiders quiets, the wind blowing through the webs dies, all of nature seems to pause at her declaration. "You knowingly and deliberately killed a fellow spider. You are guilty of murdering Kidomaru, one of our own. Do you have anything to say?"

With a suspiciously dry mouth I swallow once in preparation to speak.

"I-"

"It does not matter what he has to say!" A spider roars, cutting me off. "He killed my Summoner! Ripped him to pieces like he meant nothing to him! He has committed the greatest crime! We all know the consequences! An eye for an eye! I want Alvarcus de-"

"Kyodaigumo you go too far!" Keji interjects. "True our rules dictate equal retaliation but Alvarcus is an unique case. You wish to take away the Ancient One's personal Summoner?"

"Keji brings up a good point." Dokuso speaks up, even though such an event is happening before her eyes she seems only half invested. "You want revenge, we understand that. But your revenge would only cause the Ancient One pain-"

"You will not bend the rules in my favor!" Shirokumo roars in anger and every single spider's attention is focused on him. They all seem submissive to him. "I am nothing more than another spider. I am not special. I am not someone to raise up on a pedestal. There is a reason Arachne is doing my job for me, it is so I do not skew it unjustly. I am too involved in this."

"It would be an insult to us to ignore you." Arachne herself seems to be the only one capable of speaking back to Shirokumo after his outburst. "You were once our Great Sage. You are still the teacher of our Sages. You are the oldest and wisest of us all. How can we not at least attempt to do something for you, for your happiness?"

What? Shirokumo is the Great Spider Sage? He's the one who teaches the new Sages? He's the Ancient One? Whatever the hell that means. Just… WHAT?

"Shiro-"

"SILENCE!" Shirokumo's voice booms, cutting me off from my question. I smartly shut my mouth, I get a feeling that I would have just made it worse anyways. "You are not here to defend yourself. You are not here to debate the morality of your actions. You killed one of us. It will be up to Kyodaigumo to dole out your punishment. Fair is fair, you killed his Summoner so now he will chose what fate befalls you. Should he pick death, you die. I cannot stop it. I will not stop it. In fact it may be up to me to carry out the sentence, I doubt anyone else would be capable if you fought back."

"Don't say that." I horsely whisper out as my throat starts to constrict. "Shirokumo please don't say that."

Did I just lose my Summons? Did I go too far when I massacred the Sound Three? I thought it all through. I killed them all in a matter of seconds, they never saw it coming. I plotted my story to Orochimaru, I even sacrificed three of my hearts to sell my story. I thought I had all my bases covered, but I forgot one very key detail. One that I always say.

Spiders are everywhere. They saw me do it.

"Kyodaigumo." Shirokumo turns to the large spider. "What say you? What is his punishment? I will hold no ill will against you, even if you choose his death."

Silence falls throughout the field as everyone, myself included, awaits his answer.

~We can fight our way out if it comes to it. It matters not if you only have one heart, you are still beyond deadly. None of these spiders could stand against you if you let yourself loose. If you embraced what you once were you will survive. If you gave in to your bloodlust and cast aside your emotions, if you became a monster again.~

That is not an option. These are my friends. I've fought next to them, I've bantered with them. I would have bled for them.

~We go on until the end. Is this the end that you talk about? Is this the defeat of the Heart… no. Is this the end of you? Of all you worked for? Of all you set out to accomplish? You are willing to let it all end, right here and now?~

"I want him Wrapped." Kyodaigumo speaks my fate. "I want his stone body to serve as a reminder for all of us that we do not betray our own."

"Wrapped?" I whisper out but due to the silent crowd and landscape everyone hears the one word question.

"Yes." Kyodaigumo focuses his attention on me. "Wrapped. You will be cocooned into the Ancient One's own webs. Webs that he will imbue with a unique property, one that turns flesh and blood to stone."

Turn flesh and blood to stone? That sounds like -

"You are aware that he may survive, yes?" Shirokumo asks Kyodaigumo. "If he does, what then? Will you still seek his death? You know that you can't stand against him now, should he become a Sage then he may even best me."

"He could never best you." Kyodaigumo didn't bother to look away from me when Shirokumo spoke. "If he survives then all will be forgiven. I am not a fool, I won't deprive us of him. I will never serve him, I will never speak to him. Sage or not, he has no place left in my life."

"So be it." Shirokumo turns to face me. "Alvarcus Mar, your judgement has come to pass. You will be Wrapped. Should you live, you are forgiven. Should you die, you will be forgotten. Come, follow me. This must be done in a specific place, one sacred to us."

Holy shit. I'm going to be forced to become a Sage or die.

~Why is nothing ever simple with you?~