A.N. Not much to say. Thank you to all those who have already reviewed the story, and please offer any constructive criticisms.
I do not own Naruto or Rosario + Vampire. They are the works of Kishimoto Masashi and Ikeda Akihisa, respectively.
In the hidden Oto base, five people are standing near the only source of light inside the cavernous chamber. The source is none other than the newly erected portal, and every now and then, every occupant of the room cannot help but stare at it, and wonder at the mysteries hidden on the other side. Everyone, that is, besides Tayuya, who would much prefer not to be involved in this venture in any way.
The said girl is full of apprehension as she prepares to enter through the portal, with the rest of the Sound Four and Orochimaru watching from the side. She checks her equipment pouch once more, and absently plays with the strap of the rucksack, trying to keep herself at ease. Nothing like this has ever been done before, according to historical records. Wouldn't it be much better to just leave whatever belongs to another world to stay in that other world, and for themselves to be concerned with only those things that are found in the Elemental Countries? However, orders are orders, despite her misgivings. And she is not insane enough to deny Orochimaru. If she doesn't go through with it, Orochimaru will most certainly kill her. If she goes through with it, at least she has a chance at survival.
On that thought, just what could be waiting for her on the other side? The middle of a warzone? A peaceful and quiet village in the middle of snow-capped mountains? An empty land with verdant hills and gentle, undulating streams? The deepest level of Hell? Unimaginable monsters ready to rip her into shreds? A world populated only by sheep? Her doki's plane of existence? Or perhaps the path to Heaven, where she can find redemption, even though she is undeserving?
Well, whatever. Anything is better than being under Orochimaru's thumb all the time, and those losers can do just fine without me.
With a quiet affirmative nod of determination to herself, she finally musters up the courage, and steps closer to the gate. The eerie incandescent red light from the gateway bathes her, and soon, the rest of her body becomes as red as her hair. Her pace gradually picks up until, with one final running leap, she jumps through the portal, and into a destination unknown.
The two figures walk side by side, as they head towards a mansion at the end of the path. So far, Haku has not said much, and had kept his own peace, while the headmaster explains various rules and regulations of Youkai Gakuen. He has been observing this new world, and it looks rather depressing. But apparently, according to the headmaster, his vision of beauty is in sharp contrast with that of the youkai, and it is just something he is going to have to accept.
Eventually, the two of them arrive at the entrance to the hall, where two impeccably dressed men wearing sunglasses opens the door to the building, and then stands guard on either side of the doorway. Haku involuntarily flinches, seeing the similarity between their attire and that of Gato, but he quickly suppresses the reaction.
The headmaster either did not see his discomfort, or chose to ignore it completely. He merely nods his head in greeting to the two men, before entering the door, with Haku right behind him. They proceed to walk up a flight of stairs, and into a room that Haku surmises to be the headmaster's office. More guards stand at attention inside the room, as well as in the immediate vicinity. It would have seemed strange for the presence of so many guards, if Haku did not already know the makeup of the student population, and the threat that they can pose.
After walking around the desk to sit in the large leather chair, the headmaster picks up a folder from his desk. He gives a cursory glance through the folder, before closing it, and handing it over to Haku. Haku walks up to the desk, and opens it up to reveal the profile of a beautiful girl.
"This is the person who I want you to monitor. By monitoring, I mean to keep her out of harm, as she is the daughter of a very dear friend of mine. There is a power sealed inside of her, which can make her, easily, the most powerful being inside this school."
Haku looks up after hearing that comment. The headmaster is completely serious about this, which means, the girl is potentially more powerful even than he. If so, why would she need protecting? What is the catch?
Seeing the unvoiced question in Haku's face, the headmaster elaborates. "However, this power is suppressed by the seal, which she cannot easily take off. Therefore, in her sealed state, she will be defenseless against any youkai who means her harm.
Haku nods in comprehension, before turning his eyes downward to look through her profile once again. So this is indeed bodyguard duty on top of surveillance. If that is the case, he would need to get close to her. How should he go about protecting her, without letting her becoming suspicious about there being an ulterior motive? This is an interesting conundrum.
"In any case, here are the materials you will need for the school." The headmaster signals to one of the guards, who steps forward, and wordlessly hands over a bag to Haku. "Inside you will find your school uniform, the usual stationary, as well as a key that will allow you access to the library inside this mansion. I believe you will find the reading material to be of interest to you." He smiles a cryptic smile, before handing over a slip of paper. "You should find a sheet that details your living arrangements. After you get yourself settled, go to the room listed on this piece of paper. The instructors have already been told to expect you, and to prepare the assessment exams. You have the entire day to complete them."
Haku involuntarily widens his eyes. He certainly hopes he does not need to do too much remedial work, should he perform poorly on the exams. This assignment may be more difficult than he originally thought.
The first thing that Tayuya notices is that the trees are all withered. There is not even a leaf amongst the trees. That, and the fact the ground looks wasted, and the nearby body of water is red. All together, it is not a very welcoming sight. It makes certain parts of Iwa look like Paradise, in comparison.
However, she is not here to admire scenery. Her task can be potentially problematic, with this world being completely unknown, she does not know if there are any potential threat to her. Turning around, she observes the portal through which she came through. It is her only means of communication with Oto, and should it be lost, she would be trapped, without a way to escape.
Thus, the first order of business is to prevent anyone else from discovering the portal.
There are jagged mounds of rock formations behind the portal, and also on either side of the portal, thankfully. The genjutsu that she casts will only have to cover the area in between, where the portal stands. All she has to do is make sure it blends with the rest of the rocks, and make it look flawless. She places a triple layer of genjutsu on the portal, while at the same time, draws several seals in between each layer. She may not be a seals expert, but Orochimaru has taught her enough to make some basic security seals. These will warn her if someone is trying to get to the gate, or to break the genjutsu. They will be her failsafe alarm, and if they go off, she will come rampaging back to the portal, consequences be damned. She is not going to allow herself be trapped here, wherever this place is. Her mission will just have to terminate prematurely, if that is the case.
Standing some distance away, she critically runs her eyes over her handiwork. It looks pretty good, if she may say so herself. It does look like an inhospitable, continuous rock formation, with no place for birds to even build a nest. No one will know, unless they have wondered around into this area before, and notices the rock formation has changed. But that is what the security seals are for, if they decide to walk closer towards where the gate is supposed to be.
Actually, that brings up a good point. Tayuya mentally slaps her forehead in annoyance. Why did I forget about that?
Placing her bag on the ground, she rummages through it, and pulls out several wires and kunai. These are half of the supplies she brought, but she is willing to sacrifice as much of it as she can to protect the all important link with her world. She quickly gets to work, and fashions them into several traps and tripwires. They are all coated with a special nondescript dark charcoal color in order to prevent reflection of sunlight from the metal. And it just so happens to be the color of the background rock formation.
Getting back up, she nods to herself in satisfaction. All this will go some way to punish anyone reckless enough to wonder too close, if they are not already deterred by the genjutsu.
After packing her bag, she silently jumps into the tree branches on top. She noiselessly makes her way through the withered forest, jumping from one tree to the next with easy, unhurried strides.
It is time to do some exploring.
It seems like an eternity, but finally, Haku walks out of the building, with several books now weighing down his bag.
He actually performed well on most sections of the exams, considering that he had never attended any academic institution in his life. Zabuza had taught him quite well, and not just in the practical aspects of being a shinobi. For certain things such as mathematics, he was able to derive the answers, even if he did not necessarily know the correct formulas to use. Kagome Ririko, the mathematics teacher, made him feel very uneasy, and he did not want to think what would happen if he had been found wanting in this particular area. His weakest subjects, unsurprisingly, includes history, since he is someone from the past, and lacks knowledge of events closer to the current timeline. The other one is a language called 'English,' which he does not speak one word of whatsoever.
The instructors for those classes have given him all the supplementary reading material to bring him up to date. The English teacher, an odd man named Excellent Maki, has, in addition, given Haku his own recorded audio cassette tapes, along with his own tape recorder. The teacher is confident that he will learn from them well. He laments the fact that, if not for the necessary separation of Youkai Gakuen from the human world, he would be making quite a bit of money from the sale of these tapes, such is their quality. While Haku cannot yet attest to this, he lends the man his words of support nevertheless. It is a good idea to get off on a good start with the instructors, especially if he is going to need the man's help with learning the language. Haku has his work cut out for him.
As soon as he finally manages to extricate himself from the attention of the verbose instructor, he looks at the clock, and notices it is already getting late. However, remembering what the headmaster told him earlier, he decides to go back to the mansion once again, in order to look at the library.
When he went back to the headmaster's mansion, the guards allow him only a brief hour to look through the library. Upon looking inside the room, he knows that the time limit is only enough for him to take a cursory view of the material on the shelves.
Some of the titles seem quite interesting, though Haku must confess they are beyond his scope of understanding. Others are written in languages unknown to him, but he does not find that so strange anymore. The world is much larger than he could have imagined previously.
Suddenly, his eyes dart back towards one stack he just skimmed over. Surely, his eyes are playing tricks on him? Bending down to take a closer look, he confirms that, no, indeed they have not.
Discreetly packed into a corner is a stack of scrolls. When he opens one up, he immediately recognizes the ninjutsu recorded upon the parchment. However, it is a B-ranked doton jutsu, and he does not possess any elemental affinity for earth.
This must be the hidden surprise that the headmaster had in mind for him. It seems that the headmaster is a collector, and has managed to obtain these scrolls during his trips to the Elemental Countries. How or why, Haku does not know, but the headmaster has given him permission to borrow any material of interest, and he intends to make use of that privilege.
Quickly looking at the only clock in the room, he sees that he still has another half an hour. Turning his attention back to the scrolls, he quickly searches out several wind- and water-based jutsu, along with a few scrolls containing theories on chakra. Looking through them, he separates out the ones he already know from the ones that he do not. Mostly, the ones Haku intends to learn are the fuuton ninjutsu, since Zabuza had already taught him much of his own extensive repertoire of suiton ninjutsu. Despite knowing his bloodline, and the elemental affinities he possessed, there was a dearth of information for wind-based ninjutsu in Kiri.
Thanking the guard, he quietly leaves the mansion, in the direction of where his dormitory is supposed to be. It is only his first day here, and he is feeling the effects of a day of traveling and mental exertion, but there still seems so much work to do. Haku does not know if other students feel the same way, but there simply are not enough hours in a day for him to do everything. The day of orientation is tomorrow, thankfully, so at least he will have enough time to recover, and begin some much needed review. That, and to plan for his first meeting with the girl he is supposed to protect.
So far, Tayuya has not seen any obvious signs of danger. Despite the odd landscape, she has yet to run into any living being. Though the fact that there seems to be a lack of fauna is in itself a troubling thought. Is this merely an empty world? If so, then she can conclude this mission much more quickly than she thought, but for sure Orochimaru would not be pleased. He does not like to invest so much time and energy for no gain. And if he is not pleased, she is likely to suffer some of the repercussions.
However, her luck is finally turning for the better. Tayuya comes to a stop on one of the tree branches, and surreptitiously observes the person of interest ahead of her.
The girl has red hair, of the same hue that Tayuya possesses, and also has roughly the same body measures also, as far as Tayuya can tell. She is wearing some kind of uniform, complete with an impractical skirt that is more likely to reveal her underwear than to provide any protection of her modesty. The girl is also carrying a briefcase, and dragging along a luggage case with her other hand. She is slowly walking along on a perpendicular path to Tayuya's original route, and has not noticed that she has gained an unwanted observer. The way she carries herself, it is obvious she is a mere civilian. Tayuya casts a dubious look at her, not believing the girl to possess anything of interest to her master. But, at least it is a start.
With that in mind, Tayuya quietly creeps up on the tree behind her, once the girl walks underneath the tree, with no indication that she has noticed anything amiss. Tayuya begins to weave a genjutsu, and directs it against her unsuspecting target. This is all too easy.
Mere seconds later, the girl stiffens, and then begins to look around frantically, at imaginary phantoms. Finally she releases her grip on her two belongings, and begins to transform in front of Tayuya's astonished eyes. Whatever preconceptions that Tayuya had formed about the girl are quickly destroyed, as the girl's body begins to grow larger, and eventually tear apart the uniform.
Where a normal, if unremarkable, girl once stood, in its place is a giant crab, with the face of a grim-looking human etched on the back of the carapace. The pincers alone are longer than Tayuya's height, and Tayuya dare not even think of physically taking on the monster, unless she is already in her second Cursed Seal state.
With a screech of rage, the crab turns around, and strikes out with her pincers at enemies only she can see. Tayuya, having finally recovered from the initial shock, begins to observe the confused enemy beneath her, while formulating plans to subdue it. After several minutes, in which the crab had managed to depopulate a section of the withered forest, Tayuya quickly comes to a conclusion. It looks like the crab's shape is the actual form of the girl, and she can keep up the form for as long as she wants. Unlike her own transformation with the Cursed Seal, Tayuya will have to eventually drop it, once her chakra starts to run low. Also, the genjutsu is still holding, but at this rate, Tayuya will suffer chakra exhaustion quicker than the crab tiring herself out. With that in mind, she will need to quickly end this.
Biting her finger, she quickly runs through the required hand seals, before smacking her right hand into the tree limb. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu."
With a sudden burst of smoke, three summoned towering figures stand behind her, ready at her beck and call. The crab has also noticed the additional enemies, and disregarding her imaginary ones, begins to rush in sideways, as fast as her legs can carry her, towards the tree holding Tayuya and her doki.
The subsequent fight ended much quicker than anticipated, and rather anticlimactically. Once her doki surrounded the crab, Tayuya begins the first part of her melody, but in just 15 notes, the crab is lying on the ground, unconscious, courtesy of the large club carried by the doki with the impossibly long hair.
Leaping down to the ground from her perch, she takes a closer look at the crab, and gives it a kick to the head, to make sure she is completely knocked out. Or, at least, where Tayuya thinks the head should be. Turning around, she kneels down, and begins to look through the girl's briefcase. Eventually, she finds an identification card, and holds it closer to her eyes for inspection.
Taira Chiyome. Hum, she looks a little like me. But what the hell is this birth year supposed to mean? It doesn't match with the calendar at all.
Shrugging to herself, and resolving to find out more about this later, she turns to look through the rest of Chiyome's belonging. Tayuya recovers an acceptance packet, detailing the student's academic schedule, information for her dormitory, as well as a small map of the layout of the buildings of this Youkai Gakuen. There are spare sets of uniform in her luggage, thankfully, as Tayuya plans to take the unconscious Chiyome's place in this school.
Nodding in appreciation for the student's thoroughness, Tayuya turns back to look at her unwitting victim. It is too bad that she had to be the one, but there is nothing personal. She carefully looks at the face in the identification card, and attempts to recall any other details she can remember about the girl's physical appearance before her transformation. She then performs a henge, and then looks herself in the small mirror that the girl carried in her briefcase, while comparing it, side by side, with the picture in the ID. After another few minutes of tinkering, and adjusting her facial features to match the picture perfectly, Tayuya gets up, and takes out one of the spare sets of uniform. There is no time to critique how she looks, but at least no one will suspect her of being an outsider, now that she has changed into Chiyome's clothes.
Taking a look in the sky, Tayuya notes the sun is setting ever lower. After stuffing the miscellaneous objects and paperwork back into the luggage and the suitcase, Tayuya takes up her flute once again, and commands her doki to pick up the downed crab and her baggage. They then rapidly make their way back towards the portal, with Tayuya intending to drop off her first offering to Orochimaru as soon as possible.
There will be more victims to come.
A.N. The crab is a reference to the "Samurai Crabs," also known as the Heikegani (Heikea japonica), whose shell bears a pattern that resembles a human face. Some locals believe the crabs are reincarnated members of the fallen samurai of the House of Taira who drowned in the sea after the Battle of Dan-no-ura from the Heike Monogatari, an epic account of the struggle between the Taira and Minamoto clans for control of Japan in the 12th century. The actual crabs are, of course, nowhere close to the size alluded to in the chapter.