"Chiya-chan, can I borrow Mr. Cranberry? I have an important mission for him," I said interrupting the group who had been tasked with keeping a fire small and virtually undetectable from afar. So far they were doing a good job, the smoke trail disappeared about six feet up.

The spider in question crawled out onto Chiyako's shoulder. I couldn't read his body language or however he communicated with Chiyako, but I don't think I would be wrong to call him eager.

"Okay," She said after a moment of hesitation.

"Don't worry Chiya-chan, he won't get hurt or in trouble," I flashed a reassuring smile in her direction as Mr. Cranberry hopped into my head. She didn't look the least bit assured, yet I lucked out. Chiyako was too nice for her own good.

I returned back to my group, catching Konohamaru in the act of trying to put a dead snake in my sleeping roll. I cleared my throat and he jerked upright. It didn't mean he took the snake out, he left if there and fled over to Hanabi.

Mr. Cranberry was safely tucked away under my coat, which any experienced ninja would notice the bulge of my shoulder. I retrieved the dead serpent from my bag and tossed it at Konohamaru. It smacked him right in the face, it was so satisfying to see him flail.

Then before I could initiate the beginnings of my true plan Iruka came to check up on us. The man hardly left our group alone, it was easy to figure out why. Damage control. Tonight would be our last night, and tomorrow we'd be packing up and doing our best to leave no traces of our stay.

"Iruka-sensei, do you know any scary stories?" I asked the moment evening fell.

"I don't think I do," The man said with a strained smile. Yes he definitely did know scary stories, but none of them were appropriate for young children. It was completely fine, because I was just leading into an opening.

"Well I know lots, perfect for camp outs," I declared with a smile.

"Oh?" Hanabi gave me a calculating look, "Are they really scary or are you just saying that?"

"Nightmares have been known to quiver in fright." Konohamaru snorted, completely skeptical, Iruka covered up his amusement with a docile expression. I ignored them and started a tale of Spider Man.

Of course it was an altered version where the spider colonies mutated the man and started consuming the whole human populace. There were no heroes, only victims. And I think I was doing a well enough job, because Konohamaru looked pasty and alert. Or maybe that was because Mr. Cranberry was doing an excellent job.

"Now she was alone in the cabin, all her friends missing, taken away to die as a cocoon in thick webbing. Drained of blood and nutrients. Some maybe eaten alive. Alone but her thoughts ran heavy with grief and fear. She could almost hear the hissing and clicking of the spiders, they liked to communicate like that. The skittering and creaking of a horde moving in. Something tickled right at her back, climbing up to her shoulder. She dared not turn around, but she couldn't just be blind to the situation. And then-"

Konohamaru's scream interrupted the tail. Mr. Cranberry hopped down before a hand could swat him, and hurried over to safety. Hanabi laughed and I joined in as I cradled the arachnid in my arm.

"That was…a very…interesting tale…" Iruka said coughing down a laugh, "But what about the spider boy?"

"He got eaten alive because female spiders tend to eat their mates." I said lightly with a shrug. Hanabi covered her mouth to contain further laughter. I popped up from my seat, as step one had been a success. Iruka would see it as just harmless revenge on Konohamaru. By the time the second stage happened, well Iruka probably wouldn't hear about it… maybe.

It depended on Konohamaru and his pride.

"Mr. Cranberry performed excellently on his mission, Chiya-chan," I told the girl as I found her once again with her group. They seemed to be getting along well enough…probably a lot better than my group. The spider seemed quite pleased by my words. "For future work I will gladly be a reference."

Chiyako giggled.

I didn't stick around much afterward. Especially since the day left everyone pretty much exhausted. Iruka went off to circulate through the other groups. I clicked my tongue at Konohamaru and he glared fiercely.

This was all way more fun then it should be.


Stage Two: make Konohamaru believe he was turning into Spider Man. Or in this case Spider Boy. For this to work I needed someone with experience in genjutsu. Someone high ranked and willing to help a young boy do better in school.

I was a little disappointed at the short list of people I knew. No one specialized in genjutsu, it was one of those skills that were often overridden by the more obvious strength of taijutsu and ninjutsu. Maybe because illusions were easy to break once you learned how.

"You've been busy lately," Shikako mused, she was fixing up a big lunch.

I tapped the pen on the table and looked at her. Seeing her cook… she really did look a lot like mom. Especially when she was wearing mom's apron. She turned to look over her shoulder, her gaze flicking up to the top of my head.

Konohamaru had said that it hadn't been his intention, that he'd only cut my hair on accident because I pulled away. Like hell I was going to believe it was only an accident. Yet he had gotten off rather lightly…. Well from the adults. My wraith was still strong.

"Hey Kako, you can potentially henge into a animals, right? Is it hard?"

"Not with practice," Her initial answer but she continued as she started putting together bentos, "You'll need to work on your chakra control, but I can't see why it would be all that different from using henge to mimic a person."

"Have you done it before? Used a henge to mimic an animal?" I asked, it'd be nice to see it in action.

"I haven't had the opportunity." Shikako sounded thoughtful as she considered.

"Then how do you know if its hard or not?" I sat up from the table as she was spreading out and using more of the surface. I pulled my notebook back. I almost asked who she was cooking for, but it was probably for her team.

She smiled to herself, but it seemed she was done with the topic just she had finished putting together three tiers. I shook my head and decided that as she suggested it was just going to be something I had to practice… but who could I trust? Mom would catch on and then I'd never get away with it.

"Here, go take this to Shika, he's training with his team," Shikako ordered in the same kind of tone mom used when she was telling me to go deliver something.

"And you said I was busy…" I muttered as I went off to my room to gather a small bag of supplies. Sketch book and notebook included amongst a few things. Since all my chores were done I had no intention at being caught at home to be pulled into anything more. It was bad enough I was playing delivery boy for my sister.

Team Ten's usual training ground was easy to find. Choji was relieved for the distraction of food, though he had his own lunch packed away as well. Ino however called for one more sparring match with Shikamaru before they stopped to eat.

"What're you working on?" Choji asked, it was more or less his way of starting up a conversation. Perhaps he was also curious of what I was doing, but knowing the guy he wouldn't press if I didn't want to talk.

"Genjutsu," I muttered and then smiled, "Will you help me?"

Choji showed some hesitation, but honestly what's the worst that could happen from an illusion?

"Maybe after lunch?"

"In theory they say that a lack of details are what give genjutsu away," I stated flipping back in my notebook, "Kind of like how you know a dream is a dream… but sometimes people have realistic dreams-so a really strong genjutsu can seem real, right?"

"If you're looking into genjutsu, I know an expert. You'll definitely ace anything on a test." Asuma said with an amused smile.

"An expert?" I closed my book and looked at the man.

Would he have suggested a thing if he knew I was working on messing with his nephew?

I almost laughed, but instead I played the act of an eager academy student.

Asuma nodded his head as he lit up a cigarette "Sure, I can introduce you to her… tomorrow good?"

Her? Genjutsu expert… There was probably someone I should know like that. Yet no name or face came to mind.

"Of course Asuma-sensei," It was really hard to refrain from laughing like a some evil villain. "Thank you."


AN: this chapter so needs editing and stuff written in. also i try to post a chapter every week but medical problems have been happening. I probably should've been admitted to the hospital.

And now that the nanowrimo has started i might have to put this on pause? though it is a nice break between things. forgive me for my laziness. (medical wise things are getting better so i might actually get things done and another chapter to make up for this half hearted one.)