(A/N) A rare weekend upload, but I was feeling pretty productive after a helpful review.

Bingo Book Entry: Genno Hakiara

Threat Level: A
Ninjutsu: 8/10
Genjutsu: 6/10
Taijutsu: 6/10

Village of Origin: Heat Devil Village
Status: Report On Sight (approach only with extreme caution)
Known Crimes: ?

Combat Style: Highly intelligent and great at formulating plans and traps. Excellent at infiltration. Great skill at most jutsu types. Hold contract with spiders.

Notes: If spotted, report and do not engage under any circumstances (unlikely that he was seen without intending to be seen). Allegiance and motives unknown after destruction of his village.

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I was really trying not to think about that, but… Kame couldn't force it from his mind any longer. The web pathway led diagonally up to somewhere before a hulking mass of… Oh my god, I read about boss summons, but this is… the eight huge pillars he'd seen, each one probably a good fifteen feet thick, were in fact what he'd feared them to be: legs, all leading up to the gargantuan body of a spider that was hundreds of feet long. And this pathway leads towards a spot before its head… no, no, no, no. He opened his mouth to say the words that would quit the test and bring him back out of this place, but…

I can't do it, huh? If I leave now, I'll always wonder… and grudgingly, he set his course up the path and trudged forward. Chakra's pretty much gone anyway, so the odds are that I won't be able to take on whatever this next challenge is. So far, let's see… I had to prove that I wasn't stupid to get the 'weaver class'... is that some sort of rank? Like academy student, genin, chunin, jonin? Following that logic and looking at the trickster, combat, and watcher classes… that means that if there are any more trials, it'll be for Kage-level summons. Speaking of which, the monstrously massive spider defied what Kame had heard about Boss summons- they were large, granted, but not that large.

As he moved forward, eventually he reached a platform that was constructed purely from webbing and connected with more of the massive threads reaching out in all directions. Now, the spiders were clearly visible and no longer trying to hide, instead moving with eerie silence all around on the surrounding threads. There's a pattern… the levels that Kame had noticed earlier each had a certain color of spider on them. At the lowest one that he could see, normal-looking brown spiders scurried about. Above them were the deadly-looking black spiders similar to Kumokafu, and above that were orange tarantulas. The layer directly below him held the green-and-yellow ones, but now he was ascending even above that. Oh, so that ranking system extends to even the way their realm is set up, huh?

The platform Kame was moving onto was occupied by one of the smallests spiders yet, barely larger than normal, perhaps eight inches from left to right. When it finally spoke, it was in an aged man's croak: "Congratulations, young Hakiara, on getting further than any before you. You have earned the respect of the champions put forward by each of our ranks, for which you have received their support, but now you stand before the slumbering Nakama herself."

Kame had to stop himself from falling backwards when his eyes refocused and noticed the gargantuan head of what must be Nakama, eight eyes each as large as a whole person and mandibles large enough to destroy a house. Nakama… 'broodmother'. His tone was reverent rather than respectful; do they worship the big one? "I'm glad that I met your expectations."

"Ah, not quite." Huh? Kame looked back to the smaller creature before him. "You have yet to meet my expectations and gain the support of the sage class." Sage, like the toad ones who trained Naruto and Jiraiya. This is the tier above Boss summon, but if they look up to the boss summon then…

"Who is Nakama? And who is your Boss summon?" Kame blurted out.

The spider's eyes focused on him, although he couldn't read any emotion from the reflective black surfaces. "Nakama is the great broodmother, the origin of life in the Uebu abyss. Our legends speak of a time when the spiders were pushed down into this place, a pit with no bottom and edges too far apart to be bridged. Nakama made a web greater and stronger than anything in the world in order to bridge the gap and make a home for her people, but the effort put her into an eternal slumber." Kame glanced down at the five-foot-wide web path that he'd been following. "No, that is the work of another. The true web of Nakama far stronger and lies far below us, and underneath it lie the Eaters, a class that have descended into mindless hunger but cannot come higher up." A web even bigger than…

"As for 'boss summon'... I will assume that this is a term the humans have used to describe the champions of each summon animal?" Kame nodded. "Ah, they belong to the combat class, but cannot serve in the trial for new summoners due to their duties keeping the Eaters in line. Perhaps in time you may come to know them, but before that… you are aware that your ancestor, Genno the Trap Master, held our contract, yes?"

"I found that out today."

"He never told you?" The spider sounded almost offended by the idea that his previous summoner had neglected to mention him.

"No, he died before I was born. I wanted to learn more about him, but during his time information was held much tighter than it is now, so most of the records have been destroyed. I did read something about him holding a contract with a giant eagle of some sort…?" I hope that doesn't offend him any more…

"No, but one of the tricksters is quite proficient at replicating other species." The spider stepped to the side suddenly and turned to look directly at Kame. "But enough time has been wasted. My name is Kumotensai, and I am one of the great spider sages. To earn the support of our class, there are many challenges. It is a long, difficult path that will take uninterrupted years to complete, and you will have only one opportunity to do so. This is the test that even Genno failed, because of a war that his village fell into with the Hidden Leaf, but you may succeed where he could not."

To surpass Genno… Kame swallowed. "Who else has held this contract? And how far did they go? Do you know about Genno, and anything he might have left behind?"

Kumotensai nodded in a way that Kame hoped was approving. "There have been many before Genno, but none of any real substance. Before Genno came, in fact, many among the lower classes began to question the rules of challenge, complaining that the humans would inevitably fail. Genno silenced them- he was the only one to ever earn the watchers' favor, and came close to even winning over the sages. He spent many years in our realm and left much, all of which I could teach you were you to accept my offer.

"After Genno's death, there have been several ninja to seek our support- but all either failed the first test or died during the subsequent ones. There was one who succeeded to garner the support of the weaver class named Kidomaru, but he did not seek anything further and died very soon. Since then, none have come- except you." Kame nodded at this information. Orochimaru must have kept the contract for a while, then. "But before any further talk, I must ask: will you attempt the trial of the sages? It will take several years, and during that time you may not leave the realm of the spiders. Your reward will be the power of the Spider Sage, a blessing never granted to a human before."

Kame Hakiara, the Spider Sage… I like the sound of that. Besides, I don't- Kame remembered why he was here and respectfully shook his head. "I can't. There are pressing matters in the human world that I cannot abandon, and a friend that needs my help." But if I don't do this, then I'll always… "Could I attempt the trial later?"

Kumotensai rocked back, seeming to consider what he said. "The rules do not explicitly prohibit such a thing… so you may postpone your trial." He sounded happy. "If and when you do choose to undertake it, you need only tell one of your summons and then you will be brought here."

Kame nodded. Someday, I'll do it… but for now, I need to know some things. "How do I summon specific spiders? I feel like the classes you've mentioned each have strengths and weaknesses, so being able to choose seems necessary."

Kumotensai nodded, the movement shaking his whole body up and down. So spiders nod like humans do… I never thought that I'd be thinking about this. "To summon specific spiders you must first bond with them and learn to recognize their chakra, then call for it when performing the summoning jutsu itself. The weaver, trickster, combat, and watcher classes are all available to you, so you are welcome to go out among them and find members that you wish to bond with. Such a thing will take time, though…"

Kame nodded. "How do I come here to do that? Is there a reverse summoning jutsu that will bring me here, or…?"

"The same way you would tell us of your decision to undertake the sage trials. Simply summon any spider and tell them that you wish to travel to the Uebu Abyss, then dismiss them. I or another sage will reverse summon you through the contract shortly afterwards." That's not very useful in a fight, then… so I can't use this as an escape mechanism. Kame wrote off that theory in his mind.

Kumotensai wasn't finished. "However, for now I wish to ask you about yourself. I know from your trials that you have enough skill in combat and self-control, but what releases do you use? What techniques are you learning? What rank are you, and in what village? Give me a good idea of what sort of shinobi you are."

Kame thought for a little while before responding. "I use wind and fire releases, but in combat I usually rely on paperbombs and puppet jutsu." Kumotensai twitched when he mentioned puppet jutsu. "I was associated with Sunagakure, but after a friend of mine was sentenced to die I escaped with her to Otogakure. It was actually from Orochimaru that I initially received your contract."

Kumotensai chittered in an annoyed way. "Orochimaru must be the reason our contract has seen so little use in recent years, then… you mentioned puppet jutsu?"

"Yeah…" Kame narrowed his eyes. "Wait, do you know anything about it?"

"Yes, boy, it was from the spiders that early members of Sunagakure first learned the basics of puppet jutsu! It will be a pleasure to see how our techniques have evolved over the years."

Kame remembered how he'd left the Hidden Sound so suddenly and winced. I should probably get back, huh? But, first… "I understand that I can't simply transport here and have to summon a spider to inform you, but I also don't feel right summoning a random one. Can I practice this chakra bonding you described with an easy summon, which I can use in the future for information purposes?" He realised that giant spiders would probably make other humans pretty nervous, and added: "Preferably a member of the trickster class, assuming they all use illusions to appear human?"

"Aww, missing me that much already?" Kame whirled around to see Kumokafu with her illusion back up. She looks a lot like an adult Haku, he realized, trying not to think about what that might imply about his own desires.

"Hey- I mean, hello…" Kame stuttered, trying to look at her without seeing anything too closely.

"Hey, it's simple… just touch me and I'll do the rest, alright…?" Why did she have to say it like that, thought Kame, but put his hand out nonetheless- and felt it held in another hand, surprisingly soft and cool. What? That's not an illusion, it's a transformation…

"Mhmm, this isn't a trick… think about what you missed out on, darling." Kumokafu's eyes glinted dangerously. "Now, can you feel it? The special connection between us?" Kame closed his eyes and felt… strange. He couldn't describe it to save his life, but it was almost like a sixth sense that was being filled with the sensation of her chakra. It felt like… warm shadows, the acceptance of death, temptation. This is officially the weirdest day of my entire life, Kame decided.

"Alright, honey, now make sure to think of me whenever you use the summoning jutsu, mmkay?" Kumokafu cooed as she retreated off into the darkness of the spiders' realm.

Kame turned back to Kumotensai, thinking of one last thing he wanted to ask before he left. "My ancestor, Genno… what kind of person was he?"

The elder spider considered the question for long seconds before responding. "He was always seeking improvement and information. Much of the time he had a mask over his emotions, but his actions betrayed a deep loyalty to the people he cared about- he was even willing to destroy the entire Hidden Leaf village in order to save his home."

What!? Destroy the entire… "But how?"

Kumotensai made a strange clicking noise that reminded Kame of laughter. I must be going crazy if I can make sense of these spiders' noises. "I suppose it makes sense that the Hidden Leaf would cover it up- it would be an embarrassment if news were to get out that a single man nearly annihilated them. The Heat Devil Village sent Genno to infiltrate the Leaf, which he did easily and then, posing as a carpenter, hid paperbombs all over the village. The war ended before he managed to set them off, and he returned home to the ruins of his home. Years later, he came back to the Hidden Leaf with intent to finish what he'd started, but changed his mind and spared them."

He almost destroyed the Leaf by himself- no, he could have, but chose not to. Kame was glad to see that, despite two of his heroes recently turning out to fail his (admittedly unrealistic) expectations, Genno actually proved to be more impressive. The Sand and Sound together couldn't even take them down…

Kame nodded to Kumotensai. "Thanks." I wonder if Haku knows where I went… wait a minute, he thought suspiciously, did Orochimaru intend for me to die in the process of these tests? If I did, then he could tell Haku it was a horrible accident and then… no. He couldn't afford to be suspicious of their host, because losing Orochimaru's favor would be a death sentence for both him and Haku. I have to do my best to just accept his will and survive in this situation.

"I'd like to head back to-" No sooner had the words left his mouth than another wrench to his chakra network tore him out of his senses.

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I am never going to get used to being summoned, Kame thought as he flopped to the floor in the same room he'd left. How do the summon animals deal with it? It wasn't painful, per se, but the feeling of being yanked by his chakra through space and time just felt wrong. As he straightened up, the room was empty of people- Orochimaru and Haku left? What do I do now? I don't remember the way back to my room, and if I try to go deeper I might accidentally wander into something terrible…

He remembered what he'd been told the day before and shouted, "Grandmother! I need your help!" Like a helpful spirit, she instantly appeared in the doorway to the room, smiling as widely as ever.

"What kind of help do you need, dearie?" How does she do that? Does she have reverse summoning seals set up all around the base? Not for the first time, Kame considered the strangeness of the kindly old woman, especially in the service of Orochimaru- Where is she from? Why is she working for Orochimaru? Is the kindness just a front?

"I need to find Haku, do you know where she is…?" Kame asked hopefully.

"Oh, I know just about everything that goes on in this place, dearie. Don't worry, I can take you to your sweet little… friend." The way that she said 'friend' suggested that she thought there was more between Kame and Haku. Kame's immediate blush at that notion brought even more delight to her eyes. "You are just too cute…"

"Uh… can you take me to her?" Grandmother nodded and began walking forward, so Kame tagged along. "Also… why are you working for Orochimaru? You don't really seem like the type to…" But I guess me and Haku aren't, either, he realized.

Grandmother just smiled sadly. "Don't worry about that…" They slipped into a silence that lasted for what felt like almost a mile of twisting hallways until finally they reached a doorway that she pointed into. "Here's where she is, with Lord Orochimaru." Kame nodded his appreciation and then stepped into the room.

Inside, Haku was laid out on a table facedown and Orochimaru was standing over her. Seeing her spread out and unmoving like she was, with the bandages on her back torn open, also taking into account the fact that Orochimaru was standing over her, and Kame's heart nearly stopped. Haku… no… Her head was turned towards him, and her eyes were closed with her mouth slightly open, completely expressionless.

Orochimaru, for his part, simply looked up at Kame with passive eyes. "Oh, it's you. Sit down and keep silent, understood? This is a delicate process." Kame took a small, angry step forward before he saw that Haku was breathing. Oh, this is…

He sat down as Orochimaru had asked and fiddled nervously with his hands. Somehow, the travel back from Uebu Abyss had taken away the worst of his chakra exhaustion. I still don't have much chakra left, but it's enough to not hamper me. Kame noted down the side effect of the reverse summoning process in case it would be useful in the future.

Orochimaru had his hands hovering just above Haku's back, and her seal was exposed. Kame had always pictured jinchuriki seals as grids or bars of some sort, but hers was a spiral pattern. The outside end of the seal split into four lines that ran towards her limbs, but Kame couldn't see if…

Kame felt his face redden as he noticed that Haku was clad in only bandages around her waist and upper body. He looked away quickly, studying the walls of the room and the floor, forcing himself to avoid glancing back towards his unconscious teammate. It's wrong for me to take advantage of her while she's unconscious… who am I; Miriki? After an eternity where his self-control was tested far more than it had ever been before (but only a few lapses in restraint, all of which sent all the blood back to his face) Orochimaru finally hissed in satisfaction and spoke.

"You completed the trials of the spiders far more quickly than I'd assumed you would. How many of them did you successfully pass?"

Kame tried to keep the pride from his face as he turned to face the Sannin. "All of them that I attempted. I postponed the sage trials because they would have taken far too long, but passed all the other tests leading up to that."

Orochimaru looked… well, not quite impressed, but close. "Kidomaru was only capable of passing even a single one of the tests. You may prove less useless than him, then…"

Kame was admittedly curious. "If you know about the trials, then why haven't you attempted them? Isn't it possible to hold the summoning contracts of two different animals? Sasuke Uchiha has snakes and hawks, so for you to have only snakes-" He stopped talking when Orochimaru's expression grew angry. Mental note: don't mention something another ninja does better than him.

"The spiders are a territorial species and hoard their power. The slugs will give their services away to anyone who shows kindness, the toads to anyone who shows strength of character, and the snakes respect only power. The spider contract has leaped from holder to holder because it has historically proven highly difficult to achieve any meaningful level of connection with them- As far as I am aware, only you and your ancestor Genno have passed the watcher class test. I never attempted their trials because a perquisite for even attempting them is to be unbound to any other contract. To risk my relationship with the snakes for almost a complete unknown was something I didn't want to risk, although one of my underlings attempted it." Kidomaru, he said.

"Okay, I guess that makes sense, they were… strange to interact with." Kame thought about the hours he'd spent in their realm. "They seemed to have a lot of disdain for other animals and humans."

"It's said that in ancient times, they were forced to the very edges of the world by the other summon animals." Orochimaru sighed. "Such tales are unreliable, but their impact isn't negligible. Legends, while untrue, hold power over the weak-minded who believe in them."

Kame thought of the slumbering, massive Nakama, and didn't write off the spiders' story just yet. He started to speak again, but stopped when Haku suddenly pushed herself up onto her knees and turned to face Kame, face going from hazy confusion to horror as she looked down at the cut bandages being the only thing she was wearing. Kame choked on his words and slapped his hands over his face. Orochimaru let out an amused noise at the display of teenage awkwardness, but didn't make any comment.

Finally, Haku spoke. "Okay, I'm… you can look." Kame dropped his hands to see Haku wearing her top and skirt again, now in mint condition (Grandmother had stocked their cabinets with carbon copies of their original clothes). They were both uncomfortably unwilling to meet each others' eyes, so when Orochimaru spoke it was a huge relief to turn and look at him.

"I've analyzed the seal that the Kazekage put over you. It was similar in construction to Sankuryu's seal, but over time either due to the tentails' influence or your kekkeigenkai itself, the chakra of the seal has merged with your own chakra network. To destroy it now would undoubtedly kill you, and to remove the tentails would destroy it." Kame dared a quick glance over at Haku, who seemed shaken by the news. She can't ever be rid of it…

"Furthermore, it has developed a connection to your kekkeigenkai with… interesting results. The Yorutsume kekkeigenkai was always of interest to me, but due to your clan's secretive nature and small size, it was difficult for me to find a living specimen to study…" Orochimaru eyes flashed in triumph as he looked towards Haku. "As I had guessed, the kekkeigenkai is neither visual nor nature-change oriented, but instead grants the user the ability to consume chakra. My brief studies indicated that this only worked for chakra still within the body or chakra used without any nature change, but after watching you in the chunin exams I believe you have found a way to broaden its uses."

"But isn't that what the tentails…" Kame trailed off as Orochimaru sighed.

"As I was saying before you interrupted me, the kekkeigenkai steals the chakra of the surrounding area and of other people and converts it for personal use. On what scale and how quickly most likely rely on how strongly it has been inherited. The tentails displayed similar traits when it came active, and after investigating the exact nature of what is sealed inside you I have come to conclude that you are not its full jinchuriki." Gaara and Deihaka did say that it was a part of the tentails that was sealed inside her, not the full tentails itself.

"When it was summoned during the Fourth Shinobi World War, the tentails displayed a willingness to follow the orders of its jinchuriki, but besides that seemed to have no real thought besides hunger for the chakra of the gathered shinobi. In the fragment of it that is trapped inside Haku, these problems seem to have been exacerbated by the seal and her kekkeigenkai until all that is left is a hungering void of chakra inside her. It may possess some ability to communicate and reason, but its only driving motivation is to consume the chakra of everything around it in a futile attempt to reconstruct itself." Haku made an unhappy noise.

"However, while you may not be able to bond with it, I believe that you should be able to hold it in check through force of will." Kame restrained himself from snapping at the man, upset that he would present Haku with that course at all. She's suffered enough from trying to control it. "Allowing smaller amounts of its power through, as long as you can maintain control, could prove extremely effective. While your kekkeigenkai is useful, it has its limits- in the tentails state, those limits are gone, making almost all forms of jutsu useless against you. Keep in mind, though, that if you allow too much of it out, it may never come back in. If all ten tails were to emerge, the result would be a hungering monstrosity that would consume everything in its path and grow in power with everything it ate until it died or killed everything."

That's… the Tanikage managed to stop her somehow, but after only seven tails she surprised and took out Naruto and Sasuke. If she loses control again, I doubt that… "I won't risk it," Haku said firmly. "If I give it any hold on me, it will claw and fight until it has control."

Orochimaru leaned back against the wall, responding with disappointment in his tone. "I do hope you will reconsider- the power to take on multiple Kage is well worth some risk-"

"Thank you, Lord Orochimaru, but…" Haku looked down. "I've let the tentails out twice, and both times I killed people I cared about."

Orochimaru sighed. "Very well, then I won't train you to use it… for now." Before Haku or Kame could protest the addition, he continued. "That said, both of you have cursemarks that I will teach you to use. Follow me to the testing room." Kame and Haku had little choice but to do as he asked and fall into line behind him as they went back to where they'd started that morning. On the way, Kame glanced over at Haku- she seemed to have taken the news about how inescapable the tentails' grasp was fairly well, but after that night at the Hasagi ramen shop he was always second-guessing his ability to read her emotions. She noticed his stare and smiled curiously at him, making him blush and look away. I need to stop doing this.

Finally, they reached the training room and Orochimaru turned back to them. "I've improved my cursemarks much over the years, and now the survival rate of their application is up to eighty percent." Wait, what? He gambled my life on a- "You two survived and took to them well, so we can begin training with them now." He threw me into the Uebu Abyss without any warning, either… I feel like he's being a little casual with my life.

"Now, the cursemark has quite a few utilitarian uses like keeping track of your status and location, but in combat it serves the purpose of granting extreme power for a short duration, with a cost at the end. In your cases, at the end of stage one you will be fatigued and weakened, while stage two will leave you chakra-exhausted and unable to continue fighting. In addition, stage two of the cursemarks tends to have… physical side-effects, although they vary from person to person." I don't like the sound of that, Kame thought.

"Haku," he said, turning to face her, "I gave you a Death cursemark to supplement your fighting style. In stage one, it will drain a moderate amount of chakra to speed up your perception of time, essentially giving you near-instant reflexes. In stage two, it drains a massive amount of chakra to temporarily increase your speed to the point where everything else appears to be standing still. The mark doesn't give you any chakra, but you already have several ways to gain it on your own."

He turned to face Kame. "You, on the other hand, have a Life cursemark. Innately, it senses and absorbs nature chakra from around you to form a stored supply. Stage one will use that supply and connection to natural world to grant you the ability to both see and comprehend chakra all around you. Stage two will allow you to manipulate both your chakra and the stored chakra freely, moving, applying change of natures, or attaching it as you see fit."

Why would he give us so much power for free? Kame's confusion over the last few days boiled over. He kept Haku alive despite knowing that she wasn't a real jinchuriki, and even accepted her decision not to use the tentails. He's given me a summon contract and a cursemark without any strings attached- this is not the Orochimaru I read about, who destroyed lives and hoarded everything he could in a mad quest for power. "You didn't destroy the Village Hidden in the Sound, did you?" It came out as more of a statement than a question.

Orochimaru looked at him, face an emotionless mask. However, the slight quaver of his voice betrayed strong emotions concealed below: "No, I didn't."